Convertible Notes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Convertible Notes

BORROWINGS

Silicon Valley Bank Financing Facility

On April 26, 2021, the Company entered into a loan and security agreement (the “Loan Agreement”) with an affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB” or the “Lender”) in connection with the non-binding term sheet for a financing facility of up to $10,000 entered into on March 18, 2021. Under the Loan Agreement, the Lender was obligated to make a term loan advance to the Company of $4,000. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Loan Agreement and, upon the Company’s request, the Lender was obligated to make one term loan advance to the Company of $6,000. The interest rate on the term loan advance is calculated at 8% per annum and payable monthly, in arrears. Upon entering the Loan Agreement, $4,000 was drawn. On May 13, 2021, the additional $6,000 was drawn. The balance of $10,540 for the financing facility, including interest, was repaid on August 20, 2021.

Silicon Valley Bank Credit Facility

On August 16, 2019, the Company entered into a loan and security agreement with SVB. Borrowings under this facility are secured by substantially all the Company’s assets, excluding intellectual property. The term loan’s borrowings are subject to certain financial covenants and restrictions. The Company complied with all financial covenants and restrictions.

The balance of $2,333 for the term loan was repaid on September 7, 2021.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan

On June 19, 2021, the Company received notice of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgiveness payment made to SVB by the Small Business Administration in the amount of $2,270 in principal and $27 in interest. This amount represents the forgiveness of the total PPP loan the Company received in 2020 under the PPP Loan provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, there were no borrowings outstanding.

CONVERTIBLE NOTES

2020 Convertible Notes

During 2020, the Company entered into various convertible note agreements (“2020 Notes”) under which the Company may issue convertible equity instruments having an aggregate principal amount of up to $40,000, a 3% accruing dividend (“accrued interest”) and a maturity date of October 31, 2021.

In connection with the Business Combination on August 16, 2021, all outstanding principal of $38,045 and unpaid accrued interest on the 2020 Notes were converted into AEye Technologies’ preferred stock and

subsequently were converted into 20,778,097 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock. Accordingly, at December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the convertible notes balance was $0.

2022 Convertible Note

On September 14, 2022, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with an investor allowing for the sale and issue of two convertible notes, each with a principal balance of $10,500 and cash proceeds of $10,000, for a total of $20,000 in proceeds between the two issuances (each, a "Note Closing"). The first Note Closing ("First Closing") occurred on September 15, 2022, and the Company entered into a Senior Unsecured Convertible Note with the investor pursuant to which the Company issued to the investor one convertible note ("2022 Note") with a principal balance of $10,500 for cash proceeds of $10,000. As part of the First Closing, the Company also issued warrants to the investor - see Note 14 for further details. The second Note Closing ("Second Closing") may occur, at the Company's option, no earlier than the ninetieth (90th) calendar day after the First Closing, provided that the Company meets certain equity conditions. Additional warrants would be issued to the investor upon the Second Closing.

The 2022 Note bears interest at an annual rate of 5.0%, in addition to an original issue discount of 4.76%, and has a maturity date of March 15, 2024 ("Maturity Date"). The interest may be settled in cash or shares at the option of the Company and is payable together with monthly redemptions of the outstanding principal amount of the Note.

Beginning December 15, 2022, and the first of each subsequent month (each a "Monthly Redemption Date" or an "Installment Date"), the Company shall redeem the Monthly Redemption Amount until the 2022 Note is fully redeemed, payable in cash or, so long as certain equity conditions are met, shares of Common Stock at the option of the Company. The equity conditions that must be met in order for the Company to settle the Monthly Redemption Amount in shares include requirements for the daily volume weighted average price of the Company's Common Stock to exceed $0.33 and the average daily trading volume of the Company's Common Stock to exceed $500,000 for the twenty (20) trading days prior to the applicable Installment Notice Date (which is the sixth (6th) trading day prior to each Installment Date). The Monthly Redemption Amount, in most instances, will be 1/15th of the original principal amount, plus any amount accelerated pursuant to the 2022 Note, accrued but unpaid interest, and late fees, if any. If the Company elects to settle such redemptions in shares of Common Stock, the number of shares to be settled shall be based on an Installment Conversion Price equal to the lower of (i) $2.50 or (ii) 95% of the lowest daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock during the five (5) trading days immediately preceding the applicable Monthly Redemption Date. If the Company elects to settle redemptions in cash, the Monthly Redemption Amount shall include a 5% premium.

The investor is permitted to accelerate up to four (4) Monthly Redemption Amounts in any calendar month (each, an "Acceleration," and each such amount, an "Acceleration Amount", and the Conversion Date of any such Acceleration, each an "Acceleration Date") at the Acceleration Conversion Price, subject to a $2,800 limit per month. The Acceleration Conversion Price shall be the lower of (i) the Installment Conversion Price for such current Installment Date or (ii) the greater of $0.30 and 95% of the lowest daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock during the five (5) trading days immediately preceding the Acceleration Date.

If, at any time while the 2022 Note is outstanding, the Company carries out one or more capital raises in excess of $5,000 in gross proceeds each, the investor shall have the right to require the Company to first use up to 30% of the gross proceeds of each capital raise to redeem all or a portion of the 2022 Note for an amount in cash (such amount, the "Mandatory Redemption Amount") equal to the sum of (a) 1.05 multiplied by the sum of the principal amount subject to the Mandatory Redemption and accrued but unpaid interest and (b) 1.00 multiplied by the sum of the Make-Whole amount, if any, and any other amounts, if any, then owing to the investor in respect of the 2022 Note (a "Mandatory Redemption"). The Make-Whole amount is defined as an amount equal to the additional interest that would accrue under the 2022 Note assuming for calculation purposes that the principal of the 2022 Note remained outstanding through the Maturity Date.

The 2022 Note may not be converted into Common Stock to the extent such conversion would result in the investor and its affiliates having beneficial ownership of more than 9.99% of our then outstanding shares of Common Stock.

The Company and investor entered into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) to which the Company is required to file a registration statement registering the resale by the investor of any shares of the Company’s common stock issuable upon conversion, including the resale of shares issuable upon exercise of the associated warrants. The Company is required to meet certain obligations with respect to the timeliness of the filing and effectiveness of the registration statement. The Company filed such registration statement on October 19, 2022, which was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 2022.

The Company elected to apply the fair value option to the measurement of the 2022 Note. As a result of adopting the fair value option no embedded derivatives should be bifurcated from the 2022 Note. The Company classifies the 2022 Note as a liability at fair value and will remeasure the 2022 Note to fair value at each reporting period. The total proceeds received from the investor of $10,000 should be allocated between the 2022 Note and the related warrants issued using the relative fair value method at issuance date. This resulted in an initial fair value of $9,512 being allocated to the 2022 Note, and $488 allocated to the associated warrants (see Note 3 for further details). The Company recorded total issuance costs of $474, representing placement agent and legal fees, within Interest expense and other on the consolidated statement of operations. The fair value measurement includes the assumption of accrued interest and expense and thus a separate amount is not reflected on the consolidated statement of operations.

As of December 31, 2022, the 2022 Note has outstanding principal of $9,200 and is recorded as a current liability at fair value of $8,594.

The Company evaluated the Second Closing and associated warrants to be a contingently issuable financial asset with a fair value of zero at inception in accordance with ASC 815-40 Contracts in an Entity's own Equity. The contingently issuable warrants are considered issued for accounting purposes - see Note 14 for further details.

Embedded Derivative Liability

As outlined in the indenture governing the 2020 Notes, the 2020 Notes are automatically convertible, contingent upon the occurrence of certain events, most notably a financing (a “Next Financing”), defined as the issuance and sale of additional preferred stock (“Financing Stock”). The redemption price is defined as a price per share equal to 90% of the price per share paid by the other purchasers of the Financing Stock sold in the Next Financing. The 2020 Notes are redeemable into the number of shares of Financing Stock needed to settle the aggregate amount of principal and unpaid interest owed to the holder of such notes, which is based on the ultimate price per share associated with the Financing Stock. Consequently, the 2020 Notes are considered stock settled debt.

This redemption feature embedded in the 2020 Notes is considered to be a derivative that is required to be separately accounted for at fair value and subsequently remeasured to fair value at each reporting date. Accordingly, upon issuance of the 2020 Notes, the Company recognized the fair value associated with the embedded derivative which resulted in an embedded derivative liability of approximately $1,520, with an equal and offsetting debt discount. Upon the closing of the Business Combination on August 16, 2021, the embedded derivative was settled. Accordingly, at December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the fair value of the embedded derivative liability was $0.