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Organization and Principal Activities

6 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Organization and Principal Activities [Abstract]

ORGANIZATION AND PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

1. ORGANIZATION AND PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

Ispire Technology Inc. (the “Company” or “Ispire”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on June 13, 2022. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is engaged in the research and development, design, commercialization, sales, marketing and distribution of branded e-cigarettes and cannabis vaping products.

Ispire owns a 100% equity interest in Ispire International Limited, a business company incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) (“Ispire International”) on July 6, 2022.

Prior to July 29, 2022, all of the equity of Aspire North America LLC, a California limited liability company (“Aspire North America”), was owned by Aspire Global Inc. (“Aspire Global”), and all of the equity of Aspire Science and Technology Limited, a Hong Kong corporation (“Aspire Science”), was owned by Aspire Global Holdings Limited (“Aspire Holdings”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aspire Global.

Aspire Global and the Company are related parties since the same individual is the chief executive officer of both companies. As of December 31, 2023, the chief executive officer and his wife, being directors of both companies, owned 66.5% and 5.0% of the equity of Aspire Global, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, they owned 61.3% and 4.6% of the equity of the Company, respectively. On July 29, 2022, Aspire Global transferred 100% of the equity interest in Aspire North America to the Company. On the same day, Aspire Holdings transferred 100% of the equity of Aspire Science to Ispire International. At the time of transfer of the equity in Aspire North America and Aspire Science, the Company had the same stockholders as Aspire Global and the Company’s stockholders held the same percentage interest in the Company as they had in Aspire Global. Because the transfer of the equity in Aspire North America and Aspire Science is a transfer between related parties, the historical financial information of the subsidiaries is carried forward as the historical financial information of the Company and the 50,000,000 shares that were issued at or about the time of the Company’s organization are treated as being outstanding on July 1, 2020.

In September 2023, the Company established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Ispire Malaysia Sdn Bhd (“Ispire Malaysia”) under the laws of the Federation of Malaysia, in order to establish manufacturing operations in Southeast Asia. Ispire Malaysia was formed by Tuanfang Liu, the Company’s Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer on September 1, 2023, and assigned to the Company on September 22, 2023, at a consideration of 100 Malaysian ringgits.

The following table sets forth information concerning the Company and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 2023:

Name of Entity

Date of
Organization

Place of
Organization

% of
Ownership

Principal
Activities

Ispire Technology Inc.

June 13, 2022

Delaware

Parent Company

Holding Company

Ispire International

July 6, 2022

BVI

100%

Holding Company

Aspire North America

February 22, 2020

California

100%

Research and Development, Sales and Marketing

Aspire Science

December 9, 2016

Hong Kong

100%

Sales and Marketing

Ispire Malaysia

September 1, 2023

Malaysia

100%

Manufacturing

Ispire is a holding company and does not engage in any active operations. Its business is conducted by its two operating subsidiaries, Aspire North America, which is engaged in the development, marketing and sales of cannabis vapor products, which were introduced in mid-2020, and Aspire Science, which is engaged in the marketing and sales of tobacco vaping products, and the products are mainly sold in Europe and Asia Pacific (excluding PRC).

Restatement of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements - December 31, 2022

In audit of financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2023, the Company identified errors related to the recording of the intellectual property rights transferred to the Company by a control party during the three months ended December 31, 2022, as disclosed in Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on September 15, 2023. The Company determined that the intangible assets were incorrectly recorded in the unaudited financial statements, and that intellectual property rights which were transferred to the Company by a control party should be recorded at the transferor’s book value, which was nil, rather than the valuation result from an independent third party valuer. As a result of the restatement, as of December 31, 2022, the restated intangible asset balance should be $0, instead of $73,487,283. For the three months ended December 31, 2022, the net loss decreased from $902,874, or $0.02 per share (basic and diluted), to the net loss of $130,242, or $0.01 per share (basic and diluted). For the six months ended December 31, 2022, the net loss decreased from $2,950,921, or $0.06 per share (basic and diluted), to $2,131,996, or $0.04 per share (basic and diluted).

In preparing the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of cash flows, the Company identified an additional error related to the presenting of operating leases. The Company determined that cash payments arising from operating leases were incorrectly classified under financing activities instead of operating activities. As a result of the restatement, the Company’s principal portion of lease payment of $449,638 in unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows for the six months ended December 31, 2022 was reclassified to operating activities. The Company also omit to present the noncash activities in relation to leased assets obtained in exchange for operating lease liabilities. During the review of unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended December 31, 2022 and 2023, the Company has added disclosure of $3,714,979 of leased assets obtained in exchange for operating lease liabilities in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows for the six months ended December 31, 2022.

Risk and Uncertainties

Impact of COVID-19

In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China. During 2020, the disease spread to many parts of the world. The pandemic has resulted in quarantines, travel restrictions, and the temporary closure of stores and facilities in much of the world, most of which are no longer in effect. The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on May 5, 2023, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services declared that the public health emergency from COVID-19 expired at the end of the day on May 11, 2023.

The extent to which COVID-19 impacts the Company’s operations on an ongoing basis is highly uncertain. Since the Company’s products are presently manufactured in China by a related party, any changes in the outbreak in China and any changes in the Chinese government’s policy may affect the Company’s supplier’s operations which could affect its ability to manufacture and deliver product in a timely manner.

Supply Chain Risks

One of effects of the COVID-19 has been delays resulting from supply chain issues, which relate to the difficulty that companies have in having their products manufactured, shipped to the country of destination, and delivered from the port of entry to the customer’s location. As the port delays have significantly decreased, the Company does not believe that the supply chain issues that affected its operations are currently affecting the Company. The Company cannot assure you that delays will not affect its business in the future.

In 2022, a slowdown in the delivery of components to Shenzhen Yi Jia resulting from supply chain slowdowns as a result of the effects of mainland China’s COVID policy resulted in an increase in cost of revenue during the three and six months ended December 31, 2022. The Company cannot assure you that it will not suffer from a chip shortage or that the effects of China’s COVID policy will not affect Shenzhen Yi Jia’s ability or the ability of its suppliers to delivery products in a timely manner.

Market and Economic Conditions

In recent years, the United States and other markets have experienced cyclical or episodic downturns, and worldwide economic conditions remain uncertain, including, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hamas and Israel war, instability in the U.S. and global banking systems, rising fuel prices, increasing interest rates or foreign exchange rates and increased inflation and the possibility of a recession. A significant downturn in economic conditions may affect the market for the Company’s products and its supplier’s ability to provide products on acceptable terms.

The Company cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any future economic slowdown or any subsequent recovery generally, or in any industry. If the conditions in the general economy and the markets in which the Company operates worsen from present levels, its business, financial condition, operating results could be adversely affected.

E-cigarette regulation

Regulation regarding e-cigarette varies across countries, from no regulation to a total ban. The legal status of e-cigarettes is currently pending in many countries. But as e-cigarettes have become more and more popular recently, many countries are considering imposing more stringent law and regulations to regulate this market. Changes in existing law and regulations and the imposition of new laws and regulations in countries and regions that our major customers are located in may adversely affect the Company’s business.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires all Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (“ENDS”) product manufacturers that market products in the United States to submit Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (“PMTAs”) to the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). For ENDS products that were on the U.S. market on August 8, 2016, a PMTA was required to be submitted to the FDA by September 9, 2020; for ENDS products that were not on the U.S. market prior to August 8, 2016, and for which a PMTA was not filed by September 9, 2020, a PMTA issued in response to a PMTA is required before the subject product may enter the U.S. market. The Company has submitted a PMTA filing for one ENDS product, and, under apparent FDA policies, the agency will not enforce the premarket review requirements for that product pending review of its PMTA. However, even with submission of the PMTA application, the FDA may reject the Company’s application and may prevent the Company’s ENDS products from being sold in U.S., which will adversely affect the Company’s business.

Amendments to the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (“PACT”) Act, which became law in 2021, extend the PACT Act to include e-cigarette and all vaping products, and place significant burdens on sellers of vaping products in the United States which may make it difficult to operate profitably in the United States. Because of tighter government regulations, the Company has stopped marketing tobacco vaping products in the United States, as the volume of sales from the one tobacco vaping product which the Company may sell in the United States does not justify the marketing and regulatory costs involved.

In the United States, cannabis vaping products are governed by state laws, which vary from state to state. Most states do not permit the adult recreational use of cannabis, and no states permit the sale of recreational cannabis products to minors. As a result of the reduced revenue to states resulting from the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, states may seek to raise revenue by permitting and taxing the use of cannabis products. The Company cannot predict what action states will take or the nature and amount of taxes they may impose. However, to the extent the PACT Act applies to cannabis products that aerosolize liquids, it may be more difficult to sell our products in states that permit the sale of cannabis.

However, cannabis and its derivatives containing more than 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol on a dry weight basis remain Schedule I controlled substances under U.S. federal law, meaning that federal law generally prohibits their manufacture and distribution. United States federal law also deems it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, transport in interstate commerce, import, or export “drug paraphernalia,” which includes “any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance” the possession of which federal law prohibits, including Schedule I “marijuana.” Limited exemptions exist, most notably when state or local law authorizes these items’ manufacture, possession, or distribution.

The European Commission issued the Tobacco Products Directive (the “TPD”), which became effective on May 19, 2014 and became applicable in the European Union member states on May 20, 2016. The TPD regulates e-cigarettes on the packaging, labelling and ingredients of the products on the European Union market, the creation of smoke-free environments, tax measures and activities against illegal trade and anti-smoke campaigns. Member states of the European Union are required to ensure that advertisements for any tobacco related product are prohibited, and no promotion shall be made as to those devices with an intention to promote e-cigarettes. For the e-cigarettes released after May 20, 2016, TPD requires e-cigarette manufacturers to submit product sales applications to the regulatory market six months in advance, and ensure their products can meet the TPD requirements before they can be released. The Company has complied with TPD requirement for all its tobacco products sold in Europe.

The sale of cannabis vaping products is illegal in the European Union and the United Kingdom.