Background and Liquidity	12 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Background and Liquidity	(1) Background and Liquidity *(a) Background* Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) was founded in 1984 in New Jersey, commenced business operations in 1994 and re-incorporated in Delaware in 2007. We are a complete solutions provider, controlling the design, manufacturing, sales, installation, operations and maintenance of our products while working closely with partners that provide payloads, integration services, and marine installation capabilities. Our solutions provide distributed offshore power which is persistent, reliable, and economical along with power and communications for remote surface and subsea applications. Our mission and purpose is to utilize our proprietary, state-of-the-art technologies to reduce the global carbon footprint by providing renewable energy solutions for reliable electrical power and, in so doing, drive demand for our products and services, thus realizing positive stockholder returns. Since fiscal 2002, government agencies have accounted for a significant portion of the Company’s revenues. These revenues were largely for the support of product development efforts relating to our technology. Today our goal is to generate the majority of our revenue from the sale or lease of products and solutions, and sales of services to support our business operations. As we continue to develop and commercialize our products and services, we expect to have a net decrease in cash due to the use of cash from operating activities unless and until we achieve positive cash flow from the commercialization of solutions, products and services. *(b) Liquidity/Going Concern* Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going concern. The Company has experienced substantial and recurring losses from operations, which have contributed to an accumulated deficit of $220.1 million at April 30, 2020. At April 30, 2020, the Company had approximately $10.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash on hand. On May 5, 2020 the Company received $0.9 million proceeds from the PPP Loan (see Note 17 to these Consolidated Financial Statements for more information). The Company generated revenues of only $1.7 million and $0.6 million during the years ended April 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Based on the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash balances as of April 30, 2020 plus the subsequent proceeds from the PPP Loan, the Company believes that it will be able to finance its capital requirements and operations into the quarter ending April 30, 2021. The Company will require additional equity and/or debt financing to continue its operations. The Company cannot provide assurances that it will be able to secure additional funding when needed or at all, or, if secured, that such funding would be on favorable terms. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded assets amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Management is evaluating different strategies to obtain the required additional funding for future operations. These strategies may include, but are not limited to, continued pursuit of business opportunities; additional funding from current and /or new investors, officers and directors; borrowings of debt; a public offering of the Company’s equity or debt securities; partnerships and/or collaborations. There can be no assurance that any of these future-funding efforts will be successful. In fiscal 2020 and 2019, the Company has continued to make investments in ongoing product development efforts in anticipation of future growth. The Company’s future results of operations involve significant risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, risks from lack of available financing and insufficient capital, the impact of COVID-19 on its business, performance of its products, its inability to market and commercialize its products and new products that it may develop, technology development, scalability of technology and production, dependence on skills of key personnel, concentration of customers and suppliers, deployment risks and laws, regulations and permitting. In order to continue to implement its business strategy, the Company requires additional equity and/or debt financing. The Company currently has committed sources of equity financing through its At the Market Offering Agreement with A.G.P/Alliance Global Partners (“AGP”) and the Aspire Capital financing (each discussed further below), but the Company cannot be sure that additional equity and/or debt financing will be available to the Company as needed on acceptable terms, or at all. Historically, the Company has raised capital through securities sales in the public capital markets. If sufficient additional financing is not obtained when needed, the Company may be required to further curtail or limit operations, product development costs, and/or selling, general and administrative activities in order to reduce its cash expenditures. This could cause the Company to be unable to execute its business plan, take advantage of future opportunities and may cause it to scale back, delay or eliminate some or all of its product development activities and/or reduce the scope of or cease its operations. On August 13, 2018, the Company entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC (“Aspire Capital”) which provided that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital was committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $10.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period that did not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. The number of shares the Company could issue within the 19.99% is 183,591 shares. Shareholder approval was not needed since the number of common stock offered for sale in the common stock purchase agreement did not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. In consideration for entering into the agreement, the Company issued to Aspire Capital 21,429 shares of our common stock as a commitment fee. The agreement was cancelled on October 24, 2019, and as of that date, the Company had sold 162,162 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of $949,259 at an average price of $5.85 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement. On October 24, 2019, the Company entered into a new common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital which provides that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital is committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $10.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period that does not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. The number of shares the Company can issue within the 19.99% limit is 1,219,010 shares including shares issued as a commitment fee. At the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, held on December 20, 2019, the Company’s stockholders approved an additional 5,400,000 shares to be issued pursuant to the common stock purchase agreement in excess of the 19.99% limit. In consideration for entering into the agreement, the Company issued to Aspire Capital 194,805 shares of our common stock as a commitment fee. As of April 30, 2020, the Company has sold 1,399,205 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of approximately $1.1 million at an average price of $0.82 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement. On April 8, 2019, the Company sold 1,542,000 shares of common stock, which includes the sale of 642,000 shares of the Company’s common stock sold by the Company pursuant to the exercise, in full, of the over-allotment option by the underwriters in a public offering. As part of the public offering, the Company also sold prefunded warrants to purchase up to 3,385,680 shares of common stock and common warrants to purchase up to 4,927,680 shares of our common stock. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering were approximately $15.7 million, after deducting underwriter fees and offering expenses payable by the Company. On January 7, 2019, the Company entered into an At the Market Offering Agreement (“2019 ATM Facility”) with A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, under which the Company may issue and sell to or through AGP, acting as agent and/or principal, shares of the Company’s common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $25 million. Through April 30, 2020, under the 2019 ATM Facility, the Company has issued 5,101,405 shares of its common stock with an aggregate market value of approximately $3.8 million at an average price of $0.74 per share and paid AGP a sales commission of $122,530 related to those shares. The sale of additional equity or convertible securities could result in dilution to stockholders. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of debt securities, these securities could have rights senior to those associated with the Company’s common stock and could contain covenants that would restrict its operations. Financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. If the Company is unable to obtain required financing, it may be required to reduce the scope of its operations, including its planned product development and marketing efforts, which could materially and adversely harm its financial condition and operating results. If the Company is unable to secure additional financing, it may be forced to cease operations. If our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq (see Note 15 – Commitments and Contingencies for more), our ability to raise capital through public offerings of our securities and to finance our operations could be adversely affected. See additional risk factors under “Part I, Item 1A – Risk Factors”. We also believe that delisting would likely result in decreased liquidity and/or increased volatility in our common stock and could harm our business and future prospects. In addition, we believe that, if our common stock is delisted, our stockholders would likely find it more difficult to obtain accurate quotations as to the price of the common stock and it may be more difficult for stockholders to buy or sell our common stock at competitive market prices, or at all.

Background and Liquidity

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2020

(1) Background and Liquidity

(a) Background

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) was founded in 1984 in New Jersey, commenced business operations in 1994 and re-incorporated in Delaware in 2007. We are a complete solutions provider, controlling the design, manufacturing, sales, installation, operations and maintenance of our products while working closely with partners that provide payloads, integration services, and marine installation capabilities. Our solutions provide distributed offshore power which is persistent, reliable, and economical along with power and communications for remote surface and subsea applications. Our mission and purpose is to utilize our proprietary, state-of-the-art technologies to reduce the global carbon footprint by providing renewable energy solutions for reliable electrical power and, in so doing, drive demand for our products and services, thus realizing positive stockholder returns. Since fiscal 2002, government agencies have accounted for a significant portion of the Company’s revenues. These revenues were largely for the support of product development efforts relating to our technology. Today our goal is to generate the majority of our revenue from the sale or lease of products and solutions, and sales of services to support our business operations. As we continue to develop and commercialize our products and services, we expect to have a net decrease in cash due to the use of cash from operating activities unless and until we achieve positive cash flow from the commercialization of solutions, products and services.

(b) Liquidity/Going Concern

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going concern. The Company has experienced substantial and recurring losses from operations, which have contributed to an accumulated deficit of $220.1 million at April 30, 2020. At April 30, 2020, the Company had approximately $10.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash on hand. On May 5, 2020 the Company received $0.9 million proceeds from the PPP Loan (see Note 17 to these Consolidated Financial Statements for more information). The Company generated revenues of only $1.7 million and $0.6 million during the years ended April 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Based on the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash balances as of April 30, 2020 plus the subsequent proceeds from the PPP Loan, the Company believes that it will be able to finance its capital requirements and operations into the quarter ending April 30, 2021. The Company will require additional equity and/or debt financing to continue its operations. The Company cannot provide assurances that it will be able to secure additional funding when needed or at all, or, if secured, that such funding would be on favorable terms. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of recorded assets amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Management is evaluating different strategies to obtain the required additional funding for future operations. These strategies may include, but are not limited to, continued pursuit of business opportunities; additional funding from current and /or new investors, officers and directors; borrowings of debt; a public offering of the Company’s equity or debt securities; partnerships and/or collaborations. There can be no assurance that any of these future-funding efforts will be successful.

In fiscal 2020 and 2019, the Company has continued to make investments in ongoing product development efforts in anticipation of future growth. The Company’s future results of operations involve significant risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, risks from lack of available financing and insufficient capital, the impact of COVID-19 on its business, performance of its products, its inability to market and commercialize its products and new products that it may develop, technology development, scalability of technology and production, dependence on skills of key personnel, concentration of customers and suppliers, deployment risks and laws, regulations and permitting. In order to continue to implement its business strategy, the Company requires additional equity and/or debt financing. The Company currently has committed sources of equity financing through its At the Market Offering Agreement with A.G.P/Alliance Global Partners (“AGP”) and the Aspire Capital financing (each discussed further below), but the Company cannot be sure that additional equity and/or debt financing will be available to the Company as needed on acceptable terms, or at all. Historically, the Company has raised capital through securities sales in the public capital markets. If sufficient additional financing is not obtained when needed, the Company may be required to further curtail or limit operations, product development costs, and/or selling, general and administrative activities in order to reduce its cash expenditures. This could cause the Company to be unable to execute its business plan, take advantage of future opportunities and may cause it to scale back, delay or eliminate some or all of its product development activities and/or reduce the scope of or cease its operations.

On August 13, 2018, the Company entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC (“Aspire Capital”) which provided that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital was committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $10.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period that did not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. The number of shares the Company could issue within the 19.99% is 183,591 shares. Shareholder approval was not needed since the number of common stock offered for sale in the common stock purchase agreement did not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. In consideration for entering into the agreement, the Company issued to Aspire Capital 21,429 shares of our common stock as a commitment fee. The agreement was cancelled on October 24, 2019, and as of that date, the Company had sold 162,162 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of $949,259 at an average price of $5.85 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement.

On October 24, 2019, the Company entered into a new common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital which provides that, subject to certain terms, conditions and limitations, Aspire Capital is committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $10.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock over a 30-month period that does not exceed 19.99% of the outstanding common stock on the date of the agreement. The number of shares the Company can issue within the 19.99% limit is 1,219,010 shares including shares issued as a commitment fee. At the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, held on December 20, 2019, the Company’s stockholders approved an additional 5,400,000 shares to be issued pursuant to the common stock purchase agreement in excess of the 19.99% limit. In consideration for entering into the agreement, the Company issued to Aspire Capital 194,805 shares of our common stock as a commitment fee. As of April 30, 2020, the Company has sold 1,399,205 shares of common stock with an aggregate market value of approximately $1.1 million at an average price of $0.82 per share pursuant to this common stock purchase agreement.

On April 8, 2019, the Company sold 1,542,000 shares of common stock, which includes the sale of 642,000 shares of the Company’s common stock sold by the Company pursuant to the exercise, in full, of the over-allotment option by the underwriters in a public offering. As part of the public offering, the Company also sold prefunded warrants to purchase up to 3,385,680 shares of common stock and common warrants to purchase up to 4,927,680 shares of our common stock. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering were approximately $15.7 million, after deducting underwriter fees and offering expenses payable by the Company.

On January 7, 2019, the Company entered into an At the Market Offering Agreement (“2019 ATM Facility”) with A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, under which the Company may issue and sell to or through AGP, acting as agent and/or principal, shares of the Company’s common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $25 million. Through April 30, 2020, under the 2019 ATM Facility, the Company has issued 5,101,405 shares of its common stock with an aggregate market value of approximately $3.8 million at an average price of $0.74 per share and paid AGP a sales commission of $122,530 related to those shares.

The sale of additional equity or convertible securities could result in dilution to stockholders. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of debt securities, these securities could have rights senior to those associated with the Company’s common stock and could contain covenants that would restrict its operations. Financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. If the Company is unable to obtain required financing, it may be required to reduce the scope of its operations, including its planned product development and marketing efforts, which could materially and adversely harm its financial condition and operating results. If the Company is unable to secure additional financing, it may be forced to cease operations.

If our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq (see Note 15 – Commitments and Contingencies for more), our ability to raise capital through public offerings of our securities and to finance our operations could be adversely affected. See additional risk factors under “Part I, Item 1A – Risk Factors”. We also believe that delisting would likely result in decreased liquidity and/or increased volatility in our common stock and could harm our business and future prospects. In addition, we believe that, if our common stock is delisted, our stockholders would likely find it more difficult to obtain accurate quotations as to the price of the common stock and it may be more difficult for stockholders to buy or sell our common stock at competitive market prices, or at all.