Background and Going Concern Uncertainty	12 Months Ended
Apr. 30, 2024
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Background and Going Concern Uncertainty	(1) Background and Going Concern Uncertainty *(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. The Company provides ocean data collection and reporting, marine power, offshore communications and Domain Awareness Systems (“MDA” or “MDAS”) products, integrated solutions, and consulting services. The Company’s solutions focus on three major service areas: Data as a Service (“DaaS”), which includes data collected by Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V®) autonomous vehicles or PowerBuoy® product lines; Robotics as a Service (“RaaS”), which provides a lower cost subscription model for customers to access use of WAM-V’s®; and Power as a Service (“PaaS”), which includes PowerBuoy® products. The Company offers products and services to a wide-range of customers, including those in government and offshore energy, oil and gas, construction, wind power and other industries. The Company is involved in the entire life cycle of product development, from product design through assembly, testing, deployment, maintenance and upgrades, while working closely with partners across the supply chain. The Company’s solutions are based on technologies that enable autonomous, zero or low carbon emitting, and cost effective data collection, analysis, transportation, cooperation with other assets such as aerial drones, and communication. The Company’s solutions are primarily suited to ocean and other offshore environments, and support generation of actionable intelligence on a standalone basis or working with other data sources. The Company then channels the information it collects, and other communications, through control equipment linked to edge computing and cloud hosting environments. The Company’s goal is to generate most revenue from the sale or lease of products and solutions. The Company expects to continue having net cash outflows until it can generate positive cash flow from the commercialization of products. *(b) Going Concern Uncertainty* For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, and the fiscal year ended April 30, 2023, the Company incurred net losses of approximately $27.5 million and $26.3 million, respectively, and used cash in operating activities of approximately $29.8 million and $21.7 million, respectively. In addition, the Company has continued to make investments towards building inventory, supporting order backlog and future growth. The Company has incurred expenses of approximately $3.9million for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, related to litigation with Paragon Technologies, Inc. (see Note 15) and preparation for its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders which took place on February 28, 2024. These expenses are a direct result of the Paragon litigation and were not incurred in the prior year. These expenses could continue into the fiscal year 2025 as this litigation continues. The Company’s future results of operations involve significant risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and could cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, performance of its products, its ability to market and commercialize its products and new products that it may develop, access to capital, technology development, scalability of technology and production, ability to attract and retain key personnel, concentration of customers and suppliers, pending or threatened litigation (including recent litigation noted above), and deployment risks and integration of acquisitions. On March 21, 2024, the Company entered into an At-the-Market Offering Agreement with AGP with an aggregate offering price of up to $7,000,000 (the “2023 ATM Facility”). As of April 30, 2024, the Company had received proceeds of approximately $0.5 million under the 2023 ATM Facility. Subsequent to fiscal year end 2024 and through the date of filing management obtained additional capital financing of approximately $6.2 million under the 2023 ATM Facility. The Company’s current cash balance may not be sufficient to fund its planned expenditures through twelve months from the filing date of the Form 10-K. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the Company’s operations in the future and/or obtaining the necessary financing to meet its obligations and repay its liabilities arising from normal business operations when they become due. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a basis which assumes the Company is a going concern and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result from any uncertainty related to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Such adjustments could be material.

Background and Going Concern Uncertainty

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2024

Background and Going Concern Uncertainty

(1) Background and Going Concern Uncertainty

(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. The Company provides ocean data collection and reporting, marine power, offshore communications and Domain Awareness Systems (“MDA” or “MDAS”) products, integrated solutions, and consulting services. The Company’s solutions focus on three major service areas: Data as a Service (“DaaS”), which includes data collected by Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V®) autonomous vehicles or PowerBuoy® product lines; Robotics as a Service (“RaaS”), which provides a lower cost subscription model for customers to access use of WAM-V’s®; and Power as a Service (“PaaS”), which includes PowerBuoy® products. The Company offers products and services to a wide-range of customers, including those in government and offshore energy, oil and gas, construction, wind power and other industries. The Company is involved in the entire life cycle of product development, from product design through assembly, testing, deployment, maintenance and upgrades, while working closely with partners across the supply chain. The Company’s solutions are based on technologies that enable autonomous, zero or low carbon emitting, and cost effective data collection, analysis, transportation, cooperation with other assets such as aerial drones, and communication. The Company’s solutions are primarily suited to ocean and other offshore environments, and support generation of actionable intelligence on a standalone basis or working with other data sources. The Company then channels the information it collects, and other communications, through control equipment linked to edge computing and cloud hosting environments. The Company’s goal is to generate most revenue from the sale or lease of products and solutions. The Company expects to continue having net cash outflows until it can generate positive cash flow from the commercialization of products.

(b) Going Concern Uncertainty

For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, and the fiscal year ended April 30, 2023, the Company incurred net losses of approximately $27.5 million and $26.3 million, respectively, and used cash in operating activities of approximately $29.8 million and $21.7 million, respectively. In addition, the Company has continued to make investments towards building inventory, supporting order backlog and future growth.

The Company has incurred expenses of approximately $3.9million for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, related to litigation with Paragon Technologies, Inc. (see Note 15) and preparation for its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders which took place on February 28, 2024. These expenses are a direct result of the Paragon litigation and were not incurred in the prior year. These expenses could continue into the fiscal year 2025 as this litigation continues.

The Company’s future results of operations involve significant risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect the Company’s future operating results and could cause actual results to vary materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, performance of its products, its ability to market and commercialize its products and new products that it may develop, access to capital, technology development, scalability of technology and production, ability to attract and retain key personnel, concentration of customers and suppliers, pending or threatened litigation (including recent litigation noted above), and deployment risks and integration of acquisitions.

On March 21, 2024, the Company entered into an At-the-Market Offering Agreement with AGP with an aggregate offering price of up to $7,000,000 (the “2023 ATM Facility”). As of April 30, 2024, the Company had received proceeds of approximately $0.5 million under the 2023 ATM Facility.

Subsequent to fiscal year end 2024 and through the date of filing management obtained additional capital financing of approximately $6.2 million under the 2023 ATM Facility. The Company’s current cash balance may not be sufficient to fund its planned expenditures through twelve months from the filing date of the Form 10-K. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the Company’s operations in the future and/or obtaining the necessary financing to meet its obligations and repay its liabilities arising from normal business operations when they become due. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a basis which assumes the Company is a going concern and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result from any uncertainty related to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Such adjustments could be material.