SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of estimates

Use of estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.

Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Trust Account

Trust Account

Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, $117,300,000 ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and certain of the proceeds of the Private Placement was held in a trust account (“Trust Account”) located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), which will be invested only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption

Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption

The Company accounts for its shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable shares of common stock (including shares of common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, shares are classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A Common Stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events.

On December 31, 2022, there are 585,275 shares of Class A Common Stock related to the Private Placement Unit (Note 8) outstanding, which are not subject to redemption, and 11,500,000 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding, which are subject to possible redemption.

If it is probable that the equity instrument will become redeemable, the Company has the option to either accrete changes in the redemption value over the period from the date of issuance (or from the date that it becomes probable that the instrument will become redeemable, if later) to the earliest redemption date of the instrument or to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. The Company has elected to recognize the changes immediately. The accretion or remeasurement is treated as a deemed dividend (i.e., a reduction to retained earnings, or in absence of retained earnings, additional paid-in capital).

As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Class A Common Stock reflected on the balance sheet are reconciled in the following table:


	December 31,2022		December 31, 2021
Contingently redeemable Class A Common Stock- Opening Balance	$	117,300,000	$	—
Gross Proceeds		—		115,000,000
Less:
Proceeds allocated to public warrants and private warrants		—		(10,614,500)
Issuance costs related to Class A Common Stock		—		(6,146,054)
Redemption of Class A Common Stock, including interest		(91,909,483)		—
Plus:
Re-measurement of carrying value to redemption value		3,359,593		19,060,554
Contingently redeemable Class A Common Stock- Ending Balance		28,750,110		117,300,000

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation expense in accordance with ASC Topic 718, “Compensation – Stock Compensation” (“ASC 718”). Under ASC 718, stock-based compensation associated with equity-classified awards is measured at fair value upon the grant date and recognized over the requisite service period. To the extent a stock-based award is subject to a performance condition, the amount of expense recorded in a given period, if any, reflects an assessment of the probability of achieving such performance condition, with compensation recognized once the event is deemed probable to occur. The fair value of equity awards has been estimated using a market approach. Forfeitures are recognized as incurred.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company determined that it was not probable that ARC would meet the performance condition as defined in the Introducing Advisor Agreement (See Note 5), and therefore, no stock-based compensation expense was recognized. At December 31, 2022, upon amendment of the Introducing Advisor Agreement, which amended ARC’s performance condition that was concurrently deemed to have been met, ARC was granted 1,378,517 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock at a fair value of $2.05 per share. The Company recorded the resulting $2,825,960 of stock based compensation expense on December 31, 2022, which is included in formation and operating costs in the consolidated statement of operations. The fair value of the Class B common stock was determined by applying a discount to the actively traded Class A shares, which have an observable market price. The discount was calculated as the average discount of the Class B share price (derived) compared to the Class A share price (observable) for SPACs that have actively traded “Rights”.

Fair value of financial instruments

Fair value of financial instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets, primarily due to their short-term nature, except warrant liabilities (See Note 9).

Income Taxes

Income Taxes

The Company complies with the accounting and reporting requirements of ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes,” which requires an asset and liability approach to financial accounting and reporting for income taxes. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are computed for differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities that will result in future taxable or deductible amounts, based on enacted tax laws and rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

ASC Topic 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company’s management determined that the United States is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits, if any, as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2022 and 2021. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals, or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.