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COMMON STOCK
9 Months Ended 12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Dec. 31, 2024
Equity [Abstract]    
COMMON STOCK

NOTE 4 – COMMON STOCK

 

On July 8, 2024, the Common Stock and warrants began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols “SDST” and “SDSTW”, respectively.

 

Each share of Common Stock is entitled to one vote. The holders of Common Stock are also entitled to receive dividends whenever funds are legally available and when declared by the board of directors (the “Board”), subject to prior rights of the convertible preferred stockholders. Shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet and unaudited condensed consolidated statement of stockholders’ deficit includes shares related to restricted stock that are subject to repurchase.

 

 

The Company is authorized to issue 700,000,000 and 100,000,000 shares, par value of $0.0001 per share, of Common Stock and Preferred stock, respectively. At September 30, 2025, the Company had 8,954,343 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had 4,773,628 shares of common stock, issued and outstanding.

 

Sponsor Earnout Shares

 

As part of the closing of the Business Combination, the Company issued 100,000 shares to Global Partner Sponsor II, LLC (the “Sponsor”). These shares are subject to vesting (or forfeiture) based on achieving certain trading price thresholds following the closing (“Sponsor Earnout Shares”). Fifty percent of the Sponsor Earnout Shares will vest when the VWAP of the Common Stock price equals or exceeds $120.00 per share for a period of 20 trading days in a 30 trading day period, and the remaining fifty percent of the Sponsor Earnout Shares will vest when the VWAP of the Common Stock price equals or exceeds $140.00 per share for a period of 20 trading days in a 30 trading day period. There are no service conditions or any requirement for the participants to provide goods or services in order to vest in the Sponsor Earnout Shares. Accordingly, we determined that the Sponsor Earnout Shares are not within the scope of ASC 718. The accounting for the Sponsor Earnout Shares was evaluated under ASC Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity”, and ASC Subtopic 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity”, to determine if the Sponsor Earnout Shares should be classified as a liability or within equity. As part of the analysis, it was determined that the Sponsor Earnout Shares subject to vesting are freestanding from other shares of Combined Company Common Stock held by the Sponsor and do not meet the criteria in ASC 815-40 to be considered indexed to the Combined Company Common Stock, due to the settlement provisions including a change in control component which could impact the number of the Sponsor Earnout Shares are ultimately settled for, which is not an input to a fixed-for-fixed option pricing model. As a result, the Sponsor Earnout Shares were classified as a liability. Subsequent changes in the fair value of the Sponsor Earnout shares will be reflected in the consolidated statement of operations.

 

Upon the occurrence of a change in control, any remaining unvested Sponsor Earnout Shares become vested. Unvested Sponsor Earnout Shares will be forfeited if vesting does not occur prior to the eighth anniversary of the Closing Date. The Company assesses the fair value of expected earnout consideration at each reporting period using the Monte Carlo Method, which is consistent with the initial measurement of the expected earnout consideration. The Company did not perform a fair valuation of expected earnout consideration using the Monte Carlo method as of September 30, 2025 as the Company determined that change in fair value is deemed immaterial to the fair value of earnout consideration. As at September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the fair value of Sponsor Earnout Shares amounted to $4,700 and $532,700, respectively.

 

The Sponsor Earnout Shares were valued using the following assumptions under the Monte Carlo Model that assumes optimal exercise of the Company’s redemption option at the earliest possible date:

 

   March 31, 2025   December 31, 2024 
Market price of public stock  $4.716   $35.8 
Expected term (years)   7.27 years    7.52 years 
Volatility   75.00%   65.00%
Risk-free interest rate   4.10%   4.50%
Dividend rate   0.00%   0.00%

 

 

Common Stock Purchase Agreement

 

On October 7, 2024, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement and a Registration Rights Agreement (collectively referred to as the “Purchase Agreement”) with B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the Company has the right, in its sole discretion, to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC up to the lesser of (i) $50.0 million of newly issued shares of the Company’s common stock, and (ii) the Exchange Cap (as defined below) (subject to certain conditions and limitations), from time to time during the 36-month term of the Purchase Agreement. Under the applicable Nasdaq rules, the Company may not issue to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC under the Purchase Agreement more than 956,970 shares of common stock, which number of shares is equal to 19.99% of the common shares outstanding immediately prior to the execution of the Purchase Agreement unless certain exceptions are met (the “Exchange Cap”). The purchase price of the shares of common stock will be determined by reference to the VWAP of the common stock during the applicable purchase date, less a fixed 3% discount to such VWAP. Additionally, B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC cannot acquire shares that would result in its beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% of Stardust Power’s outstanding shares. The Exchange Cap does not apply if the average share price exceeds $77.02 per share but will remain in place if this threshold is not met and stockholder approval is not obtained. The Company evaluated this common stock purchase agreement to determine whether they should be accounted for considering the guidance in ASC 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASC 815-40”) and concluded that it is an equity-linked contract that does not qualify for equity classification, and therefore requires fair value accounting as a derivative. The Company has analyzed the terms of the freestanding purchased put right and has concluded that it had insignificant value as of December 31, 2024, and September 30, 2025.

 

Upon executing the Purchase Agreement and Registration Rights Agreement, the Company also issued 6,369 shares of Common Stock called Commitment Shares to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC as a consideration for this agreement. These shares, valued at $78.50 each (based on Nasdaq’s closing price on October 4, 2024), represent 1.0% of B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s $50 million purchase commitment under the agreement. The cost of this on the effective date of the purchase agreement was $500,000 and included as a component of finance charges in the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024. Regarding the aforementioned commitment shares, the Purchase Agreement specifies the following:

 

a) If B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s resale of the Commitment Shares yields less than $500,000 by specified dates, the Company may need to pay up to $500,000 in cash (the “make-whole obligation”).

 

b) No cash payment will be made if B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s net proceeds from reselling the shares meet or exceed $500,000.

 

c) If B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s resale proceeds exceed $500,000, it will pay the Company 50% of the amount above $500,000.

 

Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, if the aggregate proceeds received by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from its resale of the Commitment Shares is less than $500,000 then, upon notice by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC, the Company must pay the difference between $500,000, and the aggregate proceeds received by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from its resale of the Commitment Shares. On December 31, 2024, and September 30, 2025, the fair market value of the Commitment Shares was $227,989 and $19,742 respectively. Therefore, the Company’s make-whole obligation was $272,011 and $ 480,258 as of December 31, 2024, and September 30, 2025, respectively, and this amount was recorded in Accrued liabilities and other current liabilities in the accompanying audited condensed consolidated balance sheet as at December 31, 2024 and unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as at September 30, 2025, respectively. The change in the fair value of the make-whole obligation of $(7,196) and $ 208,247 is recorded as a component of finance charges in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively.

 

The Company agreed to reimburse B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC an amount of $75,000 for legal fees related to the Purchase and Registration Rights Agreements, with $25,000 paid upfront and $50,000 withheld by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from 50% of the purchase price of shares acquired in initial and subsequent purchases under the agreement until the full amount is covered. Additionally, the Company will reimburse up to $5,000 per fiscal quarter for B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s legal fees related to due diligence and related matters.

 

The Company issued 505,271 shares of Common Stock during the nine months ended September 30, 2025, aggregating to net proceeds of $ 1,598,008 under the Common Stock Purchase Agreement.

 

 

Public Offering and Warrant Inducement

 

On January 27, 2025, the Company consummated a public offering of 479,200 shares of Common Stock and accompanying warrants to purchase up to 479,200 shares of Common Stock at a public offering price of $12.00 per share and warrant, generating aggregate gross proceeds of $5,750,400 before offering expenses of $1,159,331. The common stock purchase warrants, exercisable at $13.00 per share and expiring five years from issuance, were issued under an effective registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-284298) filed by the Company with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) that became effective on January 23, 2025. The Company evaluated the common stock purchase warrants issued under this public offering to determine whether they should be accounted for considering the guidance in ASC 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASC 815-40”) and concluded that the warrants are freestanding and are indexed to the Company’s own stock and are classified as equity.

 

On March 16, 2025, the Company entered into a letter agreement (the “Inducement Letter”) with a warrant holder (the “Exercising Holder”) providing for the immediate cash exercise of outstanding warrants to purchase 479,200 shares of the Company’s Common Stock at a reduced exercise price of $6.20 per share. In order to further incentivize the early exercise of these outstanding warrants, the Company also agreed to issue additional common stock purchase warrants (the “Inducement Warrants”) to purchase up to 958,400 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $7.00 per share, subject to shareholder approval and Nasdaq rules. Pursuant to this Inducement Letter, the warrant holders exercised the outstanding warrants on March 18, 2025, and the Company received gross proceeds of $2,971,040 before cash offering expenses of $172,841. The Company used the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes. In connection with the Inducement Letter, the Company entered into a financial advisory services agreement with the placement agent, pursuant to which the Company agreed to pay a cash fee of 4% of the cash proceeds raised in the offering, in addition to reimbursement for certain expenses. No exercises of the Inducement Warrants have occurred as of the date on which these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements were available to be issued.

 

The Company evaluated the common stock purchase warrants issued under this inducement offer to determine whether they should be accounted for considering the guidance in ASC 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASC 815-40”) and concluded that the warrants are freestanding and are indexed to the Company’s own stock and are classified as equity. The Company recognized the incremental fair value due to effect of the modification of approximately $2,108,480 as an equity issuance cost and charged the same against proceeds. The incremental fair value of the warrants resulting from the modification (comprising of decrease in exercise price from $13.00 to $6.20 per share and the issue of additional 9,584,000 warrants) was measured as the excess of the fair value of the modified warrants over the fair value of the original warrants immediately before modification. The Company estimated the fair value of the warrants immediately before the modification and the fair value of the New Inducement Warrants after the modification using the Black-Scholes valuation model with an expected term of 5.00 years, expected volatility of 75%, dividend yield of 0%, and risk-free interest rate of 4.11%.

 

Subsequent to the quarter end, the Company entered into a Warrant Exchange Agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with a certain institutional investor (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the Exchange Agreement, the Investor agreed to irrevocably exchange all of its warrants to purchase shares of the Common stock, originally issued on March 16, 2025, representing the right to purchase an aggregate of 958,400 shares of Common Stock (the “Warrant Shares”), for newly issued shares of Common Stock at an exchange ratio of 1.31 Warrant Shares for 1 share of Common Stock, resulting in the issuance to the Investor of 730,689 shares of Common Stock at closing.

 

On June 18, 2025, the Company consummated a public offering of 2,150,000 shares of Common Stock at a public offering price of $2.00 per share, generating aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $4,300,000 before underwriting discounts and other offering expenses. The offering was conducted pursuant to a firm commitment underwriting agreement entered into with the underwriters, on June 17, 2025. The offering was made under an effective registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-287939), which was declared effective by the SEC on June 16, 2025. In connection with the offering, the Company granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 322,500 shares of Common Stock to cover over-allotments, if any. On June 25, 2025, the underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option, purchasing an additional 110,000 shares at the same public offering price, resulting in additional gross proceeds of approximately $220,000. After giving effect to the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, the aggregate gross proceeds from the offering increased to approximately $4,520,000, before deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses of $574,325. The Company used the net proceeds from the offering to support the completion of the Front End Loading 3 (“FEL-3”) study related to its proposed lithium processing facility in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and for general working capital purposes.

 

 

KMX Licensing Agreement

 

On February 7, 2025 (the “Effective Date”), the Company executed an exclusive license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with KMX Technologies, Inc. a Delaware corporation. Under the terms of the License Agreement, KMX agreed to irrevocably license to the Company the use of KMX’s vacuum membrane distillation technology (“VMD Technology”) and associated processes and systems (including units incorporating the VMD Technology (“KMX VMD Units”)) for the purpose of the Company’s use of the technology in its refining and upstream operations. Among other obligations set forth in the License Agreement, the Company shall be required to exclusively purchase all KMX VMD Units from the Licensor during the term of the License Agreement on the terms and conditions set forth therein. The License Agreement grants the Company the exclusive right to sub license, use, market, sell and operate KMX’s VMD Technology across the United States, Canada and select international markets. As a consideration for this license, the Company agreed to pay KMX a royalty comprised of 50,000 shares of Company Common Stock. The securities are being offered and sold by the Company pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act provided by Section 4(a)(2) and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, as a transaction not involving a public offering.

 

As of the effective date, the license did not meet the recognition criteria for an intangible asset under U.S. GAAP, as it did not provide probable future economic benefits independent of the KMX VMD Units, which are expected to be acquired only upon the commencement of operations at the Company’s planned facility. Accordingly, the Company initially recognized a liability of $343,000 as other long-term liabilities, with a corresponding debit recorded as other long-term assets on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2025. On April 24, 2025, the Company issued the 50,000 shares of Common Stock to KMX in accordance with the terms of the License Agreement. As a result, the liability has been settled and the corresponding amounts were credited to equity and APIC as of September 30, 2025.

 

Private Placement Agreement

 

On December 31, 2024, the Company entered into binding term sheets with certain investors pursuant to which the Company has agreed to sell, and the Investors have agreed to purchase, Company securities for an aggregate amount of $550,000 (the “Private Placement”). The proceeds of the Private Placement are expected to be used by the Company for capital expenditures, working capital and general corporate purposes. The Investors have agreed to purchase, and the Company has agreed to issue and sell, up to $550,000 in shares of Common Stock at a price equal to 95% of the closing bid price of the Common Stock on the last trading day prior to the closing date for the Private Placement. In addition, each Investor will receive warrants representing the right, exercisable within five years of the closing date, to purchase up to 50% of the shares of Common Stock purchased by such Investor in the Private Placement, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $115.00. The Company received proceeds of $425,000 in December 2024 and additional proceeds of $125,000 in January 2025 from investors. The Company has accounted for this as Advance from PIPE investor for shares and warrants to be issued based on purchase agreement to be entered on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2024. On April 24, 2025, the Company issued 12,850 shares of Common Stock and 64,251 Warrants to the investors.

 

NOTE 6 – COMMON STOCK

 

On July 8, 2024, the Common Stock and warrants began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols “SDST” and “SDSTW”, respectively.

 

Each share of Common Stock is entitled to one vote. The holders of Common Stock are also entitled to receive dividends whenever funds are legally available and when declared by the board of directors (the “Board”), subject to prior rights of the convertible preferred stockholders. Shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on the consolidated balance sheet and consolidated statement of stockholders’ deficit includes shares related to restricted stock that are subject to repurchase.

 

The Company is authorized to issue 700,000,000 and 100,000,000 shares, par value of $0.0001 per share, of Common Stock and Preferred stock, respectively. At December 31, 2024, the Company had 4,773,628 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding. Not reflected in the shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024, is approximately 61,862 shares of Common Stock related to restricted stock units that vested in 2024 but have not yet been settled and issued. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had 4,149,977 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, issued and outstanding.

 

Common Stock Purchase Agreement

 

On October 7, 2024, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement and a Registration Rights Agreement (collectively referred to as the “Purchase Agreement”) with B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the Company has the right, in its sole discretion, to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC up to the lesser of (i) $50.0 million of newly issued shares of the Company’s common stock, and (ii) the Exchange Cap (as defined below) (subject to certain conditions and limitations), from time to time during the 36-month term of the Purchase Agreement. Under the applicable NASDAQ rules, the Company may not issue to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC under the Purchase Agreement more than 956,970 shares of common stock, which number of shares is equal to 19.99% of the common shares outstanding immediately prior to the execution of the Purchase Agreement unless certain exceptions are met (the “Exchange Cap”). The purchase price of the shares of common stock will be determined by reference to the VWAP of the common stock during the applicable purchase date, less a fixed 3% discount to such VWAP. Additionally, B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC cannot acquire shares that would result in its beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% of Stardust Power’s outstanding shares. The Exchange Cap does not apply if the average share price exceeds $77.020 per share but will remain in place if this threshold is not met and stockholder approval is not obtained. The Company evaluated this common stock purchase agreement to determine whether they should be accounted for considering the guidance in ASC 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASC 815-40”) and concluded that it is an equity-linked contract that does not qualify for equity classification, and therefore requires fair value accounting as a derivative. The Company has analyzed the terms of the freestanding purchased put right and has concluded that it had insignificant value as of December 31, 2024.

 

Upon executing the Purchase Agreement and Registration Rights Agreement, the Company also issued 6,369 shares of Common Stock called Commitment Shares to B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC as a consideration for this agreement. These shares, valued at $78.5 each (based on Nasdaq’s closing price on October 4, 2024), represent 1.0% of B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s $50 million purchase commitment under the agreement. The cost of this on the effective date of the purchase agreement was $500,000 and is a component of finance charges in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Regarding the aforementioned commitment shares, the Purchase agreement specifies the following:

 

a)If B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s resale of the Commitment Shares yields less than $500,000 by specified dates, the Company may need to pay up to $500,000 in cash (“make-whole” payment)
b)No cash payment will be made if B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s net proceeds from reselling the shares meet or exceed $500,000.
c)If B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s resale proceeds exceed $500,000, it will pay the Company 50% of the amount above $500,000.

 

Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, if the aggregate proceeds received by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from its resale of the Commitment Shares is less than $500,000 then, upon notice by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC, the Company must pay the difference between $500,000, and the aggregate proceeds received by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from its resale of the Commitment Shares. On December 31, 2024, the fair market value of the Commitment Shares was $227,989. Therefore, the Company’s make-whole obligation was $272,011, and this amount was recorded in Accrued expenses and other current liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as at December 31, 2024. The change in the fair value of the make-whole obligation is recorded as a component of finance charges in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2024. 

 

The Company agreed to reimburse B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC an amount of $75,000 for legal fees related to the Purchase and Registration Rights Agreements, with $25,000 paid upfront and $50,000 withheld by B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC from 50% of the purchase price of shares acquired in initial and subsequent purchases under the agreement until the full amount is covered. If the $50,000 is not fully withheld by December 31, 2024, or upon agreement termination, the Company must pay the remaining balance in cash. Additionally, the Company will reimburse up to $5,000 per fiscal quarter for B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC’s legal fees related to due diligence and related matters.

 

The Company issued 5,582 shares of Common Stock through December 31, 2024, aggregating to net proceeds of $260,927 under the Common Stock Purchase Agreement.

 

 

Stardust Power Inc. and Subsidiaries

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS