UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ______________to ______________

Commission File Number 001-40096

FTAC ATHENA ACQUISITION CORP.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

(212) 701-9555

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirement for the past 90 days. Yes ☒  No ☐ 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☒  No ☐

As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting securities held by non-affiliates was approximately $246.5 million, based on the number of shares held by non-affiliates and the last reported sales price of the registrant’s Class A ordinary shares as of that date.

As of March 17, 2022, there were 25,660,000 Class A ordinary shares and 8,553,333 Class B ordinary shares of the registrant issued and outstanding. 

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Unless otherwise provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, references to:

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained in this Annual Report, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance, and any other statements of a future or forward-looking nature, constitute “forward-looking statements” for the purposes of federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report may include, for example, statements about:

The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors”. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Risk Factor Summary

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section title “Risk Factors,” that represent challenges that we face in connection with the successful implementation of our strategy. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may adversely affect our ability to effect a business combination, and may have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

PART I

Item 1. BUSINESS

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated in November 2020 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination, involving one or more businesses or assets, which we refer to as our initial business combination. We have generated no operating revenues to date and we do not expect that we will generate operating revenues until we consummate our initial business combination.

We have concentrated our efforts on identifying technology and financial services technology, or fintech, companies that power transformation and innovation. Our expertise lends itself well to pursuing platforms related to the financial services, real estate, insurance, ecommerce and related technology infrastructure sectors, but we are not required to complete our initial business combination with a business in these industries and, as a result, we may pursue a business combination outside of these industries. We expect to pursue global businesses but may also acquire a domestic company. We do not intend to acquire companies that have speculative business plans or are excessively leveraged.

At December 31, 2021, we had not commenced any operations. All activity through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation and its initial public offering, and identifying a target company for our initial business combination.

The registration statement for our initial public offering was declared effective on February 22, 2021. On February 25, 2021, we consummated the initial public offering of 25,000,000 units, which included the partial exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 3,000,000 units, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000.  

Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 660,000 placement units at a price of $10.00 per unit in a private placement to our sponsor and Cantor Fitzgerald, generating gross proceeds of $6,600,000.  

Following the closing of the initial public offering on February 25, 2021, an aggregate amount of $250,000,000 ($10.00 per unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the units in the initial public offering and the placement units was placed in a trust account and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the consummation of a business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination by February 25, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) the distribution of the trust account, if we are unable to complete a business combination within the combination period or upon any earlier liquidation of us. 

Business Combination Agreement

As previously announced, on August 3, 2021, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) with Pico Quantitative Trading Holdings LLC (“Pico”).

On February 24, 2022, the Business Combination Agreement was terminated (the “Termination”).

As a result of the Termination, the Business Combination Agreement will be of no further force and effect, and certain transaction agreements entered into in connection with the Business Combination Agreement, including, but not limited to, (i) the Sponsor Share Restriction Agreement, dated as of August 3, 2021, by and among the Company, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC, and FTAC Athena Advisors, LLC, (ii) the Support Agreement, dated as of August 3, 2021, by and among the Company, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC, FTAC Athena Advisors, LLC, Pico and the members of Pico party thereto, and (iii) the PIPE Subscription Agreements, each dated August 3, 2021, between the Company and certain investors, will automatically either be terminated in accordance with their terms or be of no further force and effect. Neither party will be required to pay the other a termination fee as a result of the Termination.

Business Combination Structure

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination to acquire 100% of the equity interest or assets of the target business or businesses.

NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects.

Business Strategy

We will seek to capitalize on the significant technology, financial services, financial technology and banking experience and contacts of Betsy Z. Cohen, our Chairman of the Board, and Amanda J. Abrams, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and our board of directors, to identify, evaluate and acquire a technology or fintech business, although we may pursue a business combination outside of those industries. If we elect to pursue an investment outside of those industries, our management’s expertise related to those industries may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report regarding that industry might not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire.

Members of our board of directors and management team have also served as executive officers, directors and/or advisors of FinTech Acquisition Corp., or FinTech I, a former blank check company which raised $100.0 million in its initial public offering in February 2015 and completed its initial business combination when it acquired FTS Holding Corporation in July 2016, which we refer to as the FinTech I Acquisition, in connection with which FinTech I changed its name to CardConnect Corp. The common stock of CardConnect Corp. was traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “CCN” until CardConnect Corp. was acquired by First Data Corporation in July 2017. Members of our board of directors and management team have also served as executive officers, directors and/or advisors of FinTech Acquisition Corp. II, or FinTech II, a blank check company which raised $175.0 million in its initial public offering in January 2017 and completed its initial business combination when it acquired Intermex Holdings II in July 2018, which we refer to as the FinTech II Acquisition, in connection with which FinTech II changed its name to International Money Express, Inc. Members of our board of directors and management team have also served as executive officers, directors and/or advisors of FinTech Acquisition Corp. III, or FinTech III, a blank check company which raised $345.0 million in its initial public offering in November 2018 and completed its initial business combination with Paya, Inc. in October 2020, which we refer to as the FinTech III Acquisition. Members of our board of directors and management team have also served as executive officers, directors and/or advisorss of FinTech Acquisition Corp. IV, or FinTech IV, a blank check company which raised $230.0 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and completed its initial business combination with PWP Holdings LP, in June 2021, which we refer to as the FinTech IV Acquisition. Members of our board of directors and management team also served as executive officers, directors and/or advisors of FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., or FTAC Olympus, a blank check company which raised $754.7 million in its initial public offering in August 2020 and completed its initial business combination with Payoneer Inc. in June 2021, which we refer to as the FTAC Olympus Acquisition. Additionally, members of our board of directors and management team also currently serve as executive officers, directors and/or advisors of: FinTech Acquisition Corp. V (NASDAQ: FTCV), or FinTech V, a blank check company which raised $250.0 million in its initial public offering in December 2020; FinTech Acquisition Corp. VI (NASDAQ: FTVI), or FinTech VI, a blank check company which raised $250.0 million in its initial public offering in June 2021; FTAC Hera Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: HERA), or FTAC Hera, a blank check company which raised approximately $851 million in its initial public offering in March 2021; and FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: EMLD), or FTAC Emerald, a blank check company which raised $220 million in its initial public offering in December 2021. We believe that potential sellers of target businesses will view the fact that members of our board of directors and management team have successfully closed multiple business combinations with vehicles similar to our company as a positive factor in considering whether or not to enter into a business combination with us. However, past performance is not a guarantee of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate.

Ms. Cohen, our Chairman, and Ms. Abrams, our President and Chief Executive Officer, have extensive experience in the technology and financial services industries, generally, and the financial technology industry, in particular, as well as extensive experience in operating technology and financial services companies in a public company environment.

Ms. Cohen, with over 42 years of experience, was a founder of Bancorp and served as Bancorp’s Chief Executive Officer from September 2000 through December 2014. Ms. Cohen served as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech IV until the FinTech IV Acquisition, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of FTAC Olympus until the FTAC Olympus Acquisition, as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech III until the FinTech III Acquisition, as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech II until the FinTech II Acquisition, and also served as the Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech I until the Fintech I Acquisition and, following the FinTech I Acquisition, served on the post-business combination board of directors until May 2017. She is currently the Chairman of the Board of FinTech V, FinTech VI, FTAC Hera and FTAC Emerald. Ms. Cohen is also a founder of RAIT and was its Chairman until December 2010 and its Chief Executive Officer until December 2006. She was also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of JeffBanks and its subsidiary banks from 1974 until the merger of JeffBanks into Hudson United Bancorp in 1999.

Ms. Abrams is currently the Chief Executive Officer of FinTech Masala, LLC, the parent company of the sponsor of FinTech II, FinTech III, FinTech IV, FinTech V and FinTech VI. Ms. Abrams also serves as a Managing Director of Cohen & Company, Inc. (NYSE American: COHN), a financial services company with approximately $2.24 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021, whose subsidiaries sponsored Insurance Acquisition Corp., or INSU I, a blank check company that raised approximately $150.7 million in its initial public offering in March 2019 and completed its initial business combination when it merged with affiliates of Shift Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFT) in October 2020; INSU Acquisition Corp. II, a blank check company that raised $230 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and completed its initial business combination when it merged with Metromile, Inc. in February 2021 (NASDAQ: MILE), and INSU Acquisition Corp. III, a blank check company that raised $250 million in its initial public offering in December 2020. Since October 2020, Ms. Abrams has served as a board observer for Shift Technologies following the merger with INSU I. Previously, she served as the General Counsel of CardConnect Corp., a provider of integrated payment processing solutions to merchants, following the company’s merger with FinTech I, until CardConnect’s acquisition by First Data Corp. Prior to that Ms. Abrams was with Ledgewood, PC, where she advised public and private companies in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters.

We have identified the following criteria that we intend to use in evaluating business transaction opportunities. We expect that no individual criterion will entirely determine a decision to pursue a particular opportunity. Further, any particular business transaction opportunity which we ultimately determine to pursue may not meet one or more of these criteria:

Competitive Strengths

We believe we have the following competitive strengths:

Effecting Our Initial Business Combination

General

We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations until our initial business combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the initial public offering and the private placement, our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination.

If we pay for our initial business combination using shares or debt securities, or we do not use all of the funds released from the trust account for payment of the purchase price in connection with our business combination or for redemptions or purchases of our ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of acquired businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in consummating our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

While we have not contacted any of the prospective target businesses that FinTech I, FinTech II, FinTech III, FinTech IV, FTAC Olympus, INSU I or INSU II had considered and rejected while searching for target businesses to acquire, we may do so in the future if we become aware that the valuations, operations, profits or prospects of such target business, or the benefits of any potential transaction with such target business, would be attractive. Accordingly, there is no current basis for shareholders to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

Nasdaq rules require that our initial business combination be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our initial business combination must also be approved by a majority of our independent directors in accordance with NASDAQ rules. However, if our securities are not listed on Nasdaq or another securities exchange, we will no longer be subject to that requirement.

We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities to finance our initial business combination, and we may effectuate an initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would consummate such financing only simultaneously with the consummation of our business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law or NASDAQ, we would seek shareholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.

Sources of Acquisition Candidates

We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers, attorneys, accountants, venture capital funds, private equity funds, leveraged buyout funds, management buyout funds, brokers and other members of the financial community and corporate executives. These target candidates may present solicited or unsolicited proposals. Such sources became aware that we were seeking a business combination candidate by a variety of means, including publicly available information relating to the initial public offering, public relations and marketing efforts or direct contact by management following the completion of the initial public offering.

Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates of which they become aware through their contacts. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only if our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor, officers or directors, or any entities with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is), other than (i) repayment of loans made to us prior to the date of the initial public offering by our sponsor and its affiliates to cover offering-relating and organization expenses, (ii) repayment of incremental loans that our sponsor, members of our management team, board or any of their respective affiliates or other third parties may make to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination (provided that if we do not consummate an initial business combination, we may use working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment), (iii) payments to our sponsor or its affiliate of a total of $32,500 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services,  (iv) payment of certain consulting fees to persons engaged by an entity affiliated with certain of our directors and officers, (v) at the closing of our initial business combination, a customary advisory fee to affiliates of our sponsor, in an amount that constitutes a market standard advisory fee for comparable transactions and services provided, and (vi) reimbursements for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigation and completing an initial business combination. None of the initial holders, our officers, our directors or any entity with which they are affiliated will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective acquisition target in connection with a contemplated acquisition of such target by us. Although some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the acquired business following our initial business combination, the presence or absence of any such arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates. Additionally, we are not prohibited from partnering, submitting joint bids, or entering into any similar transaction with such persons in the pursuit of an initial business combination. If we seek to complete an initial business combination with such a company or we partner with such persons in our pursuit of an initial business combination, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm, and reasonably acceptable to Cantor Fitzgerald, as representative of the underwriters of the initial public offering, that such an initial business combination is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. Generally, such opinion is rendered to a company’s board of directors and investment banking firms may take the view that shareholders may not rely on the opinion. Such view will not impact our decision on which investment banking firm to hire.

Unless we consummate our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain a financial fairness opinion from an independent investment banking firm. If we do not obtain such an opinion, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value and fairness based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. The application of such standards would involve a comparison, from a valuation standpoint, of our business combination target to comparable public companies, as applicable, and a comparison of our contemplated transaction with such business combination target to other then-recently announced comparable private and public company transactions, as applicable. The application of such standards and the basis of our board of directors’ determination will be discussed and disclosed in our tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

Selection of a target business and structuring of our initial business combination

NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation or value of comparable businesses. Our shareholders will be relying on the business judgment of our board of directors, which will have significant discretion in choosing the standard used to establish the fair market value of the target or targets, and different methods of valuation may vary greatly in outcome from one another. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of NASDAQ’s 80% fair market value test. There is no basis for shareholders to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information that will be made available to us.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

Lack of business diversification

For an indefinite period of time after consummation of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By consummating a business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

Limited ability to evaluate the target’s management team

Although we closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating a target business, our assessment of the target business’ management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management team of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.

Shareholders may not have the ability to approve a business combination

We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons. 

Under NASDAQ’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

Permitted purchases of our securities

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the consummation of our initial business combination, although as of the date of this Annual Report they have no commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions. In the event our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates determine to make any such purchases at the time of a shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, such purchases could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares in such transactions. They will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.  Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.

In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.

The purpose of such purchases would be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or (ii) to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of the business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the consummation of a business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

As a consequence of any such purchases, the public “float” of our ordinary shares may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom they may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against the business combination. Such persons would select the shareholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.

Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of ordinary shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.

Redemption rights for public shareholders upon consummation of our initial business combination

We will provide our shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their ordinary shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is approximately $10.00 per public share (based on the trust account balance as of December 31, 2021). There will be no redemption rights upon the consummation of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares, any placement shares and any public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, our sponsor, officers and directors will be entitled to redemption rights with respect to any public shares held by them if we fail to consummate a business combination or liquidate by February 25, 2023. Cantor Fitzgerald will have the same redemption rights as a public shareholder with respect to any public shares it acquires.

Manner of Conducting Redemptions

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under NASDAQ rules, asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would require shareholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless shareholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on NASDAQ, we will be required to comply with such rules.

If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our Class A ordinary shares in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to consummate our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules), or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete our initial business combination.

If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any shareholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NASDAQ listing or Exchange Act registration.

In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares and placement shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination.  We expect that at the time of any shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our sponsor and its permitted transferees will own at least 26.6% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares, placement shares and public shares in connection with the completion of a business combination.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

Limitation on redemption upon consummation of our initial business combination if we seek shareholder approval

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to an more than aggregate of 15.0% of the shares sold in the initial public offering without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our sponsor or its affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15.0% of the shares sold in the initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15.0% of the shares sold in the initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not restrict our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those shareholders that hold more than 15.0% of the shares sold in the initial public offering) for or against our business combination.

Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights

We may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve our initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a shareholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $100.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.

The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him to deliver his certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the consummation of the business combination during which he could monitor the price of the company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he could sell his shares in the open market before actually delivering his shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the consummation of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the general meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.

Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the date of the general meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivers its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our business combination.

If the initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.

If our initial business combination is not consummated, we may continue to try to consummate a business combination with a different target until February 25, 2023.

Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we will have only until February 25, 2023 to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such completion window.

Our sponsor, our officers and directors and Cantor Fitzgerald have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares and placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares in or after the initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023. Cantor Fitzgerald will have the same redemption rights as a public shareholder with respect to any public shares it acquires.

Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that (i) would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023 or (ii) with respect to the other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above) we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares.

We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $1,200,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.

If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.

Although we will seek to have all third parties (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC’s only assets are securities of our company. None of our other officers will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.00 per share.

We will seek to reduce the possibility that FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all third parties (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $1,200,000 from the proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units, with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.

If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy insolvency court could seek to recover all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above.

Competition

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our business combination, we encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash to our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights will reduce the resources available to us for an initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.

Facilities

We currently maintain our executive offices at 2929 Arch Street, Suite 1703, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2870. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $32,500 per month fee we pay to our sponsor or its affiliate for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have two officers. Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that our officers or any other members of our management team devote in any time period varies based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the initial business combination process. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

We have registered our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers like us that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, U.S. GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some shareholders find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30^th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, which we believe are the principal risks that we face and of which we are currently aware, and all of the other information contained in this report. If any of the events or developments described below occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected. 

Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks

Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may consummate our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.

We may not hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require shareholder approval under applicable Cayman Islands law or the rules of NASDAQ or if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons. Examples of transactions that would not ordinarily require shareholder approval include asset acquisitions and share purchases, while transactions such as direct mergers with our company or transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares would require shareholder approval. For instance, the NASDAQ rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a general meeting but would still require us to obtain shareholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek shareholder approval of such business combination. Except as required by law or NASDAQ rules, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the public shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

Unlike other blank check companies in which the initial shareholders agree to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public shareholders in connection with an initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares and any placement shares, as well as any public shares purchased during or after the initial public offering, in favor of our initial business combination. Our initial shareholders own shares representing 26.6% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, including placement shares. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary shareholder approval will be received than would be the case if our sponsor, officers and directors agreed to vote their founder shares, placement shares and public shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public shareholders.

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek shareholder approval of the business combination.

At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may consummate a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, if we do not seek shareholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.

We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large amount of our shares may not allow us to consummate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B ordinary shares result in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B shares at the time of the initial business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.

If our business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

The requirement that we consummate a business combination by February 25, 2023 may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to consummate a business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to February 25, 2023. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

If the net proceeds from the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search for a business combination, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination.

Of the net proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units, only $271,045 was available to us as of December 31, 2021 outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate, or we may be forced to liquidate. Neither of our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. Please see “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors in this section.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

The COVID-19 outbreak has and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected. In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.

We may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we must complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination by that date. If we have not completed our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.

If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such date before redemption from our trust account.

If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (less up to $100,000 of the net interest earned thereon to pay dissolution expenses), pro rata to our public shareholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account shall be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to windup, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond February 25, 2023 before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we consummate our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” f our Class A ordinary shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates may purchase shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions either prior to or following the consummation of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. Please see “Business — Tendering share certificates in connection with attender offer or redemption rights.”

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (a) modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023 or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination by February 25, 2023, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

Since the net proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5.0 million upon the completion of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units and we filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419 under the Securities Act. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were immediately tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete a business combination than would companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if the initial public offering was subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our consummation of an initial business combination.

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources, or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses.

Furthermore, if we are obligated to pay cash for the Class A ordinary shares redeemed and, in the event we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we make purchases of our Class A ordinary shares, potentially reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share (or less in certain circumstances) (based on the trust account balance as of December 31, 2021) on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.

If the net proceeds of the initial public offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until at least February 25, 2023, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.

The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate until at least February 25, 2023, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed by that date. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate until at least February 25, 2023; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.

Subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we seek to have all third parties (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our business combination within the required time frame, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account due to claims of such creditors.

FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. We have not independently verified whether FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC’s only assets are securities of our company. FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by third parties and prospective target businesses.

Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.

If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable to a fine of $18,292.68 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.

We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination. Our public shareholders will not have the right to appoint directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.

In accordance with NASDAQ corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on NASDAQ. There is no requirement under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or general meetings or appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss company affairs with management. In addition, as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our public shareholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines and, as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we consummate a business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law or Nasdaq rules, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to obtain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share (based on the trust account balance as of December 31, 2021), on the liquidation of the trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.

We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.

Unless we consummate our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying for a target is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination. However, if our board of directors is unable to determine the fair value of an entity with which we seek to complete an initial business combination based on such standards, we will be required to obtain an opinion as described above.

Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP, or international financing reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and consummate our initial business combination by February 25, 2023.

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to consummate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target company with which we seek to complete our business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.

The SEC Statement regarding the accounting and reporting considerations for warrants issued by SPACs focused on certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers following a business combination. The terms described in the SEC Statement are common in SPACs and are similar to the terms contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. In response to the SEC Statement, we reevaluated the accounting treatment of our public warrants and private placement warrants, and determined to classify the warrants as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings. As a result, included on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 contained elsewhere in this Annual Report are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within our warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly based on factors which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non- cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation in those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

As described elsewhere in this Annual Report, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the accounting for temporary equity and permanent equity and the Company’s income (loss) per share calculation. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021.

To respond to this material weakness, we have devoted, and plan to continue to devote, significant effort and resources to the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, we plan to enhance these processes to better evaluate our research and understanding of the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. For a discussion of management’s consideration of the material weakness identified related to our accounting for a significant and unusual transaction, see Note 2 to the accompanying financial statements, as well as Part II, Item 9A: Controls and Procedures included in this Annual Report.

Any failure to maintain such internal control could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results from operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our ordinary shares are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could result a material adverse effect on our business. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our ordinary shares.

We can give no assurance that the measures we have taken and plan to take in the future will remediate the material weakness identified or that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements.

We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to consummate a business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to complete an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.

In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the period of time in which it had to consummate a business combination. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments or extend the time in which we have to consummate a business combination through amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law.

We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may complete our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidates’ key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.

The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-initial business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account), including an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended with the approval of a special resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in a general meeting, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies (and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares). It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-initial business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the initial public offering and the private placement into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated), but excluding the provision of the articles relating to the appointment of directors, may be amended if approved by a special resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in a general meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares. Our initial holders and holders of placement shares will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.

Our sponsor will control the appointment of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, it will appoint all of our directors and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Our sponsor owns approximately 26.6% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, including placement shares. In addition, holders of the founder shares are entitled to appoint all of our directors prior to our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares have no right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the appointment of directors prior to our initial business combination.

Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, as a result of its substantial ownership in our company, our sponsor may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of major corporate transactions. If our sponsor purchases any additional ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its influence over these actions. Accordingly, our sponsor will exert significant influence over actions requiring a shareholder vote at least until the completion of our initial business combination.

Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not consummated, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting, and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents, and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to consummate our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share (based on the trust account balance as of December 31, 2021) on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular initial business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the consummation of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the consummation of our initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

We may attempt to simultaneously consummate business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to consummate our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

We may attempt to consummate our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to consummate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.

It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.

If we consummate our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

If we consummate our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:

We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.

We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.

We may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

Because we are not limited to a particular industry or any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’ operations.

We may seek to consummate a business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector. However, we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to consummate our business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet identified any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we consummate our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

We may seek acquisition opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.

Of the net proceeds from the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units, $250,000,000 is available to complete our business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which includes up to $10,600,000 for the payment of deferred underwriting commissions).

We may complete our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to complete a business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By consummating an initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our business combination.

We may partner, submit a joint bid or enter into a similar transaction with holders of founder shares or an affiliate in connection with our pursuit of, or in connection with, a business combination.

We are not prohibited from partnering, submitting a joint bid or entering into any similar transaction with holders of founder shares or their affiliates in our pursuit of a business combination. Although we currently have no plans to do so, we could pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination and the transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm regarding the fairness to our shareholders from a financial point of view of a business combination with any holder of founder shares or its affiliates, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest. Additionally, were we successful in consummating such a transaction, conflicts could invariably arise from the interest of the holder of founder shares or its affiliate in maximizing its returns, which may be at odds with the strategy of the post-business combination company or not in the best interests of the public shareholders of the post-business combination company. Any or all of such conflicts could materially reduce the value of your investment, whether before or after our initial business combination.

Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team

We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.

Our ability to successfully complete our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our ability to successfully complete our business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.

Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.”

Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us (and they may also participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, another special purpose acquisition company) and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Until we consummate our initial business combination, we will engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and our officers and directors are and may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business. For example, our Chairman serves as Chairman of FinTech V, FinTech VI, FTAC Hera and FTAC Emerald, each a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting its own initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. Although we have no formal policy in place for vetting potential conflicts of interest, our board of directors will review any potential conflicts of interest on a case-by-case basis.

Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to other entities prior to its presentation to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.

Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing shareholders, which may raise potential conflicts of interest.

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers and directors. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

Since holders of our founder shares and placement units will lose their entire investment in us if our business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

Our initial holders currently own 8,553,333 founder shares, which will be worthless if we do not consummate our initial business combination. Our sponsor has also purchased an aggregate of 560,000 placement units for an aggregate purchase price of $5.6 million. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to the founder shares, placement shares or placement warrants, which will expire worthless if we do not consummate a business combination by February 25, 2023. If we do not consummate a business combination, our sponsor will realize a loss on the placement units it purchased. As a result, the personal and financial interests of certain of our officers and directors, directly or as members of our sponsor, in consummating an initial business combination, along with their flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate, may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination and completing an initial business combination that is not in the best interests of our shareholders. Consequently, the discretion of our officers and directors, in identifying and selecting a suitable target business combination may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular initial business combination are appropriate and in the best interest of our public shareholders.

The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.

Since our sponsor, officers and directors will not be eligible to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

At the closing of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any entities with which they are affiliated, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf. These financial interests of our sponsor, officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination and completing an initial business combination.

Risks Relating to our Securities

The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

The proceeds held in the trust account are 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, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

 If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:

each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in United States government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in United States Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we will meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15.0% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15.0% of the shares sold in the initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares”. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to consummate a business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we consummate our business combination. As a result, you would continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15.0% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell those shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

NASDAQ may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are currently listed on NASDAQ. We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on NASDAQ in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on NASDAQ prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain an average global market capitalization and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with NASDAQ’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than NASDAQ’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on NASDAQ. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and we would be required to have a minimum of 400 round lot holders (with at least 50% of such round lot holders holding securities with a market value of at least $2,500) of our securities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If NASDAQ delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on NASDAQ, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on NASDAQ, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

We may issue additional Class A ordinary or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 500,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share and 5,000,000 undesignated preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There are currently 459,371,667 and 41,446,667 authorized but unissued Class A and Class B ordinary shares available, respectively, for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares. Class B ordinary shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.

We may issue a substantial number of additional ordinary shares, and may issue preference shares, in order to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. 

The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preference shares:

We are not registering the shares of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.

We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us.

The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders and holders of placement units may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.

Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in the initial public offering, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register their founder shares, after those shares convert to our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination, and placement shares. In addition, holders of our placement units (and underlying securities) and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the placement shares as well as the placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the placement warrants, and holders of shares and warrants underlying units that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such Class A ordinary shares, warrants or the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the ordinary shares owned by our initial shareholders, holders of our placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.

 We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants.

Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A ordinary shares equal or exceed $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub divisions, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in the initial public offering. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor, Cantor Fitzgerald or their permitted transferees.

In addition, we may redeem your warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants. None of the placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor, Cantor Fitzgerald or their permitted transferees, subject to limited exceptions.

Our management’s ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer Class A ordinary shares upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their warrants for cash.

If we call our public warrants for redemption after the redemption criteria described elsewhere in this Annual Report have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his warrant (including any warrants held by our sponsor, officers or directors, other purchasers of our founders’ units, or their permitted transferees) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, the number of Class A ordinary shares received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.

Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to consummate our business combination.

We issued warrants to purchase 6,250,000 of our Class A ordinary shares as part of the units sold in the initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 660,000 units. The placement units include underlying warrants to purchase an aggregate of 165,000 Class A ordinary shares at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In addition, if the sponsor, the management team or their affiliates make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into units at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender at the time of the business combination. The units would be identical to the placement units sold in the private placement.

To the extent we issue ordinary shares to consummate our business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to consummate our business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.

Because each unit contains one-fourth of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.

Each unit contains one-fourth of one warrant. Because, pursuant to the warrant agreement, the warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of Class A ordinary shares, only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time. This is different from other blank check companies similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one warrant to purchase one share. We established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-fourth of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a warrant to purchase one whole share.

A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for use to consummate an initial business combination.

Unlike most blank check companies, if (x) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by us and in the case of any such issuance to our sponsors or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our initial shareholders or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 50% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume-weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we complete our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include two-year director terms and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

General Risk Factors

We are a company with no operating history and no revenues and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

We are a company established under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until we consummate our initial business combination. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete a business combination. If we fail to complete a business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments and results of operations.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC reporting and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Past performance by our management team and their affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team and their affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management, including their affiliates’ past performance, is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team or their affiliates as indicative of our future performance. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful.

As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.

In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.

In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.

We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30^th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30^th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

Our management concluded that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”

As of December 31, 2021, we had $271,045 in our operating bank accounts and $250,021,167 in securities held in the Trust Account to be used for a Business Combination or to repurchase or redeem our common stock in connection therewith. As of December 31, 2021, approximately $21,167 of the amount on deposit in the Trust Account represented interest income, which is available to pay our tax obligations. If we are unable to raise additional capital, wet may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, suspending the pursuit of a Business Combination. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. Further, our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern through our liquidation date. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate a Business Combination or our inability to continue as a going concern.

We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. holder of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception. Depending on the particular circumstances the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. holders to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules to holders of our Class A ordinary shares and warrants. 

We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.

We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Law, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located. The transaction may require a shareholder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders to pay such taxes. Shareholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.

Certain agreements related to the initial public offering may be amended without shareholder approval.

Certain agreements, including the underwriting agreement relating to the initial public offering, the investment management trust agreement between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers and directors, the registration rights agreement among us and our initial shareholders and holders of placement units and the administrative services agreement between us and our sponsor, may be amended without shareholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, the underwriting agreement contains a covenant that the target company that we acquire must have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account at the time of signing the definitive agreement for the transaction with such target business (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) so long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on NASDAQ. While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendment may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for shareholders to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.

We have been advised by Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.

If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.

Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the Company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and legal policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.

The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.

Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.

In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.

We may face risks related to financial technology businesses.

Business combinations with financial technology businesses may involve special considerations and risks. If we complete our initial business combination with a financial technology business, we will be subject to the following risks, any of which could be detrimental to us and the business we acquire:

Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will not be limited to financial technology businesses. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.

Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

Item 2. PROPERTIES.

We do not own any real estate or other physical properties. We currently maintain our executive offices at 2929 Arch Street, Suite 1703, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $32,500 per month fee we pay to our sponsor or its affiliate for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

To the knowledge of our management, there is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.

Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information

Our units commenced public trading on February 23, 2021, and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants commenced separate trading on April 16, 2021.  Our Class A ordinary shares, warrants and units are each listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbols FTAA, FTAAW and FTAAU, respectively.

Holders

On March 14, 2022, the numbers of record holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, units and warrants were 1, 3 and 1, respectively, not including beneficial holders whose securities are held in street name.

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination, and will be at the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

None.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities and Use of Proceeds

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

On February 25, 2021, we sold an aggregate of 660,000 placement units in a private placement for an aggregate purchase price of $6,600,000, or $10.00 per unit, to FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald, pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. Each placement unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one fourth of a placement warrant. The placement warrants are identical to the warrants included in the units issued in the initial public offering, except that, if held by the sponsor, Cantor Fitzgerald or their permitted transferees, (a) they are not redeemable by the Company, subject to certain limited exceptions, (b) they (including the underlying Class A ordinary shares) may not be transferred, assigned or sold until 30 days after the consummation of the Company’s initial business combination, subject to certain limited exceptions, and (c) they may be exercised on a cashless basis.

Use of Proceeds

On February 25, 2021, we sold 25,000,000 units in our initial public offering at a price of $10.00 per unit, which included the partial exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 3,000,000 units, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one fourth of one warrant, where each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.

Cantor Fitzgerald acted as the sole book running manager for the initial public offering. The units sold in the initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-252242), which was declared effective by the SEC on February 22, 2021.

We incurred a total of $15,509,243 in transaction costs related to the initial public offering. We paid a total of $4,400,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions and approximately $509,243 in other costs and expenses related to the initial public offering. In addition, the underwriters agreed to defer $10,600,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions (which is currently held in the trust account), which will be payable only upon consummation of an initial business combination.

Following the closing of the initial public offering and the private placement, an amount of $250,000,000 ($10.00 per unit) from the net proceeds from the sale of the units in the initial public offering and the placement units in the private placement was placed in the trust account. In addition, as of February 25, 2021, cash of $1,682,818 was held outside of the trust account and available for working capital purposes.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

None.

Item 6. [RESERVED]

As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item.

Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Annual Report including, without limitation, statements under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” regarding the Company’s financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this Annual Report, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or the Company’s management, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company’s management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors detailed in our filings with the SEC.

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated in the Cayman Islands on November 5, 2020 and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash derived from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Placement Units, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, shares and debt.

We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.

Recent Developments

As previously announced, on August 3, 2021, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) with Pico Quantitative Trading Holdings LLC (“Pico”).

On February 24, 2022, the Business Combination Agreement was terminated (the “Termination”).

As a result of the Termination, the Business Combination Agreement will be of no further force and effect, and certain transaction agreements entered into in connection with the Business Combination Agreement, including, but not limited to, (i) the Sponsor Share Restriction Agreement, dated as of August 3, 2021, by and among the Company, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC, and FTAC Athena Advisors, LLC, (ii) the Support Agreement, dated as of August 3, 2021, by and among the Company, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC, FTAC Athena Advisors, LLC, Pico and the members of Pico party thereto, and (iii) the PIPE Subscription Agreements, each dated August 3, 2021, between the Company and certain investors, will automatically either be terminated in accordance with their terms or be of no further force and effect. Neither party will be required to pay the other a termination fee as a result of the Termination.

Results of Operations

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities through December 31, 2021 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, identifying a target company for a Business Combination and consummating the Business Combination with Pico more fully described above. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our Business Combination, at the earliest. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the trust account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net income of $4,215, which consists of general and administrative expenses of $1,861,924 and transaction cost allocable to warrants of $592,728, offset by the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $2,437,700 and interest earned on investments held in the Trust Account of $21,167.

For the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $6,139, which consists of formation and operational costs.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

On February 25, 2021, we completed the Initial Public Offering of 25,000,000 Units, which includes the partial exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 3,000,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we completed the sale of 660,000 Placement Units at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit in a private placement to the sponsor and Cantor Fitzgerald, generating gross proceeds of $6,600,000.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $1,444,712. Net income of $4,215 was affected by interest earned on investments held in the Trust Account of $21,167, the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $2,437,700 and offering costs allocable to warrants of $592,728. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $417,212 of cash for operating activities.

For the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $0. Net loss of $6,139 was affected by changes in operating assets and liabilities, which provided $6,139 of cash from operating activities.

As of December 31, 2021, we had investments held in the trust account of $250,021,167 (including approximately $21,167 of interest income) consisting of money market funds which are invested primarily in U.S. Treasury securities. We may withdraw interest from the trust account to pay taxes, if any. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we did not withdraw any interest income from the trust account. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account, to complete our Business Combination. To the extent that our share capital or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

As of December 31, 2021, we had cash held outside the trust account of $271,045. We intend to use the funds held outside the trust account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.

In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into units upon consummation of the Business Combination at a price of $10.00 per unit, at the option of the lender. The units would be identical to the Placement Units.

If our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our Business Combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our Business Combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our Business Combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such Business Combination. If we are unable to raise such additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses.

Going Concern

We have until February 25, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management intends to complete a Business Combination prior to February 25, 2023. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after February 25, 2023.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.

Contractual obligations

We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the sponsor a total of $25,000 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. We began incurring these fees on February 23, 2021 and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of the Business Combination and our liquidation. On June 7, 2021, the administrative services agreement was amended and restated to increase the monthly charge for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services payable to an affiliate of the sponsor from $25,000 to $32,500.

The underwriter is entitled to a deferred fee of (i) $0.40 per Unit of the gross proceeds of the initial 22,000,000 Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, or $8,800,000 and (ii) $0.60 per Unit of the gross proceeds from the 3,000,000 Units sold pursuant to the over-allotment option, or $1,800,000. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the trust account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:

Warrant Liabilities

We do not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. We evaluate all of our financial instruments, including issued share purchase warrants, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to ASC 480 and ASC 815. We account for the Warrants in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40 under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, we classify the Warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the Warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statements of operations. The Placement Warrants and the Public Warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using Black Scholes Option Pricing Model and a binomial lattice model, respectively. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date.

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

We account for our ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption are classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares 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 our control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of our balance sheets. Under ASC 480-10-S99, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of the security to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security.

Net Income (Loss) Per Ordinary Share

Net income (loss) per ordinary share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.

Recent Accounting Standards

In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”), to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective January 1, 2024 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. We adopted ASU 2020-06 effective January 1, 2021. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have an impact on our financial statements.

Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.

Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide the information required by this item.

Item 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.

This information appears following Item 15 of this Annual Report and is included herein by reference. 

Item 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

None.

Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In connection with this Annual Report, our management evaluated, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, due to the Company’s restatement of its financial statements as described below, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2021. As a result, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report present fairly, in all material respects, our financial position, result of operations and cash flows of the periods presented.

We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.

Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

This Annual Report does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements

On November 23, 2021, we revised our prior position on accounting for temporary equity and permanent equity and concluded that our previously issued financial statements as of February 25, 2021; and as of and for the periods ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021 should not be relied on because of a reclassification error in the accounting for temporary equity and permanent equity. However, the resulting adjustments to the financial statements do not impact the amounts previously reported for the Company’s total assets, liabilities or operating results.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting, other than as described herein. In light of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we plan to enhance our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. Our plans at this time include providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.

Item 9B. OTHER INFORMATION

None.

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

None.

PART III

Item 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.

Directors and Executive Officers

Our directors and executive officers are as follows:

Betsy Z. Cohen has served as Chairman of our board of directors since November 2020. Since June 2019, she has served as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech V, since November 2020, she has served as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech VI, since January 2021, she has served as Chairman of the board of directors of FTAC Hera, and since April 2021, she has served as Chairman of the board of directors of FTAC Emerald. Ms. Cohen served as Chairman of FinTech IV’s board of directors from May 2019 until June 2021, FTAC Olympus’ board of directors from June 2020 until June 2021, FinTech III’s board of directors from March 2017 until October 2020, and FinTech II’s board of directors from August 2016 until July 2018. She served as a director of FinTech I and its successor, Card Connect Corp., a provider of payment processing solutions to merchants, from November 2013 until May 2017, and previously served as Chairman of the board of directors of FinTech I from July 2014 through July 2016 and as FinTech I’s Chief Executive Officer from July 2014 through August 2014. Ms. Cohen also served as a director of Metromile, Inc. from February 2021 until July 2021. She served as Chief Executive Officer of Bancorp and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bancorp Bank, from September 2000 and Chairman of Bancorp Bank from November 2003, and resigned from these positions upon her retirement in December 2014. She served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and as a trustee of RAIT Financial Trust, a real estate investment trust, from its founding in August 1997, through her resignation as of December 31, 2010 and served as RAIT’s Chief Executive Officer from 1997 to 2006. Ms. Cohen served as a director of Hudson United Bancorp (a bank holding company), the successor to JeffBanks, Inc., from December 1999 until July 2000 and as the Chairman of the Jefferson Bank Division of Hudson United Bank (Hudson United Bancorp’s banking subsidiary) from December 1999 through March 2000. Before the merger of JeffBanks, Inc. with Hudson United Bancorp in December 1999, Ms. Cohen was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JeffBanks, Inc. from its inception in 1981 and also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of each of its subsidiaries, Jefferson Bank, which she founded in 1974, and Jefferson Bank New Jersey, which she founded in 1987. From 1985 until 1993, Ms. Cohen was a director of First Union Corp. of Virginia (a bank holding company) and its predecessor, Dominion Bancshares, Inc. In 1969, Ms. Cohen co-founded a commercial law firm and served as a senior partner until 1984. Ms. Cohen also served as a director of Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET), an insurance company, from 1994 until May 2018. Our board has determined that Ms. Cohen’s extensive experience in the financial services industry generally, and the financial technology industry in particular, as well as extensive experience in operating financial services companies in a public company environment, qualifies her to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Amanda J. Abrams has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since January 2021. Since January 2021 she has also served as the Chief Executive Officer of FinTech Masala, LLC, the parent company of the sponsor of FinTech II, FinTech III, FinTech IV, FinTech V and FinTech VI, and has served as its Chief Operating Officer since January 2018. Ms. Abrams also serves as a Managing Director at Cohen & Company, Inc. (NYSE American: COHN), a financial services company with approximately $2.24 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021. Previously she served as the General Counsel of CardConnect Corp., a provider of integrated payment processing solutions to merchants, from April 2017 following the company’s merger with FinTech I through November 2017 following the company’s acquisition by First Data Corp. Prior to that Ms. Abrams was at Ledgewood, PC, as a partner from 2016 to 2017 and from 2013 to 2016 as a senior attorney. Prior to that, Ms. Abrams was an attorney in the Business and Finance group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, where she advised public and private companies in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters. Ms. Abrams also was previously an associate in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Dispute Investigations and Analysis forensic accounting group. Ms. Abrams has since October 2020 served as a board observer for Shift Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFT) following the company’s merger with INSU I.

Douglas Listman has been our Chief Financial Officer since December 2020, the Chief Financial Officer of FinTech V since October 2020, the Chief Financial Officer of FinTech VI since November 2020, the Chief Financial Officer of FTAC Athena since January 2021, and the Chief Financial Officer of FTAC Emerald since June 2021. He previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of each of FTAC Olympus and FinTech IV from August 2020 until June 2021. He has served as the Chief Accounting Officer of Cohen & Company Inc. since December 2009 and Chief Accounting Officer of Cohen & Company, LLC since 2006. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Listman served as an associate for Resources Global Professionals (a worldwide accounting services consulting firm). From 1992 to 2003, Mr. Listman served in various accounting and finance positions including: senior accountant with KPMG; Assistant Corporate Controller of Integrated Health Services (a publicly traded provider of skilled nursing services; NYSE: IHS); Controller of Integrated Living Communities (a publicly traded provider of assisted living services; NASDAQ: ILCC); Chief Financial Officer of Senior Lifestyles Corporation (a private owned provider of assisted living services); and Chief Financial Officer of Monarch Properties (a privately owned health care facility real estate investment company). Mr. Listman is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated from the University of Delaware with a B.S. in accounting.

Independent Directors

Mei-Mei Tuan has served as a director since February 2021 and as a director of FTAC Hera since March 2021. Ms. Tuan previously served as a member of the boards of directors of FTAC Olympus from August 2020 until its business combination in June 2021 and of FinTech III from 2018 until its business combination in October 2020. Ms. Tuan is the co-founder and co-owner, managing partner and Chairman of Notch Partners LLC, a firm providing leadership capital and managed-led buyout strategies exclusively for institutional private equity funds. Ms. Tuan is also a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Phoenyx Partners LLC, a boutique search firm. As an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, BankAmerica and BankAustria, Ms. Tuan led domestic and international transactions in project finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, syndications and sale leasebacks. Ms. Tuan’s operating experience includes serving as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Sierra Foundation, from 1996 through 1997, and the San Francisco Food Bank, from 1997 through 1998. Ms. Tuan is an active board member of the Gorilla Commerce, Inc., the Clara Maass Medical Center and its Foundation, The Harvard Business School Asian-American Alumnae Association and Montclair Kimberley Academy. She served as a director of both Bancorp and its wholly-owned subsidiary Bancorp Bank from 2013 until February 2022. In the recent past, she has served on the Boards of Friends of Thirteen (WNET), the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City (Co-Chair), the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, the New Jersey Women’s Forum, the Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation and the New Jersey Network (NJN). Ms. Tuan is a member of the Committee of 100, an organization that addresses issues concerning Sino-U.S. relations. Ms. Tuan was selected to serve on our board due to her extensive investment banking experience as well as her prior experience as a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.

Daniela A. Mielke has served as a director since February 2021. Ms. Mielke is Managing Partner of Commerce Technology Advisors, LLC, a privately held firm which she founded in 2016, and which provides consulting services to technology, financial services and private equity companies on organic and inorganic growth strategies including building payment businesses and using artificial intelligence. From 2018 to 2020, Ms. Mielke served as the North American CEO of RS2 Inc., a leading provider of payment processing services in Europe and Asia Pacific.  She had responsibility for sales and marketing as well as product development and customer relationship management for the company’s operations in North America.   From 2013 to 2016 Ms. Mielke was a Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Vantiv, Inc., which was at the time the largest merchant acquirer in the US.  From 2010 to 2013 Ms. Mielke was the VP, Head of Global Strategy and Market Intelligence for PayPal Inc.  Ms. Mielke co-founded A-Connect in 2001, a consulting firm which provides financial services and other consulting and rejoined in 2007 to establish and direct new operations for the West Coast and lead its global marketing function.  From 2002 to 2007 Ms. Mielke successively served as VP of Product and SVP of Strategy and Market Intelligence at Visa International. From 1998 to 2002, Ms. Mielke was an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm.  Ms. Mielke has been a director of both The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBBK), a bank holding company, and its subsidiary bank, The Bancorp Bank, since 2019. She also currently serves as a member of the board of FINCA International, a global NGO dedicated to alleviating poverty, and Nuvei (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), a global payment technology provider. Ms. Mielke is also a strategic advisor to Machinify, an artificial intelligence platform company, and Linquineq, a blockchain company focused banking solutions. Ms. Mielke was selected to serve on our board because of her decades of experience as an executive, founder, board member and advisor to fintech, commerce and finance companies.

Jewelle Bickford has served as a director since February 2021. She has served as a director of FTAC Hera since March 2021. Ms. Bickford has had a long and storied career in investment banking. From 2013 until the end of 2020, she was a partner and wealth advisor at Evercore Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Evercore (NYSE: EVR), a global independent investment banking advisory firm, where Ms. Bickford created the firm’s Private Wealth Education programs for families. From 2009 to 2013 she developed GenSpring MultiFamily Office’s Women and Wealth program. In 1994 she merged her boutique securitization investment banking firm, Bickford & Partners, Inc., into Rothschild Inc., a multinational investment bank and financial services company. From 1994 to 2009, she was head of Debt Capital Markets at Rothschild, where she specialized in the securitization and private placement of non-mortgage assets such as leases, credit cards, auto loans and other receivables. She was also a member of NM Rothschild’s Global Banking and Treasury Committee in London. She also worked, from 1978 to 1980, for New York City Mayor Edward Koch as the Director of the Mayor’s Community Board Assistance Office. Ms. Bickford is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the founder of its Women and Foreign Policy Program, the task force that analyzes how elevating the status of women and girls advances U.S. foreign policy objectives and seeks to inform policymakers and the public on issues relevant to gender equality and U.S. foreign policy. She also currently serves on the board of EL Education, Inc., a non-profit corporation that resulted from a collaboration between The Harvard Graduate School of Education and Outward Bound USA to create new and exciting classrooms and teaching methods. Ms. Bickford is also founding member and Co-Chair of Paradigm for Parity, a group of CEOs, senior executives, corporate board members and business academics committed to achieving gender and racial parity at senior levels for women by 2030. She is also a member of the Business Committee of the Metropolitan Museum and a member of the Committee of 200. Ms. Bickford was selected to serve on our board because her extensive experience in the financial services industry, which we believe makes her a valuable addition to the board of directors.

Leah Popowich has served as a director since February 2021. She has served as a director of FTAC Hera since March 2021. Ms. Popowich currently serves as Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the President at the University of Pennsylvania, the most recent of several positions she has held since having first joined the Office of the President in September 2000. Ms. Popowich’s primary responsibilities include serving as the President’s liaison to graduate and undergraduate students and organizations across the university, as well as managing several of the President’s international, campus, and external initiatives. Most recently, Ms. Popowich has supported the President in connection with her service on the United States Semiquincentennial Commission, the World Economic Forum’s Global University Leaders Forum, the Berggruen Institute, and the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy. She is active in several civic and philanthropic activities including support for the Philadelphia chapter of UNICEF USA and the Germantown Friends School. Our board believes that Ms. Popowich’s breadth and depth of management and leadership experience in varied communications roles qualify her to serve as a director.

Candice N. Bednar has served as a director since February 2022. From 1995 to 1999, Ms. Bednar previously served as a client relationship and executive management manager with extensive experience in reengineering, telecommunications, and network strategy at Deloitte Consulting. From 1993 to 1995, she served as a network engineer at Morgan Stanley. Since 1999, Ms. Bednar has served on numerous non-profit boards, including the Women’s Council for the Leon Hess Cancer Center at Monmouth Medical Center, the Greenwich Library, and St. Paul’s School. Ms. Bednar received a BS with concentrations in Information Technology and Real Estate Finance from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. We believe that Ms. Bednar’s experience in information technology and network engineering in the financial services industry qualifies her to be a member of our board of directors.

Number, Terms of Office and Appointment of Officers and Directors

Our board of directors consists of six members. Holders of our founder shares have the right to appoint all of our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. Each of our directors hold office for a two-year term. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the shareholders, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board or by a majority of the holders of our founder shares.

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our executive officers and directors, and persons who own more than ten percent of any publicly traded class of our equity securities, to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership of equity securities of the Company with the SEC. Officers, directors, and greater-than-ten-percent shareholders are required by the SEC’s regulations to furnish the Company with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file.

Based solely upon a review of Forms 3 and Forms 4 furnished to the Company during the most recent fiscal year, and Forms 5 with respect to its most recent fiscal year, we believe that all such forms required to be filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act were timely filed by the officers, directors, and security holders required to file the same during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

Board Committees

Audit Committee

We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Candice N. Bednar, Daniela A. Mielke and Mei-Mei Tuan serve as members of our audit committee. Under NASDAQ listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Because we list our securities on NASDAQ, our audit committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist of all independent members within one year of listing. Mses. Bednar, Miekle and Tuan each meet the independent director standard under NASDAQ’s listing standards and under Rule 10A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.  Ms. Tuan serves as Chairman of our audit committee.

The audit committee’s duties, which are specified in our Audit Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

Financial Expert on Audit Committee

The audit committee will at all times be composed exclusively of directors who are “financially literate” as defined under NASDAQ’s listing standards. The NASDAQ listing standards define “financially literate” as being able to read and understand fundamental financial statements, including a company’s balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.

In addition, we must certify to the NASDAQ Capital Market that the committee has, and will continue to have, at least one member who has past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or other comparable experience or background that results in the individual’s financial sophistication. We have determined that Ms. Tuan satisfies NASDAQ’s definition of financial sophistication and also qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined under the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Compensation Committee

We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors, which consists of Jewelle Bickford and Leah Popowich, each of whom meets the independent director standard under NASDAQ’s listing standards applicable to members of the compensation committee. Ms. Bickford serves as Chairman of our compensation committee.

The compensation committee’s duties, which are specified in our Compensation Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by NASDAQ and the SEC.

Director Nominations

We do not have a standing nominating committee. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Mses. Bednar, Bickford, Popowich, Tuan and Mielke. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.

Prior to our initial business combination, the board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by holders of our founder shares during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for appointment at an annual general meeting (or, if applicable, an extraordinary general meeting). Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board.

We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders.

Code of Conduct and Ethics

We have adopted a code of conduct and ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, a copy of which is attached as an exhibit to this Annual Report. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our code of conduct and ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. We will make a printed copy of our code of conduct and ethics available to any shareholder who so requests. Requests for a printed copy may be directed to us as follows: FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp., 2929 Arch Street, Suite 1703, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Attention: Secretary.

Item 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION.

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

None of our officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered. There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any entities with which they are affiliated, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of an initial business combination other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the placement units held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination: (i) repayment of an aggregate of up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses, (ii) repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their respective affiliates or other third parties to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination (provided that if we do not consummate an initial business combination, we may use working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment), (iii) payments to our sponsor or its affiliate of a total of $32,500 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services, and (iv) reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination.  Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any entities with which they are affiliated.

After the consummation of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain in one of those capacities may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.

We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business although we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of an initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, (i) as a member of the compensation committee or board of directors of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our compensation committee, or (ii) as a member of the compensation committee of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our board of directors.

Item 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS.

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of March 14, 2022, by:

The table below represents beneficial ownership of Class A ordinary shares, Class B ordinary shares and Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares voting together as a single class, and is reported in accordance with the beneficial ownership rules of the SEC under which a person is deemed to be the beneficial owner of a security if that person has or shares voting power or investment power with respect to such security or has the right to acquire such ownership within 60 days.  The table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of any outstanding warrants as no warrants are exercisable within 60 days.

The beneficial ownership of the Company’s voting ordinary shares is based on 25,660,000 Class A ordinary shares outstanding and 8,553,333 Class B ordinary shares outstanding, except as otherwise indicated.

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares beneficially owned by them.

Item 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE.

Related Party Policy

We have adopted a code of conduct and ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of the board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of conduct and ethics, conflict of interest situations include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the Company.

In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to the Audit Committee Charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee is required to approve a related party transaction.  We also require each of our directors and officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.  These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any entities with which they are affiliated.

Founder shares

In November 2020, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC  paid certain offering costs aggregating $25,000 in exchange for 7,873,333 founder shares. In January 2021, we effected a share capitalization pursuant to which we issued an additional 780,000 founder shares, resulting in an aggregate of 8,653,333 founder shares outstanding.  In February 2021, as a result of the underwriters exercising their overallotment option in part, our sponsor forfeited 100,000 founder shares. As a result, our sponsor holds 8,553,333 founder shares. The number of founder shares was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 25% of the aggregate of our founder shares, the placement shares and our issued and outstanding public shares after the initial public offering. The founder shares represent 100% of our issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares.

Our sponsor and our management team have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares (except to permitted transferees), (a) with respect to 25% of such shares, until consummation of our initial business combination, (b) with respect to 25% of such shares, when the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) exceeds $12.00 for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period following the consummation of our initial business combination, (c) with respect to 25% of such shares, when the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) exceeds $13.50 for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period following the consummation of our initial business combination, and (d) with respect to 25% of such shares, when the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) exceeds $17.00 for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period following the consummation of our initial business combination or earlier, in any case, if, following a business combination, we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.

Private Placement

Simultaneously with the initial public offering, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald purchased an aggregate of 660,000 placement units at a price of $10.00 per unit (or an aggregate purchase price of $6,600,000). Each placement unit consists of one placement share and one-fourth of one placement warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share exercisable at $11.50. The proceeds from the placement units and the proceeds from the initial public offering (initially totaling $250,000,000) are held in the trust account. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to the placement shares or placement warrants. 

The placement warrants are identical to the warrants included in the units sold in the initial public offering, except that if held by our sponsor, Cantor Fitzgerald or their permitted transferees, they (a) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, (b) are not subject to being called for redemption, subject to certain limited exceptions, and (c) they (including our ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the consummation of our initial business combination. In addition, for as long as placement warrants are held by Cantor Fitzgerald and/or its designees or affiliates, such placement warrants will be subject to a lock-up in compliance with FINRA Rule 5110(e) and may not be exercised after five years from the commencement of sales of the initial public offering in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g)(8)(A). There are no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the founder shares, placement shares or placement warrants, which will expire worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.

Promissory Note — Related Party

Prior to the closing of the initial public offering, FTAC Athena Sponsor, LLC loaned us $71,153 for expenses related to our formation and the initial public offering. The loan was non-interest bearing and due on the earlier of June 30, 2021 or the closing of the initial public offering. The outstanding balance under the promissory note was repaid upon the closing of the initial public offering on February 25, 2021.

Related Party Loans

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with our initial business combination, our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. The loans will be interest free. If we consummate an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. If we do not consummate an initial business combination, we may use a portion of any working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts; however, no proceeds from the trust account may be used for such repayment. If such funds are insufficient to repay the loan amounts, the unpaid amounts would be forgiven. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into units at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender at the time of the business combination. The units would be identical to the placement units. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. There were no working capital loans outstanding as of December 31, 2021.

Registration Rights

Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on February 22, 2021, the holders of the founder shares, placement units (including securities contained therein) and units (including securities contained therein) that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the placement warrants and warrants included in the units that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) made by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors, if any, are entitled to registration rights to require us to register a sale of any of our securities held by them (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to our Class A ordinary shares). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period. The registration rights agreement does not contain liquidated damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering the Company’s securities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Cantor Fitzgerald may not exercise its demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years after the commencement of sales of the initial public offering, and may not exercise its demand rights on more than one occasion.  We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements. 

Administrative Services

Commencing on February 23, 2021, we pay an amount equal to $25,000 per month to our sponsor or its affiliate for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services provided to us. On June 7, 2021, the administrative services agreement was amended and restated to increase the monthly charge from $25,000 to $32,500 effective July 1, 2021.

 Trust Account Indemnification

Our sponsor has agreed that, if the trust account is liquidated without the consummation of a business combination, it will indemnify us to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or any claims by a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.  We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations and it may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We believe the likelihood of our sponsor having to indemnify the trust account is limited because we endeavor to have all third parties that provide products or services to us (other than our independent auditors) and prospective target businesses execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account.

Conflicts of Interest

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge, skill and experience which that director has.

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

Each of our directors and officers presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination.

Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:

The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.

Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors may have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations:

Accordingly, if any of the above officers or directors become aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for any of the above entities to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination, because, although many of the foregoing entities are involved in the financial services industry broadly defined, the specific industry focuses of a majority of these entities differ from our focus on financial technology businesses and the type or size of the transaction that such companies would most likely consider are of a size and nature substantially different than what we are targeting.

Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and officers and directors may during that time also participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, another special purpose acquisition company.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.

In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares and placement shares held by them (and their permitted transferees will agree) and any public shares purchased during or after the initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination.

Director Independence

The NASDAQ rules require that a majority of the board of directors of a company listed on NASDAQ must be composed of “independent directors,” which is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship, which, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. We have determined that Mses. Tuan, Mielke, Bednar, Bickford and Popowich are independent directors under the NASDAQ rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act.

Item 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acted as our independent registered public accounting firm during the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2021. The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Withum for services rendered during the indicated periods.

Audit Fees

During the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were $0 and $136,990, respectively, for the services Withum performed in connection with the initial public offering, quarterly reviews and the audit of our financial statements included in this Annual Report.

Audit-Related Fees

During the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2021, Withum did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of our financial statements. 

Tax Fees

During the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2021, Withum did not render services to us for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.

All Other Fees

During the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2021, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by Withum other than those set forth above.

Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures

Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of the initial public offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).

PART IV

Item 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.

None.

The following exhibits are filed as part of, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report. The SEC maintains an Internet site at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including the Company. Copies of the exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.

Item 16. FORM 10-K SUMMARY.

Not applicable. 

SIGNATURES

In accordance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

FTAC ATHENA ACQUISITION CORP.

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of

FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of FTAC Athena Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows for year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from November 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements

As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the February 25, 2021 financial statement has been restated to correct certain misstatements.

Going Concern

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, if the Company is unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs as well as complete a Business Combination by the close of business on February 25, 2023, then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The liquidity condition and date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.

New York, New York

March 17, 2022

PCAOB ID Number 100

FTAC ATHENA ACQUISITION CORP.

BALANCE SHEETS

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements. 

 FTAC ATHENA ACQUISITION CORP.

STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS