UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

x[X] ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 20172020

¨[  ] 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 1-12471

THEMAVEN, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(775) 600-2765(212) 321-5002

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:None

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:Common Stock $0.01 par value

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ¨[  ] No þ[X]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨[  ] No þ[X]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities 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 requirements for the past 90 days. Yesþ [  ] No¨ [X]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yesþ [  ] No¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.   ¨ [X]

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

If emerging growth company, indicated 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(b) 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 control 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 Exchange Act). Yes¨ [  ] or Noþ [X]

TheAs of June 30, 2020, which was the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter for fiscal 2020, the aggregate market value of the Common Stockcommon stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2017 was $20,521,899.$16,160,565. This calculation is based upon the closing price of the Common Stockcommon stock of the Registrant of $1.50$0.65 per share on that date.date, as reported by the OTC Markets Group Inc.

As of May 11, 2018,August 13, 2021, the Registrant had 29,275,205263,441,879 shares of common stock outstanding.

Form 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and the Period from July 22, 2016 (Inception) to December 31, 2016

Table of Contents

EXPLANATORY NOTE

TheMaven, Inc. (“Maven,” the “Company,” “us,” “we,” or “our”), is filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (the “Fiscal Year Period”) as part of its efforts to become current in its filing obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Included in this Annual Report are the Company’s audited financial statements and related financial information for the Fiscal Year Period, which have not previously been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

We intend to file Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2021 as soon as reasonably practicable. Following the filing of the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, we will be current in our filing obligations.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This report by TheMaven, Inc. (“Parent”), which includesCertain statements and information for its wholly owned subsidiary Maven Coalition, Inc. (“Subsidiary”) (collectively “Maven,” “Company” or “we”) containsin this Annual Report may constitute “forward-looking statements,”statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).Act. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and include, without limitation, statements concerning the Company’sour business strategy, future revenues, market growth, capital requirements, product introductions, and expansion plans and the adequacy of the Company’sour funding. Other statements contained in this Annual Report that are not historical facts are also forward-looking statements. The Company hasWe have tried, wherever possible, to identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates”“estimates,” and other comparable terminology.

The Company cautionsWe caution investors that any forward-looking statements presented in this report,Annual Report, or that the Companywe may make orally or in writing from time to time, are based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company.us. Such statements are based on assumptions, and the actual outcome will be affected by known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties, and factors that are beyond the Company’sour control or ability to predict. Although the Company believeswe believe that itsour assumptions are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future performance, and some will inevitably prove to be incorrect. As a result, the Company’sour actual future results can be expected to differ from itsour expectations, and those differences may be material. Accordingly, investors should use caution in relying on forward-looking statements, which are based only on known results and trends at the time they are made, to anticipate future results or trends. Certain risks are discussed in this Annual Report and also from time to time in the Company’sour other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).SEC.

This reportAnnual Report and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Companyus or any person acting on itsour behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. The Company doesWe do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to itsour forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report.

This Annual Report is being filed for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, as a late report to comply with the reporting obligations applicable to us under the Exchange Act. Unless specifically required to provide information for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, by the rules and regulations of the SEC, the discussion of the business of the Company reflects its current assets and current operations. Where the information relates to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, we have made a reasonable effort herein to make that clear. Also, to be clear, the financial information in the consolidated financial statements and footnotes accompanying this Annual Report and the other financial information and management’s discussion about the consolidated financial statements relate to the periods for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Part I

Item 1. Business

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate and entertain. We operate a significant portion of the media businesses for Sports Illustrated (as defined below), own and operate TheStreet, Inc. (the “TheStreet”), and power more than 250 independent brands. The Company has developed an exclusiveMaven technology platform (the “Maven Platform”) provides digital publishing, distribution, and monetization capabilities for the Sports Illustrated and TheStreet businesses as well as a coalition of professionally-managedindependent, professionally managed, online media channels, based onpublishers (each a Company developed technology platform. As of December 31, 2017,“Publisher Partner”). Each Publisher Partner joins the Company has generated less than $100,000 in revenue. The Companymedia-coalition by invitation-only and is actively expanding advertising, membership and other business operations. During 2017 the Company’s operations primarily consisted of software development, building a list of selective, invite-only Channel Partners, and reaching out to potential Channel Partners for discussion. Each channel is operated by an invite only Channel Partner, drawn from subject matter experts, reporters, group evangelistspremium media brands and social leaders. Channelindependent publishing businesses. Publisher Partners publish content and oversee an online community for their respective channels,sites, leveraging the Company’sour proprietary socially-driven, mobile-enabled, video-focused technology platform engaging nicheto engage the collective audiences within a single coalition.network. Generally, Publisher Partners are independently owned, strategic partners who receive a share of revenue from the interaction with their content. When they join, we believe Publisher Partners will benefit from the proprietary technology of the Maven Platform, techniques and relationships. Advertising revenue may improve due to the scale we have achieved by combining all Publisher Partners onto a single platform and a large and experienced sales organization. They may also benefit from our membership marketing and management systems, which we believe will enhance their revenue. Additionally, we believe the lead brand within each vertical creates a halo benefit for all Publisher Partners in the vertical while each of them adds to the breadth and quality of content. While they benefit from these critical performance improvements they also may save substantially in costs of technology, infrastructure, advertising sales, and member marketing and management.

Please see “Our Future Business” and “Future Liquidity” for additional important information in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Corporate History

We operate websites at www.TheMaven.netwere originally incorporated in Delaware as Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (“Integrated”) in 1990. On July 22, 2016, Amplify Media, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware and www.Maven.io. The information contained on our official website and information about the CompanyJuly 27, 2016, it changed its name to Amplify Media Network, Inc. (“Amplify Media Network”). Amplify Media Network changed its name again on any other personal, viral, social network informational websites or software applications, will not constitute part of this report or future reports or schedules filed with the Securities and Exchange CommissionOctober 14, 2016 to TheMaven Network, Inc. (“SEC”Maven Network”) or other state securities regulatory bodies..

The Company’s strategy includes acquiring related online media, publishingOn October 11, 2016, Integrated and technology businesses by merger or acquisition that management believes will expandMaven Network entered into a share exchange agreement (the “Share Exchange Agreement”), whereby the scalestockholders of unique users interactingMaven Network agreed to exchange all of the then-issued and outstanding shares of common stock for shares of common stock of Integrated. On November 4, 2016, the parties consummated a recapitalization pursuant to the Share Exchange Agreement and, as a result, Maven Network became a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrated. Integrated changed its name to TheMaven, Inc. on our technology platform. We believe that with an increased scale in unique users, we will be ableDecember 2, 2016. On March 5, 2018, TheMaven Network changed its name to obtain improved advertising terms and grow advertising revenue. In 2018, the Company has announced agreements related to two proposed acquisitions:Maven Coalition, Inc. (“Maven Coalition 1”).

HubPages Merger

On

HubPages, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“HubPages”), became our wholly-owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated March 13, 2018 the Company(“Agreement and HubPages, Inc. (“HubPages”Plan of Merger”), together with HP Acquisition Co., Inc. (“HPAC”) that is a wholly-owned subsidiary ofand as amended by the Company, entered into anAmendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, (the “Merger Agreement”dated April 25, 2018 (“First Amendment”), pursuantthe Second Amendment to whichAgreement and Plan of Merger, dated June 1, 2018 (“Second Amendment”), the Third Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated May 31, 2019 (“Third Amendment”), and the Fourth Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 15, 2020 (the “Fourth Amendment” and, collectively with the Agreement and Plan of Merger, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and the Third Amendment, the “HubPages Merger Agreement”) between us, HubPages, and HP Acquisition Co, Inc. (“HPAC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours incorporated in Delaware on March 13, 2018 in order to facilitate the acquisition of HubPages by us. Pursuant to the HubPages Merger Agreement, HPAC will mergemerged with and into HubPages, with HubPages continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Companyours (the “Merger”“HubPages Merger”). The objectiveOn August 23, 2018, we acquired all the outstanding shares of this acquisition is to accelerate TheMaven’s growth by adding thousands of content creators and tens of millions of users, to improve trafficHubPages pursuant to the Company site and increase engagement with users and improve monetization from advertisers.

HubPages Merger.

On March 19, 2018, the Company entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Say Media Inc. (“Say Media”), a media and publishing technology company (the “Letter of Intent”). The acquisition will be subject to negotiation and execution of definitive documentation and various conditions precedent. In connection with the Letter of Intent on March 26, 2018 Maven loaned $1 million to Say Media and was issued a secured promissory note in the principal amount of $1 million from Say Media. The Note bears interest at the rate of 5% per annum and is secured against all of the assets of Say Media. The Note is due and payable on the six-month anniversary of the earlier of (i) the termination of the Letter of Intent or (ii) if Maven and Say Media should execute a definitive agreement with respect to the proposed acquisition, the termination of the definitive agreement.

Merger

This acquisition follows the HubPages acquisition and objectives, further expanding content, engagement and monetization opportunities from advertisers.

Funding Required for Acquisition of HubPages, Inc.

The Merger Agreement provides that all issued and outstanding common stock and preferred stock of HubPages, along with all outstanding vested stock options issued by HubPages will be exchanged for an aggregate of $10 million in cash (the “Merger Consideration”). The aggregate Merger Consideration to be issued at closing shall be reduced by (i) $1.5 million to be held in escrow to satisfy any indemnification obligations due under the Merger Agreement and (ii) to the extent that a seller-side representation and warranty insurance policy is obtained and bound at closing, 50% of the total premium, underwriting costs, brokerage commissions and other fees and expenses of such policy.

Funding Required for Acquisition of Say Media, Inc.

The Maven is negotiating the acquisition of Say Media, and it anticipates that the final terms of the acquisition will require financing to pay a portion of the consideration at the closing. The current estimate of funding to complete the transaction, as previously disclosed, is approximately $10 million, however as all the terms are in discussion the actual amount of funding and timing has yet to be determined.

We have no contracts or arrangements for any additional funding at this time. There can be no assurance that we will be able to raise any funding or will be able to meet our accrued obligations. If we are not able to obtain the additional financing on a timely basis, we will be unable to conduct our operations as planned, and we will not be able to meet our other obligations as they become due. In such event, we will be forced to scale down or perhaps even cease our operations. These estimates may change significantly depending on the nature of our business activities and our ability to raise capital from our shareholders or other sources.

There are no assurances that we will be able to obtain further funds required for our continued operations. We will pursue various financing alternatives to meet our immediate and long-term financial requirements. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us when needed or, if available, that it can be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. If we are not able to obtain the additional financing on a timely basis, we will be unable to conduct our operations as planned, and we will not be able to meet our other obligations as they become due. In such event, we will be forced to scale down or perhaps even cease our operations.

The shares of Common Stock of the Company are traded in the over-the-counter market (OTC), under the trading symbol “MVEN.” Historically the frequency of trades and the volume of trading has been low, and there can be no assurance that an active or sustained public market for our shares will develop. Additionally, the price of a share of our Common Stock has been volatile, and there can be no assurance that the price will stabilize or be consistent in the future.

Corporate History

Our Subsidiary, TheMaven Network, Inc., was incorporated in Nevada on July 22, 2016 (“Inception”), under the name “Amplify Media, Inc.” On July 27, 2016, the corporate name was amended to “Amplify Media Network, Inc.” and on October 14, 2016, the corporate name was changed to “TheMaven Network, Inc.” On March 5, 2018, the corporate name was changed to Maven Coalition, Inc.

TheMaven, Inc., the parent company, was formerly known as Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Integrated”Say Media”). From June 2007 until November 4, 2016, Integrated was, became our wholly owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated October 12, 2018 and as amended on October 17, 2018 (collectively, the “Say Media Merger Agreements”) between us, Say Media, SM Acquisition Co., Inc., a non-active “shell company”Delaware corporation (“SMAC”), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ours incorporated on September 6, 2018 to facilitate a merger, and Matt Sanchez, solely in his capacity as defined by regulationsa representative of the SEC.Say Media security holders. Pursuant to the Say Media Merger Agreement, SMAC merged with and into Say Media, with Say Media continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of ours (the “Say Media Merger”). On December 12, 2018, we acquired all the outstanding shares of Say Media pursuant to the Say Media Merger Agreements.

Acquisition of TheStreet, Inc. and Relationship with Cramer Digital

TheStreet became our wholly-owned subsidiary pursuant to that certain agreement and plan of merger, dated June 11, 2019, as amended (the “TheStreet Merger Agreement”), between us, Say Media, and TST Acquisition Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation (“TSTAC”), a newly-formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ours formed in order to facilitate the acquisition of TheStreet by us. Pursuant to TheStreet Merger Agreement, TSTAC merged with and into TheStreet, with TheStreet continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours (the “TheStreet Merger”). On August 11, 2016, Integrated7, 2019, we acquired all the outstanding shares of TheStreet pursuant to the TheStreet Merger.

On August 7, 2019, in connection with the TheStreet Merger, we entered into a loanletter agreement (the “Original Cramer Agreement”) with finance and stock market expert Jim Cramer, who co-founded TheStreet, which sets forth the terms of the Cramer Services to Subsidiary thatbe provided initial funding totaling $735,099 forby Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital, Inc. (“Cramer Digital”), a production company owned and controlled by Mr. Cramer, featuring the Subsidiary’s operations. On October 14, 2016 Integrateddigital rights and content created by Mr. Cramer and his team of financial experts. A second letter agreement providing additional terms was entered into on April 16, 2020 (the “Second Cramer Agreement”). We entered into a Share Exchangethird letter agreement on January 25, 2021, which extended the notice date to cancel the third year of the term of the Original Cramer Agreement (“Share Exchangefrom February 7, 2021 to April 9, 2021 (the “Third Cramer Agreement” and, together with the Original Cramer Agreement and the Second Cramer Agreement, the “Cramer Agreement”). On April 6, 2021, Cramer Digital notified us that it would cancel the optional third year of the term of the Cramer Agreement and we and Cramer Digital commenced negotiation of a new contract. On August 7, 2021, we entered into an extension of the Cramer Agreement to provide Mr. Cramer's services through September 30, 2021. Further, we are in discussions about an ongoing relationship.

The Cramer Agreement provides for Mr. Cramer and Cramer Digital to create content for us on each business day during the term of the Cramer Agreement, prepare special content for us, make certain personal appearances and provide other services as reasonably requested and mutually agreed to (collectively, the “Cramer Services”). In consideration for the Cramer Services, we pay Cramer Digital a commission on subscription revenues and net advertising revenues for certain content (the “Revenue Share”). In addition, we pay Cramer Digital approximately $3,000,000 as an annualized guarantee payment in equal monthly draws, recoupable against the Revenue Share. We also issued two options to Cramer Digital pursuant to our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2019 Plan”). The first option was to purchase up to two million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.72, the closing stock price on August 7, 2019, the grant date. This option vests over 36 months. The second option was to purchase up to three million shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.54, the closing stock price on April 21, 2020, the grant date. In the event Cramer Digital and we agree to renew the term of the Cramer Agreement for a minimum of three years from the end of the second year of the current term, 900,000 shares will vest on the first day of the third year of the term as so extended (the “Trigger Date”). The remaining shares will vest equally on the 12-month anniversary of the Trigger Date, the 24-month anniversary of the Trigger Date and the 36-month anniversary of the Trigger Date.

In addition, we provide Cramer Digital with a marketing budget, access to personnel and support services, and production facilities. Finally, the Cramer Agreement provides that we will reimburse fifty percent of the cost of the rented office space by Cramer Digital, up to a maximum of $4,250 per month.

The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement

On June 14, 2019, we entered into a licensing agreement (the “Initial Licensing Agreement”), as amended by Amendment No. 1 to Licensing Agreement, dated September 1, 2019 (the “SI First Amendment”), Amendment No. 2 to Licensing Agreement, dated April 1, 2020 (the “SI Second Amendment”), Amendment No. 3 to Licensing Agreement, dated July 28, 2020 (the “SI Third Amendment”), Amendment No. 4 to Licensing Agreement, dated June 4, 2021 (the “SI Fourth Amendment”), and Side Letter, dated as of June 4, 2021 (the “SI Side Letter” and, together with the Initial Licensing Agreement, SI First Amendment, the SI Second Amendment, the SI Third Amendment, and the SI Fourth Amendment, the “Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement”) with ABG-SI LLC (“ABG”), a Delaware limited liability company and indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Authentic Brands Group, pursuant to which we have the Subsidiaryexclusive right and license in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand to operate the Sports Illustrated (“Sports Illustrated”) media business (in the English and Spanish languages), including to (i) operate the digital and print editions of Sports Illustrated (including all special interest issues and the shareholdersswimsuit issue) and Sports Illustrated for Kids, (ii) develop new digital media channels under the Sports Illustrated brands, and (iii) operate certain related businesses, including without limitation, special interest publications, video channels, bookazines, and the licensing and/or syndication of certain products and content under the Sports Illustrated brand (collectively, the “Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands”).

The initial term of the Subsidiary holdingSports Illustrated Licensing Agreement commenced on October 4, 2019 upon the termination of the Meredith License Agreement (as defined below) and continues through December 31, 2029. We have the option, subject to certain conditions, to renew the term of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement for nine consecutive renewal terms of 10 years each (collectively with the initial term, the “Term”), for a total of 100 years. The Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement provides that we will pay to ABG annual royalties in respect of each year of the Term based on gross revenues (“Royalties”) with guaranteed minimum annual amounts. On the execution of the Sports Illustrated Licensing Agreement, we prepaid ABG $45,000,000 against future Royalties. ABG will pay to us a share of revenues relating to certain Sports Illustrated business lines not licensed to us, such as all gambling-related advertising and monetization, events, and commerce. The two companies are partnering in building the brand worldwide.

Pursuant to a publicly announced agreement, dated May 24, 2019, between ABG and Meredith Corporation (“Meredith”), an Iowa corporation, Meredith previously operated the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands under license from ABG (the “Meredith License Agreement”). On October 3, 2019, we, and Meredith entered into a Transition Services Agreement and an Outsourcing Agreement (collectively, the “Transition Agreement”), whereby the parties agreed to the terms and conditions under which Meredith continued to operate certain aspects of the business, and provided certain services during the fourth quarter of 2019 as all activities were transitioned over to us. Through these agreements, we took over operating control of the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands, and the Transition Agreement was terminated.

Merger of Subsidiaries

On December 19, 2019, our wholly owned subsidiaries, Maven Coalition 1 and HubPages, were merged into another of our wholly owned subsidiaries, Say Media. On January 6, 2020, Say Media changed its name to Maven Coalition, Inc. (the “Maven Coalition”).

Asset Acquisition of Petametrics Inc.

On March 9, 2020, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Petametrics Inc., doing business as LiftIgniter, a Delaware corporation (“LiftIgniter”), and Maven Coalition, whereby Maven Coalition purchased substantially all the assets of LiftIgniter’s machine learning platform, which personalizes content and product recommendations in real-time. The purchased assets included LiftIgniter’s intellectual property and excluded certain accounts receivable. Maven Coalition also assumed certain of LiftIgniter’s liabilities. The purchase price consisted of: (i) a cash payment of $184,087 on February 19, 2020, in connection with the repayment of certain of its outstanding indebtedness; (ii) a cash payment at closing of $131,202; (iii) collections of certain accounts receivable; (iv) on the first anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our common stock; and (v) on the second anniversary date of the closing issuance of restricted stock units for an aggregate of up to 312,500 shares of our common stock.

Acquisition of College Spun Media Incorporation

On June 4, 2021, we entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “CS Purchase Agreement”) with Maven Media Brands, LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary (“Maven Media”), College Spun Media Incorporated (“The Spun”), and it shareholders, (the “Seller Parties”), pursuant to which, Maven Media acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of The Spun (“The Spun Stock”).

Pursuant to the Subsidiary (collectively, “Subsidiary Shareholders”).terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the CS Purchase Agreement, in exchange for The Share Exchange Agreement was amended on November 4, 2016,Spun Stock, Maven Media agreed to include certain newly issuedpay a purchase price, comprised of a cash payment of an aggregate of $11 million (the “Cash Payment”) and the issuance of an aggregate of 4,285,714 restricted shares of our common stock (the “Stock Payment”), with one-half of the Subsidiary inshares vesting on the transactionfirst anniversary of the closing date and make related changesthe remaining one-half of the shares vesting on the second anniversary of the closing date. The Cash Payment will be paid as follows: (i) on the closing date, a cash payment of $10 million; (ii) on the first anniversary of the closing date, a cash payment of $500,000; and (iii) on the second anniversary of the closing date, a cash payment of $500,000. The Cash Payment is subject to a customary working capital adjustment based on cash and accounts receivable targets of The Spun as of the closing. Further, the vesting of the Stock Payment held by the Seller Parties is subject to the agreement and the Share Exchange was consummated.continued employment of certain senior executives of The transaction resulted in the Company acquiring Subsidiary by the exchange of all of the outstanding shares of Subsidiary for 12,517,152 newly issued shares of the common stock, $0.01 par value (“Common Stock”) of Parent, representing approximately 56.7% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock immediately after the transaction. We refer to this transaction as the “Recapitalization.” The Recapitalization was consummated on November 4, 2016, as a result of which TheMaven Network, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrated (“Closing”). The note payable between Integrated and Subsidiary was an interdependent transaction with the Recapitalization and was ultimately cancelled upon closing of the Recapitalization. On December 2, 2016, Integrated amended its Certificate of Incorporation to change its name from “Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc.” to “TheMaven, Inc.”Spun.

Our executive offices are located at 1500 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200,225 Liberty Street, 27^th Floor, New York, New York 10281. At our California and Seattle WA 98101. At this locationlocations, we also carry out the software development and other operational activities of the Company. Theactivities. Our current telephone number is (775) 600-2765.

Capital Restructuring

Recapitalization AccountingOn October 11, 2016, Integrated and Maven Network entered into the Share Exchange Agreement that provided for each outstanding share of common stock of Maven Network to be converted into 4.13607 shares of our common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”), and for each outstanding warrant and stock option to purchase shares of common stock of Maven Network be cancelled in exchange for a warrant or stock option to purchase shares of our common stock-based on the Exchange Ratio (the “Recapitalization”).

From June 2007 untilOn November 4, 2016, the closingconsummation of the Recapitalization Integrated was a non-active “shell company” as defined by regulations of the SECbecame effective and accordingly,pursuant to the Recapitalization, was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization rather than a business combination. As the Subsidiary is deemed to be the purchaser for accounting purposes under reverse recapitalization accounting, the Company’s financial statements are presented as a continuation of Subsidiary, and the accounting for the Recapitalization is equivalentwe: (i) issued to the issuancestockholders of Maven Network an aggregate of 9,533,355 shares of our common stock; and (ii) issued to MDB Capital Group, LLC (“MDB”), as an advisory fee, warrants to purchase 1,169,607 shares of our common stock. Existing stock by Subsidiary foroptions to purchase 175,000 shares of our common stock were assumed pursuant to the net monetary assets of Parent as of the Closing accompanied by a recapitalization.  Recapitalization.

The Maven Overview Technology Platform

Maven Business

Prior to founding Maven in 2016, its founding team worked on a variety of digital media platforms, with the common thread of achieving economies of scale by assembling a coalition of publishers, covering particular niche media interests, on a unified technology and business platform. One of the founders and the Chief Executive Officer of Maven, Mr. James C. Heckman, created the first version of this model in 1991, leveraging early digital technology for NFL teams for “NFL Exclusive,” and later founded Rivals.com, which is still operated today by Yahoo!, and Scout.com, operated today by CBS. Maven’s founders have worked together since 1999, building many different socially focused, single platform media models, including Scout.com, Rivals.com, Rivals.net (Europe), Zazzle, and 5to1.com.

Maven was founded as an entirely new enterprise to build and operate an exclusive coalition of professionally managed media channels and interest groups, each operated by a group of experts, reporters, group evangelists and social leaders as “Channel Partners.” These Channel Partners are able to leverage Maven’s proprietary, socially-driven, mobile-enabled, video-focused technology platform to engage niche audiences within a single coalition (“the Maven Platform”).

Our media model has attracted an approximate aggregate audience of unique users of 4.3 million unique users as of December 31, 2017, and 6.0 million unique users at March 31, 2018, as reported by Google Analytics. We believe that our media model will appeal to the users and subscribers ofdeveloped the Maven Platform, in a way similarproprietary online publishing platform that provides our owned and operated media businesses, Publisher Partners, whom are third parties producing and publishing content on their own domains, and individual creators contributing content to howour owned and operated sites (“Expert Contributors”), the model has previously appealedability to sports fans inproduce and manage editorially focused content through tools and services provided by us. We have also developed proprietary advertising technology, techniques and relationships that allow us, our founders’ previous ventures. We intendPublisher Partners and Expert Contributors to monetize online, editorially focused content through various display and video advertisements and tools and services for driving a subscription or membership based business and other monetization services (the “Monetization Solutions” and, together with the Maven Platform, to appeal to professional publishers who currently struggle to monetize on their existing platforms or are operating with less-than-world-class features in one or more areas (mobile, video, community, etc.the “Maven Platform Services”). The consumer-facing product of the Maven Platform is made available on the web and as iOS (Apple) and Android mobile applications. Our merger and acquisition strategy is intended to bring related online media, publishing and technology companies into our coalition and onto our world-class technology platform, thus increasing our scale of unique users and our range of services.

After the launch of our digital media platform in May 2017, we generated in the 2017 fiscal year total revenue of less than $100,000 from advertising and memberships (subscriptions). In the long term, we believe that there will be two primary revenue sources, one of which will be online advertising and sponsorships and one of which will be paid memberships (subscriptions). We expect that advertising and sponsorships will be more than 80 percent of our total revenues and will be sold primarily by Maven and/or major media partner(s) to companies to promote their brands, products and services, amplify their visibility and target an audience based on the professionally managed media channels and interest groups on the Maven Platform. During 2017 the Company’s operations primarily consisted of software development, building a list of selective, invite-only Channel Partners, and reaching out to potential Channel Partners for discussion. The management team has extensive experience in the past building partner coalitions.

At 2017 year end, we had 32 active Channel Partners and at March 31, 2018, we had 43 active Channel Partners. In each case, we have additional signed Channel Partners, however, there is no assurance that these additional Channel Partners will become active on the Maven Platform. For a Channel Partner to migrate to our platform requires a substantial amount of effort by both the Channel Partner and our technology team, and not every Channel Partner, despite the best intentions, undertakes or achieves the migration.

Technology and Intellectual Property

The Maven Platform was launched in “preview” form in May 2017 when the firstcomprises state-of-the-art publishing tools, video platforms, commenting features, social distribution channels, went live and we continue to develop and incorporate state-of-the-art mobile, video, communications, social,newsletter technology, machine learning content recommendations, notifications and other technology, into the Maven Platform, including modern DevOps processes with continuous integration/continuous deployment andthat deliver a complete set of features to drive a digital media business in an entirely cloud-based back-end. Thesuite of services. Our software engineering team isand product development teams are experienced at delivering servicethese services at extreme scale. We continue to develop the Maven Platform software by combining proprietary code with components from the open-source community, plus select commercial services. Toservices as well as identifying, acquiring, and integrating other platform technologies, where we see unique long-term benefits to us.

The Maven Platform Services include:

Our Platform Partners use the extentMaven Platform Services to produce, manage, host and monetize their content in accordance with the terms and conditions of partner agreements between each of our Publisher Partners and us (the “Partnership Agreements”). Pursuant to the Partnership Agreements, we and our Publisher Partners split revenue generated from the Maven Platform Services used in connection with the Publisher Partner’s content based on certain metrics such as whether the revenue was from direct sales, was generated by our Publisher Partner or us, was generated in connection with a subscription or a membership, was based on standalone or bundled subscriptions or whether the revenue was derived from affiliate links.

Subject to the terms and conditions of each Partnership Agreement and in exchange for the Maven Platform Services, our Publisher Partners grant us, for so long as our Publisher Partner’s assets are hosted on the Maven Platform, (i) exclusive control of ads.txt with respect to our Publisher Partner’s domains and (ii) the exclusive right to include our Publisher Partner’s website domains and related URLs in our coalition in a consolidated listing assembled by third party measurement companies such as comScore, Nielsen and/or other similar measuring services selected by us. As such, the Maven Platform serves as the primary digital media and social platform with respect to each of our Publisher Partners’ website domains during the applicable term of each Partnership Agreement.

Our Brands and Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is to continue to expand the coalition by adding new Publisher Partners in key verticals that management believes will expand the scale of unique users interacting on the Maven Platform. In each vertical, we seek to build around a leading brand, such as Sports Illustrated (for sports) and TheStreet (for finance), surround it with subcategory specialists, and further enhance coverage with individual expert contributors. The primary means of expansion is ableadding independent Publisher Partners and/or acquiring publishers that have premium branded content and givencan broaden the limitedreach and impact of the Maven Platform.

Maven

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate, and entertain. We operate the media businesses for Sports Illustrated and TheStreet, and power more than 250 independent brands. These brands range from niche media businesses to world-leading independent publishers, operating on the Maven Platform, a shared digital publishing, monetization, and distribution platform.

Sports Illustrated

We assumed management of certain Sports Illustrated media assets (pursuant to the Sports Illustrated License Agreement) on October 4, 2019. Sports Illustrated is owned by ABG, a brand development, marketing, and entertainment company that owns a global portfolio of media, entertainment, and lifestyle brands. Since assuming management of the Sports Illustrated media assets, we have implemented significant changes to rebuild the historic brand and beacon of sports journalism, to evolve and expand the business, and to position it for growth and continued success going forward.

TheStreet and Cramer Digital

TheStreet is a leading financial resources atnews and information provider to investors and institutions worldwide and has produced business news and market analysis for individual investors for more than 20 years. TheStreet brings its disposal, management is investingeditorial tradition, strong subscription platform, and valuable membership base to us, and benefits from our mobile-friendly CMS, social, video, and monetization technology.

Finance and stock market expert Jim Cramer, who co-founded TheStreet, and his team of financial experts continue their influential work with the brand. As part of the closing of the TheStreet Merger, we entered into the Cramer Agreement with Mr. Cramer, pursuant to which Mr. Cramer and his production company, Cramer Digital, provides the Cramer Services, including certain content offerings under Mr. Cramer’s editorial control. On April 6, 2021, Cramer Digital notified us that it would cancel the optional third year of the term of the Cramer Agreement and we and Cramer Digital commenced negotiation of a new contract. On August 7, 2021, we entered into an extension of the Cramer Agreement to provide Mr. Cramer's services through September 30, 2021. Further, we are in core technical competencies to be able to do more product development.discussions about an ongoing relationship.

HubPages

We believeacquired HubPages to enhance the user’s experience by increasing content, including from Expert Contributors. HubPages operates a network of 28 premium content channels that innovation is one ofact as an open community for writers, explorers, knowledge seekers, and conversation starters to connect in an interactive and informative online space. HubPages operates in the keys to our competitiveness and will be necessary for future sustained growth. Our innovation will be an essential element in being able to benefit from our planned acquisitions of HubPages and United States.

Say Media. Currently, Maven relies on the confidentiality of its operations, proprietary know-how and business secrets to protect our innovative platform. All Maven employees have entered into confidentiality agreements and the Company considers its employees’ work to be proprietary and owned by Maven. There can be no assurance that Maven will be able to enforce its rights if its intellectual property is improperly taken by Maven’s employees or adopted by its competitors without the approval of Maven.

Media

InWe acquired Say Media to enhance the future, when necessaryuser’s experience by increasing content. Now fully integrated into the Maven Platform, Say Media’s technology provides a comprehensive online media publishing platform and where practical, we will take additional stepsenables brand advertisers to protect our intellectual property interests under the lawsengage today’s social media consumer through rich advertising experiences across its network of web properties. Say Media operated in the United States and previously maintained subsidiaries located in the other jurisdictions in which we will operate. As the business develops, we plan to develop specific trademarks for our productsUnited Kingdom, Canada, and seek registration of those marks with government authorities for their protection. We also plan to seek opportunities to obtain patent protection. We do not currently hold any patents.Australia.

LiftIgniter

LiftIgniter provides a distribution and recommendation engine for premium publishers. The competitive positionLiftIgniter platform connects users efficiently to hundreds of Maven may be seriously damaged if it cannot maintain its trade secretsprofessional content creators, with custom recommendations of content aligned with users’ personal passions. Aided by machine-learning technology, publishers can identify and target those interested in their content. LiftIgniter activates the value of hosting hundreds of premium journalists on a single platform by interconnecting them through unified content distribution.

The Spun

The Spun (thespun.com), founded in September of 2012, is an independent sports publication that brings readers the most interesting athletic stories of the day. The Spun reaches approximately 15 million unique readers per month and focuses on the social media aspect of the industry.

Intellectual Property

We have seven patent registrations in the future, obtainUnited States in connection with our technology. All of our patent protection for any important differentiating aspects of its products or otherwise protect its intellectual property rights in its technology.registrations are owned by Maven relies on a combination of contracts, patent and trade secret laws to establish and protect its proprietary rights in its technology. However, it may not be able to prevent misappropriation of its intellectual property, its competitors may be able to independently develop similar technology, and the agreements it enters into to protect its proprietary rights may not be enforceable.Coalition.

The CompanyMaven and Key Design

We currently has multiple pending United States, Canadian, and International (Madrid Protocol)have trademark applicationsregistrations directed to variations of itsour primary key design logo and the MAVEN name within the International trademark applications designatingUnited States, Australia, China, the European Union (the “EU”), the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and New Zealand.  Zealand, as well as international Madrid Protocol registrations. We have trademark applications directed to our primary key design logo and the MAVEN name pending in Canada.

Moreover, the Company holdswe have a European Union Intellectual Property OfficeUnited States trademark registration for the word mark MAVEN COALITION, trademark registrations in the EU and the United Kingdom for the word mark THEMAVEN, and a United States trademark registration for the word mark A MAVEN CHANNEL. We have trademark registrations for the work mark A MAVEN CHANNEL in multiple classes.  The Company has continuedAustralia, the EU, and the United Kingdom, and applications for the word mark A MAVEN CHANNEL pending in Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand, as well as an international Madrid Protocol registration.

We have trademark registrations for the word marks BULL MARKET FANTASY, LIFTIGNITOR, SAY DAILY, SAY MEDIA, STREETLIGHTNING, AND TEMPEST in the United States and a trademark application for BULL MARKET FANTASY pending in Canada. We have trademark applications for the word marks THE ARENA, THE ARENA GROUP, AND SPORTSLIGHTNING pending in the United States.

TheStreet

We have trademark registrations for the word marks THESTREET and THESTREET.COM, and for the related THE STREET design mark in the United States. We have trademark registrations for the word marks ACTION ALERTS PLUS, ALPHA RISING, BANKING MY WAY, INCOME SEEKER, and REALMONEY in the United States, and a trademark registration for MAIN ST and design mark in the United States.

HubPages

We have trademark registrations for the word mark HUBPAGES in the United States, Australia, China, the EU, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, India, Peru, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines, as well as an international Madrid Protocol registration.

We continue to file updated trademark applications to reflect itsour branding evolution and intendsintend to continue strengthening itsour trademark portfolio as financial resources permit.

Our Publisher Partners and Licensing

In connection with our Partnership Agreements and any other applicable agreements between us and our Publisher Partners, (i) we and our affiliates own and retain (a) all right, title, and interest in and to the Maven Platform, Monetization Solutions and data collected by us, and (b) we and our licensors’ trademarks and branding and all software and technology we use to provide and operate the Maven Platform and Monetization Solutions, and (ii) each Publisher Partner owns and retains (a) all right, title, and interest in and to the Publisher Partner’s assets, content, and data collected by Publisher Partner and (b) each Publisher Partner’s trademarks and branding.

Seasonality

We expect to experience typical media company advertising and sponsorshipmembership sales seasonality, which is strong in the fiscal fourth quarter and slower in the fiscal first quarter.

Competition

Currently, we believe that there are dozens of competitors delivering niche media content on the web and on mobile devices and an even broader array of general media companies and major media brands. All those competitors use mobile alerts, invest heavily in video, and leverage social media. We believe that Maven haswe have developed distribution, production, and technology tactics that are superior because our management team’s tactics in the past with prior companies have proven to be highly engaging and effective for our particular model, which organizes channels into interest groups, led by its expert partners –key brands, such as Sports Illustrated in the Channel Partners.sports vertical and TheStreet in the finance vertical.

The web provides unlimited access to the market by niche or general media companies, so there are a large number and variety of direct competitors of Mavenours competing for audience and ad and sponsorshipmembership dollars. The general business of online media, combined with some level or method of leveraging community attracts many potential entrants, and in the future, there may be strong competitors that will compete with Mavenus in general or in selected markets. These and other companies may be better financed and be able to develop their markets more quickly and penetrate those market more effectively. BelowThe following is a list of possible competitors and their respective categories:

We believe that Maven competeswe compete on the basis of itsour technology, substantial scale in traffic, ease of use, value delivered to consumers and Channel Partners,recognized lead media brands, and platform evolution through a continuing development and acquisition program. We believe that we will also compete by growing through mergers and acquisition of other companies that have related online media, publishing and technology businesses intended to expand theour scale, of unique users interacting on our technology platform. We believe that an increased scale in unique users will result in improved advertising terms and concomitant growth in advertising revenue. We believe that Maven’s methods, technology and experience enable itus to compete for a material amount of market share of media dollars and subscriptionmembership revenue. We also believe Maven is rapidly establishing a reputation for its business, distribution and technology methods within selected initial markets, which can be enhanced over time as Maven gains customer awareness and channel partner success. Concurrent with the growth of its customer base, we believe Maven will develop brand awareness, which translates to sponsorship support, and will obtain data from its users that will allow Maven to expand our content and advertising offerings.

We believe that innovation is one of the keys to our competitiveness, and innovation will be necessary for future sustained growth. To the extent it is able, and given the limited financial resources at our disposal, the Company is investing in core technical competencies to be able to do more product development. Furthermore, we will file to protect our intellectual property in appropriate market segments. The Company expects that in future periods it will continue to use a substantial amount of its financial resources for development of its platform and products.

Research and Development

Research and development costs are charged to operations in the period incurred and amounted to $114,873 for the year ended December 31, 2017 and, $411,741 for the period from July 22, 2016 (Inception) to December 31, 2016.

Website Development Costs

In the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company has spent $2,605,162 which was capitalized as Website Development Costs. In the period since Inception on July 22, 2016 through December 31, 2016, the Company spent $540,146 which was capitalized as Website Development Costs. The Company recorded amortization expense related to capitalized website development costs of $512,252 in 2017 and zero in 2016, respectively.

Employees

As of March 31, 2018, the Company had twenty-nine full-time employees, of which six were in senior executive positions, fifteen were in software development, testing, and operations, five were in business and publisher development and three were in administration. None of the employees is covered by any collective bargaining agreement. In the future, Maven expects to expand its management employees for financial compliance and add operational employees as the channel partner coalition expands. Its future success will depend in part on its ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified technical and management personnel.

Government Regulations

Our operations are subject to a number of U.S.United States federal and state laws and regulations that involve privacy, rights of publicity, data protection, content regulation, intellectual property, or other subjects. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and being tested in courts and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. In addition, the application and interpretation of these laws and regulations often are uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate.

A number of government authorities, both in the United States and abroad, and private parties are increasing their focus on privacy issues and the use of personal information. MostAll states have enacted some form of data privacy legislation, including data security and breach notification laws in all 50 states, and laws penalizingsome form of regulation regarding the misusecollection, use and disclosure of personal information at the federal level and in violationseveral states. California has been the most active in the area of publishedconsumer privacy policies.legislation, including passing a comprehensive law requiring transparency, access, and choice known as the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), which was amended in November 2020 by a ballot measure known as the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”). The CCPA went into effect January 1, 2020, with enforcement having begun in June 2020. The CPRA goes into effect over time, with enforcement to begin July 2023. Other states are also considering comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. Certain states have also enacted legislation requiring certain encryption technologies for the storage and transmission of personally identifiable information, including credit card information, and more states are considering laws for or have enacted laws about information security, regulations andwhich may require the adoption of written information security policies that are consistent with state laws if businesses have personal information of residents of theirthose states. Data privacy and information security legislation is also is being considered at the federal level, among other statutes and regulations concerning the privacy of individuals and use of internet and marketmarketing information. In the United States, the FTCFederal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and attorneys general in several states have oversight of business operations concerning the use of personal information and breaches of the privacy laws under existing consumer protection laws. In particular, an attorney general or the FTC may examine privacy policies to ensure that a company discloses all material practices and fully complies with representations in the policies regarding the manner in which the information provided by consumers and other visitors to a website is used and disclosed by it, and the failure to do so could give rise to a complaint under state or federal unfair competition or consumer protection laws. The California Attorney General has begun aggressively investigating companies, especially those with websites, with respect to CCPA compliance and these investigations reportedly include inquiries into issues for which there has not yet been clear guidance issued by the state, such as regarding third party cookies that collect personal information from users when they visit our and other websites.

We will have to review our privacy policies and our overall operations on a regular basis to assureensure compliance with applicable U.S.United States federal and state laws, and to the extent applicable, any foreign laws. Our business could be adversely affected if new regulations or decisions regardingWe launched a CCPA compliance program in January 2020 and at the storage, transmission, use and/or disclosureend of personal information are implemented in such ways that impose new or additional technology requirements on us, limit our ability2020 reviewed the program and made adjustments to collect, transmit, store and use the information, or if government authorities or private parties challenge our privacy notice and compliance program practices to account for our evolving practices and the new CCPA regulations, which were promulgated in July 2020 and continue to be subject to ongoing rulemaking. We believe the position we take regarding various CCPA issues, including third party cookies, is based on sound and good faith interpretations of the law based on consultation with legal counsel. However, there are conflicting interpretations of the law that resulthave been adopted by various parties in restrictionsthe digital media industry, and given the lack of guidance to date on us, or we experience a significant data or information breach which would require public disclosure under existing notificationmany of these issues, our compliance posture on some issues might not be accepted by the State of California.

In addition to the laws and for whichof the United States, we may be liable for damages and/or penalties.

There currentlysubject to foreign laws regulating web sites and online services, and the laws in some jurisdictions outside of the United States are a number of proposals pending before federal, state, and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies, including a data protection regulation, known asstricter than the laws in the United States. For instance, in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which has been finalized(the “GDPR”) went into effect in the EU and is due to come into force in or around May 2018.European Economic Area and Switzerland. The GDPR will includeincludes operational requirements for companies that receive or process personal data of residents of the European UnionEU that are different than those currently in place in the European Union, and that will include significant penalties for non-compliance. Similarly, there are a number of legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that could impose new obligations in areas affecting our business, such as liability for copyright infringement by third parties. In addition, some EU countries are considering or have passed legislation implementing additional data protection requirements or requiring local storage and processing of personal data or similar requirements that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services.

How the GDPR will be fully applied to online services, including cookies and digital advertising, is still being determined through ongoing rulemaking and evolving interpretation by applicable authorities. We operate a GDPR compliance program that we believe, based on our good faith interpretation of the GDPR in consultation with counsel, is consistent with our obligations under that law. The highest court in the EU recently ruled that the United States/EU Privacy Shield was inadequate under GDPR and questioned the viability or legality of any EU to United States Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, or CAN-SPAM, regulating “commercial electronic mail messages” (i.e., e-mail), the primary purpose of which ispersonal data transfer methods. We are working to promote a product or service. The FTC has promulgated various regulations applying CAN-SPAM and has enforcement authorityaddress this issue, for violations of CAN-SPAM. Any entity that sends commercial e-mail messages for itself and clients, and those who re-transmit such messages, must adhere to the CAN-SPAM requirements. Violations of its provisions may result in civil money penalties and criminal liability. Compliance with these provisions may limit our ability to send certain types of e-mails on our own behalf and on behalfinstance, including standard contractual clauses as part of our advertising clients. WhileData Processing Agreements, and we intendcontinue to operate our businesses in a manner that complies withmonitor the CAN-SPAM provisions, we may not be successful in so operating. If it turns out we have violateddevelopment of EU to United States personal data transfer methods and the provisions of CAN-SPAM we may face enforcement actions by the FTC or FCC or face civil penalties, either of which could adversely affect our business.

In addition to the federal CAN-SPAM regulations, many states have comparable legislation. There have been a number of cases brought as class actions based on the federal and state statutes. At the state level the courts have tended to decide in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded substantial damages. An award of damages, at either the federal or state level could have a detrimental impact on our financial results.law relating thereto.

Social networking websites are under increasing scrutiny. Legislation has been introduced on the state and federal level that could regulate social networking websites. Some rules call for more stringent age-verification techniques, attempt to mandate data retention or data destruction by Internet providers, and impose civil and/or criminal penalties on owners or operators of social networking websites.

The FTC regularly considers issues relating to online behavioral advertising (a/k/a interest-based advertising), which is a significant revenue source for us, and has issued reports containing a new set of “guidelines” for industry self-regulation. The FTC’s reports and issue consideration may result in future regulation at the federalCongress and state levelslegislatures are frequently asked to regulate this type of the collectionadvertising, including requiring consumers to provide express consent for tracking purposes, so that advertisers may know their interests and useare, therefore, able to serve them more relevant, targeted ads. Targeted ads generate higher per impression fees than non-targeted ads. New laws, or new interpretations of online consumer data, whichexisting laws, could potentially place restrictions on our ability to utilize our database and other marketing data (e.g., from third parties) on our own behalf and on behalf of our advertising clients, which may adversely affect our business.

Legislation concerning the above described online activities has either been enacted or is in various stages of development and implementation in other countries around the world and could affect our ability to make our websites available in those countries as future legislation is made effective. It is possible that state and foreign governments might also attempt to regulate our transmissions of content on our website or prosecute us for violations of their laws. United States law offers limited safe harbors and immunities to publishers for certain liability arising out of user-posted content, but other countries do not. Further, there are a number of legislative proposals in the United States, and internationally, that could impose new obligations in areas affecting our business, such as liability for copyright infringement by third parties and liability for defamation or other claims arising out of user-posted content. Our business could be negatively impacted if applicable laws subject us to greater regulation or risk of liability.

Our business could also be adversely affected if regulatory enforcement authorities, such as the California Attorney General or EU/EEA data protection authorities, take issue with any of our approaches to compliance, or if new laws, regulations or decisions regarding the collection, storage, transmission, use and/or disclosure of personal information are implemented in such ways that impose new or additional technology requirements on us, limit our ability to collect, transmit, store and use or disclose the information, or if government authorities or private parties challenge our data privacy and/or security practices that result in liability to, or restrictions, on us, or we experience a significant data or information breach which would require public disclosure under existing notification laws and for which we may be liable for damages and/or penalties.

GovernmentsFurthermore, governments of states or foreign countriesapplicable jurisdictions might attempt to regulate our transmissions or levy sales or other taxes relating to our activities even though we do not have a physical presence and/or operate in those jurisdictions. As our platforms, products and advertisement activities are available over the Internet anywhere in the world, multiple jurisdictions may claim that we are required to qualify to do business as a foreign corporation in each of those jurisdictions and pay various taxes in those jurisdictions.Wejurisdictions. We address state and local jurisdictions where we believe we have nexus, however, there can be no assurance that we have complied with all jurisdictions that may assert that we owe taxes.

PropertyEmployees

Maven until May 5, 2018 subleased approximately 2,900 square feet for its executive offices and operational facilities on a month-to-month basis at 2125 Western Avenue, Suite 502, Seattle, WA 98121. The annual lease payments aggregate to approximately $72,000.Our total number of employees as of June 30, 2021 was 328, of which 290 were full-time employees.

On April 25, 2018, Maven entered into an office sublease agreement to sublease of 7,457 rentable square feet at 1500 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200, Seattle, Washington 98101. The sublease has a term of 41 months, commencing on June 1, 2018, with base rent at a rate of $25.95 per square foot per annum in months 1 through 12, rising to $37 per square foot in months 37 to 41. Upon execution of the sublease in April 2018, the Company paid $60,249 as prepaid rent and a security deposit of $22,992.

The Company believes that the rates it is paying under its property lease are competitive in the Seattle real estate market, and it would be able to find comparable lease properties in the event it changed locations.

Available Information

Our Annual ReportReports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act, of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are available free of charge after we electronically file or furnish them to the SEC. The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically. We assume no obligation

Item 1A. Risk Factors

There are numerous factors that affect our business and operating results, many of which are beyond our control. The following is a description of significant factors that might cause our future results to updatediffer materially from those currently expected. The risks described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or revise forward lookingthat we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and/or our ability to pay our debts and other liabilities could suffer. As a result, the trading price and liquidity of our securities could decline, perhaps significantly, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks discussed below also include forward-looking statements and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in this Current Reportthese forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements.”

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION

Our business operations have been and may continue to be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”). An outbreak of respiratory illness caused by COVID-19 emerged in late 2019 and has spread globally. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic based on Form 8-K, whetherthe rapid increase in global exposure. COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world. Many national governments and sports authorities around the world made the decision to postpone/cancel high attendance sports events in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In addition, many governments and businesses limited non-essential work activity, furloughed, and/or terminated many employees and closed some operations and/or locations, all of which has had a negative impact on the economic environment.

Beginning in March 2020, as a result of new information, futurethe COVID-19 pandemic, our revenue and earnings began to decline largely due to the cancellation of high attendance sports events or otherwise, unless we are required to do so by law. 

ITem 1A.  RISK FACTORS

Operating losses and negative cash flow from operations and investing activities in 2018.From January 1, 2018 to April 30, 2018, the Company has continued to incur operating losses and negative cash flow from operating and investing activities. The Company has been able to raise $1,250,000 in gross proceeds pursuant to a private placement of its common stock. However, the Company’s cash balance at April 30, 2018 is approximately $257,000. In order to fully fund operations through the end of May 2018, the Company will need to raise approximately $850,000. There can be no assurance that Maven will be able to obtain the necessary funds on terms acceptable to it or at all. Additional funds for working capital will be required to fund operations past May 31, 2018.

Because we are an early growth company, we face many obstacles as a new venture, and therefore we may never be able to fully execute our business plan. To date, our operations have focused on research and development, initial business development efforts and early revenue generation from advertising and membership revenue. We had less than $100,000 in revenue as of the 2017 fiscal year end. Additionally, we are pursuing an acquisition strategy which will require substantial capital to consummate the acquisitions and accommodate the expansion in our operations. If we are not able to develop our revenues, obtain additional capital as needed from time to time, and achieve market acceptance for our technology platform and attract unique users and advertisers, we will have to reduce or curtail our business operations. In any such case, investors will lose all or a portion of their investment.

Because our business and marketing plans may be unsuccessful, we may not be able to continue operations as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our generating cash flow that is sufficient to fund operations or finding adequate investment or borrowed capital to support our operations. To date we have relied largely on equity financing from third-party investors and secondarily from loans from our shareholders and related parties to fund our operations. Our shareholders and related parties have no obligation to fund any part of our capital needs. The Company has incurred operating losses and negative operating cash flows, and it expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows for at least the next year. As a result, management has concluded that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, and the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm,resulting decrease in its report on the Company’s consolidated financial statements, has raised substantial doubt about the Company’s abilitytraffic to continue as a going concern. Our platform and product development objectives and our business, marketing and acquisition plans may not be successful in achieving a sustainable business and generating revenues. We have no arrangements in place for sufficient financing to be able to fully implement our business plan. If we are unable to continue as planned currently, we may have to curtail some or all of our business plan and operations. In such case, investors will lose all or a portion of their investment.

We currently have been generating operating losses. We have had and we expect to continue to have losses in the near term and will rely on capital funding or borrowings to fund our operations. To date, capital funding has been limited in amount. We cannot predict whether or not we will ever become profitable or be able to continue to find capital to support our development and business plan. Our planned acquisitions, although operating businesses with revenues on a standalone basis, may not generate enough revenues to overcome the expenses of acquisition, integration and the increased operating requirements. Therefore, even on a combined basis, we may continue to have operating losses.

We have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to forecast whether or not our business will be successful. Since founding of Maven in July 2016, the management team has focused on the Maven Platform development and product strategy, hiring technological talent, signing channel partners and making arrangements to generate advertising revenue. Accordingly, we have only a limited operating history and generated less than $100,000This initial decrease in revenue in 2017; this limited operating experience makes it difficult to forecast our future operating results. Our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties frequently encounteredearnings were partially offset by companies in an early stage of development and product introduction, particularly companies engaged in rapidly evolving technology offerings and markets. To the extent we successfully consummate the planned acquisitions, we will also face the costs and issues of integrating two separate businesses into our business and creating one new whole enterprise from three parts. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in addressing these risks and keeping pace with developments, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our operating results may be variable, and therefore our future prospects may be difficult for investors and analysts to assess. Our operating results are likely to fluctuate significantly in the future due to a variety of factors. Due to the potential breadth of the markets in which we plan to deploy our platform and seek market acceptance and our limited operating history, we believe it will be difficult to accurately forecast our revenues and operating results in our market launch phases. Factors that may slow or harm our business or cause our operating results to fluctuate include the following:

Any change in one or more of these factors,generated by TheStreet, as well as others, could cause our annual or quarterly operating resultssome recovery of sporting events (including, in some cases, limited in-person attendance) that have generated content for the Sports Illustrated Licensed Brands. Through the spring of 2021, we have increasingly seen sports leagues and events return to fluctuate. Any changepre-pandemic scheduling, as well as additional lifting of restrictions on in-person attendance at sporting events, which have continued to result in one or more of these factors could reduce our gross margins in future periods.

The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed. There are many players in the digital media market. The market offerings range from groups of similar media to some that are unique, but quickly replicable. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, customer and user requirements and trends. With the introduction of new technologies, the evolutionrecovery of our platform, and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. Some of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources than we do. As a result, they may be able to respond more rapidly than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. In addition, our customers and strategic partners may become competitors in the future. Certain of our competitors may be able to negotiate alliances with strategic partners on more favorable terms than we are able to negotiate. Pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins, losses, or the failure of our platform to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance, any of which could adversely affect our revenues and operating results.

We are dependent upon the acceptance of the Maven platform. The market for our media platform is constantly evolving and is characterized by rapid change and competitor entrants. Our future operating results depend on the development and growth of the market for our media platforms. We intend to spend considerable resources educating potential channel partners and the ultimate users about our platforms. However, we cannot provide assurance that such expenditures will enable our platform to achieve or maintain any significant degree of market acceptance.

We may have difficulty managing our growth.We expect to add channel partner and end-user support capabilities, to continue software development activities and to expand our administrative operations. We are in the process of consummating two major acquisitions, of HubPages and Say Media. This expansion is expected to place a significant strain on our managerial, operational and financial resources. To manage any further growth, we will be required to improve existing, and implement new,performance. Despite this initial recovery, the future impact, or continued impact, from the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain.

The extent of the impact on our operational customer service and financial systems, procedures and controls and expand, train and manage our growing employee base. We also will be required to expand our finance, administrative, technical and operations staff. There can be no assurance that our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our anticipated growth, that management will be able to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel or that our management will be able to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities. If we are unable to manage growth effectively, our business could be harmed.

The strategic relationships that we may be able to develop and on which we may come to rely may not be successful. We will seek to develop strategic relationships with advertising, media, technology and other companies to enhance the efforts of our market penetration, business development, and advertising sales revenues. These relationships are expected to, but may not, succeed. There can be no assurance that these relationships will develop and mature, or that potential competitors will not develop more substantial relationships with attractive partners. Our inability to successfully implement our strategy of building valuable strategic relationships could harm our business.

Our strategy of acquiring other businesses in our operational space will place a burden on our management and may not be successful. We plan on completing two acquisitions during 2018 and may seek additional acquisition opportunities in the future. Any acquisition requires substantial effort to complete and integrate the acquired business, which will place a substantial burden on our management. We also need to raise acquisition capital for the purchase price and working capital as we expand our operations, of which we have no assurance. Any acquisition carries with it the possible loss of customers and personnel through the integration process. Loss of these customers and personnel may affect our anticipated growth projections and may result in income loss and operational difficulties. Overall, there can be no assurance that an acquisition will be as successful as projected, or that it will result in the anticipated benefits. An acquisition may actually be more costly than beneficial. Therefore, no assurance can be given that the acquisition strategy or the specific acquisitions that we have planned will result in the sought for benefits.

If our efforts to attract and retain users are not successful, our business will be adversely affected. We are currently operating our platforms and have approximately 4.3 million users of our services as of December 31, 2017 and 6.0 million as of March 31, 2018. In the future, our ability to attract usersperformance will depend, in part, on future developments, including the duration and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, related group gathering and sports event advisories and restrictions, and the extent and effectiveness of containment actions taken, all of which remain uncertain at the time of issuance of our accompanying consolidated financial statements.

These and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, or other pandemics or epidemics, could have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this Annual Report under the “Risk Factors” section.

Because of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty about their persistence, we may need to raise more capital to continue operations. At December 31, 2020, we had cash of approximately $9.0 million. From January 1, 2021 through the issuance date of our accompany consolidated financial statements, we raised aggregate net proceeds of approximately $19.6 million through private placements of our common stock, of which approximately $11 million was applied to the cash portion of the purchase of The Spun. As of the date our accompanying consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 were issued or were available to be issued, we had cash of approximately $7.5 million. Please refer to Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under the section entitled “Future Liquidity,” for additional information. We have seen stabilization in our markets since May of 2020 and believe that based on our current assessment of the impact of COVID-19, we have sufficient resources to fully fund our business operations through 12 months from the issuance date of our accompanying consolidated financial statements. However, due to the continuing uncertainty regarding the duration of the impact of COVID-19 and its effect on our financial performance and the potential that our traffic and advertising revenue becomes destabilized again, we may require additional capital. We have not had difficulties accessing the capital markets during 2020 and 2021, however, due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we may experience difficulties in the future.

As market conditions present uncertainty as to our ability to provide our users with unique and focused content choices. The relative service levels, content offerings, pricing and related features of competitors to our service and products may adversely impact our ability to attract and retain users. If users do not perceive our service offering to be of value, we may not be able to attract and retain users and may not be able to get any revenue from paid membership. Furthermore, if we cannot build a meaningful membership base, we may not be able to engender interest from potential advertisers and generate any revenue from advertising and sponsorship. Even if we can successfully attract users to subscribe for our services, users will be able to cancel our service for many reasons. We must continually add new users both to replace canceled memberships and to grow our business beyond the then current user base. If we are unable to successfully attract users, our business will be adversely affected.

The sales and payment cycle for online advertising is long, and such sales may not occur when anticipated or at all. The decision process is typically lengthy for brand advertisers and sponsors to commit to online campaigns. Some of their budgets are planned a full year in advance. The decision process for such purchases is subject to delays and aspects that are beyond our control. In addition, some advertisers and sponsors take months after the campaign runs to pay, and some may not pay at all, or require partial “make-goods” based on performance. As we are in the early stage of establishing substantive approaches to the brand advertisers, advertising platforms and sponsors, we cannot yet determine the terms of use they will demand or their payment behavior. Any delay or loss in sales of online advertising could adversely affect our operating results.

The sales cycle for paid memberships may be longer than currently anticipated. We anticipate selling the memberships directly to consumers via online methodologies. It may take longer than we currently anticipate to start generating a significant volume of subscribers. We understand that we will have to convince consumers to purchase memberships, which in turn will depend on their perception of the value provided by our channel partners’ content and communities. Such value perception is subject to aspects that are beyond our control. Sales will usually be through online credit card transactions; these types of transactions are subject to chargebacks and cancellations that may reduce revenues. Any delay in generating membership sales or losses in sales of online memberships could adversely affect our operating results.

We are dependent on the continued services and on the performance of our senior management and other key personnel. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers, such as Messrs. Heckman, Jacobs, Sornsin and Joldersma or other key employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Although we have employment contracts with our key personnel, these are at will employment agreements, albeit with non-competition and confidentiality provisions and other rights typically associated with employment agreements. We also depend on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and motivate other highly skilled technical, managerial, sales, operational, business development and customer service personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, andsecure additional capital, there can be no assuranceassurances that we will be able to successfully attract, assimilate or retain sufficiently qualified personnel. The failure to attract and retain necessary skilled personnel could have a material adverse effectsecure additional financing on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our revenues could decrease if our platforms do not operate as intended. Our platform technologies will perform complex functions and are vulnerable to undetected errors or unforeseen defects that could result in a failure to operate or inefficiency. There can be no assurance that errors and defects will not be found in current or new products or, if discovered, that we will be able to successfully correct them in a timely manner or at all. The occurrence of errors and defects could result in loss of or delay in revenue, loss of market share, failure to achieve market acceptance, increased development costs, diversion of development resources and injury to our reputation or damage to our efforts to build brand awareness.

Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results. Our growth will depend in part on the ability of our users and channel partners to access our technology platform at any time and within an acceptable amount of time. We believe that our platform is proprietary, and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering, operations, and software development teams for their continued performance. It is possible that the Maven Platform may experience performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing our platform software simultaneously, denial of service attacks, or other security related incidents. Until we have significant operating experience, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of any performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may be that it will be difficult to maintain and/or improve our performance, especially during peak usage times and as our platform becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. If our platform software is unavailable or if our users are unable to access it within a reasonable amount of timeterms, or at all, our business would be negatively affected. Therefore, in the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our infrastructure, partner or user data may be permanently lost. Moreover, we expect our channel partner agreementsas and when necessary to include service level standards that obligate us to provide credits or termination rights in the event of a significant disruption in our platform. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.

We intend to operate our exclusive coalition of professional-managed online media channels on third party cloud platforms and data center hosting facilities. We will rely on software and services licensed from, and cloud platforms provided by, third parties in order to offer our digital media services. Any errors or defects in third-party software or cloud platforms could result in errors in, or a failure of, our digital media services, which could harm our business. Any damage to, or failure of, these third-party systems generally could result in interruptions in the availability of our digital media services. As a result of this third-party reliance, we may experience the aforementioned issues, which could cause us to render credits or pay penalties, could cause channel partners to terminate their contractual arrangements with us, and could adversely affect our ability to grow our audience of unique visitors, all of which could reduce our ability to generate revenue. Our business would also be harmed if our customers and potential customers believe our product and services offerings are unreliable.

Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our technology platforms could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Because our technology platform will be complex, undetected errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may occur, especially when updates are deployed. Despite testing by us, errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may not be found in our technology platform until after they are deployed to our customers. We expect from time to time to discover software errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs in our technology platforms and anticipate that certain of these errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs will only be discovered and remediated after deployment to channel partners and used by subscribers. Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our software could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our technology platforms, loss of competitive position, or claims by channel partners or subscribers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem.

If we are unable to develop and maintain successful relationships with channel partners and publishers, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected. We believe that growth in our business is dependent upon identifying, developing, and maintaining strong relationships with channel partners that can drive substantial revenue by delivering strong content and communities to end users. If we fail to identify channel partners that provide the right content and foster the communities we need for growth and branding, in a timely and cost-effective manner, or at all, or are unable to assist our channel partners in delivering great content and communities that drive both advertising and membership and subscription revenue, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected. If our channel partners do not effectively deliver great content and communities, or fail to meet the needs of end users, our reputation and ability to grow our business may also be adversely affected.

If the protection of trademark, brands and other proprietary rights is inadequate, we could lose our proprietary right, suffer a diminution of reputations and experience a loss of revenues. Our success significantly depends on our proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, employee and third-party non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements and other methods to protect our proprietary technology. Despite these precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy portions of our products or reverse engineer or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. There can be no assurance that our platforms will be protectable by patents, but if they are, any efforts to obtain patent protection that is not successful may harm our business in that others will be able to use our technologies. For example, previous disclosures or activities unknown at present may be uncovered in the future and adversely impact any patent rights that we may obtain. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. There can be no assurance that the steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights will be adequate or that third parties will not infringe or misappropriate our trademarks, copyrights and similar proprietary rights. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our IP rights, those proceedings could be expensive and time-consuming and could distract our management from our business operations.

Our brand “Maven” and any related trademarks are an important part of our sales effort. We believe that establishing and maintaining the “Maven” brand name and any related trade and service marks will be important to our success and crucial in gaining new users and new channel partners and publishers. The importance of brand recognition may increase as a result of established and new competitors offering service and products similar to ours. To the extent we are able, with our limited funding and personnel, we intend to increase our marketing and branding expenditures in an effort to increase awareness of the “Maven” brand. If our brand-building strategy is unsuccessful, these expenses may never be recovered, we may be unable to obtain sponsorships or generate any revenue, and our business could be harmed.

Intellectual property claims against us can be costly and could impair our business. We cannot predict whether third parties will assert claims of infringement against us, or whether any future assertions or prosecutions will harm our business. Although we take significant steps to make sure that our technologies do not infringe on the rights of others, as our employees have worked in our industry for many years, there is always the possibility that another person or company may assert that we have built on their proprietary rights. If we are forced to defend against any such claims, whether they are with or without merit or are determined in our favor, we may face costly litigation, diversion of technical and management personnel, or product launch delays, any of which could adversely impact our business. As a result of such a dispute, we may have to develop non-infringing technology or enter into royalty or licensing agreements. Such royalty or licensing agreements, if required, may be unavailable on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If there is a successful claim of intellectual property infringement against us and we are unable to develop non-infringing technology or to license the infringed or similar technology on a timely basis, our business could be impaired.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, competition, consumer protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy, data protection, and personal information, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, telecommunications, product liability, taxation, economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions, securities law compliance, and online payment services. The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny. In addition, foreign data protection, privacy, competition, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States.

These U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. For example, regulatory or legislative actions affecting the manner in which we display content to our users or obtain consent to various practices could adversely affect user growth and engagement. Such actions could affect the manner in which we provide our services or adversely affect our financial results.

Prior employers of our employees may assert violations of past employment arrangements. Our employees are highly experienced, partly because they have worked in our industry for many years; prior employers may try to assert that our employees are breaching restrictive covenants and other limitations imposed by past employment arrangements. We believe that all of our employees are free to work for us in their various capacities and have not breached past employment arrangements. Notwithstanding our care in our employment practices, a prior employer may assert a claim. Such claims will be costly to contest and highly disruptive to our work environment and may result in a detrimental effect on our operations.

Our products may require availability of components or known technology from third parties and their non-availability can impede our growth. We license/buy certain technology integral to our products from third parties, including open-source and commercially available software. Our inability to acquire and maintain any third-party product licenses or integrate the related third-party products into our products in compliance with license arrangements, could result in delays in product development until equivalent products can be identified, licensed and integrated. We also expect to require new licenses in the future as our business grows and technology evolves. We cannot provide assurance that these licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

Government regulations may increase our costs of doing business. The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to online media, communities, commerce, security and privacy could harm our business, operating results and financial condition by increasing our costs and administrative burdens.conduct operations. It may take years to determine whether and how existing laws such as those governing intellectual property, privacy, security, libel, consumer protection and taxation apply. Laws and regulations directly applicable to Internet activities are becoming more diverse and prevalent in all global markets. We must comply with regulations in the United States, as well as any other regulations adopted by other countries where we may do business. The growth and development of Internet content, commerce and communities may prompt calls for more stringent consumer protection laws, privacy laws and data protection laws, both in the United States and abroad, as well as new laws governing the taxation of these activities. Compliance with any newly adopted laws may prove difficult for us and may harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We will require additional capital in the future, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Our future liquidity and capital requirements will depend upon numerous factors, including the success of our offerings and competing technological and market developments.We will tomay need to raise funds through public or private financings, strategic relationships, or other arrangements. There can be no assurance that such funding, will be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Furthermore, any equity financing will be dilutive to existing stockholders, and debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants that may limit our operating flexibility with respect to certain business matters. Strategic arrangements may require us to relinquish our rights or grant licenses to some or substantial parts of our intellectual property. If funds are raised through the issuance of equity securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders will be reduced, stockholders may experience additional dilution in net book value per share, and such equity securities may have rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of the holders of our existing capital stock. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may not be able to continue operating, develop or enhance products, take advantage of future opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Management hasWe have incurred losses since our inception, have yet to achieve profitable operations, and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the rightforeseeable future. We have had losses from inception, and as a result, have relied on capital funding or borrowings to vote a substantial amountfund our operations. Our accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2020 was approximately $162.1 million. We have not issued our financial statements for any periods during fiscal 2021. While we anticipate generating positive cash flow in fiscal 2021, the Common Stockuncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic yields some doubt as to our ability to do so and could require us to raise additional capital. We cannot predict whether we will be able to influencecontinue to find capital to support our business plan if the businessnegative effects of the Company.COVID-19 pandemic continue longer than anticipated.

We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we do not adequately address these material weaknesses or if other material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting are discovered, our financial statements could contain material misstatements and our business, operations and stock price may be adversely affected. Management, includingAs disclosed under Item 9A, Controls and Procedures, of this Annual Report, our management has identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2020 and we expect to continue to have material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting at March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021. We expect to have remediated our material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting by December 31, 2021, of which there can be no assurance. Under standards established by the directorsPublic Company Accounting Oversight Board, 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 financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Although no material misstatement of our historical financial statements was identified, the existence of these material weaknesses or significant deficiencies could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and officerswe could be required to restate our financial statements. Further, significant costs and resources may be needed to remediate the identified material weaknesses or any other material weaknesses or internal control deficiencies. If we are unable to remediate, evaluate, and test our internal controls on a timely basis in the future, management will be unable to conclude that our internal controls are effective and our independent registered public accounting firm will be unable to express an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls. If we cannot produce reliable financial reports, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, the price of our common stock could be adversely impacted and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

As of the Company, beneficially own about 8,626,935date of filing this Annual Report, we currently lack certain internal controls over our financial reporting. While we have three independent directors serving on our board of directors (our “Board”), have added to our accounting staff, and have hired a new Chief Technology Officer, we are implementing such controls at this time. The lack of such controls makes it difficult to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed and submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported as and when required.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to develop and implement the necessary internal controls over financial reporting. The absence of such internal controls may inhibit investors from purchasing our shares and may make it more difficult for us to raise debt or equity financing.

If we fail to retain current users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of Common Stock, representing about 29.68%engagement with the Maven Platform, our business would be seriously harmed. The success of our business heavily depends on the size of our user base and the level of engagement of our users. Thus, our business performance will also become increasingly dependent on our ability to increase levels of user engagement in existing and new markets. We are continuously subject to a highly competitive market in order to attract and retain our users’ attention. A number of factors could negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if:

Any decrease in user retention, growth, or engagement could render our products less attractive to users, advertisers, or our Publisher Partners, thereby reducing our revenues from them, which may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will succeed in developing products and services that eventually become widely accepted, that we will be able to timely release products and services that are commercially viable, or that we will establish ourselves as a successful player in a new business area. Our inability to do so would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The market in which we participate is intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed. The digital media industry is fragmented and highly competitive. There are many players in the digital media market, many with greater name recognition and financial resources, which may give them a competitive advantage. Some of our current and potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution, and other resources than we do. Our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, customer, and user requirements and trends. In addition, our customers and strategic partners may become competitors in the future. Certain of our competitors may be able to negotiate alliances with strategic partners on more favorable terms than we are able to negotiate. Pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins, losses, or the failure of the Common Stock.Maven Platform to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance, any of which could adversely affect our revenues and operating results. With the introduction of new technologies, the evolution of the Maven Platform, and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future.

We may have difficulty managing our growth. We have added, and expect to continue to add, publisher partner and end-user support capabilities, to continue software development activities, and to expand our administrative operations. In the past two years, we have entered into multiple strategic transactions. These strategic transactions, which have significantly expanded our business, have and are expected to place a significant strain on our managerial, operational, and financial resources. To manage any further growth, we will be required to improve existing, and implement new, operational, customer service, and financial systems, procedures and controls and expand, train, and manage our growing employee base. We also will be required to expand our finance, administrative, technical, and operations staff. There can be no assurance that our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures, and controls will be adequate to support our anticipated growth, that management will be able to hire, train, retain, motivate, and manage required personnel or that our management will be able to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities. If we are unable to manage growth effectively, our business could be harmed.

The strategic relationships that we may be able to develop and on which we may come to rely may not be successful. We will seek to develop strategic relationships with advertising, media, technology, and other companies to enhance the efforts of our market penetration, business development, and advertising sales revenues. These relationships are expected to, but may not, succeed. There can be no assurance that these relationships will develop and mature, or that potential competitors will not develop more substantial relationships with attractive partners. Our inability to successfully implement our strategy of building valuable strategic relationships could harm our business.

We rely heavily on our ability to collect and disclose data and metrics in order to attract new advertisers and retain existing advertisers. Any restriction, whether by law, regulation, policy, or other reason, on our ability to collect and disclose data that our advertisers find useful would impede our ability to attract and retain advertisers. Our advertising revenue could be seriously harmed by many other factors, including:

The occurrence of any of these or other factors could result in a reduction in demand for advertisements, which may reduce the prices we receive for our advertisements or cause advertisers to stop advertising with us altogether, either of which would negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The sales and payment cycle for online advertising is long, and such sales, which have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, may not occur when anticipated or at all. The decision process is typically lengthy for brand advertisers and sponsors to commit to online campaigns. Some of their budgets are planned a full year in advance. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the amount and pricing of advertising throughout the media industry and it is uncertain when and to what extent advertisers will return to more normal spending levels. The decision process for such purchases, even in normal business situations, is subject to delays and aspects that are beyond our control. In addition, some advertisers and sponsors take months after the campaign runs to pay, and some may not pay at all, or require partial “make-goods” based on performance.

We are dependent on the continued services and on the performance of our key executive officers, management team, and other key personnel, the loss of which could adversely affect our business. Our future success largely depends upon the continued services of our key executive officers, management team, and other key personnel. The loss of the services of any of such key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. We depend on the continued services of our key personnel as they work closely with both our employees and our Publisher Partners. Such key personnel are also responsible for our day-to-day operations. Although we have employment agreements with some of our key personnel, these are at-will employment agreements, albeit with non-competition and confidentiality provisions and other rights typically associated with employment agreements. We do not believe that any of our executive officers are planning to leave or retire in the near term; however, we cannot assure that our executive officers or members of our management team will remain with us. We also depend on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain, and motivate other highly skilled technical, managerial, sales, operational, business development, and customer service personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully attract, assimilate, or retain sufficiently qualified personnel. The loss or limitation of the services of any of our executive officers, members of our management team, or key personnel, including our regional and country managers, or the inability to attract and retain additional qualified key personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We are dependent on the continued services and on the performance of key third party content contributors, the loss of which could adversely affect our business. We rely on content contributed by third party providers, which has in turn attracted users that drive advertising and subscription revenue. The loss of the services of any of such key contributors could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Although we have service agreements with some of our key contributors, many are short term in nature or have cancelation clauses in the agreements. We also depend on our ability to identify, attract, and retain, other highly skilled third-party content contributors. Competition for such contributors is intense, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully attract, assimilate, or retain them. The loss or limitation of the services of any of our key third party contributors, or the inability to attract and retain additional qualified key contributors, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Our revenues could decrease if the Maven Platform does not continue to operate as intended. The Maven Platform performs complex functions and is vulnerable to undetected errors or unforeseen defects that could result in a failure to operate or inefficiency. There can be no assurance that errors and defects will not be found in current or new products or, if discovered, that we will be able to successfully correct them in a timely manner or at all. The occurrence of errors and defects could result in loss of or delay in revenue, loss of market share, increased development costs, diversion of development resources and injury to our reputation or damage to our efforts to expand brand awareness.

Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results. Our growth will depend in part on the ability of our users and Publisher Partners to access the Maven Platform at any time and within an acceptable amount of time. We believe that the Maven Platform is proprietary and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering, operations, and software development teams for their continued performance. It is possible that the Maven Platform may experience performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing the Maven Platform software simultaneously, denial of service attacks, or other security related incidents. We may not be able to identify the cause or causes of any performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may be that it will be difficult to maintain and/or improve our performance, especially during peak usage times and as the Maven Platform becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. If the Maven Platform software is unavailable or if our users are unable to access it within a reasonable amount of time or at all, our business would be negatively affected. Therefore, in the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our infrastructure, partner or user data may be permanently lost. Moreover, the Partnership Agreements with our Publisher Partners include service level standards that obligate us to provide credits or termination rights in the event of a significant disruption in the Maven Platform. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.

We operate our exclusive coalition of professional-managed online media channels on third party cloud platforms and data center hosting facilities. We rely on software and services licensed from, and cloud platforms provided by, third parties in order to offer our digital media services. Any errors or defects in third-party software or cloud platforms could result in errors in, or a failure of, our digital media services, which could harm our business. Any damage to, or failure of, these third-party systems generally could result in interruptions in the availability of our digital media services. As a result of this amountthird-party reliance, we may experience the aforementioned issues, which could cause us to render credits or pay penalties, could cause our Publisher Partners to terminate their contractual arrangements with us, and could adversely affect our ability to grow our audience of ownership, managementunique visitors, all of which could reduce our ability to generate revenue. Our business would also be harmed if our users and potential users believe our product and services offerings are unreliable. In the event of damage to, or failure of, these third-party systems, we would need to identify alternative channels for the offering of our digital media services, which would consume substantial resources and may not be effective. We are also subject to certain standard terms and conditions with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud related to data storage purposes. These providers have broad discretion to change their terms of service and other policies with respect to us, and those changes may be unfavorable to us. Therefore, we believe that maintaining successful partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and other third-party suppliers is critical to our success.

Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in the Maven Platform could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. Because the Maven Platform is complex, undetected errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may occur, especially when updates are deployed. Despite testing by us, errors, failures, vulnerabilities, or bugs may not be found in the Maven Platform until after they are deployed to our customers. We expect from time to time to discover software errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs in the Maven Platform and anticipate that certain of these errors, failures, vulnerabilities, and bugs will only be discovered and remediated after deployment to our Publisher Partners and used by subscribers. Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our software could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of the Maven Platform, loss of competitive position, or claims by our Publisher Partners or subscribers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem.

Malware, viruses, hacking attacks, and improper or illegal use of the Maven Platform could harm our business and results of operations. Malware, viruses, and hacking attacks have become more prevalent in our industry and may occur on our systems in the future. Any security breach caused by hacking, which involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems, or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware, or other computer equipment, and the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Any failure to detect such attack and maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of products and technical infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may also seriously harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users.

Our information technology systems are susceptible to a growing and evolving threat of cybersecurity risk. Any substantial compromise of our data security, whether externally or internally, or misuse of agent, customer, or employee data, could cause considerable damage to our reputation, cause the public disclosure of confidential information, and result in lost sales, significant costs, and litigation, which would negatively affect our financial position and results of operations. Although we maintain policies and processes surrounding the protection of sensitive data, which we believe to be adequate, there can be no assurances that we will not be subject to such claims in the future.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our business could suffer. Our success significantly depends on our proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, employee and third-party non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements and other methods to protect our proprietary technology. However, these only afford limited protection, and unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of the Maven Platform’s features and functionality, or to use information that we consider proprietary or confidential. There can be no assurance that the Maven Platform will be protectable by patents, but if they are, any efforts to obtain patent protection that is not successful may harm our business in that others will be able to influenceuse our technologies. For example, previous disclosures or activities unknown at present may be uncovered in the electionfuture and adversely impact any patent rights that we may obtain. In addition, the laws of directorssome foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. There can be no assurance that the steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights will be adequate or that third parties will not infringe or misappropriate our trademarks, copyrights, and similar proprietary rights. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights, those proceedings could be expensive and time-consuming and could distract our management from our business operations. Our business, profitability and growth prospects could be adversely affected if we fail to receive adequate protection of our proprietary rights.

We could be required to cease certain activities and/or incur substantial costs as a result of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights. Some of our competitors, and other third parties, may own technology patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and website content, which they may use to assert claims against us. We cannot assure you that we will not become subject to claims that we have misappropriated or misused other parties’ intellectual property rights. Any claim or litigation alleging that we have infringed or otherwise violated intellectual property or other rights of third parties, with or without merit, and whether or not settled out of court or determined in our favor, could be time-consuming and costly to address and resolve, and could divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel.

The results of any intellectual property litigation to which we might become a party may require us to do one or more of the following:

If we are required to make substantial payments or undertake any of the other actions noted above as a result of any intellectual property infringement claims against us, such payments or costs could have a material adverse effect upon our business and financial results.

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy, data protection, and personal information, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, telecommunications, employee classification, product liability, taxation, economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions, securities law compliance, and online payment services. The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, monetary penalties or other government scrutiny. In addition, foreign data protection, privacy, competition, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and could be interpreted or applied in ways that could limit or harm our business, require us to make certain fundamental and potentially detrimental changes to the products and services we offer, or subject us to claims. For example, laws relating to the liability of providers of online services for activities of their users and other third-parties are currently being tested by a number of claims, including actions based on invasion of privacy and other torts, unfair competition, copyright, and trademark infringement, and other theories based on the nature and content of the materials searched, the ads posted, or the content provided by users. In addition, there have been calls by members of Congress, from both parties, to limit the scope of the current immunities and safe harbors afforded online publishers with regard to user content and communications under the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the federal Communications Decency Act. Any material reduction of those protections would make us more vulnerable to third party claims arising out of user content published by our online services.

These United States federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, which could adversely affect our business. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. Any change in legislation and regulations could affect our business. For example, regulatory or legislative actions affecting the manner in which we display content to our users or obtain consent to various practices could adversely affect user growth and engagement. Such actions could affect the manner in which we provide our services or adversely affect our financial results.

Furthermore, significant penalties could be imposed on us for failure to comply with various statutes or regulations. Violations may result from:

While we prioritize ensuring that our business and compensation model are compliant, and that any product or income related claims are truthful and non-deceptive, we cannot be certain that the FTC or similar regulatory body in another country will not modify or otherwise amend its guidance, laws, or regulations or interpret in a way that would render our current practices inconsistent with the same.

Our services involve the storage and transmission of digital information; therefore, cybersecurity incidents, including those caused by unintentional errors and those intentionally caused by third parties, may expose us to a risk of loss, unauthorized disclosure or other misuse of this information, litigation liability and regulatory exposure, reputational harm and increased security costs. We and our third-party service providers experience cyber-attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. We expect to incur significant costs in ongoing efforts to detect and prevent cybersecurity-related incidents and these costs may increase in the event of an actual or perceived data breach or other cybersecurity incident. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased opportunities for cyber-criminals and the risk of potential cybersecurity incidents, as more companies and individuals work online. We cannot ensure that our efforts to prevent cybersecurity incidents will succeed. An actual or perceived breach of our cybersecurity could impact the market perception of the effectiveness of our cybersecurity controls. If our users or business partners, including our Publisher Partners, are harmed by such an incident, they could lose trust and confidence in us, decrease their use of our services or stop using them in entirely. We could also incur significant legal and financial exposure, including legal claims, higher transaction fees and regulatory fines and penalties, which in turn could have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and operating results. While our insurance policies include liability coverage for certain of these types of matters, a significant cybersecurity incident could subject us to liability or other damages that exceed our insurance coverage.

Prior employers of our employees may assert violations of past employment arrangements. Our employees are highly experienced, having worked in our industry for many years. Prior employers may try to assert that our employees are breaching restrictive covenants and other limitations imposed by past employment arrangements. We believe that all of our employees are free to work for us in their various capacities and have not breached past employment arrangements. Notwithstanding our care in our employment practices, a prior employer may assert a claim. Such claims will be costly to contest, highly disruptive to our work environment, and may be detrimental to our operations.

Our products may require availability of components or known technology from third parties and their non-availability can impede our growth. We license/buy certain technology integral to our products from third parties, including open-source and commercially available software. Our inability to acquire and maintain any third-party product licenses or integrate the related third-party products into our products in compliance with license arrangements, could result in delays in product development until equivalent products can be identified, licensed, and integrated. We also expect to require new licenses in the future as our business grows and technology evolves. We cannot provide assurance that these licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

Government regulations may increase our costs of doing business. The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to online media, communities, commerce, security and privacy could harm our business, operating results and financial condition by increasing our costs and administrative burdens. It may take years to determine whether and how existing laws such as those governing intellectual property, privacy, security, libel, consumer protection, and taxation apply. Laws and regulations directly applicable to Internet activities are becoming more diverse and prevalent in all global markets. We must comply with regulations in the United States, as well as any other regulations adopted by other countries where we may do business. The growth and development of Internet content, commerce and communities may prompt calls for more stringent consumer protection laws, privacy laws and data protection laws, both in the United States and abroad, as well as new laws governing the taxation of these activities. Compliance with any newly adopted laws may prove difficult for us and may harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We may face lawsuits or incur liabilities in the future in connection with our businesses. In the future, we may face lawsuits or incur liabilities in connection with our businesses. For example, we could face claims relating to information that is published or made available on the Maven Platform. In particular, the nature of our business exposes us to claims related to defamation, intellectual property rights and rights of publicity and privacy. We might not be able to influence the business plan and overall business directionmonitor or edit a significant portion of the Company.content that appears on the Maven Platform. This risk is enhanced in certain jurisdictions outside the United States where our protection from liability for third-party actions may be unclear and where we may be less protected under local laws than we are in the United States. We could also face fines or orders restricting or blocking our services in particular geographies as a result of content hosted on our services. If any of these events occur, our business could be seriously harmed.

RISKS RELATED TO AN INVESTMENT IN OUR SECURITIES

There is not an activemay be no liquid market for the Common Stock. our common stock. We provide no assurances of any kind or nature whatsoever that an active market for the Common Stockour common stock will ever develop.develop. There has been no sustained activity in the market for the Common Stock.our common stock. Investors should understand that there may be no alternative exit strategy for them to recover or liquidate their investments in the Common Stock.our common stock. Accordingly, investors must be prepared to bear the entire economic risk of an investment in the Companyus for an indefinite period of time. IfEven if an active market ever develops for the Common Stock, we anticipate that our then financial condition, platform and product offerings, and our roll out strategy and implementation will greatly impact the market value of the Common Stock. The market value at any point in time may not reflect the value of the business or our business prospects.

There may be no liquid market for our Common Stock. Even if a trading market develops over time, we cannot predict how liquid that market might become. Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Markets Group, Inc.’s (the “OTCM”) Pink Open Market (the “OTC Pink”). Trading in stock quoted on over-the-counter markets is often thin and characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors that may have little to do with our operations or business prospects. The trading price of the Common Stockour common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in price in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control.

These factors include:

In addition, the stock market in general experiences price and volume fluctuations that often are unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of public companies. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of the Common Stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This type of litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the United States securities laws, which will require expenditure of capital and other resources.resources, and may divert management’s attention. We are a public reporting company subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act, of 1934 and other federal securities laws, including, without limitation, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Sarbanes”). The costs of preparing and filing annual and quarterly reports, proxy statements, and other informationapplicable securities rules and regulations. Complying with these rules and regulations have caused us and will continue to cause us to incur additional legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, be time-consuming or costly, and continue to increase demand on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and operating results. We are not current in our SEC filings and the SECcost of completing historical filings in addition to maintaining current financial reporting has been, and furnishing audited reports to stockholders will cause our expensescontinue to be, substantially higher than they would otherwise be if we were privately-held. It will be difficult, costly, and time-consuminga financial burden for us to develop and implement internal controls and reporting procedures required by Sarbanes, and we will require additional staff and third-party assistance to develop and implement appropriate internal controls and procedures.us. If we fail to or are unable to comply with Sarbanes, we will not be able to obtain independent accountant certifications that Sarbanes requires publicly-tradedpublicly traded companies to obtain. Further, by complying with public disclosure requirements, our business and financial condition are more visible, which we believe may result in the likelihood of increased threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. Compliance with these additional requirements may also divert management’s attention from operating our business. Any of these may adversely affect our operating results.

Investor confidence and market price of our shares may be adversely impacted because we have been unable to attest to the adequacy of the internal controls over our financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The SEC, as directed by Section 404 of Sarbanes, adopted rules requiring public companies to include a report of management of their internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting in their annual reports on Form 10-K. The report is to state an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. We have reported in the Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, that management concluded there are material weaknesses in our internal controls and procedures. The material weakness relate to the following: (1) a lack of a functioning audit committee resulting in ineffective oversight in the establishment and monitoring of required internal controls and procedures, (2) an inadequate segregation of duties consistent with control objectives, (3) complex stock-based compensation plans for employees, directors, contractors and channel partners and inadequate processes for timely determination of stock-based compensation expense, and (4) ineffective controls over its period end financial disclosure and reporting processes. These weaknesses are largely due to our lack of accounting and operational staff. To remedy this material weakness, we plan to engage additional internal accounting staff to assist with financial reporting, but our ability to do this will depend on our having the economic resources to expand our staff.

We may not be able to attract the attention of major brokerage firms or securities analysts in our efforts to raise capital. In due course, we plan to seek to have the Common Stockour common stock quoted on a national securities exchange in the United States. There can be no assurance that we will be able to garner a quote for the Common Stockour common stock on an exchange. Even if we are successful in doing so, security analysts and major brokerage houses may not provide coverage of us. We may also not be able to attract any brokerage houses to conduct secondary offerings with respect to our securities.

Because we will beare subject to the “Penny Stock”“penny stock” rules as our shares are quoted on the over-the-counter bulletin board,and regulations, the level of trading activity in our common stock is limited, and our stockholders may be reduced.have difficulties selling their shares. If a trading market does develop for our stock, it is likely that our stock will be subject to the regulations applicable to “Penny Stock.” The regulations of the SEC promulgated under the Exchange Act that require additional disclosure relating to the market for penny stocks in connection with trades in any stock defined as a penny stock. The SEC regulations define penny stocks to be any non-exchange equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions.exemptions. The regulations of the SEC promulgated under the Exchange Act require additional disclosure relating to the market for penny stocks in connection with trades in any stock defined as a penny stock. Unless an exception is available, those regulations require the broker-dealer to deliver, prior to any transaction involving a penny stock, a standardized risk disclosure schedule prepared by the SEC, to provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the purchaser’s account, to make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity, if any, in the secondary market for a stock that becomes subject to the penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage market investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock. There can be no assurance that our common stock will qualify for exemption from the Common Stock.penny stock rules. In any event, even if our common stock were exempt from the penny stock rules, we would remain subject to Section 15(b)(6) of the Exchange Act, which gives the SEC the authority to restrict any person from participating in a distribution of penny stock, if the SEC finds that such a restriction would be in the public interest.

In addition to the “penny stock” rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission,SEC, the FINRAFinancial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives, and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. The FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy the Common Stock,our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy and sell our common stock.

Because future sales by our stockholders could cause the stock price to decline, our investors may lose money on their investment in our stock. No predictions can be made of the effect, if any, that market sales of shares of the Common Stock or the availability of such shares for sale will have on the market price prevailing from time to time. Nevertheless, sales of significant amounts of the Common Stock could adversely affect the prevailing market price of the common stock, as well as impair our ability to raise capital through the issuance of additional equity securities.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not Applicable.

Item 2. Properties

Maven until May 5,On April 25, 2018, subleased approximately 2,900 square feet for its executive offices and operational facilities on a month-to-month basis at 2125 Western Avenue, Suite 502, Seattle, WA 98121. The annual lease payments aggregate to approximately $72,000.

In April 2018, Mavenwe entered into an office sublease agreement (the “1500 Fourth Ave Sublease”) to sublease a portion of the “master premises” consisting of 7,457 rentable square feet of office space for our then-executive offices at 1500 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200, Seattle, Washington 98101. The sublease has a term of 41 months, commencing1500 Fourth Ave Sublease commenced on June 1, 2018 with basean expiration date of October 31, 2021. The amount of monthly rent at a rate of $25.95payable per square foot per annum in months 1 through 12, rising to $37 per square foot in months 37 to 41. Upon executionunder the 1500 Fourth Ave Sublease was $25.95 for the first year, $35.00 for the second year, $36.00 for the third year, and $37.00 for the remainder of the subleaseterm. On March 1, 2020, we assumed the entire lease for the remaining term of 20 months.

On September 19, 2018, we entered into a membership agreement with WeWork for office space located at 995 Market Street, San Francisco, California. The agreement commenced on October 1, 2018. We paid approximately $17,400 per month, which included certain conference room credits and printer credits. We also paid a service retainer in Aprilthe amount of $26,100. We terminated our membership agreement effective October 31, 2020.

On December 12, 2018, as part of our acquisition of Say Media, we assumed the Company paid $60,249office lease (the “Portland Lease”) of 10,000 rentable square feet at 424 SW Fourth Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204. The Portland Lease began on July 1, 2015, and expired June 30, 2020. Monthly lease payments increased from $18,750 in July 2015 to $27,500 in June 2020.

On August 7, 2019, as prepaid rentpart of its acquisition of TheStreet, we assumed the office lease of approximately 35,000 rentable square feet at 14 Wall Street, 15th Floor, New York, New York 10005. The lease had a remaining term of 16 months, expiring on December 31, 2020. Monthly lease payments from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2020 were $150,396. On October 30, 2020, we entered into a surrender agreement (the “Surrender Agreement”) pursuant to which we effectively surrendered the property back to the owner and landlord. Pursuant to the Surrender Agreement, we agreed to pay $68,868 per month from January 2021 through June 1, 2022 to satisfy the total outstanding balance of $1,239,626 owed to the lessor. The first $500,000 of payments was drawn from a security deposit, which is held by the lessor. The lessor agreed not to charge any late fees, interest charges, or other penalties relating to the surrender of $22,992.the property.

Effective October 1, 2019, we entered into an office lease (the “Santa Monica Lease”) of approximately 5,258 rentable square feet at 301 Arizona Avenue, 4th Floor, Santa Monica, California 90401. The Company believesSanta Monica Lease has a term of 5 years, expiring on September 30, 2024. The initial monthly rent was $36,806 and increased to $37,910 in October 2020.

Effective October 3, 2019, we entered into a condominium lease (the “Washington Square Lease”) of a multifamily townhome at 26 Washington Square North, New York, New York 10011. The Washington Square Lease had a term of one year, expiring on October 2, 2020, with monthly rent payments of $10,000. This property was used by our executive officers when they were in New York for matters related to our business. We terminated this lease in March 2020 when we entered into the 30 West Lease (as defined below).

On January 14, 2020, we entered into an office sublease agreement (the “Liberty Street Sublease”) of approximately 40,868 rentable square feet at 225 Liberty Street, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10281, with an effective date of February 1, 2020 with lease payments commencing November 1, 2020 and expiring on November 30, 2032. Monthly lease payments from November 1, 2020 through October 31, 2025 are $252,019.

Effective March 1, 2020, we entered into a corporate apartment lease (the “30 West Lease”) at 30 West Street, New York, New York 10004. The 30 West Lease has a term of 18 months, expiring on August 31, 2021, with monthly lease payments of $8,000 through February 2021 and $8,500 from March 2021 through the expiration of the lease. We terminated this lease in December 2020.

We believe that the rates it iswe are paying under itsour property leases are competitive in the Seattleour various real estate market,markets, and itwe would be able to find comparable lease properties in the event itwe changed locations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

The Company isFrom time to time, we may be subject to claims and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. We are not currently a partysubject to any pending or threatened legal proceedings that it believeswe believe would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company’sour business, financial condition, or results of operations.operations or cash flows.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure

Not applicable.

Part II.

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information for Common Stock

The Company’s common stock started trading on March 2, 2017 on the OTCQB, under the trading symbol “MVEN”.  BetweenAs of December 1, 2016, and March 1, 2017, the Company’sour common stock tradedis quoted on the OTCM’s OTC “Pink Sheets”Pink trading under the trading symbol “MVEN”. And prior to December 1, 2016, the Company’s common stock was traded on the OTC “Pink Sheets” under the trading symbol “ISSM”.

“MVEN.”

The following table sets forth the high and low bid prices for each quarterly period induring the past two fiscal years,periods indicated, as reported by the on-line web site www.otcmarkets.com for shares of the Company’s common stock for the periods indicated.OTCM. Such prices reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, mark-down or commission and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

(1) The above table reflects prices pre-recapitalization through November 3, 2016 for Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc., under the trading symbol “ISSM”. The post-recapitalization Company’s stock traded under the symbol “ISSM” from November 4, 2016 through November 30, 2016. Beginning December 1, 2016, the Company has traded under the symbol “MVEN”. Since March 2017, the Company has traded under the symbol “MVENQB.”

Holders

As of MayAugust 12, 2018,2021, there were approximately 133250 holders of record of theour common stock. The Company believesWe believe that there are additional holders of theour common stock who have their stock in “street name” with their brokers. Currently, we cannot determine the approximate number of those street name holders. As of such date, 263,441,879 shares of our common stock were issued and outstanding.

Dividends

The Company hasWe have never paid cash dividends on itsour common stock, and itsour present policy is to retain any future earnings into support our operations and finance the Company. See “Item 1, Business”.growth and development of our business. We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our Board.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

On December 19, 2016, by the Company’s board of directors approved management to issue warrants to Channel Partners that would allow the warrant holders to purchase up to a maximum of 5,000,000 shares of common stock in the aggregate. The warrants under the program are issued to individual Channel Partners with individualized vesting criteria designed to encourage the Channel Partner to drive user trafficIssuer and generate new Channel Partner participants on the Maven Platform. The warrants’ vesting criteria is both time based and performance based. Under the program, the Company has granted an aggregate of 4,000,500 warrants through December 31, 2017, each warrant to purchase one share at exercise prices per share ranging from $0.95 to $2.20, with expiration periods ending from December 2021 to December 2022. As of December 31, 2017, a total of 2,696,668 warrants have been forfeited and 1,303,832 are issued and outstanding. These Channel Partner warrants have no registration rights, and vest over three years. None of the Channel Partner warrants have been exercised.

Affiliated Purchasers

On December 19, 2016,15, 2020, we entered into the Fourth Amendment, pursuant to which we agreed to repurchase from certain key personnel of HubPages, including Paul Edmondson, one of our Boardofficers, and his spouse, an aggregate of Directors approved the 2016 Stock Incentive Plan (“the Plan”) and on June 28, 2017 our Board approved an increase in the number ofapproximately 44,356 shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the Plan toat a totalprice of 3,000,000 shares that was approved by the shareholders on December 13, 2017. On March 26, 2018, the Board of Directors further increased the common stock reserved for issuance under the Plan to a total of 5,000,000 shares. The Company has granted options for 2,176,637 shares, net of forfeitures, through December 31, 2017, at exercise prices ranging from $1.02 to $1.70$4.00 per share with expiration periods ending from December 2026 to December 2027, and vest over three years.each month for a period of 24 months. The plan was approved by votedetails of the shareholders of the Company at the Annual Shareholders Meeting on December 13, 2017.these repurchases are as follows:

The following table provides information as of December 31, 2017 with respect to the Company’s compensation plans (including individual compensation arrangements).

EQUITY COMPENSATION INFORMATION TABLERecent Sales of Unregistered Securities

Recent transactions

AllOn January 1, 2020, we issued 562,500 shares of our common stock as restricted stock awards to certain members of our Board subject to continued service with us. The awards vest over a twelve-month period from the shares issued as described above were issued in reliancegrant date. The per share value on the exemption under Section 4(2)grant date was $0.18. The issuance was exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act by virtue of Section 4(a)(2) thereof as the issuance of these shares by the Company dida transaction not involveinvolving a public offering.  The issuance of shares was not done in a “public offering” as defined in Section 4(2) because of the small number of persons involved in the issuance, the size of the issuance, the manner of the issuance, the number of shares issued, and the recipients are officers and/or directors of the Company.  In addition, the directors had the necessary investment intent required by Section 4(2) since they agreed to receive share certificates bearing legends stating that the shares are restricted shares.

Private Placement of Common Stock

On April 4, 2017,January 11, 2021, we issued 312,500 shares to Whisper Advisors, LLC as payment for services provided pursuant to that certain Services Agreement dated December 22, 2020. The shares had a fair market value of $125,000. The issuance was exempt from the Company completed a private placementregistration requirements of its common stock, selling 3,765,000 shares at $1.00 per share, for total gross proceedsthe Securities Act by virtue of $3,765,000.  In connection with the offering, the Company paid $188,250 and issued 162,000 shares of common stock to MDB Capital Group LLC, which acted as placement agent.  The approximate transaction costs of $424,000, including $201,000 of non-cash expenses, have been recordedSection 4(a)(2) thereof as a reductiontransaction not involving a public offering.

Any other securities that we sold that were not registered under the Securities Act during the previous three years have previously been included in paid-in capital.  The net cash proceeds were approximately $3.5 million.  The shares issued through this offering have registration rights, and a registration statementQuarterly Report on Form S-1 was filed within approximately forty-five days of the offering completion date. The registration rights provide for liquidated damages upon the occurrence of certain events, including the Company’s failure to file the registration statement10-Q or cause it to become effective by the deadline.

On December 19, 2016, the Company’s board of directors approved management to issue warrants to Channel Partners that would allow the warrant holders to purchase up toin a maximum of 5,000,000 shares of common stock in the aggregate. The warrants under the program are issued to individual Channel Partners with individualized vesting criteria designed to encourage the Channel Partner to drive user traffic and generate new Channel Partner participantsCurrent Report on the Maven Platform. The warrants’ vesting criteria is both time based and performance based. Under the program, the Company has granted an aggregate of 4,000,500 warrants through December 31, 2017, each warrant to purchase one share at exercise prices per share ranging from $0.95 to $2.20, with expiration periods ending from December 2021 to December 2022. As of December 31, 2017, a total of 2,696,668 warrants have been forfeited and 1,303,832 are issued and outstanding. These Channel Partner warrants have no registration rights, and vest over three years. None of the Channel Partner warrants have been exercised.Form 8-K.

On January 4, 2018, the Company pursuant to a private placement of its common stock, sold 1,200,000 shares at $2.50 per share for total gross proceeds of $3 million. The cash was received prior to December 31, 2017 and was classified as Restricted Cash in the December 31, 2017 balance sheet and then subsequently reclassified to Cash in January 2018 upon completion of the private placement. In addition, the investment was classified as Investor Demand Payable in the December 31, 2017 balance sheet and then subsequently reclassified to equity in January 2018 upon completion of the private placement. The shares issued through this offering have registration rights, and a registration statement will be filed within approximately two hundred days of the offering completion date. The registration rights provide for liquidated damages upon the occurrence of certain events, including the Company’s failure to file the registration statement or cause it to become effective by the deadline.

On March 30, 2018 the Company pursuant to a private placement of its common stock, sold 500,000 shares at $2.50 per share for total gross proceeds of $1,250,000. The shares issued through this offering have registration rights, and a registration statement will be filed within approximately two hundred seventy days of the offering completion date. The registration rights provide for liquidated damages upon the occurrence of certain events, including the Company’s failure to file the registration statement or cause it to become effective by the deadline.

Penny Stock

On March 31, 2018, there were28,516,009 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding, as quoted on the OTCQB at $1.54 a share, giving the Company a market capitalization on that date of approximately $43.9 million. The SEC defines securities such as our common stock that are traded at less than $5.00 and not traded on a national securities exchange “penny stocks”. SEC rules require brokers to provide specified information to purchasers of penny stocks, and these disclosure requirements and the requirement that brokers must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction in advance may have the effect of reducing trading activity in the Company’s common stock and making it more difficult for investors to sell the shares of the Company’s stock.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Not applicable.applicable to a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of SEC Regulation S-K.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This Annual Report includes the business and financial information for the Fiscal Year Period (i.e., the year ended December 31, 2020). Therefore, this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations provides an analysis of the financial condition and results of operations for the Fiscal Year Period. The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the Company’sconsolidated financial statements includingand the notes thereto, appearingto those statements that are included elsewhere in this report. ThisAnnual Report. Our discussion may contain certainincludes forward-looking statements based onupon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties.uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions. Actual results and the timing of certain events maycould differ significantlymaterially from those projectedanticipated in suchthese forward-looking statements due toas a result of a number of factors, including those set forth elsewhere in this Report.factors. We use words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expect,” “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.

Please see “Our Future Business” and “Future Liquidity” for additional important information.

Overview

We operate a best-in-class technology platform empowering premium publishers who impact, inform, educate and entertain. We operate the media businesses for Sports Illustrated and TheStreet, and power more than 250 independent brands. The Maven Platform provides digital publishing, distribution and monetization capabilities to our own Sports Illustrated and TheStreet media businesses as well as to the Publisher Partners. Generally, the Publisher Partners are independently owned strategic partners who receive a share of revenue from the interaction with their content. They also benefit from our membership marketing and management systems to further enhance their revenue.

Our growth strategy is to continue to expand by adding new premium publishers with high quality brands and content either as independent Publisher Partners or by acquiring publishers as owned and operated entities. By adding premium content brands, we will further expand the scale of the Maven Platform, improve monetization effectiveness in both advertising and subscription revenues, and enhance the attractiveness to consumers and advertisers.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2020, our principal sources of liquidity consisted of cash of approximately $9.0 million. In addition, we had the use of additional proceeds from our working capital facility with FPP Finance LLC (“FastPay”), As of the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, we had also received proceeds from a private placement of our common stock of approximately $20.0 million, which is discussed in greater detail below in the section entitled “Future Liquidity.”

We continued to be focused on growing our existing operations and seeking accretive and complementary strategic acquisitions as part of our growth strategy. We believed, that with additional sources of liquidity and the ability to raise additional capital or incur additional indebtedness to supplement our then internal projections, we would be able to execute our growth plan and finance our working capital requirements.

We have financed our working capital requirements since inception through issuances of equity securities and various debt financings. Our working capital deficit as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 was as follows: