Note 9.  Notes, warrants and other obligations:

In March 2017, the Company completed a 2% convertible note financing with certain accredited investors with gross proceeds totaling $4,750,000. The convertible note financing proceeds were held in escrow pending successful completion of defined release conditions. As of August 18, 2017, the lead investor in the convertible note financing, agreed to waive the release conditions and the cash proceeds and securities were released from escrow. Upon the successful completion of conditions specified in the offering documents, primarily approval by the Company's shareholders for authorization of preferred shares and approval of the Nasdaq Capital Market ("NASDAQ"), the notes automatically converted into shares of Series A Preferred Stock, convertible into shares of common stock at an initial equivalent conversion price of $2.50 per common share. The specified conditions were successfully completed as of September 20, 2017, resulting in the conversion of $4,750,000 in principal and accrued interest of $48,671 for a total of $4,798,671 worth of convertible notes, exchanged for 19,194.72 shares of Series A Preferred Stock, with a stated value of $250 per share, equaling rights to 1,919,472 shares of common stock. The convertible notes accrued interest at 2% per annum commencing with their execution and the Company recorded interest expense of $48,671 through the date of conversion of the notes.

Warrants to purchase 1,900,000 shares of the Company's common stock at an initial exercise price of $3.56 per share and expiring March 15, 2020, were also issued with the convertible note financing.

 

The warrants were determined to meet requirements for equity classification.  Accordingly, the relative fair value computed for the warrants, totaling $2,325,151 has been allocated to equity. The fair value of the warrants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model using the assumptions of a three-year term, expected price volatility of 108%, dividend yield of 0% and a risk-free interest rate of 1.47%. The convertible debt was also evaluated for beneficia conversion feature (“BCF”). Based upon the effective conversion price of the convertible notes after considering the stock price at the date of the escrow release and the allocation of value to the warrants, it was determined that the convertible notes contain a BCF. The value of the BCF was computed to be $2,424,849, which has been capped not to exceed the total proceeds from the convertible notes after deducting the value allocated to the warrants. The resulting discount on the convertible debt was being amortized to interest expense over the term of the convertible notes. Upon the September 20, 2017 conversion of the convertible notes into Series A Preferred Stock, the then remaining unamortized discount was recorded as additional interest, resulting in a total of $4,750,000 being recorded as interest expense in the year ended December 31, 2017.

In connection with the March 2017 private placement, the Company also entered into a Registration Rights Agreement, with the investors. On December 21, 2017, investors holding a majority of the outstanding securities registrable pursuant to the agreement, agreed on behalf of all investors to waive the requirement for the filing of a registration statement and terminate the registration rights agreements. The investors further waived any and all damages, penalties and defaults related to the Company's not filing the registration statement by the filing date and any damages, penalties and defaults related to the Company not having a registration statement be declared effective by the specified date (as such terms are originally defined in the Unit Registration Rights Agreement).

As of March 28, 2018, Tess, a subsidiary of the Company, entered into a note purchase agreement with a private investor under which a convertible promissory note issued by Tess in the principal amount CAD $2.2 million (the “Convertible Note”) and cash proceeds of CAD $2.2 million were placed into a third-party controlled escrow account. Upon the successful achievement of conditions defined under the escrow agreement relating to closing of a transaction between Tess and Cresval Capital Corp, (“Cresval”) whereby Tess and Cresval would merge as provided in the merger agreements and Tess would become publicly traded on the TSXV Venture Exchange, the then remaining cash and the Convertible Note would be issued to Tess and the investor, respectively. The Convertible Note is convertible at $0.10 per share of the merged entity, as defined, subject to certain adjustments.  On February 15, 2019, Cresval terminated its definitive agreement with Tess due to Tess’s inability to complete one of the specified closing conditions in the agreement.

The interim release consisted of CAD $1.0 million (USD $775,555) of cash released to Tess and an unsecured promissory note issued by Tess (“Promissory Note”) released to the investor. The Promissory Note bears interest at 5%, is unsecured and due in 2021. On August 23, 2018, the final release from escrow occurred. Tess received approximately USD $921,000, bringing the total Promissory Note balance to approximately $1,696,000.

Notes and other obligations on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets also consisted of short-term installment obligations, arising from insurance premium financing programs bearing interest at approximately 4.5%, with outstanding balances of $0 and $135,574, as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.