In 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted the Dave Inc. 2017 Stock Plan (the “2017 Plan”). The 2017 Plan authorized the award of stock options, restricted stock, and restricted stock units. On January 4, 2022, the stockholders of the Company approved the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”). The 2021 Plan was previously approved, subject to stockholder approval, by the Company’s Board of Directors on January 4, 2022. Upon the consummation of the Business Combination with VPCC, the 2017 Plan was terminated and replaced by the 2021 Plan. The maximum term of stock options granted under the 2021 Plan is 10 years and the awards generally vest over a four-year period.

On January 4, 2022, the stockholders of the Company approved the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”). The 2021 Plan was previously approved, subject to stockholder approval, by the Company’s Board of Directors on January 4, 2022. The 2021 Plan became effective immediately upon the completion of the business combination with VPCC.

The Company recognized $26.7 million and $40.6 million of stock-based compensation expense arising from stock option and restricted stock unit grants which is recorded as a component of compensation and benefits in the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

In April 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a repricing of certain previously granted and still outstanding vested and unvested stock option awards held by eligible employees, which was approved by stockholders on June 9, 2023. As a result, the exercise price for these awards was lowered to $5.18 per share, which was the average per share closing price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Stock Market for the 30 trading days ending on and including June 9, 2023. No other terms of the repriced stock options were modified, and the repriced stock options will continue to vest according to their original vesting schedules and will retain their original expiration dates. As a result of the repricing, 134,931 vested and unvested stock options outstanding as of June 9, 2023, with original exercise prices ranging from $22.09 to $23.18, were repriced.

The repricing on June 9, 2023 resulted in incremental stock-based compensation expense of $0.2 million, of which $0.14 million related to vested stock option awards was expensed on the repricing date. The remaining $0.06 million related to unvested stock option awards is being amortized on a straight-line basis over the weighted-average vesting period of those awards of approximately 1.3 years as of June 9, 2023.

In September 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a repricing of certain previously granted and still outstanding vested and unvested stock option awards held by eight remaining eligible employees excluded from the aforementioned June 9 repricing. As a result, the exercise price for these awards was lowered to $7.23 per share, which was the average per share closing price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Stock Market for the 30 trading days ending on and including September 13, 2023. No other terms of the repriced stock options were modified, and the repriced stock options will continue to vest according to their original vesting schedules and will retain their original expiration dates. As a result of the repricing, 200,571 vested and unvested stock options outstanding as of September 13, 2023, with original exercise prices ranging from $22.09 to $23.18, were repriced.

The repricing on September 13, 2023 resulted in incremental stock-based compensation expense of $0.2 million, of which $0.17 million related to vested stock option awards was expensed on the repricing date. The remaining $0.07 million related to unvested stock option awards is being amortized on a straight-line basis over the weighted-average vesting period of those awards of approximately 1.0 years as of September 13, 2023.

Management has valued stock options at their date of grant utilizing the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The fair value of the underlying shares was estimated by using a number of inputs, including recent arm’s length transactions involving the sale of the Company’s common stock.

Expected term—The expected term represents the period of time that options are expected to be outstanding. As the Company does not have sufficient historical exercise behavior, it determines the expected life assumption using the simplified method, which is an average of the contractual term of the option and its vesting period.

Risk free interest rate—The risk-free interest rate is based on the implied yield available on U.S. Treasury issues with an equivalent term approximating the expected life of the options depending on the date of the grant and expected life of the options.

Expected dividend yield—The Company bases the expected dividend yield assumption on the fact that it has never paid cash dividends and has no present intention to pay cash dividends.

Expected volatility—Due to the Company’s limited operating history and lack of company-specific historical or implied volatility, the expected volatility assumption is based on historical volatilities of a peer group of similar companies whose share prices are publicly available. The Company identified a group of peer companies and considered their historical stock prices. In identifying peer companies, the Company considered the industry, stage of life cycle, size, and financial leverage of such other entities.

Activity with respect to stock options is summarized as follows:


	Shares			Weighted-Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (years)		Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in thousands)
Options outstanding, January 1, 2022		1,084,586		$	20.35		8.5	$	288,784
Granted		-		$	-
Exercised		(115,113	)	$	14.10
Forfeited		(44,517	)	$	21.76
Expired		(20,736	)	$	22.28
Options outstanding, December 31, 2022		904,220		$	21.04		7.3	$	655
Granted		335,502		$	6.41
Exercised		(13,099	)	$	2.13
Forfeited		(143,068	)	$	21.67
Expired		(316,726	)	$	22.84
Options outstanding, December 31, 2023		766,829		$	14.10		6.3	$	1,148
Nonvested options, December 31, 2023		410,075		$	21.03		7.2	$	100
Vested and exercisable, December 31, 2023		356,754		$	6.12		5.3	$	1,047

At December 31, 2023, total estimated unrecognized stock-based compensation cost related to unvested stock options prior to that date was $6.5 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average remaining period of 3.1 years.

The Company allowed certain stock option holders to exercise unvested options to purchase shares of Common Stock. Shares received from such early exercises are subject to repurchase in the event of the optionee’s employment termination, at the original issuance price, until the options are fully vested. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, 0 and 5,555 shares of Common Stock were subject to repurchase at weighted-average prices of $22.09 per share, respectively. The shares issued pursuant to unvested options have been included in shares issued and outstanding on the consolidated balance sheets as such shares are considered legally outstanding.

On March 3, 2021, the Company granted the Chief Executive Officer stock options to purchase up to 358,001 shares of Common Stock in nine tranches. Each of the nine tranches contain service, market and performance conditions. The market conditions relate to the achievement of certain specified price targets. Vesting commences on the grant date; however, no compensation charges are recognized until the service and performance condition are probable, which is upon the completion of a liquidity event, the achievement of specified price targets for each tranche of shares, and continuous employment. Upon the completion of the business combination with VPCC, the performance condition was met and the Company recorded a cumulative stock-based compensation expense of $1.9 million. The options have a strike price of $23.18 per share. The Company determined the fair value of the options on the grant date to be $10.5 million using a Monte Carlo simulation with key inputs and assumptions such as stock price, term, dividend yield, risk-free interest rate, and volatility. The derived service periods determined by the valuation for each of the nine tranches range from approximately 3 years to approximately 7 years. Each tranche will be expensed monthly over the derived service period unless vesting conditions for a particular tranche are met, at which point all remaining compensation charges related to that particular tranche will be expensed in the period in which the vesting conditions were met.

Activity with respect to RSUs is summarized as follows:


	Shares			Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value
Nonvested shares at January 1, 2023		508,506		$	122.27
Granted		1,980,437		$	4.94
Vested		(336,417	)	$	62.25
Forfeited		(425,887	)	$	26.11
Nonvested shares at December 31, 2023		1,726,639		$	23.10

At December 31, 2023, total estimated unrecognized stock-based compensation cost related to nonvested RSUs was $38.1 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.0 years.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2023, the Company granted 629,454 RSUs to certain employees in six tranches. Each of the six tranches contain service and market conditions. The market conditions relate to the achievement of certain specified price targets. Vesting commences on the grant date and the Company determined the fair value of the RSUs on the grant date to be approximately $3.0 million using a Monte Carlo simulation with key inputs and assumptions such as stock price, term, risk-free interest rate, and volatility. The derived service periods determined by the valuation for each of the six tranches range from approximately two years to approximately three years. Each tranche will be expensed monthly over the derived service period unless vesting conditions for a particular tranche are met, at which point all remaining compensation charges related to that particular tranche will be expensed in the period in which the vesting conditions were met.

During October 2023, the Company granted 71,844 RSUs to certain employees in six tranches. Each of the six tranches contain service and market conditions. The market conditions relate to the achievement of certain specified price targets. Vesting commences on the grant date and the Company determined the fair value of the RSUs on the grant date to be approximately $0.2 million using a Monte Carlo simulation with key inputs and assumptions such as stock price, term, risk-free interest rate, and volatility. The derived service periods determined by the valuation ranges from approximately two years to approximately three years. Each grant will be expensed monthly over the derived service period unless vesting conditions for a particular grant are met, at which point all remaining compensation charges related to that particular grant will be expensed in the period in which the vesting conditions were met.