The following discussion and analysis of the Company's financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in "Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements," "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.





Overview

Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II was incorporated in Delaware on May 20, 2021. The Company was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business transaction with one or more businesses that the Company has not yet identified.

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





Results of Operations

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. Our only activities from May 20, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2022 were organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for our initial public offering, and since our initial public offering, the search for a prospective initial business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial business combination, at the earliest. We expect to generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds of our initial public offering placed in the Trust Account. We expect that we will incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses in connection with searching for, and completing, a business combination.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had a net income of $1,453,867, which primarily consists of interest earned on investments held in the Trust Account of $3,696,659, offset by general and administrative expenses of $1,308,864, franchise tax expense of $200,000 and provision for income taxes of $733,928.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The securities in our initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on a Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-261287). The Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended (the "Registration Statement"), for the Company's initial public offering was declared effective on December 9, 2021. On December 14, 2021, the Company consummated its initial public offering of 25,000,000 units. Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock for $11.50 per share. The units were sold at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000.





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Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 950,000 private placement units at a price of $10.00 per private placement unit in a private placement with our Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $9,500,000.

Subsequent to the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the closing of the sale of 375,000 additional units upon receiving notice of the underwriter's election to partially exercise their over-allotment option, generating additional gross proceeds of $3,750,000. Simultaneously with the exercise of the over-allotment, we consummated the private placement of an additional 3,750 private placement units to our Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $37,500.

Offering costs for our initial public offering amounted to $14,420,146, consisting of $5,000,000 of underwriting fees, $8,956,250 of deferred underwriting fees payable (which are held in the Trust Account) and $463,896 of other costs. The $8,956,250 of deferred underwriting fee payable is contingent upon the consummation of a business combination by June 14, 2023, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

Following the closing of the initial public offering and partial exercise of the over-allotment, $256,287,500 of the net proceeds from the initial public offering (including the over-allotment units) and a portion of the private placement units was placed in the Trust Account and invested in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account, as described below.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $1,107,579. Net cash used in investing activities was $0 and net cash provided by financing activities was $0.

For the period from May 20, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $34,640. Net cash used in investing activities was $256,287,500 and net cash provided by financing activities was $257,848,604 mainly reflecting the proceeds of our initial public offering and subsequent deposit into the Trust Account.

At December 31, 2022, we had investments held in the Trust Account of $259,984,974. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less taxes payable), to complete our business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay our taxes. We estimate our annual franchise tax obligations, based on the number of shares of our shares of common stock authorized and outstanding after the completion of the initial public offering, to be $200,000, which is the maximum amount of annual franchise taxes payable by us as a Delaware corporation per annum, which we may pay from funds from the initial public offering held outside of the Trust Account or from interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and released to us for this purpose. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the Trust Account. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the Trust Account will be sufficient to pay our income taxes. To the extent that our equity or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

At December 31, 2022, we had cash of $418,885 outside of the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a business combination.





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In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, the Sponsor, or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company's officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required ("Working Capital Loans"). If the Company completes a business combination, the Company will repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a business combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a business combination, without interest, or, at the lender's discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into units of the post business combination entity at a price of $10.00 per unit. The units would be identical to the private placement units. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, there were no Working Capital Loans outstanding.

We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence, and negotiating a business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.

However, in connection with the Company's assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC 205-40, management has determined that mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The Company intends to complete its initial business combination before the mandatory liquidation date; however, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to consummate any business combination by June 14, 2023. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after June 14, 2023. The company's financial statements do not include any adjustment that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2022. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.





Contractual Obligations

We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay our Sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, and administrative and support services, provided to the Company. We began incurring these fees on December 9, 2021, and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of a Business Combination and the Company's liquidation.

The underwriters are entitled to deferred underwriting commissions of $0.35 per unit ($0.55 per unit from the over-allotment units), or $8,956,250 from the closing of the initial public offering and the over-allotment units. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a business combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.





JOBS Act

On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an "emerging growth company" and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates.





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Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an "emerging growth company," we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor's attestation report on our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor's report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of executive compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an "emerging growth company," whichever is earlier.





Critical Accounting Policies

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

Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption

We account for our common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC 480, "Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity" ("ASC 480"). Common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders' equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders' deficit section of our condensed balance sheets. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Increases or decreases in the carrying amount of redeemable common stock are affected by charges against additional paid in capital and accumulated deficit.

Net Income (Loss) per Common Stock

The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of ASC 260, "Earnings Per Share." Net income (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Earnings and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. Public warrants (see Note 3) and private placement warrants (see Note 4) to purchase 13,164,375 shares of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share were issued on December 14, 2021. At December 31, 2022 and 2021, no public warrants or private placement warrants have been exercised. The 13,164,375 potential shares of Class A common stock for outstanding public warrants and private placement warrants to purchase the Company's stock were excluded from diluted earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from May 20, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 because they are contingently exercisable, and the contingencies have not yet been met. As a result, diluted net income (loss) per share is the same as basic net income (loss) per share for the period.





Accounting for Warrants

The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the instruments' specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in ASC 480 and ASC 815, "Derivatives and Hedging" ("ASC 815"). The assessment considers whether the instruments are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the instruments meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the instruments are indexed to the Company's own shares of common stock and whether the instrument holders could potentially require "net cash settlement" in a circumstance outside of the Company's control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the instruments are outstanding. As discussed in Note 7, the Company determined that upon review of the warrant agreements, the public warrants and private placement warrants issued pursuant to the warrant agreements qualify for equity accounting treatment.

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