CANQF Canaquest Medical Corporation (PK)

RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below together with all of the other information included in our public filings before making an investment decision with regard to our securities. The statements contained in or incorporated into this Prospectus that are not historic facts are forward- looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by forward- looking statements. While the risks described below are the ones we believe are most important for you to consider, these risks are not the only ones that we face. If any of the following events described in these risk factors actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be harmed. In that case, the trading price of our common shares could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

General Risk Factors

We have a limited operating history and number of commercialized products, have incurred significant losses to date and anticipate continuing to incur losses in the future, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability. As a result, our financial statements contain a “going concern” explanatory paragraph.

We are an early stage company with a limited operating history, and we have only recently begun to commercialize our products. The Company incurred a net loss of $1,913,995 for the year ended March 31, 2016 (March 31, 2015 - $1,087,289) and a net loss of $830,855 during the six months ended September 30, 2016. We expect losses to continue until we get access to capital to implement the business plan. As of September 30, 2016 the Company had a working capital deficit of $677,356. Net cash used by operations for the year ended March 31, 2016 and the six months ended September 30, 2016 was $209,919 and $123,084, respectively. As a result, the financial statements of the Company include an explanatory paragraph stating that there is substantial doubt that the Company will continue as a going concern. If our revenues grow slower than anticipated, or if operating expenses exceed expectations, then we may not be able to achieve profitability in the near future or at all, which may depress our stock price.

Our products are in the early stages of commercialization, and our business may fail if we are not able to successfully generate significant revenues from these products.

Our future success will depend in part on our ability to commercialize the product candidates we are developing. Successful development of our product candidates will require significant additional investment, including costs associated with research and development, completing field trials and obtaining regulatory approval, as well as the ability to manufacture our products in large quantities at acceptable costs while also preserving high product quality. Difficulties often encountered in scaling up production include problems involving production yields, quality control and assurance, shortage of qualified personnel, production costs and process controls. In addition, we are subject to inherent risks associated with new products and technologies. These risks include the possibility that any product candidate may:

Failure to achieve expected manufacturing yields for our products could negatively impact our operating results.

Low yields may result from process design, development stage or process technology failures. We do not know whether a yield problem exists until our products are manufactured based on our design. When a yield issue is identified, the product is analyzed and tested to determine the cause. As a result, yield deficiencies may not be identified until well into the production process. We have limited experience producing our products at commercial scale, and we will not succeed if we cannot maintain or decrease our production costs and effectively scale our technology and manufacturing processes.

We have limited experience in marketing and selling our products and will need to expand our sales and marketing infrastructure.

We currently have limited sales and marketing experience and capabilities. We will need to further develop our sales and marketing capabilities in order to successfully commercialize the products we are developing, which may involve substantial costs. There can be no assurance that the members of our sales and marketing team will successfully compete against the sales and marketing teams of our current and future competitors, many of which may have more established relationships with distributors and growers. Our inability to recruit, train and retain sales and marketing personnel or their inability to effectively market and sell the products we are developing could impair our ability to gain market acceptance of our products and cause our sales to suffer.

If we are unable to maintain and further establish successful relations with third-party distributors, or they do not focus adequate resources on selling our products or are unsuccessful in selling them to end users, we may not achieve significant sales of our products.

Our future revenue growth will depend in large part on our success in establishing and maintaining this sales and distribution channel. If our distributors are unable to sell our products, or receive negative feedback from end users, they may not continue to purchase or market our products.

In addition, there can be no assurance that our distributors will focus adequate resources on selling our products to end users or will be successful in selling them. Many of our potential distributors are in the business of distributing and sometimes manufacturing other, possibly competing, products. As a result, these distributors may perceive our products as a threat to various product lines currently being distributed or manufactured by them. In addition, these distributors may earn higher margins by selling competing products or combinations of competing products. If we are unable to establish or maintain successful relationships with independent distributors, we will need to further develop our own sales and distribution capabilities, which would be expensive and time-consuming and the success of which would be uncertain.

We rely on the experience and expertise of our senior management team and other key personnel, and if we are unable to recruit or retain qualified personnel, our development and commercialization efforts may be significantly delayed.

We depend heavily on the principal members of our management, particularly Richard Rusiniak, our co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Paul Ramsay, our co- founder and President, the loss of whose services might significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. We do not maintain key-man insurance on their lives.

As we expand our operations, we will need to hire additional qualified research and development and management personnel to succeed. The process of hiring, training and successfully integrating qualified personnel into our operation is a lengthy and expensive one. The market for qualified personnel is very competitive because of the limited number of people available with the necessary technical skills and understanding of our technology and anticipated products. Our failure to hire and retain qualified personnel could impair our ability to meet our research and development and business objectives and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We also have relationships with scientific collaborators at academic and other institutions, some of whom conduct research at our request or assist us in formulating our research and development strategy. These scientific collaborators are not our employees and may have commitments to, or consulting or advisory contracts with, other entities that may limit their availability to us. We have limited control over the activities of these scientific collaborators and can generally expect these individuals to devote only limited amounts of time to our activities. The inability of any of these persons to devote sufficient time and resources to our programs could harm our business. In addition, these collaborators may have arrangements with other companies to assist those companies in developing technologies that may compete with our products.

Our intellectual property is integral to our business. If we are unable to protect our patents and proprietary rights, our business could be adversely affected.

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary rights protection for our technologies and products in the United States and other countries. If we are unable to obtain or maintain these protections, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using our proprietary rights. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. As of September 1, 2016, we had one U.S. patent allowed, one U.S. provisional patent application submitted and one Canadian patent pending and we anticipate filing additional patent applications in the medium term.

The patent position of biotechnology and biochemical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we may encounter significant problems and costs in protecting our proprietary rights in these foreign countries.

Our patents may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented. In addition, our issued patents may not contain claims sufficiently broad to protect us against third parties with similar technologies or products or provide us with any competitive advantage. We are not certain that our future patent applications will be issued. Moreover, our competitors could challenge or circumvent our patents or pending patent applications. It is also not possible to patent and protect all knowledge and know-how associated with our products so there may be areas that are not protected such as certain formulations and manufacturing processes. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

Intellectual property litigation could cause us to spend substantial resources and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common shares. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development, sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position could be harmed.

We have taken measures to protect our trade secrets and know-how, including the use of confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, advisors and third-party manufacturers. It is possible that these agreements may be breached and that any remedies for a breach will not make us whole. In addition, some courts inside and outside of the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. We generally control and limit access to, and the distribution of, our product documentation and other proprietary information. Despite our efforts to protect these proprietary rights, our trade secret-protected know-how could fall into the public domain, unauthorized parties may copy aspects of our process and obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. We also cannot guarantee that other parties will not independently develop our know how or otherwise obtain access to our technologies.

Third parties may misappropriate our algae strains.

Third parties, including contract manufacturers, often have custody or control of our algae strains. If our algae strains were stolen, misappropriated or reverse engineered, they could be used by other parties who may be able to reproduce the algae strains for their own commercial gain. If this were to occur, it would be difficult for us to challenge and prevent this type of use, especially in countries with limited intellectual property protection.

Other companies may claim that we infringe their intellectual property or proprietary rights, which could cause us to incur significant expenses or prevent us from selling our products.

Our success depends in part on our ability to operate without infringing the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. Product development is inherently uncertain in a rapidly evolving technological environment such as ours in which there may be numerous patent applications pending, many of which are confidential when filed, with regard to similar technologies. Patents issued to third parties may contain claims that conflict with our patents and that may place restrictions on the commercial viability of our products and technologies. Third parties could assert infringement claims against us in the future. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products, product candidates and technology. We may not be aware of all such third-party intellectual property rights potentially relevant to our products and product candidates.

Any litigation, adversarial proceeding or proceeding before governmental authorities regarding intellectual property rights, regardless of its outcome, would probably be costly and require significant time and attention of our key management and technical personnel. Litigation, adversarial proceedings or proceedings before governmental authorities could also force us to:

Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.

If we fail to maintain and successfully manage our existing, or enter into new, strategic collaborations and other relationships, we may not be able to expand commercial development and sales of many of our products.

Our ability to enter into, maintain and manage collaborations and other relationships in our markets is fundamental to the success of our business. We may not be successful in entering into such arrangements with third parties for the sale and marketing of our products. Any failure to enter into new strategic arrangements on favorable terms or to maintain or manage our existing strategic arrangements could delay or hinder our ability to develop and commercialize our ingredients and could increase our costs of development and commercialization.

We may be exposed to product liability claims, which could harm our business.

The manufacture and sale of food additives and health products is regulated by various local, state, provincial federal and foreign environmental and public health agencies. The costs of remediation or product liability could materially adversely affect our future quarterly or annual operating results.

We may be held liable for, or incur costs to settle, liability claims if any products we develop, or any products that use or incorporate any of our technologies, cause injury or are found unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing, sale or use. These risks exist even with respect to products that have received, or may in the future receive, regulatory approval, registration or clearance for commercial use. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to avoid product liability exposure.

As part of the initial implementation process we will be putting in place product liability insurance at levels we believe will be sufficient and consistent with industry standards for companies at our stage of development. We cannot guarantee that our product liability insurance will be adequate and, at any time, it is possible that this insurance coverage may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. A product liability claim could result in liability to us greater than our assets or insurance coverage. Moreover, even if we have adequate insurance coverage, product liability claims or recalls could result in negative publicity or force us to devote significant time and attention to those matters, which could harm our business.

We could be harmed by data loss or other security breaches

As a result of certain of our direct to consumer services being web-based and the fact that we will process, store, and transmit data, including personal information, for our customers, failure to prevent or mitigate data loss or other security breaches, including breaches of our vendors’’ technology and systems, could expose us or our customers to a risk of loss or misuse of such information, adversely affect our operating results, result in litigation or potential liability for us, and otherwise harm our business. We use third party technology and systems for a variety of reasons, including, without limitation, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, back-office support, and other functions. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to protect customer information and prevent data loss and other security breaches, including systems and processes designed to reduce the impact of a security breach at a third party vendor, such measures cannot provide absolute security.

We face risks related to system interruption and lack of redundancy

We may experience occasional system interruptions and delays that make our websites and services unavailable or slow to respond and prevent us from efficiently fulfilling orders, which may reduce our net sales and the attractiveness of our products and services. If we are unable to continually add software and hardware, effectively upgrade our systems and network infrastructure, and take other steps to improve the efficiency of our systems, it could cause system interruptions or delays and adversely affect our operating results.

Our computer and communications systems and operations could be damaged or interrupted by fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, earthquakes, acts of war or terrorism, acts of God, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, and similar events or disruptions. Any of these events could cause system interruption, delays, and loss of critical data, and could prevent us from accepting and fulfilling customer orders, which could make our product and service offerings less attractive and subject us to liability. Our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient. In addition, we may have inadequate insurance coverage to compensate for any related losses. Any of these events could damage our reputation and be expensive to remedy.

Our business is subject to various governmental regulations, and compliance with these regulations may cause us to incur significant expenses. If we fail to maintain compliance with applicable regulations, we may be forced to recall products and cease their manufacture and distribution, which could subject us to civil or criminal penalties.

The complex legal and regulatory environment exposes us to compliance and litigation costs and risks that could materially affect our operations and financial results. These laws and regulations may change, sometimes significantly, as a result of political or economic events. They include environmental laws and regulations, tax laws and regulations, import and export laws and regulations, government contracting laws and regulations, labor and employment laws and regulations, securities and exchange laws and regulations, and other laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition, proposed laws and regulations in these and other areas could affect the cost of our business operations. We face the risk of changes in both domestic and foreign laws regarding trade, potential loss of proprietary information due to piracy, misappropriation or foreign laws that may be less protective of our intellectual property rights. Violations of any of these laws and regulations could subject us to criminal or civil enforcement actions, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The direction our cannabis initiative is uncertain and may not yield commercial results.

We recently announced a new initiative to explore the potential opportunities in the Canadian cannabis market for the Company’s technologies. As of the date of this Prospectus the Company’s initiatives are at a preliminary stage and ultimate implementation will at the onset be dependent upon entering into research and development partnerships with academic institutions interested in pursuing the potential benefits of combining algae and cannabis and obtaining the funding necessary to pursue such research, as well as obtaining the funding necessary to continue continuing operations. While the Company is pursuing research and development and funding opportunities, there can be no assurance that such pursuit will be successful, or that any research and development efforts will result in commercially saleable products.

Risks related to the Common Shares

Because we will likely issue additional Common Shares, investment in the Company could be subject to substantial dilution.

We anticipate that all or at least some of our future funding, if any, will be in the form of equity financing from the sale of our Common Shares. If we do sell more Common Shares, investors’’ investment in the Company will likely be diluted. Dilution is the difference between what you pay for your shares and the net tangible book value per share immediately after the additional shares are sold by us. If dilution occurs, any investment in the Company’s Common Shares could seriously decline in value.

Penny stock

The SEC has adopted rules that regulate broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in penny stocks. Penny stocks are generally equity securities with a market price of less than $5.00, other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on the NASDAQ system, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document prepared by the SEC, that: (a) contains a description of the nature and level of risk in the market for penny stocks in both public offerings and secondary trading; (b) contains a description of the broker’s or dealer’s duties to the customer and of the rights and remedies available to the customer with respect to a violation of such duties or other requirements of the securities laws; (c) contains a brief, clear, narrative description of a dealer market, including bid and ask prices for penny stocks and the significance of the spread between the bid and ask price; (d) contains a toll-free telephone number for inquiries on disciplinary actions; (e) defines significant terms in the disclosure document or in the conduct of trading in penny stocks; and (f) contains such other information and is in such form, including language, type size and format, as the SEC shall require by rule or regulation.

The broker-dealer also must provide, prior to effecting any transaction in a penny stock, the customer with (a) bid and offer quotations for the penny stock; (b) the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction; (c) the number of shares to which such bid and ask prices apply, or other comparable information relating to the depth and liquidity of the market for such stock; and (d) a monthly account statement showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account.

In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written acknowledgment of the receipt of a risk disclosure statement, a written agreement as to transactions involving penny stocks, and a signed and dated copy of a written suitability statement.

These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the trading activity for our common shares. Therefore, shareholders may have difficulty selling our securities.

The Company has no current plans to pay dividends on its Common Shares.

The Company does not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. If the Company incurs indebtedness in the future to fund its future growth, its ability to pay dividends may be further restricted by the terms of such indebtedness.

Because a small number of existing shareholders own a large percentage of the Company’s voting shares, you will have minimal influence over shareholder decisions.

Existing management has significant share ownership in the Company and will retain control of the Company in the future. As a result of such ownership concentration, these individuals will have significant influence over the management and affairs of the Company and its business. It will also exert considerable, ongoing influence over matters subject to shareholder approval, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger, sale of assets or other business combination or sale of the Company. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, deferring, or preventing a change in control, impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us, or discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the Company, even if such a transaction would benefit other shareholders.

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, which could harm our operating results, investors’’ views of us and, as a result, the value of our common shares.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management will be required to report upon the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting beginning with the annual report for our fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. When and if we are a “large accelerated filer” or an “accelerated filer” and are no longer an “emerging growth company,” each as defined in the Exchange Act, our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. However, for so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of an exemption available to emerging growth companies from these auditor attestation requirements. The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing, and possible remediation. To comply with the requirements of being a reporting company under the Exchange Act, we will need to upgrade our systems including information technology; implement additional financial and management controls, reporting systems, and procedures; and hire additional accounting and finance staff. If we or, if required, our auditors are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, and the trading price of our common shares may decline.

We are an emerging growth company, and the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common shares less attractive to investors.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act and are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, three years of audited financial statements in addition to any required unaudited interim financial statements with correspondingly reduced “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” disclosure, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its Form 10-K and our other periodic reports and proxy statements, exemptions from the requirements of holding non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation and seeking shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved and not being required to adopt certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We could be an emerging growth company until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our initial offering in November 2014, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if we become a large accelerated filer (in which case we will cease to be an emerging company as of the date we become a large accelerated filer, which, generally, would occur if, at the end of a fiscal year, among other things, the market value of our common shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds USD$700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter), if we have total annual gross revenue of USD$1.0 billion or more during any fiscal year (in which cases we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of March 31 of such fiscal year), or if we issue more than USD$1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during any three year period before that time (in which case we would cease to be an emerging growth company immediately). Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company,” which would allow us to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We cannot predict if investors will find our common shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common shares and our share price may be more volatile.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited because we are incorporated under Canadian law, we conduct substantially all of our operations in Canada and most of our directors and all of our executive officers reside outside the United States.

We are incorporated in Canada and conduct substantially all of our operations in Canada. Most of our directors and all of our executive officers reside outside the United States and a substantial portion of their assets are located outside of the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to enforce, outside the United States, judgments against the Company obtained in the United States in any such actions, including actions predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the United States federal and state securities laws. In addition, certain of the directors and officers of the Company are residents of Canada or other jurisdictions outside of the United States, and all or a substantial portion of the assets of those directors and officers are or may be located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon those persons, or to enforce against them judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of United States federal and state securities laws.