FTC Solar, Inc.

We have a history of losses that may continue in the future and have determined there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; the demand for our products and related revenue depends on many factors beyond our control; we may not achieve profitability or generate positive cash flow; and we may not be able to obtain desired additional debt or equity financing on terms favorable to us.

We have incurred cumulative losses since inception and have a history of cash outflows from operations, inclusive of $34.7 million in cash utilized for our operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2024. Additionally, our revenue declined from $127.0 million in 2023 to $47.4 million in 2024. At December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $347.7 million, cash on hand of $11.2 million and $27.1 million of working capital. Given these and other factors, as further discussed in Note 2, "Summary of significant accounting policies" in our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report, there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern during the next year. Our ability to continue as a going concern requires that we obtain sufficient funding, either through external financing transactions or cash generated from operations.

As of December 31, 2024, in addition to our cash on hand and working capital, we had approximately $64.9 million of remaining capacity available for future sales of our common stock under our ATM program as defined and described further in Note 16, "Stockholders' equity" in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report. Our ability to use the ATM program may be constrained by the size of our non-affiliate market capitalization, our trading volume and other factors, and there can be no assurance regarding the price at which we will be able to sell such shares, and any sales of our common stock under the ATM program may be at prices that result in additional dilution to our existing stockholders.

To bolster our balance sheet and to further fund our business operations, pursuant to the Purchase Agreement we entered into with the Investor, we sold $15.0 million in principal amount of Senior Notes on December 4, 2024. The Senior Notes mature on December 4, 2029, and they bear interest at 11% per annum; provided however, that the Company may, at its option, following notice to the holder, instead increase the outstanding principal amount of the Senior Notes by the amount of such interest at the rate of 13% per annum (which we have elected). The Senior Notes are secured by substantially all of our and our subsidiaries' assets. In addition to limitations on certain financial activities, including payment of dividends, and other customary covenants, during the period the Senior Notes are outstanding, we will be required to (i) maintain a minimum of $5.0 million of unrestricted cash on the last calendar day of each quarter, (ii) have annual revenue of $100 million for 2025 and $200 million for subsequent years and (iii) have annual EBITDA, as defined in the Purchase Agreement, of at least $25 million starting in 2026. A breach of these financial covenants, or the other covenants included in the Senior Notes, would constitute an event of default under the Senior Notes, resulting in the entire unpaid principal and accrued interest under the Senior Notes becoming due and payable, and enable the Investor to foreclose on our assets if we are not able to repay the outstanding obligations.

We also executed a term sheet with the Investor on March 4, 2025, in which the Investor agreed to purchase up to an additional $10.0 million in principal amount of senior secured promissory notes and warrants to purchase up to 1,166,667 shares of our common stock.

The demand for our products depends on many factors outside of our control, and we may not be able to grow our revenue as expected, or our revenue may decline further for a number of reasons, including (i) delays in, or cancellation of, our customers' project development activity due to the inability of our customers to obtain (a) funding at an acceptable cost, (b) permits, (c) interconnection agreements, or (d) other matters; (ii) any slowdown in the level of investments in solar energy projects that may result from slowdowns in economic growth in the U.S. or outside of the U.S.; (iii) U.S. and global macroeconomic trends including with respect to (a) increases in governmental tariffs or restrictions on imports, (b) changes in interest rates and inflation, (c) changes to or the availability of tax credits or other governmental incentives available for solar project development or the manufacturing of solar components; (iv) a decline in demand for our offerings, or an increase in the cost of our offerings, including as a result of increases in the cost of or limited supplies of the raw materials necessary to produce our products and offerings; (v) increased competition; (vi) a lack of success in converting sales leads into binding purchase orders; (vii) loss of existing customers; (viii) our inability to sell software and other complementary products; (ix) a decrease in the growth of the solar industry or our market share, including as a result of potential increases in governmental support for other sources of energy production; (x) future decline in average selling prices of our products and services; (xi) our inability to enter certain international markets; (xii) technological changes or development that could render our products and services obsolete or uncompetitive; or, (xiii) our failure to capitalize on growth opportunities. Additionally, demand for our products may be impacted by the delays that have occurred in the integration of new solar resources due to interconnection queue study backlogs and the identified need for the construction of transmission grid upgrades. Further, regional Transmission Organizations have adopted metrics such as the effective load carrying capability metric used in the PJM Interconnection (“PJM”) that impose low capacity values on solar, and high values on baseload plants. PJM has offered an accelerated interconnection process that will prioritize generators with high effective load carrying capabilities, which may expedite the interconnection of thermal generation over renewable generation. Various counties have imposed limits on new renewable projects, which also could temper the level of new solar projects.

We may not achieve profitability or positive cash flow for a number of reasons, including further declines in, or continued low levels of, revenue, as well as increases in costs to manufacture our products, U.S. and global macroeconomic trends, including with respect to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs and the imposition of additional tariffs applicable to our industry or our products. In addition, we may be unable to identify further cost savings opportunities below present levels that would not adversely impact the functioning of our existing operations needed to meet customer and regulatory requirements. We also expect we could incur additional costs and expenses should activity levels increase from recent project wins that would allow us to continue to expand our business, including in connection with any future acquisitions, as well as ongoing development and marketing of our products and services, expanding into new markets and geographies with respect to both manufacturing and sales of our products, maintaining and enhancing our research and development operations, hiring additional personnel, incurring additional overhead costs and incurring greater costs from professional third-party advisors as necessary in connection with any expansion of our business. We do not know whether our revenue will grow rapidly enough to absorb such costs and expenses, or the extent of such costs and expenses and their impact on our results of operations. If we fail to generate sufficient revenue to support our operations, we may not be able to achieve profitability or generate sufficient cash flow to meet our financial obligations and our liquidity position will be negatively impacted. Additionally, if we fail to grow our revenue and EBITDA to levels required by the financial covenants included in our Senior Notes, as described above, we may default under the Senior Notes and/or not have sufficient cash flow available to repay the Senior Notes early in the event of our failure to meet those financial covenants or upon maturity of the Senior Notes. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources" for a further discussion of the other factors that may impact our liquidity position.

We may need to issue additional debt or obtain new equity financing to fund our operations and to execute on our current and future business strategies and plans. We may be unable to obtain any desired additional debt or equity financing on terms favorable to us, or at all, depending on, among other things, the ability to issue debt that is subordinate to the security interests under the Senior Notes (or to obtain the consent of the Investor to issue additional secured debt), interest rates, our stock price, our market capitalization, the availability of or our ability to use our ATM program, our ability to have our stock continue to trade on active markets and existing market or other conditions. The ability to raise additional financing depends on numerous factors that are outside our control, including general economic and market conditions, interest rates, the health of financial institutions, investors' and lenders' assessments of our prospects and the prospects of the solar industry in general.

If we are not able to secure adequate additional funding when needed or do not generate sufficient cash from operations, we will need to reevaluate our operating plan and may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible, or suspend or curtail planned programs. These actions could materially impact our business, results of operations and future prospects. There can be no assurance that in the event we require additional financing, such financing will be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. Failure to generate sufficient cash from operations, raise additional capital, win new and retain current customers and vendors, or reduce certain discretionary spending would have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our intended business objectives.

For further discussion, see "Liquidity and Capital Resources" in Part II, Item 7 below.

Our dependence on a limited number of customers, the payment terms we agree to with such customers and the expected timing of customer project development activity may impair our ability to operate profitably.

We have been dependent in each year since our inception on a small number of customers who generate a significant portion of our business. During the year ended December 31, 2024, four customers accounted for approximately 39%, 11%, 11% and 11%, respectively, of total revenue. During the year ended December 31, 2023, four customers accounted for approximately 23%, 19%, 17% and 13%, respectively, of total revenue. Further, our trade accounts receivables are all from companies within or those that serve the solar industry. At December 31, 2024, three customers accounted for approximately 74% of our total receivables, including one customer that accounted for approximately 42% of our total receivables.

Our level of manufacturing and logistics activity, and thus our revenue, also can be significantly impacted by delays or changes in the expected timing of customer project development activity. In recent periods our customers have encountered delays in beginning or continuing project development caused by interconnection issues, including permit delays, equipment shortages, obtaining project financing at acceptable levels and addressing uncertainty in changes in government regulations, as described further below. Due to our limited number of large customers, such delays in project development activity can have a material impact on our consolidated financial results.

As a result, we may have difficulty operating profitably or generating positive cash flow if there is a delay or default in payment by any of our customers, we lose an existing order, an existing order or project is delayed, postponed or cancelled, or we are unable to generate new orders from new or existing customers. For example, in both 2024 and 2023, the timeline for constructing a number of projects that had been awarded to us was subsequently delayed after being awarded due to various reasons including delays by our customer in obtaining permits, interconnection agreements, project financing or other matters. In addition, we often make significant expenditures in fulfilling an order prior to being paid in full by our customer for such order, and therefore any delay or default in payment by a customer may result in our business, prospects, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations being materially adversely affected. Furthermore, to the extent that any one customer or a small number of customers continues to account for a large percentage of our revenue, the loss of any such customer or that customer’s inability to meet its payment obligations could materially affect our ability to operate profitably. In certain circumstances we may not have sufficient recourse to recover our losses in full after a customer fails to meet its payment obligations. As an example, during 2024, we wrote-off $8.9 million of uncollectible receivables relating to a specific customer that was unable to fully satisfy their payment obligations to us after selling their project to a new developer. Each period we recognize expected credit losses from our customers by taking into consideration historical experience and certain other factors, as appropriate, such as credit quality, current economic or other conditions and changes in project status that may affect a customer's ability to pay. Further information on our reserves for expected credit losses may be found in Note 5, "Accounts receivable, net" in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report. We anticipate that our dependence on a limited number of customers in any given fiscal year, as well as being required to make significant expenditures in fulfilling an order prior to being paid in full by our customer for such order, will continue for the foreseeable future. There is always a risk that existing customers will elect not to do business with us in the future or will experience financial difficulties, and the nature of our business requires us to take credit risk on behalf of our customers. If we do not book more orders with existing customers, or develop relationships with new customers, we may not be able to increase, or even maintain, our revenue, and our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.

The market for our products and services is highly competitive and rapidly evolving and we expect to face increased competition.

Our solar tracker systems and other solar energy products and services are used primarily in utility-scale ground-mounted solar energy projects. As a result, our future success depends on continued demand for additional electricity generation involving use of utility-scale solar energy products and services and the ability of solar equipment manufacturers and suppliers to meet this demand. The solar industry is an evolving industry that has experienced substantial changes in recent years, and consumers and businesses ultimately may not continue to adopt solar energy as an alternative energy source at levels sufficient to grow our business. Some of the factors that may impact the demand for solar energy include:

•

the cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of solar energy systems, including solar photovoltaic modules, compared to conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources and products, including the pricing, availability and lead times of transformers and other component parts used in solar energy systems, which may be impacted in the event of higher tariffs being applied;

•

continued government support for alternative energy generation technologies and products, including the scale and scope of federal, state, local and foreign government subsidies and tax incentives to support the development and deployment of solar energy products;

•

changes in expectations for new electricity demand associated with new data center constructions and assumptions regarding expansion of the use of artificial intelligence;

•

changes in the price of electricity due to changes in the price of natural gas or other fuels, including government subsidies for those sources, which, if prices decline, could negatively impact the owners of solar energy projects or make the purchase of solar energy systems less economically attractive and would likely result in lower sales of our products and services;

•

changes in the trade environment and tax treaties between the United States and other countries, such as China, as well as import tariffs and other laws and regulations that impact the ability to import our products or other products necessary for the construction of solar energy projects;

•

investment by end-users of solar energy products, which tends to decrease when economic growth slows, or interest rates rise; and

•

changes in corporate sustainability goals, among other factors

The market for solar energy products and services is highly competitive with relatively low barriers to entry. We principally compete with other solar tracker equipment suppliers, as well as fixed-tilt suppliers. A number of companies have developed or are developing solar tracker systems and other products and services that compete or will compete directly with our products and services in the utility-scale solar energy market. Competitors in the solar tracker market include, among others, Array Technologies, Inc., GameChange Solar, Nextracker Inc. and PVH. In addition, there are numerous private company competitors, both domestically and internationally. We expect competition to continue to intensify as new competitors enter the market and existing competitors attempt to increase their market shares.

Several of our existing and potential competitors are significantly larger than we are and may have greater financial, marketing, manufacturing, distribution and customer support resources, as well as broader brand recognition and greater market penetration, especially in certain markets. For example, certain of our competitors have greater capacity and ability to manufacture their products in the United States, which can provide a competitive advantage. In addition, our competitors’ existing or future products may result in higher energy production and lower cost of energy for the solar energy projects to which they are deployed, either broadly or in certain conditions. Some of our competitors have more resources and experience in developing or acquiring new products and technologies and creating market awareness for these offerings, as well as more established customer relationships due to their longer operating histories. Because we are a newer participant in the solar tracker market, both in the United States and globally compared to some of our competitors, it is essential that we acquire market share from our competitors, and our failure to do so could impact our ability to continue to grow our business.

Further, technological advances in the tracker industry are developing rapidly and certain competitors may be able to develop or deploy new products and services more quickly than we can, or that are more reliable or that provide more functionality than ours. For example, we intend to continue to develop and deploy new products that can withstand higher wind speeds, are more adaptable to irregular site boundaries and undulating terrain and can better support larger-format panels; however, our competitors may do so more quickly or effectively. In addition, some of our competitors have the financial resources to offer competitive products at aggressive pricing levels, which could cause us to lose sales or market share, or prevent us from gaining sales or market share, or require us to lower prices for our products and services to compete effectively. If we have to reduce our prices, or if we are unable to offset any future reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volume, reducing our costs and expenses, or introducing new products and services, our revenue and gross profit would suffer.

We also may face competition from some of our customers or potential customers or other participants in the solar energy industry who evaluate our capabilities against the merits of manufacturing products internally or as a complementary offering to their other products. For example, solar panel manufacturers or project developers could develop or acquire competing technology and, in the case of project developers, use such technology in their solar energy projects. Due to the fact that such customers may not seek to make a profit directly from the manufacture of these products, they may have the ability to manufacture competitive products at a lower cost than we would charge such customers. As a result, our customers or potential customers may purchase fewer of our systems or sell products that compete with our systems, which would negatively impact our revenue and gross profit.

Any failure by us to develop or adopt new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to adapt or react to changes in existing technologies, could result in product obsolescence, the loss of competitiveness of our products, including offering lower cost savings or return on investment relative to competing products, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. For example, at inception of the company, our primary product offering was a 2P tracker solution. As a result of UFLPA and AD/CVD regulations, among other factors, which impacted imports of solar modules from international locations, we experienced a decline in demand from customers in recent years for 2P tracker solutions in favor of 1P tracker solutions which limited the potential projects and markets to which we could sell our products. We introduced our 1P tracker solution in the second half of 2023 and are beginning to see increasing demand for that new product offering. However, if our 1P tracker solution does not achieve broader market acceptance, future demand for our 1P tracker solution, in addition to our 2P tracker solution, may not grow at levels expected or required for us to increase our revenue to a level to be profitable.

Broad market acceptance for our products and services may be affected by a number of factors, including:

•

our ability to produce solar tracker systems that compete favorably against other products on the basis of price, quality, cost of installation, overall cost savings, reliability and performance;

•

our ability to timely introduce new products and complete new designs, and qualify and certify our products;

•

whether project developers, solar asset owners, EPC contractors and solar financing providers will continue to adopt and finance our solar tracker systems and other products and services, including as a result of the quality, reliability and performance of our tracker systems that are in operation;

•

the ability of prospective customers to obtain financing, including tax equity financing, for solar energy installations using our products on acceptable terms or at all;

•

our ability to develop products and related processes that comply with local standards and regulatory requirements, as well as local content requirements; and

•

our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with our customers and contract manufacturers.

The ability of our customers to obtain project financing on acceptable terms may be impacted by interest rates at current elevated levels in relation to rates of several years ago, further increases in interest rates, increased inflation or a reduction in the supply of, or change in the market terms offered for project debt or tax equity financing or regulatory restrictions on lenders, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Our reputation and our relationship with our customers are paramount to us, and we have invested heavily in building a brand and solutions associated with high quality, differentiated product offerings and strong customer service. We believe that maintaining the quality of our products and the strength of our reputation is critical to our existing customer relationships and our ability to win new customers and maintain and enhance our market acceptance. Any negative publicity can adversely affect our reputation, and may arise from many sources, including actual or alleged misconduct, errors or improper business practices by employees, officers or current or former directors, including for activities external to FTC Solar, employee claims against us, product defects or failures, future litigation or regulatory actions, matters affecting our financial reporting or compliance with SEC or exchange listing requirements, media coverage, whether accurate or not, governance lapses or workplace misconduct. In addition, we and our officers, directors and/or employees could be involved in future litigation or claims which could result in negative publicity and adversely impact our business, even if without merit. Any such reputational damage could reduce demand for our products, undermine the loyalty of our customers or reduce our ability to attract new customers and recruit and retain employees, and adversely impact our ability to increase our market share and revenue.

Our success in providing panel agnostic versions of our solar tracker systems will depend in part upon our ability to continue to work closely with leading solar panel manufacturers.

We have expanded our Voyager tracker portfolio into ULFMs and U.S. thin-film modules to accommodate different customer solar installations. We also improved the resilience of the trackers by increasing wind speed tolerance up to 150 miles per hour.

In addition, our Pioneer 1P solar tracker solution leverages technological advantages of Voyager and provides what we believe to be numerous cost savings benefits to our customers relative to other 1P solutions including faster assembly capability, a reduced pile count and embedment depth, and higher slope tolerance. We have continued to broaden compatibility options for Pioneer, including for ULFMs and the newest Series 7 U.S. thin-film modules, as well as additional foundation options, like screw piles.

The market success of our panel agnostic tracker solutions will depend in part on our ability to continue to work closely with solar panel manufacturers to design solar tracker systems that are compatible with their solar panels. The solar panel manufacturer market is large and diversified, with many market participants, and we may not be able to effectively work with all necessary solar panel manufacturers on the development of such compatible tracker solutions for a variety of reasons, including differences in marketing or selling strategy, our available financial resources, competitive considerations, engineering challenges, lack of competitive pricing and technological compatibility. In addition, our ability to form effective partnerships with solar panel manufacturers may be adversely affected by the substantial challenges faced by many of these manufacturers due to declining prices and revenue from sales of solar panels and the possibility of increased tariffs in the United States.

We invest significant time, resources and management attention to identifying and developing project leads that are subject to our sales and marketing focus, and if we are unsuccessful in converting such project leads (or awarded orders) into binding purchase orders, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

The commercial contracting and bidding process for solar project development is long and has multiple steps and uncertainties. We closely monitor the development of potential sales leads through this process. Project leads may not be converted into binding purchase orders at any stage of the bidding process because either (i) a competitor's product is selected to fulfill some or all of the order due to price, functionality or other reasons or (ii) the project does not progress to the stage involving the purchase of tracker systems. In addition, there is a risk that an awarded order (which is an order for which we are in the process of documenting a contract but for which a contract has not yet been signed, or that have been awarded in writing or verbally with a mutual understanding that the order will be contracted in the future) will not be converted into a binding purchase order, or the time for converting such awarded order to a binding purchase order will be longer than expected. In particular, we have seen awarded orders take a longer period of time than expected to convert to binding purchase orders, and expect this trend to continue in the future in respect of currently awarded orders and future awarded orders, as a result of developers deferring projects due to the inability to obtain project financing, permitting or interconnection agreements, uncertainty of panel supply, costs related to UFLPA and AD/CVD enforcement actions, as described elsewhere, regulation uncertainty, including related to changes, if any, to the IRA, as well as other factors that impact the project development timeline of our customers. Such factors have had a material negative impact in our 2024 and 2023 revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our anticipated revenue and our cash flows in 2025. There is also a risk that an awarded order once converted to a binding purchase order will not be subject to the same pricing or timeline as we originally anticipated, or that a customer will subsequently seek to amend, terminate or otherwise breach a purchase order that has been received due to a customer not being able to comply with, or requiring a modification to, terms related to pricing or timeline in such purchase order. In addition, in certain circumstances we receive a purchase order that does not include binding pricing or a firm timeline for product delivery and payment terms, and will require a subsequent change order in order to document such items. In these circumstances, there is a risk that such a change order will not be entered into, will be entered into on a date that is later than expected, or will be entered into on terms that are unfavorable to us, which in either cases could impact the amount of our revenue or the timing thereof. In 2024 and 2023, we have seen customers seek amendments or modifications to purchase orders, and have also seen customers breach their obligations under purchase orders, as a result of customers being unable to meet timing and payment obligations due to developers deferring projects for the reasons stated above, which have negatively impacted our 2024 and 2023 revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our anticipated revenue and our cash flow in 2025. If we fail to convert a significant number of project leads that are subject to our sales and marketing focus (or awarded orders) into binding purchase orders, or the time for converting awarded orders to a binding purchase order is longer than expected, or the pricing and timing in binding purchase orders is not as favorable to us as originally anticipated in the awarded order, or a purchase order has to be subsequently amended or supplemented on account of changes or additions related to pricing or product delivery, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Due to the seasonality of construction in the United States, our results of operations may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, which could make our future performance difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock.

Our quarterly results of operations are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly in the future. Because a substantial majority of our sales are concentrated in the U.S. market, we have experienced to a certain extent seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in the past as a result of seasonal fluctuations in our customers’ businesses, although we believe such impacts to date have not been material. Additionally, our end-users’ ability to install solar energy systems is affected by weather. For example, during the winter months in cold-weather climates in the United States, construction may be delayed in order to let the ground thaw to reduce costs. Such installation delays can impact the timing of orders for our products. We have expanded into areas with traditionally warmer climates which has resulted in less pronounced seasonal variations in our revenue profile, and we expect this trend to continue as we continue to expand into such areas.

The true extent of historic fluctuations due to the seasonality of construction may have been masked by recent impacts from project delays, tariffs, import restrictions and other regulatory issues, as well as inflation and fluctuations in costs associated with our supply chain and consequently may not be readily apparent from our historical results of operations and may be difficult to predict. Any substantial decrease in revenue would have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

We plan to continue expanding into additional international markets, which will expose us to additional regulatory, economic, political, reputational and competitive risks.

We have been, and plan to continue, expanding our operations to other countries, which requires significant resources and management attention and subjects us to regulatory, economic, political and competitive risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. There are significant risks and costs inherent in doing business in international markets, including:

•

difficulty in establishing and managing international operations, including establishment of local customer service operations and local sales operations, and the associated legal compliance costs;

•

risks related to the usage of international sales representatives, who we do not presently engage but may in the future, who would not be our employees and would not be under our direct control, including legal compliance risks and reputational risks;

•

acceptance of our current tracker systems or other solar energy products and services in markets in which they have not traditionally been used;

•

price declines in solar panels in certain geographic regions, such as the European Union, which can make our offerings less competitive;

•

our ability to accurately forecast product demand and manage manufacturing capacity and production;

•

willingness of our potential customers to incur a higher upfront capital investment for Voyager or Pioneer than may be required for competing fixed-tilt ground-mounted systems;

•

our ability to obtain timely qualification and certification of new products in new markets and subsequent adoption challenges, including overcoming potentially higher upfront capital investments compared to competing fixed-tilt ground-mounted systems;

•

our ability to reduce production costs to price our products competitively;

•

availability of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy products and services;

•

our ability to protect and enforce intellectual property rights abroad;

•

compliance with sanctions laws and anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), by us, our employees, our sales representatives and our business partners;

•

import and export controls and restrictions and changes in trade regulations;

•

tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, tax consequences and local content requirements;

•

fluctuations in currency exchange rates and the requirements of currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars; and

•

political or social unrest, military conflict or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate.

We have limited experience with certain international regulatory environments and market practices and may not be able to penetrate or successfully operate in the markets we may choose to enter or have entered or otherwise effectively mitigate the regulatory, economic, political, reputational and competitive risks that are inherent when operating in such environments. In addition, we may incur significant expenses as a result of our international expansion, and we may not be successful. For example, we have made investments into the European, South African and Asian markets but are yet to realize material revenue from customers in such markets, and we typically anticipate that we will not realize material revenue from customers in new markets until significant time and expense has been invested, and in some cases we may not realize material revenue at all despite making such investments. Our failure to successfully manage these risks could harm our international operations and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We may invest in or acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our stockholders, reduce our available cash that could be used for other purposes and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our results of operations.

We may decide to continue to grow our business through additional investments in or acquisitions of businesses and technologies rather than through internal development. The identification of suitable investment or acquisition candidates can be difficult, time consuming and costly, and we may not be able to successfully complete newly identified investment opportunities or acquisitions, or successfully integrate new acquisitions such that they become long-term profitable operations. The risks we face in connection with investments or acquisitions include, but are not limited to:

•

diversion of management time and focus from operating our business, as well as use of Company resources (including cash) to addressing acquisition integration challenges;

•

retention of key employees from the acquired company;

•

failure to realize long-term value and synergies from investments or acquisitions;

•

failure to realize incremental revenue or profit that was anticipated to result from investments or acquisitions;

•

failure to synchronize and integrate the operations of an acquired company with our operations, including blending of corporate cultures;

•

assumption of unanticipated liabilities for activities of an investee or the acquired company before the acquisition; and

•

litigation or other claims in connection with the acquisition, including claims from terminated employees, customers, former stockholders or other third parties.

Our failure to address these risks or other risks encountered in connection with currently completed or future investments and acquisitions could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of these investments or acquisitions and incur unanticipated liabilities, or otherwise harm our business. Currently completed or future investments or acquisitions also could result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, use of our cash in payment of cash consideration or additional investment capital, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, any of which could harm our financial condition. For example, during 2023, we acquired a 45% interest in Alpha Steel, a newly formed partnership with a leading steel fabricator to produce steel components, including torque tubes, for utility-scale solar projects. The Alpha Steel facility, which is located outside of Houston in Sealy, Texas, began limited commercial production late in the fourth quarter of 2023. We have made capital contributions to Alpha Steel to date totaling $2.7 million and could be required to make up to $0.8 million in additional capital contributions as Alpha Steel expands production. We are also contingently liable for certain unpaid vendor obligations, including issued but unsatisfied purchase orders issued by Alpha Steel totaling approximately $0.2 million as of December 31, 2024. In addition, pursuant to a three-year supply agreement we entered into with Alpha Steel, we have committed to placing a minimum level of purchase orders for torque tubes with Alpha Steel during the period from January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, with such volume commitments increasing in each of the next two annual periods. In the event we fail to meet our minimum required purchase commitments in any period, we would contractually be required to make a cash payment for the net profit attributable to any unfilled requirements, calculated as specified in the agreement, in an amount not to exceed $4.0 million in the aggregate. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we recognized a loss of approximately $1.1 million for our equity share of the 2024 net operating loss of Alpha Steel. Any of the risks described above, if realized, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Defects or quality or performance problems in our products could result in loss of customers, reputational damage and decreased revenue, and we may face warranty, indemnity and product liability claims arising from defective products.

Although we set stringent quality standards for our products, they may contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new generations are released. Errors, defects or poor performance can arise due to design flaws, defects in raw materials or components, manufacturing difficulties and quality control failures, which can affect both the quality and the yield of the product. Any actual or perceived errors, defects or poor performance in our products could result in replacements or recalls, remediation requests and warranty claims, shipment delays, rejection of our products, damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, diversion of our sales personnel from sales efforts and increases in customer service and support costs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, defective products may give rise to warranty, indemnity, product liability, liquidated damages or other contractual claims against us that exceed any revenue or profit we receive from the affected products, including claims for damages related to aspects or components of a solar energy project that go beyond the scope of our product offerings. Our limited warranties cover defects in materials and workmanship of our products. As a result, we bear the risk of warranty claims long after we have sold products and recognized revenue. Our accrued reserves for warranty claims and remediation are based on available industry data relating to the nature and frequency of product failure rates and, where possible, on our historical experience, which may be limited in certain circumstances. As a result, our assumptions could prove to be materially different from the warranty obligations that we may be required to compensate customers for in the case of defective products. Our failure to accurately predict future warranty claims could result in unexpected volatility in, and have a material adverse effect on, our financial condition. In addition, while we seek to support our warranty obligations with warranties from our contract manufacturers, such warranties may not be of the same scope as our warranty obligations, or we may not be able to effectively enforce our rights thereunder.

If one of our products were to cause injury to someone or cause property damage, including as a result of product malfunctions, defects or improper installation, then we could be exposed to product liability claims. We could incur significant costs and liabilities if we are sued and if damages are awarded against us, which could far exceed the revenue we recognize in connection with the related project. Further, any product liability claim we face could be expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention. The successful assertion of a product liability claim against us could result in potentially significant monetary damages, penalties or fines, subject us to adverse publicity, damage our reputation and competitive position and adversely affect sales of our products. In addition, product liability claims, injuries, defects or other problems experienced by other companies in the solar energy industry could lead to unfavorable market conditions for the industry as a whole and may have an adverse effect on our ability to attract new customers, thus harming our growth and financial performance.

If we fail to retain key personnel or if we fail to attract additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated level of growth, and our business could suffer.

Our future success and ability to implement our business strategy depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain key personnel, and on the continued contributions of members of our senior management team and key technical personnel, each of whom would be difficult to replace. All of our employees, including our senior management, are free to terminate their employment relationships with us at any time. Competition for highly skilled individuals with technical expertise is extremely intense in our industry, and we face challenges identifying, hiring and retaining qualified personnel in many areas of our business. Additionally, in response to adverse market and regulatory conditions, as well as other factors, we made workforce reductions in the fourth quarter of 2024 and in August 2023, which included certain members of our executive leadership team. Both our then President and Chief Executive Officer and then Chief Financial Officer agreed that each would step down from their positions, and such executives departed the Company, effective in December 2023.

During 2024, we added to our executive leadership team. In August 2024, Yann Brandt joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer, and he is a member of our Board of Directors. Further, Cathy Behnen was appointed as our Chief Financial Officer in February 2024; we hired Alberto Echeverria, a former CEO and Executive Member of the Board of STI Norland, as our Senior Vice President of International Sales in May 2024; and Kent James joined us in January 2025 as our Chief Commercial Officer for North America.

If our expectations of future growth materialize, we would expect to begin to increase our workforce again at the appropriate time. Integrating new employees into our team could be disruptive to our operations, requiring substantial resources and management attention and ultimately prove unsuccessful. Any inability to retain our current senior management and other key personnel or to attract additional qualified personnel could limit or delay our strategic efforts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.