Blaize Holdings, Inc.

For the period ended Dec 31, 2024. Filed Apr 15, 2025.

About this filing

A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2024 · Filed Apr 15, 2025

BZAI$0.20-2.5%Stored close · as of Nov 9, 2026

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Contents

Item 1A. Risk Factors

The following risk factors should be considered in addition to the other information, including Item 7. and Item 8., of this Annual Report. The following risks could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or reputation, which could cause our stock price to decline. Additional risks, trends and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or reputation. Our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth below.

Risk Factors Summary

We have a history of operating losses, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and sustain profitability.

Our partnerships with certain automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers are long-term in nature and we will not receive firm purchase order commitments until we deliver our auto-grade chip.

Our future revenue and operating results will be harmed if we are unable to acquire new customers, retain existing customers, terminate existing customer or partnership contracts or expand sales to our existing customers.

Failure to effectively develop and expand our marketing and sales capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform and products.

Our sales cycle with large enterprise customers can be long and unpredictable, and our sales efforts require considerable time and expense.

If we fail to maintain or grow our brand recognition, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our financial condition may suffer.

We depend on timely supply of materials sourced from a limited number of suppliers, and are directly impacted by unexpected delays or problems from our third-party manufacturers.

We depend on third-party manufacturers, including Samsung Foundry and Plexus, for producing our products, and in the event of a disruption in our supply chain, any efforts to develop alternative supply sources may not be successful or may take longer to take effect than anticipated.

If we fail to improve and enhance the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security and scalability of our platform and products and innovate and introduce new solutions in a manner that responds to our customers’ evolving needs, our business may be adversely affected.

We face intense competition, especially from well-established companies offering solutions and related applications. We may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position, which may harm our ability to add new customers, retain existing customers and grow our business.

If we fail to adapt and respond effectively to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, and changing customer needs or preferences, our platform and products may become less competitive.

The estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth included in this Annual Report may prove to be inaccurate. Even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.

We depend on our senior management team and the loss of one or more key employees or an inability to attract and retain highly skilled employees may adversely affect our business.

If our software or hardware contains serious errors or defects, we may lose revenue and market acceptance and may incur costs to defend or settle claims with our customers.

We process proprietary, confidential, and personal information, which may subject us to certain laws or other obligations regarding the privacy and security of such information. If we fail to comply with applicable laws or obligations, or if the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of this information or our information technology systems is compromised, our reputation may be harmed and we may be exposed to liability and loss of business.

We currently optimize, quantize and fine-tune existing AI models and may in the future, use and develop AI, machine learning and automated decision-making technologies throughout our business, which may expose us to certain regulatory and other risks that could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We depend on third-party data hosting and transmission services. Increases in cost, interruptions in service, latency or poor service from our third-party data center providers could impair the delivery of our platform, which could result in customer dissatisfaction, damage to our reputation, loss of customers, limited growth and reduction in revenue.

We rely on third-party proprietary and open source materials for our platform. Our inability to obtain third-party licenses for such materials, or obtain them on favorable terms, or any errors, bugs, defects or failures caused by such materials could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our use of open source software or datasets could subject us to possible litigation or cause us to subject our platform or products to unwanted open source license conditions that could negatively impact our sales.

We could incur substantial costs in protecting or defending our proprietary rights. Failure to adequately protect our rights could impair our competitive position and we could lose valuable assets, experience reduced revenue and incur costly litigation.

We conduct, and Legacy Blaize conducted, a portion of its business with third-party ecosystem partners to provide defensive solutions that incorporate our products to various foreign and domestic government agencies, which are subject to unique risks.

We may be subject to additional obligations to collect and remit sales tax and other taxes. We may be subject to tax liability for past sales, which could harm our business.

The market price of shares of our common stock may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance. You may lose some or all of your investment.

The market price of our common stock is and could remain highly volatile, and has declined and may continue to decline regardless of our operating performance. You may lose some or all of your investment.

Our ability to timely raise capital in the future may be limited, or may be unavailable on acceptable terms, if at all. Our failure to raise capital when needed could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. Debt issued to raise additional capital may reduce the value of our common stock.

The requirements of being a public company, including compliance with the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) and the requirements of the Nasdaq, may strain our resources, increase our costs and require additional attention of management, and we may be unable to comply with these requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner.

Our management has limited experience in operating a public company and may not be able to adequately develop and implement the governance, compliance, risk management and control infrastructure and culture required for a public company, including compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act.

Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may deter third parties from acquiring us and diminish the value of our Common Stock.

Our failure to timely and effectively implement controls and procedures required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act could negatively impact our business.

Risks Related to our Business and Industry

We have a history of operating losses, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and sustain profitability.

We have not yet achieved profitability. During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we incurred operating losses of $47.6 million and $38.5 million, respectively, and used cash in operating activities of $53.5 million and $28.0 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $429.3 million. In recent periods, our revenue growth has been attributed to non-recurring engineering (“NRE”) engagements with automotive partners as well as, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022, to limited quantities of production product shipments to customers. We intend to continue investing heavily in sales and marketing efforts, but we may not be able to sustain or increase our growth or achieve profitability in the future. In addition, we expect to incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses related to us being a public company as compared to when we were a private company. While our revenue has grown in recent years, if our revenue declines or fails to grow at a rate faster than these increases in our operating expenses, we will not be able to achieve and maintain profitability in future periods. As a result, we may continue to generate losses. We cannot assure you that we will achieve profitability in the future or that, if we do become profitable, we will be able to sustain profitability. In 2024, we commenced a program to develop our next-generation silicon products, which are expected to remain in development for at least two years before becoming available for sale. Such chip development is a highly complex process involving specialized third-party partners, and we cannot guarantee that the chip will initially perform as designed. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If these losses exceed our expectations or our revenue growth expectations are not met in future periods, our financial performance will be harmed.

Our recent growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth.

Our prior years revenue has largely consisted of NRE revenue received from our strategic partners. We have developed a customer pipeline in recent years and are commencing the delivery of hardware and software solutions based on our production chip that came to market at the end of 2022. This pipeline is expected to convert into revenues from 2024/2025 onwards, but it may not convert in the timeline we expect or at all. In future periods, we may not be able to sustain customer pipeline growth consistent with recent history, or at all. The conversion of our pipeline is also not guaranteed as there are several external dependencies that we do not control, before the end customer is ready to deploy AI solutions. Furthermore, we believe our revenue growth depends on a number of factors, including our ability to:

expand our eco-system of partners for hardware and software solutions;

attract new customers and retain and increase sales to existing customers;

maintain and expand our relationships with our customers;

develop our existing platform and products, introduce new functionality to our platform and develop new products;

expand into new market segments and internationally; and

secure long-term revenue commitments from automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEMs”) and Tier-1 suppliers.

We may not accomplish any of these objectives and, as a result, it is difficult for us to forecast our future revenue or revenue growth. If our assumptions are incorrect or change in reaction to changes in our market, or if we are unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, our stock price could be volatile, and it may be difficult to achieve and maintain profitability. You should not rely on our revenue for any prior periods as any indication of our future revenue or revenue growth.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has included an explanatory paragraph expressing substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern in its report for the year ended December 31, 2024, included in the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K/A, filed on April 14, 2025. Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the discharge of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company’s ability to continue to meet its obligations, to achieve its business objectives and continue as a going concern is dependent upon several factors, including the Company’s revenue growth rate, the timing and extent of spending to support further sales and marketing and research and development efforts. Although the Company intends to raise additional capital through issuances of additional debt and equity, as well as through the consummation of the Business Combination, and is currently taking actions to both source and preserve cash through a combination of the issuance of convertible notes and a possible capital market transaction and has received additional funding in 2024, there is no assurance that additional financing will be available at terms acceptable to us or at all. These factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we cannot continue as a viable entity, this could materially adversely affect the value of our securities.

Our partnerships with certain automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers are long-term in nature and we will not receive firm purchase order commitments until we deliver our auto-grade chip.

We have been working with automotive partners for several years and secured long term joint development agreements for revenue predicated upon the Company delivering automotive-grade chips to them. The nature of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (“ADAS”) is still evolving with OEMs continuing to develop their strategies. We believe that our technology is well positioned to be a key contributor in the solutions that are adopted but we do not control the pace at which the industry is moving to deploy ADAS of increasing complexity into their vehicles. Additionally, in 2023 and 2024, we teamed up with one automotive OEM, Mercedes-Benz North America Corporation (“Mercedes-Benz”), and their partner vendors to evaluate their requirements for an advanced L4 platform. This is intended to be in production by the end of this decade and a phase 1 evaluation recently concluded in the second quarter of 2024. To date, we have recognized approximately $25.0 million and $7.0 million in non-recurring engineering fees from DENSO and Mercedes-Benz, respectively.

We anticipate that Blaize will be well positioned to resume this relationship with Mercedes-Benz once it has confirmed its ADAS roadmap and selected all other relevant partners for their next-level platform. However, Blaize has not yet entered into any contractual arrangements for this engagement and ADAS solutions with Mercedes-Benz based on Blaize’s technology are not expected to be in production until 2028 or later. Our partnership with our main Tier-1 supplier, DENSO Corporation (“DENSO”) continues with projects centered around Blaize’s software and hardware offerings, including a Proof of Concept Agreement (as defined herein) with aggregate proceeds of approximately $3.0 million upon its completion, as described further in the section entitled “Information About Blaize — Material Contracts.” Blaize intends to continue to build on our current relationships with Mercedes-Benz and DENSO and to establish new relationships with other automotive OEMs and Tier-1 and Tier-2 partners now and in the future but we do not believe Blaize is reliant on either of Mercedes-Benz or DENSO currently or in the future. Blaize’s product roadmap expects to have solutions for ADAS in production beginning in 2028 and we anticipate recognizing revenues from these potential future partnerships with automotive OEMs and Tier-1 and Tier-2 partners.

Our ability to continue to invest in developing automotive-grade chips and software depends upon having access to a large amount of capital that is expected to be sourced from revenues into other non- automotive markets, based on our current set of products. A shortfall in those revenues will significantly impact our automotive roadmap and automotive OEMs and Tier-1 and Tier-2 partners, including Mercedes-Benz and DENSO, may choose to adopt competing technologies. If this occurs, it will be extremely difficult to retain our specialist automotive skills and there is a high risk of losing that expertise altogether.

The majority of revenues that Blaize has generated to date are through paid proof-of-concepts or NRE concepts. Our ability to increase revenue also depends, in part, on our ability to retain existing customers and to sell additional functionality and adjacent products and services to our existing and new customers. In order for us to maintain or improve our results of operations, it is important that our customers renew their contracts with us on the same or more favorable terms to us. Our ability to increase sales to existing customers and prospective customers depends on several factors, including their experience with using our products and our pricing model. Additionally, we or our counterparty may terminate existing or future contracts to which we are party, either for convenience or due to a default, and, in the future, if the portion of contracts that are subject to termination at the election of us or counterparties are material, any such termination may increase our costs and seriously harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our ability to generate revenue may be inconsistent across small and midsize businesses, mid-market, and large enterprise customers, including government agencies, both foreign and domestic. If we experience limited or inconsistent growth in any of these customer sets, particularly our large enterprise customers, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.

Our future growth, profitability and cash flows depend upon our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy, which, in turn, is dependent upon a number of factors, including our ability to:

expand our eco-system of partners for hardware and software solutions;

grow our current customer base;

acquire new customers;

scale our business model;

expand our customer location footprint;

ensure a consistent and timely supply chain;

expand our presence within verticals;

continue to innovate our product offerings; and

selectively pursue strategic and value-enhancing acquisitions.

There can be no assurance that we can successfully achieve any or all of the above initiatives in the manner or time period that we expect. Further, achieving these objectives will require investments which may result in short-term costs without generating any current revenue and therefore may be dilutive to our earnings. We cannot provide any assurance that we will realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits we expect our strategy will achieve. The failure to realize those benefits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to effectively develop and expand our marketing and sales capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform and products.

Our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform and products will depend on our ability to expand our marketing and sales operations. We plan to continue increasing the size of our sales force. We also plan to dedicate significant resources to sales and marketing programs, including developing an extensive third-party partner ecosystem. Our business and operating results will be harmed if our sales and marketing efforts do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. We may not achieve anticipated revenue growth from increasing the size of our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop, and retain talented sales personnel, if our new sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time, or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective.

Our sales cycle with large enterprise customers can be long and unpredictable, and our sales efforts require considerable time and expense.

The timing of our sales with our large enterprise customers and related revenue recognition is difficult to predict because of the length and unpredictability of the sales cycle for these customers. Large enterprise customers, particularly those in highly regulated industries and those requiring customized applications, may have a lengthy sales cycle for the evaluation and implementation of our platform and/or sales of products. This may cause a delay between increasing operating expenses for such sales efforts and, upon successful sales, the generation of corresponding revenue.

Customers often view our platform and products as a strategic decision with significant investment. As a result, customers frequently require considerable time to evaluate, test, and qualify our platform and products prior to entering into or expanding a subscription or purchase order. During the sales cycle, we expend significant time and money on sales and marketing and contract negotiation activities, which may not result in a sale. Additional factors that may influence the length and variability of our sales cycle include:

the effectiveness of our sales force as we hire and train our new salespeople to sell to large enterprise customers;

the obstacles placed by customers’ procurement process;

customers’ integration complexity;

customers’ familiarity with edge computing solutions;

customers’ evaluation of competing products during the purchasing process;

evolving customer demands;

the adoption and implementation of regulations that affect our ability to obtain customers in certain regions of the world outside of the U.S.; and

the adoption and implementation of regulations within the U.S. that impose supply chain and manufacturing location restrictions.

Given these factors, it is difficult to predict whether and when a sale will be completed, and when revenue from a sale will be recognized. Consequently, a shortfall in demand for our platform and products or a decline in new or renewed contracts in a given period may not significantly reduce our revenue for that period but could negatively affect our revenue in future periods.

If we fail to maintain or grow our brand recognition, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our financial condition may suffer.

We believe maintaining and growing our brand is important to supporting continued acceptance of our existing and future solutions, attracting new customers to our platform and products, and retaining existing customers. We also believe that the importance of brand recognition will increase as competition in our market increases. Successfully maintaining our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, our ability to provide a reliable and useful platform and products to meet the needs of our customers at competitive prices, our ability to maintain our customers’ trust, our ability to continue to develop new functionality and solutions and our ability to successfully differentiate our platform and products. Brand promotion activities may not generate customer awareness or yield increased revenue. Even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incurred in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, we may fail to attract enough new customers or retain our existing customers to realize a sufficient return on our brand-building efforts, and our business could suffer.

Our customers rely on our personnel for support related to our subscription and customer solutions. High-quality support is important for the renewal and expansion of our agreements with existing customers. The importance of high-quality support will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers, particularly large enterprise customers. If we do not help our customers quickly resolve issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell new software to existing and new customers could suffer and our reputation with existing or potential customers could be harmed. In many cases, we will rely upon third-party partners to provide first-line support.

Our inability to hire technical support staff in a timely manner, whether due to market conditions or our own budget constraints, would also affect the quality of support for our customers and partners and could potentially result in business and reputational harms.

We depend on timely supply of materials sourced from a limited number of suppliers, and are directly impacted by unexpected delays or problems from our third-party manufacturers.

Any disruption in the supply chain, such as shortages, unexpected delays or price increases, could significantly impact our manufacturing process and financial stability. Additionally, we are highly dependent on third-party manufacturers for complex processes like wafer fabrication and assembly; therefore, any problems or unexpected delays from these third-party manufacturers could also negatively impact our business and financial performance.

Further, we rely on certain external partners for critical manufacturing steps, including our wafer fabrication and assembly and testing processes which exposes us to significant risks. These processes are highly sensitive, and even minor contamination or technical glitches during wafer fabrication can render a substantial portion of the component unusable. Identifying such problems early in the production cycle and resolving them in a timely manner is often difficult, expensive and time consuming. Therefore, any issues that arise from our third-party manufacturers could lead to production delays, increased costs, and could potentially lead to a compromise in the quality and performance of our products, which could significantly impact our business and financial results.

As a fabless company, Blaize does not manufacture its own semiconductor or SoC products and currently relies on third-party manufacturers, including Samsung Foundry and Plexus, to produce our products. Additionally, Blaize has a design, manufacturing and sales agreement with VeriSilicon, Inc. (“VeriSilicon”) that provides Blaize with design expertise, support and assistance, and certain deliverables, prototypes, products and services from VeriSilicon. Blaize cannot be sure that these manufacturers will remain in business, or that they will not be purchased by one of Blaize’s competitors or another company that is not interested in continuing to produce these products for Blaize’s intended purpose. Our reliance on these third-party manufacturers subjects us to a number of risks that include, among other things:

the interruption of supply resulting from modifications to or discontinuation of a manufacturer’s operations;

delays in product shipments resulting from uncorrected defects, reliability issues or a manufacturer’s variation in a component;

a lack of long-term supply arrangements with our manufacturers;

a delay in delivery due to its suppliers’ prioritizing other customer orders over Blaize’s;

damage to our reputation caused by defective products produced by our suppliers;

fluctuation in delivery by our suppliers due to changes in demand from our or their other customers;

interruptions, shortages, delivery delays and potential discontinuation of supply as a result of any recurrence of pandemics such as COVID-19, or other reasons outside Blaize’s control;

political, legal and economic changes, crises or instability and civil unrest in the jurisdictions where Blaize’s manufacturers’ plants are located, such as changes in China-Taiwan relations that may adversely affect Blaize’s manufacturers’ and suppliers’ operations;

currency conversion risks and exchange rate fluctuations; and

compliance requirements of U.S. customs and international trade regulations.

Although Blaize’s semiconductor or SoC products could be produced by other manufacturers, any attempt to transition our supply arrangement to one or more other manufacturers could entail significant coordination and expense and could lead to delays in production. If Blaize is unable to arrange for sufficient production capacity among our contract manufacturers or if our contract manufacturers encounter production, quality, financial, or other difficulties, Blaize may encounter difficulty in meeting customer demands as it seeks alternative sources of supply, or it may have to make financial accommodations to such contract manufacturers or otherwise take steps to mitigate supply disruption. Any alternative manufacturers may be unable or unwilling to meet Blaize’s and its customers’ specifications. In addition, Blaize may experience supply shortages from some of its suppliers such as what it experienced as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown in China. Any disruption in supply from any supplier or manufacturing location could lead to supply delays or interruptions that could damage Blaize’s business or financial condition. If any of the risks discussed above materialize, costs could significantly increase, and Blaize’s ability to meet demand for its products could be impacted.

The markets in which we compete are characterized by constant change and innovation and we expect them to continue to evolve rapidly, including the potential that our industry transitions to alternative algorithmic approaches to machine learning and artificial intelligence, such as Transformer models. Our success has been based on our ability to identify and anticipate the needs of our customers and design a platform and products that provide them with the breadth of tools that are required. Our ability to attract new customers, retain revenue from existing customers and increase sales to both new and existing customers will depend in large part on our ability to continue to improve and enhance the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security and scalability of our platform and products and to innovate and introduce new solutions. Additionally, our investment in the design of new chips depends on our ability to anticipate market trends and the competitive landscape more than two years in advance.

We expect that new services and technologies applicable to the industries in which we operate will continue to emerge and evolve, including developments in artificial intelligence and edge computing. These new products and technologies may be superior to, impair or render obsolete our platform and the products we currently offer or the technologies we currently use to provide them. We have in the past, and may experience in the future, difficulties with software development that could delay or prevent the development, introduction or implementation of new solutions and enhancements. Software development involves a significant amount of time, resources and cost for our research and development team, as it can take our developers months to update, code and test new and upgraded solutions and integrate them into our platform and products. We must also continually update, test and enhance our software platforms. The continual improvement and enhancement of our platform and products requires significant investment and we may not have the resources to make such investment. Our improvements and enhancements may not result in our ability to recoup our investments in a timely manner or at all. We may make significant investments in new solutions or enhancements that may not achieve expected returns. The success of any enhancement or new solution depends on several factors, including the timely completion and market acceptance of the enhancement or new solution. Our ability to develop new enhancements or solutions may also be inhibited by industry-wide standards, laws and regulations, resistance to change by customers, difficulties relating to integration or compatibility with third-party software or hardware or third parties’ intellectual property rights.

Any new solution we develop or acquire might not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner and might not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. Improving and enhancing the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security and scalability of our platform and products is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and to the extent we are not able to do so in a manner that responds to our customers’ evolving needs, our business, operating results and financial condition will be adversely affected.

We may not be successful in driving the global deployment and customer adoption of digital offerings characterized by digital applications and solutions.

Our business involves cloud, edge, AI (including generative AI) and software solutions based on existing AI models, and we are devoting significant resources to develop and deploy such strategies. Our success with these solutions will depend on the level of adoption of our offerings. We incur costs to develop cloud, edge, AI and software solutions and to build and maintain infrastructure to support cloud and edge computing offerings. Success with these solutions depends on execution in many areas, including:

establishing and maintaining the utility, compatibility, and performance of our cloud, edge, AI and software solutions (including the reliability of our third-party software vendors, network and cloud providers) on a growing array of medical devices, software and equipment;

continuing to enhance the attractiveness of our solutions to our customers in the face of increasing competition from a significant number of existing and new entrants in the market, while ensuring these solutions meet their reliability and security expectations;

establishing lasting relationships with key server and edge-AI box manufacturers;

ensuring these solutions meet regulatory requirements in a fast-moving space disrupted by changing regulations around data privacy and the need for innovation, including obtaining marketing authorizations when required; and

adapting to ever-changing geopolitical regulations on advanced technologies, including AI Technologies.

It is uncertain whether our strategies will attract customers or generate revenue required to succeed in this highly competitive and rapidly changing global market. We commit substantial efforts, funds, and other resources to research and development and information technology infrastructure for our digital offerings, and the risk of failure is inherent. Even where our digital offerings satisfy applicable regulations and reimbursement policies, customers may not adopt them due to concerns about the security of personal data or the absence of digital infrastructure to support and effectively use the offerings, a hesitancy to embrace new technology, or for other reasons. We also may not effectively execute organizational and technical changes to accelerate innovation and execution. In a number of countries, certain cloud, edge, AI and software solutions are restricted areas of foreign investment. Collaborating with a domestic, qualified third party will increase costs and may create uncertainties in such jurisdictions. The legality or validity of any collaboration may be challenged or subjected to scrutiny in such jurisdictions and the relevant governmental authorities have broad discretion in addressing such arrangements. Any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business results, cash flows, financial condition, or prospects.

Additionally, we may be making significant investments in AI initiatives and are building AI into many of our digital offerings. We are planning to leverage generative AI such as large language models across our portfolios to build differentiated products and solutions and deploy those solutions through various modalities for our customers, including on the device, via edge or data centers, and/or via the cloud. Using AI in this manner presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, acceptance and effectiveness, including flawed AI algorithms, insufficient, overbroad or biased datasets, unauthorized access to personal data, lack of acceptance from our customers or failure to deliver positive outcomes. We contract with numerous third parties to offer our digital content to customers as well as to assist with the development of their own software applications and services, and our reliance on access to these third parties’ digital applications, which may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, could impact our ability to offer a wide variety of our own digital offerings at reasonable prices with acceptable usage tools, or continue to expand our geographic reach. The occurrence of any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business results, cash flows, financial condition or prospects.

We may experience rapid growth and organizational change, which may place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. We may also experience growth in the number of customers and the amount of data that our hosting infrastructure supports. Our success will depend in part on our ability to manage this growth effectively. We will require significant capital expenditures and valuable management resources to grow without undermining our culture of innovation, teamwork and attention to customer success, which has been central to our growth so far. If we fail to manage our anticipated growth and change in a manner that preserves our corporate culture, it could negatively affect our reputation and ability to retain and attract customers and employees.

We intend to expand our international operations in the future. Our expansion will continue to place a significant strain on our managerial, administrative, financial and other resources. If we are unable to manage our growth successfully, our business and results of operations could suffer. It is important that we maintain a high level of customer service and satisfaction as we expand our business. As our customer base continues to grow, we will need to expand our account management, customer service and other personnel. Failure to manage growth could result in difficulty or delays in launching improvements to our platform or our products, declines in quality or customer satisfaction, increases in costs, difficulties in introducing new features or other operational difficulties. Any of these could adversely impact our business performance and results of operations.

Negotiating these transactions can be time-consuming, difficult and expensive, and our ability to close these transactions may often be subject to approvals that are beyond our control. Consequently, these transactions, even if undertaken and announced, may not close. For one or more of those transactions, we may:

incur large charges or substantial liabilities;

The semiconductor sector is intensely competitive, marked by swift technological advancements, short product lifecycles, price erosion, and constantly evolving benchmarks. Maintaining or improving our business requires constant innovation and timely, cost-effective launches. Our success hinges on our ability to innovate and launch new products and affordably meet shifting industry demands.

However, significant investment is needed to develop cutting-edge technologies and products, and some of our competitors may have greater resources than us. If these competitors ramp up their research and development and marketing efforts, we may struggle to compete effectively.

The market for edge computing solutions is also evolving and highly competitive. We expect competition to increase in the future from established competitors and new market entrants. With the introduction of new technologies and the entry of new companies into the market, we expect competition to persist and intensify in the future. This could harm our ability to increase sales, maintain or increase renewals, and maintain our prices. We face intense competition from other companies that may offer related platforms and products.

Merger and acquisition activity in the technology industry could increase the likelihood that we compete with large technology companies. Many of our existing competitors have, and our potential competitors could have, substantial competitive advantages such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, larger sales and marketing budgets and resources, greater customer support resources, lower labor and development costs, better terms and pricing from Electronic Design Automation suppliers, design partners, part suppliers and chip, board and system manufacturers, larger and more mature intellectual property portfolios and substantially greater financial, technical and other resources.

Some of our larger competitors also have substantially broader product lines and market focus and will therefore not be as susceptible to downturns in a particular market. Conditions in our market could change rapidly and significantly as a result of technological advancements, partnering by our competitors or continuing market consolidation. New start-up companies that innovate, and large companies that are making significant investments in research and development, may invent similar or superior products and technologies that compete with our platform and products. In addition, some of our competitors may enter into new alliances with each other or may establish or strengthen cooperative relationships with agency partners, technology and application providers in complementary categories or other parties. Any such consolidation, acquisition, alliance or cooperative relationship could lead to pricing pressure, a loss of market share or a smaller addressable share of the market. It could also result in a competitor with greater financial, technical, marketing, service and other resources, all of which could harm our ability to compete.

We price our platform and products based on delivering a compelling Total Cost of Ownership (“TCO”) advantage to customers. However, the completed product may have hardware and software components from our third-party ecosystem partners which affects our ability to control pricing. We expect that we may need to change our pricing from time to time. As new or existing competitors introduce products that compete with ours or reduce their prices, we may be unable to attract new customers or retain existing customers. We also must determine the appropriate price to enable us to compete effectively internationally. Large enterprise customers may demand substantial price discounts as part of the negotiation of sales contracts. As a result, we may be required or choose to reduce our prices or otherwise change our pricing model, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

The edge computing industry is subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and practices and changing customer needs and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. We may introduce significant changes to our platform and products or develop and introduce new and unproven products, including using technologies with which we have little or no prior development or operating experience. If we are unable to develop and sell new technology, features and functionality for our platform and products that satisfy our customers and that keep pace with rapid technological and industry change, our revenue and operating results could be adversely affected. If new technologies emerge that deliver competitive solutions at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently or more securely, it could adversely impact our ability to compete.

The dominant market-leader in AI has proprietary software around which existing customers have developed and deployed their applications. We acknowledge that our platform must also integrate with a variety of network, hardware, mobile and software platforms and technologies. Customers may choose to continue to operate with the incumbent software which will make it hard for us to break into the market. We may decide to modify and enhance our platform and AI models to adapt to changes and innovation in these technologies. If businesses widely adopt new technologies, we would have to develop new functionality for our platform to work with those new technologies. This development effort may require significant engineering, marketing and sales resources, all of which would affect our business and operating results. Any failure of our platform to operate effectively with future technologies could reduce the demand for our platform. If we are unable to respond to these changes in a cost-effective manner, our platform may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete, and our operating results may be negatively affected.

The novelty of AI, especially as it relates to regulatory matters, safety of AI-driven technology, and security of AI-driven products, exposes us to a higher risk of unforeseen liabilities that can represent a substantial burden on Blaize’s finances to defend against lawsuits or detrimental publicity, or to comply with new regulations imposed on AI technologies or products.

Our current chip was designed over 3 years ago and it is possible that in certain situations, it may not be competitive in performance and features. This will impact our ability to deliver the revenue forecast until the next-generation chip is available and we may lose key customer opportunities in the meantime.

The market for edge computing solutions is relatively new and will experience changes over time. Edge computing market estimates and growth forecasts are uncertain and based on assumptions and estimates that may be inaccurate. Our addressable market depends on a number of factors, including businesses’ desire to differentiate themselves through partnership opportunities, changes in the competitive landscape, technological changes, data security or privacy concerns, customer budgetary constraints, changes in business practices, changes in the regulatory environment and changes in economic conditions. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth rates we forecast, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.

We anticipate that our operations will continue to increase in complexity as we grow, which will create management challenges.

Our business is expected to experience growth and is complex. We expect this growth would cause our operations to become increasingly complex. To manage this expected growth, we continue to make substantial investments to improve our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. We may not be able to implement and scale improvements to our systems and processes in a timely or efficient manner or in a manner that does not negatively affect our operating results. For example, we may not be able to effectively monitor certain extraordinary contract requirements or individually negotiated provisions as the number of transactions grows. Our systems and processes may not prevent or detect all errors, omissions or fraud. We may have difficulty managing improvements to our systems, processes and controls or in connection with third-party software. This could impair our ability to provide our platform or products to our customers, causing us to lose customers, limiting our platform or products to less significant updates or increasing our technical support costs. If we are unable to manage this complexity, our business, operations, operating results and financial condition may suffer.

As our customer base grows, we will need to expand our services and other personnel, and maintain and enhance our partnerships, to provide a high level of customer service. We also will need to manage our sales processes as our sales personnel and partner network continue to grow and become more complex, and as we continue to expand into new geographies and market segments. If we do not effectively manage this increasing complexity, the quality of our platform, products and customer service could suffer, and we may not be able to adequately address competitive challenges. These factors could impair our ability to attract and retain customers and expand our customers’ use of our platform and products.

We depend on our senior management team and the loss of one or more key employees or an inability to attract and retain highly skilled employees may adversely affect our business.

Our success depends largely upon the continued services of our executive officers and certain key employees, whom we rely on for research and development, marketing, sales, services and general and administrative functions. From time to time, our executive management team may change from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. Other than the employment agreements with our founders, we do not have employment agreements with our executive officers or other key personnel that require them to continue to work for us for any specified period; therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of one or more of our executive officers or key employees could have a serious adverse effect on our business.

To execute our growth plan, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for these personnel is intense. If we are unable to attract such personnel in cities where we are located, we may need to hire in other locations, which may add to the complexity and costs of our business operations. We expect to continue to experience difficulty in hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have. If we hire employees from competitors or other companies, their former employers may attempt to assert that these employees or we have breached legal obligations, resulting in a diversion of our time and resources. In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the stock awards they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived value of our stock awards declines, it may adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, it could adversely affect our business and future growth prospects.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel. Our ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain qualified personnel will directly affect our ability to maintain and grow our business, and such efforts will require significant time, expense and attention. The inability to attract or retain qualified personnel or delays in hiring required personnel may seriously harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, specifically employees with technical and engineering skills and employees with high levels of experience in designing and developing software and automotive solutions, will be critical to our future success. In addition, to the extent we hire personnel from competitors, we may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or have divulged proprietary or other confidential information.

Wage inflation in certain geographies in which Blaize competes for highly skilled talent has been extremely high in the past few years. Although we have managed to retain our key employees, there has still been some level of attrition and there is no guarantee that we will be able to continue to retain these key employees or respond to these conditions if these trends continue.

While we have in the past and intend to continue to issue options or other equity awards as key components of our overall compensation and employee attraction and retention efforts, we are required under GAAP to recognize compensation expense in our operating results for employee stock-based compensation under our equity grant programs, which may increase the pressure to limit stock-based compensation.

If we are unable to maintain our corporate culture as we grow, we could lose the innovation, teamwork, passion and focus on execution that we believe contribute to our success, and our business may be harmed.

We believe a portion of our success has been our corporate culture. We have invested substantial time and resources in building our team. As we grow and develop our infrastructure as a public company, our operations may become increasingly complex. We may find it difficult to maintain these important aspects of our corporate culture. Any failure to preserve our culture could negatively affect our future success, including our ability to retain and recruit personnel, and to effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives.

If our software or hardware contains serious errors or defects, we may lose revenue and market acceptance and may incur costs to defend or settle claims with our customers.

Software and hardware such as ours often contain errors, defects, security vulnerabilities or software bugs that are difficult to detect and correct, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. Despite internal testing, our platform and products may contain serious errors or defects, security vulnerabilities or software bugs that we may be unable to successfully correct in a timely manner or at all, which could result in lost revenue, significant expenditures of capital, a delay or loss in market acceptance and damage to our reputation and brand, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. To the extent we deploy new versions or enhancements to our platform or products that contain errors, defects, security vulnerabilities or software bugs, the consequences may be severe. Such defects could expose us to product liability claims, litigation or regulatory action.

Errors, defects, security vulnerabilities, service interruptions or software bugs in our platform or products could result in losses to our customers. Our customers may seek significant compensation from us for any losses they suffer or cease conducting business with us altogether. Further, a customer could share information about bad experiences on social media, which could result in damage to our reputation and loss of future sales. There can be no assurance that provisions typically included in our agreements with our customers that attempt to limit our exposure to claims would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim. Even if not successful, a claim brought against us by any of our customers would likely be time-consuming and costly to defend and could seriously damage our reputation and brand, making it harder for us to sell our solutions.

We process proprietary, confidential and personal information which may subject us to certain laws or other obligations regarding the privacy and security of such information. If we fail to comply with applicable laws or obligations, or if the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of this information or our information technology systems is compromised, our reputation may be harmed and we may be exposed to liability and loss of business.

As part of our normal business activities, we collect, transmit, use, disclose, store and otherwise process proprietary, confidential and personal information (“Confidential Information”) including of our employees, employees of our customers and other third parties with which we do business and any personal information that may be uploaded to our services by our customers. As such, we are subject to federal, state, and foreign laws regarding cybersecurity, privacy, and the processing of personal information. For example, the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and related laws in other jurisdictions require us to adhere to certain disclosure restrictions and deletion obligations with respect to the personal information of their residents, and allow for penalties for violations and, in some cases, a private right of action. These laws also impose transparency and other obligations with respect to personal information of their respective residents and provide residents with similar rights with respect to their personal information. Moreover, many jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of security breaches involving certain types of personal information.

The regulatory environment surrounding information security, privacy, and the processing of personal information is increasingly demanding, with frequent imposition of new and changing requirements that are subject to differing interpretations and create a complex compliance environment. In some cases, these requirements may be either unclear in their interpretation and application or they may have inconsistent or conflicting requirements with each other. Further, there has been a substantial increase in legislative activity and regulatory focus on data privacy and security in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere, including in relation to cybersecurity incidents.

We use third-party service providers and subprocessors to help us deliver services to our customers. These service providers and subprocessors may also collect, transmit, use, disclose, store and otherwise process Confidential Information. Such Confidential Information, and the information technology systems (“IT Systems”) that store such information, face numerous and evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of such IT Systems and Confidential Information, including as a result of third-party action, employee or contractor error or malfeasance, nation state malfeasance, malware, phishing, computer hackers, system error, software, viruses, bugs or defects, process failure or otherwise. Any of these could result in the failure of our IT Systems or the loss of Confidential Information. Further, because our products and services are integrated with our customers’ systems and processes, any circumvention or failure of our cybersecurity defenses or measures could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our customers’ own IT Systems and/or Confidential Information as well.

Information security risks for companies such as ours have significantly increased in recent years in part because of the proliferation of new technologies, the use of internet and telecommunications technologies to conduct financial transactions and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, hackers, terrorists and other external parties, as well as nation-state and nation-state-supported actors.

Because the techniques and tools (including AI) used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently, may originate from less regulated and remote areas of the world and be difficult to detect and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Even if such a data breach did not arise out of our action or inaction, or even if it were to solely affect one or more of our competitors or our customers, the resulting concern could negatively affect our customers and our business. Concerns regarding data privacy and security may cause some of our customers to stop using our platform or products. In addition, failures to meet our customers’ expectations with respect to security and confidentiality of their data and information could damage our reputation and affect our ability to retain customers, attract new customers and grow our business.

While we have implemented certain security measures designed to protect against breaches of security, we may fail to properly assess and understand the risks and cannot guarantee that these measures will be effective. Like other companies, we have been the subject of various cyber incidents. While we believe these incidents have not been material, we cannot guarantee that any future will not have a material impact.

Our failure to comply with legal, contractual or standards-based requirements around the privacy or security of Confidential Information (including personal information) could lead to significant fines and penalties, exposure to indemnification obligations, governmental investigations and enforcement actions, litigation (including class actions) or adverse publicity. Additionally, it is possible that new laws, regulations and other requirements, or amendments to or changes in interpretations of existing laws, regulations and other requirements, may require us to incur significant costs, implement new processes, or change our handling of information and business operations, which could ultimately hinder our ability to grow our business by extracting value from our data assets. Further, any adverse impact to the availability, integrity or confidentiality of our IT Systems or Confidential Information can result in legal claims or proceedings (such as class actions), regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, fines and penalties, negative reputational impacts that cause us to lose existing or future customers, and/or significant incident response, system restoration or remediation and future compliance costs. Any of the foregoing could force us to spend money in defense or settlement of proceedings, result in the imposition of monetary liability or injunctive relief, divert management’s time and attention, increase our costs of doing business and adversely affect our reputation and the demand for our platform and products, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Further, our insurance coverage, including coverage for errors and omissions and cyber liability, may not continue to be available on acceptable terms or may not be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims. Our insurers could deny coverage as to any future claim and our cyber liability coverage may not adequately protect us against any losses, liabilities and costs that we may incur. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us, or changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We use AI Technologies throughout our business and are making significant investments in this area. For example, we use AI Technologies internally to prepare data provided by customers for assisting such customers with AI development when using AI Studio.

As with many technological innovations, there are significant risks involved in developing, maintaining and deploying these technologies and there can be no assurance that the usage of, or our investments in, such technologies will always enhance our products or services or be beneficial to our business, including our efficiency or profitability. In particular, if the models underlying our AI Technologies are incorrectly designed or implemented; trained or reliant on incomplete, inadequate, inaccurate, biased or otherwise poor quality data or on data to which we do not have sufficient rights or in relation to which we and/or the providers of such data have not implemented sufficient legal compliance measures; used without sufficient oversight and governance to ensure their responsible use; and/or adversely impacted by unforeseen defects, technical challenges, cybersecurity threats or material performance issues, the performance of our products, services and business, as well as our reputation, and the reputations of our customers, could suffer or we could incur liability resulting from the violation of laws or contracts to which we are party or civil claims.

We expect that increased investment will be required in the future to continuously improve our use of AI Technologies, and we may plan to increase our investment in this area to continuously improve our use of AI Technologies and our products. In particular, we will be working to incorporate generative AI Technologies (i.e., AI Technologies that can produce and output new content, software code, data and information) into our solutions. There is a risk that generative AI Technologies could produce inaccurate or misleading content or other discriminatory or unexpected results or behaviors, such as hallucinatory behavior that can generate irrelevant, nonsensical or factually incorrect results, all of which could harm our reputation, business or customer relationships. We will take measures designed to ensure the accuracy of such AI generated content, such as investing into development and acceleration of Small Language or Multimodal models, which are typically domain-optimized and more narrowly focused in an effort to reduce risks of hallucination. However, those measures may not always be successful, and in some cases, we may need to rely on end users to report such inaccuracies. In addition, our ability to develop proprietary AI models may be limited by our access to processing infrastructure or training data and we may be dependent on third-party providers for such resources. As such, we may not be successful in our ongoing development and maintenance of these technologies in the face of novel and evolving technical, reputational and market factors.

Further, a number of aspects of intellectual property rights protection in the field of AI and machine learning are currently under development and there is uncertainty and ongoing litigation in different jurisdictions as to the degree and extent of protection warranted for AI and machine learning systems and relevant system input and outputs. If we fail to obtain protection for the intellectual property rights concerning our AI Technologies, or later have our intellectual property rights invalidated or otherwise diminished, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our research and development efforts to develop competing products that could adversely affect our business, reputation and financial condition. Further, given the long history of development of AI Technologies, other parties may have (or in the future may obtain) patents or other proprietary rights that would prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use or sell our own AI Technologies.

Finally, the overall regulatory framework for AI Technologies is rapidly evolving as many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced, or are currently considering, additional laws and regulations. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would affect the operation of our AI Technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.

For example, in the U.S., the 2023 AI Order that sets out principles intended to guide AI design and deployment for the public and private sectors and signals the increase in governmental involvement and regulation over AI Technologies. The 2023 AI Order established certain new requirements for the training, testing and cybersecurity of sophisticated AI models and large scale compute centers used to train AI models and instructed several other federal agencies to promulgate additional regulations. Already agencies such as the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission have issued proposed rules. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order revoking the 2023 AI Order, and on January 23, 2025, issued an Executive Order entitled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” The new Executive Order seeks to maintain US leadership in AI innovation, “revokes certain existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation,” and directs the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, working with agency heads, to identify such policies and directives. The Order also requires the development of a new AI action plan within 180 days that must be “free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas.” While this action could indicate a less interventionist approach to AI then the prior administration, it is not clear how this new Executive Order will be implemented or whether it will affect rules issued by other agencies following the principles set forth in the 2023 AI Order.

Legislation related to AI Technologies has also been introduced at the federal level and is advancing at the state level. For example, Colorado recently passed a AI Act, which regulates the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and the California Privacy Protection Agency is currently in the process of finalizing regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act regarding the use of automated decision-making.

The developing landscape, and the uncertain interpretation of such landscape, may affect our use of AI Technologies and our ability to provide, improve or commercialize our services, require additional compliance measures and changes to our operations and processes, result in increased compliance costs and potential increases in civil claims against us and could adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition.

We currently serve the majority of our platform functions from third-party data center hosting facilities operated by Flexential Colorado Corp., located in Morrisville, North Carolina. Our platform is deployed to multiple data centers within this geography, with additional geographies available for disaster recovery. Our operations depend, in part, on our third-party providers’ protection of these facilities from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, criminal acts or similar events. If any third-party facility’s arrangement is terminated, or its service lapses, we could experience interruptions in our platform or higher latency, as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services.

A significant portion of our operating cost is from our third-party data hosting and transmission services. If the costs for such services increase due to vendor consolidation, regulation, contract renegotiation or otherwise, we may not be able to increase the fees for our ecommerce platform or professional services to cover the changes. As a result, our operating results may be significantly worse than forecasted. Our servers may be unable to achieve or maintain data transmission capacity sufficient for timely service of increased traffic or order processing. Our failure to achieve or maintain sufficient and performant data transmission capacity could significantly reduce demand for our platform.

Despite precautions taken at our data centers, spikes in usage volume, a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, vandalism or sabotage, closure of a facility without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions or performance degradation of our platform. Any damage to, or failure of, the systems of our third-party providers could result in interruptions to our platform. Even with current and planned disaster recovery arrangements, our business could be harmed. If we experience damage or interruption, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for or protect us against any losses, liabilities and costs that we may incur. These factors in turn could further reduce our revenue, subject us to liability or cause customers to terminate their subscriptions, any of which could materially adversely affect our business.

Some of our offerings include software or other intellectual property rights licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to renew licenses relating to various aspects of these applications or to seek new licenses for existing or new applications. Necessary licenses may not be available on acceptable terms or under open source licenses permitting redistribution in commercial offerings, if at all. Our inability to obtain certain licenses or other rights or to obtain such licenses or rights on favorable terms could result in delays in product releases until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed, if at all, and integrated into our platform and products, which therefore may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, third parties may allege that additional licenses are required for our use of their software or intellectual property. We may be unable to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms or at all. The inclusion in our offerings of software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a non-exclusive basis could limit our ability to differentiate our offerings from those of our competitors. To the extent that our platform or products depend upon the successful operation of third-party software, any undetected errors, bugs, defects or failures in such third-party software could impair the functionality of our platform and products, delay new feature introductions or result in a failure of our platform, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our platform and products incorporate open source software and datasets, and we expect to incorporate open source software and datasets into other offerings or solutions in the future. Such open source material is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses. Little legal precedent governs the interpretation of these licenses; therefore, the potential impact of these terms on our business is unknown and may result in unanticipated obligations regarding our technologies. If a distributor of open source material were to allege that we had not complied with its license, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses. If we combine our proprietary technology with open source material or utilize open source material in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to disclose part or all of the source code of our proprietary technology publicly and to allow further modification and redistribution on potentially unfavorable terms or at no cost, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our services. This could provide an advantage to our competitors or other entrants to the market, allow them to create similar products with lower development effort and time, and ultimately result in a loss of sales for us.

We rely on computer hardware, purchased or leased, and software licensed from and services rendered by third parties in order to run our business.

We rely on computer hardware, purchased or leased, and software licensed from and services rendered by third parties in order to run our business, which we have incorporated into our platform and products. Third-party hardware, software and services may not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Some of our agreements with our licensors may be terminated by them for convenience, or otherwise provide for a limited term. Any loss of the right to use or any failures of third-party hardware, software or services could result in delays in our ability to run our business until equivalent hardware, software or services are developed by us or, if available, identified, obtained and integrated, which could be costly and time-consuming and may not result in an equivalent solution, any of which could cause an adverse effect on our business and operating results. Further, customers could assert claims against us in connection with service disruptions or cease conducting business with us altogether. Even if not successful, a claim brought against us by any of our customers would likely be time-consuming and costly to defend and could seriously damage our reputation and brand, making it harder for us to sell our solutions.

We anticipate that the growth of our business will continue to depend on third-party relationships, including strategic partnerships and relationships with our service providers and suppliers, consultants, app developers, theme designers, referral sources, payments processors, installation partners and other partners. In addition to growing our third-party partner ecosystem, we have entered into agreements with, and intend to pursue additional relationships with, other third parties, such as shipping partners and technology and content providers. Identifying, negotiating and documenting relationships with third parties requires significant time and resources as does integrating third-party technology and content. Some of the third parties that sell our services have direct contractual relationships with the customers, and in these circumstances, we risk the loss of such customers if those third parties fail to perform their contractual obligations, including in the event of any such third party’s business failure. Our agreements with providers of cloud hosting, technology, content and consulting services are typically non-exclusive and do not prohibit such service providers from working with our competitors or from offering competing services. In particular, we have limited providers of cloud hosting services. These third-party providers may choose to terminate their relationship with us or to make material changes to their businesses, products or services in a manner that is adverse to us.

The success of our platform and products depends, in part, on our ability to integrate third-party applications, themes and other offerings into our third-party ecosystem. Third-party developers may also change the features of their offering of applications or alter the terms governing the use of their offerings in a manner that is adverse to us. If third-party applications change such that we do not or cannot maintain the compatibility of our platform and products with these applications, demand for our platform could decline. If we are unable to maintain technical interoperation, our customers may not be able to effectively integrate our platform with other systems and services they use. We may also be unable to maintain our relationships with certain third-party vendors if we are unable to integrate our platform and products with their offerings. In addition, third-party developers may refuse to partner with us or limit or restrict our access to their offerings. Partners may also impose additional restrictions on the ability of third parties like us and our customers to access or use data from their consumers. Such changes could functionally limit or terminate our ability to use these third-party offerings with our platform or products, which could negatively impact our solution offerings and harm our business. If we fail to integrate our platform and products with new third-party offerings that our customers need for their businesses, or to adapt to the data transfer requirements of such third-party offerings, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our customers and their clients expect, which would negatively impact our offerings and, as a result, harm our business.

Further, our competitors may effectively incentivize third-party developers to favor our competitors’ products or services, which could diminish our prospects for collaborations with third-parties and reduce subscriptions to our platform or purchases of our products. In addition, providers of third-party offerings may not perform as expected under our agreements or under their agreements with our customers, and we or our customers may in the future have disagreements or disputes with such providers. If any such disagreements or disputes cause us to lose access to products or services from a particular supplier, or lead us to experience a significant disruption in the supply of products or services from a current supplier, especially a single-source supplier, they could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our proprietary technology. We rely on our confidentiality, non-compete, non-solicitation and nondisclosure agreements and a combination of trade secret laws, contractual provisions, trademarks, service marks, copyrights and patents in an effort to establish and protect our proprietary rights. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate. We make business decisions about when to seek patent protection for a particular technology and when to rely upon trade secret protection. The approach we select may ultimately prove to be inadequate.

Our patents or patents issued in the future may not provide us with competitive advantages, or may be successfully challenged by third parties. Any of our patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights may be challenged or circumvented by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. Others may independently develop similar products, duplicate any of our solutions or design around our intellectual property rights or adopt similar or identical brands for competing platforms. Legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our platform and products and use information that we regard as proprietary to create products and services that compete with ours. Some license provisions restricting unauthorized use, copying, transfer and disclosure of our intellectual property rights may be unenforceable under the laws of jurisdictions outside the U.S..

To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying and use of our platform, products and proprietary information may increase. Moreover, effective trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection may not be available or commercially feasible in every country in which we conduct business. Further, intellectual property law, including statutory and case law, particularly in the U.S., is constantly developing. Changes in the law could make it harder for us to enforce our rights.

We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants to protect our proprietary technologies. We enter into confidentiality agreements with strategic and business partners. As such, these agreements may not be effective in controlling access to and distribution of our proprietary information since they do not prevent our competitors or partners from independently developing technologies that are equivalent or superior to our platform and products.

We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor, protect, and enforce our intellectual property rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our trade secrets. Litigation brought to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management. Such litigation could result in the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property rights. Enforcement of our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property. An adverse determination of any litigation proceedings could put our intellectual property rights at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. An adverse determination could risk the issuance or cancellation of pending patent and trademark filings. Because of the substantial discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, our confidential or sensitive information could be compromised by disclosure in litigation. Litigation could result in public disclosure of results of hearings, motions or other interim 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 stock.

In addition, our inability to protect our proprietary technology against unauthorized copying or use, as well as any costly litigation or diversion of our management’s attention and resources, could delay further sales or the implementation of our platform or products, impair the functionality of our platform or products, delay introductions of new functionality to our platform, result in the substitution of inferior or more costly technologies into our platform or products or injure our reputation. We will not be able to protect our intellectual property rights if we are unable to enforce these rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights. Policing unauthorized use of our technologies, trade secrets, and intellectual property rights may be difficult, expensive and time-consuming, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the U.S. and where mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be weak. If we fail to meaningfully protect our intellectual property rights, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We generally enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties upon their commencement of a relationship with us. However, we may not enter into such agreements with all employees, consultants and third parties who are or have been involved in the development of our intellectual property rights. In addition, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection against the unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets or other confidential information, and adequate remedies may not exist if unauthorized use or disclosure were to occur. The exposure of our trade secrets and other proprietary information would impair our competitive advantages and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In particular, a failure to protect our proprietary rights may allow competitors to copy our technology, which could adversely affect our pricing and market share. Further, other parties may independently develop substantially equivalent know-how and technology.

In addition to contractual measures, we try to protect the confidential nature of our proprietary information using commonly accepted physical and technological security measures. Such measures may not, for example, in the case of misappropriation of a trade secret by an employee or third party with authorized access, provide adequate protection for our proprietary information. Our security measures may not prevent an employee or consultant from misappropriating our trade secrets and providing them to a competitor, and recourse we take against such misconduct may not provide an adequate remedy to protect our interests fully. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to copy or reverse engineer certain aspects of our products that we consider proprietary. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Even though we use commonly accepted security measures, trade secret violations are often a matter of state law, and the criteria for protection of trade secrets can vary among different jurisdictions. In addition, trade secrets may be independently developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse by us. We also have agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties that obligate them to assign their inventions to us; however, these agreements may not be self-executing, not all employees or consultants may enter into such agreements or employees or consultants may breach or violate the terms of these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation. If any of our intellectual property or confidential or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently developed by a competitor, it could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In general, we are subject to various laws and regulations in the U.S. and internationally, which may expose us to liability, increased costs or have other adverse effects that could harm our business.

Our business is subject to a variety of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations include but are not limited to data privacy and data localization, copyright or similar laws, export controls and sanctions, anti-spam, consumer protection, employment, and taxation. Compliance with such laws can require changes to our business practices and significant management time and effort. Additionally, as we continue to develop and improve consumer-facing products and services, and as those offerings grow in popularity, the risk that additional laws and regulations will impact our business will continue to increase.

For example, privacy laws and regulations, cross-border data transfer restrictions, data localization requirements, and other domestic or foreign laws or regulations may expose us to liability, or otherwise adversely affect our business. Laws and regulations related to data privacy and the collection, processing, and disclosure of consumer personal information are constantly evolving. Such laws and regulations could restrict our ability to store and process personal data (in particular, our ability to use certain data for purposes such as risk or fraud avoidance, marketing, or advertising), to control our costs by using certain vendors or service providers in certain jurisdictions and could limit our ability to effectively market or advertise to interested buyers and, in general, increase the resources required to operate our business. Additionally, such laws and regulations are often inconsistent and may be subject to amendment or reinterpretation, which may cause us to incur significant costs and expend significant effort to ensure compliance.

In addition, the overall regulatory framework for AI Technologies is rapidly evolving as many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced, or are currently considering, additional laws and regulations. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would affect the operation of our AI Technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.

We are subject to financial and economic sanctions, export controls and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

Our platform and products are subject to U.S. export controls, including the Export Administration Regulations and economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. We incorporate encryption technology into our platform. These encryption products and the underlying technology may be exported outside of the U.S. only with the required export authorizations, including by license, a license exception or other appropriate government authorizations.

Furthermore, our activities are subject to U.S. economic sanctions laws and regulations that restrict regulated persons from conducting transactions or dealings with certain countries, regions, governments and persons, and are subject to U.S. export control laws that regulate (and in some cases prohibit) the export, re-export, or transfer of items subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. A violation of these laws or regulations could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

Recent administrations have been critical of existing trade agreements and may impose more stringent sanctions, export and import controls. Obtaining the necessary export license or other authorization for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities even if the export license ultimately may be granted. While we take precautions to prevent our AI Studio platform and hardware from being exported in violation of these laws, including obtaining authorizations for our platform, performing geolocation IP blocking and screenings against U.S. and other lists of restricted and prohibited persons, we cannot guarantee that the precautions we take will prevent violations or allegations of violations of export control and sanctions laws. In addition, our employees, representatives, or other third parties acting on our behalf may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can expose us to reputational harm as well as significant fines or penalties, and possible incarceration for responsible employees and managers could be imposed for criminal violations of these laws, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

If our partners fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or permits, we may also be adversely affected, through reputational harm as well as other negative consequences, including government investigations and penalties. We are in the process of incorporating export control compliance requirements into our strategic partner agreements; however, no assurance can be given that our partners will comply with such requirements.

Various countries regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export licensing requirements. Some countries have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our AI Studio platform or could limit our customers’ ability to implement our platform in those countries. Changes in our AI Studio platform or future changes in export and import regulations may create delays in the introduction of our AI Studio platform in international markets, prevent our customers with international operations from launching our platform globally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our platform to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Various governmental agencies have proposed additional regulation of encryption technology, including the escrow and government recovery of private encryption keys. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could limit our ability to export or sell our platform to existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to export or sell our AI Studio platform would adversely affect our business, operating results and prospects.

Investment in the Company by non-U.S. investors may be subject to the jurisdiction of and review by CFIUS, which has the power to rescind or mitigate transactions, or impose monetary penalties for violations of CFIUS regulations. Because we develop technology that is deemed “critical” from a U.S. national security perspective, certain investments by non-U.S. persons or entities could trigger mandatory CFIUS filings before an investment is allowed to close.

Contracts with the U.S. or foreign governments are subject to extensive regulations, and new regulations, or changes to existing regulations, could increase Blaize’s or its third-party ecosystem partners’ compliance costs, including in the form of withheld payments and/or reduced future business if Blaize or its third-party ecosystem partners fail to comply with these requirements in the future, or otherwise have a material impact on Blaize’s or its third-party ecosystem partners’ business, which could negatively impact Blaize’s financial condition and operating results.

Contracts with the U.S. or foreign governments are also subject to a variety of other requirements and risks including government reviews, audits, investigations, False Claims Act cases, suspensions and debarments as well as other legal actions and proceedings that generally do not apply to purely commercial contracts. In addition, transactions involving government contractors may be subject to government review and approvals and may require the contractor to hold certain national security clearances in order to perform them.

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws. Non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal and/or civil liability and harm our business.

We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (“FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the UK Bribery Act of 2010, the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and other anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years. These laws are interpreted broadly and prohibits, among other things, providing, offering, or promising, directly or indirectly, anything of value to any foreign government official or employee, or any political party or official thereof, or candidate for political office to improperly influence, induce, obtain and retain business from, expedite or secure the performance of official acts of a routine nature, secure an improper advantage, or otherwise violate any of the Anti-Bribery laws, from such or any person.

As we increase our international sales and business and sales to the public sector, we may engage with partners and third-party intermediaries to market our services and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. Due to the expansive nature of the FCPA and other anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, we can be held liable for corrupt or other illegal actions, even if seemingly innocent, of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities.

While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, our employees and agents could violate our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As we increase our international sales and business, our risks under these laws may increase. Additionally, the FCPA requires that we keep accurate books and records and maintain a system of adequate internal controls. Although we have taken precautions to prevent violations of these laws, we cannot provide assurance that our internal controls and compliance systems will always prevent misconduct by our employees, agents, third parties, or business partners.

Noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery or anti-money laundering laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, criminal prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, including treble damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially harmed. Responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our customer subscription and partner and services contracts are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars (“USD”), and therefore substantially all of our revenue is not subject to foreign currency risk. However, a strengthening of the USD could increase the real cost of our platform and products to our customers outside of the U.S., which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, an increasing portion of our operating expenses is incurred and an increasing portion of our assets is held outside the U.S. These operating expenses and assets are denominated in foreign currencies and are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. If we are not able to successfully hedge against the risks associated with currency fluctuations, our operating results could be adversely affected.

Our insurance costs may increase significantly, we may be unable to obtain the same level of insurance coverage and our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all possible losses we may suffer.

We generally renew our insurance policies annually. If the cost of coverage becomes too high or if we believe certain coverage becomes inapplicable, we may need to reduce our policy limits, increase retention amounts or agree to certain exclusions from our coverage to reduce the premiums to an acceptable amount or to otherwise reduce coverage for certain occurrences. On the other hand, we may determine that we either do not have certain coverage that would be prudent for our business and the risks associated with our business or that our current coverages are too low to adequately cover such risks. In either event, we may incur additional or higher premiums for such coverage than in prior years.

Among other factors, national security concerns, catastrophic events, pandemics or any changes in any applicable statutory requirement binding insurance carriers to offer certain types of coverage could also adversely affect available insurance coverage and result in, among other things, increased premiums on available coverage (which may cause us to elect to reduce our policy limits or not renew our coverage) and additional exclusions from coverage. As cyber incidents and threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional, perhaps significant, resources to continue to update, modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to cyber incidents. Although we maintain and monitor our information technology systems and we have insurance coverage for protecting against cyber security risks, such systems and insurance coverage may not be sufficient to protect against or cover all the losses we may experience as a result of any cyber-attacks.

We may suffer damage due to a casualty loss (such as fire, natural disasters, pandemics and acts of war or terrorism) or other losses, such as those related to labor, professional liability or certain actions or inactions by our management, directors, employees or others, that could severely disrupt its business or subject us to claims by third parties who are injured or harmed. Although we maintain insurance that we believe to be adequate, such insurance may be inadequate or unavailable to cover all the risks to which our business and assets may be exposed, including risks related to certain litigation. Should an uninsured loss (including a loss that is less than the applicable deductible or that is not covered by insurance) or loss in excess of insured limits occur, it could have a significant adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our ability to use our net operating losses and certain other attributes may be subject to certain limitations.

As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately $215.5 million and $149.9 million of federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, respectively. Certain of our U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards may be carried forward indefinitely, while other of these loss carryforwards are subject to expiration (beginning in 2030). As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately $5.7 million and $4.3 million available to offset future U.S. federal and state income taxes payable, respectively. Certain of our U.S. federal tax credit carryforwards may be carried forward indefinitely, while other of these tax credit carryforwards are subject to expiration (beginning in 2035). As of December 31, 2024, we had approximately $1.1 million of foreign tax credits available to offset future India income taxes payable. It is possible that we will not generate taxable income in time to use these net operating loss carryforwards before their expiration (or that we will not generate taxable income at all). Under legislative changes made in December 2017, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) in March 2020, U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such net operating loss carryforwards in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to these federal tax laws.

In addition, the federal and state net operating loss carryforwards and certain tax credits may be subject to significant limitations under Section 382 and Section 383 of the Code, respectively, and similar provisions of state law, including limitations that may result from the consummation of the Business Combination. Under those sections of the Internal Revenue Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income or tax may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5-percent shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not yet determined whether the Business Combination will give rise to an “ownership change” for purposes of Section 382 and Section 383 of the Code. Furthermore, we may have experienced ownership changes in the past and may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership (some of which shifts are outside our control). As a result, our ability to use our pre-change federal NOLs and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income and taxes could be subject to limitations. For these reasons, we may be unable to use a material portion of our NOLs and other tax attributes, which could adversely affect our future net income and cash flows.

Blaize is a U.S. corporation and thus will be subject to U.S. corporate income tax on its worldwide income. Further, since our operations and customers are located throughout the U.S., we will be subject to various U.S. state and local taxes. U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax laws, policies, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us and may have an adverse effect on our business and future profitability. For example, several tax proposals have been set forth that would, if enacted, make significant changes to U.S. tax laws. Such proposals include an increase in the U.S. income tax rate applicable to corporations (such as Blaize). Congress may consider, and could include, some or all of these proposals in connection with tax reform that may be undertaken (including with retroactive effect). We are unable to predict whether these or similar changes will be enacted and, if enacted, how soon any such changes could take effect. The passage of any legislation as a result of these proposals and other similar changes in U.S. federal income tax laws could adversely affect our business and future profitability.

We may be subject to additional obligations to collect and remit sales tax and other taxes. We may be subject to tax liability for past sales, which could harm our business.

State, local and foreign jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales, use, value added, and other taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. In particular, the applicability of such taxes to our ecommerce platform in various jurisdictions is unclear. These jurisdictions’ rules regarding tax nexus are complex and vary significantly. As a result, jurisdictions in which we have not historically collected or accrued sales, use, value added, or other taxes could assert our liability for such taxes. Our liability for these taxes and associated penalties could exceed our original estimates. This could result in substantial tax liabilities and related penalties for past sales. It could also discourage customers from using our software solutions platform or otherwise harm our business and operating results.

Risks Related to Being a Public Company

The trading price of our common stock is and could remain volatile and subject to significant fluctuations. The trading price of our common stock depends on many factors, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, the stock markets in general have experienced extreme volatility, which has sometimes been unrelated to the operating performance of the issuer. The trading price of our common stock may be adversely affected by third parties trying to drive down or drive up the market price. Short sellers and others, some of whom post anonymously on social media, may be positioned to profit if our stock declines or otherwise exhibits volatility, and their activities can negatively affect our stock price and increase the volatility of our stock price. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. We may be unable or slow to attract research coverage and if one or more analysts cease coverage of us, the price and trading volume of our securities would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts that may cover us change their recommendation regarding our securities adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our securities would likely decline. If any analyst that may cover us ceases covering us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause the price or trading volume of our securities to decline. Moreover, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrades our common stock or if our reporting results do not meet their expectations, the market price of our common stock could decline.

We have funded our operations since inception primarily through the continued financial support from our shareholders and other related parties. We cannot be certain when or if our operations will generate sufficient cash to fund our ongoing operations or the growth of our business.

We intend to continue to make investments to support our business and may require additional funds. Additional financing may not be available on favorable terms, if at all. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to invest in future growth opportunities, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. If we incur debt, the terms of such debt, including the accrual of interest at fixed or variable interest rates, could restrict our operations, including our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. Moreover, as a result of widespread inflation in the global economy, certain governmental authorities responsible for administering monetary policy have recently increased, and may continue to increase, applicable central bank interest rates, which could increase the costs required to obtain debt financing in the future or refinance any such future indebtedness Furthermore, if we incur debt, the debt holders could have rights senior to holders of common stock to make claims on our assets. As a result, our stockholders bear the risk of future issuances of debt securities reducing the value of our common stock.

The requirements of being a public company, including compliance with the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the requirements of the Nasdaq, may strain our resources, increase our costs and require additional attention of management, and we may be unable to comply with these requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner.

As a public company, we are subject to laws, regulations and requirements, certain corporate governance provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, related regulations of the SEC and the requirements of the Nasdaq, which we were not required to comply with as a private company. As a newly public company as a result of the Business Combination, complying with these statutes, regulations and requirements will occupy a significant amount of time of our board of directors and management and significantly increases our costs and expenses. For example, we have to institute a more comprehensive compliance function, comply with rules promulgated by the Nasdaq, prepare and distribute periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under the federal securities laws, and establish new internal policies, such as those relating to insider trading. We also have to retain and rely on outside counsel and accountants to a greater degree in these activities. In addition, being subject to these rules and regulations make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as executive officer.

Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage its transition to a public company that will be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to our management and growth. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience, and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal controls over financial reporting required of public companies in the U.S. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for us to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the U.S. may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that we will be required to expand its employee base and hire additional employees to support its operations as a public company which will increase its operating costs in future periods.

Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may deter third parties from acquiring us and diminish the value of our Common Stock.

the ability of our board of directors (the “Board”) to issue one or more series of preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could have the effect of impeding the success of an attempt to acquire us or otherwise effect a change in control;

certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings.

In addition, in our certificate of incorporation, we have not opted out of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three‑year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

prior to such time, the board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

at or subsequent to that time, the business combination is approved by our Board and by the affirmative vote of holders of at least two‑thirds of the votes of our outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

Under certain circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with us for a three‑year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring us to negotiate in advance with our board of directors because the stockholder approval requirement would be avoided if our Board approves either the business combination or the transaction that results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our Board and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.

These provisions in our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws, as well as Delaware law, may discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of us that is in the best interest of its minority stockholders. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Common Stock if they are viewed as discouraging future takeover attempts. These provisions could also make it more difficult for stockholders to nominate directors for election to our board of directors and take other corporate actions.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Exchange Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but are not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from say‑on‑pay, say‑on‑frequency and say‑on‑golden parachute voting requirements. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year: (a) following January 13, 2030, the fifth anniversary of the Closing; (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1,235,000,000; or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of the shares of our Common Stock that are held by non‑affiliates exceeds $700,000,000 as of the last business day of our prior second fiscal quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1,000,000,000 in non‑convertible debt securities during the prior three‑year period.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non‑emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Our failure to timely and effectively implement controls and procedures required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act could negatively impact our business.

As a public company, we are subject to Section 404 of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act and are required to provide management’s attestation on internal controls. The standards required for a public company under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act are significantly more stringent than those required of us as a privately held company. Management may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements. If our management is unable to conclude that we have effective internal control over financial reporting, or to certify the effectiveness of such controls, and our independent registered public accounting firm cannot render an unqualified opinion on management’s assessment and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at such time as it is required to do so, and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting are identified, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, a loss of public and investor confidence, prevent us from obtaining capital on favorable terms or at all, and to litigation from investors and stockholders, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and our stock price. In addition, if we do not maintain adequate financial and management personnel, processes, and controls, we may not be able to manage our business effectively or accurately report our financial performance on a timely basis, which could cause a decline in our stock price and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes‑Oxley Act could potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC, Nasdaq or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

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