zSpace, Inc.

An investment in our common stock involves risks. You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the information set forth in this report and in other documents we file with the SEC before deciding to invest in our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. If any of the following risks and uncertainties develop into actual events, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. In that case, the price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have a limited operating history at the current scale of our business, which makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects, and we may not be able to scale our business for future growth.

We began offering our education products and solutions in 2014 and we have limited operating history at the current scale of our business. We have encountered, and will likely continue to encounter, risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly evolving industries, including challenges related to accurate financial planning and forecasting, increasing competition and expenses as we continue to grow our business, and attracting and retaining customers. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties that we may encounter as a business with a limited operating history. We may not be successful in addressing these and other challenges we may face in the future, and our business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected if we do not manage these risks successfully.

We may not be able to grow revenue in the future or manage our growth effectively, which would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased over 22% as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. However, consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 decreased 13% as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. To grow revenue, we must continue to implement our operational plans and strategies and generate increased demand for our products.

The growth and expansion of our business and our product offerings in the future will place significant demands on our management. The growth of our business may require significant additional resources, which may not scale in a cost-effective manner or may negatively affect the quality of our customers’ experience. We are also required to manage multiple relationships with customers and other third parties. Further growth of our operations, our information technology systems or our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations. We will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls and reporting systems and procedures. Failure to manage growth effectively could result in difficulties or delays in attracting new customers, declines in quality or customer satisfaction, increases in costs, difficulties in introducing or enhancing products and services, loss of customers, information security vulnerabilities or other operational difficulties, internal controls over financial reporting and procedures being inadequate to support our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business performance and operating results.

To remain competitive and stimulate demand, we must continue to develop new products and services and successfully manage frequent product introductions and transitions.

Due to the highly volatile and competitive nature of the industries in which we compete, we must continually introduce new products and services, enhance existing products and services, and effectively stimulate customer demand for new and upgraded products. We cannot be sure that any new products or services will be widely accepted and purchased by our customers or that we will be able to successfully manage product introductions and transitions. Failure by our customers to accept our new products and services, or our failure to manage product introductions and transitions, could adversely affect our operating results.

Our business is highly competitive and competition presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.

The markets that we serve are highly competitive. In our experience, potential buyers in the United States K-12 market are not typically evaluating an alternative AR/VR technology purchase, but rather whether to use any available funding for our products or for an entirely different class of purchase, such as student safety, IT products or standard computing devices. In the CTE market, we compete with physical training solutions, such as welding simulators. Additionally, potential customers might evaluate our products against a non-immersive alternative such as a 2D human anatomy web-based experience rather than the immersive content available on our platform.

Competitors in the education technology ecosystem include:

Outside the United States, certain Chinese companies have produced replicas of our original edition hardware products that require specialty eyewear, which we no longer produce or sell in the United States. We are currently not aware of any other companies producing or selling solutions substantially similar to our products.

We may not be able to compete successfully against our competitors. In addition, competition may intensify as our competitors raise additional capital and as established companies in other market segments or geographic markets seek to expand into our market segments or geographic markets. If we cannot compete successfully against our competitors, our ability to grow our business and achieve profitability could be impaired.

Our business could face increased competition from new entrants or new technology.

Our competitors and new entrants to the education technology market may revise and improve their business models. If these or other market participants introduce new or improved education technology solutions or platforms and technology-enabled services that are more compelling or widely accepted than ours, our ability to grow our revenue and achieve profitability could suffer. Several new and existing companies in the education technology industry provide or may provide offerings similar to what we offer with our products, and these companies may pursue relationships with our reseller partners or software developer partners, which may make it more difficult to obtain new customers or reduce the content our software developer partners produce for our platform. In addition, our customers may choose to continue using or to develop their own educational tools or training solutions in-house, rather than pay for our products.

Some of our competitors and potential competitors have significantly greater resources than us. Increased competition may result in pricing pressure for us in terms of the price of the products and solutions we offer to our customers. The competitive landscape may also result in a longer and more complex process of recruiting and maintaining current and prospective resellers or a decrease in our market share, any of which could negatively affect our revenue and future operating results and our ability to grow our business. If we cannot compete successfully against our current competitors and new entrants or new technology in the market, our ability to grow our business and achieve profitability could be impaired.

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

Our future success depends on our ability to adapt and enhance our platform. To attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers, we will need to continuously enhance and improve our offerings to meet customers’ and end users’ needs at prices that our customers are willing to pay. Such efforts will require adding new functionality and responding to technological advancements, which will increase our research and development costs. If we and our software developer partners are unable to develop content that addresses customers’ and end users’ needs or enhance and improve our platform in a timely manner, we may not be able to maintain or increase market acceptance of our platform. Further, many of our competitors expend a considerably greater amount of funds on their research and development programs. If we fail to maintain adequate research and development resources or to compete effectively with the research and development programs of our competitors, our business could be harmed. Our ability to grow is also subject to the risk of future disruptive technologies. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver AR/VR learning tools at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently or more securely than ours, and if we fail to adopt such technologies or do so in a timely manner, our ability to compete would be adversely affected.

Certain of our market opportunity estimates, growth forecasts, and key metrics could prove to be inaccurate, and any real or perceived inaccuracies may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.

Market opportunity estimates, growth forecasts and key metrics, including those we have generated ourselves, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The estimates and forecasts relating to the size and expected growth of our market opportunity may prove to be inaccurate. The variables that go into the calculation of our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage estimate will generate any particular level of revenues. Even if the markets in which we compete meet our size estimates and growth forecasts, our business could fail to grow at expected rates, if at all, for a variety of reasons outside of our control. Furthermore, in order for us to successfully address this broader market opportunity, we will need to successfully expand within our current geographic markets and into new geographic regions where we do not currently operate. Our key metrics are calculated using internal company data and have not been validated by an independent third-party. We have in the past implemented, and may in the future implement, new methodologies for calculating these metrics which may result in the metrics from prior periods changing, decreasing or not being comparable to prior periods. As our business develops, we may revise or cease reporting metrics if we determine that such metrics are no longer appropriate measures of our performance. Our key metrics may also differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly titled metrics of our competitors due to differences in methodology. If investors or analysts do not perceive our metrics to be sufficient or accurate representations of our business, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our metrics, our stock price, reputation and prospects would be adversely affected.

We expect to incur research and development costs to develop new products, which could significantly reduce our profitability and may never result in revenue.

Our future growth depends on penetrating new markets, adapting existing products to new applications and customer requirements, and introducing new products and solutions that achieve market acceptance. We have incurred, and plan to continue to incur, significant research and development costs in the future as part of our efforts to design, develop, manufacture and introduce new products and enhance existing products. Our research and development efforts may not produce successful results, and our new products may not achieve market acceptance, create additional revenue or become profitable.

Our business is dependent on our ability to maintain and scale our hardware and software offerings and technical infrastructure, and any significant disruption in the performance of our products could damage our reputation, result in a potential loss of customers and engagement, and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our reputation and ability to attract, retain and serve our customers and to scale our product offerings and solutions are dependent upon the reliable performance of our platform and its underlying technical infrastructure. We have in the past experienced immaterial, and may in the future experience immaterial or material, interruptions in the performance of our platform. Our systems may not be adequately designed or may not operate with the reliability and redundancy necessary to avoid performance delays that could be harmful to our business. Our customers may not invest in additional products offered by us, and our ability to expand our customer base or offer additional software solutions to such customers may be disrupted. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. As the application and solutions offerings provided by us grow and evolve, and as our internal operational demands continue to grow, we will need an increasing amount of technical infrastructure, including network capacity and computing power, to continue to satisfy our needs. If we fail to continue to effectively scale and grow our technical infrastructure to accommodate these increased demands, customer retention and revenue growth may be adversely impacted. Moreover, to the extent we scale our platform, product and application offerings, including additional hardware and software features, that may place strain on our technical infrastructure. In addition, we may be unsuccessful in scaling our technical infrastructure to accommodate new product offerings and increased usage cost-effectively.

In addition, our business may be subject to interruptions, delays, or failures resulting from earthquakes, fires, floods, adverse weather conditions, other natural disasters, power loss, terrorism, pandemics, geopolitical conflict (such as the war in Ukraine), other physical security threats, cyber-attacks, or other catastrophic events. If such an event were to occur, our customers may be subject to service disruptions or outages and we may not be able to recover our technical infrastructure and customer data in a timely manner to restart or provide our services, which may adversely affect our financial results. The substantial majority of our employees are based in our headquarters located in San Jose, California. If there is a catastrophic failure involving our systems or major disruptive event affecting our headquarters or the San Jose area in general, we may be unable to operate our solutions.

We have a history of net losses. We expect to continue to experience net losses in the future, and we may not achieve profitability. If we do not achieve profitability, our business, financial condition and operating results will be adversely affected.

We have experienced significant net losses since we began operations in 2014, including a net loss of approximately $(20.8) million for the year ended December 31, 2024 and approximately $(13.0) million for the year ended December 31, 2023. We have an accumulated deficit of $(290.4) million and a total stockholders’ deficit of $(14.7) million as of December 31, 2024. We anticipate that our operating expenses will increase in the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in acquiring additional customers, expanding our platform and operations, hiring additional employees, developing and enhancing our platform and application and solutions offerings, marketing and sales, and enhancing our infrastructure. Our expansion efforts may prove more expensive than we anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our revenues sufficiently to offset these higher expenses. Given the significant operating and capital expenditures associated with our business, we expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future and cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve profitability.

We have in the past been, and may in the future be, dependent on a limited number of significant customers.

Due to the size and nature of our arrangements with customers, one or a few customers have in the past and may in the future represent a substantial portion of our consolidated revenues and gross profits in any one year or over a period of several consecutive years. In 2023, our five largest customers accounted for $10.0 million of revenue and our largest customer accounted for $2.2 million of revenue, representing approximately 23% and 5% of our total 2023 revenue, respectively. In 2024, our five largest customers accounted for approximately $9.8 million of revenue and our largest customer accounted for $4.9 million of revenue, representing approximately 26% and 13% of our total 2024 revenue, respectively. We cannot predict whether any of these customers will have a significant downturn in funding, and whether any such downturn, or any loss of funding or delay in payment from any one of these customers resulting therefrom, would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Substantial time and effort are typically required to make a sale.

A number of factors influence the time and effort required for us to make sales, including, for example, the purchasing approval processes of potential customers, which are typically public school districts with a large number of stakeholders involved in decision-making, the need to educate potential customers about the uses and benefits of our products, the discretionary nature of potential customers’ purchasing and budget cycles and fluctuations in the needs of potential customers. We may incur significant sales and marketing expenses and invest significant time and effort in anticipation of a sale that may never occur.

Our future revenues and operating results will be harmed if we are unable to acquire new customers, if our customers do not renew their contracts with us, or if we are unable to expand sales to our existing customers or develop new products that achieve market acceptance.

To continue to grow our business, it is important that we attract new customers to purchase and use our products. Our success in attracting new customers depends on numerous factors, including our ability to:

Upon purchasing our products, our customers generally enter into software application subscription agreements with a one-to-three-year term and have no obligation to renew such agreements. Our customers may decide not to renew these agreements with a similar contract period, at the same prices and terms, with the same or greater application/solution coverage or at all. Although our customer renewals have historically been strong, some of our customers have elected not to renew their agreements with us, and it is difficult to accurately predict long-term customer retention, churn and expansion rates. Our retention and expansion rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including our customers’ satisfaction with our platform, our customer support and professional services, our prices and pricing plans, the competitiveness of other software products and services, reductions in our customers’ spending levels, customer adoption of our solutions, deployment success, utilization rates by our customers and users, new product releases and changes to our product offerings. If our customers do not renew their software application subscription agreements, or renew on less favorable terms, our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

Our ability to increase revenue also depends in part on our ability to increase deployment of our solutions to existing customers. Our ability to increase sales to existing customers depends on several factors, some of which are outside our control. These factors may include our customers’ experience with implementing and using our platform, user demand for our platform, their ability to integrate our solutions with existing technologies and our pricing model. A failure to increase sales to existing customers could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

If we do not successfully anticipate market needs and develop products, services and software enhancements that meet those needs, or if those products, services and software enhancements do not gain market acceptance, our business, operating results and financial condition will be adversely impacted.

We may not be able to anticipate future market needs or be able to improve our products or platform or to develop new products, services or software enhancements to meet such needs on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, our inability to diversify beyond our current offerings could adversely affect our business. Any new products, applications or software enhancements that we introduce, including by way of acquisitions, may not achieve a significant degree of market acceptance from current or potential customers, which would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and profitability. In addition, the introduction of new products, applications or software enhancements may decrease customers and user engagement with our platform or future purchases of our hardware or software, thereby offsetting the benefit of even a successful product or service introduction. Any of the foregoing could adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

We must incur significant expense in technology and content development to launch a new product or software application, and we may not generate sufficient revenue from new offerings to offset our costs.

We invest, and plan to continue to invest, significant resources in developing new products and attracting new customers, including sales and marketing, and other costs and we may not recoup these costs. In addition, delays in the implementation of a new application could negatively impact our revenue and operating results.

The time that it takes for us to recover our investment in a new product or application depends on a variety of factors including our customer acquisition costs and customer retention rate. Because of the lengthy period of time required to recoup our investment, unexpected developments beyond our control could occur that result in the customer ceasing or significantly curtailing the scope of the applications it utilizes on our platform before we generate any revenue therefrom. In addition, third-party software partners generally do not grant us exclusive rights to their content. Even when they do, such arrangements are typically of limited duration. As such, partners may choose to offer the same or similar content on one of our competitors’ platforms, which could limit the number of customers willing to purchase such products and solutions from us. In addition, if a third-party developer were to terminate our use of their application(s), customers whose subscriptions include such application(s) may stop using our platform, which in turn could negatively impact customer adoption generally. As a result of any of the foregoing, we may ultimately be unable to recover the full investment that we make in a new offering or achieve any level of profitability from such offering.

If we fail to manage our inventory and supply chain effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our business requires us to manage a large volume of inventory, including a large number of stock-keeping units (“SKUs”) stored at multiple sites globally. We depend on our forecasts of demand for, and popularity of, various products to make purchasing decisions and to manage our supply and inventory of SKUs. To assist in management of manufacturing operations and in order to minimize inventory costs, we forecast anticipated product sales to predict our inventory needs up to six months (and for certain select items, up to twelve months) in advance and enter into purchase orders on the basis of these forecasts, subject to limitations on the lead time of our product components and items with long lead times. We also accept safety stock of long lead time items. If we overestimate our requirements, we and our contract manufacturers will have excess inventory, increasing our costs and the amount of our capital tied up in inventory. If we underestimate our requirements, we and our OEM partners and/or contract manufacturers may have inadequate components and materials inventory, which could interrupt, delay or prevent delivery of our products to our customers. The occurrence of any of these risks related to inventory and supply chain management could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We also depend on limited source suppliers for some of our product components and sub-assemblies. Our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing due to a variety of reasons, including failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable regulations, equipment malfunction and environmental factors including severe weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, such as COVID-19. While we believe we could obtain replacement components from alternative suppliers, we may be unable to do so. If we cannot secure on a timely basis sufficient quantities of the materials we depend on to manufacture our products, if we encounter delays or contractual or other difficulties in our relationships with these suppliers, or if we cannot find replacement suppliers at an acceptable cost, then manufacturing our products may be disrupted, which could increase our costs, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts, and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

If we fail to maintain, enhance or protect our brand, our ability to expand our customer base will be impaired and our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

We believe that building a strong reputation and brand as an innovative and effective educational tool and continuing to increase the strength of our customer base is critical to our future success. The successful development of our reputation and brand will depend on a number of factors, many of which are outside our control.

Negative perception of us or our platform may harm our reputation and brand, and affect our ability to achieve results of operations at the levels we expect.

A regional or global health pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, could severely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A regional or global health pandemic, depending upon its duration and severity, could have a material adverse effect on our business. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has had numerous effects on the global economy. Governmental authorities around the world implemented measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and these measures, including shutdowns and “shelter-in-place” orders suggested or mandated by governmental authorities or otherwise elected by companies as a preventive measure, adversely affected workforces, customers, consumer sentiment, economies and financial markets, and, along with decreased consumer spending, led to an economic downturn.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we modified our business practices (including employee travel, recommending that all non-essential personnel work from home and canceling or reducing physical participation in meetings, events and conferences), and implemented additional safety protocols for essential workers. If significant portions of our workforce are unable to work effectively, including due to illness, quarantines, social distancing, government actions or other restrictions in connection with a regional or global health pandemic, our operations will be negatively impacted. Further, it is possible that an increase in the remote working environment could have a negative impact on the execution of our business plans and operations.

If we need additional capital in the future, it may not be available on favorable terms or at all.

We have historically relied on outside financing to fund our operations, capital expenditures and expansion. We expect to continue to require additional capital from equity or debt financing in the future to support our growth, fund our operations or to respond to competitive pressures or strategic opportunities. We may not be able to secure additional financing on favorable terms or at all. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity, convertible debt securities or other securities convertible into equity, our stockholders, including you, could suffer significant dilution in their percentage ownership of us, and any new securities that we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing that we secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, including the ability to pay dividends. This may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms that are satisfactory to us, if and when required, our ability to grow or support our business and to respond to business challenges that we may face could be significantly limited.

Our existing and future levels of indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health, ability to obtain financing in the future, ability to react to changes in our business and ability to fulfill our obligations under such indebtedness.

As of December 31, 2024, we had outstanding indebtedness in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $12.0 million with maturity dates ranging from May 2025 through June 2026. This level of indebtedness could:

Any of the foregoing impacts could have a material adverse effect on us.

We plan to continue to make acquisitions, which could negatively impact our financial condition or results of operations and may adversely affect the price of our common stock.

As part of our business strategy, we have made, and intend to make, acquisitions to add new software offerings, specialized employees and complementary companies, products or technologies, and enter new geographic regions. Our previous and future acquisitions may not achieve our goals, and we may not realize benefits from acquisitions we make in the future. If we fail to successfully integrate companies, products or technologies we acquire, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. Any integration process will require significant time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully. Our acquisition strategy may change over time and any future acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by customers, partners, investors or other parties with whom we do business. We may not successfully evaluate or utilize acquired technology and accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition, including accounting charges. We may also incur unanticipated liabilities that we assume as a result of acquiring companies. We may have to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, any of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our common stock. In the future, we may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms or at all. Our acquisition strategy could require significant management attention, disrupt our business and harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business depends largely on our ability to attract and retain talented employees, including senior management. If we lose the services of Paul Kellenberger, our Chief Executive Officer, or other members of our senior management team or other key personnel, we may not be able to execute on our business strategy.

Our future success depends on the continuing ability to attract, train, integrate and retain highly skilled personnel, including software engineers and sales personnel with experience in the education market. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous software and other technology companies. We may not be able to retain current key employees or attract, train, integrate or retain other highly skilled personnel in the future. We may incur significant costs to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, and we may lose new employees to competitors or other technology companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. As we move into new geographies, we will need to attract and recruit skilled personnel in those areas. If we are unable to attract and retain suitably qualified individuals who are capable of meeting our growing technical, operational, and managerial requirements, on a timely basis or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Our future success also depends in large part on the continued services of our senior management and other key personnel. In particular, we are dependent on the services of Paul Kellenberger, our Chief Executive Officer, who is critical to the future vision and strategic direction of our business. We rely on our leadership team and key employees in the areas of engineering, sales and product development, design, marketing, operations, strategy, security, and general and administrative functions. Even though we have employment agreements with our executive officers, our executive officers and other key personnel are all employed on an at-will basis, which means that they could terminate their employment with us at any time, for any reason, and without notice. We do not currently maintain key-person life insurance policies on any of our officers or employees. If we lose the services of senior management or other key personnel, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Volatility or lack of appreciation in our stock price may also affect our ability to attract and retain key employees. Employees may be more likely to leave us if the common stock they own or the common stock underlying their vested options have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase price of the common stock or the exercise price of the options, or conversely, if the exercise price of the options that they hold are significantly above the market price of our common stock. If we are unable to retain employees, or if we need to increase our compensation expenses to retain our employees, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If we fail to effectively expand our sales and marketing capabilities, we could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform.

Our ability to broaden our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform will depend to a significant extent on the ability of our sales and marketing organizations to work together to drive our sales pipeline and cultivate customer and partner relationships to drive revenue growth. Our marketing efforts include industry event participation, the use of search engine optimization, paid search, and custom website development and deployment.

We plan to expand our sales and marketing organizations in the future, both domestically and, to a more limited extent, internationally. Identifying, recruiting and training sales personnel will require significant time, expense, and attention. If we are unable to hire, develop, and retain talented sales or marketing personnel, if our new sales or marketing personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time (including as a result of working remotely), or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective, our ability to broaden our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform could be harmed. In addition, the investments we make in our sales and marketing organization will occur in advance of experiencing benefits from such investments, making it difficult to determine in a timely manner if we are efficiently allocating our resources in these areas.

Adverse general and industry-specific economic and market conditions, reductions in IT spending, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, rising fuel prices, inflation, increasing interest rates, instability in the global banking system or changes in the spending policies or budget priorities for government funding of K-12 schools may reduce demand for our products and platform, which could harm our results of operations.

Our revenue, results of operations and cash flows depend on the overall demand for our platform and solutions. Concerns about the systemic impact of a potential widespread recession (in the United States or internationally) and instability in the global banking system, geopolitical conflicts, inflation or the availability and cost of credit could lead to increased market volatility, decreased consumer confidence and diminished growth expectations in the United States economy and abroad, which in turn could result in reductions in spending by our existing and prospective customers. Prolonged economic slowdowns may result in customers delaying purchases or canceling subscriptions with us, choosing to focus on less expensive educational tools or seeking to lower their costs by requesting to renegotiate existing contracts on terms less advantageous to us or defaulting on payments due on existing contracts or not renewing at the end of existing contract terms. Economic uncertainty and associated macroeconomic conditions may also make it difficult for us and our customers to accurately forecast and plan future activities. As a result, an economic downturn could harm our business, revenue, results of operations and cash flows.

Further, a significant portion of our revenue is derived from sales to K-12 schools, which are heavily dependent on federal, state, and local government funding. In addition, the school appropriations process is often slow, unpredictable and subject to many factors outside of our control. Budget cuts, curtailments, delays, changes in leadership, shifts in priorities or general reductions in funding could reduce or delay our revenue. Funding difficulties experienced by schools, which have been exacerbated by the recent economic downturn, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and state budget deficits, could also slow or reduce purchases, which in turn could materially harm our business.

Our business may be adversely affected by changes in available educational funding, resulting from changes in legislation, both at the federal and state levels, changes in the state procurement process, changes in government leadership, declines in K-12 school enrollment, emergence of other priorities and changes in the condition of the local, state or United States economies. Moreover, future reductions in federal funding and the state and local tax bases could create an unfavorable environment, leading to budget shortfalls resulting in a decrease in educational funding. Any decreased funding for schools may harm our revenue renewals and new business materially.

Additionally, permanent shifts in student enrollment from traditional K-12 education models toward online and home schooling or other alternative educational models that do not use our solutions could materially harm our business. In addition, our revenue coming from career training education might decline if such organizations experience a decline in enrollment rates.

Our platform and internal systems rely on software and hardware, including software and hardware developed or maintained internally and/or by third parties, that is highly technical and complex. In addition, our platform and internal systems depend on the ability of such software and hardware to store, retrieve, process and manage immense amounts of data. The software and hardware on which we rely has contained, and will likely in the future contain, errors, bugs or vulnerabilities, and our systems are subject to certain technical limitations that may compromise our ability to meet our objectives. Some errors, bugs or vulnerabilities inherently may be difficult to detect and may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Any errors, bugs, vulnerabilities or defects in our systems or the software and hardware on which we rely, failures to properly address or mitigate the technical limitations in our systems or associated degradations or interruptions of service or failures to fulfill our commitments to our customers, have in the past led to, and may in the future lead to, outcomes including delays in bringing new products to market, damage to our reputation, loss of customers, loss of revenue, regulatory inquiries, litigation, or liability for fines, damages, or other remedies, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We have benefitted from the United States federal government’s stimulus packages focused on educational initiatives approved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, additional funding may not be approved, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States federal government approved certain fiscal stimulus packages, including $82.0 billion in December 2020 and $130.0 billion in March 2021, in part, to support reopening plans for K-12 schools and $35.0 billion in March 2021, in part, for public Higher Education institutions to assist in reopening efforts, such as distance learning programs, the implementation of safety protocols and emergency financial assistance (together, the “COVID Stimulus Funds”). Many of our current and potential customers were the recipients of COVID Stimulus Funds. We expect that in the absence of future stimulus packages similar to the COVID Stimulus Funds, our customers will be able to obtain funds from other sources; however, there can be no guarantee that this will be the case or that our customers will choose to use any such funds to purchase our products. In addition, we are unable to predict the extent, implementation and effectiveness of any government-funded benefit programs and stimulus packages in the future and the corresponding effect on demand for our platform. If such government-funded benefit programs and stimulus packages are not approved, our results may not be comparable to past or future periods. Further, as a result of the stimulus packages, if potential competitors are attracted to our industry and develop and market new technologies that render our existing or future solutions less competitive, unmarketable or obsolete, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.

We face risks related to our contracts with state and local government entities as well as difficulties with contracting with large customers with substantial negotiating leverage, and in the past have faced risks related to contracts with federal government agencies, any of which could harm our results of operations.

We have in the past entered into, and expect to continue to enter into, agreements with local, state and federal education agencies. Selling to government entities can be highly competitive, expensive and time consuming, often requiring significant upfront time and expense without any assurance that we will successfully sell our products to such governmental entity. Government entities may require contract terms that differ from our standard arrangements. In addition, government demand and payment for our products may be more volatile as they are affected by public sector budgetary cycles, funding authorizations, and the potential for funding reductions or delays, making the time to close such transactions more difficult to predict. This risk is enhanced as the size of such sales to government entities increases. As we expand our customer base and the application/solution coverage of our existing customers, we may be subject to increased scrutiny, potential reputational risk or potential liability should our platform and products fail to perform as contemplated in such deployments or should we not comply with the terms of our government contracts or government contracting requirements.

If we fail to maintain relationships with third-party software developer partners or fail to expand our partnerships with industry partners, our ability to grow our business and revenue will suffer.

The success of our business depends in large part on the continued and increased development and volume of compelling content and on continuing to recruit and work with third-party developers. We may face several challenges in establishing and expanding these relationships. For instance, third-party developers who contribute to our platform must invest significant time and resources to adjust the manner in which they develop their applications for an AR/VR learning environment. The delivery of AR/VR educational programs at educational institutions is still growing in acceptance, and it is possible that administrators and faculty members may have concerns regarding such services. We cannot be certain that AR/VR educational programs, such as those offered on our platform, will ever achieve significant market acceptance, and industry partners may therefore decline to continue to create content for our platform. Further, if we were to lose certain key third-party developers, or otherwise lose a significant number of third-party developers, our growth and revenue would be negatively impacted.

We depend on a limited number of third-party partners to produce, resell and distribute our products.

We rely on a limited number of third parties to produce the hardware and software for our platform and solutions and rely on certain third-party resellers and distributors to resell and distribute our products. If we are unsuccessful in maintaining existing relationships with third parties and, if needed, establishing new relationships with third parties, our ability to efficiently operate existing services or develop new products and services could be impaired, and as a result, our competitive position or our results of operations could suffer. In August 2021, we entered into an agreement to work with a major PC OEM to build Inspire, a proprietary laptop, which allowed us to leverage the OEM’s supply chain network. Our master agreement with this PC OEM partner is subject to a one-year automatic renewal term, and either party is permitted to terminate the agreement upon written notice delivered to the other party not later than three months prior to the expiration of the applicable term. In addition, during 2023, we entered into an agreement with another PC OEM for the manufacture of Imagine. If either PC OEM partner, decides to discontinue its partnership with us and we are unable to replace the products manufactured by such partner with another PC OEM that we currently work with or a new PC OEM partner, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely impacted. We also rely upon one third-party partner located in China to manufacture our stylus. If our manufacturing partners or resellers and distributors that we rely upon decide to discontinue their relationship with us and we are unable to replace such parties on similar terms or at all, our business could be materially and adversely impacted.

Failure of our resellers or other commercial partners to use acceptable ethical business practices or comply with applicable laws could negatively impact our business.

As part of our sales and marketing strategy, we rely on third-party resellers and other commercial partners to distribute and market our products and outside of the United States, we rely exclusively on resellers to distribute and market our products. We expect these resellers and partners to operate in compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations, but we cannot control their conduct. If any of our resellers or partners violate applicable laws or implements business practices that are regarded as unethical, the distribution of our products in those jurisdictions could be interrupted, usage of our platform could decline, our reputation could be damaged, and we may be subject to liability. Any of these events could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Risks Related to Financial and Accounting Matters

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our future results difficult to predict.

Our quarterly and annual operating results have fluctuated in the past and are expected to fluctuate in the future. Additionally, we have a limited operating history with the current scale of our business, which makes it difficult to forecast our future results and subjects us to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and anticipate future growth. As a result, you should not rely upon our past quarterly and annual operating results as indicators of future performance. We have encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly evolving markets, such as the risks and uncertainties described herein. Our operating results in any given quarter can be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are unpredictable or are outside of our control, including:

The impact of one or more of the foregoing or other factors may cause our operating results to vary significantly. As such, quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. If we fail to meet or exceed the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the trading price of our common stock could fall substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits. Furthermore, any quarterly or annual fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and the failure to achieve and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting could harm our business and negatively impact the value of our common stock.

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports in a timely manner. In connection with the preparation of our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2024, we concluded that there were five material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a significant deficiency, or a combination of significant deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that it is reasonably possible that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The material weaknesses that were identified related to:

We are currently in the process of implementing measures designed to improve our internal control over financial reporting to remediate these material weaknesses, including:

As of December 31, 2024, these material weaknesses have not been fully remediated. Although we are targeting completion of the remediation measures within twelve months of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we cannot be certain that our efforts will successfully remediate our material weaknesses by this date, or at all, or prevent restatements of our financial statements in the future. Due to the nature of the remediation process and the need to allow adequate time after implementation to evaluate and test the effectiveness of the controls, no assurance can be given as to the timing and cost of full remediation. The material weaknesses will be fully remediated when, in the opinion of our management, the revised control processes have been operating for a sufficient period of time.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. To date, we have enhanced our business documentation process and are providing training to help with management’s self-assessment and testing of internal controls. We are implementing new workflow functionality and accounting systems that will help with ongoing account reconciliation, variance analysis and efficient review of significant financing transactions. With the hire of additional financial personnel, allocating other employees’ and consultants’ time to the implementation of user access controls and increased accounting oversight and implementation of new accounting system applications, we have incurred approximately $0.3 million and we expect to incur approximately $0.3 million in additional costs over the next twelve months to remediate these control deficiencies, though we cannot be certain that our efforts will be successful at remediating the material weaknesses or at avoiding potential future material weaknesses. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. If we are unable to successfully remediate our existing or any future material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, or if we identify any additional material weaknesses, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, and our stock price may decline as a result. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets. In addition, investors’ perceptions that our internal controls are inadequate or that we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis may harm our stock price and make it more difficult for us to effectively market and sell our products to new and existing customers.

There is uncertainty regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2024, which stated that management has concluded that substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for one year after the date our consolidated financial statements are issued. As discussed in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements, we have suffered recurring losses from operations, negative cash flows from operations, non-compliance with certain debt covenants and have a net working capital deficiency that raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Further, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $(290.4) million as of December 31, 2024. To address our shortage of working capital necessary to fund our operations, management is developing a remediation plan that includes refinancing existing debt facilities and raising new sources of capital. As a result of the uncertainty regarding our ability to continue as a going concern, there is increased risk that you could lose the entire amount of your investment in us. The financial statements included in this report do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Our business is subject to seasonal sales and customer growth fluctuations which could result in volatility in our operating results, some of which may not be immediately reflected in our financial position and results of operations.

Our business may be affected by the general seasonal trends common to education, tutoring and standardized testing markets. These include but are not limited to increased new subscriptions and expansions to existing subscriptions in connection with annual budgetary decisions made at the local, state and governmental level.

This seasonality may adversely affect our business and cause our results of operations to fluctuate.

If currency exchange rates fluctuate substantially in the future, our operating results, which are reported in United States dollars, could be adversely affected.

As we continue to expand our operations, we may become more exposed to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. A substantial majority of our revenues to date have been denominated in United States dollars and, therefore, we have not historically been subject to foreign currency risk. Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the United States dollar and other currencies could result in the dollar equivalent of such expenses being higher. This could have a negative impact on our operating results. Although we may in the future decide to undertake foreign exchange hedging transactions to cover a portion of our foreign currency exchange exposure, we currently do not hedge our exposure to foreign currency exchange risks or have any plans to do so.

Our ability to use our United States federal and state net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations which could subject our business to higher tax liability.

As of December 31, 2024, we had United States federal net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of approximately $200.8 million and state NOL carryforwards of approximately $167.4 million after Section 382 limitations. Under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, unused United States federal NOLs generated in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, will not expire and may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal NOLs in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 is limited to 80% of current year taxable income. NOLs arising in taxable years ending before 2018 are generally limited to a 20-year carryforward period.

Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and corresponding provisions of state law, if a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to utilize its pre-change NOL carryforwards to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We have completed an initial Section 382 analysis, and it is most likely that we have previously undergone one or more ownership changes so that our use of NOLs is currently subject to limitation.

We may also experience ownership change(s) in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside our control. Therefore, it is possible that such an ownership change could limit the amount of NOLs we can use to offset future taxable income. Our current NOL carryforwards, and any NOL carryforwards of companies we acquire in the future, may be subject to limitations, thereby increasing our overall tax liability. Our NOL carryforwards may also be impaired under similar provisions of state law. We have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our United States federal and state NOL carryforwards and other net deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets. Our NOL carryforwards may expire unutilized or underutilized, which could prevent us from offsetting future taxable income. Any future changes in United States tax laws in respect of the utilization of NOL carryforwards may further affect the limitation in future years. In addition, there may be periods during which the use of NOL carryforwards is suspended or otherwise limited at the state level, which could also impact our ability to utilize NOL carryforwards. As a result, even if we attain profitability, we may be unable to use all or a material portion of our NOLs, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows.

We could be subject to changes in tax rates, the adoption of new United States or international tax legislation, or exposure to additional tax liabilities.

We operate in a number of tax jurisdictions, including in the United States at the federal, state and local levels, and certain foreign countries, and we may expand the scale of our operations in the future. We are subject to review and potential audit by a number of tax authorities. A change in law or in our global operations could result in higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability.

In addition, taxing authorities in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions may successfully assert that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use, gross receipts, value-added or similar taxes, and may successfully impose additional obligations on us. The application of indirect taxes, such as sales, use, value-added, and goods and services taxes, to businesses like ours is a complex and evolving issue. Many of the fundamental statutes and regulations that impose these taxes were established before the adoption and growth of the Internet and e-commerce. Significant judgment is required on an ongoing basis to evaluate applicable tax obligations and as a result amounts recorded are estimates and are subject to adjustments. In many cases, the ultimate tax determination is uncertain because it is not clear how new and existing statutes might apply to our business.

Tax authorities may question, challenge or disagree with our calculation, reporting or collection of taxes and may require us to collect taxes in jurisdictions in which we do not currently do so or to remit additional taxes and interest, and could impose associated penalties and fees. Any such assessments or obligations could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Due to shifting economic and political conditions, tax policies, laws, or rates in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant changes in ways that impair our financial results. Various jurisdictions have enacted or are considering digital services taxes, which could lead to inconsistent and potentially overlapping tax regimes. Such taxes, if enacted, could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We may have exposure to greater-than-expected tax liabilities, which could seriously harm our business.

We have entered into transfer pricing arrangements that establish transfer prices for our intercompany operations. However, our transfer pricing procedures are not binding on the applicable taxing authorities. No official authority in any jurisdiction has made a determination as to whether or not we are operating in compliance with such authority’s transfer pricing laws. Accordingly, taxing authorities in any of these jurisdictions could challenge our transfer prices and require us to adjust them to reallocate our income. Any change to the allocation of our income as a result of review by such taxing authorities could have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition. In addition, the determination of our provision for income taxes and other uncertain tax liabilities requires significant judgment and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Tax authorities may disagree with and may challenge our tax positions. If our tax positions were not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest, penalties or other costs, or have other material consequences.

Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters

Changes in U.S. and international trade policies, including the export and import controls and laws, may adversely impact our business and operating results.

We partner with international suppliers all over the world. This subjects us to risks associated with international trade conflicts including between the United States and China, Mexico, and other countries, particularly with respect to export and import controls and laws. President Donald J. Trump has advocated for greater restrictions on international trade in general, which could result in significantly increased tariffs on certain goods imported into the United States, particularly from China. For example, in recent years the United States government has renegotiated or terminated certain existing bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements. It has also imposed tariffs on certain foreign goods which resulted in increased costs for goods imported into the United States. In response to these tariffs, a number of United States trading partners have imposed retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of United States products, making it more costly for companies to export products to those countries.

Rising political tensions could reduce trade volume, investment, technological exchange and other economic activities between major international economies, resulting in a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. Additionally, the resulting environment of tariffs, retaliatory trade or other practices or additional trade restrictions or barriers, if implemented on a broader range of products or raw materials, could harm our ability to obtain necessary raw materials and product components or sell our products and services at prices customers are willing to pay, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, and cash flows.

State or local legislation could be adopted that would limit or ban instruction in public schools that includes or promotes subjects included in our platform.

Recently, certain state and local legislatures in the United States have proposed or taken action to limit subjects taught in public schools. For example, Florida recently passed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which places limitations on the subjects that may be taught to students in kindergarten through third grade, requires school districts to adopt certain procedures to notify parents of such children of certain social and emotional learning topics being discussed in public schools, and provides for injunctive relief and monetary damages for parents who successfully assert a claim that the school district has violated the act. Similar measures have been proposed in other states, including Georgia and Oklahoma. It is difficult to fully predict the potential effects of such legislation on the education technology industry, and on our business in particular. If our customers are impacted by such legislation and are unable to, or do not, renew their subscription agreements, or if we are unable to attract new customers because of such local and state legislation, our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

Our failure to comply with laws and regulations that are or may become applicable to us as a technology provider for K-12 schools, community colleges and other educators could adversely affect our business and results of operations, increase costs and impose constraints on the way we conduct our business.

We may become subject to regulations and laws specific to the education sector because we offer our platform, solutions and services to educational institutions. Data privacy and security with respect to the collection of personally identifiable information from students continues to be a focus of worldwide legislation and regulation. This includes significant regulation in the European Union (the “EU”), and legislation and compliance requirements in various jurisdictions around the world. Within the United States, several states have enacted legislation that goes beyond any federal requirements relating to the collection and use of personally identifiable information and other data from students. It is not possible to predict whether or when such legislation may be adopted, and certain proposals, if adopted, could harm our business through a decrease in customers and revenue. These decreases could be caused by, among other possible provisions, the required use of disclaimers or other requirements before students can utilize our services. We do not currently believe that such regulations and laws pose a material risk to our business because we do not currently collect or use the information of students or educators as part of our platform. We post our privacy policies and practices concerning the use and disclosure of student data on our website. However, any failure by us to comply with our posted privacy policies, FTC requirements or other privacy-related laws and regulations could result in proceedings by governmental or regulatory bodies or by private litigants that could potentially harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our business may also become subject to laws specific to students, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Delaware Higher Education Privacy Act and a California statute which restricts the access by postsecondary educational institutions of prospective students’ social media account information. Compliance requirements include obtaining government licenses, disclosures, consents, transfer restrictions, notice and access provisions for which we may in the future need to build further infrastructure to further support. We cannot guarantee that we or any companies we acquire have been or will be fully compliant in every jurisdiction, due to lack of clarity concerning how existing and future laws and regulations governing educational institutions affect our business and lengthy governmental compliance process timelines. Moreover, as the education industry continues to evolve, increasing regulation by federal, state and foreign agencies becomes more likely. Certain states have also adopted statutes, such as California Education Code § 66400, which prohibits the preparation or sale of material that should reasonably be known will be submitted for academic credit. While these statutes are currently directed at enterprises selling term papers, theses, dissertations and the like, which we do not offer, and were not designed for services like ours, which are designed to help students understand the relevant subject matter, other states may adopt similar or broader versions of these types of statutes, or the interpretation of the existing or future statutes may impact whether they are cited against us or where we can offer our services.

The adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the popularity or growth in the use of the Internet particularly for educational services, including laws limiting the content and learning programs that we can offer, and the audiences that we can offer that content to, may decrease demand for our service offerings and increase our cost of doing business. Future regulations, or changes in laws and regulations or their existing interpretations or applications, could also hinder our operational flexibility, raise compliance costs and result in additional historical or future liabilities for us, resulting in adverse impacts on our business and results of operations.

While we expect and plan for new laws, regulations, and standards to be adopted over time that will be directly applicable to the Internet and to our student-focused activities, any existing or new legislation applicable to our business could expose us to substantial liability, including significant expenses necessary to comply with such laws and regulations and potential penalties or fees for non-compliance, and could negatively impact the growth in the use of the Internet for educational purposes and for our services in particular. We may also run the risk of retroactive application of new laws to our business practices that could result in liability or losses. Due to the global nature of the Internet, it is possible that the governments of other states and foreign countries might attempt to change previous regulatory schemes or choose to regulate transmissions or prosecute us for violations of their laws. We might unintentionally violate such laws, such laws may be modified, and new laws may be enacted in the future. Any such developments could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving United States and foreign laws, regulations and industry standards, many of which are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, which uncertainty could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We are subject to many United States federal and state and foreign laws, regulations and industry standards that involve matters central to our business, including laws and regulations that involve data privacy, cybersecurity, intellectual property (including copyright and patent laws), content, rights of publicity, advertising, marketing, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, taxation and telecommunications. These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be interpreted, applied, created, or amended, in a manner that could harm our business. In addition, the introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations or other government scrutiny.

We collect, store, use and otherwise process data, some of which contains personal information about our employees, customers and business partners, including contact details, network details, and location data. Therefore, we are or may become subject to United States (federal, state, local) and foreign laws and regulations regarding data privacy and security and the processing of personal information and other data from customers, end users or business partners. The regulatory framework for privacy, information security, data protection and processing worldwide and interpretations of existing laws and regulations is likely to continue to be uncertain and current or future legislation or regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions, or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, could significantly restrict or impose conditions on our ability to process data we use in our business operations.

While we have made efforts to comply with these laws and regulations, the uncertainty surrounding enforcement and changing privacy landscapes in the United States and abroad could change our compliance status. Similarly, there are a number of legislative proposals in the European Union, the United States, at both the federal and state level, as well as other jurisdictions that could impose new obligations or limitations in areas affecting our business.

The costs of complying with these laws and regulations are high and likely to increase in the future, particularly as the degree of regulation increases and our business grows and our geographic scope expands. The impact of these laws and regulations may disproportionately affect our business in comparison to our peers in the education technology sector that have greater resources. Any failure or perceived failure of compliance on our part to comply with the laws and regulations may subject us to significant liabilities or penalties, or otherwise adversely affect its business, financial condition or operating results. Furthermore, it is possible that certain governments may seek to block or limit our platform and products or otherwise impose other restrictions that may affect the accessibility or usability of any or all our platform and products for an extended period of time or indefinitely.

We could be involved in legal disputes that are expensive and time consuming, and, if resolved adversely, could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

From time to time, we may be involved in actual and threatened legal proceedings, claims, investigations and government inquiries arising in the ordinary course of our business, including intellectual property, data privacy, cybersecurity, privacy and other torts, illegal or objectionable content, contractual rights, false or misleading advertising, or other legal claims relating to content or information that is provided to us or published or made available on our platform. Any proceedings, claims or inquiries involving our company, whether successful or not, may be time consuming, result in costly litigation, unfavorable outcomes or increased costs of business, require us to change our business practices or platform, require significant amount of management’s time or may harm our reputation or otherwise harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We are currently involved in litigation to protect our patents, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights, and may be subject to intellectual property litigation and threats thereof in the future. Specifically, a number of competitors based in China have created clones of our original all-in-one product. To prevent substantial unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights, it may be necessary to prosecute actions for infringement and/or misappropriation of our proprietary rights against third parties. Any such action could result in significant costs and diversion of our resources and management’s attention, and we cannot assure that we will be successful in such action. Companies in the Internet, technology and education industries typically own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. As we face increasing competition and grow our business and platform offerings, the possibility of receiving a larger number of intellectual property claims against us grows. In addition, various “non-practicing entities” that own patents and other intellectual property rights may in the future attempt to assert intellectual property claims against us to extract value through licensing or other settlements.

From time to time, we receive letters from patent holders alleging that our platform infringes on their patent rights and from trademark holders alleging infringement of their trademark rights. We also receive letters from holders of copyrighted content alleging infringement of their intellectual property rights. Our technologies and content, including the content that partners may create for use on our platform, may not be able to withstand such third-party claims, and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

With respect to any intellectual property claims, we may have to seek a license to continue using technologies or engaging in practices found to be in violation of a third-party’s rights, which may not be available on reasonable terms and may significantly increase our operating expenses (for example, by being required to pay significant royalties in connection with such licenses). A license to continue using such technologies or practices may not be available to us at all and we may be required to discontinue use of such technologies or practices or to develop alternative non-infringing technologies or practices. The development of alternative non-infringing technologies or practices could require significant effort and expense or may not be achievable at all. our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed as a result. If we cannot license or develop alternative non-infringing substitutes for any infringing technology used in any aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit use of our platform. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We are susceptible to illegal or improper uses of our educational platform, which could expose us to additional liability and harm our business.

Our educational platform is susceptible to unauthorized use, copyright violations and unauthorized copying and distribution (whether by students, schools or otherwise), theft, employee fraud and other similar breaches and violations. These occurrences may harm our business and consequently negatively impact our results of operations. Additionally, we may be required to employ a significant number of resources to combat such occurrences and identify those responsible.

The legal system of the PRC is not fully developed and there are inherent uncertainties that may affect the protection afforded to our business.

Although a decreasing portion of our revenue is derived from business that we do in the PRC, and that percentage is expected to continue to decrease, as long as a portion of our revenue and other business activities are derived from business in the PRC, our activities in the PRC are and will be governed by the PRC legal system that is based on written statutes. Prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since the late 1970s, the PRC government has promulgated laws and regulations dealing with economic matters such as foreign investment, corporate organization and governance, commerce, taxation and trade. However, as these laws and regulations are relatively new and continue to evolve, interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve significant uncertainties and different degrees of inconsistency. Some of the laws and regulations are still in the developmental stage and are therefore subject to policy changes. Many laws, regulations, policies and legal requirements have only been recently adopted by PRC central or local government agencies, and their implementation, interpretation and enforcement may involve uncertainty due to the lack of established practice available for reference. We cannot predict the effect of future legal developments in the PRC, including the promulgation of new laws, changes in existing laws or their interpretation or enforcement, or the pre-emption of local regulations by national laws. As a result, as long as a portion of our revenue is derived from business that we do in the PRC, there is substantial uncertainty as to the legal protection available to us relating to such business. Moreover, due to the limited volume of published cases and the non-binding nature of prior court decisions, the outcome of dispute resolution may not be as consistent or predictable as in other more developed jurisdictions, which may limit the legal protection available to us. In addition, any litigation in the PRC may be protracted and result in substantial costs and the diversion of resources and management attention.

The enforcement of the PRC Labor Contract Law and other labor-related regulations in the PRC may adversely affect our business and our results of operations.

The PRC Labor Contract Law became effective and was implemented on January 1, 2008, which was amended on December 28, 2012. It has reinforced the protection of employees who, under the PRC Labor Contract Law, have the right, among others, to have written labor contracts, to enter into labor contracts with no fixed terms under certain circumstances, to receive overtime wages and to terminate or alter terms in labor contracts. In addition, according to the PRC Social Insurance Law, which became effective on July 1, 2011 and was amended on December 29, 2018, and the Administrative Regulations on the Housing Funds, which became effective on April 3, 1999 and was amended on March 24, 2002 and March 24, 2019, companies operating in China are required to participate in pension insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance and housing funds plans, and the employers must pay all or a portion of the social insurance premiums and housing funds for their employees. Although we do not currently have any employees located in the PRC, we did in the past have employees in our subsidiary, zSpace Technologies (Shanghai) Ltd. (“zSpace Shanghai”). In March 2023, zSpace Shanghai terminated six employees. Three of these former employees have instituted actions related to post-employment disputes alleging they were not provided appropriate severance and have filed disputes with the Shanghai employment bureau and the Jing’an People’s Court. The Jing’an People’s Court determined that zSpace Shanghai owed these three employees a total amount of 849,153 Chinese yuan renminbi (or approximately $117,000), 71,852 (or approximately $10,000) of which has been paid to date. We currently expect that the total amount that we will be required to pay to resolve these three disputes, including penalties, fees and expenses, will be approximately $125,000. If we become subject to severe penalties or incur significant liabilities in connection with labor disputes or investigations, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.]

We are subject to laws and regulations, including governmental export and import controls, sanctions and anti-corruption laws, that could subject us to liability if we are not in full compliance with applicable laws.

We are subject to laws and regulations, including governmental export and import controls, that could subject us to liability. Our products are subject to United States export controls, including the United States Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”), and we and our employees, representatives, distributors, resellers, contractors, agents, intermediaries, and other third parties are also subject to various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). Furthermore, United States export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations prohibit the shipment of certain hardware and software to certain countries, governments and persons targeted by United States sanctions and for certain end-uses. While we have implemented certain procedures to facilitate compliance with applicable laws and regulations, we cannot be certain that we or third parties have complied with all laws or regulations in this regard. Failure by our employees, representatives, distributors, resellers, contractors, third-party resellers agents, intermediaries or other third parties to comply with applicable laws and regulations in the collection and distribution of this information also could have negative consequences to us, including reputational harm, government investigations and penalties.

Although we take precautions to prevent our products and services from being provided in violation of such laws and regulations and have no knowledge of any past violations of such laws and regulation, our products and services may have been in the past, and could in the future be, provided in violation of such laws. If we or our employees, representatives, distributors, resellers, contractors, third-party resellers agents, intermediaries or other third parties fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export privileges and fines. We may also be adversely affected through reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets or otherwise. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular transaction may be time-consuming, is not guaranteed and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities.

We are also subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”), the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 (the “Bribery Act”), and other anti-corruption, sanctions, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws in the United States and other countries in which we operate. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, which have been enforced aggressively and are interpreted broadly, prohibit companies and their employees, agents, intermediaries and other third parties from promising, authorizing, making or offering improper payments or other benefits to government officials and others in the public, and in certain cases, private sector. We leverage third parties, including intermediaries, distributors, resellers and agents, to conduct our business and to distribute and resell our products in the United States, and outside of the United State, we rely exclusively such on third parties to conduct our business and to distribute and resell our products. We and these third parties may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities, and we may be held liable for any corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party business partners and intermediaries, our employees, representatives, distributors, resellers, agents, intermediaries and other third parties, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with FCPA, Bribery Act and other anti-corruption, sanctions, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws, we cannot be certain that they will be effective, or that all of our employees, representatives, contractors, distributors, resellers, agents, intermediaries or other third parties have not taken, or will not take actions, in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. If we increase our international sales and business, including our business with government organizations, our risks under these laws may increase. Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to investigations, severe criminal or civil sanctions, settlements, prosecution, loss of export privileges, suspension or debarment from United States government contracts, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage and other consequences. Any investigations, actions or sanctions could harm our reputation, business, operating results, and financial condition.

The obligations associated with operating as a public company will require significant resources and management attention and will cause us to incur additional expenses, which will adversely affect our results of operations.

Following our initial public offering, our expenses increased as a result of the additional accounting, legal and various other additional expenses usually associated with operating as a public company and complying with public company disclosure obligations. We are required to comply with certain requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, us to file annual, quarterly, and current reports with respect to our business and operating results with the SEC. We are also required to prepare financial statements that are fully compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis. Compliance with these rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources. As a public company, we are required to, among other things:

These requirements, and the involvement of accountants and legal advisors, require a significant commitment of additional resources. We might not be successful in complying with these obligations and the significant commitment of resources required for complying with them could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, we intend to increase our directors’ and officers’ insurance coverage, which will increase our insurance cost. In the future, it may be more expensive or more difficult for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.

Efforts to reduce the U.S. federal deficit could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Any reductions in government spending in an effort to reduce the U.S. federal deficit, such as the elimination of the Department of Education, could result in a reduction in the utilization of our services or additional pricing pressure. Further, there is ongoing uncertainty regarding the federal budget and federal spending levels, including the possible impacts of a failure to increase the “debt ceiling.” Any U.S. government default on its debt could have broad macroeconomic effects that could, among other things, raise our borrowing costs. Any future shutdown of the federal government or failure to enact annual appropriations could also have a material adverse impact on our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.

Additionally, considerable uncertainty exists regarding how future budget and program decisions will develop, including the spending priorities of the new U.S. presidential administration and Congress and what challenges budget reductions will present for us and our industry generally. For example, in January 2025, the current administration established an advisory commission, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” to reform federal government processes and reduce expenditures, and enacted certain spending freezes, which may adversely affect our customers. There is uncertainty regarding federal agency structure and future budget decisions and priorities of the U.S. presidential administration. Many of our customers receive funding from the Department of Education and any changes to its budget or its entire elimination could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

Failure to register, protect or enforce our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights could substantially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We rely on a combination of confidentiality, assignment and license agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties with whom we have relationships, as well as trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and domain name protection and other intellectual property laws, to protect our proprietary rights. In the United States and internationally, we have filed various applications for protection of certain aspects of our intellectual property, and we currently hold issued patents and copyrights in the United States and foreign jurisdictions, and multiple trademark registrations in the United States and other foreign countries. Third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our proprietary rights, third parties may challenge proprietary rights held by us, and pending and future applications covering our intellectual property rights may not be issued.

Any issued patents may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, and any rights granted under these patents may not actually provide adequate defensive protection or competitive advantages to us. Patent applications in the United States are typically not published until at least 18 months after filing, or, in some cases, not at all. We cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our pending patent applications or that we were the first to file for patent protection. Additionally, the process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. The uncertainty and changing landscape regarding the patentability of software and the interpretation of the United States patent laws with respect thereto may also bring into question the validity of certain software patents and may make it more difficult and costly to prosecute patent applications. Such changes may lead to uncertainties or increased costs and risks surrounding the prosecution, validity, ownership, enforcement, and defense of our issued patents and patent applications and other intellectual property rights, the outcome of third-party claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other claims of intellectual property violations brought against us and the actual or enhanced damages (including treble damages) that may be awarded in connection with any such current or future claims, and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We rely on our trademarks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our platform from the products of our competitors. However, third parties may have already registered identical or similar marks for products or solutions that also address the software market in which we operate. Efforts by third parties to limit use of our brand names or trademarks and barriers to the registration of brand names and trademarks may restrict our ability to promote and maintain a cohesive brand throughout our key markets. We cannot be certain that pending or future United States or foreign trademark applications will be approved in a timely manner or at all, or that such registrations will effectively protect our brand names and trademarks. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our platform, which would result in loss of brand recognition and would require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands.

In addition, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which we conduct or intend to conduct our business. In any or all of these cases, we may be required to expend significant time and expense in order to prevent infringement or to enforce our rights. Although we have generally taken measures to protect our proprietary rights, others may offer products or concepts that are substantially similar to ours and compete with our business. If the protection of our proprietary rights is inadequate to prevent unauthorized use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our brands and other intangible assets may be diminished and competitors may be able to mimic our platform and methods of operations more effectively.

To prevent substantial unauthorized use of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, it may be necessary to prosecute actions for infringement and/or misappropriation of our proprietary rights against third parties. Any such action could result in significant costs and diversion of our resources and management’s attention, and we cannot be certain that we would be successful in any such action. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights (or to contest claims of infringement) than we do. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from knowingly or unknowingly infringing upon, misappropriating or circumventing our intellectual property rights. If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights (including aspects of our software and platform protected other than by patent rights), we will find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to others who need not incur the additional expense, time and effort required to create our platform. Moreover, we may need to expend additional resources to defend our intellectual property rights in foreign countries, and our inability to do so could impair our business, results of operations and financial condition or adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We have devoted substantial resources to the development of our intellectual property and proprietary rights. To protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, vendors, licensees, independent contractors and other advisors. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Effective trade secret protection may also not be available in every country in which our platform is used or where we have employees or independent contractors. The loss of trade secret protection could make it easier for third parties to compete with our platform by copying functionality. In addition, any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, the trade secret and employment laws in any country in which we operate may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secret and intellectual property and proprietary rights. In addition, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information and in such cases, we could not assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

Third parties may claim that our platform infringes their intellectual property rights, and such claims may result in legal claims against us and our technology partners and customers. These claims may damage our brand and reputation and create liability for us. We expect the number of such claims to increase as the functionality of our platform and services overlaps with that of other products and services, and as the volume of our software patents and patent applications continues to increase.

Companies in the software and technology industries own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual property and proprietary rights, and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. Furthermore, patent holding companies, non-practicing entities, and other adverse patent owners that are not deterred by our existing intellectual property protections may seek to assert patent claims against us. We have in the past received immaterial, and may in the future receive material or immaterial, claims we have misappropriated, misused, or infringed other parties’ intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we gain greater market visibility, we may face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.

We may also face exposure to third-party intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or violation actions if we engage software engineers or other personnel who were previously engaged by competitors or other third parties and those personnel inadvertently or deliberately incorporate proprietary technology and intellectual property of third parties into our products. This could also result in us losing valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to develop, market and support potential products or enhancements, which could severely harm our business. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be very time-consuming, could be expensive to settle or litigate, and could divert our management’s attention and other resources. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed patents or copyrights. These claims could also result in us having to stop using technology found to be in violation of a third party’s rights. We might be required to seek a license for these intellectual property rights, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all. Even if a license were available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our operating expenses. Alternatively, we could be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant time, effort and expense, and may affect the performance or features of our platform. If we cannot license or develop alternative non-infringing substitutes for any infringing technology used in any aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit use of our platform. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our use of “open source” software could subject us to possible litigation or could prevent us from offering products that include open source software or require us to obtain licenses on unfavorable terms.

A portion of the technologies we use incorporates “open source” software, and we may incorporate open source software in the future. Open source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses. These licenses may subject us to certain unfavorable conditions, including requirements that we offer our products that incorporate the open source software for no cost, that we make publicly available the source code for any modifications or derivative work we create based upon, incorporating or using the open source software, or that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of the particular open source license. From time to time, companies that use third-party open source software have also faced claims challenging the use of such open source software and their compliance with the terms of the applicable open source license. We may be subject to suits by parties claiming ownership of open source software or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open source licensing terms.

In addition to using open source software, we also license to others some of our software through open source projects. Open sourcing our own software requires us to make the source code publicly available, and therefore can affect our ability to protect our intellectual property rights with respect to that software. Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated open source software into software that we license from such provider, we could be required to disclose any of our source code that incorporates or is a modification or derivative work of such licensed software. If an author or other third-party that distributes open source software that we use or license alleges that we did not comply with the conditions of the applicable license, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations and could be subject to significant damages, enjoined from offering our products that contained the open source software, required to release proprietary source code, required to obtain licenses from third parties or required to comply with the conditions unless and until we can re-engineer the product so that it complies with the open source license or does not incorporate the open source software.

Neither the United States nor foreign courts have interpreted a large number of open source licenses, and accordingly, there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our platform. In that event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our platform, to re-develop our platform or to release our proprietary source code under the terms of an open source license, any of which could harm our business. Enforcement activity for open source licenses can also be unpredictable. Were it determined that our use was not in compliance with a particular license, we could be required to release our proprietary source code, defend claims, pay damages for breach of contract or copyright infringement, grant licenses to our patents, re-engineer our platform, or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our product development efforts, any of which could negatively impact our business. Open source compliance problems can also result in damage to our reputation and challenges in recruitment or retention of engineering personnel. Further, given the nature of open source software, it may be more likely that third parties might assert copyright and other intellectual property infringement claims against us based on our use of these open source software programs. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, or require us to devote additional development resources to change our platform.

We incorporate technology that we license from third parties, including software, into our platform. Licensing technologies from third parties exposes us to increased risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims due to, among other things, our lower level of visibility into the development process with respect to such technology and the care taken to safeguard against infringement risks. We cannot be certain that our licensors do not or will not infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties or that our licensors have or will have sufficient rights to the licensed intellectual property in all jurisdictions in which we conduct business. Some of our agreements with our licensors may be terminated by them for convenience, or otherwise provide for a limited term. If we are unable to continue to license technology because of intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties against its licensors or against us, or if we are unable to continue our license agreements or enter into new licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to develop our platform that is dependent on that technology would be limited, and our business could be harmed. Additionally, if we are unable to license technology from third parties, we may be forced to acquire or develop alternative technology, which we may be unable to do in a commercially feasible manner or at all and which may require us to use alternative technology of lower quality or performance standards. As a result, our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.

The failure of our information technology (“IT”) systems or a security breach involving customer or employee personal data, and the remediation of any such failure or breach, could materially impact our reputation and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our business operations utilize a variety of IT systems. Although we have established appropriate contingency plans to mitigate the risks associated with a failure of our IT systems or a security breach, if one of our key IT systems were to suffer a failure or security breach, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. Further, we rely on third parties for certain IT services. If an IT service provider were to fail or the relationship with us were to end, we might be unable to find a suitable replacement in a timely manner, and our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected. We continually modify and enhance our IT systems and technologies to increase productivity and efficiency. As new systems and technologies are implemented, we could experience unanticipated difficulties resulting in unexpected costs and adverse impacts to our business processes. When implemented, the systems and technologies may not provide the benefits anticipated and could add costs and complications to ongoing operations, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Any security breach of our IT systems or those of our IT service providers could result in disruptions to our operations. To the extent that such a breach results in a loss or damage to our data, or an inappropriate disclosure of confidential or personal information, it could cause significant damage to our reputation, affect our relationships, lead to claims against us and ultimately materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Any interruptions in our operations due to cyberattacks or to our failure to maintain adequate security and supporting infrastructure as we scale, could damage our reputation, business, operating results, and financial condition.

We have been the target of attempted cyber-attacks in the past, and we may be subject to unauthorized access of digital data with the intent to misappropriate information, corrupt data or cause operational disruptions in the future. Computer malware, viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions could lead to interruption and delays in our services and operations and loss, misuse or theft of data. Computer malware, viruses, ransomware, hacking and phishing attacks against online networks have become more prevalent and may occur on our systems in the future. Any successful attempts by cyber attackers to disrupt our services or systems could result in mandated user notifications, litigation, government investigations, significant fines and expenditures, divert management’s attention from operations, deter people from using our platform, damage our brand and reputation, and materially adversely affect our business and results of operations. Insurance may not be sufficient to cover significant expenses and losses related to cyber-attacks. Efforts to prevent cyber attackers from entering computer systems are expensive to implement, and we may not be able to avoid attacks that arise through computer systems of our third-party vendors. Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of systems and technical infrastructure may, in addition to other losses, harm our reputation, brand and ability to attract customers.

We have not previously experienced, but may in the future experience, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, third-party service providers, human or software errors and capacity constraints. State-supported and geopolitical-related cyberattacks may increase in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and any related political or economic responses and counter-responses. The war in Ukraine and associated activities in Ukraine and Russia have increased the risk of cyberattacks on various types of infrastructure and operations, and the United States government has warned companies to be prepared for a significant increase in Russian cyberattacks in response to the sanctions on Russia. If our services are unavailable when end users attempt to access them, our customers may seek other services, which could reduce demand for our solutions from target customers.

We have processes and procedures in place designed to enable us to recover from a disaster or catastrophe and continue business operations and have tested this capability under controlled circumstances. Although we believe we maintain cybersecurity and data privacy programs sufficient for our current operations and intend to expand such programs as our operations grow, as an early-stage company, we have not made significant investments in such programs. Further, there are several factors ranging from human error to data corruption that could materially impact the efficacy of such processes and procedures. It may be difficult or impossible to perform some or all recovery steps and continue normal business operations due to the nature of a particular disaster or catastrophe, especially during peak periods, which could cause additional reputational damages, or loss of revenues, any of which would adversely affect our business and financial results.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

We are classified as a “controlled company” for purposes of the Nasdaq Listing Rules and therefore qualify for certain exceptions from certain corporate governance requirements. As a result, in the event we rely on such exceptions, our stockholders would not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are not controlled companies.

Currently, dSpace Investments Limited controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Under the Nasdaq Listing Rules, a company of which more than 50% of the outstanding voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain stock exchange corporate governance requirements, including:

Accordingly, in the event that we decide to rely on the “controlled company” exemption to reduce our corporate governance requirements, our stockholders would not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company for up to five years following the fifth anniversary of the date of our initial public offering. However, if certain events occur prior to the end of such five-year period, including if we become a “large accelerated filer,” our annual gross revenues exceed $1.235 billion or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period, we will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such five-year period. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. The reduced disclosure and other requirements that we may take advantage of include:

We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may decline or be more volatile.

We are also a “smaller reporting company,” meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million and our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250.0 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to finance the further development and expansion of our business and do not intend to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, restrictions contained in agreements and financing instruments, business prospects and such other factors as our board of directors deems relevant. As a result, you may only receive a return on your investment in our common stock if the market price of our common stock increases.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that analysts publish about our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If any of the analysts who cover us downgrade our common stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our common stock would likely decline. If few analysts cover us, demand for our common stock could decrease and the price and trading volume of our common stock may decline. Similar results may occur if one or more of these analysts stop covering us in the future or fail to publish reports on us regularly.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile and, in the past, in certain instances companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

The price of our common stock could decline if there are substantial sales of our common stock, particularly by our directors, our executive officers or their affiliates, or when there is a large number of shares of our common stock available for sale. The perception in the public market that our stockholders might sell shares of our common stock could also depress the market price of our common stock. In connection with our initial public offering (“IPO”), Gulf Islamic Investments, LLC, dSpace Investments Limited and bSpace Investments Limited have agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock for 365 days following the closing date of the IPO, or December 6, 2024, except with the prior written consent of Roth Capital Partners, LLC, the underwriter of the IPO. In addition, in connection with the IPO, Kuwait Investment Authority and our officers and directors, have agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock for 180 days following the closing date of the IPO, at which point such persons may and dispose of or hedge 50% of the shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock held by them, and not to dispose of or hedge the remaining shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock held by them for 365 days following the closing date of the IPO, except, in each case, with the prior written consent of Roth Capital Partners, LLC. Additionally, our employees have agreed, subject to certain exceptions, not to dispose of or hedge any shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of our common stock for 180 days following the closing date of the IPO. Consequently, 180 days after the closing date of the IPO, additional shares of common stock will be eligible for sale in the public market and 365 days after the closing date of the IPO, additional shares of common stock will be eligible for sale in the public market. The market price of our common stock may drop significantly when the restrictions on resale lapse and these stockholders are able to sell their shares into the market.

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may require substantial financial and management resources.

Management may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements that are applicable to us as a public company. If we are not able to implement the requirements of Section 404, as well as any additional requirements once we are no longer an emerging growth company, in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, we may not be able to assess whether our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could harm investor confidence and the market price of our common stock. Additionally, once we are no longer an emerging growth company, we will be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting.

Provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law, including anti-takeover provisions, could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (our “Charter”) and second amended and restated bylaws (our “Bylaws”) include anti-takeover provisions, which may have the effect of delaying or preventing a merger, acquisition or other change of control of us that our stockholders may consider favorable. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, the Charter and Bylaws include provisions that:

Our Charter contains exclusive forum provisions for certain claims, which may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our Charter provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, to the fullest extent permitted by law, will be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, the Charter, the Bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.

Moreover, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rulesand regulations thereunder. Our Charter provides that the federal district courts of the United States will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act (the “Federal Forum

Provision”). Our decision to adopt a Federal Forum Provision followed a decision by the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware holding that such provisions are facially valid under Delaware law. While there can be no assurance that federal or state courts will follow the holding of the Delaware Supreme Court or determine that a Federal Forum Provision should be enforced in a particular case, application of the Federal Forum Provision means that suits brought by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act must be brought in federal court and cannot be brought in state court.

Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, the Federal Forum Provision applies to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in federal court. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder.

There may be a limited market for our common stock.

Our common stock is a relatively new and illiquid security. There is no assurance that an active trading market for our common stock will develop or be sustained. If an active trading market does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares at a time and price that you deem appropriate. Low trading volume can also make it difficult for us to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities. If we need to raise additional capital in the future, we may be unable to do so on favorable terms, or at all, if an active trading market for our common stock does not exist.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments