Aeries Technology Inc

Summary Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Industry and Business

Risks Related to Regulation, Legislation and Legal Proceedings

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property, Technology Solutions, Software Usage and Cyber Security

Risks Related to Finance and Accounting

Risks Related to Our Industry and Business

We operate in a rapidly evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.

The technology services industry is competitive and continuously evolving, subject to rapidly changing demands and constant technological developments. As a result, success and performance metrics are difficult to predict and measure in our industry. Because services and technologies are rapidly evolving and each company within the industry can vary greatly in terms of the services it provides, its business model, and its results of operations, it can be difficult to predict how any company’s services, including ours, will be received in the market. Neither our past financial performance nor the past financial performance of any other company in the technology services industry is indicative of how our company will fare financially in the future. Our growth is subject to many factors, including our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, any forecasts of market growth we have made or may make in the future should not be taken as indicative of our future growth. Our future profits may vary substantially from those of other companies and those we have achieved in the past, making an investment in our company risky and speculative. If our clients’ demand for our services declines as a result of economic conditions, market factors or shifts in the technology industry, our business would suffer and our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

We face intense competition and the failure to stand out could adversely affect our business.

The market for technology and information technology services is intensely competitive, highly fragmented and subject to rapid change and evolving industry standards and we expect competition to intensify. Our primary competitors include next-generation IT service providers, digital agencies and consulting companies and in-house development and information technology departments of our clients. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources and greater name recognition than we do. As a result, they may be able to compete more aggressively on pricing or devote greater resources to the development and promotion of technology and information technology services. Further, there is a risk that our clients may elect to increase their internal resources to satisfy their services needs as opposed to relying on a third-party service providers, such as us. The technology services industry may also undergo consolidation, which may result in increased competition in our target markets from larger firms that may have substantially greater financial, marketing or technical resources, may be able to respond faster to new technologies or processes and changes in client demands. Increased competition could also result in price reductions, reduced operating margins and loss of our market share.

Pricing pressure may reduce our revenue or gross profits and adversely affect our financial results.

The prices for our services and solutions may decline for a variety of reasons, including pricing pressures from our competitors, pricing leverage from clients, anticipation of the introduction of new solutions by our competitors, or promotional programs offered by us or our competitors. We may face increased pricing pressure from our key clients as we grow the existing services and solutions we provide to our key clients or expand our business with them by cross-selling new services and solutions. In addition, competition continues to increase in the markets in which we operate, and we expect competition to further increase in the future. If we are unable to maintain our pricing due to competitive pressures or other factors, our margins will be reduced and our gross profits, business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our business depends on a strong brand and corporate reputation and the impairment of the brand could adversely impact our business.

We believe the brand name and our reputation are important corporate assets that help distinguish our services from those of our competitors and also contribute to our efforts to recruit and retain talented professionals. However, our corporate reputation is susceptible to damage by actions or statements made by current or former employees or clients, competitors, vendors and adversaries in legal proceedings, as well as members of the investment community and the media. There is a risk that negative information about our company, even if based on false information or misunderstanding, could adversely affect our business. Damage to our reputation could reduce the value and effectiveness of our brand name and could reduce investor confidence in us and adversely affect our operating results.

We may face difficulties and be subject to increased business and economic risks as we expand our operations into countries in which we have no prior operating experience which could impact our results of operations.

We expect to continue to expand our international operations in order to maintain an appropriate cost structure and meet our clients’ needs, which may include opening sites in new jurisdictions and providing our services and solutions in additional languages. It may involve expanding into less developed countries, which may have less political, social or economic stability and less developed infrastructure and legal systems. As we expand our business into new countries, we may encounter economic, regulatory, personnel, technological and other difficulties that increase our expenses or delay our ability to start up our operations or become profitable in such countries. This may affect our relationships with our clients and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and resources and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal and regulatory systems, and commercial markets. Operating internationally subjects us to new risks and may increase risks that we currently face.

Our success largely depends on our ability to achieve our business strategies, and our results of operations and financial condition may suffer if we are unable to continually develop and successfully execute our strategies.

While we believe that our strategic plans reflect opportunities that are appropriate and achievable, the execution of our strategy may not result in long-term growth in revenue or profitability due to a number of factors, such as:

The failure to continually develop and execute optimally on our business strategies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. To manage the expected domestic and international growth of our operations and personnel, we will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, our reporting systems and procedures, and our utilization of real estate. If we fail to successfully scale our operations and increase productivity, we may be unable to execute our business plan, and such failure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have and may continue to experience a long selling and implementation cycle with respect to certain projects that require us to make significant resource commitments prior to realizing revenue for our services.

Before committing to use our services, potential clients may require us to expend substantial time and resources educating them on the value of our services and our ability to meet their requirements. Therefore, our selling cycle is subject to many risks and delays over which we have little or no control, including our clients’ decision to choose alternatives to our services. Our current and future clients may not be willing or able to invest the time and resources necessary to implement our services, and we may fail to close sales with potential clients to which we have devoted significant time and resources. If our sales cycle unexpectedly lengthens for one or more projects, it would negatively affect the timing of our revenue and hinder our revenue growth.

We may need additional capital, and a failure by us to raise additional capital on terms favorable to us, or at all, could limit our ability to grow our business or enhance our service offerings.

We may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity, debt or equity-linked securities, such as convertible debt, draw down on our credit facility or obtain another credit facility. The sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities could result in dilution to our shareholders. Any new equity or equity-linked securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. If we seek to access additional capital or increase our borrowings, there can be no assurance that debt, equity or equity-linked financing may be available to us on favorable terms, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be harmed.

The benefits to customers of our services could be reduced or supplanted by artificial intelligence, which may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

The benefits to customers of our services could be reduced or supplanted by artificial intelligence technologies. We cannot be sure that artificial intelligence technologies will not match or exceed the benefits of our services or be more cost effective than our services. The development of any alternative technology that can compete with or supplant our services may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results in ways we do not currently anticipate. Any failure by us to develop new or enhanced processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could result in the loss of competitiveness of our services, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. Our efforts may not be sufficient to adapt to changes in artificial intelligence technology.

Our ability to expand our business and procure new contracts or enter into beneficial business arrangements could be affected to the extent we enter into agreements with clients containing non-competition clauses.

Our ability to expand our business and procure new contracts or enter into beneficial business arrangements in the future could be affected to the extent we enter into agreements with clients containing non-competition clauses.

Fluctuations against the U.S. dollar in the local currencies in the countries in which we operate could have a material effect on our results of operations.

A majority of our revenues are in U.S. Dollars and our costs are primarily in local currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, Indian Rupee and Mexican Peso. An appreciation of local currencies against the U.S. Dollar would cause a net adverse impact to our profitability. Because our financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars and revenues are primarily generated in U.S. dollars, any significant unhedged fluctuations in the currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies of countries in which we incur costs in local currencies will affect our results of operations and financial statements. This may also affect the comparability of our financial results from period to period, as we convert our subsidiaries’ statements of financial position into U.S. dollars from local currencies at the period-end exchange rate, and income and cash flow statements at average exchange rates for the year.

Changes in the exchange rate of the Indian rupee versus the U.S. dollar result in earnings volatility and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our functional currency is the Indian rupee, and our financial statements are converted to U.S. dollars when preparing our financial statements. Changes in the exchange rate between the two currencies can cause reported financial results to fluctuate and a weakening Indian rupee relative to the U.S. dollar would impact our earnings.

We are subject to foreign exchange and currency risks that could adversely affect our operations, and our ability to mitigate our foreign exchange risk may be limited.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by certain movements in exchange rates, particularly if the Indian rupee or other currencies in which we incur expenses appreciate against the U.S. dollar or if the currencies in which we receive revenues, such as the euro, depreciate against the U.S. dollar. If the Indian rupee or other currencies in which we incur expenses appreciate against the U.S. dollar, we may have to consider additional means of maintaining profitability, including by increasing pricing, which may or may not be achievable.

We may acquire other companies in pursuit of growth or may make dispositions or investments, any of which may divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our shareholders and consume resources that are necessary to sustain our business.

As part of our business strategy, we regularly review potential strategic transactions, including potential acquisitions, dispositions, consolidations, joint ventures, investments or similar transactions. Negotiating these transactions can be time-consuming, difficult and expensive, and our ability to complete these transactions may be subject to conditions or approvals that are beyond our control, including anti-takeover and antitrust laws in various jurisdictions. Consequently, these transactions, even if undertaken and announced, may not close.

An acquisition, investment or new business relationship may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. In particular, we may encounter difficulties assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, services, products, personnel or operations of acquired companies. Moreover, the anticipated benefits of any merger, acquisition, investment or similar partnership may not be realized or we may be exposed to unknown liabilities, including litigation against the companies we may acquire, for example from failure to identify all of the significant risks or liabilities associated with the target business. These integration activities are complex and time-consuming, and we may encounter unexpected difficulties or incur unexpected costs. Any of these risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be unable to effectively manage our rapid growth or achieve anticipated growth, which could place significant strain on our management personnel, systems and resources.

As we add new delivery sites, introduce new services or enter into new markets, we may face new market, technological and operational risks and challenges with which we are unfamiliar, and we may not be able to mitigate these risks and challenges to successfully grow those services or markets. We may not be able to achieve our anticipated growth or successfully execute large and complex projects, which could materially adversely affect our revenue, results of operations, business and prospects. As our company grows, and we are required to add more employees and infrastructure to support our growth, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain our corporate culture. If we fail to maintain a culture that fosters career development, innovation, creativity and teamwork, we could experience difficulty in hiring and retaining the trained professionals. Failure to manage growth effectively could have a material adverse effect on the quality of the execution of our engagements, our ability to attract and retain the trained professionals and our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be unable to maintain adequate resource utilization rates and productivity levels, which may adversely impact our profitability.

Our profitability and the cost of providing our services are affected by our utilization rates of our employees in our delivery locations. If we are not able to maintain appropriate utilization rates for our employees involved in delivery of our services, our profit margin and our profitability may suffer. Our revenue could also suffer if we misjudge demand patterns and do not recruit sufficient employees to satisfy demand. Employee shortages could prevent us from completing our contractual commitments in a timely manner and cause us to lose contracts or clients.

We are dependent on members of our senior management team and other key employees.

Our future success heavily depends upon the continued services of our senior management team, particularly Mr. Sudhir Appukuttan Panikassery, our Chief Executive Officer, and other key employees. We currently do not maintain key man life insurance for any of the members of our senior management team or other key employees. We have employment agreements and consultancy contracts with our key employees. If one or more of our senior executives or key employees are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, it could disrupt our business operations, and we may not be able to replace them easily, on a timely basis or at all. In addition, competition for senior executives and key employees in our industry is intense, and we may be unable to retain our senior executives and key employees, in which case our business may be severely disrupted. If any of our senior management team or key employees joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose clients, suppliers, know-how and information technology professionals and staff members to them. Any non-competition, non-solicitation or non-disclosure agreements we have with our senior executives or key employees might not provide effective protection to us in light of legal uncertainties associated with the enforceability of such agreements.

Most members of our management team have limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors, and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition to being a public company that is subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the continuous scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents require significant attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may fail to attract, hire, train and retain sufficient numbers of skilled employees in a timely fashion at our sites to support our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business relies on large numbers of trained and skilled employees at our sites, and our success depends to a significant extent on our ability to attract, hire, train and retain skilled employees. The outsourcing industry as well as the technology industry generally experience high employee turnover. Increased competition for skilled employees, in our industry or otherwise, particularly in tight labor markets, could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, a significant increase in the turnover rate among trained employees could increase our costs and decrease our operating profit margins and could have an adverse effect on our ability to complete existing contracts in a timely manner, meet client objectives and expand our business.

Our failure to attract, train and retain personnel with the experience and skills necessary to fulfil the needs of our existing and future clients or to assimilate new employees successfully into our operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In particular, competition for qualified employees, particularly in the United States, India and Mexico, remains high and we expect such competition to continue. In many locations in which we operate, there is a limited pool of employees who have the skills and training needed to do our work. If our business continues to grow, the number of people we will need to hire will increase. Significant competition for employees could have an adverse effect on our ability to expand our business and service our clients, as well as cause us to incur greater personnel expenses and training costs.

Our failure to detect and deter criminal or fraudulent activities or other misconduct by our employees could result in loss of trust from our clients and negative publicity, which would have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Because we have access to our clients’ sensitive and confidential information in the ordinary course of our business, our employees could engage in criminal, fraudulent or other conduct prohibited by applicable law, client contracts or internal policy. The remote work environment implemented in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our inability to maintain access controls on physical space has reduced our ability to monitor employee conduct and has elevated the risk of our employees engaging in such conduct undetected by us. Although we terminate employees when our investigations establish misconduct and have implemented measures designed to identify and deter such misconduct, such as fraud prevention training, there can be no assurance that such measures will prevent or detect further employee misconduct. If our employees use their access to our and our clients’ systems as a conduit for criminal activity or other misconduct, our clients and their customers may not consider our services and solutions safe and trustworthy, and we could receive negative press coverage or other public attention as a result. Such loss of trust and negative publicity could cause our existing clients to terminate or reduce the scope of their dealings with us and harm our ability to attract new clients, which would have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Further, we may be subject to claims of liability by our clients or their customers based on the misconduct or malfeasance of our employees, and our insurance policies may not cover all potential claims to which we are exposed or indemnify us for all liability.

Our business is heavily dependent upon our international operations, particularly in India and Mexico, and any disruption to those operations would adversely affect us.

Our business and future growth depend largely on continued demand for our services performed in India and Mexico. Various factors, such as changes in the central or state governments, could trigger significant changes in India’s economic liberalization and deregulation policies and disrupt business and economic conditions in India generally and our business in particular. Our business and our international operations may also be affected by actual or threatened trade war or tariffs or other trade controls. If we are unable to continue to leverage the skills and experience of our international workforce, particularly in India and Mexico, we may be unable to provide our solutions at an attractive price and our business could be materially and negatively impacted.

We have identified conditions and events that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

We have reported a net loss for the nine and three months ended December 31, 2023, The shareholders’ equity as at December 31, 2023 also has a deficit of $43 million. These factors may raise a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for at least 12 months from the date when these financial statements are available to be filed with the SEC. As at December 31, 2023 we had a balance of $6.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and also generated positive cash flows for the nine months ended December 31, 2023.We have historically financed our operations and expansions with cash generated from operations, a revolving credit facility from Kotak Mahindra Bank, and loans from related parties. We expect to have sufficient cash from the operations, cash reserves and debt capacity for the next 12 months and for the foreseeable future to finance our operations, growth and expansion plans. On account of this, the condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q have been prepared on a going concern basis. We may require additional financing to maintain our business and strategy. If we are unable to continue as a going concern, we may liquidate our assets and may receive less than the value at which those assets are carried on our audited financial statements, and it is likely that investors will lose all or a part of their investment. It is possible that future SEC reports we may file may contain statements expressing doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains uncertainty about our ability to continue as a going concern, investors or other financing sources may be unwilling to provide funding to us on commercially favorable terms, if at all.

We have significant fixed costs related to lease facilities.

We have made and continue to make significant contractual commitments related to our leased facilities. These expenses will have a significant impact on our fixed costs, and if we are unable to grow our business and revenue proportionately, our operating results may be negatively affected.

Our sites operate on leasehold property, and our inability to renew our leases on commercially acceptable terms or at all may adversely affect our results of operations.

Our sites operate on leasehold property. Our leases are subject to renewal and we may be unable to renew such leases on commercially acceptable terms or at all, which may have an adverse impact on our operations. In addition, in the event of non-renewal of our leases, we may be unable to locate suitable replacement properties for our sites or we may experience delays in relocation that could lead to a disruption in our operations.

Our business is dependent on key clients, and the loss of a key client could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We derive a substantial portion of our revenue from a small number of key clients who generally retain us across multiple service offerings. Our top five clients accounted for 57% and 64% of our revenue for the year ended March 31, 2022 and the nine months ended December 31, 2022, respectively, and 64% and 52% of our revenue for the year ended March 31, 2023 and the nine months ended December 31, 2023, respectively. The loss of all or a portion of our business with, or the failure to retain a significant amount of business with, any of our key clients could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our ability to maintain, increase and collect revenue from our top clients depends in part on the financial condition of those clients. Further, our reliance on any individual client for a significant portion of our revenue may give that client a certain degree of pricing leverage against us when negotiating contracts and terms of service and solutions.

Although we have executed auto-renewal contracts with our clients, they have the right to terminate the same.

Although we have executed auto-renewal service agreements with our clients, the clients may choose to terminate or not renew such agreements. In the event our clients terminate the agreements without cause or not renew the agreement, adequate notice period (ranging from 90 days to 180 days as negotiated) needs to be provided by the client. Additionally, a termination fee component (based on commercial margin) is payable by the clients in the event of such termination without cause or non-renewal.

Our ability to maintain continuing relationships with our major clients and successfully obtain payment for our services and solutions is essential to the growth and profitability of our business.

The consolidation or corporate actions of our clients or potential clients may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our clients may engage in certain corporate actions such as potential mergers, consolidations, divestment, disposal of assets or joint ventures or similar transactions, some of which may be material. Any of these client actions may result into change of ownership of our client and could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Some of our contracts could be unprofitable, which could adversely impact our business.

We perform our services primarily under time-and-materials contracts (where materials costs consist of travel and other indirect expenses). We charge out the services performed by our employees under these contracts at monthly rates that are agreed at the time at which the contract is entered. The rates and other pricing terms negotiated with our clients are highly dependent on our internal forecasts of our operating costs and predictions of increases in those costs influenced by wage inflation and other marketplace factors, as well as the volume of work provided by the client. Our predictions are based on limited data and could turn out to be inaccurate, resulting in contracts that may not be profitable.

In addition to our time-and-materials contracts, we undertake some engagements on a fixed-price basis and also provide managed services in certain cases. Moreover, some of our client contracts do not have minimum volume requirements, and the profitability of each client contract or work order may fluctuate, sometimes significantly, throughout various stages of the program.

If our current insurance coverage is or becomes insufficient to protect against losses incurred, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We provide services and solutions that are integral to our clients’ businesses. If we were to default in the provision of any contractually agreed-upon services or solutions, our clients could suffer significant damages and make claims against us for those damages. Any defects or errors or failure to meet clients’ expectations in the performance of our contracts could result in claims for substantial damages against us. Our contracts generally limit our liability for damages that arise from negligent acts, error, mistakes or omissions in rendering services to our clients. However, we cannot be sure that these contractual provisions will protect us from liability for damages in the event we are sued. In addition, certain liabilities, such as claims of third parties for intellectual property infringement and breaches of data protection and security requirements, for which we may be required to indemnify our clients, could be substantial. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us in amounts greater than those covered by our current insurance policies could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We currently carry cyber and errors and omissions liability coverage in an amount we consider appropriate for all of the services we provide. To the extent client damages are deemed recoverable against us in amounts substantially in excess of our insurance coverage, or if our claims for insurance coverage are denied by our insurance carriers, there could be a material adverse effect on our revenue, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we maintain professional liability insurance, product liability insurance, commercial general and property insurance, business interruption insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, and umbrella insurance for certain of our operations, our insurance coverage does not insure against all risks in our operations or all claims we may receive. Damage claims from clients or third parties brought against us or claims that we initiate due to a data security breach, the disruption of our business, litigation, or natural disasters, may not be covered by our insurance, may exceed the limits of our insurance coverage, and may result in substantial costs and diversion of resources even if insured. Some types of insurance are not available on reasonable terms or at all in some countries in which we operate, and we cannot insure against damage to our reputation. The assertion of one or more large claims against us, whether or not successful and whether or not insured, could materially adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we do not continue to innovate and remain at the forefront of emerging technologies and related market trends, we may lose clients and not remain competitive.

Our success depends on delivering innovative solutions that leverage emerging technologies and emerging market trends to drive increased revenue. Technological advances and innovation are constant in the technology services industry. As a result, we must continue to invest significant resources to stay abreast of technology developments so that we may continue to deliver solutions that our clients will wish to purchase. If we are unable to anticipate technology developments, enhance our existing services or develop and introduce new services to keep pace with such changes and meet changing client needs, we may lose clients and our revenue and results of operations could suffer. Our competitors may be able to offer engineering, design and innovation services that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar or better than those we offer. This may force us to reduce our rates and to expend significant resources in order to remain competitive, which we may be unable to do profitably or at all. Because many of our clients and potential clients regularly contract with other information technology service providers, these competitive pressures may be more acute than in other industries.

In order to offer innovative services, we may incur capital expenditures in product development, technology and communications infrastructure, which may not necessarily maintain our competitiveness.

In order to offer innovative services, we anticipate that it will be necessary to continue to invest in product development, technology and communications infrastructure to ensure reliability and maintain our competitiveness. This is likely to result in capital expenditures for maintenance as well as growth as we continue to grow our business. There can be no assurance that any of our information systems will be adequate to meet the emerging market or the client’s future needs or that we will be able to incorporate new technology to enhance and develop our existing solutions. Moreover, investments in technology, including future investments in upgrades and enhancements to hardware or software, may not necessarily maintain our competitiveness. Our future success will also depend in part on our ability to anticipate and develop information technology solutions that keep pace with evolving industry standards and changing client demands.

Global economic and political conditions could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of changes in the global economy and political environment on us and our clients. The technology services industry is particularly sensitive to the economic environment and tends to decline during general economic downturns. Unfavorable economic conditions would adversely affect the demand for some of our clients’ products and services and therefore could cause a decline in the demand for our services and solutions. Our business growth largely depends on continued demand for our services and solutions from clients in the U.S. and other countries that we may target in the future. In addition, our clients may be particularly susceptible to economic downturns. If the U.S. economy further weakens or slows, or a negative or an uncertain political climate persists, whether due to inflation, interest rates, global conflict, a pandemic, or otherwise, pricing for our services and solutions may be depressed and our clients may reduce or postpone their spending significantly. Lower demand for our services and solutions and price pressure from our clients could negatively affect our revenues and profitability.

Natural events, health pandemics or epidemics and other acts of violence involving any of the countries in which we or our clients have operations could adversely affect our operations.

Natural events (such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes), health pandemics or epidemics, wars, widespread civil unrest, terrorist attacks and other acts of violence, such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia or the Israel-Hamas war, could result in significant disruptions to our business. Such events could adversely affect global economies, worldwide financial markets and our clients’ levels of business activity and could potentially lead to economic recession, which could impact our clients’ purchasing decisions and reduce demand for our services and solutions and, consequently, adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Any disaster or series of disasters, particularly in areas where we have a concentration of sites, such as India or Mexico, could significantly disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Regulation, Legislation and Legal Proceedings

Changes in laws and regulations related to the internet or the internet infrastructure may diminish the demand for our services, and could have a negative impact on our business.

The future success of our business depends upon the continued use of the internet as a primary medium for commerce, communication and business applications. Federal, state or foreign government bodies or agencies have in the past adopted, and may in the future adopt, laws or regulations affecting the use of the internet as a commercial medium. Changes in these laws or regulations could adversely affect the demand for our services or require us to modify our solutions in order to comply with these changes. In addition, government agencies or private organizations may begin to impose taxes, fees or other charges for accessing the internet or commerce conducted via the internet. These laws or charges could limit the growth of internet-related commerce or communications generally, resulting in reductions in the demand for technology services such as ours. In addition, the use of the internet as a business tool could be adversely affected due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased demands of internet activity, security, reliability, cost, ease of use, accessibility, and quality of service. The performance of the internet and its acceptance as a business tool have been adversely affected by “ransomware,” “viruses,” “worms,” “malware,” “phishing attacks,” “data breaches” and similar malicious programs, behavior and events. If the use of the internet is adversely affected by these or any other issues, demand for our services and solutions could suffer.

Changes and uncertainties in the tax system in the countries in which we have operations, could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We conduct business globally and file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions. Our consolidated effective income tax rate could be materially adversely affected by several factors, including: changing tax laws, regulations and treaties, or the interpretation thereof; tax policy initiatives and reforms under consideration; the practices of tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate; and the resolution of issues arising from tax audits or examinations and any related interest or penalties. Such changes may include (but are not limited to) the taxation of operating income, investment income, dividends received or (in the specific context of withholding tax) dividends paid.

Tax authorities may disagree with our historical and future tax positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, or may apply existing rules in an arbitrary or unforeseen manner, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realization of expected benefits.

We conduct business globally and file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions. Consequently, we are subject to tax laws, treaties, and regulations in the countries in which we operate, and these laws and treaties are subject to interpretation. We have taken, and will continue to take, tax positions based on our interpretation of such tax laws. However, tax authorities may disagree with certain tax positions we have taken, which could result in increased tax liabilities. Similarly, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable connection, which assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions. If we are assessed with additional taxes, this may result in a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Contesting tax assessments by applicable taxing authorities may be lengthy and costly and if we were unsuccessful in disputing such assessments, if applicable, the implications could increase our anticipated effective tax rate, where applicable, or result in other liabilities.

Unauthorized or improper disclosure of personal or other sensitive information, or security breaches and incidents, could result in liability and harm our reputation, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our clients provide data and systems that our employees use to provide services to those clients. Internal or external attacks on either our or our clients’ technology infrastructure, data, equipment, or systems could disrupt the normal operations of our and our clients’ businesses. While we believe we take reasonable measures to protect the security of, and against unauthorized or other improper access to, our technology infrastructure, data, equipment, and systems, including with respect to personal and proprietary information, it is possible that our security controls and practices may not prevent unauthorized or other improper access to our infrastructure and underlying personal or proprietary information. In addition, we rely on systems provided by third parties, which may also suffer security breaches or incidents. Any unauthorized access, acquisition, use, or destruction of data we collect, store, process or transmit could expose us to significant liability under our contracts, as well as to regulatory actions, litigation, investigations, remediation obligations, and reputational damage, which could adversely affect our business.

Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. federal and state as well as foreign laws and regulations, including those regarding privacy, data protection and data security, and we or our clients may be subject to regulations related to the handling and transfer of certain types of personal data as well as sensitive and confidential information. Any failure to comply with applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We and our clients are subject to privacy, data protection and data security-related laws and regulations that impose obligations in connection with the collection, use, storage, transfer, dissemination, security, and/or other processing of personal information. Such privacy, data protection and information security-related laws and regulations are rapidly evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among countries and jurisdictions in which we operate, or conflict with other rules.

In the United States, a number of other states have passed comprehensive new privacy laws and other jurisdictions have proposed new laws that would impose privacy and data security obligations. Such proposed legislation, if enacted, may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment of resources in compliance programs, impact strategies and the availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies. The existence of privacy and security laws in different states may make our compliance obligations more complex and costly and may increase the likelihood that we may be subject to enforcement actions or otherwise incur liability for noncompliance. In addition, many countries outside of the United States have enacted comprehensive privacy and data protection laws and other jurisdictions are considering such laws.

Globally, governments and agencies have adopted and could in the future adopt, modify, apply or enforce laws, policies, regulations, and standards covering user privacy and data security. New regulation or legislative actions regarding data privacy and security (together with applicable industry standards) may increase the costs of doing business and could have a material adverse impact on our operations and cash flows. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, marketing, consumer communications and information security in the United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and we cannot determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. Future laws, regulations, standards and other obligations or any changed interpretation of existing laws or regulations could impair our ability to develop and market new services and maintain and grow our client base and increase revenue.

Compliance with U.S. and foreign privacy, data protection and data security laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process and could require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to collect, use and disclose data, or in some cases, impact our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions. If our privacy or data security measures fail to comply with current or future laws, regulations, policies, legal obligations or industry standards, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, fines or other liabilities, as well as negative publicity and a potential loss of business. Any failure or perceived failure (including as a result of deficiencies in our policies, procedures, or measures relating to privacy, data protection, marketing, or client communications) by us to comply with laws, regulations, policies, legal or contractual obligations, industry standards, or regulatory guidance relating to privacy or data security, may result in governmental investigations and enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity, and could cause our clients and partners to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business.

We are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other countries in which we operate, including the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, import and customs laws, trade and economic sanctions laws. Compliance with these laws requires significant resources and non-compliance may result in civil or criminal penalties and other remedial measures.

Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. §201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business. The FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us and our employees and intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper or prohibited payments, or anything else of value, to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. We may also be liable for failing to prevent a person associated with us from committing a bribery offense. We operate in a number of jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential FCPA violations. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted. We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United States, applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons, anti-money laundering laws, import and customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the trade control laws. We may not be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all such applicable laws, which could result in our being subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of such laws by United States or other countries’ authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

From time to time, we have been and may be party to various claims and litigation proceedings, including class actions. Although we are not currently party to any litigation that we consider material, actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from our assessments and estimates.

Even when these claims are not meritorious, defending these claims may divert our management’s attention, and may result in significant expenses. The results of litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments may result in adverse monetary damages, penalties or injunctive relief against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position. Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to compete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future.

We may be subject to liability claims if we breach our contracts and our insurance may be inadequate to cover our losses.

We are subject to numerous obligations in our contracts with our clients. Despite the procedures, systems and internal controls we have implemented to comply with our contracts, we may breach these commitments, whether through a weakness in these procedures, systems and internal controls, negligence or the willful misconduct of an employee or contractor. While we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable. Even if we believe a claim is covered by insurance, insurers may dispute our entitlement to recovery for a variety of potential reasons, which may affect the timing and, if the insurers prevail, the amount of our recovery. Further, our insurance may not cover all claims made against us and defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly and divert management’s attention. In addition, such insurance may not be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms, or at all.

From time to time, some of our employees spend significant amounts of time at our client’s sites, often in foreign jurisdictions, which exposes us to certain risks.

Some of our projects require a portion of the work to be undertaken at our clients’ facilities, which are often located outside of our employees’ country of residence. The ability of our employees to work in locations around the world may depend on their ability to obtain the required visas and work permits, and this process can be lengthy and difficult. Immigration laws are subject to legislative change, as well as to variations in standards of application and enforcement due to political forces, economic conditions and international travel, which may be adversely affected by regional or global circumstances or travel restrictions also affects our employees’ ability to work in foreign jurisdictions. In addition, we may become subject to taxation in jurisdictions where we would not otherwise be so subject as a result of the amount of time that our employees spend in any such jurisdiction in any given year. There can be no assurance that we will successfully monitor and comply with the various local requirements in the jurisdictions where our employees may be located in.

Our business operations and financial condition could be adversely affected by negative publicity about offshore outsourcing or anti-outsourcing legislation in the countries in which our clients operate.

Concerns that offshore outsourcing has resulted in a loss of jobs and sensitive technologies and information to foreign countries have led to negative publicity concerning outsourcing in some countries. Current or prospective clients may elect to perform in-house services that we offer, or may be discouraged from transferring these services to offshore providers. As a result, our ability to compete effectively with competitors that operate primarily out of facilities located inside these countries could be harmed.

It may be difficult for you to enforce any judgment obtained in the United States against us, our directors or executive officers or our affiliates.

Aeries Technology Group Business Accelerators Private Limited is incorporated under the laws of India and many of our directors and executive officers reside outside the United States. A substantial portion of our assets and the assets of many of these persons are also located outside the United States. As a result, you may be unable to effect service of process upon us outside of India or upon such persons outside of India. In addition, you may be unable to enforce against us in courts outside of India, or against such persons outside the jurisdiction of their residence, judgments obtained in courts of the United States, including judgments predicated solely upon the federal securities laws of the United States.

We have been advised by our Indian counsel that the United States and India do not currently have a treaty providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments, other than arbitration awards, in civil and commercial matters. India has reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters with a limited number of jurisdictions, which include, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, UAE and Hong Kong. A judgment from certain specified courts located in a jurisdiction with reciprocity must meet certain requirements of Section 44A of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (“Civil Code”). Therefore, a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any federal or state court in the United States on civil liability, whether or not predicated solely upon the federal securities laws of the United States, would not be enforceable in India. However, Section 44A of the Civil Code is applicable only to monetary decrees not being of the same nature as amounts payable in respect of taxes, other charges of a like nature or of a fine or other penalties.

However, the party in whose favor such final judgment is rendered may bring a new suit in a competent court in India based on a final judgment that has been obtained in the United States. The suit must be brought in India within three years from the date of the judgment in the same manner as any other suit filed to enforce a civil liability in India. It is possible that a court in India may not award damages on the same basis as a foreign court if an action is brought in India.

Furthermore, it is unlikely that an Indian court would enforce a foreign judgment if it viewed the amount of damages awarded as excessive or inconsistent with Indian practice or that would contravene or violate Indian law. A party seeking to enforce a foreign judgment in India is required to obtain approval from the Reserve Bank of India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, to execute such a judgment or to repatriate any amount recovered.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property, Technology Solutions, Software Usage and Cyber Security

Our business relies heavily on owned and third-party technology and computer systems, which subjects us to various uncertainties.

We rely heavily on sophisticated and specialized communications and computer technology coupled with third-party telecommunications and bandwidth providers to provide high-quality and reliable real-time solutions. We also rely on the data services provided by local communication companies in the countries in which we operate. Our operations, therefore, depend on the proper functioning of our and third parties’ equipment and systems, including hardware and software.

Any disruptions in the delivery of our services due to the failure of our systems, hardware or software, whether provided and maintained by third parties or our in-house teams, or due to interruptions in our data services or those of third parties that adversely affect the quality or reliability (or perceived quality or reliability) of our solutions, may result in reduction in revenue. These types of interruptions or failures could also adversely impact our timekeeping, scheduling, and workforce management applications. The occurrence of any such interruption or unplanned investment could materially adversely affect our business, financial positions, operating results and prospects.

Others could claim that we infringe, violate, or misappropriate their intellectual property rights, which may result in substantial costs, diversion of resources and management attention and harm to our reputation.

We may be subject to claims that our services and solutions infringe, misappropriate, or violate the intellectual property rights of third parties. Any such claims, whether or not they have merit or are successful, may result in substantial costs, divert management attention and other resources, harm our reputation and prevent us from offering our solutions to clients. In our contracts, we agree to indemnify our clients for expenses and liabilities resulting from third parties claiming our solutions infringe, misappropriate, or violate their intellectual property rights. In some instances, the amount of these indemnity obligations may be greater than the revenues we receive from the client under the applicable contract. A successful infringement claim against us could materially and adversely affect our business.

We also license software from third parties. Other parties may claim that our use of such licensed software infringes their intellectual property rights. Although we seek to secure indemnification protection from our software vendors to protect us against such claims, it is possible that such vendors may not honor those obligations or that we may have a costly dispute.

If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information in the United States and abroad, our competitive position could be impaired and we may lose valuable assets, experience reduced revenues and incur costly litigation to protect our rights.

We believe that our success is dependent, in part, upon protecting our intellectual property rights and proprietary information, including trade secrets. We rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, contractual restrictions and technical measures to establish and protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information may provide only limited protection and may not now or in the future provide us with a competitive advantage. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy our technology and use information that we regard as proprietary to create products and services that compete with our solutions, which may cause us to lose market share or render us unable to operate our business profitably.

We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and enter into confidentiality agreements with our directors, advisory board members and with the parties with whom we have strategic relationships and business alliances, as well as our clients. We also enter into confidentiality agreements with third parties that receive access to our proprietary or confidential information. No assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to or the distribution of our proprietary information. Further, these agreements will not prevent potential competitors from independently developing technologies that may be substantially equivalent or superior to ours. We may not be successful in defending against any claim by our current or former employees or independent contractors challenging our exclusive rights over the use of works those employees or independent contractors created, or their requesting additional compensation for our use of such works.

While our contracts with our clients provide that we retain the ownership rights to our pre-existing proprietary intellectual property, in some cases we may assign to clients intellectual property rights in and to some aspects of the work product developed specifically for these clients in connection with these projects. If we assign intellectual property rights to clients that may be more broadly useful in our business, that would limit or prevent our ability to use such intellectual property rights in our solutions.

We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, including to protect our trade secrets. Such litigation could be costly, time consuming and distracting to management. Our inability to protect our proprietary technology against unauthorized copying or use, as well as any costly litigation that we may enter into to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights, could make it more expensive for us to do business and adversely affect our operating results by delaying further sales or the implementation of our technologies, impairing the functionality of our solutions, delaying introductions of new features or applications or injuring our reputation.

Our solutions use open source software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or more applicable open source licenses could adversely affect our business, subject us to litigation, and create potential liability.

Some of our solutions use software made available under open source licenses, and we expect to continue to incorporate open source software in our solutions in the future. Open source software is typically freely available, but is licensed under various requirements that bind the licensee. While the use of open source software may reduce development costs and speed up the development process, it may also present certain risks, that may be greater than those associated with the use of third-party commercial software. We cannot guarantee we comply with all obligations under these licenses. Any non-compliance claim by the owner of the copyright could require us to incur significant expenses defending against such allegations, may be subject to the payment of damages, enjoined from further use of the software, require us to comply with conditions of the license (which may include releasing the source code of our proprietary software to third parties without charge), or force us to devote additional resources to re-engineer all or a portion of our solutions to avoid using the open source software. Any of these events could create liability for us, damage our reputation, and have an adverse effect on our revenue, and operations.

We use third-party software, hardware and SaaS technologies from third parties that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or defects in, or failures of, the services or solutions we provide.

We rely on software and hardware from various third parties to deliver our services and solutions, as well as hosted SaaS applications from third parties. If any of these software, hardware or SaaS applications become unavailable due to extended outages, interruptions or because they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms, it could result in delays in the provisioning of our services until equivalent technology is either developed or obtained and integrated, which could increase our expenses or otherwise harm our business. In addition, any errors or defects in or failures of this third-party software, hardware or SaaS applications could result in errors or defects in or failures of our services and solutions, which could harm our business and be costly to correct.

Risks Related to Taxation

We believe that we were a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for our taxable year ending December 31, 2023 and we may be a PFIC in future taxable years, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders.

Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), we will be a PFIC, for any taxable year in which (i) 75% or more of our gross income consists of passive income or (ii) 50% or more of the average quarterly value of our assets consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income. For the purposes of these tests, passive income includes dividends, interest, gains from the sale or exchange of investment property and certain rents and royalties. In addition, for purposes of the above calculations, a non-U.S. corporation that directly or indirectly owns at least 25% by value of the shares of another corporation is treated as holding and receiving directly its proportionate share of assets and income of such corporation. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder (as defined herein), then such U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and additional reporting requirements.

A “U.S. Holder” is a holder that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is a beneficial owner of Class A ordinary shares or redeemable warrants to purchase Class A ordinary shares (“Warrants”) and that is: (1) an individual citizen or resident of the United States; (2) a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that is created or organized (or treated as created or organized) in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; (3) an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or (4) a trust if either (A) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (B) the trust has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations to be treated as a “United States person” as defined in Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code.

On November 6, 2023, WWAC Amalgamation Sub Pte. Ltd., a Singapore private company limited by shares (“Amalgamation Sub”) and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Worldwide Webb Acquisition Corp., a Cayman Islands exempted company (“WWAC”) was amalgamated (the “Amalgamation”) with and into AARK pursuant to that certain Business Combination Agreement, dated March 11, 2023, by and among WWAC, Amalgamation Sub and AARK (as amended, the “Business Combination Agreement”), with AARK as the surviving company in the Amalgamation and, after giving effect to such Amalgamation, AARK becoming a subsidiary of WWAC (collectively with the Amalgamation and other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the “Business Combination”). Due to the nature of our business prior to the Business Combination and the timing of the Business Combination, we believe that we were a PFIC for our taxable year ending December 31, 2023. However, based on the nature of our business after the Business Combination, our financial statements, and our expectations about the nature and amount of our income, assets and activities following the Business Combination, we do not expect to be a PFIC for our taxable year ending December 31, 2024. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year and the determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination applying principles and methodologies that in some circumstances are unclear and subject to varying interpretation. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would likely be unavailable with respect to our Warrants in all cases. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisers regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules. For a more detailed explanation of the tax consequences of PFIC classification to U.S. Holders, see the section of titled “United States Federal Income Tax Considerations for U.S. Holders-Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules” in our registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 20, 2023 (File No. 333-276173) (as amended, the “Registration Statement”).

Risks Related to Finance and Accounting

Our operating results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to various factors.

Our operating results may vary significantly from one quarter to the next and our business may be impacted by factors such as client loss, the timing of new contracts and of new service or solution offerings, termination of existing contracts, variations in the volume of business from clients resulting from changes in our clients’ operations, the business decisions of our clients regarding the use of our solutions, start-up costs, delays or difficulties in expanding our operating sites and infrastructure, delays or difficulties in recruiting, changes to our revenue mix or to our pricing structure or that of our competitors, inaccurate estimates of resources and time required to complete ongoing projects, currency fluctuation and seasonal changes in the operations of our clients. The financial benefit of gaining a new client may not be recognized at the intended time due to delays in the implementation of our solutions or negatively impacted due to an increase in the start-up costs. These factors may cause differences in revenues and income among the various quarters of any financial year, which means that the individual quarters of a year may not be predictive of our financial results in any other period.

Our cash flows and results of operations may be adversely affected if we are unable to collect on billed and unbilled receivables from clients.

Our business depends on our ability to effectively invoice and successfully obtain payment from our clients for the amounts they owe us for the work performed. Despite our evaluation of the financial condition of our clients, actual losses on client receivables could differ from those that we currently anticipate and as a result, we may need to adjust our provisions. Macroeconomic conditions may limit access to the credit markets for our clients, resulting in financial difficulties for them which may result in their insolvency or bankruptcy. During weak economic periods, there is an increased risk that our clients will file for bankruptcy protection, which may harm our revenue, profitability, and results of operations. We also face risk from international clients that file for bankruptcy protection in foreign jurisdictions, particularly given that the application of foreign bankruptcy laws may be more difficult to predict. In addition, we may determine that the cost of pursuing any creditor claim outweighs the recovery potential of such claim. Therefore, we might experience delays in the collection of our client receivables, which would adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. This in turn, could adversely affect our ability to make necessary investments and, therefore, could affect our results of operations.

We track certain operational metrics with internal systems and tools and do not independently verify such metrics. Certain of our operational metrics are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and real or perceived inaccuracies in such metrics may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.

Our internal systems and tools have a number of limitations, and our methodologies for tracking operational metrics may change over time, which could result in unexpected changes to our results and metrics we publicly disclose. If the internal systems and tools we use to track these metrics undercount or overcount performance or contain algorithmic or other technical errors, the data we report may not be accurate.

In addition, some of these metrics are expected to fluctuate significantly from period to period based on timing of one or more client purchase decisions or other factors, which makes it difficult for us to accurately predict such metrics for any future period. Limitations or errors with respect to the data or how we measure it could impact our understanding of certain details of our business, which could affect our long-term strategies. Our operating metrics are not necessarily indicative of the historical performance of our business or the results that may be expected for any future period. If our operating metrics are not accurate representations of our business or if we discover material inaccuracies with respect to these figures, our reputation may be significantly harmed, and our operating and financial results could be adversely affected.

The trading market for our Class A ordinary shares will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts or the content that they publish about us. If our financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our Class A ordinary shares or change their opinion of our Class A ordinary shares, our share price would likely decline.

We have not and may not pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our shares. We currently intend to retain all available funds and future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of the business, and therefore, do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our Class A ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors after considering our business prospects, results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements and availability, debt repayment obligations, capital expenditure needs, contractual restrictions, covenants in the agreements governing current and future indebtedness, industry trends, the provisions of Cayman Islands law affecting the payment of dividends and distributions to shareholders and any other factors or considerations the board of directors deems relevant. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A ordinary shares after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.

Prior to the Business Combination, there was no prior market for our Class A ordinary shares and an active trading market for such securities may not develop or be sustained, which may cause our shares to trade at a discount and make it difficult to sell the shares.

Prior to the Business Combination, there was not a public trading market for our Class A ordinary shares. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in our company will lead to the development of, or sustain, an active trading market or how liquid that market might be. An active public market for our Class A ordinary shares may not develop or be sustained, which would make it difficult for you to sell your Class A ordinary shares at a price that is attractive to you, or at all. The market price of our Class A ordinary shares may decline below the current price.

The price of our Class A ordinary shares and Warrants may be volatile or decline.

The price of our Class A ordinary shares and our Warrants may fluctuate or decline due to a variety of factors, including:

In addition, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of listed companies. Broad market and industry factors may significantly impact the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and Warrants, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market prices of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against that company. Securities litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources from our business. Any of the factors listed above could materially and adversely affect your investment in our securities, and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.

We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our Class A ordinary shares less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, and, if we qualify as a foreign private issuer in the future, we will not be required to provide detailed compensation disclosures or file proxy statements. We cannot predict if investors will find our Class A ordinary shares less attractive if we choose to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Class A ordinary shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A ordinary shares and our Class A ordinary share price may be more volatile.

We may be required to make a cash payment or issue additional Class A ordinary shares in respect of approximately 4 million Class A ordinary shares to the investors with whom we entered into Forward Purchase Agreements in connection with the Closing, which would reduce the amount of cash available to us to fund our operations or dilute the percentage ownership held by the investors.

On and around November 3, 2023 and November 5, 2023, we entered into Forward Purchase Agreements (the “Forward Purchase Agreements”) with certain investors (together, the “FPA holders”), pursuant to which we agreed to make a cash payment in respect of up to approximately 4 million Class A ordinary shares then held by the FPA holders (subject to certain conditions set forth in the Forward Purchase Agreements), at the end of the contract period of one year (the “Maturity Date”). Pursuant to the terms of the Forward Purchase Agreements, each FPA holder further agreed not to redeem any of our Class A ordinary shares owned by it at such time.

If the FPA holders hold some or all of the approximately 4 million Forward Purchase Agreement shares on the Maturity Date, then we will be required to make a cash payment of $2.00 per Forward Purchase Agreement share then held or issue additional Class A ordinary shares to such FPA holders at a price of $2.50 per share. If we are required to make any such payments, the amount of cash on hand to fund our operations would be reduced accordingly, which could adversely affect our ability to make necessary investments, and, therefore, could affect our results of operations. If we are required to issue additional Class A ordinary shares in respect of the Forward Purchase Agreement shares, the ownership percentage held by our investors will be diluted.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq listing rules and, as a result, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. Our shareholders may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.

NewGen Advisors and Consultants DWC-LLC, a company incorporated in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (the “Class V Shareholder”) has voting rights equal to 51% of the total issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and Class V ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value per share (the “Class V ordinary share”) voting together as a class in connection with the appointment or removal of directors. As a result, as long as the Class V ordinary share remains outstanding, we will be a “controlled company” under the Nasdaq listing rules. As a controlled company, we will be exempt from certain corporate governance requirements, including those that would otherwise require our board of directors to have a majority of independent directors and require that we either establish compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees, each comprised entirely of independent directors, or otherwise ensure that the compensation of our executive officers and nominees of directors are determined or recommended to our board of directors by independent members of our board of directors. Although we do not intend to rely on these exemptions following the Closing, if we do determine to rely on one or more of these exemptions in the future, our shareholders will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are not able to remediate the material weakness and otherwise maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the reliability of our financial reporting, investor confidence in us and the value of our Class A ordinary shares could be adversely affected.

As a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and provide a management report on internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.

On December 11, 2023, the Company concluded that it should restate certain of its previously issued carve-out consolidated financial statements of AARK and subsidiaries to correct the misreporting of basic and diluted earnings per share and number of issued and paid-up common stock, resulting from one of the material weaknesses described below.

AARK identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting that are primarily attributable to improper segregation of duties, inadequate processes for timely recording of significant events and material transactions and inadequate design and implementation of information and communication policies and procedures and monitoring activities. In addition, prior to the Business Combination, we identified a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting related to the process of recording accruals.

While management is working to remediate the material weaknesses, there is no assurance that these remediation efforts, when economically feasible and sustainable, will successfully remediate the identified material weaknesses. If we are unable to establish and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the reliability of our financial reporting, investor confidence in us and the value of our Class A ordinary shares could be materially and adversely affected and the Company could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Effective process and controls over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable and timely financial reports and are designed to reasonably detect and prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. For as long as we are a “smaller reporting company” under the U.S. securities laws, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.

Moreover, we do not expect that process and controls over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. The failure of our control systems to prevent error or fraud could materially adversely impact us.

If our operating and financial performance in any given period does not meet any guidance that we provide to the public, the market price of our Class A ordinary shares may decline.

We may, but are not obligated to, provide public guidance on our expected operating and financial results for future periods. Any such guidance will be comprised of forward-looking statements subject to the risks and uncertainties described in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our other public filings and public statements. Our actual results may not always be in line with or exceed any guidance we have provided, especially in times of economic uncertainty. If operating or financial results for a particular period do not meet any guidance we provide or the expectations of investment analysts, or if we reduce our guidance for future periods, the market price of our Class A ordinary shares may decline.

You may be diluted, and the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and other securities may be depressed, by sales of Class A ordinary shares and other securities and the future issuance of Class A ordinary shares, including pursuant to the Exchange Agreements and upon the exercise of the Warrants, as well as any additional Class A ordinary shares issued in connection with our equity incentive plans, acquisitions, the Forward Purchase Agreements or otherwise.

Our Memorandum and Articles of Association authorizes us to issue shares and options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to the shares for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise. Pursuant to the Exchange Agreement by and among the Sole Shareholder, AARK and Aeries (the “AARK Exchange Agreement”) and the Exchange Agreement by and among WWAC, the ESOP trust created for the benefit of grantees of the Management Stock Option Plan 2019, Mr. Sudhir Appukuttan Panikassery, Mr. Ajay Khare and Mr. Unnikrishnan Balakrishnan Nambiar and Aeries (the “Aeries Exchange Agreement,” and together with the AARK Exchange Agreement, the*** “Exchange Agreements***”), from and after the date thereof and prior to April 1, 2024, (i) with respect to the Aeries Shares (as defined therein), up to 20% of the number of Aeries Shares held by such shareholder as of the date thereof (subject to adjustment as described therein) and (ii) with respect to the AARK ordinary shares (as defined therein), up

to 20% of the number of AARK ordinary shares held by such shareholder as of the date thereof (subject to adjustment as described therein), and (y) from and after April 1, 2024, certain Aeries shareholders have the right, subject to the satisfaction of certain exercise conditions set forth therein, to elect to exchange their respective interests in Aeries and AARK for our Class A ordinary shares after Closing, which may dilute the percentage ownership of our shareholders. In addition to Class A ordinary shares that may be issued pursuant to the Exchange Agreements or upon the exercise of the Warrants, we have reserved certain Class A ordinary shares (subject to certain adjustments) for issuance under our 2023 Equity Incentive Plan and may adopt other equity incentive plans in the future. Moreover, we may issue Class A ordinary shares or other equity securities as consideration for our future acquisitions or other transactions. We may also be required to issue additional Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the Forward Purchase Agreements. Any Class A ordinary shares that we issue, including those registered issuable pursuant to the Exchange Agreements, the Warrants, our equity incentive plans, or the Forward Purchase Agreements, may dilute the percentage ownership held by the investors. The Exchange Agreements are conditioned on satisfaction of: (a) approval from the Reserve Bank of India and any other regulatory approvals, if required; and (b) at least two of the following conditions: (i) consolidated twelve month EBITDA of all operating entities in which we have direct or indirect shareholding achieves of at least $6 million; (ii) consolidated twelve month revenue of all entities in which the Company has a direct or indirect shareholding achieves at least $60 million; (iii) minimum trading volume of (26 weeks average volume will be considered as the benchmark) of 60,000 shares; (iv) achievement of a trading price of at least $10.00 for 10 or more trading days in a 20-day period; (v) raising of funding of at least $10 million; or (vi) acquisition of one other business with a value of at least $5 million.

In the future, we may issue additional Class A ordinary shares, or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares, in connection with generating additional capital, future acquisitions, repayment of outstanding indebtedness, or for other reasons. The market price of shares of our Class A ordinary shares could decline as a result of substantial sales of Class A ordinary shares, particularly by our significant shareholders, a large number of Class A ordinary shares becoming available for sale or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell their shares. Pursuant to our registration rights agreement, the shareholders party thereto are entitled to, among other things, certain registration rights, including demand, piggy-back and shelf registration rights. If one or more of these shareholders were to sell a substantial portion of the shares they hold, it could cause the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares to decline.

The Sole Shareholder, certain employees and certain founder shareholders may have interests that conflict with other shareholders and the employees may sell additional shares, or the market perception of such sale may cause the market price of our ordinary shares to decline.

The Sole Shareholder, certain employees and certain founder shareholders have equity ownership in our company, which could give them certain amount of personal wealth. Likewise, we have certain employees whose equity awards are fully vested, and who will be unrestricted in their ability to sell our Class A ordinary shares in the open market following expiration or waiver of any applicable lock-up restrictions, with the exception of the resale of shares held by affiliates under Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). These employees may have an economic interest in their ownership of our shares that conflicts with other shareholders, because they may be motivated to sell their shares to obtain cash rather than investing into the growth of the business and the potential higher price of our Class A ordinary shares in the long-term. The risk that our employees may sell Class A ordinary shares in the open market may be made more acute as we do not anticipate paying dividends for the foreseeable future, meaning open market sales may be our employees’ only means of generating liquidity from their ownership of our securities. As a result, sales of our Class A ordinary shares by our employees in the open market or the perception that such sales could occur may negatively impact the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.

In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of ordinary shares issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding shares. As restrictions on resale end, the market price of our shares could drop significantly if the holders of these restricted shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them.

Your unexpired Warrants may be redeemed prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby significantly diminishing the value of your Warrants.

We will have the ability to redeem outstanding Warrants at any time once they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per Warrant provided that the last reported sales price of the underlying Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the Warrant holders and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the 11,499,991 redeemable Warrants (“Public Warrants”) to purchase Class A ordinary shares that were issued by WWAC as part of the units at a price of $10.00 per unit in its initial public offering, as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the Warrants. Redemption of the outstanding Warrants could force you (i) to exercise your Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your Warrants. As of December 31, 2023, there were 11,499,991 Public Warrants outstanding. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us except under certain circumstances. See the section titled “Description of Shares—Redeemable Warrants—Public Warrants”and“Description of Shares—Redeemable Warrants—Private Placement Warrants” of the Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended, initially filed with the SEC on December 20, 2023 for further information.

In addition, we may redeem your Warrants after they become exercisable for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of the Class A ordinary shares. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the Warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Class A ordinary shares had your Warrants remained outstanding.

We have no obligation to notify holders of the Warrants that the Warrants have become eligible for redemption. However, in the event we elect to redeem the Warrants, it will fix a date for the redemption and, pursuant to the terms of the warrant agreement dated October 19, 2021, by and between WWAC and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent (the “Warrant Agreement”), mail a notice of redemption by first class mail, with postage prepaid, not less than 30 days prior to the redemption date to the registered holders of the warrants. Under the terms of the Warrant Agreement, the warrants may be exercised for cash at any time after notice of redemption has been given by us.

The Warrants may never be in the money, and may expire worthless.

The exercise price of the Warrants is $11.50 per share. If the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares is less than $11.50 per share, we believe holders of the Warrants will be unlikely to exercise the Warrants. It is unlikely Warrant holders will exercise their Warrants unless the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares is in excess of the exercise price. There is no guarantee that the Warrants will be in the money following the time they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, and as such, the Warrants may expire worthless and we may receive no proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants. As a result, we do not expect to be able to rely on proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants to fund our operations, which could adversely affect our ability to make necessary investments and, therefore, could affect our results of operations.

We may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the share price of our securities.

We cannot assure you that the due diligence conducted in relation to AARK and Aeries has identified all material issues or risks associated with Aeries, its business or the industry in which it competes. As a result of these factors, we may incur additional costs and expenses and we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in us reporting losses. Even if our due diligence has identified certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. If any of these risks materialize, this could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and could contribute to negative market perceptions about our securities. Accordingly, our securityholders could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares and warrants. Such securityholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

We have a dual class ordinary share structure that has the effect of concentrating voting control with the Class V Shareholder. The Class V ordinary share has multiple votes per share, and this ownership will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transactions requiring shareholder approval, and that may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares.

We have a dual class ordinary share structure and the Class V Shareholder holds the Class V ordinary share. Such Class V ordinary share has no economic rights, but has voting rights equal to (1) 26.0% of the total issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and Class V ordinary share voting together as a single class (subject to a proportionate reduction in voting power in connection with the exchange by the Sole Shareholder of AARK ordinary shares for Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the AARK Exchange Agreement); provided, however, that such proportionate reduction will not affect the voting rights of the Class V ordinary share in the event of (i) a threatened or actual Hostile Change of Control (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) and/or (ii) the appointment and removal of a director on the our board of directors and (2) in certain circumstances, including the threat of a hostile change of control of ATI, 51% of the total issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and Class V ordinary share voting together as a class. This concentrated control may limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transactions requiring shareholder approval. In addition, this concentrated control may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our shares that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our shareholders. As a result, such concentrated control may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.

If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover the proceeds distributed from the trust account to the public shareholders, and we and our board of directors may be exposed to claims of punitive damages.

If we file a bankruptcy or winding up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance, preference or disposition.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.

The IRS or the Income Tax Department, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, including without limitation, any court, tribunal or other authority, in each case that is competent to impose or adjudicate tax in the Republic of India (the “Indian Taxation Authority”) may disagree regarding the tax treatment of the Business Combination and the other transactions that were undertaken in connection with the Business Combination, which could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.

Neither we nor any of AARK or Aeries intends to or has sought any rulings from the IRS or the Indian Tax Authority regarding the tax consequences of the Business Combination and the other transactions that were undertaken in connection with the Business Combination. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the IRS or Indian Tax Authority will not assert, or that a court of competent jurisdiction will not sustain, a position contrary to the intended tax treatment. Any such determination could subject you to adverse tax consequences that would be different from those described in the proxy statement/prospectus filed in connection with the Business Combination and have a material adverse effect on our business and the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.