RISK FACTORS

         Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, before deciding whether to purchase shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks is realized, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our success depends on maintaining and increasing our sales, which depends on factors we cannot control, including the availability of funding to our customers.

        To date, substantially all of our revenues have been derived from contracts with local governments and their agencies, in particular the police departments of major cities in the United States. To a lesser extent, we also generate revenues from federal agencies, foreign governments and higher education institutions. We believe that the success and growth of our business will continue to depend on our ability to add new police departments and other government agencies as customers of our public safety solution and new universities, corporate campuses and key infrastructure and transportation centers as customers of our security solutions. Many of our target customers have restricted budgets, such that we are forced to compete with programs or solutions that offer an alternative use of the same funds. A number of factors could cause potential customers to delay or refrain from purchasing our solutions or prevent expansion of their use of our solutions, including:

•

decreases or changes in available funding, including budgetary allocations, government grants and other government funding programs;



•

potential delays or changes in appropriations or other funding authorization processes;



•

changes in fiscal or contracting policies; and



•

changes in elected or appointed officials.

        The occurrence of any of the foregoing would impede our ability to maintain or increase the amount of revenues derived from these customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Contracting with government entities can be complex, expensive and time-consuming.

        The procurement process for government entities is in many ways more challenging than contracting in the private sector. We must comply with laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration, performance and pricing of contracts with government entities, including U.S. federal, state and local governmental bodies. These laws and regulations may impose added costs on our business or prolong or complicate our sales efforts, and failure to comply with these laws and regulations or other applicable requirements could lead to claims for damages from our customers, penalties, termination of contracts and other adverse consequences. Any such damages, penalties, disruptions or limitations in our ability to do business with government entities could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

        Government entities often require highly specialized contract terms that may differ from our standard arrangements. For example, if the federal government provides grants to certain state and local governments for our solutions, and such governments do not continue to receive these grants, then these customers have the ability to terminate their contracts with us without penalty. Government entities often impose compliance requirements that are complicated, require preferential pricing or

14

Table of Contents

"most favored nation" terms and conditions, or are otherwise time-consuming and expensive to satisfy. Compliance with these special standards or satisfaction of such requirements could complicate our efforts to obtain business or increase the cost of doing so. Even if we do meet these special standards or requirements, the increased costs associated with providing our solutions to government customers could harm our margins. Additionally, even once we have secured a government contract, the renewal process can be lengthy and as time-consuming as the initial sale, and we may be providing our service for months past the contract expiration date without certainty if the renewal agreement will be signed or not.

        Changes in the underlying regulatory conditions, political landscape or required procurement procedures that affect these types of customers could be introduced prior to the completion of our sales cycle, making it more difficult or costly to finalize a contract with a new customer or expand or renew an existing customer relationship. For example, customers may require a competitive bidding process with extended response deadlines, review or appeal periods, or customer attention may be diverted to other government matters, postponing the consideration of the purchase of our products. Such delays could harm our ability to provide our solutions efficiently and to grow or maintain our customer base.

If we are unable to maintain and expand coverage of our existing public safety customer accounts and further penetrate the public safety market, our revenues may not grow.

        Our ability to increase revenues will depend in large part on our existing public safety solution customers renewing their annual subscriptions and expanding their mileage coverage. Most of our ShotSpotter Flex customers begin using our solution in a limited coverage area. Our experience has been, and we expect will continue to be, that after the initial implementation of our solutions, almost all of our new customers renew their annual subscriptions, and many also choose to expand their coverage area. If our existing customers do not renew their subscriptions, our revenues may decrease. Furthermore, if our existing customers do not choose to expand their coverage areas, our revenues will not grow as we anticipate.

        Our ability to further penetrate the market for our public safety solution depends on several factors, including: maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction and a strong reputation among law enforcement; increasing the awareness of our ShotSpotter Flex solution and its benefits; the effectiveness of our marketing programs; the availability of funding to our customers; and the costs of our ShotSpotter solution. Some potential public safety customers may be reluctant or unwilling to use our solution for a number of reasons, including concerns about additional costs, unwillingness to expose or lack of concern regarding the extent of gun violence in their community, uncertainty regarding the reliability and security of cloud-based offerings or lack of awareness of the benefits of our public safety solution. If we are unsuccessful in expanding the coverage of ShotSpotter Flex by existing customers or adding new ShotSpotter Flex customers, our revenues and growth prospects would suffer.

If we are unable to sell our solutions into new markets, our revenues may not grow.

        Part of our growth strategy depends on our ability to increase sales of our security solutions and add new customers for our public safety solution in markets outside of the United States. Any new market into which we attempt to sell our solutions may not be receptive. Our ability to penetrate new markets depends on the quality of our solutions, the continued acceptance of our public safety solution by law enforcement, the perceived value of our security solutions as a risk management tool and our ability to design our solutions to meet the demands of our customers and users. If the markets for our solutions do not develop as we expect, our revenues may not grow.

        Our ability to successfully face these challenges depends on several factors, including increasing the awareness of our solutions and their benefits; the effectiveness of our marketing programs; the costs of

15

Table of Contents

our solutions; our ability to attract, retain and effectively train sales and marketing personnel; and our ability to develop relationships with communication carriers and other partners. If we are unsuccessful in developing and marketing our solutions into new markets, new markets for our solutions might not develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which would harm our revenues and growth prospects.

Our sales cycle can be lengthy, time-consuming and costly, and our inability to successfully complete sales could harm our business.

        Our sales process involves educating prospective customers and existing customers about the use, technical capabilities and benefits of our solutions. Prospective customers, especially government agencies, often undertake a prolonged evaluation process that may last up to nine months or more and that typically involves comparing the benefits of our solutions to alternative uses of funds. We may spend substantial time, effort and money on our sales and marketing efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales.

        Additionally, events affecting our customers' budgets or missions may occur during the sales cycle that could negatively impact the size or timing of a purchase after we have invested substantial time, effort and resources into a potential sale, contributing to more unpredictability in the growth of our business. If we are unable to succeed in closing sales with new and existing customers, our business, operating results and financial condition will be harmed.

Changes in the availability of federal funding to support local law enforcement efforts could impact our business.

        Many of our customers rely to some extent on funds from the U.S. federal government in order to purchase and pay for our solutions. Any reduction in federal funding for local law enforcement efforts could result in our customers having less access to funds required to continue, renew, expand or pay for our solutions. For example, changes in policies with respect to "sanctuary cities" may result in a reduction in federal funds available to our current or potential customers. If federal funding is reduced or eliminated and our customers cannot find alternative sources of funding to purchase our solutions, our business will be harmed.

If our business does not grow as we expect, or if we fail to manage our growth effectively, our operating results and business prospects would suffer.

        Our ability to successfully grow our business depends on a number of factors including our ability to:

•

accelerate our acquisition of new customers;



•

further sell expansions of coverage areas to our existing customers;



•

expand our international footprint;



•

expand into new vertical markets, such as our security solutions;



•

increase awareness of the benefits that our solutions offer; and



•

maintain our competitive and technology leadership position.

        As usage of our solutions grows, we will need to continue to make investments to develop and implement new or updated solutions, technologies, security features and cloud-based infrastructure operations. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale our internal business systems and our services organization, including the suppliers of our detection equipment and customer support services,

16

Table of Contents

to serve our growing customer base. Any failure of, or delay in, these efforts could impair the performance of our solutions and reduce customer satisfaction.

        Further, our growth could increase quickly and place a strain on our managerial, operational, financial and other resources, and our future operating results depend to a large extent on our ability to successfully manage our anticipated expansion and growth. To manage our growth successfully, we will need to continue to invest in sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative functions and other areas. We are likely to recognize the costs associated with these investments earlier than receiving some of the anticipated benefits, and the return on these investments may be lower, or may develop more slowly, than we expect, which could adversely affect our operating results.

        If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to take advantage of market opportunities or develop new solutions or upgrades to our existing solutions, satisfy customer requirements, maintain the quality and security of our solutions or execute on our business plan, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business is dependent upon our ability to deploy and deliver our solutions, and the failure to meet our customers' expectations could harm our reputation, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

        Promoting and demonstrating the utility of our solutions as useful, reliable and important tools for law enforcement and security personnel is critical to the success of our business. Our ability to secure customer renewals and enter into new customer contracts is dependent on our reputation and our ability to deliver our solutions effectively. We believe that our reputation among police departments using ShotSpotter Flex is particularly important to our success. Our ability to meet customer expectations will depend on a wide range of factors, including:

•

our ability to continue to offer high-quality, innovative and accurate gunshot detection services;



•

our ability to maintain high customer satisfaction;



•

the perceived value and quality of our solutions;



•

our ability to successfully communicate the unique value proposition of our solutions;



•

our ability to provide high-quality customer support;



•

any misuse or perceived misuse of our solutions;



•

interruptions, delays or attacks on our platform; and



•

litigation- or regulation-related developments.

        Furthermore, negative publicity, whether or not justified, relating to events or activities attributed to us, our solutions, our employees, our partners or others associated with any of these parties, may tarnish our reputation. Damage to our reputation may reduce demand for our solutions and would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Moreover, any attempts to rebuild our reputation may be costly and time-consuming, and such efforts may not ultimately be successful.

17

Table of Contents

Real or perceived false positive gunshot alerts or failure or perceived failure to generate alerts for actual gunfire could adversely affect our customers and their operations, damage our brand and reputation and adversely affect our growth prospects and results of operations.

        A false positive alert, in which a non-gunfire incident is reported as gunfire, could result in an unnecessary rapid deployment of police officers and first responders, which may raise unnecessary fear among the occupants of a community or facility, and may be deemed a waste of police and first responder resources. A failure to alert law enforcement or security personnel of actual gunfire could result in a less rapid response by police officers and first responders, increasing the probability of injury or loss of life. Both false positive alerts and the failure to generate alerts of actual gunfire may result in customer dissatisfaction, potential loss of confidence in our solutions, and potential liabilities to customers or other third parties, any of which could harm our reputation and adversely impact our business and operating results. Additionally, the perception of a false positive alert or of a failure to generate an alert, even where our customers understand that our solutions were utilized correctly, could lead to negative publicity or harm the public perception of our solutions, which could harm our reputation and adversely impact our business and operating results.

Economic uncertainties or downturns, or political changes, could limit the availability of funds available to our customers and potential customers, which could materially adversely affect our business.

        Current or future economic uncertainties or downturns could adversely affect our business and operating results. Negative conditions in the general economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, political deadlock, natural catastrophes, warfare and terrorist attacks on the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, could cause a decrease in funds available to our customers and potential customers and negatively affect the rate of growth of our business.

        These economic conditions may make it extremely difficult for our customers and us to forecast and plan future budgetary decisions or business activities accurately, and they could cause our customers to reevaluate their decisions to purchase our solutions, which could delay and lengthen our sales cycles or result in cancellations of planned purchases. Furthermore, during challenging economic times or as a result of political changes, our customers may tighten their budgets and face constraints in gaining timely access to sufficient funding or other credit, which could result in an impairment of their ability to make timely payments to us. In turn, we may be required to increase our allowance for doubtful accounts, which would adversely affect our financial results.

        We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown, instability or recovery, generally or within any particular industry, or the impact of political changes. If the economic conditions of the general economy or industries in which we operate worsen from present levels, or if recent political changes result in less funding being available to purchase our solutions, our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.

We have not been profitable historically and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

        We have posted a net loss in each year since inception, including net losses of $6.2 million, $6.9 million and $1.6 million in the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2016 and the three months ended March 31, 2017, respectively. As of December 31, 2016, we had an accumulated deficit of $87.6 million. While we have experienced stronger revenue growth in recent periods, we are not certain whether or when we will obtain a high enough volume of sales of our solutions to sustain or increase our growth or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We also expect our costs to increase in future periods, which could negatively affect our future operating results if our revenues do

18

Table of Contents

not increase. In particular, we expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on:

•

sales and marketing, including a significant expansion of our sales organization, both domestically and internationally;



•

research and development related to our solutions, including investments in our engineering and technical teams;



•

continued international expansion of our business; and



•

general and administrative expenses, including legal and accounting expenses preparing for and related to being a public company.

        These investments may not result in increased revenues or growth in our business. If we are unable to increase our revenues at a rate sufficient to offset the expected increase in our costs, our business, operating results and financial position may be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability over the long term. Additionally, we may encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If our revenue growth does not meet our expectations in future periods, our financial performance may be harmed, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

We may require additional capital to fund our business and support our growth, and our inability to generate and obtain such capital on acceptable terms, or at all, could harm our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

        We intend to continue to make substantial investments to fund our business and support our growth. In addition, we may require additional funds to respond to business challenges, including the need to develop new features or enhance our solutions, improve our operating infrastructure or acquire or develop complementary businesses and technologies. As a result, in addition to the revenues we generate from our business and the proceeds from this offering, we may need to engage in additional equity or debt financings to provide the funds required for these and other business endeavors. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. We may not be able to obtain such additional financing on terms favorable to us, 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 may be adversely affected. In addition, our inability to generate or obtain the financial resources needed may require us to delay, scale back, or eliminate some or all of our operations, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

New competitors may enter the market for our public safety solution.

        If cities and other government entities increase their efforts to reduce gun violence or our solutions gain visibility in the market, companies could decide to enter into the public safety solution market and thereby increase the competition we face. In addition to other gunshot detection products, we also compete with other technologies and solutions targeting our public safety customers' resources for law enforcement and crime prevention. Because there are several possible uses for these limited budgetary resources, if we are not able to compete successfully for these limited resources, our business may not grow as we expect, which could adversely impact our revenues and operating results.

19

Table of Contents

The competitive landscape for our security solutions is evolving.

        The market for security solutions for university campuses, corporate campuses and transportation and key infrastructure centers includes a number of available options, such as video surveillance and increased human security presence, in addition to indoor gunshot detection companies with which we compete. Because there are several possible uses of funds for campus security needs, we may face increased challenges in demonstrating or distinguishing the benefits of SST SecureCampus and ShotSpotter SiteSecure, our security solutions. If we are unable to demonstrate the benefits of our security solutions, our business may not grow as we expect.

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

        To increase total customers and customer coverage areas and to achieve broader market acceptance of our solutions, we will need to expand our sales and marketing organization and increase our business development resources, including the vertical and geographic distribution of our sales force and our teams of account executives focused on new accounts and responsible for renewal and growth of existing accounts.

        Our business requires that our sales personnel have particular expertise and experience in working with law enforcement agencies, other government organizations and higher education institutions. We may not achieve revenue growth from expanding our sales force if we are unable to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel with appropriate experience, if our new sales personnel are unable to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or if our sales and marketing programs are not effective.

The nature of our business exposes us to inherent liability risks.

        Our solutions, including ShotSpotter Flex, SST SecureCampus and ShotSpotter SiteSecure, are designed to communicate real-time alerts of gunfire incidents to police officers and first responders. Due to the nature of such applications, we are potentially exposed to greater risks of liability for employee acts or omissions or system failures than may be inherent in other businesses. Although substantially all of our customer agreements contain provisions limiting our liability to our customers, we cannot be certain that these limitations will be enforced or that the costs of any litigation related to actual or alleged omissions or failures would not have a material adverse effect on us even if we prevail. Further, certain of our insurance policies and the laws of some states may limit or prohibit insurance coverage for punitive or certain other types of damages or liability arising from gross negligence, and we cannot assure you that we are adequately insured against the risks that we face.

The nature of our business may result in undesirable press coverage or other negative publicity.

        Our solutions are used to assist law enforcement and first responders in the event that gunfire is detected. Even when our solutions work as intended, the incidents detected by our solutions could lead to injury, loss of life and other negative outcomes, and such events are likely to receive negative publicity. If we fail to detect an incident, or if we detect an incident, such as a terrorist attack or active-shooter event, but the response time of law enforcement or first responders is not sufficiently quick to prevent injury, loss of life, property damage or other adverse outcomes, we may receive negative media attention.

        In addition, our solutions require that our customers monitor alerts and respond timely to notifications of gunshots. If our customers do not fully utilize our systems, we may be subject to criticism and unflattering media coverage regarding the effectiveness of our solutions and the cost of our solutions to our customers. Such negative publicity could have an adverse impact on new sales or renewals or expansions of coverage areas by existing customers, which would adversely impact our financial results and future prospects.

20

Table of Contents

Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

        We may in the future experience performance issues due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website or third-party hosting disruptions or capacity constraints due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, natural disasters or security attacks. If our security is compromised, our platform is unavailable or our users are unable to receive our alerts or otherwise communicate with our Incident Review Center, or IRC, within a reasonable amount of time or at all, our business could be negatively affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time.

        Our IRC is located in a single facility. Although the functions of our IRC can be performed remotely, any interruption or delay in service from our IRC, such as from a communications or power outage, could limit our ability deliver our solutions. In addition, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our solutions, especially during peak usage times as the capacity of our IRC operations reaches its limits. If there is an interruption or delay in service from our IRC and a gunshot is detected but not reviewed in the allotted time, our software will send an alert directly to our customers. These automatic notifications, without the benefit of review by our IRC, may be more likely to result in customers receiving a false positive alert, which could cause our customers to divert resources unnecessarily. As a result, we could experience a decline in customer satisfaction with our solutions and our reputation and growth prospects could be harmed.

        We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve the performance of our solutions. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our software could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.

        Because our software is complex, undetected errors, failures or bugs may occur. Our software is often installed and used with different operating systems, system management software, and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors or failures of our software or other aspects of the computing environment into which it is deployed. In addition, deployment of our software into computing environments may expose undetected errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our software. Despite our testing, errors, failures or bugs may not be found in our software until it is released to our customers. Moreover, our customers could incorrectly implement or inadvertently misuse our software, which could result in customer dissatisfaction and adversely impact the perceived utility of our products as well as our brand. Any of these real or perceived errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our software could result in negative publicity, reputational harm, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our software, loss of competitive position or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In any such event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to correct the problem. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions or delays in the use of our solutions, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.

Interruptions or delays in service from our third-party providers could impair our ability to make our solutions available to our customers, resulting in customer dissatisfaction, damage to our reputation, loss of customers, limited growth and reduction in revenue.

        We currently use third-party data center hosting facilities to host certain components of our solutions. Our operations depend, in part, on our third-party providers' abilities to protect these facilities against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or communications failures, cyber

21

Table of Contents

incidents, criminal acts and similar events. In the event that any of our third-party facility arrangements is terminated, or if there is a lapse of service or damage to a facility, we could experience service interruptions in our solutions as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services. Any changes in third-party service levels at our data centers or any errors, defects, disruptions, cyber incidents or other performance problems with our solutions could harm our reputation.

        Any damage to, or failure of, the systems of our third-party providers could result in interruptions to our solutions. Despite precautions taken at our data centers, the occurrence of spikes in usage volume, natural disasters, cyber incidents, acts of terrorism, vandalism or sabotage, closure of a facility without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in the availability of our services. Problems faced by our third-party data center locations, with the network providers with whom they contract, or with the systems by which our communications providers allocate capacity among their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. Interruptions in our services might cause us to issue refunds to customers and subject us to potential liability.

        Further, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for any losses that we may incur in the event of damage or interruption, and therefore the occurrence of any of the foregoing could subject us to liability, cause us to issue credits to customers or cause customers not to renew their subscriptions for our applications, any of which could materially adversely affect our business.

If our security measures or those of our customers or third-party providers are compromised, or if unauthorized access to the data of our customers is otherwise obtained, our solutions may be perceived as not being secure, our customers may be harmed and may curtail or cease their use of our solutions, our reputation may be damaged and we may incur significant liabilities.

        Our operations involve the storage and transmission of gunfire incident data, including date, time, address and GPS coordinates, occurring in our customer's coverage area. Security incidents, whether as a result of third-party action, employee or customer error, technology impairment or failure, malfeasance or criminal activity, could result in unauthorized access to, or loss or unauthorized disclosure of, this gunfire incident data, which could result in litigation, indemnity obligations and other possible liabilities, as well as negative publicity, which could damage our reputation, impair our sales and harm our customers and our business. Cyber incidents and malicious internet-based activity continue to increase generally, and providers of cloud-based services have been targeted. If third parties with whom we work, such as vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or our security policies, such violations may also put our gunfire incident data at risk and could in turn have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, such a violation could expose the locations of our sensors, including those sensors for which we obtained third-party consents that include confidentiality obligations. We may be unable to anticipate or prevent techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems because such techniques change frequently and often are not detected until after an incident has occurred. As we increase our customer base and our brand becomes more widely known and recognized, third parties may increasingly seek to compromise our security controls or gain unauthorized access to customer data or other sensitive information. Further, because of the nature of the services that we provide to our customers, we may be a unique target for attacks.

        While we maintain general liability insurance coverage and coverage for errors or omissions, we cannot assure you that such coverage would be adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims alleging compromise or loss of data, or that such coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or at all.

22

Table of Contents

We rely on the cooperation of customers and third parties to permit us to install our ShotSpotter sensors on their facilities, and failure to obtain these rights could increase our costs or limit the effectiveness of our ShotSpotter Flex solution.

        Our ShotSpotter Flex solution requires us to deploy ShotSpotter sensors in our customer coverage areas, which typically entails the installation of approximately 15 to 20 sensors per square mile. The ShotSpotter sensors are mounted on city facilities and third-party buildings, and occasionally on city or utility-owned light poles, and installing the sensors requires the consent of the property owners, which can be time-consuming to obtain and can delay deployment. Generally, we do not pay a site license fee in order to install our sensors, and our contractual agreements with these facility owners provide them the right to revoke permission to use their facility with notice of generally 60 days.

        To the extent that required consents delay our ability to deploy our solutions or facility owners do not grant permission to use their facilities, revoke previously granted permissions, or require us to pay a site license fee in order to install our sensors, our business may be harmed. If we were required to pay a site license fee in order to install sensors, our deployment expenses would increase, which would impact our gross margins. If we cannot obtain a sufficient number of sensor mounting locations that are appropriately dispersed in a coverage area, the effectiveness of our ShotSpotter Flex solution would be limited, we may need to reduce the coverage area of the solution, or we may not be able to meet our service level requirements, any of which could result in customer dissatisfaction or have a material adverse impact on our reputation, our business and our financial results.

If we fail to offer high-quality customer support, our business and reputation may suffer.

        We offer customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as well as training on best practices, forensic expertise and expert witness services. Providing these services requires that our personnel have specific experience, knowledge and expertise, making it more difficult for us to hire qualified personnel and to scale up our support operations. The importance of high-quality customer support will increase as we expand our business and pursue new customers. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for support services or scale our services if our business grows. Increased customer demand for these services, without corresponding revenue, could increase our costs and harm our operating results. If we do not help our customers use applications within our solutions and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell additional applications to, or to retain, existing customers may suffer and our reputation with existing or potential customers may be harmed.

We rely on wireless carriers to provide access to wireless networks through which our acoustic sensors communicate with our cloud network and with which we provide our notification services to customers, and any interruption of such access would impair our business.

        We rely on wireless carriers, mainly AT&T and Verizon, to provide access to wireless networks for machine-to-machine data transmissions, which are an integral part of our services. Our wireless carriers may suspend wireless service to expand, maintain or improve their networks. Any suspension or other interruption of services would adversely affect our ability to provide our services to our customers and may adversely affect our reputation. In addition, the terms of our agreements with these wireless carriers provide that either party can cancel or terminate the agreement for convenience with 90 days' notice. If one of our wireless carriers were to terminate its agreement with us, we would need to source a different wireless carrier and/or modify our equipment during the notice period in order to minimize disruption in the performance of our solutions. Price increases or termination by our wireless carriers or changes to existing contract terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

23

Table of Contents

Our reliance on wireless carriers will require updates to our technology, and making such updates could result in disruptions in our service or increase our costs of operations.

        The majority of our installed ShotSpotter sensors use third-generation, or 3G, cellular communications and we will continue to deploy 3G enabled sensors in 2017. Certain wireless carriers have advised us that they will discontinue their 3G services in the future and our ShotSpotter sensors will not be able to transmit on these networks. We will have to upgrade the sensors that use 3G cellular communications at no additional cost to our customers prior to the discontinuation of 3G services, the timing of which is uncertain. These sensor replacements will require significant capital expenditures and may also divert management's attention and other important resources away from our customer service and sales efforts for new customers. We are currently developing a ShotSpotter sensor that will use fourth-generation (4G) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology. In the future, we may not be able to successfully implement new technologies or adapt existing technologies to changing market demands. If we are unable to adapt timely to changing technologies, market conditions or customer preferences, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on a limited number of suppliers and contract manufacturers, and our proprietary ShotSpotter sensors are manufactured by a single contract manufacturer.

        We rely on a limited number of suppliers and contract manufacturers. In particular, we use a single manufacturer, with which we have no long-term contract and from which we purchase on a purchase-order basis, to produce our proprietary ShotSpotter sensors. Our reliance on a sole contract manufacturer increases our risks since we do not currently have any alternative or replacement manufacturers, and we do not maintain a high volume of inventory. In the event of an interruption from a contract manufacturer, we may not be able to develop alternate or secondary sources without incurring material additional costs and substantial delays. Furthermore, these risks could materially and adversely affect our business if our contract manufacturer is impacted by a natural disaster or other interruption at a particular location because each of our contract manufacturers produces our products from a single location. Although our contract manufacturer has alternative manufacturing locations, transferring manufacturing to another location may result in significant delays in the availability of our sensors.

        Many of the key components used to manufacture our proprietary ShotSpotter sensors also come from limited or sole sources of supply. Our contract manufacturer generally purchases these components on our behalf, and we do not have any long-term arrangements with our suppliers. We are therefore subject to the risk of shortages and long lead times in the supply of these components and the risk that suppliers discontinue or modify components used in our products. In addition, the lead times associated with certain components are lengthy and preclude rapid changes in quantities and delivery schedules. Developing alternate sources of supply for these components may be time-consuming, difficult, and costly, and we or our suppliers may not be able to source these components on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, which may undermine our ability to fill our orders in a timely manner.

        If we experience significantly increased demand, or if we need to replace an existing supplier or contract manufacturer, we may be unable to supplement or replace such supply or contract manufacturing on terms that are acceptable to us, which may undermine our ability to deliver our products to customers in a timely manner. For example, for our ShotSpotter sensors, it may take a significant amount of time to identify a contract manufacturer that has the capability and resources to build the sensors to our specifications. Identifying suitable suppliers and contract manufacturers is an extensive process that requires us to become satisfied with their quality control, technical capabilities, responsiveness and service, financial stability, regulatory compliance, and labor and other ethical practices. Accordingly, the loss of any key supplier or contract manufacturer could adversely impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

24

Table of Contents

Our solutions use third-party software and services that may be difficult to replace or cause errors or failures of our solutions that could lead to a loss of customers or harm to our reputation and our operating results.

        We license third-party software and depend on services from various third parties for use in our solutions. In the future, such software or services may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Any loss of the right to use any of the software or services could result in decreased functionality of our solutions until equivalent technology is either developed by us or, if available from another provider, is identified, obtained and integrated, which could harm our business. In addition, any errors or defects in or failures of the third-party software or services could result in errors or defects in our solutions or cause our solutions to fail, which could harm our business and be costly to correct. Many of these providers attempt to impose limitations on their liability for such errors, defects or failures, and if enforceable, we may have additional liability to our customers or third-party providers that could harm our reputation and increase our operating costs.

        We will need to maintain our relationships with third-party software and service providers, and obtain from such providers software and services that do not contain any errors or defects. Any failure to do so could adversely impact our ability to deliver effective products to our customers and could harm our operating results.

If we do not or cannot maintain the compatibility of our platform with applications that our customers use, our business could suffer.

        Some of our customers choose to integrate our solutions with certain other systems used by our customers, such as real-time crime center platforms or computer-aided dispatch systems. The functionality and popularity of our solutions depend, in part, on our ability to integrate our solutions these systems. Providers of these systems may change the features of their technologies, restrict our access to their applications or alter the terms governing use of their applications in an adverse manner. Such changes could functionally limit or terminate our ability to use these technologies in conjunction with our solutions, which could negatively impact our customer service and harm our business. If we fail to integrate our solutions with applications that our customers use, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our customers need, and our customers may not renew their agreements, which would negatively impact our ability to generate revenues and adversely impact our business.

Concerns regarding privacy and government-sponsored surveillance may deter customers from purchasing our solutions.

        Private citizens have become increasingly sensitive to real or perceived government or third-party surveillance and may wrongly believe that our outdoor sensors, as acoustic devices installed in urban areas or public facilities, such as universities, allow customers to listen to private conversations and monitor private citizen activity. Our sensors are not designed for "live listening" and are triggered only on loud impulsive sounds that may likely be gunfire. However, perceived privacy concerns may result in negative media coverage and efforts by private citizens to persuade municipalities, educational institutions or other potential customers not to purchase our solutions for their communities, campuses or facilities. If customers choose not to purchase our solutions due to privacy concerns, then the market for our solutions may develop more slowly than we expect, or it may not achieve the growth potential we expect, any of which would adversely affect our business and financial results.

Our future quarterly results of operations may fluctuate significantly due to a wide range of factors, which makes our future results difficult to predict.

        Our revenues and results of operations could vary significantly from quarter to quarter as a result of various factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:

•

the expansion of our customer base;

25

Table of Contents

•

the renewal of subscription agreements with, and expansion of coverage areas by, existing customers;



•

the size, timing and terms of our sales to both existing and new customers;



•

the introduction of products or services that may compete with us for the limited funds available to our customers, and changes in the cost of such products or services;



•

changes in our customers' and potential customers' budgets;



•

our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses;



•

our ability to hire, train and maintain our direct sales force;



•

the timing of satisfying revenue recognition criteria in connection with initial deployment and renewals;



•

fluctuations in our effective tax rate; and



•

general economic and political conditions, both domestically and internationally.

        Any one of these or other factors discussed elsewhere in this prospectus may result in fluctuations in our revenues and operating results, meaning that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our revenues, results of operations and cash flows may not necessarily be indicative of our future performance.

        Because of the fluctuations described above, our ability to forecast revenues is limited and we may not be able to accurately predict our future revenues or results of operations. In addition, we base our current and future expense levels on our operating plans and sales forecasts, and our operating expenses are expected to be relatively fixed in the short term. Accordingly, we may not be able to reduce our costs sufficiently to compensate for an unexpected shortfall in revenues, and even a small shortfall in revenues could disproportionately and adversely affect our financial results for that quarter. The variability and unpredictability of these and other factors could result in our failing to meet or exceed financial expectations for a given period.

Because we generally recognize our subscription revenues ratably over the term of our contract with a customer, fluctuations in sales will not be fully reflected in our operating results until future periods.

        Our revenues are primarily generated from subscriptions to our solutions. With the exception of a small number of legacy customers, our customers do not have the right to take possession of our equipment or software platform. Revenues from subscriptions to our software platform is recognized ratably over the subscription period beginning on the date that the subscription is made available to the customer, which we refer to as the "go-live" date. Revenues from additional fees such as set-up and training is recognized ratably over the estimated customer life beginning on the go-live date. Our agreements with our customers typically range from one to five years. As a result, much of the revenues that we report in each quarter are attributable to agreements entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in sales, customer renewals or market acceptance of our solutions in any one quarter would not necessarily be fully reflected in the revenues in that quarter, and would negatively affect our revenues and profitability in future quarters. This ratable revenue recognition also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenues through additional sales in any period, as revenues from new customers generally are recognized over the applicable agreement term. Our subscription-based approach may result in uneven recognition of revenue.

        We recognize revenues over the term of a subscription agreement. Once we enter into a contract with a customer, there is a delay until we begin recognizing revenues while we survey the coverage areas, obtain any required consents for installation, and install and calibrate our sensors, which together

26

Table of Contents

can take up to several months or more. We begin recognizing revenues from a sale only when all of these steps are complete and the solution is live.

        While most of our customers elect to renew their subscription agreements following the expiration of a term, in some cases, they may not be able to obtain the proper approvals or funding to complete the renewal prior to such expiration. For these customers, we stop recognizing subscription revenues at the end of the current term, even though we may continue to provide services for a period of time while the renewal process is completed. Once the renewal is complete, we then recognize subscription revenues for the period between the expiration of the term of the agreement and the completion of the renewal process.

        Additionally, while we generally invoice for 50% of the contract cost upon a customer's go-live date, our cash flows may be volatile and will not match our revenue recognition.

        The variation in the timeline for deploying our solutions and completing renewals may result in fluctuations in our revenue, which could cause our results to differ from projections.

We are in the process of expanding our international operations, which exposes us to significant risks.

        We currently operate in a single location outside the United States. We are in the process of expanding our international operations to increase our revenues from customers outside of the United States as part of our growth strategy. Operating in international markets requires significant resources and management attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic and political risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. In addition, we will need to invest time and resources in understanding the regulatory framework and political environments of our potential customers overseas in order to focus our sales efforts. Because such regulatory and political considerations are likely to vary across jurisdictions, this effort will require additional time and attention from our sales team and could lead to a sales cycle that is longer than our typical process for sales in the United States. We also may need to hire additional employees and otherwise invest in our international operations in order to reach new customers. Because of our limited experience with international operations as well as developing and managing sales in international markets, our international expansion efforts may not be successful.

        In addition, we face and will continue to face risks in doing business internationally that could adversely affect our business, including:

•

the potential impact of currency exchange fluctuations;



•

the difficulty of staffing and managing international operations and the increased operations, travel, shipping and compliance costs associated with having customers in numerous international locations;



•

potentially greater difficulty collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles;



•

the availability of coverage by wireless carriers in international markets;



•

higher or more variable costs associated with wireless carriers and other service providers;



•

the need to offer customer support in various languages;



•

challenges in understanding and complying with local laws, regulations and customs in foreign jurisdictions;

27

Table of Contents

•

export controls and economic sanctions administered by the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control;



•

compliance with various anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010;



•

tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, such as quotas and local content rules;



•

more limited protection for our intellectual property in some countries;



•

adverse or uncertain tax consequences as a result of international operations;



•

currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit our conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars;



•

restrictions on the transfer of funds;



•

deterioration of political relations between the United States and other countries; and



•

political or social unrest or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate, which could have an adverse impact on our operations in that location.

        Also, we expect that due to costs related to our international expansion efforts and the increased cost of doing business internationally, we will incur higher costs to secure sales to international customers than the comparable costs for domestic customers. As a result, our financial results may fluctuate as we expand our operations and customer base worldwide.

        Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations, and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We are dependent on the continued services and performance of our senior management and other key personnel, the loss of any of whom could adversely affect our business.

        Our future success depends in large part on the continued contributions of our senior management and other key personnel. In particular, the leadership of key management personnel is critical to the successful management of our company, the development of our products, and our strategic direction. We also depend on the contributions of key technical personnel, some of whom are nearing retirement age and in the process of transferring relevant knowledge and expertise to other employees.

        We do not maintain "key person" insurance for any member of our senior management team or any of our other key employees. Our senior management and key personnel are all employed on an at-will basis, which means that they could terminate their employment with us at any time, for any reason and without notice. The loss of any of our key management personnel could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our development and strategic objectives and adversely affect our business.

If we are unable to attract, integrate and retain additional qualified personnel, including top technical talent, our business could be adversely affected.

        Our future success depends in part on our ability to identify, attract, integrate and retain highly skilled technical, managerial, sales and other personnel. We face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous other companies, including other software and technology companies, many of whom have greater financial and other resources than we do. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high-quality candidates than those we have to offer. In addition, new hires often require significant training and, in many cases, take significant time before they achieve full

28

Table of Contents

productivity. We may incur significant costs to attract and retain qualified personnel, including significant expenditures related to salaries and benefits and compensation expenses related to equity awards, and we may lose new employees to our competitors or other companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. Moreover, new employees may not be or become as productive as we expect, as we may face challenges in adequately or appropriately integrating them into our workforce and culture. If we are unable to attract, integrate and retain suitably qualified individuals who are capable of meeting our growing technical, operational and managerial requirements, on a timely basis or at all, our business will be adversely affected.

        Volatility or lack of positive performance in our stock price may also affect our ability to attract and retain our key employees. Many of our senior management personnel and other key employees have become, or will soon become, vested in a substantial amount of stock or stock options. Employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares or the exercise prices of the options, or, conversely, if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly above the market price of our common stock. If we are unable to appropriately incentivize and retain our employees through equity compensation, or if we need to increase our compensation expenses in order to appropriately incentivize and retain our employees, our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.

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

        State, local and foreign jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales, use, value added and other taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time, particularly with respect to software-as-a-service products like our solutions. Further, these jurisdictions' rules regarding tax nexus are complex and vary significantly. If one or more jurisdictions were to assert that we have failed to collect taxes for sales of our solutions, we could face the possibility of tax assessments and audits. A successful assertion that we should be collecting additional sales, use, value added or other taxes in those jurisdictions where we have not historically done so and do not accrue for such taxes could result in substantial tax liabilities and related penalties for past sales or otherwise harm our business and operating results.

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

        As of December 31, 2016, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of $75.7 million and $54.5 million, respectively, due to prior period losses, which expire in various years beginning in 2017 if not utilized. In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an "ownership change" is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs to offset future taxable income. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change. There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of NOLs, or other unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. Additionally, state NOLs generated in one state cannot be used to offset income generated in another state. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs, whether or not we attain profitability.

We may be subject to litigation for a variety of claims, which could adversely affect our results of operations, harm our reputation or otherwise negatively impact our business.

        We may be subject to litigation for a variety of claims arising from our normal business activities. These may include claims, suits, and proceedings involving labor and employment, wage and hour, commercial and other matters. The outcome of any litigation, regardless of its merits, is inherently

29

Table of Contents

uncertain. Any claims and lawsuits, and the disposition of such claims and lawsuits, could be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, divert management attention and resources, and lead to attempts on the part of other parties to pursue similar claims. Any adverse determination related to litigation could adversely affect our results of operations, harm our reputation or otherwise negatively impact our business. In addition, depending on the nature and timing of any such dispute, a resolution of a legal matter could materially affect our future operating results, our cash flows or both.

Natural or man-made disasters and other similar events may significantly disrupt our business, and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

        Any of our facilities may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, nuclear disasters, acts of terrorism or other criminal activities, infectious disease outbreaks, and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to operate our business for some period of time. For example, our IRC and a data center that hosts some of our customer services are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. Our facilities would likely be costly to repair or replace, and any such efforts would likely require substantial time. Any disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business and operating results, and harm our reputation. In addition, we may not carry business insurance or may not carry sufficient business insurance to compensate for losses that may occur. Any such losses or damages could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the facilities of significant vendors, including the manufacturer of our proprietary acoustic sensor, may be harmed or rendered inoperable by such natural or man-made disasters, which may cause disruptions, difficulties or material adverse effects on our business.

Changes in financial accounting standards may cause adverse and unexpected revenue fluctuations and impact our reported results of operations.

        A change in accounting standards or practices could harm our operating results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective. New accounting pronouncements and varying interpretations of accounting pronouncements have occurred and may occur in the future. Changes to existing rules or the questioning of current practices may harm our operating results or the way we conduct our business.

Proposed legislation that would ease restrictions on the purchase of suppressors could impact our business.

        Legislation known as the Hearing Protection Act, or the HPA, was recently introduced in the U.S. Congress. If adopted, the HPA would ease restrictions on the sale of suppressors designed to reduce the noise related to gunshots and ultimately could lead to increased use of gun suppressors in urban gun crime. While we believe that our technology would capture gunshots fired with a suppressor in some cases, widespread use of suppressors could impact the effectiveness of our solutions or require us to make potentially costly modifications to our technology, either of which could have an adverse impact on our business.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

Failure to protect our intellectual property rights could adversely affect our business.

        Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect proprietary methods and technologies that we develop or license under patent and other intellectual property laws of the United States, so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information. If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our competitors might gain access to our technology and our business might be adversely affected. However, defending our intellectual property rights might entail significant expenses. Any of our patent rights, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property

30

Table of Contents

rights may be challenged by others, weakened or invalidated through administrative process or litigation.

        As of March 31, 2017, we had 30 U.S. patents directed to our technologies, as well as one granted patent in Israel. We have patent applications pending for examination in the United States, Europe, Mexico and Brazil, but we cannot guarantee that these patent applications will be granted. We also license three other U.S. patents from one or more third parties. The patents that we own or those that we license from others (including those that may be issued in the future) may not provide us with any competitive advantages or may be challenged by third parties.

        Additionally, the process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Even if issued, there can be no assurance that these patents will adequately protect our intellectual property, as the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of patent and other intellectual property rights are uncertain.

        Any patents that are issued may subsequently be invalidated or otherwise limited, allowing other companies to develop offerings that compete with ours, which could adversely affect our competitive business position, business prospects and financial condition. In addition, issuance of a patent does not guarantee that we have a right to practice the patented invention. Patent applications in the United States are typically not published until 18 months after their earliest priority date or, in some cases, not at all, and publications of discoveries in industry-related literature lag behind actual discoveries. We cannot be certain that third parties do not have blocking patents that could be used to prevent us from marketing or practicing our software or technology.

        Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available to us in every country in which our software is available. The laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States (in particular, some foreign jurisdictions do not permit patent protection for software), and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be inadequate. Additional uncertainty may result from changes to intellectual property legislation enacted in the United States, including the recent America Invents Act, or to the laws of other countries and from interpretations of the intellectual property laws of the United States and other countries by applicable courts and agencies. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property.

        We rely in part on trade secrets, proprietary know-how and other confidential information to maintain our competitive position. Although we endeavor to enter into non-disclosure agreements with our employees, licensees and others who may have access to this information, we cannot assure you that these agreements or other steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use, disclosure or reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, third parties may independently develop technologies or products that compete with ours, and we may be unable to prevent this competition.

        We might be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. We may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of our proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our proprietary rights. Litigation also puts our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Additionally, we may provoke third parties to assert counterclaims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially viable. Any litigation, whether or not resolved in our favor, could result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, which may adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

31

Table of Contents

We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims by third parties, which are extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies.

        Companies in the software and technology industries, including some of our current and potential competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. The litigation may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners that have no relevant product revenues and against which our patents may therefore provide little or no deterrence. We may have previously received, and may in the future receive, notices that claim we have misappropriated, misused, or infringed other parties' intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we gain greater market visibility, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.

        There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued or pending patents that cover significant aspects of our technologies or business methods. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be very time-consuming, could be expensive to settle or litigate and could divert our management's attention and other resources. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed patents or copyrights. These claims could also result in our having to stop using technology found to be in violation of a third party's rights. We might be required to seek a license for the intellectual property, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all. Even if a license were available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our operating expenses. As a result, we may be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our software and may be unable to compete effectively. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, or if we infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, our business may be harmed.

        Our success depends in part on intellectual property rights to the services that we develop. We rely on a combination of contractual and intellectual property rights, including non-disclosure agreements, patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks, to establish and protect our intellectual property rights in our names, services, innovations, methodologies and related technologies. If we lose intellectual property protection or the ability to secure intellectual property protection on any of our names, confidential information or technology, this could harm our business. Our intellectual property rights may not prevent competitors from independently developing services and methodologies similar to ours, and the steps we take might be inadequate to deter infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property by competitors, former employees or other third parties, any of which could harm our business. We have registered patents and pending patent applications directed to our technology. We have registered trademarks in the United States that have various expiration dates unless renewed through customary processes. Our registered patents and/or trademark registrations may be unenforceable or ineffective in protecting our intellectual property. Most of our patents and pending patent applications have been filed only in the United States and are therefore not enforceable in countries outside of the United States. Our trademarks may be unenforceable in countries outside of the United States, which may adversely affect our ability to build our brand outside of the United States.

        Although we are not presently aware that our conduct of our business infringes on the intellectual property rights of others, third parties may nevertheless assert infringement claims against us in the

32

Table of Contents

future. We may be required to modify our products, services, internal systems or technologies, or obtain a license to permit our continued use of those rights. We may be unable to do so in a timely manner, or upon reasonable terms and conditions, which could harm our business. In addition, future litigation over these matters could result in substantial costs and resource diversion. Adverse determinations in any litigation or proceedings of this type could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties and could prevent us from using some of our services, internal systems or technologies.

Our use of open source software could subject us to possible litigation.

        A portion of our technologies incorporates open source software, and we expect to continue to incorporate open source software into our platform in the future. Few of the licenses applicable to open source software have been interpreted by courts, and their application to the open source software integrated into our proprietary technology platform may be uncertain. If we fail to comply with these licenses, then pursuant to the terms of these licenses, we may be subject to certain requirements, including requirements that we make available the source code for our software that incorporates the open source software. We cannot assure you that we have not incorporated open source software in our software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable licenses or our current policies and procedures. If an author or other third party that distributes such open source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our technology platform.

Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

There has been no prior market for our common stock. An active market may not develop or be sustainable and investors may not be able to resell their shares of common stock at or above the initial public offering price.

        There has been no public market for our common stock prior to this offering. The initial public offering price for our common stock will be determined through negotiations between the underwriters and us and may vary from the market price of our common stock following the completion of this offering. If you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you may not be able to resell those shares at or above the initial public offering price. An active or liquid market in our common stock may not develop upon completion of this offering or, if it does develop, it may not be sustainable.

Our stock price may be volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, resulting in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering.

        The initial public offering price for the shares of our common stock sold in this offering will be determined by negotiation between the representatives of the underwriters and us. This price may not reflect the market price of our common stock following the completion of this offering. In addition, we expect the market price of our common stock may be volatile for the foreseeable future. The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the factors listed below and other factors described in this "Risk Factors" section:

•

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results;



•

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections;

33

Table of Contents

•

failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;



•

ratings changes by any securities analysts who follow our company;



•

changes in the availability of federal funding to support local law enforcement efforts, or local budgets;



•

announcements by us of significant technical innovations, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;



•

changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other software companies generally;



•

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole;



•

changes in our board of directors or management;



•

sales of large blocks of our common stock, including sales by our executive officers, directors and significant stockholders;



•

lawsuits threatened or filed against us;



•

short sales, hedging and other derivative transactions involving our capital stock;



•

general economic conditions in the United States and abroad; and



•

other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events.

        In addition, stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many software companies. Stock prices of many software companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, stockholders have instituted securities action litigation following periods of market volatility. If we were to become involved in securities litigation, it could subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

Substantial future sales of shares of our common stock could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

        Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market following the completion of this offering, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

        All of our executive officers, senior management and directors and substantially all of the holders of all of our capital stock are subject to lock-up agreements that restrict the stockholders' ability to transfer shares of our capital stock for 180 days from the date of this prospectus. Subject to certain exceptions, the lock-up agreements limit the number of shares of capital stock that may be sold immediately following this initial public offering. Subject to certain limitations, approximately            shares of common stock,             shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options and

34

Table of Contents

warrants, and            shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of outstanding preferred stock will become eligible for sale upon expiration of the 180-day lock-up period. The underwriters of this offering may, in their sole discretion, permit our stockholders who are subject to these lock-up agreements to sell shares of common stock prior to the expiration of the lock-up agreements.

Purchasers in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of their investment.

        The initial public offering price of our common stock will be substantially higher than the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock outstanding immediately following the completion of this offering. Therefore, if you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, you will experience immediate dilution of $            per share, the difference between the price per share you pay for our common stock and its pro forma net tangible book value per share as of March 31, 2017, after giving effect to the issuance of shares of our common stock in this offering. This dilution is due in large part to the fact that our earlier investors paid substantially less than the initial public offering price when they purchased their shares of common stock.

        In addition, we have issued options and warrants to acquire common stock at prices significantly below the initial public offering price. To the extent outstanding options and warrants are ultimately exercised, there will be further dilution to investors purchasing our common stock in this offering. In addition, if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares from us or if we issue additional equity securities, you will experience additional dilution.

If we are not able to comply with the applicable continued listing requirements or standards of the NASDAQ Capital Market, NASDAQ could delist our common stock.

        In conjunction with this offering we have applied to list our common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market. In order to maintain that listing, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders' equity, minimum share price, and certain corporate governance requirements. There can be no assurances that we will be able to comply with the applicable listing standards.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

        The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares of common stock or change their opinion of our shares of common stock, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

We may invest or spend the proceeds of this offering in ways with which you may not agree or in ways that may not yield a return.

        We currently intend to use the net proceeds to us from this offering primarily for working capital and general corporate purposes, including sales and marketing activities, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to repay all or a portion of the outstanding principal and interest under our debt facility. In addition, we may use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering for the acquisition of, or strategic investment in, technologies, solutions or businesses that complement our business, although we have no present

35

Table of Contents

commitments or agreements to enter into any such acquisition or investment. Our management will have considerable discretion in the application of the net proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. The net proceeds may be used for purposes that do not increase the value of our business, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

We are an "emerging growth company" and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

        We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not "emerging growth companies" including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We will remain an "emerging growth company" for up to five years, although we will cease to be an "emerging growth company" upon the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering, (ii) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenues are $1 billion or more, (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous rolling three-year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt securities or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a "large accelerated filer" as defined in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive or our company less comparable to certain other public companies because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will incur substantial increased costs as a result of being a public company.

        As a public company, we will incur significant levels of legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of the NASDAQ Capital Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and operating results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management's attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. Although we have already hired additional corporate employees to comply with these requirements, we may need to hire more corporate employees in the future or engage outside consultants, which would increase our costs and expenses.

        In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and

36

Table of Contents

administrative expenses and a diversion of management's time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be adversely affected.

        We also expect that being a public company and these new rules and regulations will make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.

        As a result of disclosure of information in this prospectus and in the filings that we will be required to make as a public company, our business, operating results and financial condition will become more visible, which may result in threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If any such claims are successful, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.

        We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the development of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.

Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.

        Following this offering, our directors, executive officers and holders of more than 5% of our common stock, all of whom are represented on our board of directors, together with their affiliates will beneficially own        % of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, these stockholders will, immediately following this offering, be able to determine the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. This ownership could affect the value of your shares of common stock by, for example, these stockholders electing to delay, defer or prevent a change in corporate control, merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination. This concentration of ownership may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.

        Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as will be amended and restated upon completion of this offering, may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws will include provisions that:

•

establish a classified board of directors so that not all members of our board of directors are elected at one time;

37

Table of Contents

•

permit the board of directors to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly-created directorships;



•

provide that directors may only be removed for cause;



•

require super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws;



•

authorize the issuance of "blank check" preferred stock that our board of directors could use to implement a stockholder rights plan;



•

eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;



•

prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;



•

provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws; and



•

establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.

        In addition, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits stockholders owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock from merging or otherwise combining with us for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became a 15% stockholder without the consent of our board of directors. These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management, and otherwise discourage management takeover attempts.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

        Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as will be in effect upon the completion of this offering, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or (4) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will further provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provision. The forum selection clause in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may limit our stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

38

Table of Contents