RISK FACTORS

An investment in our in our common shares involves a high degree of risk. The risks described below include all material risks to our company or to investors in this offering that are known to our company. You should carefully consider such risks before participating in this offering. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed. As a result, the trading price of our common shares could decline, and you might lose all or part of your investment. When determining whether to buy our common shares, you should also refer to the other information in this prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Risks Relating To Our Business

In addition to the other information in this prospectus, you should carefully consider the following factors in evaluating us and our business. This prospectus contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below, as well as those discussed elsewhere in this prospectus, including the documents incorporated by reference.

In addition to risks which could apply to any company or business, you should also consider the business we are in and the following:

We have made a number of acquisitions in the past and we may make acquisitions in the future. Our ability to identify complementary assets, products or businesses for acquisition and successfully integrate them could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

In 2020, we acquired 101 Invest and entered into a definitive merger agreement with Rainmaker Worldwide Inc. ("Rainmaker"). On February 12, 2021, the Rainmaker Merger Agreement was terminated as the Company was unable to obtain all necessary regulatory approvals relating to the proposed transaction prior to the agreed upon date of January 31, 2021. No break-fee or termination costs were paid by either party.

In the future, we may continue to pursue acquisitions of assets, products or businesses that we believe are complementary to our existing business and/or to enhance our market position or expand our product portfolio. There is a risk that we will not be able to identify suitable acquisition candidates available for sale at reasonable prices, complete any acquisition, or successfully integrate any acquired product or business into our operations. We are likely to face competition for acquisition candidates from other parties including those that have substantially greater available resources. Acquisitions may involve a number of other risks, including:

The operation and management of recent acquisitions, or any of our future acquisitions, may adversely affect our existing income and operations or we may not be able to effectively manage any growth resulting from these transactions. Our success will depend, in part, on the extent to which we are able to merge these functions, eliminate the unnecessary duplication of other functions and otherwise integrate these companies (and any additional businesses with which we may combine in the future) into a cohesive, efficient enterprise. This integration process may entail significant costs and delays. Our failure to integrate the operations of these companies successfully could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. To the extent that any acquisition results in additional goodwill, it will reduce our tangible net worth, which might adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as our credit capacity.

The extent to which the coronavirus ("COVID-19") outbreak and measures taken in response thereto impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Global health concerns relating to the coronavirus outbreak have been weighing on the macroeconomic environment, and the outbreak has significantly increased economic uncertainty. Risks related to consumers and businesses lowering or changing spending, which impact domestic and international spend. The outbreak has resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain the virus, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place orders, and business shutdowns. These measures have not only negatively impacted consumer spending and business spending habits, they have also adversely impacted and may further impact our workforce and operations and the operations of our customers, suppliers and business partners. These measures may remain in place for a significant period of time and they are likely to continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The spread of the coronavirus has caused us to modify our business practices (including employee travel, employee work locations, and cancellation of physical participation in meetings, events and conferences), and we may take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers and business partners. There is no certainty that such measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by the virus or otherwise be satisfactory to government authorities.

The extent to which the coronavirus outbreak impacts our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. Even after the coronavirus outbreak has subsided, we may continue to experience materially adverse impacts to our business as a result of its global economic impact, including any recession that has occurred or may occur in the future.

There are no comparable recent events which may provide guidance as to the effect of the spread of the coronavirus and a global pandemic, and, as a result, the ultimate impact of the coronavirus outbreak or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of the impacts on our business, our operations or the global economy as a whole. However, the effects could have a material impact on our results of operations, and we will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation closely.

Our cash and other sources of liquidity may not be sufficient to fund our operations beyond June 30, 2021. We may not be successful in raising additional capital necessary to meet expected increases in working capital needs. If we raise additional funding through sales of equity or equity-based securities, your shares will be diluted. If we need additional funding for operations and we are unable to raise it, we may be forced to liquidate assets and/or curtail or cease operations or seek bankruptcy protection or be subject to an involuntary bankruptcy petition.

Management has projected that cash on hand may not be sufficient to allow the Company to continue operations beyond June 30, 2021 if we are unable to raise additional funding for operations. We expect our working capital needs to increase in the future as we continue to expand and enhance our operations. Our ability to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings or other sources may depend on the financial success of our current business and successful implementation of our key strategic initiatives, financial, economic and market conditions and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. No assurance can be given that we will be successful in raising the required capital at reasonable cost and at the required times, or at all. Further equity financings may have a dilutive effect on shareholders and any debt financing, if available, may require restrictions to be placed on our future financing and operating activities. If we require additional capital and are unsuccessful in raising that capital, we may not be able to continue our business operations and advance our growth initiatives, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Significant changes from our current forecasts, including but not limited to: (i) failure to comply with the financial covenants in its debt facilities; (ii) shortfalls from projected sales levels; (iii) unexpected increases in product costs; (iv) increases in operating costs; (v) changes in the historical timing of collecting accounts receivable; and (vi) inability to maintain compliance with the requirements of Nasdaq and/or inability to maintain listing with Nasdaq could have a material adverse impact on our ability to access the level of funding necessary to continue our operations at current levels. If any of these events occurs or we are unable to generate sufficient cash from operations or financing sources, we may be forced to liquidate assets where possible and/or curtail, suspend or cease planned programs or operations generally or seek bankruptcy protection or be subject to an involuntary bankruptcy petition, any of, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and liquidity.

If we raise additional funds by selling additional shares of our capital stock, or securities convertible into shares of our capital stock, the ownership interest of our existing shareholders will be diluted. The amount of dilution could be increased by the issuance of warrants or securities with other dilutive characteristics, such as anti-dilution clauses or price resets.

We urge you to review the additional information about our liquidity and capital resources in Operating and Financial Review and Prospects section of this registration statement. If our business ceases to continue as a going concern due to lack of available capital or otherwise, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position, and liquidity.

We have granted security interests over certain of our assets in connection with various debt arrangements.

We have granted security interests over certain of our assets in connection with our line of credit and debt arrangements, and we may grant additional security interests to secure future borrowings. If we are unable to satisfy our obligations under these arrangements, we could be forced to sell certain assets that secure these loans, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate our business. In the event we are unable to maintain compliance with covenants set forth in these arrangements or if these arrangements are otherwise terminated for any reason, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to access the level of funding necessary to continue operations at current levels. If any of these events occur, management may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible, and/or suspend or curtail planned programs. Any of these actions could materially harm our business, results of operations and future prospects.

A cybersecurity breach into our products when used by our customers could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business, harm our reputation, expose us to significant liability or otherwise damage our financial results.

A cybersecurity breach into a system we have sold to a customer could negatively affect our reputation as a trusted provider of storage, and data protection products by adversely impacting the market's perception of the security of our products and services. Many of our customers and partners store sensitive data on our products, and a cybersecurity breach related to our products could harm our reputation and potentially expose us to significant liability.

We also maintain sensitive data related to our employees, partners and customers, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personally identifiable information on our own systems. We employ sophisticated security measures; however, we may face threats across our infrastructure including unauthorized access, security breaches and other system disruptions.

It is critical to our business that our employees', partners' and customers' sensitive information remains secure, and that our customers perceive that this information is secure. A cybersecurity breach could result in unauthorized access to, loss of, or unauthorized disclosure of such information. A cybersecurity breach could expose us to litigation, indemnity obligations, government investigations and other possible liabilities. Additionally, a cyber-attack, whether actual or perceived, could result in negative publicity which could harm our reputation and reduce our customers' confidence in the effectiveness of our solutions, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. A breach of our security systems could also expose us to increased costs including remediation costs, disruption of operations or increased cybersecurity protection costs that may have a material adverse effect on our business. Although we maintain technology errors and omissions liability insurance, our insurance may not cover potential claims of these types or may not be adequate to indemnify us for inability that may be imposed. Any imposition or liability or litigation costs that are not covered by insurance or in excess of our insurance coverage could harm our business.

We face a selling cycle of variable length to secure new purchase agreements for our products and services, and design wins may not result in purchase orders or new customer relationships.

We face a selling cycle of variable lengths to secure new purchase agreements. Even if we succeed in developing a relationship with a potential new customer and/or obtaining design wins, we may not be successful in securing new sales for our products or services, or new customers. In addition, we cannot accurately predict the timing of entering into purchase agreements with new customers due to the complex purchase decision processes of some large institutional customers, such as healthcare providers or school districts, which often involve high-level management or board approvals. Consequently, we have only a limited ability to predict the timing of specific new customer relationships.

We have a history of net losses. We may not achieve or maintain profitability.

We have limited non-recurring revenues derived from operations. Our near-term focus has been in actively developing reference accounts and building sales, marketing and support capabilities. HVE and UCX, which we acquired in January 2017, also have a history of net losses. We expect to continue to incur net losses and we may not achieve or maintain profitability. We may see continued losses during 2021 and as a result of these and other factors, we may not be able to achieve, sustain or increase profitability in the near future.

We are subject to many risks common to early-stage enterprises, including under-capitalization, cash shortages, limitations with respect to personnel, financial, and other resources, technology, and market acceptance issues. There is no assurance that we will be successful in achieving a return on shareholders' investment and the likelihood of success must be considered considering our stage of operations.

Our plans for growth will place significant demands upon our resources. If we are unsuccessful in achieving our plan for growth, our business could be harmed.

We are actively pursuing a plan to market our products domestically and internationally. The plan will place significant demands upon managerial, financial, and human resources. Our ability to manage future growth will depend in large part upon several factors, including our ability to rapidly:

Our inability to achieve any of these objectives could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our market is competitive and dynamic. New competing products and services could be introduced at any time that could result in reduced profit margins and loss of market share.

The technology industry is very dynamic, with new technology and services being introduced by a range of players, from larger established companies to start-ups, on a frequent basis. Our competitors may announce new products, services, or enhancements that better meet the needs of end-users or changing industry standards. Further, new competitors or alliances among competitors could emerge. Increased competition may cause price reductions, reduced gross margins and loss of market share, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, the worldwide storage market is intensely competitive. A number of manufacturers of disk-based storage solutions compete for a limited number of customers. Barriers to entry are relatively low in these markets, and some of our competitors in this market have substantially greater financial and other resources, larger research and development staffs, and more experience and capabilities in manufacturing, marketing and distributing products. Ongoing pricing pressure could result in significant price erosion, reduced profit margins and loss of market share, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and liquidity.

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate technological changes and develop new and enhanced products.

The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and increasingly sophisticated customer requirements. The introduction of products embodying new technology and the emergence of new industry standards can negatively impact the marketability of our existing products and can exert price pressures on existing products. It is critical to our success that we are able to anticipate and react quickly to changes in technology or in industry standards and to successfully develop, introduce, manufacture and achieve market acceptance of new, enhanced and competitive products on a timely basis and cost-effective basis. We invest substantial resources towards continued innovation; however, there can be no assurance that we will successfully develop new products or enhance and improve our existing products, that new products and enhanced and improved existing products will achieve market acceptance or that the introduction of new products or enhanced existing products by others will not negatively impact us. Our inability to develop products that are competitive in technology and price and that meet end-user needs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Development schedules for technology products are inherently uncertain. We may not meet our product development schedules, and development costs could exceed budgeted amounts. Our business, results of operations, financial position and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected if the products or product enhancements that we develop are delayed or not delivered due to developmental problems, quality issues or component shortage problems, or if our products or product enhancements do not achieve market acceptance or are unreliable. We or our competitors will continue to introduce products embodying new technologies, such as new sequential or random access mass storage devices. In addition, new industry standards may emerge. Such events could render our existing products obsolete or not marketable, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position and liquidity.

Our business is dependent on the continued market acceptance and usage of disk-based solutions. The impact of recent storage technology trends on our business is uncertain.

While information technology spending has fluctuated periodically due to technology transitions and changing economic and business environments, overall growth in demand for storage has continued. Recent technology trends, such as the emergence of hosted storage, software as a service and mobile data access are driving significant changes in storage architectures and solution requirements. The impact of these trends on overall long-term growth patterns is uncertain. Nevertheless, if the general level of industry growth, or if the growth of the specific markets in which we compete, were to decline, our business and results of operations could suffer.

Our management team continually reviews and evaluates our product portfolio, operating structure, and markets to assess the future viability of our existing products and market positions. We may determine that the infrastructure and expenses necessary to sustain an existing product offering are greater than the potential contribution margin that we would realize. As a result, we may determine that it is in our best interest to exit or divest one or more existing product offerings, which could result in costs incurred for exit or disposal activities and/or impairments of long-lived assets. Moreover, if we do not identify other opportunities to replace discontinued products or operations, our revenues would decline, which could lead to further net losses and adversely impact the market price of our common shares.

In addition, we could incur charges for excess and obsolete inventory. The value of our inventory may be adversely affected by factors that affect our ability to sell the products in our inventory. Such factors include changes in technology, introductions of new products by us or our competitors, the current or future economic downturns, or other actions by our competitors. If we do not effectively forecast and manage our inventory, we may need to write off inventory as excess or obsolete, which adversely affects cost of sales and gross profit. Our business has previously experienced, and we may in the future experience, reductions in sales of older generation products as customers delay or defer purchases in anticipation of new products that we or our competitors may introduce. We have established reserves for slow moving or obsolete inventory. These reserves, however, may prove to be inadequate, which would result in additional charges for excess or obsolete inventory.

Our products may contain defects in components or design, and our warranty reserves may not adequately cover our warranty obligations for these products.

Although we employ a testing and quality assurance program, our products may contain defects or errors, particularly when first introduced or as new versions are released. We may not discover such defects or errors until after a solution has been released to a customer and used by the customer and end-users. Defects and errors in our products could materially and adversely affect our reputation, result in significant costs, delay planned release dates and impair our ability to sell our products in the future. The costs incurred in correcting any solution defects or errors may be substantial and could adversely affect our operating margins. While we plan to continually test our products for defects and errors and work with end-users through our post-sales support services to identify and correct defects and errors, defects or errors in our products may be found in the future.

We have also established reserves for the estimated liability associated with product warranties. However, we could experience unforeseen circumstances where these or future reserves may not adequately cover our warranty obligations. For example, the failure or inadequate performance of product components that we purchase could increase our warranty obligations beyond these reserves.

The failure to attract, hire, retain and motivate key personnel could have a significant adverse impact on our operations.

Our success depends on the retention and maintenance of key personnel, including members of senior management and our technical, sales and marketing teams. Achieving this objective may be difficult due to many factors, including competition for such highly skilled personnel; fluctuations in global economic and industry conditions; changes in our management or leadership; competitors' hiring practices; and the effectiveness of our compensation programs. The loss of any of these key persons could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. As an example, in the first quarter of 2019, our financial controller, and certain other members of our finance team, resigned from employment to seek other opportunities, which has required us to retain finance consultants while we search for full-time replacements, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to retain such consultants or find adequate replacements.

Our success is also dependent on our continuing ability to identify, hire, train, motivate and retain highly qualified management, technical, sales, marketing and finance personnel. Any such new hire may require a significant transition period prior to making a meaningful contribution. Competition for qualified employees is particularly intense in the technology industry, and we have in the past experienced difficulty recruiting qualified employees. Our failure to attract and to retain the necessary qualified personnel could seriously harm our operating results and financial condition. Competition for such personnel can be intense, and no assurance can be provided that we will be able to attract or retain highly qualified technical and managerial personnel in the future, which may have a material adverse effect on our future growth and profitability. We do not have key person insurance.

Our financial results may fluctuate substantially for many reasons, and past results should not be relied on as indications of future performance.

Our revenues and operating results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and from year to year due to a combination of factors, including, but not limited to:

Further, the markets that we serve are volatile and subject to market shifts that we may be unable to anticipate. A slowdown in the demand for workstations, mid-range computer systems, networks and servers could have a significant adverse effect on the demand for our products in any given period. In the past, we have experienced delays in the receipt of purchase orders and, on occasion, anticipated purchase orders have been rescheduled or have not materialized due to changes in customer requirements. Our customers may cancel or delay purchase orders for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the rescheduling of new product introductions, changes in our customers' inventory practices or forecasted demand, general economic conditions affecting our customers' markets, changes in our pricing or the pricing of our competitors, new product announcements by us or others, quality or reliability problems related to our products, or selection of competitive products as alternate sources of supply.

Thus, there can be no assurance that we will be able to reach profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. We believe that our revenue and operating results will continue to fluctuate, and that period-to-period comparisons are not necessarily indications of future performance. Our revenue and operating results may fail to meet the expectations of public market analysts or investors, which could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common shares. In addition, portions of our expenses are fixed and difficult to reduce if our revenues do not meet our expectations. These fixed expenses magnify the adverse effect of any revenue shortfall.

Our plans for implementing our business strategy and achieving profitability are based upon the experience, judgment and assumptions of our key management personnel, and available information concerning the communications and technology industries. If management's assumptions prove to be incorrect, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We rely on indirect sales channels to market and sell our branded products. Therefore, the loss of, or deterioration in, our relationship with one or more of our distributors or resellers could negatively affect our operating results.

We have relationships with third party resellers, system integrators and enterprise application providers that facilitate our ability to sell and implement our products. These business relationships are important to extend the geographic reach and customer penetration of our sales force and ensure that our products are compatible with customer network infrastructures and with third party products.

We believe that our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and maintain strategic relationships with resellers, independent software vendors, system integrators, and enterprise application providers. Should any of these third parties go out of business, or choose not to work with us, we may be forced to increase the development of those capabilities internally, incurring significant expense and adversely affecting operating margins. Any of these third parties may develop relationships with other companies, including those that develop and sell products that compete with ours. We could lose sales opportunities if we fail to work effectively with these parties or they choose not to work with us. Most of our distributors and resellers also carry competing product lines that they may promote over our products. A distributor or reseller might not continue to purchase our products or market them effectively, and each determines the type and amount of our products that it will purchase from us and the pricing of the products that it sells to end user customers. Further, the long-term success of any of our distributors or resellers is difficult to predict, and we have no purchase commitments or long-term orders from any of them to assure us of any baseline sales through these channels.

Therefore, the loss of, or deterioration in, our relationship with one or more of our distributors or resellers could negatively affect our operating results. Our operating results could also be adversely affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

If our suppliers fail to meet our manufacturing needs, it would delay our production and our product shipments to customers and this could negatively affect our operations.

Some of our products have a large number of components and subassemblies produced by outside suppliers. We depend greatly on these suppliers for items that are essential to the manufacturing of our products, including disk drives and chassis. We work closely with our regional, national and international suppliers, which are carefully selected based on their ability to provide quality parts and components that meet both our technical specifications and volume requirements. For certain items, we qualify only a single source, which magnifies the risk of shortages and decreases our ability to negotiate with that supplier on the basis of price. From time to time, we have in the past been unable to obtain as many drives as have needed due to drive shortages or quality issues from certain of our suppliers. If these suppliers fail to meet our manufacturing needs, it would delay our production and our product shipments to customers and negatively affect our operations.

We are subject to laws, regulations and similar requirements, changes to which may adversely affect our business and operations.

We are subject to laws, regulations and similar requirements that affect our business and operations, including, but not limited to, the areas of commerce, intellectual property, income and other taxes, labor, environmental, health and safety, and our compliance in these areas may be costly. While we have implemented policies and procedures to comply with laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, suppliers or agents will not violate such laws and regulations or our policies. Any such violation or alleged violation could materially and adversely affect our business. Any changes or potential changes to laws, regulations or similar requirements, or our ability to respond to these changes, may significantly increase our costs to maintain compliance or result in our decision to limit our business or products, which could materially harm our business, results of operations and future prospects.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act includes provisions regarding certain minerals and metals, known as conflict minerals, mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. These provisions require companies to undertake due diligence procedures and report on the use of conflict minerals in its products, including products manufactured by third parties. Compliance with these provisions will cause us to incur costs to certify that our supply chain is conflict free and we may face difficulties if our suppliers are unwilling or unable to verify the source of their materials. Our ability to source these minerals and metals may also be adversely impacted. In addition, our customers may require that we provide them with a certification and our inability to do so may disqualify us as a supplier.

We have implemented cost reduction efforts; however, these efforts may need to be modified, and if we need to implement additional cost reduction efforts it could materially harm our business.

We have implemented certain cost reduction efforts. There can be no assurance that these cost reduction efforts will be successful. As a result, we may need to implement further cost reduction efforts across our operations, such as further reductions in the cost of our workforce and/or suspending or curtailing planned programs, either of which could materially harm our business, results of operations and future prospects.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

Our ability to compete depends in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property rights.

Our success depends in part on our ability to protect our rights in our intellectual property. We rely on various intellectual property protections, including copyright, trade-mark and trade secret laws and contractual provisions, to preserve our intellectual property rights. We have filed a number of patent applications and have historically protected our intellectual property through trade secrets and copyrights. As our technology is evolving and rapidly changing, current intellectual property rights may not adequately protect us.

Intellectual property rights may not prevent competitors from developing products that are substantially equivalent or superior to our products. Competitors may independently develop similar products, duplicate our products or, if patents are issued to us, design around these patents. To the extent that we have or obtain patents, such patents may not afford meaningful protection for our technology and products. Others may challenge our patents and, as a result, our patents could be narrowed, invalidated or declared unenforceable. The patents that are material to our business began expiring in November 2015. In addition, our current or future patent applications may not result in the issuance of patents in the U.S. or foreign countries.

Although we believe we have a proprietary platform for our technologies and products, we may in the future become subject to claims for infringement of intellectual property rights owned by others. Further, to protect our own intellectual property rights, we may in the future bring claims for infringement against others.

Our commercial success depends, in part, upon not infringing intellectual property rights owned by others. Although we believe that we have a proprietary platform for our technologies and products, we cannot determine with certainty whether any existing third party patents or the issuance of any third party patents would require us to alter our technology, obtain licenses or cease certain activities. We may become subject to claims by third parties that our technology infringes their intellectual property rights. While we provide our customers with a qualified indemnity against the infringement of third party intellectual property rights, we may become subject to these claims either directly or through indemnities against these claims that we routinely provide to our end-users and channel partners.

Further, our customers may use our products in ways that may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties and/or require a license from third parties. Although our customers are contractually obligated to use our products only in a manner that does not infringe third party intellectual property rights, we cannot guarantee that such third parties will not seek remedies against us for providing products that may enable our customers to infringe the intellectual property rights of others.

In addition, we may receive in the future, claims from third parties asserting infringement, claims based on indemnities provided by us, and other related claims. Litigation may be necessary to determine the scope, enforceability and validity of third party proprietary or other rights, or to establish our proprietary or other rights. Furthermore, despite precautions, it may be possible for third parties to obtain and use our intellectual property without our authorization. Policing unauthorized use of intellectual property is difficult, and some foreign laws do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of Canada or the U.S. To protect our intellectual property, we may become involved in litigation. In addition, other companies may initiate similar proceedings against us. The patent position of information technology firms is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and continues to be the subject of much litigation. No consistent policy has emerged from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the courts regarding the breadth of claims allowed or the degree of protection afforded under information technology patents.

Some of our competitors have, or are affiliated with companies having, substantially greater resources than us and these competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for a longer period of time than us. Regardless of their merit, any such claims could:

Risks Related to our Public Company Status, our Common Shares and this Offering

Sales of common shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding warrants, the conversion of outstanding preferred shares, or the effectiveness of our registration statement may cause the market price of our common shares to decline. Currently outstanding preferred shares could adversely affect the rights of the holders of common shares.

As of April 23, 2021, we have 6,843,478 Series B Preferred Shares, 14,000 Series D Preferred Shares and 2,424 Series E Preferred Shares outstanding. The conversion of the outstanding Series B, D and E Preferred Shares will result in substantial dilution to our common shareholders. Pursuant to our articles of amalgamation, our Board of Directors has the authority to fix and determine the voting rights, rights of redemption and other rights and preferences of preferred shares.

Pursuant to the articles of amendment governing the rights and preferences of outstanding shares of Series B Preferred Shares, each preferred share (i) is convertible into our common shares, at a conversion rate equal to $1.00 per share, plus accrued and unpaid dividends, divided by an amount equal to 0.85 multiplied by a 15-day volume weighted average price per common share prior to the date the conversion notice is provided, subject to a conversion price floor of $0.80, (ii) is entitled to fixed, preferential, cumulative cash dividends at the rate of 8% of the Series B Preferred Shares subscription price per year, and (iii) carries a liquidation preference equal to the subscription price per Series B Preferred Share plus any accrued and unpaid dividends. On July 14, 2020, the Company entered into a lock-up agreement (the "Lock-up Agreement") with FBC Holdings with respect to the 6,500,000 Series B Preferred Shares of the Company owned by FBC Holdings. Pursuant to the terms of the Lock-up Agreement, FBC Holdings has agreed that for the period of time between (a) July 14, 2020 and (b) the earlier to occur of (i) April 30, 2021 and (ii) the date that is 180 days after a Change of Control (as defined in the Lock-up Agreement), it will not without the prior written consent of the Company convert any of the Series B Preferred Shares into common shares of the Company. In addition, pursuant to the terms of a waiver agreement entered into by FBC Holdings and the Company on April 8, 2021, FBC Holdings has irrevocably and unconditionally waived its ability, upon providing the Company with at least 61 days' prior written notice, to increase or decrease the Maximum Percentage from the 9.99% threshold provided for in the Company's articles of amendment governing the rights and preferences of outstanding shares of Series B Preferred Shares unless FBC Holdings obtains the Company's prior written consent.

Pursuant to the articles of amendment governing the rights and preferences of outstanding shares of Series D Preferred Shares, each preferred share is convertible at the option of the holder thereof, into that number of common shares determined by dividing the Stated Value of such share of Series D Preferred Shares (which is $0.65) by the conversion price. The initial conversion price, which is also $0.65, shall be adjusted in the event that we (i) pay a stock dividend or otherwise make a distribution or distributions payable in common shares, (ii) subdivide outstanding common shares into a larger number of shares, (iii) combine (including by way of a reverse stock split) outstanding common shares into a small number of shares, or (iv) issue, in the event of a reclassification of common shares, any capital shares. Each shareholder of the Series D Preferred Shares, may, at any time, convert all or any part of the Series D Preferred Shares provided that after such conversion the common shares issuable, together with all the common shares held by the shareholder in the aggregate would not exceed 4.99% of the total number of outstanding common shares of the Company. This amount may be increased to 9.99% with 61 days' notice to the Company. In the first quarter of 2021, the Company converted 895,000 Series D Preferred Shares and issued 895,000 common shares of the Company.

Pursuant to the articles of amendment governing the rights and preferences of outstanding shares of Series E preferred shares, each preferred share is convertible at the option of the holder thereof. The shareholder of the Series E Preferred Shares, may, at any time, convert all or any Series E Preferred Shares provided that the common shares issuable upon such conversion, together with all other common shares of the Company held by the shareholder in the aggregate, would not cause such shareholder's ownership of the Company's common shares to exceed 4.99% of the total number of outstanding common shares of the Company. This amount may be increased to 9.99% with 61 days' notice to the Company. Each Series E Preferred Share has a stated value of $1,000 and is convertible into the Company's common shares at a conversion price equal to the lower of (i) 70% of the average of the three lowest volume-weighted average prices of our common shares during the ten trading days immediately preceding, but not including the conversion date and (ii) $2.00; however, in no event shall the conversion price be less than $1.00 per share. The Series E Preferred Shares are non-voting and pay dividends at a rate of 8.0% per annum, payable quarterly. In 2021, the Company converted 576 Series E Preferred Shares and issued 375,452 common shares of the Company.

Additionally, as of April 23, 2021 we have warrants outstanding for the purchase of up to 2,042,564 common shares having a weighted-average exercise price of $2.64 per share. The sale of our common shares upon exercise of our outstanding warrants, the conversion of the preferred shares into common shares, or the sale of a significant amount of the common shares issued or issuable upon exercise of the warrants in the open market, or the perception that these sales may occur, could cause the market price of our common shares to decline or become highly volatile.

We have broad discretion to use the net proceeds from this offering and our investment of these proceeds pending any such use may not yield a favorable return, including our intention to sponsor special purpose acquisition companies.

Because we have not designated the amount of net proceeds from this offering to be used for any particular purpose, our management will have broad discretion as to the application of the net proceeds from this offering, as described below in "Use of Proceeds," and could use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of the offering. Our management may use the net proceeds for corporate purposes that may not improve our financial condition or market value of our common shares.

If the SPAC that we sponsor does not complete an initial business combination, our entire investment may be lost (other than with respect to public shares we may acquire in the SPAC).

We intend to have a wholly-owned subsidiary sponsor special purposes acquisition companies.  As part of such sponsorship, we would purchase certain founder shares of such SPAC.  The founder shares, and any additional securities we purchase in the SPAC, will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.

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

The public offering price of our common shares is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per common share as of December 31, 2020, before giving effect to this offering. At an assumed public offering price of $        per share (which was the last reported sale price on          , 2021), and after deducting estimated offering expenses and estimated sales agent commissions payable by us, our as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to the sale of common shares in the aggregate amount of $      at the assumed offering price would be $  . Accordingly, purchasers of common shares in this offering will incur immediate and substantial dilution of approximately $      per share, representing the difference between the as adjusted book value per share of our securities after the offering and the book value per share of our securities prior to the offering as of December 31, 2020. If the price at which the common shares are sold in this offering increases, the dilution experienced by such purchasers will increase proportionately.

The sale of our common shares to Oasis Capital may cause substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and the sale of the shares of common shares acquired by Oasis Capital could cause the price of our common shares to decline.

We have previously registered for sale 6,962,026 common shares that we may sell to Oasis Capital under the Equity Purchase Agreement. It is anticipated that these shares will be sold over a period of up to approximately 36 months from July 6, 2020. The number of shares ultimately offered for sale by Oasis Capital is dependent upon the number of shares we elect to sell to Oasis Capital under the Equity Purchase Agreement. Sales by Oasis Capital of shares acquired pursuant to the Equity Purchase Agreement may result in dilution to the interests of other holders of our common shares.

The sale of a substantial number of common shares by Oasis Capital, or anticipation of such sales, could cause the trading price of our common shares to decline or make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and at a price that we might otherwise desire. Following the issuance of common shares under the Equity Line, Oasis Capital may offer and resell the shares at a price and time determined by them. This may cause the market price of our common shares to decline, and the timing of sales and the price at which the shares are sold by Oasis Capital could have an adverse effect upon the public market for our common shares.

There is an increased potential for short sales of our common shares due to the sale of shares pursuant to the Equity Purchase Agreement, which could materially affect the market price of our common shares.

Downward pressure on the market price of our common shares that likely will result from resales of the common shares issued pursuant to the Equity Purchase Agreement could encourage short sales of common shares by market participants. Generally, short selling means selling a security not owned by the seller. The seller is committed to eventually purchase the security previously sold. Short sales are used to capitalize on an expected decline in the security's price - typically, investors who sell short believe that the price of the stock will fall, and anticipate selling at a price higher than the price at which they will buy the stock. Significant amounts of such short selling could place further downward pressure on the market price of our common shares.

We may not be able to access sufficient funds under the Equity Purchase Agreement with Oasis Capital when needed.

Our ability to sell shares to Oasis Capital and obtain funds under the Equity Purchase Agreement is limited by the terms and conditions in the Equity Purchase Agreement, including restrictions on when we may sell shares to Oasis Capital, restrictions on the amounts we may sell to Oasis Capital at any one time, and a limitation on our ability to sell shares to Oasis Capital to the extent that it would cause Oasis Capital to beneficially own more than 9.99% of our outstanding common shares. In addition, any amounts we sell under the Equity Purchase Agreement may not satisfy all of our funding needs.

The extent we rely on Oasis Capital as a source of funding will depend on a number of factors including, the prevailing market price and trading volume of our common shares and the extent to which we are able to secure working capital from other sources. If obtaining sufficient funding from Oasis Capital were to prove unavailable or prohibitively dilutive, we will need to secure another source of funding in order to satisfy our working capital needs. We may need additional capital to fully implement our business, operating and development plans. Should the financing we require to sustain our working capital needs be unavailable or prohibitively expensive when we require it, the consequences could be a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

The market price of our common shares is volatile.

The market price for common shares may be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

Financial markets may experience price and volume fluctuations that affect the market prices of equity securities of companies and that are unrelated to the operating performance, underlying asset values or prospects of such companies. Accordingly, the market price of the common shares may decline even if our operating results, underlying asset values or prospects have not changed. As well, certain institutional investors may base their investment decisions on consideration of our governance and social practices and performance against such institutions' respective investment guidelines and criteria, and failure to meet such criteria may result in a limited or no investment in our common shares by those institutions, which could adversely affect the trading price of our common shares. There can be no assurance that fluctuations in price and volume will not occur due to these and other factors.

In the past, plaintiffs have often initiated securities class action litigation against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities. We may in the future be a target of similar litigation. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and liabilities and could divert management's attention from day-to-day operations and consume resources, such as cash. In addition, the resolution of those matters may require us to issue additional common shares, which could potentially result in dilution to our existing shareholders. Expenses incurred in connection with these matters (which include fees of lawyers and other professional advisors and potential obligations to indemnify officers and directors who may be parties to such actions) could adversely affect our cash position.

As a company incorporated in Canada, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards, and these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than shareholders would enjoy if we complied fully with the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards.

As a Canadian exempted company listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, we are subject to the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards. However, the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in Canada, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the Nasdaq corporate governance listing standards. We currently follow our home country practice that (i) does not require us to hold an annual meeting of shareholders no later than one year after the end of its fiscal year, (ii) does not require us to seek shareholder approval for amending our share incentive plans and (iii) allows us to provide in our by-laws that a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of our shareholders is two persons present in person or by proxy and holding or representing in the aggregate not less than 25% of our outstanding shares entitled to vote at such meeting. As a result, our investors may not be provided with the benefits of certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we are a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of U.S. securities rules and regulations that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

• the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing of annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K with the SEC;

• the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act;

• Regulation FD and the Section 16 short swing profit rules; and

• certain restrictions on offers and sales of securities outside the United States, including in Canada

We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis through press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Stock Market. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K.

However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, our shareholders may not be afforded the same protections or information as would be made available to our shareholders if they were investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

We could lose our "foreign private issuer" status in the future, which could result in significant additional costs and expenses to us.

In order to maintain our current status as a "foreign private issuer" (as defined in Rule 405 under the United States Securities Act of 1933), where more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are directly or indirectly owned by residents of the United States, we must not have any of the following: (i) a majority of our executive officers or directors being U.S. citizens or residents, (ii) more than 50% of our assets being located in the United States, or (iii) our business being principally administered in the United States. If we were to lose our foreign private issuer status:

• we would no longer be exempt from certain of the provisions of U.S. securities laws, such as Regulation FD and the Section 16 short swing profit rules;

• we would be required to commence reporting on forms required of U.S. companies, such as Forms l0-K, 10-Q and 8-K, rather than the forms currently available to us, such as Forms 20-F and 6-K;

• we would be subject to the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act;

• we would be subject to additional restrictions on offers and sales of securities outside the United States, including in Canada;

• we might lose the ability to rely upon exemptions from the NASDAQ corporate governance requirements that are available to foreign private issuers; and

• if we engage in capital raising activities after losing our foreign private issuer status, there is a higher likelihood that investors may require the Company to file resale registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as a condition to any such financing.

We must comply with the public company financial reporting requirements, as well as other requirements associated with being listed on Nasdaq.

We are subject to reporting and other obligations under applicable Canadian securities laws, SEC rules and the rules of Nasdaq. These reporting and other obligations, including National Instrument 52-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations and National Instrument 52-109 - Certification of Disclosure in Issuers' Annual and Interim Filings, place significant demands on our management, administrative, operational and accounting resources. Moreover, any failure to maintain effective internal controls could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results could be materially harmed, which could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could result in a lower trading price of our common shares.

Management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and implemented, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that its objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Due to the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues within a company are detected. The inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes. Controls can also be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. Due to the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error, or fraud may occur and not be detected.

We may be treated as a Passive Foreign Investment Company.

There is also an ongoing risk that we may be treated as a Passive Foreign Investment Company ("PFIC"), for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A non-U.S. corporation generally will be considered to be a PFIC for any taxable year in which 75% or more of its gross income is passive income, or 50% or more of the average value of its assets are considered "passive assets" (generally, assets that generate passive income). This determination is highly factual, and will depend upon, among other things, our market valuation and future financial performance. Based on current business plans and financial expectations, we expect that we will not be a PFIC for our tax years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, as well as current business plans and financial expectations, Sphere 3D expects that it will not be a PFIC for our current tax year ending December 31, 2021 and for the foreseeable future. If we were to be classified as a PFIC for any future taxable year, holders of our common shares who are U.S. taxpayers would be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

Certain of our directors, officers and management could be in a position of conflict of interest.

Certain of our directors, officers and members of management may also serve as directors and/or officers of other companies. We may contract with such directors, officers, members of management and such other companies or with affiliated parties or other companies in which such directors, officers or members of management own or control. These persons may obtain compensation and other benefits in transactions relating to us. Consequently, there exists the possibility for such directors, officers and members of management to be in a position of conflict. Any decision made by any of such directors, officers and members of management involving us are being made in accordance with their duties and obligations to deal fairly and in good faith with a view to our best interests.

Future sales of common shares by directors, officers and other shareholders could adversely affect the prevailing market price for common shares.

Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, officers, directors and other shareholders and their respective affiliates may sell some or all of their common shares in the future. No prediction can be made as to the effect, if any, such future sales will have on the market price of the common shares prevailing from time to time. However, the future sale of a substantial number of common shares by our officers, directors and other shareholders and their respective affiliates, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect prevailing market prices for the common shares.

We may issue an unlimited number of common shares. Future sales of common shares will dilute your shares.

Our articles of amalgamation permit the issuance of an unlimited number of common shares, and shareholders will have no pre-emptive rights in connection with such further issuances. Our directors have the discretion to determine the price and the terms of issue of further issuances of common shares in accordance with applicable laws.