Item 3.  Key Information

A.  Selected Financial Data

The following tables present our selected consolidated financial and other data. We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. The selected historical consolidated financial data as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 and for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our historical results for any prior period do not necessarily indicate our results to be expected for any future period.

The financial data set forth below should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified by reference to, Item 5. “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

(1) Amounts include share-based compensation expense as follows:

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss before financial income, net, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization, further adjusted for share-based compensation expense, contingent consideration revaluation, acquisition-related costs and other IPO expenses. Adjusted EBITDA is included in this Annual Report because it is a key metric used by management and our board of directors to assess our financial performance. Adjusted EBITDA is frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is an appropriate measure of operating performance because it eliminates the impact of expenses that do not relate directly to the performance of the underlying business.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a GAAP measure of our financial performance or liquidity and should not be considered as an alternative to net loss as a measure of financial performance, as an alternative to cash flows from operations as a measure of liquidity, or as an alternative to any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or other items. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow for management’s discretionary use, as it does not reflect our tax payments and certain other cash costs that may recur in the future, including, among other things, cash requirements for costs to replace assets being depreciated and amortized. Management compensates for these limitations by relying on our GAAP results in addition to using Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure. Our measure of Adjusted EBITDA is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled captions of other companies due to different methods of calculation.

The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP financial performance measure, which is net loss:

The following table illustrates the breakdown of contingent consideration revaluation and acquisition related costs:

B.  Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C.  Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D.  Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks. The trading price and value of our ordinary shares could decline due to any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This Annual Report also contains forward- looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Risks relating to our business and industry

Our growth depends on our ability to attract and retain a large community of buyers and freelancers, and the loss of our buyers and freelancers, or failure to attract new buyers and freelancers, could materially and adversely affect our business.

The size of our community of users, including both buyers and freelancers, is critical to our success. Over the past few years, we have experienced strong growth in the number of users on our platform, including the number of active buyers, but we do not know whether we will be able to achieve similar user growth rates in the future. Freelancers have many different ways of marketing their services and securing buyers, including meeting and contacting prospective buyers through other platforms, advertising to prospective buyers online or offline through other methods, signing up for online or offline third-party agencies or staffing firms or finding employment full-time or part-time through an agency or directly with a business. Buyers have similarly diverse options to find freelancers, such as engaging freelancers directly, finding freelancers through other online or offline platforms or through staffing firms and agencies or hiring temporary, full-time, or part-time employees. Any decrease in the attractiveness of our platform relative to these other options available to buyers and freelancers could lead to decreased engagement on our platform, which could result in a drop in revenue on our platform. In addition, a drop in engagement from buyers could lead to diminished network effects and decrease the attractiveness of our platform to freelancers. If we fail to attract new freelancers or our existing freelancers decrease their use of or cease using our platform, the quality or types of services provided by freelancers that use our platform are not satisfactory to buyers, or freelancers increase their fees for services beyond the level that buyers are willing to pay, buyers may decrease their use of, or cease using, our platform.

Key factors in attracting and retaining buyers include our ability to grow our brand awareness, attract and retain high-quality freelancers and increase the quantity and quality of Gigs posted on our platform. A key factor in attracting and retaining freelancers, in turn, is maintaining and increasing the number of buyers using our platform. Thus, achieving growth in our community of buyers and freelancers may require us to increasingly engage in sophisticated and costly sales and marketing efforts that may not result in additional users. We may also need to modify our pricing model to attract and retain such users.

Users can generally decide to cease using our platform at any time. Users may stop using our platform and related services if the quality of the user experience on our platform, including our support capabilities in the event of a problem, does not meet their expectations or keep pace with the quality of the user experience generally offered by competitive products and services. Users may also choose to cease using our platform if they perceive that our pricing model is not in line with the value they derive from our platform or for other reasons. In addition, expenditures by buyers may be cyclical and be affected by adverse changes in overall economic conditions or budgeting patterns. If we fail to attract new users or fail to maintain existing users, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected and our business could be materially and adversely affected.

We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

We incurred a net loss of $33.5 million in 2019, and we expect to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. We expect to continue the development and expansion of our business, and we anticipate additional costs in connection with legal, accounting and other administrative expenses related to operating as a public company. While our revenue has grown in recent years, if our revenue declines or fails to grow at a rate sufficient to offset increases in our operating expenses, we will not be able to achieve and maintain profitability in future periods. As a result, we may continue to generate losses. We cannot ensure that we will achieve profitability in the future or that, if we do become profitable, we will be able to sustain profitability.

If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand, our business, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand are of significant importance to the success of our business. A well-recognized brand is critical to increasing the number and the level of engagement of freelancers and, in turn, enhancing our attractiveness to buyers. Successful promotion of our brand and our platform depends on, among other things, the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, our ability to provide a reliable, trustworthy and useful platform, the perceived value of our platform and our ability to provide quality support. In order to maintain and enhance our brand, we will need to continuously invest in marketing programs that may not be successful in achieving meaningful awareness levels. We aim to achieve time to return on investment, which represents the total amount of time required for us to recover performance marketing investments in a given buyer cohort from the revenue that cohort generates, within one year or less. However, brand promotion activities may not yield increased revenue, and even if they do, the increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building and maintaining our brand. We have conducted and may continue to conduct various marketing and brand promotion activities, including print advertisements. We cannot assure you, however, that these activities will be successful or that we will be able to achieve the brand awareness we expect. In addition, our competitors may increase the intensity of their marketing campaigns, which may force us to increase our advertising spend to maintain our brand awareness.

In addition, any negative publicity relating to our platform, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brand. If our brand is harmed, we may not be able to grow or maintain our freelancer base, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Further, activities of users that are deemed to be hostile, offensive or inappropriate to other users, including users acting under false or inauthentic identities, could damage our brand or harm our ability to expand our user base. We do not monitor or review the appropriateness of the content generated by users or have control over the activities in which our users engage. While we have adopted policies regarding illegal or offensive use of our platform by our users and retain authority to remove user generated content that violates our policies, users could nonetheless engage in these activities. The safeguards we have in place may not be sufficient to avoid harm to our brand, especially if such hostile, offensive or inappropriate use was high profile.

If the market for freelancers and the services they offer is not sustained or develops more slowly than we expect, our growth may slow or stall.

The market for freelancers and the services they offer is relatively new, rapidly evolving and unproven. Our future success will depend in large part on the continued growth and expansion of this market and the willingness of businesses to engage freelancers to provide services. It is difficult to predict the size or rate of expansion of this market, or the extent to which technological or other developments will impact the overall demand for freelancers. Further, many businesses may be unwilling to engage freelancers for a variety of reasons, including perceived negative connotations with outsourcing work or security concerns. If the market for freelancers and the services they offer does not achieve widespread adoption, or there is a reduction in demand for freelancer services, particularly demand for information technology services, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If user engagement on our websites declines for any reason, our growth may slow or stall.

Our ability to maintain the number of visitors directed to our websites is not entirely within our control. We depend in part on various internet search engines and other channels to direct a significant number of users to our website. Search engine companies change their natural search engine algorithms periodically, and our ranking in natural searches may be adversely affected by those changes, as has occurred from time to time. Search engine companies may also determine that we are not in compliance with their guidelines and consequently penalize us in their algorithms as a result. If search engines change or penalize us with their algorithms, terms of service, display or featuring of search results, we may be unable to cost-effectively drive users to our platform. Additionally, our competitors’ search engine optimization efforts may result in their websites receiving a higher search result page ranking than ours. This could decrease user engagement on our website and adversely affect the growth in our user base, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain and improve the quality of our platform, we may not be able to attract and retain buyers and freelancers.

To satisfy both buyers and freelancers, we need to continue to improve their user experience as well as innovate and introduce features and services that users find useful and that cause them to use our platform more frequently. This includes improving our technology to optimize search results, tailoring our database to additional geographic and market segments and improving the user-friendliness of our platform and our ability to provide high-quality support. Our users depend on our support organization to resolve issues relating to our platform. Our ability to provide effective support is largely dependent on our ability to attract and retain employees who are well versed in our platform. As we continue to grow our international user base, our support organization will face additional challenges, including those associated with continuing to deliver support in languages other than English. Any failure to maintain high-quality support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, could harm our reputation or adversely affect our ability to market the benefits of our platform to existing and prospective users.

In addition, we need to adapt, expand and improve our platform and user interfaces to keep up with changing user preferences. We invest substantial resources in researching and developing new features and enhancing our platform by incorporating these new features, improving functionality and adding other improvements to meet our users’ evolving demands. The success of any enhancements or improvements to our platform or any new features depends on several factors, including timely completion, adequate quality testing, integration with technologies on our platform and third-party partners’ technologies and overall market acceptance. Because further development of our platform is complex, challenging and dependent upon an array of factors, the timetable for the release of new features and enhancements to our platform is difficult to predict, and we may not offer new features as rapidly as users of our platform require or expect. For example, with the growing propensity of our users to use mobile devices as their main Gig searching and management devices, we will need to continue modifying and updating our mobile apps to successfully manage the transition of our users to mobile devices.

It is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in introducing new features to our platform, and we may need to devote significant resources to the creation, support and maintenance of these features. We provide no assurances that our initiatives to improve our user experience will be successful. We also cannot predict whether any new features will be well received by users, or whether improving our platform will be successful or sufficient to offset the costs incurred to offer these new features. If we are unable to improve or maintain the quality of our platform, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We face significant competition, which may cause us to suffer from a weakened market position that could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Successful execution of our strategy depends on our ability to attract and retain users, expand the market for our platform, maintain a technological edge and provide value to our users. We face competition from a number of online and offline platforms and competitors that offer freelance services as part of their broader services portfolio. Our main competitors fall into the following categories:

Internationally, we compete in most countries against online and offline channels and products and services with a local presence. These local competitors might have greater brand recognition than we have in their local country and a stronger understanding of the local culture and commerce. They may also offer their products and services in local languages that we do not currently offer. As our business grows internationally, we may increasingly compete with these local and regional companies.

In addition, well-established internet companies, social networking websites and career-related internet portals have entered or may decide to target the market for freelance services, and some of these companies have launched products and services that directly compete with our platform. These or other powerful companies that have extensive and loyal user bases in the geographic markets where we operate may decide to directly target our users, thereby intensifying competition in the freelance services market. Although professional social networking businesses with online recruitment functions historically have not had significant market positions in the market for freelance services, these businesses may dedicate resources to expand their operations and as a result, become a significant competitive threat in the future. Social networks may benefit from access to large pools of potential purchasers of freelance services and a broad range of user information that freelancers could leverage to tailor their services.

Current competitors may also consolidate or be acquired by an existing or prospective competitor, which could result in the emergence of a stronger competitor, leading to a potential loss of our market share. There can be no assurances that we will maintain our strong position among freelance services marketplaces, particularly if our key competitors consolidate or if large search engines, social media companies or other online platforms successfully leverage their large user bases to penetrate our markets.

Many of our current and potential competitors, both online and offline, enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, greater financial, technical and other resources, and, in some cases, the ability to rapidly combine online platforms with traditional staffing and contingent worker solutions. These companies may use these advantages to offer solutions similar to our platform at a lower price, develop different products and services to compete with our platform, spend more on advertising and brand marketing, invest more in research and development, or respond more quickly and effectively than we do to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, regulatory conditions or user preferences or requirements. As a result, our users may decide to shift from utilizing our platform to utilizing our competitors’ products, services and solutions.

Our business may suffer if we do not successfully manage our current and potential future growth.

We have grown significantly in recent years and we intend to continue to expand the scope and geographic reach of our platform. Our anticipated future growth will likely place significant demands on our management and operations. Our success in managing our growth will depend, to a significant degree, on the ability of our executive officers and other members of senior management to operate effectively, and on our ability to improve and develop our financial and management information systems, controls and procedures. In addition, we will likely have to successfully adapt our existing systems and introduce new systems, expand, train and manage our employees and improve and expand our marketing capabilities.

If we are unable to properly and prudently manage our operations as they grow, or if the quality of our platform or support deteriorates due to mismanagement, our brand name and reputation could be severely harmed, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our user growth and engagement on mobile devices depend upon effective operation with mobile operating systems, networks and standards that we do not control.

Mobile devices are increasingly used for marketplace transactions. A growing portion of our users access our platform through mobile devices. There is no guarantee that popular mobile devices will continue to support our platform or that mobile device users will use our platform rather than competing products. We are dependent on the interoperability of our platform with popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Android and iOS, and any changes in such systems that degrade the functionality of our website or apps or give preferential treatment to competitors could adversely affect our platform’s usage on mobile devices. Additionally, in order to deliver a high-quality mobile user experience, it is important that our platform is designed effectively and works well with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks and standards that we do not control. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing features that operate effectively with these technologies, systems, networks or standards. In the event that it is more difficult for our users to access and use our platform on their mobile devices or users find our mobile offering does not effectively meet their needs, our competitors develop products and services that are perceived to operate more effectively on mobile devices or our users choose not to access or use our platform on their mobile devices or use mobile products that do not offer access to our platform, our user growth and user engagement could be adversely impacted.

A regional or global health pandemic, including novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), could severely affect our business.

If a regional or global health pandemic were to occur, depending upon its duration and severity, our business could be materially adversely affected. For example, a novel strain of the coronavirus (COVID-19), which was discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and on March 11, 2020 was declared by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic, has had numerous effects on the global economy. A global or regional health pandemic may impact our profitability and financial condition, which could have a material adverse effect. At this point in time, there is significant uncertainty relating to the potential effect of COVID-19 on our business and our business partners, including but not limited, to the size of the labor force, our third-party that collects funds from our buyers, remits payments to our sellers and holds funds in connection with user balances, our payment processors and our disbursement partners. As infections may continue to become more widespread, we could experience a severe negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a global economic downturn and could affect the need for and the ability of sellers on our core platform to sell Gigs, which could lead to a decreased demand in all of our services. A downturn could as well have a material adverse impact on our business partners’ stability and financial strength. Given the high uncertainties associated with COVID-19, it is difficult to fully predict the magnitude of potential effects on our business, and our business partners, financial condition and results of operations.

We or our third-party partners may experience a security breach, including unauthorized parties obtaining access to our users’ personal or other data, or any other data privacy or data protection compliance issue.

Our business involves the storage, processing and transmission of users’ proprietary, confidential and personal data as well as the use of third-party partners who store, process and transmit users’ proprietary, confidential and personal data. We also maintain certain other proprietary and confidential data relating to our business and personal data of our personnel and job applicants. Any security breach or incident that we experience could result in unauthorized access to, misuse of, or unauthorized acquisition of our or our users’ data, the loss, corruption, or alteration of this data, interruptions in our operations, or damage to our computers or systems or those of our users. We have experienced such cybersecurity incidents in the past and may experience incidents in the future. For example, in November 2018, an unauthorized party accessed accounts of several thousand users using valid login credentials of users. Based on our examination, we believe that the login details (emails and passwords) were compromised in other known data breaches that have occurred in the past in other organizations unrelated to Fiverr. We have not identified and are not aware of any breach of our systems in connection with this incident. Once we identified this incident, we forced log-out from the affected accounts, the passwords were reset, and the affected users were required to change their password to a new one in order to use their account. We reported this incident to the relevant privacy protection authorities, and the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority initiated an administrative supervision procedure in December 2018 in connection with which we have provided certain information and materials as requested. On April 8, 2019, the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority informed us that it closed the administrative supervision procedure, without determining we committed any violation or breach.

Any such incidents could expose us to claims, litigation, regulatory or other governmental investigations, administrative fines and potential liability. An increasing number of online services have disclosed breaches of their security, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks on portions of their services. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and often are not foreseeable or recognized until launched against a target, we and our third-party partners may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. If an actual or perceived breach of our or our third-party partners’ security occurs, public perception of the effectiveness of our security measures and brand could be harmed, and we could lose users. Data security breaches and other cybersecurity incidents may also result from non-technical means, for example, actions by employees or contractors. Any compromise of our or our third-party partners’ security could result in a violation of applicable security, privacy or data protection, consumer and other laws, regulatory or other governmental investigations, enforcement actions and legal and financial exposure, including potential contractual liability, in all cases that may not always be limited to the amounts covered by our insurance. Any such compromise could also result in damage to our brand and a loss of confidence in our security and privacy or data protection measures.

Our and our third-party partners’ systems may be vulnerable to computer viruses and other malicious software, physical or electronic break-ins, or weakness resulting from intentional or unintentional actions by us, our third-party partners or our service providers, as well as similar disruptions that could make all or portions of our website or apps unavailable for periods of time. While we currently employ various antivirus and computer protection software in our operations, we cannot assure you that such protections will in all cases successfully prevent hacking or the transmission of any computer virus or malware, which could result in significant damage to our hardware and software systems and databases, disruptions to our business activities, including to our e-mail and other communications systems, breaches of security and the inadvertent disclosure of personal, confidential or sensitive data, interruptions in access to our website through the use of “denial of service” or similar attacks and other material adverse effects on our operations.

Further, we may need to expend significant resources to protect against, and to address issues created by, security breaches and other incidents. Security breaches and other security incidents, including any breaches of our security measures or those of parties with which we have commercial relationships (e.g., third-party service providers who provide development or other services to us) that result in the unauthorized access of users’ confidential, proprietary or personal data, or the belief that any of these have occurred, could damage our reputation and expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. Significant unavailability of our platform due to attacks could cause users to cease using our platform and materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Although we maintain cybersecurity liability insurance, we cannot be certain our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or will continue to be available to us on reasonable terms, or at all.

Many jurisdictions have or are considering enacting privacy or data protection laws or regulations relating to the collection, use, storage, transfer, disclosure and/or other processing of personal data. Such laws and regulations may include data residency or data localization requirements (which generally require that certain types of data collected within a certain country be stored and processed within that country), data export restrictions or international transfer laws (which prohibit or impose conditions upon the transfer of such data from one country to another), requirements that companies implement privacy or data protection and security policies, or requirements that companies grant individuals certain rights, such as the right to access, correct and delete personal data stored or maintained by such companies, be informed of security breaches that affect their personal data or provide consent to use their personal data for other purposes. While we have implemented various measures intended to enable us to comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws, regulations and contractual obligations, these measures may not always be effective and do not guarantee compliance. In addition, privacy or data protection laws and regulations may be modified, interpreted and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another, other requirements or legal obligations, or our practices. Further, the existence and need to comply in certain markets could impact our ability to offer our platform in those markets (without taking additional compliance steps). Cultural norms around privacy or data protection also vary from country to country and can drive a need to localize or customize certain features of our platform in order to address varied privacy or data protection concerns, which can add cost and time to our development of new features and platform enhancements.

Changes in laws or regulations relating to consumer data privacy or data protection, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws and regulations or our privacy policies, could materially and adversely affect our business.

We receive, collect, store, process, transfer and use personal data and other user data. The effectiveness of our technology, including our AI and platforms, and our ability to offer our platform to users rely on the collection, storage and use of this data concerning freelancers and other users, including personally identifying or other sensitive data. Our collection and use of this data might raise privacy and data protection concerns, which could negatively impact the demand for our services. Privacy and data protection laws could restrict or add regulatory and compliance processes to our ability to effectively use and profit from those services.

There are numerous federal, state and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, information security and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure and protection of personal data and other content, the scope of which are changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among countries or conflict with other laws and regulations. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection and information security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies and other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and information security to the extent possible. However, the regulatory framework for privacy and data protection worldwide is, and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, uncertain and complex, and it is possible that these or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that we do not anticipate or that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. Further, any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security or disclosure of personal data, or their interpretation, or any changes regarding the manner in which the consent of users or other data subjects for the collection, use, retention or disclosure of such data must be obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete, and may limit our ability to store and process user data or develop new services and features.

If we were found in violation of any applicable privacy or data protection laws or regulations, our business may be materially and adversely affected and we would likely have to change our business practices and potentially the services and features available through our platform. In addition, these laws and regulations could impose significant costs on us and could make it more difficult for us to use our current technology to promote certain Gigs and connect freelancers with buyers. In addition, if a breach of data security were to occur, or other violation of privacy or data protection laws and regulations were to be alleged, solutions may be perceived as less desirable and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We also expect that there will continue to be new laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security proposed and enacted in various jurisdictions. For example, European legislators adopted the GDPR, which became effective on May 25, 2018, and are now in the process of finalizing the ePrivacy Regulation to replace the European ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC). The GDPR further implemented through binding guidance from by the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) (and supplemented by national laws in individual EU member states), imposes more stringent data protection compliance requirements and provides for more significant penalties for noncompliance in Europe. The GDPR created new compliance obligations applicable to our business and users, which could cause us to change our business practices, and increases financial penalties for noncompliance (including possible fines of up to the greater of €20 million and 4% of our global annual turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations, as well as the right to compensation for financial or non-financial damages claimed by any individuals under Article 82 of the GDPR). We are taking steps to comply with the GDPR but this is an ongoing compliance process. Additionally, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA provides new data privacy rights for consumers and new operational requirements for companies. Given the early stage at which the CCPA is (and that the Attorney General has not yet finalized the related CCPA regulations and may not bring enforcement actions under the CCPA until July 1, 2020), we cannot yet predict the full impact of the CCPA on our business or operations, but it may require us to modify our data practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Additionally, the CCPA and other legal and regulatory changes are making it easier for certain individuals to opt-out of having their personal data processed and disclosed to third parties through various opt-out mechanisms, which could result in an increase to our operational costs to ensure compliance with such legal and regulatory changes. Further, the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has created uncertainty with regard to the regulation of data protection in the United Kingdom. In particular, the United Kingdom has brought the GDPR into domestic law with the Data Protection Act 2018 which will remain in force. See Item 4.B. “Information on the Company—Business—Government Legislation and Regulation—Data Protection—Europe”. In recent years, there has also been an increase in attention to and regulation of data protection and data privacy across the globe, including in the U.S. The increasingly active approach of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to enforcing data privacy under the FTC Act Section 5 of the Unfair and Deceptive Acts framework. In addition, failure to comply with the Israeli Privacy Protection Law, 1981, and its regulations as well as the guidelines of the Israeli Privacy Protection Authority, may expose us to administrative fines, civil claims (including class actions) and in certain cases criminal liability. Current pending legislation may result in a change of the current enforcement measures and sanctions.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our posted privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to users or other third parties, or any other legal obligations or regulatory requirements relating to privacy, data protection or information security may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, claims or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result in significant liability, cause our users to lose trust in us, and otherwise materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our users may limit the adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, our platform. Additionally, if third parties we work with violate applicable laws, regulations or agreements, such violations may put our users’ data at risk, could result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, fines, litigation, claims, or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result in significant liability, cause our users to lose trust in us and otherwise materially and adversely affect our reputation and business. Further, public scrutiny of, or complaints about, technology companies or their data handling or data protection practices, even if unrelated to our business, industry or operations, may lead to increased scrutiny of technology companies, including us, and may cause government agencies to enact additional regulatory requirements, or to modify their enforcement or investigation activities, which may increase our costs and risks.

Additionally, certain actions of our users that are deemed to be a misuse of or unauthorized disclosure of another user’s personal data could negatively affect our reputation and brand and impose liability on us. While we have adopted policies regarding the misuse or unauthorized disclosure of personal data obtained through our services by our users and retain authority to put a hold on or permanently disable user accounts, users could nonetheless misuse or disclose another user’s personal data. The safeguards we have in place may not be sufficient to avoid liability on our part or avoid harm to our reputation and brand, especially if such misuse or unauthorized disclosure of personal data was high profile, which could adversely affect our ability to expand our user base, and our business and financial results.

Any court ruling or other governmental action that imposes liability on providers of online services for the activities of their users and other third parties could harm our business. In such circumstances, we may also be subject to liability under applicable law in a way which may not be fully mitigated by the user terms of service we require our users to agree to. Any liability attributed to us could adversely affect our brand, reputation, our ability to expand our user base and our financial position.

We have a limited operating history under our current platform and pricing model, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects and increases the risks associated with your investment, and any future changes to our pricing model could materially and adversely affect our business.

We currently primarily derive our revenue from transaction fees and service fees. If we are unable to maintain a large community of users or we are unable to respond successfully to technological or industry developments, or if for any other reason the perceived value of our platform to freelancers or buyers is adversely affected, we may be forced to lower our take rate. Our take rate may also fluctuate from period to period.

In recent years, we implemented a significant change to our pricing model, including our take rate, which enabled freelancers to list Gigs with base prices higher than $5 and to set different formats and prices for each Gig. As a result, we have only limited experience with our current pricing model, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects and to plan for and model future growth. Our historical revenue growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance. We have encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, including difficulties in our ability to achieve market acceptance of our platform and attract and retain users, as well as increasing competition and increasing expenses as we continue to grow our business. As a result, we may from time to time decide to make further changes to our pricing model due to a variety of factors, including changes in the market for our platform and competitors introducing new products and services. We may not be successful in addressing these and other challenges we may face in the future and changes to our pricing model may, among other things, result in user dissatisfaction and could lead to a loss of users on our platform.

Errors, defects or disruptions in our platform could diminish our brand, subject us to liability, and materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Any errors, defects, or disruptions in our platform, or other performance problems with our platform could harm our brand and may damage the businesses of our users. Our online systems, including our website and mobile apps, could contain undetected errors, or “bugs,” that could adversely affect their performance. Additionally, we regularly update and enhance our website, platform and our other online systems and introduce new versions of our software products and apps. These updates may contain undetected errors when first introduced or released, which may cause disruptions in our services and may, as a result, cause us to lose market share, and our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our platform contains open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying licenses could restrict our ability to market or operate our platform.

We use open source software in connection with our technology and services. Some open source software licenses require those who distribute open source software as part of their software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code (including proprietary code) to such software and/or make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost. The use of such open source code may ultimately require us to replace certain code used on our platform or discontinue certain aspects of our platform. From time to time, we may face claims from third parties claiming infringement of their intellectual property rights, or demanding the release or license of the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software (which could include our proprietary source code) or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to pay substantial damages, publicly release the affected portions of our source code, be limited in or cease using the implicated software unless and until we can re-engineer such software to avoid infringement or change the use of, or remove, the implicated open source software.

In addition to risks related to license requirements, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as the original developers of open source code generally do not provide warranties (with respect to, for example, non-infringement or functionality) or indemnities or other contractual protections. Our use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our website and systems that rely on open source software. Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage.

Expansion into markets outside the United States is important to the growth of our business, and if we do not manage the business and economic risks of international expansion effectively, it could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We expect to continue to expand our international operations, which may include opening offices in new jurisdictions and providing our platform in additional languages. Any new markets or countries into which we attempt to advertise our platform may not be receptive. For example, we may not be able to expand further in some markets if we are not able to satisfy certain government requirements. In addition, our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and resources and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages, cultures, customs, legal and regulatory systems, alternative dispute systems and commercial markets. International expansion has required, and will continue to require, investment of significant funds and other resources. Operating internationally subjects us to new risks and may increase risks that we currently face, including risks associated with:

Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to our global operations could substantially increase our cost of doing business in international jurisdictions. We may be unable to keep current with changes in laws and regulations as they change. Although we are in the process of implementing policies and procedures designed to support compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we will always be in compliance or that all of our employees, contractors, partners and agents will comply at all times. Any violations could result in enforcement actions, fines, civil and criminal penalties, damages, injunctions, or reputational harm. If we are unable comply with these laws and regulations or manage the complexity of our global operations successfully, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

If we are unable to maintain and expand our scale of operations and generate a sufficient amount of revenue to offset the associated fixed and variable costs, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Online businesses like ours tend to involve certain fixed costs, and our ability to achieve desired operating margins depends largely on our success in maintaining a scale of operations and generating a sufficient amount of revenue to offset these fixed costs and other variable costs. Our fixed costs typically include compensation of employees, data storage and related expenses and office rental expenses. Our variable costs typically include sales and marketing expenses and payment processing fees. As we have established the technology and network infrastructure to support our platform, the incremental cost associated with sellers adding new Gigs is relatively insignificant. However, if we are unable to maintain economies of scale, our operating margin may decrease and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

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

Our quarterly operating results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate in the future. You should take into account the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in rapidly evolving markets. Our operating results in any given quarter can be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are unpredictable or are outside of our control, including:

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

Our business is subject to a variety of laws and regulations, both in the United States and internationally, many of which are evolving.

We are subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations. Laws, regulations and standards governing issues such as worker classification, employment, payments, worker confidentiality obligations, intellectual property, consumer protection, taxation, privacy and data security are often complex and subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity and, as a result, their application in practice may change or develop over time through judicial decisions or as new guidance or interpretations are provided by regulatory and governing bodies, such as federal and state administrative agencies. Many of these laws were adopted prior to the advent of the internet and mobile and related technologies and, as a result, do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the internet and related technologies. Other laws and regulations may be adopted in response to internet, mobile and related technologies. New and existing laws and regulations (or changes in interpretation of existing laws and regulations) may also be adopted, implemented, or interpreted to apply to us and other online services marketplaces. As our platform’s geographical scope expands, regulatory agencies or courts may claim that we, or our users, are subject to additional requirements or that we are prohibited from conducting our business in or with certain jurisdictions. It is also possible that certain provisions in agreements with our service providers or between buyers and freelancers may be found to be unenforceable or not compliant with applicable law.

Recent financial, political and other events may increase the level of regulatory scrutiny on larger companies, technology companies in general and, in particular, companies engaged in dealings with independent contractors or payments. Regulatory agencies may enact new laws or promulgate new regulations that are adverse to our business, or they may view matters or interpret laws and regulations differently than they have in the past or in a manner adverse to our business. Such regulatory scrutiny or action may create different or conflicting obligations on us from one jurisdiction to another. In particular, we have received letters from certain jurisdictions indicating that we are required to pay taxes based on having certain minimum contacts in such jurisdictions. We may become subject to taxation in additional jurisdictions in the future.

If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on a combination of confidentiality clauses, contractual commitments, trade secret protection, copyrights, trademarks and other legal rights to protect our intellectual property and know-how. To date, we have not sought patent protection for our platform or any portion of it. Third parties may obtain, copy, reverse engineer or use without our authorization our intellectual property, which includes trademarks related to our brand, platform, registered domain names, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights and licenses. If we cannot adequately protect and defend our intellectual property, we may not remain competitive, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements with our employees, consultants and business partners, and we control access to and distribution of our proprietary information. No assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to our proprietary information or in effectively securing ownership of intellectual property developed by our current or former employees and contractors. Further, our competitors could also independently develop technologies like ours, and our intellectual property rights may not be broad enough for us to prevent competitors from selling products and services incorporating those technologies.

In order to protect our brand, we register and defend our trademarks and expend resources to prevent others from using the same or substantially similar marks. Despite these efforts, we may not always be successful in registering and preventing misappropriation of our own marks or preventing registration of confusingly similar marks, and we may suffer dilution of or other harm to our brand.

From time to time, we may discover that third parties are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our intellectual property rights. However, policing unauthorized use of our intellectual property and misappropriation of our technology is difficult, and we may therefore not always be aware of such unauthorized use or misappropriation. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, unauthorized third parties may attempt to use, copy or otherwise obtain and market or distribute our intellectual property rights or technology or otherwise develop solutions with the same or similar functionality as our platform. If competitors infringe, misappropriate or otherwise misuse our intellectual property rights and we are not adequately protected, or if such competitors are able to develop solutions with the same or similar functionality as our platform without infringing our intellectual property, our competitive position could be harmed and our legal costs could increase, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to successfully halt the operations of copycat websites or misappropriation of our data.

From time to time, third parties may misappropriate our data, through website scraping, robots, web crawlers or other tools or means and aggregate this data on their websites with data from other companies. In addition, “copycat” websites may attempt to imitate the functionality of our website.

If we become aware of such activities, we would employ technological and/or legal measures, including initiating lawsuits, in an attempt to halt their operations. However, we may not be able to detect all such activities in a timely manner and, even if we could, technological and legal measures may be insufficient. Regardless of whether we can successfully enforce our rights against these websites or third parties, any measures that we may take could require us to expend significant financial or other resources.

We may become subject to claims for remuneration or royalties for assigned service invention rights by our employees, which could result in litigation and adversely affect our business.

A significant portion of our intellectual property has been developed by our employees in the course of their employment for us. Under the Israeli Patent Law, 5727-1967 (the “Patent Law”), inventions conceived by an employee in the course and as a result of or arising from his or her employment with a company are regarded as “service inventions,” which belong to the employer, absent a specific agreement between the employee and employer giving the employee service invention rights. The Patent Law also provides that if there is no such agreement between an employer and an employee, the Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee (the “Committee”), a body constituted under the Patent Law, shall determine whether the employee is entitled to remuneration for his or her inventions. Case law clarifies that the right to receive consideration for “service inventions” can be waived by the employee and that in certain circumstances, such waiver does not necessarily have to be explicit. The Committee will examine, on a case-by-case basis, the general contractual framework between the parties, using interpretation rules of the general Israeli contract laws. Further, the Committee has not yet determined one specific formula for calculating this remuneration, but rather uses the criteria specified in the Patent Law. Although we generally enter into assignment-of-invention agreements with our employees pursuant to which such individuals assign to us all rights to any inventions created in the scope of their employment or engagement with us, we may face claims demanding remuneration in consideration for assigned inventions. As a consequence of such claims, we could be required to pay additional remuneration or royalties to our current and/or former employees, or be forced to litigate such claims, which could negatively affect our business.

We may be vulnerable to intellectual property infringement claims brought against us by others.

We rely to some extent on third-party intellectual property, such as licenses to use software to operate our business and certain other copyrighted works. A successful infringement claim against us could result in monetary liability or a material disruption in our business. Although we require our employees not to infringe others’ intellectual property, we cannot be certain that our platform and brand names do not or will not infringe on valid patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may be subject to legal proceedings and claims from time to time relating to the intellectual property of others in the ordinary course of our business.

We may incur substantial expenses in defending against third party infringement claims, regardless of their merit. Additionally, due to diversion of management time, expenses required to defend against any claim and the potential liability associated with any lawsuit, any significant litigation could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we were found to have infringed on the intellectual property rights of a third party, we could be liable to that party for license fees, royalty payments, lost profits or other damages, and the owner of the intellectual property may be able to obtain injunctive relief to prevent us from using the technology, software or brand name in the future. If the amount of these payments were significant, if we were prevented from incorporating certain technology or software into our platform or if we were prevented from using our brand names, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Buyers and freelancers may circumvent our platform.

Our business depends on buyers and freelancers transacting through our platform. Despite our efforts to prevent them from doing so, users may circumvent our platform and engage with or pay each other through other means to avoid the transaction fees and service fees that we charge on our platform.

Additionally, freelancers, after utilizing our platform to build their reputation and brand and grow their clientele base, could choose to market their services and skills and transact with buyers outside of our platform.

We rely on Amazon Web Services to operate our platform, and any disruption of service from Amazon Web Services or material change to our arrangement with Amazon Web Services could adversely affect our business.

The operation of our platform depends on certain third-party service providers. In particular, we currently host our platform, serve our users and support our operations using Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), a provider of cloud infrastructure services. We do not have control over the operations of the facilities of AWS that we use. AWS’ facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events. In the event that AWS’ or any other third-party provider’s systems or service abilities are hindered by any of the events discussed above, our ability to operate our platform may be impaired, resulting in missing financial targets for a particular period. A decision to close the facilities without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems, could result in lengthy interruptions to our platform. All of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if our or our partners’ business continuity and disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate. The facilities also could be subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct. Our platform’s continuing and uninterrupted performance is critical to our success. Users may become dissatisfied by any system failure that interrupts our ability to provide our platform to them. We may not be able to easily switch our AWS operations to another cloud or other data center provider if there are disruptions or interference with our use of AWS, and, even if we do switch our operations, other cloud and data center providers are subject to the same risks. Sustained or repeated system failures would reduce the attractiveness of our platform to users, thereby reducing revenue. Moreover, negative publicity arising from these types of disruptions could damage our reputation and may adversely impact use of our platform. We may not carry sufficient business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur as a result of any events that cause interruptions in our service.

AWS does not have an obligation to renew its agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew our agreements on commercially reasonable terms, our agreements are prematurely terminated, or we add additional infrastructure providers, we may experience costs or downtime in connection with the transfer to, or the addition of, new data center providers. If AWS or other infrastructure providers increase the cost of their services, we may have to increase the fees to use our platform, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We face payment and fraud risks that could materially and adversely affect our business.

Requirements on our platform relating to user authentication and fraud detection are complex. If our security measures do not succeed, our business may be adversely affected. In addition, bad actors around the world use increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities involving personal data, such as unauthorized use of another’s identity or payment information, unauthorized acquisition or use of credit or debit card details and other fraudulent use of another’s identity or information. This could result in any of the following, each of which could adversely affect our business:

Despite measures we have taken to detect and reduce the risk of this kind of conduct, we do not have control over users of our platform and cannot ensure that any of our measures will stop illegal or improper uses of our platform. We have received in the past, and may receive in the future, complaints from users and other third parties concerning misuse of our platform. We also may be required to bring claims against users and other third parties for their misuse of our platform. Even if these 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 materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to escrow, payment services and money transmitter regulations that may materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on third-party to collect funds from buyers, remit payments to sellers and hold funds in connection with user balances. Although we believe that by working with third party our operations comply with existing U.S. federal and state and applicable international laws and regulatory requirements related to escrow, money transmission and the handling or moving of money, existing laws or regulations may change, and interpretations of existing laws and regulations may also change.

As a result, we could be required to be licensed as an escrow agent or a money transmitter (or other similar licensee) in U.S. states or other jurisdictions or may choose to obtain such a license even if not required. Such a decision could also require us to register as a money services business under applicable laws and regulations. It is also possible that we could become subject to regulatory enforcement or other proceedings in those states or other jurisdictions with escrow, money transmission or other similar statutes or regulatory requirements related to the handling or moving of money, which could in turn have a significant impact on our business, even if we were to ultimately prevail in such proceedings. We may also be required to become licensed as a payment institution (or other similar license) under the European Payment Services Directive or other international laws and regulations. Any developments in the laws or regulations related to escrow, money transmission or the handling or moving of money or increased scrutiny of our business may lead to additional compliance costs and administrative overhead.

The application of laws and regulations related to escrow, money transmission and the handling or moving of money is complex and uncertain, particularly as they relate to new and evolving business models. If we are or have at any point in time been in violation of one or more escrow or money transmitter or other similar statutes or regulatory requirements related to the handling or moving of money in any jurisdiction, we may be subject to the imposition of fines, users in the relevant jurisdiction may be unable to use our platform, we may be subject to civil liability or criminal liability and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If we are unable to maintain our payment partners and bank relationships, or if our disbursement partners encounter business difficulties, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

Our payment partners consist of payment processors and disbursement partners. We rely on banks and card processors to provide clearing, processing and settlement functions for the secure and timely funding of all transactions on our platform. We also rely on a network of disbursement partners to hold and disburse funds to users.

Our payment partners are critical to our business. In order to maintain these relationships, we have in the past been, and may in the future be, forced to agree to terms that are unfavorable to us. If we are unable to maintain our agreements with current payment partners on favorable terms, or we are unable to enter into new agreements with new payment partners, our ability to collect, hold and disburse funds and our revenue and business may be materially and adversely affected. This could occur for a number of reasons, including the following:

Having an international community of users exposes us to risks that may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our users have a global footprint that subjects us to the risks of being found to do business internationally. We have users located in over 160 countries, including some emerging markets where we have limited experience, where challenges can be significantly different from those we have faced in more developed markets and where business practices may create greater internal control risks. Because our platform is generally accessible by users worldwide, one or more jurisdictions may claim that we or our users are required to comply with their laws. Laws outside of the United States and Israel regulating internet, payments, escrow, privacy and data protection, taxation, terms of service, website accessibility, consumer protection, intellectual property ownership, services intermediaries, labor and employment, worker classification, background checks and recruiting and staffing companies, among others, which could be interpreted to apply to us, are often less favorable to us than those in the United States and Israel, giving greater rights to competitors, users and other third parties.

Compliance with international laws and regulations may be more costly than expected, may require us to change our business practices or may restrict our service offerings, and the imposition of any such laws or regulations on us, our users or third parties that we or our users utilize to provide services may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we may be subject to multiple overlapping legal or regulatory regimes that impose conflicting requirements and enhanced legal risks.

Analysis of, and compliance with, global laws and regulations may substantially increase our cost of doing business. We may be unable to keep current with changes in laws and regulations as they develop.

Although we are in the process of implementing policies and procedures designed to analyze whether these laws apply and, if applicable, ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we will always be in compliance or that all of our employees, contractors, partners, users and agents will comply at all times. Any violations could result in enforcement actions, fines, civil and criminal penalties, interest, costs and fees (including but not limited to legal fees), injunctions, loss of intellectual property rights or reputational harm. If we are unable to comply with these laws and regulations or manage the complexity of global operations and supporting an international user base successfully, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our business model may subject us to disputes between users of our platform.

Our business model involves connecting buyers and freelancers that contract directly through our platform. Buyers and freelancers are free to negotiate any specific terms they choose through custom offers sent from the conversation page. It is possible that disputes may arise between buyers and freelancers with regard to the terms of their order, service standards, payment, confidentiality, work product and intellectual property ownership and infringement. If either party believes the terms of their agreement were not met, our terms of service provide a mechanism for the parties to request assistance from us in resolving the dispute through our resolution center and customer support team. However, if we are unable to help them resolve the dispute, they may choose to resolve the dispute with the help of a third-party arbitrator. Whether or not buyers and freelancers decide to seek assistance from us, if these disputes are not resolved amicably, the parties might escalate to formal proceedings, such as by filing claims with a court or arbitral authority. Given our role in facilitating and supporting these arrangements, it is possible that claims will be brought against us directly as a result of these disputes, or that freelancers or buyers may bring us into any claims filed against each other. We include language in our terms of service disclaiming responsibility or liability for any disputes between users, except with respect to the specified dispute assistance program; however, we cannot guarantee that these terms will, in all circumstances, be effective in preventing or limiting our involvement in user disputes. Additionally, from time to time, we ourselves are the subject of user complaints filed on forums such as the Better Business Bureau. We do not attempt to respond to all such complaints, and their mere presence may result in damage to our reputation. Even if these 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.

We may not be able to successfully execute future acquisitions or efficiently manage any acquired business.

As part of our growth strategy, we may decide to expand, in part, by acquiring certain complementary businesses or technologies. The success of any material acquisition will depend upon several factors, including our ability to: identify and cost-effectively acquire businesses; integrate acquired user data, operations, products and technologies into our organization effectively; retain and motivate key personnel; and effectively retain acquired users.

Any such acquisition may require a significant commitment of management time, capital investment and other resources. We may not be successful in identifying and negotiating acquisitions on terms favorable to us. Any such acquisition could involve us taking on debt or give rise to new liabilities. In addition, we cannot be certain that any acquisition, if completed, will be successfully integrated into our existing operations. If we are unable to effectively integrate an acquired business, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, if we use our equity securities as consideration for acquisitions, we may dilute the value of the ordinary shares.

There may be adverse tax, legal and other consequences if the employment status of freelancers that use our platform is challenged.

There is often uncertainty in the application of worker classification laws and, consequently, there is risk that freelancers could be deemed to be misclassified under applicable law. The tests governing whether a service provider is an independent contractor, or an employee are typically highly fact sensitive and vary by governing law. Laws and regulations that govern the status and misclassification of independent contractors are also subject to change and to divergent interpretations by various authorities, which can create uncertainty and unpredictability. We are aware of a number of judicial decisions and legislative proposals that have brought or could bring about major reforms in work classification, including the California legislature’s recent passage of California Assembly Bill 5 (“AB 5”). AB 5 codifies an enhanced standard for determining working classification that expands the scope of employee relationships and narrows the scope of independent contractor relationships. A misclassification determination or allegation creates potential exposure for users, including but not limited to: monetary exposure arising from or relating to failure to withhold and remit taxes, unpaid wages and wage and hour laws and requirements (such as those pertaining to minimum wage and overtime); claims for employee benefits, social security, workers’ compensation and unemployment; claims of discrimination, harassment and retaliation under civil rights laws; claims under laws pertaining to unionizing, collective bargaining and other concerted activity; and other claims, charges, or other proceedings under laws and regulations applicable to employers and employees, including risks relating to allegations of joint employer liability. Such claims could result in monetary damages or other liability, and any adverse determination, including potentially the requirement for us to indemnify a user, could also harm our brand, which could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. While these risks are mitigated, in part, by our contractual rights of indemnification against third-party claims, such indemnification agreements could be determined to be unenforceable or costly to enforce and indemnification under such agreements may otherwise prove inadequate.

The application of indirect taxes could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The application of indirect taxes, such as sales and use tax, to our business is a complex and evolving issue. Significant judgment is required to evaluate applicable tax obligations. As a result, amounts recorded may be subject to adjustments by the relevant tax authorities. In many cases, the ultimate tax determination is uncertain because it is not clear how new and existing statutes might apply to our business. One or more states, the U.S. federal government or other countries may seek to impose additional reporting, record-keeping or indirect tax collection obligations on businesses like ours that facilitate e-commerce. For example, state and local taxing authorities in the United States and taxing authorities in other countries have identified e-commerce platforms as a means to calculate, collect and remit indirect taxes for transactions taking place over the internet. Multiple U.S. states have enacted related legislation and other states are now considering such legislation.

We may face lawsuits or incur liability as a result of content published or made available through our platform.

The nature of our business exposes us to claims related to defamation, infringement, misappropriation or other violations of third-party intellectual property rights, rights of publicity and privacy and personal injury torts. The law relating to the liability of providers of online products or services for activities of their users remains somewhat unsettled, both within the United States and internationally. This risk is enhanced in certain jurisdictions outside the United States where our protection from liability for third-party actions may be unclear and where we may be less protected under local laws than we are in the United States. If a claim is brought against us due to the actions of our users, we could incur significant costs investigating and defending such claims and, if we are found liable, significant damages.

Our business activities subject us to litigation risk that could materially and adversely affect us by subjecting us to significant money damages and other remedies, causing unfavorable publicity or increasing our litigation expense.

We are, from time to time, the subject of complaints or litigation, including user claims, contract claims, employee allegations of improper termination and discrimination and claims related to violations of applicable government laws regarding religious freedom, advertising and intellectual property. Any such claim could be expensive to defend and may divert time, money and other valuable resources away from our operations and management, and, thereby, hurt our business. Additionally, a substantial judgment against us could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our insurance may not provide adequate levels of coverage against claims.

We believe that we maintain insurance customary for businesses of our size and type. However, there are types of losses we may incur that cannot be insured against or that we believe are not economically reasonable to insure. Moreover, any loss incurred could exceed policy limits and policy payments made to us may not be made on a timely basis.

We may be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters and other catastrophic events that could disrupt our business operations and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, blizzard, hurricane, fire or flood, or other catastrophic events, such as a power loss or telecommunications failure, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results. In the event of natural disaster or other catastrophic event, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in development of our platform, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security and loss of critical data, all of which could have an adverse effect on our future operating results. In addition, natural disasters and other catastrophic events could affect the ability of sellers on our platform to perform Gigs on a timely basis. If a natural disaster or other catastrophic event occurs in a region from which we derive a significant portion of our revenue, users in that region may delay or forego use of our platform, which may adversely impact our operating results. All of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if our or our partners’ business continuity and disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate.

We depend upon talented employees, including our Chief Executive Officer, to grow, operate and improve our business, and if we are unable to retain and motivate our personnel and attract new talent, we may not be able to grow effectively.

We believe our success has depended, and our future success depends, on the efforts and talents of our senior management, including Micha Kaufman, our Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. There can be no assurance that the services of any of these individuals will continue to be available to us in the future. We do not carry any key man life insurance policies on any of our executive officers.

Our ability to execute and manage our operations efficiently is dependent upon contributions from all of our employees. Training of new employees with no prior relevant experience could be time-consuming and require a significant amount of resources. Competition for senior management and key product and development personnel is intense.

Our principal research and development activities are conducted from our headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, and we face significant competition for suitably skilled developers in this region. We also engage a team of developers in the US and Ukraine in order to benefit from the significant pool of talent that is more readily available in such market. Many larger companies expend considerably greater amounts on employee recruitment and may be able to offer more favorable compensation and incentive packages than us. If we cannot attract or retain sufficient skilled research and development, marketing, operations and customer service professionals, our business, prospects and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In particular, we have experienced a competitive hiring environment in Israel, where we are headquartered. If we lose the services of any of our key personnel and fail to manage a smooth transition to new personnel, our business could suffer.

We generally enter into non-competition agreements with our employees. These agreements prohibit our employees, if they cease working for us, from competing directly with us or working for our competitors for a limited period. We may be unable to enforce these agreements under the laws of the jurisdictions in which our employees work, and it may be difficult for us to restrict our competitors from benefiting from the expertise our former employees developed while working for us. For example, Israeli labor courts have required employers seeking to enforce non-compete undertakings of a former employee to demonstrate that the competitive activities of the former employee will harm one of a limited number of material interests of the employer that have been recognized by the courts, such as the protection of a company’s trade secrets or other intellectual property.

Currency exchange rate fluctuations affect our results of operations, as reported in our financial statements.

We report our financial results in U.S. dollars. We collect our revenue primarily in U.S. dollars. A portion of the cost of revenue, research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses of our Israeli operations are incurred in NIS. As a result, we are exposed to exchange rate risks that may materially and adversely affect our financial results. If the NIS appreciates against the U.S. dollar or if the value of the NIS declines against the U.S. dollar at a time when the rate of inflation in the cost of Israeli goods and services exceeds the rate of decline in the relative value of the NIS, then the U.S. dollar cost of our operations in Israel would increase and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Although we enter into hedging transactions from time to time, our Israeli operations also could be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to effectively hedge against currency fluctuations in the future. We cannot predict any future trends in the rate of inflation in Israel or the rate of depreciation (if any) of the NIS against the U.S. dollar. The Israeli annual rate of inflation amounted to 0.8%,0.8% and 0.2% for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The appreciation of the NIS in relation to the U.S. dollar amounted to 7.8% and 9.8% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2017, respectively, and the depreciation of the NIS in relation to the U.S. dollar amounted to 8.1% for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Our investment portfolio may be adversely affected by market conditions and interest rates. 

We maintain substantial balances of liquid investments, for purposes of financing our operations and acquisitions. Our marketable securities totaled $110.4 million as of December 31, 2019. The performance of the capital markets affects the values of funds that are held in marketable securities. These assets are subject to market fluctuations and various developments, including, without limitation, rating agency downgrades that may impair their value. We expect that market conditions will continue to fluctuate and that the fair value of our investments may be affected accordingly. In addition, our investment portfolio is invested primarily in fixed-income securities and is affected by changes in interest rates. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary policies and domestic and international economic and political conditions. Any significant decline in our financial income or the value of our investments as a result of the changes in interest rates and interest rate expectations of the financial markets, deterioration in the credit rating of the securities in which we have invested, or general market conditions, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Although we believe that we generally adhere to conservative investment guidelines, the continuing turmoil in the financial markets may result in impairments of the carrying value of our investment assets, which may adversely affect our financial position and results.

We may need to raise additional funds to finance our future capital needs, which may dilute the value of our outstanding ordinary shares or prevent us from growing our business.

We may need to raise additional funds to finance our existing and future capital needs, including developing new services and technologies, and to fund ongoing operating expenses. If we raise additional funds through the sale of equity securities, these transactions may dilute the value of our outstanding ordinary shares. We may also decide to issue securities, including protected securities, that have rights, preferences and privileges senior to our ordinary shares. Any debt financing would increase our level of indebtedness and could negatively affect our liquidity and restrict our operations. We also can provide no assurances that the funds we raise will be sufficient to finance any future capital requirements. We may be unable to raise additional funds on terms favorable to us or at all. If financing is not available or is not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our future needs. This may prevent us from increasing our market share, capitalizing on new business opportunities or remaining competitive in our industry, which could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.

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

The enactment of legislation implementing changes in taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other corporate tax reform policies, or changes in tax legislation or policies could impact our future financial position and results of operations.

Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts and tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many tax jurisdictions where we have business operations. As a result, policies regarding corporate income and other taxes in numerous jurisdictions are under heightened scrutiny and tax reform legislation is being proposed or enacted in a number of jurisdictions.

In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (the “OECD”) released various reports under its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) action plan to reform international tax systems and prevent tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning. These actions aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including cross-border taxes, transfer-pricing documentation rules and nexus- based tax incentive practices which in part are focused on challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy. The reports have a very broad scope including, but not limited to, neutralizing the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangements, limiting base erosion involving interest deductions and other financial payments, countering harmful tax practices, preventing the granting of treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances and imposing mandatory disclosure rules. It is the responsibility of OECD members to consider how the BEPS recommendations should be reflected in their national legislation. Many countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the OECD’s BEPS recommendations, for example, by signing up to the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (the “MLI”) which currently has been signed by over 85 jurisdictions, including Israel who signed the MLI on September 13, 2018. The MLI implements some of the measures that the BEPS initiative proposes to be transposed into existing treaties of participating states. Such measures include the inclusion in tax treaties of one, or both, of a “limitation-on-benefit” (“LOB”) rule and a ”principle purposes test” (“PPT”) rule. The application of the LOB rule or the PPT rule could deny the availability of tax treaty benefits (such as a reduced rate of withholding tax) under tax treaties. There are likely to be significant changes in the tax legislation of various OECD jurisdictions during the period of implementation of BEPS. Such legislative initiatives may materially and adversely affect our plans to expand internationally and may negatively impact our financial condition, tax liability, results of operations and could increase our administrative efforts.

Risks relating to our ordinary shares

Our share price may be volatile, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

The market price of our ordinary shares could be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially as a result of many factors, including:

In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our ordinary shares, regardless of our operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against that company. If we were involved in any similar litigation we could incur substantial costs and our management’s attention and resources could be diverted.

An active trading market for our ordinary shares may not be sustained to provide adequate liquidity.

An active trading market may not be sustained for our ordinary shares. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling ordinary shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies by using our shares as consideration.

If we do not meet the expectations of equity research analysts, if they do not publish research or reports about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our ordinary shares, the price of our ordinary shares could decline.

The trading market for our ordinary shares relies in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. The analysts’ estimates are based upon their own opinions and are often different from our estimates or expectations. If our results of operations are below the estimates or expectations of public market analysts and investors, the price of our ordinary shares could decline. Moreover, the price of our ordinary shares could decline if one or more securities analysts downgrade our ordinary shares or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary or cease publishing reports about us or our business.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Securities Act, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our ordinary shares less attractive to investors because we rely on these reduced disclosure requirements.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the JOBS Act. Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised financial accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We are taking advantage of this extended transition period under the JOBS Act for adopting new or revised financial accounting standards.

For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may also take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including presenting only limited selected financial data and not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information that they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if our total annual revenue exceeds $1.07 billion, if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during any three-year period, or if before that time we are a “large accelerated filer” under U.S. securities laws. We cannot predict if investors will find our ordinary shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ordinary shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ordinary shares and our share price may be more volatile.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, we are not be subject to U.S. proxy rules and are subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. domestic public company.

We report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including (1) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act, (2) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their share ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time and (3) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, although we are subject to Israeli laws and regulations with regard to certain of these matters and furnish comparable quarterly information on Form 6-K. In addition, foreign private issuers are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, while U.S. domestic issuers that are accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 75 days after the end of each fiscal year and U.S. domestic issuers that are large accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from Regulation FD, which is intended to prevent issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of all of the above, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of a company that is not a foreign private issuer.

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

As discussed above, we are a foreign private issuer, and therefore, we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and, accordingly, the next determination will be made with respect to us on June 30, 2020. In the future, we would lose our foreign private issuer status if (1) more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are owned by U.S. residents and (2) a majority of our directors or executive officers are U.S. citizens or residents, or we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to avoid loss of foreign private issuer status. If we lose our foreign private issuer status, we will be required to file with the SEC periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. We will also have to mandatorily comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders will become subject to the short-swing profit disclosure and recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we will lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements under the listing rules of the New York Stock Exchange. As a U.S. listed public company that is not a foreign private issuer, we will incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we will not incur as a foreign private issuer.

As we are a “foreign private issuer” and follow certain home country corporate governance practices, our shareholders may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

As a foreign private issuer, we have the option to follow certain home country corporate governance practices rather than those of the New York Stock Exchange, provided that we disclose the requirements we are not following and describe the home country practices we are following. We rely on this “foreign private issuer exemption” with respect to the New York Stock Exchange rules for shareholder meeting quorums and New York Stock Exchange rules requiring shareholder approval. We may in the future elect to follow home country practices with regard to other matters. As a result, our shareholders may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

The market price of our ordinary shares could be negatively affected by future sales of our ordinary shares.

As of December 31, 2019, there were 31,937,772 ordinary shares outstanding. Sales by us or our shareholders of a substantial number of ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could cause the market price of our ordinary shares to decline or could impair our ability to raise capital through a future sale of, or pay for acquisitions using, our equity securities. Of our issued and outstanding shares, all of our ordinary shares are freely transferable, except for any shares held by our “affiliates,” as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

As of December 31, 2019, we had 284,008 shares available for future grant under our share option plans and 4,578,542 ordinary shares that were subject to share options and restricted share units. Of this amount, 1,662,729 were vested and exercisable as of December 31, 2019.

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders of our ordinary shares.

We would be classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for any taxable year if, after the application of certain look-through rules, either: (i) 75% or more of our gross income for such year is “passive income” (as defined in the relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended), or (ii) 50% or more of the value of our gross assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). For these purposes, cash and other assets readily convertible into cash are categorized as passive assets, and goodwill and other unbooked intangibles are generally taken into account. Passive income generally includes, among other things, rents, dividends, interest, royalties, gains from the disposition of passive assets and gains from commodities and securities transactions. For purposes of this test, we will be treated as owning a proportionate share of the assets and earning a proportionate share of the income of any other corporation of which we own, directly or indirectly, more than 25% (by value) of the stock. Because PFIC status is based on our income, assets and activities for the entire taxable year, it is not possible to determine whether we will be characterized as a PFIC for any taxable year until after the close of the taxable year. Moreover, we must determine our PFIC status annually based on tests that are factual in nature, and our status in future years will depend on our income, assets and activities in each of those years and, as a result, cannot be predicted with certainty as of the date hereof. In addition, we may have been classified as a “controlled foreign corporation” (“CFC”) for our 2019 taxable year. In general, we will be classified as a CFC for a taxable year if more than 50% of the total combined voting power or the total value of our ordinary shares is owned by “United States shareholders” (generally, United States persons who are treated as owning (directly, indirectly or constructively, using certain attribution rules) at least 10% of the total combined voting power or the total value of our ordinary shares). Due to a change to the relevant attribution rules enacted December 2017, it is not clear whether we were a CFC in our 2019 taxable year. Recently proposed U.S. Treasury regulations provide relief from the application of the attribution rules for the purpose of determining a foreign corporation’s PFIC status, and clarify the application of the asset test to CFCs in the year in which such CFC becomes publicly traded. Under the rules set forth in these proposed Treasury regulations, we believe we would not be treated as a PFIC in respect of our 2019 taxable year. However, it is not clear to what extent we or our shareholders can rely on these proposed Treasury regulations. U.S. Holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of these rules and the potential applicability of these proposed Treasury regulations. Certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to a U.S. Holder if we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which such U.S. Holder holds our ordinary shares. See Item 10.E. “Taxation—Taxation and government programs—United States federal income taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company considerations.”

If a United States person is treated as owning at least 10% of our ordinary shares, such holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

If a United States person is treated as owning (directly, indirectly, or constructively) at least 10% of the value or voting power of our ordinary shares, such person may be treated as a “United States shareholder” with respect to each “controlled foreign corporation” in our group (if any). Because our group includes a U.S. subsidiary, certain of our non-U.S. subsidiaries could be treated as controlled foreign corporations (regardless of whether or not we are treated as a controlled foreign corporation). A United States shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation may be required to report annually and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of “Subpart F income,” “global intangible low-taxed income,” and investments in U.S. property by controlled foreign corporations, regardless of whether we make any distributions. An individual that is a United States shareholder with respect to a controlled foreign corporation generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a United States shareholder that is a U.S. corporation, unless certain elections are made on the individual’s federal tax return. Failure to comply with these reporting obligations may subject a United States shareholder to significant monetary penalties and may prevent the statute of limitations with respect to such shareholder’s U.S. federal income tax return for the year for which reporting was due from starting. We cannot provide any assurances that we will assist investors in determining whether we are or any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries is treated as a controlled foreign corporation or whether any investor is treated as a United States shareholder with respect to any such controlled foreign corporation or furnish to any United States shareholders information that may be necessary to comply with the aforementioned reporting and tax paying obligations. A United States investor should consult its advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to an investment in our ordinary shares.

Provisions of Israeli law and our amended and restated articles of association may delay, prevent or make undesirable an acquisition of all or a significant portion of our shares or assets.

Provisions of Israeli law and our amended and restated articles of association could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and may make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us or our shareholders to elect different individuals to our board of directors, even if doing so would be considered to be beneficial by some of our shareholders, and may limit the price that investors may be willing to pay in the future for our ordinary shares. Among other things:

Further, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions undesirable to us or to some of our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel granting tax relief to such shareholders from Israeli tax. With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of numerous conditions, including a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which certain sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are restricted.

We do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our ordinary shares. We do not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance operations and expand our business.

Our board of directors has sole discretion whether to pay dividends. If our board of directors decides to pay dividends, the form, frequency and amount will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our directors may deem relevant. The Companies Law imposes restrictions on our ability to declare and pay dividends.

Payment of dividends may also be subject to Israeli withholding taxes. See Item 10.E. “Taxation—Taxation and government programs” for more information.

We continue to incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices.

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel continue to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board.

We continue to evaluate these rules and regulations and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often 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 are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will require management to certify financial and other information in our annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of control over financial reporting. Though we will be required to disclose material changes in internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis, we will not be required to make our first annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. Additionally, while we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting.

We currently have limited accounting personnel and we have begun the process of evaluating the adequacy of our accounting personnel staffing level and other matters related to our internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that we will not be able to conclude, within the prescribed timeframe or at all, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. If we identify one or more material weaknesses, it could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements. As a result, the market price of our ordinary shares could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Risks relating to our incorporation and location in Israel

Conditions in Israel could materially and adversely affect our business.

Our executive offices are located in Tel-Aviv, Israel. In addition, a number of our officers and directors are residents of Israel. Accordingly, political, economic and military conditions in Israel and the surrounding region may directly affect our business and operations. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have taken place between Israel and its neighboring countries, as well as terrorist acts committed within Israel by hostile elements. Any hostilities involving Israel or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners could adversely affect our operations and results of operations. During the summer of 2006, Israel was engaged in an armed conflict with Hezbollah, a Lebanese Islamist Shiite militia group and political party. In December 2008 and January 2009 there was an escalation in violence among Israel, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and other groups, as well as extensive hostilities along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, which resulted in missiles being fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel. During November 2012 and from July through August 2014, Israel was engaged in an armed conflict with a militia group and political party who controls the Gaza Strip, which resulted in missiles being fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel, as well as at areas more centrally located near Tel Aviv and at areas surrounding Jerusalem. These conflicts involved missile strikes against civilian targets in various parts of Israel, including areas in which our employees and some of our consultants are located, and negatively affected business conditions in Israel. Since February 2011, Egypt has experienced political turbulence and an increase in terrorist activity in the Sinai Peninsula. Such political turbulence and violence may damage peaceful and diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt, and could affect the region as a whole. Similar civil unrest and political turbulence has occurred in other countries in the region, including Syria, which shares a common border with Israel, and is affecting the political stability of those countries. Since April 2011, internal conflict in Syria has escalated and chemical weapons have been used in the region. Foreign actors have intervened and may continue to intervene in Syria. This instability and any intervention may lead to deterioration of the political and economic relationships that exist between the State of Israel and some of these countries and may lead to additional conflicts in the region. In addition, Iran has threatened to attack Israel and may be developing nuclear weapons. Iran also has a strong influence among extremist groups in the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and various rebel militia groups in Syria. These situations have escalated at various points in recent years and may escalate in the future to more violent events, which may affect Israel and us. Any armed conflicts, terrorist activities or political instability in the region could adversely affect business conditions and could harm our results of operations and could make it more difficult for us to raise capital. Parties with whom we do business have sometimes declined to travel to Israel during periods of heightened unrest or tension, forcing us to make alternative arrangements when necessary in order to meet our business partners face to face. In addition, the political and security situation in Israel may result in parties with whom we have agreements involving performance in Israel claiming that they are not obligated to perform their commitments under those agreements pursuant to force majeure provisions in such agreements.

Our commercial insurance does not cover losses that may occur as a result of events associated with war and terrorism. Although the Israeli government currently covers the reinstatement value of direct damages that are caused by terrorist attacks or acts of war, we cannot assure you that this government coverage will be maintained or that it will sufficiently cover our potential damages. Any losses or damages incurred by us could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any armed conflicts or political instability in the region would likely negatively affect business conditions and could harm our results of operations.

Further, in the past, the State of Israel and Israeli companies have been subjected to economic boycotts. Several countries still restrict business with the State of Israel and with Israeli companies. These restrictive laws and policies may have an adverse impact on our operating results, financial condition or the expansion of our business. A campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions has been undertaken against Israel, which could also adversely impact our business.

In addition, many Israeli citizens are obligated to perform several days, and in some cases more, of annual military reserve duty each year until they reach the age of 40 (or older, for reservists who are military officers or who have certain occupations) and, in the event of a military conflict, may be called to active duty. In response to increases in terrorist activity, there have been periods of significant call-ups of military reservists. It is possible that there will be military reserve duty call-ups in the future. Our operations could be disrupted by such call-ups, which may include the call-up of members of our management. Such disruption could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

It should also be noted that the legislative power of the State resides in the Knesset, a unicameral parliament that consists of 120 members elected by nationwide voting under a system of proportional representation. Israel’s most recent general elections were held on April 9, 2019, September 17, 2019 and March 2, 2020, following which a process of composing and approving a new government has commenced. This uncertainty surrounding future elections and/or the results of such elections in Israel may continue and the political situation in Israel may further deteriorate. Actual or perceived political instability in Israel or any negative changes in the political environment, may individually or in the aggregate adversely affect the Israeli economy and, in turn, the Group’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The tax benefits that are available to us require us to continue to meet various conditions and may be terminated or reduced in the future, which could increase our costs and taxes.

We are eligible for certain tax benefits provided to a “Beneficiary Enterprise” under the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 5719-1959 (the “Investment Law”). In order to remain eligible for the tax benefits provided to a “Beneficiary Enterprise” we must continue to meet certain conditions stipulated in the Investment Law and its regulations, as amended. If these tax benefits are reduced, cancelled or discontinued, our Israeli taxable income from the beneficiary enterprise would be subject to regular Israeli corporate tax rates. The standard corporate tax rate for Israeli companies in 2017 was 24% and was reduced to 23% in 2018 and thereafter. Additionally, if we increase our activities outside of Israel through acquisitions, for example, our expanded activities might not be eligible for inclusion in future Israeli tax benefit programs. See Item 10.E. “Taxation—Taxation and government programs—Israeli tax considerations and government programs—Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 5719-1959.”

It may be difficult to enforce a U.S. judgment against us, our officers and directors named in this Annual Report in Israel or the United States, or to assert U.S. securities laws claims in Israel or serve process on our officers and directors.

Not all of our directors or officers are residents of the United States and most of their and our assets are located outside the United States. Service of process upon us or our non-U.S. resident directors and officers may be difficult to obtain within the United States. We have been informed by our legal counsel in Israel that it may be difficult to assert claims under U.S. securities laws in original actions instituted in Israel or obtain a judgment based on the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal securities laws. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on a violation of U.S. securities laws against us or our non-U.S. officers and directors because Israel may not be the most appropriate forum to bring such a claim. In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact, which can be a time-consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel addressing the matters described above. Additionally, Israeli courts might not enforce judgments obtained in the United States against us or our non-U.S. our directors and executive officers, which may make it difficult to collect on judgments rendered against us or our non-U.S. officers and directors.

Moreover, an Israeli court will not enforce a non-Israeli judgment if it was given in a state whose laws do not provide for the enforcement of judgments of Israeli courts (subject to exceptional cases), if its enforcement is likely to prejudice the sovereignty or security of the State of Israel, if it was obtained by fraud or in the absence of due process, if it is at variance with another valid judgment that was given in the same matter between the same parties, or if a suit in the same matter between the same parties was pending before a court or tribunal in Israel at the time the foreign action was brought.

Your rights and responsibilities as our shareholder are governed by Israeli law, which may differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. corporations.

We are incorporated under Israeli law. The rights and responsibilities of holders of our ordinary shares are governed by our amended and restated articles of association and the Israeli Companies Law, 5759-1999 (the “Companies Law”). These rights and responsibilities differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders in typical U.S. corporations. In particular, pursuant to the Companies Law each shareholder of an Israeli company has to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising his or her rights and fulfilling his or her obligations toward the Company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing his or her power in the Company, including, among other things, in voting at the general meeting of shareholders on amendments to a company’s articles of association, increases in a company’s authorized share capital, mergers and certain transactions requiring shareholders’ approval under the Companies Law. In addition, a controlling shareholder of an Israeli company or a shareholder who knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholder vote or who has the power to appoint or prevent the appointment of a director or officer in the Company or has other powers toward the Company has a duty of fairness toward the Company. However, Israeli law does not define the substance of this duty of fairness. There is little case law available to assist in understanding the implications of these provisions that govern shareholder behavior.

We may be exposed to liabilities under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other U.S. and foreign anti-corruption anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations, and any determination that we violated these laws could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. We are also subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Chapter 9 (sub-chapter 5) of the Israeli Penal Law, 1977, the Israeli Prohibition on Money Laundering Law—2000 and possibly other anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries outside of the United States in which we conduct our activities. Compliance with these laws has been the subject of increasing focus and activity by regulatory authorities, both in the United States and elsewhere, in recent years. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and third-party intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to or from any person whether in the public or private sector.

Further, we historically had some users in Cuba, North Korea and Crimea, countries that are presently the subject of comprehensive sanctions by the United States government (“Sanctioned Countries”). We have taken steps to terminate existing accounts in Sanctioned Countries and have implemented various control mechanisms designed to prevent unauthorized dealings with Sanctioned Countries going forward. Although we endeavor to conduct our business in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee compliance.

Noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially harmed. Responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense and compliance costs and other professional fees. In addition, regulatory authorities may seek to hold us liable for successor liability for violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire. As a general matter, enforcement actions and sanctions could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.