As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 19, 2019.

Registration No. 333-                     

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

10x Genomics, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

 

Delaware

3826

45-5614458

(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)

(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

6230 Stoneridge Mall Road

Pleasanton, California 94588

(925) 401-7300

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

 

 

Serge Saxonov

Chief Executive Officer

10x Genomics, Inc.

6230 Stoneridge Mall Road

Pleasanton, California 94588

(925) 401-7300

(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent For Service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Kevin P. Kennedy Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP 2475 Hanover Street Palo Alto, California 94304 (650) 251-5000

Eric S. Whitaker Randy Wu James Bryant 10x Genomics, Inc. 6230 Stoneridge Mall Road   Pleasanton, California 94588   (925) 401-7300

Charles S. Kim David Peinsipp Kristin VanderPas Cooley LLP 4401 Eastgate Mall     San Diego, California 92121     (858) 550-6000

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public : As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.   ☐

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer		☐		Accelerated filer		☐
Non-accelerated filer		☒		Smaller reporting company		☐
				Emerging growth company		☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.   ☐

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

Title of each Class of Securities to be Registered		Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1)(2)		Amount of Registration Fee
Class A Common stock, par value $0.00001 per share		$100,000,000		$12,120

(1)

Includes the aggregate offering price of additional shares that the underwriters have the option to purchase.

(2)

Estimated solely for the purpose of computing the amount of the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933.

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion, dated August 19, 2019

Preliminary prospectus

                    shares

 

 

Class A common stock

This is an initial public offering of shares of Class A common stock by 10x Genomics, Inc. We are offering                 shares of our Class A common stock to be sold in the offering. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $            and $            per share.

We have two classes of common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock are different with respect to voting, conversion and transfer rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes per share and is convertible at any time into one share of Class A common stock. Following this offering, outstanding shares of Class B common stock will represent approximately         % of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. This means that, for the foreseeable future, investors in this offering and holders of our Class A common stock in the future will not have a meaningful voice in our corporate affairs.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our Class A common stock. We have applied to list our Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “TXG”.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements.

 

		Per share				Total
Initial public offering price		$				$
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)		$				$
Proceeds to 10x Genomics, Inc., before expenses		$				$

 

(1)

See the section titled “ Underwriting ” for a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to                additional shares of Class A common stock at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. See the section titled “ Risk factors ” beginning on page 15.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares to purchasers on or about                , 2019.

 

J.P. Morgan		Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC		BofA Merrill Lynch
		Cowen

                    , 2019

10X GENOMICS Accelerate the mastery of biology to advance human health.

Table of contents

 

		Page
Prospectus summary			1
Risk factors			15
Special note regarding forward-looking statements			61
Industry and market data			62
Use of proceeds			63
Dividend policy			64
Capitalization			65
Dilution			68
Selected consolidated financial data			71
Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations			73
Business			103
Management			134
Executive compensation			140
Certain relationships and related party transactions			154
Principal stockholders			157
Description of capital stock			160
Shares eligible for future sale			168
Material United States federal income and estate tax consequences to non-U.S. holders			171
Underwriting			175
Legal matters			186
Experts			186
Where you can find more information			186
Index to consolidated financial statements			F-1

 

 

In this prospectus, “10x”, “10x Genomics”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to 10x Genomics, Inc. and, as appropriate, its consolidated subsidiaries, and references to our “common stock” include our Class A common stock and Class B common stock. We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectuses prepared by us or on our behalf. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may provide you. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of Class A common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of the Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects may have changed since that date.

“10X GENOMICS”, “10x”, “10X”, the “10x” and “10X” logos, “Chromium”, “Visium”, “Feature Barcoding”, “Chromium Connect”, “GEM”, “Next GEM” and other trade names, trademarks or service marks of 10x appearing in this prospectus are the property of 10x Genomics. For ease of reference, the trademarks, trade names and service marks used in this prospectus are used without the ^TM and ^® symbols, but that does not mean that we will not assert, to the full extent permitted by law, our full rights and the rights of our licensors over our

 

i

trademarks. Other trademarks and trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective holders.

Through and including                 , 2019 (the 25 ^th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that effect transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

For investors outside of the United States: We have not, and the underwriters have not, done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of Class A common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.

 

ii

 

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

6

 

7

 

8

 

9

 

10

 

11

 

12

 

13

 

14

Risk factors

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in our Class A common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.

Risks related to our business and industry

We have incurred significant losses since inception, we expect to incur losses in the future and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and maintain profitability.

We have incurred significant losses since we were formed in 2012 and expect to incur losses in the future. We incurred net losses of $18.8 million and $112.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018, respectively. We incurred net losses of $21.6 million and $14.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2019, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $245.6 million. We expect that our losses will continue in the near term as we continue to invest significant additional funds toward ongoing research and development and toward the timely commercialization of both new products and improved versions of existing products. We also expect that our operating expenses will increase as a result of becoming a public company and will continue to increase as we grow our business. To date, we have financed our operations principally from the sale of convertible preferred stock, revenue from sales of our products and the incurrence of indebtedness. There can be no assurance that our revenue and gross profit will increase sufficiently such that our net losses decline, or we attain profitability, in the future. Further, our limited operating history and rapid revenue growth over the last several years make it difficult to effectively plan for and model future growth and operating expenses. Our ability to achieve or sustain profitability is based on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the impact of market acceptance of our products, future product development, our market penetration and margins and current and future litigation. We may never be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve or sustain profitability and our recent and historical growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability could negatively impact the value of our Class A common stock.

In particular, we are subject to significant risks of losses related to current litigation matters. See “— Risks related to litigation and our intellectual property ”.

The life sciences technology market is highly competitive. If we fail to compete effectively, our business and operating results will suffer.

We face significant competition in the life sciences technology market. We currently compete with both established and early-stage life sciences technology companies that design, manufacture and market instruments, consumables and software for, among other applications, genomics, single cell analysis, spatial analysis and immunology. We believe our competitors in the life sciences technology market include Becton, Dickinson and Company, Bio-Rad and Nanostring Technologies, Inc., each of which has products that compete to varying degrees with some but not all of our product solutions, as well as a number of other emerging and established companies.

Some of our current competitors are large publicly-traded companies, or are divisions of large publicly-traded companies, and may enjoy a number of competitive advantages over us, including:

 

•

greater name and brand recognition;

 

15

•

greater financial and human resources;

•

broader product lines;

•

larger sales forces and more established distributor networks;

•

substantial intellectual property portfolios;

•

larger and more established customer bases and relationships; and

•

better established, larger scale and lower cost manufacturing capabilities.

We also face competition from researchers developing their own solutions. The area in which we compete involves rapid innovation and some of our customers have in the past, and more may in the future, elect to create their own platform or assays rather than rely on a third-party supplier such as ourselves. This is particularly true for the largest research centers and labs who are continually testing and trying new technologies, whether from a third-party vendor or developed internally. We also compete for the resources our customers allocate for purchasing a wide range of products used to analyze biological systems, some of which are additive to or complementary with our own but not directly competitive.

We cannot assure investors that our products will compete favorably or that we will be successful in the face of increasing competition from products and technologies introduced by our existing competitors, companies entering our markets or developed by our customers internally. In addition, we cannot assure investors that our competitors do not have or will not develop products or technologies that currently or in the future will enable them to produce competitive products with greater capabilities or at lower costs than ours or that are able to run comparable experiments at a lower total experiment cost. Any failure to compete effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business depends significantly on the success of our Next GEM microfluidic chip.

Since our inception through the first half of 2019, substantially all of our Chromium instruments utilized our GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables. In November 2018, a jury concluded that our Chromium instruments operating these chips and associated consumables infringe certain of Bio-Rad’s patents. We have dedicated significant resources to designing and manufacturing our new Next GEM microfluidic chip, which uses a microfluidic architecture with fundamentally different physics from our GEM microfluidic chip. We introduced our Next GEM microfluidic chips for our Single Cell Gene Expression, Single Cell Immune Profiling and Single Cell ATAC solutions in the second quarter of 2019. We plan to gradually phase out our GEM microfluidic chips and anticipate that our Chromium products utilizing our Next GEM microfluidic chips will become an increasing percentage of our sales and will constitute substantially all of our Chromium sales by the end of 2020. In addition, we have not yet developed Next GEM microfluidic chips for our Single Cell CNV and Linked-Read solutions. Unless the injunction issued under the Bio-Rad litigation is stayed, we will be unable to sell our Single Cell CNV and Linked-Read solutions for use on new instruments unless and until we develop a Next GEM microfluidic chip for such solutions. Until we are able to completely transition to our Next GEM microfluidic chip design, our margins will be negatively impacted by any royalty obligations that result from ongoing litigation matters.

Although our Next GEM microfluidic chips were designed to replace our GEM microfluidic chips, we cannot assure you that we will be able to make our Next GEM microfluidic chip work with all of our solutions, that our Next GEM microfluidic chip will allow our customers to retain the level of performance or quality they have come to expect using our GEM microfluidic chip, that our Next GEM microfluidic chip will replace the sales of our GEM microfluidic chip or that we will be able to manufacture our Next GEM microfluidic chip in sufficient volumes and in sufficient quality in a timely fashion. While we believe that our Chromium solutions, when used with our Next GEM microfluidic chip, do not infringe the asserted Bio-Rad patents, we cannot assure you that our Next GEM microfluidic chip would not be found to infringe other patents, which could prevent us from making, selling and importing our Next GEM microfluidic chips or substantially all of our products. We currently

 

16

expect that, by the end of the third quarter of 2019, all Chromium instruments that we sell will operate exclusively with our Next GEM solutions. We believe that these solutions are very important to our customers research but the delay caused by the injunction may slow customer adoption of our products or cause customers to investigate the availability of competing products or technologies.

We expect to incur increased research and development expenses in the near term and increased inventory and other expenses related to the introduction of, and transition to, our Next GEM microfluidic chip. Our failure to effectively manage product transitions or accurately forecast customer demand with respect to both instruments and consumables may lead to an increased risk of excess or obsolete inventory and resulting charges. We expect that as we transition to our Next GEM microfluidic chips we may need to write down the value of our GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables we currently hold in inventory. As of June 30, 2019, we held approximately $0.3 million of GEM microfluidic chips in inventory. As we transition to our Next GEM microfluidic chips, we cannot guarantee that our customers will quickly switch to using our Next GEM microfluidic chips in their research. Customers may delay transitioning to our Next GEM microfluidic chips for a variety of reasons, including if they have experiments underway for which they do not want to introduce additional variables. More significantly, customers may decline to purchase our products altogether if they do not believe that our Next GEM microfluidic chips can produce results that are reliable, consistent and comparable to our GEM microfluidic chips.

For additional information relating to this litigation, see the section titled “Risk factors—Risks related to litigation and our intellectual property—We are involved in significant litigation which has consumed significant resources and management time and adverse resolution of these lawsuits could require us to pay significant damages, and prevent us from selling our products, which would severely adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations”.

We are significantly dependent upon revenue generated from the sale of our Chromium solutions, and in particular our Single Cell Gene Expression solutions.

We currently generate substantially all of our revenue from the sale of our Chromium instruments, which we refer to as “instruments”, and our proprietary microfluidic chips, slides, reagents and other consumables for both our Visium and Chromium solutions, which we refer to as “consumables”. In particular, we are dependent upon revenue generated from sales of our Single Cell Gene Expression consumables, which accounted for approximately half of our revenue in each of the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2018 and for the six months ended June 30, 2019. There can be no assurance that we will be able to design future products, particularly non-Chromium product lines, that will meet the expectations of our customers or that our future products will become commercially viable. As technologies change in the future for research equipment in general and in genomics solutions specifically, we will be expected to upgrade or adapt our products in order to keep up with the latest technology. To date we have limited experience simultaneously designing, testing, manufacturing and selling non-Chromium products and there can be no assurance we will be able to do so. Our sales expectations are based in part on the assumption that our Chromium Connect instrument will increase workflows for our future customers and their associated purchases of our consumables. If sales of our Chromium Connect instruments fail to materialize so will the related consumable sales and associated revenue. Our sales expectations are also based in part on the continued success of our Single Cell Gene Expression solutions. If our recently introduced solutions, such as our Single Cell Immune Profiling and Single Cell ATAC solutions, or our upcoming Visium solution, fail to achieve sufficient market acceptance or sales of our Single Cell Gene Expression consumables decrease, our consumables revenue could be materially and adversely impacted.

Our business currently depends significantly on research and development spending by academic institutions, a reduction in which could limit demand for our products and adversely affect our business and operating results.

In each of the year end December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, approximately 70% of our direct sales revenue came from sales to academic institutions. Much of their funding was, in turn, provided by

 

17

various state, federal and international government agencies. In the near term, we expect that a large portion of our revenue will continue to be derived from sales of Chromium products, including our instruments and consumables, to academic institutions. As a result, in the near term, the demand for our products will depend upon the research and development budgets of these customers, which are impacted by factors beyond our control, such as:

 

•

decreases in government funding of research and development;

 

•

changes to programs that provide funding to research laboratories and institutions, including changes in the amount of funds allocated to different areas of research or changes that have the effect of increasing the length of the funding process;

 

•

macroeconomic conditions and the political climate;

 

•

scientists’ and customers’ opinions of the utility of new products or services;

 

•

citation of new products or services in published research;

 

•

changes in the regulatory environment;

 

•

differences in budgetary cycles;

 

•

competitor product offerings or pricing;

 

•

market-driven pressures to consolidate operations and reduce costs; and

 

•

market acceptance of relatively new technologies, such as ours.

In addition, various state, federal and international agencies that provide grants and other funding may be subject to stringent budgetary constraints that could result in spending reductions, reduced grant making, reduced allocations or budget cutbacks, which could jeopardize the ability of these customers, or the customers to whom they provide funding, to purchase our products. For example, congressional appropriations to the National Institutes of Health (the “NIH”) have generally increased year-over-year for the last 18 years, and reached a new high in 2018, but the NIH also experiences occasional year-over-year decreases in appropriations, including as recently as 2013. In addition, funding for life science research has increased more slowly during the past several years compared to previous years and has actually declined in some countries. There is no guarantee that NIH appropriations will not decrease in the future, and a decrease may be more likely under the current administration, whose annual budget proposals have repeatedly decreased NIH appropriations. A decrease in the amount of, or delay in the approval of, appropriations to NIH or other similar United States or international organizations, such as the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom, could result in fewer grants benefiting life sciences research. These reductions or delays could also result in a decrease in the aggregate amount of grants awarded for life sciences research or the redirection of existing funding to other projects or priorities, any of which in turn could cause our customers and potential customers to reduce or delay purchases of our products. Our operating results may fluctuate substantially due to any such reductions and delays. Any decrease in our customers’ budgets or expenditures, or in the size, scope or frequency of their capital or operating expenditures, could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our failure to effectively manage product transitions or accurately forecast customer demand could result in excess or obsolete inventory and resulting charges.

Because the market for our products is characterized by rapid technological advances, we frequently introduce new products with improved ease-of-use, improved performance or additional features and functionality. We

 

18

pre-announce products and services, in some cases before such products and services have been fully developed or tested, and risk failing to meet expectations when such products and services become available. The risks associated with the introduction of new products include the difficulties of predicting customer demand and effectively managing inventory levels to ensure adequate supply of the new product and avoiding excess supply of the legacy product.

We may strategically enter into non-cancelable commitments with vendors to purchase materials for our products in advance of demand to take advantage of favorable pricing, address concerns about the availability of future supplies or build safety stock to help ensure customer shipments are not delayed should we experience higher than anticipated demand for materials with long lead times. For example, inventories increased 79% from $4.8 million as of December 31, 2017 to $8.6 million as of December 31, 2018 and inventories increased 43% from $8.6 million as of December 31, 2018 to $12.3 million as of June 30, 2019, primarily to fulfill the increased level of expected demand of our products, as well as to build inventory in anticipation of product transitions.

Our future success is dependent upon our ability to increase penetration in our existing markets.

Our customer base includes academic, government, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology and other institutions. In both the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, approximately 70% of our direct sales revenue came from sales to academic institutions. Our success will depend upon our ability to increase our market penetration among these customers and to expand our market by developing and marketing new products and new applications for existing products. We recently announced our intention to introduce our Visium product line for spatial analysis and our future success will partially depend on our ability to commercialize this product line. As we continue to scale our business, we may find that certain of our products, certain customers or certain markets, including the biopharmaceutical market, may require a dedicated sales force or sales personnel with different experience than those we currently employ. Identifying, recruiting and training additional qualified personnel would require significant time, expense and attention.

We cannot assure investors that we will be able to further penetrate our existing market or that the market will be able to sustain our current and future product offerings. Any failure to increase penetration in our existing markets would adversely affect our ability to improve our operating results.

We may not be able to develop new products, enhance the capabilities of our existing products to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and customer requirements or successfully manage the transition to new product offerings, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Our success depends on our ability to develop new products and applications for our technology in existing and new markets, while improving the performance and cost-effectiveness of our existing products, in each case in ways that address current and anticipated customer requirements. Such success is dependent upon several factors, including functionality, competitive pricing and integration with existing and emerging technologies. New technologies, techniques or products could emerge that might offer better combinations of price and performance or better address customer requirements as compared to our current or future products. Existing markets for our products, including the genomics, single cell analysis, spatial analysis and other relevant markets, are characterized by rapid technological change and innovation. Competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. Due to the significant lead time involved in bringing a new product to market, we are required to make a number of assumptions and estimates regarding the commercial feasibility of a new product, including assumptions and estimates regarding the biological analytes that researchers will want to measure, the appropriate method of measuring such analytes, how researchers intend to use the resulting data and the scope and type of data that will be most useful to researchers. As a result, it is possible that we may introduce a new product that uses technologies or methods of analysis that have been displaced by the time of

 

19

launch, addresses a market that no longer exists or is smaller than previously thought, targets biological analytes or produces data that provides less utility to researchers than previously thought or otherwise is not competitive at the time of launch. We anticipate that we will face increased competition in the future as existing companies and competitors develop new or improved products and as new companies enter the market with new technologies. Our ability to mitigate downward pressure on our selling prices will be dependent upon our ability to maintain or increase the value we offer to researchers. The expenses or losses associated with unsuccessful product development or launch activities, or a lack of market acceptance of our new products, could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Because our solutions are used with other products, such as sequencers, to conduct an experiment, we also expect to face competition from these complementary products, either directly or indirectly, as researchers and labs look to reduce the total cost of any given experiment. For example, if a sequencer manufacturer was successful in vertically integrating their product to provide functionality equivalent to our instruments, they would likely be able to deliver a solution that is capable of running comparable experiments with a total experiment cost that is significantly less than the cost of running such experiments using our products together with third-party sequencers. Conversely, if genome sequencing falls out of favor as a preferred approach for genomic research, whether through the development of alternative solutions or real or perceived problems with sequencing itself, the utility of our products could be significantly impacted. It is critical to our success that we anticipate changes such as these in technology and customer requirements and successfully introduce new, enhanced and competitive technologies to meet our customers’ and prospective customers’ needs on a timely and cost-effective basis. If we do not successfully innovate and introduce new technology into our product lines, our business and operating results will be adversely impacted.

Our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our existing solutions and to introduce compelling new solutions. The success of any enhancement to our solutions depends on several factors, including timely completion and delivery, competitive pricing, adequate quality testing, integration with existing technologies and overall market acceptance. Any new solution that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain errors, vulnerabilities or bugs, or may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. If we are unable to successfully develop new solutions, enhance our existing solutions to meet customer requirements, or otherwise gain market acceptance, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be harmed.

Our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers also depends on our ability to deliver any enhanced or new solutions to our customers in a format where they can be easily and consistently deployed by most or all users without significant customer service. If our customers believe that deploying our enhanced or new solutions would be overly time-consuming, confusing or technically challenging, then our ability to grow our business would be substantially harmed. We need to create and deliver a repeatable, user-friendly, prescriptive approach to deployment that allows users of all kinds to effectively and easily deploy our solutions, and if we fail to do so, our business and results of operations would be harmed.

The typical development cycle of new life sciences products can be lengthy and complicated, and may require new scientific discoveries or advancements and complex technology and engineering. Such developments may involve external suppliers and service providers, making the management of development projects complex and subject to risks and uncertainties regarding timing, timely delivery of required components or services and satisfactory technical performance of such components or assembled products. If we do not achieve the required technical specifications or successfully manage new product development processes, or if development work is not performed according to schedule, then such new technologies or products may be adversely impacted and our business and operating results may be harmed.

 

20

If our existing and new products fail to achieve and sustain sufficient scientific acceptance, we will not generate expected revenue and our prospects may be harmed.

The life sciences scientific community is comprised of a small number of early adopters and key opinion leaders who significantly influence the rest of the community. The success of life sciences products is due, in large part, to acceptance by the scientific community and their adoption of certain products as best practice in the applicable field of research. The current system of academic and scientific research views publishing in a peer-reviewed journal as a measure of success. In such journal publications, the researchers will describe, not only their discoveries, but also the methods and typically the products used to fuel such discoveries. Mentions in peer-reviewed journal publications is a good barometer for the general acceptance of our products as best practices. Ensuring that early adopters and key opinion leaders publish research involving the use of our products is critical to ensuring our products gain widespread acceptance and market growth. Continuing to maintain good relationships with such key opinion leaders is vital to growing our market. The number of times our products were mentioned in peer-reviewed publications has increased significantly in the last two years. During this time our revenue has also increased significantly. We cannot assure investors that our products will continue to be mentioned in peer-reviewed articles with any frequency or that any new products that we introduce in the future will be mentioned in peer-reviewed articles. If too few researchers describe the use of our products, too many researchers shift to a competing product and publish research outlining their use of that product or too many researchers negatively describe the use of our products in publications, it may drive existing and potential customers away from our products, which could harm our operating results.

If we do not sustain or successfully manage our growth and anticipated growth, our business and prospects will be harmed.

We have experienced rapid growth in recent periods. This growth and our anticipated growth will place significant strains on our management, operational and manufacturing systems and processes, financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business. For example, we consummated two acquisitions in 2018 and intend to continue to make investments that meet management’s criteria to expand or add key technologies that we believe will facilitate the commercialization of new products in the future. In addition, we launched six new products and new versions of existing products in 2018 and intend to launch additional new products and new versions of existing products in the next six to twelve months. Further development and commercialization of our current and future products are key elements of our growth strategy. Developing and launching new products and innovating and improving our existing products have required us to hire and retain additional scientific, sales and marketing, software, manufacturing, distribution and quality assurance personnel. As a result, we have experienced rapid headcount growth from 110 employees as of December 31, 2015 to 500 employees as of June 30, 2019. As we have grown, our employees have become more geographically dispersed. We currently serve thousands of researchers in approximately 40 countries and plan to continue to expand to new international jurisdictions as part of our growth strategy which will lead to increased dispersion of our employees. Moreover, we expect that we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel in connection with our becoming, and our efforts to comply with the requirements of being, a public company. Once public, our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements. We may face challenges integrating, developing and motivating our rapidly growing and increasingly dispersed employee base. In addition, certain members of our management have not previously worked together for an extended period of time, do not have experience managing a public company or do not have experience managing a global business, which may affect how they manage our growth. To effectively manage our growth, we must continue to improve our operational and manufacturing systems and processes, our financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business and continue to effectively expand, train and manage our personnel. As our organization continues to grow, and we are required to implement more complex organizational management

 

21

structures, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the benefits of our corporate culture, including our ability to quickly develop and launch new and innovative products. If we do not successfully manage our anticipated growth, our business, results of operations and growth prospects will be harmed.

Our limited operating history and rapid revenue growth make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter.

We launched our first product in mid-2015 and have experienced significant revenue growth in recent periods, including an increase in revenue of $75.2 million, or 106%, for the year ended December 31, 2018 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2017. In addition, we operate in highly competitive markets characterized by rapid technological advances and our business has, and we expect it to continue, to evolve over time to remain competitive. Our limited operating history, evolving business and rapid growth make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter and may increase the risk that we will not continue to grow at or near historical rates.

If we fail to address the risks and difficulties that we face, including those described elsewhere in this “ Risk factors ” section, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. We have encountered in the past, and will encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with limited operating histories in rapidly changing industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan and operate our business, are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our results of operations could differ materially from our expectations and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our operating results have in the past fluctuated significantly and may continue to fluctuate significantly in the future, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:

 

•

the level of demand for our products, which may vary significantly, and our ability to increase penetration in our existing markets and expand into new markets;

 

•

customers accelerating, canceling, reducing or delaying orders as a result of developments related to our litigation or to our transition to Next GEM microfluidic chips;

 

•

the outcomes of and related rulings in the litigation and administrative proceedings in which we are currently involved;

 

•

our ability to successfully manufacture and transition our existing customers to our Next GEM microfluidic chips;

 

•

the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research and development and commercialization activities relating to our products, which may change from time to time;

 

•

the volume and mix of our instrument and consumable sales or changes in the manufacturing or sales costs related to our instruments and consumables;

 

•

the success of our recently announced products, such as our Chromium Connect and Visium platform, and the introduction of other new products or product enhancements by us or others in our industry;

 

•

the timing and amount of expenditures that we may incur to acquire, develop or commercialize additional products and technologies or for other purposes, such as the expansion of our facilities;

 

22

•

changes in governmental funding of life sciences research and development or changes that impact budgets, budget cycles or seasonal spending patterns of our customers;

 

•

future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies;

 

•

the outcome of any future litigation or governmental investigations involving us, our industry or both;

 

•

difficulties encountered by our commercial carriers in delivering our instruments or consumables, whether as a result of external factors such as weather or internal issues such as labor disputes;

 

•

general market conditions and other factors, including factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors;

 

•

higher than anticipated warranty costs; and

 

•

the other factors described in this “ Risk factors ” section.

The cumulative effects of the factors discussed above could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.

This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any guidance we may provide, or if the guidance we provide is below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our Class A common stock could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met or exceeded any previously publicly stated guidance we may provide.

The sizes of the markets for our solutions may be smaller than estimated and new market opportunities may not develop as quickly as we expect, or at all, limiting our ability to successfully sell our solutions.

The market for genomics products is new and evolving, making it difficult to predict with any accuracy the sizes of the markets for our current and future solutions. Our estimates of the annual total addressable market for our current and future solutions are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates and assumptions. In particular, our estimates are based on our expectations that: (a) researchers in the market for certain life sciences research tools and technologies, such as flow cytometry, next generation sequencing, laboratory automation, microscopy and sample preparation, among others, will view our solutions as competitive alternatives to, or better options than, such existing tools and technologies; (b) researchers who already own such existing tools and technologies will recognize the ability of our solutions to complement, enhance and enable new applications of their current tools and technologies and find the value proposition offered by our solutions convincing enough to purchase our solutions in addition to the tools and technologies they already own; and (c) the trends we have seen among our customers with respect to placements of our instruments in comparison to the installed base of RT-PCR units and next generation sequencers are representative of the broader market. Underlying each of these expectations are a number of estimates and assumptions, including the assumption that government or other sources of funding will continue to be available to life sciences researchers at times and in amounts necessary to allow them to purchaser our solutions.

In addition, our growth strategy involves launching new solutions and expanding sales of existing solutions into new markets in which we have limited or no experience, such as the biopharmaceutical market. Sales of new or existing solutions into new market opportunities may take several years to develop and mature and we cannot be certain that these market opportunities will develop as we expect. For example, new life sciences technology is often not adopted by the relevant market until a sufficient amount of research conducted using such technology has been published in peer-reviewed publications. Because there can be a considerable delay

 

23

between the launch of a new life sciences product and publication of research using such product, new life sciences products do not generally contribute a meaningful amount of revenue in the year they are introduced. In certain markets, such as the biopharmaceutical market, new life sciences technology, even if sufficiently covered in peer-reviewed publications, may not be adopted until the consistency and accuracy of such technology, method or device has been proven. As a result, the sizes of the annual total addressable market for new markets and new products are even more difficult to predict.

While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates of the total annual addressable market for our solutions are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates, or those underlying the third-party data we have used, may change at any time, thereby reducing the accuracy of our estimates. As a result, our estimates of the annual total addressable market for our solutions may be incorrect.

The future growth of the market for our current and future solutions depends on many factors beyond our control, including recognition and acceptance of our solutions by the scientific community as best practice and the growth, prevalence and costs of competing products and solutions. Such recognition and acceptance may not occur in the near term, or at all. If the markets for our current and future solutions are smaller than estimated or do not develop as we expect, our growth may be limited and our business, financial condition and operational results may be adversely affected.

Our management uses certain key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions and such metrics may not accurately reflect all of the aspects of our business needed to make such evaluations and decisions, in particular as our business continues to grow.

In addition to our consolidated financial results, our management regularly reviews a number of operating and financial metrics, including our instrument installed base and consumable pull-through per instrument, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We define the instrument installed base as the cumulative number of instruments sold since inception and define consumable pull-through per instrument as the total consumables revenue in the given quarter divided by the average instrument installed base during that quarter. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, these metrics may not accurately reflect all aspects of our business and we anticipate that these metrics may change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows and as we introduce new products. For example, we expect that our expansion into new markets and adoption by new customers who may not have the same financial resources to devote to consumable purchases as our existing customer base could adversely impact our pull-through figures. These metrics also do not accurately reflect information relating to customers who purchase consumables but do not own an instrument, whom we refer to as “halo users”. Halo users and the future introduction of consumables that may not use instruments, such as our recently announced Visium solution, or instruments that are expected to use a greater amount of consumables, such as our Chromium Connect instrument, could reduce the utility of our consumable pull-through per instrument metric and make it difficult to compare such figures over time. Moreover, we expect some of our halo users to purchase instruments of their own which would decrease the consumables sold per instrument and therefore decrease our annual consumable pull-through per instrument. Though we expect the introduction of enhanced features and additional solutions on our Chromium instrument to increase consumable pull-through per instrument and to offset this decline, there are no assurances we will be successful in doing so. If our management fails to review other relevant information or change or substitute the key business metrics they review as our business grows and we introduce new products, their ability to accurately formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions may be compromised and our business, financial results and future growth prospects may be adversely impacted.

 

24

We are dependent on single source and sole source suppliers for some of the components and materials used in our products and the loss of any of these suppliers could harm our business.

We do not have long-term contracts with our suppliers for the significant majority of the services, materials and components we use for the manufacture and delivery of our products. In certain cases, we also rely on single suppliers for all of our requirements for some of our materials or components. In most cases we do not have long term contracts with these suppliers, and even in the cases where we do the contracts include significant qualifications that would make it extremely difficult for us to force the supplier to provide us with their services, materials or components should they choose not to do so. We are therefore subject to the risk that these third-party suppliers will not be able or willing to continue to provide us with materials and components that meet our specifications, quality standards and delivery schedules. Factors that could impact our suppliers’ willingness and ability to continue to provide us with the required materials and components include disruption at or affecting our suppliers’ facilities, such as work stoppages or natural disasters, adverse weather or other conditions that affect their supply, the financial condition of our suppliers and deterioration in our relationships with these suppliers. In addition, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain these materials and components on satisfactory terms. Any increase in material and component costs could reduce our sales and harm our gross margins. In addition, any loss of a material supplier may permanently cause a change in one or more of our products that may not be accepted by our customers or cause us to eliminate that product altogether.

For example, we depend on a limited number of suppliers for enzymes and amplification mixes used in our consumables. In some cases, these manufacturers are the sole source of certain types of enzymes and reagents. We do not have long-term contracts with any of these sole source suppliers. Lead times for some of these components can be several months or more. In the event that demand increases, a manufacturing ‘lot’ does not meet our specifications or we fail to forecast and place purchase orders sufficiently in advance, this could result in a material shortage. Some of the components and formulations are proprietary to our vendors, thereby making second sourcing and development of a replacement difficult. Furthermore, such vendors may have intellectual property rights that could prevent us from sourcing such reagents from other vendors. If enzymes and reagents become unavailable from our current suppliers and we are unable to find acceptable substitutes for these suppliers, we may be required to produce them internally or change our product designs.

We have not qualified secondary sources for all materials or components that we source through a single supplier and we cannot assure investors that the qualification of a secondary supplier will prevent future supply issues. Disruption in the supply of materials or components would impair our ability to sell our products and meet customer demand, and also could delay the launch of new products, any of which could harm our business and results of operations. If we were to have to change suppliers, the new supplier may not be able to provide us materials or components in a timely manner and in adequate quantities that are consistent with our quality standards and on satisfactory pricing terms. In addition, alternative sources of supply may not be available for materials that are scarce or components for which there are a limited number of suppliers.

If our facilities or our third-party manufacturers’ facilities become unavailable or inoperable, our research and development program could be adversely impacted and manufacturing of our instruments and consumables could be interrupted.

The manufacturing process for our Chromium Controller takes place at our third-party manufacturer’s facilities in California. The majority of our consumables are manufactured at our facilities in Pleasanton, California using proprietary equipment. Certain raw materials, such as oligonucleotides and enzymes, are custom manufactured by outside partners. We periodically review the manufacturing capacity of our consumables and we expect to manufacture an increasing amount of consumables in-house. Our Pleasanton facilities also house the majority of our research and development and quality assurance teams. Our planned Chromium Connect will be

 

25

manufactured by our partner at their facility. The facilities and the equipment we and our third-party manufacturers use to manufacture our instruments and consumables and that we use in our research and development program would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead times to repair or replace.

Our facilities in Pleasanton are vulnerable to natural disasters and catastrophic events. For example, our Pleasanton facilities are located near earthquake fault zones and are vulnerable to damage from earthquakes as well as other types of disasters, including fires, floods, power loss, communications failures and similar events. If any disaster or catastrophic event were to occur, our ability to operate our business would be seriously, or potentially completely, impaired. If our facilities or any of our third-party manufacturers’ facilities become unavailable for any reason, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to secure alternative manufacturing facilities with the necessary capabilities and equipment on acceptable terms, if at all. We may encounter particular difficulties in replacing our Pleasanton facilities given the specialized equipment housed within it. The inability to manufacture our instruments and/or consumables, combined with our limited inventory of manufactured instruments and consumables, may result in the loss of customers or harm our reputation, and we may be unable to reestablish relationships with those customers in the future. Because certain of our consumables and the raw materials we use to manufacture consumables at our Pleasanton facilities are perishable and must be kept in temperature controlled storage, the loss of power to our facilities, mechanical or other issues with our storage facilities or other events that impact our temperature controlled storage could result in the loss of some or all of such consumables and raw materials and we may not be able to replace them without disruption to our customers or at all.

In both the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, approximately 70% of our direct sales revenue came from sales to academic institutions, whose research often requires long uninterrupted studies performed on a consistent basis over time; thus interruptions in our ability to supply consumables could be particularly damaging to these studies and our reputation. In addition, the budgetary planning and approval process for academic research programs can be lengthy and begin well in advance of the planned purchase of our instrument and/or consumables. If our products become unavailable during the planning process, researchers may use alternative products.

If our research and development program were disrupted by a disaster or catastrophe, the launch of new products and the timing of improvements to existing products could be significantly delayed and could adversely impact our ability to compete with other available products and solutions. If our or our third-party manufacturers’ capabilities are impaired, we may not be able to manufacture and ship our products in a timely manner, which would adversely impact our business. Although we possess insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

We may be unable to consistently manufacture our instruments and consumables to the necessary specifications or in quantities necessary to meet demand at an acceptable cost or at an acceptable performance level.

Our products are integrated solutions with many different components that work together. As such, a quality defect in a single component can compromise the performance of the entire solution. Certain of our consumables are manufactured at our Pleasanton, California facilities using complex processes, sophisticated equipment and strict adherence to specifications and quality systems procedures. In many cases, the consumables we manufacture are bundled with products or components that we source from third parties and assemble, package and perform quality assurance testing at our Pleasanton facilities. Our Chromium Controllers are manufactured by our third-party manufacturers at their facilities. In order to successfully generate revenue from our products, we need to supply our customers with products that meet their expectations for quality and functionality in accordance with established specifications. In order to ensure we are able to meet these expectations, our

 

26

Pleasanton, California manufacturing facilities, as well as the facilities of our third-party manufacturers, have obtained International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) quality management certifications and employ other quality control measures. While customer complaints regarding defects in our products and consumables have historically been low, our customers have experienced quality control and manufacturing defects in the past. For example, a manufacturing defect in certain of our Chromium Controllers resulted in an unacceptable level of LCD screen failures and we launched a free replacement program in 2018 to allow customers to replace affected LCD screens as a result. As we continue to grow and introduce new products, and as our products incorporate increasingly sophisticated technology, it will be increasingly difficult to ensure our products are produced in the necessary quantities without sacrificing quality. There is no assurance that we or our third-party manufacturers will be able to continue to manufacture our products so that they consistently achieve the product specifications and quality that our customers expect. Certain of our consumables are subjected to a shelf life, after which their performance is not ensured. Shipment of consumables that effectively expire early or shipment of defective instruments or consumables to customers may result in recalls and warrantee replacements, which would increase our costs, and depending upon current inventory levels and the availability and lead time for additional inventory, could lead to availability issues. Any future design issues, unforeseen manufacturing problems, such as contamination of our or their facilities, equipment malfunctions, aging components, quality issues with components and materials sourced from third-party suppliers, or failures to strictly follow procedures or meet specifications, may have a material adverse effect on our brand, business, financial condition and operating results and could result in us or our third-party manufacturers losing ISO quality management certifications. If we or our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain ISO quality management certifications, our customers might choose not to purchase products from us. Furthermore, we or our third-party manufacturers may not be able to increase manufacturing to meet anticipated demand or may experience downtime.

In addition, as we increase manufacturing capacity, we will also need to make corresponding improvements to other operational functions, such as our customer service and billing systems, compliance programs and our internal quality assurance programs. We will also need additional equipment, manufacturing and warehouse space and trained personnel to process higher volumes of products. We cannot assure you that any increases in scale, related improvements and quality assurance will be successfully implemented or that equipment, manufacturing and warehouse space and appropriate personnel will be available. As we develop additional products, we may need to bring new equipment on-line, implement new systems, technology, controls and procedures and hire personnel with different qualifications. Our ability to increase our manufacturing capacity at our Pleasanton, California location is complicated by the use of our proprietary equipment that is not readily available from third-party manufacturers.

The risk of manufacturing defects or quality control issues is generally higher for new products, whether produced by us or a third-party manufacturer, products that are transitioned from one manufacturer to another, particularly if manufacturing is transitioned or initiated with a manufacturer we have not worked with in the past, and products that are transferred from one manufacturing facility to another. Our current product roadmap calls for the introduction of new instruments, such as our Chromium Connect, which integrates our Chromium Controller with complex robotics manufactured by our partner. We also expect to transition manufacturing of our Chromium Controller to a new third-party manufacturer with greater capacity in the near future.

As a result, both of our instruments will soon be manufactured by companies with which we have no prior manufacturing experience and the risk of manufacturing defects or quality control issues could increase as a result. Similarly, we also expect to expand our manufacturing facilities in Pleasanton, California during 2019. This expansion will result in the relocation of certain manufacturing processes and the risk of manufacturing defects or quality control issues in the consumables we manufacture there could increase as a result. We cannot assure investors that we and our third-party manufacturers will be able to launch new products on time, transition manufacturing of existing products to new manufacturers, transition our manufacturing capabilities

 

27

to a new location or transition manufacturing of any additional consumables in-house without manufacturing defects.

An inability to manufacture products and components that consistently meet specifications, in necessary quantities and at commercially acceptable costs will have a negative impact and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Undetected errors or defects in our solutions could harm our reputation and decrease market acceptance of our solutions.

Our instruments and consumables, as well as the software that accompanies them, may contain undetected errors or defects when first introduced or as new versions are released. Disruptions or other performance problems with our products or software may adversely impact our customers’ research or business, harm our reputation and result in reduced revenue or increased costs associated with product repairs or replacements. If that occurs, we may also incur significant costs, the attention of our key personnel could be diverted or other significant customer relations problems may arise. We may also be subject to warranty claims or breach of contract for damages related to errors or defects in our solutions.

Certain disruptions in supply of, and changes in the competitive environment for, raw materials integral to the manufacturing of our products may adversely affect our profitability.

We use a broad range of materials and supplies, including metals, chemicals and other electronic components, in our products. A significant disruption in the supply of these materials could decrease production and shipping levels, materially increase our operating costs and materially adversely affect our profit margins. Shortages of materials or interruptions in transportation systems, labor strikes, work stoppages, war, acts of terrorism or other interruptions to or difficulties in the employment of labor or transportation in the markets in which we purchase materials, components and supplies for the production of our products, in each case may adversely affect our ability to maintain production of our products and sustain profitability. Unforeseen end-of-life for certain components, such as enzymes, could cause backorders as we modify our product specifications to accommodate replacement components. If we were to experience a significant or prolonged shortage of critical components from any of our suppliers and could not procure the components from other sources, we would be unable to manufacture our products and to ship such products to our customers in a timely fashion, which would adversely affect our sales, margins and customer relations.

We depend on certain technologies that are licensed to us. We do not control these technologies and any loss of our rights to them could prevent us from selling our products.

We rely on licenses in order to be able to use various proprietary technologies that are used in a substantial majority of our consumables. We do not own the patents that are the subject matter of these licenses. Our rights to use these patented technologies in our business are subject to the continuation of and compliance with the terms of those licenses.

We may need to license other technologies to commercialize future products. We may also need to negotiate licenses to patents and patent applications after launching new products. Our business may suffer if the technologies, patents or patent applications are unavailable for license or if we are unable to enter into necessary licenses on acceptable terms.

If we fail to offer high quality customer service, our business and reputation could suffer.

We differentiate ourselves from our competition through our commitment to an exceptional customer experience. Accordingly, high quality customer service is important for the growth of our business and any failure to maintain such standards of customer service, or a related market perception, could affect our ability

 

28

to sell products to existing and prospective customers. Additionally, we believe our customer service team has a positive influence on recurring consumables revenue. Providing an exceptional customer experience requires significant time and resources from our customer service team. Therefore, failure to scale our customer service organization adequately may adversely impact our business results and financial condition.

Customers utilize our service teams and online content for help with a variety of topics, including how to use our products efficiently, how to integrate our products into existing workflows, how to determine which of our other products may be needed for a given experiment and how to resolve technical, analysis and operational issues if and when they arise. While we have developed significant resources for remote training, including an extensive library of online videos, we may need to rely more on these resources for future customer training, or we may experience increased expenses to enhance our online and remote solutions. If our customers do not adopt these resources, we may be required to increase the staffing of our customer service team, which would increase our costs. Also, as our business scales, we may need to engage third-party customer service providers, which could increase our costs and negatively impact the quality of the customer experience if such third parties are unable to provide service levels equivalent to ours.

The number of our customers has grown significantly and such growth, as well as any future growth, will put additional pressure on our customer service organization. We may be unable to hire qualified staff quickly enough or to the extent necessary to accommodate increases in demand.

In addition, as we continue to grow our operations and reach a global customer base, we need to be able to provide efficient customer service that meets our customers’ needs globally at scale. In geographies where we sell through distributors, we rely on those distributors to provide customer service. If these third-party distributors do not provide a high quality customer experience, our business operations and reputation may suffer.

We depend on our key personnel and other highly qualified personnel, and if we are unable to recruit, train and retain our personnel, we may not achieve our goals.

Our future success depends on our ability to recruit, train, retain and motivate key personnel, including our senior management, research and development, manufacturing and sales, customer service and marketing personnel. In particular, Dr. Saxonov, our Chief Executive Officer and one of our co-founders, and Dr. Hindson, our Chief Scientific Officer, President and one of our co-founders, are critical to our vision, strategic direction, culture and products. Competition for qualified personnel is intense, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. As we grow, we may continue to make changes to our management team, which could make it difficult to execute on our business plans and strategies. New hires also require significant training and, in most cases, take significant time before they achieve full productivity. Our failure to successfully integrate these key personnel into our business could adversely affect our business.

Our continued growth depends, in part, on attracting, retaining and motivating highly-trained sales personnel with the necessary scientific background and ability to understand our systems at a technical level to effectively identify and sell to potential new customers. In addition, the continued development of complementary software tools, such as our analysis tools and visualization software, requires us to compete for highly trained software engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area and for highly trained customer service personnel globally. We also compete for computational biologists and qualified scientific personnel with other life science companies, academic institutions and research institutions. Many of our scientific personnel are qualified foreign nationals whose ability to live and work in the United States is contingent upon the continued availability of appropriate visas. Due to the competition for qualified personnel in the San Francisco Bay Area, we expect to continue to rely on foreign nationals to fill part of our recruiting needs. As a result, changes to United States immigration policies could restrain the flow of technical and professional talent into the United

 

29

States and may inhibit our ability to hire qualified personnel. The current United States administration has made restricting immigration and reforming the work visa process a key focus of its initiatives and these efforts may adversely affect our ability to find qualified personnel.

We do not maintain key man life insurance or fixed term employment contracts with any of our employees. As a result, our employees could leave our company with little or no prior notice and would be free to work for a competitor. Because of the complex and technical nature of our products and the dynamic market in which we compete, any failure to attract, train, retain and motivate qualified personnel could materially harm our operating results and growth prospects.

Acquisitions could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders and otherwise harm our business.

We have and may continue to acquire other businesses and legal entities to add specialized employees, products or technologies as well as pursue technology licenses or investments in complementary businesses. In 2018, we acquired Epinomics, Inc. (“Epinomics”), an epigenetics company based in California, and Spatial Transcriptomics Holdings AB (“Spatial Transcriptomics”), a spatial analysis company based in Stockholm, Sweden. We believe we are successfully integrating the technologies acquired from those companies into our business, but the long term success of these acquisitions is not guaranteed. These transactions and any future transactions could be material to our financial condition and operating results and expose us to many risks, including:

 

•

disruption in our relationships with customers, distributors, manufacturers or suppliers as a result of such a transaction;

 

•

unanticipated liabilities related to acquired companies, including liabilities related to acquired intellectual property or litigation relating thereto;

 

•

difficulties integrating acquired personnel, technologies and operations into our existing business;

 

•

diversion of management time and focus from operating our business;

 

•

failure to realize anticipated benefits or synergies from such a transaction;

 

•

increases in our expenses and reductions in our cash available for operations and other uses;

 

•

possible write-offs or impairment charges relating to acquired businesses; and

 

•

potential higher taxes if our tax position relating to the acquisitions were challenged.

Foreign acquisitions, such as our acquisition of Spatial Transcriptomics, involve unique risks in addition to those mentioned above, including those related to integration of operations across different cultures and languages, currency risks and the particular economic, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries.

Even if we identify a strategic transaction that we wish to pursue, we may be prohibited from consummating such transaction due to the terms of our existing or any future indebtedness. For example, our Second Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement, dated February 9, 2018, with Silicon Valley Bank (as amended, restated or supplemented from time to time, the “Loan and Security Agreement”) includes a covenant that limits our ability to consummate acquisitions and the exceptions to this covenant are limited. If we were to pursue an acquisition that is not permitted by the Loan and Security Agreement, we would be required to seek a waiver from the lender under the Loan and Security Agreement and we cannot assure investors that the lender would grant such a waiver.

Future acquisitions or dispositions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses or write-offs of goodwill, any of which could

 

30

harm our financial condition. We cannot predict the number, timing or size of future acquisitions, or the effect that any such transactions might have on our operating results.

Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our revenue and results of operations.

We operate on a December 31st year end and believe that there are significant seasonal factors which may cause sales of our products, and particularly our Chromium Controller, to vary on a quarterly or yearly basis and increase the magnitude of quarterly or annual fluctuations in our operating results. We believe that this seasonality results from a number of factors, including the procurement and budgeting cycles of many of our customers, especially government- or grant-funded customers, whose cycles often coincide with government fiscal year ends. For example, the United States government’s fiscal year end occurs in our third quarter and may result in increased sales of our products during this quarter if government-funded customers have unused funds that may be forfeited, or future budgets that may be reduced, if such funds remain unspent at such fiscal year end. Furthermore, the academic budgetary cycle similarly requires grantees to ‘use or lose’ their grant funding, which seems to be tied disproportionately to the end of the calendar year, driving sales higher during the fourth quarter. Similarly, our biopharmaceutical customers typically have calendar year fiscal years which also result in a disproportionate amount of their purchasing activity occurring during our fourth quarter. These factors have contributed, and may contribute in the future, to substantial fluctuations in our quarterly operating results. Because of these fluctuations, it is possible that in some quarters our operating results will fall below the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If that happens, the market price of our Class A common stock would likely decrease. These fluctuations, among other factors, also mean that our operating results in any particular period may not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Seasonal or cyclical variations in our sales have in the past, and may in the future, become more or less pronounced over time, and have in the past materially affected, and may in the future materially affect, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our reliance on distributors for sales of our products in certain geographies outside of the United States could limit or prevent us from selling our products and impact our revenue.

We sell our products through third-party distributors in Asia, certain regions of Europe, South America, the Middle East and Africa. We intend to continue to grow our business internationally and to do so we must attract additional distributors and retain existing distributors to maximize the commercial opportunity for our products. There is no guarantee that we will be successful in attracting or retaining desirable sales and distribution partners or that we will be able to enter into such arrangements on favorable terms. Most of our distribution relationships are non-exclusive and permit such distributors to distribute competing products. As such, our distributors may not commit the necessary resources to market our products to the level of our expectations or may choose to favor marketing the products of our competitors. If current or future distributors do not perform adequately or we are unable to enter into effective arrangements with distributors in particular geographic areas, we may not realize long-term international revenue growth.

We rely exclusively on commercial carriers to transport our products, including perishable consumables, to our customers in a timely and cost-efficient manner and if these delivery services are disrupted, our business will be harmed.

Our business depends on our ability to quickly and reliably deliver our products and in particular, our consumables, to our customers. Certain of our consumables are perishable and must be kept below certain temperatures. As such, we ship certain of our refrigerated consumables on dry ice and only ship such consumables on certain days of the week to reach customers on a timely basis. Disruptions in the delivery of our products, whether due to labor disruptions, bad weather, natural disasters, terrorist acts or threats or for other reasons could result in our customers receiving consumables that are not fit for usage, and if used, could

 

31

result in inaccurate results or ruined experiments. While we work with customers to replace any consumables that are impacted by delivery disruptions, our reputation and our business may be adversely impacted even if we replace perished consumables free of charge. In addition, if we are unable to continue to obtain expedited delivery services on commercially reasonable terms, our operating results may be adversely affected.

In addition, should our commercial carriers encounter difficulties in delivering our instruments or consumables to customers, particularly at the end of any financial quarter, it could adversely impact our ability to recognize revenue for those products in that period and accordingly adversely affect our financial results for that period.

Ethical, legal, privacy and social concerns or governmental restrictions surrounding the use of the genomic and multi-omic information and gene editing could reduce demand for our products.

While we do not make gene sequencing or gene editing products, our products are used to better understand genomic information that could further gene editing endeavors. For example, our single cell gene expression solutions allow users to examine cells that have been genetically perturbed using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (“CRISPR”) gene editing technology. Recent advances in genome editing or gene therapy, using CRISPR systems such as CRISPR Cas9 technology have been subject to negative publicity and increased regulatory scrutiny, in part due to the underlying ethical, legal, privacy and social concerns regarding the use or potential misuse of such technology. Governmental authorities could, for safety, social or other purposes, call for limits on or regulation of technologies and products used in the genome editing or gene therapy fields. Such concerns or governmental restrictions could limit the use of our products. Because the science and technology of genome editing or gene therapy is incredibly complex, any regulations or restrictions placed on such technology or aimed at curtailing its usage could, intentionally or inadvertently, limit or restrict the usage of our products. Any such restrictions or any reduction in usage of our products as a result of concerns regarding the usage of genome editing technology could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to certain manufacturing restrictions related to licensed technologies that were developed with the financial assistance of United States government grants.

We are subject to certain United States government regulations because we have licensed technologies that were developed with United States government grants. Such licensed technologies are used, for example, in a substantial majority of our consumables. In accordance with these regulations, these licenses provide that products embodying the technologies are subject to domestic manufacturing requirements. If this domestic manufacturing requirement is not met, the government agency that funded the relevant grant is entitled to exercise specified rights (“march-in rights”) which if exercised would allow the government agency to require the licensors or us to grant a non-exclusive, partially exclusive or exclusive license in any field of use to a third-party designated by such agency. The exercise of march-in rights or the termination of our license of the relevant technologies could materially adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition. As of June 30, 2019, all of our products embodying licensed technology subject to march-in rights were manufactured in the United States. While we do not expect to move manufacturing of these products to facilities located outside of the United States, we cannot assure investors that such products will always be manufactured in the United States or that the applicable government agency would grant a waiver of such requirement. These restrictions may limit our ability to manufacture our products in geographies where it may be more economically favorable to do so which could limit our ability to respond to competitive developments or otherwise adversely affect our results of operations.

 

32

Our products could become subject to government regulation and the regulatory approval and maintenance process for such products may be expensive, time-consuming and uncertain both in timing and in outcome.

Our products are not subject to the clearance or approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), as they are not intended to be used for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease. However, as we continue to expand our product line and the applications and uses of our existing products into new fields, certain of our current or future products could become subject to regulation by the FDA, or comparable international agencies, including requirements for regulatory clearance or approval of such products before they can be marketed. Such regulatory approval processes or clearances may be expensive, time-consuming and uncertain, and our failure to obtain or comply with such approvals and clearances could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, changes to the current regulatory framework, including the imposition of additional or new regulations, including regulation of our products, could arise at any time during the development or marketing of our products, which may negatively affect our ability to obtain or maintain FDA or comparable regulatory approval of our products, if required. Further, sales of devices for diagnostic purposes may subject us to additional healthcare regulation and enforcement by the applicable government agencies. Such laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, privacy and security and physician sunshine laws and regulations.

Diagnostic products are regulated as medical devices by the FDA and comparable international agencies and may require either clearance from the FDA following the 510(k) pre-market notification process or pre-market approval from the FDA, in each case prior to marketing. Obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals can be expensive and may involve considerable delay. None of our products are currently regulated as medical devices, however, if our products labeled as “For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures” (“RUO”) are used, or could be used, for the diagnosis of disease, the regulatory requirements related to marketing, selling and supporting such products could change or be uncertain, even if such use by our customers is without our consent.

If the FDA or other regulatory authorities assert that any of our products are subject to regulatory clearance or approval, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.

Enhanced trade tariffs, import restrictions, export restrictions, Chinese regulations or other trade barriers may materially harm our business.

We are continuing to expand our international operations as part of our growth strategy and have experienced an increasing concentration of sales in certain regions outside the United States, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. For the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, sales outside of North America constituted approximately 42% and 44%, respectively, of our sales revenue and our largest markets outside of North America were China and Germany. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and various other countries, most significantly China, with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. The current United States presidential administration has called for substantial changes to United States foreign trade policy with respect to China and other countries, including the possibility of imposing greater restrictions on international trade and significant increases in tariffs on goods imported into the United States. In September 2018, the United States Trade Representative (the “USTR”) enacted a tariff on the import of other Chinese products with a combined import value of approximately $200 billion. The tariff became effective on September 24, 2018, with an initial rate of 10% and increased to 25% effective on May 10, 2019.

Additionally, our business may be adversely impacted by retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries. Such measures could include restrictions on our ability to sell or import our instruments and/or consumables into certain countries or have the effect of increasing the prices of our instruments and/or

 

33

consumables. For example, China has promised to impose retaliatory tariffs in response to the USTR tariffs referred to above and any such retaliatory tariffs could adversely impact our ability to sell instruments and consumables in China. While at this time neither the United States nor China has specifically imposed additional tariffs on healthcare related products, the nature of this dispute is evolving and additional products such as ours could become subject to tariffs, which could adversely affect the marketability of our products and our results of operations. Further, the continued threats of tariffs, trade restrictions and trade barriers could have a generally disruptive impact on the global economy and, therefore, negatively impact our sales. Given the relatively fluid regulatory environment in China and the United States and uncertainty how the United States or foreign governments will act with respect to tariffs, international trade agreements and policies, there could be additional tax or other regulatory changes in the future. Any such changes could directly and adversely impact our financial results and results of operations.

Additionally, in November 2018, the United States Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to control the export of emerging technologies. This notice included “[b]iotechnology, including nanobiology; synthetic biology; genomic and genetic engineering; or neurotech” as possible areas of increased export controls. Therefore, it is possible that our ability to export our products may be restricted in the future.

The imposition of new, or changes in existing, tariffs, trade restrictions, trade barriers, export controls or retaliatory trade measures taken by other countries could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Doing business internationally creates operational and financial risks for our business.

We currently serve thousands of researchers in approximately 40 countries and plan to continue to expand to new international jurisdictions as part of our growth strategy. For the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, approximately 42% and 44%, respectively, of our revenue was generated from sales to customers located outside of North America. We believe that a significant portion of our future revenue will come from international sources. We sell directly in North America and certain regions of Europe and have a significant portion of our sales and customer service personnel in the United States. We sell our products through third-party distributors in Asia, certain regions of Europe, South America, the Middle East and Africa. As a result, we or our distribution partners may be subject to additional regulations. Conducting operations on an international scale requires close coordination of activities across multiple jurisdictions and time zones. If we fail to coordinate and manage these activities effectively, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected and failure to comply with laws and regulations applicable to business operations in foreign jurisdictions may also subject us to significant liabilities and other penalties. International operations entail a variety of other risks, including, without limitation:

 

•

challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations;

 

•

potentially longer sales cycles and more time required to engage and educate customers on the benefits of our products outside of the United States;

 

•

the potential need for localized software, documentation and post-sales support;

 

•

reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries and practical difficulties of enforcing intellectual property and contract rights abroad;

 

•

complexities associated with managing a third-party contract manufacturer located outside of the United States;

 

34

•

United States and foreign government trade restrictions, including those which may impose restrictions on the importation, exportation, re-exportation, sale, shipment or other transfer of programming, technology, components and/or services to foreign persons;

 

•

changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including new tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, trade embargoes and other trade barriers;

 

•

tariffs imposed by the United States on goods from other countries and tariffs imposed by other countries on United States goods, or increases in existing tariffs;

 

•

deterioration of political relations between the United States and Canada, China, the United Kingdom and the European Union, which could have a material adverse effect on our sales and operations in these countries;

 

•

changes in social, political and economic conditions or in laws, regulations and policies governing foreign trade, manufacturing, development and investment both domestically as well as in the other countries and jurisdictions into which we sell our products, including as a result of the referendum held in the United Kingdom approving the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union;

 

•

difficulties in obtaining export licenses or in overcoming other trade barriers and restrictions resulting in delivery delays or our inability to sell our products in certain countries;

 

•

increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities; and

 

•

significant taxes or other burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, including laws relating to privacy and data protection such as the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) which took effect in the European Union in 2018.

In conducting our international operations, we are subject to United States laws relating to our international activities, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as well as foreign laws relating to our activities in other countries, such as the United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010. Additionally, we are subject to laws that prohibit the conduct of business with persons that are subject to “sanctions”, including but not limited to persons listed on the United States Department of Commerce’s List of Denied Persons and the United States Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Failure to comply with these laws and other applicable laws may subject us to claims or financial and/or other penalties in the United States and/or foreign countries that could materially and adversely impact our operations or financial condition. These risks have become increasingly prevalent as we have expanded our sales into countries that are generally recognized as having a higher risk of corruption.

Historically, most of our revenue has been denominated in U.S. dollars, although we have sold our products and services in local currency outside of the United States, principally the euro. For the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, approximately 16% and 14%, respectively, of our sales were denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies in which our operations are located, which is primarily in the United States. As our operations in countries outside of the United States grow, our results of operations and cash flows will become increasingly subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, which could harm our business in the future. For example, if the value of the U.S. dollar increases relative to foreign currencies, in the absence of a corresponding change in local currency prices, our revenue could be adversely affected as we convert revenue from local currencies to U.S. dollars. In addition, because we conduct business in currencies other than U.S. dollars, but report our results of operations in U.S. dollars, we also face remeasurement exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could hinder our ability to predict our future results and earnings and could materially impact our results of operations. We do not currently maintain a program to hedge exposures to non-U.S. dollar currencies.

 

35

Violations of complex foreign and United States laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and on our ability to offer our products and services in one or more countries, and could also materially affect our brand, our international growth efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business and our operating results. Even if we implement policies or procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our distribution partners, our employees, contractors or agents will not violate our policies and subject us to potential claims or penalties.

Significant U.K. or European developments stemming from the U.K.’s decision to withdraw from the European Union could have a material adverse effect on us.

In June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum and voted in favor of leaving the European Union, and in March 2017, the government of the United Kingdom formally initiated the withdrawal process. Negotiations for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (“Brexit”) have created political and economic uncertainty, particularly in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and this uncertainty may last for years. Our business in the United Kingdom, the European Union and worldwide could be affected during this period of uncertainty, and perhaps longer, by the impact of the United Kingdom’s referendum. There are many ways in which this business could be affected, only some of which we are able to currently identify.

The decision of the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union has caused and, along with events that could occur in the future as a consequence of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal, may continue to cause significant volatility in global financial markets, including in global currency and debt markets. This volatility could cause a slowdown in economic activity in the United Kingdom, Europe or globally, which could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. In addition, our business could be negatively affected by new trade agreements or data transfer agreements between the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States, and by the possible imposition of trade or other regulatory and immigration barriers in the United Kingdom. In addition, access to European Union research funding by research scientists based in the United Kingdom may be reduced or cut off altogether. It also is unclear whether Brexit may limit the ability or willingness of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council to continue funding genomic or single cell research by local research centers and labs. For the year ended December 31, 2018 and the six months ended June 30, 2019, the United Kingdom comprised approximately $8.0 million and $5.6 million, respectively, of our worldwide product revenue. The impact of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union could negatively impact our revenue as a result of currency fluctuations, a slowdown in research funding or restricted budgets. In addition, the growth of sales in the United Kingdom may be slowed or those sales may even decline as a result of this withdrawal. Additionally, distribution costs for products sold in the United Kingdom may be increased due to trade agreements and incremental importation expenses. These possible negative impacts, and others resulting from the United Kingdom’s actual or threatened withdrawal from the European Union, may increase our cost of doing business in Europe, disrupt our European operations and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.

The illegal distribution and sale by third parties of counterfeit or unfit versions of our products or stolen products could have a negative impact on our reputation and business.

Third parties might illegally distribute and sell counterfeit or unfit versions of our products, which do not meet our rigorous manufacturing, distribution and quality standards. As we expand our business internationally, we expect to encounter counterfeit versions of our products, particularly our consumables. A researcher who receives and uses counterfeit consumables could obtain erroneous results, experience failed experiments or potentially damage his or her instrument. Our reputation and business could suffer harm as a result of counterfeit products sold under our brand name. In addition, inventory that is stolen from warehouses, plants

 

36

or while in-transit, and that is subsequently improperly stored and sold through unauthorized channels, could adversely impact our customers’ experiments, our reputation and our business.

We currently plan to implement a new company-wide enterprise resource planning system in 2020 and such implementation could adversely affect our business and results of operations or the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting.

We currently plan to implement a new company-wide enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system in 2020 to handle the business and financial processes within our operations, manufacturing and corporate functions. ERP implementations are complex and time-consuming projects that involve substantial expenditures on system software, the need to hire consultants and additional personnel for the implementation and implementation activities that can continue for several years. ERP implementations also require transformation of business and financial processes in order to reap the benefits of the ERP system. Our business and results of operations could be adversely affected if we experience operating problems and/or cost overruns during the ERP implementation process, or if the ERP system and the associated process changes do not give rise to the benefits that we expect. If we do not effectively implement and transition to the new ERP system as planned or if the system does not operate as intended, our business, results of operations and internal controls over financial reporting could be adversely affected.

Our solutions contain third-party open source software components and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to sell our products.

Our solutions contain software tools licensed by third parties under open source software licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source software licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. Some open source software licenses contain requirements that the licensee make its source code publicly available if the licensee creates modifications or derivative works using the open source software, depending on the type of open source software the licensee uses and how the licensee uses it. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source software licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public for free. This would allow our competitors to create similar products with less development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of product sales and revenue. In addition, some companies that use third-party open source software have faced claims challenging their use of such open source software and their compliance with the terms of the applicable open source license. We may be subject to suits by third parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software, or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open source licensing terms. Use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the public availability of such software may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to compromise or attempt to compromise our technology platform and systems.

Although we review our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our solutions to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open source software licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our solutions. Moreover, we cannot assure investors that our processes for monitoring and controlling our use of open source software in our solutions will be effective. If we are held to have breached the terms of an open source software license, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our solutions on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our solutions, to discontinue the sale of our solutions if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

37

We collect, process, store, share, disclose and use personal information and other data, which subjects us to governmental regulations and other legal obligations related to privacy and security, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.

We collect, process, store, transmit, disclose and use information from our employees, customers and others, including personal information and other data, some of which may be sensitive in nature. There are numerous federal, state and foreign laws and regulations regarding data protection, privacy and security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, our posted policies and legal contractual obligations relating to privacy and data protection. However, the scope of these laws is changing, is subject to differing interpretations, may be costly to comply with and may be inconsistent among countries and jurisdictions or conflict with other rules. Our business, including our ability to operate and expand internationally, could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations are adopted, interpreted or implemented in a manner that is inconsistent with our current business practices and that require changes to these practices.

The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving and new laws and regulations are likely to be enacted and violations of existing and new laws and regulations may subject companies to significant penalties and fines, government investigations and/or enforcement actions, private litigation and other claims. For example, the European Union’s recent adoption of the GDPR introduced stringent requirements for processing personal data. The GDPR is likely to increase compliance burdens on us, including by mandating potentially burdensome documentation requirements and granting certain rights to individuals to control how we collect, use, disclose, retain and leverage information about them or how we obtain consent from them. The processing of sensitive personal data, such as physical health condition, may impose heightened compliance burdens under the GDPR and is a topic of active interest among foreign regulators. In addition, the GDPR provides for breach reporting requirements, more robust regulatory enforcement and greater penalties for noncompliance than previous data protection laws, including fines of up to € 20 million or 4% of a noncompliant company’s global annual revenue for the preceding financial year, whichever is greater. As we continue to expand into other foreign countries and jurisdictions, we may be subject to additional laws and regulations that may affect how we conduct business.

In the United States, California recently enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which may limit or impose requirements on how we may collect and use personal information and is expected to come into effect in January 2020. The impact of this law on us and others in our industry is and will remain unclear until proposed bills amending the CCPA have wound their way through the legislative process and until regulations are issued by the California Attorney General. Similar privacy and data protection laws have also been proposed in other states and at the federal level.

Any failure or perceived failure by us or our vendors or partners to comply with these laws and regulations, our privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to employees, customers or other third parties or privacy or security-related legal obligations, or any actual or perceived compromise of security that results in the unauthorized access to or disclosure, alteration, theft, loss, transfer or use of personal or other information, including personally identifiable information or other sensitive data, may result in governmental enforcement actions, fines and penalties, litigation or public statements critical of us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could cause our customers, partners or others to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

If we experience a significant disruption in our information technology systems or breaches of data security, our business could be adversely affected.

We rely on information technology systems to keep financial records, facilitate our research and development initiatives, manage our manufacturing operations, maintain quality control, fulfill customer orders, maintain

 

38

corporate records, communicate with staff and external parties and operate other critical functions. Our information technology systems are potentially vulnerable to disruption due to breakdown, malicious intrusion and computer viruses or other disruptive events including but not limited to natural disasters and catastrophes. Cyberattacks and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase and cloud-based platform providers of services have been and are expected to continue to be targeted. In addition to traditional computer “hackers”, malicious code (such as viruses and worms), employee theft or misuse, denial-of-service attacks and sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors now engage in attacks (including advanced persistent threat intrusions). Despite significant efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is virtually impossible for us to entirely mitigate these risks. If our security measures are compromised as a result of third-party action, employee or customer error, malfeasance, stolen or fraudulently obtained log-in credentials or otherwise, our reputation could be damaged, our business may be harmed and we could incur significant liability. If we were to experience a prolonged system disruption in our information technology systems or those of certain of our vendors, it could negatively impact our ability to serve our customers, which could adversely impact our business. If operations at our facilities were disrupted, it may cause a material disruption in our business if we are not capable of restoring functionality on an acceptable timeframe. In addition, our information technology systems (and those of our vendors and partners) are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches, whether by internal bad actors (e.g., employees) or external bad actors (attacks of which are becoming increasingly sophisticated, including social engineering and phishing scams), which could lead to the exposure of personal data, sensitive data and confidential information to unauthorized persons. Such data security breaches could lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, or could lead to the exposure of personal information (including sensitive personal information) of our employees, customers and others, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

We have not always been able in the past and may be unable in the future to anticipate or prevent techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to compromise our systems because the techniques used change frequently and are generally not detected until after an incident has occurred. Concerns regarding data privacy and security may cause some of our customers to stop using our solutions and fail to renew their subscriptions. This discontinuance in use or failure to renew could substantially harm our business, operating results and growth prospects.

In addition, any such access, disclosure or other loss or unauthorized use of information or data could result in legal claims or proceedings, regulatory investigations or actions, and other types of liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information, including federal, state and foreign data protection and privacy regulations, violations of which could result in significant penalties and fines. In addition, although we seek to detect and investigate all data security incidents, security breaches and other incidents of unauthorized access to our information technology systems and data can be difficult to detect and any delay in identifying such breaches or incidents may lead to increased harm and legal exposure of the type described above.

The cost of investigating, mitigating and responding to potential data security breaches and complying with applicable breach notification obligations to individuals, regulators, partners and others can be significant. Our insurance policies may not be adequate to compensate us for the potential costs and other losses arising from such disruptions, failures or security breaches. In addition, such insurance may not be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms, or at all. Further, defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly, divert management attention and harm our reputation.

 

39

We rely on on-premise, co-located and third-party data centers and platforms to host our website and other online services, as well as for research and development purposes and any interruptions of service or failures may impair and harm our business.

Our proprietary software is a crucial component of our solutions, as our software allows our end users to visualize genomic and multi-omic information provided by our instruments and reagents. All of our software is currently downloadable free of charge from our website for installation and use by end users on their computer systems. Our website is hosted with various third-party service providers located in the United States. We rely on on-premises, co-located and third-party infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area and other regions in the United States to perform computationally demanding analysis tasks for our research and development program and for other business purposes.

In the event of any technical problems that may arise in connection with our on-premise, co-located or third-party data centers, we could experience interruptions in our ability to provide products and services to our customers or in our internal functions, including research and development, which rely on such services. Interruptions or failures may be caused by a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, viruses, security attacks, fraud, spikes in customer usage and denial of service issues. Interruptions or failures in our operations or services may reduce our revenue, result in the loss of customers, adversely affect our ability to attract new customers or harm our reputation. Significant interruptions to our research and development program could cause us to delay the introduction of new products or improvements to existing products, which could adversely impact our business, our results of operations and the competitiveness of our products.

Our current solutions are capable of generating large datasets, the analysis of which can be time consuming without access to a high-performance computing system. The visualization of such data can also be computationally intensive. As we iterate and improve our products and as the related technologies advance, our continued growth may require an ability to provide our customers with direct access to a high-performance computing system and/or alternative means of obtaining our software. As a result, we expect our reliance on internal and third-party data centers to increase in the future.

Further, as we rely on third-party and public-cloud infrastructure, we will depend in part on third-party security measures to protect against unauthorized access, cyberattacks and the mishandling of customer data. In addition, failures to meet customers’ expectations with respect to security and confidentiality of their data and information could damage our reputation and affect our ability to retain customers, attract new customers and grow our business. In addition, a cybersecurity event could result in significant increases in costs, including costs for remediating the effects of such an event, lost revenue due to a decrease in customer trust and network downtime; increases in insurance coverage due to cybersecurity incidents; and damages to our reputation because of any such incident.

Our indebtedness may impair our financial and operating flexibility.

The Loan and Security Agreement provides for up to $50.0 million of term loans and a $25.0 million revolving asset-backed credit facility. As of June 30, 2019, $30.0 million of term loan borrowings were outstanding. As of June 30, 2019, revolving loan borrowings of $25.0 million were available to be drawn and $20.0 million of additional term loan borrowings were available to be drawn before January 1, 2020, subject to certain conditions. We currently intend to partially draw under our revolving line of credit, prior to the consummation of this offering, in order to provide us with additional liquidity in connection with our operations. The Loan and Security Agreement contains affirmative and negative covenants, including a covenant requiring us to maintain minimum revenue over specified periods of time and covenants that restrict, among other things, our ability to dispose of assets, change our business, management, ownership or business locations, enter into mergers or acquisitions, incur additional indebtedness or encumber any of our assets. Borrowings under the Loan and Security Agreement are secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding our intellectual property but

 

40

including the proceeds from the sale of any of our intellectual property. These restrictions could limit our operational flexibility and the need to make principal and interest payments on our debt will reduce our ability to fund other aspects of our business, such as our research and development program. Our ability to make principal and interest payments on our indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash. If we default under the Loan and Security Agreement and if the default is not cured or waived, the lender could terminate its commitments to lend to us and cause any amounts outstanding to be payable immediately. Under certain circumstances, the lender could also exercise its rights with respect to the collateral securing such loans. Such a default could also result in cross-defaults under other debt instruments. Moreover, any such default would limit our ability to obtain additional financing, which may have an adverse effect on our cash flow and liquidity.

We may incur additional indebtedness in the future. The debt instruments governing such indebtedness could contain provisions that are as, or more, restrictive than our existing debt instruments. If we incur additional debt, a greater portion of our cash flows may be needed to satisfy our debt service obligations. While we do not anticipate that we will need to raise additional financing in the future to fund our operations, in the event that additional financing is required, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all. As a result, we would be more vulnerable to general adverse economic, industry and capital markets conditions in addition to the risks associated with indebtedness described above.

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

As of December 31, 2018, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”) of approximately $116.1 million and federal tax credit carryforwards of approximately $8.3 million. Our federal NOLs generated after January 1, 2018, which total $5.5 million, are carried forward indefinitely, while all of our other federal NOLs and tax credit carryforwards expire beginning in 2032. As of December 31, 2018, we had state NOLs of approximately $93.5 million, which expire beginning in 2032. In addition, we had state tax credit carryforwards of approximately $7.9 million, which do not expire. Our ability to utilize such carryforwards for income tax savings is subject to certain conditions and may be subject to certain limitations in the future due to ownership changes, if any, as defined by rules enacted with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Tax Act”). As such, there can be no assurance that we will be able to utilize such carryforwards. We have experienced a history of losses and a lack of future taxable income would adversely affect our ability to utilize these NOLs and research and development credit carryforwards. We currently maintain a full valuation allowance against these tax assets.

Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change”, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5% shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We completed a study in early 2019 to determine whether an ownership change had occurred under Section 382 or 383 of the Code as of December 31, 2018 and we determined at that time that an ownership change occurred in 2013. As a result, our net operating losses generated through November 1, 2013 may be subject to limitation under Section 382 of the Code. The amount of pre-change loss carryforwards which may be subject to this limitation is $4.8 million. Our ability to use net operating loss carry forwards, research and development credit carryforwards and other tax attributes to reduce future taxable income and liabilities may be subject to limitations based on the ownership change in 2013, possible changes since the completion of the study or as a result of this offering. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards or other pre-change tax attributes to offset United States federal and state taxable income may still be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us.

 

41

We are subject to risks related to taxation in multiple jurisdictions.

We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgments based on interpretations of existing tax laws or regulations are required in determining our provision for income taxes. Our effective income tax rate could be adversely affected by various factors, including, but not limited to, changes in the mix of earnings in tax jurisdictions with different statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in existing tax policies, laws, regulations or rates, changes in the level of non-deductible expenses (including share-based compensation), changes in the location of our operations, changes in our future levels of research and development spending, mergers and acquisitions or the result of examinations by various tax authorities. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, if the United States Internal Revenue Service or other taxing authority disagrees with the positions taken on our tax returns, we could have additional tax liability, including interest and penalties. If material, payment of such additional amounts upon final adjudication of any disputes could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial position.

Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us or our customers may have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could affect the tax treatment of our domestic and foreign earnings. Any new taxes could adversely affect our domestic and international business operations and our business and financial performance. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For example, the 2017 Tax Act significantly revised the Code. The recently enacted federal income tax law, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including a reduction of the federal statutory rates from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of current year taxable income, elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, elimination of U.S. tax on foreign earnings (subject to certain important exceptions), immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits. Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the new federal tax law is uncertain and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. It is also unknown if and to what extent various states will conform to the newly enacted federal tax law. The impact of this tax reform on us and on holders of our Class A common stock is likewise uncertain and could be adverse.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, SOX and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”). We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly, and place significant strain on our personnel, systems and resources.

SOX requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we will file with the SEC is accurately recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods

 

42

specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. We are also continuing to improve our internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.

Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able to remain listed on Nasdaq. We are not currently required to comply with the SEC rules that implement Section 404 of SOX and are therefore not required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. As a public company, we will be required to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with our second annual report on Form 10-K.

We cannot provide any assurance that significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. If we fail to remediate any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses that may be identified in the future or encounter problems or delays in the implementation of internal controls over financial reporting, we may be unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective. We are currently implementing an internal audit function and any failure to correctly do so could lead to significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our financial reporting. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in our implementation of our internal controls over financial reporting could result in material misstatements that are not prevented or detected on a timely basis, which could potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Ineffective internal controls could cause investors to lose confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements and cause a decline in the price of our Class A common stock.

Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until our first annual report filed with the SEC where we are an “accelerated filer” or a “large accelerated filer”. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition and could cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.

 

43

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our operating results could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. For example, in connection with our adoption and implementation of the new revenue accounting standard, management will make judgments and assumptions based on our interpretation of the new standard. The new revenue standard is principle-based and interpretation of those principles may vary from company to company based on their unique circumstances. It is possible that interpretation, industry practice and guidance may evolve as we apply the new standard. If our assumptions underlying our estimates and judgements relating to our critical accounting policies change or if actual circumstances differ from our assumptions, estimates or judgements, our operating results may be adversely affected and could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.

Risks related to litigation and our intellectual property

We are involved in significant litigation which has consumed significant resources and management time and adverse resolution of these lawsuits could require us to pay significant damages, and prevent us from selling our products, which would severely adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our success depends in part on our non-infringement of the patents or proprietary rights of third parties. Third parties have asserted and may in the future assert that our products infringe patents that they have obtained and may in the future obtain. We could incur substantial costs and divert the attention of our management and technical personnel in defending ourselves against any of these claims. Any adverse ruling or perception of an adverse ruling in defending ourselves against these claims could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Furthermore, parties making claims against us have obtained and may in the future be able to obtain injunctive or other relief, which effectively could block our ability to further develop, commercialize, market or sell products or services and have resulted and could in the future result in the award of substantial damages against us. In the event of a successful infringement claim against us, we may be required to pay damages and obtain one or more licenses from third parties or be prohibited from selling certain products or services. In addition, we may be unable to obtain these licenses at a reasonable cost, if at all. We could therefore incur substantial costs related to royalty payments for licenses obtained from third parties, which could negatively affect our gross margins and earnings per share. In addition, we could encounter delays in product introductions while we attempt to develop alternative methods or products. Defense of any lawsuit or failure to obtain any of these licenses on favorable terms could prevent us from commercializing products and the prohibition of sale of any of our products or services could adversely affect our ability to grow or achieve or maintain profitability. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, lawsuits brought against us may result in decreased demand for our products, injury to our reputation and increased insurance costs.

In particular, we are currently involved in the following litigation matters related to substantially all of our products, the loss of any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial results and reputation. Beginning in 2015, Bio-Rad has filed five separate patent infringement cases against

 

44

substantially all of our products, including instruments and consumables. These litigations are generally distinct and involve different Bio-Rad patents, however, the patents asserted by Bio-Rad in the ITC are also asserted in the district court case filed in the Northern District of California. In addition, in November 2018, Becton Dickinson filed a patent infringement suit alleging that our gel beads, which are used in substantially all of our products, infringe their patents.

The details of these litigation matters are described below:

The 2015 Delaware Action

In February 2015, Raindance Technologies, Inc. (“Raindance”) and the University of Chicago filed suit against us in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, accusing that substantially all of our products that use our GEM microfluidic chips are infringing seven U.S. patents owned by or exclusively licensed to Raindance (the “Delaware Action”). In May 2017, Bio-Rad was substituted as the plaintiff following its acquisition of Raindance. A jury trial was held in November 2018. The jury found that all of our accused products infringed one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,304,193, 8,329,407 and 8,889,083. The jury also concluded that our infringement was willful and awarded Bio-Rad approximately $24 million in damages. Post-trial, Bio-Rad moved for a permanent injunction, treble damages for willful infringement, attorneys’ fees, supplemental damages for the period from the second quarter of 2018 through the end of the trial as well as pre- and post-judgment interest.

The Court denied Bio-Rad’s request for attorneys’ fees and enhanced damages for willful infringement. The Court awarded supplemental damages for the period from the second quarter of 2018 through the end of trial as well as pre- and post-judgment interest. The Court entered final judgment against us in the amount of approximately $35 million in August 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2018, we began recording an accrual for estimated royalties as cost of revenue. This accrual is based on an estimated royalty rate of 15% of worldwide sales of our Chromium instruments operating our GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables. As of June 30, 2019, we had accrued a total of $55.3 million relating to this matter which includes the $35 million judgment and our estimated 15% royalty for sales through that date.

The Court also granted Bio-Rad a permanent injunction against our GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables that were found to infringe the Bio-Rad patents, which have historically constituted substantially all of our product sales. However, under the injunction, we are permitted to continue to sell our GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables for use with our historical installed base of instruments provided that we pay a royalty of 15% into escrow on our net revenue related to such sales. We have appealed the injunction to the Federal Circuit and expect that it will not take effect until the Federal Circuit rules on our request for a stay of the injunction.

We have dedicated significant resources to designing and manufacturing our Next GEM new microfluidic chips which use fundamentally different physics from our GEM microfluidic chips. Neither the jury verdict nor the injunction relate to our Next GEM microfluidic chips and associated consumables which we launched in May 2019 for three of our single cell solutions – Single Cell Gene Expression, Single Cell Immune Profiling and Single Cell ATAC. We currently expect that, by the end of the third quarter of 2019, all Chromium instruments that we sell will operate exclusively with our Next GEM solutions and that our Chromium products utilizing our Next GEM microfluidic chips will constitute substantially all of our Chromium sales by the end of 2020.

Although our Next GEM microfluidic chips were designed to replace our GEM microfluidic chips, we cannot assure you that we will be able to make our Next GEM microfluidic chip work with all of our solutions, that our Next GEM microfluidic chip will allow our customers to maintain the level of performance or quality of our GEM microfluidic chip, that our Next GEM microfluidic chip will replace the sales of the GEM microfluidic chip or that we will be able to manufacture the Next GEM microfluidic chips in sufficient volumes in a timely fashion. Our Next GEM microfluidic chips may be subject to future claims of infringement by Bio-Rad or others and are

 

45

currently the subject of the litigation described in this risk factor. While we believe that our Chromium solutions, when used with our Next GEM microfluidic chip, would not infringe the asserted Bio-Rad patents, we cannot assure you that our Next GEM microfluidic chip would not become subject to additional patent infringement litigation, which could prevent us from making, selling and importing our Next GEM microfluidic chips. In addition, it is possible that Bio-Rad could, in the future, claim that our continued sale of products violates orders issued by the court and request that the court impose sanctions or other penalties on us for such violations.

In addition, unless the injunction relating to our GEM microfluidic chips is stayed, we will be unable to sell our Single Cell CNV and Linked-Read solutions for use on new instruments unless and until we develop a Next GEM microfluidic chip for such solutions. Though our Single Cell CNV and Linked-Read solutions have not significantly contributed to our revenue to date, our Single-Cell CNV solution, for example, has proved crucial in understanding how cancers evolve and providing researchers with valuable insights into cancer treatments. Developing a Next GEM microfluidic chip for solutions may require significant uses of our resources and there may be a substantial delay before such products are available to sell to our customers.

As of June 30, 2019, we had accrued a total of $55.3 million relating to this matter. Depending upon the ultimate outcome of the litigation with Bio-Rad, we may be required to pay damages, interest and other amounts at a time specified by the court in excess of these reserves should our accruals prove insufficient to cover the actual damages awarded in the case. While we will continue to evaluate and review our estimate of amounts payable from time to time for any indications that could require us to change our assumptions relating to the amounts already recorded, we cannot assure investors that our estimates and related reserves will be sufficient.

Also in 2015, we filed multiple petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) against Raindance and the University of Chicago relating to the patents asserted in the Delaware Action, including U.S. Patent Nos. 7,129,091, 8,658,430, 8,304,193, 8,273,573, 8,329,407, 8,889,083 and 8,822,148. Among these proceedings, all the claims in the ‘430 patent were determined by the PTAB to be invalid, all the claims in the ‘573 patent were canceled, and our invalidity challenges to the remaining Bio-Rad patents were unsuccessful. Accordingly, we may be precluded from challenging the ‘091, ‘193, ‘407 and ‘148 patents at the PTAB in the future as a result of these decisions. Further, because all the claims in the ‘083 patent survived the IPR challenge, we will be precluded from making certain invalidity challenges to this patent at the PTAB, or in a district court or ITC litigation in the future.

The ITC 1068 Action

On July 31, 2017, Bio-Rad and Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC filed a complaint against us in the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) pursuant to Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, accusing substantially all of our products of infringing U.S. Patents Nos. 9,089,844, 9,126,160, 9,500,664, 9,636,682 and 9,649,635 (the “ITC 1068 Action”). Bio-Rad is seeking an exclusion order preventing us from importing the accused microfluidic chips, including (1) our GEM microfluidic chip, (2) our gel bead manufacturing microfluidic chip and (3) our Next GEM microfluidic chip, into the United States and a cease and desist order preventing us from selling such imported chips. An evidentiary hearing for the ITC 1068 Action was held in May of 2018 and the presiding judge issued an Initial Determination in September 2018, finding that our GEM microfluidic chips infringe the ‘664, ‘682 and ‘635 patents but not the ‘160 patent. The judge further found that our gel bead manufacturing microfluidic chip and Next GEM microfluidic chip do not infringe any claim asserted against them.

The judge recommended entry of an exclusion order against our GEM microfluidic chips, which are currently being imported into the United States. If the ITC were to adopt the judge’s recommendation regarding the

 

46

exclusion order, we would be prevented from importing such chips, which are used in substantially all of our products, into the United States. The judge also recommended a cease and desist order that would prevent us from selling such imported chips. The ITC is not reviewing the judge’s findings that our GEM microfluidic chips directly infringe the ‘664, ‘682 and ‘635 patents. The ITC is currently reviewing the judge’s findings that (1) we indirectly infringe the ‘682 and ‘635 patents, (2) our gel bead manufacturing microfluidic chip does not infringe certain claims in the ‘664 patent and (3) our Next GEM microfluidic chip does not infringe certain claims in the ‘160 and ‘664 patents. A Final Determination is expected to be issued in late September 2019. The Final Determination is subject to a 60-day presidential review period before taking effect. If the Initial Determination were to be upheld, then we would be unable to import our GEM microfluidic chips and sell such imported chips, which are used in substantially all of our products. The judge recommended a bond of 100% of the entered value of accused products imported during the Presidential review period.

In order to allow our customers to continue their important research, we have dedicated significant resources to developing the capabilities to manufacture our microfluidic chips in the United States prior to the entry of an exclusion order or cease and desist order which could take effect in late November 2019. Prior to the second quarter of 2019, all of our microfluidic chips were manufactured outside of the United States. We expect our United States manufacturing facilities to achieve volume production of certain of our GEM microfluidic chips accounting for the majority of our United States consumable revenue beginning in the fourth quarter of 2019. We cannot assure investors that our U.S. manufacturing facilities can produce our microfluidic chips to the same level of functionality, quality or quantity as our current foreign manufacturer. Moreover, Bio-Rad has also filed suit against us in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which is discussed separately below. If Bio-Rad succeeds in obtaining an injunction in the district court case, we could be prohibited from selling our GEM microfluidic chips, regardless of where they are manufactured. If we are prohibited from selling our GEM microfluidic chips, our business, operations, financial results and reputation would be significantly adversely impacted.

Further, although the Next GEM microfluidic chips were designed to replace our GEM microfluidic chips, we cannot assure investors that the ITC will not reverse the finding of the Initial Determination in its Final Determination currently expected to be issued in late September 2019 that our Next GEM microfluidic chips or other products do not infringe the patents asserted against them in the ITC 1068 Action. If the ITC reverses the non-infringement finding about our Next GEM microfluidic chips and prohibits us from importing such chips or selling previously imported chips, our business, operations, financial results and reputation would be significantly adversely impacted.

In addition, if Bio-Rad obtains an exclusion order and/or cease and desist order in the ITC 1068 Action, it is possible that Bio-Rad could, in the future, file enforcement proceedings claiming that we have violated such orders and requesting that the ITC impose sanctions or other penalties on us for such violations. Our Next GEM microfluidic chips could also become subject to other patent infringement litigations. If we are prohibited from selling our Next GEM microfluidic chips, our business, operations, financial results and reputation would be significantly adversely impacted.

The Northern District of California Action

On July 31, 2017, Bio-Rad and Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC also filed suit against us in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that substantially all of our products infringe U.S. Patents Nos. 9,216,392, 9,347,059 and the five patents asserted in the ITC 1068 Action. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. This litigation has been stayed pending resolution of the ITC 1068 Action. If we are found to infringe these patents or if we are prohibited from selling our products, our business, operations, financial results and reputation could be significantly adversely impacted.

 

47

In 2017 and 2018, we filed multiple petitions for IPR at the PTAB against Bio-Rad regarding U.S. Patent Nos. 9,126,160, 9,216,392, 9,649,635, 9,089,844, 9,636,682 and 9,500,664, all of which were also asserted in the ITC 1068 Action or the Northern District of California Case. The PTAB denied institution of all the IPRs, which may preclude us from challenging these patents at the PTAB in the future.

The Germany Action

On February 13, 2018, Bio-Rad filed suit against us in Germany in the Munich Region Court alleging that our Chromium instruments, GEM microfluidic chips and certain accessories infringe German Utility Model No. DE 20 2011 110 979. Bio-Rad seeks unspecified damages and an injunction prohibiting sales of these products in Germany and requiring us to recall these products sold in Germany subsequent to February 11, 2018. The accused GEM microfluidic chips are currently manufactured in Germany and are currently used in substantially all of our solutions. An initial hearing was held on November 27, 2018, and a subsequent hearing was held on May 15, 2019. The Court has not yet issued a ruling on the merits. If we are prohibited from selling our products in Germany, or if our products are recalled in Germany, our business, operations, financial results and reputation could be adversely impacted.

The 2018 Delaware Action

On October 25, 2018, Bio-Rad filed suit against us in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that substantially all of our products infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 9,562,837 and 9,896,722. Bio-Rad seeks injunctive relief, unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. Discovery is in progress. If we are found to infringe these patents or if we are prohibited from selling our products, our business, operations, financial results and reputation could be significantly adversely impacted.

The Becton Dickinson Action

On November 15, 2018, Becton, Dickinson and Company and Cellular Research, Inc. filed suit against us in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that we infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 8,835,358, 9,845,502, 9,315,857, 9,816,137, 9,708,659, 9,290,808, 9,290,809, 9,567,645, 9,567,646, 9,598,736 and 9,637,799. The complaint asserted that substantially all of our products infringe these patents. Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief, unspecified monetary damages, costs and attorneys’ fees. On January 18, 2019, we filed a motion to dismiss certain of the asserted claims on the grounds that they are directed to patent ineligible abstract ideas. Discovery is in progress. The Court has not yet ruled on or set a hearing date for the motion. The accused products constitute a substantial majority of our revenue, and if we are found to infringe these patents or if we are prohibited from selling our products, our business, operations, financial results and reputation would be significantly adversely impacted.

As we enter new markets or introduce new products, we expect that competitors will likely claim that our products infringe their intellectual property rights. Our success depends in part on our ability to defend ourselves against such claims and maintain the validity of our patents and other proprietary rights.

We are involved in lawsuits to protect, enforce or defend our patents and other intellectual property rights, which are expensive, time consuming and could ultimately be unsuccessful.

On January 11, 2018, we filed a complaint against Bio-Rad at the ITC pursuant to Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 alleging that Bio-Rad infringes our U.S. Patent Nos. 9,644,204, 9,689,024, 9,695,468 and 9,856,530 (the “ITC 1100 Action”). Our complaint in the ITC 1100 Action seeks an exclusion order preventing Bio-Rad from importing certain microfluidic chips and other products into the United States and a cease and desist order preventing Bio-Rad from selling such importing chips and other products. An evidentiary hearing for the ITC 1100 Action was held in March of 2019.

 

48

The judge issued an Initial Determination on July 12, 2019 finding that Bio-Rad’s ddSEQ product for single cell analysis infringes the ‘024, ‘468 and ‘530 patents. The judge found all of our asserted patents to be valid. The judge also rejected Bio-Rad’s claim of ownership in all of the asserted patents. The Target Date for the Final Determination is scheduled for November 12, 2019.

Also in January 2018, we filed a related but separate suit against Bio-Rad in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Bio-Rad infringes the ‘204, ‘024, ‘468 and ‘530 patents. The ‘204, ‘024, ‘468 and ‘530 patents generally relate to gel bead reagents that are used in our Chromium products, which constitute substantially all of our current sales. This litigation has been stayed pending resolution of the ITC 1100 Action.

In January 2019, Bio-Rad also filed petitions for IPR of the ‘024, ‘468 and ‘530 patents at the PTAB seeking to invalidate these patents. In July and August of 2019, the PTAB denied institution of all Bio-Rad’s IPRs.

In addition to the litigation and legal proceedings discussed above, we are currently and may in the future be a party to other litigation or legal proceedings to determine the scope and validity of our intellectual property, which, if resolved adversely to us, could invalidate or render unenforceable our intellectual property or generally preclude us from restraining, enjoining or otherwise seeking to exclude competitors from commercializing products using technology developed or used by us. For example, our patents and any patents which we in-license may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented. If patents we own or license are invalidated or otherwise limited, other companies may be better able to develop products that compete with ours, which would adversely affect our competitive position, business prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

The following are examples of litigation and other adversarial proceedings or disputes that we could become a party to involving our patents or patents licensed to us:

 

•

we have initiated, and in the future may initiate, litigation or other proceedings against third parties to enforce our patent rights;

 

•

third parties have initiated, and in the future may initiate, litigation or other proceedings seeking to invalidate patents owned by or licensed to us or to obtain a declaratory judgment that their product or technology does not infringe our patents or patents licensed to us or that such patents are invalid or unenforceable;

 

•

third parties have initiated, and in the future may initiate, oppositions, IPRs, post grant reviews or reexamination proceedings challenging the validity or scope of our patent rights, requiring us and/or licensors to participate in such proceedings to defend the validity and scope of our patents;

 

•

there are, and in the future may be, more challenges or disputes regarding inventorship or ownership of patents currently identified as being owned by or licensed to us; or

 

•

at our initiation or at the initiation of a third-party, the USPTO may initiate an interference between patents or patent applications owned by or licensed to us and those of our competitors, requiring us and/or licensors to participate in an interference proceeding to determine the priority of invention, which could jeopardize our patent rights.

Furthermore, many of our employees were previously employed at universities or other life sciences companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. We or our employees may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Although no such claims are currently pending, litigation may be necessary to defend against such claims if they arise in the future. If we fail to successfully defend such

 

49

claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may be subject to injunctive relief and lose valuable intellectual property rights. A loss of key research personnel work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize certain potential products, which could severely harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property effectively, our business would be harmed.

We rely on patent protection as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technologies, all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. As of June 30, 2019, worldwide we owned or exclusively licensed over 175 issued or allowed patents and 470 pending patent applications. We also license additional patents on a non-exclusive and/or territory restricted basis. We continue to file new patent applications to attempt to obtain further legal protection of the full range of our technologies. If we fail to protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against us and we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to recover or restrict the use of our intellectual property.

Our success depends in part on obtaining patent protection for our products and processes, preserving trade secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks, operating without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties and acquiring licenses for technology or products. We may exercise our business judgment and choose to relinquish rights in trade secrets by filing applications that disclose and describe our inventions and certain trade secrets when we seek patent protection for certain of our products and technology. We cannot assure investors that any of our currently pending or future patent applications will result in issued patents and we cannot predict how long it will take for such patents to be issued. Further, in some cases, we have only filed provisional patent applications on certain aspects of our products and technologies and each of these provisional patent applications is not eligible to become an issued patent until, among other things, we file a non-provisional patent application within 12 months of the filing date of the applicable provisional patent application. Such provisional patents may not become issued patents for a variety of reasons, including our failure to file a non-provisional patent application within the permitted timeframe or a decision that doing so no longer makes business or financial sense. Publications of discoveries in scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain, despite the importance of seeking patent protection in our industry.

Further, we cannot assure investors that other parties will not challenge any patents issued to us or that courts or regulatory agencies will hold our patents to be valid or enforceable. We cannot guarantee investors that we will be successful in defending challenges made against our patents and patent applications, even if we spend significant resources defending such challenges. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents and could deprive us of the ability to prevent others from using the technologies claimed in such issued patents.

Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents.

In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment

 

50

agreements with our employees, consultants, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisors. Such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure. Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third-party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time consuming and the outcome would be unpredictable.

We also seek trademark registration to protect key trademarks such as our 10X and CHROMIUM marks, however, we have not yet registered all of our trademarks in all of our current and potential markets. If we apply to register these trademarks, our applications may not be allowed for registration and our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. In addition, opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademark applications and registrations and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings. If we do not secure registrations for our trademarks, we may encounter more difficulty in enforcing them against third parties than we otherwise would.

With respect to all categories of intellectual property protection, our competitors could purchase our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. In addition, competitors may develop their own versions of our products in countries where we did not apply for patents, where our patents have not issued or where our intellectual property rights are not recognized, and compete with us in those countries and markets.

The laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.

The U.S. law relating to the patentability of certain inventions in the life sciences is uncertain and rapidly changing, which may adversely impact our existing patents or our ability to obtain patents in the future.

Various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have rendered decisions that impact the scope of patentability of certain inventions or discoveries relating to the life sciences. Specifically, these decisions stand for the proposition that patent claims that recite laws of nature (for example, the relationships between gene expression levels and the likelihood of risk of recurrence of cancer) are not themselves patentable unless those patent claims have sufficient additional features that provide practical assurance that the processes are genuine inventive applications of those laws rather than patent drafting efforts designed to monopolize the law of nature itself. What constitutes a “sufficient” additional feature is uncertain. Furthermore, in view of these decisions, in December 2014 the USPTO, published revised guidelines for patent examiners to apply when examining process claims for patent eligibility. This guidance was updated by the USPTO in July 2015 and additional illustrative examples provided in May 2016. The USPTO provided additional guidance on examination procedures pertaining to subject matter eligibility in April 2018 and June 2018. The guidance indicates that claims directed to a law of nature, a natural phenomenon or an abstract idea that do not meet the eligibility requirements should be rejected as non-statutory, patent ineligible subject matter; however, method of treatment claims that practically apply natural relationships should be considered patent eligible. We cannot assure you that our patent portfolio will not be negatively impacted by the current uncertain state of the law,

 

51

new court rulings or changes in guidance or procedures issued by the USPTO. From time to time, the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, the U.S. Congress or the USPTO may change the standards of patentability and validity of patents within the life sciences and any such changes could have a negative impact on our business.

Risks related to this offering and ownership of our Class A common stock

The market price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares in this offering.

The initial public offering price for our Class A common stock will be determined through negotiations with the underwriters. This initial public offering price may differ from the market price of our Class A common stock after the offering. As a result, you may not be able to sell your Class A common stock at or above the initial public offering price. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate include:

 

•

the timing of our launch of future products and degree to which the launch and commercialization thereof meets the expectations of securities analysts and investors;

 

•

the outcomes of and related rulings in the litigation and administrative proceedings in which we are currently involved;

 

•

the failure or discontinuation of any of our product development and research programs;

 

•

changes in the structure or funding of research at academic and research laboratories and institutions, including changes that would affect their ability to purchase our instruments or consumables;

 

•

the success of existing or new competitive businesses or technologies;

 

•

announcements about new research programs or products of our competitors;

 

•

developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;

 

•

the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

 

•

litigation and governmental investigations involving us, our industry or both;

 

•

regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;

 

•

volatility and variations in market conditions in the life sciences sector generally, or the genomics sector specifically;

 

•

investor perceptions of us or our industry;

 

•

the level of expenses related to any of our research and development programs or products;

 

•

actual or anticipated changes in our estimates as to our financial results or development timelines, variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us or changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, that cover our Class A stock or companies that are perceived to be similar to us;

 

•

whether our financial results meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors;

 

•

the announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;

 

52

•

stock-based compensation expense under applicable accounting standards;

 

•

sales of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock by us, our insiders or other stockholders;

 

•

the expiration of market standoff or lock-up agreements;

 

•

general economic, industry and market conditions;

 

•

natural disasters or major catastrophic events; and

 

•

the other factors described in this “ Risk factors ” section.

In recent years, stock markets in general, and the market for life science technology companies in particular (including companies in the genomics, biotechnology, diagnostics and related sectors), have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. These fluctuations may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our stock shortly following this offering. Following periods of such volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our Class A common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by industry or securities analysts. If no or few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our Class A common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our Class A common stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our Class A common stock, which in turn could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for shares of our Class A common stock and an active trading market for our Class A common stock may never develop or be sustained.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for shares of our Class A common stock. We have applied to list our Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol “TXG”. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our Class A common stock will develop on that exchange or elsewhere. If an active trading market does not develop, or develops but is not maintained, you may have difficulty selling any of our Class A common stock that you purchase due to the limited public float. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of your ability to sell your shares of Class A common stock when desired or the prices that you may obtain for your shares.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock by our existing stockholders following this offering could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market could occur at any time following the expiration of the market standoff and lock-up agreements or the early release of these agreements or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of Class A common

 

53

stock intend to sell shares and could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock. After giving effect to (i) the filing and effectiveness of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, (ii) the reclassification of all outstanding shares of our Historical Class A common stock into Class B common stock and of our Historical Class B common stock into Class A common stock, (iii) the automatic conversion of all shares of our Convertible Preferred Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2019 into 67,704,278 shares of Class B common stock and (iv) the issuance and sale of                  shares of Class A common stock by us in this offering, we will have                  shares of Class A common stock outstanding and 75,754,278 shares of Class B common stock outstanding. Of these shares, the                 shares of Class A common stock we are selling in this offering may be resold in the public market immediately, unless purchased by our affiliates. The remaining                  shares of Class A common stock, or                % of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock after this offering and all shares of our Class B common stock (and any share of Class A common stock into which they are converted) are currently prohibited or otherwise restricted under securities laws, market standoff agreements entered into by our stockholders with us, or lock-up agreements entered into by our stockholders with the underwriters; however, subject to applicable securities law restrictions and excluding shares of Class A common stock issued pursuant to the early exercise of unvested stock options that will remain unvested, the shares of our Class A common stock outstanding after this offering will be able to be sold in the public market beginning on                 , 2020. The representatives may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements at any time and for any reason. Shares issued upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our equity incentive plans or pursuant to future awards granted under those plans will become available for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of applicable vesting schedules, any applicable market standoff and lock-up agreements, and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of                shares of our Class B common stock will have rights, subject to conditions, to require us to file registration statements with the SEC covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders as described under “ Description of capital stock—Registration rights ”. We also plan to register all shares of Class A common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation and employee stock purchase plans. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and, if applicable, vesting, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described in the section titled “ Underwriting ” in this prospectus. Sales of Class A common stock in the public market as restrictions end or pursuant to registration rights may make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. These sales also could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to fall and make it more difficult for you to sell shares of our Class A common stock. See the section titled “ Shares eligible for future sale ” for more information regarding shares of Class A common stock that may be sold in the public market after this offering.

If you purchase our Class A common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution as a result of this offering.

If you purchase our Class A common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution of $                 per share, representing the difference between the assumed initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and our pro forma net tangible book value per share after giving effect to (i) the filing and effectiveness of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, (ii) the reclassification of all outstanding shares of our Historical Class A common stock into Class B common stock and of our Historical Class B common stock into Class A common stock, (iii) the automatic conversion of all shares of our Convertible Preferred Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2019 into 67,704,278 shares of Class B common stock and (iv) the issuance and sale

 

54

of                  shares of Class A common stock by us in this offering. As of June 30, 2019, there were 15,634,182 shares of our Class A common stock subject to outstanding stock options with a weighted-average exercise price of $3.61 per share and 266,099 shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants outstanding with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.17 per share. To the extent that these outstanding stock options and warrants are ultimately exercised or the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of our Class A common stock, you will incur further dilution. See the section titled “ Dilution ” for more information.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders or restrict our operations.

We anticipate that we will seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements in the future to fund our operations. We, and indirectly, our stockholders, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of any future offerings. Our decision to issue debt or equity securities will also depend on contractual, legal and other restrictions that may limit our ability to raise additional capital. For example, the terms of our Loan and Security Agreement prohibit, subject to certain exceptions, our ability to incur additional indebtedness. Further, our election to borrow up to an additional $20.0 million of term loans under the Loan and Security Agreement will obligate us to issue warrants to purchase 133,000 shares of our Class A common stock at an exercise price of $1.62 per share to the lender thereof, which will result in further dilution of your ownership interest. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Certain of the foregoing transactions may require us to obtain stockholder approval, which we may not be able to obtain.

The multi-class structure of our common stock will have the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who held our capital stock prior to the completion of this offering and it may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Our Class A common stock, which is the stock we are offering in this offering, has one vote per share, and our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, except as otherwise required by law. Following this offering, our directors, executive officers and holders of more than 5% of our common stock, and their respective affiliates, will hold in the aggregate     % of the voting power of our capital stock. Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B common stock and Class A common stock, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock and therefore be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. This concentrated control will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval. In addition, this may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders.

Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes where sole dispositive power and exclusive voting control with respect to the shares of Class B common stock is retained by the transferring holder and transfers between our co-founders. In addition, each outstanding share

 

55

of Class B common stock held by a stockholder who is a natural person, or held by the permitted entities of such stockholder (as described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation), will convert automatically into one share of Class A common stock upon the death of such natural person. In the event of the death or permanent and total disability of a co-founder, shares of Class B common stock held by such co-founder or his permitted entities will convert to Class A common stock, provided that the conversion will be deferred for nine months, or up to 18 months if approved by a majority of our independent directors, following his death or permanent and total disability. Transfers between our co-founders are permitted transfers and will not result in conversion of the shares of Class B common stock that are transferred. See the section titled “Description of capital stock—Common stock—Conversion of Class B common stock” for additional information about conversions. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those individual holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term.

In addition, in July 2017, FTSE Russell and Standard & Poor’s announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Under the announced policies, our multi-class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in any of these indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track these indices will not be investing in our stock. These policies are new and it is as of yet unclear what effect, if any, they have had and will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included.

We are an “emerging growth company” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company”, as defined in the JOBS Act. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted by SEC rules and plan to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other SEC-registered public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the SOX, not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, the information we provide stockholders will be different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies. In this prospectus, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. We cannot predict whether investors will find our Class A common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Class A common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be

 

56

comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company and be subject to additional potential liability. Our management will be 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 will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, SOX, the listing requirements of Nasdaq and other applicable federal and Delaware rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. We expect that we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel in connection with our becoming, and our efforts to comply with the requirements of being, a public company, and our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements. These requirements will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly.

For example, we expect that the rules and regulations applicable to us as a public company and recent trends in the insurance market make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. While we will continue to evaluate options for director and officer liability insurance, we currently intend to only obtain director and officer liability coverage (commonly referred to as “Side A” coverage). This means that while our directors and officers direct insurance coverage for acts which the company is not legally required or permitted to indemnify them, the company itself will not have coverage for amounts incurred in defending, among other things, stockholder derivative or securities class action lawsuits or in the event of certain investigative actions, for amounts it must pay as a result of such suits or amounts it must pay to indemnify our directors or officers. We will in essence be self-insuring for these costs. Any costs incurred in connection with such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In September 2018, California enacted a law that requires publicly held companies headquartered in California to have at least one female director by the end of 2019 and at least three by the end of 2021, depending on the size of the board. The law would impose financial penalties for failure to comply. We are currently in compliance with the requirements of the law but we may incur costs associated with complying with the law in future years, including costs associated with expanding our board of directors or identifying qualified candidates for appointment to our board of directors, or financial penalties or harm to our brand and reputation if we fail to comply. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

Pursuant to SOX Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting beginning with our second filing of an Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC after we become a public company. However, 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 SOX 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, 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. 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 SOX

 

57

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.

Additionally, we have historically operated our business as a private company. After this offering, we will be required to file with the SEC annual and quarterly information and other reports that are specified in Section 13 of the Exchange Act. We will also be required to ensure that we have the ability to prepare financial statements that are fully compliant with all SEC reporting requirements on a timely basis. We will also become subject to other reporting and corporate governance requirements, including the requirements of Nasdaq and certain provisions of SOX and the regulations promulgated thereunder, which will impose significant compliance obligations upon us. As a public company, we will, among other things:

 

•

prepare and distribute periodic public reports and other stockholder communications in compliance with our obligations under the federal securities laws and applicable Nasdaq rules;

 

•

create or expand the roles and duties of our board of directors and committees of the board;

 

•

institute more comprehensive financial reporting and disclosure compliance functions;

 

•

supplement our internal accounting, auditing and reporting function, including hiring additional staff with expertise in accounting and financial reporting for a public company;

 

•

enhance and formalize closing procedures at the end of our accounting periods;

 

•

enhance our internal audit and tax functions;

 

•

enhance our investor relations function;

 

•

establish new internal policies, including those relating to disclosure controls and procedures; and

 

•

involve and retain to a greater degree outside counsel and accountants in the activities listed above.

We may not be successful in implementing these requirements and the significant commitment of resources required for implementing them could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we fail to implement the requirements with respect to our internal accounting and audit functions, our ability to report our results of operations on a timely and accurate basis could be impaired and we could suffer adverse regulatory consequences or violate the Nasdaq rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements.

The changes necessitated by becoming a public company require a significant commitment of resources and management oversight that has increased and may continue to increase our costs and might place a strain on our systems and resources. As a result, our management’s attention might be diverted from other business concerns. If we fail to maintain an effective internal control environment or to comply with the numerous legal and regulatory requirements imposed on public companies, we could make material errors in, and be required to restate, our financial statements. Any such restatement could result in a loss of public confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and sanctions imposed on us by the SEC. In addition, the rules and regulations imposed on public companies are often subject to varying interpretations 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 have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

We cannot specify with certainty the particular uses of the net proceeds we will receive from this offering. Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, including for any of the purposes

 

58

described in the section titled “ Use of proceeds ” in this prospectus. Our management may spend a portion or all of the net proceeds from this offering in ways that our stockholders may not desire or that may not yield a favorable return. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.

We do not expect to pay any dividends for the foreseeable future. Investors in this offering may never obtain a return on their investment.

You should not rely on an investment in our Class A common stock to provide dividend income. We do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends to holders of our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to maintain and expand our existing operations and fund our research and development programs. In addition, our Loan and Security Agreement contains, and any future credit facility or financing we obtain may contain, terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our Class A common stock. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our Class A common stock.

Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that will be in effect prior to the closing of this offering might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Our status as a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:

 

•

any transaction that would result in a change in control of our company requires the approval of a majority of our outstanding Class B common stock voting as a separate class;

 

•

our multi-class common stock structure provides our holders of Class B common stock with the ability to significantly influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock;

 

•

our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms and directors will only be able to be removed from office for cause by the affirmative vote of holders of at least two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;

 

•

certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require the approval of stockholders holding two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;

 

•

certain amendments to our amended and restated bylaws will require the approval of stockholders holding two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;

 

•

our stockholders will only be able to take action at a meeting of stockholders and will not be able to take action by written consent for any matter;

 

•

our stockholders will be able to act by written consent only if the action is first recommended or approved by the board of directors;

 

59

•

vacancies on our board of directors will be able to be filled only by our board of directors and not by stockholders;

 

•

only our chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer or a majority of the board of directors are authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;

 

•

certain litigation against us can only be brought in Delaware;

 

•

our restated certificate of incorporation authorizes undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued, without the approval of the holders of our capital stock; and

 

•

advance notice procedures apply for stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders.

These anti-takeover defenses could discourage, delay, or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions they desire, any of which, under certain circumstances, could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our capital stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.

Our amended and restated bylaws will designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated bylaws, which will become effective immediately prior to the completion of this offering, will provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or (iv) any other action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware, in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over indispensable parties named as defendants. Nothing in our amended and restated bylaws will preclude stockholders that assert claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act from bringing such claims in state or federal court, subject to applicable law.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing forum selection provisions. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.

 

60

Special note regarding forward-looking statements

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements, particularly in the sections titled “ Prospectus summary ”, “ Risk factors ”, “ Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations ” and “ Business ”. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “might”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “should”, “would” or “will”, the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance, our future products, our technology, our potential market opportunity, our anticipated growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business.

These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially and adversely from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those factors discussed in the section titled “ Risk factors ”. You should specifically consider the numerous risks described in the section titled “ Risk factors ”. Moreover, we operate in a competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make.

Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. These statements are inherently uncertain. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this prospectus to conform our prior statements to actual results or revised expectations or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements as predictions of future performance or otherwise.

 

61

Industry and market data

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity and market size, is based on information from various sources on assumptions that we have made that are based on such information and other similar sources and on our knowledge of, and expectations about, the markets for our products. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While we believe the market position, market opportunity and market size information included in this prospectus is generally reliable, such information is inherently imprecise. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate is necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “ Risk factors ” and elsewhere in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by independent third parties and by us.

 

62

Use of proceeds

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the issuance and the sale of shares of our Class A common stock in this offering will be approximately $                , based on the assumed initial public offering price of $                per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, we estimate that the net proceeds to us would be approximately $                , after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $                per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease, as applicable, the net proceeds that we receive from this offering by approximately $                , assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions payable by us. Similarly, each increase or decrease of 1.0 million in the number of shares of our Class A common stock offered by us would increase or decrease, as applicable, the net proceeds that we receive from this offering by approximately $                , assuming the assumed initial public offering price remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions payable by us.

The principal purposes of this offering are to increase our capitalization and financial flexibility, create a public market for our Class A common stock and enable access to the public equity markets for us and our stockholders.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures. Additionally, we may use a portion of the net proceeds we receive from this offering to acquire businesses, products or technologies. However, we do not have agreements or commitments for any material acquisitions at this time.

The expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions. We cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the proceeds of this offering or the amounts that we will actually spend on the uses set forth above. Accordingly, our management will have significant flexibility in applying the net proceeds of this offering. The timing and amount of our actual expenditures will be based on many factors, including cash flows from operations and the anticipated growth of our business. Pending the uses described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the United States government.

 

63

Dividend policy

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on a number of factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, the terms of our Loan and Security Agreement place certain limitations on the amount of cash dividends we can pay, even if no amounts are currently outstanding.

 

64