Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Other Legal Matters

It is difficult and costly to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies, and we may not be able to ensure their protection.

Our success depends significantly on our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our proprietary rights to the technologies used in our products. Patents and other proprietary rights provide uncertain protections, and we may be unable to protect our intellectual property. At December 31, 2020, we had two issued U.S. patents having a total of 60 claims, 45 pending U.S. patent applications having a total of 1,053 claims, with an earliest priority date of August 16, 2018, and six pending Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) International patent applications having a total of 443 pending claims.

While we plan to file additional patent applications, we may never develop any invention that results in any additional issued patents. Even if we obtain patents, we may be unsuccessful in defending our patents (and other proprietary rights) against third party challenges. Although we expect to attempt to obtain patent coverage for our technology where available and where we believe appropriate, there may be aspects of the technology for which patent coverage may never be sought or received. We may not possess the resources to or may not choose to pursue patent protection outside the United States or any or every country other than the United States where we may eventually decide to sell our future products. Our ability to prevent others from making or selling duplicate or similar technologies will be impaired in those countries in which we have no patent protection.

Any patent applications we have filed or may file in the future may never result in issued patents, or patents issued based upon such applications may issue only with limited coverage or may issue and be subsequently successfully challenged by others and held invalid or unenforceable. There may exist prior art that may prevent our patent applications from resulting in issued patents, and there may be other inventors who file patent applications on inventions that are the same or similar to ours or that otherwise may be found to anticipate our inventions before we file patent applications of our own on our inventions, which may result in the issue of patents on our inventions or similar or anticipatory inventions to those other inventors.

Even if patents issue based on our current or any future applications, any issued patents may not provide us with any competitive advantages. Competitors may be able to design around our patents or develop products that provide outcomes comparable or superior to ours. Our patents may be held invalid or unenforceable as a result of legal challenges by third parties, and others may challenge the inventorship or ownership of our patents and pending patent applications. In addition, if we choose to and are able to secure protection in countries outside the United States, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. In the event a competitor infringes upon our patents or other intellectual property rights, enforcing those rights may be difficult, expensive and time consuming and we may elect not to enforce our patents or other intellectual property rights based on the facts and circumstances known to us at the time. Even if successful, litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights or to defend our patents against challenge could be expensive and time consuming and could divert our management’s attention. We do not now have and may not have in the future, even assuming the success of this offering, sufficient resources to enforce our intellectual property rights or to defend our patents against a challenge.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

In addition to our patent activities, we rely upon, among other things, unpatented proprietary technology, processes, trade secrets and know-how. Any involuntary disclosure to or misappropriation by third parties of our confidential or proprietary information could enable competitors to duplicate or surpass our technological achievements, potentially eroding our competitive position in our market. While we require all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information and technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, we cannot be certain that this know-how, information and technology will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. These agreements may be terminated or breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such termination or breach. Furthermore, these agreements may not be enforceable or provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets and know-how in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure. The disclosure of trade secrets or other proprietary information would impair our competitive position and may materially harm our business.

We may in the future be a party to intellectual property litigation or administrative proceedings that could be costly and could interfere with our ability to develop our products.

Because our industry is characterized by competing intellectual property, we may be sued for violating the intellectual property rights of others. Determining whether a product infringes a patent involves complex legal and factual issues, and the outcome of patent litigation actions is often uncertain. We have not conducted any significant search of patents issued to third parties, and no assurance can be given that third party patents containing claims covering our product under development, parts of our product under development, technology or methods do not exist, have not been filed, or could not be filed or issued. Because of the number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our technical areas or fields, our competitors or other third parties may assert that our products and the methods we plan to employ in the use of our products are covered by United States or foreign patents held by them. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue and because publication schedules for pending applications vary by jurisdiction, there may be applications now pending of which we are unaware, and which may result in issued patents that our product under development or other future products would infringe. Also, because the claims of published patent applications can change between publication and patent grant, there may be published patent applications that may ultimately issue with claims that we infringe. There could also be existing patents that one or more of our future products or parts may infringe and of which we are unaware. As the number of competitors in our market increases, and as the number of patents issued in this area grows, the possibility of patent infringement claims against us increases. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

In the event that we become subject to a patent infringement or other intellectual property lawsuit and if the relevant patents or other intellectual property were upheld as valid and enforceable and we were found to infringe or violate the terms of a license to which we are a party, we could be prevented from selling any infringing products of ours unless we could obtain a license or were able to redesign the product to avoid infringement. If we were unable to obtain a license or successfully redesign, we might be prevented from selling our product under development or other future products. If there is an allegation or determination that we have infringed the intellectual property rights of a competitor or other person, we may be required to pay damages, or a settlement or ongoing royalties. In these circumstances, we may be unable to sell our products at competitive prices or at all, and our business could be harmed.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of their former employers or other third parties or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

We do and may employ and contract with individuals who were previously employed by other technology companies. Although we seek to protect our ownership of intellectual property rights by ensuring that our agreements with our employees, collaborators and other third parties with whom we do business include provisions requiring such parties to assign rights in inventions to us and to not use the know-how or confidential information of their former employer or other third parties, we cannot guarantee that we have executed such agreements with all applicable parties. We may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of our employees’ former employers or other third parties. We may also be subject to claims that former employers or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and if we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable personnel or intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees, contractors and other third parties who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights under such agreements may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We could become subject to product liability claims, product recalls and warranty claims that could be expensive, divert management’s attention and harm our business.

Our business exposes us to potential liability risks that are inherent in the manufacturing, marketing and sale of products used by consumers. We may be held liable if our product under development or other future products cause injury or death or are found otherwise unsuitable during usage. Our future products to be developed are expected to incorporate sophisticated components and computer software. Complex software can contain errors, particularly when first introduced. In addition, new products or enhancements may contain undetected errors or performance problems that, despite testing, are discovered only after installation. While we believe our technology will be safe, because our proposed wearable product is an RF-based technology that is being designed to be used in close proximity to users, users may allege or possibly prove defects, some of which could be alleged or proved to cause harm to users or others. A product liability claim, regardless of its merit or eventual outcome, could result in significant legal defense costs. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain products liability insurance; if we do, however, the coverage limits of any insurance policies that we may choose to purchase to cover related risks may not be adequate to cover future claims, and the cost of insurance, if obtainable, could be prohibitive. If sales of our products increase or we suffer future product liability claims, we may be unable to maintain product liability insurance in the future at satisfactory rates or with adequate amounts. A product liability claim, any product recalls or excessive warranty claims, whether arising from defects in design or manufacture or otherwise, could negatively affect our sales or require a change in the design or manufacturing process, any of which could harm our reputation and result in a decline in revenue, each of which would harm our business.

In addition, if a product we designed or manufactured is defective, whether due to design or manufacturing defects, improper use of the product or other reasons, we may be required to notify regulatory authorities and/or to recall the product. A required notification to a regulatory authority or recall could result in an investigation by regulatory authorities of our products, which could in turn result in required recalls, restrictions on the sale of the products or other penalties. The adverse publicity resulting from any of these actions could adversely affect the perception of customers and potential customers. These investigations or recalls, especially if accompanied by unfavorable publicity, could result in our incurring substantial costs, losing revenues and damaging our reputation, each of which would harm our business.

Risks Related to Regulation

We expect to need FDA clearance or approval for our planned wearable product, which may be difficult to achieve, and existing laws or regulations or future legislative or regulatory changes may affect our business.

Our proposed wearable product will be subject to current and future regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and may be subject to regulation by other federal, state and local agencies. These agencies and regulations require manufacturers of medical devices to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing and distribution of medical devices. Devices are generally subject to varying levels of regulatory control, based on the risk level of the device. Governmental regulations specific to medical devices are wide-ranging and govern, among other things:

Before a new medical device or a new intended use for an existing product can be marketed in the United States, a company must first submit and receive either 510(k) clearance or premarketing approval (“PMA”) from FDA, unless an exemption applies. The typical duration to receive a 510(k) approval is approximately nine to twelve months from the date of the initial 510(k) submission and the typical duration to receive a PMA approval is approximately two years from the date of submission of the initial PMA application, although there is no guarantee that the timing will not be longer.

We expect our proposed wearable product would be classified as a Class II medical device that will require a 510(k) clearance prior to marketing. In some instances, the 510(k) pathway for product marketing may be used with only proof of substantial equivalence in technology for a given indication with a lawfully marketed device (a “predicate device”). In other instances, FDA may require additional clinical work to prove efficacy in addition to technological equivalence and basic safety. Whether clinical data is provided or not, FDA may decide to reject the substantial equivalence argument we present. If that happens, our device would be automatically designated as a Class III device and we would have to fulfill the more rigorous PMA requirements, or request a “de novo” reclassification of the device into Class I or II. Thus, although at this time we do not anticipate that we will be required to do so, it is possible that one or more of our planned products may require PMA approval de novo reclassification.

We may not be able to obtain the necessary clearances or approvals or may be unduly delayed in doing so, which could harm our business. Furthermore, even if we are granted regulatory clearances or approvals, they may include significant limitations on the indicated uses for the product, which may limit the market for the product. Delays in obtaining clearance or approval could increase our costs and harm our revenues and growth.

In addition, we will be required to timely file various reports with FDA, including reports required by the medical device reporting regulations that require us to report to certain regulatory authorities if our devices may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur. If these reports are not filed timely, regulators may impose sanctions and sales of our products may suffer, and we may be subject to regulatory enforcement actions, all of which could harm our business.

If we initiate a correction or removal for one of our devices to reduce a risk to health posed by the device, we would be required to submit a publicly available Correction and Removal report to FDA and, in many cases, similar reports to other regulatory agencies. This report could be classified by FDA as a device recall which could lead to increased scrutiny by FDA, other international regulatory agencies and our customers regarding the quality and safety of our devices. Furthermore, the submission of these reports has been and could be used by competitors against us in competitive situations and cause customers to delay purchase decisions or cancel orders and would harm our reputation.

FDA and FTC also regulate the advertising and promotion of our products to ensure that the claims we make are consistent with our regulatory clearances, that there are adequate and reasonable data to substantiate the claims and that our promotional labeling and advertising is neither false nor misleading in any respect. If FDA or FTC determines that any of our advertising or promotional claims are misleading, not substantiated or not permissible, we may be subject to enforcement actions, including warning letters, and we may be required to revise our promotional claims and make other corrections or restitutions.

FDA and state authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:

If any of these events were to occur, our business and financial condition would be harmed.

The cost of compliance with new laws or regulations governing our technology or future products could adversely affect our financial results. New laws or regulations may impose restrictions or obligations on us that could force us to redesign our technology under development or other future products, and may impose restrictions that are not possible or practicable to comply with, which could cause our business to fail. We cannot predict the impact on our business of any legislation or regulations related to our technology or future products that may be enacted or adopted in the future.

If any OEMs contracted to manufacture our proposed wearable product fail to comply with FDA’s Quality System Regulations or other regulatory bodies’ equivalent regulations, manufacturing operations could be delayed or shut down and the development of our proposed wearable product could suffer.

The manufacturing processes of third-party OEMs are required to comply with FDA’s Quality System Regulations and other regulatory bodies’ equivalent regulations, which cover the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, storage and shipping of our planned wearable, non-invasive, wearable product. They may also be subject to similar state requirements and licenses and engage in extensive recordkeeping and reporting and make available their manufacturing facilities and records for periodic unannounced inspections by governmental agencies, including FDA, state authorities and comparable agencies in other countries. If any OEM fails such an inspection, our operations could be disrupted and our manufacturing interrupted. Failure to take adequate corrective action in response to an adverse inspection could result in, among other things, a shut-down of our manufacturing operations, significant fines, suspension of marketing clearances and approvals, seizures or recalls of our products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which would cause our business to suffer. Furthermore, these OEMs may be engaged with other companies to supply and/or manufacture materials or products for such companies, which would expose our OEMs to regulatory risks for the production of such materials and products. As a result, failure to meet the regulatory requirements for the production of those materials and products may also affect the regulatory clearance of a third-party manufacturers’ facility. If FDA determines that any of the facilities that manufacture of our proposed wearable product is not in compliance with applicable requirements, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would impede or delay our ability to develop, obtain regulatory clearance or approval for, or market our proposed wearable product, if developed and approved. Additionally, our key component suppliers may not currently be or may not continue to be in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, which may result in manufacturing delays for our product and cause our results of operations to suffer.

We expect our planned wearable product to be subject to certain Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) regulations.

Our RF-based technology involves the transmission of RF energy, and as such, will be subject to regulation by the FCC, including the FCC’s equipment authorization regulations and its regulations governing human exposure to RF energy.  In particular, we expect the planned wearable product to be regulated under Part 18 of the FCC’s rules governing industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment, and to be classified as consumer ISM equipment under that rule part.  Based on the expected frequency and power of operation, we expect that the product will comply with the Part 18 technical specifications for these type of devices, which we will be required to verify under FCC equipment authorization procedures.  We also expect, based on the device’s frequency and power of operation, that the product will comply with the FCC’s requirements governing human exposure to RF energy.  There is the risk that the product, as we expect it to be developed, may not comply with these requirements, which could significantly affect our development costs and delay commercialization of the product.  There is also the risk that we will be unable to cost effectively develop and produce a wearable product using RF technology that complies with these FCC requirements.

Our planned wearable product may in the future be subject to product recalls that could harm our reputation.

Regulatory agencies have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material regulatory deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of component failures, manufacturing errors or design or labeling defects. Recalls of our planned wearable product would divert management’s attention, be expensive, harm our reputation with customers and harm our financial condition and results of operations. A recall announcement would also negatively affect the price of our securities.

Healthcare reform measures could hinder or prevent our planned wearable product’s commercial success.

There have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system in ways that could harm our future revenues and profitability and the future revenues and profitability of our potential customers. Federal and state lawmakers regularly propose and, at times, enact legislation that would result in significant changes to the healthcare system, some of which are intended to contain or reduce the costs of medical products and services. For example, one of the most significant healthcare reform measures in decades, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act (the “Affordable Care Act”), was enacted in 2010. The Affordable Care Act contains a number of provisions, including those governing enrollment in federal healthcare programs, reimbursement changes and fraud and abuse measures, all of which may impact existing government healthcare programs and result in the development of new programs. The Affordable Care Act imposed a 2.3 percent excise tax on sales of medical devices. The excise tax was suspended by statute twice before being repealed in December 2019. While this tax has been repealed, Congress could enact future legislation or further change the law related to the medical devise excise tax in a manner that could negatively impact our operating results. The financial impact such future taxes could have on our business is unclear.

Other significant measures contained in the Affordable Care Act include research on the comparative clinical effectiveness of different technologies and procedures, initiatives to revise Medicare payment methodologies, such as bundling of payments across the continuum of care by providers and physicians, and initiatives to promote quality indicators in payment methodologies. The Affordable Care Act also includes significant new fraud and abuse measures, including required disclosures of financial payments to and arrangements with physician customers, lower thresholds for violations and increasing potential penalties for such violations.

Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. In January 2017, Congress voted to adopt a budget resolution for fiscal year 2017 (the “Budget Resolution”), which authorized the implementation of legislation that would repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act. The Budget Resolution is not a law; however, it was widely viewed as the first step toward the passage of legislation that would repeal certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Further, on January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision of the Affordable Care Act that would impose a fiscal or regulatory burden on states, individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices. Additionally, the 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated the mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage, effective January 2020 and the health insurance tax, effective January 2021. The potential impact of these efforts to repeal or defer and delay enforcement of PPACA on our business remains unclear.

It remains unclear whether changes will be made to the Affordable Care Act, or whether it will be repealed or materially modified. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 repealed the tax penalty associated with the “individual mandate” portion of Affordable Care Act. The repeal of the penalty associated with this provision, which requires most Americans to carry a minimal level of health insurance, became effective in January 2019.  Following the repeal of the tax penalty, in December 2019 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Texas v. U.S. upheld a lower court ruling that the individual mandate in PPACA is no longer constitutional, and the 5th Circuit court remanded the case back to the lower court for additional analysis on whether the remainder of the law must be struck down as unconstitutional.  In March 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of the individual mandate and the Affordable Care Act as a whole, granting certiorari in California v. Texas.  A decision in this case is expected in 2021.  Congress also could consider subsequent legislation to replace elements of the Affordable Care Act that are repealed. Because of the continued uncertainty about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including the outcome of California v. Texas and the potential for further legal challenges or repeal of the law, we cannot quantify or predict with any certainty the likely impact of the Affordable Care Act or its repeal on our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

There likely will continue to be legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels directed at containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future or their full impact. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payers of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare may harm our ability to set a price that we believe is fair for our products, our ability to generate revenues and achieve or maintain profitability and the availability of capital.

If we fail to comply with healthcare regulations with respect to our planned wearable product, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Even though we do not and will not control referrals of healthcare services or bill directly to Medicare, Medicaid or other third party payers, certain federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients’ rights will be applicable to our business. We could be subject to healthcare fraud and abuse and patient privacy regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The regulations that will affect how we operate include:

The Affordable Care Act, among other things, amends the intent requirement of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and criminal healthcare fraud statutes. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, the Affordable Care Act provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act.

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements will comply with applicable healthcare laws may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and similar foreign healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could harm our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

Risks Related to this Offering, Owning Our Securities and Our Financial Results

As an investor, you may lose all of your investment.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. As an investor, you may never recoup all, or even part, of your investment and you may never realize any return on your investment. You must be prepared to lose all of your investment.

Our quarterly and annual results may fluctuate significantly, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business and may result in decreases in the price of our securities.

Our financial condition and operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year due to a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control. Our operating results will be affected by numerous factors such as:

Any or all of these factors could adversely affect our cash position requiring us to raise additional capital, which may be on unfavorable terms and result in substantial dilution.

The estimates of potential market size for our planned wearable product included in this prospectus may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the markets in which we compete are such estimated size, our business may not be able to establish a sufficient market share, if any at all.

Estimates of market size are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions that may not prove to be accurate. The forecasts in this prospectus relating to, among other things, the expected market for our planned wearable product are based on a number of third-party estimates and assumptions, including, without limitation, level of penetration of CGM in the diabetes treatment market, the level of payer and patient acceptance of CGM technology, the number of people who have diabetes and hypertension, the number of people with diabetes actively treating with insulin, the number of people at risk of developing diabetes or hypertension, current and projected prevalence of diabetes and hypertension among different populations, the demand for blood pressure monitoring devices, and the demand for noninvasive monitoring and measurement of vital health data in general. While we believe the assumptions and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct, and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change over time. As a result, our estimates may prove to be inaccurate.

Even if demand matches our expectations as described in this prospectus, we may not be able to capitalize by obtaining a sufficient market share, if any at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including whether there exist markets for our planned products, the rate of market acceptance of our planned products versus the products of our competitors and our success in implementing our business strategies, each of which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the forecasts of market growth included in this prospectus should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

Upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and will be required to maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified by the rules and forms of the SEC, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to management to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

As a public company, we will also be required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in those internal controls. Such internal controls are designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. We have identified three material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2020. The material weaknesses relate to (i) lack of proper segregation of duties across significant accounting cycles, (ii) lack of effective information technology security policies and control over access to key systems, and (iii) lack of precision in the design of internal control over financial reporting. Although we are making efforts to remediate these issues, these efforts may not be sufficient to avoid similar material weaknesses in the future. Designing and implementing internal controls over financial reporting will be time consuming, costly and complicated as we are a small organization with limited management resources.

If the material weaknesses in our internal controls are not fully remediated or if additional material weaknesses are identified, those material weaknesses could cause us to fail to meet our future reporting obligations, reduce the market’s confidence in our financial statements, harm our stock price and subject us to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In addition, our common stock may not be able to remain listed on Nasdaq or any other securities exchange.

For as long as we are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, or a non-accelerated filer, as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, our auditors will not be required to attest as to our internal control over financial reporting. If we continue to identify material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective or, once required, our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to attest that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could decrease. We could also become subject to stockholder or other third-party litigation as well as investigations by the securities exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources and could result in fines, trading suspensions or other remedies.

Any control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

The issuance of additional stock in connection with financings, acquisitions, our equity incentive plan, upon exercise of outstanding warrants or otherwise will dilute our existing stockholders.

If we issue additional equity securities, our existing stockholders’ percentage ownership will be reduced and these stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may also issue equity securities that provide for rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our common stock. Subject to compliance with applicable rules and regulations, we may issue our shares of common stock in connection with a financing, acquisition, our equity incentive plan, upon exercise of outstanding warrants or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the trading price of our common stock to decline.

Prior to the completion of our initial public offering, there will have been no public trading market for our common stock. An active public trading market for our common stock may not develop and our securities may trade below the public offering price.

The offering under this prospectus is an initial public offering of our common stock.  Prior to the closing of the offering, there will have been no public market for our common stock. An active public trading market for our common stock may not develop after the completion of the offering.  If an active trading market for our common stock does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of our common stock may be materially and adversely affected. The public offering price for our common stock has been determined by negotiation among us and the underwriter based upon several factors, and the price at which our common stock trades after this offering may decline below the public offering price. Investors in our common stock may experience a significant decrease in the value of their shares of common stock regardless of our operating performance or prospects.

Even if an active trading market for our common stock develops after the offering, the market price of our common stock may be significantly volatile.

Even if an active market for our common stock develops (and we cannot assure you that this will occur), the market price for our common stock may be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including the following:

In particular, the market prices of technology companies like ours have been highly volatile due to factors, including, but not limited to:

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and trading price of our common stock. The stock market, generally, has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of shares of our common stock.

Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq could result in a de-listing of our common stock.

We have applied to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Subject to Nasdaq’s approval, upon the closing of this offering, our common stock will be listed on Nasdaq Capital Market. If, after listing, we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, such as the corporate governance requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our common stock. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our common stock when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we would take actions to restore our compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock, prevent our common stock from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements.

Our Certificate of Incorporation will designate specific courts as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

Our Third Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, which will become effective upon the closing of this offering (the “Certificate of Incorporation”), specifies that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for most legal actions involving claims brought against us by stockholders; provided that, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction; and provided further that, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware dismisses any such action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, such action may be brought in another state or federal court sitting in the State of Delaware. Our Certificate of Incorporation further provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation described above.

We believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law by chancellors particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes and in the application of the Securities Act by federal judges, as applicable, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, employees and agents as it may limit any stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholder finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought against us, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We have not paid dividends in the past and have no immediate plans to pay dividends.

We plan to reinvest all of our earnings, to the extent we have earnings, in order to further develop our technology and potential products and to cover operating costs.  We do not plan to pay any cash dividends with respect to our securities in the foreseeable future.  We cannot assure you that we would, at any time, generate sufficient surplus cash that would be available for distribution to the holders of our common stock as a dividend.  Therefore, you should not expect to receive cash dividends on the common stock we are offering. 

We may allocate the net proceeds from this offering in ways that differ from the estimates discussed in the section titled “Use of Proceeds” and with which you may not agree.

The allocation of net proceeds of this offering set forth in the “Use of Proceeds” section below represents our estimates based upon our current plans and assumptions regarding industry and general economic conditions, and our future revenues and expenditures.  The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures will depend on numerous factors, including market conditions, cash generated by our operations, business developments and related rate of growth.  We may find it necessary or advisable to use portions of the proceeds from this offering for other purposes.  Circumstances may give rise to a change in the use of proceeds.  You may not have an opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial or other information on which we base our decisions on how to use our proceeds.  As a result, you and other stockholders may not agree with our decisions. Our failure to apply the net proceeds from this offering effectively could result in financial losses that could have a material adverse impact on our business, cause the price of our common stock to decline and delay the development of our technology and potential products.  See “Use of Proceeds” for additional information.

You will experience immediate dilution in the book value per share of the common stock you purchase.

Because the price per share of our common stock being offered is substantially higher than the book value per share of our common stock, you will experience substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. Based on the offering price of $5.00 per share, if you purchase shares of common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution of $3.79 per share as of December 31, 2020, representing the difference between our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share, after giving effect to this offering. See the section of this prospectus captioned “Dilution” for a more detailed discussion of the dilution you will incur if you purchase common stock in this offering.

Concentration of ownership among our existing executive officers, directors and significant stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

All decisions with respect to the management of the Company will be made by our board of directors and our executive officers, who, before this offering, beneficially own approximately 7.6% of our common stock. After the issuance of our common stock in this offering, management will beneficially own at least approximately 5.8% of our common stock if all shares of common stock offered by this prospectus are sold. In addition, before this offering, (i) Leabman Holdings LLC beneficially owns approximately 16.7% of our common stock (including shares of which such stockholder has the right to acquire beneficial ownership within 60 days pursuant to conversion privileges), and after this offering will beneficially own approximately 12.6% of our common stock and (ii) the Fairbairn Trusts beneficially own approximately 16.0% of our common stock (including shares of which the Fairbairn Trusts have the right to acquire beneficial ownership within 60 days pursuant to conversion privileges), and after this offering will beneficially own approximately 12.1% of our common stock. As a result, these stockholders will be able to exercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, amendment of our Certificate of Incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of the Company or changes in management, in each case, which other stockholders might find favorable, and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these significant stockholders.

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

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we expect to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, (i) being required to present only two years of audited financial statements and related financial disclosure, (ii) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (iii) extended transition periods for complying with new or revised accounting standards, (iv) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and (v) exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We have taken, and in the future may take, advantage of these exemptions until such time that we are no longer an “emerging growth company.  We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we rely on these exemptions.  If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and the price of our common stock may be more volatile.

We will remain an “emerging growth company” for up to five years, although we will lose that status sooner if our annual revenues exceed $1.07 billion, if we issue more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in a three-year period, or if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30.

We will incur significant increased costs as a result of becoming a public company that reports to the SEC and our management will be required to devote substantial time to meet compliance obligations.

As a public company listed in the United States, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company.  We will be subject to reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq that impose significant requirements on public companies, including requiring the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices.  In addition, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act includes significant corporate governance and executive compensation-related provisions that will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and may also place undue strain on our personnel, systems and resources.  Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives.  In addition, these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage.  As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified people to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research reports about our business, or if they issue an adverse opinion about our business, the price of our common stock and trading volume could decline.

 The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by 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 securities and industry analysts. If no or few analysts commence research coverage of us, or one or more of the analysts who cover us issues an adverse opinion about our company, the price of our common stock would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases research coverage of us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the price of our common stock or trading volume to decline.

Our charter documents and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover that stockholders consider favorable.

Upon the closing of this offering, provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws and applicable provisions of Delaware law may delay or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in control or change in our management, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares, or transactions that our stockholders might otherwise deem to be in their best interests.  The provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws:

In addition, once we become a publicly traded corporation, section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law may limit our ability to engage in any business combination with a person who beneficially owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock unless certain conditions are satisfied.  This restriction lasts for a period of three years following the share acquisition.  These provisions may have the effect of entrenching our management team and may deprive you of the opportunity to sell your shares to potential acquirers at a premium over prevailing prices.  This potential inability to obtain a control premium could reduce the price of our common stock. See “Anti-Takeover Effects of Certain Provisions of Delaware Law and Our Charter Documents” for additional information.