Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before you decide whether to invest in our securities. We may face additional risks and uncertainties that are not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, which may also impair our business. The following discussion should be read in connection with the financial statements and notes to the financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should consult your own financial and legal advisors as to the risks entailed by an investment in our securities and the suitability of investing in our securities in light of your particular circumstances. Some statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including such statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to the Business and the Industry

The effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have had and could continue to have material adverse impacts on our business, results of operations, cash flows, and financial position.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. For two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains, and created significant volatility and disruption in the financial and capital markets. Given the continued unpredictability pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding government restrictions and customer behavior, the impact on our business continues to be uncertain and depends on a number of evolving factors that we may not be able to predict or effectively respond to.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had, and could continue to have, a delaying effect on our services, our customers and service adoption. We have experienced delays in complying with the build-out requirements imposed by the FCC with respect to its LMS licenses due to distribution delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic could limit the ability of suppliers and business partners to perform, including third-party suppliers’ ability to provide components and materials. We may also continue to experience an increase in the cost of raw materials. Further, any resurgence of COVID-19 may slow down our customer adoption and expansion of the TerraPoiNT network.

In addition, we have implemented remote working protocols and offered work-issued devices to employees as a result of government guidelines and internal policies that have been put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions of our employees while working remotely may have a greater effect on the security of our systems and the personal data we process, including by increasing the risk of compromise to our systems or data arising from employees’ combined personal and private use of devices, accessing our systems or data using wireless networks that we do not control, or the ability to transmit or store company-controlled data outside of our secured network.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in ongoing volatility in the financial and capital markets. If our access to capital is restricted or associated borrowing costs increase as a result of developments in financial markets relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, our operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted. Any future delays as a result of COVID-19 would delay our ability to roll-out its services, which would negatively impact our business.

We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

We have incurred significant losses since inception and until the second quarter of 2021 had not widely commercially sold its solutions. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, we incurred net losses of $144.7 million, $137.3 million and $18.3 million, respectively. Furthermore, any expansion of our TerraPoiNT services will result in increased operating costs. As a result, our losses are expected to continue and we may not achieve profitability when expected, or at all. Even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase profitability.

We expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we scale our operations, increase research and development efforts relating to new offerings and technologies, hire more employees, and operate as a public company. These efforts may be more costly than we expect and may not result in meaningful revenue or growth in our business. Any failure to initiate and increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow. If our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flow or losses resulting from expanding our operations, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter.

We have been focused on developing the next generation of geolocation services utilizing vertical (z-axis) location services and in order for us to be profitable, our services require substantial adoption across disparate industries. We have only recently begun to commercially market our services, so it is difficult, in consideration of our limited operating history, to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter. Risks and challenges we have faced or expect to face include our ability to:

If we fail to address the risks and difficulties that we face, including those associated with the challenges listed above as well as those described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Further, because we have limited historical financial data and operate in a rapidly evolving market, any predictions about our future revenue and expenses may not be as accurate as they would be if we had a longer operating history or operated in a more developed market. Forecasting the revenue potential of our services is made more difficult by the fact that legacy location technologies, such as GPS, were developed by the federal government and made available to commercial users without charge. As a result, one of the adoption hurdles that must be overcome is convincing enterprise customers that the additional accuracy and security made available by our services justifies paying for them. We have encountered in the past, and we 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.

Pinnacle z-axis is a brand new capability, and adoption may be delayed by our potential customers’ unfamiliarity with 3D position, a lack of ecosystem support (e.g., specific device sensors, 3D routing) and/or other factors.

We do not sell our Pinnacle z-axis solutions directly to end users. Instead, we provide location technology that integrates with devices and applications that are created or distributed by third parties. Accordingly, our future growth significantly depends on third parties choosing to incorporate our technology into smartphone devices, applications and other new device types and markets, such as the Internet of Things, eVTOLs, UAVs and other markets that utilize location. We also depend on our customers, resellers and licensees to develop products and services with value-added features to drive sales and demand. Because GPS has been viewed in the marketplace as a reliable geolocation service provided for free to end users, our customers may not see a business need to integrate our solutions into our devices and applications. Despite efforts to educate customers about the need for z-axis geolocation services, there can be no assurance that such efforts will be successful and as a result, a market for our solutions may not be created.

The majority of our business plan depends on selling services that must be licensed and integrated into our customers’ platforms for sales to end users, and we typically only generates revenue from the arrangements when end users access those third-party platforms and utilize our services.

Our business plans are dependent in part on the sale of location services to our customers, which are third-party developers who use our services to create applications for use in mobile devices, on vehicles and in other platforms. For these types of contracts, we recognize revenue when end users access and use our customers’ applications. Contracts of this type do not contain purchase commitments and our limited operating history makes estimating the future variable volume and revenue associated with these contracts difficult. If our customers take longer than expected to integrate our services into their applications or are unable to sell their applications in the volumes or timeframes we expect, then the use of our services by end users and the related recognition of revenue could be delayed or may never occur.

We face intense competition in our market, especially from competitors that offer their location services for free, which could make it difficult for us to acquire and retain customers and end users.

The market for development, distribution and sale of location services is highly competitive. Many of our competitors have strong name recognition, sizable customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, marketing, public relations, sales, distribution and other resources than we do. These competitors often offer competing services for free and have the financial capabilities to continue to improve upon their location services offering without charging a fee. Certain of our competitors are already vying for market share in the 3D location space through their participation in a federal regulatory proceeding involving the FCC in which wireless mobile telephony providers are being required to enter into relationships with 3D location vendors in order to enable accurate 3D location information to be conveyed to E911 emergency dispatchers with each wireless call made to E911 emergency services. Also, although our services currently offer an improved functionality over the services offered for free, there is no certainty that we will be able to achieve broad market appeal for our 3D location services. In addition, there is no guarantee that our services will be as reliable and with the same geographic coverage as the currently available geolocation services, which may impact our ability to attract customers to utilize our products over the free services offered by our competitors. The performance of our services may vary based on ambient conditions, both physical and environmental which may impact the timing and location accuracy of the system. If our services are not meaningfully superior to those available at lower or no cost, we may have difficulty selling our services, achieving widespread adoption of our services and our business, financial position and results of operations may be harmed.

We face competition from multiple sources.

Our services compete against: (i) other satellite and terrestrial based location technology offerings, such as GPS, Observed Time Difference of Arrival and terrestrial beacons; (ii) other providers of WiFi and cell-based positioning, such as Google, Apple, Polaris and Skyhook; (iii) venue-based solutions such as Bluetooth Low Energy; and (iv) other in-house developed location solutions. In the smartphone location provider market, because Apple and Google control a large percentage of the market share for smartphone operating systems, already provide their services on a nationwide basis, and both offer location provider services free as part of the iOS and Android markets, we are constrained in the distribution and monetization of our services in that market. As noted above, those vendors that secure access to wireless handsets for their 3D location services may be able to leverage a significant competition advantage over other location service vendors. There are also a number of new location technologies in development that may further increase competition to support location capabilities in various wireless devices (such as Internet of Things) and which may require us to meet more stringent accuracy standards.

Certain of our competitors are substantially larger than us and have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources. Thus, many of these large enterprises are in a better position to withstand any significant reduction in spending by customers in its markets, and often have broader product lines and market focus, have greater brand recognition and may not be as susceptible to downturns in a single market. These competitors may also be able to bundle their products together (such as with mapping software) to meet the needs of a particular customer, may be able to respond more rapidly to new or emerging technologies or changes in customer requirements and may be capable of delivering more complete solutions than we are able to provide. If large enterprises that currently do not compete directly with us choose to enter our markets by acquisition or otherwise, competition for both revenue and data would likely intensify. In addition, the growth of new location technologies currently in development may further increase competition to provide these new technologies. If we are not able to compete successfully for customers, our financial position may be materially adversely affected.

Our Pinnacle network infrastructure is dependent on a hosting arrangement with AT&T.

We entered into an equipment hosting agreement with AT&T, expiring in 2026 (subject to earlier termination after three years in certain circumstances), and there is no assurance that the agreement will be renewed. This AT&T agreement provides for such important capabilities as the hosting of our Pinnacle network at AT&T’s wireless sites, the provision of power to the Pinnacle network equipment and AT&T data service to enable the Pinnacle network equipment to communicate with us. We have no contractual right to require AT&T to continue its relationship with us beyond the existing term of the equipment hosting agreement and AT&T may elect not to renew our contracts or we and AT&T may not be able to come to an agreement on renewal or extension terms at or before the end of agreement term. If we cannot secure a renewal or extension of the equipment hosting agreement, we may have to construct a new Pinnacle network prior to expiration of the equipment hosting agreement. Constructing a new network would require significant time and resources that we may not be able to secure. In addition, if there is a delay in our ability to build a new network, our Pinnacle services may experience lengthy disruptions and outages. If we are unable to maintain our relationship with AT&T, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be harmed. Our ability to transmit data is dependent on AT&T’s wireless data network and on the associated power supply available within that network. We have experienced temporary and geographically limited service outages due to issues with the AT&T wireless data network.

We rely, in part, on AT&T for distribution of our services to FirstNet^® customers.

Simultaneous with the equipment hosting agreement described above, we have entered into a services agreement with AT&T, expiring in October 2022, with no renewal terms. This AT&T agreement created a relationship in which AT&T purchases, markets and sells our services to its FirstNet^® subscribers. We have no contractual right to require AT&T to continue its relationship with us, and AT&T may decide not to renew our services contract prior to the end of its term. If we are not able to secure a renewal or extension of our services agreement with AT&T, our ability to sell or market products to FirstNet^® and other public safety customers may be impacted, and our business, financial and results of operations may be harmed.

Our services may not be adopted by additional wireless carriers for E911.

We have expended significant resources developing, testing and licensing software and solutions targeted towards E911 services, the primary customers for which are wireless carriers. Certain of these wireless carriers were the subject of an enforcement action by the FCC regarding their lack of compliance with rules requiring the provision of vertical location services in the top 25 cellular market areas (“CMAs”) by April 3, 2021. On June 3, 2021, the FCC adopted consent decrees with each of the named wireless carriers that effectively provided an extension of one year to the April 3, 2021 compliance date in the top 25 CMA’s, but also required the carriers to begin delivering any z-axis information that was available to them and to provide interim reports on their ongoing testing and deployment efforts. While we have successfully signed one national wireless carrier as a customer for E911 services, our ability to sell our Pinnacle service to additional wireless carriers for E911, a service we believe to exceed the current FCC accuracy requirement, is dependent upon the willingness of these carriers to use our service to comply with the FCC mandate, which has been impacted by the FCC’s one year extension and may be impacted by the development and testing of competing solutions to the our technology.

Our ability to offer our service for E911 is also influenced by the willingness of wireless device manufacturers to incorporate our software or services into their device platforms. Apple and Google exert significant market power over services on their respective platforms, and there is no assurance that they will approve or adopt the our software or services in connection with their respective platforms. If Apple and/or Google do not provide such approval, there could be a material adverse impact to our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our Pinnacle service in smartphones relies on the availability of barometric pressure measurements and 2D location being made available to us or our customers.

In order for our customers to be able to utilize our Pinnacle service in smartphones, we and our customers must have access to barometric pressure measurements and 2D location information, both of which are made available by Application Programming Interfaces provided by Google and Apple. If either Google or Apple meaningfully change their terms of service related to the use of this measurement and location data, choose not to provide this data to us or our customers, or choose not to incorporate location sensors in their devices, our ability to offer our Pinnacle service to our customers on these platforms will likely be impacted.

Mass-market adoption of our TerraPoiNT service will require integration into smartphones, which requires both hardware and software.

Our TerraPoiNT service is currently available with specialized devices. Mass-market adoption of our TerraPoiNT service will require integration into smartphones, which requires additions of both hardware and software. The U.S. market for smartphones, smartphone components, and software is highly concentrated. Our ability to integrate our service into these devices is highly dependent upon: (i) the availability of mass-market TerraPoiNT processors; (ii) the integration of such processors, and associated radio components or designs, into smartphones; and (iii) the integration of our access control and service delivery software. Key manufacturers of devices and chipsets may be unwilling to integrate TerraPoiNT processors and required components into their devices. Further, even if we are able to secure agreements with these leading manufacturers, the terms under which such integrations may occur may not be favorable to us.

Distribution and marketing of, and access to, our services in smartphones are contingent on our distribution partners’ and customers’ access to a variety of third-party platforms, in particular, mobile application stores. If these third parties limit, prohibit, or otherwise interfere with or change their policies in any material way, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our customers market and distribute our products (including related mobile applications) through a variety of third-party distribution channels. Our ability to achieve broad market reach is in part dependent on the ability of our distribution partners and customers to utilize mobile application stores, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Both Apple and Google have broad discretion to change their policies regarding their mobile operating systems and app stores in ways that may limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our customers’ ability to distribute or market their applications through such stores. To the extent our customers are unable to maintain a productive relationship with either or both of them, our relationships with these customers may be impacted and our ability to achieve broad market reach will be impacted and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We rely upon Amazon Web Services to operate our cloud platform and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services or the need for additional cloud support would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We outsource our cloud infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (“AWS”). Customers of our products need to be able to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance. AWS runs its own platform that we access, and we are, therefore, vulnerable to service interruptions at AWS. We have experienced and we expect that in the future we may experience interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability from time to time due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website hosting disruptions and capacity constraints. Capacity constraints could be due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, natural disasters, fraud or security attacks. In addition, if our security, or that of AWS, is compromised, our products or platform are unavailable or our users are unable to use our products within a reasonable amount of time or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within a period of time acceptable to our customers. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, either through AWS or alternative providers of cloud infrastructure, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. In addition, any changes in service levels from AWS may adversely affect our ability to meet our customers’ requirements. Further, our customers may require it to support additional cloud platforms beyond AWS, which would result in additional costs to our business.

Any of the above circumstances or events may harm our reputation, possibly move customers to stop using our products, impair our ability to increase revenue from existing customers, impair our ability to grow our customer base, subject us to financial penalties and liabilities under our service level agreements and otherwise harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We rely on a limited number of key vendors for timely supply of components or services for our service offerings. If these vendors experience problems, we could fail to obtain the equipment and services we require to operate our business successfully.

The components required for our Pinnacle altitude stations and our TerraPoiNT beacons are not available in high volume and are produced by a small number of vendors. We also depend on certain third-party services, in addition to those described elsewhere, for the provision of our services. If we are unable to procure these components or services or design or obtain effective alternatives, we may be unable to produce additional Pinnacle altitude stations or TerraPoiNT beacons, or provide services to our customers, each of which will have a significant impact on our ability to achieve mass-market adoption of our services. As a result, we are reliant upon a limited number of suppliers of these components and services. In the event it becomes necessary to seek alternative vendors, we may be unable to obtain satisfactory replacement vendors on economically attractive terms on a timely basis, or at all, which could increase costs and may negatively impact our ability to expand our service offering or cause disruption in service.

If vendors of our equipment or providers of services on which we rely experience financial difficulties, service or billing interruptions, patent litigation or other problems, our growth and operating results could be negatively impacted.

Our services are available within defined network footprints, and if we are not able to deploy new infrastructure, we will not be able to expand our service area.

Our services are available within defined network footprints. Unlike certain of our competitors that do not require the deployment of network infrastructure to provide location services, we are not able to sell our services outside of these footprints where our customers may require services. In order to expand our footprint, we would need to invest significant time and financial resources to build-out additional infrastructure and there is no certainty that even if we were to be able to secure the financial resources to do so, that we would be able to expand our footprint successfully. In addition, as discussed in a subsequent section, certain of our services, such as our TerraPoiNT service, depend on access to radio spectrum. Although we hold FCC spectrum licenses covering the vast majority of the U.S. population, we do not currently have access to licensed radio spectrum in every location in the United States, and we have not yet secured access to radio spectrum in locations outside the United States. If we are not able to deploy new infrastructure, we will not be able to expand our service area, customers that require service outside of our footprints may choose other service providers, or may combine our service with other offerings, which may impact the value of our business.

There is no guarantee that TerraPoiNT service will be sold to commercial users or achieve broad commercial support in the United States or internationally.

Our TerraPoiNT services have not been implemented for broad commercial use and there is no guarantee that TerraPoiNT services will be widely adopted. Further, there is no certainty that one of our competitors will not develop and commercialize a different solution in the meantime supplanting our market. In addition, our ability to sell TerraPoiNT service may be impacted by political or technological preferences. Foreign countries, especially those with significant resources, may prefer solutions that originated in their country or region, which may limit our global growth potential. There is no certainty that our agreements and/or pending discussions with international strategic partners will result in operational systems, from which we derive revenue or other economics, in other countries. If we are unable to sell TerraPoiNT commercially or to an international market, this will have a negative impact on our business.

Our solutions depend on the use of location by a wide range of applications, including mobile marketing applications. Privacy concerns relating to location data, generally, and our technology could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users from using our products and applications.

Our business depends on the use of location by a wide range of applications, including mobile marketing applications. User perception about the sharing of location data and concerns, more broadly, about the collection of location data, or about our specific practices or the mobile applications that use our location services with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of location information or other privacy related matters, even if unfounded, could damage its reputation and operating results, and could result in default and/or termination of agreements we have with various counterparties.

Natural or man-made disasters or terrorist attacks could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our services are built on a terrestrial-based technical infrastructure, which is vulnerable to damage or interruption from technology failures, power surges or outages, natural disasters, fires, human error, terrorism, intentional wrongdoing or similar events. As a geolocation services provider, there is an increased risk that our technological infrastructure may be targeted in connection with terrorism or cyberattacks, either as a primary target, or as a means of facilitating additional attacks on other targets.

We are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business, so earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events could materially disrupt our business operations or our provision of service in one or more markets. Costs we incur to restore, repair or replace our network or technical infrastructure, as well as costs associated with detecting, monitoring or reducing the incidence of unauthorized use, may be substantial and increase our cost of providing service. In addition, any of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if our business continuity and disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate. If any of the above events were to occur, we could experience an adverse impact to our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, our insurance may not be adequate to cover the costs associated with a natural disaster or terrorist attack. We also rely on third-party providers for certain of our infrastructure, any of which could also be subject to natural or man-made disasters, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Significant disruptions of our information technology systems or data security incidents, or the perceived failure to adequately protect personal information or other confidential or proprietary data, could trigger contractual and legal obligations, harm our reputation, subject us to liability, cause us to modify our business practices and otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. We also rely on third parties to operate our business, whether because we have outsourced certain elements of our operations (including elements of our information technology infrastructure) to third parties, or may have incorporated third-party technology into our platform, or rely on third parties to incorporate our products and services into their offerings. As a result, a number of third parties may or could have access to our information technology systems (including our computer networks) or to our confidential information. In addition, many of those third parties in turn subcontract or outsource some of their responsibilities to third parties. As a result, our information technology systems, including the functions of third parties that are involved or have access to those systems, is large and complex. While all information technology operations are inherently vulnerable to inadvertent or intentional security breaches, incidents, attacks and exposures, the size, complexity, accessibility and distributed nature of our information technology systems, and personal or confidential information stored on those systems, make such systems potentially vulnerable to unintentional or malicious internal and external threats on our technology environment.

Vulnerabilities can be exploited from inadvertent or intentional actions of our employees, third-party vendors, business partners, or by malicious third parties. Attacks of this nature are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives (including, but not limited to, industrial espionage) and expertise, including organized criminal groups, “hacktivists,” nation-states and others. For example, despite our efforts to secure our information technology systems and the data contained in those systems, including any efforts to educate or train our employees, we remain vulnerable to phishing attacks.

In addition to the threat of unauthorized access or acquisition of sensitive or personal information, other threats could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware attacks, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. Some of these external threats may be amplified by the nature of third-party web hosting or cloud computing services or by the integration of our product into a third party’s offerings. Our systems may experience directed attacks intended to interrupt our operations; extract money from it; and/or obtain our data (including without limitation end user or employee personal information or proprietary information).

Although we have implemented certain systems, processes, and safeguards intended to protect our information technology systems and data from such threats and mitigate risks to our systems and data, we cannot be certain that threat actors will not have a material impact on our systems or services in the future. Our safeguards intended to prevent or mitigate certain threats may not be sufficient to protect our information technology systems and data due to the developing sophistication and means of attack in the threat landscape. Recent developments in the threat landscape include an increased number of cyber extortion and ransomware attacks, with increases in the amount of ransom demands and the sophistication and variety of ransomware techniques and methodology. Additionally, our third-party vendors or business partners’ information technology systems may be vulnerable to similar threats and our business could be affected by those or similar third-party relationships. The risk of harm to our business caused by security incidents may also increase as we expand our product and service offerings and as we enter into new markets. Implementing, maintaining, and updating security safeguards require substantial resources now and will likely be an increasing and substantial cost in the future.

In the event we or one of our third-party providers were to suffer a security breach involving certain personal information, we would have legal obligations (whether pursuant to law or contractual obligation) to notify certain regulatory authorities, affected individuals, customers and/or other entities. Such statutory and contractual disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers or the public to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach. Compliance with these obligations could delay or impede the development or distribution of new products and may cause reputational harm.

There is no way of knowing with certainty whether we have experienced any data security incidents that have not been discovered. While we have no reason to believe that we have experienced a data security incident that we have not discovered, attackers have become very sophisticated in the way they conceal their unauthorized access to systems, and many companies that have been attacked are not aware that they have been attacked. Any event that leads to unauthorized access, use or disclosure of personal information could disrupt our business, harm our reputation, compel us to comply with applicable federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to time-consuming, distracting and expensive litigation, regulatory investigation and oversight, mandatory corrective action, require us to verify the correctness of database contents, or otherwise subject us to liability under laws, regulations and contractual obligations, including those that protect the privacy and security of personal information. This could result in increased costs to us and result in significant legal and financial exposure and/or reputational harm.

In addition, any actual or perceived failure by us or our vendors or business partners to comply with our privacy, confidentiality or data security-related legal or other obligations to third parties, or any security incidents or other unauthorized access events that result in the unauthorized access, release or transfer of sensitive information, may result in governmental investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, litigation, or public statements against us by advocacy groups or others, and could cause third parties, including current and potential partners, to lose trust in us including existing or potential customers’ perceiving our platform, system or networks as less desirable. We could also be subject to claims by third parties that we have breached our privacy- or confidentiality-related obligations, which could harm our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business and prospects. There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages.

We may become subject to litigation arising out of any security breaches, which may adversely affect our business.

Litigation resulting from security breaches may adversely affect our business. Unauthorized access to our systems, networks, or physical facilities could result in litigation with our customers or other relevant stakeholders and may result in liability of or claims for indemnification by us with respect to the same. These proceedings could force us to spend money in defense or settlement, divert management’s time and attention, increase our costs of doing business, and/or adversely affect our reputation. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our products and/or platform capabilities in response to such litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Any costs incurred as a result of this potential liability could harm our business.

We maintain insurance policies to cover certain losses relating to our information technology systems, but there is no certainty that our policy limits will be sufficient to cover all liabilities that we may face as the result of security incident and there is no assurance that we will be able to maintain our current policies of secure new policies in the future.

We maintain insurance policies to cover certain losses relating to our information technology systems. However, there may be exceptions to our insurance coverage such that its insurance policies may not cover some or all aspects of a security incident. Even where an incident is covered by our insurance, the insurance limits may not cover the costs of complete remediation and redress that we may be faced with in the wake of a security incident and will not provide recovery for reputational harm. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to its insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim.

We depend on the availability of personnel with the requisite level of technical expertise in the telecommunications industry.

Our ability to develop and maintain our solutions and execute our business plan is dependent on the availability of technical engineering, information technology, service delivery and monitoring, product development, sales, management, finance and other key personnel within our geographic location. The specialized engineers and other personnel required for our growth are in high demand by companies with greater resources, so we may have difficulty hiring and retaining critical personnel to develop and operate our services, which will have a negative impact on our ability to grow and achieve widespread customer and user acceptance.

We depend on key members of our senior management team; our performance could be adversely impacted if they depart and we cannot find suitable replacements.

Our success depends largely on the skills, experience and performance of key members of our senior management team, including key members located in India (and subject to potential change in law), as well as our ability to attract and retain other highly qualified management and technical personnel. There is competition for qualified personnel in our industry, and we may not be able to attract and retain the personnel necessary for the development of our business. The loss of the services of key members of management and the inability or delay in hiring new key employees could adversely affect our ability to manage our business and our future operational and financial results.

The failure to successfully obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights and defend against challenges to our intellectual property rights could adversely affect us.

Our services, products and processes rely on intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. In some cases, that intellectual property is owned by another party and licensed to us. The value of our intellectual property relies in part on our ability to maintain our proprietary rights to such intellectual property.

If we are unable to obtain or maintain the proprietary rights to our intellectual property, if we are unable to prevent attempted infringement against our intellectual property, or if we are unable to defend against claims that we are infringing on another party’s intellectual property, we could be adversely affected. These adverse effects could include us having to abandon, alter and/or delay the deployment of products, services or processes that rely on such intellectual property; having to procure and pay for licenses from the holders of intellectual property rights that we seek to use; and having to pay damages, fines, court costs and attorney’s fees in connection with intellectual property litigation.

Our results could be adversely impacted as a result of increased inflation and supply chain pressure impacting our or our vendors’ expenses and availability of resources and components.

Our business plans currently call for substantial expansion of our employee base. If we can’t manage inflationary pressures and any shortages in the labor market, it could increase labor costs or delay our ability to hire appropriate personnel. Further, inflation and supply chain pressure may impact the availability and cost of services and equipment. Due to the competitive nature of our business, we may not be able to pass on to customers increases in our vendors’ costs of production which could greatly affect our operating results. Independently or collectively these factors could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated operating results, financial condition, or ability to grow our business.

Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters

Our business depends on access to radio spectrum to provide certain of our location services and access to such spectrum on a nationwide basis is not a certainty.

Certain of our location services depend on our ability to use portions of the radio spectrum licensed by the FCC. Through our wholly owned affiliate, Progeny LMS, LLC, we hold licenses issued by the FCC to use radio spectrum for location services within the 902-928 MHz band, identified by the FCC as LMS licenses. Our LMS licenses provide coverage of most areas of the U.S. and the vast majority of populated areas within the U.S. Our licenses, however, do not provide nationwide coverage, which we are likely to need to provide certain of our location services on a nationwide basis. Most of the geographic areas where we lack spectrum are generally rural in character, although we do not hold licensed spectrum assets in two well populated locations, Minneapolis and Sacramento. Therefore, we may need to secure additional spectrum licenses from the FCC or other LMS license holders for additional frequencies within the 902-928 MHz band or in other frequencies in order to achieve nationwide coverage or to serve every major city. Radio spectrum is a scarce public resource and no certainty exists that we will be able to obtain additional licenses to provide nationwide coverage or obtain them at a reasonable cost. Very few private entities hold LMS licenses that we could acquire in a private transaction. Although the FCC regularly issues new spectrum licenses, the FCC has not issued new LMS licenses for spectrum within the 902-928 MHz band since 2001 and it could decide to refrain from issuing any additional LMS licenses because the 902-928 MHz frequencies are also used by other services on a shared basis, including by certain unlicensed devices used in homes and for such enterprise services as utility meter reading. If the FCC does issue additional LMS licenses, the FCC is likely to distribute those licenses through an auction process, requiring us to participate and compete with other bidders in such an auction, with no certainty of winning. If we are unable to secure additional LMS licenses or suitable alternative spectrum in a different frequency band, our ability to expand certain of our services nationwide may be negatively impacted, which may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We currently do not hold any rights to use licensed spectrum resources outside the U.S. The rules for securing access to spectrum rights vary in each country. Further, different portions of the radio frequency band are used for different purposes in different countries and regions. Therefore, no certainty exists that suitable spectrum resources can be identified or secured in international locations where we would seek to expand our business. In those countries where suitable spectrum resources may be available, spectrum licenses are often distributed through an auction or tender process, meaning we would have to compete with other applicants for access to spectrum rights, the success of which cannot be assured.

Our FCC licenses authorize the use of radio frequencies that are shared with other radio services, which could result in harmful interference and impairment to our use of our licensed spectrum.

Our LMS licenses authorize us to use the upper portion of the 902-928 MHz band. This spectrum is a shared frequency band that is used for a number of purposes both by individuals, businesses and the federal government. Other services that are authorized to use these frequencies include federal radiolocation systems; industrial, scientific and medical devices; licensed amateur radio operations; and certain unlicensed devices. Our use of the spectrum is subject to FCC requirements that our operations must accept harmful interference from other uses of the spectrum that have more senior rights to the spectrum. We have been successful thus far in using our LMS spectrum to operate location services without experiencing material impairment of our location services caused by more senior spectrum uses, but no certainty exists that we will be able to continue to do so. Moreover, for certain specialized uses, including with respect to aviation uses, the use of our spectrum would be subject to additional regulatory review, approvals and/or limitations. More senior uses of the 902-928 MHz band could become more numerous or could alter the characteristics of their transmissions in ways that could increase the interference to our location services, resulting in diminished coverage, consistency and accuracy of our location services.

In addition, we are required to refrain from causing unacceptable levels of harmful interference to unlicensed wireless devices. The FCC issued a decision in 2013 that concluded that, based on field tests, we had successfully demonstrated that our location services did not cause unacceptable levels of harmful interference to such unlicensed wireless devices. Third-party challenges to the FCC decision, are still pending. Further, changes in our operations could alter the transmission characteristics of its location services, potentially requiring us to provide further demonstrations that our location services do not cause unacceptable levels of harmful interference to those unlicensed devices. No certainty exists that the FCC would conclude in the future that we remained successful in making such a demonstration a second time. If we are unable to make this demonstration to the satisfaction of the FCC, we may not be able to make changes to our operating characteristics, potentially preventing the future implementation of desirable innovations.

Our LMS licenses are subject to renewal by the FCC and no certainty exists that we will be able to secure ongoing renewals of our licenses.

Our LMS licenses were issued by the FCC for renewable periods of ten years and the current term of our LMS licenses expired on July 19, 2020. The FCC’s rules do not identify a specific threshold that must be demonstrated in order for us to secure renewal of our LMS licenses, which means the applicable threshold is the FCC’s statutory obligation to grant a renewal of our licenses if it serves the public interest. Our LMS licenses were initially required to be renewed on July 19, 2010. We timely filed an application for renewal, which the FCC granted on January 17, 2017. The FCC’s renewal grant was expressly conditioned on our compliance with build-out requirements, discussed further below. On July 7, 2020, we filed a second request for renewal of our LMS licenses, which is still pending before the FCC. If we secure the renewal of our LMS licenses, our license renewal applications thereafter will be subject to new FCC rules placing additional conditions on license renewal applications. Specifically, in order to secure a third renewal of our LMS licenses in 2030, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with additional requirements, including that we have satisfied its build-out construction requirements, that we use our network to provide service to the public, and that the service provided is at least at the same level of service that was demonstrated at the time of our build-out showing. No certainty exists that we will receive the currently applied for renewal or continue to meet the requirements of such renewal for future applications. If we fail to secure renewals for our LMS licenses, we will not be able to pursue our TerraPoiNT services as previously planned and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

Our LMS licenses are subject to end-of-term build-out requirements maintained by the FCC and no certainty exists that we will be able to comply with the build out requirements and retain our licenses.

Our LMS licenses are subject to FCC rules that require licensees to make productive use of their licensed radio spectrum by a specific deadline and continue such use throughout the term of the licenses. If a licensee fails to satisfy one of its build-out deadlines, the FCC will declare its licenses to be null and void. Over the years, the FCC has revoked many of the LMS licenses that the FCC issued to other parties for failing to satisfy their build-out requirements. In nearly all instances in which our licenses have reached a deadline to demonstrate the build-out and use of the licensed spectrum, we have either secured a favorable ruling from the FCC regarding the sufficiency of our build-out showing, or a waiver or extension of our build-out requirements. No certainty exists, however, that we will be able to meet the FCC’s requirements in the future or secure waivers or extensions.

We are currently required by the FCC’s build-out rules to satisfy build-out demonstrations on October 3, 2020 for our 42 LMS licenses covering the largest 21 Economic Areas (“EAs”) in the United States, April 3, 2021 for 40 of our LMS licenses covering the next largest 20 EAs and April 3, 2023 for our remaining LMS licenses. The initial October 3, 2020 deadline identified above had been set for April 3, 2020, but we filed a request for a six month extension of the deadline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the FCC granted on July 19, 2020, extending our initial deadline to October 3, 2020. Based on the ongoing nature of the pandemic, on September 17, 2020, we filed a request for a second six month extension of the build-out deadline. That request for extension is still pending.

To comply with our build-out requirements on each of the deadlines, we must demonstrate for each of our LMS licenses either that the geographic area of our licensed network provides coverage of at least two-thirds of the population in each of the licensed areas or that we are providing substantial service to end users in each of our licensed areas. On February 2, 2021, we filed a waiver request with the FCC seeking approval to use a third option, demonstrating that the geographic area of our licensed network provides coverage of at least two-thirds of relatively tall buildings (those in excess of three stories) rather than two-thirds of the population. Although no certainty exists that the FCC will grant our waiver request, precedent exists for such a waiver because the FCC previously adopted a rule that permits wireless carriers to demonstrate network coverage of tall buildings in order to show compliance with FCC rules addressing the provision of wireless vertical location services. The FCC has not yet acted on our waiver request to use a two-thirds of tall buildings coverage approach. Nevertheless, we employed our proposed tall building coverage approach with respect to the end-of-term build-out showings that we filed with the FCC for 78 of our 82 LMS licenses that were subject to an April 3, 2021 end-of-term building out deadline assuming our September 17, 2020 second COVID-related extension is granted. On March 31, 2021, we also filed a request for an additional six month extension of the April 3, 2021 build-out deadline to address the possibility that the FCC might refrain from granting our request to demonstrate build-out compliance in some markets using network coverage of tall buildings, or might conclude that our build-out showings are insufficient to demonstrate either two-thirds coverage of tall buildings or substantial service. No certainty exists that the FCC will conclude that our April 3, 2021 build-out showings are satisfactory, or that it will grant a further extension of our April 3, 2021 build-out deadline. Finally, we remain subject to an April 3, 2023 deadline to demonstrate the build-out for our 144 LMS licenses covering less-populous markets. We will need to secure and spend financial resources to develop network infrastructure to demonstrate compliance for these additional licenses in the 72 markets that they are authorized, or secure further extensions or waivers of the build-out requirements for these licenses. No certainty exists that we will be able to comply with these requirements or secure additional extensions or waivers from the FCC of these requirements. If the FCC fails to deem our build-out showings as acceptable and we are unable to secure extensions to our build-out deadlines or necessary waivers, the FCC will declare the applicable LMS licenses to be null and void, which will have a material adverse impact on our ability to expand our TerraPoiNT services as previously planned, and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.

Our retention and use of our LMS licenses has been the subject of ongoing objections by third parties that could result in the revocation or non-renewal of our LMS licenses.

The FCC’s oversight of radio spectrum is conducted using a largely public process that is generally governed by the Administrative Procedure Act and the FCC’s rules on public participation in spectrum allocation and licensing proceedings. As a result, our retention and use of our LMS licenses has been the subject of comments and objections from third parties, including other users of the 902-928 MHz frequencies and other current and former licensees of LMS spectrum. In the past, the FCC has regularly rejected and dismissed these objections to our retention and use of our LMS licenses, but no certainty exists that the FCC will continue to do so in the future. Certain of the previous objections remain pending before the FCC, meaning that the FCC could still act on them in a manner that is adverse to us. The pending objections include pleadings that were filed on July 8, 2013 by a number of businesses that use unlicensed radio spectrum in their operations and were asking the FCC to suspend our authority to use our LMS spectrum for commercial purposes. In addition, several affiliated companies controlled by a former licensee of LMS spectrum have filed numerous objections and adverse pleadings against our LMS licenses. A number of these adverse pleadings remain pending, including a petition, dated February 3, 2021, requesting the FCC to reallocate the 902-928 MHz band for other purposes. Although the FCC has consistently rejected the adverse pleadings that were filed by this individual in the past, no certainty exists that the FCC will continue to do so. If the FCC acts on any current or future objections by third parties, our LMS licenses could be revoked or not renewed, which will have a material adverse impact on our ability to expand TerraPoiNT as previously planned and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.

A portion of our business plan targets government customers, which subjects us to risks, including early termination, audits, investigations, sanctions and penalties.

One of our business strategies is to develop business relationships with U.S. government agencies for the provision of our products and services. We currently contract directly with U.S. government agencies, including NASA, and perform as a subcontractor to other contractors under U.S. government programs. As a U.S. government contractor, our business is subject to statutes and regulations applicable to companies doing business with the U.S. government, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, and NASA FAR Supplement, or NFS.

The funding of U.S. government programs is subject to annual U.S. Congressional appropriations. Long-term government contracts and related orders are subject to cancellation if appropriations for subsequent performance periods are not made. In addition, the U.S. government may modify, curtail or terminate its contracts and subcontracts without prior notice at its convenience and in that event, the counterparty to the contract may generally recover only its incurred or committed costs and settlement expenses and profit on work completed prior to the termination. If the government terminates a contract for default, the defaulting party may be liable for any extra costs incurred by the government in procuring undelivered items from another source. The termination of funding for a U.S. government program that we support, or any modification or curtailment of our U.S. government prime contracts or subcontracts, would result in a loss of anticipated future revenue attributable to that program, which could have an adverse effect on our operations, financial condition or U.S. government customer demand for our products and services.

In addition, U.S. government contracts normally contain additional requirements that may increase our costs of doing business, reduce our profits, and expose us to liability for failure to comply with these terms and conditions. These compliance costs might further increase in the future, reducing our margins, which could have a negative effect on our financial condition. These requirements include, for example:

Failure to comply with these U.S. government contracting regulations and requirements may result in potential price adjustments, recoupment of U.S. government funds after such funds have been spent, civil and criminal penalties, or administrative sanctions such as suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting or subcontracting for a period of time and could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and ability to secure future U.S. government contracts.

Our government contract activities are subject to audits and investigations by U.S. government agencies, including agency Inspectors General, regarding our compliance with U.S. government contract requirements. If any audit, inquiry or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, suspension of payments, fines, and suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government.

In addition, if we fail to comply with U.S. government contracting laws, regulations and contract requirements, our contracts may be subject to termination, and we may be subject to financial and/or other liability under our contracts, the Federal Civil False Claims Act (including treble damages and other penalties), or criminal law. In particular, the False Claims Act’s “whistleblower” provisions also allow private individuals, including present and former employees, to sue on behalf of the U.S. government. Any penalties, damages, fines, suspension, or damages could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.

We and our service providers collect, process, transmit, and store personal information, which creates legal obligations and may give rise to additional costs and liability. Failure to comply with federal, state and foreign laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection could adversely affect our business and its financial condition.

We collect, process, transmit and store personal information, such as certain individual geolocation information, and other personal information relating to its business contacts, personnel, end users, and website visitors, and we may rely in part on third parties that are not directly under its control to manage certain of these operations on its behalf. A variety of federal and state laws and regulations, as well as international laws and regulations (including as applicable General Data Protection Regulation) govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of this information.

The U.S. privacy and data protection legal landscape continues to evolve, with California and Virginia having enacted broad-based data privacy and protection legislation and with states and the federal government continuing to consider additional data privacy and protection legislation. The potential effects of this legislation are far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) went into effect in January 2020 and gives California residents certain rights with respect to their personal information such as rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of the sale of their personal information, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches. The CCPA was amended, and the California Office of the Attorney General published final regulations to implement portions of the CCPA. Additionally, in November 2020, California voters passed the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) ballot initiative, which introduces significant amendments to the CCPA and confers enforcement power on a new state regulatory body to supplement the enforcement powers of the California Attorney General. The CPRA will go into effect on January 1, 2023 and new CPRA regulations are expected to be introduced. In addition, the Virginia legislature passed the Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”), which includes new consumer rights, an appeals process for certain aggrieved consumers, and data protection assessments for certain data processing activities. We will need to implement mechanisms and internal processes to fulfill the new obligations under the VCDPA. Although we do not have direct interaction with end users, we may still be subject to these laws with respect to other personal information we process, or by way of acting as a service provider to our customers, which may bear additional obligations under these laws.

We or our customers may also be subject to FCC rules regarding Customer Proprietary Network Information or other restrictions on our ability to use certain data that we collect in connection with 911 or other calls. Further, the FCC’s wireless location rules subject us to additional privacy restrictions with respect to our use of any location information resulting from the provision of location services to support 911 emergency services.

Our obligations under applicable data privacy laws, regulations, contracts, industry standards, self-certifications, and other documentation may include maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of personal information or other data in our possession or control, maintaining reasonable and appropriate security safeguards as part of an information security program, and limits on the use and/or cross-border transfer of such personal information or other data. These obligations create potential liability to regulators, our business partners and customers, end users, and other relevant stakeholders and also may impact the attractiveness of our services to existing and potential customers. Data protection laws around the world often require “reasonable”, “appropriate” or “adequate” technical and organizational security measures, and the interpretation and application of those laws are often uncertain and evolving, and there can be no assurance that our security measures will be deemed adequate, appropriate or reasonable by a regulator or court. 

Given the evolving nature of security threats and evolving safeguards, we cannot be sure that our chosen safeguards will protect against security threats to our business, including the personal data that we process. However, even security measures that are appropriate, reasonable, and/or in accordance with applicable legal requirements may not be able to fully protect our information technology systems and the data contained in those systems, or our data that is contained in third parties’ systems. Moreover, certain data protection laws impose on us responsibility for our employees and third parties that assist with aspects of our data processing. Our employees’ or third parties’ intentional, unintentional, or inadvertent actions may increase our vulnerability or expose us to security threats, such as phishing attacks, and we may remain responsible for successful access, acquisition or other disclosure of our data despite the quality and legal sufficiency of our security measures.

In addition to the risk of data breaches and noncompliance with applicable law, we may be exposed to additional liability for our failure to adhere to the technical or operational security requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI DSS”) if and as applicable, imposed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to protect cardholder data. Penalties arising from PCI DSS enforcement are inherently uncertain as penalties may be imposed by various entities within the payment card processing chain without regard to any statutory or universally mandated framework. Such enforcement could threaten our relationship with our banks, card brands we do business with, and our third-party payment processors.

We publish privacy policies, notices and other documentation regarding our collection, processing, use and disclosure of personal information. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies and other published documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees or vendors fail to comply with our published policies or other documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential law enforcement or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices.

We expect that new industry standards, laws and regulations will continue to be proposed regarding privacy, data protection and information security in many jurisdictions. We cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. We expect that the evolving regulatory interpretation and enforcement of data protection laws, such as the CCPA, CPRA, and VCDPA, as well as other domestic and foreign data protection laws, will lead to increased operational and compliance costs and may require us to make changes to our operations, policies, and procedures.

Our business is subject to a wide variety of additional extensive and evolving government laws and regulations. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations relating to various aspects of our business, including with respect to our wireless location services, employment and labor, health care, tax, privacy and data security, health and safety, customs and government contracting. Laws and regulations at the foreign, federal, state and local levels frequently change, especially in relation to new and emerging industries, and we cannot always reasonably predict the impact from, or the ultimate cost of compliance with, current or future regulatory or administrative changes. We monitor these developments and devote a significant amount of management’s time and external resources towards compliance with these laws, regulations and guidelines, and such compliance places a significant burden on management’s time and other resources, and it may limit our ability to develop new business channels. Moreover, changes in law, the imposition of new or additional regulations or the enactment of any new or more stringent legislation that impacts our business could require us to change the way we operate and could have a material adverse effect on our sales, profitability, cash flows and financial condition.

Failure to comply with these laws or regulations or failure to satisfy any criteria or other requirement under such laws or regulations, such as with respect to obtaining and maintaining licenses, certificates, authorizations and permits critical for the operation of our business, may result in civil penalties or private lawsuits, or result in a delay or the denial, suspension or revocation of licenses, certificates, authorizations or permits, which would prevent us from operating our business.

Additionally, regulation of our industry is still evolving, and new or different laws or regulations could affect our operations and increase direct compliance costs. Application of these laws to our business may negatively impact our performance in various ways, limiting the collaborations we may pursue and increasing our costs and the time necessary to obtain required authorization. The adoption of a multi-layered regulatory approach to any one of the laws or regulations to which we are or may become subject, particularly where the layers are in conflict, could require alteration of our services or operational parameters, which may adversely impact our business. We may not be in complete compliance with all such requirements at all times and, even when we believe we are in complete compliance, a regulatory agency may determine that we are not.

We are subject to stringent U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations. Unfavorable changes in these laws and regulations or U.S. government licensing policies, our failure to secure timely U.S. government authorizations under these laws and regulations, or our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business plans are based in part on the distribution of our services world-wide. We are required to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the EAR administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the foreign asset control regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Pursuant to these foreign trade control laws and regulations, we are required, among other things, to (i) determine the proper licensing jurisdiction and export classification of products, software, and technology, (ii) obtain licenses or other forms of U.S. government authorization, or qualify for exceptions, to export our products, software, and technology outside the United States, and (iii) avoid engaging in unauthorized transactions with certain sanctioned countries, territories, entities, and individuals. Violations of applicable export control and sanctions laws and related regulations, which are enforced on a strict liability basis, could result in criminal and administrative penalties, including fines and possible denial of export privileges. U.S. export licenses or license exceptions are required to transfer or make accessible certain of our software source code and technology to our non-U.S. employees (deemed exports).

In addition, U.S. export control laws and related licensing policies continue to change, further regulating the export and re-export of our products, services, and technology from the U.S. and abroad, and increasing our costs and the time necessary to obtain required authorization. For example, should exceptions or exemptions under the EAR be changed, our activities otherwise authorized via these mechanisms may become unavailable and could result in the need for additional export authorizations.

Additionally, changes to the administrative implementation of export control laws at the agency level may suddenly change as a result of geopolitical events, which could result in existing or proposed export authorization applications being viewed in unpredictable ways, or potentially rejected, as a result of the changed agency level protocol. Increasing trade tensions with China and Russia, in particular, may affect our supply chain, increase direct and indirect compliance costs, or significantly impact relations with business partners. The extensive and changing nature of these export control laws and related licensing policies may diminish our ability to market our solutions in the certain markets.

We are exposed to risks related to geopolitical and economic factors, laws and regulations and our international business subjects us to numerous political and economic factors, legal requirements, cross-cultural considerations and other risks associated with doing business globally.

Although our international business is still in its early stages, its development is subject to both U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including, without limitation, laws and regulations relating to export/import controls (described above), sanctions, technology transfer restrictions, government contracts and procurement, data privacy and protection, anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, the anti-boycott provisions of the U.S. Export Administration Act, security restrictions and intellectual property. Failure by us, our employees, affiliates, partners or others with whom we work to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in administrative, civil, commercial or criminal liabilities, including suspension or debarment from government contracts or suspension of our export/import privileges. New regulations and requirements, or changes to existing ones in the various countries in which we operate can significantly increase our costs and risks of doing business internationally.

Changes in laws, regulations, political leadership and environment, and/or security risks may dramatically affect our ability to conduct or continue to conduct business in international markets, including sales to customers and purchases from suppliers outside the U.S. We may also be impacted by U.S. and foreign national policies and priorities, political decisions and geopolitical relationships, any of which may be influenced by changes in the threat environment, political leadership, geopolitical uncertainties, world events, bilateral and multi-lateral relationships and economic and political factors, and any of which could impact our operations and/or export authorizations, or delay purchasing decisions or payments and the provision of supplies, goods and services. Global economic conditions and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could further impact our business. For example, the tightening of credit in financial markets outside of the U.S. could adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing and could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services or impact the ability of our customers to make payments.

We also are increasingly dependent on in-country suppliers and we face risks related to their failure to perform in accordance with the contracts and applicable laws, particularly where we rely on a sole source supplier. The services we provide internationally are sometimes in countries with unstable governments, economic or fiscal challenges, military or political conflicts and/or developing legal systems. This may increase the risk to our employees, subcontractors or other third parties, and/or increase the risk of a wide range of liabilities, as well as loss of property or damage to our products.

The occurrence and impact of these factors is difficult to predict, but one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

If we issue and sell additional shares of our Common Stock in the future, our existing stockholders will be diluted and our stock price could fall.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 shares of Common Stock, of which, as of December 31, 2021 96,546,611 shares were outstanding, 14,787,763 shares were reserved for issuance under our stock incentive plans or other outstanding options and 23,070,133 shares were issuable upon the exercise of warrants. As a result, we have a large number of shares of Common Stock that are authorized for issuance and are not outstanding or otherwise reserved, and could be issued at the discretion of our board of directors (our “Board”). We expect to seek additional financing in the future in order to fund our operations, and if we issue additional shares of Common Stock or securities convertible into Common Stock, our existing stockholders will be diluted. Our Board may also choose to issue shares of our Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable for our Common Stock to acquire assets or companies, for compensation to employees, officers, directors, consultants and advisors, to fund capital expenditures and to enter into strategic partnerships. Additionally, shares of Common Stock could be issued for anti-takeover purposes or to delay or prevent changes in control or management of the Company. Our Board may determine to issue shares of our Common Stock on terms that our stockholders do not believe enhance stockholder value, or that may ultimately have an adverse effect on our business or the trading price of our Common Stock. Further, the issuance of any such shares may cause further dilution to the ownership interest of our current stockholders, reduce the book value per share of our Common Stock and may contribute to a reduction in the market price for our Common Stock.

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

Certain of our executive officers, directors and stockholders own a significant percentage of our outstanding capital stock. As of December 31, 2021, our executive officers, directors, holders of 5% or more of our capital stock and their respective affiliates beneficially owned approximately 90% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock. Accordingly, our directors, executive officers and certain stockholders have significant influence over our affairs due to their substantial stock ownership coupled with their positions on our management team. For example, these stockholders may be able to control or influence elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction. This concentration of ownership may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our Common Stock that some of our stockholders may believe is in their best interest.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of federal securities laws, compliance with which involves significant time, expense and expertise.

We are a public reporting company and are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and other federal securities laws, including the obligations imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The ongoing costs associated with preparing and filing annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC in the ordinary course, as well as preparing and filing audited financial statements, are significant and may cause unexpected increases in operational expenses. Our present management team is relatively small and may be unable to manage the ongoing costs and compliance effectively. It may be time consuming, difficult and costly for us to hire additional financial reporting, accounting and other finance staff in order to build and retain a management team with adequate expertise and experience in operating a public company. Although our Common Stock trades on The Nasdaq Capital Market, a regular trading market for our Common Stock may not be sustained in the future.

In addition, as a public reporting company we will be required to document and test our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act so that our management can certify as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting by the time our second annual report is filed with the SEC and thereafter, which will require us to document and make significant changes to our internal control over financial reporting. Likewise, our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at such time as we cease to be an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), if we are an “accelerated filer” or “large accelerated filer” at such time. Our predecessor, Spartacus, identified a deficiency in internal control over financial reporting which resulted in a material weakness in internal control over the classification of its warrants prior to the closing of the Business Combination. To address the material weakness during the year ended December 31, 2021, we designed and implemented new internal controls, including review controls, conducted additional employee training, and engaged third party specialist and resources to assist with the accounting and valuation of the warrants. Based on the cumulative changes implemented, as well as management’s evaluation of the design and operating effectiveness of the new controls, management has concluded that the material weakness related to our classification of warrants, has been remediated as of December 31, 2021. While we believe we have remediated the material weakness, we may identify additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting in the future that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements not being prevented or detected in a timely way. If we fail to maintain adequate internal controls, including any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or if we experience difficulties in their implementation, we could fail to meet our financial reporting obligations and our business, financial results and reputation could be harmed.

We have never paid dividends on our capital stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

The continued operation and expansion of our business will require substantial funding. We have paid no cash dividends on any of our capital stock to date and we currently intend to retain our available cash to fund the development and growth of our business. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our Board deems relevant. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Common Stock in the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock, which may never occur.

Certain of our Warrants are exercisable, which could increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.

Outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of 18,750,000 shares of Common Stock became exercisable on November 27, 2021 (the 30^th day following the closing of the Business Combination) in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement governing those securities. These warrants consist of 10,000,000 public warrants originally included in Spartacus’ initial public offering and 8,750,000 private placement warrants. The 8,750,000 private placement warrants have been registered pursuant to a registration statement (File No. 333-260687). Each warrant entitles its holder to purchase one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share and will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on October 28, 2026 (five years after the completion of the Business Combination), or earlier upon redemption of our Common Stock or our liquidation. In addition, a warrant for 4,320,133 shares of Common Stock is subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days following the closing of the Business Combination. To the extent warrants are exercised, additional shares of Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to our then existing stockholders and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market could depress the market price of our Common Stock.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares of our Common Stock (or shares of our Common Stock that may be issued in the future pursuant to the exercise of Warrants) are restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our Common Stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Subject to certain exceptions, pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement dated October 28, 2021, by and among us and certain of our stockholders (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) and our charter, certain of our stockholders are contractually restricted from transferring any common stock held by such party for a certain period of time. With respect to 5,000,000 shares of Common Stock held by Spartacus Sponsor LLC and its affiliates, including B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC (in each case, or their respective permitted transferees (as defined in our charter)), the applicable lock-up period is one year after the closing of the Business Combination; provided, however, that such lock-up period shall terminate earlier if, for at least 20 trading days with any 30-day trading period commencing no earlier than March 27, 2022 (at least 150 days after the closing of the Business Combination), the last sale price of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). With respect to the shares of Common Stock issued to former holders of Holdings and the AT&T Warrant (as defined in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K) and underlying warrant shares, the applicable lock-up period is 180 days after the closing of the Business Combination; provided, however, that such lock-up period shall terminate earlier with respect to 50% of the applicable securities held by each of the holders thereof if, for at least 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing no earlier than December 27, 2021 (at least 60 days after the closing of the Business Combination), the last sale price of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). With respect to the private placement warrants and the Warrant Shares underlying such warrants, the applicable lock-up period was 30 days after the closing of the Business Combination.

Following the expiration of the applicable lock-up periods, stockholders will no longer be contractually restricted from selling shares of our Common Stock held by them or that may be received by them upon the exercise of the Warrants, as the case may be. As such, sales of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our Common Stock. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, approximately 76% of our outstanding common stock is subject to lock-up restrictions. As restrictions on resale end and registration statements for the sale of shares of our Common Stock and Warrants by the parties to the Registration Rights Agreement are available for use, the sale or possibility of sale of these shares of Common Stock and Warrants could have the effect of increasing the volatility in the market price of our Common Stock or warrants, or decreasing the market price itself.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline