Item 1A. Risk Factors.
You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this Report, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes. If any of the events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this report occurs, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially harmed. This Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this Report or other risks that we currently deem immaterial or that may be unknown to us. References in this Item 1A Risk Factors to financial information as of dates or for periods ended on or prior to April 25, 2022 do not include the financial information of RE2 as of those dates or for those periods.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We are an early stage company with a history of losses, and expect to incur significant expenses for the foreseeable future.
We incurred a net loss of $42.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, and a net loss of $81.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. We believe that we will continue to incur operating and net losses through at least 2024. Even if we are able to successfully develop our robotic systems and attract customers for commercial sales or RaaS subscriptions of our products, we may not become profitable. Our potential profitability is dependent upon the successful development and successful commercial introduction and adoption on a larger scale of our robotic systems and our ability to lower production costs as we achieve economies of scale through high-volume production, none of which may occur.
We expect that the rate at which we will incur losses will be significantly higher in future periods as we:
•continue to design, develop, manufacture and commercialize our robotic systems;
•continue to utilize and develop potential new relationships with third-party partners for supply, design to manufacturing and manufacturing;
•expand our production capabilities, including costs associated with the potential outsourcing of the manufacturing of our robotic systems;
•build up inventories of parts (including replacement parts) and components for our robotic systems;
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•develop our maintenance and servicing capacity and capabilities;
•manufacture an inventory of our robotic systems, including upfront expenditures to manufacture units prior to delivery and recognition of related revenue (especially in connection with RaaS subscriptions);
•increase our sales and marketing activities and develop our sales and distribution infrastructure;
•develop our remote monitoring, updating and other cloud-based services;
•develop safety measures for our products and as our customers evaluate and test the efficacy of those safety measures;
•develop and expand our technology infrastructure and cybersecurity measures, policies and controls; and
•increase our general and administrative functions and systems to support our growing operations and to operate as a publicly-traded company.
Because we will incur costs and expenses from these efforts before we receive incremental revenues with respect thereto, we expect that our losses in future periods will be significant. In addition, we may find that these efforts are more expensive than we currently anticipate or that these efforts may result in less than expected or no additional revenue, which would further increase our losses.
If we fail to effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to design, develop, manufacture, market and launch our robotic systems successfully.
We intend to invest significantly in order to expand our business. Any failure to manage our growth effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We expect our expansion to include:
•expanding the management, engineering and product teams;
•identifying and recruiting individuals with the appropriate relevant experience;
•hiring and training new personnel;
•launching commercialization of our products;
•forecasting production and revenue and implementing ERP systems;
•entering into relationships with one or more third-party design for manufacturing partners and third-party manufacturers and/or expanding our internal manufacturing capabilities;
•carrying out acquisitions and entering into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships;
•expanding and enhancing internal information technology, safety and security systems;
•establishing or expanding sales, customer service and maintenance and servicing facilities and organizations;
•conducting demonstrations of robotic systems;
•entering into agreements with suppliers and service providers; and
•implementing and enhancing administrative infrastructure, systems and processes.
We intend to continue to hire a significant number of additional personnel, including engineers, design and production personnel and service technicians for our robotic systems. Because of the innovative nature of our technology, individuals with the necessary experience have not been, and likely will continue not to be, readily available to hire, and as a result, we will need to expend significant time and expense to recruit and retain experienced employees and appropriately train any newly hired employees. Competition for individuals with experience designing, producing and servicing dexterous robots and their software is intense, and we may not be able to attract, integrate, train, motivate or retain additional highly qualified personnel. Further, we have recently hired a significant number of new employees, including Kiva Allgood, our new CEO, in December 2021 and other senior employees, as well as over 100 employees
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as a result of our acquisition of RE2. Integrating a large number of new employees in a short time can cause disruptions to processes, projects, culture, priorities and a company as a whole. New employees may not perform as expected or may not fit culturally, and long-term employees may not embrace new leaders, priorities, methods, processes or other changes and may decide to leave or may not perform as well as in the past. Further, we face these and other risks as a result of our acquisition of RE2. See - The success of our acquisition of RE2, Inc. is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Any failure to attract, integrate, train, motivate and retain employees or difficulty adjusting to a larger organization with a new CEO and a large number of new employees could significantly delay our product development and commercial release and materially harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The success of our acquisition of RE2, Inc. is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including integration risks.
On April 25, 2022, we completed our acquisition of RE2, Inc. We believe that RE2's business is complementary to ours, and that both RE2 and Sarcos will benefit from the combination of the two companies. Upon consummation of the acquisition of RE2, we became subject to risks associated with RE2's business, many of which are the same risks that we currently face. Other risks include:
•risks associated with RE2's products and technology;
•integration risks, such as risks associated with combining two organizations and cultures in two different geographies and integrating systems and maintaining IT security;
•potential loss of focus on business and product development objectives;
•maintaining customer and supplier relationships;
•potential inability to allocate resources appropriately across product lines;
•potential inability to retain employees; and
•risks associated with whether we can achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition.
If we are unable to effectively manage these and any other risks resulting from the acquisition, the value of our investment in RE2 may be adversely affected and the expected benefits of the acquisition may not be realized.
We are in the early stages of integrating with RE2, which we acquired on April 25, 2022. While we believe that both organizations share common values and cultures and that the acquisition will help us expand our product portfolio, serve additional markets and further our product development efforts, integration involves significant risk and management attention. If these efforts divert management time and company resources from our product development efforts, the commercial production and release of our Guardian XO and Guardian XT products could be delayed. The development and sales of our Sapien products could also be adversely affected. If we are not able to successfully integrate RE2 and achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition while managing the development and commercialization of our products, in particular the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, commercialization of our products could be delayed, which would adversely impact our ability to generate revenue, our overall profitability and our operating performance, and the value of our investment in RE2 could be adversely affected and we may be required to recognize an impairment loss on the write down of our assets and goodwill, which could materially and adversely affect our financial results.
Our operating and financial projections rely on management assumptions and analyses. If these assumptions or analyses prove to be incorrect, our actual operating results may be materially different from our forecasted results.
We are a development stage company, with very limited experience commercializing our products. Our projected financial and operating information reflect estimates of future performance and are based on multiple financial, technical and operational assumptions, including timely hiring of additional skilled personnel, timing of commercial launch of our robotic systems, the level of demand for our robotic systems, the performance of our robotic systems, the utilization of the robot fleet, commercial interest in the RaaS subscription model and product pricing, the useable life of the robotic systems, cost of manufacturing, cost of components and availability of adequate supply, number of units that will need to be manufactured in each batch, the nature and length of the sales cycle, maintenance and servicing costs and the costs of refurbishing the robotic systems. However, given our limited commercial experience, it is likely that many of these assumptions will prove incorrect. Projections and other statements about future expectations are forward-looking statements that are inherently subject to significant risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control (in addition to the information contained in these Risk Factors, see “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”). Some of these risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could determine whether actual operating and financial results and business developments will be consistent with our expectations and assumptions include:
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•the amount of time and attention needed from management to integrate RE2 into our business, as well as any resulting disruption to or delay in our product development efforts;
•whether we are able to successfully integrate RE2 into our business and achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition;
•whether we can adequately address customer safety requirements;
•whether we can obtain sufficient capital to sustain and grow our business;
•our ability to manage our growth;
•the contractual terms of agreements with customers, suppliers and manufacturing partners, and whether we can effectively manage and maintain relationships with these third-parties;
•the availability and costs of components and materials;
•our ability to manufacture our products and successfully engage with a contract manufacturer, including the costs, quality and output associated with any such outsourced manufacturing;
•the timing and costs of the required marketing and promotional efforts;
•the timing and cost of each sale or RaaS subscription;
•whether customers and their employees will adopt the robotic systems offered by us;
•the timing required and success of customer testing of our technology;
•competition, including from established and future competitors;
•our ability to retain existing key management, to attract additional leaders, to integrate recent hires, including RE2’s employees, and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, including engineers, design and production personnel and service technicians;
•the overall strength and stability of domestic and international economies, including the impact of macro-economic conditions such as inflation and interest rates;
•demand for our products;
•regulatory, legislative and political changes; and
•customer requirements and preferences.
Unfavorable changes in any of these or other factors could cause us to fail to meet our operating and financial projections and could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Initial production of commercial units of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, may be delayed beyond our current expectations and therefore initial delivery to customers and receipt of anticipated revenue could be delayed.
We currently expect to begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XT and Sapien 6M by the end of 2022 for delivery to customers in early 2023 and to begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XO in the second half of 2023. However, there are significant risks and challenges that could delay our continued development efforts and initial production of commercial units and therefore initial delivery to customers could be delayed beyond current expectations, including:
•The COVID-19 pandemic and general labor shortages of qualified applicants has affected and is likely to continue to affect our ability to recruit skilled employees to join our team, negatively affecting the development and commercial launch timelines for our products.
•We and our suppliers are currently experiencing increases in the cost of and an interruption in the supply or shortage of materials. Our core products are complex and each contains several thousand components. Difficulty securing components and
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materials has resulted in delays in the development of our Guardian XO product, and could result in further delays in the development of the Guardian XO and/or in delays in the development of our other products. Further, such difficulties could result in delays in our ability to manufacture commercial quantities of our products, which delays could be compounded if components or products require redesign or reengineering. Although we actively take steps to manage our supply chain and attempt to order parts, materials and components sufficiently in advance of when they are needed, many parts and components require significant lead-times to acquire or the lead-times vary or are unpredictable and some could take more than 12 months to acquire.
•Delays in the development of our products due to these challenges also affect discussions with third-party contract manufacturers, as such discussions are more complicated if the units and/or components are undergoing design changes and improvements. For example, we continue to develop the Guardian XO to reduce its weight prior to commercial launch. If we are unable to enter into definitive agreements or are only able to do so on terms that are less commercially favorable to us, our expected contract manufacturing costs could increase and/or we may need to develop our own manufacturing and production capabilities. We have recently conducted an extensive evaluation process with a number of potential contract manufacturing partners and expect to generally outsource manufacturing of our products. However, engaging with a manufacturing partner will likely require significant time, ramp-up, testing and coordination before high-volume production capability by the partner is achieved. While we currently do not anticipate high-volume production by a contract manufacturing partner to be in place until at least the end of 2023, we do expect to engage with a contract manufacturing partner that will produce a high percentage of our products from the commencement of initial commercial production.
Our current estimates for completion of our pre-commercialization development efforts and the commencement of initial production and delivery of commercial units to customers of the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M are dependent on our ability to continue to hire and retain qualified employees and the availability of components on a timely basis. In addition, we have seen a significant increase in personnel and materials costs due to shortages of qualified personnel in the labor market and general inflationary pressures. Geopolitical events, such as the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and responses thereto are also contributing to supply shortages and price increases. Over the past year we have experienced, and we continue to experience, challenges in both of these areas, which have negatively impacted our product development schedules and progress. We expect these challenges to continue and, if they do and if we are unable to effectively mitigate their impact, it is likely that we will be unable to meet our currently expected timelines.
Also, if ongoing product testing demonstrates that the units have not been designed or assembled to deliver the performance, reliability and/or safety that we expect, initial production of commercial units and therefore initial delivery to customers may be delayed as we work to address the deficiencies. For example, we continue to re-design and develop the Guardian XO to reduce its weight and incorporate customer feedback prior to commercial launch while we prioritize the commercialization of the Guardian XT and Sapien 6M as discussed above in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. Delays in the commercial launch of our products will result in a commensurate delay in revenue and profitability. For example, the delay in the commercial launch of the Guardian XO to the second half of 2023 will defer revenue related to Guardian XO sales or RaaS subscriptions previously projected for a particular period to later periods. As a result, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, delays in developing and releasing products with the performance, reliability and/or safety we and our potential customers are expecting could materially harm our reputation and lead potential customers to seek alternative solutions. If we experience further delays in the commercial release of our products, our results of operations and financial condition would be further adversely affected, perhaps materially.
We are dependent on our suppliers, some of which are currently single, sole or limited source suppliers, and any inability of these suppliers to deliver necessary components of our products at the prices, volumes, performance, timing and specifications acceptable to us, could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We have not yet identified all of the suppliers that we are likely to rely on to support any future commercialization of our products.
We rely on third-party suppliers for the provision and development of many of the key components and materials used in our products. We have not yet identified all of the suppliers, contractors and other third parties that we are likely to rely on to support the future commercialization of our products. While we plan to obtain components from multiple sources whenever possible, some of the components used in our products may have to be purchased by us from a single source and some may only be available from a sole source, for example, if we have developed custom components with a supply partner. If our third-party suppliers are unable to supply key components and materials in the required volumes, at the needed times or at acceptable prices, our sales, revenues and profitability will likely be adversely affected and we may not be able to meet our obligations to customers. Our third-party suppliers may also not be able to meet the specifications and performance characteristics required by us, which would impact our ability to achieve our product specifications and performance characteristics as well. Additionally, our third-party suppliers may be unable to obtain required certifications for their products for which we plan to use or provide warranties that are necessary for our solutions. If we are unable to obtain components and materials used in our products from our suppliers, our business would be adversely affected.
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We have less negotiating leverage with suppliers than larger and more established companies and may not be able to obtain favorable pricing and other terms. For example, agreements with suppliers may include terms that are unfavorable to us, such as requirements that we order components and manufacturing units in excess of our demand due to minimum order quantity requirements or minimum price thresholds. While we believe that we may be able to establish alternate supply relationships and can obtain or engineer replacement components for our single source components, we may be unable to do so in time to support our production needs, or at all, or at prices or quality levels that are favorable to us. Further, we may not be able to develop satisfactory alternatives to sole-sourced components. Any inability to find satisfactory alternatives to our single- and sole-sourced component suppliers could affect our costs and component availability and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Moreover, we and our suppliers are currently experiencing increases in the cost of and an interruption in the supply or shortage of materials. We have experienced and are experiencing significant lead-times, delays, costs and quality issues with the supply of our parts, materials and components. It is unclear how long these challenges will remain. Due to the complexity of our products, each unit contains several thousand components. Difficulty securing any components and materials has resulted and could continue to result in delays in the development of the Guardian XO and could result in delays in the development of our other products, which delays could be compounded if components or products require redesign or reengineering, as discussed under Initial production of commercial units of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, may be delayed beyond our current expectations and therefore initial delivery to customers and receipt of anticipated revenue could be delayed. Any sustained supply interruption or shortage or cost increases that result in our products being priced beyond what customers are willing to pay would prevent or delay the commercialization of our products or require us to sell products at a loss until we are able to reduce costs, whether through volume production synergies or otherwise, either of which could materially and negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. For example, as a result of the war in Ukraine it has been very difficult to get parts anodized. We and our suppliers use various materials in our businesses and products, including for example semiconductors, energy storage materials, commodity materials and specialty metal alloys, and the prices for these materials fluctuate. The available supply of some of these materials and components is currently and may continue to be unstable, depending on market conditions and global demand, and could adversely affect our business and operating results. Risks relating to our supply chain also include:
•“Buy American” or other similar requirements that may be imposed on government contractors;
•an increase in the cost, or decrease in the available supply, of semiconductor chips, electrical components, commodity materials and specialty alloys;
•the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic;
•geopolitical and economic events and conditions, such as inflation, labor shortages and war, as well as responses to such events and conditions (e.g., economic sanctions);
•disruption in the supply of lithium-ion batteries due to quality issues, recalls or other factors;
•disruption in global logistics, such as increased rates, constrained capacity and extended shipping delays; and
•fluctuations in the value of any foreign currencies in which manufactured parts, commercial components and related raw material purchases are or may be denominated against the U.S. dollar.
Our business is dependent on the continued supply of lithium-ion battery cells. While we have sourced a supplier of such cells, that supplier is not obligated to provide such cells to us and in any event may not be able or willing to meet all our requirements, especially as we commercialize our products. Any disruption in the supply of battery cells from such suppliers could disrupt production of our products. Furthermore, fluctuations or shortages in raw materials or components and other economic conditions may cause us to experience significant increases in freight charges and material costs. Substantial increases in the prices for our materials, such as those charged by battery cell suppliers, would increase our operating costs, and could reduce our margins if the increased costs cannot be recouped through increased RaaS subscription offering or unit sales prices. Any attempts to increase product prices in response to increased material costs could result in cancellations of orders and reservations and therefore materially and adversely affect our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We have very limited experience commercializing our products and may not be able to do so efficiently or effectively.
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Although we have sold products to individual customers in the past, we have very limited experience commercializing robotic systems at a large scale and may not be able to do so efficiently or effectively. Moreover, commercialization may be delayed due to the challenges discussed under Initial production of commercial units of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, may be delayed beyond our current expectations and therefore initial delivery to customers and receipt of anticipated revenue could be delayed. A key element of our long-term business strategy is the continued growth in sales, marketing, training, customer service and maintenance and servicing operations, including hiring personnel with the necessary experience. Managing and maintaining these operations is expensive and time consuming, and an inability to leverage such an organization effectively or at all could inhibit potential sales or subscriptions and the penetration and adoption of our products into new markets. In addition, certain decisions we make regarding staffing in these areas in our efforts to maintain an adequate spending level while responsibly managing our financial resources could have unintended negative effects on our revenues, such as by weakening the sales, marketing and maintenance and servicing infrastructures or lowering the quality of customer service.
Our business plans require a significant amount of capital. Our future capital needs may require us to sell additional equity or debt securities that may dilute our stockholders or introduce covenants that may restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends.
We will require significant capital to operate our business and fund our capital expenditures for the next several years. We currently expect to obtain outside financing to help cover production costs for product orders. In addition, although we believe we have sufficient capital to fund our business for at least the next twelve months, we expect to seek additional financing during that time to bolster our cash reserves and ensure our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives. We will need to secure additional financing prior to achieving positive operating cash flows, and we do not anticipate achieving positive operating cash flows through at least 2024. Even after achieving positive operating cash flows, we may need to raise significant amounts of additional capital to fund our business thereafter, including to finance ongoing research and development costs, manufacturing, any significant unplanned or accelerated expenses and new strategic alliances or acquisitions. The fact that we have limited experience commercializing our robotic systems on a large scale, coupled with the fact that our products represent a new product category in the commercial and industrial robotic market, means we have limited to no historical data on the demand for our robotic systems. In addition, we expect our capital expenditures to continue to be significant in the foreseeable future as we complete the designing and testing of and launch our products, and that our level of capital expenditures will be significantly affected by customer demand for our robotic systems. For example, RaaS subscriptions will require us to incur significant upfront expenditures to build our products, but we will only receive revenue over time during the term of the subscription. As a result, our future capital requirements are uncertain and actual capital requirements may be different from those we currently anticipate. We may need to seek equity or debt financing to finance a portion of our capital expenditures, and such financing might not be available to us in a timely manner or on terms that are acceptable, or at all.
Our ability to obtain the necessary financing to carry out our business plan is subject to a number of factors, including general market conditions and investor acceptance of our business model. These factors may make the timing, amount, terms and conditions of such financing unattractive or unavailable to us. If we are unable to raise sufficient funds, we will have to significantly reduce our spending, delay or cancel our planned activities or substantially change our corporate structure. We might not be able to obtain any funding, and might not have sufficient resources to conduct our business as projected, both of which could mean that we would be forced to curtail or discontinue our operations.
In addition, our future capital needs and other business reasons could require us to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities could dilute our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations.
If we cannot raise additional funds when we need or want them, our operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Our core products represent a new product category, and important assumptions about market demand, pricing, adoption rates and sales cycles for our current and future products may be inaccurate.
Our industrial highly-dexterous mobile robotic systems, including our core products the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, are a new product category in markets that are currently dominated by conventional, manual systems and automation. The market demand for and adoption of our products is unproven, and important assumptions about the characteristics of targeted markets (including our estimates of our total addressable market and serviceable obtainable market), pricing (including our analysis of potential customers’ willingness to pay), manufacturing capacity and capabilities and sales cycles (including the timing of achieving commercial sales volumes and associated manufacturing cost synergies) may be inaccurate. Although we have engaged in ongoing dialogue with potential customers, we have no outstanding binding commitments with commercial customers to purchase or to enter into RaaS subscriptions for our core products, the Guardian XO and Guardian XT. While we do have binding commitments with commercial customers to develop and purchase Sapien products, sales volumes under these commitments are relatively limited. Existing or new regulatory or safety standards, or resistance by customer employees and labor unions, all of which are outside of our control, could cause delays or otherwise impair adoption of our products, which could materially and adversely affect our growth, operating results, financial condition
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and prospects. Given the evolving nature of the markets in which we operate, it is difficult to predict customer demand or adoption rates for our products or the future growth of the markets we expect to target. If one or more of the targeted markets experience a shift in customer demand, whether due to new solutions that better address customer needs or otherwise, our products may not compete as effectively, if at all, and they may not be fully developed into commercial products. If demand does not develop as estimated or if we cannot accurately forecast pricing, adoption rates and sales cycle for our products, our business, results of operations and financial condition will be adversely affected, perhaps materially.
With many of our products still under development, we have limited current customers and no binding orders for the upcoming commercial version of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, and expected customer trials and discussions with respect to those products may not result in binding orders or subscriptions.
We currently believe that we will begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XT and the Sapien 6M by the end of 2022 for delivery to customers in early 2023 and begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XO in the second half of 2023. With these core products still under development, we have limited current customers and no binding customer commitments for the commercial version of these products. At present, we have contracts for delivery of pre-production units with U.S. government customers and we also have had and currently have revenue generating contracts with both commercial and U.S. government customers for the development and testing of our Guardian XO and Guardian XT products. Although we have engaged in dialogue with potential customers about their interest in these core products, expected customer trials and discussions may not result in binding purchase orders or RaaS subscriptions. We have limited knowledge of the customer testing that will be required in order for customers to adopt our robotic systems. As such, customer testing may be longer than anticipated by us, and we may not be able to provide such testing to the satisfaction of prospective customers, which could result in longer sales cycles and fewer orders than anticipated. In addition, in order to build and maintain our business, we must maintain confidence among customers, suppliers, analysts, ratings agencies and other parties in our robotic systems, long-term financial viability and business prospects. Maintaining such confidence may be particularly complicated by certain factors including those that are largely outside of our control, such as our limited commercial experience, customer unfamiliarity with our products, any delays in scaling production, ability of manufacturing and service operations to meet demand, competition and uncertainty regarding the future of robotics. If we do not receive a sufficient number of binding purchase orders or RaaS subscriptions for our core products, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.
The benefits of our products to customers and projected return on investment have not been substantiated through long-term trials or use.
Our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, are still under development and their benefits to customers and projected return on investment have not been substantiated through long-term trials or use. We currently have a limited frame of reference by which to evaluate the performance of our robotic systems upon which our business prospects depend, and our products may not provide the expected benefits to customers. Our robotic systems may not perform consistent with customers’ expectations or consistent with other robotics products which may become available. Any failure of our robotic systems and software to perform as expected could harm our reputation and result in adverse publicity, lost revenue, order cancellation, harm to our brand, delivery delays, product recalls, product liability claims and significant warranty and other expenses and could have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Additionally, problems and defects experienced by competitors or others in the robotics market could, by association, have a negative impact on perception and customer demand for our robotic systems.
We may fail to attract or retain customers at sufficient rates or at all.
Our core products are still under development. We have very limited experience commercializing our products and may not be able to do so efficiently or effectively. Although we have engaged in ongoing dialogue with potential future customers, there are currently no binding commitments with commercial customers to purchase or enter into RaaS agreements with respect to our Guardian XO and Guardian XT products. Further, although we have binding commitments with commercial customers to develop and purchase our Sapien products, these commitments are for relatively limited quantities and we will need to grow our sales of our Sapien products. To grow our customer base, we must achieve binding commitments from expected customers and add new customers, which we may not be able to do in sufficient numbers or at all. Even if we are able to attract customers, these customers may not maintain a high level of commitment to our products or purchase our products in large volumes. In addition, we will incur marketing, sales or other expenses, including referral fees, to attract new customers, which will offset revenues from such customers. For these and other reasons, we could fail to achieve revenue growth, which would adversely affect our results of operations, prospects and financial condition.
If customers or their employees do not perceive our product offerings to be of value or to be easy and comfortable to use, we may not be able to attract and retain customers and customers may fail to purchase additional units or renew their RaaS subscriptions. If our efforts to satisfy and retain our existing customers are not successful, we may not be able to attract customers, and as a result, our ability to maintain and/or grow our business will be adversely affected. Customers may fail to purchase additional units or cancel their subscription for many reasons, including difficulties by employees in using the products, customers not using the robotic systems
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sufficiently, negative reception by employees or labor unions and customer service or maintenance and servicing issues that are not satisfactorily resolved. Customer retention will also be largely dependent on the quality and effectiveness of our customer service and maintenance and servicing operations, which may be handled internally by our personnel and also by third-party service providers. Outsourcing of certain customer service and claims administration or maintenance and servicing functions may reduce our ability to ensure consistency in our overall customer service processes. If we are unable to successfully retain existing customers and attract new customers and achieve volume sales of our products, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be materially and adversely affected.
Even if we successfully market our products, the purchase or subscription, adoption and use of the products may be materially and negatively impacted if the employees of our customers resist the use and adoption of the products.
We are designing our robotic systems with the goal of augmenting the workforce to increase productivity and reduce workplace injuries. Even if we successfully market our products to customers, the purchase or subscription, adoption and the use of the products may be materially and negatively impacted if the employees of our customers resist the use and adoption of the products. Customer employees may resist the adoption of our products for several reasons, including lack of instruction on how to safely and effectively use the units, a perception that the benefit of the use of the products does not outweigh the perceived difficulties or discomfort associated with use, resistance by labor unions and workplace injuries resulting from use of the products, among others. We are spending significant time and resources on pre-commercial units of our Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M products for customer testing. If the employees of our customers resist adoption of our robotic systems, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be materially and adversely affected.
Our RaaS subscription model has yet to be tested and may fail to gain commercial acceptance.
The success of our strategy to build recurring revenue streams through our RaaS subscription model depends on our ability to successfully market our products and the benefits to customers of the RaaS subscription model and to successfully develop a network of ongoing customers for our new RaaS revenue model. Investors should be aware of the difficulties normally encountered by a new business model, many of which are beyond our control, including substantial risks and expenses while establishing or entering new markets, setting up operations and undertaking marketing activities. Customers may not perceive benefits to the RaaS subscription model.
Because we will continue to own units while they are used by our RaaS customers, we will be subject to risks associated with ongoing ownership of the units, including the risks of deterioration, damage or theft and higher maintenance and servicing costs, as well as potential product liability risks. All of these could result in higher costs to us, and could lead to customer dissatisfaction. The likelihood of our success must be considered in light of these risks, expenses, complications and delays and the competitive environment in which we operate. There is, therefore, nothing at this time upon which to base an assumption that our RaaS business model will prove successful.
If we are successful in commercializing our products, our revenue will be concentrated in a limited number of models for the foreseeable future.
If we are successful in commercializing our products, our revenue will be concentrated in a limited number of models for the foreseeable future. We currently believe that we will begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XT and Sapien 6M by the end of 2022 for delivery to customers in early 2023 and begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XO in the second half of 2023. Such timeline may be delayed, including due to challenges in recruiting skilled employees, difficulties in securing components and materials, development delays, difficulties relating to manufacturing of the units and other factors. See Initial production of commercial units of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, may be delayed beyond our current expectations and therefore initial delivery to customers and receipt of anticipated revenue could be delayed. Such challenges may result in delay of the anticipated commercial launch of one or more of our core products, which would adversely affect our financial and operating results. Further, although we have expanded our product offering through the acquisition of RE2 and its Sapien products, we expect that our revenue will still be concentrated in a relatively limited number of models for the foreseeable future, and we will need to continue to develop the Sapien products and expand the customer base for these products to diversify our revenues and customers. To the extent our products do not meet customer expectations, or cannot be completed or manufactured on their projected timelines and in line with cost and volume targets, our future sales and operating results may be adversely affected. Given that for the foreseeable future our business will depend on a limited number of models, both before and after we begin commercial sales of our Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien products, to the extent a particular model is not well-received by the market, our sales volumes and revenues would likely be materially and adversely affected, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We may not be able to complete or enhance our product offerings through our research and development efforts.
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In order to commence initial production of commercial units of our core products, we will need to complete our development efforts. We will also likely need to continue to advance and evolve our products in response to the evolving demands of our customers in the various industries we expect to serve. We currently believe that we will begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XT and the Sapien 6M by the end of 2022 for delivery to customers in early 2023, and begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XO in the second half of 2023. Further, the other models forming our Sapien product line are in various stages of development and commercialization. We will incur significant additional product development efforts and expenses, and we may not be successful in commercializing or marketing our core products at all or within our currently expected timelines.
In addition, notwithstanding our market research efforts, our current and future products may not be accepted by customers or their employees. The success of any proposed product offerings will depend on numerous factors, including our ability to:
•attract, recruit and retain qualified personnel, including engineers, design and production personnel and service technicians;
•identify the preferred product features in multiple industries, such as aerospace, automotive, logistics, defense, oil and gas, power and utilities, construction and manufacturing, and successfully incorporate those features into our products;
•develop and introduce proposed products in sufficient quantities and in a timely manner;
•adequately protect our intellectual property and avoid infringing upon the intellectual property rights of third parties; and
•demonstrate the productivity, efficacy and safety benefits of our products.
We have managed and expect to continue to manage our product development efforts through the development of alpha units, beta units and commercial units, though we also make iterative improvements throughout the development process. If we fail to adequately communicate to customers product improvements throughout the development process, or if customer feedback is not adequately reflected in our product improvements, customers may not be persuaded of the value of our products. If we fail to generate demand by developing products that incorporate features desired by customers or their employees, we may fail to generate revenues sufficient to achieve or maintain profitability. We have in the past experienced, are experiencing and may in the future experience, delays in various phases of product development, including during research and development, manufacturing, limited release testing, marketing and customer education efforts. Further, delays in product development would postpone demonstrations and customer testing, which are important opportunities for customer engagement, and cause us to miss expected timelines. Such delays could cause customers to delay or forgo purchases of or subscriptions to our products, or to purchase or subscribe for competitors’ products. Even if we are able to successfully develop our products when anticipated, we may not produce sales in excess of the costs of development, and our products may be quickly rendered obsolete by changing customer preferences or the introduction by competitors of products embodying new technologies or features. If we are unable to successfully manage our product development and communications with customers, customers may choose to not adopt, to cancel or to not renew RaaS subscriptions, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The benefits to customers of our products could be supplanted by other technologies or solutions or competitors' products that utilize similar technology to ours in a more effective way.
The benefits to customers of our products could be supplanted by other technologies or solutions (such as industrial automation) or competitors' products that utilize similar technology to ours (such as artificial intelligence) in a more effective way. Although we believe that by seeking to augment, rather than replace, humans for jobs that cannot be or are not practical to be automated, our products will be superior to the artificial intelligence and industrial automation products currently available, we cannot be sure that alternative technologies or improvements to artificial intelligence, industrial automation or other technologies, processes or industries will not match or exceed the benefits introduced by our products or be more cost effective than our products. The development of any alternative technology that can compete with or supplant our products may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results, including in ways we do not currently anticipate. Any failure by us to develop new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could materially delay our development and introduction of new and enhanced products, which could result in the loss of competitiveness of our robotic systems, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. Our research and development efforts may not be sufficient to adapt to new or changing technologies. While we plan to upgrade and adapt our robotic systems as we or others develop new technology, our robotic systems may not compete effectively with alternative products if we are not able to source and integrate the latest technology into our units.
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Design flaws, defects, glitches or malfunctions in our products or the software that operates them, failure of our products to perform as expected, connectivity issues or user errors can result in product recalls, lower than expected return on investment for customers, harm to users and significant safety concerns, each of which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition or reputation.
The design, manufacture and marketing of our products involve certain inherent risks. Manufacturing or design defects, glitches, malfunctions, connectivity issues between the central processing unit and the robotic system, unanticipated use of our robotic systems, user errors or inadequate disclosure of risks relating to the use of the robotic systems, among others, can lead to injury, property damage or other adverse events. For example, the absence of redundant sub-systems in the Guardian XO could result in injury to person or property if a sub-system fails while the robot is in use. We conduct extensive testing of our units, in some instances in collaboration with our customers, to ensure that any such issues can be identified and addressed in advance of commercial launch of the products. However, we may not be able to identify all such issues or that, if identified, efforts to address them may not be effective in all cases, and our product testing may not be adequate. Injuries to users have occurred during the testing of our products. In each case, we conducted thorough investigations to identify the cause or causes of each incident and, when appropriate, implemented changes to testing protocols or to the units to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. However, any implemented improvements may not fully prevent similar or other incidents in the future. Users of the Guardian XO will be wearing the unit while it is in use, which could worsen the consequences of an accident. Moreover, because of the size and weight of the units, and the nature and variability of the environments in which we expect our products to be used, such as manufacturing and assembly lines, construction, field service and warehouses for the Guardian XO and hazardous environments and at-height for the Guardian XT, adverse events relating to the use of our products could include significant injuries or even death. To the extent that design defects, glitches, malfunctions or connectivity issues between the central processing unit and the robotic system are discovered during or after the production of pre-commercial and/or commercial units, we will experience delays in the initial production and/or continued production of our commercial products while the issues are resolved. If the issues cannot be adequately resolved, production of commercial units may not occur and/or resume.
Although we are designing the Guardian XO to include important safety features and accommodate customer-specialized protective gear and fall-prevention devices, we may not be able to successfully incorporate sufficient redundancy or other safety features to avoid injuries in the commercial products.
In addition, we may not be aware of manufacturing defects until injury to person or property has occurred. Such adverse events could lead to recalls or safety alerts relating to our products (either voluntary or required by governmental authorities), and could result, in certain cases, in the removal of our products from the market. A recall could result in significant costs. To the extent any manufacturing defect occurs, and such products are manufactured for us by third parties, our agreement with the third-party manufacturer may contain a limitation on the third-party manufacturer’s liability, and therefore we could be required to incur the majority of related costs. Product defects or recalls could also result in negative publicity, damage to our reputation or, in the event of regulatory developments, delays in new product approvals.
Our products incorporate sophisticated computer software and firmware. Complex software and firmware frequently contain errors, especially when first introduced. Our software and/or firmware may experience errors or performance problems in the future. If any part of our products’ hardware or software were to fail, the user could experience serious injury or even death. Additionally, users may not use our products in accordance with safety protocols and training, which could amplify the risk of death or injury. Customers and users also may fail to install updates and fixes to the software for several reasons including poor connectivity, inattention or failure to regularly dock Guardian XO units. Any such occurrence could cause delay in market acceptance of our products, damage to our reputation, product recalls, increased service and warranty costs, product liability claims and loss of revenue.
We anticipate that in the ordinary course of business we may be subject to product liability claims alleging defects in the design or manufacture of our products. A product liability claim, regardless of its merit or eventual outcome, could result in significant legal defense costs and high punitive damage payments, damage to our reputation or require significant costs to redesign or fix our products. Although we maintain product liability insurance, the coverage is subject to deductibles and limitations, and may not be adequate to cover future claims. Additionally, we may be unable to maintain our existing product liability insurance in the future at satisfactory rates or adequate amounts.
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Even if our products perform properly and are used as intended, if users sustain any injuries while operating our products, we could be exposed to liability and our results of operations, financial condition and our reputation may be adversely affected.
Our products contain complex technology and must be used as designed and intended in order to operate safely and effectively. For example, we are developing the Guardian XT unit as an augmented or mixed reality-enabled highly-dexterous teleoperated robotic system to perform intricate and even dangerous tasks. We expect that users will control the unit at a distance by utilizing augmented reality teleoperation. While we expect to develop training, customer service and maintenance and servicing infrastructure to ensure users are equipped to operate our products in a safe manner, we cannot be sure that the products will ultimately be used as designed and intended. In addition, we cannot be sure that we will be able to predict all the ways in which use or misuse of the products can lead to injury or damage to property, and our training resources may not be successful at preventing all incidents. If users were to sustain injuries or cause damage to property while operating our products, in a manner consistent with our training and instructions or otherwise, we could be exposed to liability and our results of operations, financial condition and our reputation may be adversely affected.
We have no experience maintaining or servicing our products at a large scale.
Under the RaaS subscription model, we will be responsible for maintenance and servicing of the units. However, we have no experience providing maintenance and servicing at a large scale. We may elect to partner with one or more third parties to perform some or all of the servicing and maintenance on our products, but we may not be able to enter into an acceptable arrangement with any such third-party provider. Although such servicing partners may have experience in servicing complex machinery, they will initially have limited experience in servicing our robotic systems. If we are unable or elect not to enter into a partnership with third parties to perform maintenance and servicing, we would be required to provide such services directly, which would significantly increase our capital expenditures and personnel costs. We would also be required to recruit and train employees to provide these services and we may not be able to attract persons with the necessary knowledge or experience to provide these services. Delays in implementing a maintenance and servicing infrastructure may significantly delay new RaaS subscriptions due to smaller than expected maintenance and servicing capacity.
In addition, our service and maintenance arrangements may not adequately address the service and maintenance requirements of our customers to their satisfaction, and we and our servicing partners may not have sufficient resources, experience or inventory to meet these service requirements in a timely manner as the volume of robotic systems we deliver increases. Even if we and our servicing partners have the resources and experience needed, we and our servicing partners still may not adequately service or maintain the units. If we are unable to, directly or through third-party partners, roll out and establish a widespread service network, including on-site services, customer satisfaction could be adversely affected, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our reputation and thus our sales, results of operations and prospects.
Our customers will also depend on our customer support team to resolve technical and operational issues relating to the integrated software underlying our robotic systems. In addition, the RaaS subscription model will require us to cover costs relating to servicing and maintenance of the robotic systems. Customer behavior and usage may result in higher-than-expected maintenance and repair costs. Moreover, if RaaS customers do not pay the subscription fee while the units are out of service, there could be an adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.
As we continue to grow, additional pressure may be placed on our customer support team or partners, and we may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for technical support. We also may be unable to modify the future scope and delivery of our technical support to compete with changes in the technical support provided by our competitors. Increased customer demand for support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and negatively affect our operating results. If we are unable to successfully address the service requirements of our customers or we establish a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, we may be subject to claims from our customers, including loss of revenue or damages, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.
Our ability to develop and manufacture products of sufficient quality on schedule and on a large scale is unproven, and delays in the design, production and launch of our products could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our future business depends in large part on our ability to execute our plans to design, develop, manufacture, market, deploy and service our products. We intend to outsource the manufacturing of our robotic systems to a third-party manufacturing partner, which would reduce our direct control over production and manufacturing. Such diminished control may have an adverse effect on the quality or quantity of our units, or our flexibility to respond to changing conditions. In addition, engaging a third-party manufacturer involves significant time, ramp-up, testing and coordination before high-volume production capability by the partner is achieved. While we currently do not anticipate high-volume production by a contract manufacturing partner to be in place until at least the end of 2023, we do expect to engage with a contract manufacturing partner that will produce a high percentage of our products from the commencement of initial commercial production.
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We also plan to retain third-party vendors and service providers to engineer, design and test some of the critical systems and components of our units. While this allows us to draw from such third parties’ industry knowledge and expertise, such systems and components may not be successfully developed to our specifications or delivered in a timely manner to meet our program timing requirements.
Our continued development and manufacturing of our products are and will be subject to risks, including with respect to:
•delays or disruptions in our supply chain, or the need to order supplies in excess of demand due to minimum quantity requirements or price thresholds;
•costs to be incurred by us and/or any third-party manufacturing partner or partners in meeting our specifications and design tolerances;
•the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or other pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks;
•hiring and retaining a sufficient number of qualified employees (we have historically been understaffed due to these challenges);
•long- and short-term durability of our robotic systems to withstand day-to-day wear and tear;
•delays in delivery of final systems and components by our suppliers;
•manufacturing of robotic systems units in excess of demand due to contractual requirements or unexpected changes in demand;
•shifts in demand for our products or new product feature requirements;
•quality controls, particularly as we plan to expand our production capabilities;
•the impact of national or global economic or political conditions, including inflation and interest rates;
•work stoppages, labor strikes and other labor disputes affecting us or our suppliers, third-party manufacturers and other partners; and
•other delays and cost overruns.
We are or may be subject to risks associated with strategic alliances or acquisitions and may not be able to identify adequate strategic relationship opportunities, or form strategic relationships, in the future.
We may seek to enter into strategic alliances, joint ventures, minority equity investments, acquisitions, collaborations and in-license arrangements. There is no guarantee that any of these partnerships or acquisitions would lead to any binding agreements or lasting or successful business relationships with third parties or that any of the other anticipated benefits will be achieved. If any of these relationships are established, they may subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, non-performance by the third-party and increased expenses in establishing new relationships, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business. We may have limited ability to monitor or control the actions of these third parties and, to the extent any of these strategic partners suffers negative publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with any such third-party.
We expect that strategic business relationships will be an important factor in the growth and success of our business. However, we may not be able to identify or secure suitable business relationship opportunities in the future or our competitors may capitalize on such opportunities before we do. Moreover, identifying such opportunities could require substantial management time and resources, and negotiating and financing relationships involves significant costs and uncertainties. If we are unable to successfully source and execute on strategic relationship opportunities in the future, our overall growth could be impaired, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected.
When appropriate opportunities arise, we have in the past, and may in the future acquire additional assets, products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our existing business. From time to time, the sellers of these assets, products and technologies or businesses may retain certain rights to the technology that they sell to us, which in some circumstances could allow the sellers to compete with us. In addition to possible stockholder approval, we may need approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for acquisitions and to comply with any applicable laws and regulations, which could result in delays and costs, and may disrupt our business strategy if we fail to do so. Furthermore, acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could
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have an adverse effect on our operations and financial results. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant.
We are highly dependent on the services of our senior management and other key employees and, if we are unable to attract and retain a sufficient number of qualified employees, our ability to design, manufacture and launch our products, operate our business and compete could be harmed.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to retain our key personnel. The unexpected loss of or failure to retain one or more of our senior managers or other key employees could delay product development and require outsourcing to third parties, each of which in turn could adversely affect our business. Our success also depends, in part, on our continuing ability to identify, hire, attract, train and develop other highly qualified personnel. Experienced and highly skilled employees are in high demand and competition for these employees can be intense, and our ability to hire, attract and retain them depends on our ability to provide competitive compensation. We may not be able to attract, assimilate, develop or retain qualified personnel in the future, and our failure to do so could adversely affect our business, including the execution of our strategy. Our headquarters are in Salt Lake City, Utah, which has fewer highly skilled employees in the robotics field than other major metropolitan areas. To attract and retain key personnel, we may need to open offices in other areas of the country, which could increase costs and reduce productivity. As a result of our acquisition of RE2, a significant number of our employees are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As an organization, we do not have meaningful experience managing two large facilities and employee bases in different geographies and across different time zones. Any failure by our management team and our employees to perform as expected may have a material adverse effect on our ability to design, manufacture and launch our products or to operate our business and compete, as well as on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our management as a group has limited experience in operating a publicly-traded company.
Although some members of our management have public company experience, our management team may not successfully or effectively manage its transition to operating as a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws. Our executive officers as a group have limited experience in the management of a publicly-traded company. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of our company. We will need to recruit additional persons to join our management team in order to handle the increased demands of running a public company, but our efforts may not be successful. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal control over financial reporting required of public companies. Any failure by our management team to effectively and efficiently meet our obligations as a publicly-traded company could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results and/or result in legal liability or other negative consequences.
We incur significant expenses and administrative burdens as a publicly-traded company, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
As a publicly-traded company, we are incurring legal, accounting and other expenses that we previously did not have, and these expenses may increase even more as we continue to implement and strengthen controls, processes and systems and to hire related personnel and after we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act. We are subject to reporting and other requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as well as rules adopted by the SEC and Nasdaq. Our management and other personnel will be devoting a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. We have expanded our employee base and we will need to hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company, which will increase our operating costs in future periods. Moreover, these rules and regulations have substantially increased our legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time-consuming and costly. These increased costs have increased our net loss. For example, it has been more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we have incurred substantially higher costs to obtain appropriate coverage than we incurred as a private company. We cannot accurately predict or estimate the amount or timing of all the additional costs we may incur. The impact of being a public company could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers. Such increased expenses and administrative burdens involved in operating as a public company could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
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Ongoing impacts from COVID-19 or another pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease may materially and adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business, and it, as well as other possible health pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks, may materially and adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results in the future. Our engineering and product development operations, among others, cannot all be conducted in a remote working structure and often require on-site access to materials and equipment. We have customers with international operations in varying industries. We also depend on suppliers and manufacturers worldwide. We are currently experiencing disruptions in our supply chain, as discussed in “—We are dependent on our suppliers, some of which are currently single, sole or limited source suppliers, and the inability of these suppliers to deliver necessary components of our products at the prices and volumes, performance, timing and specifications acceptable to us, could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We have not yet identified all of the suppliers that we are likely to rely on to support any future commercialization of our core products.” Depending upon the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the associated business interruptions, which may linger for some time even if significant health risks abate, our customers, suppliers, manufacturers and partners may suspend or delay their engagement with us, which could result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition and ability to meet current timelines. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect our ability to recruit skilled employees to join our team and to meet our product development timelines. Our response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing impacts on our supply chain and business activities may prove to be inadequate, and we may be unable to continue our operations in the manner we had prior to the outbreak and may endure interruptions, reputational harm and delays in our product development and shipments, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, we cannot assure you as to the timing of any economic recovery or return to normal supply chain conditions, which could continue to have a material adverse effect on our target markets and our business.
We may become subject to new or changing governmental regulations relating to the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, servicing or use of our products, and a failure to comply with such regulations could lead to withdrawal or recall of our products from the market, delay our projected revenues, increase costs or make our business unviable if we are unable to modify our products to comply.
We may become subject to new or changing international, national, state and local regulations, including laws relating to the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, servicing or use of our products. Such laws and regulations may require us to pause sales and modify our products, which would likely result in a material adverse effect on our revenues and financial condition, especially if implemented on a large scale or in a key market. Such laws and regulations can also give rise to liability, such as fines and penalties or for property damage, bodily injury and cleanup costs. Capital and operating expenses needed to comply with laws and regulations can be significant, and violations may result in substantial fines and penalties, third-party damages, suspension of production or a cessation of our operations. Any failure to comply with such laws or regulations could lead to withdrawal or recall of our products from the market.
We may experience significant delays in the design, development, production and launch of our robotic systems, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, are still in the development and testing phase. We currently believe that we will begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XT and Sapien 6M by the end of 2022 for delivery to customers in early 2023, and begin initial production of commercial units of the Guardian XO in the second half of 2023. However, these events may occur later or not at all and therefore delivery of our various products to customers could be beyond these estimated dates. Such timelines may be delayed, including due to challenges in recruiting skilled employees, difficulties in securing components and materials, design and development delays, difficulties relating to manufacturing of the units and other factors discussed under Initial production of commercial units of our core products, the Guardian XO, Guardian XT and Sapien 6M, may be delayed beyond our current expectations and therefore initial delivery to customers and receipt of anticipated revenue could be delayed. Any delay in the design, development, production and release of our products could materially damage our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We may experience delays in the design, development, production and release of new products, including due to integration, safety and performance issues. To the extent we delay the commercial launch of our robotic systems, our growth prospects and operating results will likely be adversely affected.
We have no experience to date in high volume manufacture of our products, nor do we have the facility, employees or equipment needed to manufacture our products in high volumes.
We intend to enter into contracts with one or more third-party manufacturers to produce our robotic systems. Our future third-party manufacturers may not be able to develop efficient, automated, low-cost production capabilities and processes and reliable sources of component supply to enable us to meet the quality, price, engineering, design and production standards, as well as the production volumes, required to successfully mass market our robotic systems. Even if we and our third-party manufacturers are successful in
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developing high-volume production capability and processes and reliably sourcing components, we may not be able to avoid significant delays and cost overruns, including as a result of factors beyond our control such as problems with suppliers and vendors or force majeure events, meet our unit commercialization schedules or satisfy customer requirements. We have recently conducted an extensive evaluation process with a number of potential contract manufacturing partners and expect to generally outsource manufacturing of our products. However, engaging with a manufacturing partner will likely require significant time, ramp-up, testing and coordination before high-volume production capability by the partner is achieved. While we currently do not anticipate high-volume production by a contract manufacturing partner to be in place until at least the end of 2023, we do expect to engage with a contract manufacturing partner that will produce a high percentage of our products from the commencement of initial commercial production. We expect that in 2023 we will have the internal capability to manufacture a total of between 300 – 500 units of a combination of Guardian XT, Guardian XO, Sapien 6M, and our existing commercial products, depending on the mix. However, we do not believe that will use all of that capacity in 2023, especially after engaging a contract manufacturing partner.
If we are unable to enter into agreements with third-party manufacturers on acceptable terms, we will need to develop our own manufacturing and production capabilities, significantly increasing our capital expenditures and delaying production of our robotic systems. If this were to occur, we would need to raise or borrow additional money, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all, and possibly change our product pricing expectations, which could adversely affect our margins and cash flows.
Any failure to develop production processes and capabilities within our projected costs and timelines could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The period of time from initial design of our products to obtaining binding purchase commitments from customers is long and we are subject to the risk that customers who initially expressed an interest in our products during the design phase will not enter into binding commitments.
Our products contain complex technology that requires multiple years of engineering and design. Therefore, the period of time from initial design of our products to obtaining binding purchase commitments from customers is long and we are subject to the risk that customers who initially expressed an interest in our products during the design phase will not enter into binding commitments. The design of our products is significantly influenced by feedback from potential customers and reflects the needs they express. Further, some of our products have been designed to meet the specific use-cases of a particular customer. As a result, adapting our products to other industries or customers may require additional design, development, testing, work and expenses. We may not be able to adapt our products to reflect such feedback successfully or at all. If customers who initially express an interest in our proposed products and influenced their design ultimately do not enter into binding commitments to purchase or enter into RaaS subscriptions for our products, or if they adopt a competitors’ technology, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results would be adversely affected.
Our ability to control costs and liability is dependent on developing sufficient screening criteria for our RaaS customers.
Our ability to realize revenue and reduce liability related to our RaaS subscription model is heavily dependent on our ability to effectively screen customers for high-risk activities or environments that could result in higher costs for us. We have limited experience with our RaaS subscription model and may not be able to develop effective customer screening criteria. We may need to rely on third-party service providers to develop effective screening criteria, which will result in additional cost to us. Our screening criteria may also need to be adjusted over time to satisfy requirements under applicable law or from our insurers, lenders or other third-party service providers. We must balance the need to develop effective screening criteria with our need to attract new customers or market to different industry segments.
Our business and prospects depend significantly on our ability to build our brands. We may not succeed in continuing to establish, maintain and strengthen our brands, and our brands and reputation could be harmed by negative publicity regarding us or our products.
Our business and prospects are heavily dependent on our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen our brands. If we do not continue to establish, maintain and strengthen our brands, we may lose the opportunity to build a critical mass of customers. Promoting and positioning our brands will likely depend significantly on our ability to provide high quality products and engage with our customers as intended. In addition, our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen our brands may depend on the acceptance of our products by employees of our customers. To promote our brands, we may be required to change or expand our customer development and branding practices, which could result in substantially increased expenses. If we do not develop and maintain strong brands, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be materially and adversely impacted.
In addition, if safety incidents occur or are perceived to have occurred, whether or not such incidents are our fault, we could be subject to adverse publicity or resistance by employees of our customers or labor unions. In particular, given the popularity of social media, any negative publicity, whether true or not, could quickly proliferate and harm perceptions and confidence in our brands. Furthermore, there is the risk of potential adverse publicity related to our manufacturing or other partners whether or not such publicity is related to their
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collaboration with us. Our ability to successfully position our brands could also be adversely affected by perceptions about the quality of our competitors’ products.
Our expected transition to an outsourced manufacturing business model may not be successful, which could harm our ability to deliver products and recognize revenue.
We intend to transition from a manufacturing model in which we primarily manufacture and assemble our products at a smaller scale at our facilities, to one where we rely on one or more third-party manufacturers. We are in discussions with third parties to provide contract manufacturing of our products; however, such discussions are more complicated because many of our products are still undergoing design changes and improvements. Moreover, we may not be able to contract with potential counterparties on commercially reasonable terms or at all. We believe the use of third-party manufacturers will have benefits, but in the near term, while we are beginning manufacturing with one or more new partners, we may incur delays, lost revenue and increased costs. Engaging a third-party manufacturer involves significant time, ramp-up, testing and coordination before high-volume production capability by the partner is achieved. While we currently do not anticipate high-volume production by a contract manufacturing partner to be in place until at least the end of 2023, we do expect to engage with a contract manufacturing partner that will produce a high percentage of our products from the commencement of initial commercial production.
Reliance on third-party manufacturers reduces our control over the manufacturing process, including reduced control over quality, product costs and product supply and timing. We may experience delays in shipments or issues concerning product quality from our third-party manufacturers. If any of our third-party manufacturers experience interruptions, delays or disruptions in supplying our products, including by natural disasters, the global COVID-19 pandemic, other health epidemics and outbreaks, geopolitical events, work stoppages or capacity constraints, our ability to ship products to distributors and customers would be delayed. In addition, unfavorable economic conditions could result in financial distress among third-party manufacturers upon which we rely, thereby increasing the risk of disruption of supplies necessary to fulfill our production requirements and meet customer demands. While we take measures to protect our trade secrets, the use of third-party manufacturers may also risk disclosure of our innovative and proprietary technologies, which could adversely affect our business.
Additionally, if any of our future third-party manufacturers experience quality control problems in their manufacturing operations and our products do not meet customer requirements, we could be required to recall the units or cover the cost of repair or replacement of any defective products. These delays or product quality issues could have an immediate and material adverse effect on our ability to fulfill orders and on our operating results. In addition, such delays or issues with product quality could adversely affect our reputation and our relationship with our customers.
If any third-party manufacturers experience financial, operational, manufacturing capacity or other difficulties, or experience shortages in required components, or if they are otherwise unable or unwilling to continue to manufacture our products in required volumes or at all, our supply may be disrupted, we may be required to seek alternate manufacturers and we may be required to re-design our products. It would be time-consuming, and could be costly and impracticable, to begin to use new manufacturers and designs, and such changes could cause significant interruptions in supply and could have an adverse effect on our ability to meet our scheduled product deliveries and may subsequently lead to the loss of sales.
If we are unable to contract with a third-party manufacturing partner, we would need to develop our own manufacturing facilities, which may not be feasible and, if feasible, would significantly increase our capital expenditures and operating expenditures, and would significantly delay or inhibit production of our robotic systems.
We do not have a definitive agreement with a third-party manufacturing partner to commercially manufacture our robotic systems and we may be unable to enter into such agreements with third-party manufacturing partners and other key suppliers for manufacturing on terms and conditions acceptable to us. Although discussions are continuing with potential counterparties, such discussions are more complicated because many of our products, including the Guardian XO and Guardian XT, are still undergoing design changes and improvements. We may not be able to contract with potential counterparties on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and we may need to use our own facilities for the initial production of commercial units of our products. If we are unable to enter into such definitive agreements or are only able to do so on terms that are less commercially favorable to us, we may be unable to timely identify adequate strategic relationship opportunities, or form strategic relationships, and consequently, we may not be able to fully carry out our business plans. We may not be able to partner with third parties on acceptable terms or at all or establish our own production capacity to meet our needs. The expense and time required to complete any transition and to assure that robotic systems manufactured at facilities of new third-party partners comply with our quality standards and regulatory requirements would likely be greater than currently anticipated. If we need to develop our own manufacturing and production capabilities at our own facilities, which may not be feasible, our capital and operating expenditures would significantly increase and production of our robotic systems would be significantly delayed. We may also need to raise or borrow additional money, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. Further, it may require us to change the anticipated pricing of our RaaS subscription offering, which could adversely affect our margins and cash flows or make it more expensive for our customers, which could negatively affect demand for our products. Any of the foregoing could materially and
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adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on our statements about our production plans or their feasibility in the timeframe anticipated, or at all. We may not be able to implement our business strategy in the timeframe anticipated, or at all.
We may be unable to adequately control the costs associated with our operations.
We will require significant capital to develop and grow our business, including developing and producing our commercial robotic systems and other products, establishing or expanding our design, research and development, production, sales and maintenance and service capabilities and building our brands. We have incurred and expect to continue incurring significant expenses which will impact our profitability, including research and development expenses (including related to developing and commercializing the Guardian XO and Guardian XT and the Sapien line of products), procurement costs, sales, marketing and distribution expenses as we build our brand and market our robotic systems and general and administrative expenses as we scale our operations, identify and commit resources to investigate new areas of demand and incur costs as a public company. Some of the factors that may lead to cost increases are outside of our control, such as national or global geopolitical and economic conditions, including inflation or increases in interest rates. In addition, we may incur significant costs servicing, maintaining and refurbishing our robotic systems, and we expect that the cost to repair and service our robotic systems will increase over time as our robotic systems age. Our ability to become profitable in the future will not only depend on our ability to complete the design and development of our robotic systems to meet projected performance metrics and identify and investigate new areas of demand and successfully market our robotic systems and RaaS subscription model, but also on our ability to sell, whether outright or through subscriptions, our robotic systems at prices needed to achieve sufficient margins and control our costs, including the risks and costs associated with operating, maintaining and financing our robotic systems. If we are unable to efficiently design, develop, manufacture, market, deploy, distribute and service our robotic systems in a cost-effective manner, our margins, profitability and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
We and our suppliers and any manufacturing partners may rely on complex machinery for production, which involves a significant degree of risk and uncertainty in terms of operational performance and costs.
We and our suppliers and any manufacturing partners may rely on complex machinery for the production and assembly of our robotic systems, which will involve a significant degree of uncertainty and risk in terms of operational performance and costs. Our facilities, and those of any third-party manufacturing partners and suppliers, consist or are expected to consist of large-scale machinery combining many components. These components may suffer unexpected malfunctions from time to time and will depend on repairs and spare parts to resume operations, which may not be available when needed. Unexpected malfunctions of these components or machines may significantly affect the intended operational efficiency. Operational performance and costs can be difficult to predict and are often influenced by factors outside of our or any third-party manufacturing partners’ and suppliers’ control, such as scarcity of natural resources, environmental hazards and remediation, costs associated with decommissioning of machines, labor disputes and strikes, difficulty or delays in obtaining governmental permits, damages or defects in electronic systems, industrial accidents, fire, seismic activity and natural disasters. Should operational risks materialize, it may result in the personal injury to or death of workers, the loss of production equipment, damage to production facilities, monetary losses, delays and unanticipated fluctuations in production, environmental damage, administrative fines, increased insurance costs and potential legal liabilities, all which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other calamities, which could significantly disrupt our operations.
Our facilities or operations or those of any third-party manufacturers or suppliers could be adversely affected by events outside of our or their control, such as natural disasters, wars, health epidemics (see - "Ongoing impacts from COVID-19 or another pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease may materially and adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.") and other calamities and force majeure events. Although we have servers that are hosted both onsite and at an offsite location, our backup system does not capture data on a real-time basis and we may be unable to recover certain data in the event of a server failure. Our backup systems may not be adequate to protect us from the effects of fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events. Any of the foregoing events may give rise to interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or the malfunction of software or hardware, as well as adversely affect our ability to provide services.
We currently target many customers that are large businesses with substantial negotiating power, exacting product standards and potentially competitive internal solutions. If we are unable to sell our products to these customers, our prospects and results of operations will be adversely affected.
We expect that many of our potential customers will be large, multinational businesses with substantial negotiating power relative to us and, in some instances, may have internal solutions that are competitive to our products. These large, multinational businesses also have significant development resources, which may allow them to acquire or develop independently, or in partnership with others, competitive technologies. Meeting the technical requirements and securing binding commitments from any of these businesses will require a
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substantial investment of our time and resources. We may be unable to secure binding commitments from these or other businesses or we may be unable to generate meaningful revenue from the sales or subscriptions of our products to these key potential customers. If our products are not selected by these large businesses or if these businesses develop or acquire competitive technology, it will have an adverse effect on our business, which could be material.
We operate in a competitive industry that is subject to rapid technological change, and we expect competition to increase.
The robotics industry is subject to rapid technological change, and we expect competition to increase in the future. Our robotics technology may be unable to keep up with changes in robotics technology or its alternatives and, as a result, our competitiveness may suffer. Developments in alternative technologies may materially and adversely affect our competitiveness in ways we do not currently anticipate. Any failure by us to successfully react to changes or advances in existing technologies could materially harm our competitive position and growth prospects, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our product offerings compete in a broad competitive landscape that includes robotics and automation companies that have both directly competing as well as alternative solutions ranging from exoskeletons, collaborative robots, industrial robots, traditional lift-assist equipment and unmanned robotic vehicles. We also view our competitive landscape to include rivals who have different but unique product lines in the automation space, like ABB Robotics, Siasun Robot & Automation, Teradyne and Berkshire Grey. Also included in our broader competitive landscape are robotic solution suppliers, like Rockwell Automation, Honeywell, Keyence Corporation, COGNEX Corporation and Hexagon AB, who may not have a directly competing product today, but could become competitors through organic or inorganic growth; these companies have existing customer relationships and channels that could enable them to emerge as formidable threats in the future.
A breakdown of the competitive landscape by product area:
•The Guardian XO competes with robotics and automation solutions that help workers with heavy materials handling, heavy lift-and-transport-assist, and overhead assembly type jobs. Principal competitors include Hyundai and Daewoo, who have previously shown powered exoskeleton prototype units, and companies like Cyberdyne, Samsung, Ekso Bionics, Ottobock, Lockheed Martin, SuitX and Levitate who currently sell powered, partial-body exoskeletons or passively-powered, partial-body variants.
•The Guardian XT faces a varied competitive landscape that includes companies like JR West, collaborative robotics companies and automation companies like Teradyne, ABB Robotics, Kuka, Fanuc, Universal Robots, Siasun Robot & Automation, Berkshire Grey, Ready Robotics and OMRON.
•The Sapien product line competes with products of various other companies, in some cases based on specific industry applications, such as Nauticus, SRS and Saab in the underwater solution space; Barrett, Kuka, Kinova and Staubli in the medical device industry; AES, 5B, and Alion Energy in solar construction applications; Vertidrive, Onblasting, Canvas, RB3D, Finish Robotics, Inrotech, and Welbot Technology in the surface preparation space; and BBHS, Juvo Robotics and Kuka in aviation services.
•The Guardian S competes with other ground-based unmanned vehicles offered by companies such as Eddyfi Technologies and Waygate Technologies; it also competes with aerial unmanned vehicle companies, like Flyability, in the oil and gas industry. Other notable adjacent market and other competitors include Gecko Robotics, Teledyne FLIR, ICM, RedZone Robotics, Clearpath Robotics, and Easysight Technology.
These companies have products that are commercially available and in development. We expect some products currently in development to become commercially available in the next few years. In addition, we compete with companies that develop artificial intelligence and industrial automation solutions, such as those offered by Hyundai-Boston Dynamics, Canvas Technology, DroneSense, Intuitive, iRobot, Hahn Robotics, Kuka, Neurala, Ready Robotics, Rethink Robotics and Yaskawa.
Our competitor base may change or expand as we continue to develop and commercialize our robotic systems in the future. These or other competitors may develop new technologies or products that provide superior results to customers or are less expensive than our products. Our technologies and products could be rendered obsolete by such developments.
Our competitors may respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies, undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, have greater financial, marketing, manufacturing and other resources than we do, or may be more successful in attracting potential customers, employees and strategic partners. In addition, potential customers could have long-standing or contractual relationships with competitors. Potential customers may be reluctant to adopt our products, particularly if they compete with or have the potential to
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compete with, or diminish the need/utilization of products or technologies supported through these existing relationships. If we are not able to compete effectively, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be adversely affected.
In addition, because we operate in new and evolving markets, the actions of our competitors could adversely affect our business. Adverse events such as product defects or legal claims with respect to competing or similar products could cause reputational harm to the robotics market as a whole and, accordingly, our business.
Our financial results may vary significantly from period to period due to fluctuations in our operating costs, product demand and other factors.
We expect our period-to-period financial results to vary based on our operating costs and product demand, which we anticipate will fluctuate as the pace at which we continue to design, develop and manufacture new robotic systems, increase production capacity and establish or expand design, research and development, production, sales and service facilities. Additionally, our revenues from period to period may fluctuate as we identify and investigate areas of demand, adjust volumes and add new product derivatives based on market demand and margin opportunities, develop and introduce new robotic systems or introduce existing robotic systems to new markets for the first time, as well as introduce our RaaS subscription model. As a result of these factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our financial results, especially in the short term, are not necessarily meaningful and that these comparisons cannot be relied upon as indicators of future performance. Moreover, our financial results may not meet expectations of equity research analysts, ratings agencies or investors, who may be focused only on quarterly financial results. If any of this occurs, the trading price of our securities could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time, and/or experience significant volatility.
If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Old Sarcos identified certain accounting errors related to its financial statements. As a result, Old Sarcos management concluded that a material weakness existed in its internal control over financial reporting related to the identification and review of technical issues associated with certain unique, unusual and nonstandard transactions within Old Sarcos’ equity process. As a result of this material weakness, Old Sarcos’ management concluded that its internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2020. Management has implemented new measures designed to remediate the previously identified material weakness and has completed the testing necessary to conclude that the material weakness has been remediated as of June 30, 2022.
On April 12, 2021, the Acting Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Acting Chief Accountant of the SEC together issued a statement regarding the accounting and reporting considerations for warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies entitled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies” (the “SEC Statement”). Following the issuance of the SEC Statement, after consultation with its independent registered public accounting firm, Rotor’s management and its audit committee concluded that, in light of the SEC Statement, it was appropriate to restate the previously issued audited balance sheet as of January 20, 2021 (the “Restatement”). As part of such process, Rotor identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting. As of December 31, 2021, management has determined that this material weakness has been remediated as the previously issued financial statements have been restated and we are now accounting for the Private Placement Warrants in accordance with the SEC Statement.
To mitigate the potential for any future material weaknesses, we continue to devote significant effort and resources to the improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact our ability to report our financial condition and results of operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations and could lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could negatively affect the trading price of our common stock. In addition, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. As a result, any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in a material adverse effect on our business and the price of our Common Stock.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of material weaknesses or other deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting.
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As a result of the material weaknesses discussed under “If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results,” the Restatement, the change in accounting for the Private Placement Warrants and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face the potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking U.S. federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the Restatement and previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements.
If we fail to maintain effective systems of disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be adversely affected.
We expect that the requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations of Nasdaq will continue to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly, and place significant strain on personnel, systems and resources.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls, internal control over financial reporting and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we will file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. We are in the process of upgrading our finance and accounting systems to an enterprise system suitable for a publicly-traded company, and a delay could impact our ability or prevent us from timely reporting our operating results, timely filing required reports with the SEC and complying with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for us to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company may require costs greater than expected.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may be inadequate because of changes in conditions of our business or otherwise. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls, or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement, could adversely affect our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal controls also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we are required to include in our periodic reports that we will file with the SEC under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information. See “If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.”
In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we expect to continue to expend significant resources, including accounting-related costs, and provide significant management oversight. Any failure to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase operating costs and could materially and adversely affect our ability to operate our business. If our internal controls are perceived as inadequate or if we are perceived to be unable to produce timely or accurate financial statements, investors may lose confidence in our operating results and the trading price of our securities could decline.
Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an emerging growth company. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our controls are documented, designed or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could have a material and adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We have yet to achieve positive operating cash flow and, given our projected funding needs, our ability to generate positive cash flow is uncertain.
We had negative cash flow from operating activities of $42.1 million and $16.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and negative cash flow from operating activities of $27.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022. We expect to continue to have negative cash flow from operating and investing activities at least through the end of 2024 as we expect to incur research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses and make capital expenditures in our efforts to commercialize our products, increase sales, engage in continuous development work and ramp up operations. Our business also will at times require significant amounts of working capital to build inventory and support the growth of additional products. An inability to
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generate positive cash flow for the near term may adversely affect our ability to raise needed capital for our business on reasonable terms, diminish supplier or customer willingness to enter into transactions with us and have other adverse effects that may decrease our long-term viability. We may not achieve positive cash flow in the near future or at all.
Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited in connection with the Business Combination or other ownership changes.
We have incurred losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and we may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire.
Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Tax Act), as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such net operating loss carryforwards in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act or the CARES Act. Suspensions or other restrictions on the use of net operating losses or tax credits, possibly with retroactive effect, may result in our existing net operating losses or tax credits expiring or otherwise being unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities.
In addition, the net operating loss carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), these U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in the ownership of our company. An “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 of the Code generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of a company’s stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Our ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities may be limited as a result of ownership changes, including changes from the Business Combination or other transactions. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not yet determined the amount of the cumulative change in our ownership resulting from the Business Combination or other transactions, or any resulting limitations on our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes. If we earn taxable income, such limitations could result in increased future income tax liability to us and our future cash flows could be adversely affected. We have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.
We expect to incur substantial research and development costs and devote significant resources to identifying and commercializing new products, which could significantly reduce our profitability and may never result in revenue.
Our future growth depends on penetrating new markets, adapting existing products to new applications and customer requirements and introducing new products that achieve market acceptance. We plan to incur substantial, and potentially increasing, research and development costs as part of our efforts to design, develop, manufacture and commercialize new products and enhance existing products. Our research and development expenses were $13.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022, and $17.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, and our research and development expenses are likely to grow in the future, due in part to our acquisition of RE2 and the Sapien product line. Our research and development program may not produce successful results, and our new products may not achieve market acceptance, create additional revenue or become profitable.
We are subject to evolving laws, regulations, standards, policies and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security laws and regulations, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our reputation, subject us to significant fines and liability or otherwise adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We are subject to or affected by a number of national, state and local laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations and industry standards, that impose certain obligations and restrictions with respect to data privacy and security, and govern our collection, storage, retention, protection, use, processing, transmission, sharing and disclosure of personal information, including that of our employees, customers and others. Many jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such laws may be inconsistent or may change or additional laws may be adopted. In addition, our agreements with certain customers may require us to notify them in the event of a security breach or incident. Such mandatory disclosures are costly and could lead to negative publicity, penalties, fines, litigation and other proceedings or cause our customers 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 or incident.
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The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner. For example, California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective in January 2020. The CCPA establishes a privacy framework for covered businesses, including an expansive definition of personal information and data privacy rights for California residents. The CCPA includes a framework with potentially severe statutory damages and private rights of action. The CCPA requires covered businesses to provide new disclosures to California residents, provide them new ways to opt-out of certain disclosures of personal information, and allow for a new cause of action for data breaches. Additionally, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), was approved by California voters in the November 3, 2020 election. The CPRA creates obligations relating to consumer data beginning on January 1, 2022, with enforcement anticipated to commence on July 1, 2023. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA, potentially resulting in further uncertainty. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. Other states have begun to propose and enact similar laws. For example, Virginia has enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, which will go into effect January 1, 2023, Colorado has enacted the Colorado Privacy Act, which takes effect on July 1, 2023, Utah has enacted the Utah Consumer Privacy Act, which will go into effect on December 31, 2023, and Connecticut has enacted An Act Concerning Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring, which will go into effect on July 1, 2023. The U.S. federal government also is contemplating federal privacy legislation. These laws in Virginia, Colorado, Utah, and Connecticut share similarities with the CCPA, CPRA, and legislation proposed in other states. As we expand our operations, the CCPA, CPRA, and other laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Compliance with any applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to comply with such laws and regulations.
Additionally, as our international presence expands, we may become subject to or face increasing obligations under laws and regulations in countries outside the United States, many of which, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and national laws supplementing the GDPR, as well as legislation substantially implementing the GDPR in the United Kingdom, are significantly more stringent than those currently enforced in the United States. The GDPR requires companies to meet stringent requirements regarding the handling of personal data of individuals located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”). The GDPR also includes significant penalties for noncompliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to the higher of €20 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations. The United Kingdom’s version of the GDPR, which it maintains along with its Data Protection Act, also provides for substantial penalties that, for the most serious violations, can go up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year. Many other jurisdictions globally are considering or have enacted legislation providing for local storage of data or otherwise imposing privacy, data protection and data security obligations in connection with the collection, use and other processing of personal data. As a general matter, compliance with laws, regulations, contractual obligations, industry standards, and any rules or guidance from self-regulatory organizations relating to privacy, data protection, and data security that apply, or are asserted to apply, to our operations may result in substantial costs and may necessitate changes to our business practices, which may compromise our growth strategy, adversely affect our ability to acquire customers, and otherwise adversely affect our business, prospects, results of operations, and financial condition.
We publish privacy policies and other documentation regarding our collection, processing, use and disclosure of personal information and/or other confidential information. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies and other documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to comply with such policies and other actual or asserted legal or contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection or data security. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance, including if our employees, contractors, service providers or vendors fail to comply with our published policies and documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential action by governmental or regulatory authorities if they are found to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices. Any actual or perceived inability to adequately address privacy and security concerns or comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations relating to privacy, data protection or data security, or applicable privacy notices, could lead to investigations, claims and proceedings by governmental entities and private parties, damages for contract breach and other significant costs, penalties or liabilities. Any such claims or other proceedings could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity. Any of the foregoing may have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are subject to cybersecurity risks to our operational systems, security systems, infrastructure, integrated software in our products and data processed by us or third-party vendors.
Our business and operations involve the collection, storage, processing and transmission of personal data and certain other sensitive and proprietary data of collaborators, customers and others. Additionally, we maintain sensitive and proprietary information relating to our business, such as our own proprietary information and personal data relating to our employees. An increasing number of organizations have disclosed breaches of their information security systems and other information security incidents, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks. We have been and may in the future be a target for cybersecurity attacks designed to disrupt our operations or to attempt to gain access to our systems, data processed or maintained in our business, trade secrets or other proprietary information or financial resources. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has increased security risks due to personnel working remotely.
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In addition, the risk of state-supported and geopolitical-related cybersecurity attacks is believed to be heightened in connection with the war in Ukraine and any related political or economic responses and counter-responses.
We are at risk for interruptions, outages and breaches of our: (a) operational systems, including business, financial, accounting, product development, data processing or production processes, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (b) facility security systems, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (c) transmission control modules or other in-product technology, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (d) the integrated software in our units; and (e) customer data that we process or our third-party vendors or suppliers process on our behalf. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage information systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate or prevent these attacks, react in a timely manner or implement adequate preventive measures, and we may face delays in our detection or remediation of, or other responses to, security breaches and other privacy-and security-related incidents. Such incidents could: materially disrupt our operational systems; result in loss of intellectual property, trade secrets or other proprietary or competitively sensitive information; compromise certain information of customers, employees, suppliers or others; jeopardize the security of our facilities; or affect the performance of in-product technology and the integrated software in our units. Certain efforts may be state-sponsored or supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more difficult to detect, remediate and otherwise respond to.
We plan to include product services and functionality that utilize data connectivity to monitor performance and timely capture opportunities to enhance performance and for safety and cost-saving preventative maintenance. The availability and effectiveness of our services depend on the continued operation of information technology and communications systems. Our systems will be vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among others, physical theft, fire, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, power loss, war, telecommunications failures, viruses, denial or degradation of service attacks, ransomware and other malicious code, social engineering schemes, insider theft or misuse or other attempts to harm our systems. We intend to use our product services and functionality to log information about each unit’s use in order to aid us in diagnostics and servicing. Our customers may object to the use of this data, which may require us to implement new or modified data handling policies and mechanisms, increase our unit maintenance costs and costs associated with data processing and handling, and harm our business prospects.
Although we have implemented and are in the process of implementing additional systems and processes that are designed to protect our data and systems within our control, prevent data loss and prevent other security breaches and security incidents, these security measures cannot guarantee security. The IT and infrastructure used in our business may be vulnerable to cyberattacks or security breaches or incidents, and third parties may be able to access data, including personal data and other sensitive and proprietary data of us and our customers, collaborators and partners, our employees’ personal data or other sensitive and proprietary data accessible through those systems, or such data otherwise may be subject to unauthorized use, disclosure, unavailability, modification or other processing. Employee error, malfeasance or other errors in the storage, use or transmission of any of these types of data could result in an actual or perceived privacy or security breach or other security incident.
Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving, expanding and updating our current systems, such as the disruption of our data management, procurement, production execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or manufacture, deploy, deliver and service our units, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, applicable laws, regulations and contracts. We cannot be sure that these systems upon which we rely, including those of our third-party vendors or suppliers, will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be impaired and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information or intellectual property could be compromised or misappropriated and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions.
Any actual or perceived security breach or security incident, or any systems outages or other disruption to systems used in our business, could interrupt our operations, result in loss or improper access to, or acquisition or disclosure of, data or a loss of intellectual property protection, harm our reputation and competitive position, reduce demand for our products, damage our relationships with customers, partners, collaborators or others or result in claims, regulatory investigations and proceedings and significant legal, regulatory and financial exposure, and any such incidents or any perception that our security measures are inadequate could lead to loss of confidence in us and harm to our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any actual or perceived breach of privacy or security, or other security incident, impacting any entities with which we share or disclose data (including, for example, our third-party technology providers) could have similar effects. We expect to incur significant costs in an effort to detect and prevent privacy and security breaches and other privacy- and security-related incidents, and may face increased costs and requirements to expend substantial resources in the event of an actual or perceived privacy or security breach or other incident.
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A substantial portion of our current revenue is generated by sales to government entities, which are subject to a number of uncertainties, challenges and risks.
Sales to government entities are subject to a number of risks. Selling to government entities can be highly competitive, expensive and time-consuming, often requiring significant upfront time and expense without any assurance that these efforts will generate a sale. In the event that we are successful in being awarded a government contract, such award may be subject to appeals, disputes or litigation, including bid protests by unsuccessful bidders. Government demand and payment for our solutions may be impacted by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations, with funding reductions or delays adversely affecting public sector demand for our solutions. Government entities may have statutory, contractual or other legal rights to terminate our contracts for convenience or default. For purchases by the U.S. federal government, the government may require certain products to be manufactured in the United States and other high cost manufacturing locations, and we or any third-party manufacturers may not manufacture all products in locations that meet government requirements, and as a result, our business and results of operations may suffer.
As a government contractor or subcontractor, we must comply with laws, regulations and contractual provisions relating to the formation, administration and performance of government contracts and inclusion on government contract vehicles, which affect how we and our partners do business with government agencies. As a result of actual or perceived noncompliance with government contracting laws, regulations or contractual provisions, we may be subject to non-ordinary course audits and internal investigations which may prove costly to our business financially, divert management time or limit our ability to continue selling our products to our government customers. These laws and regulations may impose other added costs on our business, and failure to comply with these or other applicable regulations and requirements, including non-compliance in the past, could lead to claims for damages, downward contract price adjustments or refund obligations, civil or criminal penalties, termination of contracts and suspension or debarment from government contracting for a period of time with government agencies. Any such damages, penalties, disruption or limitation in our ability to do business with a government would adversely impact, and could have a material adverse effect on, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We are subject to U.S. and foreign anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations of these laws, which can harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (FCPA), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws, including those of other countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, business partners, third-party intermediaries, representatives and agents from authorizing, promising, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to government officials, political candidates, political parties or commercial partners for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing an improper business advantage.
We have direct and indirect interactions with foreign officials, including in furtherance of sales to governmental entities in non-U.S. countries. We sometimes leverage third parties to conduct our business abroad, and our third-party business partners, representatives and agents may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees or these third-parties, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. The FCPA and other applicable laws and regulations also require that we keep accurate books and records and maintain internal controls and compliance procedures designed to prevent any such actions. While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, our employees, business partners, third-party intermediaries, representatives and agents may take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. Our exposure for violating these laws increases as our international presence expands and as we increase sales and operations in foreign jurisdictions.
Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, damages, settlements, prosecution, enforcement actions, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, suspension or debarment from government contracts, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences, any of which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, responding to any investigation or action will likely result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.
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We are subject to governmental export and import controls and laws that could subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with such laws.
Our products are subject to export control, import and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Exports of our robotic systems and technology must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges; fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers; and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers.
Moreover, international sales of certain of our products are subject to U.S. laws, regulations and policies like the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and other export laws and regulations and may be subject to first obtaining licenses, clearances or authorizations from various regulatory entities. If we are not allowed to export our products or the clearance process is burdensome and costly, our ability to generate revenue would be adversely affected.
In addition, changes to our robotic systems, or changes in applicable export control, import or economic sanctions laws and regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our robotic systems and solutions or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our robotic systems to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Compliance with such laws and regulations may also be costly and require time and attention from our management. Any change in export, import or economic sanctions laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations could also result in decreased use of our robotic systems, as well as our decreased ability to export or market our robotic systems to potential customers. Any decreased use of our robotic systems or limitation on our ability to export or market our robotic systems would likely adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our management team has broad discretion in making strategic decisions to execute our growth plans, and our management’s decisions may not be successful in achieving our business objectives or may have unintended consequences that negatively impact our growth prospects.
Our management has broad discretion in making strategic decisions to execute our growth plans and may devote time and company resources to new or expanded solution offerings, potential acquisitions, prospective customers or other initiatives that do not necessarily improve our operating results or contribute to our growth. Management’s failure to make strategic decisions that are ultimately accretive to our growth may result in unfavorable returns and uncertainty about our prospects, each of which could cause the price of our Common Stock to decline.
Risks Related to Our Technology and Intellectual Property
Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain protection for the intellectual property relating to or incorporated into our products.
Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain protection for the intellectual property relating to or incorporated into our products. We seek to protect our intellectual property through a combination of patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, as well as confidentiality and/or intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees and certain of our contractors, consultants, scientific advisors and other vendors and third-parties. In addition, we rely on trade secret law to protect our proprietary software and product candidates/products in development.
Patent positions covering robotic systems and human-augmented robotic systems (e.g., wearable humanoid or exoskeleton robotic systems) inventions can be highly uncertain and involve many new and evolving complex legal, factual and technical issues. Patent laws and interpretations of those laws are subject to change and any such changes may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our right to exclude others. In addition, we may fail to apply for or be unable to obtain patents necessary to protect our technology or products from competition or fail to enforce our patents due to lack of information about the exact use of technology or processes by third parties or for a variety of other reasons. Also, we cannot be sure that any patents will be granted in a timely manner or at all with respect to any of our patent pending applications or that any patents that are granted will be adequate to exclude others for any significant period of time or at all. Given the foregoing, and in order to continue reducing operational expenses in the future, we may invest fewer resources in filing and prosecuting new patents and on maintaining and enforcing various patents, especially in regions where we currently do not focus our market growth strategy.
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Litigation to establish or challenge the validity of patents, or to defend against or assert against others’ infringement, unauthorized use, enforceability or invalidity, can be lengthy and expensive and may result in our patents being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and may restrict our ability to be granted new patents related to our pending patent applications. Even if we prevail, litigation may be time consuming, force us to incur significant costs and divert management’s attention from managing our business while any damages or other remedies awarded to us may not be valuable or adequate. In addition, U.S. patents and patent applications may be subject to interference or derivation proceedings, and U.S. patents may be subject to re-examination and inter partes or post grant review proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Furthermore, our issued patents may be subject to claims of invalidity based on earlier filed patents or published applications not discovered in any patent searches or by the patent offices that carried out examination of the issued patents. Foreign patents may also be subject to opposition or comparable proceedings in corresponding foreign patent offices. Any of these proceedings may be expensive and could result in the loss of a patent or denial of a patent application, or the loss or reduction in the scope of one or more of the claims of a patent or patent application.
In addition, we seek to protect our trade secrets, know-how, and confidential information that is not patentable by entering into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees and certain of our contractors and confidentiality agreements with certain of our consultants, scientific advisors and other vendors and contractors. However, we may fail to enter into the necessary agreements, and even if entered into, these agreements may be breached or otherwise fail to prevent disclosure, third-party infringement or misappropriation of our proprietary information, may be limited as to their term and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure or use of proprietary information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained or is using our trade secrets without authorization may be expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Some of our employees or consultants or service providers may own certain technology which they license to us for a set term. If these technologies are material to our business after the term of the license, our inability to use them could adversely affect our business and profitability.
We also have taken and continue to take precautions to initiate safeguards to protect our information technology systems. However, these measures may not be adequate to safeguard our proprietary information, which could lead to the loss or impairment thereof or to expensive litigation to defend our rights against competitors who may be better funded and have superior resources. In addition, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or reverse engineer certain aspects of our products that we consider proprietary or our proprietary information may otherwise become known or may be independently developed by our competitors or other third parties. If other parties are able to use our proprietary technology or information, our ability to compete in the market could be harmed. Further, unauthorized use of our intellectual property may have occurred, or may occur in the future, without our knowledge.
We also have made efforts to register and enforce our trademark rights. However, trademark law and the associated infringement analysis is complex, and, notwithstanding our efforts to develop and enforce our trademark portfolio, both outgoing and incoming claims of trademark infringement could lead to limitations, loss or impairment of those trademark rights or to expensive litigation to prosecute or defend our trademark rights against third-party infringers who may be better funded and have superior resources.
If we are unable to obtain or maintain adequate protection for our intellectual property, or if any protection is reduced or eliminated, competitors may be able to use our technologies, resulting in harm to our competitive position and our business.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights in all countries.
Filing, prosecuting, maintaining and defending patents and trademarks on each of our products and intellectual property in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming, and thus our intellectual property rights outside the United States are limited. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries, especially developing countries, such as China, do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Also, it may not be possible to effectively enforce intellectual property rights in some countries at all or to the same extent as in the United States and other countries. Consequently, we are unable to prevent third parties from using our inventions in all countries, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in the jurisdictions in which we do not have (or are unable to effectively enforce) patent protection. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where they have not obtained patent protection to develop, market or otherwise commercialize their own products, and we may be unable to prevent those competitors from importing those infringing products into territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement may not be as strong as in the United States. These products may compete with our products and our patents and other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing in those jurisdictions. Moreover, strategic partners, competitors or others may raise legal challenges against our intellectual property rights or may infringe upon our intellectual property rights, including through means that may be difficult to detect or prevent.
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Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in the United States or foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert patent infringement or other claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights in the United States and around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license from third parties.
We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or misappropriation claims, which may be time consuming and expensive and, if adversely determined, could limit our ability to commercialize our products.
Companies operating in the robotics industry may face difficulty enforcing their patent and other intellectual property rights and may become subject to a substantial amount of litigation over these rights. In particular, our competitors in both the United States and abroad, many of which have substantially greater resources than we have and have made substantial investments in competing technologies, have been issued patents and filed patent applications with respect to their products and processes and may apply for other patents in the future. The large number of patents, the rapid rate of new patent issuances and the complexities of the technology involved increase the risk of patent litigation.
Determining whether a product infringes a patent involves complex legal and factual issues and the outcome of patent litigation is often uncertain. No assurance can be given that patents containing claims covering our products, technology or methods do not exist, have not been filed or could not be filed or issued. In addition, because patent applications can take years to issue and because publication schedules for pending applications vary by jurisdiction, there may be applications now pending of which we are unaware and which may result in issued patents that our current or future products infringe. Also, because the claims of published patent applications can change between publication and patent grant, published applications that initially do not appear to be problematic may issue with claims that potentially cover our products, technology or methods. Moreover, there may be pending, published or allowed applications that may disclose, but not claim, subject matter covering our products, technology or methods, where such pending or published applications may be amended, or one or more continuation or divisional applications may be filed, in an attempt to capture, to the extent possible, such products, technology or methods that are in the public domain, and which may result in issued patents that our current or future products infringe.
Infringement actions and other intellectual property claims brought against us, whether with or without merit, may cause us to incur substantial costs and could place a significant strain on our financial resources, divert the attention of management, and harm our reputation. We cannot be certain that we will successfully defend against any allegations of infringement. If we are found to infringe another party’s patents, we could be required to pay damages. We could also be prevented from selling our infringing products, unless we can obtain a license to use the technology covered by such patents or can redesign our products so that they do not infringe. A license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and we may not be able to redesign our products to avoid infringement. In these circumstances, we may not be able to sell our products at competitive prices or at all, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.
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Intellectual property discovered through government funded programs may be subject to federal regulations such as “march-in” rights, certain reporting requirements and a preference for U.S.-based companies. Compliance with such regulations may limit our exclusive rights and limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. manufacturers.
We may develop, acquire, or license intellectual property rights that have been generated through the use of U.S. government funding or grants. Pursuant to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, the U.S. government has certain rights in inventions developed with government funding. These U.S. government rights may include a non-exclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable worldwide license to use inventions for any governmental purpose. In addition, the U.S. government may have the right, under certain limited circumstances, to require us to grant exclusive, partially exclusive, or non-exclusive licenses to any of these inventions to a third party if the U.S. government determines that: (1) adequate steps have not been taken to commercialize the invention; (2) government action is necessary to meet public health or safety needs; or (3) government action is necessary to meet requirements for public use under federal regulations (also referred to as “march-in rights”). Such “march-in” rights would apply to new subject matter arising from the use of such government funding or grants and would not extend to pre-existing subject matter or subject matter arising from funds unrelated to the government funding or grants. If the U.S. government exercised its march-in rights in our future intellectual property rights that are generated through the use of U.S. government funding or grants, we could be forced to license or sublicense intellectual property we developed or that we license on terms unfavorable to us, and there can be no assurance that we would receive compensation from the U.S. government for the exercise of such rights. The U.S. government may also have the right to take title to these inventions if the grant recipient fails to disclose the invention to the government or fails to file an application to register the intellectual property within specified time limits. Intellectual property generated under a government funded program is also subject to certain reporting requirements, compliance with which may require us to expend substantial resources. In addition, the U.S. government requires that any products embodying any of these inventions or produced through the use of any of these inventions be manufactured substantially in the United States. This preference for U.S. industry may be waived by the federal agency that provided the funding if the owner or assignee of the intellectual property can show that reasonable but unsuccessful efforts have been made to grant licenses on similar terms to potential licensees that would be likely to manufacture substantially in the United States or that under the circumstances domestic manufacture is not commercially feasible. This preference for U.S. industry may limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. product manufacturers for products covered by such intellectual property.
We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of our employees’ former employers.
We may be subject to claims that we or our employees have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of an employee’s former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel or be forced to seek a license, which may not be available on commercially acceptable terms or at all. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our products, which could severely harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and demand on management resources.
Risks Related to Ownership of our Common Stock and Warrants
Resales of the shares of Common Stock issued in connection with the Business Combination and our acquisition of RE2 could depress the market price of our Common Stock.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock or Warrants 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 or Warrants.
Common Stock issued to the former securityholders of Old Sarcos (“Old Sarcos Security Holders”) represented approximately 71.2% of our Common Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2022, and are subject to lock-up obligations under our Amended and Restated Bylaws (“Bylaws”) and under lock-up agreements entered into with us (the “Old Sarcos Lock-up Agreements”).
In connection with the entry by us into the RE2 Lock-up Agreements (as described below), a special committee of our board of directors, consisting solely of independent directors who did not hold, and whose affiliates did not hold, shares of capital stock of Sarcos subject to the applicable terms of the Old Sarcos Lock-up Agreements, recommended to the board of directors that the release provisions in the Old Sarcos Lock-up Agreements be reconciled to the release provisions in the RE2 Lock-up Agreements. On April 25, 2022, the board of directors approved an amendment to the Bylaws and to the Old Sarcos Lock-up Agreements to conform the release provisions to the RE2 Lock-up Agreements.
Following the amendment described above, Old Sarcos Security Holders are subject to the following lock-up periods under the Bylaws:
If the Common Stock was issued from the exchange or conversion of shares of Old Sarcos preferred stock, then:
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1.fifty percent (50%) of the Common Stock became transferable at the close of business on March 24, 2022.
2.the remaining fifty percent (50%) of the Common Stock may only be transferred beginning on September 24, 2022.
If the Common Stock was issued from the exchange or conversion of Old Sarcos’ common stock, options, RSAs or RSUs, then:
1. twenty percent (20%) of the Common Stock became transferable at the close of business on March 23, 2022; and
2.the remaining eighty percent (80%) of the Common Stock may only be transferred beginning upon the earlier to occur of (a) such time as we or any of our subsidiaries have delivered to one or more customers at least 20 Guardian XO and/or Guardian XT and/or Sapien commercial units, but in no event prior to the close of business on September 24, 2022 and (b) the close of business on September 24, 2023.
Following the amendment described above, Old Sarcos Security Holders are subject to the following lock-up periods under the Old Sarcos Lock-up Agreements:
If the Common Stock was issued from the exchange or conversion of Old Sarcos preferred stock or warrants, then:
1.fifty percent (50%) of the shares became transferable on March 24, 2022 and
2.the remaining fifty percent (50%) of such shares may only be transferred beginning at the close of business on the one (1) year anniversary of the closing of the Business Combination.
If the Common Stock was issued from the exchange or conversion of Old Sarcos common stock, options, RSAs or RSUs, then:
1.twenty percent (20%) of such securities became transferable on March 23, 2022 and
2.the remaining eighty percent (80%) may only be transferred beginning upon the earlier to occur of (A) delivery to customers of at least twenty Guardian XO and/or Guardian XT and/or Sapien commercial units to customers (but in no event prior to the close of business on the one (1) year anniversary of the date of the Business Combination) and (B) the close of business on the second anniversary of the date of the Business Combination.
Common Stock held by former Old Sarcos Security Holders will be freely tradeable once the remaining applicable lock-up periods expire and such shares are registered for resale under the Securities Act. Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into concurrently with the consummation of the Business Combination by and among our company, Rotor Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”) and certain Old Sarcos Security Holders, we registered the shares of Common Stock subject to the registration rights agreement on a registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on October 15, 2021, as amended by Post-Effective Amendment No. 1, which was declared effective on April 5, 2022.
The Common Stock issued upon conversion of the shares of Rotor Class B Common Stock held by certain stockholders, including the Sponsor (the “Founder Shares”), represented approximately 4.1% of our Common Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2022. The Rotor Restricted Stockholders are subject to certain transfer restrictions with respect to their converted Founder Shares.
1.Common Stock may not be transferred until the earliest of (a) one year after the completion of the Business Combination and (b) upon completion of the Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Business Combination or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction after the Business Combination that results in our stockholders having the right to exchange their Common Stock for cash, securities or other property.
2.Common Stock held by Messrs. Finn and Howard and other members of the Sponsor with an equity interest in Old Sarcos may not be transferred until the earlier of (i) a period of one year following the closing of the Business Combination or (ii) our completion of a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their equity holdings in us for cash, securities or other property.
Common Stock held by the Rotor Restricted Stockholders will be freely tradeable once their applicable lock-up periods expire and such shares are registered by us. Such shares of Common Stock were registered for resale on a registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on October 15, 2021.
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On April 25, 2022, we issued 10.8 million shares of our Common Stock (the “Consideration Shares”), which represented approximately 7.0% of our Common Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2022, and assumed certain outstanding options to acquire RE2 common stock which, following such assumption, represent rights to acquire 3.9 million shares of our Common Stock (the “Assumed Options” and together with the Consideration Shares, the “RE2 Lock-up Shares”) in connection with our acquisition of RE2. RE2 securityholders who were RE2 employees and became our employees on such date received in the aggregate 7.0 million Consideration Shares, in addition to the Assumed Options, and entered into lock-up agreements (the “RE2 Lock-up Agreements”), pursuant to which, among other things, they agreed to the following transfer restrictions:
1.with respect to twenty percent (20%) of such holder’s RE2 Lock-up Shares, such shares may be transferred on the trading day following the date on which the registration statement on Form S-1 for the resale of Consideration Shares is declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission; and
2.with respect to the remaining eighty percent (80%) of such holder’s RE2 Lock-up Shares, such shares may be transferred beginning upon the earlier to occur of (a) such time as we or any of our subsidiaries have delivered to one or more customers at least twenty (20) Guardian XO and/or Guardian XT and/or Sapien commercial units (but in no event prior to the close of business on September 24, 2022) and (b) the close of business on September 24, 2023.
Shares originally issued to PIPE Investors (as defined in Note 1 to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Report) represented approximately 14.2% of our Common Stock outstanding as of June 30, 2022. These shares are not subject to any lock-up or transfer restrictions, and pursuant to the subscription agreements entered into with our predecessor, we were obligated to file with the SEC a registration statement with respect to the resale of such Common Stock no later than 30 days following the consummation of the Business Combination. Shares of Common Stock purchased by the PIPE Investors were registered for resale on a registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC on October 15, 2021, as amended by Post-Effective Amendment No. 1, which was declared effective on April 5, 2022.
The price of our Common Stock could decline due to the large number of shares of our Common Stock subject to employee equity awards.
We have granted and expect to continue to grant equity awards to our directors and employees as additional compensation in an effort to align their interests with those of our stockholders. Because awards granted to certain executive officers and directors may be scheduled to vest during specified points in time, such as expected open trading windows under our insider trading policy, there is a potential that sales of large amounts of our Common Stock may take place during concentrated periods, leading to a decline in the price of our Common Stock.
“Sell-to-cover” transactions are often utilized in connection with the vesting and settlement of equity awards that are granted to our employees so that shares of our Common Stock are sold on behalf of our employees in an amount sufficient to cover the tax withholding obligations associated with these awards. As a result of these transactions, a significant number of shares of our Common Stock may be sold over a limited time period in connection with significant vesting events. We may also settle tax withholding obligations in connection with vesting of awards through “net settlement,” in which we remit cash to satisfy the tax withholding obligation and withhold a number of the vested shares on each vesting date. Depending on the fair value of our Common Stock and the number of awards vesting on any applicable vesting date, such net settlement could require us to expend substantial funds to satisfy tax withholding.
The markets for our Common Stock and Warrants have been volatile and may not continue at all.
Since the Business Combination and the commencement of the trading of our Common Stock and Warrants on the Nasdaq Global Market, the prices of our Common Stock and Warrants have been volatile and may continue to fluctuate significantly due to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our securities may include:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us;
•changes in the market’s expectations about our operating results;
•the public’s reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements and our filings with the SEC;
•speculation in the press or investment community;
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•our operating results failing to meet the expectation of securities analysts or investors in a particular period;
•changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning our company or the market in general;
•operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to us;
•our ability to market, sell and manufacture our products on a timely basis;
•changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;
•commencement of, or involvement in, litigation;
•changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;
•the volume of shares of the Common Stock and Public Warrants available for public sale, including as a result of the release of shares of our Common Stock from lock-up provisions (see – “Resales of the shares of Common Stock issued in connection with the Business Combination and our acquisition of RE2 could depress the market price of our Common Stock.”) or after exercise of any of our Warrants or the exercise or vesting of employee equity awards;
•any major change in our board of directors or management;
•sales of substantial amounts of Common Stock by our directors, officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur;
•the realization of any of the risk factors discussed herein;
•additions or departures of key personnel;
•failure to comply with the Nasdaq listing requirements;
•failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 or other laws or regulations;
•actual, potential or perceived control, accounting or reporting problems;
•changes in accounting principles, policies and guidelines; and
•general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism.
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance or any of the factors listed above. The securities markets in general have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these securities, including our securities, are not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies which investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our securities also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.
Additionally, an active trading market for our securities may not be sustained. If our Common Stock or Warrants become delisted from Nasdaq for any reason and are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board or OTC Pink, an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities that is not a national securities exchange, the liquidity of our Common Stock or Warrants may be more limited and the price of the securities may be lower than if we were quoted or listed on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange. If an active trading market for our securities is not sustained with sufficient trading volume, you may have limited or no ability to sell your securities.
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against companies following periods of volatility in their stock price. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources, and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation.
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If securities or industry analysts cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our Common Stock, then the price and trading volume of our Common Stock could decline.
The trading markets for our Common Stock and Warrants will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If any of the analysts who cover us now or in the future change their recommendation regarding our stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our Common Stock and Public Warrants would likely decline. If any analyst covering our company now or in the future were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause the prices and trading volumes of the Common Stock and Public Warrants to decline.
There is no guarantee that the Public Warrants or Private Placement Warrants will ever be in the money, and they may expire worthless.
The exercise price of our Warrants is higher than is typical with many companies that have merged with similar blank check companies in the past. Historically, with regard to units offered by blank check companies, the exercise price of a Warrant was generally a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our Warrants is $11.50 per share of Common Stock. There is no guarantee that the Warrants will ever be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the Warrants may expire worthless.
We may redeem unexpired Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to Warrant holders, thereby making their Warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, subject to certain exceptions, provided that the last reported sales price of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalization and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption to the Warrant holders and provided certain other conditions are met. For additional information on the circumstances in which the Public Warrants may be redeemed, please see “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants” in our prospectus filed with the SEC on April 6, 2022. If and when the Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding Warrants could force the Warrant holders (i) to exercise their Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for them to do so, (ii) to sell their Warrants at the then-current market price when they might otherwise wish to hold their Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of their Warrants. None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, subject to certain exceptions.
Warrants are exercisable for Common Stock, and their exercise would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.
As of June 30, 2022, we had outstanding Public Warrants to purchase approximately 13,806,340 shares of Common Stock at $11.50 per share and Private Placement Warrants to purchase 6,743,113 shares at $11.50 per share. The shares of Common Stock issued upon exercise of our Warrants will result in dilution to the then existing holders of Common Stock 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 adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock or Public Warrants.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants except that, so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us subject to certain exceptions, (ii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iii) they are subject to registration rights.
Anti-takeover provisions contained in our Charter and Bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Common Stock.
Our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Charter”) and Bylaws contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together, these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities. These provisions include:
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•a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
•only the board of directors (pursuant to a majority vote of the whole board), the chairperson of the board of directors, or the Chief Executive Officer may call a special meeting;
•stockholder vote of at least 66-2/3% required to remove a director for “cause”;
•stockholder vote of at least 66-2/3% required to approve certain amendments to the Charter and Bylaws; and
•the designation of Delaware and federal courts as the exclusive forums for certain disputes.
Our Bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.
Our Bylaws provide, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that internal corporate claims may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have, or declines to accept, jurisdiction, another state court or a federal court located within the State of Delaware). In addition, our Bylaws provide that the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. This forum selection provision will not apply to claims brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provision in our Bylaws.
This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. For example, under the Securities Act, federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a forum selection provision as written in connection with claims arising under the Securities Act.
The JOBS Act permits “emerging growth companies” like us to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, including (i) the exemption from the auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (ii) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and say-on-golden parachute voting requirements and (iii) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following January 20, 2026, the fifth anniversary of Rotor’s initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Common Stock and Public Warrants that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our prior second fiscal quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. We cannot predict if investors will find our Common Stock less attractive if we choose to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock less attractive as a result of any choices to reduce future disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our Common Stock and the price of our Common Stock may be more volatile. We had total revenues during calendar year 2021 of approximately $5.1 million. If we continue to expand our business through acquisitions and/or grow revenues organically post-Business Combination, we may cease to be an emerging growth company prior to January 20, 2026.
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In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as we are an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies, but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected to avail ourselves of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We cannot predict if investors will find our Common Stock or Public Warrants less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock or Public Warrants less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Common Stock or Public Warrants and more stock price volatility..
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