As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 25, 2020.

Registration No. 333-          

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Palantir Technologies Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware		7372		68-0551851
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

Palantir Technologies Inc.

1555 Blake Street, Suite 250

Denver, Colorado 80202

(720) 358-3679

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Alexander C. Karp

Chief Executive Officer

Palantir Technologies Inc.

1555 Blake Street, Suite 250

Denver, Colorado 80202

(720) 358-3679

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Allison B. Spinner Steven E. Bochner Rezwan D. Pavri Lisa L. Stimmell Shannon R. Delahaye Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. 650 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, California 94304 (650) 493-9300		Matthew A. Long Sean J. Stenstrom Justin V. Laubach Scott S. Hsu Deeptha N. Mathavan Palantir Technologies Inc. 1555 Blake Street, Suite 250 Denver, Colorado 80202 (720) 358-3679

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this registration statement becomes effective.

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

Title of each Class of Securities to be Registered		Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1)		Amount of Registration Fee
Class A Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share		$100,000,000		$12,980

(1)

Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Given that there is no proposed maximum offering price per share of Class A common stock, the registrant calculates the proposed maximum aggregate offering price, by analogy to Rule 457(f)(2), based on the book value of the Class A common stock the registrant registers, which will be calculated from its unaudited pro forma balance sheet as of                     , 2020. Given that the registrant’s shares of Class A common stock are not traded on an exchange or over-the-counter, the registrant did not use the trading prices of its Class A common stock in accordance with Rule 457(c).

 

 

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

 

 

 

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion, dated August 25, 2020.

            Shares

 

 

Palantir Technologies Inc.

Class A Common Stock

 

 

This prospectus relates to the registration of the resale of up to              shares of our Class A common stock by our stockholders identified in this prospectus (“Registered Stockholders”). Unlike an initial public offering (“IPO”), the resale by the Registered Stockholders is not being underwritten by any investment bank. The Registered Stockholders may, or may not, elect to sell their shares of Class A common stock covered by this prospectus, as and to the extent they may determine. Such sales, if any, will be made through brokerage transactions on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”). See the section titled “Plan of Distribution.” If the Registered Stockholders choose to sell their shares of Class A common stock, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of Class A common stock by the Registered Stockholders.

We have two classes of common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock and, subject to stockholder approval, we intend to authorize a third class of common stock, Class F common stock. The rights of holders of Class A common stock, Class B common stock and Class F common stock are identical, except voting, transfer and conversion rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to 10 votes and is convertible at any time, at the option of the holder thereof, into one share of Class A common stock. Each share of Class F common stock will have a variable number of votes, as described further in this prospectus, and will be convertible at any time, at the option of the holder thereof, into one share of Class B common stock. All shares of Class F common stock will be held by a voting trust established by Alexander Karp, Stephen Cohen, and Peter Thiel (our “Founders”) pursuant to a voting trust agreement (the “Founder Voting Trust Agreement”). Our Founders will also be party to a voting agreement (the “Founder Voting Agreement”). So long as our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement and certain of their affiliates collectively meet a minimum ownership threshold on the applicable record date for a vote of the stockholders, the Class F common stock, together with the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement, will give these Founders the ability to control up to 49.999999% of the total voting power of our capital stock. This means that, for the foreseeable future, the control of our company will be concentrated with our Founders through our Class F common stock, notwithstanding the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock. For additional information, see the section titled “Description of Capital Stock — Multi-Class Common Stock” and “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock.” Following the authorization and issuance of our Class F common stock, our Founders and their affiliates will hold approximately     % of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock, and our directors and executive officers and their affiliates will hold approximately     % of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.

No public market for our Class A common stock currently exists. However, our shares of Class A common stock (on an as-converted basis) have a history of trading in private transactions. Based on information available to us, the low and high sales prices per share of Class A common stock (on an as-converted basis) for such private transactions during the year ended December 31, 2019 were $4.50 and $6.50, respectively, and during the period from January 1, 2020 through August 21, 2020 were $4.19 and $8.50, respectively. The volume weighted-average price per share for the period from January 1, 2020 through August 21, 2020 was $5.35. For more information, see the section titled “Sale Price History of Our Capital Stock.” Our recent trading prices in private transactions may have little or no relation to the opening public price of our shares of Class A common stock on the NYSE or the subsequent trading price of our shares of Class A common stock on the NYSE. Further, the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE without underwriters is a novel method for commencing public trading in shares of our Class A common stock, and consequently, the trading volume and price of shares of our Class A common stock may be more volatile than if shares of our Class A common stock were initially listed in connection with an underwritten IPO.

Based on information provided by the NYSE, the opening public price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE will be determined by buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers. Based on such orders, the designated market maker (“DMM”) will determine an opening price for our Class A common stock in consultation with a financial advisor pursuant to applicable NYSE rules. For more information, see the section titled “Plan of Distribution.”

We intend to apply to list our Class A common stock on the NYSE under the symbol “PLTR.” We expect our Class A common stock to begin trading on the NYSE on or about             , 2020.

We are an “emerging growth company” as that term is defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, and, as such, we have elected to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements for this prospectus and may elect to do so in future filings.

See the section titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 16 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our Class A common stock.

 

 

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

Prospectus dated             , 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer

 

I.

Our welfare and security depend on effective software.

In times of stability, the right software helps our most critical institutions serve their markets and the public. In times of crisis, effective software can be essential to an organization’s survival.

Our software platforms are used by the United States and its allies around the world. Many of the world’s most vital institutions, from defense and intelligence agencies to companies in the healthcare, energy, and manufacturing sectors, rely on the software platforms that we have built.

The challenges that we face, and the crises that we have and will continue to confront, expose the systemic weaknesses of the institutions on which we depend. Our industrial infrastructure and manufacturing supply chains were conceived of and constructed in a different century. Government agencies have faltered in fulfilling their mandates and serving the public. Some institutions will struggle to survive. Others will collapse.

Our customers come to us because their technological infrastructure has failed them. The enterprise software industry’s focus on custom software tools and applications is misplaced. Those approaches often only work briefly, if at all. The problems and needs of an organization often change before the software can even be deployed.

Our partners require something more. They need generalizable platforms for modeling the world and making decisions. And that is what we have built.

II.

Our company is a creative enterprise, filled with strong personalities who are immensely talented and care deeply about their work.

The culture of our company is more than a mere byproduct of the people we choose to hire. Our culture and means of organizing ourselves are preconditions for the creation of effective software.

We identify what needs to be done and organize ourselves around the outcomes that we hope to achieve. This requires that we stay flexible about who should be leading what and when.

At many organizations, employees spend their days, even their careers, posturing for others, concerned with claiming credit for success and avoiding blame for failure.

Entire companies can subsist for years on a business model that may have made sense at some point in the past. In the short term, there are often profits to be extracted from the enterprise, and from customers.

We have rejected this way of working. The alignment of interests between our employees and our company, and between our company and our customers, is one of the principal reasons we have come as far as we have.

III.

Our work and the use of our software present difficult questions.

The construction of software platforms that enable more effective surveillance by the state of its adversaries or that assist soldiers in executing attacks raises countless issues, involving the points of tension and tradeoffs between our collective security and individual privacy, the power of machines, and the types of lives we both want to and should lead. The ethical challenges that arise are constant and unrelenting.

 

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We embrace the complexity that comes from working in areas where the stakes are often very high and the choices may be imperfect.

The more fundamental issue is where authority to resolve such questions — to decide how technology may be used and by whom — should reside.

Our society has effectively outsourced the building of software that makes our world possible to a small group of engineers in an isolated corner of the country. The question is whether we also want to outsource the adjudication of some of the most consequential moral and philosophical questions of our time.

The engineering elite of Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software. But they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires.

IV.

Our company was founded in Silicon Valley. But we seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector’s values and commitments.

From the start, we have repeatedly turned down opportunities to sell, collect, or mine data. Other technology companies, including some of the largest in the world, have built their entire businesses on doing just that.

Software projects with our nation’s defense and intelligence agencies, whose missions are to keep us safe, have become controversial, while companies built on advertising dollars are commonplace. For many consumer internet companies, our thoughts and inclinations, behaviors and browsing habits, are the product for sale. The slogans and marketing of many of the Valley’s largest technology firms attempt to obscure this simple fact.

The world’s largest consumer internet companies have never had greater access to the most intimate aspects of our lives. And the advance of their technologies has outpaced the development of the forms of political control that are capable of governing their use.

The bargain between the public and the technology sector has for the most part been consensual, in that the value of the products and services available seemed to outweigh the invasions of privacy that enabled their rise.

Americans will remain tolerant of the idiosyncrasies and excesses of the Valley only to the extent that technology companies are building something substantial that serves the public interest. The corporate form itself — that is, the privilege to engage in private enterprise — is a product of the state and would not exist without it.

Our software is used to target terrorists and to keep soldiers safe. If we are going to ask someone to put themselves in harm’s way, we believe that we have a duty to give them what they need to do their job.

We have chosen sides, and we know that our partners value our commitment. We stand by them when it is convenient, and when it is not.

V.

The ability of our most vital institutions to protect and provide for the public requires the right technology.

And we believe that as a result, over the long term, the strength and survival of democratic forms of government do as well.

 

Alexander C. Karp

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Palantir Technologies Inc.

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS			iv
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY			1
RISK FACTORS			16
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			76
INDUSTRY, MARKET, AND OTHER DATA			78
USE OF PROCEEDS			79
RSU SALES			79
DIVIDEND POLICY			80
CAPITALIZATION			81
SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA			84
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS			86
BUSINESS			121
MANAGEMENT			172
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION			176
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS			194
PRINCIPAL AND REGISTERED STOCKHOLDERS			200
DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK			206
SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE			219
SALE PRICE HISTORY OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK			222
MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME AND ESTATE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO NON-U.S. HOLDERS OF OUR CLASS A COMMON STOCK			224
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			229
LEGAL MATTERS			231
EXPERTS			231
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION			231
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS			F-1

Neither we nor any of the Registered Stockholders have authorized anyone to provide any information different from, or in addition to, the information contained in this prospectus and in any free writing prospectuses we have prepared. Neither we nor any of the Registered Stockholders take responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. The Registered Stockholders are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of their Class A common stock only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since such date.

For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor any of the Registered Stockholders have done anything that would permit the use of or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of our Class A common stock by the Registered Stockholders and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is a part of a registration statement on Form S-1 that we filed with the SEC using a “shelf” registration or continuous offering process. Under this process, the Registered Stockholders may, from time to time, sell the Class A common stock covered by this prospectus in the manner described in the section titled “Plan of Distribution.” Additionally, we may provide a prospectus supplement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus, including the section titled “Plan of Distribution.” You may obtain this information without charge by following the instructions under the section titled “Where You Can Find Additional Information” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and any prospectus supplement before deciding to invest in our Class A common stock.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, before making a decision to invest in our Class A common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, or prospects could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have incurred losses each year since our inception, we expect our operating expenses to increase, and we may not become profitable in the future.

We have incurred losses each year since our inception, including net losses of $580.0 million and $579.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, and net losses of $280.5 million and $164.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability. In addition, our operating expenses have increased over time. As we continue to expand our business, industry verticals, and the breadth of our operations, upgrade our infrastructure, hire additional employees, expand into new markets, invest in research and development, invest in sales and marketing, including expanding our sales organization, lease more real estate to accommodate our anticipated future growth, and incur costs associated with general administration, including expenses related to being a public company, we expect that our costs of revenue and operating expenses will continue to increase. To the extent we are successful in increasing our customer base, we may also incur increased losses because the costs associated with acquiring and growing our customers via our Acquire, Expand, and Scale business model and with research and development are generally incurred upfront, while our revenue from customer contracts is generally recognized over the contract term. Furthermore, our sales model often requires us to spend months and invest significant resources working with customers on pilot deployments at no or low cost to them, which may not result in any future revenue. We may not be able to increase our revenue at a rate sufficient to offset increases in our costs of revenue and operating expenses in the near term or at all, which would prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability in the future. Any failure by us to achieve, and then sustain or increase, profitability on a consistent basis could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate in the future.

Although our revenue has increased in recent periods, there can be no assurances that revenue will continue to grow or do so at current rates, and you should not rely on the revenue of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance. Our revenue growth rate may decline in future periods. Many factors may contribute to declines in our revenue growth rate, including increased competition, slowing demand for our platforms from existing and new customers, a failure by us to continue capitalizing on growth opportunities, terminations of existing contracts by our customers, and the maturation of our business, among others. If our revenue growth rate declines, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our sales efforts involve considerable time and expense and our sales cycle is often long and unpredictable.

Our results of operations may fluctuate, in part, because of the intensive nature of our sales efforts and the length and unpredictability of our sales cycle. As part of our sales efforts, we invest considerable time and expense

 

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evaluating the specific organizational needs of our potential customers and educating these potential customers about the technical capabilities and value of our platforms and services. We often also provide our platforms to potential customers at no or low cost initially to them for evaluation purposes through short-term pilot deployments of our platforms in the Acquire phase of our business model, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to move customers from the Acquire phase into later phases. In addition, we have a limited direct sales force, and our sales efforts have historically depended on the significant involvement of our senior management team. The length of our sales cycle, from initial demonstration of our platforms to sale of our platforms and services, tends to be long and varies substantially from customer to customer. Our sales cycle often lasts six to nine months but can extend to a year or more for some customers. Because decisions to purchase our platforms involve significant financial commitments, potential customers generally evaluate our platforms at multiple levels within their organization, each of which often have specific requirements, and typically involve their senior management.

Our results of operations depend on sales to enterprise customers, which make product purchasing decisions based in part or entirely on factors, or perceived factors, not directly related to the features of the platforms, including, among others, that customer’s projections of business growth, uncertainty about economic conditions (including as a result of the recent COVID-19 outbreak), capital budgets, anticipated cost savings from the implementation of our platforms, potential preference for such customer’s internally-developed software solutions, perceptions about our business and platforms, more favorable terms offered by potential competitors, and previous technology investments. In addition, certain decisionmakers and other stakeholders within our potential customers tend to have vested interests in the continued use of internally developed or existing software, which may make it more difficult for us to sell our platforms and services. As a result of these and other factors, our sales efforts typically require an extensive effort throughout a customer’s organization, a significant investment of human resources, expense and time, including by our senior management, and there can be no assurances that we will be successful in making a sale to a potential customer. If our sales efforts to a potential customer do not result in sufficient revenue to justify our investments, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Historically, existing customers have expanded their relationships with us, which has resulted in a limited number of customers accounting for a substantial portion of our revenue. If existing customers do not make subsequent purchases from us or renew their contracts with us, or if our relationships with our largest customers are impaired or terminated, our revenue could decline, and our results of operations would be adversely impacted.

We derive a significant portion of our revenue from existing customers that expand their relationships with us. Increasing the size and number of the deployments of our existing customers is a major part of our growth strategy. We may not be effective in executing this or any other aspect of our growth strategy.

Our top three customers together accounted for 33% and 28% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, and 31% and 29% of our revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our top three customers by revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2019, have been with us for an average of 8 years as of December 31, 2019. Certain of our customers, including customers that represent a significant portion of our business, have in the past reduced their spend with us or terminated their agreements with us, which has reduced our anticipated future payments or revenue from these customers, and which has required us to refund some previously paid amounts to these customers. It is not possible for us to predict the future level of demand from our larger customers for our platforms and applications.

While we generally offer contract terms up to five years in length, our customers sometimes enter into shorter-term contracts, such as one-year subscriptions, which may not provide for automatic renewal and may require the customer to opt-in to extend the term. Our customers have no obligation to renew, upgrade, or expand their agreements with us after the terms of their existing agreements have expired. In addition, many of our customer

 

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contracts permit the customer to terminate their contracts with us with notice periods of varying lengths, generally three to six months. If one or more of our customers terminate their contracts with us, whether for convenience, for default in the event of a breach by us, or for other reasons specified in our contracts, as applicable; if our customers elect not to renew their contracts with us; if our customers renew their contractual arrangements with us for shorter contract lengths; or if our customers otherwise seek to renegotiate terms of their existing agreements on terms less favorable to us, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. This adverse impact would be even more pronounced for customers that represent a material portion of our revenue or business operations.

Our ability to renew or expand our customer relationships may decrease or vary as a result of a number of factors, including our customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our platforms and services, the frequency and severity of software and implementation errors, our platforms’ reliability, our pricing, the effects of general economic conditions, competitive offerings or alternatives, or reductions in our customers’ spending levels. If our customers do not renew or expand their agreements with us or if they renew their contracts for shorter lengths or on other terms less favorable to us, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline, and our business could suffer. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations would also be adversely affected if we face difficulty collecting our accounts receivable from our customers or if we are required to refund customer deposits.

Achieving renewal or expansion of deployments may require us to increasingly engage in sophisticated and costly sales efforts that may not result in additional sales. In addition, our customers’ decisions to expand the deployment of our platforms depends on a number of factors, including general economic conditions, the functioning of our platforms, the ability of our forward-deployed engineers to assist our customers in identifying new use cases, modernizing their data architectures, and achieving success with data-driven initiatives, and our customers’ satisfaction with our services. If our efforts to expand within our existing customer base are not successful, our business may suffer.

Our results of operations and our key business measures are likely to fluctuate significantly on a quarterly basis in future periods and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business, which makes our future results difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations to fall below expectations.

Our quarterly results of operations, including cash flows, have fluctuated significantly in the past and are likely to continue to do so in the future. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly results, financial position, and operations are likely to fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, and as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. Fluctuation in quarterly results may negatively impact the value of our Class A common stock.

We typically close a large portion of our sales in the last several weeks of a quarter, which impacts our ability to plan and manage cash flows and margins. Our sales cycle is often long, and it is difficult to predict exactly when, or if, we will actually make a sale with a potential customer or when we will be able to move them to the Expand or Scale phases. As a result, large individual sales have, in some cases, occurred in quarters subsequent to those we anticipated, or have not occurred at all. The loss or delay of one or more large sales transactions in a quarter would impact our results of operations and cash flow for that quarter and any future quarters in which revenue from that transaction is lost or delayed. In addition, downturns in new sales may not be immediately reflected in our revenue because we generally recognize revenue over the term of our contracts. The timing of customer billing and payment varies from contract to contract. A delay in the timing of receipt of such collections, or a default on a large contract, may negatively impact our liquidity for the period and in the future. Because a substantial portion of our expenses are relatively fixed in the short-term and require time to adjust, our results of operations and liquidity would suffer if revenue falls below our expectations in a particular period.

 

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Other factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations and financial position include, without limitation, those listed below:

 

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The success of our sales and marketing efforts, including the success of our pilot deployments;

 

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Our ability to increase our contribution margins and move our customers into the Expand or Scale phases;

 

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The timing of expenses and revenue recognition;

 

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The timing and amount of payments received from our customers;

 

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Termination of one or more large contracts by customers, including for convenience;

 

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The time and cost-intensive nature of our sales efforts and the length and variability of sales cycles;

 

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The amount and timing of operating expenses related to the maintenance and expansion of our business and operations;

 

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The timing and effectiveness of new sales and marketing initiatives;

 

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Changes in our pricing policies or those of our competitors;

 

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The timing and success of new products, features, and functionality introduced by us or our competitors;

 

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Interruptions or delays in our operations and maintenance (“O&M”) services;

 

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Cyberattacks and other actual or perceived data or security breaches;

 

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Our ability to hire and retain employees, in particular, those responsible for operations and maintenance of and the selling or marketing of our platforms, and develop and retain talented sales personnel who are able to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time and provide sales leadership in areas in which we are expanding our sales and marketing efforts;

 

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The amount and timing of our stock-based compensation expenses;

 

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Changes in the way we organize and compensate our sales teams;

 

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Changes in the way we operate and maintain our platforms;

 

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Unforeseen negative results in operations from our partnerships, including those accounted for under the equity method;

 

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Changes in the competitive dynamics of our industry;

 

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The cost of and potential outcomes of existing and future claims or litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business;

 

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Changes in laws and regulations that impact our business, such as the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (“FASA”);

 

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Indemnification payments to our customers or other third parties;

 

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Ability to scale our business with increasing demands;

 

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The timing of expenses related to any future acquisitions; and

 

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General economic, regulatory, and market conditions, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, our contracts generally contain termination for convenience provisions, and we may be obligated to repay prepaid amounts or otherwise not realize anticipated future revenue should we fail to provide future services as anticipated. These factors make it difficult for us to accurately predict financial metrics for any particular period.

The variability and unpredictability of our quarterly results of operations, cash flows, or other operating metrics could result in our failure to meet our expectations or those of analysts that cover us or investors with respect to

 

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revenue or other key metrics for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the trading price of our Class A common stock could fall, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.

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

Historically, the first quarter of our year generally has relatively lower sales, and sales generally increase in each subsequent quarter with substantial increases during our third and fourth quarters ending September 30 and December 31, respectively. We believe that this seasonality results from a number of factors, including:

 

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The fiscal year end procurement cycle of our government customers, and in particular U.S. government customers which have a fiscal year end of September 30;

 

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The fiscal year budgeting process for our commercial customers, many of which have a fiscal year end of December 31;

 

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Seasonal reductions in business activity during the summer months in the United States, Europe, and certain other regions; and

 

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Timing of projects and our customers’ evaluation of our work progress.

This seasonality has historically impacted and may in the future continue to impact the timing of collections and recognized revenue. Because a significant portion of our customer contracts are typically finalized near the end of the year, and we typically invoice customers shortly after entering into a contract, we receive a significant portion of our customer payments near the end of the year and record an increase in contract liabilities, while the revenue from our customer contracts is generally recognized over the contract term.

While this has been the historical seasonal pattern of our quarterly sales, we believe that our customers’ required timing for certain new government or commercial programs requiring new software may outweigh the nature or magnitude of seasonal factors that might have influenced our business to date. As a result, we may experience future growth from additional government or commercial mandates that do not follow the seasonal purchasing and evaluation decisions by our customers that we have historically observed.

For example, increased government spending on technology aimed at national defense, financial or policy regulation, cybersecurity, or healthcare mandates may drive customer demand at different times throughout our year, the timing of which we may not be able to anticipate and may cause fluctuations in our results of operations. The timing of our fiscal quarters and the U.S. federal government’s September 30 fiscal year end also may impact sales to governmental agencies in the third quarter of our year, offsetting, at least in part, the otherwise seasonal downturn we have historically observed in later summer months.

Our rapid growth in recent years may obscure the extent to which seasonality trends have affected our business and may continue to affect our business. We expect that seasonality will continue to materially impact our business in the future and may become more pronounced over time. The seasonality of our business may cause continued or increased fluctuations in our results of operations and cash flows, which may prevent us from achieving our quarterly or annual forecasts or meeting or exceeding the expectations of research analysts or investors, which in turn may cause a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Our platforms are complex and have a lengthy implementation process, and any failure of our platforms to satisfy our customers or perform as desired could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our platforms and services are complex and are deployed in a wide variety of network environments. Implementing our platforms can be a complex and lengthy process since we often configure our existing platforms for a customer’s unique environment. Inability to meet the unique needs of our customers may result in

 

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customer dissatisfaction and/or damage to our reputation, which could materially harm our business. Further, the proper use of our platforms requires training of the customer and the initial or ongoing services of our technical personnel as well as O&M services over the contract term. If training and/or ongoing services require more of our expenditures than we originally estimated, our margins will be lower than projected.

In addition, if our customers do not use our platforms correctly or as intended, inadequate performance or outcomes may result. It is possible that our platforms may also be intentionally misused or abused by customers or their employees or third parties who obtain access and use of our platforms. Similarly, our platforms sometimes used by customers with smaller or less sophisticated IT departments, potentially resulting in sub-optimal performance at a level lower than anticipated by the customer. Because our customers rely on our platforms and services to address important business goals and challenges, the incorrect or improper use or configuration of our platforms and O&M services, failure to properly train customers on how to efficiently and effectively use our platforms, or failure to properly provide implementation or analytical or maintenance services to our customers may result in contract terminations or non-renewals, reduced customer payments, negative publicity, or legal claims against us. For example, as we continue to expand our customer base, any failure by us to properly provide these services may result in lost opportunities for follow-on expansion sales of our platforms and services.

Furthermore, if customer personnel are not well trained in the use of our platforms, customers may defer the deployment of our platforms and services, may deploy them in a more limited manner than originally anticipated, or may not deploy them at all. If there is substantial turnover of the company or customer personnel responsible for procurement and use of our platforms, our platforms may go unused or be adopted less broadly, and our ability to make additional sales may be substantially limited, which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, and growth prospects.

If we do not successfully develop and deploy new technologies to address the needs of our customers, our business and results of operations could suffer.

Our success has been based on our ability to design software and products that enable the integration of data into a common operating environment to facilitate advanced data analysis, knowledge management, and collaboration. We spend substantial amounts of time and money researching and developing new technologies and enhanced versions of existing features to meet our customers’ and potential customers’ rapidly evolving needs. There is no assurance that our enhancements to our platforms or our new product features or capabilities will be compelling to our customers or gain market acceptance. If our research and development investments do not accurately anticipate customer demand or if we fail to develop our platforms in a manner that satisfies customer preferences in a timely and cost-effective manner, we may fail to retain our existing customers or increase demand for our platforms.

The introduction of new products and services by competitors or the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings could make our platforms obsolete or adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We may experience difficulties with software development, design, or marketing that delay or prevent our development, introduction, or implementation of new platforms, features, or capabilities. We have in the past experienced delays in our internally planned release dates of new features and capabilities, and there can be no assurance that new platforms, features, or capabilities will be released according to schedule. Any delays could result in adverse publicity, loss of revenue or market acceptance, or claims by customers brought against us, any of which could harm our business. Moreover, the design and development of new platforms or new features and capabilities to our existing platforms may require substantial investment, and we have no assurance that such investments will be successful. If customers do not widely adopt our new platforms, experiences, features, and capabilities, we may not be able to realize a return on our investment and our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected.

 

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Our new and existing platforms and changes to our existing platforms could fail to attain sufficient market acceptance for many reasons, including:

 

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Our failure to predict market demand accurately in terms of product functionality and to supply offerings that meet this demand in a timely fashion;

 

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Product defects, errors, or failures or our inability to satisfy customer service level requirements;

 

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Negative publicity or negative private statements about the security, performance, or effectiveness of our platforms or product enhancements;

 

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Delays in releasing to the market our new offerings or enhancements to our existing offerings;

 

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Introduction or anticipated introduction of competing platforms or functionalities by our competitors;

 

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Inability of our platforms or product enhancements to scale and perform to meet customer demands;

 

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Receiving qualified or adverse opinions in connection with security or penetration testing, certifications or audits, such as those related to IT controls and security standards and frameworks or compliance;

 

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Poor business conditions for our customers, causing them to delay software purchases;

 

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Reluctance of customers to purchase proprietary software products; and

 

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Reluctance of customers to purchase products incorporating open source software.

If we are not able to continue to identify challenges faced by our customers and develop, license, or acquire new features and capabilities to our platforms in a timely and cost-effective manner, or if such enhancements do not achieve market acceptance, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects may suffer and our anticipated revenue growth may not be achieved.

Because we derive, and expect to continue to derive, substantially all of our revenue from customers purchasing our two platforms Gotham and Foundry, market acceptance of these platforms, and any enhancements or changes thereto, is critical to our success.

If any of the systems of any third parties upon which we rely, our customers’ cloud or on-premises environments, or our internal systems, are breached or if unauthorized access to customer or third-party data is otherwise obtained, public perception of our platforms and O&M services may be harmed, and we may lose business and incur losses or liabilities.

Our success depends in part on our ability to provide effective data security protection in connection with our platforms and services, and we rely on information technology networks and systems to securely store, transmit, index, and otherwise process electronic information. Because our platforms and services are used to store, transmit, index, or otherwise process and analyze large data sets that often contain proprietary, confidential, and/or sensitive information (including in some instances personal or identifying information and personal health information), we are perceived as an attractive target for attacks by computer hackers or others seeking unauthorized access, and we face threats of unintended exposure, exfiltration, alteration, deletion, or loss of data. Additionally, because many of our customers use our platforms to store, transmit, and otherwise process proprietary, confidential, or sensitive information, and complete mission critical tasks, they have a lower risk tolerance for security vulnerabilities in our platforms and services than for vulnerabilities in other, less critical, software products and services.

We, and the third-party vendors upon which we rely, have experienced, and may in the future experience, cybersecurity threats, including threats or attempts to disrupt our information technology infrastructure and

 

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unauthorized attempts to gain access to sensitive or confidential information. Our and our third-party vendors’ technology systems may be damaged or compromised by malicious events, such as cyberattacks (including computer viruses, malicious and destructive code, phishing attacks, and denial of service attacks), physical or electronic security breaches, natural disasters, fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, personnel misconduct, and human error. Such attacks or security breaches may be perpetrated by internal bad actors, such as employees or contractors, or by third parties (including traditional computer hackers, persons involved with organized crime, or foreign state or foreign state-supported actors). Cybersecurity threats can employ a wide variety of methods and techniques, which may include the use of social engineering techniques, are constantly evolving, and have become increasingly complex and sophisticated; all of which increase the difficulty of detecting and successfully defending against them. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until after they are launched against a target, we and our third-party vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. Although prior cyberattacks directed at us have not had a material impact on our financial results, and we are continuing to bolster our threat detection and mitigation processes and procedures, we cannot guarantee that future cyberattacks, if successful, will not have a material impact on our business or financial results. While we have security measures in place to protect our information and our customers’ information and to prevent data loss and other security breaches, we have not always been able to do so and there can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to anticipate or prevent security breaches or unauthorized access of our information technology systems or the information technology systems of the third-party vendors upon which we rely. Despite our implementation of network security measures and internal information security policies, data stored on personnel computer systems is also vulnerable to similar security breaches, unauthorized tampering or human error.

Many governments have enacted laws requiring companies to provide notice of data security incidents involving certain types of data, including personal data. In addition, most of our customers, including U.S. government customers, contractually require us to notify them of data security breaches. If an actual or perceived breach of security measures, unauthorized access to our system or the systems of the third-party vendors that we rely upon, or any other cybersecurity threat occurs, we may face direct or indirect liability, costs, or damages, contract termination, our reputation in the industry and with current and potential customers may be compromised, our ability to attract new customers could be negatively affected, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Further, unauthorized access to our or our third-party vendors’ information technology systems or data or other security breaches could result in the loss of information; significant remediation costs; litigation, disputes, regulatory action, or investigations that could result in damages, material fines, and penalties; indemnity obligations; interruptions in the operation of our business, including our ability to provide new product features, new platforms, or services to our customers; damage to our operation technology networks and information technology systems; and other liabilities. Moreover, our remediation efforts may not be successful. Any or all of these issues, or the perception that any of them have occurred, could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers, cause existing customers to terminate or not renew their agreements, hinder our ability to obtain and maintain required or desirable cybersecurity certifications, and result in reputational damage, any of which could materially adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects. There can be no assurance that any limitations of liability provisions in our license arrangements with customers or in our agreements with vendors, partners, or others would be enforceable, applicable, or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any particular claim.

We maintain cybersecurity insurance and other types of insurance, subject to applicable deductibles and policy limits, but our insurance may not be sufficient to cover all costs associated with a potential data security incident. We also cannot be sure that our existing general liability insurance coverage and coverage for cyber liability or errors or omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of

 

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changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could harm our financial condition.

If we fail to manage future growth effectively, our business could be harmed.

Since our founding in 2003, we have experienced rapid growth. For example, our headcount has grown from 313 full-time employees as of December 31, 2010 to 2,398 full-time employees as of June 30, 2020, with employees located both in the United States and outside the United States. We operate in a growing market and have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant expansion of our operations. This growth has placed, and may continue to place, a strain on our employees, management systems, operational, financial, and other resources. As we have grown, we have increasingly managed larger and more complex deployments of our platforms and services with a broader base of government and commercial customers. As we continue to grow, we face challenges of integrating, developing, retaining, and motivating a rapidly growing employee base in various countries around the world. In the event of continued growth of our operations, our operational resources, including our information technology systems, our employee base, or our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations and deployments. Managing our growth may require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources, improving our operational, financial, and management processes and systems, and effectively expanding, training, and managing our employee base. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be harmed. As our organization continues to grow, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the benefits of our traditional company culture, including our ability to quickly respond to customers, and avoid formal corporate structure. This could negatively affect our business performance or ability to hire or retain personnel in the near- or long-term.

In addition, our rapid growth may make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. Our ability to forecast our future results of operations is subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to effectively plan for and model future growth. We have encountered in the past, and may encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with global operations in rapidly changing industries. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as it grows, or if we are not able to accurately forecast future growth, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be harmed.

If we are unable to hire, retain, train, and motivate qualified personnel and senior management, including Alexander Karp, one of our founders and our Chief Executive Officer, and deploy our personnel and resources to meet customer demand around the world, our business could suffer.

Our ability to compete in the highly competitive technology industry depends upon our ability to attract, motivate, and retain qualified personnel. We are highly dependent on the continued contributions and customer relationships of our management and particularly on the services of Alexander Karp, our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Karp was part of our founding team and has been integral to our growth over the last seventeen years. We believe that Mr. Karp’s management experience would be difficult to replace. All of our executive officers and key personnel are at-will employees and may terminate their employment relationship with us at any time. The loss of the services of our key personnel and any of our other executive officers, and our inability to find suitable replacements, could result in a decline in sales, delays in product development, and harm to our business and operations.

At times, we have experienced, and we may continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining personnel with appropriate qualifications, and we may not be able to fill positions in a timely manner or at all. Upon completion of our listing, potential candidates may not perceive our compensation package, including our equity awards, as favorably as personnel hired prior to our listing. In addition, our recruiting personnel, methodology, and approach may need to be altered to address a changing candidate pool and profile. We may not be able to identify or implement such changes in a timely manner. In addition, we may incur significant costs to attract and

 

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recruit skilled personnel, and we may lose new personnel to our competitors or other technology companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. As we move into new geographies, we will need to attract and recruit skilled personnel in those geographic areas, but it may be challenging for us to compete with traditional local employers in these regions for talent. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel who are capable of meeting our growing technical, operational, and managerial requirements on a timely basis or at all, our business may be harmed.

In addition, certain personnel may be required to receive various security clearances and substantial training in order to work on certain customer engagements or to perform certain tasks. Necessary security clearances may be delayed or unsuccessful, which may negatively impact our ability to perform on our U.S. and non-U.S. government contracts in a timely manner or at all.

Our success depends on our ability to effectively source and staff people with the right mix of skills and experience to perform services for our customers, including our ability to transition personnel to new assignments on a timely basis. If we are unable to effectively utilize our personnel on a timely basis to fulfill the needs of our customers, our business could suffer. Further, if we are not able to utilize the talent we need because of increased regulation of immigration or work visas, including limitations placed on the number of visas granted, limitations on the type of work performed or location in which the work can be performed, and new or higher minimum salary requirements, it could be more difficult to staff our personnel on customer engagements and could increase our costs.

We face intense competition for qualified personnel, especially engineering personnel, in major U.S. markets, where a large portion of our personnel are based, as well as in other non-U.S. markets where we expect to expand our non-U.S. operations. We incur costs related to attracting, relocating, and retaining qualified personnel in these highly competitive markets, including leasing real estate in prime areas in these locations. Further, many of the companies with which we compete for qualified personnel have greater resources than we have. If the perceived value of our equity awards declines, or if the mix of equity and cash compensation that we offer is less attractive than that of our competitors, it may adversely affect our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled personnel. Additionally, laws and regulations, such as restrictive immigration laws, may limit our ability to recruit outside of the United States. We seek to retain and motivate existing personnel through our compensation practices, company culture, and career development opportunities. If we fail to attract new personnel or to retain our current personnel, our business and operations could be harmed.

Volatility or lack of appreciation in the trading price of our Class A common stock may also affect our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. Many of our senior personnel and other key personnel hold equity awards that will vest in connection with our listing or become exercisable, which could adversely affect our ability to retain these personnel. Personnel may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own or the shares underlying their vested options or RSUs have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase price of the shares or the exercise price of the options, or conversely, if the exercise price of the options that they hold are significantly above the trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, many of our personnel may be able to receive significant proceeds from sales of our equity in the public markets in connection with or following our listing, which may reduce their motivation to continue to work for us. Any of these factors could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

If we are unable to successfully build, expand, and deploy our marketing and sales organization in a timely manner, or at all, or to successfully hire, retain, train, and motivate our sales personnel, our growth and long-term success could be adversely impacted.

We have a limited direct sales force and our sales efforts have historically depended on the significant direct involvement of our senior management team, including Mr. Karp. The successful execution of our strategy to increase our sales to existing customers, identify and engage new customers, and enter new U.S. and non-U.S. markets will depend, among other things, on our ability to successfully build and expand our sales organization

 

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and operations. Identifying, recruiting, training, and managing sales personnel requires significant time, expense, and attention, including from our senior management and other key personnel, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations in the short and long term.

In order to successfully scale our unique sales model, we must, and we intend to, increase the size of our direct sales force, both in the United States and outside of the United States, to generate additional revenue from new and existing customers. If we do not hire a sufficient number of qualified sales personnel, our future revenue growth and business could be adversely impacted. It may take a significant period of time before our sales personnel are fully trained and productive, particularly in light of our unique sales model, and there is no guarantee we will be successful in adequately training and effectively deploying our sales personnel. Furthermore, hiring personnel in new countries requires additional setup and upfront costs that we may not recover if those personnel fail to achieve full productivity in a timely manner. Our business would be adversely affected if our efforts to build, expand, train, and manage our sales organization are not successful. We periodically change and make adjustments to our sales organization in response to market opportunities, competitive threats, management changes, product introductions or enhancements, acquisitions, sales performance, increases in sales headcount, cost levels, and other internal and external considerations. Any future sales organization changes may result in a temporary reduction of productivity, which could negatively affect our rate of growth. In addition, any significant change to the way we structure the compensation of our sales organization may be disruptive and may affect our revenue growth. If we are unable to attract, hire, develop, retain, and motivate qualified sales personnel, if our new sales personnel are unable to achieve sufficient sales productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or at all, if our marketing programs are not effective or if we are unable to effectively build, expand, and manage our sales organization and operations, our sales and revenue may grow more slowly than expected or materially decline, and our business may be significantly harmed.

Our ability to sell our platforms and satisfy our customers is dependent on the quality of our services, and our failure to offer high quality services could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations.

Once our platforms are deployed and integrated with our customers’ existing information technology investments and data, our customers depend on our O&M services to resolve any issues relating to our platforms. Increasingly, our platforms have been deployed in large-scale, complex technology environments, and we believe our future success will depend on our ability to increase sales of our platforms for use in such deployments. Further, our ability to provide effective ongoing services, or to provide such services in a timely, efficient, or scalable manner, may depend in part on our customers’ environments and their upgrading to the latest versions of our platforms and participating in our centralized platform management and services.

In addition, our ability to provide effective services is largely dependent on our ability to attract, train, and retain qualified personnel with experience in supporting customers on platforms such as ours. The number of our customers has grown significantly, and that growth has and may continue to put additional pressure on our services teams. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for our O&M services. We also may be unable to modify the future scope and delivery of our O&M services to compete with changes in the services provided by our competitors. Increased customer demand for support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and negatively affect our business and results of operations. In addition, as we continue to grow our operations and expand outside of the United States, we need to be able to provide efficient services that meet our customers’ needs globally at scale, and our services teams may face additional challenges, including those associated with operating the platforms and delivering support, training, and documentation in languages other than English and providing services across expanded time-zones. If we are unable to provide efficient O&M services globally at scale, our ability to grow our operations may be harmed, and we may need to hire additional services personnel, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our customers typically need training in the proper use of and the variety of benefits that can be derived from our platforms to maximize the potential of our platforms. If we do not effectively deploy, update, or upgrade our

 

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platforms, succeed in helping our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues, and provide effective ongoing services, our ability to sell additional products and services to existing customers could be adversely affected, we may face negative publicity, and our reputation with potential customers could be damaged. Many enterprise and government customers require higher levels of services than smaller customers. If we fail to meet the requirements of the larger customers, it may be more difficult to execute on our strategy to increase our penetration with larger customers. As a result, our failure to maintain high quality services may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand and reputation, our relationships with our customers, partners, and employees may be harmed, and our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand identity and reputation is important to our relationships with, and to our ability to attract and retain customers, partners, investors and employees. The successful promotion of our brand depends upon our ability to continue to offer high-quality software, our relationships with our customers, the community, and others, and our ability to successfully differentiate our platforms from those of our competitors. Unfavorable media coverage may adversely affect our brand and reputation. We anticipate that as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brand may become increasingly difficult and expensive. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our brand identity and reputation, we may fail to attract and retain employees, customers, investors, or partners, grow our business, or sustain pricing power, all of which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects. Additionally, despite our internal safeguards and efforts to the contrary, we cannot guarantee that our customers will not ultimately use our platforms for purposes inconsistent with our company values, and such uses may harm our brand and reputation.

Our reputation and business may be harmed by news or social media coverage of Palantir, including but not limited to coverage that presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information.

Publicly available information regarding Palantir has historically been limited, in part due to the sensitivity of our work with customers or contractual requirements limiting or preventing public disclosure of our work or relationships with customers. As our business has grown and as interest in Palantir and the technology industry overall has increased, we have attracted, and may continue to attract, significant attention from news and social media outlets, including unfavorable coverage and coverage that is not directly attributable to statements authorized by our leadership, that incorrectly reports on statements made by our leadership or employees and the nature of our work, perpetuates unfounded speculation about company involvements, or that is otherwise misleading. If such news or social media coverage presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information regarding Palantir, such coverage could damage our reputation in the industry and with current and potential customers, employees, and investors, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be adversely affected. Due to the sensitive nature of our work and our confidentiality obligations, we may be unable to or limited in our ability to respond to such harmful coverage, which could have a negative impact on our business.

Our relationships with government customers and customers that are engaged in certain sensitive industries, including organizations whose products or activities are or are perceived to be harmful, has resulted in public criticism, including from political and social activists, and unfavorable coverage in the media. Activists have also engaged in public protests at our properties. Activist criticism of our relationships with customers could potentially engender dissatisfaction among potential and existing customers, investors, and employees with how we address political and social concerns in our business activities. Conversely, being perceived as yielding to activism targeted at certain customers could damage our relationships with certain customers, including governments and government agencies with which we do business, whose views may or may not be aligned with those of political and social activists. Actions we take in response to the activities of our customers, up to and

 

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including terminating our contracts or refusing a particular product use case could harm our brand and reputation. In either case, the resulting harm to our reputation could:

 

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cause certain customers to cease doing business with us;

 

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impair our ability to attract new customers, or to expand our relationships with existing customers;

 

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diminish our ability to hire or retain employees;

 

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undermine our standing in professional communities to which we contribute and from which we receive expert knowledge; or

 

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prompt us to cease doing business with certain customers.

Any of these factors could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Because we recognize a substantial portion of our revenue from our platforms and O&M services over the contractual term, downturns or upturns in new sales and renewals may not be immediately reflected in our results of operations.

We generally recognize revenue from our platforms and O&M services over the contractual term. As a result, a portion of the revenue we recognize in each quarter is derived from customer contracts generally entered into during previous periods. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed contracts in any single quarter may have an immaterial impact on the revenue that we recognize for that quarter. However, such a decline would negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales or renewals, significant customer terminations, and potential changes in our contracting terms and pricing policies would not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. The timing of our revenue recognition model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any given period, as revenue is generally recognized over the applicable contractual term.

Our pricing structures for our platforms and services may change from time to time.

We expect that we may change our pricing model from time to time, including as a result of competition, global economic conditions, general reductions in our customers’ spending levels, pricing studies, or changes in how our platforms are broadly consumed. Similarly, as we introduce new products and services, or as a result of the evolution of our existing platforms and services, we may have difficulty determining the appropriate price structure for our products and services. In addition, as new and existing competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours, or revise their pricing structures, we may be unable to attract new customers at the same price or based on the same pricing model as we have used historically. Moreover, as we continue to target selling our platforms and services to larger organizations, these larger organizations may demand substantial price concessions. In addition, we may need to change pricing policies to accommodate government pricing guidelines for our contracts with federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies. If we are unable to modify or develop pricing models and strategies that are attractive to existing and prospective customers, while enabling us to significantly grow our sales and revenue relative to our associated costs and expenses in a reasonable period of time, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely impacted.

If our customers are not able or willing to accept our product-based business model, instead of a labor-based business model, our business and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

Our platforms are generally offered on a productized basis to minimize our customers’ overall cost of acquisition, maintenance, and deployment time of our platforms. Many of our customers and potential customers are instead generally familiar with the practice of purchasing or licensing software through labor contracts, where custom software is written for specific applications, the intellectual property in such software is often owned by

 

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the customer, and the software typically requires additional labor contracts for modifications, updates, and services during the life of that specific software. Customers may be unable or unwilling to accept our model of commercial software procurement. Should our customers be unable or unwilling to accept this model of commercial software procurement, our growth could be materially diminished, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

We have entered into, and expect in the future to enter into, agreements with our customers that include exclusivity arrangements or unique contractual or pricing terms, which may result in significant risks or liabilities to us.

Our contracts with our customers are typically non-exclusive, but we have historically entered into arrangements with our customers that include exclusivity provisions, and we expect to continue to do so in the future. These exclusivity provisions limit our ability to license our platforms and provide services to specific customers, or to compete in certain geographic markets and industries, which may limit our growth and negatively impact our results. In addition, we have entered into joint ventures and strategic alliances with our customers, as described below, which also limit our ability to compete in certain geographic markets or industry verticals.

Historically, we have in limited circumstances entered into unique contractual and pricing arrangements with our customers, including some that may be outside of our typical scope of business, including arrangements relating to non-cash items.

We face intense competition in our markets, and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.

The markets for our platforms are very competitive, and we expect such competition to continue or increase in the future. A significant number of companies are developing products that currently, or in the future may, compete with some or all aspects of our proprietary platforms. We may not be successful in convincing the management teams of our potential customers to deploy our platforms in lieu of existing software solutions or in-house software development projects often favored by internal IT departments or other competitive products and services. In addition, our competitors include large enterprise software companies, government contractors, and system integrators, and we may face competition from emerging companies as well as established companies who have not previously entered this market. Additionally, we may be required to make substantial additional investments in research, development, services, marketing, and sales in order to respond to competition, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the future.

Many of our existing competitors have, and some of our potential competitors could have, substantial competitive advantages such as:

 

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Greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and larger customer bases;

 

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Larger sales and marketing budgets and resources and the capacity to leverage their sales efforts and marketing expenditures across a broader portfolio of products;

 

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Broader, deeper, or otherwise more established relationships with technology, channel and distribution partners, and customers;

 

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Wider geographic presence or greater access to larger potential customer bases;

 

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Greater focus in specific geographies;

 

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Lower labor and research and development costs;

 

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Larger and more mature intellectual property portfolios; and

 

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Substantially greater financial, technical, and other resources to provide services, to make acquisitions, and to develop and introduce new products and capabilities.

 

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In addition, some of our larger competitors have substantially broader and more diverse product and service offerings and may be able to leverage their relationships with distribution partners and customers based on other products or incorporate functionality into existing products to gain business in a manner that discourages customers from purchasing our platforms, including by selling at zero or negative margins, product bundling, or offering closed technology platforms. Potential customers may also prefer to purchase from their existing provider rather than a new provider regardless of platform performance or features. As a result, even if the features of our platforms offer advantages that others do not, customers may not purchase our platforms. These larger competitors often have broader product lines and market focus or greater resources and may therefore not be as susceptible to economic downturns or other significant reductions in capital spending by customers. If we are unable to sufficiently differentiate our platforms from the integrated or bundled products of our competitors, such as by offering enhanced functionality, performance, or value, we may see a decrease in demand for those platforms, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

In addition, new, innovative start-up companies and larger companies that are making significant investments in research and development may introduce products that have greater performance or functionality, are easier to implement or use, incorporate technological advances that we have not yet developed, or implemented or may invent similar or superior platforms and technologies that compete with our platforms. Our current and potential competitors may also establish cooperative relationships among themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources.

Some of our competitors have made or could make acquisitions of businesses that allow them to offer more competitive and comprehensive solutions. As a result of such acquisitions, our current or potential competitors may be able to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that better address customer needs, devote greater resources to bring these products and services to market, initiate or withstand substantial price competition, or develop and expand their product and service offerings more quickly than we do. These competitive pressures in our market or our failure to compete effectively may result in fewer orders, reduced revenue and margins, and loss of market share. In addition, it is possible that industry consolidation may impact customers’ perceptions of the viability of smaller or even mid-size software firms and consequently customers’ willingness to purchase from such firms.

We may not compete successfully against our current or potential competitors. If we are unable to compete successfully, or if competing successfully requires us to take costly actions in response to the actions of our competitors, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, companies competing with us may have an entirely different pricing or distribution model. Increased competition could result in fewer customer orders, price reductions, reduced margins, and loss of market share, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and non-U.S. laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and security, technology protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or otherwise harm our business.

We are subject to a variety of local, state, national, and international laws and directives and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including privacy and data protection, data security, data storage, retention, transfer and deletion, technology protection, and personal information. Foreign data protection, data security, privacy, and other laws and regulations can impose different obligations or be more restrictive than those in the United States. These U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations, which, depending on the regime, may be enforced by private parties or government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, and they are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. In addition, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving software and technology industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current

 

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policies and practices. A number of proposals are pending before U.S. federal, state, and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies that could significantly affect our business. For example, ongoing legal challenges in Europe to the mechanisms allowing companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area to certain other jurisdictions, including the United States, could result in further limitations on the ability to transfer data across borders, particularly if governments are unable or unwilling to reach new or maintain existing agreements that permit cross-border data transfers. The California state legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in 2018 which regulates the processing of personal information of California residents and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information of California residents, including requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and affords such consumers new abilities to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA came into effect on January 1, 2020, and the California Attorney General may bring enforcement actions, with penalties for violations of the CCPA, commencing on July 1, 2020. While aspects of the CCPA and its interpretation remain to be determined in practice, we are committed to comply with its obligations. We cannot yet fully predict the impact of the CCPA on our business or operations, but developments regarding the CCPA and all privacy and data protection laws and regulations around the world may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to maintain compliance on an ongoing basis. Moreover, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) was recently certified by the California Secretary of State to appear on the ballot for the November 3, 2020 election. If this initiative is approved by California voters, the CPRA would significantly modify the CCPA, potentially resulting in further uncertainty and requiring us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply.

Outside of the United States, virtually every jurisdiction in which we operate has established its own legal framework relating to privacy, data protection, and information security matters with which we and/or our customers must comply. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, retention, disclosure, security, transfer, and other processing of data that identifies or may be used to identify or locate an individual. Some countries and regions, including the European Union, are considering or have passed legislation that imposes significant obligations in connection with privacy, data protection, and information security that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our platforms and services, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which took effect in May 2018. Complying with the GDPR or other data protection laws and regulations as they emerge may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to modify our data handling practices on an ongoing basis. Non-compliance with the GDPR specifically may result in administrative fines or monetary penalties of up to 4% of worldwide annual revenue in the preceding financial year or €20 million (whichever is higher) for the most serious infringements, and could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or other related parties and may otherwise adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The overarching complexity of privacy and data protection laws and regulations around the world pose a compliance challenge that could manifest in costs, damages, or liability in other forms as a result of failure to implement proper programmatic controls, failure to adhere to those controls, or the malicious or inadvertent breach of applicable privacy and data protection requirements by us, our employees, our business partners, or our customers.

In addition to government regulation, self-regulatory standards and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, be argued to apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards or to facilitate our customers’ compliance with such standards. Because privacy, data protection, and information security are critical competitive factors in our industry, we may make statements on our website, in marketing materials, or in other settings about our data security measures and our compliance with, or our ability to facilitate our customers’ compliance with, these standards. We also expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning privacy, data protection, and information security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards, or amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, or other obligations may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and regulations, industry standards, and contractual and other obligations may

 

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require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. As these legal regimes relating to privacy, data protection, and information security continue to evolve, they may result in ever-increasing public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. Furthermore, because the interpretation and application of laws, standards, contractual obligations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and information security are uncertain, these laws, standards, and contractual and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is, or is alleged to be, inconsistent with our data management practices, our policies or procedures, or the features of our platforms. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, and other claims, we could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our platforms, which could have an adverse effect on our business. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to fulfill existing obligations, make enhancements, or develop new platforms and features could be limited. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our customers may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our platforms.

These existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly to comply with and can make our platforms and services less effective or valuable, delay or impede the development of new products, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs, require us to modify our data handling practices, limit our operations, impose substantial fines and penalties, require significant management time and attention, or put our data or technology at risk. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our platforms to comply with U.S., European Union, or other foreign laws, regulations, directives, policies, industry standards, or legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection, or information security, or any security incident that results in loss of or the unauthorized access to, or acquisition, use, release, or transfer of, personal information, personal data, or other customer or sensitive data sensitive data or information may result in governmental investigations, inquiries, enforcement actions and prosecutions, private claims and litigation, indemnification or other contractual obligations, other remedies, including fines or demands that we modify or cease existing business practices, or adverse publicity, and related costs and liabilities, which could significantly and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our policies regarding customer confidential information and support for individual privacy and civil liberties could cause us to experience adverse business and reputational consequences.

We strive to protect our customers’ confidential information and individuals’ privacy consistent with applicable laws, directives, and regulations. Consequently, we do not provide information about our customers to third parties without legal process. From time to time, government entities may seek our assistance with obtaining information about our customers or could request that we modify our platforms in a manner to permit access or monitoring. In light of our confidentiality and privacy commitments, we may legally challenge law enforcement or other government requests to provide information, to obtain encryption keys, or to modify or weaken encryption. To the extent that we do not provide assistance to or comply with requests from government entities, or if we challenge those requests publicly or in court, we may experience adverse political, business, and reputational consequences among certain customers or portions of the public. Conversely, to the extent that we do provide such assistance, or do not challenge those requests publicly in court, we may experience adverse political, business, and reputational consequences from other customers or portions of the public arising from concerns over privacy or the government’s activities.

A significant portion of our business depends on sales to the public sector, and our failure to receive and maintain government contracts or changes in the contracting or fiscal policies of the public sector could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We derive a significant portion of our revenue from contracts with federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies, and we believe that the success and growth of our business will continue to depend on our successful procurement of government contracts. For example, we have historically derived, and expect to continue to derive, a significant portion of our revenue from sales to agencies of the U.S. federal government,

 

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either directly by us or through other government contractors. Our perceived relationship with the U.S. government could adversely affect our business prospects in certain non-U.S. geographies or with certain non-U.S. governments.

Sales to such government agencies are subject to a number of challenges and risks. Selling to government agencies 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. We also must comply with laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration, and performance of contracts, which provide public sector customers rights, many of which are not typically found in commercial contracts.

Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects may be adversely affected by certain events or activities, including, but not limited to:

 

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Changes in fiscal or contracting policies or decreases in available government funding;

 

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Changes in government programs or applicable requirements;

 

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Restrictions in the grant of personnel security clearances to our employees;

 

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Ability to maintain facility clearances required to perform on classified contracts for U.S. federal government agencies;

 

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Changes in the political environment, including before or after a change to the leadership within the government administration, and any resulting uncertainty or changes in policy or priorities and resultant funding;

 

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Changes in the government’s attitude towards the capabilities that we offer, especially in the areas of national defense, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure, including the financial, energy, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors;

 

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Changes in the government’s attitude towards us as a company or our platforms as viable or acceptable software solutions;

 

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Appeals, disputes, or litigation relating to government procurement, including but not limited to bid protests by unsuccessful bidders on potential or actual awards of contracts to us or our partners by the government;

 

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The adoption of new laws or regulations or changes to existing laws or regulations;

 

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Budgetary constraints, including automatic reductions as a result of “sequestration” or similar measures and constraints imposed by any lapses in appropriations for the federal government or certain of its departments and agencies;

 

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Influence by, or competition from, third parties with respect to pending, new, or existing contracts with government customers;

 

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Changes in political or social attitudes with respect to security or data privacy issues;

 

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Potential delays or changes in the government appropriations or procurement processes, including as a result of events such as war, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, and public health concerns or epidemics, such as the recent coronavirus outbreak; and

 

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Increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays caused by other factors outside of our control, such as performance failures of our subcontractors.

Any such event or activity, among others, could cause governments and governmental agencies to delay or refrain from purchasing our platforms and services in the future, reduce the size or payment amounts of purchases from existing or new government customers, or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.

 

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Issues in the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”), (including machine learning) in our platforms may result in reputational harm or liability.

AI is enabled by or integrated into some of our platforms and is a significant element of our business. As with many developing technologies, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and use, and therefore our business. AI algorithms may be flawed. Datasets may be insufficient, of poor quality, or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by data scientists, engineers, and end-users of our systems could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. If the recommendations, forecasts, or analyses that AI applications assist in producing are deficient or inaccurate, we could be subjected to competitive harm, potential legal liability, and brand or reputational harm. Some AI scenarios present ethical issues. Though our business practices are designed to mitigate many of these risks, if we enable or offer AI solutions that are controversial because of their purported or real impact on human rights, privacy, employment, or other social issues, we may experience brand or reputational harm.

Our culture emphasizes rapid innovation and advancement of successful hires who may not have prior industry expertise and prioritizes customer satisfaction over short-term financial results, and if we cannot maintain or properly manage our culture as we grow, our business may be harmed.

We have a culture that encourages employees to quickly develop and launch key technologies and platforms intended to solve our customers’ most important problems and prioritizes the advancement of employees to positions of significant responsibility based on merit despite, in some cases, limited prior work or industry experience. Much of our hiring into technical roles comes through our internship program or from candidates joining us directly from undergraduate or graduate engineering programs rather than industry hires. Successful entry-level hires are often quickly advanced and rewarded with significant responsibilities, including in important customer-facing roles as project managers, development leads, and product managers. Larger competitors, such as defense contractors, system integrators, and large software and service companies that traditionally target large enterprises typically have more sizeable direct sales forces staffed by individuals with significantly more industry experience than our customer-facing personnel, which may negatively impact our ability to compete with these larger competitors. We have historically operated with a relatively flat reporting and organization structure and have few formal promotions or performance reviews. As our business grows and becomes more complex, our cultural emphasis on moving quickly and staffing customer-facing personnel without significant industry experience may result in unintended outcomes or in decisions that are poorly received by customers or other stakeholders. For example, in many cases we launch, at our expense, pilot deployments with customers without a long-term contract in place, and some of those deployments have not resulted in the customer’s adoption or expansion of its use of our platforms and services, or the generation of significant, or any, revenue or payments. In addition, as we continue to grow, including geographically, and as we develop a public company infrastructure, we may find it difficult to maintain our culture.

Our culture also prioritizes customer satisfaction over short-term financial results, and we frequently make service and product decisions that may reduce our short-term revenue or cash flow if we believe that the decisions are consistent with our mission and responsive to our customers’ goals and thereby have the potential to improve our financial performance over the long term. These decisions may not produce the long-term benefits and results that we expect or may be poorly received in the short term by the public markets, in which case our customer growth and our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be harmed.

We may not enter into relationships with potential customers if we consider their activities to be inconsistent with our organizational mission or values.

We generally do not enter into business with customers or governments whose positions or actions we consider inconsistent with our mission to support Western liberal democracy and its strategic allies. Our decisions to not enter into these relationships may not produce the long-term financial benefits and results that we expect, in which case our growth prospects, business, and results of operations could be harmed. Although we endeavor to

 

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do business with customers and governments that are aligned with our mission and values, we cannot predict how the activities and values of our government and private sector customers will evolve over time, and they may evolve in a manner inconsistent with our mission.

We do not work with the Chinese communist party and have chosen not to host our platforms in China, which may limit our growth prospects.

Our leadership believes that working with the Chinese communist party is inconsistent with our culture and mission. We do not consider any sales opportunities with the Chinese communist party, do not host our platforms in China, and impose limitations on access to our platforms in China in order to protect our intellectual property, to promote respect for and defend privacy and civil liberties protections, and to promote data security. Our decision to avoid this large potential market may limit our growth prospects and could adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition, and we may not compete successfully against our current or potential competitors who choose to work in China.

Joint ventures, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and prospects.

We expect to continue to enter into joint ventures, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances as part of our long-term business strategy. Joint ventures, platform partnerships, strategic alliances, and other similar arrangements involve significant investments of both time and resources, and there can be no assurances that they will be successful. They may present significant challenges and risks, including that they may not advance our business strategy, we may get an unsatisfactory return on our investment or lose some or all of our investment, they may distract management and divert resources from our core business, they may expose us to unexpected liabilities, or we may choose a partner that does not cooperate as we expect them to and that fails to meet its obligations or that has economic, business, or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with ours. For example, in November 2019, we created a jointly controlled entity in Japan with SOMPO Holdings, Inc. We believe this arrangement offers our business strategic operational advantages within the Japanese market, but it also limits our ability to independently sell our platforms, provide certain services, engage certain customers, or compete in Japanese markets or industry verticals, which limits our opportunities for growth in Japan and, depending on the success of the entity, may negatively impact our results. Additionally, in 2016, we entered into a partnership with Airbus S.A.S. (“Airbus”) that, over time, developed into the Skywise platform partnership, which provides our business strategic advantages but also limits our ability to independently provide our platforms to certain airlines and companies that compete with Airbus.

Entry into certain joint ventures, platform partnerships, or strategic alliances now or in the future may be subject to government regulation, including review by U.S. or foreign government entities related to foreign direct investment. If a joint venture or similar arrangement were subject to regulatory review, such regulatory review might limit our ability to enter into the desired strategic alliance and thus our ability to carry out our long-term business strategy.

As our joint ventures, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances come to an end or terminate, we may be unable to renew or replace them on comparable terms, or at all. When we enter into joint ventures, platform partnerships, and strategic alliances, our partners may be required to undertake some portion of sales, marketing, implementation services, engineering services, or software configuration that we would otherwise provide. In such cases, our partner may be less successful than we would have otherwise been absent the arrangement. In the event we enter into an arrangement with a particular partner, we may be less likely (or unable) to work with one or more direct competitors of our partner with which we would have worked absent the arrangement. We may have interests that are different from our joint venture partners and/or which may affect our ability to successfully collaborate with a given partner. Similarly, one or more of our partners in a joint venture, platform partnership, or strategic alliance may independently suffer a bankruptcy or other economic hardship that negatively affects its ability to continue as a going concern or successfully perform on its obligation under the

 

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arrangement. In addition, customer satisfaction with our products provided in connection with these arrangements may be less favorable than anticipated, negatively impacting anticipated revenue growth and results of operations of arrangements in question. Further, some of our strategic partners offer competing products and services or work with our competitors. As a result of these and other factors, many of the companies with which we have joint ventures, platform partnerships, or strategic alliances may choose to pursue alternative technologies and develop alternative products and services in addition to or in lieu of our platforms, either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with these partners, our ability to compete in a given marketplace or to grow our revenue would be impaired, and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful in establishing and maintaining these relationships with our partners, we cannot assure you that these relationships will result in increased customer usage of our platforms or increased revenue.

Further, winding down joint ventures, platform partnerships, or other strategic alliances can result in additional costs, litigation, and negative publicity. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

If we are not successful in executing our strategy to increase our sales to larger customers, our results of operations may suffer.

An important part of our growth strategy is to increase sales of our platforms to large enterprises and government entities. Sales to large enterprises and government entities involve risks that may not be present (or that are present to a lesser extent) with sales to small-to-mid-sized entities. These risks include:

 

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Increased leverage held by large customers in negotiating contractual arrangements with us;

 

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Changes in key decisionmakers within these organizations that may negatively impact our ability to negotiate in the future;

 

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Customer IT departments may perceive that our platforms and services pose a threat to their internal control and advocate for legacy or internally developed solutions over our platforms;

 

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Resources may be spent on a potential customer that ultimately elects not to purchase our platforms and services;

 

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More stringent requirements in our service contracts, including stricter service response times, and increased penalties for any failure to meet service requirements;

 

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Increased competition from larger competitors, such as defense contractors, system integrators, or large software and service companies that traditionally target large enterprises and government entities and that may already have purchase commitments from those customers; and

 

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Less predictability in completing some of our sales than we do with smaller customers.

Large enterprises and government entities often undertake a significant evaluation process that results in a lengthy sales cycle, in some cases over twelve months, requiring approvals of multiple management personnel and more technical personnel than would be typical of a smaller organization. Due to the length, size, scope, and stringent requirements of these evaluations, we typically provide short-term pilot deployments of our platforms at no or low cost in the Acquire phase. We sometimes spend substantial time, effort, and money in our sales efforts without producing any sales. The success of the investments that we make in the Acquire phase depends on factors such as our ability to identify potential customers for which our platforms have an opportunity to add significant value to the customer’s organization, our ability to identify and agree with the potential customer on an appropriate pilot deployment to demonstrate the value of our platforms, and whether we successfully execute on such pilot deployment. Even if the pilot deployment is successful, we or the customer could choose not to enter into a larger contract for a variety of reasons. For example, product purchases by large enterprises and government entities are frequently subject to budget constraints, leadership changes, multiple approvals, and

 

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unplanned administrative, processing, and other delays, any of which could significantly delay or entirely prevent our realization of sales. Finally, large enterprises and government entities typically (i) have longer implementation cycles, (ii) require greater product functionality and scalability and a broader range of services, including design services, (iii) demand that vendors take on a larger share of risks, (iv) sometimes require acceptance provisions that can lead to a delay in revenue recognition, (v) typically have more complex IT and data environments, and (vi) expect greater payment flexibility from vendors. Customers, and sometimes we, may also engage third parties to be the users of our platforms, which may result in contractual complexities and risks, require additional investment of time and human resources to train the third parties and allow third parties (who may be building competitive projects or engaging in other competitive activities) to influence our customers’ perception of our platforms. All these factors can add further risk to business conducted with these customers. If sales expected from a large customer for a particular quarter are not realized in that quarter or at all, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

The recent global COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected our business and operations.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease that it causes has evolved into a global pandemic. In light of the uncertain and rapidly evolving situation relating to the spread of COVID-19, we have taken precautionary measures intended to minimize the risk of the virus to our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we operate, including temporarily closing our offices worldwide and virtualizing, postponing, or canceling customer, employee, or industry events, which may negatively impact our business. While the COVID-19 pandemic has provided certain new opportunities for our business to expand, it has also created many negative headwinds that present risks to our business and results of operations. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has generally disrupted the operations of our customers and prospective customers, and may continue to disrupt their operations, including as a result of travel restrictions and/or business shutdowns, uncertainty in the financial markets or other harm to their business and financial results, which could result in a reduction to information technology budgets, delayed purchasing decisions, longer sales cycles, extended payment terms, the timing of payments, and postponed or canceled projects, all of which would negatively impact our business and operating results, including sales and cash flows. We do not yet know the net impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and cannot guarantee that it will not be materially negative. Although we continue to monitor the situation and may adjust our current policies as more information and public health guidance become available, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the precautionary measures that we have adopted may create operational and other challenges, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.

Historically, a significant portion of our field sales, operations and maintenance, and professional services have been conducted in person. Currently, as a result of the work and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the precautionary measures that we have adopted, substantially all of our field sales and professional services activities are being conducted remotely, which has resulted in a decrease in our travel expenditures. However, we expect our travel expenditures to increase in the future, which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. As of the date of this prospectus, we do not yet know the extent of the negative impact of such restrictions and precautionary measures on our ability to attract new customers or retain and expand our relationships with existing customers.

In addition, COVID-19 may disrupt the operations of our customers and partners for an indefinite period of time, including as a result of travel restrictions and/or business shutdowns, all of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Furthermore, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have required all employees who are able to do so to work remotely through the end of 2020. It is possible that widespread remote work arrangements may have a negative impact on our operations, the execution of our business plans, the productivity and availability of key personnel and other employees necessary to conduct our business, and on third-party service providers who perform critical services for us, or otherwise cause operational failures due to changes in our normal business

 

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practices necessitated by the outbreak and related governmental actions. If a natural disaster, power outage, connectivity issue, or other event occurred that impacted our employees’ ability to work remotely, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible, for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The increase in remote working may also result in increased consumer privacy, data security, and fraud risks, and our understanding of applicable legal and regulatory requirements, as well as the latest guidance from regulatory authorities in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, may be subject to legal or regulatory challenge, particularly as regulatory guidance evolves in response to future developments.

More generally, the COVID-19 pandemic has and is expected to continue to adversely affect economies and financial markets globally, leading to a continued economic downturn, which is expected to decrease technology spending generally and could adversely affect demand for our platforms and services. It is not possible at this time to estimate the full impact that COVID-19 will have on our business, as the impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Moreover, to the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, financial condition, and results of operations, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, including but not limited to, those related to our ability to increase sales to existing and new customers, continue to perform on existing contracts, develop and deploy new technologies, expand our marketing capabilities and sales organization, generate sufficient cash flow to service our indebtedness, and comply with the covenants in the agreements that govern our indebtedness.

We depend on computing infrastructure operated by Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), Microsoft, and other third parties to support some of our customers and any errors, disruption, performance problems, or failure in their or our operational infrastructure could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We rely on the technology, infrastructure, and software applications, including software-as-a-service offerings, of certain third parties, such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, in order to host or operate some or all of certain key platform features or functions of our business, including our cloud-based services (including Palantir Cloud), customer relationship management activities, billing and order management, and financial accounting services. Additionally, we rely on computer hardware purchased in order to deliver our platforms and services. We do not have control over the operations of the facilities of the third parties that we use. If any of these third-party services experience errors, disruptions, security issues, or other performance deficiencies, if they are updated such that our platforms become incompatible, if these services, software, or hardware fail or become unavailable due to extended outages, interruptions, defects, or otherwise, or if they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms or prices (or at all), these issues could result in errors or defects in our platforms, cause our platforms to fail, our revenue and margins could decline, or our reputation and brand to be damaged, we could be exposed to legal or contractual liability, our expenses could increase, our ability to manage our operations could be interrupted, and our processes for managing our sales and servicing our customers could be impaired until equivalent services or technology, if available, are identified, procured, and implemented, all of which may take significant time and resources, increase our costs, and could adversely affect our business. Many of these third-party providers attempt to impose limitations on their liability for such errors, disruptions, defects, performance deficiencies, or failures, and if enforceable, we may have additional liability to our customers or third-party providers.

We have experienced, and may in the future experience, disruptions, failures, data loss, outages, and other performance problems with our infrastructure and cloud-based offerings due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, employee misconduct, capacity constraints, denial of service attacks, phishing attacks, computer viruses, malicious or destructive code, or other security-related incidents, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all situations. If we experience disruptions, failures, data loss, outages, or other performance problems, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

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Our systems and the third-party systems upon which we and our customers rely are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from catastrophic occurrences such as earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, cybersecurity threats, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical and similar events, or acts of misconduct. Moreover, we have business operations in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a seismically active region. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a catastrophic disaster or other unanticipated problems at our or our third-party vendors’ hosting facilities, or within our systems or the systems of third parties upon which we rely, could result in interruptions, performance problems, or failure of our infrastructure, technology, or platforms, which may adversely impact our business. In addition, our ability to conduct normal business operations could be severely affected. In the event of significant physical damage to one of these facilities, it may take a significant period of time to achieve full resumption of our services, and our disaster recovery planning may not account for all eventualities. In addition, any negative publicity arising from these disruptions could harm our reputation and brand and adversely affect our business.

Furthermore, our platforms are in many cases important or essential to our customers’ operations, including in some cases, their cybersecurity or oversight and compliance programs, and subject to service level agreements (“SLAs”). Any interruption in our service, whether as a result of an internal or third-party issue, could damage our brand and reputation, cause our customers to terminate or not renew their contracts with us or decrease use of our platforms and services, require us to indemnify our customers against certain losses, result in our issuing credit or paying penalties or fines, subject us to other losses or liabilities, cause our platforms to be perceived as unreliable or unsecure, and prevent us from gaining new or additional business from current or future customers, any of which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Moreover, to the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. The provisioning of additional cloud hosting capacity requires lead time. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and other third parties have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If AWS, Microsoft Azure, or other third-parties increase pricing terms, terminate or seek to terminate our contractual relationship, establish more favorable relationships with our competitors, or change or interpret their terms of service or policies in a manner that is unfavorable with respect to us, we may be required to transfer to other cloud providers or invest in a private cloud. If we are required to transfer to other cloud providers or invest in a private cloud, we could incur significant costs and experience possible service interruption in connection with doing so, or risk loss of customer contracts if they are unwilling to accept such a change.

A failure to maintain our relationships with our third-party providers (or obtain adequate replacements), and to receive services from such providers that do not contain any material errors or defects, could adversely affect our ability to deliver effective products and solutions to our customers and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The competitive position of our platforms depends in part on their ability to operate with third-party products and services, and if we are not successful in maintaining and expanding the compatibility of our platforms with such third-party products and services, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

The competitive position of our platforms depends in part on their ability to operate with products and services of third parties, software services, and infrastructure. As such, we must continuously modify and enhance our platforms to adapt to changes in hardware, software, networking, browser, and database technologies. In the future, one or more technology companies may choose not to support the operation of their hardware, software, or infrastructure, or our platforms may not support the capabilities needed to operate with such hardware, software, or infrastructure. In addition, to the extent that a third-party were to develop software or services that compete with ours, that provider may choose not to support one or more of our platforms. We intend to facilitate

 

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the compatibility of our platforms with various third-party hardware, software, and infrastructure by maintaining and expanding our business and technical relationships. If we are not successful in achieving this goal, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Our non-U.S. sales and operations subject us to additional risks and regulations that can adversely affect our results of operations.

Our successes to date have primarily come from customers in relatively stable and developed countries, but we are in the process of entering new and emerging markets, including with COVID-19 response efforts and defense, law enforcement, national security, and other government agencies, as part of our growth strategy. These new and emerging markets may involve uncertain business, technology, and economic risks and may be difficult or impossible for us to penetrate, even if we were to commit significant resources to do so.

We currently have sales personnel and sales and services operations in the United States and certain countries around the world. To the extent that we experience difficulties in recruiting, training, managing, or retaining non-U.S. staff, and specifically sales management and sales personnel staff, we may experience difficulties in sales productivity in, or market penetration of, non-U.S. markets. Our ability to convince customers to expand their use of our platforms or renew their subscription, license, or maintenance and service agreements with us is correlated to, among other things, our direct engagement with the customer. To the extent we are restricted or unable to engage with non-U.S. customers effectively with our limited sales force and services capacity, we may be unable to grow sales to existing customers to the same degree we have experienced in the United States.

Our non-U.S. operations subject us to a variety of risks and challenges, including:

 

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Increased management, travel, infrastructure, and legal and financial compliance costs and time associated with having multiple non-U.S. operations, including but not limited to compliance with local employment laws and other applicable laws and regulations;

 

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Longer payment cycles, greater difficulty in enforcing contracts, difficulties in collecting accounts receivable, especially in emerging markets, and the likelihood that revenue from non-U.S. system integrators, government contractors, and customers may need to be recognized when cash is received, at least until satisfactory payment history has been established, or upon confirmation of certain acceptance criteria or milestones;

 

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The need to adapt our platforms for non-U.S. customers whether to accommodate customer preferences or local law;

 

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Differing regulatory and legal requirements and possible enactment of additional regulations or restrictions on the use, import, or re-export of our platforms or the provision of services, which could delay, restrict, or prevent the sale or use of our platforms and services in some jurisdictions;

 

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Compliance with multiple and changing foreign laws and regulations, including those governing employment, privacy, data protection, information security, data transfer, and the risks and costs of non-compliance with such laws and regulations;

 

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New and different sources of competition not present in the United States;

 

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Heightened risks of unfair or corrupt business practices in certain geographies and of improper or fraudulent sales arrangements that may cause us to withdraw from particular markets, or impact financial results and result in restatements of financial statements and irregularities in financial statements;

 

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Volatility in non-U.S. political and economic environments, including by way of examples, the potential effects of COVID-19 and the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union;

 

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Weaker protection of intellectual property rights in some countries and the risk of potential theft, copying, or other compromises of our technology, data, or intellectual property in connection with our non-U.S. operations, whether by state-sponsored malfeasance or other foreign entities or individuals;

 

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Volatility and fluctuations in currency exchange rates, including that, because many of our non-U.S. contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars, an increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar may make doing business with us less appealing to a non-U.S. dollar denominated customer;

 

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Management and employee communication and integration problems resulting from language differences, cultural differences, and geographic dispersion;

 

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Difficulties in repatriating or transferring funds from, or converting currencies in, certain countries;

 

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Potentially adverse tax consequences, including multiple and possibly overlapping tax regimes, the complexities of foreign value-added tax systems, and changes in tax rates;

 

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Lack of familiarity with local laws, customs, and practices, and laws and business practices favoring local competitors or partners; and

 

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Interruptions to our business operations and our customers’ business operations subject to events such as war, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, public health concerns or epidemics (such as the recent COVID-19 outbreak), shortages or failures of power, internet, telecommunications, or hosting service providers, cyberattacks or malicious acts, or responses to these events.

In addition to the factors above, foreign governments may take administrative, legislative, or regulatory action that could materially interfere with our ability to sell our platforms in certain countries. For example, foreign governments may require a percentage of prime contracts be fulfilled by local contractors or provide special incentives to government-backed local customers to buy from local competitors, even if their products are inferior to ours. Moreover, both the U.S. government and foreign governments may regulate the acquisition of or import of our technologies or our entry into certain foreign markets or partnership with foreign third parties through investment screening or other regulations. Such regulations may apply to certain non-U.S. joint ventures, platform partnerships and strategic alliances that may be integral to our long-term business strategy.

Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to our non-U.S. operations increases our cost of doing business in foreign jurisdictions. We may be unable to keep current with changes in foreign government requirements and laws as they change from time to time. Failure to comply with these regulations could subject us to investigations, sanctions, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, or other collateral consequences. In many foreign countries, it is common for others to engage in business practices that are prohibited by our internal policies and procedures or U.S. regulations applicable to us. In addition, although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and policies, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors, partners, and agents will comply with these laws and policies. Violations of laws or key control policies by our employees, contractors, partners, or agents could result in delays in revenue recognition, financial reporting misstatements, governmental sanctions, fines, penalties, or the prohibition of the importation or exportation of our platforms. In addition, responding to any action may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions or failure to prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation could harm our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations.

Also, we are expanding operations, including our work with existing commercial customers, into countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere, which may place restrictions on the transfer of data and potentially the import and use of foreign encryption technology. Any of these risks could harm our non-U.S. operations and reduce our non-U.S. sales, adversely affecting our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.

 

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Some of our business partners also have non-U.S. operations and are subject to the risks described above. Even if we are able to successfully manage the risks of non-U.S. operations, our business may be adversely affected if our business partners are not able to successfully manage these risks.

Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations could harm our business, and we have been, and expect to be, the subject of legal and regulatory inquiries, which may result in monetary payments or may otherwise negatively impact our reputation, business, and results of operations.

Our business is subject to regulation by various federal, state, local, and foreign governments in which we operate. In certain jurisdictions, the regulatory requirements imposed by foreign governments may be more stringent than those in the United States. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations, administrative proceedings, sanctions, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, litigation, civil and criminal penalties, termination of contracts, exclusion from sales channels or sales opportunities, injunctions, or other consequences. Such matters may include, but are not limited to, claims, disputes, allegations, or investigations related to alleged violations of laws or regulations relating to anticorruption requirements, lobbying or conflict-of-interest requirements, export or other trade controls, data privacy or data protection requirements, or laws or regulations relating to employment, procurement, cybersecurity, securities, or antitrust/competition requirements. The effects of recently imposed and proposed actions are uncertain because of the dynamic nature of governmental action and responses. We may be subject to government inquiries that drain our time and resources, tarnish our brand among customers and potential customers, prevent us from doing business with certain customers or markets, including government customers, affect our ability to hire, attract and maintain qualified employees, or require us to take remedial action or pay penalties. From time to time, we receive formal and informal inquiries from governmental agencies and regulators regarding our compliance with laws and regulations or otherwise relating to our business or transactions. Any negative outcome from such inquiries or investigations or failure to prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

We have contracts with governments that involve classified programs, which may limit investor insight into portions of our business.

We derive a portion of our revenue from programs with governments and government agencies that are subject to security restrictions (e.g., contracts involving classified information, classified contracts, and classified programs), which preclude the dissemination of information and technology that is classified for national security purposes under applicable law and regulation. In general, access to classified information, technology, facilities, or programs requires appropriate personnel security clearances, is subject to additional contract oversight and potential liability, and may also require appropriate facility clearances and other specialized infrastructure. In the event of a security incident involving classified information, technology, facilities, or programs or personnel holding clearances, we may be subject to legal, financial, operational, and reputational harm. We are limited in our ability to provide specific information about these classified programs, their risks, or any disputes or claims relating to such programs. As a result, investors have less insight into our classified programs than our other businesses and therefore less ability to fully evaluate the risks related to our classified business or our business overall. However, historically the business risks associated with our work on classified programs have not differed materially from those of our other government contracts.

Our business could be adversely affected if our employees cannot obtain and maintain required personnel security clearances or we cannot establish and maintain a required facility security clearance.

Certain U.S. government contracts may require our employees to maintain various levels of security clearances and may require us to maintain a facility security clearance to comply with Department of Defense and other U.S. government agency requirements. The government has strict security clearance requirements for personnel who perform work in support of classified programs. Obtaining and maintaining security clearances for

 

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employees involves a lengthy process, and it is difficult to identify, recruit, and retain employees who already hold security clearances. If our employees are unable to obtain security clearances in a timely manner, or at all, or if our employees who hold security clearances are unable to maintain their clearances or terminate employment with us, then we may be unable to comply with Department of Defense and other U.S. government agency requirements, or our customers requiring classified work could choose to terminate or decide not to renew one or more contracts requiring employees to obtain or maintain security clearances upon expiration. To the extent we are not able to obtain or maintain a facility security clearance, we may not be able to bid on or win new classified contracts, and existing contracts requiring a facility security clearance could be terminated, either of which would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The majority of our customer contracts may be terminated by the customer at any time for convenience and may contain other provisions permitting the customer to discontinue contract performance, and if terminated contracts are not replaced, our results of operations may differ materially and adversely from those anticipated. In addition, our contracts with government customers often contain provisions with additional rights and remedies favorable to such customers that are not typically found in commercial contracts.

The majority of our contracts, including our government contracts, contain termination for convenience provisions. Customers that terminate such contracts may also be entitled to a pro rata refund of the amount of the customer deposit for the period of time remaining in the contract term after the applicable termination notice period expires. Government contracts often contain provisions and are subject to laws and regulations that provide government customers with additional rights and remedies not typically found in commercial contracts. These rights and remedies allow government customers, among other things, to:

 

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Terminate existing contracts for convenience with short notice;

 

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Reduce orders under or otherwise modify contracts;

 

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For contracts subject to the Truth in Negotiations Act, reduce the contract price or cost where it was increased because a contractor or subcontractor furnished cost or pricing data during negotiations that was not complete, accurate, and current;

 

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For some contracts, (i) demand a refund, make a forward price adjustment, or terminate a contract for default if a contractor provided inaccurate or incomplete data during the contract negotiation process and (ii) reduce the contract price under triggering circumstances, including the revision of price lists or other documents upon which the contract award was predicated;

 

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Cancel multi-year contracts and related orders if funds for contract performance for any subsequent year become unavailable;

 

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Decline to exercise an option to renew a multi-year contract or issue task orders in connection with indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (“IDIQ”) contracts;

 

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Claim rights in solutions, systems, or technology produced by us, appropriate such work-product for their continued use without continuing to contract for our services, and disclose such work-product to third parties, including other government agencies and our competitors, which could harm our competitive position;

 

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Prohibit future procurement awards with a particular agency due to a finding of organizational conflicts of interest based upon prior related work performed for the agency that would give a contractor an unfair advantage over competing contractors, or the existence of conflicting roles that might bias a contractor’s judgment;

 

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Subject the award of contracts to protest by competitors, which may require the contracting federal agency or department to suspend our performance pending the outcome of the protest and may also result in a requirement to resubmit offers for the contract or in the termination, reduction, or modification of the awarded contract;

 

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Suspend or debar us from doing business with the applicable government; and

 

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Control or prohibit the export of our services.

If a customer were to unexpectedly terminate, cancel, or decline to exercise an option to renew with respect to one or more of our significant contracts, or if a government were to suspend or debar us from doing business with such government, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be materially harmed.

We may not realize the full deal value of our government contracts, which may result in lower than expected revenue.

As of June 30, 2020, the total remaining deal value of the contracts that we had been awarded by government agencies in the United States and allied countries around the world, including existing contractual obligations and contractual options available to those government agencies, was $1.2 billion. The majority of these contracts are subject to termination for convenience provisions, and the U.S. federal government is prohibited from exercising contract options more than one year in advance. As a result, there can be no guarantee that our contracts with government customers will not be terminated or that contract options will be exercised.

We historically have not realized all of the revenue from the full deal value of our government contracts, and we may not do so in the future. This is because the actual timing and amount of revenue under contracts included are subject to various contingencies, including exercise of contractual options, customers not terminating their contracts, and renegotiations of contracts. In addition, delays in the completion of the U.S. government’s budgeting process, the use of continuing resolutions, and a potential lapse in appropriations could adversely affect our ability to timely recognize revenue under certain government contracts.

Failure to comply with laws, regulations, or contractual provisions applicable to our business could cause us to lose government customers or our ability to contract with the U.S. and other governments.

As a government contractor, 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 audits and internal investigations which may prove costly to our business financially, divert management time, or limit our ability to continue selling our platforms and services 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 from our channel partners, penalties, and 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 could adversely impact, and could have a material adverse effect on, our business, results of operations, financial condition, public perception, and growth prospects.

Evolving government procurement policies and increased emphasis on cost over performance could adversely affect our business.

Federal, state, local, and foreign governments and government agencies could implement procurement policies that negatively impact our profitability. Changes in procurement policy favoring more non-commercial purchases, different pricing, or evaluation criteria or government contract negotiation offers based upon the customer’s view of what our pricing should be may affect the predictability of our margins on such contracts or make it more difficult to compete on certain types of programs.

Governments and government agencies are continually evaluating their contract pricing and financing practices, and we have no assurance regarding the full scope and recurrence of any study and what changes will be proposed, if any, and their impact on our financial position, cash flows, or results of operations.

 

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Increased competition and bid protests in a budget-constrained environment may make it more difficult to maintain our financial performance and customer relationships.

A substantial portion of our business is awarded through competitive bidding. Even if we are successful in obtaining an award, we may encounter bid protests from unsuccessful bidders on any specific award. Bid protests could result, among other things, in significant expenses to us, contract modifications, or even loss of the contract award. Even where a bid protest does not result in the loss of a contract award, the resolution can extend the time until contract activity can begin and, as a result, delay the recognition of revenue. We also may not be successful in our efforts to protest or challenge any bids for contracts that were not awarded to us, and we would be required to incur significant time and expense in such efforts.

In addition, governments and agencies increasingly have relied on competitive contract award types, including IDIQ and other multi-award contracts, which have the potential to create pricing pressure and to increase our costs by requiring us to submit multiple bids and proposals. Multi-award contracts require us to make sustained efforts to obtain orders under the contract. The competitive bidding process entails substantial costs and managerial time to prepare bids and proposals for contracts that may not be awarded to us or may be split among competitors.

We are experiencing increased competition while, at the same time, many of our customers are facing budget pressures, cutting costs, identifying more affordable solutions, performing certain work internally rather than hiring contractors, and reducing product development cycles. To remain competitive, we must maintain consistently strong customer relationships, seek to understand customer priorities, and provide superior performance, advanced technology solutions, and service at an affordable cost with the agility that our customers require to satisfy their objectives in an increasingly price competitive environment. Failure to do so could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The U.S. government may procure non-commercial developmental services rather than commercial products, which could materially impact our future U.S. government business and revenue.

U.S. government agencies, including our customers, often award large developmental item and service contracts to build custom software over firm fixed-price contracts for commercial products. We sell commercial items and services and do not contract for non-commercial developmental services. The U.S. government is required to procure commercial items and services to the maximum extent practicable in accordance with FASA, 10 U.S.C. § 2377; 41 U.S.C. § 3307, and the U.S. government may instead decide to procure non-commercial developmental items and services if commercial items and services are not practicable. In order to challenge a government decision to procure developmental items and services instead of commercial items and services, we would be required to file a bid protest at the agency level and/or with the Government Accountability Office. This can result in contentious communications with government agency legal and contracting offices, and may escalate to litigation in federal court. The results of any future challenges or potential litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, however, and any dispute or litigation with the U.S. government may not be resolved in our favor; moreover, whether or not it is resolved in our favor, such disputes or litigation could result in significant expense and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. These proceedings could adversely affect our reputation and relationship with government customers and could also result in negative publicity, which could harm customer and public perception of our business. The enforcement of FASA has resulted in a significant increase in our business with the U.S. federal government. Any change in or repeal of FASA, or a contrary interpretation of FASA by a court of competent jurisdiction, would adversely affect our competitive position for U.S. federal government contracts.

A decline in the U.S. and other government budgets, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards may significantly and adversely affect our future revenue and limit our growth prospects.

Because we generate a substantial portion of our revenue from contracts with governments and government agencies, and in particular from contracts with the U.S. government and government agencies, our results of

 

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operations could be adversely affected by government spending caps or changes in government budgetary priorities, as well as by delays in the government budget process, program starts, or the award of contracts or orders under existing contract vehicles. Current U.S. government spending levels for defense-related and other programs may not be sustained beyond government fiscal year 2021. Future spending and program authorizations may not increase or may decrease or shift to programs in areas in which we do not provide services or are less likely to be awarded contracts. Such changes in spending authorizations and budgetary priorities may occur as a result of shifts in spending priorities from defense-related and other programs as a result of competing demands for federal funds and the number and intensity of military conflicts or other factors.

When the United States Congress does not complete a budget before the end of the fiscal year, government operations typically are funded through one or more continuing resolutions that authorize agencies of the U.S. government to continue to operate consistent with funding levels from the prior year’s appropriated amounts, but do not authorize new spending initiatives. When the U.S. government operates under a continuing resolution, contract awards may be delayed, canceled, or funded at lower levels, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations. There is a possibility that post-election political decisions, the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns, or an impasse on policy issues could threaten continuous government funding past September 30, 2020. While the federal government is currently funded in full through the end of government fiscal year 2020, there is a strong possibility that government fiscal year 2021 will begin under a continuing resolution, which has occurred regularly in recent election year appropriations cycles. If appropriations or continuing resolutions for the U.S. government departments and agencies with which we work or have prospective business are not made by September 30, 2020, the lapse in appropriations may also have negative impacts on our ability to continue work and to recognize revenue from those customers, for so long as the lapse continues. In addition, our business may be impacted due to shifts in the political environment and changes in the government and agency leadership positions in connection with the 2020 presidential election as well as future election cycles.

The U.S. government also conducts periodic reviews of U.S. defense strategies and priorities which may shift Department of Defense budgetary priorities, reduce overall spending, or delay contract or task order awards for defense-related programs from which we would otherwise expect to derive a significant portion of our future revenue. A significant decline in overall U.S. government spending, a significant shift in spending priorities, the substantial reduction or elimination of particular defense-related programs, or significant budget-related delays in contract or task order awards for large programs could adversely affect our future revenue and limit our growth prospects.

Adverse economic conditions or reduced technology spending may adversely impact our business.

Our business depends on the economic health of our current and prospective customers and overall demand for technology. In addition, the purchase of our platforms and services is often discretionary and typically involves a significant commitment of capital and other resources. A further downturn in economic conditions, global political and economic uncertainty, a lack of availability of credit, a reduction in business confidence and activity, the curtailment of government or corporate spending, public health concerns or emergencies, financial market volatility, and other factors have in the past and may in the future affect the industries to which we sell our platforms and services. Our customers may suffer from reduced operating budgets, which could cause them to defer or forego purchases of our platforms or services. Moreover, competitors may respond to market conditions by lowering prices and attempting to lure away our customers, and the increased pace of consolidation in certain industries may result in reduced overall spending on our offerings. Uncertainty about global and regional economic conditions, a downturn in the technology sector or any sectors in which our customers operate, or a reduction in information technology spending even if economic conditions are stable, could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations in a number of ways, including longer sales cycles, lower prices for our platforms and services, material default rates among our customers, reduced sales of our platforms or services, and lower or no growth.

 

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We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any crises, economic slowdown or any subsequent recovery generally, or for any industry in particular. Although certain aspects of the effects of a crisis or an economic slowdown may provide potential new opportunities for our business, we cannot guarantee that the net impact of any such events will not be materially negative. Accordingly, if the conditions in the general economy and the markets in which we operate worsen from present levels, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

If the market for our platforms and services develops more slowly than we expect, our growth may slow or stall, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.

The market for our platforms is rapidly evolving. Our future success will depend in large part on the growth and expansion of this market, which is difficult to predict and relies on a number of factors, including customer adoption, customer demand, changing customer needs, the entry of competitive products, the success of existing competitive products, potential customers’ willingness to adopt an alternative approach to data collection, storage, and processing and their willingness to invest in new software after significant prior investments in legacy data collection, storage, and processing software. The estimates and assumptions that are used to calculate our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of the organizations covered by our market opportunity estimates will pay for our platforms and services at all or generate any particular level of revenue for us. Even if the market in which we compete meets the size estimates and growth forecasts, our business could fail to grow at the levels we expect or at all for a variety of reasons outside our control, including competition in our industry. Further, if we or other data management and analytics providers experience security incidents, loss of or unauthorized access to customer data, disruptions in delivery, or other problems, this market as a whole, including our platforms, may be negatively affected. If software for the challenges that we address does not achieve widespread adoption, or there is a reduction in demand caused by a lack of customer acceptance, technological challenges, weakening economic conditions (including due to the COVID-19 pandemic), security or privacy concerns, competing technologies and products, decreases in corporate spending, or otherwise, or, alternatively, if the market develops but we are unable to continue to penetrate it due to the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our platforms, or other factors, it could result in decreased revenue and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We will face risks associated with the growth of our business in new commercial markets and with new customer verticals, and we may neither be able to continue our organic growth nor have the necessary resources to dedicate to the overall growth of our business.

We plan to expand our operations in new commercial markets, including those where we may have limited operating experience, and may be subject to increased business, technology and economic risks that could affect our financial results. In recent periods, we have increased our focus on commercial customers. In the future, we may increasingly focus on such customers, including in the banking, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, telecommunication, automotive, airlines and aerospace, consumer packaged goods, insurance, retail, transportation, shipping and logistics, and energy industries. Entering new verticals and expanding in the verticals in which we are already operating will continue to require significant resources and there is no guarantee that such efforts will be successful or beneficial to us. Historically, sales to a new customer have often led to additional sales to the same customer or similarly situated customers. As we expand into and within new and emerging markets and heavily regulated industry verticals, we will likely face additional regulatory scrutiny, risks, and burdens from the governments and agencies which regulate those markets and industries. While this approach to expansion within new commercial markets and verticals has proven successful in the past, it is uncertain we will achieve the same penetration and organic growth in the future and our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

 

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Failure to adequately obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could adversely affect our business.

Our success and ability to compete depends in part on our ability to protect proprietary methods and technologies that we develop under a combination of patent and other intellectual property and proprietary rights in the United States and other jurisdictions outside the United States so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information and technology. Despite our efforts, third parties may attempt to disclose, obtain, copy, or use our intellectual property or other proprietary information or technology without our authorization, and our efforts to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may not prevent such unauthorized disclosure or use, misappropriation, infringement, reverse engineering or other violation of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Effective protection of our rights may not be available to us in every country in which our platforms or services are available. The laws of some countries may not be as protective of intellectual property and other proprietary rights as those in the United States, and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate. Also, our involvement in standard setting activity or the need to obtain licenses from others may require us to license our intellectual property. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from using our intellectual property or other proprietary information or technology.

In addition, we may be the subject of intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims, which could be very time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigate and could divert our management’s attention and other resources. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages if we are found to have infringed patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights, or breached trademark co-existence agreements or other intellectual property licenses and could require us to cease using or to rebrand all or portions of our platforms. Any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation.

While we have issued patents and patent applications pending, we may be unable to obtain patent protection for the technology covered in our patent applications or such patent protection may not be obtained quickly enough to meet our business needs. Furthermore, the patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming, and complex, and we may not be able to prepare, file, prosecute, maintain, and enforce all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. The scope of patent protection also can be reinterpreted after issuance and issued patents may be invalidated. Even if our patent applications do issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that is sufficiently broad to protect our technology, prevent competitors or other third parties form competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage.

In addition, any of our patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights may be challenged, narrowed, invalidated, held unenforceable, or circumvented in litigation or other proceedings, including, where applicable, opposition, re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review, interference, nullification and derivation proceedings, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, and such intellectual property or other proprietary rights may be lost or no longer provide us meaningful competitive advantages. Such proceedings may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. Third parties also may legitimately and independently develop products, services, and technology similar to or duplicative of our platforms. In addition to protection under intellectual property laws, we rely on confidentiality or license agreements that we generally enter into with our corporate partners, employees, consultants, advisors, vendors, and customers, and generally limit access to and distribution of our proprietary information. However, we cannot be certain that we have entered into such agreements with all parties who may have or have had access to our confidential information or that the agreements we have entered into will not be breached or challenged, or that such breaches will be detected. Furthermore, non-disclosure provisions can be difficult to enforce, and even if successfully enforced, may not be entirely effective. We cannot guarantee that any of the measures we have taken will prevent infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of our technology or other intellectual property or proprietary rights. Because we may be an attractive target for cyberattacks, we also may have a heightened risk of unauthorized access to, and misappropriation of, our

 

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proprietary and competitively sensitive information. We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, and we may conclude that in at least some instances the benefits of protecting our intellectual property or other proprietary rights may be outweighed by the expense or distraction to our management. We may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Any such litigation, whether or not it is resolved in our favor, could be time-consuming, result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Furthermore, attempts to enforce our intellectual property rights against third parties could also provoke these third parties to assert their own intellectual property or other rights against us, or result in a holding that invalidates or narrows the scope of our rights, in whole or in part.

We have been, and may in the future be, subject to intellectual property rights claims, which are extremely costly to defend, could require us to pay significant damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies.

Our success and ability to compete also depends in part on our ability to operate without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties. Companies in the software and technology industries, including some of our current and potential competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently pursue litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantial resources to enforce their intellectual property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. Such litigation also may involve non-practicing patent assertion entities or companies who use their patents as a means to extract license fees by threatening costly litigation or that have minimal operations or relevant product revenue and against whom our patents may provide little or no deterrence or protection. We have received notices, and may continue to receive notices in the future, that claim we have infringed, misappropriated, misused or otherwise violated other parties’ intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we become exposed to greater visibility, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation claims, which is not uncommon with respect to software technologies in particular. There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued patents or pending patent applications, that cover significant aspects of our technologies, or business methods. There may also be third-party intellectual property rights, including trademark registrations and pending applications, that cover the goods and services that we offer in certain regions. We may also be exposed to increased risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violation claims as a result of acquisitions and our incorporation of open source and other third-party software into, or new branding for, our platforms, as, among other things, we have a lower level of visibility into the development process with respect to such technology or the care taken to safeguard against infringement, misappropriation, or other violation risks. In addition, former employers of our current, former, or future employees may assert claims that such employees have improperly disclosed to us confidential or proprietary information of these former employers. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, are difficult to predict, could be very time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigate, could divert our management’s attention and other resources, and may not be covered by the insurance that we carry. These claims could subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed a third party’s intellectual property rights. These claims could also result in our having to stop using technology, branding or marks found to be in violation of a third party’s rights and any necessary rebranding could result in the loss of goodwill. We could be required to seek a license for the intellectual property, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if a license were available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our expenses. As a result, we could be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, branding or marks, which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license rights or develop technology for any infringing aspect of our business, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of one or more of our platforms or features, we could lose existing customers, and we may be unable to compete effectively. Any of these results would harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

 

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Further, our agreements with customers and other third parties may include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of intellectual property rights, damages caused by us to property or persons, or other liabilities relating to or arising from our platforms, services, or other contractual obligations. Large indemnity payments could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any dispute with a customer with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with that customer and other existing customers and new customers and harm our business and results of operations.

We are currently, and may in the future become, involved in a number of legal, regulatory, and administrative inquiries and proceedings, and unfavorable outcomes in litigation or other of these matters could negatively impact our business, financial conditions, and results of operations.

We are currently, and may, from time to time, be involved in and subject to litigation or proceedings for a variety of claims or disputes, and we may have in the past, and may in the future, be subject to regulatory inquiries. These claims, lawsuits, and proceedings could involve labor and employment, discrimination and harassment, commercial disputes, intellectual property rights (including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other proprietary rights), class actions, general contract, tort, defamation, data privacy rights, antitrust, common law fraud, government regulation, or compliance, alleged federal and state securities and “blue sky” law violations or other investor claims, and other matters. Derivative claims, lawsuits, and proceedings, which may, from time to time, be asserted against our directors by our stockholders, could involve breach of fiduciary duty, failure of oversight, corporate waste claims, and other matters. One of our stockholders with respect to whom we are currently engaged in litigation as described in the notes to our consolidated financial statements has threatened to bring various of these claims. In addition, our business and results may be adversely affected by the outcome of currently pending and any future legal, regulatory, and/or administrative claims or proceedings, including through monetary damages or injunctive relief.

The number and significance of our legal disputes and inquiries may increase as we continue to grow larger, as our business has expanded in employee headcount, scope, and geographic reach, and as our platforms and services have become more complex. Additionally, if customers fail to pay us under the terms of our agreements, we may be adversely affected due to the cost of enforcing the terms of our contracts through litigation. Litigation or other proceedings can be expensive and time consuming and can divert our resources and leadership’s attention from our primary business operations. The results of our litigation also cannot be predicted with certainty. If we are unable to prevail in litigation, we could incur payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or undesirable changes to our platforms or business practices, and accordingly, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if we accrue a loss contingency for pending litigation and determine that it is probable, any disclosures, estimates, and reserves we reflect in our financial statements with regard to these matters may not reflect the ultimate disposition or financial impact of litigation or other such matters. These proceedings could also result in negative publicity, which could harm customer and public perception of our business, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. Additional information regarding certain of the lawsuits we are involved in is described further in Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Real or perceived errors, failures, defects or bugs in our platforms could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.

Because we offer very complex platforms, undetected errors, defects, failures or bugs may occur, especially when platforms or capabilities are first introduced or when new versions or other product or infrastructure updates are released. Our platforms are often installed and used in large-scale computing environments with different operating systems, software products and equipment, and data source and network configurations, which may cause errors or failures in our platforms or may expose undetected errors, failures, or bugs in our platforms. Despite testing by us, errors, failures, or bugs may not be found in new software or releases until after

 

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commencement of commercial shipments. In the past, errors have affected the performance of our platforms and can also delay the development or release of new platforms or capabilities or new versions of platforms, adversely affect our reputation and our customers’ willingness to buy platforms from us, and adversely affect market acceptance or perception of our platforms. Many of our customers use our platforms in applications that are critical to their businesses or missions and may have a lower risk tolerance to defects in our platforms than to defects in other, less critical, software products. Any errors or delays in releasing new software or new versions of platforms or allegations of unsatisfactory performance or errors, defects or failures in released software could cause us to lose revenue or market share, increase our service costs, cause us to incur substantial costs in redesigning the software, cause us to lose significant customers, subject us to liability for damages and divert our resources from other tasks, any one of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, our platforms could be perceived to be ineffective for a variety of reasons outside of our control. Hackers or other malicious parties could circumvent our or our customers’ security measures, and customers may misuse our platforms resulting in a security breach or perceived product failure.

Real or perceived errors, failures, or bugs in our platforms and services, or dissatisfaction with our services and outcomes, could result in customer terminations and/or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or we may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct any such errors, failures, or bugs. Although we have limitation of liability provisions in our standard software licensing and service agreement terms and conditions, these provisions may not be enforceable in some circumstances, may vary in levels of protection across our agreements, or may not fully or effectively protect us from such claims and related liabilities and costs. We generally provide a warranty for our software products and services and a SLA for our performance of software operations via our O&M services to customers. In the event that there is a failure of warranties in such agreements, we are generally obligated to correct the product or service to conform to the warranty provision as set forth in the applicable SLA, or, if we are unable to do so, the customer is entitled to seek a refund of the purchase price of the product and service (generally prorated over the contract term).The sale and support of our products also entail the risk of product liability claims. We maintain insurance to protect against certain claims associated with the use of our products, but our insurance coverage may not adequately cover any claim asserted against us. In addition, even claims that ultimately are unsuccessful could result in our expenditure of funds in litigation and divert management’s time and other resources.

In addition, our platforms integrate a wide variety of other elements, and our platforms must successfully interoperate with products from other vendors and our customers’ internally developed software. As a result, when problems occur for a customer using our platforms, it may be difficult to identify the sources of these problems, and we may receive blame for a security, access control, or other compliance breach that was the result of the failure of one of other elements in a customer’s or another vendor’s IT, security, or compliance infrastructure. The occurrence of software or errors in data, whether or not caused by our platforms, could delay or reduce market acceptance of our platforms and have an adverse effect on our business and financial performance, and any necessary revisions may cause us to incur significant expenses. The occurrence of any such problems could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. If an actual or perceived breach of information correctness, auditability, integrity, or availability occurs in one of our customers’ systems, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to our platforms, the market perception of the effectiveness of our platforms could be harmed. Alleviating any of these problems could require additional significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions, delays, or cessation of our product licensing, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

 

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We rely on the availability of licenses to third-party technology that may be difficult to replace or that may cause errors or delay implementation of our platforms and services should we not be able to continue or obtain a commercially reasonable license to such technology.

Our platforms include software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to renew licenses relating to various aspects of these platforms or to seek new licenses for existing or new platforms or other products. There can be no assurance that the necessary licenses would be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. Third parties may terminate their licenses with us for a variety of reasons, including actual or perceived failures or breaches of security or privacy, or reputational concerns, or they may choose not to renew their licenses with us. In addition, we may be subject to liability if third-party software that we license is found to infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate intellectual property or privacy rights of others. The loss of, or inability to obtain, certain third-party licenses or other rights or to obtain such licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could result in product roll-backs, delays in product releases until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed, if at all, and integrated into our platforms, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, the inclusion in our platforms of software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis could limit our ability to differentiate our platforms from products of our competitors and could inhibit our ability to provide the current level of service to existing customers.

In addition, any data that we license from third parties for potential use in our platforms may contain errors or defects, which could negatively impact the analytics that our customers perform on or with such data. This may have a negative impact on how our platforms are perceived by our current and potential customers and could materially damage our reputation and brand.

Changes in or the loss of third-party licenses could lead to our platforms becoming inoperable or the performance of our platforms being materially reduced resulting in our potentially needing to incur additional research and development costs to ensure continued performance of our platforms or a material increase in the costs of licensing, and we may experience decreased demand for our platforms.

Our platforms contain “open source” software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or more of these open source licenses could negatively affect our business.

Our platforms are distributed with software licensed by its authors or other third parties under “open source” licenses. Some of these licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the open source software, and that we license these modifications or derivative works under the terms of a particular open source license or other license granting third-parties certain rights of further use. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain provisions of the open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software. In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide updates, warranties, support, indemnities, assurances of title, or controls on origin of the software. Likewise, some open source projects have known security and other vulnerabilities and architectural instabilities, or are otherwise subject to security attacks due to their wide availability, and are provided on an “as-is” basis. We have established processes to help alleviate these risks, including a review process for screening requests from our development organization for the use of open source software, and the use of software tools to review our source code for open source software, but we cannot be sure that all open source software is submitted for approval prior to use in our platforms or that such software tools will be effective. In addition, open source license terms may be ambiguous and many of the risks associated with usage of open source software cannot be eliminated, and could, if not properly addressed, negatively affect our business. If we were found to have inappropriately used open source software, we may be required to re-engineer our platforms, to release proprietary source code, to discontinue the sale of our platforms in the event re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or

 

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to take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects. In addition, if the open source software we use is no longer maintained by the relevant open source community, then it may be more difficult to make the necessary revisions to our software, including modifications to address security vulnerabilities, which could impact our ability to mitigate cybersecurity risks or fulfill our contractual obligations to our customers. We may also face claims from others seeking to enforce the terms of an open source license, including by demanding release of the open source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed using such software. Such claims, with or without merit, could result in litigation, could be time-consuming and expensive to settle or litigation, could divert our management’s attention and other resources, could require us to lease some of our proprietary code, or could require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our software, any of which could adversely affect our business.

Additionally, we have intentionally made certain proprietary software available on an open source basis, both by contributing modifications back to existing open source projects, and by making certain internally developed tools available pursuant to open source licenses, and we plan to continue to do so in the future. While we have established procedures, including a review process for any such contributions, which is designed to protect any code that may be competitively sensitive, we cannot guarantee that this process has always been applied consistently. Even when applied, because any software source code we contribute to open source projects is publicly available, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights with respect to such software source code may be limited or lost entirely, and we may be unable to prevent our competitors or others from using such contributed software source code for competitive purposes, or for commercial or other purposes beyond what we intended.

Many of these risks associated with usage of open source software could be difficult to eliminate or manage, and could, if not properly addressed, negatively affect the performance of our offerings and our business.

Changes in tax laws or tax rulings, including uncertainties in the interpretation and application of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, could potentially materially affect our tax obligations, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The U.S. and various foreign tax regimes we are subject to or operate under, including income and non-income taxes, are unsettled and may be subject to significant change. Determining our provision for income taxes requires significant management judgment. In addition, our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by many factors, including, among other things, changes to our operating or holding structure, changes in the amounts of earnings in jurisdictions with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, and changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws. We could be subject to tax examinations in various U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Tax authorities in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions may disagree with our use of research and development tax credits, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing, or other matters and assess additional taxes. While we regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes and we believe that our financial statements reflect adequate reserves to cover any such contingencies, there can be no assurance that the outcomes of such examinations will not have a material impact on our results of operations and cash flows. Changes in tax laws or tax rulings in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions, or changes in interpretations of existing laws, could materially affect our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) was enacted on December 22, 2017 and changed how the United States imposes income tax on multinational corporations. The United States Department of Treasury has broad authority to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that may significantly impact how we will apply the law, which may impact our results of operations in the current period and future periods. Further, we are, and expect to continue to be, subject to regular review and audit by the IRS and other tax authorities in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. As a result, we have received, and may in the future receive, assessments in multiple jurisdictions on various tax-related assertions, and these assessments can require considerable estimates and judgments. There can be no assurance that our global tax positions and methodologies or calculations are

 

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accurate or that the outcomes of future tax examinations will not have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, as a multinational business, we have multiple subsidiaries and branches that engage in many intercompany transactions in a variety of tax jurisdictions where the ultimate tax determination is complex and uncertain. Our existing corporate structure and intercompany arrangements have been implemented in a manner we believe is in compliance with the current prevailing tax laws in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. However, the taxing authorities of those jurisdictions may challenge our methodologies for intercompany arrangements, which could impact our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We are also subject to non-income taxes, such as payroll, sales, use, value-added, net worth, property, and goods and services taxes in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. We are periodically reviewed and audited by U.S. and foreign tax authorities with respect to income and non-income taxes. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken, and we may have exposure to additional income and non-income tax liabilities which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, our future effective tax rates could be favorably or unfavorably affected by changes in tax rates, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets or liabilities, the effectiveness of our tax planning strategies, or changes in tax laws or their interpretation. Such changes could have an adverse impact on our financial condition.

Our employee equity incentive plan is currently administered in several foreign jurisdictions, many of which have increasingly complex securities and tax laws, the application of which can be uncertain. Foreign tax authorities could audit our equity plan, including past and future issuances thereunder, and may disagree with the manner in which we administer our equity plan locally, including our tax withholding methodologies. Should foreign authorities determine that we have failed to comply with local laws and regulations and assess additional taxes, interest, and penalties on income derived from our equity plans, we may be obligated to carry the financial burden, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

In addition, many countries in Europe, as well as a number of other countries and organizations, have recently proposed or recommended changes to existing tax laws or have enacted new laws that could significantly increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business or require us to change the manner in which we operate our business. Similarly, in 2018, the European Commission issued proposals that would change various aspects of the current tax framework under which we are taxed. These proposals include changes to the existing framework to calculate income tax, as well as proposals to change or impose new types of non-income taxes, including taxes based on a percentage of revenue.

The enactment of legislation implementing changes in the United States of taxation of non-U.S. business activities or the adoption of other tax reform policies could materially impact our financial condition and results of operations.

Recent changes to U.S. tax laws, including limitations on the ability of taxpayers to claim and utilize foreign tax credits and the deferral of certain tax deductions until earnings outside of the United States are repatriated to the United States, as well as changes to U.S. tax laws that may be enacted in the future, could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings. Due to expansion of our non-U.S. business activities, any changes in the U.S. taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our results of operations may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for our license arrangements in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.

States and some local taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales and use taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. We collect and remit U.S. sales and use tax, value-added tax (“VAT”), and goods and services tax (“GST”) in a number of jurisdictions. It is possible, however, that we could face sales tax, VAT, or GST audits and that our liability for these taxes could exceed our estimates as state tax authorities could still assert that we are obligated to collect

 

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additional tax amounts from our customers and remit those taxes to those authorities. We could also be subject to audits in states and non-U.S. jurisdictions for which we have not accrued tax liabilities. One or more states or countries may seek to impose incremental or new sales, use, or other tax collection obligations on us or may determine that such taxes should have, but have not been, paid by us. Furthermore, on June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. that states could impose sales tax collection obligations on out-of-state retailers even if those retailers lack any physical presence within the states imposing the sales taxes. Under Wayfair, a person requires only a “substantial nexus” with the taxing state before the state may subject the person to sales tax collection obligations therein. An increasing number of states (both before and after the publication of Wayfair) have considered or adopted laws that attempt to impose sales tax collection obligations on out-of-state retailers. The Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision has removed a significant impediment to the enactment and enforcement of these laws, and it is possible that states may seek to tax out-of-state retailers on sales that occurred in prior tax years. A successful assertion by a state, country, or other jurisdiction that we should have been or should be collecting additional sales, use, or other taxes could, among other things, result in substantial tax payments, including substantial interest and penalty charges, create significant administrative burdens for us, discourage potential customers from entering into license arrangements for our platforms due to the incremental cost of any such sales or other related taxes, or otherwise harm our business.

We may not be able to utilize a significant portion of our net operating loss carry-forwards and research and development credits, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Due to prior period losses, we have generated significant federal and state net operating loss carry-forwards that start or already began to expire beginning in 2024 and 2016, respectively. Additionally, Palantir has certain federal and state research and development credits. The federal credits have expiration dates between 2024 and 2037, and the California credits have no expiration date. Utilization of the net operating losses and research credit carry-forwards may be subject to an annual limitation due to the ownership percentage change limitations provided by the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, or state law. Under Section 382 of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change taxable income or tax liability may be limited. We have experienced ownership changes in the past and, although we do not expect to experience an ownership change in connection with our listing on the NYSE, any such ownership change could result in increased future tax liability. In addition, we may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership. As a result, significant shifts in our stock ownership may result in the limitation or expiration of our net operating losses and research credit carry-forwards before utilization, which may limit our ability to offset future income tax liabilities and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, under the Tax Act, as amended by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES Act”), net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021 may be carried back to each of the five taxable years preceding the tax year of such loss, but net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 may not be carried back. Under the Tax Act, as modified by the CARES Act, net operating losses from tax years that began after December 31, 2017 may offset no more than 80% of current taxable income annually for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020. Accordingly, if we generate net operating losses after the tax year ended December 31, 2017, we might have to pay more federal income taxes in a subsequent year as a result of the 80% taxable income limitation than we would have had to pay under the law in effect before the Tax Act as modified by the CARES Act.

There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of net operating losses or tax credits, and in light of the needs of various jurisdictions including especially the need for some states to raise additional revenue to help counter the fiscal impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly with retroactive effect, or for other unforeseen reasons, our existing net operating losses or tax credits could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. A temporary suspension of the use of certain net operating losses and tax credits is expected to be enacted in California, and other states may enact suspensions as well.

 

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Failure to comply with anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.

As we operate and sell our platforms and services around the world, we are subject to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the UK Bribery Act, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the United States Travel Act, and other anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business, both domestic and abroad. These laws and regulations generally prohibit improper payments or offers of improper payments to government officials, political parties, or commercial partners for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing an improper business advantage.

We have operations, deal with and make sales to governmental or quasi-governmental entities in the United States and in non-U.S. countries, including those known to experience corruption, particularly certain emerging countries in East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East, and further expansion of our non-U.S. sales efforts may involve additional regions.

Corruption issues pose a risk in every country and jurisdiction, but in many countries, particularly in countries with developing economies, it may be more common for businesses to engage in practices that are prohibited by the FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations, and our activities in these countries pose a heightened risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of our employees or third-party business partners, representatives, and agents that could be in violation of various laws including the FCPA. The FCPA, U.K. Bribery Act and other applicable anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws also may hold us liable for acts of corruption and bribery committed by our third-party business partners, representatives, and agents. We 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 and we may be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees or such third parties even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. The FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations laws 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 implemented policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, we cannot assure you that our employees or other third parties working on our behalf will not engage in conduct in violation of our policies or applicable law for which we might ultimately be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA, the UK Bribery act, and other laws may result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, imposition of significant legal fees, loss of export privileges, as well as severe criminal or civil sanctions, including suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting, and we may be subject to other liabilities and adverse effects on our reputation, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects. In addition, responding to any enforcement action may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Our exposure for violating these laws increases as our non-U.S. presence expands and as we increase sales and operations in foreign jurisdictions.

Governmental trade controls, including export and import controls, sanctions, customs requirements, and related regimes, could subject us to liability or loss of contracting privileges or limit our ability to compete in certain markets.

Our offerings are subject to U.S. export controls, and we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our offerings. Our controlled software offerings and the underlying technology may be exported outside of the United States only with the required export authorizations, which may include license requirements in some circumstances. Additionally, our current or future products may be classified under the Commerce Department Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) or as defense articles subject to the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”). Most of our products, including our core software platforms, have been classified under the EAR and are generally exportable without needing a specific license, under an EAR exception for encrypted software. If a product, or component of a product, is classified under the ITAR, or is ineligible for the EAR encryption exception, then those products could be exported outside the United States only

 

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if we obtain the applicable export license or qualify for a different license exception. In certain contexts, the services we provide might be classified as defense services subject to the ITAR separately from the products we provide. Compliance with the EAR, ITAR, and other applicable regulatory requirements regarding the export of our products, including new releases of our products and/or the performance of services, may create delays in the introduction of our products in non-U.S. markets, prevent our customers with non-U.S. operations from deploying our products throughout their global systems or, in some cases, prevent the export of our products to some countries altogether.

Furthermore, our activities are subject to the economic sanctions laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions. Such controls prohibit the shipment or transfer of certain products and services without the required export authorizations or export to countries, governments, and persons targeted by applicable sanctions. We take precautions to prevent our offerings from being exported in violation of these laws, including: (i) seeking to proactively classify our platforms and obtain authorizations for the export and/or import of our platforms where appropriate, (ii) implementing certain technical controls and screening practices to reduce the risk of violations, and (iii) requiring compliance with U.S. export control and sanctions obligations in customer and vendor contracts. However, we cannot guarantee the precautions we take will prevent violations of export control and sanctions laws.

As discussed above, if we misclassify a product or service, export or provide access to a product or service in violation of applicable restrictions, or otherwise fail to comply with export regulations, we may be denied export privileges or subjected to significant per violation fines or other penalties, and our platforms may be denied entry into other countries. Any decreased use of our platforms or limitation on our ability to export or sell our platforms would likely adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can result in fines or penalties, including civil penalties of over $300,000 or twice the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, per EAR violation and a civil penalty of over $1,000,000 for ITAR violations. In the event of criminal knowing and willful violations of these laws, fines of up to $1,000,000 per violation and possible incarceration for responsible employees and managers could be imposed.

We also note that if we or our business partners or counterparties, including licensors and licensees, prime contractors, subcontractors, sublicensors, vendors, customers, shipping partners, or contractors, fail to obtain appropriate import, export, or re-export licenses or permits, notwithstanding regulatory requirements or contractual commitments to do so, or if we fail to secure such contractual commitments where necessary, we may also be adversely affected, through reputational harm as well as other negative consequences, including government investigations and penalties. For instance, violations of U.S. sanctions or export control laws can result in fines or penalties, including significant civil and criminal penalties per violation, depending on the circumstances of the violation or violations.

Negative consequences for violations or apparent violations of trade control requirements may include the absolute loss of the right to sell our platforms or services to the government of the United States, or to other public bodies, or a reduction in our ability to compete for such sales opportunities. Further, complying with export control and sanctions regulations for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities.

Also, various countries, in addition to the United States, regulate the import and export of certain encryption and other technology, including import and export permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our platforms or could limit our customers’ abilities to implement our platforms in those countries. Any new export restrictions, new legislation, changes in economic sanctions, or shifting approaches in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or in the countries, persons, or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our platforms by existing customers with non-U.S. operations, declining adoption of our platforms by new customers with non-U.S. operations, limitation of our expansion into new markets, and decreased revenue.

 

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In the future, we may not be able to secure the financing necessary to operate and grow our business as planned, or to make acquisitions.

In the future, we may seek to raise or borrow additional funds to expand our product or business development efforts, make acquisitions or otherwise fund or grow our business and operations. For example, during June 2020, we restructured our existing credit facilities. As of July 31, 2020 we had total borrowings of $200.0 million of term loans outstanding and an additional $200.0 million of undrawn revolving commitments available under our secured credit facility. The principal amounts outstanding under these loans will each be due and payable in June 2023, and interest payments are due and payable quarterly or more or less frequently in certain circumstances. Additional equity or debt financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all.

Historically, we have funded our operations and capital expenditures primarily through equity issuances, debt, and cash generated from our operations. Although we currently anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our cash needs for the next twelve months, we may require additional financing, and we may not be able to obtain debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise equity financing to fund operations or on an opportunistic basis, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, or at all, we may be unable to, among other things:

 

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Develop new products, features, capabilities, and enhancements;

 

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Continue to expand our product development, sales, and marketing organizations;

 

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Hire, train, and retain employees;

 

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Respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated working capital requirements; or

 

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Pursue acquisition or other growth opportunities.

Our inability to take any of these actions because adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

Our ability to generate the amount of cash needed to pay interest and principal on our secured credit facility and our ability to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness or obtain additional financing depends on many factors beyond our control.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on, or to refinance our obligations under, our secured credit facility depends on our financial and operating performance and prevailing economic and competitive conditions. Certain of these financial and business factors, many of which may be beyond our control, are described above.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets, raise additional equity capital, or restructure our debt. However, there is no assurance that such alternative measures may be successful or permitted under the agreements governing our indebtedness and, as a result, we may not be able to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. In the absence of such results of operations and resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our secured credit facility outstanding matures in June 2023. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to refinance our indebtedness or obtain additional financing on satisfactory terms or at all, including due to existing guarantees on our assets or our level of indebtedness and the debt incurrence restrictions imposed by the agreements governing our indebtedness. Further, the cost and availability of credit are subject to changes in the economic and business environment. If conditions in major credit markets deteriorate, our ability to refinance our indebtedness or obtain additional financing on satisfactory terms, or at all, may be negatively affected.

 

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Our debt agreements contain restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business.

Our credit agreement and related documents, including our pledge and security agreements, contain, and instruments governing any future indebtedness of ours would likely contain, a number of covenants that will impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to, among other things:

 

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Create liens on certain assets;

 

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Incur additional debt;

 

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Consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets;

 

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Sell certain assets;

 

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Pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of our capital stock;

 

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Place restrictions on certain activities of subsidiaries;

 

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Transact with our affiliates; and

 

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Use a portion of our cash resources.

Any of these restrictions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions and could otherwise restrict corporate activities. Any failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under our secured credit facility or instruments governing any future indebtedness of ours. Additionally, our credit facility is secured by substantially all of our assets. Upon a default, unless waived, the lenders under our secured credit facility could elect to terminate their commitments, cease making further loans, foreclose on our assets pledged to such lenders to secure our obligations under our credit agreement and force us into bankruptcy or liquidation. In addition, a default under our secured credit security could trigger a cross default under agreements governing any future indebtedness. Our results of operations may not be sufficient to service our indebtedness and to fund our other expenditures, and we may not be able to obtain financing to meet these requirements. If we experience a default under our secured credit facility or instruments governing our future indebtedness, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely impacted.

In addition, a material portion of our cash is pledged as cash collateral for letters of credit and bank guarantees which support our debt obligations, certain of our real estate leases, customer contracts, and other obligations. While these obligations remain outstanding and are cash collateralized, we do not have access to and cannot use the pledged cash for our operations or to repay our other indebtedness. As of June 30, 2020, we were in compliance with all covenants and restrictions associated with our secured credit facility.

Variable rate indebtedness that we have incurred or may incur under our secured credit facility will subject us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

As of July 31, 2020, we had an aggregate of $200.0 million of indebtedness outstanding under our secured credit facility. Borrowings under the secured credit facility bear interest at variable rates, which exposes us to interest rate risk. Our loans under our secured credit facility bear interest at LIBOR (or any successor rate) plus 2.75% or a base rate plus 1.75% and are payable quarterly or more or less frequently in certain circumstances.

We may acquire or invest in companies and technologies, which may divert our management’s attention, and result in additional dilution to our stockholders. We may be unable to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions or investments.

As part of our business strategy, we have engaged in strategic transactions in the past and expect to evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions of, or investments in, businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets in the future. We also may enter into relationships with other businesses to

 

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expand our products or our ability to provide services. An acquisition, investment or business relationship may result in unforeseen risks, operating difficulties and expenditures, including the following:

 

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An acquisition may negatively affect our financial results because it may require us to incur charges or assume substantial debt or other liabilities, may cause adverse tax consequences or unfavorable accounting treatment, may expose us to claims and disputes by third parties, including intellectual property claims and disputes, or may not generate sufficient financial return to offset additional costs and expenses related to the acquisition;

 

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Potential goodwill impairment charges related to acquisitions;

 

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Costs and potential difficulties associated with the requirement to test and assimilate the internal control processes of the acquired business;

 

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We may encounter difficulties or unforeseen expenditures assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, infrastructure, products, personnel, or operations of the acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of the acquired company choose not to work for us or if we are unable to retain key personnel, if their technology is not easily adapted to work with ours, or if we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management, or otherwise;

 

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We may not realize the expected benefits of the acquisition;

 

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An acquisition may disrupt our ongoing business, divert resources, increase our expenses, and distract our management;

 

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An acquisition may result in a delay or reduction of customer purchases for both us and the company acquired due to customer uncertainty about continuity and effectiveness of service from either company;

 

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The potential impact on relationships with existing customers, vendors, and distributors as business partners as a result of acquiring another company or business that competes with or otherwise is incompatible with those existing relationships;

 

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The potential that our due diligence of the acquired company or business does not identify significant problems or liabilities, or that we underestimate the costs and effects of identified liabilities;

 

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Exposure to litigation or other claims in connection with, or inheritance of claims or litigation risk as a result of, an acquisition, including but not limited to claims from former employees, customers, or other third parties, which may differ from or be more significant than the risks our business faces;

 

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We may encounter difficulties in, or may be unable to, successfully sell any acquired products;

 

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An acquisition may involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which we have little or no prior experience or where competitors have stronger market positions;

 

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An acquisition may require us to comply with additional laws and regulations, or to engage in substantial remediation efforts to cause the acquired company to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or result in liabilities resulting from the acquired company’s failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations;

 

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Our use of cash to pay for an acquisition would limit other potential uses for our cash;

 

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If we incur debt to fund such acquisition, such debt may subject us to material restrictions on our ability to conduct our business as well as financial maintenance covenants; and

 

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To the extent that we issue a significant amount of equity securities in connection with future acquisitions, existing stockholders may be diluted and earnings per share may decrease.

 

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The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Moreover, we cannot assure you that we would not be exposed to unknown liabilities.

Changes in accounting principles or their application to us could result in unfavorable accounting charges or effects, which could adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.

We prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). In particular, we make certain estimates and assumptions related to the adoption and interpretation of these principles including the recognition of our revenue and the accounting of our stock-based compensation expense with respect to our financial statements. If these assumptions turn out to be incorrect, our revenue or our stock-based compensation expense could materially differ from our expectations, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results. A change in any of these principles or guidance, or in their interpretations or application to us, may have a significant effect on our reported results, as well as our processes and related controls, and may retroactively affect previously reported results or our forecasts, which may negatively impact our financial statements. For example, recent new standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board could materially impact our financial statements, including Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842, Leases. The adoption of these new standards may potentially require enhancements or changes in our processes or systems and may require significant time and cost on behalf of our financial management. This may in turn adversely affect our results of operations and growth prospects.

If our judgments or estimates relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could fall below expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in our stock price.

The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our Class A common stock. Significant judgments, estimates, and assumptions used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include, or may in the future include, those related to revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, common stock valuations, and income taxes.

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

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations of the listing standards of the NYSE. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming, and costly, and place significant strain on our personnel, systems, and resources. 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 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (“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 also continuing to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Some members of our management team have limited or no experience managing a publicly traded company,

 

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interacting with public company investors, and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies, and we have limited accounting and financial reporting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal controls and related procedures, including complying with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that we will eventually be required to include in our annual reports filed with the SEC. We will need to hire and successfully integrate additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate company experience and technical accounting knowledge. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.

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

Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed, or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations and could cause a decline in the price of our Class A common stock.

We will incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

As a public company, and particularly after we cease to be an “emerging growth company,” we will incur greater legal, accounting, finance, and other expenses than we incurred as a private company. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) and the rules and regulations of the NYSE. These requirements have increased and will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs and have made, and will continue to make, some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, the Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly, and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations. As a result of the complexity involved in complying with the rules and regulations applicable to public companies, our management’s attention may be diverted from the day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Although we have already hired additional employees to assist us in complying with these requirements, we may need to hire more employees in the future or engage outside consultants, which will increase our operating expenses. Additionally, as a public company subject to additional rules and regulations and oversight, we may not have the same flexibility we had as a private company.

 

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In addition, changing laws, regulations, and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs, and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations, and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest substantial resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from business operations to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations, and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.

We also expect these rules and regulations to make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board of Directors or as our executive officers.

As a result of disclosure of information in this prospectus and in filings required of a public company, our business and financial condition will become more visible, which may result in an increased risk of threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Certain estimates of market opportunity included in this prospectus may prove to be inaccurate.

This prospectus includes our internal estimates of the addressable market for our platforms. Market opportunity estimates, whether obtained from third-party sources or developed internally, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The estimates in this prospectus relating to the size of our target market, market demand and adoption, capacity to address this demand, and pricing may prove to be inaccurate. The addressable market we estimate may not materialize for many years, if ever, and even if the markets in which we compete meet the size estimates in this prospectus, our business could fail to successfully address or compete in such markets.

Natural disasters and other events beyond our control could harm our business.

Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, non-U.S. commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, earthquakes, flooding, fire, power shortages, pandemics such as the recent spread of COVID-19, terrorism, political unrest, telecommunications failure, vandalism, cyberattacks, geopolitical instability, war, the effects of climate change (such as drought, wildfires, increased storm severity, and sea level rise), and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers, could decrease demand for our services, could make existing customers unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual requirements to us, including their payment obligations, and could cause us to incur substantial expense, including expenses or liabilities arising from potential litigation. Our insurance may not be sufficient to cover losses or additional expense that we may sustain. Customer data could be lost, significant recovery time could be required to resume operations and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected in the event of a major natural disaster or catastrophic event.

 

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We may face exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Our results of operations and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly changes in the Euro and GBP. We expect our non-U.S. operations to continue to grow in the near term and we are continually monitoring our foreign currency exposure to determine if we should consider a hedging program. Today, our non-U.S. contracts are denominated in either U.S. dollars or local currency, while our non-U.S. operating expenses are often denominated in local currencies. Additionally, as we expand our non-U.S. operations, a larger portion of our operating expenses may be denominated in local currencies. Therefore, increases in the value of the U.S. dollar and decreases in the value of foreign currencies could result in the dollar equivalent of our revenues being lower.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock

Our listing differs significantly from an underwritten initial public offering.

This is not an underwritten initial public offering of our Class A common stock. This listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE differs from an underwritten initial public offering in several significant ways, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

•

There are no underwriters. Consequently, prior to the opening of trading on the NYSE, there will be no book building process and no price at which underwriters initially sold shares to the public to help inform efficient and sufficient price discovery with respect to the opening trades on the NYSE. Therefore, buy and sell orders submitted prior to and at the opening of trading of our Class A common stock on the NYSE will not have the benefit of being informed by a published price range or a price at which the underwriters initially sold shares to the public, as would be the case in an underwritten initial public offering. Moreover, there will be no underwriters assuming risk in connection with the initial resale of shares of our Class A common stock. Unlike the case in a traditional underwritten offering, this registration statement does not provide for an over-allotment option of the underwriters to purchase additional shares from us. Moreover, we will not engage in, and have not and will not, directly or indirectly, request the financial advisors to engage in, any special selling efforts or stabilization or price support activities in connection with any sales made pursuant to this registration statement. In an underwritten initial public offering, the underwriters may engage in “covered” short sales in an amount of shares representing the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. To close a covered short position, the underwriters purchase shares in the open market or exercise the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. In determining the source of shares to close the covered short position, the underwriters typically consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase shares through the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Purchases in the open market to cover short positions, as well as other purchases underwriters may undertake for their own accounts, may have the effect of preventing a decline in the trading price of shares. Given that there will be no underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares and no underwriters engaging in stabilizing transactions, there could be greater volatility in the public price of our Class A common stock during the period immediately following the listing. See also “—The public trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and could, upon listing on the NYSE, decline significantly and rapidly” below.

 

•

There is not a fixed or determined number of shares of Class A common stock available for sale in connection with the registration and the listing, except we expect up to approximately              shares of our Class A common stock to be sold on our first trading day in order to fund the tax withholding and remittance obligations arising in connection with the RSUs that will vest and settle on that day. There can be no assurance that any Registered Stockholders or other existing stockholders will sell any of their shares of our Class A common stock and there may initially be a lack of supply of, or demand for, shares of our Class A common stock on the NYSE. Alternatively, we may have a large

 

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number of Registered Stockholders or other existing stockholders who choose to sell their shares of our Class A common stock, including holders of RSUs that vest and settle on the first day of trading, in the near term, resulting in potential excess supply of our Class A common stock, which could adversely impact the public price of our Class A common stock once listed on the NYSE. We will not conduct a traditional “roadshow” with underwriters prior to the opening of trading of our Class A common stock on the NYSE. Instead, we intend to host one investor day and engage in additional investor education meetings. In advance of the investor day, we will announce the date for such day over financial news outlets in a manner consistent with typical corporate outreach to investors. We intend to prepare an electronic presentation for this investor day, which will have content similar to a traditional roadshow presentation, and to make the presentation publicly available, without restrictions, on our website. There can be no guarantee that the investor day and other investor education meetings will have the same impact on investor education as a traditional “roadshow” conducted in connection with an underwritten initial public offering. As a result, there may not be efficient or sufficient price discovery with respect to our Class A common stock or sufficient demand among potential investors immediately after our listing, which could result in a more volatile public trading price of our Class A common stock.

Such differences from an underwritten initial public offering could result in a volatile trading price for our Class A common stock and uncertain trading volume, which may adversely affect your ability to sell any shares of our Class A common stock that you may purchase.

The public trading price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and could, upon listing on the NYSE, decline significantly and rapidly.

The listing of our Class A common stock and the registration of the Registered Stockholders’ shares of Class A common stock is a process that is not an underwritten initial public offering. We have engaged Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Allen & Company LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Jefferies LLC, HSBC Securities (USA), Inc., SG Americas Securities, LLC, CIBC World Markets Corp., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., and MUFG Securities Americas Inc. as our financial advisors. There will be no book building process and no price at which underwriters initially sold shares to the public to help inform efficient and sufficient price discovery with respect to the opening trades on the NYSE. As there has not been a recent sustained history of trading in our Class A common stock in a private placement market prior to listing, NYSE listing rules require that a designated market maker (“DMM”), consult with a financial advisor in order to effect a fair and orderly opening of our Class A common stock without coordination with us, consistent with the federal securities laws in connection with our listing on the NYSE. Accordingly, Morgan Stanley will be available to consult with the DMM who will be setting the opening public trading price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE. Morgan Stanley is expected to provide input to the DMM regarding its understanding of the ownership of our outstanding Class A common stock and pre-listing selling and buying interest in our Class A common stock that it becomes aware of from potential investors and holders of our Class A common stock, including after consultation with certain institutional investors (which may include certain of the Registered Stockholders, other than the RSU holders), in each case, without coordination with us. The DMM, in consultation with Morgan Stanley, is also expected to consider the information in the section titled “Sale Price History of Our Capital Stock.” Based on information provided to the NYSE, the opening public trading price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE will be determined by buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers, and the NYSE is where buy orders can be matched with sell orders at a single price. Based on such orders, the DMM will determine an opening price for our Class A common stock pursuant to NYSE rules. However, because Morgan Stanley will not have engaged in a book building process, it will not be able to provide input to the DMM that is based on or informed by that process. For more information, see the section titled “Plan of Distribution.”

Moreover, prior to the opening trade, there will not be a price at which underwriters initially sold shares of our Class A common stock to the public as there would be in an underwritten initial public offering. The absence of a predetermined initial public offering price could impact the range of buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE

 

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from various broker-dealers. Consequently, upon listing on the NYSE, the public trading price of our Class A common stock may be more volatile than in an underwritten initial public offering and could decline significantly and rapidly.

Further, because of our listing process, individual investors, retail or otherwise, may have greater influence in setting the opening public trading price and subsequent public trading prices of our Class A common stock on the NYSE and may participate more in our initial and subsequent trading than is typical for an underwritten initial public offering. These factors could result in a public trading price of our Class A common stock that is higher than other investors (such as institutional investors) are willing to pay, which could cause volatility in the public trading price of our Class A common stock and an unsustainable trading price if the price of our Class A common stock significantly rises upon listing and institutional investors believe our Class A common stock is worth less than retail investors, in which case the price of our Class A common stock may decline over time. Further, if the public trading price of our Class A common stock is above the level that investors determine is reasonable for our Class A common stock, some investors may attempt to short our Class A common stock after trading begins, which would create additional downward pressure on the public trading price of our Class A common stock. To the extent that there is a lack of awareness among retail investors, such lack of awareness could reduce the value of our Class A common stock and cause volatility in the public trading price of our Class A common stock.

The public trading price of our Class A common stock following the listing could be subject to fluctuations in response to various factors, including those listed in this prospectus, some of which are beyond our control. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock since you might be unable to sell your shares at or above the price you paid. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the public trading price of our Class A common stock include the following:

 

•

The number of shares of our Class A common stock publicly owned and available for trading;

 

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Price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

 

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Volatility in the trading prices and trading volumes of technology stocks;

 

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Changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;

 

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Sales or expected sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders, including in connection with the expiration of the lock-up agreements that certain of our stockholders have entered into in connection with our listing;

 

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Short-selling of our Class A common stock or related derivative securities;

 

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Failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

 

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Any financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;

 

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Announcements by us or our competitors of new services or platform features;

 

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The public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC;

 

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Rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

 

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Actual or anticipated changes in our results of operations or fluctuations in our results of operations;

 

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Actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses, or the competitive landscape generally;

 

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Litigation involving us, our industry or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;

 

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Actual or perceived privacy or security breaches or other incidents;

 

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Developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

 

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Announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, services or technologies by us or our competitors;

 

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Changes in our management, including any departures of one of our Founders;

 

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New laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;

 

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Changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles;

 

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Any significant change in our management;

 

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Other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, or responses to these events; and

 

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General economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets.

In addition, stock markets, and the market for technology companies in particular, have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the trading prices of equity securities of many companies. Stock prices of many companies, including technology companies, have fluctuated in a manner often unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These fluctuations may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our Class A common stock shortly following the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE as a result of the supply and demand forces described above. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the trading price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources and harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The public price of our Class A common stock, upon listing on the NYSE, may have little or no relationship to the historical sales prices of our Class A common stock in private transactions.

Prior to the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE, our shares have not been listed on any stock exchange or other public trading market, but there has been some trading of our securities in private trades. In the section titled “Sale Price History of Our Capital Stock,” we have provided the historical sales prices of our capital stock in private transactions. However, this information may have little or no relation to broader market demand for our Class A common stock and thus the public trading price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE once trading begins. As a result, you should not place undue reliance on these historical sales prices as they may differ materially from the opening public trading prices and subsequent public trading prices of our Class A common stock on the NYSE. For more information about how the initial listing price on the NYSE will be determined, see the section titled “Plan of Distribution.”

Our amended and restated bylaws designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, and also provide that the federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, each of which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (b) any

 

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action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, stockholders, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (c) any action or proceeding asserting a claim arising pursuant to, or seeking to enforce any right, obligation or remedy under, any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws, (d) any action or proceeding as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (e) any action or proceeding asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court in Delaware or, if no state court in Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) and any appellate court therefrom, in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over the claims at issue and the indispensable parties.

Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding or owning (or continuing to hold or own) any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing bylaw provisions. These exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, stockholders, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our current and former directors, stockholders, officers, and other employees.

If we face relevant litigation and are unable to enforce these provisions, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.

An active, liquid, and orderly market for our Class A common stock may not develop or be sustained. You may be unable to sell your shares of Class A common stock at or above the price you bought them for.

We currently expect our Class A common stock to be listed and traded on the NYSE. Prior to listing on the NYSE, there has been no public market for our Class A common stock. Moreover, consistent with Regulation M and other federal securities laws applicable to our listing, we have not consulted with Registered Stockholders or other existing stockholders regarding their desire or plans to sell shares in the public market following the listing or discussed with potential investors their intentions to buy our Class A common stock in the open market. While our Class A common stock may be sold after our listing on the NYSE by the Registered Stockholders pursuant to this prospectus or by our other existing stockholders in accordance with Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, unlike an underwritten initial public offering, there can be no assurance that any Registered Stockholders or other existing stockholders will sell any of their shares of Class A common stock and there may initially be a lack of supply of, or demand for, our Class A common stock on the NYSE. Conversely, there can be no assurance that the Registered Stockholders and other existing stockholders will not sell all of their shares of Class A common stock, resulting in excess supply of our Class A common stock on the NYSE. In the case of a lack of supply of our Class A common stock, the trading price of our Class A common stock may rise to an unsustainable level. Further, institutional investors may be discouraged from purchasing our Class A common stock if they are unable to purchase a block of our Class A common stock in the open market due to a potential unwillingness of our existing stockholders to sell a sufficient amount of Class A common stock at the price offered by such institutional investors and the greater influence individual investors have in setting the trading price. If institutional investors are unable to purchase our Class A common stock, the market for our Class A common stock may be more volatile without the influence of long-term institutional investors holding significant amounts of our Class A common stock. In the case of a lack of demand for our Class A common stock, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline significantly and rapidly after our listing. Therefore, an active, liquid, and orderly trading market for our Class A common stock may not initially develop or be sustained, which could significantly depress the public trading price of our Class A common stock and result in significant volatility, which could affect your ability to sell your shares of Class A common stock.

 

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The multiple class structure of our common stock, together with the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement, have the effect of concentrating voting power with certain stockholders, in particular, our Founders and their affiliates, which will effectively eliminate your ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.

Our Class A common stock, which are the shares that are being listed, has one (1) vote per share and our Class B common stock has ten (10) votes per share. Our Class F common stock will have a variable number of votes that, together with the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement, ensure our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will retain up to 49.999999% of the Company’s voting power, so long as such Founders and certain of their affiliates collectively meet the Ownership Threshold (as defined below) on the applicable record date for a vote of the stockholders (except as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that we expect to become effective shortly before the effectiveness of this registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part). Accordingly, such Founders will effectively control all matters submitted to the stockholders for the foreseeable future, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, compensation matters, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval.

In certain circumstances, the Founders could have voting power that exceeds 49.999999% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. For example, if the Founders hold shares other than the Class F common stock that, in the aggregate, have voting power that exceeds 49.999999% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock, or if one or two Founders withdraw from the Founder Voting Agreement, but vote in the same manner as the shares of Class F common stock are voted pursuant to the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, the total voting power of the Founders and their affiliates exercised in the same manner would exceed 49.999999% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock in the aggregate. Similarly, the calculation of the voting power of the Class F common stock may not take into account all shares that are beneficially owned by any Founder or his affiliates including certain shares for which a proxy has not been granted under the Founder Voting Agreement pursuant to its terms or by an amendment thereof, in particular if certain shares are withdrawn from such proxy. See the section titled “Description of Capital Stock” for further discussion of the terms of these agreements and the amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Excluding the voting power of the Class F common stock, our Founders beneficially owned shares entitled to approximately              of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock as of June 30, 2020, on a pro forma basis after giving effect to our other adjustments described in the section titled “Principal and Registered Shareholders.”

Moreover, our Founders have agreed through the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and Founder Voting Agreement that all of the shares of Class F common stock and all of the shares of our capital stock over which they and their affiliates have granted a proxy under the Founder Voting Agreement will be voted in the manner instructed by a majority of our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement. Upon the withdrawal or removal of any of our Founders from the Founder Voting Agreement, including upon their death or disability, the remaining Founders or Founder, as the case may be, will determine the manner in which the shares of our Class F common stock as well as the shares subject to the Founder Voting Agreement are voted. In such cases, the voting power of our outstanding capital stock will be further concentrated among the remaining Founders, which may be as few as one. Further, if there are only two Founders who are party to the Founder Voting Agreement, one Founder will be able to effectively defeat any shareholder action, except for the election of directors under a plurality standard, if his instruction to vote the shares of Class F common stock differs from the other Founder. The Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will retain the right to direct the voting of the Class F common stock without regard to their employment status with us.

Although the Company is a third-party beneficiary of the Founder Voting Agreement and the Founder Voting Trust Agreement, the Company will not have a general consent right with respect to amendments thereto, and either agreement may be amended or modified in the future in a manner that is adverse to our stockholders, which may include increasing the ability of one or more of our Founders to exercise control over matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders.

 

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Because the shares of Class F common stock have variable voting rights, the issuance of additional shares of the Company in the future will not result in further voting dilution of our Founders. Any future issuances of additional shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will not be subject to approval by our stockholders except as required by the listing standards of the NYSE. In addition, our Founders will be free to transfer or otherwise dispose of their shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock without diminishing their voting control so long as our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement and certain of their affiliates continue to collectively hold 100,000,000 Corporation Equity Securities (as defined in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) on the applicable record date (subject to equitable adjustments as provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) (the “Ownership Threshold”). Upon the withdrawal, or removal, of one or more of our Founders from the Founder Voting Agreement (including as a result of death or disability), the Ownership Threshold that must be met on the applicable record date will be reduced on a pro rata basis based on the ownership of Corporation Equity Securities of the Founders and certain of their affiliates as of August 10, 2020, which could substantially decrease the Ownership Threshold without reducing the effective voting power of the Class F common stock. Furthermore, meeting the Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date will not ensure that the Founders do not or will not have differing economic interests from the interests of holders of the Class A common stock. For example, the Founder Voting Agreement does not prohibit a Founder from hedging his economic exposure to the Company’s common stock. In addition, the trustee will vote shares of Class F common stock in accordance with the decision of a majority in number of the Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement, regardless of the Founders’ relative ownership of any class of our common stock. Shares of our Class F common stock will not convert into shares of our Class B common stock, and our multi-class structure will not terminate, solely because our Founders and certain of their affiliates do not satisfy this Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date. Accordingly, our Founders will be able to achieve substantial liquidity in their holdings without diminishing their voting control.

The multi-class structure of our common stock, the Founder Voting Trust Agreement and the Founder Voting Agreement by which our Founders exercise effective control over all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders will exist for the foreseeable future. Shares of our Class F common stock will convert automatically into shares of our Class B common stock only if the Founder Voting Trust Agreement or the Founder Voting Agreement is terminated. Each of these agreements could remain in place until the death of our last living Founder. Our Founders are currently 52, 52, and 37 years old.

Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, even if the Class F common stock converts to Class B common stock, our Founders will collectively control a significant portion of the voting power of our capital stock. Future transfers by holders of shares of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes and transfers between related entities. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those individual holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If our Founders, individually or collectively, retain a significant portion of their holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, they could, in the future, individually or collectively, continue to control a significant portion of the combined voting power of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, even without the use of the Class F common stock, and such voting power could enable holders of Class B common stock to effectively control all matters subject to the stockholder approval. Shares of our Class B common stock may remain outstanding in perpetuity.

The Founders may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control is likely to have the effect of limiting the likelihood of an unsolicited merger proposal, unsolicited tender offer, or proxy contest for the removal of directors. As a result, our governance structure and the adoption of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may have the effect of depriving our stockholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices and make it more difficult to replace our directors and management.

 

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We have also granted two of our Founders, Mr. Karp, our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors, and Mr. Cohen, our President and a member of our Board of Directors, options and RSUs for an aggregate of 207.0 million shares of our Class B common stock (collectively, the “Founder Grants”), which will become vested, exercisable and/or settle upon the future satisfaction of service conditions following the completion of this offering and certain other conditions. See “Executive Compensation — 2020 Executive Equity Awards” for additional information regarding the Founder Grants. These awards are expected to contribute to the Founders’ ability to meet the Ownership Threshold on the applicable record date at least until the sale of such shares by Mr. Karp and Mr. Cohen. Further, if all, or a large portion, of the Founder Grants should be exercised or vest and settle, our Founders will increase their voting power of our Class B common stock. Although the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will only provide for a separate vote of the holders of our Class B common stock on limited matters, under Delaware law, certain actions may require the approval of the holders of the Class B common stock voting as a separate class. For example, if we amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to adversely affect the special rights, powers, or preferences of our Class B common stock in a manner that does not so affect the Class A common stock or Class F common stock, Delaware law could require approval of the holders of our Class B common stock voting separately as single class. For any vote of the Class B common stock voting as a separate class, our Founders will significantly influence such vote if all, or a large portion, of the Founder Grants should vest and settle and the Founders retain such shares.

All shares of our Class F common stock will be held by a voting trust established by our Founders and voted pursuant to the Founder Voting Trust Agreement. Accordingly, our Founders who are then party to the Founder Voting Agreement will control any vote that requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our Class F common stock, including action of our stockholders by written consent, the designation or issuance by the company of shares of preferred stock, and certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to our preferred stock.

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation related to the calculation of the voting power of the Class F common stock may have an adverse effect on our stockholders other than our Founders. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our Founders will have the right to challenge our calculation of the voting power of the Class F common stock. This may cause delays in the certification of any vote of our stockholders or in the effectiveness of any action of our stockholders. Additionally, if our Founders or the grantee under the Founder Voting Agreement do not provide information relating to certain shares of common stock as required by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we may not be able to accurately calculate the voting power of our Class F common stock, which may result in an increase of the voting power of our Founders.

Our governance structure and the adoption of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may negatively affect the decision by certain institutional investors to purchase or hold shares of our Class A common stock. The holding of low-voting stock, such as our Class A common stock, may not be permitted by the investment policies of certain institutional investors or may be less attractive to the portfolio managers of certain institutional investors. In addition, in July 2017, FTSE Russell and Standard & Poor’s announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual- or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Our multi-class capital structure may make us ineligible for inclusion in any of these and certain other indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track these indices would not invest in our stock. These policies may depress our valuation compared to those of other similar companies that are included.

Following our listing, sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets or the perception that sales might occur, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.

Following our listing, sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets or the perception that sales might occur, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.

 

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In addition to the supply and demand and volatility risk factors discussed above, sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock into the public market, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers, and principal stockholders, or the perception that these sales might occur in large quantities, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline. 179,881,132 options will expire through December 2022 if not exercised prior to their respective expiration dates, and we expect many holders will elect to exercise such options prior to expiration. Upon exercise, the holders will receive shares of our Class A or Class B common stock, which may subsequently be sold.

Our executive officers, directors, and certain record holders of our capital stock and securities convertible into or exchangeable for our capital stock, representing an aggregate of             shares of our common stock on an as-converted, as-exercised and as-settled basis, have entered into lock-up agreements with us under which they have agreed not to sell, offer, contract to sell, pledge, grant any option to purchase, lend, or otherwise dispose of shares of our capital stock, or enter into any hedging or similar transaction or arrangement that is designed to or could reasonably be expected to lead to or result in a sale or disposition or transfer of any of the economic consequences of ownership of shares of our capital stock, until the start of the third trading day following the date of public disclosure of our financial results for the year ending December 31, 2020, except as described below and subject to certain other exceptions.

Starting on the first day of trading, the restrictions contained in the lock-up agreements will no longer apply to (i) an aggregate of             shares of common stock, including             shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options, and (ii) an aggregate of             shares of common stock issuable upon vesting of restricted stock units. The remaining             shares and             outstanding stock options will be able to be sold at the start of the third trading day following the date of public disclosure of our financial results for the year ending December 31, 2020, subject to applicable securities laws and our insider trading policy.

Our lock-up agreements are with record holders of our securities. Holders of beneficial interests of our securities that are not record holders and that are not otherwise bound by lock-up agreements could enter into transactions with respect to those beneficial interests that negatively impact our stock price. In addition, an equityholder who is not subject to a lock-up agreement with us may be able to sell, short sell, transfer, hedge, pledge, or otherwise dispose of or attempt to sell, short sell, transfer, hedge, pledge, or otherwise dispose of, their equity interests at any time after our listing on the NYSE.

As of June 30, 2020, giving effect to the Capital Stock Conversion and the exchange of 1,005,000 shares of our Class B common stock for 1,005,000 shares of our Class F common stock, there were 441,008,749 shares of our Class A common stock outstanding, 1,089,984,003 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding and 1,005,000 shares of our Class F common stock outstanding, all of which are “restricted securities” (as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act). This excludes 55,521,520 shares of Class A common stock related to the RSUs for which the service-based vesting condition was satisfied as of June 30, 2020 and which will vest in conjunction with our listing on the NYSE. Subject to the terms of the Lock-up Agreement and excluding all shares of our Class F common stock, substantially all of these shares may be immediately sold either by the Registered Stockholders pursuant to this prospectus or by our other existing stockholders under Rule 144 since such shares held by such other stockholders will have been beneficially owned by non-affiliates for at least one year. Moreover, once we have been a reporting company subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act for 90 days, and assuming the availability of certain public information about us, (i) non-affiliates who have beneficially owned our Class A common stock for at least six months may rely on Rule 144 to sell their shares of Class A common stock, and (ii) our directors, executive officers and other affiliates who have beneficially owned our Class A common stock for at least six months, including certain of the shares of Class A common stock covered by this prospectus to the extent not sold hereunder, will be entitled to sell their shares our Class A common stock subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

 

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Further, as of June 30, 2020, there were outstanding options to purchase an aggregate of 308,905,744 shares of our Class A common stock and 150,232,792 shares of our Class B common stock, 178,685,408 shares of our Class A common stock subject to RSUs and 3,582,674 shares of our Class A common stock subject to growth units. All shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options and reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans will be registered for public resale under the Securities Act. Upon effectiveness of the registration statement, subject to the satisfaction of applicable exercise periods and compliance by affiliates with Rule 144, the shares issued upon exercise of outstanding stock options or upon settlement of outstanding RSUs and growth units will be available for immediate resale in the United States in the open market.

The liquidity event-based vesting condition on our RSUs will be satisfied in connection with the listing and public trading of our Class A common stock on the NYSE and will result in the vesting and settlement of approximately 55,521,520 RSUs held by our current and former employees and other service providers as of June 30, 2020. A potential oversupply of shares due to sales by holders of RSUs and growth units could also adversely impact the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Following the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, stockholders owning an aggregate of up to              shares of our Class A common stock and              shares of our Class B common stock will be entitled, under the provisions of our Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement dated July 8, 2015 (as amended), or our IRA, described further in the section titled “Description of Capital Stock —Registration Rights,” to require us to register shares owned by them for public sale in the United States. Any registration statement we file to register additional shares, whether as a result of registration rights or otherwise and whether in connection with the exercise of stock options, the settlement of RSUs or growth units, or the exercise or settlement of other awards or otherwise, could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline or be volatile.

We also may issue our capital stock or securities convertible into our capital stock from time to time in connection with a financing, acquisition, investments or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline.

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

We are an “emerging growth company” and have the option to utilize certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, election to defer the adoption of recently issued accounting standards, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” We will remain an “emerging growth company” until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (A) following the fifth anniversary of the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE, (B) in which we have total annual revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (C) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Under the JOBS Act, “emerging growth companies” can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period for complying with certain new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an “emerging growth company” or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result,

 

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our consolidated financial statements may or may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public companies’ effective dates. Further, we may take advantage of some of the other reduced regulatory and reporting requirements that will be available to us so long as we qualify as an “emerging growth company.”

Among other things, this means that our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting so long as we qualify as an “emerging growth company,” which may increase the risk that weaknesses or deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting go undetected. Likewise, so long as we qualify as an “emerging growth company,” we may elect not to provide you with certain information, including certain financial information and certain information regarding compensation of our executive officers, that we would otherwise have been required to provide in filings we make with the SEC, which may make it more difficult for investors and securities analysts to evaluate our company. As a result, investor confidence in our company and the trading price of our Class A common stock may be adversely affected. Further, we cannot predict if investors will find our Class A common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Class A common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our Class A common stock and our trading price may be more volatile.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that we expect to become effective shortly before the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part are intended to discourage certain types of transactions that may involve an actual or threatened acquisition of the company, which will likely depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws that we expect to become effective shortly before the effectiveness of the registration statement, of which this prospectus forms a part, will contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:

 

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Our multi-class common stock structure, which provides our Founders and their affiliates with the ability to effectively control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding common stock;

 

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Prior to the conversion of all of our shares of Class F common stock into shares of Class B common stock, the holders of our common stock will only be able to take action by written consent if the action also receives the affirmative consent of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class F common stock, and after such point the holders of our common stock will only be able to take action at a meeting of the stockholders and will not be able to take action by written consent for any matter;

 

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From and after the conversion of all of our shares of Class F common stock into shares of Class B common stock, our Board of Directors will be classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms;

 

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide for cumulative voting;

 

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Vacancies on our Board of Directors will be able to be filled only by our Board of Directors and not by stockholders;

 

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Our directors may only be removed as provided in the Delaware General Corporation Law;

 

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A special meeting of our stockholders may only be called by the chairperson of our Board of Directors, our Chief Executive Officer, our President, or a majority of our Board of Directors;

 

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without further action by

 

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our stockholders, except that any designation and issuance of preferred stock must receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class F common stock; and

 

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

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

In making your investment decision, you should understand that we have not authorized any other party to provide you with information concerning us or this listing.

You should carefully evaluate all of the information in this prospectus. We have in the past received, and may continue to receive, a high degree of media coverage, including coverage that is not directly attributable to statements made by our officers and employees, that incorrectly reports on statements made by our officers or employees or financial advisors or that is misleading as a result of omitting information provided by us, our officers or employees or financial advisors. We have not authorized any other party to provide you with information concerning us or this listing.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendation regarding our Class A common stock adversely, the trading price and trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.

The trading market for our Class A common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If no or few securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, the price and trading volume of our Class A common stock likely would be negatively impacted. If securities or industry analysts initiate coverage and one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our ordinary shares or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, the trading price of our Class A common stock would likely decline. Additionally, although we are providing the historical sales prices of our Class A common stock in private transactions, such information may have little or no relationship to the price determined using traditional valuation methods, but we believe that securities and industry analysts will rely upon these methods to establish target prices for our Class A common stock. If these analysts publish target prices for our Class A common stock that are below our historical sales prices for our Class A common stock or the then-current public price of our Class A common stock, it could cause the trading price of our Class A common stock to decline significantly. Further, if one or more of these analysts cease coverage of Palantir or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our Class A common stock could decrease, which might cause our Class A common stock trading price and trading volume to decline.

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

We have never declared nor paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate declaring or paying any dividends to holders of our capital stock in the foreseeable future. In addition, our credit facility contains restrictions on our ability to pay dividends. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors. Consequently, stockholders must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “would,” “intend,” “target,” “goal,” “outlook,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus include, but are not limited to, statements about:

 

•

our expectations regarding financial performance, including but not limited to our expectations regarding revenue, cost of revenue and operating expenses, and our ability to achieve and maintain future profitability;

 

•

our ability to successfully execute our business and growth strategy;

 

•

the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity needs;

 

•

the demand for our platforms in general;

 

•

our ability to increase our number of customers and revenue generated from customers;

 

•

our expectations regarding the future contribution margin of our existing and future customers;

 

•

our expectations regarding our ability to quickly and effectively integrate our platforms for our existing and future customers;

 

•

our ability to develop new platforms, and enhancements to existing platforms, and bring them to market in a timely manner;

 

•

the size of our addressable markets, market share, category positions, and market trends, including our ability to grow our business in large government and commercial organizations, including our expectations regarding the impact of FASA;

 

•

our ability to compete with existing and new competitors in existing and new markets and products;

 

•

our expectations regarding anticipated technology needs and developments and our ability to address those needs and developments with our platforms;

 

•

our expectations regarding litigation and legal and regulatory matters;

 

•

our expectations regarding our ability to meet existing performance obligations and maintain the operability of our products;

 

•

our expectations regarding the effects of existing and developing laws and regulations, including with respect to taxation, privacy and data protection;

 

•

our expectations regarding new and evolving markets;

 

•

our ability to develop and protect our brand;

 

•

our ability to maintain the security and availability of our platforms;

 

•

our expectations and management of future growth;

 

•

our expectations concerning relationships with third parties, including our customers, equity method investment partners, and vendors;

 

•

our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our intellectual property;

 

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•

our expectations regarding our multi-class stock and governance structure and the benefits thereof;

 

•

the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including on our and our customers’, vendors’, and partners’ respective businesses and the markets in which we and our customers, vendors, and partners operate; and

 

•

the increased expenses associated with being a public company.

We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on any forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. We cannot assure you that the results, events, and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events, or circumstances could differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements.

Neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Moreover, the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this prospectus to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, partnerships, or investments we may make.

In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

 

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INDUSTRY, MARKET, AND OTHER DATA

Unless otherwise indicated, estimates and information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the market in which we operate, including our general expectations, market position, market opportunity, and market size, are based on industry publications and reports generated by third-party providers, other publicly available studies, and our internal sources and estimates. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While we have compiled, extracted, and reproduced industry data from external sources, including third-party, industry, or general publications, we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data contained in such sources. Similarly, while we believe our management estimates to be reasonable, they have not been verified by any independent sources. Forecasts and other forward-looking information with respect to industry are subject to the same qualifications and additional uncertainties regarding the other forward-looking statements in this prospectus. See the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

The content of, or accessibility through, the below sources and websites, except to the extent specifically set forth in this prospectus, does not constitute a portion of this prospectus and is not incorporated herein and any websites are an inactive textual reference only.

The source of certain statistical data, estimates, and forecasts contained in this prospectus are the following independent industry publications or reports:

 

•

Company estimates based on data from the International Data Corporation, Inc.: Semiannual Software Tracker 2019H2*

 

•

The Standish Group International, Inc.: Special CHAOS Report on Digital Transformation Project (2016)

 

•

The Standish Group International, Inc.: CHAOS 2020: Beyond Infinity (2020)

*Estimates of projected spending in the software categories we believe our platforms address include markets for Data Management Software (including Data Integration and Intelligence Software, Database Development and Management Tools, Distributed Data Grid Managers, Dynamic Data Management Systems, Non-Relational Database Management Systems, Relational Database Management Systems, and Spatial Information Management), Integration and Orchestration Middleware (including Event Stream Processing Software and Integration Software), Application Development (including Business Rules Management Systems), Security (including Identity and Digital Trust Software), System and Service Management Software (including IT Automation and Configuration Management Software), Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (including Advanced and Predictive Analytics Software, AI Software Platforms, Content Analytics and Search Software, and End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis), Supply Chain Management Applications (including Inventory Management Applications, Logistics Applications, and Production Planning Applications), Enterprise Resource Management Applications (including Enterprise Performance Management Applications), and Content and Workflow Management Applications (including Content Sharing and Collaboration Applications, Document Applications, and Enterprise Content Management Applications) and exclude projected spending in China and Russia.

The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

Registered Stockholders may, or may not, elect to sell shares of our Class A common stock covered by this prospectus. To the extent any Registered Stockholder chooses to sell shares of our Class A common stock covered by this prospectus, we will not receive any proceeds from any such sales of our Class A common stock. See the section titled “Principal and Registered Stockholders.”

RSU SALES

We have granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) that vest upon the satisfaction of both a service condition and a performance condition. We determine the grant-date fair value of the RSUs as the fair value of our common stock at grant date.

The service-based vesting condition for the majority of the RSUs is satisfied over one to five years, and the satisfaction of the service-based condition is accelerated up to 25% of the RSUs upon a change in control, if the award holder remains a service provider at the time of such event. The performance-based vesting condition for the RSUs is satisfied upon the occurrence of a qualifying event, which is generally defined as a change in control event or a public listing or public offering (“RSU Qualifying Event”). The RSU Qualifying Event must occur before the expiration of the RSU award, which generally is no more than seven years from the grant date. In addition, the majority of these awards provide for forfeiture of unvested RSUs if certain unauthorized transfers of our securities held by the holder occur.

The listing and public trading of our Class A common stock on the NYSE will satisfy the performance-based vesting condition and result in the vesting and settlement of approximately 55,521,520 RSUs held by our current and former employees and other service providers as of June 30, 2020. To fund the personal tax withholding and remittance obligations arising in connection with the RSUs that will vest and settle on that day, we expect that current and former employees will use a broker or brokers to sell a portion of such shares into the market on the first trading day. The proceeds of such sales will be remitted either to us or directly to the relevant taxing authorities, in either case, to be applied towards such tax obligations. Approximately              shares of our Class A common stock are expected to be sold throughout the first trading day in order to fund such tax obligations, based on an assumed tax rate of             %. In order to meet our obligation to remit withholding taxes on behalf of certain of our employees and former employees on a timely basis, we may use our own cash reserves to satisfy such tax remittance obligations prior to receiving the proceeds from such market sales. We do not currently know the amount of cash that would be used to satisfy these tax withholding obligations because it would be dependent on a number of factors, including the share price at the time of settlement. After the first trading day, additional RSUs typically will vest and settle on the 20th day of the second month of each quarter and RSU holders will sell a portion of such shares into the market to fund the personal tax withholding and remittance obligations arising in connection with the RSUs that will vest and settle on such date. As of June 30, 2020, we expect that approximately             ,             , and              RSUs will vest on November 20, 2020, February 20, 2021, and May 20, 2021, respectively, based on the vesting schedule in effect on June 30, 2020. Shares of common stock received upon the vesting and settlement of RSUs will not be subject to the lock-up agreements entered into between us and certain of our security holders and may be sold at any time, subject to compliance with applicable securities laws and, if applicable, our insider trading policies.

If the market price of our Class A common stock on the NYSE is volatile or if there is an oversupply of shares of Class A common stock and holders of RSUs are unable to sell their shares, holders of RSUs would still be responsible for funding the tax withholding and remittance obligations arising in connection with the vesting and settlement of their RSUs and could have to fund such amounts with their own cash.

 

79

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on a number of factors, including our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, general business conditions, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. In addition, the terms of our credit facility contain restrictions on our ability to declare and pay cash dividends on our capital stock, and we may enter into credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements in the future that may restrict our ability to declare and pay cash dividends.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, as well as our capitalization, as of June 30, 2020 as follows:

 

•

on an actual basis; and

 

•

on a pro forma basis, giving effect to (i) the Capital Stock Conversion, as if such conversion had occurred on June 30, 2020; (ii) the automatic conversion and reclassification of warrants to purchase shares of preferred stock into warrants to purchase shares of common stock in connection with the Capital Stock Conversion, as if such conversion has occurred on June 30, 2020, which is reflected as a reclassification of the warrants liability into additional paid-in capital; (iii) the vesting and settlement of 55,521,520 RSUs, into the same number of shares of Class A common stock, for which the service-based vesting condition was satisfied as of June 30, 2020 and the performance-based vesting condition will be satisfied in connection with our listing on the NYSE; (iv) the authorization of 1,005,000 shares of Class F common stock and the exchange of 1,005,000 shares of Class B common stock that as of June 30, 2020 were held by our Founders for an equal number of shares of Class F common stock in connection with certain governance changes that we expect will be effected in connection with our listing on the NYSE; (v) stock-based compensation expense of $579.2 million associated with RSUs for which the service-based vesting condition was satisfied as of June 30, 2020 and the performance-based vesting condition will be satisfied in connection with our listing on the NYSE, which is reflected as an increase to additional paid-in capital and accumulated deficit; and (vi) stock-based compensation expense of $8.1 million associated with growth units for which the performance-based vesting condition will be satisfied in connection with our listing on the NYSE, which is reflected as an increase to additional paid-in capital and accumulated deficit. The pro forma stock-based compensation expense adjustment for growth units assumes the service-based vesting condition will be satisfied 180 days following our listing on the NYSE.

You should read this table together with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes, and the sections titled “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” that are included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

		As of June 30, 2020
		Actual				Pro forma
		(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
Cash and cash equivalents		$	1,497,591			$	1,497,591
Restricted cash, current and noncurrent		$	139,424			$	139,424
Debt, noncurrent, net		$	297,576			$	297,576
Warrants liability			32,616				—
Redeemable convertible preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share: 35,002,700 shares authorized, 4,017,378 shares issued and outstanding, actual; no shares authorized, issued, and outstanding, pro forma			33,569				—
Convertible preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share: 877,442,966 shares authorized, 742,932,765 issued and outstanding, actual; no shares authorized, issued, and outstanding, pro forma			2,094,509				—
Stockholders’ (deficit) equity:
Preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share: no shares authorized, issued, and outstanding, actual; 2,000,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding, pro forma			—				—
Common stock, par value $0.001 per share: 2,351,000,000 Class A shares authorized, 441,008,749 Class A shares issued and outstanding, actual; 20,000,000,000 Class A shares authorized, 496,530,269 Class A shares issued and outstanding, pro forma; 1,800,000,000 Class B shares authorized, 295,625,852 Class B shares issued and outstanding, actual; 2,700,000,000 Class B shares authorized, 1,089,984,003 Class B shares issued and outstanding, pro forma; and no Class F shares authorized, issued and outstanding, actual; 1,005,000 Class F shares authorized, 1,005,000 Class F shares issued and outstanding, pro forma			737				1,588
Additional paid-in capital			2,563,354				5,310,495
Accumulated other comprehensive income			900				900
Accumulated deficit			(3,963,692	)			(4,550,990	)
Total stockholders’ (deficit) equity			(1,398,701	)			761,993
Total capitalization		$	1,059,569			$	1,059,569

 

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The pro forma column in the table above is based on 496,530,269 shares of our Class A common stock (after giving effect to the vesting and settlement of RSUs for which the service-based vesting condition was satisfied as of June 30, 2020), 1,089,984,003 shares of our Class B common stock (after giving effect to the Capital Stock Conversion), and 1,005,000 newly authorized shares of our Class F common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020 (after giving effect to the exchange of 1,005,000 shares of Class B common stock that as of June 30, 2020 were held by our Founders for an equal number of shares of newly authorized Class F common stock in connection with governance changes that we expect will be effected in connection with our listing on the NYSE), and excludes the following:

 

•

308,905,744 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $4.64 per share;

 

•

150,232,792 shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.87 per share;

 

•

123,163,888 shares of our Class A common stock subject to RSUs outstanding, but for which the service condition was not satisfied, as of June 30, 2020;

 

•

3,582,674 shares of our Class A common stock subject to growth units outstanding as of June 30, 2020;

 

•

shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock granted after June 30, 2020 through            , 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $             per share;

 

•

shares of our Class B common stock issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of our Class B common stock granted after June 30, 2020 through            , 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $             per share;

 

•

shares of our Class A common stock subject to RSUs granted after June 30, 2020 through            , 2020;

 

•

21,654,382 shares of our Class B common stock issuable pursuant to warrants to purchase an aggregate of 21,654,382 shares of our redeemable convertible preferred stock and convertible preferred stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.70 per share;

 

•

7,632,154 shares of our Class B common stock issuable pursuant to warrants to purchase shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, with a weighted average exercise price of $0.001 per share;

 

•

shares of our Class A common stock reserved for future issuance under our equity compensation plans, consisting of:

 

○

shares of our Class A common stock to be reserved for future issuance under our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, (“2020 Plan”), which will become effective immediately before the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part; and

 

○

shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our Amended 2010 Equity Incentive Plan (“2010 Plan”), which number of shares will be added to the shares of our Class A common stock to be reserved for future issuance under our 2020 Plan upon its effectiveness, at which time we will cease granting awards under our 2010 Plan.

Our 2020 Plan will provide for annual automatic increases in the number of shares of our Class A common stock reserved thereunder and increases to the number of shares that may be granted thereunder based on shares under our 2010 Plan that expire, are tendered to or withheld by us for payment of an exercise price or for satisfying tax withholding obligations, or are forfeited or otherwise repurchased by us, as more fully described in the section titled “Executive Compensation — Employee Benefit and Stock Plans.”

 

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Except as otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus assumes:

 

•

the Capital Stock Conversion, which we expect will occur shortly before the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part;

 

•

the filing and effectiveness of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation in Delaware and the effectiveness of our amended and restated bylaws, each of which will occur shortly before the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part;

 

•

no exercise, forfeitures, or expiration of outstanding stock options or warrants or vesting of outstanding stock options, RSUs, or growth units subsequent to June 30, 2020;

 

•

no additional grants of stock options, warrants, RSUs, or growth units subsequent to June 30, 2020; and

 

•

that the holders of all outstanding growth units will remain service providers 180 days following the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE.

Following the listing and initial public trading of our Class A common stock, the stock-based compensation related to our RSUs and growth units will result in increases in our expenses in future periods, in particular in the quarter in which the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part is effective.

 

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SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables summarize our selected consolidated financial data. We have derived the selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected consolidated statements of operations data for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2020 are derived from our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements that are included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have prepared the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements. We have included, in our opinion, all adjustments necessary to state fairly our financial position as of June 30, 2020 and the results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of our results of operations to be expected for any future period and the results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ended December 31, 2020 or any other future period. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data below in conjunction with the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data

 

		Years Ended December 31,								Six Months Ended June 30,
		2018				2019				2019				2020
		(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
Revenue(1)		$	595,409			$	742,555			$	322,656			$	481,216
Cost of revenue(2)			165,401				242,373				101,398				132,704
Gross profit			430,008				500,182				221,258				348,512
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing(2)			461,762				450,120				217,589				201,171
Research and development(2)			285,451				305,563				153,848				152,615
General and administrative(2)			306,235				320,943				134,674				164,056
Total operating expenses			1,053,448				1,076,626				506,111				517,842
Loss from operations			(623,440	)			(576,444	)			(284,853	)			(169,330	)
Interest income			10,500				15,090				9,563				3,818
Interest expense			(3,440	)			(3,061	)			(222	)			(10,240	)
Change in fair value of warrants			48,093				(3	)			1,959				10,012
Other income (expense), net			(2,638	)			(2,853	)			(447	)			4,511
Loss before provision for income taxes			(570,925	)			(567,271	)			(274,000	)			(161,229	)
Provision for income taxes			9,102				12,375				6,459				3,500
Net loss		$	(580,027	)		$	(579,646	)		$	(280,459	)		$	(164,729	)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders		$	(598,125	)		$	(588,127	)		$	(280,459	)		$	(164,729	)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic(3)		$	(1.11	)		$	(1.02	)		$	(0.49	)		$	(0.27	)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted(3)		$	(1.17	)		$	(1.02	)		$	(0.49	)		$	(0.28	)
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic(3)			537,280,394				576,958,560				571,412,911				616,150,130
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted(3)			544,014,393				576,958,560				571,412,911				618,634,830
Pro forma net loss attributable to common stockholders(3)						$	(579,643	)						$	(174,741	)
Pro forma net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted(3)						$	(0.42	)						$	(0.12	)
Weighted-average shares of common stock outstanding used in computing pro forma net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted(3)							1,389,929,814								1,454,067,010

 

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(1)

Effective January 1, 2019, we adopted ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, under the modified retrospective method. See Notes 2 and 3 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for more information related to the impact of adoption ASC 606. The adoption of ASC 606 did not have a material impact on our revenue, net loss, or cash flows for the six months ended June 30, 2019 or the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

(2)	Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows (in thousands):

 

 

(i)

During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019 and during the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, we incurred modification charges of $44.6 million, $27.4 million, $9.6 million, and $81.7 million, respectively, related to the repricing of certain options held by our employees.

 

(3)

See Notes 2 and 14 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for an explanation of the calculations of our basic, diluted and pro forma net loss per share attributable to common stockholders and the number of weighted-average shares used in computing basic, diluted and pro forma net loss per share.

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data

 

		As of December 31,								As of June 30,
		2018				2019				2020
		(in thousands)
Cash and cash equivalents		$	1,116,342			$	1,079,154			$	1,497,591
Restricted cash, current and noncurrent			150,493				322,808				139,424
Working capital(1)			688,174				485,555				1,076,089
Total assets			1,430,965				1,594,025				1,892,360
Deferred revenue, current and noncurrent			409,094				263,135				289,714
Customer deposits, current and noncurrent			248,018				531,676				398,873
Debt, noncurrent portion, net			—				396,065				297,576
Warrants liability			76,069				42,628				32,616
Redeemable convertible preferred stock			172,163				33,569				33,569
Convertible preferred stock			2,087,560				2,093,662				2,094,509
Additional paid-in capital			1,627,737				1,857,331				2,563,354
Accumulated deficit			(3,231,876	)			(3,798,963	)			(3,963,692	)
Total stockholders’ deficit			(1,751,428	)			(1,980,642	)			(1,398,701	)

 

(1)	Working capital is defined as total current assets minus total current liabilities. See our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this prospectus for further details regarding our current assets and current liabilities.

Key Business Measure

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following key non-GAAP business measure to help us evaluate our business, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and financial projections, and make strategic decisions. For more information regarding our use of this measure and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, see the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 

		Years Ended December 31,						Six Months Ended June 30,
		2018		2019				2019				2020
Contribution margin		14%			21%				17%				48%

See the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Key Business Measure ” for a description of contribution margin.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the section titled “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current plans, expectations, and beliefs, involving risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. You should review the sections titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of forward-looking statements and “Risk Factors” for a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis and elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any period in the future.

Overview

We founded the company in 2003 to build software for use in counterterrorism operations.

In 2008, we released our first platform, Palantir Gotham (“Gotham”), for customers in the intelligence sector. Gotham enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants.

Defense agencies in the United States then began using Gotham to investigate potential threats and to help protect soldiers from improvised explosive devices. Today, the platform is widely used by government agencies in the United States and its allies. Our software is on the front lines, sometimes literally, and that means so are we.

We later began working with leading companies across industries, including companies in the energy, transportation, financial services, and healthcare sectors. In 2016, we released our second software platform, Palantir Foundry (“Foundry”), to address a common set of challenges that we saw at large companies.

Foundry is becoming a central operating system not only for individual institutions but also for entire industries.

In 2017, for example, our partnership with Airbus expanded into a platform for the aviation industry, and today connects data from more than one hundred airlines and 9,000 aircraft around the world.

We believe that every large institution faces challenges that our platforms were designed to address. Our focus in the near term is to build partnerships with institutions that have the leadership necessary to effect structural change within their organizations — to reconstitute their operations around data. Over the long term, we believe that every large institution in the markets we serve is a potential partner.

Our Business

We have generated a total of $3.4 billion in revenue from 2008 through 2019. Our revenue for 2019 was $742.6 million, which represented a growth rate of 25% over 2018.

Our growth this year has accelerated. In H1 2020, a period of significant geopolitical instability and economic contraction, we generated $481.2 million in revenue, reflecting a 49% growth rate from H1 2019, when we generated $322.7 million in revenue.

 

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In H1 2020, we had 125 customers, including leading companies in various sectors as well as government agencies around the world.

We define a customer as an organization from which we have recognized revenue in a reporting period. For large government agencies, where a single institution has multiple divisions, units, or subsidiary agencies, each such division, unit, or subsidiary agency that enters into a separate contract with us and is invoiced as a separate entity is treated as a separate customer.

For example, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control, and National Institutes of Health are subsidiary agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we treat each of those agencies as a separate customer given that the governing structures and procurement processes of each agency are independent.

Our average revenue per customer in 2019 was $5.6 million. That figure has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 30% since 2009 as we have extended the capabilities of our platforms, expanded existing customer relationships, and acquired new customers.

We have built lasting and significant customer relationships with some of the world’s leading government institutions and companies.

Our top twenty customers, based on our revenue in 2019, generated $495.2 million in revenue, or 67% of our total revenue in that period. From those top twenty customers, we generated an average revenue per customer of $24.8 million during 2019. Our average revenue per customer for our top twenty customers grew 36% to $15.0 million per customer in H1 2020 from $11.0 million per customer in H1 2019.

 

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Our top twenty customers in 2019 have been customers of ours for an average of 6.6 years. In 2018 and 2019, one of our commercial customers represented 15% and 12% of total revenue, respectively. In H1 2019, the same commercial customer represented 14% of total revenue. In H1 2020, one of our government customers represented 11% of total revenue, and a different commercial customer represented 10% of total revenue. No other customer represented more than 10% of total revenue during those periods.

Expansion & Growth

We expanded into the commercial sector in recent years. In 2019, 53% of our revenue came from commercial customers and 47% came from government agencies.

Large organizations in the commercial and government sectors face similar challenges when it comes to managing data, and we intend to expand our reach in both markets moving forward.

We have also expanded significantly outside the United States. In 2019, we generated 40% of our revenue from customers in the United States and the remaining 60% from customers abroad.

Our operating results have improved significantly in recent years. In H1 2020, we incurred a net loss of $164.7 million, or net income of $17.2 million when excluding stock-based compensation. In H1 2019, our net loss was $280.5 million, or $167.6 million when excluding stock-based compensation. Our net loss in 2019 was $579.6 million, or $337.7 million when excluding stock-based compensation. Most recently, in Q2 2020, we incurred a net loss of $110.5 million, or net income of $17.4 million when excluding stock-based compensation.

Contribution margin, a measure of our efficiency in selling and delivering our software to customers, has improved as well. Our contribution margin in 2019 was 21%. In H1 2020, our contribution margin was 48%, rising from 17% in H1 2019. Most recently, in Q2 2020, our contribution margin was 55%. We define contribution margin as revenue less our cost of revenue and sales and marketing expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, divided by revenue.

 

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