Item 1A.
Risk Factors.
Our
business and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties including those described below. You should consider carefully
the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this report, including the section titled
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our condensed consolidated
financial statements and related notes. Our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects could also be harmed
by risks and uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently believe are not material. If any of these risks actually
occur, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Unless otherwise
indicated, references in these risk factors to our business being harmed will include harm to our business, reputation, brand, financial
condition, results of operations, and prospects. In such event, the market price of our securities could decline.
Risks
Related to Our Business and Industry
We
operate in a competitive industry, and if we are not able to compete effectively, our business, financial condition, and results of operations
will be harmed.
The
telemedicine market is rapidly evolving and highly competitive. We expect competition to intensify in the future as existing competitors
and new entrants introduce new telemedicine services and software platforms or other technology to U.S. healthcare providers, particularly
hospitals and healthcare systems. We currently face competition from a range of companies, including other incumbent providers of telemedicine
consultation services and specialized software providers, that are continuing to grow and enhance their service offerings and develop
more sophisticated and effective transaction and service platforms. In addition, large, well-financed healthcare providers have in some
cases developed their own telemedicine services and technologies utilizing their own and third-party platforms and may provide these
solutions to their patients. Electronic medical record vendors could build telemedicine functionality directly into their existing systems
for healthcare providers instead of utilizing our solution. The surge in interest in telemedicine, and in particular the relaxation of
HIPAA privacy and security requirements, has also attracted new competition from providers who utilize consumer-grade video conferencing
platforms. Competition from specialized telemedicine services and software providers, healthcare providers and other parties will result
in continued pricing pressures, which is likely to lead to price declines in certain of our services, which could negatively impact our
sales, profitability and market share.
Some
of our competitors may have greater name recognition, longer operating histories and significantly greater resources than we do. Further,
our current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties with greater available resources. As a result, our competitors
may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer
requirements and may have the ability to initiate or withstand substantial price competition. In addition, current and potential competitors
have established, and may in the future establish, cooperative relationships with vendors of complementary products, technologies or
services to increase the availability of their solutions in the marketplace. Accordingly, new competitors or alliances may emerge that
have greater market share, a larger customer base, more widely adopted proprietary technologies, greater marketing expertise, greater
financial resources and larger sales forces than we have, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage. Our competitors could also
be better positioned to serve certain segments of the telemedicine market, which could create additional price pressure. In light of
these factors, even if our solutions are more effective than those of our competitors, current or potential customers may accept competitive
solutions in lieu of purchasing our solutions. If we are unable to compete successfully in the telemedicine industry, our business, financial
condition and results of operations will be harmed.
Moreover,
we expect that competition will continue to increase as a result of consolidation in the healthcare industry. Many healthcare industry
participants are consolidating to create integrated healthcare delivery systems with greater market power. As provider networks and managed
care organizations consolidate, thus decreasing the number of market participants, competition to provide services like ours will become
more intense, and the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships with key industry participants will become greater. These
industry participants may try to use their market power to negotiate price reductions for our telemedicine consultation and platform
services. If we are forced to reduce our prices and are unable to achieve a corresponding reduction in our expenses, our revenues would
decrease, which could harm our business.
The
level of demand for and market utilization of our solutions are subject to a high degree of uncertainty.
The
market for telemedicine services and related technology is in the early stages of development and characterized by rapid change. As telemedicine
specialty consultation workflows and related business drivers continue to evolve, the level of demand for and market utilization of our
telemedicine services and platform remain subject to a high degree of uncertainty. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on
the willingness of healthcare organizations to use, and to increase the frequency and extent of their utilization of, our solutions and
our ability to demonstrate the value of telemedicine to healthcare providers. If healthcare organizations do not recognize or acknowledge
the benefits of our telemedicine services or software platform or if we are unable to reduce healthcare costs or generate positive health
outcomes, then the market for our solutions might not develop at all, or it might develop more slowly than we expect. Similarly, negative
publicity regarding patient confidentiality and privacy in the context of technology-enabled healthcare or concerns about our solutions
or the telemedicine market as a whole could limit market acceptance of our solutions. If our customers do not perceive the benefits of
our solutions, then our market may not develop at all, or it may develop more slowly than we expect. Achieving and maintaining market
acceptance of our solutions could be negatively affected by many factors, including:
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the
popularity, pricing and timing of telemedicine consultation services being launched and distributed by us and our competitors;
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general
economic conditions, particularly economic conditions adversely affecting discretionary and reimbursable healthcare spending;
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federal
and state policy initiatives impacting the need for and pricing of telemedicine services;
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changes
in customer needs and preferences;
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the
development of specialty care practice standards or industry norms applicable to telemedicine consultation services;
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the
availability of other forms of medical and telemedicine assistance;
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the
lack of additional evidence or peer-reviewed publication of clinical evidence supporting the safety, ease-of-use, cost-savings or
other perceived benefits of our solutions over competitive products or other currently available methodologies;
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perceived
risks associated with the use of our solutions or similar products or technologies generally; and
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critical
reviews and public tastes and preferences, all of which change rapidly and cannot be predicted.
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addition, our solutions may be perceived by our customers or potential customers to be more complicated or less effective than traditional
approaches, and our customers and potential customers may be unwilling to change their current healthcare practices. Healthcare providers
are often slow to change their medical treatment practices for a variety of reasons, including perceived liability risks arising from
the use of new products and services and the uncertainty of third-party reimbursement. Accordingly, healthcare providers may not recommend
our solutions until there is sufficient evidence to convince them to alter their current approach. Any of these factors could adversely
affect the demand for and market utilization of our solutions, which would harm our business.
We
have a history of losses and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses in the future. We may never achieve or sustain profitability.
We have incurred net losses on an annual basis since our inception.
For the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, we incurred net losses of $14.5 million and $27.1 million, respectively, compared
to net losses of $8.2 million and $15.4 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively. We had an accumulated
deficit of approximately $263.3 million as of June 30, 2021. We expect our costs will increase substantially in the foreseeable future
and our losses will continue as we expect to invest significant additional funds towards enhancing our services and platform, growing
our business and operating as a public company and as we continue to invest in increasing our hospital and healthcare system customer
base, expanding our operations, hiring additional employees, and developing future offerings. These efforts may prove more expensive
than we currently anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our revenues sufficiently to offset these higher expenses. Even if
we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. To date, we have financed
our operations principally from the sale of our equity securities, revenue from sales of our telemedicine consultation services, and
the incurrence of indebtedness. Our cash flow from operations was negative for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, and we may
not generate positive cash flow from operations in any given period. If we are not able to achieve or maintain positive cash flow in
the long term, we will require additional financing, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all or which would be dilutive
to our stockholders. If we are unable to address these risks and challenges successfully as we encounter them, our business may be harmed.
Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability or positive cash flow could negatively affect the value of our Class A common stock.
The
developing and rapidly evolving nature of our business and the markets in which we operate may make it difficult to evaluate our business.
We
have been creating offerings for the developing and rapidly evolving market for telemedicine services since the founding of our business
in 2004. Our initial focus was on our teleNeurology services and we have since expanded our services to include other specialties and
offerings. For example, we have started offering our Telemed IQ telemedicine software platform to hospitals and healthcare systems independent
of the utilization of our provider network, and our sales team has less experience marketing this service. Accordingly, we have a relatively
limited operating history with our current solutions and business model, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects.
In particular, because we depend in part on market acceptance of our newer services, including our Telemed IQ software platform, it is
difficult to evaluate trends that may affect our business and whether our expansion will be profitable. You should consider our business
and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we encounter or may encounter. These risks and difficulties include those frequently
experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, such as determining appropriate investments of our limited resources,
market adoption of our existing and future solutions, competition from other companies, acquiring and retaining customers, hiring, integrating,
training and retaining skilled personnel, developing new solutions, determining prices for our solutions, unforeseen expenses, and challenges
in forecasting accuracy. If we have difficulty launching new solutions, our reputation and our business may be harmed. Additional risks
include our ability to effectively manage growth and process, cross-license and privilege physicians, store, protect and use personal
data in compliance with governmental regulation, contractual obligations and other legal obligations related to privacy and security.
If our assumptions regarding these and other similar risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change
as we gain more experience operating our business or due to changes in our industry, or if we do not address these challenges successfully,
our business, financial condition and results of operations could differ materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
Our
business, results of operations, and financial condition may fluctuate on a quarterly and annual basis, which may result in a decline
in our stock price if such fluctuations result in a failure to meet any projections that we may provide or the expectations of securities
analysts or investors.
Our
operating results have in the past and could in the future vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year and may fail to
match our past performance, our projections or the expectations of securities analysts because of a variety of factors, many of which
are outside of our control. In addition, a significant percentage of our revenues is based upon variable fee provisions in our customer
service contracts for additional utilization of our consultation services. Those variable consultation fees fluctuate based on the degree
to which customers are utilizing our services exceed the contracted amounts, which is difficult to predict in advance. As a result, we
may not be able to accurately forecast our operating results and growth rate. Any of these events could cause the market price of our
Class A common stock to fluctuate. Factors that may contribute to the variability of our operating results include:
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the
addition or loss of large hospital and healthcare system customers, including through acquisitions or consolidations of such customers;
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seasonal
and other variations in the timing of our sales and implementation cycles, especially in the case of our large customers;
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the
timing of recognition of revenue, including possible delays in the recognition of revenue due to sometimes unpredictable implementation
timelines;
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the
amount and timing of operating expenses related to the maintenance and expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure;
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our
ability to effectively manage the size and composition of our proprietary network of healthcare professionals relative to the level
of demand for services from our customers;
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the
timing and success of introductions of new products and services by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive
dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors, hospital and healthcare system customers or strategic partners;
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hospital
and healthcare system customer renewal rates and the timing and terms of such renewals;
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the
mix of services sold and utilization volume of our services during a period;
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the
timing of expenses related to the development or acquisition of technologies or businesses and potential future charges for impairment
of goodwill from acquired companies;
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technical
difficulties or interruptions in our services;
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breaches
of information security or privacy;
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our
ability to hire and retain qualified personnel, including cross-licensing and privileging our physician network;
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changes
in the structure of healthcare provider and payment systems;
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changes
in the legislative or regulatory environment, including with respect to healthcare, privacy, or data protection, or enforcement by
government regulators, including fines, orders, or consent decrees;
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the
cost and potential outcomes of ongoing or future regulatory investigations or examinations, or of future litigation;
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the
duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent of further resurgences, the actions taken to contain or address its
impact, including the availability, adoption and effectiveness of a vaccine, and their impact on economic, industry and market conditions,
customer spending budgets and our ability to conduct business;
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political,
economic and social instability, including terrorist activities and health epidemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic), and any disruption
these events may cause to the global economy; and
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changes
in business or macroeconomic conditions.
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The
impact of one or more of the foregoing and other factors may cause our operating results to vary significantly. As such, we believe that
quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication
of future performance.
Our
business, financial condition and results of operations have been and may continue to be adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
or similar epidemics in the future or other adverse public health developments, including government responses to such events.
The
outbreak of COVID-19 has caused many governments to implement quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and significant restrictions on travel,
and to instruct individuals to avoid crowds, which has led to an economic downturn and increased market volatility. It has also disrupted
the normal operations of many businesses, including ours and the healthcare system generally. Although there are vaccines that have been
approved and are in the early stages of distribution, it cannot be predicted how long it will take before a sufficient percentage of
the United States’ population is vaccinated to return to normal conditions. Additionally, new and potentially more contagious
variants of COVID-19 have been identified, which could further amplify the impact of the pandemic. This outbreak, as well as intensified
measures undertaken to contain the spread of COVID-19, could decrease healthcare industry spending and has and may continue to adversely
impact demand for and utilization of our services if healthcare providers continue to prioritize treatment of COVID-19-related illnesses
and patients are unable or unwilling to visit health care providers. The economic downturn and other adverse impacts resulting from COVID-19
or other similar epidemics or adverse public health developments may further negatively impact the utilization rates of our services
by our customers and our ability to attract new customers and may increase the likelihood of customers not renewing their contracts with
us or being unable to pay us in accordance with the terms of their agreements. In addition, the operations of several of our third-party
service providers have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or other similar epidemics
or adverse public health developments, our operations, and those of our providers, have experienced, and may in the future continue to
experience, delays or disruptions, such as temporary suspension of operations. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on
the utilization levels of our core services when it was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, and, as a result, our financial
condition and annual results of operations have been negatively impacted. Immediately following the declaration of COVID-19 as a global
pandemic, the utilization levels of our core services decreased by approximately 40% in the aggregate. While the utilization levels of
these solutions have substantially rebounded in the subsequent months, they have not completely recovered and there can be no assurances
that the utilization rates of our solutions will return to prior period levels in the foreseeable future. Our business, financial condition
and results of operations may continue to be adversely impacted in the event that the economic downturn or measures undertaken to contain
the spread of COVID-19 continue for a long period of time. In addition, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or other similar epidemics
or adverse public health developments, we may be impacted by employee illness, shutdowns and other community response measures meant
to prevent spread of the virus, all of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further,
if we are regularly unable to meet our obligations to deliver our services, our customers may decide to terminate their contracts or
we may be subject to other contractual penalties. We cannot predict with any certainty whether and to what degree the disruption caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic and reactions thereto will continue, and expect to face difficulty accurately predicting our internal financial
forecasts. The extent to which COVID-19 pandemic-related business disruption and economic uncertainty affects our results will depend
on future developments, which are highly uncertain. The COVID-19 pandemic may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks
identified elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section.
Our
sales cycle can be long and unpredictable and requires considerable time and expense. As a result, our sales, revenues, and cash flows
are difficult to predict and may vary substantially from period to period, which may cause our results of operations to fluctuate significantly.
The
sales cycle for our solutions from initial contact with a potential lead to contract execution and implementation varies widely by customer.
Some of our customers undertake a significant and prolonged evaluation process, including to determine whether our solutions meet their
unique telemedicine service needs, which frequently involves evaluation of not only our solutions but also an evaluation of those of
our competitors, which has in the past resulted in extended sales cycles. Our sales efforts involve educating our customers about the
use, technical capabilities and potential benefits of our solutions. Moreover, our large hospital and healthcare system customers often
begin to deploy our solutions on a limited basis, but nevertheless demand extensive configuration, integration services and pricing concessions,
which increase our upfront investment in the sales effort with no guarantee that these customers will deploy our solution widely enough
across their organization to justify our substantial upfront investment. It is possible that in the future we may experience even longer
sales cycles, more complex customer needs, higher upfront sales costs and less predictability in completing some of our sales, including
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we continue to expand our direct sales force, expand into new territories and market additional
solutions and services. If our sales cycle lengthens or our substantial upfront sales and implementation investments do not result in
sufficient sales to justify our investments, our business could be harmed.
Developments
affecting spending by the healthcare industry could adversely affect our revenues.
The
U.S. healthcare industry has changed significantly in recent years, and we expect that significant changes will continue to occur. General
reductions in expenditures by healthcare industry participants could result from, among other things:
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government
regulations or private initiatives that affect the manner in which healthcare providers interact with patients, payors or other healthcare
industry participants, including changes in pricing or means of delivery of healthcare products and services;
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consolidation
of healthcare industry participants;
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federal
amendments to, lack of enforcement or development of applicable regulations for, or repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (as amended, the “ACA”);
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reductions
in government funding for healthcare; and
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adverse
changes in business or economic conditions affecting healthcare payors or providers or other healthcare industry participants.
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Any
of these changes in healthcare spending could adversely affect our revenues. Even if general expenditures by industry participants remain
the same or increase, developments in the healthcare industry may result in reduced spending in some or all of the specific market segments
that we serve now or in the future. However, the timing and impact of developments in the healthcare industry are difficult to predict.
We cannot assure you that the demand for our solutions and services will continue to exist at current levels or that we will have adequate
technical, financial, and marketing resources to react to changes in the healthcare industry.
Economic
uncertainties or prolonged downturns in the general economy, or political changes, could disproportionately affect the demand for our
solutions and harm our business.
Current
or future economic uncertainties or prolonged downturns, including those caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, could harm our business.
Negative conditions in the general economy in the United States, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product
growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, political deadlock, natural catastrophes, pandemics, social unrest, warfare and terrorist
attacks, could cause a decrease in funds available to our customers and potential customers and negatively affect the growth rate of
our business.
These
economic conditions may make it difficult for our customers and us to forecast and plan future budgetary decisions or business activities
accurately, and they could cause our customers to reevaluate their decisions to purchase our solutions, which could delay and lengthen
our sales cycles or result in cancellations of planned purchases. Furthermore, during challenging economic times or as a result of political
changes, our customers may tighten their budgets and face constraints in gaining timely access to sufficient funding or other credit,
which could result in an impairment of their ability to make timely payments to us. In turn, we may be required to increase our allowance
for doubtful accounts, which would adversely affect our financial results.
To
the extent our solutions are perceived by customers and potential customers to be discretionary, our revenues may be disproportionately
affected by delays or reductions in general information technology and telemedicine spending. Also, customers may choose to develop in-house
software as an alternative to using our Telemed IQ platform. Moreover, competitors may respond to market conditions by lowering prices
and attempting to lure away our customers. In addition, the increased pace of consolidation in the healthcare industry may result in
reduced overall spending on our solutions.
We
cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown, instability or recovery, generally or within the healthcare
industry, or the effect of political changes. If the economic conditions of the general economy or the healthcare industry do not improve,
or worsen from present levels, our business could be harmed.
If
our existing customers do not continue or renew their contracts with us, renew at lower fee levels or decline to purchase additional
services from us, our business may be harmed.
We
expect to derive a significant portion of our revenues from renewal of existing customer contracts and sales of additional services to
existing customers. Factors that may affect our ability to sell additional solutions and services include, but are not limited to, the
following:
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the
price, performance and functionality of our solutions;
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the
availability, price, performance and functionality of competing solutions;
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our
ability to develop and sell complementary solutions and services;
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the
stability, performance and security of our Telemed IQ software platform;
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changes
in healthcare laws, regulations or trends; and
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the
business environment and strategic priorities of our customers.
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We
typically enter into multi-year contracts with our customers. These contracts generally have stated initial terms between one to three
years. Most of our customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions for our solutions after the initial term expires. In addition,
our customers may negotiate terms less advantageous to us upon renewal, which may reduce our revenues from these customers. If our customers
fail to renew their contracts, renew their contracts upon less favorable terms or at lower fee levels or fail to purchase new solutions
and services from us, our revenues may decline, or our future revenue growth may be constrained.
Our
telemedicine business and growth strategy depend on our ability to maintain and expand our network of established, board-certified physicians
and other provider specialists. If we are unable to do so, our future growth would be limited and our business would be harmed.
Our
success is dependent upon our continued ability to maintain a network of established, board-certified physicians and other provider specialists.
Fulfilling our clinical and customer service obligations requires a robust supply of specialist physicians who must be licensed across
many states and privileged at a large number of our customer hospitals. If we are unable to recruit and retain board-certified physicians
and other healthcare professionals, it would harm our business and ability to grow and would adversely affect our results of operations.
In any particular market, these providers could demand higher payments or take other actions that could result in higher costs, less
attractive service for our customers or difficulty meeting regulatory or accreditation requirements. Our ability to develop and maintain
satisfactory relationships with these providers also may be negatively impacted by other factors not associated with us, such as changes
in Medicare and/or Medicaid reimbursement levels and other pressures on healthcare providers and consolidation activity among hospitals,
physician groups and healthcare providers. The failure to maintain or to secure new cost-effective provider contracts may result in a
loss of or inability to grow our customer base, higher costs, healthcare provider network disruptions, less attractive service for our
customers and/or difficulty in meeting regulatory or accreditation requirements, any of which could harm our business.
Our
telemedicine business is dependent on our relationships with affiliated professional entities, which we do not own, to provide physician
services, and our business would be harmed if those relationships were disrupted.
There
is a risk that U.S. state authorities in some jurisdictions may find that our contractual relationships with our physicians providing
telehealth services violate laws prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine. These laws generally prohibit the practice of medicine
by lay persons or entities and are intended to prevent unlicensed persons or entities from interfering with or inappropriately influencing
a physician’s professional judgment. The extent to which each state considers particular actions or contractual relationships to
constitute improper influence of professional judgment varies across the states and is subject to change and to evolving interpretations
by state boards of medicine and state attorneys general, among others. As such, we must monitor our compliance with laws in every jurisdiction
in which we operate on an ongoing basis and we cannot guarantee that subsequent interpretation of the corporate practice of medicine
laws will not circumscribe our business operations. State corporate practice of medicine doctrines also often impose penalties on physicians
themselves for aiding the corporate practice of medicine, which could discourage physicians from participating in our network of providers.
The
corporate practice of medicine prohibition exists in some form, by statute, regulation, board of medicine or attorney general guidance,
or case law, in most states, though the broad variation between state application and enforcement of the doctrine makes an exact count
difficult. Due to the prevalence of the corporate practice of medicine doctrine, including in the states where we predominantly conduct
our business, we contract for provider services through administrative support services agreements with nine 100% physician-owned, independent
professional corporations in California, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey and Texas which employ or contract with physicians for the
clinical and professional services provided to our customers. We do not own these physician organizations; instead, the physician organizations
are owned by physicians licensed in their respective states. Although we expect that these relationships will continue, we cannot guarantee
that they will. A material change in our relationship with any of these physician organizations, or among these physician organizations
and their contracted physicians, whether resulting from a dispute among the parties, a change in government regulation or the loss of
these affiliations, could impair our ability to provide services to our customers and harm our business. Further, any scrutiny, investigation
or litigation with regard to our arrangement with these professional corporations could also harm our business.
We
depend on a limited number of third-party suppliers for our telemedicine equipment, and the loss of any of these suppliers, or their
inability to provide us with an adequate supply of materials, could harm our business.
We
rely on a limited number of third-party suppliers to manufacture and transport our telemedicine carts and equipment. For our business
strategy to be successful, our suppliers must be able to provide us with components in sufficient quantities, in compliance with regulatory
requirements and quality control standards, in accordance with agreed-upon specifications, at acceptable costs and on a timely basis.
Increases in our providing telemedicine equipment to customers, whether forecasted or unanticipated, could strain the ability of our
suppliers to deliver an increased supply of components in a manner that meets these various requirements. Further, in the event of a
component shortage or supply interruption from suppliers of these components, we may not be able to increase capacity from other sources
or develop alternate or secondary sources without incurring material additional costs and substantial delays. Quality or performance
failures of the components or changes in the suppliers’ financial or business condition could also disrupt our ability to supply
telemedicine equipment to our customers and thereby harm our business.
Moreover,
volatile economic conditions, including as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, may make it more likely that our suppliers may be
unable to timely deliver supplies, or at all, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to timely locate alternative suppliers of
components of comparable quality at an acceptable price. Further, since the beginning of 2018, there has been increasing rhetoric, in
some cases coupled with legislative or executive action, from several U.S. and foreign leaders regarding tariffs against foreign imports
of certain materials. Several of the components that go into the manufacturing of our telemedicine equipment are sourced internationally,
including from China, where the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has imposed tariffs on imports of specified products. These tariffs
have an impact on our component costs and have the potential to have an even greater impact depending on the outcome of the current trade
negotiations, which have been protracted and have resulted in increases in U.S. tariff rates on specified products from China. Increases
in our component costs could have a material effect on our gross margins. The loss of a significant supplier, an increase in component
costs, or delays or disruptions in the delivery of components, could adversely affect our ability to generate future revenue and earnings
and harm our business.
Any
failure to offer high-quality technical support services may harm our relationships with our customers and our financial results.
Our
customers depend on our support organization to resolve any technical issues relating to our services. In addition, our sales process
is highly dependent on the quality of our solutions, our business reputation and on strong recommendations from our existing customers.
Any failure to maintain high-quality and highly-responsive technical support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality
and highly-responsive support, could harm our reputation, adversely affect our ability to sell our solutions to existing and prospective
customers, and harm our business.
We
offer technical support services with our solutions and may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in
demand for support services, particularly as we increase the size of our customer base. We also may be unable to modify the format of
our support services to compete with changes in support services provided by competitors. It is difficult to predict demand for technical
support services and if demand increases significantly, we may be unable to provide satisfactory support services to our customers. Additionally,
increased demand for these services, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and adversely affect our results of operations.
Because
competition for qualified personnel is intense, we may not be able to attract and retain the highly skilled employees we need to support
our continued growth.
To
continue to execute on our growth plan, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel. The pool of qualified personnel with experience
working in the healthcare market is limited overall and the competition to hire them is intense. As such, we may not be successful in
continuing to attract and retain qualified personnel. We have from time to time in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to
experience in the future, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications. In addition, our
search for replacements for departed employees may cause uncertainty regarding the future of our business, impact employee hiring and
retention, and adversely impact our revenue, financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail
to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects could be harmed.
We
depend on our senior management team, and the loss of one or more of these employees or an inability to attract and retain qualified
key personnel could harm our business.
Our
success depends largely upon the continued services of our key executive officers. These executive officers are “at-will”
employees and therefore may terminate employment with us at any time with no advance notice. We also rely on our leadership team in the
areas of research and development, marketing, services and general and administrative functions. From time to time, there may be changes
in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. The replacement
of one or more of our executive officers or other key employees would likely involve significant time and costs and may significantly
delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. In addition, volatility or lack of performance in our stock price may affect
our ability to attract and retain replacements should key personnel depart. If we are not able to retain any of our key personnel, our
business could be harmed.
Our
management team has limited experience managing a public company.
Most
members of our management team have limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors
and complying with the increasingly complex laws, rules and regulations that govern public companies. Following the completion of the
Merger Transaction, we are now subject to significant obligations relating to reporting, procedures and internal controls, and our management
team may not successfully or efficiently manage such obligations or the ongoing transition of our business to a public company. These
new obligations and constituents require significant attention from our management team and could divert their attention away from the
day-to-day management of our business, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, we
will need to expand our employee base and hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company, which will increase
our operating costs in future periods.
If
we are not able to develop and release new solutions, or successful enhancements, new features and modifications to our existing solutions,
our business could be harmed.
To
date, we have derived a substantial majority of our revenues from sales of our telemedicine consultation services, and our longer-term
results of operations and continued growth will depend on our ability successfully to develop and market new solutions in a timely manner.
In addition, we have invested, and will continue to invest, significant resources in research and development to enhance our existing
solutions, particularly the features, functionality and performance of our Telemed IQ software platform. If existing customers are not
willing to make additional payments for such new solutions, or if new customers do not value such new solutions or enhancements, it could
harm our business. If we are unable to predict customer and user preferences or if our industry changes, or if we are unable to enhance
or modify our solutions on a timely basis, we may lose customers. In addition, our results of operations would suffer if our innovations
are not responsive to the needs of our, appropriately timed with market opportunity or effectively brought to market. Delays in launching
new solutions may open windows of opportunity for new and existing competitors to erode our market share and may negatively impact our
revenues and profitability.
We
may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our stockholders,
and otherwise disrupt our operations, and we may have difficulty integrating any such acquisitions successfully or realizing the anticipated
benefits therefrom, any of which could harm our business.
We
have in the past and may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, applications and services or technologies that we believe
could complement or expand our solutions, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of
potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and
pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated.
In
addition, if we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully,
or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired
business due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
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inability
to integrate or benefit from acquired technologies or services in a profitable manner;
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unanticipated
costs or liabilities, including legal liabilities, associated with the acquisition;
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difficulty
integrating the accounting systems, operations and personnel of the acquired business;
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difficulties
and additional expenses associated with supporting legacy products and hosting infrastructure of the acquired business;
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difficulty
converting the customers of the acquired business onto our platform and contract terms, including disparities in the revenue, licensing,
support or professional services model of the acquired company;
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diversion
of management’s attention from other business concerns;
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adverse
effects to our existing business relationships with business partners and customers as a result of the acquisition;
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the
potential loss of key employees or contractors;
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use
of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and
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use
of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.
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In
addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of businesses we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible
assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we
may be required to take charges to our results of operations based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect
our results of operations.
Acquisitions
could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our results of operations
or cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations,
our business may be harmed.
If
we are unable to grow, or if we fail to manage future growth effectively, our revenues may not increase and we may be unable to implement
our business strategy.
Our
future success depends upon our ability to grow, and if we are unable to manage our growth effectively, we may incur unexpected expenses
and be unable to meet our customers’ requirements, all of which could harm our business. A key aspect to managing our growth is
our ability to scale our capabilities, including in response to unexpected shifts in demand for telemedicine, such as during the COVID-19
pandemic. To manage our current and anticipated future growth effectively, we must continue to maintain and enhance our IT infrastructure,
financial and accounting systems and controls. We must also attract, train and retain a significant number of board-certified physicians,
sales and marketing personnel, customer support personnel, professional services personnel, software engineers, technical personnel and
management personnel, and the availability of such personnel, in particular physicians and software engineers, may be constrained.
Our
growth depends on the acceptance of our solutions as a suitable supplement to traditional healthcare delivery systems and on our ability
to overcome operational challenges. Our business model and solutions could lose their viability as a supplement to traditional healthcare
delivery systems due to customer dissatisfaction or new alternative solutions. If we are unable to address the needs of our customers,
or our customers are dissatisfied with the quality of our solutions, our customers may not renew their contracts, seek to cancel or terminate
their relationship with us or renew on less favorable terms, any of which could cause our annual net dollar retention rate to decrease.
As
we continue to grow, including from the integration of employees and businesses acquired in connection with previous or future acquisitions,
we may find it difficult to maintain important aspects of our corporate culture, which could negatively affect our profitability and
our ability to retain and recruit qualified personnel who are essential for our future success. If we do not effectively manage our growth,
we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy
customer requirements or maintain high-quality solutions. Additionally, we may not be able to expand and upgrade our systems and infrastructure
to accommodate future growth.
Failure
to effectively manage our growth could also lead us to over-invest or under-invest in development and operations, result in weaknesses
in our infrastructure, systems or controls, give rise to operational mistakes, financial losses, loss of productivity or business opportunities
and result in loss of employees and reduced productivity of remaining employees. Our growth is expected to require significant capital
expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects such as the development of new solutions and services. If we are
unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our revenues may not increase or may grow more
slowly than expected and we may be unable to implement our business strategy. The quality of our services may also suffer, which could
negatively affect our reputation and harm our ability to attract and retain customers.
We
may be unable to successfully execute on our growth initiatives, business strategies or operating plans.
We
are continually executing a number of growth initiatives, strategies and operating plans designed to enhance our business. For example,
we recently entered into new specialist healthcare professional markets. The anticipated benefits from these efforts are based on several
assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate. Moreover, we may not be able to complete these growth initiatives successfully, strategies
and operating plans and realize all of the benefits, including growth targets and cost savings, that we expect to achieve, or it may
be more costlier to do so than we anticipate. A variety of risks could cause us not to realize some or all of the expected benefits. These
risks include, among others, delays in the anticipated timing of activities related to such growth initiatives, strategies and operating
plans, increased difficulty and cost in implementing these efforts, including difficulties in complying with new regulatory requirements
and the incurrence of other unexpected costs associated with operating the business. Moreover, our continued implementation of these
programs may disrupt our operations and performance. As a result, we cannot assure you that we will realize these benefits. If, for any
reason, the benefits we realize are less than our estimates or the implementation of these growth initiatives, strategies and operating
plans adversely affect our operations or cost more or take longer to effectuate than we expect, or if our assumptions prove inaccurate,
our business may be harmed.
Our
growth depends in part on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties.
To
grow our business, we anticipate that we will continue to depend on relationships with third parties, such as channel partners. In addition
to growing our indirect sales channels, we intend to pursue additional relationships with other third parties, such as physician groups,
integrated delivery networks and government contractors. Identifying partners, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them,
requires significant time and resources. Our competitors may be effective in causing third parties to favor their products or services
over our solutions. In addition, acquisitions of such partners by our competitors could result in a decrease in the number of our current
and potential customers, as these partners may no longer facilitate the adoption of our solutions. Further, some of our partners are
or may become competitive with certain of our solutions and may elect to no longer integrate with our platform. If we are unsuccessful
in establishing or maintaining our relationships with third parties, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenues
could be impaired, and our results of operations may suffer. Even if we are successful, we cannot ensure that these relationships will
result in increased customer usage of our applications or increased revenue.
If
the estimates and assumptions we use to determine the size of our total addressable market are inaccurate, our future growth rate may
be affected and our business would be harmed.
Market
opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may
prove to be inaccurate. Even if the market in which we compete meets our size estimates and forecasted growth, our business could fail
to grow at similar rates, if at all. The principal assumptions relating to our market opportunity include all hospitals in the United States
adopting outsourced clinical resources via telemedicine and that we can successfully add specialties to our solutions beyond those currently
offered today. Our market opportunity is also based on the assumption that our existing and future offerings will be more attractive
to our customers and potential customers than competing solutions. If these assumptions prove inaccurate, our business could be harmed.
We
may not grow at the rates we historically have achieved or at all, even if our key metrics may indicate growth, which may adversely affect
the market price of our Class A common stock.
We
have experienced significant growth in recent years. Future revenues may not grow at these same rates or may decline. Our future growth
will depend, in part, on our ability to grow our revenues from existing customers, to complete sales to potential future customers, to
expand our customer base, and to develop new solutions and services. We can provide no assurances that we will be successful in executing
on these growth strategies or that, even if our key metrics would indicate future growth, we will continue to grow our revenues or to
generate net income. Our ability to execute on our existing sales pipeline, create additional sales pipelines and expand our customer
base depends on, among other things, the attractiveness of our services relative to those offered by our competitors, our ability to
demonstrate the value of our existing and future services and our ability to attract and retain a sufficient number of qualified sales
and marketing leadership and support personnel. In addition, our existing customers may be slower to adopt our services than we currently
anticipate, which could harm our business and growth prospects and adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
We
have been and may in the future become subject to litigation, which could be costly and time-consuming to defend.
We
have been and may in the future become subject to legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, such as
claims brought by our customers in connection with commercial disputes or employment claims made by our current or former associates.
Litigation may result in substantial costs and may divert management’s attention and resources, which may substantially harm our
business, financial condition and results of operations. Insurance may not cover such claims, may not provide sufficient payments to
cover all of the costs to resolve one or more such claims and may not continue to be available on terms acceptable to us. Resolution
of some of these types of matters against us may result in our having to pay significant fines, judgments, or settlements, which, if
uninsured, or if the fines, judgments, and settlements exceed insured levels, could adversely affect our results of operations and cash
flows, thereby harming our business and stock price. For example, fines or assessments could be levied against us under domestic or foreign
data privacy laws (such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), the General Data Protection
Regulation (“GDPR”), or the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”)) or under authority of privacy enforcing
governmental entities (such as the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(“HHS”)) or as a result of private actions, such as class actions based on data breaches or based on private rights
of action (such as that contained in the CCPA). Certain litigation or the resolution of certain litigation may affect the availability
or cost of some of our insurance coverage, which could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows, expose us to increased
risks that would be uninsured and adversely affect our ability to attract directors and officers. In addition, such litigation could
result in increased scrutiny by government authorities having authority over our business, such as the FTC, the HHS, Office for Civil
Rights (“OCR”), and state attorneys general.
We
may become subject to medical liability claims, which could cause us to incur significant expenses, may require us to pay significant
damages if not covered by insurance, and could harm our business.
Our
business entails the risk of medical liability claims against us and our affiliated professional entities. We and our affiliated professional
entities have in the past and may in the future be subject to medical liability claims and, if these claims are successful, substantial
damage awards. Although we maintain insurance covering medical malpractice claims in amounts that we believe are appropriate in light
of the risks attendant to our business, we cannot predict the outcomes of medical malpractice cases, the effect that any claims of this
nature, regardless of their ultimate outcome, could have on our business or reputation or on our ability to attract and retain customers.
Professional liability insurance is expensive and insurance premiums may increase significantly in the future, particularly as we expand
our services. As a result, adequate professional liability insurance may not be available to our providers or to us in the future at
acceptable costs or at all.
Any
claims made against us that are not fully covered by insurance could be costly to defend against, result in substantial damage awards
against us and divert the attention of our management and our providers from our operations, which could harm our business. In addition,
any claims may harm our business or reputation.
Our
ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
In
general, under Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership
change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change net operating losses, or NOLs, to offset future taxable
income. A Section 382 “ownership change” generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who
own at least 5% of our stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within
a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $232.9 million
of federal net operating loss carryforwards and $182.9 million of state net operating loss carryforwards. The federal net operating loss
carryforwards of $111.9 million created subsequent to the year ended December 31, 2017, carry forward indefinitely, whereas the remaining
federal net operating loss carryforwards of $121.0 million begin to expire in 2025. Our ability to utilize NOLs may be currently subject
to limitations due to prior ownership changes. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could
result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code, further limiting our ability to utilize NOLs arising prior to such
ownership change in the future. There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of NOLs, or other
unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. We have recorded
a full valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets attributable to our NOLs that are not more likely than not expected to be
utilized.
Taxing
authorities may successfully assert that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use, value-added, or similar
taxes, and we could be subject to liability with respect to past or future sales, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
We
do not collect sales and use and similar taxes in any states for telemedicine services based on our belief that our services are not
subject to such taxes in any state. Sales and use and similar tax laws and rates vary greatly from state to state. Certain states in
which we do not collect such taxes may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest
with respect to past services, and we may be required to collect such taxes for services in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties
and interest or future requirements may adversely affect our results of operations.
If
our relationships with physicians and other provider specialists within our network are characterized as employees, we would be subject
to employment and withholding liabilities.
Although
we believe that some of our physicians and other provider specialists within our network are properly characterized as independent contractors,
tax or other regulatory authorities may in the future challenge our characterization of these relationships. If such regulatory authorities
or state, federal or foreign courts were to determine that our providers or experts are employees, and not independent contractors, we
would be required to withhold income taxes, to withhold and pay social security, Medicare and similar taxes and to pay unemployment and
other related payroll taxes. We would also be liable for unpaid past taxes and subject to penalties. As a result, any determination that
our providers or experts are our employees could harm our business.
We
may require additional capital from equity or debt financings to support business growth, and this capital might not be available on
acceptable terms, if at all.
We
intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth and may require additional funds to respond to business challenges,
including the need to develop new solutions or enhance our existing solutions, enhance our operating infrastructure and acquire complementary
businesses and technologies. In order to achieve these objectives, we may make future commitments of capital resources, including incurring
additional indebtedness under the Term Loan Facility. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional
funds. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant
dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A
common stock. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities
and other financial and operational matters. In addition, we may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us,
if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to
continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited.
Our
Term Loan Agreement contains certain restrictions that may limit our ability to operate our business.
In
connection with the Acquisition, we entered into the Term Loan Agreement with SLR Investment. The terms of the Term Loan Agreement and
the related collateral documents contain, and any future indebtedness would likely contain, a number of restrictive covenants that impose
significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability, and the ability of our subsidiaries, to
take actions that may be in our best interests, including, among others, disposing of assets, entering into change of control transactions,
mergers or acquisitions, incurring additional indebtedness, granting liens on our assets, declaring and paying dividends, and agreeing
to do any of the foregoing. The Term Loan Facility requires us to satisfy a specified minimum liquidity level of at least $5.0 million
at all times and to achieve certain minimum net revenue thresholds measured quarterly on a trailing twelve-month basis from March 31,
2022, through December 31, 2022, and then 60% of projected net revenues in accordance with an annual plan to be submitted to the lenders
commencing on March 31, 2023, and thereafter. Our ability to meet these and other financial covenants can be affected by events beyond
our control, including as a result of the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we may not be able to continue to meet
these covenants. A breach of any of these covenants or the occurrence of other events (including a material adverse effect) specified
in these agreements and/or the related collateral documents would result in an event of default under such agreements. Upon the occurrence
of an event of default, SLR Investment, as collateral agent for the lenders, could elect to declare all amounts outstanding, if any,
under the Term Loan Agreement to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit. If we were unable
to repay those amounts, SLR Investment, as collateral agent for the lenders, could proceed against the collateral granted to them to
secure such indebtedness. We have pledged substantially all of our assets as collateral under the loan documents. If SLR Investment,
as collateral agent for the lenders, accelerates the repayment of borrowings, if any, we may not have sufficient funds to repay our existing
debt.
Our
substantial indebtedness following the Acquisition could harm our business and growth prospects.
In
connection with the Acquisition, we funded the cash portion of the purchase price in part with proceeds from the Term Loan Facility.
Our substantial indebtedness as a result of these borrowings, or any additional indebtedness we may incur, could require us to divert
funds identified for other purposes for debt service and impair our liquidity position. If we cannot generate sufficient cash flow from
operations to service our debt, we may need to refinance our debt, dispose of assets or issue equity to obtain necessary funds.
Our
indebtedness, the cash flow needed to satisfy our debt and the covenants contained in our debt agreements could have important consequences
to us, including limiting funds otherwise available for financing our operations, capital expenditures, selling and marketing efforts,
development of new solutions, future business opportunities and other purposes by requiring us to dedicate a portion of our cash flows
from operations to the repayment of debt and the interest on this debt; limiting our ability to incur or prepay existing indebtedness,
pay dividends or distributions, dispose of assets, engage in mergers and consolidations, make acquisitions or other investments and make
changes in the nature of the business, among other things; making us more vulnerable to rising interest rates, as borrowings under the
Term Loan Facility bear variable rates of interest; and making us more vulnerable in the event of a downturn in our business.
Our
level of indebtedness may place us at a competitive disadvantage to our competitors that are not as highly leveraged. Fluctuations in
interest rates can increase borrowing costs. Increases in interest rates may directly impact the amount of interest we are required to
pay and reduce earnings accordingly. In addition, tax laws, including the disallowance or deferral of tax deductions for interest paid
on outstanding indebtedness, could have an adverse effect on our liquidity and harm our business. Further, the Term Loan Agreement contains
customary affirmative and negative covenants and certain restrictions on operations that could impose operating and financial limitations
and restrictions on us, including restrictions on our ability to enter into particular transactions and to engage in other actions that
we may believe are advisable or necessary for our business.
We
expect to use cash flow from operations to meet current and future financial obligations, including funding our operations, debt service
requirements and capital expenditures. The ability to make these payments depends on our financial and operating performance, which is
subject to prevailing economic, industry and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, economic and other factors beyond
our control.
We
have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If our remediation of these material weaknesses
is not effective, or if we experience additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system
of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial statements or report them in a timely manner, which may adversely
affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our Class A common stock.
As
a public company, we are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such
internal control. Prior to the Merger Transaction, Legacy SOC Telemed operated as a private company with limited accounting and financial
reporting personnel and other resources with which to address its internal controls and procedures, and, as previously disclosed, had
identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting related to the design of its control environment. In
connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, we and our independent registered
public accounting firm identified material weaknesses (including the previously identified material weakness) in our internal control
over financial reporting and, as a result, our management concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as
of December 31, 2020. See “Controls and Procedures” under Part I, Item 4 of this report. A material weakness is a
deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility
that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Consistent
with our prior disclosures, we determined that we had a material weakness related to the design of our control environment because we
did not (i) maintain a sufficient complement of personnel with an appropriate degree of knowledge, experience, and training, commensurate
with our accounting and reporting requirements; (ii) maintain sufficient evidence of formal procedures and controls to achieve complete,
accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, nor were monitoring controls evidenced at a sufficient level to
provide the appropriate level of oversight of activities related to our internal control over financial reporting; and (iii) design
and maintain effective controls over segregation of duties with respect to creating and posting manual journal entries.
In
addition, in connection with our year-end audit, we determined that we had a material weakness related to informational technology (“IT”)
general controls because we did not design and maintain effective controls over IT general controls for information systems that are
relevant to the preparation of our financial statements. Specifically, we did not design and maintain (i) program change management
controls for financial systems to ensure that information technology and data changes affecting financial IT applications and underlying
accounts records are identified, tested, authorized, and implemented appropriately; and (ii) user access controls to ensure appropriate
segregation of duties and that adequately restrict user and privileged access to financial applications, programs, and data to appropriate
Company personnel.
The
material weakness related to the control environment resulted in adjustments to liability, equity, and changes in fair value related
to private placement warrants, the accrual of certain compensation-related costs, and other items related to the consummation of the
Merger Transaction. The IT deficiencies did not result in a material misstatement to our consolidated financial statements; however,
the deficiencies, when aggregated, could impact maintaining effective segregation of duties, as well as the effectiveness of IT-dependent
controls (such as automated controls that address the risk of material misstatement to one or more assertions, along with the IT controls
and underlying data that support the effectiveness of system-generated data and reports) that could result in misstatements potentially
impacting all financial statement accounts and disclosures that would not be prevented or detected. Accordingly, we have determined these
deficiencies in the aggregate constitute a second material weakness. Additionally, each of the above material weaknesses could result
in a misstatement of our account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated
financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.
With
the oversight of senior management and our audit committee, we have implemented a remediation plan which includes (i) the hiring
of personnel with technical accounting and financial reporting experience to further bolster our ability to assess judgmental areas of
accounting and provide an appropriate level of oversight of activities related to internal control over financial reporting; (ii) the
implementation of improved accounting and financial reporting procedures and controls to improve the timeliness of our financial reporting
cycle; (iii) the implementation of new accounting and financial reporting systems to improve the completeness and accuracy of our
financial reporting and disclosures; (iv) the establishment of formalized internal controls to maintain segregation of duties between
control operators; (v) the implementation of additional program change management policies and procedures, control activities, and
tools to ensure changes affecting IT applications and underlying accounting records are identified, authorized, tested, and implemented
appropriately; and (vi) the enhancement of the design and operation of user access control activities and procedures to ensure that
access to IT applications and data is adequately restricted to appropriate Company personnel. We believe the measures described above,
which continues the implementation of a remediation plan commenced by Legacy SOC Telemed prior to the Merger Transaction, will remediate
the material weaknesses identified and strengthen our internal control over financial reporting. We are committed to continuing to improve
our internal control processes and will continue to diligently and vigorously review our financial reporting controls and procedures.
While
we continue to implement this plan to remediate the material weaknesses described above, we cannot predict the success of such plan or
the outcome of our assessment of these plans at this time. If our steps are insufficient to remediate the material weaknesses successfully
and otherwise establish and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, the reliability of our financial
reporting, investor confidence in us, and the value of our Class A common stock could be materially and adversely affected.
We can give no assurance that the implementation of this plan will remediate these deficiencies in internal control or that additional
material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future.
Our failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial
statements that could result in a restatement of our financial statements, causing us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.
If
we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce
timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
As
a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations
of the applicable listing standards of Nasdaq. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase
our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly and place significant
strain on our personnel, systems and resources. 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 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, which includes hiring additional accounting and financial
personnel to implement such processes and controls. 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. If any of these new or improved controls and systems
do not perform as expected, we may experience material weaknesses in our controls in addition to those discussed in the section entitled
“Controls and Procedures” under Part I, Item 4 of this report. Our current controls and any new controls that we develop
may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, additional weaknesses in our disclosure controls and
internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future.
Any
failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our
results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements
for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting also could adversely affect
the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding
the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports
that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also
cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the
trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, if we are unable to continue to meet these requirements, we may not be able
to remain listed on Nasdaq. We are required to comply with the SEC rules that implement Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and
are required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. We will
be required to provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with
our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required
to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an “emerging
growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act or a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation
S-K. 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 harm our business and could cause a decline in the
price of our Class A common stock.
Risks
Related to Governmental Regulation
Government
regulation of healthcare creates risks and challenges with respect to our compliance efforts and our business strategies.
The
healthcare industry is highly regulated and is subject to changing political, legislative, regulatory, and other influences. Existing
and new laws and regulations affecting the healthcare industry could create unexpected liabilities for us, could cause us to incur additional
costs, and could restrict our operations. Many healthcare laws are complex, and their application to specific products and services may
not be clear. In particular, many existing healthcare laws and regulations, when enacted, did not anticipate the services that we provide.
However, these laws and regulations may nonetheless be applied to our business. Our failure to accurately anticipate the application
of these laws and regulations, or other failure to comply, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity and harm our business.
If
we fail to comply with extensive healthcare laws and government regulations, we could suffer penalties or be required to make significant
changes to our operations.
The
healthcare industry is required to comply with extensive and complex laws and regulations at the federal, state and local government
levels relating to, among other things:
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licensure
of health providers, certification of organizations and enrollment with government reimbursement programs;
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necessity
and adequacy of medical care;
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relationships
with physicians and other referral sources and referral recipients;
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billing
and coding for services;
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properly
handling overpayments;
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quality
of medical equipment and services;
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qualifications
of medical and support personnel;
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confidentiality,
maintenance, data breach, identity theft and security issues associated with health-related and personal information and medical
records; and
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communications
with patients and consumers.
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Among
these laws are the federal Stark Law, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, and similar state laws. If we fail to
comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could suffer civil sanctions and criminal penalties, including the loss of our ability
to participate in the Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state healthcare programs. While we endeavor to ensure that our financial
relationships with referral sources such as hospitals and physicians comply with the applicable laws (including applicable safe harbors
and exceptions), evolving interpretations or enforcement of these laws and regulations could subject our current practices to allegations
of impropriety or illegality or could require us to make changes in our operations. A determination that we have violated these or other
laws, or the public announcement that we are being investigated for possible violations of these or other laws, could harm our business,
and our business reputation could suffer significantly. In addition, other legislation or regulations at the federal or state level may
be adopted that could harm our business.
Our
use and disclosure of personally identifiable information, including health information, is subject to federal and state privacy and
security regulations, and our failure to comply with those regulations or to adequately secure the information we hold could result in
significant liability or reputational harm to us, which could, in turn, harm our customer base and our business.
Numerous
state and federal laws and regulations, including HIPAA, govern the collection, dissemination, use, privacy, confidentiality, security,
availability and integrity of personally identifiable information, or PII, including protected health information. HIPAA establishes
a set of basic national privacy and security standards for the protection of protected health information (“PHI”) by health
plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers, referred to as covered entities, and the business associates with
whom such covered entities contract for services, which includes us.
HIPAA
requires healthcare providers like us to develop and maintain policies and procedures with respect to PHI that is used or disclosed,
including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information. HIPAA also implemented the use
of standard transaction code sets and standard identifiers that covered entities must use when submitting or receiving certain electronic
healthcare transactions, including activities associated with the billing and collection of healthcare claims.
HIPAA
imposes mandatory penalties for certain violations. HIPAA also authorizes state attorneys general to file suit on behalf of their residents.
Courts will be able to award damages, costs and attorneys’ fees related to violations of HIPAA in such cases. While HIPAA does
not create a private right of action allowing individuals to sue us in civil court for violations of HIPAA, its standards have been used
as the basis for duty of care in state civil suits such as those for negligence or recklessness in the misuse or breach of PHI.
In
addition, HIPAA mandates that the Secretary of HHS conduct periodic compliance audits of HIPAA covered entities or business associates
for compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards. It also tasks HHS with establishing a methodology whereby harmed individuals
who were the victims of breaches of unsecured PHI may receive a percentage of the Civil Monetary Penalty fine paid by the violator.
HIPAA
further requires that patients be notified of any unauthorized acquisition, access, use or disclosure of their unsecured PHI that compromises
the privacy or security of such information, with certain exceptions related to unintentional or inadvertent use or disclosure by employees
or authorized individuals. HIPAA specifies that such notifications must be made “without unreasonable delay and in no case later
than 60 calendar days after discovery of the breach.” If a breach affects 500 patients or more, it must be reported to HHS without
unreasonable delay, and HHS will post the name of the breaching entity on its public web site. Breaches affecting 500 patients or more
in the same state or jurisdiction must also be reported to the local media. If a breach involves fewer than 500 people, the covered entity
must record it in a log and notify HHS at least annually.
Numerous
other federal and state laws protect the confidentiality, privacy, availability, integrity and security of PII, including PHI. These
laws in many cases are more restrictive than, and may not be preempted by, the HIPAA rules and may be subject to varying interpretations
by courts and government agencies, creating complex compliance issues for us and our customers and potentially exposing us to additional
expense, adverse publicity and liability.
New
health information standards, whether implemented pursuant to HIPAA, congressional action or otherwise, could have a significant effect
on the manner in which we must handle healthcare related data, and the cost of complying with standards could be significant. If we do
not comply with existing or new laws and regulations related to PHI, we could be subject to criminal or civil sanctions.
Because
of the extreme sensitivity of the PII we store and transmit, the security features of our technology platform are very important. If
our security measures, some of which are managed by third parties, are breached or fail, unauthorized persons may be able to obtain access
to sensitive customer and patient data, including HIPAA-regulated PHI. As a result, our reputation could be severely damaged, adversely
affecting customer or investor confidence. Customers may curtail their use of or stop using our services or our customer base could decrease,
which would cause our business to suffer. In addition, we could face litigation, damages for contract breach, penalties and regulatory
actions for violation of HIPAA and other applicable laws or regulations and significant costs for remediation, notification to individuals
and for measures to prevent future occurrences. Any potential security breach could also result in increased costs associated with liability
for stolen assets or information, repairing system damage that may have been caused by such breaches, incentives offered to customers
or other business partners in an effort to maintain our business relationships after a breach and implementing measures to prevent future
occurrences, including organizational changes, deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, training employees and engaging
third-party experts and consultants. While we maintain insurance covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses, we
may not carry insurance or maintain coverage sufficient to compensate for all liability and, in any event, insurance coverage would not
address the reputational damage that could result from a security incident.
We
outsource important aspects of the storage and transmission of customer and patient information, and thus rely on third parties to manage
functions that have material cyber-security risks. We attempt to address these risks by requiring outsourcing subcontractors who handle
customer and patient information to sign business associate agreements contractually requiring those subcontractors to adequately safeguard
personal health data to the same extent that applies to us and in some cases by requiring such outsourcing subcontractors to undergo
third-party security examinations. However, we cannot assure you that these contractual measures and other safeguards will adequately
protect us from the risks associated with the storage and transmission of such information on our behalf by our subcontractors.
We
also publish statements to our customers that describe how we handle and protect personal information. If federal or state regulatory
authorities or private litigants consider any portion of these statements to be untrue, we may be subject to claims of deceptive practices,
which could lead to significant liabilities and consequences, including, without limitation, costs of responding to investigations, defending
against litigation, settling claims and complying with regulatory or court orders.
We
have specific requirements to protect the privacy and security of personal health information we collect from or on behalf of our customers.
Privacy
and security of personal health information, particularly personal health information stored and transmitted electronically, is a major
issue in the United States. The Privacy Standards and Security Standards under HIPAA establish a set of national privacy and security
standards for the protection of individually identifiable health information by health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare
providers (referred to as covered entities) and their business associates. We may be required to comply with the HIPAA Privacy and Security
Standards for physical, technical, and administrative safeguards, among other requirements. We cannot assure you that it will adequately
address the risks created by these requirements, and if it fails to do so we could potentially be subject to HIPAA’s criminal and
civil penalties. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (or “HITECH”) Act, which was enacted
as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and amended HIPAA, increased civil penalty amounts for violations of HIPAA
and significantly strengthened enforcement by requiring the United States Department of Health and Human Services to conduct periodic
audits to confirm compliance and authorizing state attorneys general to bring civil actions seeking either injunctions or damages in
response to violations of HIPAA Privacy and Security Standards that threaten the privacy of state residents.
Both
federal and state governments continue to adopt and/or are considering a number of new regulations related to protection of personal
information. Thus, we may incur costs to monitor, evaluate, and modify operational processes for compliance.
If
we fail to comply with federal and state laws and policies governing claim submissions to government healthcare programs or commercial
insurance programs, we or our customers may be subject to civil and criminal penalties or loss of eligibility to participate in government
healthcare programs and contractual claims by commercial insurers.
We
offer revenue cycle management services to our customers that include the preparation and submission of claims for professional service
and billing agent collection processing with payers on behalf of our customers. Certain of these reimbursement claims are governed by
federal and state laws with potential civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance. The HIPAA security, privacy and transaction standards
also have a potentially significant effect on our claims preparation, transmission and submission services, because such services must
be structured and provided in a way that supports our customers’ HIPAA compliance obligations. Errors by us or our systems with
respect to entry, formatting, preparation or transmission of claim information may be determined or alleged to be in violation of these
laws and regulations. If our revenue cycle management services fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we may be subjected to
federal or state government investigations and possible penalties may be imposed upon us, false claims actions may have to be defended,
private payers may file claims against us, and we may be excluded from Medicare, Medicaid or other government-funded healthcare programs.
Further, our customers may seek contractual remedies and indemnification. Any investigation or proceeding related to these topics, even
if unwarranted or without merit, could adversely affect demand for our services, could force us to expend significant capital, research
and development and other resources to address the failure, and may harm our business.
If
we fail to comply with Medicare and Medicaid regulatory, guidance, or policy requirements, we may be subjected to reduced reimbursement,
overpayment demands or loss of eligibility to participate in these programs.
Our
affiliated professional entities enrolled and recently began participating in certain government health care programs covering certain
of the professional services delivered by our affiliated professional entities. We expect a growing portion of our patient services to
be reimbursed by government health care programs. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are highly regulated, and unique requirements governing
the reimbursement of professional services delivered using telemedicine are evolving and complicated. In addition, changes in government
health care programs may reduce the reimbursement we receive and could harm our business. In particular, there is uncertainty regarding
whether temporary waivers of certain Medicare conditions of participation and payment for many virtual care services and temporary expansions
of the types of Medicare-covered services that can be provided remotely will continue or be made permanent. If we fail to comply with
applicable reimbursement laws and regulations, reimbursement under these programs and participation in these programs could be adversely
affected. Federal or state governments may also impose other sanctions on us for failure to comply with the applicable reimbursement
regulations, including but not limited to recovering an overpayment. Failure to comply with these or future laws and regulations could
result in our or our affiliated provider network’s ability to provide telemedicine services to our customers.
Physician
licensing and credentialing, a cost of providing professional services, can negatively impact our margins as we may incur increased expenses
to utilize appropriately licensed and credentialed physicians for consult demands, especially when expanding to new jurisdictions and
new hospital customers.
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physician’s ability to perform telemedicine consults is dictated by where the physician is licensed to practice and with whom the
physician is privileged to provide services. State licensure and physician credentialing requirements take time to procure, often necessitating
months of lead-time before a physician is able to take consults for a particular hospital facility. Our ability to manage and anticipate
physician need and prioritize licensing and credentialing could impact profit margins and expense management. As consult demands increase
in areas where only a limited number of physicians hold necessary licenses and credentials, those physicians with appropriate licensing
and credentialing to meet customer demands may assume additional overtime shifts or otherwise demand increased fees, thereby increasing
our costs. Further, obtaining a license to practice medicine in a particular jurisdiction is at the discretion of the local state medical
board, and, as such, timing to achieve licensure in certain jurisdictions may be outside our ability to accomplish within expected time
frames.
Recent
and frequent state legislative and regulatory changes specific to telemedicine may present us with additional requirements and state
compliance costs, with potential operational impacts in certain jurisdictions.
In
recent years, states have adopted an abundance of new legislation and regulations specific to telemedicine. In some cases, this legislation
and regulation, typically targeting “direct to consumer” telehealth service offerings rather than specialty consultative
services, such as our acute care telemedicine solutions, incorporates informed consent, modality, medical record, and other requirements.
Thus, where new legislation and regulations apply to our telemedicine solutions, we may incur costs to monitor, evaluate, and modify
operational processes for compliance. All such activities increase our costs and could, in certain circumstances, impact our ability
to make available telemedicine services in a particular state.
Risks
Related to Our Use of Technology
Failure
to keep pace with advances in technology could cause our solutions to become obsolete, which could harm our business, financial condition
and results of operations.
The
telemedicine industry is characterized by rapid technological change, changing consumer requirements, short product lifecycles and evolving
industry standards. The successful implementation of our business model depends on our ability to anticipate and adapt to evolving technologies
and industry standards and introduce new solutions accordingly. For example, we recently started deploying our Telemed IQ software platform
to hospital organizations as a stand-alone software-as-a-service solution independent of our clinical services to enable these providers
to optimize and scale our platform across all of their care sites. These new solutions carry risks, such as cost overruns, delays in
delivery, performance problems, and lack of acceptance by our customers. If we cannot anticipate or adapt to rapidly evolving industry
standards, technology, and increasingly sophisticated customers and their employees, our existing technology could become undesirable,
obsolete, or harm our reputation. Moreover, we may not be successful in developing, using, marketing, selling or maintaining new technologies
effectively or adapting our solutions to evolving customer requirements or emerging industry standards, and, as a result, our business
could be harmed. In addition, we have limited insight into trends that might develop and affect our business, which could lead to errors
in our predicting and reacting to relevant business, legal, and regulatory trends and healthcare reform. Further, there can be no
assurance that technological advances by one or more of our competitors or future competitors will not result in our present or future
solutions and services becoming uncompetitive or obsolete. If any of these events occur, it could harm our business.
We depend upon third-party service providers
for certain technologies. If these third-party providers fail to fulfill their contractual obligations, fail to maintain or support those
technologies or choose to discontinue their services, our operations could be disrupted and our business may be harmed.
We depend upon third-party
service providers for important functions of our solutions. Software, network applications and data, as well as the core video and audio
system integral to our business, are hosted on third-party sites. These facilities may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes,
hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures, COVID-19 pandemic-related
business disruptions, and similar events. The occurrence of a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, a decision to close the facilities
without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in our providing our services. The facilities
also could be subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, and other misconduct. Redundancies and
backup systems are in place to prevent operational disruptions and data loss, but if these technologies fail or are of poor quality, our
business could be harmed. Failures or disruption in the delivery of telemedicine services could result in customer dissatisfaction, disrupt
our operations, and adversely affect our operating results. Additionally, we have significantly less control over the technologies third
parties provide to us than if we maintained and operated them ourselves. In some cases, functions necessary to some of our solutions may
be performed by these third-party technologies. If we need to find an alternative source for performing these functions, we may have to
expend significant money, resources and time to develop the alternative, and if this development is not accomplished in a timely manner
and without significant disruption to our business, we may be unable to fulfill our obligations to customers. Any errors, failures, interruptions,
or delays experienced in connection with these third-party technologies and information services or our own systems could negatively impact
our relationships with customers and harm our business and could expose us to third-party liabilities.
If the systems that we use to provide our
services experience security breaches, we may incur significant liabilities, and our reputation and business may be harmed.
Our services involve the
storage and transmission of our customers’ proprietary information, sensitive or confidential data, including valuable personal
information of patients, customers and others, as well as the PHI of our customers. Because of the extreme sensitivity of the information
we store and transmit, the security features of our computer, network and communications systems infrastructure are critical to the success
of our business. We are also dependent on third-party vendors to keep their systems secure in order to protect our information systems
and data. A breach or failure of our or our third-party vendors’ security measures could result from a variety of circumstances
and events, including third-party action, employee negligence or error, malfeasance, computer viruses, cyber-attacks by computer hackers,
failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software and databases, power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures,
user errors or catastrophic events. Information security risks have generally increased in recent years because of the proliferation of
new technologies and the increased sophistication and activities of perpetrators of cyber-attacks. As cyber threats continue to evolve,
we may be required to expend additional resources to further enhance our information security measures and/or to investigate and remediate
any information security vulnerabilities. If our or our third-party vendors’ security measures fail or are breached, it could result
in unauthorized persons accessing sensitive customer or patient data (including PHI), a loss of or damage to our data, an inability to
access data sources, or process data or provide our services to our customers. Such failures or breaches of our or our third-party vendors’
security measures, or our or our third-party vendors’ inability to effectively resolve such failures or breaches in a timely manner,
could severely damage our reputation, adversely affect customer or investor confidence in us, and reduce the demand for our services from
existing and potential customers. In addition, we could face litigation, damages for contract breach, monetary penalties, or regulatory
actions for violation of applicable laws or regulations, and incur significant costs for remedial measures to prevent future occurrences
and mitigate past violations. Although we maintain insurance covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses, we may
not carry insurance or maintain coverage sufficient to compensate for all liability and, in any event, insurance coverage would not address
the reputational damage that could result from a security incident.
We or our third-party vendors
may experience cyber-security and other breach incidents that remain undetected for an extended period. Because techniques used to obtain
unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched, we or our third-party vendors
may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventive measures. If an actual or perceived breach of our or
our third-party vendors’ security occurs, or if we or our third-party vendors are unable to effectively resolve such breaches in
a timely manner, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and we could lose sales and customers,
which could harm our business.
We rely on telecommunications and internet
service providers for providing solutions to our customers, and any interruption or failure in the services provided by these third parties
could harm our business.
Our business is highly dependent
on telecommunications and internet service providers. We serve our customers using third-party data centers and telecommunications solutions,
including cloud infrastructure services. Our services are designed to operate 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, without interruption.
However, we have experienced, and we expect that we will continue to experience, interruptions and delays in services and availability
from time to time. We may not maintain redundant systems or facilities for some of these services. While we control and have access to
our servers, we do not control the operation of these facilities. The cloud vendors and the owners of our data center facilities have
no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to renew these agreements
on commercially reasonable terms, or if one of our cloud vendors or data center operators is acquired, we may be required to transfer
our servers and other infrastructure to a new vendor or a new data center facility, and we may incur significant costs and possible service
interruption in connection with doing so. Problems faced by our cloud vendors or third-party data center locations with the telecommunications
network providers with whom we or they contract or with the systems by which our telecommunications providers allocate capacity among
their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. Our cloud vendors or third-party data center operators
could decide to close their facilities without adequate notice. In addition, any financial difficulties, such as bankruptcy faced by our
cloud vendors or third-party data centers operators or any of the service providers with whom we or they contract may have negative effects
on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict.
Additionally, if our cloud
or data centers vendors are unable to keep up with our growing needs for capacity, this could harm our business. For example, a rapid
expansion of our business could affect the service levels at our cloud vendors or data centers or cause such cloud systems or data centers
and systems to fail. Any changes in third-party service levels at our cloud vendors or data centers or any disruptions or other performance
problems with our solution could harm our reputation and may damage our customers’ stored files or result in lengthy interruptions
in our services. Interruptions in our services may reduce our revenue, cause us to issue refunds to customers for prepaid and unused subscriptions,
subject us to potential liability or adversely affect customer renewal rates.
In the event of a catastrophic
event with respect to one or more of these systems or facilities, we may experience an extended period of system unavailability, which
could negatively impact our relationships with customers. To operate without interruption, both we and our service providers must guard
against:
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damage from fire, power loss, natural disasters and other force majeure events outside our control;
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communications failures;
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software and hardware errors, failures and crashes;
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security breaches, computer viruses, hacking, denial-of-service attacks and similar disruptive problems; and
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other potential interruptions.
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Moreover, system failures
may result in loss of data, including patient data, which is critical to the provision of our services. Any errors, failures, interruptions
or delays experienced in connection with our or our third parties’ systems could negatively impact our relationships with customers,
adversely affect our brand and expose us to liabilities to third parties, all of which could harm our business.
Failure to protect or enforce our intellectual
property rights could impair our ability to protect our internally developed technology and our brand and the costs involved in such enforcement
could harm our business.
Our intellectual property
includes our internally developed processes, methodologies, algorithms, applications, technology platform, software code, website content,
user interfaces, graphics, trade dress, databases and domain names. We rely on a combination of trademark, trade secret and copyright
laws and confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights in our internally developed
technology and content. We believe that our intellectual property is an essential asset of our business. If we do not adequately protect
our intellectual property, our brand and reputation could be harmed and competitors may be able to use our technologies and erode or negate
any competitive advantage we may have, which could harm our business, negatively affect our position in the marketplace, limit our ability
to commercialize our technology, and delay or render impossible our achievement of profitability. A failure to protect our intellectual
property in a cost-effective and meaningful manner could adversely affect our ability to compete. We regard the protection of our trade
secrets, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, databases and domain names as critical to our success.
We strive to protect our
intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state, and common law rights and other rights provided under foreign laws. However,
the steps we take to protect our intellectual property rights may be inadequate. For example, other parties, including our competitors,
may independently develop similar technology, duplicate our services, or design around our intellectual property and, in such cases, we
may not be able to assert our intellectual property rights against such parties. Further, our contractual arrangements may not effectively
prevent disclosure of our confidential information or provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of our confidential
information, and we may be unable to detect the unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights.
We make business decisions
about when to seek patent protection for a particular technology and when to rely upon trade secret protection, and the approach we select
may ultimately prove to be inadequate. In particular, we do not currently hold a patent or other registered or applied for intellectual
property protection for our Telemed IQ software platform. Even in cases where we seek patent protection, there is no assurance that the
resulting patents will effectively protect every significant feature of our solutions, technology or proprietary information, or provide
us with any competitive advantages, since intellectual property law, including statutory and case law, particularly in the United States,
is constantly developing, and any changes in the law could make it harder for us to enforce our rights.
In order to protect our intellectual
property rights, we may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect these rights. Litigation brought to protect
and enforce our intellectual property rights could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management and could result in the impairment
or loss of portions of our intellectual property. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with
defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. An adverse determination
of any litigation proceedings could put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put any
related pending patent applications at risk of not issuing. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection
with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential or sensitive information could be compromised by
disclosure in the event of litigation. In addition, during the course of litigation, there could be public announcements of the results
of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative,
it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock. Negative publicity related to a decision by
us to initiate such enforcement actions against a customer or former customer, regardless of its accuracy, may adversely impact our other
customer relationships or prospective customer relationships, harm our brand and business, and could cause the market price of our Class A
common stock to decline. Our failure to secure, protect, and enforce our intellectual property rights could harm our brand and our business.
We could incur substantial costs as a result
of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights.
There is considerable patent
and other intellectual property development activity in our industry. Our future success depends in part on not infringing upon the intellectual
property rights of others. Our competitors, as well as a number of other entities and individuals, including so-called non-practicing
entities (NPEs), may own or claim to own intellectual property relating to our solutions. From time to time, third parties may claim that
we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights or that we have misappropriated their intellectual property. For example, in
some cases, very broad patents are granted that may be interpreted as covering a wide field of machine learning and predictive modeling
methods in healthcare. As competition in our market grows, the possibility of patent infringement, trademark infringement and other intellectual
property claims against us increases. In the future, we expect others to claim that our solutions and underlying technology infringe or
violate their intellectual property rights. In a patent infringement claim against us, we may assert, as a defense, that we do not infringe
the relevant patent claims, that the patent is invalid or both. The strength of our defenses will depend on the patents asserted, the
interpretation of these patents, and our ability to invalidate the asserted patents. However, we could be unsuccessful in advancing non-infringement
and/or invalidity arguments in our defense. In the United States, issued patents enjoy a presumption of validity, and the party challenging
the validity of a patent claim must present clear and convincing evidence of invalidity, which is a high burden of proof. Conversely,
the patent owner need only prove infringement by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a lower burden of proof. We may be unaware
of the intellectual property rights that others may claim cover some or all of our technology or services. Because patent applications
can take years to issue and are often afforded confidentiality for some period of time, there may currently be pending applications, unknown
to us, that later result in issued patents that could cover one or more aspects of our technology and services. Any claims or litigation
could cause us to incur significant expenses and, whether or not successfully asserted against us, could require that we pay substantial
damages, ongoing royalty or license payments or settlement fees, prevent us from offering our solutions or using certain technologies,
require us to re-engineer all or a portion of our platform, or require that we comply with other unfavorable terms. We may also be obligated
to indemnify our customers or business partners or pay substantial settlement costs, including royalty payments, in connection with any
such claim or litigation and to obtain licenses, modify applications or refund fees, which could be costly. Even if we were to prevail
in such a dispute, any litigation regarding our intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our
management and key personnel from our business operations.
Our use of open source software could adversely
affect our ability to offer our solutions and subject us to possible litigation.
We use open source software
in connection with our existing and future solutions. Some open source software licenses require those who distribute open source software
as part of their own software product to make available the source code for any modifications or derivative works created based upon the
open source software, and that such modifications or derivative works are licensed under the terms of a particular open source license
or other license granting third parties certain rights of further use. By the terms of certain open source licenses, we could be required
to release the source code of our internally developed software and make it available under open source licenses if we combine and/or
distribute our internally developed software with open source software in certain manners. Although we monitor our use of open source
software, we cannot be sure that all open source software is reviewed prior to use in our software, that our programmers have not incorporated
open source software into our internally developed software or that they will not do so in the future. Additionally, the terms of many
open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts. There is a risk that open source software
licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide our existing and
future solutions to our customers. In addition, the terms of open source software licenses may require us to provide software that we
develop using such open source software to others, including our competitors, on unfavorable license terms. As a result of our current
or future use of open source software, we may face claims or litigation, be required to release our internally developed source code,
pay damages for breach of contract, re-engineer our technology, discontinue sales in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on
a timely basis, or take other remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts, any of which could harm our
business.
Our software platform may not perform properly
due to errors or similar problems, which could damage our reputation, give rise to claims against us, or divert application of our resources
from other purposes, any of which could harm our business.
Telemed IQ, our cloud-based
software platform, provides our customers and providers with the ability to, among other things, complete, view and edit medical history;
request a consult (either scheduled or on demand); conduct a consult (via video or phone); and initiate an expert medical service. Software
development is time-consuming, expensive and complex, and may involve unforeseen difficulties. We may encounter technical obstacles, and
it is possible that we may discover additional problems that prevent our software platform from operating properly. If our solutions do
not function reliably or fail to achieve customer expectations in terms of performance, customers could assert liability claims against
us or attempt to cancel their contracts with us. This could damage our reputation and impair our ability to attract or maintain customers.
Moreover, complex software,
such as ours, often contains defects and errors, some of which may remain undetected for a period of time. Material performance problems,
defects or errors in our existing or new software and services may arise in the future and may result from interface of our solution with
systems and data that we did not develop and the function of which is outside of our control or undetected in our testing. Such errors
may be found after the introduction of new software or enhancements to existing software. If we detect any errors before we introduce
a solution, we may have to delay deployment for an extended period of time while we address the problem. Any defects and errors, and any
failure by us to identify and address them, could result in loss of revenue or market share, diversion of development resources, harm
to our reputation and increased service and maintenance costs. Defects or errors may discourage existing or potential customers from purchasing
our solutions from us. Correction of defects or errors could prove to be impossible or impracticable. The costs incurred in correcting
any defects or errors may be substantial and could harm our business.
Risks Related to Our Corporate Governance
Warburg Pincus has significant influence
over us, and their interests may conflict with ours and those of our other stockholders in the future.
As of June 30, 2021, investment
funds owned by Warburg Pincus LLC (“Warburg Pincus”) and its affiliates beneficially owned approximately 33.8% of our outstanding
Class A common stock. As long as Warburg Pincus owns or controls a significant percentage of our outstanding voting power, they will
have the ability to significantly influence all corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of
directors and the size of our board of directors (the “Board”), any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation
or amended and restated by-laws, or the approval of any merger or other significant corporate transaction, including a sale of substantially
all of our assets. In addition, in connection with the Merger Transaction, we entered into an Investor Rights Agreement with Warburg Pincus
pursuant to which, among other things, Warburg Pincus has the right to designate (i) up to five of nine directors for as long as
it beneficially owns at least 50% of the issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock, (ii) up to three of nine directors
for so long as it beneficially owns at least 35% but less than 50% of the issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock,
(iii) up to two of seven directors for so long as it beneficially owns at least 15% but less than 35% of the issued and outstanding
shares of Class A common stock and (iv) up to one of seven directors for so long as it beneficially owns at least 5% but less
than 15% of the issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock. Thomas J. Carella and Amr Kronfol, each a Managing Director
of Warburg Pincus, are members of the Board and are deemed to be director designees of Warburg Pincus. Warburg Pincus’ influence
over our management could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control or otherwise discouraging a potential acquirer
from attempting to obtain control of us, which could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline or prevent stockholders
from realizing a premium over the market price for our Class A common stock.
The interests of Warburg
Pincus may not align with our interests as a company or the interests of our other stockholders. Accordingly, Warburg Pincus could cause
us to enter into transactions or agreements of which you would not approve or make decisions with which you would disagree. Further, Warburg
Pincus is in the business of making investments in companies and may acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or
indirectly with us. Warburg Pincus may also pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and, as a result,
those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. In recognition that directors, principals, officers, employees and other representatives
of Warburg Pincus and its affiliates and investment funds may serve as our or our affiliates’ directors, officers or agents, our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that none of Warburg Pincus or any director, principal,
officer, employee or other representatives of Warburg Pincus has any duty to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in an investment
or corporate or business opportunity or offering a prospective economic or competitive advantage in which we or any of our controlled
affiliates, directly or indirectly, could have an interest or expectancy or otherwise competing with us or any of our controlled affiliates.
In the event that any of these persons or entities acquires knowledge of a potential investment or corporate or business opportunity which
may be a corporate opportunity for itself and us, we will not have any expectancy in such corporate opportunity, and these persons and
entities will not have any duty to communicate or present such corporate opportunity to us and may pursue or acquire such corporate opportunity
for themselves or direct such opportunity to another person. These potential conflicts of interest could harm our business if, among other
things, attractive corporate opportunities are allocated by Warburg Pincus to itself or its other affiliates.
Provisions in our charter documents and
under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent
attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Certain provisions of our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws may have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying,
or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. These provisions provide for, among other things:
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a classified board of directors whose members serve staggered three-year terms;
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the authorization of “blank check” preferred stock, which could be issued by the Board without stockholder approval and may contain voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our Class A common stock;
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a limitation on the ability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers;
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a requirement that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by the Board, the Chairperson of the Board or our Chief Executive Officer;
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a requirement of advance notice of stockholder proposals for business to be conducted at meetings of our stockholders and for nominations of candidates for election to the Board;
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a prohibition on cumulative voting in the election of directors;
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a requirement that our directors may be removed only for cause and by a majority vote of the stockholders;
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a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent;
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a requirement that vacancies on the Board may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office (subject to limited exceptions), even though less than a quorum; and
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a requirement of the approval of the Board or the holders of at least two-thirds of our outstanding shares of capital stock to amend the amended and restated by-laws and certain provisions of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
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These provisions may frustrate
or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace
members of the Board, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, institutional stockholder representative
groups, stockholder activists and others may disagree with our corporate governance provisions or other practices, including anti-takeover
provisions, such as those listed above. We generally will consider recommendations of institutional stockholder representative groups,
but we will make decisions based on what the Board and management believe to be in the best long-term interests of our company and stockholders;
however, these groups could make recommendations to our stockholders against our practices or our board members if they disagree with
our positions.
Finally, we have not opted
out of the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from
engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following
the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder.
Any of the foregoing provisions
could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock, and they could
deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that you would receive a premium for your shares of our Class A
common stock in an acquisition.
Our amended and restated certificate of
incorporation provides that a state or federal court located within the state of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially
all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for
disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our amended and restated
certificate of incorporation provides, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an
alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings
under Delaware statutory or common law:
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any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us;
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any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by or other wrongdoing by any current or former director, officer, employee, agent or stockholder of ours to us or our stockholders;
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any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our by-laws, or as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; or
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any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine;
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except for, as to each of the above clauses, any
action as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the personal
jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction
of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware within ten (10) days following such determination), in which case the United States
District Court for the District of Delaware or other state courts of the State of Delaware, as applicable, shall, to the fullest extent
permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any such claims.
This provision would not
apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any claim for which the U.S.
federal courts have exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that,
unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, to the fullest extent permitted by law, 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 or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
These exclusive-forum provisions
may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors,
officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. If any other
court of competent jurisdiction were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation
to be inapplicable or unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which
could harm our business. In addition, although the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions
purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court were “facially valid” under Delaware law,
there is uncertainty as to whether other courts will enforce our federal forum selection clause.
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 harm our business.
As a public company, we are
subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing
standards of Nasdaq. 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, we expect these rules and regulations
to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept
reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to 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 the Board, our board committees or as our executive officers.
After we cease to be an “emerging growth company,” we will incur greater legal, accounting, and other expenses than we previously
incurred. In particular, we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with
the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In that regard, we will need to hire additional accounting
and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge.
Risks Related to Our Securities
The market price of our Class A common
stock and warrants may be volatile, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.
The market price of our Class A
common stock and warrants has been and may continue to be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations depending on a number of factors,
including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related
to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock
or warrants. Factors affecting the trading price of our Class A common stock and warrants may include:
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market conditions in our industry or the broader stock market;
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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial and operating results;
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actual or anticipated developments in our business or our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;
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the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections, or our failure to meet those projections;
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changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning us or the market in general;
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the public’s reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements and our filings with the SEC;
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our ability to market new and enhanced solutions on a timely basis;
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announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, commercial relationships, products, services or technologies by us or our competitors;
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changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;
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changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;
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commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;
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changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;
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sales, or anticipated sales, of large blocks of our Class A common stock;
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any major change in the composition of the Board or management;
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general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, trade wars, pandemics (such as COVID-19), currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism; and
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other risk factors listed under this “Risk Factors” section.
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Broad market and industry
factors may materially harm the market price of our Class A common stock and warrants, regardless of our actual operating performance.
The stock market in general and Nasdaq have, from time to time, experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been
unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of
these stocks, and of our Class A common stock and warrants, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for
the stocks of other companies that investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects,
financial conditions or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our Class A common stock or warrants also could adversely
affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.
In addition, in the past,
following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market prices of particular companies’ securities, securities class action
litigations have often been instituted against these companies. Litigation of this type, if instituted against us, could result in substantial
costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources. Any adverse determination in any such litigation or any amounts
paid to settle any such actual or threatened litigation could require that we make significant payments.
Further, although our Class A
common stock and warrants are currently listed on Nasdaq, an active trading market for our Class A common stock and warrants may
not be sustained. Accordingly, if an active trading market for these securities is not maintained, the liquidity of our Class A common
stock and warrants, your ability to sell your shares of our Class A common stock or warrants when desired and the prices that you
may obtain for your shares or warrants will be adversely affected.
Our issuance of additional capital stock
in connection with financings, acquisitions, investments, our equity incentive plans or otherwise will dilute all other stockholders.
We expect to issue additional
capital stock in the future that will result in dilution to all other stockholders. We expect to grant equity awards to employees, directors
and consultants under our equity incentive plans. We may also raise capital through equity financings in the future. As part of our business
strategy, we may acquire or make investments in complementary businesses and technologies and issue equity securities to pay for any such
acquisition or investment. Any such issuances of additional capital stock may cause stockholders to experience significant dilution of
their ownership interests and the per share value of our Class A common stock to decline.
Future sales of shares by existing stockholders
and future exercise of registration rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Sales of a substantial number
of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect
the market price of our Class A common stock and may make it more difficult for you to sell your shares of our Class A common
stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate. All outstanding shares of our Class A common stock previously held by the pre-Merger
Transaction public stockholders at the completion of the Merger Transaction and a substantial number of shares of our Class A common
stock issued as merger consideration in the Merger Transaction are freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act, except
for any shares of our Class A common stock that may be held or acquired by our directors, executive officers and other affiliates
(including affiliates of Warburg Pincus), as that term is defined in the Securities Act, which are subject to restrictions under the Securities
Act.
In connection with the completion
of the Merger Transaction, we entered into an Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement with Warburg Pincus and the sponsor of
the pre-Merger Transaction company, HCMC Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”), pursuant to which we agreed to register for resale and
granted certain other registration rights with respect to the approximately 39.0 million shares of Class A common stock held by Warburg
Pincus and the Sponsor and their respective permitted transferees, in addition to the warrants originally issued in a private placement
to the Sponsor in connection with HCMC’s initial public offering and the up to 350,000 shares of our Class A common stock issuable
upon the exercise of the private placement warrants. We have also agreed to register for resale the 16.8 million shares of our Class A
common stock (the “PIPE shares”) issued in a private placement that closed immediately prior to the Merger Transaction and
the 12.5 million shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of our publicly held warrants to purchase shares of Class A
common stock. In accordance with the foregoing, we filed a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act, which registration
statement was declared effective on December 8, 2020, to register the resale of up to 69.3 million shares of our Class A common stock,
including 33.9 million shares of Class A common stock held by Warburg Pincus, the 16.8 million PIPE shares and 12.85 million shares
of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of our outstanding warrants. Shares of Class A common stock sold under such registration
statement can be freely sold in the public market. In addition, in connection with the completion of the Acquisition, we agreed to register
for resale the 13.8 million shares of our Class A common stock issued to the Sellers at the closing of the Acquisition and any shares
of Class A common stock that we may issue in the future under deferred vesting agreements or, in our sole discretion, as payment
in respect of certain earn-out amounts and other deferred consideration in accordance with the terms of the Purchase Agreement. In accordance
with the foregoing, we filed a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act, which registration statement was declared
effective on August 10, 2021, covering the resale of the 13.8 million shares of our Class A common stock issued to the Sellers at the
closing of the Acquisition The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market
may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock.
We have also filed a registration
statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of our Class A common stock that may be issued under our equity
incentive plans from time to time, as well as any shares of our Class A common stock underlying outstanding options and restricted
stock units that have been granted to our directors, executive officers and other employees, all of which are subject to time- or performance-based
vesting conditions. Shares registered under this registration statement will be available for sale in the public market upon issuance
subject to vesting arrangements and exercise of options, as well as Rule 144 in the case of our affiliates.
The Sponsor and executive
officers and directors of the pre-Merger Transaction company entered into a letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with
HCMC, pursuant to which they agreed, among other things, not to transfer, assign or sell (except to certain permitted transferees) any
of the founder shares initially purchased by the Sponsor in a private placement prior to HCMC’s initial public offering, of which
4.4 million shares remain outstanding, until one year after the closing of the Merger Transaction or earlier if subsequent to the Merger
Transaction, (i) the last sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits,
stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing
at least 150 days after the completion of the Merger Transaction or (ii) we consummate a subsequent liquidation, merger, capital
stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their
shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property. However, following the expiration of such lock-up, the Sponsor
and its permitted transferees will not be restricted from selling such securities, other than by applicable securities laws. In addition,
approximately 1.9 million of these founder shares will remain subject to lock-up pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement (the “Sponsor
Agreement”) entered into between the Sponsor and HCMC in connection with the Merger Transaction, and will be released from this
lock-up upon achieving certain market share price milestones within a period of seven years after the closing of the Merger Transaction.
Under the terms of the Purchase
Agreement, the Sellers are subject to lock-up provisions that restrict their ability to sell or transfer their shares received at the
closing of the Acquisition until October 30, 2021, subject to certain exceptions. If, however, SOC Holdings LLC sells any of its shares
of Class A common stock beneficially owned as of the date of the closing of the Acquisition to third parties in a bona fide sale
transaction prior to October 30, 2021 (excluding any transfers amongst its affiliates), the Sellers will be permitted to transfer an equivalent
percentage proportion of the shares of Class A common stock received at the closing of the Acquisition, up to an aggregate of approximately
2.8 million shares, to the percentage of shares of Class A common stock transferred by SOC Holdings LLC prior to October 30, 2021.
Following the expiration of such lock-up, the Sellers will not be restricted from selling such shares, other than by applicable securities
laws.
In addition, in connection
with our recent public offering that closed in June 2021, each of our directors and executive officers and Warburg Pincus entered into
lock-up agreements that restrict their ability to sell or transfer their shares of our Class A common stock during the period ending August
24, 2021, subject to certain exceptions. However, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, a representative of the several underwriters in
the offering, may, in its sole discretion, waive the contractual lock-up before the lock-up agreements expire. After the lock-up agreements
expire, shares held by our directors and executive officers and Warburg Pincus will be eligible for sale in the public market, which shares
will be subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 of the Securities Act.
We are unable to predict
the effect that these sales, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, may have on the prevailing
market price of our Class A common stock. If holders of these shares sell, or indicate an intent to sell, substantial amounts of
our Class A common stock in the public market, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline significantly and
make it difficult for us to raise funds through securities offerings in the future.
Because we have no current plans to pay
cash dividends on our Class A common stock, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your shares for a price
greater than that which you are deemed to have paid for it.
We have no current plans
to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole
discretion of the Board. The Board may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and operating results,
our available cash, current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, implications
on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders and such other factors as the board of directors may deem relevant. In addition,
the Term Loan Agreement contains and any future indebtedness would likely contain a number of restrictive covenants that impose significant
operating and financial restrictions on us, including restricting or limiting our ability to pay cash dividends. Furthermore, because
we are a holding company, our ability to pay dividends will depend on our receipt of cash distributions and dividends, loans or other
funds from our subsidiaries, which may be similarly affected by, among other things, the terms of any future indebtedness, other contractual
restrictions and provisions of applicable law. Accordingly, we may not pay any dividends on our Class A common stock in the foreseeable
future.
If securities and industry analysts do not
publish or cease publishing research or reports, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research or reports, about our business or our market,
our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our
Class A common stock and warrants will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities and industry analysts publish
about us, our business and our market. We do not have any control over these analysts or the information contained in their reports. If
securities and industry analysts do not commence and maintain coverage of our business, our stock price and trading volume would likely
be negatively impacted. In the event securities or industry analysts initiate coverage, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade
our stock, publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business or our market, or provide more favorable relative recommendations
about our competitors, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish
reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets and demand for our Class A common stock could decrease,
which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
We are an “emerging growth company”
as well as a “smaller reporting company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions
from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less
attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging
growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS
Act”), and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies
that are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, including, but not limited to, not
being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations
regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding
advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result,
our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company until the
earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates
exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have
total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more during such fiscal year (as indexed for inflation), (iii) the date on which
we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in the prior three-year period or (iv) December 31, 2024. We cannot predict
whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities
less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise
would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107
of the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting
standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as we are an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company
can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We
have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period and, therefore, we may not be subject to the same new or revised accounting
standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. This may make the comparison of our financial statements with
another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended
transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller
reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain
reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain
a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our Class A common stock
held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (ii) our annual revenues
exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds
$700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations,
it may also make the comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
The issuance of shares of our Class A
common stock upon exercise of our outstanding warrants would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market
and result in dilution to our stockholders.
As of June 30, 2021, warrants
to purchase an aggregate of approximately 12.85 million shares of our Class A common stock were outstanding and exercisable. The
exercise price of these warrants is $11.50 per share. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of Class A common
stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to holders of our Class A common stock and increase the number of shares eligible
for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such warrants may be
exercised could adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock. However, there is no guarantee that the warrants will
ever be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the warrants may expire worthless.
We may redeem unexpired warrants prior to
their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to warrantholders.
We have the ability to redeem
outstanding warrants at any time prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sale price
of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations
and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice
of redemption to the warrantholders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we
are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding
warrants could force warrantholders to: (i) exercise their warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be
disadvantageous for them to do so; (ii) sell their warrants at the then-current market price when they might otherwise wish to hold
their warrants; or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption,
is likely to be substantially less than the market value of the warrants. Additionally, in the event we redeem the warrants, the Board
may elect to require all holders of warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis, by surrendering the warrants for a number
of shares of our Class A common stock as calculated in accordance with the warrant agreement governing the warrants (the “Warrant
Agreement”), even if the holder of a warrant would otherwise prefer to exercise the warrant for cash.
None of the private placement
warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.