IWSY ImageWare Systems Incorporated (CE)

Our business is subject to significant risks. You should carefully consider the risks described below and the other information in this Annual Report, including our financial statements and related notes, before you decide to invest in our Common Stock. If any of the following risks or uncertainties actually occur, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially harmed, the trading price of our Common Stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are those that we currently believe may materially affect us; however, they may not be the only ones that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties of which we are unaware or currently deem immaterial may also become important factors that may harm our business. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligations to update any risk factors.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR LIQUIDITY, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY

Available cash resources are currently insufficient to provide for our working capital needs. As a result, we need to raise additional capital in the near term to continue as a going concern.

At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had negative working capital of $8,046,000 and $19,349,000, respectively. Our principal source of liquidity at December 31, 2021 and 2020 consisted of cash and cash equivalents of $1,202,000 and $8,345,000, respectively. Considering the financings consummated in 2020 and 2021, as well as our projected cash requirements, and assuming we are unable to generate incremental revenue, our available cash is insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements. These factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. To address our working capital requirements, management is actively seeking additional equity and/or debt financing through the issuance of additional debt and/or equity securities and is contemporaneously seeking strategic or other transactions intended to increase shareholder value. There are currently no formal committed financing arrangements to support our projected cash shortfall during the next twelve months, including commitments to purchase additional debt and/or equity securities, or other agreements, and no assurances can be given that we will be successful in raising additional capital through the issuance of debt and/or equity securities, or entering into any other transaction that addresses our ability to continue as a going concern. 

To continue as a going concern, the Company is currently exploring strategic options and is reviewing its assets, the outcome of which is uncertain and may involve substantial dilution to shareholders and/or a loss of your entire investment.

As reported in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 23, 2021, on August 12, 2021, the Company retained an investment bank to initiate a review of available alternatives to maximize shareholder value, which may include, among other alternatives, (i) a merger, consolidation, or other business combination or a purchase involving all or a substantial amount of the business, securities or assets of the Company, and/or  (ii) the private placement of securities to meet its working capital requirements or otherwise as necessary in connection with the consummation of any of the above transactions.  To date, the Company has not received any offers or other indications of interest acceptable to the Company’s Board, and no assurances can be given that the Company will be successful in consummating any or a combination of such alternatives. The consummation of a transaction will likely involve substantial dilution to the Company’s stockholders and may involve the loss of your entire investment. In the event the Company is unable to consummate one or more transactions, the Company may not be able to continue as a going concern.

We have a history of significant recurring losses totaling approximately $204.3 million at December 31, 2021 and $213.2 million and December 31, 2020, and these losses may continue in the future.

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $204.3 million and $213.2 million, respectively, and these losses may continue in the future. We expect to continue to incur significant sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative expense. As a result, we will need to generate significant revenue to achieve profitability, and we may never achieve profitability.

Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future.

Our operating results have fluctuated in the past. These fluctuations in operating results are the consequence of the following, amongst other things:

These factors, some of which are not within our control, will likely continue in the future. To respond to these and other factors, we may need to make business decisions that could result in failure to meet financial expectations. If our quarterly operating results fail to meet or exceed the expectations of securities analysts or investors, our stock price could drop suddenly and significantly. Most of our expense, such as employee compensation and inventory, is relatively fixed in the short term. Moreover, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations regarding future revenue levels. As a result, if our revenue for a particular period was below our expectations, we may not be able to proportionately reduce our operating expense for that period. Any revenue shortfall would have a disproportionately negative effect on our operating results for the period.

We depend upon a small number of large system sales ranging from $100,000 to in excess of several million dollars and we may fail to achieve one or more large system sales in the future.

Historically, we have derived a substantial portion of our revenue from a small number of sales of large, relatively expensive systems, typically ranging in price from $100,000 to $2,000,000. If we fail to receive orders for these large systems in a given sales cycle on a consistent basis, our business could be significantly harmed. Further, our quarterly results are difficult to predict because we cannot predict in which quarter, if any, large system sales will occur in a given year. As a result, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our results of operations are not a good indication of our future performance. In some future quarters, our operating results may be below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, in which case the market price of our Common Stock may decrease significantly.

Our lengthy sales cycle may cause us to expend significant resources for one year or more in anticipation of a sale to certain customers, yet we still may fail to complete the sale.

When considering the purchase of a large identity management product, potential customers may take as long as eighteen months to evaluate different solutions and obtain approval for the purchase. Under these circumstances, if we fail to complete a sale, we will have expended significant resources and received no revenue in return. Generally, customers consider a wide range of issues before committing to purchase our products, including product benefits, ability to operate with their current systems, product reliability and their own budgetary constraints. While potential customers are evaluating our products, we may incur substantial selling costs and expend significant management resources in an effort to accomplish potential sales that may never occur. In times of economic recession, our potential customers may be unwilling or unable to commit resources to the purchase of new and costly systems.

A number of our customers and potential customers are local, state, and federal government agencies that are subject to unique political and budgetary constraints and have special contracting requirements, which may affect our ability to obtain new and retain current government customers.

A significant number of our customers are government agencies. These agencies often do not set their own budgets and therefore have little control over the amount of money they can spend from quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year. In addition, these agencies experience political pressure that may dictate the manner in which they spend money. Due to political and budgetary processes and other scheduling delays that may frequently occur relating to the contract or bidding process, some government agency orders may be canceled or substantially delayed, and the receipt of revenue or payments from these agencies may be substantially delayed. In addition, future sales to government agencies will depend on our ability to meet government contracting requirements, certain of which may be onerous or impossible to meet, resulting in our inability to obtain a particular contract. Common requirements in government contracts include bonding requirements, provisions permitting the purchasing agency to modify or terminate at will the contract without penalty, and provisions permitting the agency to perform investigations or audits of our business practices, any of which may limit our ability to enter into new contracts or maintain our current contracts.

Three customers accounted for approximately 51% of our total revenue during the year ended December 31, 2021, and two customers accounted for approximately 61% of our total revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020. In the event of any material decrease in revenue from these customers, or if we are unable to replace the revenue through the sale of our products to additional customers, our financial condition and results from operations could be materially and adversely affected.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, three customers accounted for approximately 51% or $1,787,000 of total revenue. During the year ended December 31, 2020, two customers accounted for approximately 61% or $2,921,000 of total revenue and had trade receivables of approximately $250,000 as of the end of the year. If these customers were to significantly reduce their relationship with the Company, or in the event that we are unable to replace the revenue through the sale of our products to additional customers, our financial condition and results from operations could be negatively impacted, and such impact would be material.

We face competition from companies with greater financial, technical, sales, marketing and other resources, and, if we are unable to compete effectively with these competitors, our market share may decline and our business could be harmed.

We face competition from other established companies. A number of our competitors have longer operating histories, larger customer bases, significantly greater financial, technological, sales, marketing and other resources than we do. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or client requirements, more quickly develop new products or devote greater resources to the promotion and sale of their products and services than we can. Likewise, their greater capabilities in these areas may enable them to better withstand periodic downturns in the identity management solutions industry and compete more effectively on the basis of price and production. In addition, new companies may enter the markets in which we compete, further increasing competition in the identity management solutions industry.

We believe that our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors, including the type and quality of our products and the strength of our brand names, as well as many factors beyond our control. We may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced profit margins, loss of market share and an inability to generate cash flows that are sufficient to maintain or expand the development and marketing of new products, any of which would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR TECHNOLOGY

We occasionally rely on systems integrators to manage our large projects, and if these companies do not perform adequately, we may lose business.

We occasionally act as a subcontractor to systems integrators who manage large projects that incorporate our systems. We cannot control these companies, and they may decide not to promote our products or may price their services in such a way as to make it unprofitable for us to continue our relationship with them. Further, they may fail to perform under agreements with their customers, in which case we might lose sales to these customers. If we lose our relationships with these companies, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

Some third parties integrate our software into their platforms or solutions. Any delay in the integration of our software or the launch of third-party products may materially affect our results from operations and financial condition.

We sell some of our software through larger product partners and/or resellers that will either resell our product alongside theirs, Original Equipment Manufacture a white label version of our products, or sell our products fully integrated into their offerings. In these cases, we are dependent upon the successful rollout of our products by our distribution partners. Any delays negatively affect our results from operations and financial condition.

If our security measures or those of our third-party data center hosting facilities, Cloud computing platform providers, or third-party service partners, are breached, and unauthorized access is obtained to a customer’s data, our data or our IT systems, or authorized access is blocked or disabled, our services may be perceived as not being secure, customers may curtail or stop using our services, and we may incur significant legal and financial exposure and liabilities.

Our services involve the storage and transmission of our customers’ and our customers’ customers’ proprietary and other sensitive data, including financial information and other personally identifiable information. While we have security measures in place, they may be breached as a result of efforts by individuals or groups of hackers and sophisticated organizations, including state-sponsored organizations or nation-states. Our security measures could also be compromised by employee error or malfeasance, which could result in someone obtaining unauthorized access to, or denying authorized access to our Information Technology systems, our customers’ data or our data, including our intellectual property and other confidential business information. Additionally, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers into disclosing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or other information to gain access to our customers’ data, our data or our IT systems.

We take extraordinary measures to ensure identity authentication of users who access critical IT infrastructure, including but not limited to, two-factor, multi-factor and biometric identity verification. This substantially reduces the threat of unauthorized access by bad actors using compromised user credentials.

Because the techniques used to breach, obtain unauthorized access to, or sabotage IT systems change frequently, grow more complex over time, and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate or implement adequate measures to prevent against such techniques.

Our services operate in conjunction with and are dependent on products and components across a broad ecosystem and, if there are security vulnerabilities in one of these components, a security breach could occur. In addition, our internal IT systems continue to evolve, and we are often early adapters of new technologies and new ways of sharing data and communicating internally and with partners and customers, which increases the complexity of our IT systems. These risks are mitigated by our ability to maintain and improve business and data governance policies and processes and internal security controls, including our ability to escalate and respond to known and potential risks.

In addition, our customers may authorize third-party technology providers to access their customer data, and some of our customers may not have adequate security measures in place to protect their data that is stored on our servers. Because we do not control our customers or third-party technology providers, or the processing of such data by third-party technology providers, we cannot ensure the integrity or security of such transmissions or processing. Malicious third parties may also conduct attacks designed to temporarily deny customers access to our services.

A security breach could expose us to a risk of loss or inappropriate use of proprietary and sensitive data, or the denial of access to this data. A security breach could also result in a loss of confidence in the security of our services, damage our reputation, negatively impact our future sales, disrupt our business and lead to legal liability. Finally, the detection, prevention and remediation of known or potential security vulnerabilities, including those arising from third-party hardware or software may result in additional direct and indirect costs, for example additional infrastructure capacity to mitigate any system degradation that could result from remediation efforts.

RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

If the patents we own or license, or our other intellectual property rights, do not adequately protect our products and technologies, we may lose market share to our competitors and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our success depends significantly on our ability to protect our rights to the technologies used in our products. We rely on patent protection, trade secrets, as well as a combination of copyright and trademark laws and nondisclosure, confidentiality and other contractual arrangements to protect our technology. However, these legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. In addition, we cannot be assured that any of our current and future pending patent applications will result in the issuance of a patent to us. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) may deny or require significant narrowing of claims in our pending patent applications, and patents issued as a result of the pending patent applications, if any, may not provide us with significant commercial protection or may not be issued in a form that is advantageous to us. We could also incur substantial costs in proceedings before the PTO. These proceedings could result in adverse decisions as to the claims included in our patents.

Our issued and licensed patents and those that may be issued or licensed in the future may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing related products. Additionally, upon expiration of our issued or licensed patents, we may lose some of our rights to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing products using the technology based on the expired patents. We also must rely on contractual rights with the third parties that license technology to us to protect our rights in the technology licensed to us. Although we have taken steps to protect our intellectual property and technology, there is no assurance that competitors will not be able to design around our patents. We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. We cannot assure you that we can meaningfully protect all our rights in our unpatented proprietary technology or that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary products or processes or otherwise gain access to our unpatented proprietary technology. We seek to protect our know-how and other unpatented proprietary technology with confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees. However, such agreements may not provide meaningful protection for our proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements or in the event that our competitors discover or independently develop similar or identical designs or other proprietary information. In addition, we rely on the use of registered and common law trademarks with respect to the brand names of some of our products. Our common law trademarks provide less protection than our registered trademarks. Loss of rights in our trademarks could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. If we fail to apply for intellectual property protection or if we cannot adequately protect our intellectual property rights in these foreign countries, our competitors may be able to compete more effectively against us, which could adversely affect our competitive position, as well as our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If third parties claim that we infringe their intellectual property rights, we may incur liabilities and costs and may have to redesign or discontinue selling certain products.

Whether a product infringes a patent involves complex legal and factual issues, the determination of which is often uncertain. We face the risk of claims that we have infringed on third parties’ intellectual property rights. Searching for existing intellectual property rights may not reveal important intellectual property and our competitors may also have filed for patent protection, which is not yet a matter of public knowledge, or claimed trademark rights that have not been revealed through our availability searches. Our efforts to identify and avoid infringing on third parties’ intellectual property rights may not always be successful. Any claims of patent or other intellectual property infringement, even those without merit, could: 

In addition, new patents obtained by our competitors could threaten a product’s continued life in the market even after it has already been introduced.

REGULATORY AND LEGAL RISK FACTORS

Failure to comply with federal, state and international laws and regulations and our contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, or the expansion of current or the enactment of new laws or regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, could adversely affect our business and our financial condition.

We collect and maintain significant amounts of personal data and other data relating to our customers and employees. A variety of federal, state and international laws and regulations, and certain industry standards, govern or apply to our collection, use, retention, sharing and security of consumer data. We are subject to certain laws, regulations, contractual obligations and industry standards (including, for example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI-DSS) relating to privacy, data protection, information security and consumer protection, which are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. These requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may conflict with other rules or our practices. As a result, our practices may not comply or may not comply in the future with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our privacy policies or with any federal, state or international laws, regulations, industry self-regulatory principles, industry standards or codes of conduct, regulatory guidance, orders to which we may be subject or other legal or contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection, information security or consumer protection could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, and may result in claims, proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others or other liabilities or require us to change our operations and/or cease or modify our use of certain data sets. Any such claim, proceeding or action could hurt our reputation, brand and business, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of such proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, result in a loss of customers and suppliers or an inability to process credit card payments and may result in the imposition of monetary penalties. We may also be contractually required to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of non-compliance with any laws, regulations or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection or any inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business.

Foreign laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection, information security and consumer protection often are more restrictive than those in the United States. The European Union (“EU”), for example, traditionally has imposed stricter obligations under its laws and regulations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection than the United States. In May 2018 the European Union's new regulation governing data practices and privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, became effective and substantially replaced the data protection laws of the individual European Union member states. The law requires companies to meet more stringent requirements regarding the handling of personal data of individuals in the EU than were required under predecessor EU requirements. In the United Kingdom, a Data Protection Bill that substantially implements the GDPR also became law in May 2018. The law also increases the penalties for non-compliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to €20.0 million or 4% of a company's worldwide turnover, whichever is higher. The GDPR and other similar regulations require companies to give specific types of notice and in some cases seek consent from consumers and other data subjects before collecting or using their data for certain purposes, including some marketing activities. Outside of the European Union, many countries have laws, regulations, or other requirements relating to privacy, data protection, information security, and consumer protection, and new countries are adopting such legislation or other obligations with increasing frequency. Many of these laws may require consent from consumers for the use of data for various purposes, including marketing, which may reduce our ability to market our products. There is no harmonized approach to these laws and regulations globally. Consequently, we increase our risk of non-compliance with applicable foreign data protection laws by operating internationally. We may need to change and limit the way we use personal information in operating our business and may have difficulty maintaining a single operating model that is compliant. In addition, various federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory organizations, may expand current laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding privacy, data protection, information security and consumer protection. For example, California recently adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which provides new data privacy rights for consumers and new operational requirements for businesses. The CCPA includes a statutory damages framework and private rights of action against businesses that fail to comply with certain CCPA terms or implement reasonable security procedures and practices to prevent data breaches. The CCPA went into effect in January 2020. The effects of the CCPA potentially are significant, however, and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. As a general matter, compliance with laws, regulations, and any applicable rules or guidance from self-regulatory organizations relating to privacy, data protection, information security and consumer protection, may result in substantial costs and may necessitate changes to our business practices, which may compromise our growth strategy, adversely affect our ability to acquire customers, and otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We may have additional tax assessments.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States. Significant judgments are required in determining our provisions for income taxes. In the course of preparing our tax provisions and returns, we must make calculations where the ultimate tax determination may be uncertain. Our tax returns are subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and state tax authorities. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of these examinations. If the ultimate determination of taxes owed is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, our operating results, cash flows, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We operate in foreign countries and are exposed to risks associated with foreign political, economic and legal environments and with foreign currency exchange rates.

We operate in foreign countries. As a result, we are exposed to risks, including among others, risks associated with foreign political, economic and legal environments and with foreign currency exchange rates. Our results may be adversely affected by, among other things, changes in government policies with respect to laws and regulations, anti-inflation measures, currency conversions, collection of receivables abroad and rates and methods of taxation.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to remediate these material weaknesses, or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect our business.

During the second quarter of our fiscal year 2021, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting related to our financial statement close process and policies. We did not have adequate review policies and procedures in place to ensure the timely, effective review of the measurement of the fair value of certain derivative liabilities. Additionally, during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, we identified an additional material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. We did not design and maintain formal accounting policies, procedures and controls to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures relating to segregation of duties and controls over the preparation and review of journal entries, account reconciliations and consolidation. These material weaknesses did not result in a misstatement to the financial statements. However, if we are unable to remediate these material weaknesses, or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, these material weaknesses could result in a misstatement of our account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

GOVERNANCE RISKS AND RISKS RELATED TO OUR SECURITIES

Our Common Stock is subject to “penny stock” rules.

Our Common Stock is currently defined as a “penny stock” under Rule 3a51-1 promulgated under the Exchange Act which are subject to Rules 15g-2 through 15g-7 and Rule 15g-9, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers that sell penny stocks to persons other than established customers and institutional accredited investors. Among other things, for transactions covered by these rules, a broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and have received the purchaser’s written consent to the transaction prior to sale. Consequently, these rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to sell our Common Stock and affect the ability of holders to sell their shares of our Common Stock in the secondary market. To the extent our Common Stock is subject to the penny stock regulations, the market liquidity for our shares will be adversely affected.

Our stock price has been volatile, and your investment in our Common Stock could suffer a decline in value.

There has been significant volatility in the market price and trading volume of equity securities, which is unrelated to the financial performance of the companies issuing the securities. These broad market fluctuations may negatively affect the market price of our Common Stock. You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the price you pay for those shares due to fluctuations in the market price of our Common Stock caused by changes in our operating performance or prospects and other factors.

Some specific factors that may have a significant effect on our Common Stock market price include:

Our future sales of our Common Stock could adversely affect its price and our future capital-raising activities could involve the issuance of equity securities, which would dilute shareholders’ investments and could result in a decline in the trading price of our Common Stock.

We may sell securities in the public or private equity markets if and when conditions are favorable, even if we do not have an immediate need for additional capital at that time. Sales of substantial amounts of our Common Stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Common Stock and our ability to raise capital. We may issue additional Common Stock in future financing transactions or as incentive compensation for our executive management and other key personnel, consultants and advisors. Issuing any equity securities would be dilutive to the equity interests represented by our then-outstanding shares of Common Stock. The market price for our Common Stock could decrease as the market takes into account the dilutive effect of any of these issuances. Furthermore, we may enter into financing transactions at prices that represent a substantial discount to the market price of our Common Stock. A negative reaction by investors and securities analysts to any discounted sale of our equity securities could result in a decline in the trading price of our Common Stock.

The holders of our Preferred Stock (as defined below) have certain rights and privileges that are senior to our Common Stock, and we may issue additional shares of Preferred Stock without stockholder approval that could have a material adverse effect on the market value of the Common Stock.

Our Board of Directors has the authority to issue a total of up to 5.0 million shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Preferred Stock”) and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges, and restrictions, including voting rights, of the Preferred Stock, which typically are senior to the rights of the Common Stock, without any further vote or action by the holders of our Common Stock. The rights of the holders of our Common Stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of the Preferred Stock that have been issued or might be issued in the future. Preferred Stock also could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting stock. This could delay, defer, or prevent a change in control. Furthermore, holders of our Preferred Stock may have other rights, including economic rights, senior to the Common Stock. As a result, their existence and issuance could have a material adverse effect on the market value of the Common Stock. We have in the past issued and may from time to time in the future issue, Preferred Stock for financing or other purposes with rights, preferences, or privileges senior to the Common Stock. As of December 31, 2021, we had two series of Preferred Stock outstanding, the Series B Preferred, and Series D Preferred.   

The provisions of our Series B Preferred prohibit the payment of dividends on our Common Stock unless the dividends on our preferred shares are first paid. In addition, upon a liquidation, dissolution or sale of our business, the holders of our Series B Preferred will be entitled to receive, in preference to any distribution to the holders of Common Stock, initial distributions of $2.50 per share, plus all accrued but unpaid dividends. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, there were 239,400 shares of Series B Preferred outstanding. As of December 31, 2021, we had cumulative undeclared dividends on our Series B Preferred of approximately $8,000. 

The provisions of our Series D Preferred prohibit the payment of dividends on our Common Stock unless the dividends on our preferred shares are first paid. In addition, upon a liquidation, dissolution or sale of our business, the holders of our Series D Preferred will be entitled to receive, in preference to any distribution to the holders of Common Stock, initial distributions of $1,000 per share, plus all accrued but unpaid dividends. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, there were 23,862.4 and 22,863.28 shares of Series D Preferred outstanding, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, we had no cumulative undeclared dividends on our Series D Preferred.

The conversion of our Series B Preferred Stock and Series D Preferred Stock and the exercise of currently outstanding warrants, stock options and vesting of Restricted Stock Units could result in significant dilution to the holders of our common stock.

The holders of our Series B Preferred Stock and Series D Preferred Stock may elect to convert their shares of Preferred Stock into shares of Common Stock. As of December 31, 2021, 239,400 shares of Series B Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 47,001 shares of Common Stock; and 23,216.4 shares of Series D Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 398,222,985 shares of Common Stock, were outstanding. In addition to our outstanding shares of Preferred Stock, as of December 31, 2021, there were outstanding warrants to purchase 3,150,000 shares of our Common Stock, outstanding stock options to purchase 4,848,876 shares of our Common Stock and outstanding Restricted Stock Units that upon vesting will result in the issuance of 81,019,401 shares of our Common Stock.

The conversion of our Series B Preferred Stock and Series D Preferred Stock, as well as the exercise of our outstanding warrants, outstanding stock options and the vesting of our Restricted Stock Units could result in significant dilution to existing common shareholders, adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock and impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.

Upon the occurrence of certain events, we may be required to redeem all or a portion of our Preferred Stock.

Holders of certain of our Preferred Stock may require us to redeem all or any portion of such Holder’s shares Preferred Stock within specific date from issuance or in the event of the consummation of a Change of Control (as such term is defined in the Certificate of Designations, Preferences and Rights of each class of Preferred Stock). We cannot assure you that we will maintain sufficient cash reserves or that our business will generate cash flow from operations at levels sufficient to permit us to redeem our shares of Preferred Stock if and when required to do so. In the event we have insufficient cash available or do not have access to additional third-party financings on commercially reasonable terms or at all to complete such redemption, our business, results of operations, and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.

Certain large shareholders may have certain personal interests that may affect the Company.

As a result of the securities issued to Nantahala Capital Management, LLC, and the related entities controlled by Nantahala Capital Management, (i) Blackwell Partners LLC - Series A, (ii) Nantahala Capital Partners Limited Partnership, (iii) Nantahala Capital Partners II Limited Partnership, (iv) Nantahala Capital Partners SI, LP, (v) NCP QR Limited Partnership, and (vi) Silver Creek CS SAV, L.L.C. (collectively, “Nantahala”), Nantahala beneficially owns, in the aggregate, approximately 37.3% of the Company’s outstanding voting securities as of March 25, 2022.  As a result, Nantahala has the potential ability to exert influence over the outcome of issues requiring approval by the Company’s shareholders. This concentration of ownership may have effects such as delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company that may be favored by other shareholders or preventing transactions in which shareholders might otherwise recover a premium for their shares over current market prices.

Our corporate documents and Delaware law contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of the Company.

Provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended Charter”) and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition involving us that our stockholders may consider favorable. For example, our certificate of incorporation authorizes Preferred Stock, which carries special rights, including voting and dividend rights. With these rights, holders of Preferred Stock could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us.

Our Amended Charter designates courts within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, and the federal district courts for the United States of America for claims brought under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.

The Amended Charter requires that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, and unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, a state court located within the State of Delaware (or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware), will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for each of the following:

Furthermore, the Amended Charter sets forth that the federal district courts of the United States of America are the exclusive forum for the resolution of any causes of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

Because the applicability of the exclusive forum provision is limited to the extent permitted by law, we believe that the exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”), or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. We note that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce the provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal law under the Securities Act in the types of lawsuits to which they apply, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

We do not expect to pay cash dividends on our Common Stock for the foreseeable future.

We have never paid cash dividends on our Common Stock and do not anticipate that any cash dividends will be paid on the Common Stock for the foreseeable future. The payment of any cash dividend by us will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our earnings, capital, regulatory requirements and financial condition. Furthermore, the terms of our Series B Preferred and Series D Preferred directly limit our ability to pay cash dividends on our Common Stock.

GENERAL RISK FACTORS

Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could lead to reduced revenue, increased costs, liability claims, or harm to our reputation or competitive position.

Threats to IT security can take a variety of forms. Individual and groups of hackers and sophisticated organizations, including state-sponsored organizations or nation-states, continuously undertake attacks that pose threats to our customers and our IT. These actors may use a wide variety of methods, which may include developing and deploying malicious software or exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware, software, or other infrastructure in order to attack our products and services or gain access to our networks and datacenters, using social engineering techniques to induce our employees, users, partners, or customers to disclose passwords or other sensitive information or take other actions to gain access to our data or our users’ or customers’ data, or acting in a coordinated manner to launch coordinated attacks. Nation state and state sponsored actors can deploy significant resources to plan and carry out exploits. Inadequate account security practices may also result in unauthorized access to confidential data. Employees or third parties may intentionally compromise our or our users’ security or systems or reveal confidential information. Malicious actors may employ the IT supply chain to introduce malware through software updates or compromised supplier accounts or hardware.

Cyberthreats are constantly evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, increasing the difficulty of detecting and successfully defending against them. We may have no current capability to detect certain vulnerabilities, which may allow them to persist in the environment over long periods of time. Cyberthreats can have cascading impacts that unfold with increasing speed across our internal networks and systems and those of our partners and customers. Breaches of our network or data security could disrupt the security of our systems and business applications, impair our ability to provide services to our customers and result in product development delays, compromise confidential or technical business information harming our reputation or competitive position, result in theft or misuse of our intellectual property or other assets, require us to allocate more resources to improve technologies or remediate the impacts of attacks, or otherwise adversely affect our business.

While we expect the impacts of COVID-19 to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, we are unable to predict the extent or nature of these impacts at this time.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have been limited in our ability to: (i) conduct face-to-face meetings with customers and prospective customers, (ii) present in-person demonstrations of our software solutions, (iii) attend trade shows and conferences which typically generate future sales opportunities, or (iv) meet with prospective strategic partners.   These effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic  will likely have an adverse impact on our operating and financial results over at least the next several quarters.

The extent to which our operating and financial results will continue to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic will depend on various factors and consequences beyond our control, such as the duration and scope of the pandemic; the impact of the emergence of new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19; additional actions by businesses and governments in response to the pandemic; and the speed and effectiveness of responses to combat the virus, including vaccine development and distribution. COVID-19, and the volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from the pandemic, could also aggravate our other risk factors described in this Form 10-K.

Certain key personnel have terminated their employment with the Company. Given that we are dependent on key personnel, the loss of any additional personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer, could materially and adversely affect our plan of operations and ability to obtain financing.

We are dependent to a significant extent upon the efforts and abilities of our executive officers and other key personnel. During the current fiscal year, we have lost certain key personnel due to the absence of meaningful equity incentives, among other causes. The loss of the services of any additional key employees, including our Chief Executive Officer, and any negative market or industry perception arising from the loss of such services, could have a material adverse effect on us, our plan of operations and ability to obtain financing. Our business will also be dependent upon our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. Acquiring and keeping these personnel has proven difficult as the market value of our Common Stock has declined and could cost substantially more than estimated. We cannot be certain that we will be able to retain such personnel or attract a high caliber of personnel in the future.