Better Therapeutics (BTTX) Risk Analysis

We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our planned operations. Unless and until we can generate a substantial amount of revenue from our product candidates, we expect to finance our future cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, licensing arrangements, royalty financings or other sources, or any combination of the foregoing. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities, your ownership interest may be diluted, and the terms of these securities could include liquidation or other preferences and anti-dilution protections that could adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. In addition, debt financing, if available, may result in fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include restrictive covenants that limit our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, creating liens, redeeming stock or declaring dividends, that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. In addition, securing financing could require a substantial amount of time and attention from our management and may divert a disproportionate amount of their attention away from day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect management's ability to oversee the development of our product candidates. If we raise additional capital through collaborations or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce or terminate our product discovery and development programs or commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

As of September 30, 2023, and taking into account shares sold in our ATM program since then, our Executive Chairman, David Perry controls approximately 36.0% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. As long as Mr. Perry either owns or controls a significant percentage of outstanding voting power, he has the ability to strongly influence all corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of directors and the size of our board of directors, any amendment of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or the approval of any merger or other significant corporate transaction, including a sale of substantially all of our assets and may have interests different than yours.

Our governing documents and the Delaware General Corporation Law (the "DGCL"), contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by our board of directors and therefore depress the trading price of our common stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the current members of our board of directors or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. Among other things, our governing documents include provisions regarding: - the ability of our board of directors to issue shares of preferred stock, including "blank check" preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;- the limitation of the liability, and indemnification of our directors and officers;- a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of stockholders after such date and could delay the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a stockholder proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;- the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by a majority of our entire board of directors, which could delay the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;- controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of board of directors and stockholder meetings;- the ability of our board of directors to amend the bylaws, which may allow our board of directors to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend the bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and - advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders' meeting, which could preclude stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders and delay changes in our board of directors, and also may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us. These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our board of directors or management.

Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for state law claims for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders; (3) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws (including the interpretation, validity or enforceability thereof); or (4) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. We refer to this provision in our bylaws as the Delaware Forum Provision. The Delaware Forum Provision will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. We refer to this provision in our bylaws as the Federal Forum Provision. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our bylaws may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims. Additionally, these forum selection clauses may limit our stockholders' ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage the filing of lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. In addition, while 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 are "facially valid" under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts will enforce our Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.

The price of our common stock may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including: - changes in the industries in which we and our customers operate;- variations in our operating performance and the performance of our competitors in general;- material and adverse effects of public health events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic and political developments, including the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, rising interest rates and high inflation, on the markets and the broader global economy;- actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly or annual operating results;- publication of research reports by securities analysts about us or our competitors or our industry;- the public's reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements and our filings with the SEC;- our failure or the failure of our competitors to meet analysts' projections or guidance that we or our competitors may give to the market;- additions and departures of key personnel;- changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;- commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;- changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;- the volume of shares of our common stock available for public sale; and - general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, foreign currency fluctuations, international tariffs, social, political and economic risks and acts of war or terrorism. These market and industry factors may materially reduce the market price of our common stock regardless of our operating performance.

On April 5, 2023, we received a deficiency letter, or the April Letter, from the Staff of Nasdaq Stock Market notifying us that we were not in compliance with the minimum stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The April Letter further noted that as of its date, we did not have a market value of listed securities of $35 million, or net income from continued operations of $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year or in two of the last three most recently completed fiscal years, the alternative quantitative standards for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. On April 24, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that we had regained compliance with Nasdaq's continued listing standards by demonstrating compliance with Nasdaq's alternative standard of market value of listed securities in excess of $35 million under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(2) and that the matter was closed. However, on June 16, 2023, we received deficiency letters, or the June Letters, from the Staff notifying us that we were not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement and the market value of listed securities requirement for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The June Letters noted that, as of their date, the bid price of our common stock was below $1 per share and our market value of listed securities was below $35 million, in each case for 30 consecutive business days. In accordance with Nasdaq rules, we have been provided 180 calendar days, or until December 13, 2023, or the Compliance Deadline, to regain compliance. The June Letters are only a notification of deficiency, not of imminent delisting, and have no current effect on the listing or trading of our securities on The Nasdaq Capital Market. If at any time before the Compliance Deadline the market value of our listed securities closes at $35 million or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days, Nasdaq will provide written notification that we have achieved compliance with the market value of listed securities requirement, and the matter would be resolved. If we are not able to regain compliance with the market value of listed securities requirement by the Compliance Deadline, our common stock may be subject to delisting from The Nasdaq Capital Market, If at any time before the Compliance Deadline the closing bid price of our common stock closes at or above $1.00 per share for 10 consecutive business days, Nasdaq will provide written notification that we have achieved compliance with the minimum bid price requirement, and the matter would be resolved. If we do not regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement before the Compliance Deadline, then Nasdaq may grant us a second 180 calendar day period to regain compliance, provided we (i) meet the continued listing requirement for market value of listed securities and all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, other than the minimum closing bid price requirement and (ii) notify Nasdaq of our intent to cure the deficiency during the second compliance period. There can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with the Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement or market value of listed securities requirement ahead of the Compliance Deadline, or if we are granted a second compliance period to meet the minimum bid price requirement, that we would be able to regain compliance during the second compliance period. If we are unable to regain compliance with Nasdaq's continued listing requirements, our common stock may be subject to delisting from The Nasdaq Capital Market. Upon a delisting from The Nasdaq Capital Market, our stock would likely be traded in the over-the-counter inter-dealer quotation system, more commonly known as the OTC. OTC transactions involve risks in addition to those associated with transactions in securities traded on the securities exchanges, such as The Nasdaq Capital Market, or, together, Exchange-listed stocks. Many OTC stocks trade less frequently and in smaller volumes than Exchange-listed stocks. Accordingly, our stock would be less liquid than it would be otherwise. Also, the prices of OTC stocks are often more volatile than Exchange-listed stocks. Additionally, institutional investors are usually prohibited from investing in OTC stocks, and it might be more challenging to raise capital when needed.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. As of September 30, 2023, as adjusted for shares sold in our ATM program since then, we had outstanding 47,403,398 shares of common stock, which may be resold in the public market immediately without restriction, subject only to the restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. If our stockholders sell, or the market perceives that our stockholders intend to sell, substantial amounts of our shares of common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly.

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 stock incentive plans. We may also raise capital through equity financings in the future. In addition, as part of our business strategy, we may acquire or make investments in complementary companies, products, or 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 common stock to decline.

In the future, we may attempt to obtain financing or to further increase our capital resources by issuing additional shares of our common stock or offering debt or other equity securities, including commercial paper, medium-term notes, senior or subordinated notes, debt securities convertible into equity or shares of preferred stock. Future acquisitions could require substantial additional capital in excess of cash from operations. We would expect to obtain the capital required for acquisitions through a combination of additional issuances of equity, corporate indebtedness and/or cash from operations. Issuing additional shares of our common stock or other equity securities or securities convertible into equity may dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our common stock or both. Upon liquidation, holders of such debt securities and preferred shares, if issued, and lenders with respect to other borrowings would receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our common stock. Debt securities convertible into equity could be subject to adjustments in the conversion ratio pursuant to which certain events may increase the number of equity securities issuable upon conversion. Preferred shares, if issued, could have a preference with respect to liquidating distributions or a preference with respect to dividend payments that could limit our ability to pay dividends to the holders of our common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, which may adversely affect the amount, timing and nature of our future offerings.