Datavault AI (DVLT) Risk Analysis

Our ability to attract new users and customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our existing products, increase adoption and usage of our products, and introduce new products and capabilities. The market in which we compete is relatively new and subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, and changing regulations, as well as changing customer needs, requirements and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. For example, some of our products use AI, and machine learning, and we are making investments in expanding our AI capabilities, which will require significant investment in infrastructure and personnel. However, AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving in a changing competitive market and market acceptance of AI technologies remains uncertain. If we were unable to enhance our products and platform capabilities to keep pace with rapid technological and regulatory change, or if new technologies emerge that are able to deliver competitive products at lower prices, more efficiently, more conveniently, or more securely than our products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our agreements with our customers and other third parties may include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify or otherwise be liable for losses suffered or incurred as a result of certain claims relating to or arising from our technology, services, platform, our acts or omissions under such agreements or other contractual obligations. In some cases, the liability is not limited and we may still incur substantial liability related to such agreements, and we may be required to cease providing certain functions or features on our platform as a result of any such claims. Even if we succeed in contractually limiting our liability, such limitations may not be enforceable. Any dispute with a customer or other third party with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with such customer or other third party and other existing or prospective customers, reduce demand for our platform and adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations. In addition, our insurance may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed on us or otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims, including claims on such matters as alleged compromises of customer data, which may be substantial. Any such coverage may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.

We collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of and share personal, confidential, and proprietary information and other information (collectively, sensitive information) necessary to provide our services, to operate our business, for legal and marketing purposes, and for other business-related purposes. Our platform and products involve the storage and transmission of data, including personal information, and security breaches or unauthorized access to our platform and products, or those of the third-parties with whom we work, could result in the unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to sensitive information including our customers' data. Consequently, we may be subject to significant litigation, indemnity obligations, fines, penalties, disputes, investigations and other liabilities. We have previously and may in the future become the target of cyber-attacks by third parties, including without limitation nation-state actors, seeking to gain unauthorized access to and exfiltrate our or our customers' data, including confidential and personal information, or to disrupt our ability to provide our services. In addition, many of our employees work remotely and utilize network connections, computers and devices outside our premises or network, which may pose additional data security risks (including, for example, the increasing number of phishing and malicious emails we continue to receive). The reliability and continuous availability of our platform is critical to our success. We use third-parties, including sub-processors, to help us deliver services to our customers. These vendors, such as cloud infrastructure providers, store or process personal and confidential information for us or our customers. We use third-party technology, systems and services in a variety of contexts, including, without limitation, cloud infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, back-office support, credit card processing and other functions. While we have taken steps designed to protect the confidential and personal information that we have access to, our security measures or those of the third-parties with whom we work that store or otherwise process certain of our and our customers' data on our behalf could be breached or we could suffer a loss of our or our customers' data. Our ability to monitor these third-parties' data security is limited, and they may not have adequate information security measures in place. Cyber-attacks, computer malware, viruses, employee mistakes or malfeasance, social engineering (including through deep fakes and spear phishing), malicious code, denial-of-service attacks, credential harvesting and general hacking have become more prevalent in our industry, particularly against cloud services, and have become enhanced or facilitated by AI. Ransomware attacks, including those from organized criminal threat actors, nation-states and nation-state supported actors, are prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions, delays, or outages in our operations, loss of data (including customer data), loss of income, significant extra expenses to restore data or systems, reputational loss and the diversion of funds. To alleviate the financial, operational and reputational impact of a ransomware attack it may be preferable to make extortion payments, but we may be unwilling or unable to do so (including, for example, if applicable laws or regulations prohibit such payments). Similarly, supply chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our supply chain have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our platform, systems and networks or the systems and networks of third parties that support us and our services. Despite the security controls we have in place, such attacks are very difficult to avoid. There can be no assurance that any security measures that we or the third-parties with whom we work have implemented will be effective against current or future security threats. While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and security of our and our customers' data, our security measures or those of the third-parties with whom we work could fail and result in unauthorized access to or disclosure, modification, misuse, loss or destruction of such data. Third parties may also conduct attacks designed to temporarily deny customers access to our cloud services. Any security breach or other security incident, or the perception that one has occurred, could result in a loss of customer confidence in the security of our platform and damage to our brand, reduce the demand for our products, disrupt normal business operations, require us to spend material resources to investigate or correct the breach and to prevent future security breaches and incidents, expose us to legal liabilities, including litigation, regulatory enforcement, and indemnity obligations, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks are likely to increase as we continue to grow and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of data. In addition, we do not directly control content that our customers store in our products. If our customers use our products for the collection, transmission or storage of personal information and our security measures are or are believed to have been breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, our reputation could be damaged, our business may suffer, and we could incur significant liability. Our remediation efforts may not be successful. We employ a shared responsibility model where our customers are responsible for using, configuring, and otherwise implementing security measures related to our platform, services, and products. As part of this shared responsibility security model, we make certain security features available to our customers that can be implemented at our customers' discretion, or identify security areas or measures for which our customers are responsible. In certain cases our customers may choose not to implement, or may incorrectly implement, those features or measures, misuse our services, or otherwise experience their own vulnerabilities, policy violations, credential exposure, or security incidents. Even if we are not the cause of a resulting customer security issue or incident, our customer relationships, reputation, and business may be adversely impacted. We also process, store and transmit our own data as part of our business and operations. This data includes personal, confidential or proprietary information. We may expend significant resources, fundamentally change our business activities and practices, or modify our operations or information technology in an effort to protect against security incidents and to mitigate, detect, and remediate actual and potential vulnerabilities. We take steps designed to detect, mitigate, and remediate vulnerabilities in our information systems (such as our hardware and/or software, including that of third parties with whom we work). We may not, however, detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities on a timely basis. Among other things, our applications, systems, networks, software, other computer assets and physical facilities could be breached or could otherwise malfunction or fail, or the sensitive information that we store could be otherwise compromised due to employee error or malfeasance, if, for example, third parties fraudulently induce our employees or our members to disclose information or user names and/or passwords, or otherwise compromise the security of our networks, systems and/or physical facilities. Additionally,from time to time employees or service providers may inadvertently misconfigure resources or misdirect certain communications, leading to security vulnerabilities or incidents that we must then expend effort and incur expenses to correct. We may have contractual and other legal obligations, or we may voluntarily choose, to notify relevant stakeholders of security incidents. For instance, most jurisdictions have enacted laws, such as the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities, and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such mandatory contractual and legal disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach, and any failure to provide appropriate notice may violate the terms of our customer contracts. Applicable laws, our contracts and our representations require us to implement and maintain industry-standard or reasonable measures to safeguard personal information or confidential information. A security breach could lead to claims by our customers, or other relevant stakeholders, that we have failed to comply with such legal or contractual obligations. As a result, we could be subject to legal action or our customers could end their relationships with us. Further, our contracts may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that any limitations of liability would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages. The costs to respond to a security breach and/or mitigate any security vulnerabilities that may be identified could be significant, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service, negative publicity, and other harm to our business and our competitive position. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices in response to a security breach or related regulatory actions or litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Additionally, we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient for fines, judgments, settlements, penalties, costs, attorney fees and other impacts that arise out of privacy or security incidents or breaches. If the impacts of a privacy or security incident or breach, or the successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), it could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage, cyber coverage and coverage for errors and omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. Our risks are likely to increase as we continue to expand, grow our customer base, and process, store, and transmit increasingly large amounts of sensitive information.

Because our modules are complex, undetected errors, failures or bugs may occur. Our module is installed and used in numerous audio systems of different brands with different operating systems, system management software, and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors or failures of our technology. Despite our testing, errors, failures or bugs may not be found in our modules until it is released to our customers. Moreover, our customers could incorrectly implement or inadvertently misuse our modules, which could result in customer dissatisfaction and adversely impact the perceived quality or utility of our products as well as our brand. Any of these real or perceived errors, compatibility issues, failures or bugs in our modules could result in negative publicity, reputational harm, loss of competitive position or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources to correct the problem. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expenditures of our capital and other resources and could cause interruptions or delays in the use of our solutions, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers and could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.

The competitive position of our technology depends in part on its ability to operate with products and services of third parties, technology services, and infrastructure, including but not limited to, in connection with our strategic partnerships and collaborations and other similar arrangements where applicable. Our customers may change the features of their technologies and audio systems may advance technologically. As such, we must continuously modify and enhance our technology to adapt to changes in, or to be integrated or otherwise compatible with, hardware, technology, networking, browser, and database technologies. In the future, one or more technology companies may choose not to support the operation of their hardware, technology, or infrastructure, or our technology may not support the capabilities needed to operate with such hardware, technology, or infrastructure. In addition, to the extent that a third-party were to develop technology or services that compete with ours, that provider may choose not to support one or more of our offerings. We intend to facilitate the compatibility of our technology with various third-party hardware, technology, and infrastructure by maintaining and expanding our business and technical relationships. If we are not successful in achieving this goal, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Luxury products, such as speaker systems, TVs, game consoles and PCs, are discretionary purchases for consumers. Any reduction in consumer discretionary spending or disposable income may affect our industry significantly. Many economic factors outside of our control could affect consumer discretionary spending, including the financial markets, consumer credit availability, prevailing interest rates, energy costs, employment levels, salary levels, and tax rates. Any reduction in discretionary consumer spending could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We have entered into transactions, and may in the future enter into further transactions, with related parties. Related-party transactions create the possibility of conflicts of interest with regard to management, including that: (i) our executive officers and directors that hold positions of responsibility with related parties may be aware of certain business opportunities that are appropriate for presentation to us as well as to such other related parties and may present such business opportunities to such other parties and (ii) our executive officers and directors that hold positions of responsibility with related parties may have significant duties with, and spend significant time serving, other entities and may have conflicts of interest in allocating time. Such conflicts could cause such executive officer or director to seek to advance his or her economic interests or the economic interests of certain related parties above ours. Further, the appearance of conflicts of interest created by related-party transactions could impair the confidence of our investors. Our board of directors (the "Board") and the audit committee of our Board (the "Audit Committee") regularly review these transactions. Notwithstanding this, it is possible that a conflict of interest could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Certain of our license agreements and other agreements were negotiated between related parties. Consequently, their terms, including fees payable to us, may not be as favorable to us as if they had been negotiated exclusively with an unaffiliated third party. There can be no assurance that our agreements with related parties will be viewed as fair or reasonable by investors, regulators, or other stakeholders. If these arrangements are challenged, renegotiated, terminated, or found to be inconsistent with applicable laws, accounting standards, or stock exchange requirements, we could incur financial losses, operational disruptions, or be required to restate financial results.

Under Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, a company generally will be deemed to be an "investment company" if (i) it is, or holds itself out as being, engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities or (ii) it engages, or proposes to engage, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in securities and it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Rule 3a-1 under the 1940 Act generally provides that notwithstanding the Section 3(a)(1)(C) test described in clause (ii) above, an entity will not be deemed to be an "investment company" for purposes of the 1940 Act if no more than 45% of the value of its assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) consists of, and no more than 45% of its net income after taxes (for the past four fiscal quarters combined) is derived from, securities other than U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, securities issued by employees' securities companies, securities issued by qualifying majority owned subsidiaries of such entity, and securities issued by qualifying companies that are controlled primarily by such entity. We do not believe that we are an "investment company" as such term is defined in either Section 3(a)(1)(A) or Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the 1940 Act. With respect to Section 3(a)(1)(C), we believe we satisfy the elements of Rule 3a-1 and therefore are deemed not to be an investment company under, and we intend to conduct our operations such that we will not be deemed an investment company under, Section 3(a)(1)(C). We believe that we are not an investment company pursuant to Rule 3a-1 under the 1940 Act because, on a consolidated basis with respect to wholly-owned subsidiaries but otherwise on an unconsolidated basis, no more than 45% of the value of the Company's total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, and cash items) consists of, and no more than 45% of the Company's net income after taxes (for the last four fiscal quarters combined) is derived from, securities other than U.S. government securities, shares of registered money market funds under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Act, securities issued by employees' securities companies, securities issued by qualifying majority owned subsidiaries of the Company, and securities issued by qualifying companies that are controlled primarily by the Company. Cryptocurrency and other digital assets, as well as new business models and transactions enabled by blockchain technologies, present novel interpretive questions under the 1940 Act. There is a risk that assets or arrangements that we have concluded are not securities could be deemed to be securities by the SEC or another authority for purposes of the 1940 Act, which would increase the percentage of securities held by us for 1940 Act purposes. The SEC has requested information from a number of participants in the digital assets ecosystem, regarding the potential application of the 1940 Act to their businesses. For example, in an action unrelated to the Company, in February 2022, the SEC issued a cease-and-desist order under the 1940 Act to BlockFi Lending LLC, in which the SEC alleged that BlockFi was operating as an unregistered investment company because it issued securities and also held more than 40% of its total assets, excluding cash, in investment securities, including the loans of digital assets made by BlockFi to institutional borrowers. If we were deemed to be an investment company, Rule 3a-2 under the 1940 Act is a safe harbor that provides a one-year grace period for transient investment companies that have a bona fide intent to be engaged primarily, as soon as is reasonably possible (in any event by the termination of such one-year period), in a business other than that of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in securities, with such intent evidenced by the company's business activities and an appropriate resolution of its board of directors. The grace period is available not more than once every three years and runs from the earlier of (i) the date on which the issuer owns securities and/or cash having a value exceeding 50% of the issuer's total assets on either a consolidated or unconsolidated basis or (ii) the date on which the issuer owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of such issuer's total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Accordingly, the grace period may not be available at the time that we seek to rely on Rule 3a-2; however, Rule 3a-2 is a safe harbor and we may rely on any exemption or exclusion from investment company status available to us under the 1940 Act at any given time. Furthermore, reliance on Rule 3a-2, Section 3(a)(1)(C), or Rule 3a-1 could require us to take actions to dispose of securities, limit our ability to make certain investments or enter into joint ventures, or otherwise limit or change our service offerings and operations. If we were to be deemed an investment company in the future, restrictions imposed by the 1940 Act-including limitations on our ability to issue different classes of stock and equity compensation to directors, officers, and employees and restrictions on management, operations, and transactions with affiliated persons-likely would make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.

We are subject to federal, state, and local income taxes in the U.S. Determining our provision for income taxes requires significant management judgment, and the ultimate tax outcome may be uncertain. In addition, our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by many factors, including, among other things, changes to our operating or holding structure, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, and changes in U.S. tax laws. Tax authorities may disagree with our calculation of research and development tax credits, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing, or other matters and assess additional taxes, interest, or penalties. While we regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes and we believe that our financial statements reflect adequate reserves to cover any such contingencies, there can be no assurance that the outcomes of such examinations will not have a material impact on our results of operations and cash flows. If tax authorities change applicable tax laws, our overall taxes could increase, and our financial condition or results of operations may be adversely impacted.

Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of unfavorable changes in our industry or the global economy on us or our customers and potential customers. Unfavorable conditions in the economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth in the United States or abroad, financial and credit market fluctuations, fluctuating inflation and interest rates, international trade relations, political turmoil, natural catastrophes, outbreaks of contagious diseases, warfare and terrorist attacks on the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, such as the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, could cause a decrease in business investments, including spending on information technology, disrupt the timing and cadence of key industry events, and negatively affect the growth of our business and our results of operations. Such catastrophic and disruptive events have and may adversely affect workforces, economies and financial markets globally, leading to a reduction in the ability of, or the inability of, customers, partners, suppliers, vendors or other parties to meet their contractual obligations, and for a period of time, a reduction in customer spending on technology, and such conditions have and may reoccur in the future. The war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East and related political and economic responses such as sanctions imposed on Russia, may also exacerbate these issues and trends especially in these regions. In addition interest rates remain elevated, which may dampen economic growth and cause companies to moderate spending on information technology. These types of unfavorable conditions could disrupt the timing of and attendance at key industry events, which we rely upon in part to generate sales of our products. If those events are disrupted, our marketing investments, sales pipeline and ability to generate new customers and sales of our products could be negatively and adversely affected. Our competitors, many of which are larger and have greater financial resources than we do, may respond to challenging market conditions by lowering prices in an attempt to attract our customers and may be less dependent on key industry events to generate sales for their products. The increased pace of consolidation in certain industries may result in reduced overall spending on our products and solutions. We cannot predict the timing, strength, or duration of any economic slowdown, instability, or recovery, generally or how any such event may impact our business.

The United States or foreign governments may enact changes in government trade policies that could adversely impact our ability to sell products in certain countries, particularly in China. For example, the U.S. government has imposed tariffs on certain Chinese imports and, in return, the Chinese government has imposed or proposed tariffs on certain U.S. products. Additionally, export restrictions imposed by the U.S. government, including the addition of licensing requirements by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security ("BIS") through the addition of companies to the BIS Entity List, may require us to suspend our business with certain international customers if we conclude or are notified by the U.S. government that such business presents a risk of noncompliance with U.S. regulations. We cannot predict what actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations between certain countries, what products may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by other countries in response. It also may not be possible to anticipate the timing or duration of such tariffs, export restrictions, or other regulatory actions. These government trade policies may materially adversely affect our sales and operations with current customers as well as impede our ability to develop relationships with new customers. There is a risk of further escalation and retaliatory actions between the U.S. and other foreign governments. If significant tariffs or other restrictions are placed on goods exported from China or any related counter-measures are taken, our revenue and results of operations may be materially harmed. These tariffs may also make our customers' products more expensive for consumers, which may reduce consumer demand. There is also a risk that the U.S. government may seek to implement more protective trade measures, not just with respect to China but with respect to other countries as well, such as those imposed on Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine. This could include new or higher tariffs and even more restrictive trade barriers, such as prohibiting certain types of, or all sales of certain products or products sold by certain parties into the U.S. Any increased trade barriers or restrictions on global trade could have a materially adverse impact on our business and financial results.

Our modules are sold to our customers who are consumer electronics companies. Our customers install the modules into their products. Our customers' audio products are sold to the public who must then install the audio system into their homes or businesses. We do not oversee installation of our products and therefore have no control over the result. If a module is not installed correctly in a customer product or an end consumer does not install their audio system correctly, our technology may not work properly, which could result in customer dissatisfaction or have a material adverse impact on our reputation, our business and our financial results.