Boxlight (BOXL) Risk Factors

Our success depends on our ability to identify and originate product trends as well as to anticipate and react to changing demands and preferences of customers in a timely manner. If we are unable to introduce new products or technologies in a timely manner or our new products or technologies are not accepted by our customers, our competitors may introduce more attractive products which would adversely impact our competitive position. Failure to respond in a timely manner to changing consumer preferences could lead to, among other things, lower revenues and excess inventory positions of outdated products.

Our commercial success depends to a significant degree upon our ability to develop new or improved technologies and products, and to obtain patents or other intellectual property rights or statutory protection for these technologies and products in the United States and other countries. We will seek to patent concepts, components, processes, designs and methods, and other inventions and technologies that we consider have commercial value or that will likely give us a technological advantage. Boxlight own rights in patents and patent applications for technologies relating to interactive displays and other complementary products in the United States and other countries such as Germany, Mexico, Israel, Japan, Taiwan and China. Despite devoting resources to the research and development of proprietary technology, we may not be able to develop technology that is patentable or protectable. Patents may not be issued in connection with pending patent applications, and claims allowed may not be sufficient to allow them to use the inventions that they create exclusively. Furthermore, any patents issued could be challenged, re-examined, held invalid or unenforceable or circumvented and may not provide sufficient protection or a competitive advantage. In addition, despite efforts to protect and maintain patents, competitors and other third parties may be able to design around their patents or develop products similar to our products that are not within the scope of their patents. Finally, patents provide certain statutory protection only for a limited period of time that varies depending on the jurisdiction and type of patent. The statutory protection term of certain of our material patents may expire soon and, thereafter, the underlying technology of such patents can be used by any third-party including competitors. Prosecution and protection of the rights sought in patent applications and patents can be costly and uncertain, often involve complex legal and factual issues and consume significant time and resources. In addition, the breadth of claims allowed in our patents, their enforceability and our ability to protect and maintain them cannot be predicted with any certainty. The laws of certain countries may not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Even if our patents are held to be valid and enforceable in a certain jurisdiction, any legal proceedings that we may initiate against third parties to enforce such patents will likely be expensive, take significant time and divert management's attention from other business matters. We cannot assure that any of the issued patents or pending patent applications will provide any protectable, maintainable or enforceable rights or competitive advantages to us. In addition to patents, we will rely on a combination of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other related laws and confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect, maintain and enforce our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Turkey Sweden, Finland, Germany, Holland, and China. However, our ability to protect our brands by registering certain trademarks may be limited. In addition, while we will generally enter into confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with our employees, consultants, contract manufacturers, distributors and resellers and with others to attempt to limit access to and distribution of our proprietary and confidential information, it is possible that: - misappropriation of our proprietary and confidential information, including technology, will nevertheless occur;- our confidentiality agreements will not be honored or may be rendered unenforceable;- third parties will independently develop equivalent, superior or competitive technology or products;- disputes will arise with our current or future strategic licensees, customers or others concerning the ownership, validity, enforceability, use, patentability or registrability of intellectual property; or - unauthorized disclosure of our know-how, trade secrets or other proprietary or confidential information will occur. - we cannot assure that we will be successful in protecting, maintaining or enforcing our intellectual property rights. If we are unsuccessful in protecting, maintaining or enforcing our intellectual property rights, then our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected, which could: - adversely affect our relationships with current or future distributors and resellers of our products;- adversely affect our reputation with customers;- be time-consuming and expensive to evaluate and defend;- cause product shipment delays or stoppages;- divert management's attention and resources;- subject us to significant liabilities and damages;- require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements; or - require us to cease certain activities, including the sale of products. If it is determined that we have infringed, violated or are infringing or violating a patent or other intellectual property right of any other person or if we are found liable in respect of any other related claim, then, in addition to being liable for potentially substantial damages, we may be prohibited from developing, using, distributing, selling or commercializing certain of our technologies and products unless we obtain a license from the holder of the patent or other intellectual property right. We cannot assure that we will be able to obtain any such license on a timely basis or on commercially favorable terms, or that any such licenses will be available, or that workarounds will be feasible and cost-efficient. If we do not obtain such a license or find a cost-efficient workaround, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected, and we could be required to cease related business operations in some markets and restructure our business to focus on our continuing operations in other markets.

To meet business objectives, the Company relies on both internal information technology (IT) systems and networks, and those of third parties and their vendors, to process and store sensitive data, including confidential research, business plans, financial information, intellectual property, and personal data that may be subject to legal protection. The extensive information security and cybersecurity threats, which affect companies globally, pose a risk to the security and availability of these IT systems and networks, and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the Company's sensitive data. The Company continually assesses these threats and makes investments to increase internal protection, detection and response capabilities, as well as ensure the Company's third-party providers have required capabilities and controls to address these risks. To date, the Company has not experienced any material impact to the business or operations resulting from information or cybersecurity attacks; however, because of the frequently changing attack techniques, along with the increased volume and sophistication of the attacks, there is the potential for the Company to be adversely impacted. This impact could result in reputational, competitive, operational or other business harm as well as financial costs and regulatory action.

If internally generated funds are not available from operations, we may be required to rely on the banking and credit markets to meet our financial commitments and short-term liquidity needs. Our access to funds under our revolving credit facility or pursuant to arrangements with other financial institutions is dependent on the financial institution's ability to meet funding commitments. Financial institutions may not be able to meet their funding commitments if they experience shortages of capital and liquidity or if they experience high volumes of borrowing requests from other borrowers within a short period of time. In addition, the global credit and financial markets have recently experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, inflationary pressure and interest rate changes and uncertainty about economic stability. More recently, the closures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank and their placement into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created bank-specific and broader financial institution liquidity risk and concerns. Future adverse developments with respect to specific financial institutions or the broader financial services industry may lead to market-wide liquidity shortages, impair the ability of companies to access near-term working capital needs, and create additional market and economic uncertainty. There can be no assurance that future credit and financial market instability and a deterioration in confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, liquidity shortages, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. If the equity and credit markets deteriorate, or if adverse developments are experienced by financial institutions, it may cause short-term liquidity risk and also make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, financial institutions, manufacturers and other partners may be adversely affected by the foregoing risks, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.

For our products to gain broad acceptance in all markets, we may need to develop customized solutions specifically designed for each country in which we seek to grow our sales and to sell those solutions at prices that are competitive in that country. For example, while our hardware requires only minimal modification to be usable in other countries, our software and content require significant customization and modification to adapt to the needs of foreign customers. Specifically, our software will need to be adapted to work in a user-friendly way in several languages and alphabets, and content that fits the specific needs of foreign customers (such as, for example, classroom lessons adapted to specific foreign curricula) will need to be developed. If we are not able to develop, or choose not to support, customized products and solutions for use in a particular country, we may be unable to compete successfully in that country and our sales growth in that country will be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully develop or choose to support customized solutions for each foreign country in which we seek to grow our sales or that our solutions, if developed, will be competitive in the relevant country. Growth in many foreign countries will require us to price our products competitively in those countries. In certain developing countries, we have been and may continue to be required to sell our products at prices significantly below those that we are currently charging in developed countries. Such pricing pressures could reduce our gross margins and adversely affect our revenue. Our customers' experience with our products will be directly affected by the availability and quality of our customers' Internet access. We are unable to control broadband penetration rates, and, to the extent that broadband growth in emerging markets slows, our growth in international markets could be hindered. In addition, we will face lengthy and unpredictable sales cycles in foreign markets, particularly in countries with centralized decision making. In these countries, particularly in connection with significant technology product purchases, we have experienced recurrent requests for proposals, significant delays in the decision-making process and, in some cases, indefinite deferrals of purchases or cancellations of requests for proposals. If we are unable to overcome these challenges, the growth of our sales in these markets would be adversely affected, and we may incur unrecovered marketing costs, impairing our profitability.

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. Sahara consolidates results using the British pound (with principal functional currencies in British pound, Euro and U.S. dollar) and Boxlight Latin America uses the Mexican Peso as functional currency to report revenue and expenses. As a result, we will be exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations when we translate the financial statements of our group companies into U.S. dollars in consolidation. If there is a change in foreign currency exchange rates, the translation of any of the group companie's financial statements into U.S. dollars will lead to a translation gain or loss which is recorded as a component of other comprehensive income. In addition, we may have certain monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in currencies other than the relevant entity's functional currency. To the extent the U.S. dollar strengthens or weakens against the certain foreign currencies then the translation of foreign currency denominated transactions will result in a change to reported revenue, operating expenses and net income for subsidiary operations. We have not entered into agreements or purchased instruments to hedge our exchange rate risks, although we may do so in the future. The availability and effectiveness of any hedging transaction may be limited, and we may not be able to successfully hedge fully our exchange rate risks. We monitor our foreign exchange exposures, and these activities mitigate, but do not eliminate, our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. As a result, exchange rate fluctuations may materially adversely affect our operating results in future periods.

Our customers include primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, other education providers and, to a lesser extent, government agencies, each of which depends heavily on government funding. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession could cause a substantial disruption in, decrease or stagnation of, spending and budget priorities for government funding of schools, colleges, universities and other education providers and government agencies. The economy had only recently experienced a similar disruption from the worldwide recession of 2008 and subsequent sovereign debt and global financial crisis, which resulted in substantial declines in the revenues and fiscal capacity of many national, federal, state, provincial and local governments. Like in the 2008 financial crisis, where many of those governments have reacted to the decreases in revenues by cutting funding to educational institutions, we anticipate that governments and governmental entities will react similarly to the economic crisis and resulting decreases in revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by cutting funding to educational institutions. If our products are not a high priority expenditure for such institutions, or if such institutions allocate expenditures to substitute alternative technologies, we could lose revenue. Any additional decrease in, stagnation of or adverse change in national, federal, state, provincial or local funding for primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, or other education providers or for government agencies that use our products could cause our current and prospective customers to further reduce their purchases of our products, which could cause us to lose additional revenue. In addition, a specific reduction in governmental funding support for products such as ours could also cause us to lose revenue.

Our products are highly complex and sophisticated and, from time to time, have contained and may continue to contain design defects or software "bugs" or failures that are difficult to detect and correct in advance of shipping. The occurrence of errors and defects in our products could result in loss of, or delay in, market acceptance of our products, including harm to our brand. Correcting such errors and failures in our products could require significant expenditure of capital by us. In addition, we are rapidly developing and introducing new products, and new products may have higher rates of errors and defects than our established products. The Boxlight Group has historically provided product warranties between one and five years, and the failure of our products to operate as described could give rise to warranty claims. The consequences of such errors, failures and other defects and claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and our reputation.

Our working capital requirements and cash flows have historically been, and are expected to continue to be, subject to quarterly and yearly fluctuations, depending on a number of factors. Factors which could result in cash flow fluctuations include: - the level of sales and the related margins on those sales;- the collection of receivables;- the timing and size of purchases of inventory and related components; and - the timing of payment on payables and accrued liabilities. If we are unable to manage fluctuations in cash flow, our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. For example, we may be unable to make required interest payments on our indebtedness.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, we generated approximately 78% of our revenues from sales of our interactive display products, consisting of interactive flat-panels and whiteboards. A decrease in demand for our interactive displays would significantly reduce our revenue. If any of our competitors introduces attractive alternatives to our interactive displays, we could experience a significant decrease in sales as customers migrate to those alternative products.