CXApp (CXAI) Risk Factors

Developing products and related enhancements in our field is expensive. Investments in research and development may not result in significant design improvements, marketable products or features or may result in products that are more expensive than anticipated. We may not achieve the cost savings or the anticipated performance improvements expected, and we may take longer to generate revenue from products in development or generate less revenue than expected. Our future plans include significant investments in research and development and related product opportunities. Our management believes that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to research and development efforts to maintain a competitive position. However, we may not receive significant revenue from these investments in the near future, or these investments may not yield the expected benefits, either of which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

We have not registered copyrights on any of the software we have developed, and while we may register copyrights in the software if needed before bringing suit for copyright infringement, such registration can introduce delays before suit of over three years and can constrain damages for infringement. We rely upon confidentiality agreements signed by our employees, consultants and third parties to protect our intellectual property. We cannot assure you that we can adequately protect our intellectual property or successfully prosecute actual or potential infringement of our intellectual property rights. In addition, we cannot assure you that others will not assert rights in, or ownership of, trademarks and other proprietary rights of ours or that we will be able to successfully resolve these types of conflicts to our satisfaction. Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may result in a loss of revenue and could materially adversely affect our operations and financial condition. In addition, any patents issued in the future may not provide us with any competitive advantages, and our patent applications may never be granted. The process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Even if issued, there can be no assurance that these patents will adequately protect our intellectual property, as the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of patent and other intellectual property rights are complex and often uncertain and are subject to change that can affect validity of patents issued under previous legal standards, particularly with respect to the law of subject matter eligibility. Our inability to protect our property rights could adversely affect our financial condition, operating results and growth prospects. Our proprietary software is protected by common law copyright laws, as opposed to registration under copyright statutes. We have not registered copyrights on any of the proprietary software we have developed. Our performance and ability to compete are dependent to a significant degree on our proprietary technology. Common law protection may be narrower than that which we could obtain under registered copyrights. As a result, we may experience difficulty in enforcing our copyrights against certain third party infringements. As part of our confidentiality-protection procedures, we generally enter into agreements with our employees and consultants and limit access to, and distribution of, our software, documentation and other proprietary information. There can be no assurance that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our technology or that agreements entered into for that purpose will be enforceable. The laws of other countries may afford us little or no protection of our intellectual property. We also rely on a variety of technology that we license from third parties. There can be no assurance that these third party technology licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The loss of or inability to maintain or obtain upgrades to any of these technology licenses could result in delays in completing software enhancements and new development until equivalent technology could be identified, licensed or developed and integrated. Any such delays would materially and adversely affect our business.

Because our location-based security products and services are complex, they have contained and may contain design or manufacturing defects or errors that are not detected until after their commercial release and deployment by customers. Defects may cause such products to be vulnerable to advanced persistent threats ("APTs") or security attacks, cause them to fail to help secure information or temporarily interrupt customers' networking traffic. Because the techniques used by hackers to access sensitive information change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques and provide a solution in time to protect customers' data. In addition, defects or errors in our subscription updates or products could result in a failure to effectively update customers' hardware products and thereby leave customers vulnerable to APTs or security attacks. Any defects, errors or vulnerabilities in our products could result in: - expenditure of significant financial and product development resources in efforts to analyze, correct, eliminate, or work-around errors or defects or to address and eliminate vulnerabilities;- delayed or lost revenue;- loss of existing or potential customers or partners;- increased warranty claims compared with historical experience, or increased cost of servicing warranty claims, either of which would adversely affect gross margins; and - litigation, regulatory inquiries, or investigations that may be costly and harm our reputation

We operate and compete in an industry characterized by rapid technological innovation, changing customer needs, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products, product enhancements, services and distribution methods. Our success depends on our ability to develop expertise with these new products, product enhancements, services and distribution methods and to implement solutions that anticipate and respond to rapid changes in technology, the industry, and customer needs. The introduction of new products, product enhancements and distribution methods could decrease demand for current products or render them obsolete. Sales of products and services can be dependent on demand for specific product categories, and any change in demand for or supply of such products could have a material adverse effect on our net sales if we fail to adapt to such changes in a timely manner. There can be no assurances that consumer or commercial demand for our future products will meet, or even approach, our expectations. In addition, our pricing and marketing strategies may not be successful. Lack of customer demand, a change in marketing strategy and changes to our pricing models could dramatically alter our financial results. Unless we are able to release location based products that meet a significant market demand, we will not be able to improve our financial condition or the results of our future operations.

Our business depends on our ability to successfully obtain payment from our customers of the amounts they owe us for products received from us and any work performed by us. The timely collection of our receivables allows us to generate cash flow, provide working capital and continue our business operations. Our customers may fail to pay or delay the payment of invoices for several reasons, including financial difficulties resulting from macroeconomic conditions or lack of an approved budget. An extended delay or default in payment relating to a significant account will have a material and adverse effect on the aging schedule and turnover days of our accounts receivable. If we are unable to timely collect our receivables from our customers for any reason, our business and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Federal, state, municipal and/or foreign governments and agencies have adopted and could in the future adopt, modify, apply or enforce laws, policies, and regulations covering user privacy, data security, technologies that are used to collect, store and/or process data, and/or the collection, use, processing, transfer, storage and/or disclosure of data associated with individuals. The categories of data regulated under these laws vary widely, are often broadly defined, and subject to new applications or interpretation by regulators. The uncertainty and inconsistency among these laws, coupled with a lack of guidance as to how these laws will be applied to current and emerging indoor positioning analytics technologies, creates a risk that regulators, lawmakers or other third parties, such as potential plaintiffs, may assert claims, pursue investigations or audits, or engage in civil or criminal enforcement. These actions could limit the market for our services and technologies or impose burdensome requirements on our services and/or customers' use of our services, thereby rendering our business unprofitable. Some features of our services may trigger the data protection requirements of certain foreign jurisdictions, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"), and the EU ePrivacy Directive. In addition, our services may be subject to regulation under current or future laws or regulations. For instance, the EU ePrivacy Directive is soon to be replaced in its entirety by the ePrivacy Regulation, which will bring with it an updated set of rules relevant to many aspects of our business. If our treatment of data, privacy practices or data security measures fail to comply with these current or future laws and regulations in any of the jurisdictions in which we collect and/or process information, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, civil or criminal enforcement, financial penalties, audits or other liabilities in such jurisdictions, or our customers may terminate their relationships with us. In addition, data protection laws, such as the GDPR, foreign court judgments or regulatory actions could affect our ability to transfer, process and/or receive transnational data that is critical to our operations, including data relating to users, customers, or partners outside the United States. For instance, the GDPR restricts transfers of personal data outside of the European Economic Area, including to the United States, subject to certain requirements. Such data protection laws, judgments or actions could affect the manner in which we provide our services or adversely affect our financial results if foreign customers and partners are not able to lawfully transfer data to us. This area of the law is currently under intense government scrutiny and many governments, including the U.S. government, are considering a variety of proposed regulations that would restrict or impact the conditions under which data obtained from individuals could be collected, processed, stored, transferred, sold or shared with third parties. In addition, regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General are continually proposing new regulations and interpreting and applying existing regulations in new ways. For example, in June 2018, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (the "CCPA"), which provides new data privacy rights for consumers and new informational, disclosure and operational requirements for companies, effective January 2020. Fines for noncompliance may be up to $7,500 per violation. The burdens imposed by the GDPR and CCPA, and changes to existing laws or new laws regulating the solicitation, collection, processing, or sharing of personal and consumer information, and consumer protection could affect our customers' utilization of our services and technology and could potentially reduce demand, or impose restrictions that make it more difficult or expensive for us to provide our services. In addition, ongoing legal challenges in Europe to the mechanisms allowing companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area to the United States could result in further limitations on the ability to transfer data across borders, particularly if governments are unable or unwilling to reach new or maintain existing agreements that support cross-border data transfers, such as the EUU.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks and the European Commission's Model Contractual Clauses, each of which are currently under particular scrutiny. Additionally, certain countries have passed or are considering passing laws requiring local data residency. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, privacy laws, regulations and standards may limit the use and adoption of our services, reduce overall demand for our services, make it more difficult to meet expectations from or commitments to customers, lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for noncompliance, impact our reputation, or slow the pace at which we close sales transactions, any of which could harm our business. Furthermore, the uncertain and shifting regulatory environment and trust climate may cause concerns regarding data privacy and may cause our customers or our customers' customers to resist providing the data necessary to allow our customers to use our services effectively. Even the perception that the privacy of personal information is not satisfactorily protected or does not meet regulatory requirements could inhibit sales of our products or services and could limit adoption of our cloud-based solutions.

Our customers utilize our services and technologies to track connected devices anonymously and we must rely on our customers to implement and administer notice and choice mechanisms required under applicable laws. If we or our customers fail to abide by these laws, it could result in litigation or regulatory or enforcement action against our customers or against us directly.

Our results of operations are materially affected by conditions in the global capital markets and the economy generally, both in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. Weak economic conditions generally, sustained uncertainty about global economic conditions, or a prolonged or further tightening of credit markets could cause our customers and potential customers to postpone or reduce spending on technology products or services or put downward pressure on prices, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows. Concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues and the availability of credit, in the U.S. have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy and the markets going forward. These factors, combined with volatile oil prices and wavering business and consumer confidence, have precipitated an economic slowdown and uncertain global outlook. Domestic and international equity markets have been experiencing heightened volatility and turmoil. These events and the continuing market upheavals may have an adverse effect on our business. In the event of extreme prolonged market events, such as the global economic recovery, we could incur significant losses.

The success of our business depends on the skill of our personnel. Accordingly, it is critical that we maintain, and continue to build, a highly experienced management team and specialized workforce, including those who create software programs and sales professionals. Competition for personnel with skill sets specific to our industry is high, and identifying candidates with the appropriate qualifications can be costly and difficult. We may not be able to hire the necessary personnel to implement our business strategy given our anticipated hiring needs, or we may need to provide higher compensation or more training to our personnel than we currently anticipate. Our business is labor intensive, and our success depends on our ability to attract, retain, train and motivate highly skilled employees, including employees who may become part of our organization in connection with our acquisitions. The increase in demand for consulting, technology integration and managed services has further increased the need for employees with specialized skills or significant experience in these areas. Our ability to expand our operations will be highly dependent on our ability to attract a sufficient number of highly skilled employees and to retain our employees and the employees of companies that we have acquired. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining enough employees to achieve our desired expansion or staffing plans. Furthermore, the industry turnover rates for these types of employees are high and we may not be successful in retaining, training or motivating our employees. Any inability to attract, retain, train and motivate employees could impair our ability to adequately manage and complete existing projects and to accept new customer engagements. Such inability may also force us to increase our hiring of independent contractors, which may increase our costs and reduce our profitability on customer engagements. We must also devote substantial managerial and financial resources to monitoring and managing our workforce. Our future success will depend on our ability to manage the levels and related costs of our workforce. In the event we are unable to attract, hire and retain the requisite personnel and subcontractors, we may experience delays in completing contracts in accordance with project schedules and budgets, which may have an adverse effect on our financial results, harm our reputation and cause us to curtail our pursuit of new contracts. Further, any increase in demand for personnel may result in higher costs, causing us to exceed the budget on a contract, which in turn may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results and harm our relationships with our customers.