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Documents Incorporated by Reference
Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
NEXTNAV INC.
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2023
Table of Contents
Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “NextNav,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” include NextNav Inc. and its subsidiaries.
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This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, and are not guarantees of future performance. The words “may,” “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “future,” “expect,” “intends,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “aim,” “strive,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, among other things, statements about:
| 1. | expectations regarding our strategies and future financial performance, including our future business plans or objectives, expected functionality of our geolocation services, anticipated timing and level of deployment of our services, anticipated demand and acceptance of our services, prospective performance and commercial opportunities and competitors, the timing of obtaining regulatory approvals, ability to finance our research and development activities, commercial partnership acquisition and retention, products and services, pricing, marketing plans, operating expenses, market trends, revenue, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and our ability to invest in growth initiatives; | |
| 2. | our ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination (as defined below), our ability to realize the anticipated technical and business benefits associated with the acquisition of NextNav France (as defined below), and any subsequent mergers, acquisitions, or other similar transactions, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, and the ability of the combined business to grow and manage growth profitably; | |
| 3. | factors relating to our future operations, projected capital resources and financial position, estimated revenue and losses, projected costs and capital expenditures, prospects and plans, including the potential increase in customers on our Pinnacle network, the expansion of our services in Japan through MetCom, and expectations about other international markets; | |
| 4. | projections of market growth and size, including the level of market acceptance for our services; | |
| 5. | our ability to adequately protect key intellectual property rights or proprietary technology; | |
| 6. | our ability to evolve our technology to be compatible with 5G NR, and realize the technical benefits of such proposed evolution; | |
| 7. | our ability to maintain our Location and Monitoring Service (“LMS”) licenses and obtain additional LMS licenses as necessary; | |
| 8. | our ability to maintain adequate operational financial resources or raise additional capital or generate sufficient cash flows, including the adequacy of our financial resources to meet our operational and working capital requirements for the 12-month period following the issuance of this report; | |
| 9. | our ability to develop and maintain effective internal controls; | |
| 10. | our success in recruiting and/or retaining officers, key employees or directors; | |
| 11. | expansion plans and opportunities; | |
| 12. | costs related to being a public company; | |
| 13. | our ability to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq; and | |
| 14. | the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings. |
We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. You should read this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
The following summarizes the principal factors that make an investment in us speculative or risky, all of which are more fully described in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” below. This summary should be read in conjunction with “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing our business.
Risks Related to the Business and the Industry
| ● | We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses in the future and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability and may need to raise additional capital to maintain our operations in the future. |
| ● | Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter. | |
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The Indenture governing our senior secured notes contains restrictions and other provisions regarding events of default that may make it more difficult to execute our strategy or to effectively compete, or that could materially and adversely affect our financial position. | |
| ● | Pinnacle z-axis is a new capability, and adoption may be delayed by our potential customers’ unfamiliarity with 3D position, a lack of ecosystem support (e.g., specific device sensors, 3D routing) and/or other factors. |
| ● | Our business plan and, in turn, our ability to generate revenue, depends in large part on end users accessing our services through our customers’ platforms. | |
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We may not be successful in the evolution of our TerraPoiNT technology to utilize 5G NR signals, which would increase our costs and may increase the challenges of adopting our service. | |
| ● | Our hybrid architecture, which depends on the use of our transmitters and our ability to calibrate signals transmitted by third parties, is unproven, may not perform well and may cost significantly more than our initial estimates. |
| ● | We face intense competition in our market from multiple sources, especially from competitors that offer their location services for free, which could make it difficult for us to acquire and retain customers and end users. |
| ● | We are heavily reliant on third parties, including AT&T, Verizon and Amazon Web Services for a variety of our products and business operations, as well as on a limited number of key vendors for timely supply of components necessary for our offerings. | |
| ● | Our services may not continue to be adopted or retained by wireless carriers and device vendors for E911. | |
| ● | Our Pinnacle service in smartphones and other mobile devices relies on the availability of barometric pressure measurements and 2D location being made available to us or our customers. |
| ● | Our services’ full potential is contingent on our distribution partners’ and customers’ access to a variety of third-party platforms, which creates a number of uncertainties and potential risks. | |
| ● | Our services are available within defined network footprints, and if we are not able to deploy new infrastructure, we will not be able to expand our service area. | |
| ● | There is no guarantee that TerraPoiNT service will be sold to commercial or additional government users or achieve broad commercial support in the United States or internationally. |
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There is no guarantee that Federal and state government resilient positioning, navigation and timing (“PNT”) programs will result in procurements that result in the adoption of our services or revenue to us, and the process that may result in such adoption or revenue may be delayed. | |
| ● | Our business depends on the use of location by a wide range of applications. Related privacy concerns could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users from using our products and applications. | |
| ● | Natural or man-made disasters, including cyber-security attacks or terrorist attacks could have an adverse effect on our business. | |
| ● | Actual or perceived disruptions of our information technology systems or data security incidents could have an adverse effect on our business. |
| ● | We may become subject to litigation arising out of any security breaches, which may adversely affect our business. Our insurance policies’ limits may not be sufficient to cover any related liabilities we may face. | |
| ● | We depend on the availability of personnel with the requisite level of technical expertise in the telecommunications industry, as well as on key members of our senior management team, and our performance could be adversely impacted if we fail to retain such key members and/or fail to find suitable replacements. |
| ● | The failure to successfully obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights and defend against challenges to our intellectual property rights could adversely affect us. | |
| ● | Our results could be adversely impacted as a result of increased inflation and supply chain pressures. | |
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Military action in different regions of the world, including Ukraine and the Middle East, and the resulting geopolitical effects, may directly or indirectly increase our risks from supply chain, cybersecurity, foreign currency fluctuations, or other factors. | |
| ● | Strategic transactions, including the Asset Purchase Agreement dated March 7, 2024, wherein we agreed to acquire an additional 4 MHz of M-LMS spectrum licenses in the 900 MHz band, involve significant risks and/or uncertainties that could adversely affect our business. |
Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
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Our business depends on access to radio spectrum to provide certain of our location services and access to such spectrum on a nationwide basis is not a certainty. | |
| ● | Our ability to fully utilize our spectrum by leveraging 5G NR signals to provide voice and data services in addition to position, navigation and timing will require changes to the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and spectrum license modifications, including changes with respect to those licenses that we are seeking to acquire pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement dated March 7, 2024. These FCC actions are not a certainty. |
| ● | Our FCC licenses authorize the use of radio frequencies that are shared with other radio services, which could result in harmful interference and impairment to our use of our licensed spectrum. |
| ● | Our LMS licenses are subject to renewal and end-of-term build-out requirements maintained by the FCC and no certainty exists that we will be able to secure ongoing renewals or comply with such build-out requirements. | |
| ● | Our retention and use of our LMS licenses has been the subject of ongoing objections by third parties that could result in the revocation or non-renewal of our LMS licenses and may impact our ability to modify our licenses. |
| ● | A portion of our business plan targets government customers, which subjects us to risks, including early termination, audits, investigations, sanctions and penalties. |
| ● | We and our service providers handle personal information, which creates legal obligations and may give rise to additional costs and liability. |
| ● | We are subject to stringent U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations. |
| ● | We are exposed to risks related to geopolitical and economic factors, laws and regulations and our international business subjects us to numerous risks associated with doing business globally. |
Risks Related to our Common Stock
| ● | If we issue and sell additional shares of our Common Stock in the future, our existing stockholders will be diluted and our stock price could fall. Further, certain of our Warrants are exercisable, which could increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders. |
| ● | Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval. |
| ● | We have never paid dividends on our capital stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. |
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are the market leader in delivering resilient, next generation, complementary positioning, navigation and timing (“PNT”) solutions designed to overcome the limitations and vulnerabilities of the existing space-based Global Positioning System (“GPS”) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (“GNSS”). Our complementary PNT solutions are built on a deep asset base, which we are evolving to utilize 5G New Radio (“5G NR”) technologies. We expect the evolution of our platform to 5G NR to significantly improve the efficiency and flexibility of our operations, technically enabling the delivery of high-bandwidth data services simultaneously with our industry-leading PNT solutions. Since the inception of NextNav, LLC in 2007, we have secured valuable Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) licenses for a contiguous 8 MHz band of 900 MHz M-LMS spectrum covering over 90% of the U.S. population, been granted more than 180 patents related to our systems and services, and standardized our TerraPoiNT technology in 3GPP, the global telecommunications standards-setting body.
The impact of GPS on the U.S. economy may exceed $1 trillion annually, according to a NextNav extrapolation of our data from a National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) sponsored study conducted by RTI International (“RTI”), and the European Commission has estimated a similar impact on the economy of the European Union in its 2018 budget process. The usage of GPS services is also rapidly expanding, with its presence in devices in the U.S. increasing from 600 million devices to 900 million devices between 2015 and 2019, according to information presented to the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board by the National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT. PNT resiliency is now a priority of the U.S. Federal Government. The Department of Homeland Security has classified the PNT vulnerabilities from GPS as cyber security threats, and the Department of Transportation has also outlined a Complementary PNT Action Plan, among other key federal initiatives. Higher performance and availability will continue to expand the reach and value of PNT solutions, while resilience is essential to protect the vast economic activity that is reliant on GPS. We are targeting a global addressable market that is greater than $100 billion.
Simultaneously, demand for wireless data services continues to grow. The backbone of wireless data services, electromagnetic spectrum, is a finite resource. Our spectrum licenses, covering 919.75-927.75 MHz, are referred to as “low-band spectrum”. There is a finite amount of low-band spectrum available, and it has favorable coverage characteristics compared to higher frequencies, including the ability to provide services indoors and at greater distances. These characteristics result in its ability to be used for coverage and to be deployed more economically, with higher-frequency spectrum often used to provide additional capacity in targeted locations. Our transition to 5G NR for our PNT services will provide a technical basis for us to simultaneously offer broadband data services in our band, which, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals, may allow us to utilize our spectrum to help meet the continued, growing demand for wireless data capacity.
We deliver differentiated PNT solutions through our network-based Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT solutions. Our Pinnacle system provides accurate altitude service to any device with a barometric pressure sensor, including most off-the-shelf Android and iOS smartphones, appropriately specified Internet of Things (“IOT”) devices, as well as vehicles and other equipment. In 2021, we launched our Pinnacle network in partnership with AT&T Services, Inc. (“AT&T”) for FirstNet®, the nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. Our Pinnacle network covers over 90% of commercial structures over three stories in the U.S., and in addition to FirstNet®, our network is being used for enhanced 911 (“E911”) by Verizon Communications, Inc. (“Verizon”), and a growing number of devices operating on the remaining national cellular network providers. Pinnacle has also been adopted by a growing number of public safety apps, commercial apps, and is available on multiple app development platforms. Our Pinnacle network is an important component of our PNT resiliency services, and is being evaluated as a persistent PNT characterization platform. We believe that continuing integration of our Pinnacle service into devices and applications will support revenue growth over the coming year.
Our TerraPoiNT system is a terrestrially-based, network designed to overcome the limitations inherent in the space-based nature of GPS. GPS is a faint, unencrypted signal, which is often unavailable indoors, distorted in urban areas, and vulnerable to both jamming and spoofing. TerraPoiNT overcomes these limitations through a network of wide area location transmitters that broadcast an PNT signal on our licensed 900 MHz LMS spectrum. Unlike GPS, the TerraPoiNT signal can be reliably received indoors and in urban areas, is difficult to jam or spoof compared to GPS, and can support signal authentication (e.g., encryption). Further, the TerraPoiNT signal can embed Pinnacle information to provide a full 3D PNT solution. TerraPoiNT offers positioning, navigation and can be configured to provide NIST-traceable timing services independently of GPS. We believe that these capabilities, whether as a more robust primary solution or as a backup in the event of GPS disruptions, are essential due to the economy’s reliance on GPS for location and precision timing. GPS resiliency is increasingly a U.S. national security priority, and is rising in priority in the European Union, non-European Union countries in Eastern Europe and in other parts of the world due to both the demonstrated vulnerability and lack of local control of space-based signals and systems, highlighted by recent events in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere. Critical infrastructure, including communications networks and power grids, require a reliable GPS signal for accurate timing. A failure of GPS could be catastrophic, and there is no comprehensive, terrestrial backup that is widely deployed today. TerraPoiNT received the highest scores in testing by the U.S. Department of Transportation (the “DoT”) reported in 2021 regarding potential PNT backup solutions, in each category tested, and was the only solution evaluated capable of providing the full set of services provided by GPS.
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As of March 2024, TerraPoiNT is deployed and available, with metro-wide service in the San Francisco Bay Area and select services available in 92 total markets nationally. It is also in use by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA for drone operations research and at its Ames facility in Mountain View, CA, leveraging our network in the Bay Area.
On October 31, 2022, we acquired Nestwave, SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée (as subsequently renamed, “NextNav France”), a privately held global leader in low-power geolocation, and completed integrating the NextNav France team into our existing engineering and technology organization during 2023. NextNav France provides advanced geolocation solutions to IOT modem and digital signal processor vendors and end IOT users. We believe that the combination of our technology with NextNav France’s LTE/5G capabilities will assist us to evolve our system to align with 5G NR.
NextNav France’s intellectual property also included a “soft GPS” capability, allowing GPS processing on LTE and 5G NR chipsets, reducing the cost and power requirements for certain types of GPS services for IOT devices. We have licensed this technology to chipset vendors, including a global Tier 1 LTE and 5G NR modem vendor. We expect to start to see the results of these licensing arrangements in 2024.
Our Strategy
Domestically, we operate primarily as a facilities-based service provider, leveraging our intellectual property, spectrum assets and partnerships with key customers. Our target customers include wireless carriers, applications developers, and adjacent businesses selling PNT products and systems to end users, and Federal, state and local governmental entities. Subject to regulatory approvals and the successful evolution of our technology to align with 5G NR standards, our spectrum can be used to offer high-bandwidth data capabilities. We deploy sensor and network capabilities, either directly or with our customers and partners, and license access to our technologies and the data generated by our networks to our customers. Internationally, we provide equipment, software and services to our customers to enable them to partner in the operation of our systems in their home markets. The key elements of our strategy include:
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Continue to build on our leadership in complementary PNT. We anticipate that the expanded availability of our systems will continue to provide enhanced value to existing customers and open new vertical markets. In addition to our relationship with FirstNet®, built with AT&T, and our public safety offerings, we are continuing to grow our E911 service, including with Verizon, and have licensed our technology to devices operating on the remaining nationwide wireless carriers. We are working closely with the DoT and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), among other agencies, as well as the U.S. Congress to drive our PNT solutions to be a critical component of national backup capabilities for GPS, with government action expected to be a precursor to broader adoption by commercial enterprise, IOT and critical infrastructure customers. Redundancy to space-based PNT systems is rising in priority in the European Union, non-European Union countries in Eastern Europe and in other parts of the world due to both the demonstrated vulnerability and lack of local control of space-based signals and systems, highlighted by recent events in Ukraine and the Middle East, while MetCom, our partner in Japan, continues to build their services and asset base utilizing our technologies. | |
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Evolve our system to be fully aligned with 5G NR standards. We built the original technology for our TerraPoiNT system to maximize compatibility with the GPS ecosystem. With the integration of technologies acquired with NextNav France, we demonstrated the ability to combine elements of a dedicated positioning system with cellular signals to improve service reach, reduce initial deployment cost and potentially expand the number of addressable devices. We are now further evolving the technical foundation of our system to 5G NR. This will allow us to continue to provide PNT services, while extending the use of our spectrum by enabling data capacity similar to other 5G NR communications systems. We anticipate that this may allow us to significantly increase the scope of potential customers and partners, improve the geographic coverage of our business and align our operations with the mainstream global cellular ecosystem, increasing the potential reach of our services. |
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Continue seeking ways to maximize the value of our spectrum licenses. NextNav will continue to evaluate ways to enhance the value of its spectrum licenses, including by taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by implementing 5G NR and pursuing additional uses of our licensed spectrum. |
Industry Background
PNT services are used in nearly every facet of our economy. Cellular and electrical distribution systems depend on GPS-based timing, the mobile app economy relies on location to create innovative services and to drive data and advertising revenue, and public safety and E911 saves lives every day with the use of location services.
GPS has powered the global economy for nearly 40 years. Without high-precision timing from GPS, cellular systems would quickly fail and the distribution of electricity would be impacted, while GPS-based location facilitates everything from aviation and wireless 911 location to the mobile app economy. Based on research performed for NIST by RTI in 2019, for example, GPS alone is calculated to have provided nearly $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy between 1984 and 2017, with nearly a quarter of that value, exceeding $300 billion, delivered in the last year of their analysis. Applying the average 2015-2017 growth rate from the NIST RTI analysis implies that the 2021 domestic value provided by GPS was approximately $700 billion and the 2023 value is expected to be approximately $1.1 trillion. Driving that growth has been the significant adoption of GPS in devices of all kinds, growing from 600 million devices in 2015 in the U.S. to 900 million devices in 2019, according to information presented to the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board by the National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT. This is consistent with analysis performed by the European Commission, which estimated the contribution of global navigation satellite services (“GNSS”) in the European Union was approximately EUR 1.2 trillion in 2018.
GPS and GNSS services, however, have inherent limitations due to their faint signal and the geometry of the orbital satellites especially near the Earth’s surface. This results in poor performance, especially in urban environments, indoors, and other locations where precise altitude determination is essential. The increasing demand for location services has resulted in the development of a number of supplements and alternatives to traditional GPS.
Simultaneously, wireless technologies, especially those deployed by cellular service providers, have evolved significantly from their initial deployments. With LTE, and more recently 5G NR, multiple new features, including positioning, are supported to enable a wide variety of services over the same wireless spectrum bandwidth, with the potential to improve both the density and availability of PNT signals, and improve the use of scarce wireless spectrum.
Our Solutions
Our location systems have been engineered and deployed to provide comprehensive solutions to the limitations and vulnerabilities inherent in GPS-based services. Key GPS limitations include:
| ● | Low signal strength resulting in poor building/indoor penetration, limitations in urban areas; |
| ● | Vulnerability to jamming; |
| ● | Poor vertical accuracy in most devices, which impacts any service where altitude is relevant (e.g., multi-level structures, vertical separation in low-altitude aviation); |
| ● | The primary consumer GPS signal is unencrypted, resulting in poor location security and spoofing; |
| ● | Inherent physical vulnerability due to few, isolated transmitters; and |
| ● | Single point of failure for a wide range of PNT services. |
Isolated solutions to various aspects of the limitations to GPS-based positioning have been deployed, but none carry the primary benefits of GPS, which are high performance across a wide area and availability to a wide range of devices for PNT services.
Our current service platforms include Pinnacle, our altitude (z-axis) solution, and TerraPoiNT, which is similar to a terrestrial GPS constellation. Both systems offer metro-wide service, are inherently secure and can provide universal service access to all types of appropriately-equipped devices that use location services. As part of our acquisition of NextNav France, we also acquired a low-power GPS processing technology that has been licensed to a Tier 1 global chipset vendor. This technology enables IOT devices to get GPS position fixes at lower power, in lower cost devices.
Pinnacle
Pinnacle is our z-axis service, a dedicated vertical positioning network to cover entire metropolitan areas. Pinnacle provides devices equipped with a barometric pressure sensor with the highest quality wide-area altitude service available in the U.S. market today based on a CTIA/FCC “911 Location Test Bed, LLC Report on Stage Z” from 2018. Our service is now available in the top 105 major U.S. markets, which include more than 4,400 cities and more than 90% of commercial buildings that exceed three stories. In November 2022, Pinnacle service was launched by MetCom in Japan, with expanded geographic service available in 2023.
Because our Pinnacle technology relies on measurements available with the hardware currently used in most mobile phones and tablets, it can be made available for mass market applications, as well as enterprise, public safety and other applications. Our Pinnacle service can be delivered to customers in this segment over an applications programming interface (“API”) or via an SDK integrated into the relevant applications.
To expand access to and use of our Pinnacle services, we work closely with sensor vendors to provide input on key sensor performance factors necessary to produce optimal Pinnacle services. We also recently launched the NextNav Certified™ program. The NextNav Certified™ program allows pressure sensor vendors to perform a set of tests monitored by us. If a vendor meets the criteria for performance while adhering to the test procedures, the vendor can display the NextNav badge on its website and use the endorsement in its marketing to device vendors. Bosch Sensortec, InvenSense Goertek and ST Microelectronics currently offer NextNav Certified™ sensors.
TerraPoiNT
TerraPoiNT is our full 3D PNT system, standardized in the global telecommunications standards group, 3GPP Release 13 as Metropolitan Beacon System (“MBS”). The current technical specification for the standard MBS signal, or Interface Control Document, can be downloaded from ATIS, the North American affiliate to 3GPP. We are in the process of evolving TerraPoiNT to 5G NR-based technology. We license elements of our receiver technology to third-party chipset providers and device vendors, typically with no per device royalty, to enable the reception of our signal on their devices.
Positioning, navigation and timing are the core services provided by GPS, and TerraPoiNT can be thought of as a land-based GPS satellite constellation. In the United States, this service operates on 8 MHz of contiguous LMS spectrum licensed to us in the 900 MHz band and covering more than 90% of the U.S. population (see “Radio Spectrum” for more information about these licenses). We have deployed a wide area TerraPoiNT network in two markets in the San Francisco Bay Area and in smaller networks in 90 additional markets throughout the U.S. We are also supporting a pilot program with our joint venture partner in Japan, MetCom, to enable a possible permanent spectrum allocation.
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TerraPoiNT service is made available through a highly distributed terrestrial network of transmitters, and is naturally resilient to service disruption and significantly more resistant to jamming than GPS. If GPS is disrupted, or completely eliminated, a TerraPoiNT transmitter continues to operate and provide similar service within the TerraPoiNT service area. If one TerraPoiNT transmitter is disrupted, service continues from other nearby transmitters. Thus, there is both local and national resilience embedded in the basic system design. By operating on licensed spectrum and transmitting terrestrially in the lower 900 MHz band, the TerraPoiNT signal is significantly more difficult to disrupt than space-based signals.
TerraPoiNT was initially designed for maximum compatibility with GPS and other GNSS receivers, previously demonstrated by Broadcom on a version of their 4775 platform and GCT’s GDM7243i, among other platforms. We expect to evolve the TerraPoiNT system to 5G NR, resulting in potentially broader receiver compatibility. This evolution will enable the TerraPoiNT signal to be processed by the hardware used to process 5G NR signals. We anticipate that such an evolution would increase our spectrum utilization significantly, allowing us to offer a data capacity as well as PNT capabilities using the same spectrum. This increased data transmission capacity could be used, subject to FCC approval, to provide other types of 5G NR-based two-way voice and data transmission services while maintaining or improving our PNT capabilities.
The expansion of the TerraPoiNT network build-out will require significant investment; however, as with our Pinnacle system, we anticipate exploring partnership opportunities as part of that deployment. We believe that the evolution to 5G NR may increase the number of such potential opportunities.
Privacy and Data Security
We understand that protection of data and privacy is critically important to the end-users of our services. Our core privacy principles are:
| 1. | Transparency: We are transparent about our data practices, and we comply with our privacy policies and agreements so customers and business partners can make informed decisions. |
| 2. | Control: We have implemented appropriate means for our customers and business partners to control relevant personal and business information. |
| 3. | Security: We endeavor to protect the data entrusted to us by using strong security protocols. NextNav maintains a cybersecurity team, responsible for threat monitoring, protection of internal and customer-facing systems and third party compliance testing of NextNav’s cyber security controls. |
| 4. | Compliance: We respect and comply with local privacy laws, ensuring that privacy-by-design is a core consideration as we develop our products and services. |
| 5. | Consent: We require appropriate opt-in consent for the provision of all of our services, consistent with the requirements of local law. |
Based on industry best-practices, we have implemented multilayered administrative, physical, and technical security measures to protect data. Data access is implemented with the rule of “least privilege,” and we isolate data by service, business function and customer agreement. Our data is encrypted both at rest (locally on the device and on the server) and in transit.
Manufacturing and Network Operations
Manufacturing
Our services are provided in part through equipment we design, generally manufactured under contract by domestic vendors in the United States. The Pinnacle altitude stations provide a high-performance reference for altitude determination at low cost. The TerraPoiNT beacons are sophisticated broadcast transmitters that incorporate a very accurate timing system to provide a signal that is similar to that provided by GPS in a terrestrial transmitter. These units are designed to be integrated with our cloud services platform and managed by software that we designed and created for these systems.
Network Operations
Our Pinnacle network is primarily operated in partnership with AT&T. The Pinnacle altitude stations are co-located at AT&T wireless sites and take advantage of the power systems, including battery backup and generators, at the AT&T sites. We monitor the Pinnacle network health through our network operations center (“NOC”) and work with AT&T to resolve any issues that may arise. Connectivity among the Pinnacle altitude stations, our cloud service platform, and our NOC are enabled through wireless connections, currently provided by AT&T.
We are not required to use AT&T wireless sites for network expansion and may establish new service areas through independently-acquired site leases or with other partners.
Our TerraPoiNT network is deployed, operated, and maintained by us. The equipment is installed at traditional wireless sites with a mix of towers and rooftops. We monitor the network health through the same NOC as the Pinnacle network and directly dispatch our maintenance contractors if needed.
AT&T Relationship
We have entered into a series of agreements with AT&T to provide our Pinnacle services to FirstNet®, built with AT&T, and to enable the co-location of elements of our network at AT&T’s wireless sites. By co-locating the Pinnacle equipment at AT&T wireless sites, we were able to accelerate the nationwide deployment of our services and significantly reduce the ongoing operating costs associated with the Pinnacle system.
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Our AT&T agreements provide for: (i) AT&T’s marketing and resale of Pinnacle services to FirstNet® subscribers and certain pricing requirements for our SDKs based on the quantity of usage, revenue sharing, compliance with data rights and privacy, and support requirements; and (ii) AT&T hosting of Pinnacle equipment for altitude determination at AT&T sites, at no recurring cost to us.
We have provided AT&T with performance assurances and certain intellectual property and transition support rights in the event we are unable to continue providing services to AT&T, have significant service outages, or engage in transactions with certain persons. The parties also entered into escrow arrangements on customary terms for intellectual property storage and verification of the deposited escrow materials in various different escrow “lockers,” which could be accessed by AT&T based on different conditions on which the draw down could be made.
In 2019, we entered into an equipment hosting agreement with AT&T that has a seven-year term (subject to earlier termination after three years in certain circumstances), expiring in October 2026. Under the terms of the equipment hosting agreement, AT&T is providing all site related services during AT&T’s continued use of the service. Our services agreement with AT&T for distribution of our services to FirstNet® customers, has been extended to October 24, 2025.
Competition and Competitive Advantages
The geolocation industry is highly competitive and we compete with incumbent geolocation services like GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals, augmented by other sensor inputs, as well as other companies who are new entrants into the market seeking to provide a solution to the same needs as we are.
The increasing demand for location services has resulted in the development of a number of supplements and alternatives to traditional GPS. The primary candidates for GPS backup technologies are based on approaches that are significantly different than the technical approach adopted by us. These competitive technologies include:
| ● | eLORAN. eLORAN is an advanced version of the World War II-era hyperbolic radio navigation system that was developed in response to the perceived vulnerability of the GNSS systems. eLORAN, like its predecessor, uses very low frequencies (in the 100 kHz range), but has an advanced receiver design and transmission characteristics, which increase the accuracy and usefulness of traditional LORAN. These enhancements make it a suitable substitute for GPS. Because eLORAN requires larger antennas and form factors for its receivers, it does not have the same versatility as our solutions. It is more suited to, for example, the maritime environment. |
| ● | LEO Satellite Systems. Low Earth orbit (“LEO”) satellite systems offer primarily timing service based on signals transmitted from LEO satellite constellations, transmitted in the L-Band. Because it is in a lower orbit, the LEO signal is much stronger than GPS, allowing for improved reception in urban areas and limited indoor reception. The primary limitation of LEO-based systems is that they remain a satellite-based signal, so the signal is not as strong as a terrestrial-based system. In addition, as an add-on technology, its design is not as flexible as a dedicated system. |
| ● | Commercial Location Systems. Commercial location systems generally include cellular systems, crowd-sourced systems and locally managed systems. Cellular systems may use signals from 4G/5G transmitters to extract location information in the immediate vicinity of such 4G/5G transmitters. Cellular systems are typically used as a fallback when the GPS signal is not available (e.g., indoors), but do not provide the same accuracy that our solutions provide and are ultimately dependent on GPS. Crowd-sourced systems, such as those provided by Google and Apple through APIs in their mobile operation system platforms, rely on the application of machine learning techniques to location information gathered from mobile devices. These systems are “best-efforts systems” that compare GPS measurements to Wi-Fi access point signal strength, cellular signals and other signals gathered from millions of devices to estimate the location of the access points. Crowd-sourced systems vary considerably in accuracy, offer less accurate vertical positioning information and are subject to degradation if there is an issue with local power and local access points. Locally Managed Systems are systems that rely on the management of lower-power signals, managed WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy, dedicated beacons with large bandwidth requirements and Ultrawideband to provide location services. These systems are centrally managed by the enterprise or a vendor, and typically offer high accuracy and reliability, but are expensive to deploy and manage, offer only limited coverage, are dependent upon local power sources and are usually only available to the entity that deployed them. Most commercial location systems do not provide an independent timing source, so are limited in their ability to be a viable backup to GPS. |
We believe our 3D solutions offer a superior alternative to each of these services. The following summary of a report published in 2021 by the DoT characterizes and ranks the different available systems, ranking our service the highest.
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| (1) | Weighted score based upon accuracy, availability, product readiness, resilience and security. |
| (2) | Weighted score based upon accuracy, availability, product readiness, resilience and security. |
| (3) | Market readiness of Timing Performance using terrestrial RF broadcast. |
| (4) | Mass market readiness for Position AND Timing using terrestrial RF broadcast. |
| (5) | Mass market readiness of timing using RF broadcast. |
| (6) | Mass market readiness for Timing AND Positioning using RF broadcast. |
As indicated by the aforementioned results, our solutions offer a differentiated quality over our competitors. We offer significantly better indoor and outdoor performance with receivers that, at production scale, have reduced power consumption and no incremental cost or size difference with GPS. Our system is also significantly more resilient due to its distributed, metro-oriented architecture. We offer better performance and a much stronger signal, due to its terrestrial deployment. It is also more resilient, and has greater design flexibility as a dedicated system as opposed to a feature added to a legacy communications satellite network. Our solutions are not impacted by the density of third-party access points, building power, or other issues, and are suitable for any device — from an airplane to a phone to an IOT tracking module.
While various competitors may provide individual elements such as altitude, or timing-only capability, we believe that we provide the only solutions addressing full customer requirements around positioning, navigation and timing. Our solutions are consistently accurate in nearly all environments and conditions. We are well-positioned to compete in our industry based on our core competencies and on the following competitive strengths:
| ● | Physical altitude network that covers more than 4,400 U.S. cities and towns and 90% of all commercial building in excess of three stories; |
| ● | Unique nationwide spectrum asset of 8 MHz of contiguous, 900 MHz LMS spectrum, covering over 90% of the U.S. population and representing 2.4 billion MHz-PoPs; |
| ● | Technological innovation; |
| ● | Highest performing resilient GPS solution provider as determined by DoT; |
| ● | Global IP portfolio of more than 180 patents that covers the core technology, network design and services capability; and |
| ● | Visionary and experienced management team. |
The combination of these elements puts us in a unique position that cannot be easily replicated. We believe that our collective expertise, coupled with the aforementioned strengths, will allow us to build our business and expand our market opportunity and addressable markets.
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Intellectual Property
Our ability to drive innovation in PNT services depends in part upon our ability to protect our core technologies and intellectual property. We rely upon a combination of patent, trademark and trade secret laws in the United States and abroad, as well as license agreements and other contractual protections. In addition, we seek to protect our intellectual property rights through nondisclosure and invention assignment agreements with our employees and consultants and through non-disclosure agreements with business partners and other third parties.
We regularly file applications for patents and have a significant number of patents in the United States and other countries where we do business.
As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately 186 issued patents domestically and internationally, which includes approximately 121 issued patents in the US. In addition, we had approximately 94 pending patent applications, which includes approximately 43 pending patent applications in the U.S.
Sales and Marketing
We sell our solutions directly to customers or through partners. For example, we have formed a joint venture in Japan with MetCom to operate our TerraPoiNT system and Pinnacle system for commercial services, leveraging Sony and Kyocera network infrastructure. Additionally, we expect existing customers to expand their contracts with us for the deployment of additional services. New service offerings and product features will be introduced over time to increase market share and grow the total addressable market for our services.
Our marketing strategies are focused on supporting sales growth by (i) driving awareness; (ii) developing comprehensive sales and marketing content; and (iii) scaling our efforts with our partners and customers. We drive awareness for our solutions and our customers’ successes through communications efforts and participation to leading industry standards.
Research and Development
We have significant in-house capabilities in the engineering and development of location-based technology. The services that we provide are largely based on designs and technologies developed by us for our use, some of which we subsequently standardized. We invest significant resources into research and development programs because we believe our ability to maintain and extend our market share depends, in part, on our continuous innovations. These innovations offer a unique value proposition for our customers and differentiate us from our competitors. Our research and development team consists of over 77 employees, who are responsible for the development of both the Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT solutions. Our research and development team consists of talented engineers, scientists, and professionals who have been pioneers in location-based services. Our primary areas of focus in research and development include, but are not limited to:
| ● | Radiolocation position and navigation technologies; |
| ● | Precision timing and time distribution; |
| ● | 4G/5G positioning and timing systems; |
| ● | Altitude determination, including barometric altitude determination; and |
| ● | Location verification techniques, including techniques to mitigate spoofing. |
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Human Capital
We pride ourselves on the quality of our world-class team and seek to hire employees dedicated to our strategic mission. Our employees typically have significant experience working with location systems. As of December 31, 2023, we employed 111 full-time employees, the majority in our headquarters in McLean, Virginia and in our facility in Sunnyvale, California. Over 77 of our employees are engaged in research and development and related functions, and more than half of these employees hold advanced engineering and scientific degrees, including many from the world’s top universities.
To date, we have not experienced any work stoppages and consider our relationship with our employees to be good. None of our employees are either represented by a labor union or subject to a collective bargaining agreement.
Facilities
We maintain a distributed workforce with facilities in McLean, Virginia, Sunnyvale, California, Puteaux, France, Noida, India and Bangalore, India. Our principle executive office is in McLean, Virginia. Our corporate offices in Virginia include executive, finance, regulatory and network deployment functions, while our California facility hosts our technology development functions, among other functions. Our French and Indian locations house a mix of employees and contractors focused on software development and research and development functions. We may add additional facilities in other locations in the future.
Regulatory
There are government regulations pertaining to our operation, use, and export of our vertical location and PNT solutions, some of which are currently applicable to us and others that will become applicable to us as we expand our operations. As we expand service to additional countries and regions, we will become subject to additional governmental approvals and regulations.
Radio Spectrum
Certain of our services rely on the use of radio communications spectrum, which is regulated in the United States and in most other countries. In the United States, spectrum access is licensed and regulated by the FCC. We hold radio licenses issued by the FCC that authorize the use of 8 MHz of contiguous spectrum in the 900 MHz band covering more than 90% of the population in the United States. These licenses and the FCC rules impose obligations on us regarding the use of this spectrum, including power and operational limits, spectrum sharing and interference restrictions, build out and usage requirements, and a license renewal obligation. We must comply with these requirements in order to retain access and use of these spectrum resources.
Privacy
In developing highly accurate location information, we collect, process, transmit and store personal information, such as certain individual geolocation information, and other personal information relating to its business contacts, personnel, end users, and website visitors. A variety of federal and state laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of this information. The U.S. privacy and data protection legal landscape continues to evolve, with California and Virginia having enacted broad-based data privacy and protection legislation and with states and the federal government continuing to consider additional data privacy and protection legislation. As we expand overseas, our joint venture partners will be subject to foreign data privacy and protection legislation, and we may be as well.
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Export
Our business plans are based in part on the distribution of its services worldwide. We are required to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the foreign asset control regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Pursuant to these foreign trade control laws and regulations, we are required, among other things, to (i) determine the proper licensing jurisdiction and export classification of products, software, and technology, (ii) obtain licenses or other forms of U.S. government authorization, or qualify for exceptions, to export our products, software, and technology outside the United States, and (iii) avoid engaging in unauthorized transactions with certain sanctioned countries, territories, entities, and individuals. Violations of applicable export control and sanctions laws and related regulations, which are enforced on a strict liability basis, could result in criminal and administrative penalties, including fines and possible denial of export privileges. U.S. export licenses or license exceptions are required to transfer or make accessible certain of our software source code and technology to our non-U.S. employees. In addition, U.S. export control laws and related licensing policies continue to change, further regulating the export and re-export of our products, services, and technology from the United States and abroad, and increasing our costs and the time necessary to obtain required authorization.
See the section entitled “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters” for additional information regarding the regulatory requirements applicable to us.
Business Combination
On October 28, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), we consummated business combination pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of June 9, 2021, by and among us, Spartacus Acquisition Corp., a Delaware special purpose acquisition company (“Spartacus”), NextNav Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Holdings”) and the other parties thereto (the “Business Combination”). As a result of the Business Combination, certain blocker entities formed by Holdings equity holders, Holdings and the various operating subsidiaries of Holdings became our wholly owned subsidiaries, with the equity holders of each of such blocker entities and Holdings and Spartacus’ stockholders becoming our stockholders. In connection with the Business Combination, we changed our name to NextNav Inc. and the Nasdaq ticker symbols for our Common Stock and warrants to “NN” and “NNAVW,” respectively.
Corporate Information and Access to SEC Reports
We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in May 2021 under the name “Spartacus Acquisition Shelf Corp.” by Spartacus Acquisition Corp., a Delaware special purpose acquisition company, for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combinations with one or more businesses or assets. On October 28, 2021, in connection with the closing of the Business Combination, we changed our name to “NextNav Inc.”
Our principal executive office is located at 1775 Tysons Blvd., 5th Floor, McLean, VA 22102. Our telephone number is (800) 775-0982, and our website address is www.nextnav.com. Information contained on, or accessible through, our website is provided for textual reference only and does not constitute part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our operating subsidiary, NextNav, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings), was formed in October 2007 under the laws of the State of Delaware. In connection with the Business Combination, the various operating subsidiaries of Holdings became our wholly owned subsidiaries.
We make our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, available free of charge in the “Investors” section of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file these reports with the SEC. We routinely post these reports, recent news and announcements, financial results and other important information about our business on our website at www.nextnav.com. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
In addition, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) maintains an Internet website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
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An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before you decide whether to invest in our securities. We may face additional risks and uncertainties that are not presently known to us, or that we currently deem immaterial, which may also impair our business. The following discussion should be read in connection with the financial statements and notes to the financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should consult your own financial and legal advisors as to the risks entailed by an investment in our securities and the suitability of investing in our securities in light of your particular circumstances. Some statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including such statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. See the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risks Related to the Business and the Industry
We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses in the future, may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability, and may need to raise additional capital to maintain our operations in the future.
We have incurred significant losses since inception and until the second quarter of 2021 had not widely commercially sold our solutions. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we incurred net losses of $71.7 million, $40.1 million and $144.7 million, respectively. Furthermore, any expansion of our TerraPoiNT services will result in increased operating costs. As a result, our losses are expected to continue and we may not achieve profitability when expected, or at all. Even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase profitability.
Since becoming a public company, our operating expenses have increased, and we expect our operating expenses to continue to increase over the next several years as we scale our operations, increase research and development efforts relating to new offerings and technologies, hire more employees, and operate as a public company. These efforts may be more costly than we expect and may not result in meaningful revenue or growth in our business. Any failure to initiate and increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our investments and other expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow. If our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flow or losses resulting from expanding our operations, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We believe that our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2023 will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs, including all contractual commitments, beyond the next 12 months. We expect to meet longer term expected future cash requirements and obligations through a combination of cash flows from operations and issuance of equity securities or debt offerings. However, this determination is based upon internal financial projections of operating cash flows and is subject to changes in market and business conditions. Our ability to obtain debt financing and/or issue equity securities on acceptable terms, or at all, will depend on, among other things, our financial performance and credit ratings, general economic factors, including inflation and then-current interest rates, the condition of the credit and capital markets and other events, some of which may be beyond our control.
Our limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter.
We have been focused on developing the next generation of geolocation services utilizing vertical (z-axis) location services and in order for us to be profitable, our services require substantial adoption across disparate industries. We have only recently begun to commercially market our services, so it is difficult, in consideration of our limited operating history, to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter. Risks and challenges we have faced or expect to face include our ability to:
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| ● | forecast our revenue and budget for and manage our expenses; |
| ● | attract new customers and retain existing customers; |
| ● | effectively manage our growth and business operations, including planning for and managing capital expenditures for our current and future infrastructure, and managing our supply chain and supplier relationships related to our services; |
| ● | effectively manage our spending on sales and marketing in order to address a disparate set of industries; |
| ● | comply with existing and new or modified laws and regulations applicable to our business; |
| ● | anticipate and respond to macroeconomic changes and changes in the markets in which we operate; |
| ● | maintain and enhance the value of our reputation and brand; |
| ● | develop and protect intellectual property; and |
| ● |
hire, integrate and retain talented people at all levels of its organization. |
There is ongoing volatility in the financial and capital markets. If our access to capital is restricted or associated borrowing costs increase as a result of developments in financial markets, our operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted.
If we fail to address the risks and difficulties that we face, including those associated with the challenges listed above as well as those described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Further, because we have limited historical financial data and operate in a rapidly evolving market, any predictions about our future revenue and expenses may not be as accurate as they would be if we had a longer operating history or operated in a more developed market. Forecasting the revenue potential of our services is made more difficult by the fact that legacy location technologies, such as GPS, were developed by the U.S. Federal Government and made available to commercial users without charge. As a result, one of the adoption hurdles that must be overcome is convincing enterprise customers that the additional accuracy and security made available by our services justifies paying for them. We have encountered in the past, and we will encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with limited operating histories in rapidly changing industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan and operate our business, are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our results of operations could differ materially from our expectations and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The Indenture governing our senior secured notes contains restrictions and other provisions regarding events of default that may make it more difficult to execute our strategy or to effectively compete, or that could materially and adversely affect our financial position.
Subject to certain exceptions and qualifications, the Indenture Agreement governing the senior secure notes that we issued in 2023 (the “Indenture”) restricts our ability to, among other things, (i) incur indebtedness, other than certain forms of permitted debt, (ii) issue any preferred equity interests, (iii) create or permit to exist any lien on any property, other than certain forms of permitted encumbrances, (iv) merge, amalgamate, consolidate or sell all or substantially all assets, (v) make or hold any investment, other than certain forms of permitted investments, (vi) consummate certain asset sales, (vii) pay any dividend or other distribution with respect to any of our capital stock, (viii) make any payment (whether in cash, securities or other property), including any sinking fund or similar deposit, on account of the purchase, redemption, retirement, acquisition, cancellation or termination of any of our capital stock or any option, warrant or other right to acquire any such capital stock, or (ix) dispose or transfer intellectual property that is material to our business. These restrictions, and others set forth in the Indenture, may make it difficult to successfully execute our business strategy or effectively compete with companies that are not similarly restricted.
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The Indenture also provides that a number of events will constitute an event of default, including, among other things, (i) a failure to pay interest on the notes for 30 days, (ii) a failure to pay the principal of the notes when due at maturity, upon any required repurchase, upon declaration of acceleration or otherwise, (iii) any breach of our covenants with respect to permitted consolidations, mergers, or other sale transactions, (iv) the failure to comply with any of our other agreements contained in the Indenture or the notes for 60 days after notice from the trustee or certain holders, (v) the failure by certain of our subsidiaries to guarantee the notes pursuant to their obligations, (vi) an invalid or unperfected lien on any material portion of the collateral, subject to certain exceptions, (vii) a default or other failure by us with respect to make required payments under our other indebtedness for money borrowed in excess of $1 million in the aggregate, (viii) failure by us to pay final judgments aggregating $1 million or more, and (ix) certain events of liquidation, reorganization, bankruptcy or insolvency.
If an event of default occurs and is continuing, additional interest will accrue on the notes at a rate of 2% per annum of the principal amount of the notes outstanding as of the occurrence of the event of default. We will also be required to pay additional interest of up to 0.50% per annum if (x) we fail to timely make certain required filings with the SEC, until such filings are made, or (y) the notes are not otherwise freely tradeable under Rule 144 under the Securities Act. If we fail to pay interest on the notes for 30 days or the principal of the notes when due, the trustee has the right to declare all the notes to be due and payable immediately. In the case of certain events of bankruptcy, all outstanding notes will become due and payable immediately. Such acceleration of our debt could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity if we are unable to negotiate mutually acceptable terms with the holders of the notes or if alternate funding is not available to us. Furthermore, if we are unable to repay the notes upon an acceleration or otherwise, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation.
In addition, In the event of a change of control, each holder has the right, at such holder’s option and subject to the limitations set forth in the Indenture, to require us to repurchase for cash all or any portion of such holder’s notes at a price equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount with accrued and unpaid interest.
Pinnacle z-axis is a new capability, and adoption may be delayed by our potential customers’ unfamiliarity with 3D position, a lack of ecosystem support (e.g., specific device sensors, 3D routing) and/or other factors.
We do not sell our Pinnacle z-axis solutions directly to end users. Instead, we provide location technology that integrates with devices and applications that are created or distributed by third parties. Accordingly, our future growth significantly depends on third parties choosing to incorporate our technology into smartphone devices, applications and other new device types and markets that utilize location. We also depend on our customers, resellers and licensees to develop products and services with value-added features to drive sales and demand. Because GPS has been viewed in the marketplace as a reliable geolocation service provided for free to end users, our customers may not see a business need to integrate our solutions into our devices and applications. Despite efforts to educate customers about the need for z-axis geolocation services, there can be no assurance that such efforts will be successful and as a result, a market for our solutions may not be created.
The majority of our business plan depends on selling services that must be licensed and integrated into our customers’ platforms for sales to end users, and we typically only generate revenue from the arrangements when end users access those third-party platforms and utilize our services.
Our business plans are dependent in part on the sale of location services to our customers, which are third-party developers who use our services to create applications for use in mobile devices, on vehicles and in other platforms. For these types of contracts, we recognize revenue when end users access and use our customers’ applications. Contracts of this type do not contain purchase commitments and our limited operating history makes estimating the future variable volume and revenue associated with these contracts difficult. If our customers take longer than expected to integrate our services into their applications or are unable to sell their applications in the volumes or timeframes we expect, then the use of our services by end users and the related recognition of revenue could be delayed or may never occur.
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We may not be successful in the evolution of our TerraPoiNT technology to utilize 5G NR signals, which will increase our costs and may increase the challenge of adopting our services, and the time it takes us to evolve our service may differ from our estimates.
We are currently evolving our core technology from one reliant on a transmission that was designed to be technically compatible with GPS and GNSS receivers to one that is designed to be technically compatible with the 5G NR ecosystem. This carries risks related to the technical performance of this transmission and the availability of equipment in the 5G NR ecosystem compatible with our spectrum and operations. If the technical performance of the 5G NR transmission is not similar to the technical performance of our legacy technologies, then the market for our services may be diminished. Finally, while we intend our signal to be compatible with the 5G NR ecosystem, we may not be successful at integrating our service into commercial 5G NR transmitters, core network, receivers or other system components, which would significantly reduce the market for our services.
If there are significant delays in our evolution to 5G NR-compatible technologies, including technology, ecosystem or regulatory delays, our ability to offer our services to customers including the U.S. Federal Government and commercial entities will be impacted. If any or all such delays occur, our business may be harmed.
Our hybrid architecture, which depends on the use of our transmitters and our ability to calibrate signals transmitted by third parties, is unproven, may not perform well and may cost significantly more than our initial estimates.
We are currently planning to augment or provide our resilient PNT service through a “hybrid” architecture that relies in part on our signal (whether compatible with GPS/GNSS or 5G NR), and in part on signals radiated by cellular operators and other third parties that are calibrated by us. If we are not able to calibrate the signals radiated by cellular operators and other third parties, then the performance of our hybrid system may not be sufficient to meet customer requirements, and the market for our services may be diminished. Our hybrid architecture may also not result in the cost savings estimated by us, which would substantially increase our future capital and operating expenditures.
We face intense competition in our market, especially from competitors that offer their location services for free, which could make it difficult for us to acquire and retain customers and end users.
The market for development, distribution and sale of location services is highly competitive. Many of our competitors have strong name recognition, sizable customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical, marketing, public relations, sales, distribution and other resources than we do. These competitors often offer competing services for free and have the financial capabilities to continue to improve upon their location services offering without charging a fee. Certain of our competitors are already vying for market share in the 3D location space through their participation in a federal regulatory proceeding involving the FCC in which wireless carriers are being required to enter into relationships with 3D location vendors in order to enable accurate 3D location information to be conveyed to E911 emergency dispatchers with each wireless call made to E911 emergency services. Although our services currently offer an improved functionality over the services offered for free, there is no certainty that we will be able to achieve broad market appeal for our 3D location services. In addition, there is no guarantee that our services will be as reliable and with the same geographic coverage as the currently available geolocation services, which may impact our ability to attract new or retain existing customers to utilize our products over the free services offered by our competitors. The performance of our services may vary based on ambient conditions, both physical and environmental, which may impact the timing and location accuracy of the system. If our services are not meaningfully superior to those available at lower or no cost, we may have difficulty selling our services, achieving widespread adoption of our services and our business, financial position and results of operations may be harmed.
We face competition from multiple sources.
Our services compete against: (i) other satellite and terrestrial based location technology offerings, such as GPS, Observed Time Difference of Arrival and terrestrial beacons; (ii) other providers of Wi-Fi and cell-based positioning, such as Google, Apple and Polaris; (iii) venue-based solutions such as Bluetooth Low Energy; and (iv) other proprietary location solutions. In the smartphone location provider market, because Apple and Google control a large percentage of the market share for smartphone operating systems, already provide their services on a nationwide basis, and both offer location provider services free as part of the iOS and Android markets, we are constrained in the distribution and monetization of our services in that market. As noted above, those vendors that secure access to wireless handsets for their 3D location services may be able to leverage a significant competitive advantage over other location service vendors. There are also a number of new location technologies in development that may further increase competition to support location capabilities in various wireless devices (such as Internet of Things) and which may require us to meet more stringent accuracy standards.
Certain of our competitors are substantially larger than us and have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources. Thus, many of these large enterprises are in a better position to withstand any significant reduction in spending by customers in its markets, and often have broader product lines and market focus, have greater brand recognition and may not be as susceptible to downturns in a single market. These competitors may also be able to bundle their products together (such as with mapping software) to meet the needs of a particular customer, may be able to respond more rapidly to new or emerging technologies or changes in customer requirements and may be capable of delivering more complete solutions than we are able to provide. If large enterprises that currently do not compete directly with us choose to enter our markets by acquisition or otherwise, competition for both revenue and data would likely intensify. In addition, the growth of new location technologies currently in development may further increase competition to provide these new technologies. If we are not able to compete successfully for customers, our financial position may be materially adversely affected.
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Our Pinnacle network infrastructure is dependent on a hosting arrangement with AT&T.
We entered into an equipment hosting agreement with AT&T, expiring in 2026 (subject to earlier termination after three years in certain circumstances), and there is no assurance that the agreement will be renewed. This AT&T agreement provides for such important capabilities as the hosting of our Pinnacle network at AT&T’s wireless sites, the provision of power to the Pinnacle network equipment and AT&T data service to enable the Pinnacle network equipment to communicate with us. We have no contractual right to require AT&T to continue its relationship with us beyond the existing term of the equipment hosting agreement and AT&T may elect not to renew our contracts or we and AT&T may not be able to come to an agreement on renewal or extension terms at or before the end of agreement term. If we cannot secure a renewal or extension of the equipment hosting agreement, we may have to construct a new Pinnacle network prior to expiration of the equipment hosting agreement. Constructing a new network would require significant time and resources that we may not be able to secure. In addition, if there is a delay in our ability to build a new network, our Pinnacle services may experience lengthy disruptions and outages. If we are unable to maintain our relationship with AT&T, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be harmed. Our ability to transmit data is dependent on AT&T’s wireless data network and on the associated power supply available within that network. We have experienced temporary and geographically limited service outages due to issues with the AT&T wireless data network.
We rely, in part, on AT&T for distribution of our services to FirstNet® customers.
We entered into a services agreement with AT&T that was to expire in October 2022, with no renewal terms. Thereafter, we amended the agreement by extending it until January 7, 2024, and the agreement has been further extended to October 24, 2025. This AT&T agreement, as amended, continues our relationship in which AT&T purchases, markets and sells our services to its FirstNet® subscribers. We have no contractual right to require AT&T to continue its relationship with us, and AT&T may decide not to renew our services contract prior to the end of the extended term. If we are not able to secure a further renewal or extension of our services agreement with AT&T, our ability to sell or market products to FirstNet® and other public safety customers may be impacted, and our business, financial and results of operations may be harmed.
Our services may not continue to be adopted or retained by wireless carriers and device vendors for E911.
We have expended significant resources developing, testing and licensing software and solutions targeted towards E911 services, the primary customers for which are wireless carriers. Certain of these wireless carriers were the subject of an enforcement action by the FCC regarding their lack of compliance with rules requiring the provision of vertical location services in the top 25 cellular market areas (“CMAs”) by April 3, 2021. On June 3, 2021, the FCC adopted consent decrees with each of the named wireless carriers that effectively provided an extension of one year to the April 3, 2021 compliance date in the top 25 CMAs, but also required the carriers to begin delivering any z-axis information that was available to them and to provide interim reports on their ongoing testing and deployment efforts. While we are currently providing service to Verizon, are under contract with a second national carrier and provide services to devices operating on other carriers’ networks as customers for E911 services, our ability to retain these customers or sell our z-axis service to additional wireless carriers or device vendors for E911 in our coverage area, a service we believe to exceed the current FCC accuracy requirement, is dependent upon the continued willingness of these carriers and device vendors to use our service to comply with FCC mandates. This willingness was impacted by the FCC’s one year extension and may continue to be impacted by the development and testing of competing solutions to our technology.. In June of 2022, the CTIA filed a statement with the FCC that solutions provided by certain competitors meet these FCC requirements. If the FCC accepts this statement, or if our service is not able to meet future performance, geographic or other customer requirements, then the market for our services for E911 may be reduced.
Our ability to offer our service for E911 is also influenced by the willingness of wireless device manufacturers to incorporate our software or services into their device platforms. Apple and Google exert significant market power over services on their respective platforms, and there is no assurance that they will approve or adopt our software or services in connection with their respective platforms. If Apple and/or Google do not provide such approval, there could be a material adverse impact to our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our Pinnacle service in smartphones relies on the availability of barometric pressure measurements and 2D location being made available to us or our customers.
In order for our customers to be able to utilize our Pinnacle service in smartphones, we and our customers must have access to barometric pressure measurements and 2D location information, both of which are made available by APIs provided by Google and Apple. If either Google or Apple meaningfully change their terms of service related to the use of this measurement and location data, choose not to provide this data to us or our customers, or choose not to incorporate location sensors in their devices, our ability to offer our Pinnacle service to our customers on these platforms will likely be impacted.
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Mass-market adoption of our TerraPoiNT service will require integration into devices, which may require both hardware and software upgrades.
Our TerraPoiNT service is currently available with specialized devices. Mass-market adoption of our TerraPoiNT service will require integration into devices, which requires upgrades of both hardware and software. The U.S. market for smartphones, smartphone components, and software is highly concentrated. Our ability to integrate our service into these devices is highly dependent upon: (i) the availability of mass-market 5G processors compatible with our future 5G NR-based TerraPoiNT or other implementation; (ii) the integration of such processors, and associated radio components or designs, into smartphones; and (iii) the integration of appropriate access control and service delivery software. Key manufacturers of devices and chipsets may be unwilling to integrate TerraPoiNT processing capabilities and required components into their devices. Further, even if we are able to secure agreements with these leading manufacturers, the terms under which such integrations may occur may not be favorable to us.
Distribution and marketing of, and access to, our services in smartphones are contingent on our distribution partners’ and customers’ access to a variety of third-party platforms, in particular, mobile application stores. If these third parties limit, prohibit, or otherwise interfere with or change their policies in any material way, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our customers market and distribute our products (including related mobile applications) through a variety of third-party distribution channels. Our ability to achieve broad market reach is in part dependent on the ability of our distribution partners and customers to utilize mobile application stores, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Both Apple and Google have broad discretion to change their policies regarding their mobile operating systems and app stores in ways that may limit, eliminate or otherwise interfere with our customers’ ability to distribute or market their applications through such stores. To the extent our customers are unable to maintain a productive relationship with either or both of them, our relationships with these customers may be impacted and our ability to achieve broad market reach will be impacted and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We rely upon Amazon Web Services to operate our cloud platform and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services or the need for additional cloud support would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We outsource our cloud infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (“AWS”). Customers of our products need to be able to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance. AWS runs its own platform that we access, and we are, therefore, vulnerable to service interruptions at AWS. We have experienced and we expect that in the future we may experience interruptions, delays and outages in service and availability from time to time due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, website hosting disruptions and capacity constraints. Capacity constraints could be due to a number of potential causes including technical failures, natural disasters, fraud or security attacks. In addition, if our security, or that of AWS, is compromised, our products or platform are unavailable or our users are unable to use our products within a reasonable amount of time or at all, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within a period of time acceptable to our customers. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints and cost considerations, either through AWS or alternative cloud infrastructure, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. In addition, any changes in service levels from AWS may adversely affect our ability to meet our customers’ requirements. Further, our customers may require it to support additional cloud platforms beyond AWS, which would result in additional costs to our business.
Any of the above circumstances or events may harm our reputation, possibly move customers to stop using our products, impair our ability to increase revenue from existing customers, effectively manage costs, impair our ability to grow our customer base, subject us to financial penalties and liabilities under our service level agreements and otherwise harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We rely on a limited number of key vendors for timely supply of components or services for our service offerings. If these vendors experience problems, we could fail to obtain the equipment and services we require to operate our business successfully.
The components required for our Pinnacle altitude stations and our TerraPoiNT beacons are not available in high volume and are produced by a small number of vendors. We also depend on certain third-party services, in addition to those described elsewhere, for the provision of our services. If we are unable to procure these components or services or design or obtain effective alternatives, we may be unable to produce additional Pinnacle altitude stations or TerraPoiNT beacons, or provide services to our customers, each of which will have a significant impact on our ability to achieve mass-market adoption of our services. As a result, we are reliant upon a limited number of suppliers of these components and services. In the event it becomes necessary to seek alternative vendors, we may be unable to obtain satisfactory replacement vendors on economically attractive terms on a timely basis, or at all, which could increase costs and may negatively impact our ability to expand our service offering or cause disruption in service.
If vendors of our equipment or providers of services on which we rely experience financial difficulties, service or billing interruptions, patent litigation or other problems, our growth and operating results could be negatively impacted.
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Our services are available within defined network footprints, and if we are not able to deploy new infrastructure, we will not be able to expand our service area.
Our services are available within defined network footprints. Unlike certain of our competitors that do not require the deployment of network infrastructure to provide location services, we are not able to sell our services outside of these footprints where our customers may require services. In order to expand our footprint, we would need to invest significant time and financial resources to build-out additional infrastructure and there is no certainty that even if we were to be able to secure the financial resources to do so, that we would be able to expand our footprint successfully. In addition, as discussed in a subsequent section, certain of our services, such as our TerraPoiNT service, depend on access to radio spectrum. Although we hold FCC spectrum licenses covering over 90% of the U.S. population, we do not currently have access to licensed radio spectrum in every location in the United States. If we are not able to deploy new infrastructure, we will not be able to expand our service area, customers that require service outside of our footprints may choose other service providers, or may combine our service with other offerings, which may impact the value of our business.
There is no guarantee that TerraPoiNT service will be sold to commercial users, additional government users, or achieve broad commercial support in the United States or internationally.
Our TerraPoiNT services have not been implemented for broad commercial use and there is no guarantee that TerraPoiNT services will be widely adopted. Further, there is no certainty that one of our competitors will not develop and commercialize a different solution in the meantime supplanting our market. In addition, our ability to sell TerraPoiNT service may be impacted by political or technological preferences. Foreign countries, especially those with significant resources, may prefer solutions that originated in their country or region, which may limit our global growth potential. There is no certainty that our agreements and/or pending discussions with international strategic partners will result in operational systems, from which we derive revenue or other economics, in other countries. If we are unable to sell TerraPoiNT commercially, to additional government users, or to an international market, this will have a negative impact on our business.
There is no guarantee that Federal and state government resilient PNT programs will result in procurements that result in the adoption of our services or revenue to us, and the process that may result in such adoption or revenue may be delayed.
We have expended significant resources to successfully market our resilient PNT services to the U.S. Federal and state governments. While the U.S. Congress has allocated financial resources for the purchase of resilient PNT systems, and Executive Order 13905 requires Federal agencies to consider resiliency requirements when procuring PNT systems, there is no guarantee that our resilient PNT system will be purchased by any Federal or state government entities. Further, government procurement cycles can be extended pending Congressional, regulatory, procurement process or other actions, and any market for our services that emerges in this sector may not generate revenue for an extended period of time, if at all.
Our business depends on the use of location by a wide range of applications, including public safety and E911 applications, and which may include mobile marketing applications in the future. Privacy concerns relating to location data, generally, and our technology could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users from using our products and applications.
Our business depends on the use of location by a wide range of applications, including public safety and E911 and which may include mobile marketing applications in the future. User perception about the sharing of location data and concerns, more broadly, about the collection of location data, or about our specific practices or the mobile applications that use our location services with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, or security of location information or other privacy related matters, even if unfounded, could damage its reputation and operating results, and could result in default and/or termination of agreements we have with various counterparties.
Natural or man-made disasters or terrorist attacks could have an adverse effect on our business.
Our services are built on a terrestrial-based technical infrastructure, which is vulnerable to damage or interruption from technology failures, power surges or outages, natural disasters, fires, human error, terrorism, intentional wrongdoing or similar events. As a geolocation services provider, there is an increased risk that our technological infrastructure may be targeted in connection with terrorism or cyberattacks, either as a primary target, or as a means of facilitating additional attacks on other targets.
We are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business, so earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, cyber-security attacks, terrorist attacks, power losses, telecommunications failures and similar events could materially disrupt our business operations or our provision of service in one or more markets. Costs we incur to restore, repair or replace our network or technical infrastructure, as well as costs associated with detecting, monitoring or reducing the incidence of unauthorized use, may be substantial and increase our cost of providing service. In addition, any of the aforementioned risks may be augmented if our business continuity and disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate. If any of the above events were to occur, we could experience an adverse impact to our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, our insurance may not be adequate to cover the costs associated with a natural disaster or terrorist attack. We also rely on third-party providers for certain of our infrastructure, any of which could also be subject to natural or man-made disasters, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
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Significant disruptions of our information technology systems or data security incidents, or the perceived failure to adequately protect personal information or other confidential or proprietary data, could trigger contractual and legal obligations, harm our reputation, subject us to liability, cause us to modify our business practices and otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. We also rely on third parties to operate our business, whether because we have outsourced certain elements of our operations (including elements of our information technology infrastructure) to third parties, or may have incorporated third-party technology into our platform, or rely on third parties to incorporate our products and services into their offerings. As a result, a number of third parties may or could have access to our information technology systems (including our computer networks) or to our confidential information. In addition, many of those third parties in turn subcontract or outsource some of their responsibilities to third parties. As a result, our information technology systems, including the functions of third parties that are involved or have access to those systems, is large and complex. While all information technology operations are inherently vulnerable to inadvertent or intentional security breaches, incidents, attacks and exposures, the size, complexity, accessibility and distributed nature of our information technology systems, and personal or confidential information stored on those systems, make such systems potentially vulnerable to unintentional or malicious internal and external threats on our technology environment.
Vulnerabilities can be exploited from inadvertent or intentional actions of our employees, third-party vendors, business partners, or by malicious third parties. Attacks of this nature are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives (including, but not limited to, industrial espionage) and expertise, including organized criminal groups, “hacktivists,” nation-states and others. For example, despite our efforts to secure our information technology systems and the data contained in those systems, including any efforts to educate or train our employees, we remain vulnerable to phishing attacks.
In addition to the threat of unauthorized access or acquisition of sensitive or personal information, other threats could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware attacks, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. Some of these external threats may be amplified by the nature of third-party web hosting or cloud computing services or by the integration of our product into a third party’s offerings. Our systems may experience directed attacks intended to interrupt our operations; extract money from it; and/or obtain our data (including without limitation end user or employee personal information or proprietary information).
Although we have implemented certain systems, processes, and safeguards intended to protect our information technology systems and data from such threats and mitigate risks to our systems and data, we cannot be certain that threat actors will not have a material impact on our systems or services in the future. Our safeguards intended to prevent or mitigate certain threats may not be sufficient to protect our information technology systems and data due to the developing sophistication and means of attack in the threat landscape. Recent developments in the threat landscape include an increased number of cyber extortion and ransomware attacks, with increases in the amount of ransom demands and the sophistication and variety of ransomware techniques and methodology. Additionally, our third-party vendors or business partners’ information technology systems may be vulnerable to similar threats and our business could be affected by those or similar third-party relationships. The risk of harm to our business caused by security incidents may also increase as we expand our product and service offerings and as we enter into new markets. Implementing, maintaining, and updating security safeguards require substantial resources now and will likely be an increasing and substantial cost in the future.
In the event we or one of our third-party providers were to suffer a security breach involving certain personal information, we would have legal obligations (whether pursuant to law or contractual obligation) to notify certain regulatory authorities, affected individuals, customers and/or other entities. Such statutory and contractual disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers or the public 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. Compliance with these obligations could delay or impede the development or distribution of new products and may cause reputational harm.
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There is no way of knowing with certainty whether we have experienced any data security incidents that have not been discovered. While we have no reason to believe that we have experienced a data security incident that we have not discovered, attackers have become very sophisticated in the way they conceal their unauthorized access to systems, and many companies that have been attacked are not aware that they have been attacked. Any event that leads to unauthorized access, use or disclosure of personal information could disrupt our business, harm our reputation, compel us to comply with applicable federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to time-consuming, distracting and expensive litigation, regulatory investigation and oversight, mandatory corrective action, require us to verify the correctness of database contents, or otherwise subject us to liability under laws, regulations and contractual obligations, including those that protect the privacy and security of personal information. This could result in increased costs to us and result in significant legal and financial exposure and/or reputational harm.
In addition, any actual or perceived failure by us or our vendors or business partners to comply with our privacy, confidentiality or data security-related legal or other obligations to third parties, or any security incidents or other unauthorized access events that result in the unauthorized access, release or transfer of sensitive information, may result in governmental investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, litigation, or public statements against us by advocacy groups or others, and could cause third parties, including current and potential partners, to lose trust in us including existing or potential customers’ perceiving our platform, system or networks as less desirable. We could also be subject to claims by third parties that we have breached our privacy- or confidentiality-related obligations, which could harm our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business and prospects. There can be no assurance that the limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages.
We may become subject to litigation arising out of any security breaches, which may adversely affect our business.
Litigation resulting from security breaches may adversely affect our business. Unauthorized access to our systems, networks, or physical facilities could result in litigation with our customers or other relevant stakeholders and may result in liability of or claims for indemnification by us with respect to the same. These proceedings could force us to spend money in defense or settlement, divert management’s time and attention, increase our costs of doing business, and/or adversely affect our reputation. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our products and/or platform capabilities in response to such litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Any costs incurred as a result of this potential liability could harm our business.
We maintain insurance policies to cover certain losses relating to our information technology systems, but there is no certainty that our policy limits will be sufficient to cover all liabilities that we may face as the result of security incident and there is no assurance that we will be able to maintain our current policies or secure new policies in the future.
We maintain insurance policies to cover certain losses relating to our information technology systems. However, there may be exceptions to our insurance coverage such that its insurance policies may not cover some or all aspects of a security incident. Even where an incident is covered by our insurance, the insurance limits may not cover the costs of complete remediation and redress that we may be faced with in the wake of a security incident and will not provide recovery for reputational harm. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceeds our available insurance coverage, or results in changes to its insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements), could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we cannot be sure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that our insurers will not deny coverage as to any future claim.
We depend on the availability of personnel with the requisite level of technical expertise in the telecommunications industry.
Our ability to develop and maintain our solutions and execute our business plan is dependent on the availability of technical engineering, information technology, service delivery and monitoring, product development, sales, management, finance and other key personnel within our geographic location. The specialized engineers and other personnel required for our growth are in high demand by companies with greater resources, so we may have difficulty hiring and retaining critical personnel to develop and operate our services, which will have a negative impact on our ability to grow and achieve widespread customer and user acceptance.
We depend on key members of our senior management team; our performance could be adversely impacted if they depart and we cannot find suitable replacements.
Our success depends largely on the skills, experience and performance of key members of our senior management team, including key members located in India (and subject to potential change in law), as well as our ability to attract and retain other highly qualified management and technical personnel. There is competition for qualified personnel in our industry, and we may not be able to attract and retain the personnel necessary for the development of our business. The loss of the services of key members of management and the inability or delay in hiring new key employees could adversely affect our ability to manage our business and our future operational and financial results.
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The failure to successfully obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property rights and defend against challenges to our intellectual property rights could adversely affect us.
Our services, products and processes rely on intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. In some cases, that intellectual property is owned by another party and licensed to us. The value of our intellectual property relies in part on our ability to maintain our proprietary rights to such intellectual property.
If we are unable to obtain or maintain the proprietary rights to our intellectual property, if we are unable to prevent attempted infringement against our intellectual property, or if we are unable to defend against claims that we are infringing on another party’s intellectual property, we could be adversely affected. These adverse effects could include us having to abandon, alter and/or delay the deployment of products, services or processes that rely on such intellectual property; having to procure and pay for licenses from the holders of intellectual property rights that we seek to use; and having to pay damages, fines, court costs and attorney’s fees in connection with intellectual property litigation.
Our results could be adversely impacted as a result of increased inflation and supply chain pressure impacting our or our vendors’ expenses and availability of resources and components.
Our business plans currently call for substantial expansion of our employee base. If we can’t manage inflationary pressures and any shortages in the labor market, it could increase labor costs or delay our ability to hire appropriate personnel. Further, inflation and supply chain pressure may impact the availability and cost of services and equipment. Due to the competitive nature of our business, we may not be able to pass on to customers increases in our vendors’ costs of production which could greatly affect our operating results. Independently or collectively these factors could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated operating results, financial condition, or ability to grow our business.
Military action in different regions of the world, including Ukraine and the Middle East, and the resulting geopolitical effects beyond those regions may directly or indirectly increase our risks from supply chain, cybersecurity, foreign currency fluctuations, or other factors.
Military action in different regions of the world have resulted in worldwide geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. For example, the United States and others have imposed financial and economic sanctions on certain industry sectors and parties in and associated with Russia and Belarus, and additional sanctions continue to be proposed and adopted. The military action in different regions of the world may increase the likelihood of supply chain interruptions, cybersecurity incidents, disruptions to our information systems, foreign currency fluctuations, or other risks. While we do not currently expect these conflicts to have a direct material impact on our business, it is not possible to predict the broader consequences, which could include additional sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse effects on the global economy or on our business and operations, as well as those of our customers, partners and third-party service providers.
We have acquired and may in the future acquire other businesses, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value and harm our business, revenue and financial results.
As part of our business strategy, we have made and intend to make acquisitions. Our previous and future acquisitions may not achieve our goals, and we may not realize benefits from acquisitions we make in the future. Any integration process will require significant time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully. If we fail to successfully integrate acquisitions, or the personnel or technologies associated with those acquisitions, the business, revenue and financial results of the combined company could be harmed. Our acquisition strategy may change over time and future acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by our stockholders or other parties with whom we do business. We may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology and accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition, including accounting charges. We may also incur unanticipated liabilities that we assume as a result of acquiring companies. We may have to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our securities. In the future, we may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all.
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Strategic transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, involve significant risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and equity.
Our acquisition of NextNav France, the Asset Purchase Agreement dated March 7, 2024, wherein we agreed to acquire an additional 4 MHz of M-LMS spectrum licenses in the 900 MHz band, and any strategic mergers, acquisitions and divestitures we may make in the future present significant risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and equity, which include:
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Difficulty in identifying and evaluating potential mergers and acquisitions, including the risk that our due diligence does not identify or fully assess valuation issues, potential liabilities or other merger or acquisition risks; |
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Difficulty, delays and expense in integrating newly merged or acquired businesses and operations, including combining product and service offerings, and in entering into new markets in which we are not experienced, in an efficient and cost-effective manner while maintaining adequate standards, controls and procedures, and the risk that we encounter significant unanticipated costs or other problems associated with integration; |
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Differences in business backgrounds, corporate cultures and management philosophies that may delay successful integration; |
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Difficulty, delays and expense in consolidating and rationalizing IT infrastructure, which may include multiple legacy systems from various mergers and acquisitions and integrating software code; |
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Challenges in achieving strategic objectives, such as technology development, cost savings, that payments in common stock may be more dilutive to current shareholders than anticipated or that cash consideration may be greater than anticipated, and other expected benefits; |
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Risk that our markets do not evolve as anticipated and that the strategic mergers, acquisitions and divestitures do not prove to be those needed to be successful in those markets; |
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Risk that we assume or retain, or that companies we have merged with or acquired have assumed or retained or otherwise become subject to, significant liabilities that exceed the limitations of any applicable indemnification provisions or the financial resources of any indemnifying parties; |
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Risk that indemnification related to businesses divested or spun off that we may be required to provide or otherwise bear may be significant and could negatively impact our business; |
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Risk that mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, spin offs and other strategic transactions fail to qualify for the intended tax treatment for U.S. Federal income tax purposes and the possibility that the full tax benefits anticipated to result from such transactions may not be realized; |
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Risk that we are not able to complete strategic divestitures on satisfactory terms and conditions, including non-competition arrangements applicable to certain of our business lines, or within expected timeframes; |
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Potential loss of key employees or customers of the businesses merged with or acquired or to be divested; and |
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Risk of diverting the attention of senior management from our existing operations. |
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Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
Our business depends on access to radio spectrum to provide certain of our location services and access to such spectrum on a nationwide basis is not a certainty.
Certain of our location services depend on our ability to use portions of the radio spectrum licensed by the FCC. Through our wholly owned affiliate, Progeny LMS, LLC, we hold licenses issued by the FCC to use radio spectrum for location services within the 902-928 MHz band, identified by the FCC as LMS licenses. Our LMS licenses provide coverage of most areas of the U.S. and the vast majority of populated areas within the U.S. Our licenses, however, do not provide nationwide coverage, which we are likely to need to provide certain of our location services on a nationwide basis. Most of the geographic areas where we lack spectrum are generally rural in character, although we do not hold licensed spectrum assets in two well populated locations, Minneapolis and Sacramento. Therefore, we may need to secure additional spectrum licenses from the FCC or other LMS license holders for additional frequencies within the 902-928 MHz band or in other frequencies in order to achieve nationwide coverage or to serve every major city. Radio spectrum is a scarce public resource and no certainty exists that we will be able to obtain additional licenses to provide nationwide coverage or obtain them at a reasonable cost. Very few private entities hold LMS licenses that we could acquire in a private transaction. Although the FCC regularly issues new spectrum licenses, the FCC has not issued new LMS licenses for spectrum within the 902-928 MHz band since 2001 and it could decide to refrain from issuing any additional LMS licenses because the 902-928 MHz frequencies are also used by other services on a shared basis, including by certain unlicensed devices used in homes and for such enterprise services as utility meter reading. If the FCC does issue additional LMS licenses, the FCC is likely to distribute those licenses through an auction process, requiring us to participate and compete with other bidders in such an auction, with no certainty of winning. If we are unable to secure additional LMS licenses or suitable alternative spectrum in a different frequency band, our ability to expand certain of our services nationwide may be negatively impacted, which may have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Even if we are able to convert our signal transmissions to 5G NR platform, the FCC may not permit us to realize all of the benefits of our 5G NR architecture, including the additional transmission of high-throughput non-PNT-related voice and data alongside our PNT data.
One of the significant benefits of converting our spectrum transmissions, including those with respect to the spectrum we are seeking to acquire pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement dated March 7, 2024, to a 5G NR platform would be a substantial increase in the data transmission capacity of our network, thus facilitating the carriage of non-PNT-related two-way voice and data services alongside our core PNT data transmission. The FCC’s rules already permit us to use our current 8 MHz of LMS spectrum for the carriage of two-way voice and data services, but these communications must be related to our PNT services and are not permitted to be interconnected in real time with the public switched network unless a store and forward technology is used. Therefore, to maximize the benefit of a conversion to a 5G NR platform, assuming the conversion is successful, we will need to request flexibility from the FCC permitting us to use our spectrum and the spectrum we are seeking to acquire for additional non-PNT-related services in addition to our PNT offerings. Any such proposal could face substantial opposition from our competitors and other users of the 902-928 MHz band, and there is no certainty that the FCC will provide us this flexibility nor is there certainty with respect to the extent of the flexibility that is provided.
Our FCC licenses authorize the use of radio frequencies that are shared with other radio services, which could result in harmful interference and impairment to our use of our licensed spectrum.
Our LMS licenses authorize us to use the upper portion of the 902-928 MHz band. This spectrum is a shared frequency band that is used for a number of purposes both by individuals, businesses and the federal government. Other services that are authorized to use these frequencies include federal radiolocation systems; industrial, scientific and medical devices; licensed amateur radio operations; and certain unlicensed devices. Our use of the spectrum is subject to FCC requirements that our operations must accept harmful interference from other uses of the spectrum that have more senior rights to the spectrum. We have been successful thus far in using our LMS spectrum to operate location services without experiencing material impairment of our location services caused by more senior spectrum uses, but no certainty exists that we will be able to continue to do so. Moreover, for certain specialized uses, including non-PNT-related two-way voice and data uses, the use of our spectrum would be subject to additional regulatory review, approvals and/or limitations. More senior uses of the 902-928 MHz band could become more numerous or could alter the characteristics of their transmissions in ways that could increase the interference to our location services, resulting in diminished coverage, consistency and accuracy of our location services.
In addition, we are required to refrain from causing unacceptable levels of harmful interference to unlicensed wireless devices. The FCC issued a decision in 2013 that concluded that, based on field tests, we had successfully demonstrated that our location services did not cause unacceptable levels of harmful interference to such unlicensed wireless devices. Third-party challenges to the FCC decision, are still pending. Further, changes in our operations could alter the transmission characteristics of our location services, potentially requiring us to provide further demonstrations that our location services do not cause unacceptable levels of harmful interference to those unlicensed devices. No certainty exists that the FCC would conclude in the future that we remained successful in making such a demonstration a second time. If we are unable to make this demonstration to the satisfaction of the FCC, we may not be able to make changes to our operating characteristics, potentially preventing the future implementation of desirable innovations.
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Our LMS licenses are subject to renewal by the FCC and no certainty exists that we will be able to secure ongoing renewals of our licenses.
Our LMS licenses were issued by the FCC for renewable periods of ten years and the current term of our LMS licenses expired on July 19, 2020. The FCC’s rules do not identify a specific threshold that must be demonstrated in order for us to secure renewal of our LMS licenses, which means the applicable threshold is the FCC’s statutory obligation to grant a renewal of our licenses if it serves the public interest. Our LMS licenses were initially required to be renewed on July 19, 2010. We timely filed an application for renewal, which the FCC granted on January 17, 2017. The FCC’s renewal grant was expressly conditioned on our compliance with build-out requirements, discussed further below. On July 7, 2020, we filed a second request for renewal of our LMS licenses, which is still pending before the FCC. If we secure the renewal of our LMS licenses, our license renewal applications thereafter will be subject to new FCC rules placing additional conditions on license renewal applications. Specifically, in order to secure a third renewal of our LMS licenses in 2030, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with additional requirements, including that we have satisfied its build-out construction requirements, that we use our network to provide service to the public, and that the service provided is at least at the same level of service that was demonstrated at the time of our build-out showing. No certainty exists that we will receive the currently applied for renewal or continue to meet the requirements of such renewal for future applications. If we fail to secure renewals for our LMS licenses, we will not be able to pursue our TerraPoiNT services as previously planned and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
Many of our LMS licenses are subject to end-of-term build-out requirements maintained by the FCC and no certainty exists that we will be able to comply with the build out requirements for all of our licenses.
LMS licenses are subject to FCC rules that require licensees to make productive use of their licensed radio spectrum by a specific deadline and continue such use throughout the term of the licenses. If a licensee fails to satisfy its build-out deadlines, the FCC will declare its licenses to be null and void. Pursuant to orders issued by the FCC on January 1, 2017, July 19, 2020, and March 29, 2023, the end-of-term buildout deadlines for our FCC licenses were divided into two groups: a deadline of June 17, 2021 for our 82 licenses covering the 41 most populous Economic Areas (“EAs”) in the United States and a deadline of April 3, 2023 for our 144 licenses covering our remaining 72 licensed EAs.
To comply with our build-out requirements on each of the deadlines, we were required to demonstrate for each of our LMS licenses either that the geographic area of our licensed network provides coverage of at least two-thirds of the population in each of the licensed areas or that we are providing substantial service to end users in each of our licensed areas. On February 2, 2021, we filed a waiver request with the FCC seeking approval to use a third option, demonstrating that the geographic area of our licensed network provides coverage of at least two-thirds of relatively tall buildings (those in excess of three stories) rather than two-thirds of the population. On March 29, 2023, the FCC approved the use of this tall building approach by issuing an order that concluded that two-thirds coverage of tall buildings is sufficient to qualify as substantial service.
We employed our tall building coverage approach with respect to the end-of-term build-out showings that we filed with the FCC for our 82 LMS licenses that were subject to a June 17, 2021 buildout deadline. On April 17 and 18, 2023, the FCC “accepted” (i.e., approved) the buildout showings for 78 of the 82 LMS licenses that were subject to a June 17, 2023 buildout deadline. The buildout showings for the remaining four LMS licenses that were subject to a June 17, 2023 buildout deadline remain pending before the FCC. The buildout showings for these four licenses employed a different methodology than the remaining 78 licenses. While we do not currently have reason to believe that the FCC will decline to accept these buildout showings, there is no certainty that the FCC will act favorably on these remaining four showings.
With respect to our 144 LMS licenses that were subject to an April 3, 2023 buildout deadline, for 64 of those licenses, we timely filed buildout showings demonstrating that the geographic area of our licensed network provides coverage of at least two-thirds of the relatively tall buildings (those in excess of three stories) in each of the 32 EAs covered by these licenses. These buildout showings are pending before the FCC. With respect to another eight LMS licenses covering four EAs, relatively brief extensions of the buildout deadline of between three to nine months were requested to address delays in the transmitter site permitting and construction process in those markets. Those delays have since been addressed and buildout showings for the eight LMS licenses were filed with the FCC prior to the conclusion of the three to nine month extensions that we requested for those licenses. These eight buildout showings are also pending before the FCC. Finally, with respect to the remaining 72 licenses covering many of the least populated EAs authorized by Progeny’s LMS licenses, requests for a two-year extension, until April 3, 2025, of the buildout deadlines were submitted. The two-year extension requests were based on multiple justifications that have been deemed by the FCC to be sufficient to merit the grant of such extensions in comparable cases involving other FCC licensees, although no certainty exists that the FCC will conclude that Progeny’s two-year extension requests will be similarly warranted.
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Our retention and use of our LMS licenses has been the subject of ongoing objections by third parties that could result in the revocation or non-renewal of our LMS licenses.
The FCC’s oversight of radio spectrum is conducted using a largely public process that is generally governed by the Administrative Procedure Act and the FCC’s rules on public participation in spectrum allocation and licensing proceedings. As a result, our retention and use of our LMS licenses has been the subject of comments and objections from third parties, including other users of the 902-928 MHz frequencies and other current and former licensees of LMS spectrum. In the past, the FCC has regularly rejected and dismissed these objections to our retention and use of our LMS licenses, but no certainty exists that the FCC will continue to do so in the future. Certain of the previous objections remain pending before the FCC, meaning that the FCC could still act on them in a manner that is adverse to us. The pending objections include pleadings that were filed on July 8, 2013 by a number of businesses that use unlicensed radio spectrum in their operations and were asking the FCC to suspend our authority to use our LMS spectrum for commercial purposes. In addition, several affiliated companies controlled by a former licensee of LMS spectrum have filed numerous objections and adverse pleadings against our LMS licenses. A number of these adverse pleadings remain pending, including a petition, dated February 3, 2021, requesting the FCC to reallocate the 902-928 MHz band for other purposes. Although the FCC has consistently rejected the adverse pleadings that were filed by this individual in the past, no certainty exists that the FCC will continue to do so. If the FCC acts on any current or future objections by third parties, our LMS licenses could be revoked or not renewed, which will have a material adverse impact on our ability to expand TerraPoiNT as previously planned and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.
A portion of our business plan targets government customers, which subjects us to risks, including early termination, audits, investigations, sanctions and penalties.
One of our business strategies is to develop business relationships with U.S. government agencies for the provision of our products and services. We currently contract directly with U.S. government agencies, including NASA, and perform as a subcontractor to other contractors under U.S. government programs. As a U.S. government contractor, our business is subject to statutes and regulations applicable to companies doing business with the U.S. government, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, and NASA FAR Supplement, or NFS.
The funding of U.S. government programs is subject to annual U.S. Congressional appropriations. Long-term government contracts and related orders are subject to cancellation if appropriations for subsequent performance periods are not made. In addition, the U.S. government may modify, curtail or terminate its contracts and subcontracts without prior notice at its convenience and in that event, the counterparty to the contract may generally recover only its incurred or committed costs and settlement expenses and profit on work completed prior to the termination. If the government terminates a contract for default, the defaulting party may be liable for any extra costs incurred by the government in procuring undelivered items from another source. The termination of funding for a U.S. government program that we support, or any modification or curtailment of our U.S. government prime contracts or subcontracts, would result in a loss of anticipated future revenue attributable to that program, which could have an adverse effect on our operations, financial condition or U.S. government customer demand for our products and services.
In addition, U.S. government contracts normally contain additional requirements that may increase our costs of doing business, reduce our profits, and expose us to liability for failure to comply with these terms and conditions. These compliance costs might further increase in the future, reducing our margins, which could have a negative effect on our financial condition. These requirements include, for example:
| ● | specialized disclosure and accounting requirements unique to U.S. government contracts; |
| ● | financial and compliance audits; |
| ● | public disclosures of certain contract and company information; and |
| ● | mandatory socioeconomic compliance requirements, including labor requirements, non-discrimination and affirmative action programs and environmental compliance requirements. |
Failure to comply with these U.S. government contracting regulations and requirements may result in potential price adjustments, recoupment of U.S. government funds after such funds have been spent, civil and criminal penalties, or administrative sanctions such as suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting or subcontracting for a period of time and could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and ability to secure future U.S. government contracts.
Our government contract activities are subject to audits and investigations by U.S. government agencies, including agency Inspectors General, regarding our compliance with U.S. government contract requirements. If any audit, inquiry or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, suspension of payments, fines, and suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government.
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In addition, if we fail to comply with U.S. government contracting laws, regulations and contract requirements, our contracts may be subject to termination, and we may be subject to financial and/or other liability under our contracts, the Federal Civil False Claims Act (including treble damages and other penalties), or criminal law. In particular, the False Claims Act’s “whistleblower” provisions also allow private individuals, including present and former employees, to sue on behalf of the U.S. government. Any penalties, damages, fines, suspension, or damages could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.
We and our service providers collect, process, transmit, and store personal information, which creates legal obligations and may give rise to additional costs and liability. Failure to comply with federal, state and foreign laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection could adversely affect our business and its financial condition.
We collect, process, transmit and store personal information, such as certain individual geolocation information, and other personal information relating to its business contacts, personnel, end users, and website visitors, and we may rely in part on third parties that are not directly under its control to manage certain of these operations on its behalf. A variety of federal and state laws and regulations, as well as international laws and regulations (including as applicable General Data Protection Regulation) govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of this information.
The U.S. privacy and data protection legal landscape continues to evolve, with certain states having enacted broad-based data privacy and protection legislation and with other states and the federal government continuing to consider additional data privacy and protection legislation. The potential effects of this legislation are far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Although we do not have direct interaction with end users, we may still be subject to these laws with respect to other personal information we process, or by way of acting as a service provider to our customers, which may bear additional obligations under these laws.
We or our customers may also be subject to FCC rules regarding Customer Proprietary Network Information or other restrictions on our ability to use certain data that we collect in connection with 911 or other calls. Further, the FCC’s wireless location rules subject us to additional privacy restrictions with respect to our use of any location information resulting from the provision of location services to support 911 emergency services.
Our obligations under applicable data privacy laws, regulations, contracts, industry standards, self-certifications, and other documentation may include maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of personal information or other data in our possession or control, maintaining reasonable and appropriate security safeguards as part of an information security program, and limits on the use and/or cross-border transfer of such personal information or other data. These obligations create potential liability to regulators, our business partners and customers, end users, and other relevant stakeholders and also may impact the attractiveness of our services to existing and potential customers. Data protection laws around the world often require “reasonable”, “appropriate” or “adequate” technical and organizational security measures, and the interpretation and application of those laws are often uncertain and evolving, and there can be no assurance that our security measures will be deemed adequate, appropriate or reasonable by a regulator or court.
Given the evolving nature of security threats and evolving safeguards, we cannot be sure that our chosen safeguards will protect against security threats to our business, including the personal data that we process. However, even security measures that are appropriate, reasonable, and/or in accordance with applicable legal requirements may not be able to fully protect our information technology systems and the data contained in those systems, or our data that is contained in third parties’ systems. Moreover, certain data protection laws impose on us responsibility for our employees and third parties that assist with aspects of our data processing. Our employees’ or third parties’ intentional, unintentional, or inadvertent actions may increase our vulnerability or expose us to security threats, such as phishing attacks, and we may remain responsible for successful access, acquisition or other disclosure of our data despite the quality and legal sufficiency of our security measures.
In addition to the risk of data breaches and noncompliance with applicable law, we may be exposed to additional liability for our failure to adhere to the technical or operational security requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCI DSS”) if and as applicable, imposed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to protect cardholder data. Penalties arising from PCI DSS enforcement are inherently uncertain as penalties may be imposed by various entities within the payment card processing chain without regard to any statutory or universally mandated framework. Such enforcement could threaten our relationship with our banks, card brands we do business with, and our third-party payment processors.
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We publish privacy policies, notices and other documentation regarding our collection, processing, use and disclosure of personal information. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies and other published documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees or vendors fail to comply with our published policies or other documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential law enforcement or legal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices.
We expect that new industry standards, laws and regulations will continue to be proposed regarding privacy, data protection and information security in many jurisdictions. We cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. We expect that the evolving regulatory interpretation and enforcement of data protection laws, as well as other domestic and foreign data protection laws, will lead to increased operational and compliance costs and may require us to make changes to our operations, policies, and procedures.
Our business is subject to a wide variety of additional extensive and evolving government laws and regulations. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations relating to various aspects of our business, including with respect to our wireless location services, employment and labor, health care, tax, privacy and data security, health and safety, customs and government contracting. Laws and regulations at the foreign, federal, state and local levels frequently change, especially in relation to new and emerging industries, and we cannot always reasonably predict the impact from, or the ultimate cost of compliance with, current or future regulatory or administrative changes. We monitor these developments and devote a significant amount of management’s time and external resources towards compliance with these laws, regulations and guidelines, and such compliance places a significant burden on management’s time and other resources, and it may limit our ability to develop new business channels. Moreover, changes in law, the imposition of new or additional regulations or the enactment of any new or more stringent legislation that impacts our business could require us to change the way we operate and could have a material adverse effect on our sales, profitability, cash flows and financial condition.
Failure to comply with these laws or regulations or failure to satisfy any criteria or other requirement under such laws or regulations, such as with respect to obtaining and maintaining licenses, certificates, authorizations and permits critical for the operation of our business, may result in civil penalties or private lawsuits, or result in a delay or the denial, suspension or revocation of licenses, certificates, authorizations or permits, which would prevent us from operating our business.
Additionally, regulation of our industry is still evolving, and new or different laws or regulations could affect our operations and increase direct compliance costs. Application of these laws to our business may negatively impact our performance in various ways, limiting the collaborations we may pursue and increasing our costs and the time necessary to obtain required authorization. The adoption of a multi-layered regulatory approach to any one of the laws or regulations to which we are or may become subject, particularly where the layers are in conflict, could require alteration of our services or operational parameters, which may adversely impact our business. We may not be in complete compliance with all such requirements at all times and, even when we believe we are in complete compliance, a regulatory agency may determine that we are not.
We are subject to stringent U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations. Unfavorable changes in these laws and regulations or U.S. government licensing policies, our failure to secure timely U.S. government authorizations under these laws and regulations, or our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business plans are based in part on the distribution of our equipment, software and services world-wide. We are required to comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the EAR administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the foreign asset control regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Pursuant to these foreign trade control laws and regulations, we are required, among other things, to (i) determine the proper licensing jurisdiction and export classification of products, software, and technology, (ii) obtain licenses or other forms of U.S. government authorization, or qualify for exceptions, to export our products, software, and technology outside the United States, and (iii) avoid engaging in unauthorized transactions with certain sanctioned countries, territories, entities, and individuals. Violations of applicable export control and sanctions laws and related regulations, which are enforced on a strict liability basis, could result in criminal and administrative penalties, including fines and possible denial of export privileges. U.S. export licenses or license exceptions are required to transfer or make accessible certain of our software source code and technology to our non-U.S. employees (deemed exports).
In addition, U.S. export control laws and related licensing policies continue to change, further regulating the export and re-export of our products, services, and technology from the U.S. and abroad, and increasing our costs and the time necessary to obtain required authorization. For example, should exceptions or exemptions under the EAR be changed, our activities otherwise authorized via these mechanisms may become unavailable and could result in the need for additional export authorizations.
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Additionally, changes to the administrative implementation of export control laws at the agency level may suddenly change as a result of geopolitical events, which could result in existing or proposed export authorization applications being viewed in unpredictable ways, or potentially rejected, as a result of the changed agency level protocol. Increasing trade tensions with China and Russia, in particular, may affect our supply chain, increase direct and indirect compliance costs, or significantly impact relations with business partners. The extensive and changing nature of these export control laws and related licensing policies may diminish our ability to market our solutions in the certain markets.
We are exposed to risks related to geopolitical and economic factors, laws and regulations and our international business subjects us to numerous political and economic factors, legal requirements, cross-cultural considerations and other risks associated with doing business globally.
Although our international business is still in its early stages, its development is subject to both U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including, without limitation, laws and regulations relating to export/import controls (described above), sanctions, technology transfer restrictions, government contracts and procurement, data privacy and protection, anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, the anti-boycott provisions of the U.S. Export Administration Act, security restrictions and intellectual property. Failure by us, our employees, affiliates, partners or others with whom we work to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in administrative, civil, commercial or criminal liabilities, including suspension or debarment from government contracts or suspension of our export/import privileges. New regulations and requirements, or changes to existing ones in the various countries in which we operate can significantly increase our costs and risks of doing business internationally.
Changes in laws, regulations, political leadership and environment, and/or security risks may dramatically affect our ability to conduct or continue to conduct business in international markets, including sales to customers and purchases from suppliers outside the U.S. We may also be impacted by U.S. and foreign national policies and priorities, political decisions and geopolitical relationships, any of which may be influenced by changes in the threat environment, political leadership, geopolitical uncertainties, world events, bilateral and multi-lateral relationships and economic and political factors, and any of which could impact our operations and/or export authorizations, or delay purchasing decisions or payments and the provision of supplies, goods and services. Global economic conditions and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could further impact our business. For example, the tightening of credit in financial markets outside of the U.S. could adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing and could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services or impact the ability of our customers to make payments.
We also are increasingly dependent on in-country suppliers and we face risks related to their failure to perform in accordance with the contracts and applicable laws, particularly where we rely on a sole source supplier. The services we provide internationally are sometimes in countries with unstable governments, economic or fiscal challenges, military or political conflicts and/or developing legal systems. This may increase the risk to our employees, subcontractors or other third parties, and/or increase the risk of a wide range of liabilities, as well as loss of property or damage to our products.
The occurrence and impact of these factors is difficult to predict, but one or more of them could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.
Risks Related to our Common Stock
If we issue and sell additional shares of our Common Stock in the future, our existing stockholders will be diluted and our stock price could fall.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 shares of Common Stock, of which, as of December 31, 2023, 111,132,222 shares were outstanding, 8,231,360 shares were reserved for issuance under our stock incentive plans or other outstanding options and 44,267,686 shares were issuable upon the exercise of warrants. As a result, we have a large number of shares of Common Stock that are authorized for issuance and are not outstanding or otherwise reserved and could be issued at the discretion of our board of directors (our “Board”). We expect to seek additional financing in the future in order to fund our operations, and if we issue additional shares of Common Stock or securities convertible into Common Stock, our existing stockholders will be diluted. Our Board may also choose to issue shares of our Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable for our Common Stock to acquire assets or companies, for compensation to employees, officers, directors, consultants and advisors, to fund capital expenditures and to enter into strategic partnerships. Additionally, shares of Common Stock could be issued for anti-takeover purposes or to delay or prevent changes in control or management of the Company. Our Board may determine to issue shares of our Common Stock on terms that our stockholders do not believe enhance stockholder value, or that may ultimately have an adverse effect on our business or the trading price of our Common Stock. Further, the issuance of any such shares may cause further dilution to the ownership interest of our current stockholders, reduce the book value per share of our Common Stock and may contribute to a reduction in the market price for our Common Stock.
Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.
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Certain of our executive officers, directors and stockholders own a significant percentage of our outstanding capital stock. As of December 31, 2023, our executive officers, directors, holders of 5% or more of our capital stock and their respective affiliates beneficially owned approximately 56% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock. Accordingly, our directors, executive officers and certain stockholders have significant influence over our affairs due to their substantial stock ownership coupled with their positions on our management team. For example, these stockholders may be able to control or influence elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction. This concentration of ownership may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our Common Stock that some of our stockholders may believe is in their best interest.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of federal securities laws, compliance with which involves significant time, expense and expertise.
We are a public reporting company and are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and other federal securities laws, including the obligations imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The ongoing costs associated with preparing and filing annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC in the ordinary course, as well as preparing and filing audited financial statements, are significant and may cause unexpected increases in operational expenses. Our present management team is relatively small and may be unable to manage the ongoing costs and compliance effectively. It may be time consuming, difficult and costly for us to hire additional financial reporting, accounting and other finance staff in order to build and retain a management team with adequate expertise and experience in operating a public company. Although our Common Stock trades on The Nasdaq Capital Market, a regular trading market for our Common Stock may not be sustained in the future.
In addition, as a public reporting company we will be required to document and test our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act so that our management can certify as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting by the time our second annual report is filed with the SEC and thereafter, which will require us to document and make significant changes to our internal control over financial reporting. Likewise, our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at such time as we cease to be an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), if we are an “accelerated filer” or “large accelerated filer” at such time.
We have never paid dividends on our capital stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
The continued operation and expansion of our business will require substantial funding. We have paid no cash dividends on any of our capital stock to date and we currently intend to retain our available cash to fund the development and growth of our business. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board and will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our Board deems relevant. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Common Stock in the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock, which may never occur.
Certain of our Warrants are exercisable, which could increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.
Outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of 18,749,990 shares of Common Stock became exercisable on November 27, 2021 (the 30th day following the closing of the Business Combination) in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement governing those securities. These warrants consist of 10,999,460 public warrants and 7,750,530 private placement warrants, related to Spartacus’ initial public offering and financing. The 7,750,530 private placement warrants have been registered pursuant to the Registration Statement and are included on this Post-Effective Amendment. Each warrant entitles its holder to purchase one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share and will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on October 28, 2026 (five years after the completion of the Business Combination), or earlier upon redemption of our Common Stock or our liquidation. To the extent warrants are exercised, additional shares of Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to our then existing stockholders and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market.
Moreover, in conjunction with the issuance of the Notes in 2023 (Refer to Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information), we issued 18,518,520 warrants (the “Initial Warrants”) at an exercise price of $2.16 per share and, with the issuance of the Additional Notes on July 6, 2023, we issued an additional 7,407,407 warrants at an exercise price of $2.16 per share to purchase shares of our Common Stock to certain of the purchasers thereof (the “Additional Warrants” and, together with the Initial Warrants, the “Debt Warrants”). The Debt Warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on June 1, 2027. Sales of substantial numbers of shares of our Common Stock underlying the Debt Warrants in the public market could depress the market price of our Common Stock.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our Common Stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity.
We are increasingly dependent on sophisticated software applications and computing infrastructure to conduct key operations. We depend on both our own systems, networks, and technology as well as the systems, networks and technology of our contractors, consultants, vendors and other business partners.
Cybersecurity Program
Given the importance of cybersecurity to our business, we maintain a comprehensive cybersecurity program to support both the effectiveness of our systems and our preparedness for information security risks. This program includes a number of safeguards, such as: password protection; multi-factor authentication; continuous monitoring and alerting systems for internal and external threats using industry leading platform; regular evaluations of our cybersecurity program, including periodic internal and external audits, penetration tests, and incident response simulations; and industry benchmarking. We also require cybersecurity trainings when onboarding new employees and contractors, as well as annual cybersecurity awareness training for our employees and contractors. Our program leverages industry frameworks, including the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) to strengthen our program effectiveness and reduce cybersecurity risks.
We use a risk-based approach with respect to our use and oversight of third-party service providers, tailoring processes according to the nature and sensitivity of the data accessed, processed, or stored by such third-party service provider and performing additional risk screenings and procedures, as appropriate. We use several means to assess cyber risks related to our third-party service providers, including maintaining a vendor code of conduct and vendor questionnaires due diligence in connection with onboarding new vendors and due diligence with key third-party vendors. We also seek to collect and assess cybersecurity audit reports and other supporting documentation when available and include appropriate security terms in our contracts where applicable as part of our oversight of third-party providers.
Process for Assessing, Identifying and Managing Material Risks from Cybersecurity Threats
In the event of a cybersecurity incident, we maintain a regularly tested incident response program. Pursuant to the program and its escalation protocols, designated personnel are responsible for assessing the severity of an incident and associated threat, containing the threat, remediating the threat, including recovery of data and access to systems, analyzing any reporting obligations associated with the incident, and performing post-incident analysis and program enhancements. We maintain an Incident Response Plan (“IRP”) and business continuity and disaster recovery plans in the event of a significant cybersecurity incident.
We have relationships with several third-party service providers to assist with cybersecurity containment and remediation efforts, including a forensic investigation firm, insurance providers and various law firms.
Governance
Management Oversight
The controls and processes employed to assess, identify, and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats are implemented and overseen by our Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”). Our CISO leverages their over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, compliance and risk management. Our CISO is responsible for the day-to-day management of the cybersecurity program, including the prevention, detection, investigation, response to, and recovery from cybersecurity threats and incidents, and are regularly engaged to help ensure the cybersecurity program functions effectively in the face of evolving cybersecurity threats. The CISO provides quarterly briefings for our senior management team on cybersecurity matters, including threats, events, and program enhancements.
Board Oversight
While the Board has overall responsibility for risk oversight, our Audit Committee oversees cybersecurity risk matters. The Audit Committee is responsible for reviewing, discussing with management, and overseeing the Company’s data privacy, information technology and security and cybersecurity risk exposures, including: (i) the potential impact of those exposures on the Company’s business, financial results, operations and reputation; (ii) the programs and steps implemented by management to monitor and mitigate any exposures; (iii) the Company’s information governance and cybersecurity policies and programs; and (iv) major legislative and regulatory developments that could materially impact the Company’s privacy, data security and cybersecurity risk exposure. On a quarterly basis, the CISO reports to the Audit Committee on cybersecurity matters, including a detailed threat assessment relating to information technology risks, the programs and steps implemented by management to monitor and mitigate exposures, the Company’s information governance and cybersecurity policies and programs, and significant legal/regulatory developments that could materially impact the Company’s cybersecurity risk exposure. The CISO also apprises the Audit Committee of cybersecurity incidents promptly for high priority incidents and in aggregate for low priority incidents. The Audit Committee updates the full Board concerning the Company’s cybersecurity matters.
Cybersecurity Risks
Our cybersecurity risk management processes are integrated into our overall Enterprise Risk Management (“ERM”) process. As part of our ERM process, department leaders identify, assess and evaluate risks impacting our operations across the Company, including those risks related to cybersecurity. As of the date of this report, we are not aware of any risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition or are reasonably likely to have such a material effect.
While we maintain a robust cybersecurity program, the techniques used to infiltrate information technology systems continue to evolve. Accordingly, we may not be able to timely detect threats or anticipate and implement adequate security measures. For additional information, see “Item 1A—Risk Factors.”
We also maintain cybersecurity insurance providing coverage for certain costs related to cybersecurity-related incidents that impact our own systems, networks, and technology or the systems, networks and technology of our contractors, consultants, vendors, and other business partners.
In the last year we did not experience any material cybersecurity incidents or threats.
Item 2. Properties.
We maintain a distributed workforce with facilities in McLean, Virginia, Sunnyvale, California, Puteaux, France, Noida, India and Bangalore, India. Our principle executive office is in McLean, Virginia. Our corporate offices in Virginia include executive, finance, regulatory and network deployment and operations functions, while our California facility hosts our technology development functions among other functions. Our French and Indian location houses a mix of employees and contractors focused on software development and research and development functions.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
In the course of our business, we are involved in litigation and legal matters from time to time. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties and outcomes are not predictable with assurance. We accrue liabilities for such matters when it is probable that future expenditures will be made and such expenditures can be reasonably estimated. We do not believe that any such matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
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Market Information
Our common stock and certain warrants have been listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “NN” and “NNAVW,” respectively.
Holders
As of March 8, 2024, there were approximately 111 and 37 holders of record of our common stock and warrants, respectively. This number does not include beneficial owners whose shares were held in street name.
Dividends
We have never declared or paid, and for the foreseeable future do not expect to declare or pay, cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business.
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans
The information required by this item regarding our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Item 12 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Stock Performance Graph
The following stock price performance graph should not be deemed incorporated by reference by any general statement incorporating by reference this Annual Report on Form 10-K into any filing under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), except to the extent that we specifically incorporate this information by reference, and shall not otherwise be deemed filed under such acts.
The graph below compares the cumulative total return of our common stock from October 29, 2021, the date on which our common shares commenced trading on Nasdaq, through December 31, 2023, with the comparable cumulative return of two indices, the S&P 500 Total Return and the S&P Information Technology Total Return. The performance graph and table assume an initial investment of $100 on December 31, 2023. We have not paid any cash dividends and, therefore, the cumulative total return calculation for us is based solely upon the change in share price. The share price performance shown on the graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.
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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities
In October 2023, we issued 719,693 unregistered shares of our common stock in connection with our acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of NextNav France, pursuant to those certain Put & Call Option Agreements by and among the Company and certain shareholders of NextNav France , dated October 28, 2022. Such shares were issued in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated thereunder. The Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 to register these shares with SEC on October 13, 2023, which was declared effective on October 26, 2023.
On December 1, 2023, we issued 448,466 shares of our common stock in accordance with that certain Indenture, dated May 9, 2023, by and among us and the parties thereto, as partial payment of interest due on the senior secured notes that were issued pursuant to that certain Note Purchase Agreement, dated May 9, 2023, by and among us the purchasers thereto. Such shares were exempt from registration under the Securities Act as not involving a “sale” as such term is defined in Section 2(a)(3) of the Securities Act. We filed a registration statement on Form S-3 to register these shares with SEC on December 11, 2023 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 on December 12, 2023), which was declared effective on December 15, 2023, in order to satisfy the provisions of that certain Resale Registration Rights Agreement, dated May 9, 2023, pursuant to which we agreed to register the resale of such shares.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer
The shares we received in connection with the settlement of employee receivables were repurchased at the current market value of the shares. For the three months ended December 31, 2023, these shares consisted of the following:
| Total Number of Shares Purchased |
Average Price Per Share |
|||||||
| October 1 – October 31, 2023 | 128,035 | $ | 5.16 | |||||
| November 1 – November 30, 2023 | - | $ | - | |||||
| December 1 – December 31, 2023 | - | $ | - | |||||
| Total | 128,035 | |||||||
Item 6. Reserved.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical information, some of the information contained in the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Actual results and outcomes could differ materially for a variety of reasons. You should review “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.
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Overview
We are the market leader in delivering resilient, next generation, complementary positioning, navigation and timing (“PNT”) solutions designed to overcome the limitations and vulnerabilities of the existing space-based Global Positioning Systems (“GPS”) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (“GNSS”). Our complementary PNT solutions are built on a deep asset base, which we are evolving to utilize 5G New Radio (“5G NR”) technologies. We expect the evolution of our platform to 5G NR to significantly improve the efficiency and flexibility of our operations, technically enabling the delivery of high-bandwidth data services simultaneously with our industry-leading PNT solutions. Since the inception of NextNav, LLC in 2007, we have secured valuable Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) licenses for a contiguous 8 MHz band of 900 MHz M-LMS spectrum covering over 90% of the U.S. population, been granted more than 180 patents related to our systems and services, and standardized our TerraPoiNT technology in 3GPP, the global telecommunications standards-setting body.
We deliver differentiated PNT solutions through our network-based Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT solutions. Our Pinnacle service provides accurate altitude to any device with a barometric pressure sensor, including most off-the-shelf Android and iOS smartphones, appropriately specified Internet of Things (“IOT”) devices, as well as vehicles and other equipment. In 2021, we launched our Pinnacle network in partnership with AT&T Services, Inc. (“AT&T”) for FirstNet®, the nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. Our Pinnacle network covers over 90% of commercial structures over three stories in the U.S., and in addition to FirstNet®, our network is being used for enhanced 911 (“E911”) by Verizon Communications, Inc. (“Verizon”), and a growing set of devices operating on the remaining national cellular network providers. Pinnacle has also been adopted by a growing number of public safety apps, commercial apps, and is available on multiple app development platforms. Our Pinnacle network is also an important component of our PNT resiliency services, and is being evaluated as a persistent PNT characterization platform. We believe that continuing integration of our Pinnacle service into devices and applications will support revenue growth over the coming year.
Our TerraPoiNT system is a terrestrially-based network designed to overcome the limitations inherent in the space-based nature of GPS. GPS is a faint, unencrypted signal, which is often unavailable indoors, distorted in urban areas, and vulnerable to both jamming and spoofing. TerraPoiNT overcomes these limitations through the transmission of a PNT signal on our licensed 900 MHz LMS spectrum. Unlike GPS, the TerraPoiNT signal can be reliably received indoors and in urban areas, is difficult to jam or spoof, and can support signal authentication (e.g., encryption). Further, the TerraPoiNT signal can embed Pinnacle information to provide a full 3D PNT solution. TerraPoiNT offers positioning, navigation and can be configured to provide NIST-traceable timing services independently of GPS. We believe that these capabilities, whether as a more robust primary solution or as a backup in the event of GPS disruptions, are essential due to the economy’s reliance on GPS for location and precision timing. GPS resiliency is increasingly a U.S. national security priority, and is rising in priority in the European Union, non-European Union countries in Eastern Europe and in other parts of the world due to both the demonstrated vulnerability and lack of local control of space-based signals and systems, highlighted by recent events in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere. Critical infrastructure, including communications networks and power grids, require a reliable GPS signal for accurate timing. A failure of GPS could be catastrophic, and there is no comprehensive, terrestrial backup that is widely deployed today.
Simultaneously, demand for wireless data services continues to grow. The backbone of wireless data services, electromagnetic spectrum, is a finite resource. Our spectrum licenses, covering 919.75-927.75 MHz, are referred to as “low-band spectrum”. There is a finite amount of low-band spectrum available, and it has favorable coverage characteristics compared to higher frequencies, including the ability to provide services indoors and at greater distances. These characteristics result in its ability to be used for coverage and to be deployed more economically, with higher-frequency spectrum often used to provide additional capacity in targeted locations. Our transition to 5G NR as the basis for our PNT services will provide a technical basis for simultaneous broadband data in our band, in addition to our base PNT services, and, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals, may allow us to utilize our spectrum to help meet the continued, growing demand for wireless data capacity.
As of March 2024, TerraPoiNT is deployed and available, with metro-wide service in the San Francisco Bay Area and select services available in 92 total markets nationally. It is also in use by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA for drone operations research and at its Ames facility in Mountain View, CA, leveraging our network in the Bay Area.
On October 31, 2022, we acquired Nestwave, SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée (as subsequently renamed, “NextNav France”), a privately held global leader in low-power geolocation, and completed integrating the NextNav France team into our existing engineering and technology organization during 2023. NextNav France provides advanced geolocation solutions to IOT modem and digital signal processor vendors and end IOT users. We believe that the combination of our technology with NextNav France’s LTE/5G capabilities will allow us to evolve our system to align with 5G NR.
NextNav France’s intellectual property also included a “soft GPS” capability, allowing GPS processing on LTE and 5G NR chipsets, reducing the cost and power requirements for certain types of GPS services for IOT devices. We have licensed this technology to chipset vendors, including a global Tier 1 LTE and 5G NR modem vendor. We expect to start to see the results of these licensing arrangements in 2024.
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Macroeconomic Factors
We are aware that network deployment projects are experiencing delays in schedules and potential cost increases due to a tight labor supply in the field services market. While the impact of this supply constraint is not material to our network projects at this time, we continue to carefully manage labor and materials supply matters. Additionally, there is an increased risk of financial market disruption. Management continues to actively monitor our financial condition, liquidity, operations, suppliers, industry and workforce. We expect these macroeconomic factors and their effects on our operations to continue through the remainder of 2024.
Key Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We have generated limited revenue since our inception. We derive our revenue from PNT products and services, including “floor-level” altitude location data, and related products and services. Our revenue includes revenue generated through services contracts with wireless carriers, services with applications developers, technology demonstration, assessment and support contracts with government customers, sales of equipment, and licensing of proprietary technology. We recognize revenue when an arrangement exists, services, equipment or access to licensed technology are delivered, the transaction price is determined, the arrangement has commercial substance, and collection of consideration is probable.
Operating Expense
Cost of Goods Sold
Cost of goods sold (“COGS”) consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for our operations and manufacturing teams. COGS also includes expenses for site leases, cost of equipment, and professional services related to the maintenance of the equipment at each leased site. We expect our operations costs to increase for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in our Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT networks in domestic U.S. and international markets.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for our research and development functions. Research and development costs also include outside professional services for software and hardware development, cloud hosting costs, and software licensing costs. We expect our research and development costs to increase for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in research and development for our current and future products.
Selling, General and Administrative
Selling, general and administrative expenses consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for our business development, marketing, corporate, executive, finance, legal, human resources, IT and other administrative functions. Selling, general and administrative expenses also include expenses for outside professional services, including legal, auditing and accounting services, recruitment expenses, travel expenses and certain non-income taxes, insurance and other administrative expenses.
We expect our selling, general and administrative expenses to increase for the foreseeable future with the growth of our business, and as a result of operating as a public company, including compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC, legal, audit, and additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities, and other administrative and professional services. As a result, we expect our selling, general and administrative expenses will increase in absolute dollars, subject to fluctuations in the volume of stock-based compensation granted, but may fluctuate as a percentage of total revenue over time.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization expense results from depreciation and amortization of our property and equipment and intangible assets that is recognized over their estimated useful lives.
Interest Income (Expense)
Interest income consists of interest earned from our cash and cash equivalents balance and on marketable securities. Interest expense relates to interest and amortization of debt discounts on our senior secured notes.
Other Income (Expense)
Other income (expense) consists of miscellaneous non-operating items, such as change in fair value of warrants, equity method income (loss), and foreign currency gains (losses).
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our statements of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
|||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | ||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||
| Revenue | $ | 3,862 | $ | 3,926 | |||
| Operating Expense: | |||||||
| Cost of goods sold(1) | 12,743 | 11,806 | |||||
| Research and development(1) | 19,503 | 17,059 | |||||
| Selling, general and administrative(1) | 30,324 | 36,926 | |||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 4,821 | 3,671 | |||||
| Total operating expenses | 67,391 | 69,462 | |||||
| Operating loss | (63,529 | ) | (65,536 | ) | |||
| Interest income (expense) | (3,664 | ) | 901 | ||||
| Other income (expense) | (4,321 | ) | 24,491 | ||||
| Loss before income taxes | (71,514 | ) | (40,144 | ) | |||
| Benefit (Provision) for income taxes | (221 | ) | 28 | ||||
| Net loss | $ | (71,735 | ) | $ | (40,116 | ) | |
| (1) | Cost of goods sold, research and development, and selling, general and administrative expense for the periods do not include depreciation and amortization, which is presented separately in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss, but include stock-based compensation as follows: |
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| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | $ | 2,318 | $ | 2,389 | ||||
| Research and development | 6,655 | 6,743 | ||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 12,865 | 17,369 | ||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 21,838 | $ | 26,501 | ||||
Comparison of the Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Revenue
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 3,862 | $ | 3,926 | $ | (64 | ) | (1.6) | % | |||||||
Revenue decreased by less than $0.1 million, or 2%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 from the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was driven by decreased integration revenue, partially offset by increased recurring service revenue from technology and service contracts with commercial customers. For the year ended December 31, 2023, two customers accounted for 75% and 10% of total revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2022, two customers accounted for 83% and 10% of total revenue. Accounts receivable as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 were $2.3 million and $2.2 million, respectively; the deferred revenue balance as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 was $0.3 million and $0.1 million, respectively.
Operating Expense
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| COGS | $ | 12,743 | $ | 11,806 | $ | 937 | 7.9 | % | ||||||||
COGS increased by $0.9 million, or 8%, to $12.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $11.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily driven by a $0.8 million increase in site rent expense due to deployment of new sites in 2023, a $0.4 million increase in software license expenses, and a $0.3 million increase in payroll-related expenses. The increases were partially offset by a $0.3 million decrease in outside consulting expenses, a $0.2 million decrease in maintenance and operational cost, and a $0.1 million decrease in stock-based compensation.
Research and Development
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 19,503 | $ | 17,059 | $ | 2,444 | 14.3 | % | ||||||||
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Research and development expenses increased by $2.4 million, or 14%, to $19.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $17.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily driven by a $1.6 million increase in payroll-related expenses driven by headcount, a $0.5 million increase in maintenance and operational cost, a $0.2 million increase in software license expenses, a $0.2 million increase in outside consulting expenses, and a $0.1 million increase in professional fee. The increases were partially offset by a $0.1 million decrease in stock-based compensation.
Selling, General and Administrative
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | $ | 30,324 | $ | 36,926 | $ | (6,602 | ) | (17.9) | % | |||||||
Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $6.6 million, or 18%, to $30.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 from $36.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was primarily driven by a $4.5 million decrease in stock-based compensation, a $1.0 million decrease in professional services, a $1.0 million decrease in directors’ and officers’ insurance, a $0.8 million decrease in outside consulting expenses, and a $0.4 million decrease in marketing and recruiting cost. The decreases were partially offset by a $0.9 million increase in payroll-related expenses driven by headcount and a $0.2 million increase in other operational expenses.
Depreciation and Amortization
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | $ | 4,821 | $ | 3,671 | $ | 1,150 | 31.3 | % | ||||||||
Depreciation and amortization expenses increased by $1.2 million, or 31%, to $4.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 from $3.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in depreciation and amortization expense is primarily attributable to placing the Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT network assets in service since the third quarter of 2022 and amortization related to acquired intangibles in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Interest Income (Expense)
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Interest income (expense) | $ | (3,664 | ) | $ | 901 | $ | (4,565 | ) | (506.7) | % | ||||||
Interest expense was $7.4 million whereas interest income was $3.7 million resulting in net interest expense of $3.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared with interest income of $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in interest expense was due to interest and amortization of debt discounts on our senior secured notes issued during 2023.
Other Income (Expense)
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense) | $ | (4,321 | ) | $ | 24,491 | $ | (28,812 | ) | (117.6) | % | ||||||
Other expense was $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared with other income of $24.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.The change in other expense was primarily driven by change in the fair value of warrants.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have incurred net losses since our inception and to date have generated only limited revenue. We have primarily relied upon debt and equity financings to fund our cash requirements. During each of the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we incurred net losses of $71.7 million and $40.1 million, respectively. During each of the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, our net cash used in operating activities and cash provided by investing activities was $35.4 million was $1.1 million, respectively. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, our net cash used in operating activities and investing activities was $37.1 million and $15.7 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of $85.8 million and an accumulated deficit of $760.2 million. We expect to incur additional losses and higher operating expenses for the foreseeable future. Our primary uses of cash are to fund our operations as we continue to grow our business. We will require a significant amount of cash for expenditures as we invest in ongoing research and development and our PNT networks.
Managing liquidity and our cash position is a priority of ours. We continually work to optimize our expenses in light of the growth of our business, and adapt to changes in the economic environment. We believe that our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2023 will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs, including all contractual commitments, beyond the next 12 months. We believe we will meet longer term expected future cash requirements and obligations through a combination of our existing cash and cash equivalents balances and marketable securities, cash flows from operations, and issuance of equity securities or debt offerings. However, this determination is based upon internal financial projections and is subject to changes in market and business conditions.
In 2023, we issued $70.0 million in aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes with a fixed interest rate of 10% to the lenders thereto. Such notes will mature on December 1, 2026 with interest payable semi-annually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year. We may elect, at our sole discretion, to pay up to 50% of the accrued and unpaid interest on the senior secured notes due with our common stock. Refer to Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the period indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Net cash (used in) operating activities | $ | (35,440 | ) | $ | (37,095 | ) | ||
| Net cash provided (used in) investing activities | 1,074 | (15,736 | ) | |||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 68,984 | 43 | ||||||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Our cash flows used in operating activities are significantly affected by the growth of our business primarily related to research and development, sales and marketing, and selling, general and administrative activities. Our operating cash flows are also affected by our working capital needs to support growth in personnel-related expenditures and fluctuations in accounts payable and other current assets and liabilities.
Net cash used in operating activities during 2023 was $35.4 million, resulting primarily from a net loss of $71.7 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $21.8 million for stock-based compensation, $4.8 million for depreciation and amortization, $4.1 million for change in the fair value of warrant liability, $3.2 million in amortization of debt issuance costs, $0.5 million realized and unrealized gain on marketable securities, $0.2 million for equity method investment loss, and $0.1 million in asset retirement obligations accretion expense. Additionally, there was a net increase in operating liabilities of $2.7 million.
Net cash used in operating activities during 2022 was $37.1 million, resulting from a net loss of $40.1 million and non-cash charge of $24.7 million for the change in fair value of warrant liability, adjusted for non-cash charges of $26.5 million in stock-based compensation charges, $0.23 million for equity method investment loss, non-cash charges of $3.7 million in depreciation, and a decrease of $2.7 million in accounts payable, prepaid and other current assets.
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Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Net cash provided by investing activities during 2023 was $1.1 million, representing sale and of maturity of marketable securities, net of purchase of marketable securities, and cash used for addition in property and equipment primarily related to the deployment of the TerraPoiNT network and internal use software.
Net cash used in investing activities during 2022 was $15.7 million, representing additions to short term investment, acquisition of NextNav France, equity method investments, and property and equipment primarily related to the deployment of the Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT network and internal use software.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities during 2023 was $69.0 million, primarily reflecting cash proceeds from issuance of senior secured notes, net of debt issuance cost.
Net cash provided by financing activities during 2022 was $43 thousand, primarily reflecting cash proceeds from exercise of common stock options.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based on our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. In doing such preparation, we have to make estimates and assumptions. Our critical accounting estimates are those estimates that involve a significant level of uncertainty at the time the estimate was made, and changes in them have had or are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial condition or results of operations. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from our estimates. We base our estimates on past experience and other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, and we evaluate these estimates on an ongoing basis.
Revenue Recognition
We derive our revenue from PNT technology, products and services including revenue generated through technology demonstration and assessment contracts with customers, support services provided to customers, sales of equipment, and licensing of proprietary technology.
We recognize revenue when an arrangement exists, services, equipment or access to licensed technology are delivered, the transaction price is determined, the arrangement has commercial substance, payment terms are determined and collection of consideration is probable.
We sell software licenses and services through arrangements that may bundle software, equipment, and other services. When we determine that we have separate distinct performance obligations, we allocate the bundled contract price among the various performance obligations based on each deliverable’s stand-alone selling price. If the stand-alone selling price is not directly observable, we estimate the amount to be allocated for each performance obligation based on observable market transactions. When we determine the performance obligations are not distinct, we recognize revenue on a combined basis as the obligation is satisfied. To the extent our contracts include variable consideration, the transaction price includes both fixed and variable consideration. The variable consideration contained within our contracts with customers may include discounts, credits and other similar items. When a contract includes variable consideration, we evaluate the estimate of the variable consideration to determine whether the estimate needs to be constrained; therefore, we include the variable consideration in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved.
| 40 |
We recognize equipment sales and the related costs when control of the equipment passes to the customer, typically upon shipment. Customers do not have rights of return without our prior consent. Revenue pursuant to licensing agreements for our technology represents performance obligations that are satisfied over time. We recognize support services ratably over the periods in which the services are provided; the related costs are expensed as incurred.
The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables, and deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. We bill amounts under our agreed-upon contractual terms at periodic intervals for services, upon shipment for equipment, or upon achievement of contractual milestones or as work progresses. Billing may occur subsequent to revenue recognition, resulting in accounts receivable. We may also receive payments from customers before revenue is recognized, resulting in deferred revenue.
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets
We hold wireless Multilateration LMS licenses. Certain general regulatory requirements apply to all licensed wireless spectrum, including, for example, certain build-out or “substantial service” requirements, which generally must be satisfied as a condition to the retention of the license. We are actively engaged in either meeting such requirements currently or seeking an extension of such requirements from the FCC for each of our LMS licenses. Although licenses are issued for only a fixed time, ten years, such licenses are subject to renewal by the FCC, based on the achievement of certain milestones and a finding that such renewal would serve the public interest. Renewal of our licenses has occurred previously and at nominal cost. As a result, we treat our wireless LMS spectrum licenses as an indefinite-lived intangible asset. We reevaluate the useful life determination for wireless licenses each year to determine whether events and circumstances continue to support an indefinite useful life. Costs incurred to maintain the FCC licenses are recorded in operating expenses.
We assess indefinite-lived intangible assets for potential impairment annually as of October 1, or during the year if an event or other circumstance indicates that we may not be able to recover the carrying amount of the asset. In evaluating indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment, we first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying amount. If we conclude that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying value, then no further testing is required. However, if we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying value, then we perform a two-step impairment test to identify potential impairment and measures the amount of impairment we will recognize, if any.
Goodwill
Goodwill is tested for impairment annually in the fourth quarter or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the asset may be impaired. The Company operates as one reporting unit. When testing goodwill for impairment, the Company may first perform an optional qualitative assessment. If the Company determines it is not more likely than not the reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying value, then no further analysis is necessary. If the Company determines that it is more likely than not that the fair value of its reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then the quantitative impairment test will be performed. Under the quantitative impairment test, if the carrying amount of the Company’s reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the Company will recognize an impairment loss in an amount equal to that excess but limited to the total amount of goodwill.
Long-term debt
In conjunction with the issuance of senior secured notes in May and July of 2023, we issued warrants to certain of the purchasers thereto. We allocated the proceeds from the debt issuance to long term debt and equity classified warrants based on relative fair value as determined by the Discounted Cash Flow approach and Monte Carlo simulation model, respectively. The portion of proceeds allocated to equity-classified warrants and direct debt issuance costs are classified as debt discounts. The carrying value of long term debt in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet consists of principal amount of debt, net of debt discounts. Debt discounts are amortized to interest expense based on the related debt agreements primarily using the effective interest method.
Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Standards
For information regarding new accounting pronouncements, and the impact of these pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements, if any, refer to Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Emerging Growth Company Status
Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can choose not to take advantage of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies, and any such election to not take advantage of the extended transition period is irrevocable. Spartacus previously elected to avail itself of the extended transition period, and following the consummation of the Business Combination, we became an emerging growth company (for the period described in the immediately succeeding paragraph) and will continue to take advantage of the benefits of the extended transition period emerging growth company status permits. During the extended transition period, it may be difficult or impossible to compare our financial results with the financial results of another public company that complies with public company effective dates for accounting standard updates because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We will remain an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act until the earliest of (a) December 31, 2025, (b) the last date of our fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, (c) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the previous three years.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
Interest Rate Risk
We had cash and cash equivalents and short-term marketable securities of $85.8 million as of December 31, 2023, which are held for working capital purposes. Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our cash and investments in marketable securities, which consisted of U.S. Government, Agency and money market funds. The fair values of our investments in U.S. Government and Agency Bonds will generally fluctuate with movements of interest rates, increasing in periods of declining rates of interest and declining in periods of increasing rates of interest. Due to the short-term nature of these instruments, we believe that we do not have any material exposure to changes in the fair value due to changes in interest rates. The effect of a hypothetical 10% change in interest rates would not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.
As of December 31, 2023, we had long-term debt of $48.4 million, net of debt issuance cost and discount. The debt has a fixed interest rate of 10% per annum. Therefore, fluctuations in interest rates do not impact our consolidated financial statements. See Note 8 — Long-term debt, net for additional information.
Concentration of Credit Risk
We deposit our cash with financial institutions, and, at times, such balances may exceed federally insured limits. Management believes the financial institutions that hold our cash and cash equivalents are financially sound and, accordingly, minimal credit risk exists with respect to cash and cash equivalents. In addition, we seek to minimize our exposure to banking risk by limiting the amount of uninsured deposits and investing our excess cash in U.S. government and government agency bonds, and money market funds.
Effects of Inflation and Supply Chain
While inflation and supply chain challenges may impact our revenue and cost of services, we believe the effects of inflation and supply chain challenges on our results of operations and financial condition have not been significant to date. However, there can be no assurance that our results of operations and financial condition will not be materially impacted by inflation or supply chain challenges in the future.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Our consolidated financial statements, together with the report of our independent registered public accounting firm, appear in the Index to Financial Statements beginning on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
There has been no change of accountants nor any disagreements with accountants on any matter of accounting principles or practices or financial disclosure required to be reported under this Item.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in Company reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were effective as of December 31, 2023.
Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting; Attestation Report of Registered Public Accounting Firm
Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act. Management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. As a result of this assessment, management concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our internal control over financial reporting was effective in providing reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of internal controls from the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by the rules of the SEC as a result of the Company’s status as an emerging growth company.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information.
On December 12, 2023, Robert Lantz, General Counsel, modified a Rule 10b5-1 plan intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the under the Exchange Act. Such Rule 10b5-1 trading plan provides for the potential sale of up to 52,683 of shares. This plan will terminate on 12/31/2024.
On December 20, 2023, a Rule 10b5-1 plan adopted by Ganesh Pattabiraman, former Chief Executive Officer, was terminated pursuant to the terms and conditions of such plan. This plan was adopted on June 22, 2023. The plan was adopted to facilitate the sale by Ganesh Pattabiraman of 209,113 shares of our common stock owned by Ganesh Pattabiraman.
No other officers or directors, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted and/or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or a “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” as defined in Item 508 of Regulation S-K, during the last fiscal quarter.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections.
Not Applicable.
| 44 |
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Code of Conduct and Ethics
Our Board has adopted a written Code of Conduct and Ethics (the “Code of Conduct”) applicable to our and our subsidiaries’ directors, officers and employees (each, a “Covered Person”). The Code of Conduct covers fundamental ethical and compliance-related principles and practices such as accurate accounting records and financial reporting, avoiding conflicts of interest, the protection and use of our property and information and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. A current copy of the Code of Conduct is posted on the Governance section of the Investors page of our website, which is located at www.nextnav.com. We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirement under Item 5.05 of Form 8-K regarding any substantive amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of the Code of Conduct by posting such information on the website address and location specified above.
The Code of Conduct addresses (among other things) (i) the general principles and standards of honest and ethical conduct of the Covered Persons, (ii) the avoidance of conflicts of interest and insider trading, (iii) the Covered Persons’ obligations with respect to corporate opportunities, (iv) procedures with respect to retention of business records and general recordkeeping, (v) bribes, gifts and gratuities, as well as political contributions, (vi) internal procedures for the reporting of violations of the Code of Conduct, and (vii) requests for waivers of or changes to the Code of Conduct.
The additional information required by this item will be set forth in our 2024 Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of December 31, 2023 and is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
The information required by this item will be set forth in our 2024 Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of December 31, 2023 and is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
The information required by this item will be set forth in our 2024 Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of December 31, 2023 and is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
The information required by this item will be set forth in our 2024 Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of December 31, 2023 and is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The information required by this item will be set forth in our 2024 Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of December 31, 2023 and is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
| 45 |
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a)(1) Consolidated Financial Statements
The consolidated financial statements listed in the Index to Financial Statements beginning on page F-1 are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
(a)(2) Financial Statement Schedules
All schedules are omitted as they are inapplicable or the required information is furnished in the consolidated financial statements or the notes thereto.
(a)(3) Exhibits
The exhibits filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are set forth on the Exhibit Index and are incorporated herein by reference.
Exhibit Index
| * | Filed previously. |
| ** | Furnished herewith. |
| † | Certain schedules and exhibits have been omitted pursuant to Rule 601(a)(5) of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act. A copy of any omitted schedule or exhibit will be furnished to the SEC upon request. |
| ! | Certain confidential portions of the agreement were omitted by means of marking such portions with brackets (due to the registrant customarily and actually treating such information as private or confidential and such omitted information not being material) pursuant to Item 601(b)(10) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Act. NextNav agrees to supplementally furnish a copy of any confidential portions to the SEC upon request. |
| + | Indicates a management or compensatory plan. |
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary.
None
| 49 |
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
| NEXTNAV INC. | ||
| Date: March 13, 2024 | By: | /s/ Mariam Sorond |
| Name: | Mariam Sorond | |
| Title: | President and Chief Executive Officer | |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signature | Capacity | Date | ||
| /s/Mariam Sorond | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Mariam Sorond | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
| /s/ Christian D. Gates | Chief Financial Officer | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Christian D. Gates | (Principal Financial Officer) | |||
| /s/ Sammaad R. Shams | Corporate Accounting Officer | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Sammaad R. Shams | (Principal Accounting Officer) | |||
| /s/ Gary M. Parsons | Chairman and Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Gary M. Parsons | ||||
| /s/ Peter D. Aquino | Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Peter D. Aquino | ||||
| /s/ Neil S. Subin | Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Neil S. Subin |
||||
| /s/ Bandel L. Carano | Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Bandel L. Carano | ||||
| /s/ Alan B. Howe | Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| Alan B. Howe | ||||
| /s/ John B. Muleta |
Director | March 13, 2024 | ||
| John B. Muleta |
| 50 |
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of NextNav Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of NextNav Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related consolidated statements of comprehensive loss, changes in equity and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2012.
March 13, 2024
NextNav Inc.
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Assets | ||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | ||||||
| Short Term Investment |
|
|||||||
| Accounts Receivable | ||||||||
| Other current assets | ||||||||
| Total current assets | $ | $ | ||||||
| Network under construction | ||||||||
| Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation of $ |
||||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | ||||||||
| Goodwill | ||||||||
| Intangible assets, net | ||||||||
| Other assets | ||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | ||||||
| Liabilities, preferred interests, and stockholders’ equity (deficit) | ||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | $ | ||||||
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | ||||||||
| Short term lease liabilities - operating | ||||||||
| Deferred revenue | ||||||||
| Total current liabilities | $ | $ | ||||||
| Warrants | ||||||||
| Long-term lease liabilities - Operating | ||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | ||||||||
| Long-term debt, net of debt issuance cost and discount | ||||||||
| Total liabilities | $ | $ | ||||||
| Stockholders’ equity (deficit): | ||||||||
| Common Stock, authorized |
$ | $ | ||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income | ||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Common stock in treasury, at cost, |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit) | $ | $ | ||||||
| Non-controlling interests | ||||||||
| Total liabilities, preferred interests, stockholders’ equity (deficit) and non-controlling interests | $ | $ | ||||||
NextNav INC.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||
| Revenue | $ | $ | ||||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||||
| Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) | ||||||||
| Research and development | ||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | ||||||||
| Total operating expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
| Operating loss | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Other income (expense): | ||||||||
| Interest income (expense) | ( |
) | ||||||
| Change in fair value of warrants | ( |
) | ||||||
| Other loss, net | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Loss before income taxes | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Benefit (Provision) for income taxes | ( |
) | ||||||
| Net loss | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Foreign currency translation adjustment | ||||||||
| Comprehensive loss | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Net loss | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Net loss attributable to common stockholders | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Weighted average of shares outstanding – basic and diluted | ||||||||
| Net loss attributable to common stockholder per share – basic and diluted | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
See accompanying notes.
NextNav INC.
Consolidated Statements of Changes in equity
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-In |
Accumulated | Accumulated Other Comprehensive | Treasury stock, | Stockholders’ (Deficit) |
Non-controlling | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Units | Value | Capital | Deficit | (Loss) | at cost | Equity | interests | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, December 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vesting of RSUs | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of RSAs | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cancellation of RSAs | ( |
) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of common stock options | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of common warrants | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | — | ( |
) | — | — | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustment | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common stock received for tax withholding | ( |
) | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of shares related to acquisition | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Redemption of non-controlling interests | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, December 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vesting of RSUs | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of RSAs | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of common stock options | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercise of common warrants | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common warrants | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest payment through issuance of shares | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Redemption of non-controlling interests | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reclassification of warrant liability to common stock warrants | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares received from settlement of employee receivables | ( |
) | — | — | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | — | ( |
) | — | — | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustment | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, December 31, 2023 | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes.
NextNav INC.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Operating activities | ||||||||
| Net loss | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | ||||||||
| Equity-based compensation | ||||||||
| Change in fair value of warrant liability | ( |
) | ||||||
| Realized and unrealized gain on marketable securities | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Equity method investment loss | ||||||||
| Asset retirement obligation accretion | ||||||||
| Amortization of debt issuance costs and discount | ||||||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts receivables | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Other current assets | ||||||||
| Other assets | ||||||||
| Accounts payable | ( |
) | ||||||
| Deferred revenue | ( |
) | ||||||
| Accrued expenses and other liabilities | ( |
) | ||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities | ||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Investing activities | ||||||||
| Capitalization of costs and purchases of network assets, property, and equipment | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Purchase of equity method investments | ( |
) | ||||||
| Purchase of marketable securities | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Sale and maturity of marketable securities | ||||||||
| Purchase of business, net of cash acquired | ( |
) | ||||||
| Purchase of internal use software | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities | $ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
| Financing activities | ||||||||
| Proceeds from debt | ||||||||
| Payments towards debt issuance cost | ( |
) | ||||||
| Payments towards debt | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Proceeds from exercise of stock option | ||||||||
| Proceeds from exercise of warrants | ||||||||
| Proceeds from issuance of common stock | ||||||||
| Purchase of common stock (withholding taxes) | ( |
) | ||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | $ | $ | ||||||
| Effect of exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents | ( |
) | ||||||
| Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | ( |
) | ||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period | ||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents at end of period | $ | $ | ||||||
| Non-cash investing and financing activities | ||||||||
| Common stock issued in acquisition of business | $ | $ | ||||||
| Capital expenditure included in Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | $ | $ | ||||||
| Reclassification of warrant liability to common stock warrants | $ | $ | ||||||
| Issuance of warrants | $ | $ | ||||||
| Interest paid in shares | $ | $ | ||||||
| Interest paid in cash | $ | $ | ||||||
| Income taxes paid, net | $ |
$ | ||||||
See accompanying notes.
NextNav INC.
1. Organization and Business
Principal Business
NextNav Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively “NextNav” or the “Company”) deliver next generation positioning, navigation and timing (“PNT”) solutions built on a robust asset platform, including 8 MHz of nearly nationwide wireless spectrum in the 900 MHz band, intellectual property and deployed network systems. The Company’s Pinnacle system provides “floor-level” altitude service to any device with a barometric pressure sensor, including most off-the-shelf Android and iOS smartphones. The Company’s TerraPoiNT system is a terrestrial-based, encrypted network designed to overcome the limitations inherent in the space-based nature of global positioning system (“GPS”) through a network of specialized wide area location transmitters that broadcasts an encrypted PNT signal over the Company’s licensed spectrum.
Since its inception, NextNav has incurred recurring losses and generated negative cash flows from operations and has primarily relied upon debt and equity financings to fund its cash requirements. During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company incurred net losses of $
Managing liquidity and the Company’s cash position is a priority of the Company. The Company continually works to optimize its expenses in light of the growth of its business and adapt to changes in the economic environment. The Company believes that the cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2023 will be sufficient to meet its working capital and capital expenditure needs, including all contractual commitments, beyond the next 12 months. The Company believes it will meet longer term expected future cash requirements and obligations through a combination of its existing cash and cash equivalents balances and marketable securities, cash flows from operations, and issuance of equity securities or debt offerings. However, this determination is based upon internal financial projections and is subject to changes in market and business conditions.
2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). All intercompany transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
Use of Estimates
In preparing the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, management makes estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period and accompanying notes. These estimates include those related to the useful lives and recoverability of long-lived and intangible assets, valuation of common stock warrants, income taxes and equity-based compensation, among others. NextNav bases estimates on historical experience, anticipated results and various other assumptions, including assumptions of future events, it believes are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses, that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results and outcomes could differ materially from these estimates and assumptions.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Cash and Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities
Cash and cash equivalents include all cash in banks and highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased. The combined account balances held on deposit at each institution typically exceed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance coverage and, as a result, there is a concentration of credit risk related to amounts on deposit in excess of FDIC insurance coverage. The Company seeks to reduce this risk by maintaining such deposits with high quality financial institutions that management believes are creditworthy. Further, the Company seeks to minimize its exposure to banking risk by limiting the amount of uninsured deposits and investing its excess cash in U.S. government and government agency bonds, and money market funds.
The Company invests excess cash primarily in U.S. government and government agency bonds, and money market funds. The Company classifies all marketable securities that have stated maturities of three months or less from the date of purchase as cash equivalents, and those that have stated maturities of over three months as short-term investments on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company determines the appropriate classification of investments in marketable securities at the time of purchase and reevaluates such designation at each balance sheet date. The Company’s marketable securities are classified as trading and are measured at fair value with the related gains and losses, including unrealized, recognized in interest income (expense).
Equity Method Investment
The Company reports its investments in unconsolidated entities, over whose operating and financial policies the Company has the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, under the equity method of accounting. Judgment regarding the level of influence over each equity method investment includes considering key factors such as ownership interest, representation on the board of directors, participation in policy-making decisions and material intercompany transactions.
The initial carrying value of equity method investment is based on the amount paid to purchase the interest in the investee entity. Subsequently, the investment is increased or decreased by the Company’s proportionate share in the investee’s earnings or losses and decreased by cash distributions from the investee. The Company eliminates from its financial results all significant intercompany transactions to the extent of its ownership interest, including the intercompany portion of transactions with equity method investee. The Company’s share of the investee’s income or loss is recorded on a one quarter lag.
The Company evaluates its equity method investments for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the investment may not be recoverable. If the Company determines a decline in the fair value of an equity method investment below its carrying value is other-than-temporary, an impairment is recorded. Determining fair value involves significant judgment. The Company’s estimates consider alternative evidence including, but not limited to, general economic conditions and other relevant factors. The Company did not recognize any impairment losses for its equity method investments for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Leases
NextNav leases office spaces under non-cancellable leases as well as site leases for towers and shelters under operating leases related to its network under construction. Site leases are entered into throughout the United States under which NextNav receives the rights to install equipment used to transmit its services over its licensed spectrum. The Company, at the inception of the contract, determines whether a contract is or contains a lease based on assessment of the terms and conditions of the contract. The Company classifies leases with contractual terms longer than twelve months as either operating or finance. The Company has elected not to recognize lease assets and liabilities for its short-term leases, which are defined as leases with an initial term of twelve months or less.
The Company’s leases may include options to extend or terminate the lease. The option to renew may be automatic, at the option of NextNav or mutually agreed to between the landlord and NextNav. Lease terms include the non-cancellable term and periods under options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Company’s lease agreements generally contain lease and non-lease components. Payments under the lease arrangements are primarily fixed. Non-lease components primarily include payments for utilities and maintenance. The Company combines fixed payments for non-lease components with lease payments and accounts for them together as a single lease component which increases the amount of the Company’s lease assets and liabilities. Certain lease agreements contain variable payments, which are expensed as incurred and not included in the lease assets and liabilities. These amounts include payments for common area maintenance.
Lease assets and liabilities are recognized at the present value of the future lease payments at the lease commencement date. The interest rate used to determine the present value of the future lease payments is the Company’s incremental borrowing rate, because the interest rate implicit in the Company’s leases is not readily determinable. The Company’s incremental borrowing rate is estimated to approximate the interest rate on a collateralized basis with similar terms and payments, and in economic environments where the leased asset is located. Lease assets are reduced by landlord incentives, plus any direct costs from executing the leases or lease prepayments reclassified from “Other current assets” upon lease commencement.
Operating lease assets and liabilities are included on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Operating lease expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Monthly rent expense includes any site related utility payments or other fees such as administrative or up-front fees contained in the lease agreements that are determinable upon execution of the lease agreement.
Property and Equipment, Network under Construction and Intangible Assets
Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation and network under construction are recorded at cost. Employee-related costs for construction of network assets are also capitalized during the construction phase. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs that do not materially extend the useful lives of property and equipment are charged to cost of goods sold (“COGS”) and selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) as incurred. When property or equipment is retired or otherwise disposed of, the related property accounts are relieved of costs and accumulated depreciation and any resulting gain or loss is included in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
NextNav records asset retirement obligations associated with the contractually required removal of property and equipment assets from leased properties. When an asset retirement obligation is identified, NextNav records the fair value of the obligation discounted at present value as a liability. The fair value of the obligation is also capitalized as property and equipment, which is amortized over the estimated remaining useful life of the associated asset. Accretion expense on the liability is recognized over the estimated life of the related assets. The carrying value of asset retirement obligations as of December 31, 2023 is classified in other long-term liabilities.
Asset retirement obligations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 were:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Beginning Balance | $ | $ | ||||||
| Liabilities incurred | ||||||||
| Liabilities settled | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Change in estimates | ||||||||
| Accretion | ||||||||
| Ending Balance | $ | $ | ||||||
Depreciation and Amortization are computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:
| Pinnacle and TerraPoiNT network assets | ||
| Office equipment, furniture and internal use software | ||
| Leasehold improvements | ||
| Acquired finite-lived intangible assets |
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Software Development Costs
Research and development costs to develop software to be sold, leased or marketed are expensed as incurred up to the point of technological feasibility for the related software product. NextNav has not capitalized development costs for software to be sold, leased or marketed to date, as the software development process is essentially completed concurrent with the establishment of technological feasibility. As such, these costs are expensed as incurred and recognized in research and development costs in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
Software developed for internal use, with no substantive plans to market such software at the time of development, are capitalized and included in intangible assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Costs incurred during the preliminary planning and evaluation and post implementation stages of the project are expensed as incurred. Costs incurred during the application development stage of the project are capitalized. In 2023 and 2022, the Company capitalized $
Internal use software is amortized over a
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets primarily includes proprietary technology and software. See Note 4 — Property, Equipment, Network Under Construction, and Intangible Assets.
Goodwill
Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired in a business combination. Goodwill is not amortized but is tested for impairment annually in the fourth quarter or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the asset may be impaired. The Company operates as
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 |
2022 |
|||||||
| Beginning Balance | $ | $ | ||||||
| New acquisition | ||||||||
| Changes in foreign exchange rates | ||||||||
| Purchase price adjustment | ( |
) | ||||||
| Ending Balance | $ | $ | ||||||
Impairment
NextNav’s long-lived assets, including property and equipment, network under construction, intangible assets and right-of-use lease assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. If circumstances require a long-lived asset or asset group to be tested for possible impairment, impairment is determined by comparing the carrying value of these long-lived assets to management’s probability weighted estimate of the future undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use of the asset or asset group. In the event an impairment exists, a loss is recognized based on the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the asset group. For the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022, the Company determined that no events or changes in circumstances existed that would indicate any impairment of its long-lived assets.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Indefinite-Lived Intangible assets
NextNav holds wireless Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service (“LMS”) licenses. Certain general regulatory requirements apply to all licensed wireless spectrum, including, for example, certain build-out or “substantial service” requirements, which generally must be satisfied as a condition to the license. NextNav is actively engaged in either meeting such requirements currently or seeking an extension of such requirements from the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) for each of its LMS licenses. Although licenses are issued by the FCC for only a fixed time,
NextNav assesses indefinite-lived intangible assets for potential impairment annually as of October 1 or during the year if an event or other circumstance indicates that NextNav may not be able to recover the carrying amount of the asset. In evaluating indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment, NextNav first assesses qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying amount. If NextNav concludes that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying value, then no further testing is required. However, if NextNav concludes that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying value, then NextNav performs a two-step impairment test to identify potential impairment and measures the amount of impairment it will recognize, if any.
Based on its qualitative assessment performed for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, NextNav concluded that it was not more likely than not that the fair value of its indefinite-lived asset is less than its carrying amount, and as such, no impairment exists.
Acquisitions
The Company accounts for its acquisitions using the acquisition method of accounting. The purchase price is attributed to the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Transaction costs directly attributable to the acquisition are expensed as incurred. Identifiable assets and liabilities acquired or assumed are measured separately at their fair values as of the acquisition date. The excess of the purchase price of acquisition over the fair value of the identifiable net assets of the acquiree is recorded as goodwill. The results of businesses acquired are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements from the date of acquisition.
When the Company issues stock-based or cash awards to an acquired company’s shareholders, the Company evaluates whether the awards are consideration or compensation for post-acquisition services. The evaluation includes, among other things, whether the vesting of the awards is contingent on the continued employment of the acquired company’s stockholders beyond the acquisition date. If continued employment is required for vesting, the awards are treated as compensation for post-acquisition services and recognized as expense over the requisite service period.
Determining the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires management to use significant judgment and estimates, including the selection of valuation methodologies, estimates of future revenue and cash flows, discount rates, and selection of comparable companies. The estimates and assumptions used to determine the fair values and useful lives of identified intangible assets could change due to numerous factors, including market conditions, technological developments, economic conditions, and competition. During the measurement period, which may be up to
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Long-term debt
In conjunction with the issuance of senior secured notes in May and July of 2023, the Company issued warrants to the lenders. The Company allocated the proceeds from its debt issuance to long-term debt and equity classified warrants based on relative fair value as determined by the Discounted Cash Flow approach and Monte Carlo simulation model, respectively. The portion of proceeds allocated to equity-classified warrants and direct debt issuance costs are classified as debt discounts. The carrying value of long-term debt in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet consists of principal amount of debt, net of debt discounts. Debt discounts are amortized to interest expense based on the related debt agreements primarily using the effective interest method.
Non-controlling Interests
The non-controlling interests in the Company’s consolidated financial statements represents the warrants for Nestwave, SAS, a French société par actions simplifiée (as subsequently renamed, “NextNav France”) shares that were owned by the selling shareholders of NextNav France. Holders of the warrants do not have the right to income or obligation to losses, and the Company did not attribute any net loss to the non-controlling interests for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
Revenue
NextNav derives its revenue from PNT technology, products and services including revenue generated through technology demonstration and assessment contracts with customers, support services provided to customers, sales of equipment, and licensing of proprietary technology.
The Company recognizes revenue when an arrangement exists, services, equipment or access to licensed technology are delivered, the transaction price is determined, the arrangement has commercial substance, payment terms are determined and collection of consideration is probable.
The Company sells software licenses and services through arrangements that may bundle software, equipment, and other services. When the Company determines that it has separate distinct performance obligations, the Company allocates the bundled contract price among the various performance obligations based on each deliverable’s stand-alone selling price. If the stand-alone selling price is not directly observable, the Company estimates the amount to be allocated for each performance obligation based on observable market transactions. When the Company determines the performance obligations are not distinct, the Company recognizes revenue on a combined basis as the obligation is satisfied. To the extent the Company’s contracts include variable consideration, the transaction price includes both fixed and variable consideration. The variable consideration contained within the Company’s contracts with customers may include discounts, credits and other similar items. When a contract includes variable consideration, the Company evaluates the estimate of the variable consideration to determine whether the estimate needs to be constrained; therefore, the Company includes the variable consideration in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved.
NextNav recognizes equipment sales and the related costs when control of the equipment passes to the customer, typically upon shipment. The Company has made an accounting policy election to account for shipping activities, consisting of direct costs to ship products performed after the control of a product has been transferred to the customer, in cost of goods sold. Customers do not have rights of return without NextNav’s prior consent. Revenue pursuant to licensing agreements for NextNav’s technology represents performance obligations that are satisfied over time. NextNav recognizes revenue from initial integration services and ongoing services ratably over the periods in which the services are provided; the related costs are expensed as incurred.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables, and deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The Company bills amounts under its agreed-upon contractual terms at periodic intervals for services, upon shipment for equipment, or upon achievement of contractual milestones or as work progresses. Billing may occur subsequent to revenue recognition, resulting in accounts receivable. The Company may also receive payments from customers before revenue is recognized, resulting in deferred revenue. Additionally, the Company had performance obligations associated with commitments in customer contracts for future services that have not yet been recognized in our financial statements.
The following table presents the Company’s revenue disaggregated by category and source:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Commercial | $ | $ | ||||||
| Government contracts | ||||||||
| Equipment sales | ||||||||
| Total revenue | $ | $ | ||||||
Contract Balances
Accounts receivable are billed and unbilled amounts related to the Company’s rights to consideration as performance obligations are satisfied when the rights to payment become unconditional but for the passage of time. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022 the Company’s accounts receivable balances were $
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Contract liabilities relate to amounts billed in advance, or advance consideration received from customers, for which transfer of control of the good or service occurs at a later point in time. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company’s contract liabilities balances were $
Cost of Goods Sold
COGS consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for the Company’s operations and manufacturing teams. COGS also includes expenses for site leases, cost of equipment, and professional services related to the installation and maintenance of the equipment at each leased site.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development expenses consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for the Company’s research and development functions. Research and development costs also include outside professional services for software and hardware development, cloud hosting costs, and software licensing costs.
Selling, General and Administrative
SG&A expenses consist of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, and allocated facility costs for the Company’s business development, marketing, corporate, executive, finance legal, human resources, IT and other administrative functions. SG&A expenses also include expenses for outside professional services, including legal, auditing and accounting services, recruitment expenses, travel expenses and certain non-income taxes, insurance and other administrative expenses.
Equity-Based Compensation
Measurement of equity-based compensation with employees is based on the estimated grant date fair value of the equity instruments issued. The fair value of stock options is determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The fair value of restricted stock awards is based on the closing price of NextNav’s common stock on the date of grant. NextNav recognizes equity-based compensation on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the grant, which is generally equal to the vesting period. NextNav accounts for forfeitures as they occur.
The following details the amount of stock-based compensation included in cost of goods sold, research and development, and selling, general and administrative expenses:
|
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | $ | $ | ||||||
| Research and development | ||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | ||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | $ | ||||||
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Basic and Diluted Net Loss per Share
Basic loss per share (“EPS”) excludes dilution for common share equivalents and is computed by dividing net loss available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted EPS is based on the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during each period, adjusted for the effect of dilutive common share equivalents.
Restricted shares are included in the computation of basic EPS as they vest and are included in diluted EPS, to the extent they are dilutive, determined using the treasury stock method. Outstanding options and warrants are included in the computation of diluted EPS, to the extent they are dilutive, determined using the treasury stock method.
The determination of the diluted weighted average shares is included in the following calculation of EPS:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||
| Numerator | ||||||||
| Net loss attributable to common stockholders | $ | $ | ||||||
| Denominator | ||||||||
| Weighted average shares – basic and diluted | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted loss per share | $ | $ | ||||||
The following details anti-dilutive unvested restricted stock units and unvested restricted stock awards, as well as the anti-dilutive effects of the outstanding warrants and stock options:
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Antidilutive Shares Excluded | ||||||||
| Warrants | ||||||||
| Stock Options | ||||||||
| Unvested Restricted Stock Units | ||||||||
| Unvested Restricted Stock Awards | ||||||||
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Income Taxes
Income taxes are accounted for using the asset and liability method. Deferred income taxes are provided for temporary differences in recognizing certain income, expense and credit items for financial reporting purposes and tax reporting purposes. Such deferred income taxes primarily relate to the difference between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their financial reporting amounts. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured by applying enacted statutory tax rates applicable to the future years in which deferred tax assets or liabilities are expected to be settled or realized. Excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies are recognized in the income tax provision in the period in which they occur.
The Company records a valuation allowance when it determines, based on available positive and negative evidence, that it is more-likely-than-not that some portion or all of its deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company determines the realizability of its deferred tax assets primarily based on the reversal of existing taxable temporary differences and projections of future taxable income (exclusive of reversing temporary differences and carryforwards). In evaluating such projections, the Company considers its history of profitability, the competitive environment, and general economic conditions. In addition, the Company considers the time frame over which it would take to utilize the deferred tax assets prior to their expiration.
For certain tax positions, the Company uses a more-likely-than-not threshold based on the technical merits of the tax position taken. Tax positions that meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold are measured at the largest amount of tax benefits determined on a cumulative probability basis, which are more-likely-than-not to be realized upon ultimate settlement in the financial statements. The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in income tax expense.
Foreign Currency Translation
The functional currency of NextNav’s foreign subsidiaries is generally the local currency. Assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect at the Consolidated Balance Sheet date. Operating accounts are translated at an average rate of exchange for the respective accounting periods. Translation adjustments resulting from the process of translating foreign currency financial statements into U.S. dollars are reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss. Transaction gains and losses reflected in the functional currencies are charged to income or expense at the time of the transaction.
Net transaction gains (losses) from foreign currency contracts recorded in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss were immaterial for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. The only component of other comprehensive loss is currency translation adjustments for all periods presented. No income tax expense was allocated to the currency translation adjustments.
Segments
NextNav operates as
For the year ended December 31, 2023,
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326) (“ASU 2016-13”), which requires that an entity measure and recognize expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost and replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current U.S. GAAP with a methodology that requires consideration of a broader range of information to estimate credit losses. The guidance also modifies the impairment model for available-for-sale debt securities. ASU 2016-13 is effective for the Company’s fiscal year beginning January 1, 2023. The Company adopted this ASU as of January 1, 2023. The adoption did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt-with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity's Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40), which simplifies and clarifies certain calculation and presentation matters related to convertible equity and debt instruments and its application of the derivatives scope exception for contracts in its own equity. Specifically, ASU-2020-06 removes three of the seven conditions for a contract to be classified as equity. ASU 2020-06 is effective for the Company’s fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company early adopted ASU 2020-06 in 2023. The Company concluded equity classification for the freestanding warrants issued in conjunction with the 10% senior secured notes due 2026 under the guidance of this ASU.
Recent Accounting Developments Not Yet Adopted
During the fourth quarter of 2023, the FASB issued two ASUs that require additional disclosures related to reportable segments under ASU 2023-07 Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures (“ASU 2023-07”) and income taxes under ASU 2023-09 Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures (“ASU 2023-09”). ASU 2023-07 is effective for the Company's annual periods beginning January 1, 2024, and for interim periods beginning January 1, 2025, with early adoption permitted. It requires the Company to disclose information about significant expenses on an interim and annual basis for each reportable segment. ASU 2023-09 is effective for the Company's annual periods beginning January 1, 2026 with early adoption permitted, and requires the Company to disclose additional information on the rate reconciliation and income taxes paid. The Company is currently evaluating the potential effect that the updated standards will have on the financial statement disclosures.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
3. Acquisition
On October 31, 2022 (the “Closing Date”), the Company completed the acquisition of all outstanding equity in NextNav France, which was a privately held French company that is a global leader in low-power geolocation. The acquisition is expected to significantly accelerate the availability of resilient 3D position, navigation and timing, release the underlying spectrum’s capacity for additional data-oriented services and enables broader penetration of NextNav’s applications and technology across the handset and device ecosystem for all of its products and target markets. The acquisition is accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 805 Business Combinations.
The Company acquired NextNav France for $
The earnings of NextNav France have been included in the consolidated financial statements of the Company beginning November 1, 2022. The pro forma financial information, assuming the acquisition had taken place on January 1, 2021, as well as the revenue and earnings generated during the period after the acquisition date, were not material for separate disclosure and, accordingly, have not been presented.
The fair value measurements of the identified intangible assets on acquisition date were based primarily on significant unobservable inputs and thus represent a Level 3 measurement as defined in ASC 820 Fair Value Measurements. The fair values of technology and software were determined using the replacement cost method under the cost approach. The excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the tangible net assets and intangible assets acquired was recognized as goodwill and is attributable to a number of business factors, including but not limited to, the acquired workforce and expanded market opportunities when integrating NextNav France's software and technology with the Company’s other offerings. Goodwill generated from the acquisition is not deductible for tax purposes.
As of October 31, 2022, the purchase price assigned to the acquired assets and assumed liabilities is summarized as follows. The Company provided estimates of balances as of December 31, 2022 and updated these estimates as more information became available. The Company has completed this exercise. The assets and liabilities of NextNav France recorded in the Company's financial statements at the acquisition date are summarized below:
| Preliminary | Adjustments | Final | |||||||||
| (in thousands) |
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Cash acquired |
$ | $ |
$ |
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Other current assets |
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Property and equipment |
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Other noncurrent assets |
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Intangible assets: |
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Technology |
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Software |
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| ||||||||
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Goodwill |
( |
) |
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| ||||||
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Total assets acquired |
$ | $ | ( |
) |
$ |
|
| ||||
| Current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Noncurrent liabilities | ( |
) | |||||||||
| Net assets acquired | $ | $ |
$ |
||||||||
The estimated useful lives of the identified finite-lived intangible assets from the acquisition is
| F-18 |
Certain shareholders of NextNav France hold warrants for Nestnav France shares that remained unexercised and outstanding as of the Closing Date. The Company and the holders of unexercised warrants entered into Put & Call Option Agreements whereby, upon exercising the warrants, the Company agreed to issue a total of
4. Property, Equipment, Network Under Construction, and Intangible Assets
Property and equipment and network under construction consisted of the following:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Network under construction | $ | $ | ||||||
| TerraPoiNT network | ||||||||
| Office equipment, furniture, and leasehold improvements | ||||||||
| Pinnacle network | ||||||||
| Accumulated depreciation | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Property and equipment, net | $ | $ | ||||||
Depreciation expense on property and equipment was $
Network under construction consisted of a tower and rooftop network of beacons with total balances of $
Intangible assets as of December 31, 2023 consisted of the following (in thousands):
| Gross Amount |
Accumulated Amortization |
Net Carrying Value |
|||||||||
| Indefinite-Lived intangible assets | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||
|
Acquired Software |
|||||||||||
|
Acquired Technology |
|||||||||||
|
Internal Use Software |
|
|
|
||||||||
| $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The weighted average remaining useful lives of acquired software and acquired technology were
Intangible assets as of December 31, 2022 consisted of the following (in thousands):
| Gross Amount |
Accumulated Amortization |
Net Carrying Value |
|||||||||
| Indefinite-Lived intangible assets | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||
| Acquired Software | |||||||||||
| Acquired Technology | |||||||||||
|
Internal Use Software |
|
|
|
||||||||
| $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
The weighted average remaining useful lives of acquired software and acquired technology were
Amortization expense on intangible assets was $
| 2024 | $ | ||
| 2025 | |||
| 2026 | |||
| 2027 | |||
| 2028 and thereafter | |||
| $ |
5. Leases
All leases were classified as operating leases as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Components of operating lease expense were as follows (in thousands):
|
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
2022 |
| ||||
|
Operating lease cost |
$ |
|
$ |
|
| |||
|
Variable lease cost |
$ |
|
$ |
|
| |||
|
Short-term lease cost |
$ |
|
$ |
|
| |||
Supplemental information related to operating leases was as follows (in thousands):
|
Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
|
|
2023 |
|
2022 |
| ||||
|
Operating cash flows from operating leases |
$ |
|
$ |
|
| |||
|
Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new operating lease liabilities |
$ |
|
$ |
|
| |||
As of December 31, 2023, the Company's operating leases had a weighted average remaining lease term of
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Future lease payments under as of December 31, 2023 were as follows (in thousands):
|
2024 |
|
$ |
|
|
|
2025 |
|
|
|
|
|
2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
2027 |
|
|
|
|
| 2028 |
|
|||
|
Thereafter |
|
|
|
|
|
Total undiscounted future lease payments |
|
$ |
|
|
|
Less imputed interest |
|
|
|
|
|
Total lease liability balance |
|
$ |
|
|
As of December 31, 2023, the Company did not enter into leases that have not yet commenced. As of December 31, 2022, the Company entered into leases that have not yet commenced with future lease payments of $
6. Equity Method Investment
As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s total ownership of MetCom Inc., a privately-owned Japanese joint stock company (kabushiki kaisha) (“MetCom”), consisted of
The Company holds a warrant (the “Warrant”) issued by MetCom which entitles the Company to purchase additional shares at an exercise price of JPY
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
7. Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consisted of the following:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Accrued salary and other employee liabilities | $ | $ | ||||||
| Accrued legal and professional services | ||||||||
| Accrued interest | ||||||||
| Other accrued liabilities | ||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | ||||||
8. Long-term debt, net
On May 9, 2023 (the “Initial Closing”), pursuant to the terms of the Note Purchase Agreement (the “NPA”) and Indenture Agreement (the “Indenture”), the Company issued $
Under the NPA, the Lenders had the right, but not the obligation, to purchase additional Notes (the “Additional Notes” and, together with the Original Notes, the “Notes”), on a pro rata basis, in an aggregate principal amount of $
In conjunction with the issuance of the Original Notes, the Company issued
The carrying value of the Notes was $
| F-22 |
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Additional Interest
The Notes are subject to additional interest of up to
Redemption and Early Repayment
The Company may redeem the Notes, in whole or in part, at any time on or after
In the event of certain non-ordinary course asset sales, including sales of certain intellectual property or spectrum licensed by the FCC to the Company or its subsidiaries, the Company must make a mandatory repurchase offer for a portion of the Notes outstanding with the proceeds of such sale, at a price equal to
In the event of a change of control, each holder has the right, at such holder’s option and subject to the limitations set forth in the Indenture, to require the Company to repurchase for cash all or any portion of such holder’s Notes at a price equal to
Debt Covenant Compliance
The Notes are guaranteed on a first lien senior secured basis by NextNav’s domestic subsidiaries and secured by substantially all of the assets of the Company and its domestic subsidiaries.
The Indenture contains customary covenants limiting the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to incur or guarantee additional indebtedness; pay dividends or distributions on, or redeem or repurchase, capital stock; make certain investments or other restricted payments; sell assets; enter into transactions with affiliates; and merge or consolidate or sell all or substantially all of its assets. These covenants are subject to a number of important and significant limitations, qualifications and exceptions. The Indenture also contains customary events of default. Failure to comply with such covenants could result in an acceleration of the maturity of indebtedness outstanding and additional interest of up to
As of December 31, 2023,
9. Warrants and Warrant Liability
As of December 31, 2023, NextNav had
The Private Placement Warrants are classified as a liability on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2023. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2023,
Holders of the Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants are entitled to acquire shares of common stock of NextNav. Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase
NextNav has
The Private Placement Warrants are identical in all respects to the Public Warrants except that, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees: (i) they will not be redeemable by NextNav; (ii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (iii) they are subject to registration rights.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Company has the right to redeem for cash the applicable pro rata portion of any Debt Warrant on each of May 1, 2025, September 1, 2025 and December 1, 2025, in each case, at a redemption price of $
10. Fair Value
NextNav uses observable and unobservable inputs to determine the value of its assets and liabilities recorded at fair value. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect internal market assumptions. The three-tier hierarchy for inputs used to measure fair value, which prioritizes the inputs used in the methodologies of measuring fair value for assets and liabilities, where applicable, is as follows:
- Level 1 — Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
- Level 2 — Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities
- Level 3 — No observable pricing inputs in the market
Assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurements. NextNav’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurements requires judgment and may affect the valuation of the assets and liabilities being measured and their placement within the fair value hierarchy. NextNav effectuates transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy, if any, as of the date of the actual circumstance that caused the transfer.
The following table presents the Company’s fair value hierarchy for its financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis:
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||
| December 31, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cash and Cash Equivalents - Money Market Funds | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Cash and Cash Equivalents - U.S. Government Agency Bonds | ||||||||||||||||
| Short term investments - U.S. Government Agency Bonds | ||||||||||||||||
| Private Placement Warrants | ||||||||||||||||
| December 31, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cash and Cash Equivalents - Money Market Funds | ||||||||||||||||
| Cash and Cash Equivalents - U.S. Government Agency Bonds | ||||||||||||||||
| Short term investments - U.S. Government Agency Bonds | ||||||||||||||||
| Private Placement Warrants | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts payable, accrued expenses, amounts included in other current assets, and current liabilities that meet the definition of a financial instrument, approximate fair value due to their short-term nature.
Assets, liabilities, and equity instruments that are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis include fixed assets and intangible assets. The Company recognizes these items at fair value when they are considered to be impaired or upon initial recognition. The fair value of these assets and liabilities are determined with valuation techniques using the best information available and may include quoted market prices, market comparables and discounted cash flow models.
Level 3 Liabilities
The Company engaged a third-party valuation firm to assist with the fair value analysis of the warrants. The analysis used commonly accepted valuation methodologies and best practices to determine the fair value of the equity, in accordance with fair value standards and U.S. GAAP. For the Private Placement Warrants that were outstanding as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, NextNav used a Monte Carlo simulation model. The following table shows the assumptions used in each respective model:
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
| December 31, 2023 | December 31, 2022 | |||||||
| Values | Values | |||||||
| Stock Price | $ | $ | ||||||
| Strike price | $ | $ | ||||||
| Holding Period/Term (years) | ||||||||
| Volatility | % | % | ||||||
| Expected dividends | ||||||||
| Risk-Free Rate | % | % | ||||||
| Fair value of warrants | $ | $ | ||||||
The table below provides a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances for the liabilities measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3).
| Warrants: | (in thousands) | |||
| Balance as of January 1, 2023 | $ | |||
| Fair value adjustment of Private Placement Warrants | ||||
| Reclassification of Private Placement Warrants to Public Warrants |
( |
) | ||
| Balance as of December 31, 2023 | $ | |||
11. Common Stock
In connection with the Business Combination, NextNav amended and restated its certificate of incorporation. As of December 31, 2023, NextNav had authorized the issuance of
12. Equity-Based Compensation
NextNav 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan
In October 2021, the Company adopted the NextNav 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Omnibus Plan”). The Omnibus Plan became effective upon consummation of the Business Combination and succeeds the Incentive Plan. Upon adoption of the Omnibus Plan, a total of
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Stock Options Valuation
The Black-Scholes option pricing model requires NextNav to make certain assumptions, including the fair value of the underlying units, the expected term, the expected volatility, the risk-free interest rate, and the dividend yield. The expected term of option awards is calculated as the midpoint between the vesting date and the end of the contractual term. Historical data is not sufficient to reasonably estimate the expected term of new grants. The expected dividend rate of
Assumptions used in determining the fair value of Stock Options issued each year are as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Expected volatility | % | % | ||||||
| Expected term (years) | ||||||||
| Expected dividends | ||||||||
| Risk-free rate | % | % | ||||||
The following table summarizes stock option activity under the Omnibus Plan:
| Number of Shares | Weighted Average Exercise Price per Unit |
Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Term (in years) | Aggregate Intrinsic Value |
|||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except per share data) | ||||||||||||||||
| Outstanding at December 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
| Granted | — | |||||||||||||||
| Cancelled | — | |||||||||||||||
| Expired | — | |||||||||||||||
| Exercised | — | |||||||||||||||
| Options outstanding at December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
| Options exercisable at December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
| Options exercisable at December 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
| Unvested at December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
| Unvested at December 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||
The weighted average grant date fair value of options granted during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $
As of December 31, 2023, the total compensation cost related to nonvested awards not yet recognized was $
Equity-based compensation expense of $
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Restricted Stock Awards and Restricted Stock Units
The Company’s restricted stock awards are comprised of Restricted Stock Awards (“RSAs”) and Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”). The following table summarizes RSA and RSU activity during the year ended December 31, 2023:
| Restricted Stock Units | Restricted Stock Awards | Total Restricted Awards | Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value |
|||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except per share data) | ||||||||||||||||
| Units nonvested at January 1, 2023 | $ | |||||||||||||||
| Units granted in 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
| Units cancelled in 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
| Units vested in 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
| Units nonvested at December 31, 2023 | $ | |||||||||||||||
Units granted in 2023 included
The grant date fair value of RSAs and RSUs granted during the year ended December 31, 2023 was $
As of December 31, 2023, the total compensation cost related to RSAs and RSUs not yet recognized was $
Equity-based compensation expense of $
13. Commitments and Contingencies
Litigation and Legal Matters
From time to time, the Company may be party to litigation and other legal matters incidental to the conduct of its business. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties and outcomes are not predictable with assurance. The Company accrues liabilities for such matters when it is probable that future expenditures will be made and such expenditures can be reasonably estimated. As of December 31, 2023, the Company was not involved in any such matters, individually or in the aggregate, which management believes would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
14. Income Taxes
On October 28, 2021, the Company became the owner of Holdings and the various operating subsidiaries of Holdings upon consummation of the Business Combination. Holdings is taxed as a partnership, and as such is generally not subject to federal, state, or local income tax directly. Rather, its members are subject to income taxations based on the member’s portion of Holdings’ income or loss. Accordingly, in addition to the Company’s operating activities, the Company will also incur income taxes on its allocable share of any net taxable income of Holdings.
Holdings’ non-operating subsidiary, CommLabs, Inc., is taxed as a U.S. corporation. Holdings, through its subsidiaries, also owns an Indian subsidiary, Commlabs Technology Centre Pvt. Ltd. (“Commlabs India”), which is taxed as a corporation in India and, as such, is subject to Indian entity-level income tax. Additionally in October of 2022, the Company acquired NextNav France, which is taxed as a corporation in France and as such is subject to French entity-level income tax.
U.S. and international components of (loss) income before income taxes were comprised of the following for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| United States | $ | ( |
$ | ( |
) | |||
| Foreign | ( |
) | ||||||
| Total | $ | ( |
$ | ( |
) | |||
The benefit (provision) for income taxes consisted of the following for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Benefit (Provision) for income taxes: | ||||||||
| Current: | ||||||||
| Federal | $ | $ | ||||||
| State | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Foreign | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
| Total current | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||
| Deferred: | ||||||||
| Federal | ||||||||
| State | ||||||||
| Foreign | ( |
) | ||||||
| Total deferred | $ | ( |
) | $ | ||||
| Benefit (provision) for income taxes: | $ | ( |
) | $ | ||||
The benefit from or provision for income taxes differs from the amount computed by applying the federal statutory income tax rate to the Company’s loss or income before income taxes as follows for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Income Tax Expense at Federal Statutory Rate | % | % | ||||||
|
Permanent items |
( |
% |
|
% | ||||
| State taxes, net of federal tax effect |
|
% | % | |||||
| Change in Valuation Allowance |
( |
% | ( |
% | ||||
| Other permanent differences | % | ( |
% | |||||
| Rate change | % | % | ||||||
| Effective income tax rate | ( |
% | ||||||
The change in the Company’s effective tax rate in 2023, as compared to the prior year, was primarily due to the change in pre-tax book income earned by Commlabs India and the recording of a valuation allowance against the French deferred tax assets. Additionally, the difference in the Company’s effective tax rate to the statutory rate is driven by the need for a full valuation allowance in the U.S.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December of 2017 requires certain Global Intangible Low Income (“GILTI”) earned by a controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) to be included in the gross income of the CFC’s U.S. shareholder. The Company has elected the “period cost method” and treats taxes due on future U.S. inclusions in taxable income related to GILTI as a current-period expense when incurred.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company has accumulated undistributed earnings generated by Commlabs India of approximately $
Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of the temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, |
||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||
| Deferred tax assets, net | ||||||||
| Net operating loss carryforwards | $ | $ | ||||||
| Stock Compensation | ||||||||
| Basis in underlying investments | ||||||||
| Other Deferred Balances | ||||||||
| Gross deferred tax assets | $ | $ | ||||||
| Valuation allowance | ( |
( |
) | |||||
| Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance | $ | $ | ||||||
| Deferred tax liabilities | ||||||||
| Intangibles | ( |
( |
) | |||||
| Total deferred tax liabilities | $ | ( |
$ | ( |
) | |||
| Total net deferred tax (liability) asset | $ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Management assesses the available positive and negative evidence to estimate whether sufficient future taxable income will be generated to permit use of the existing deferred tax assets (“DTA”). A significant piece of objective negative evidence evaluated was the cumulative loss incurred over the three-year period ended December 31, 2023. Such objective evidence limits the ability to consider other subjective evidence, such as the Company’s projections for future growth.
On the basis of this evaluation, as of December 31, 2023, a valuation allowance of $
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022 the Company did not have any unrecognized income tax benefits.
The Company has U.S. income tax net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards of $
The Company had foreign NOLs as of December 31, 2023 of $
The Company is subject to taxation in the United States, various states within the United States, India, and France. Each jurisdiction has its own statute of limitations for making assessment of additional tax liabilities. As of December 31, 2023 due to its net operating losses, all the Company’s tax years remained open for U.S. Federal and state income tax purposes.
15. Retirement Plan
NextNav sponsors a defined contribution benefit plan to provide retirement benefits for its employees. Participants may make voluntary contributions not to exceed maximum allowable contribution amounts. NextNav made discretionary contributions and matching contributions, totaling $
16. Subsequent Events
The Company has completed an evaluation of all subsequent events through the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to ensure that these financial statements include appropriate disclosure of events both recognized in the financial statements and events which occurred but were not recognized in the financial statements. The Company notes the following:
Acquires Additional 900 MHz Spectrum Licenses
On
NEXTNAV INC.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The closing (“Closing”) of the Transaction is subject to customary conditions as well as the approval of the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda (“Alameda Court Approval”) and approval of the FCC of the application seeking the transfer and assignment of the Licenses to the Company by final order (“FCC Approval”) and will occur upon the assignment of the Licenses following the FCC Approval.
·
·
·
The Agreement provides for potential additional consideration in the amount of $
The number of shares issued as the Stock Consideration and the Additional Payment (if any) will be determined based on the twenty (20)-day trailing VWAP of the shares of common stock of NextNav calculated as of the date one trading day prior to the respective dates of issuance of such shares and subject to the requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market Listing Rules. For purposes of the Agreement, “VWAP” is based on Bloomberg’s “HP” function set to weighted average for the relevant date range, between 9:30:01 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. for each day in the range.
The Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants made by each of the parties. Such representations, warranties and covenants were made only for purposes of the Agreement and as of specific dates, and may have been made for the purposes of allocating contractual risk between the parties to the Agreement instead of establishing these matters as facts. Investors are not third-party beneficiaries under the Agreement and should not rely on the representations, warranties and covenants or any descriptions therefore as characterizations of the actual state of facts or condition of NextNav, the Company or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates.
In connection with the Agreement and the Transaction, NextNav entered into a Resale Registration Rights Agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to which NextNav has agreed to file one or more registration statements registering the shares of NextNav common stock issued as the Stock Consideration and the Additional Payment (if any).
The foregoing descriptions of the Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement do not purport to be complete and are subject to, and each is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement, respectively, each of which will be filed as an exhibit to NextNav’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2024.
| F-31 |