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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q
(Mark one)
[X] QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2022
or
[ ] TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from _______________ to _______________
Commission file number 001-39747
SEER, INC.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware82-1153150
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
3800 Bridge Parkway, Suite 102
Redwood City, California 94065
650-453-0000
(Address, including zip code and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(b) of the Act:
Copies to:
Title of each classTrading Symbol(s)Name of Exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.00001SEERNASDAQ Global Select Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filerAccelerated filer
Smaller reporting company
Non-accelerated filerEmerging growth company
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes No ☒
As of April 30, 2022, the registrant had 58,396,964 shares of Class A common stock, $0.00001 par value per share, and 4,044,969 shares of Class B common stock, $0.00001 par value per share, outstanding.



TABLE OF CONTENTS


                                        Signatures




SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Quarterly Report”) contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Quarterly Report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy, commercial activities and costs, research and development costs, timing and likelihood of success, as well as plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that are in some cases beyond our control and may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report include, but are not limited to, statements about:
estimates of our addressable market, market growth, key performance indicators, capital requirements and our needs for additional financing;
our expectations regarding our financial performance, including among others, revenue, cost of revenue, gross profit, operating expenses, loss from operations and net losses;
our ability to successfully implement our three phase commercialization plan, including our ability to attract customers during the broad release phase;
the implementation of our business model, strategic plans and expected pricing for the Proteograph™ Product Suite;
our expectations regarding the rate and degree of market acceptance of the Proteograph Product Suite;
the impact of the Proteograph Product Suite on the field of proteomics and the size and growth of the addressable proteomics market;
competitive companies and technologies and our industry;
our ability to manage and grow our business;
our ability to develop and commercialize new products;
our ability to establish and maintain intellectual property protection for our products or avoid or defend claims of infringement;
the performance of third-party manufacturers and suppliers;
the potential effects of government regulation;
our ability to hire and retain key personnel and to manage our future growth effectively;
the volatility of the trading price of our Class A common stock;
the benefits of the PrognomIQ, Inc. transaction;
the impact of local, regional, and national and international economic conditions and events;
the impact of COVID-19 on our business; and
our expectations about market trends.



We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about our business, the industry in which we operate and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, and these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or development. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Quarterly Report, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.
In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Quarterly Report, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.



PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements
SEER, INC.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
March 31,
December 31,
20222021
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents$225,334 $232,813 
Short-term investments219,892 167,261 
Accounts receivable, net2,793 2,495 
Related party receivables1,126 1,283 
Other receivables540 366 
Inventory3,550 4,145 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets4,221 3,336 
Total current assets457,456 411,699 
Long-term investments26,550 93,186 
Operating lease right-of-use assets28,411 20,142 
Property and equipment, net13,654 13,087 
Restricted cash524 524 
Other assets490 501 
Total assets
$527,085 $539,139 
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable$3,291 $3,789 
Accrued expenses6,377 8,394 
Deferred revenue394 376 
Operating lease liabilities, current1,090 864 
Total current liabilities11,152 13,423 
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion29,134 22,459 
Other noncurrent liabilities341 341 
Total liabilities40,627 36,223 
Commitments and contingencies (Note 8)
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred stock, $0.00001 par value; 5,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; zero shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021
  
Class A common stock, $0.00001 par value; 94,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 58,237,703 and 57,493,005 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively
1 1 
Class B common stock, $0.00001 par value; 6,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 4,055,190 and 4,522,478 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively
  
Additional paid-in capital638,860 629,981 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss(2,227)(536)
Accumulated deficit(150,176)(126,530)
Total stockholders’ equity486,458 502,916 
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity$527,085 $539,139 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
1

SEER, INC.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(Unaudited)
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

Three Months Ended March 31,
20222021
Revenue:
Product$2,149 $ 
Service79  
Related party1,070  
Grant and other14 62 
Total revenue3,312 62 
Cost of revenue:
Product1,660  
Service14  
Related party394  
Total cost of revenue2,068  
Gross profit1,244 62 
Operating expenses:
Research and development10,732 6,227 
Selling, general and administrative14,298 10,333 
Total operating expenses25,030 16,560 
Loss from operations(23,786)(16,498)
Other income (expense):
Interest income144 69 
Other expense(4) 
Total other income140 69 
Net loss$(23,646)$(16,429)
Other comprehensive loss:
Unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities(1,691)(26)
Comprehensive loss$(25,337)$(16,455)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted$(0.38)$(0.27)
Weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted62,003,504 59,887,842 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.






2

SEER, INC.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity
(Unaudited)
(in thousands, except share amounts)


Class A and Class B
Common Stock
Additional Paid in CapitalAccumulated DeficitAccumulated Other Comprehensive LossTotal
SharesAmount
Balance at December 31, 202162,015,483 $1 $629,981 $(126,530)$(536)$502,916 
Issuance of Class A common stock from exercise of options and release of restricted stock units
283,251 — 773 — — 773 
Repurchase of Class A common stock (5,841)— — — —  
Vesting of early exercised stock options and restricted common stock— — 44 — — 44 
Stock-based compensation— — 8,062 — — 8,062 
Other comprehensive loss— — — — (1,691)(1,691)
Net loss— — — (23,646)— (23,646)
Balance at March 31, 202262,292,893 $1 $638,860 $(150,176)$(2,227)$486,458 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.












3

SEER, INC.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity
(Unaudited)
(in thousands, except share amounts)

Class A and Class B
Common Stock
Additional Paid in CapitalAccumulated DeficitAccumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)Total
SharesAmount
Balance at December 31, 202059,261,051 $1 $486,915 $(55,361)$54 $431,609 
Issuance of Class A common stock from exercise of options
399,174 — 171 — — 171 
  Repurchase of Class A common stock(876)— — — —  
Vesting of early exercised stock options and restricted common stock
— — 44 — — 44 
Issuance of Class A common stock upon follow-on offering, net of issuance costs of $7,591
1,650,000 — 102,959 — — 102,959 
Return of profit— — 11,403 — — 11,403 
Stock-based compensation— — 6,039 — — 6,039 
Other comprehensive loss— — — — (26)(26)
Net loss— — — (16,429) (16,429)
Balance at March 31, 202161,309,349 $1 $607,531 $(71,790)$28 $535,770 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.







4

SEER, INC.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
(in thousands)
Three Months Ended March 31,
20222021
OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net loss$(23,646)$(16,429)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Stock-based compensation8,062 6,039 
Depreciation and amortization875 482 
Net amortization of premium on available-for-sale securities314 152 
Non-cash operating lease expense551 78 
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable, net(298) 
Related party receivables157 (2)
Other receivables(174)(249)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets(2,850)(2,589)
Inventory300 (990)
Other assets11 30 
Accounts payable(479)(234)
Deferred revenue18 6 
Accrued expenses(2,038)(990)
Operating lease liabilities46 (93)
Other noncurrent liabilities (83)
Net cash used in operating activities(19,151)(14,872)
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Purchases of property and equipment(1,080)(838)
Purchase of available-for-sale securities (30,279)
Proceeds from maturities of available-for-sale securities12,000 43,000 
Net cash provided by investing activities10,920 11,883 
FINANCING ACTIVITIES
Proceeds from issuance of common stock upon follow-on public offering, net of issuance costs 103,595 
Proceeds from return of profit
 11,403 
Repurchase of Class A common stock(21)(2)
Proceeds from exercise of Class A common stock options including early exercised options
773 171 
Net cash provided by financing activities752 115,167 
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(7,479)112,178 
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period233,337 333,928 
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period$225,858 $446,106 
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NON-CASH ACTIVITIES
Property and equipment purchases included in accounts payable$204 $9 
Property and equipment purchases included in accrued expenses$183 $49 
Lease liability obtained in exchange for right-of-use assets$6,855 $7,823 
Offering costs in accounts payable$ $158 
Offering costs in accrued expenses$ $478 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
5

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
1.ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS
Seer, Inc. (the Company) was incorporated in Delaware on March 16, 2017, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. In December 2020, the Company formed the wholly-owned subsidiary, Seer Securities Corporation, located in Massachusetts. The Company is a life sciences company focused on capturing deep molecular insights from the proteome to enable novel insights and breakthroughs in the understanding of biology and disease. Since inception, the Company has devoted its efforts principally to research, development and commercialization of its technology and products, recruiting management and technical staff, acquiring operating assets, and raising capital.
The Company is subject to a number of risks, similar to other early-stage life science companies, including, but not limited to, development and commercialization of its products, market acceptance of its products, development by its competitors of new technological innovations, protection of its intellectual property, and raising additional capital.
Public Offering
On February 1, 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 1,650,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $67.00 per share. The Company received net proceeds of $103.0 million after deducting offering costs, underwriting discounts, and commissions of $7.6 million.
Liquidity
As of March 31, 2022, the Company has incurred significant losses and has had negative cash flows from operations. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and investments of $471.8 million and an accumulated deficit of $150.2 million. Management expects to continue to incur significant expenses for the foreseeable future and to incur operating losses in the near term while the Company makes investments to support its anticipated growth. The Company believes that its cash and cash equivalents balance as of March 31, 2022 provides sufficient capital resources to continue its operations for at least 12 months from the issuance date of the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
2.SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
Basis of Presentation
The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP). The Company has issued shares of Class A common stock, herein referred to as “Class A common stock” or “Class A,” and Class B common stock, herein referred to as “Class B common stock” or “Class B,” and collectively as “common stock.” The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Seer, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.
The condensed consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2021 has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company at that date. Certain information and footnote disclosures typically included in the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements have been condensed or omitted. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the annual consolidated financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary to state fairly the Company’s financial position, results of operations, comprehensive loss and cash flows for the periods presented, but are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be anticipated for any future annual or interim period.
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 1, 2022.
The Company has also made certain presentation changes to retroactively adjust for the effects of Accounting Standards Codification No. 842, Leases (“ASC 842”), the adoption of which was disclosed in our Annual Report on
6

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Form 10-K filed on March 1, 2022, with an adoption effective date of January 1, 2021, using the modified retrospective method. The following table shows the affected line items within the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended March 31, 2021
As Previously Reported AdjustmentsAs Adjusted
Cash flows from operating activities:
Non-cash operating lease expense$ $78 $78 
Deferred rent(15)15  
Operating lease liabilities (93)(93)
Net cash used in operating activities$(14,872)$ $(14,872)
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash activities:
Lease liability obtained in exchange for right-of-use assets$ $7,823 $7,823 
Use of Estimates
The preparation of unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and assumptions, including, but not limited to, those related to the determination of stand-alone selling price for revenue recognition, the fair value of common stock, stock-based compensation, accrued research and development expenses, allowance for credit losses, inventory valuation, useful lives and valuation of property and equipment, income tax uncertainties, and tax valuation allowances.
Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from those estimates.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (COVID-19), the Company’s operations experienced disruptions and restrictions on employees’ ability to work and on the hiring of additional personnel, particularly as it relates to the Company’s phased commercial release. The Company’s personnel has experienced delays in accessing customers in certain countries with strict COVID-19 policies to provide installation and training services. Continued disruptions from COVID-19 could harm the Company’s operations and the Company cannot anticipate all the ways in which it could be adversely impacted by health epidemics such as COVID-19. The Company continues to monitor and assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Cash and Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, all amounts recorded as cash and cash equivalents consist of money market funds and are stated at fair value.
Restricted cash as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 represents cash held by a financial institution as security for a letter of credit issued to the lessor for one of the Company’s operating leases and is classified as noncurrent.
7

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
The following table provides a reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash reported within the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets that sum to the total of the same amounts shown in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows (in thousands):
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Cash and cash equivalents$225,334 $232,813 
Restricted cash524 524 
Total cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash$225,858 $233,337 
Accounts Receivable, Net
Accounts receivable consist of amounts due from customers for the sales of products and services, net of any allowance for credit losses. The Company’s expected loss allowance methodology for receivables is developed using its historical collection experience, current and future economic market conditions and a review of the current aging status and financial condition of its customers. Specific allowance amounts are established to record the appropriate allowance for customers that have an identified risk of default. General allowance amounts are established based upon an assessment of expected credit losses for the Company’s receivables by aging category. Balances are written off when they are ultimately determined to be uncollectible. There was no allowance for credit losses related to accounts receivable as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.
As of March 31, 2022, there were two customers that represented 29% and 18% of the total accounts receivable balance, including related party receivables. As of December 31, 2021, there were three customers that represented 34%, 23%, and 19% of the total accounts receivable balance, including related party receivables.
Revenue Recognition
The Company generates revenue from sales of products and services. The Company’s product, the Proteograph Product Suite, consists of an instrument with embedded software essential to the instrument's functionality, and consumables as well as platform evaluation agreements. The Company began recognizing revenue from shipments of its Proteograph Product Suite during the second quarter of 2021. The service revenue primarily consists of revenue received from the generation and analysis of proteomic data on behalf of the customer and revenue is recognized upon delivery of the reports.
The Company recognizes revenue when control of the products and services is transferred to its customers in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to receive from its customers in exchange for those products and services. This process involves identifying the contract with a customer, determining the performance obligations in the contract, determining the transaction price, allocating the transaction price to the distinct performance obligations in the contract, and recognizing revenue when the performance obligations have been satisfied. A performance obligation is considered distinct from other obligations in a contract when it provides a benefit to the customer either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer and is distinct within the context of the contract. The Company considers a performance obligation satisfied once it has transferred control of a good or service to the customer, meaning the customer has the ability to direct the use and obtain substantially all the economic benefits from the good or service.
In instances where right of payment or transfer of title is contingent upon the customer’s acceptance of the product, revenue is deferred until all acceptance criteria have been met. Revenue is recorded net of discounts and sales taxes collected on behalf of governmental authorities. Customers are invoiced generally upon shipment, or upon order for services, and payment is typically due within 30 or 60 days. Cash received from customers in advance of product shipment or providing services is recorded as a contract liability. The Company’s contracts with its customers generally do not include rights of return or a significant financing component.
The Company elected the practical expedient to account for shipping and handling activities that occur after the customer has obtained control as a fulfillment activity and not a separate performance obligation. The Company
8

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
expenses the incremental costs of obtaining a contract as and when incurred if the expected amortization period is one year or less or the amount is immaterial. The Company excludes from the transaction price all taxes assessed by a governmental authority on revenue-producing transactions that are collected by the Company from a customer.
The Company regularly enters into contracts that include various combinations of products and services, which are generally distinct and accounted for as separate performance obligations. The transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation in proportion to its standalone selling price. The Company determines the standalone selling price using average selling prices with consideration of current market conditions. If the product or service has no history of sales or if the sales volume is not sufficient, the Company relies upon prices set by management, adjusted for applicable discounts.
Grant and Other Revenue
Grant revenue represents funding under cost reimbursement programs from federal foundation sources for qualified research and development activities performed by the Company and are not based on estimates that are subject to change. Grants received are assessed to determine if the agreement should be accounted for as an exchange transaction or a contribution. An agreement is accounted for as a contribution if the resource provider does not receive commensurate value in return for the assets transferred. Such amounts are recorded as revenue as grant-funded activities are performed up to the amount of expenses incurred. Any advance funding payments are recorded as deferred revenue until the activities are performed.
The Company recognizes revenue for research and development services contracts when control is transferred, which is upon completion of the services and when results of the services have been transferred to the customer. Upfront payments and fees received are recorded as deferred revenue until the Company performs its obligations under its arrangements. Amounts payable to the Company are recorded as other receivables when its right to consideration is unconditional.
Income Taxes
Beginning in 2022, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminates the option to deduct research and development expenditures in the period incurred and requires amortization over five years or fifteen years pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 174. Although Congress is considering legislation that would defer the amortization requirement to later years, there is no assurance that the requirement to amortize will be repealed or otherwise modified. The Company is currently assessing the impact of this provision but does not expect it to have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows in 2022.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In November 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-10, Government Assistance (ASC Topic 832): Disclosures by Business Entities about Government Assistance. This standard requires annual disclosures that increase the transparency of transactions involving government grants, including the type of transactions, the accounting for those transactions and the effect of those transactions on an entity’s financial statements. The Company adopted this standard as of January 1, 2022, which did not have a material impact on its financial statements as of the adoption date.
9

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
3.FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS AND FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The following tables set forth the fair value of the Company’s financial assets that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis by level within the fair value hierarchy (in thousands).
March 31, 2022
Level 1Level 2Level 3Total
Assets:Classification:
Money market funds
Cash and cash equivalents$225,334 $ $ $225,334 
U.S. Treasury securitiesInvestments 246,442  246,442 
Total assets measured at fair value
$225,334 $246,442 $ $471,776 
December 31, 2021
Level 1Level 2Level 3Total
Assets:Classification:
Money market funds
Cash and cash equivalents$232,813 $ $ $232,813 
U.S. Treasury securitiesInvestments 260,447  260,447 
Total assets measured at fair value
$232,813 $260,447 $ $493,260 
There were no financial liabilities measured at fair value. The Company classifies money market funds within Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy because they are valued using quoted market prices. The Company classifies its investments in U.S. Treasury securities (Treasury bills, Treasury notes, and Treasury bonds) as Level 2 instruments and obtains fair value from an independent pricing service, which may use quoted market prices for identical or comparable instruments or model-driven valuations using observable market data or inputs corroborated by observable market data.
The carrying amount of the Company’s accounts receivable, other receivables, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses approximate fair value due to their short maturities.
The following is a summary of the Company’s cash equivalents and investments and the gross unrealized holding gains and losses (in thousands):
March 31, 2022
Amortized Cost BasisUnrealized GainsUnrealized LossesFair Value
Assets:
Money market funds
$225,334 $ $ $225,334 
U.S. Treasury securities248,669  (2,227)246,442 
Total$474,003 $ $(2,227)$471,776 
December 31, 2021
Amortized Cost BasisUnrealized GainsUnrealized LossesFair Value
Assets:
Money market funds
$232,813 $ $ $232,813 
U.S. Treasury securities260,983  (536)260,447 
Total$493,796 $ $(536)$493,260 
As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, unrealized losses on available-for-sale investments are not attributable to credit risk and are considered to be temporary. No investments have been in a continuous unrealized loss position for 12 months or longer. The Company believes it is more likely than not that investments in an
10

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
unrealized loss position will be held until maturity or the recovery of the cost basis of the investment. To date, the Company has not recorded any impairment charges on marketable securities related to other-than-temporary declines in market value. As of March 31, 2022, $26.6 million of available-for-sale investments had remaining maturities between one and two years. The remainder of the available-for-sale investments have a remaining maturity of one year or less. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $0.5 million and $0.3 million of accrued interest, respectively, related to its available-for-sale investments as a component of other receivables on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.
4.OTHER FINANCIAL STATEMENT INFORMATION
Inventory
Inventory consists of the following (in thousands):
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Raw materials$1,866 $1,836 
Work-in-progress360 221 
Finished goods1,324 2,088 
Total inventory$3,550 $4,145 

Property and Equipment, Net
Property and equipment, net consists of the following (in thousands):
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Laboratory equipment$14,788 $13,823 
Computer equipment and software554 461 
Furniture and fixtures572 478 
Leasehold improvements3,122 2,449 
Construction-in-progress259 784 
Property and equipment19,295 17,995 
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization(5,641)(4,908)
Total property and equipment, net$13,654 $13,087 
Depreciation and amortization expense related to property and equipment was $0.9 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Accrued Expenses
Accrued expenses consist of the following (in thousands):
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Accrued compensation$3,045 $4,730 
Accrued professional services398 388 
Other2,934 3,276 
Total accrued expenses$6,377 $8,394 
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SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
5.REVENUE AND DEFERRED REVENUE
Product revenue consists of an instrument with embedded software essential to the instrument’s functionality, consumables and platform evaluation agreements. Service revenue primarily consists of revenue received from the generation and analysis of proteomic data on behalf of the customer. Related party revenue is comprised of both the sale of products and services performed for PrognomIQ, as further discussed in Note 9. Grant revenues consist of services performed specifically for the reimbursement of research-related expenses.
Product Revenue
For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized $2.1 million and $0 of product revenue to non-related customers. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $0.4 million and $0.4 million of deferred revenue related to product sales.
Service Revenue
For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized $0.1 million and $0 of service revenue to non-related customers. As of March 31, 2022, there was $0 of deferred service revenue.
Deferred revenue activity for the period ended March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 are as follows (in thousands):
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Balance, beginning of period$376 $250 
Additions167 376 
Revenue recognized(149)(250)
Balance, end of period$394 $376 
Transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations represents contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized, which includes deferred revenue and non-cancelable amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenues in future periods. The Company expects to recognize substantially all of the remaining transaction price in the next 12 months.
As of March 31, 2022, 25% of our total revenue was generated outside of the United States, primarily from countries in Asia. As of March 31, 2021, no revenues were generated outside of the United States.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022, one customer accounted for 32% of the Company’s total revenue. For the three months ended March 31, 2021, total revenue was immaterial.
Grant and Other Revenue
In August 2019, the Company received a notice of a Small Business Innovation Research grant award from the National Institutes of Health, which will provide funding of approximately $1.1 million to the Company for its development of research applications. In June 2020, the Company received a notice that additional grant consideration of $0.9 million would be awarded. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized grant revenue of $14,000 and $62,000, respectively, with respect to the award.
6.CAPITAL STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
As of March 31, 2022, the Company is authorized to issue 105,000,000 shares of capital stock consisting of 94,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, 6,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock.
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SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Common Stock
Common stock issued and outstanding is as follows:
March 31,December 31,
20222021
Class A common stock58,237,703 57,493,005 
Class B common stock4,055,190 4,522,478 
Total common stock issued and outstanding62,292,893 62,015,483 
Class A and Class B common stock have a par value of $0.00001 per share. Holders of Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share and holders of Class B common stock are entitled to 10 votes per share. Class B common shares are convertible to Class A common shares at any time at the option of the holder on a one-for-one basis. Holders of common stock are entitled to dividends as declared by the Board of Directors, subject to rights of holders of all classes of stock outstanding having priority rights as to dividends. There have been no dividends declared to date.
Common stock issued and outstanding on the condensed consolidated balance sheets and condensed consolidated statements of changes in stockholders' equity includes shares related to early exercised options and restricted stock that are subject to repurchase.
In the first quarter of 2021, the Company received $11.4 million related to the return of short-swing profits from one of its beneficial owners. These proceeds are recognized as a capital contribution from stockholders as an increase to additional paid-in capital on the condensed consolidated statements of changes in stockholders’ equity and as cash provided by financing activities on the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows.
7.EQUITY INCENTIVE PLANS
As of March 31, 2022, there are 11,400,396 shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, of which 5,009,917 shares are available for issuance in connection with grants of future awards.
Stock Options
Stock option activity for the three months ended March 31, 2022 is as follows:
Options Outstanding
Weighted Average Exercise Price
Balance at December 31, 2021
9,832,924 $12.49 
Options granted1,947,230 16.90 
Options exercised(194,207)3.98 
Options cancelled and forfeited(25,943)29.94 
Balance at March 31, 2022
11,560,004 $13.34 
Vested and exercisable, March 31, 2022
3,732,802 $8.43 
Restricted Stock Awards
Certain stock options granted provide stock option holders the right to exercise unvested stock options in exchange for restricted shares of Class A common stock. The Company has also issued restricted shares of Class A common stock to employees and directors. There were 125,231 shares and 174,300 shares of restricted stock that were unvested and subject to repurchase as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.
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SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Restricted Stock Units
RSU activity for the three months ended March 31, 2022 is as follows:
Restricted Stock Units
Weighted-Average
Grant Date
Fair Value
Balance at December 31, 2021
740,366 $26.49 
Granted1,310,465 16.55 
Vested
(89,044)38.40 
Cancelled
(2,745)28.54 
Balance at March 31, 2022
1,959,042$19.30 
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
A total of 1,195,327 shares of Class A common stock are reserved for issuance under the 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) as of March 31, 2022. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, no shares of Class A common stock were issued under the ESPP.
Stock-Based Compensation
The following table summarizes the components of stock-based compensation recognized in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
March 31,
20222021
Cost of revenue$208 $ 
Research and development2,001 1,492 
Selling, general and administrative5,853 4,547 
Total stock-based compensation$8,062 $6,039 
In February 2022, in connection with a leave of absence taken by one of our executives, a total of 1,330,892 share-based awards were modified to extend the overall term and change the timing of the vesting of the awards. The total incremental stock-based compensation associated with the modification is $0.9 million, which will be recognized over the next eight years.
8.COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Facility Lease Agreement
The Company leases office and laboratory space in Redwood City, California with a lease term that is set to end on September 30, 2032. The Company has an option to renew for an additional five-year term at then-current market rates, which is not reasonably certain of being exercised. The lease of additional office and laboratory space pursuant to an amendment entered into in June 2020 commenced in February 2022 and the Company recorded a right-of-use asset of $8.8 million and lease liability of $6.9 million as of the commencement of the lease. This lease liability is based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term, which was estimated using an incremental borrowing rate of 7.4% based on information available at the commencement date. In connection with the leased space, the Company maintains a letter of credit issued to the lessor in the amount of $0.5 million as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, which is secured by restricted cash that is classified as noncurrent at each date based on the term of the underlying lease.
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SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
During the period from June 2020 through May 2021, the Company was provided with temporary space. The Company was not required to pay additional rent for the temporary space, but was required to pay property taxes, insurance and normal maintenance costs with respect to the temporary space.
As of March 31, 2022, the remaining weighted-average lease term was 10.5 years and the weighted-average incremental borrowing rate used to determine the operating lease liabilities was 6.2%.
The components of lease costs related to the Company’s operating leases were as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
March 31,
20222021
Operating lease costs$813 $185 
Variable lease costs194 133 
Short-term lease costs69 3 
Total lease costs$1,076 $321 
Variable lease costs are primarily comprised of common area maintenance and include costs associated with the temporary space.

As of March 31, 2022, future minimum commitments under the Company’s non-cancelable facility operating lease are as follows:
Years ending December 31,(in thousands)
2022 (remaining nine months)$2,005 
20233,633 
20243,738 
20253,846 
20263,957 
Thereafter25,137 
Total undiscounted future minimum lease payments42,316 
Present value adjustment for minimum lease commitments(11,836)
Tenant improvement receivable(256)
Total operating lease liabilities$30,224 
Purchase Commitments and Obligations
The Company has certain purchase commitments related to its inventory management with certain manufacturing suppliers wherein the Company is required to purchase the amounts forecasted in a blanket purchase order within a certain time period. The contractual obligations represent future cash commitments and liabilities under agreements with third parties and exclude orders for goods and services entered into in the normal course of business that are not enforceable or subject to change. These outstanding commitments amounted to $5.7 million and $5.5 million as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.
Guarantees and Indemnifications
In the normal course of business, the Company enters into agreements that contain a variety of representations and provide for general indemnification. The Company’s exposure under these agreements is unknown because it involves claims that may be made against the Company in the future. The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with certain directors and officers that require the Company, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of the status or service as directors or officers. To date, the
15

SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Company has not paid any claims or been required to defend any action related to its indemnification obligations. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company does not have any material indemnification claims that were probable or reasonably possible and consequently has not recorded related liabilities.
Contingencies
From time to time, the Company may become involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company is not currently a party to any material legal proceedings.
9.PROGNOMIQ, INC.
In August 2020, the Company formed a new entity, PrognomIQ, Inc. (PrognomIQ), and entered into a stock purchase agreement with PrognomIQ, pursuant to which the Company transferred to PrognomIQ certain assets that comprise the Company’s human diagnostics activities in exchange for all the outstanding equity interests of PrognomIQ. The Company subsequently completed a pro-rata distribution to its stockholders of most of the shares of capital stock of PrognomIQ.
The Company has concluded that PrognomIQ is a VIE due to its reliance on future financing and insufficient equity investment at risk. However, the Company is not the primary beneficiary of the VIE as it does not have the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of PrognomIQ and does not have control over the PrognomIQ board of directors. The Company has determined that it has the ability to exercise significant influence over PrognomIQ and therefore has accounted for its investment in PrognomIQ using the equity method.
PrognomIQ constitutes a related party and, as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $1.1 million and $1.3 million in related party receivables, respectively, on the condensed consolidated balance sheets representing amounts due from product sales and services and for general transition services and support provided. Revenue received from PrognomIQ is recorded as related party revenue on the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss and is comprised of the sale of instruments and consumables, and services performed.
10.NET LOSS PER SHARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO COMMON STOCKHOLDERS
The following table shows the computation of basic and diluted net loss per share (in thousands, except share and per share data):
Three Months Ended
March 31,
20222021
Numerator:
Net loss attributable to common stockholders$(23,646)$(16,429)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted
62,003,504 59,887,842 
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted
$(0.38)$(0.27)
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SEER, INC.
Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
The following outstanding shares of potentially dilutive securities were excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders for the periods presented, because including them would have been anti-dilutive (on an as-converted basis):
March 31,
20222021
Class A common stock options issued and outstanding11,560,004 9,839,354 
Restricted common stock subject to future vesting125,231 652,418 
Restricted stock units1,959,042 689,484 
Total13,644,277 11,181,256 
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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements.” Our actual results and the timing of selected events could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those set forth under the section titled “Risk Factors.”
Overview
Our mission is to imagine and pioneer new ways to decode the secrets of the proteome to improve human health. Our initial product, the Proteograph Product Suite (Proteograph), leverages our proprietary engineered nanoparticle (NP) technology to provide unbiased, deep, rapid and large-scale access to the proteome. The Proteograph Product Suite is an integrated solution that is comprised of consumables, an automation instrument and software.
We believe that characterizing and understanding the full complexity of the proteome is foundational for accelerating biological insights and will lead to broad potential end-markets for proteomics, encompassing basic research and discovery, translational research, diagnostics and applied applications. This full understanding of the complexity of the proteome and its dynamic nature requires large-scale, unbiased and deep interrogation of thousands of samples across time, which we believe is unavailable with the proteomic approaches available today. We believe that the Proteograph Product Suite has the potential to enable researchers to perform these proteomics studies at scale.
Since we were incorporated in 2017, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to research and development activities, including with respect to the Proteograph Product Suite, building our commercial infrastructure including manufacturing, operations, sales and marketing and service and support functions, establishing and maintaining our intellectual property portfolio, hiring personnel, raising capital, becoming a publicly-traded company, and providing general and administrative support for these activities.
Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, if ever, will depend on the successful commercialization of the Proteograph Product Suite. We are commercializing the Proteograph Product Suite as an integrated solution comprised of consumables, our SP100 automation instrument and software. Our commercial strategy is focused on growing adoption by the research community of the Proteograph, expanding the installed base and increasing utilization to generate revenue from the purchase of the Proteograph consumables. We expect a highly efficient sales model because our workflow integrates with most existing proteomics laboratories’ workflows and also complements large-scale genomics research.
We are broadly commercializing the Proteograph Product Suite through a direct sales channel in the United States, and through both direct and distributor sales channels in regions outside the United States. Given our recent launch of broad release commercialization, we have built, and will continue to build, sales, marketing, support and product distribution capabilities. We will continue to build the necessary infrastructure for these activities in the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries and regions, including Asia-Pacific, as we execute on our broad release commercialization strategy for the Proteograph.
We leverage well-established unit operations to formulate and manufacture our NPs at our facilities in Redwood City, California. We procure certain components of our consumables from third-party manufacturers, which includes the commonly-available raw materials needed for manufacturing our proprietary engineered NPs. We are currently manufacturing using our pilot line and building out our manufacturing capabilities as we enter the broad release phase of commercialization. We obtain some of the reagents and components used in the Proteograph workflow from third-party suppliers. While some of these reagents and components are sourced from a single supplier, these products are readily available from numerous suppliers. While we perform some filling and packaging of the Proteograph assay and the related consumables, in the future, we may have our filling and packaging outsourced to a
18


third-party. We conduct vendor and component qualification for components provided by third-party suppliers and quality control tests on our NPs.
We have designed our SP100 automation instrument and have outsourced the manufacturing of our SP100 to Hamilton Company, a leading manufacturer of automated liquid handling workstations. We have entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Hamilton that covers the manufacturing of our SP100 automation instrument and its continued supply on a purchase order basis. The agreement has an initial term that runs three years following our commercial launch. Pricing for the supply of our SP100 automation instrument is on a fixed schedule during the initial term of the agreement, with tiered pricing dependent upon the number of units purchased in a twelve-month period.
During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, we incurred a net loss of $23.6 million and $16.4 million, respectively, and used $19.2 million and $14.9 million of cash in operations, respectively. As of March 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $150.2 million and cash and cash equivalents, and investments of $471.8 million. We expect to continue to incur significant and increasing losses and do not expect positive cash flows from operations for the foreseeable future.
We expect our expenses to increase significantly in connection with our ongoing activities, as we:
broadly commercialize the Proteograph Product Suite;
attract, hire and retain qualified personnel;
continue to build our sales, marketing, service, support and distribution infrastructure as part of our broad commercialization efforts;
build-out and expand our in-house NP manufacturing capabilities;
continue to engage in research and development of other products and enhancements to the Proteograph Product Suite;
implement operational, financial and management information systems;
obtain, maintain, expand, and protect our intellectual property portfolio; and
build the infrastructure to operate and scale as a public company.
COVID-19 Pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we could experience disruptions that could severely impact our business. For example, we have experienced longer lead times from Hamilton for orders of our SP100 automation instruments and may experience delays and longer lead times from our other suppliers of critical hardware, instrumentation and consumables used for product development, manufacturing and commercial operations. Pandemic precautions and preventative measures may also impact our commercialization plans due to restrictions on our customers’ ability to access laboratories, causing delays in the delivery and installation of the Proteograph products, training such customers on our products, and their ability to conduct research. We have experienced delays in our ability to access customers in certain countries with strict COVID-19 policies to provide installation and training services. Furthermore, COVID-19 has adversely affected the broader economy and financial markets, resulting in an economic downturn that could curtail the research and development budgets of our customers, our ability to hire additional personnel and our financing prospects. Any of the foregoing could harm our operations and we cannot anticipate all the ways in which it could be adversely impacted by health epidemics such as COVID-19.
For additional details, see the section titled “Risk Factors.”
19


Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue from product sales, including sales of the Proteograph Product Suite, which consists of an instrument with embedded software essential to the instrument’s functionality and associated consumables as well as our platform evaluation agreements. In addition, we may at times generate revenue from performing services and the receipt of grant revenue for the reimbursement of research-related expenses. Our revenue is primarily generated domestically. We intend to focus our commercial efforts in the United States and expect to grow our international presence. A portion of our revenue is generated by sales to a related party and we anticipate a portion of our revenue to continue to be generated by sales to such related party. Our grant-funded activities are expected to decrease as a percentage of total revenue as we decrease grant-funded activities and continue to ramp up commercialization of the Proteograph Product Suite.
Cost of Revenue
We utilize third-party manufacturers for production of our SP100 instrument and we manufacture our NPs and assemble our assay kits internally. Cost of goods sold consists primarily of costs of the components of Proteograph Product Suite, including the SP100 instrument with embedded software essential to the instrument’s functionality, and consumables, and distribution-related expenses such as logistics and shipping costs. In addition, cost of revenue includes stock-based compensation and related employee benefits and allocated overhead.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development, or R&D, expenses include cost associated with performing services under research and development service contracts and research and development of our technology and product candidates. R&D expenses consist primarily of employee compensation, including stock-based compensation, and related employee benefits, laboratory supplies used for in-house research, consulting costs and allocated overhead, including rent, depreciation, information technology and utilities.
We plan to increase our investment in our R&D efforts related to the Proteograph Product Suite, our product development pipeline and our proprietary engineered NP and other technologies. Therefore, we expect R&D expenses will increase in absolute dollars in future periods as we incur expenses associated with hiring additional personnel, purchasing supplies and materials, and the allocation of facility expense associated with the build-out of our expansion facilities to support our R&D efforts.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of employee compensation, including stock-based compensation, and related benefits for executive management, sales and marketing, service and support, finance, administration and human resources, legal, allocated overhead, professional service fees and other general overhead costs to support our operations.
We expect to incur additional selling, general and administrative expenses as we continue to invest in our personnel as we grow our commercial operations and with the additional costs incurred as a result of operating as a public company, including accounting, human resources, legal, insurance and investor relations costs. As a result, we expect selling, general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars in future periods.
Interest Income
Interest income consists of interest earned on cash and cash equivalents and investments.

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Results of Operations
Comparisons of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021
The following table summarizes our results of operations for the periods presented:
Three Months Ended March 31,
Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Revenue:
Product$2,149 $— $2,149 *
Service79 — 79 *
Related party1,070 — 1,070 *
Grant and other14 62 (48)(77)%
Total revenue3,312 62 3,250 5242 %
Cost of revenue:
Product1,660 — 1,660 *
Service14 — 14 *
Related party394 — 394 *
Total cost of revenue2,068 — 2,068 *
Gross profit1,244 62 1,182 1906 %
Operating expenses:
Research and development10,732 6,227 4,505 72 %
Selling, general and administrative14,298 10,333 3,965 38 %
Total operating expenses25,030 16,560 8,470 51 %
Loss from operations(23,786)(16,498)(7,288)44 %
Other income (expense):
Interest income144 69 75 109 %
Interest expense— — — *
Other expense(4)— (4)*
Total other income 140 69 71 103 %
Net loss$(23,646)$(16,429)$(7,217)44 %
* Not meaningful
Revenue
Three Months Ended March 31,Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Revenue $3,312 $62 $3,250 5242 %
Revenue increased by $3.3 million, or 5242%, from $0.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 to $3.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022, due to sales of products related to the Proteograph Product Suite in the three months ended March 31, 2022. Revenue recognized primarily consisted of sales of the Proteograph SP100 instrument, consumable kits and platform evaluations, of which $1.1 million was attributed to related parties. Revenue related to our grant-funded activities related to our Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health Grant (NIH) decreased between the two periods by $48,000.
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Cost of Revenue
Three Months Ended March 31,Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Cost of revenue
$2,068 $— $2,068 *
Cost of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was $2.1 million compared to $0 for the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily due to sales of the Proteograph Product Suite. Cost of revenue related to the Proteograph Product Suite consist of costs of the SP100 instrument, consumable kits and other related costs, including labor and overhead.
Research and Development
Three Months Ended March 31,Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Research and development$10,732 $6,227 $4,505 72 %
R&D expenses increased by $4.5 million, or 72%, from $6.2 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 to $10.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to an increase in product development efforts related to the Proteograph Product Suite, including $2.6 million in employee compensation costs and other related expenses, including stock-based compensation, due to growth in research and development personnel and $1.9 million related to the expansion of facilities and maintenance and depreciation of laboratory equipment.
Selling, General and Administrative
Three Months Ended March 31,Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Selling, general and administrative$14,298 $10,333 $3,965 38 %
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $4.0 million, or 38%, from $10.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 to $14.3 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022, primarily due to a $1.1 million increase in employee compensation and other related expenses, and a $1.3 million stock-based compensation increase. Other increases are attributable to costs related to being a publicly traded company, including a $1.5 million increase in professional and consulting fees related to accounting and audit services, and a $0.2 million increase in travel expenses.
Total Other Income
Three Months Ended March 31,Change
20222021Amount%
(dollars in thousands)
Total other income$140 $69 $71 103 %
Total other income increased by $0.1 million, or 103%, from $0.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 to $0.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022. The increase was due to higher amounts of cash invested in money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities during the three months ended March 31, 2022.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since the date of our incorporation, we have not generated significant revenue from product sales and have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from operations. Our operations have been funded primarily through the sale and issuance of equity securities since inception. We anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses and do not expect positive cash flows from operations for the foreseeable future.
We enter into agreements as a part of normal course of business with various vendors, which are generally cancellable without material penalty upon written notice. Payments associated with these agreements are not included in this discussion of contractual obligations.
Our operating lease obligations reflect our lease obligations for our headquarters facility in Redwood City, California. In June 2020, we amended the lease agreement for this facility to expand the office and laboratory space covered by the lease, extend the lease through September 2032, and increase the annual base rent for the expanded premises. Upon occupancy of the expansion facility, which occurred in the first quarter of 2022, the annual base rent will be $0.9 million in the first twelve months of the lease term (subject to an abatement period of nine months), and increases on an annual basis to $1.2 million in the final twelve months of the lease term. The amendment also provides for tenant incentives in the amount of $2.4 million.
In April 2021, we entered into a lease amendment for this facility to further expand the office and laboratory space for an approximate term of eleven years. Payments associated with this operating lease agreement will result in additional operating lease obligations not included in the above paragraph of approximately $293,000 per month plus operating expenses.
We have certain purchase commitments related to our inventory management with certain manufacturing suppliers wherein we are required to purchase the amounts forecasted in a blanket purchase order within a certain time period. The contractual obligations represent future cash commitments and liabilities under agreements with third parties and exclude orders for goods and services entered into in the normal course of business that are not enforceable or subject to change. These outstanding commitments amounted to $5.7 million as of March 31, 2022.
We take a long-term view in growing and scaling our business and regularly review opportunities that meet our long-term growth objectives. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors including our revenue growth rate, investments in continued commercialization efforts, acquisitions of complementary or enhancing technologies or businesses, including intellectual property rights, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing and extent of additional capital expenditures to invest in existing and new facilities, the expansion of sales and marketing and international activities and the extent and magnitude of our ongoing research and development programs.
We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements for more than 12 months from the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. If our available cash and cash equivalents and investments and anticipated cash flows from operations are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we may consider raising additional capital to expand our business, to pursue strategic investments, to take advantage of financing opportunities or for other reasons.
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Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated:
Three Months Ended March 31,
20222021
(in thousands)
Net cash used in operating activities$(19,151)$(14,872)
Net cash provided by investing activities10,920 11,883 
Net cash provided by financing activities752 115,167 
Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash$(7,479)$112,178 
Operating Activities
During the three months ended March 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $19.2 million, which was attributable to a net loss of ($23.6) million and a net change in our net operating assets and liabilities of ($5.3) million, partially offset by non-cash charges of $9.8 million. Non-cash charges primarily consisted of $8.1 million in stock-based compensation, $0.9 million of depreciation, amortization and $0.3 million of net amortization of premiums on available-for-sales securities and $0.5 million of non-cash operating lease expense.The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to an increase in accounts receivable of $0.3 million, an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $2.9 million, and an increase of ($2.0) million in accrued expenses related to employee compensation.
During the three months ended March 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $14.9 million. which was attributable to a net loss of ($16.4) million and a net change in our net operating assets and liabilities of ($5.1) million, partially offset by non-cash charges of $6.7 million. Non-cash charges primarily consisted of $6.0 million in stock-based compensation, $0.5 million of depreciation and amortization and $0.2 million of net amortization of premiums on available-for-sales securities. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to a decrease in accrued liabilities related to employee compensation of $1.0 million, increases in inventory levels of $1.0 million and increases of $2.6 million in prepaid expenses related to being a publicly traded company, such as insurance.
Investing Activities
During the three months ended March 31, 2022, cash provided by investing activities was $10.9 million, which related to purchases of available-for-sale securities, net of proceeds from maturities of $12.0 million, offset by ($1.1) million in payments primarily for laboratory equipment.
During the three months ended March 31, 2021, cash provided by investing activities was $11.9 million, which related to purchases of available-for-sale securities, net of proceeds from maturities of $12.7 million, offset by ($0.8) million in payments primarily for laboratory equipment.
Financing Activities
During the three months ended March 31, 2022, cash provided by financing activities was $773,000. This was attributable to net proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
During the three months ended March 31, 2021, cash provided by financing activities was $115.2 million. This was attributable to net proceeds of $103.0 million from issuance of common stock upon our follow-on offering, net of issuance costs of $7.6 million, in addition to $11.4 million in short-swing profits from a beneficial owner.
Critical Accounting Policies, Significant Judgments and Use of Estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with United States generally
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accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, as well as revenue and expenses incurred during the reporting periods. Our estimates are based on our historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.
There have been no significant changes in our critical accounting policies and estimates as compared to the critical accounting policies and estimates disclosed in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Operations” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 2 to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report for more information about recent accounting pronouncements, the timing of their adoption, and our assessment, to the extent we have made one yet, of their potential impact on our financial condition of results of operations.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Interest Rate Risk
We have exposure to interest rate risk that relates to our cash, cash equivalents, and investments held in money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities. The goals of our investment policy are liquidity and capital preservation. We believe that we do not have any material exposure to changes in the fair value of these assets as a result of changes in interest rates due to the short-term nature of our cash and cash equivalents and investments.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), we evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the CEO and the CFO, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objective and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on that evaluation, our CEO and CFO have concluded, as of March 31, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our CEO and CFO, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.
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Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls
Our management, including our CEO and CFO, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended March 31, 2022 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II—OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings
We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings. From time to time we may be involved in legal proceedings or investigations, which could have an adverse impact on our reputation, business and financial condition and divert the attention of our management from the operation of our business.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Quarterly Report, including our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Quarterly Report, before deciding whether to invest in our Class A common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In such an event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations and the market price of our Class A common stock.
Summary Risk Factor
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in our company, as more fully described below. The principal factors and uncertainties that make investing in our company risky include, among others:
we are an early-stage life sciences technology company with a history of net losses, which we expect to continue, and we may not be able to generate meaningful revenues or achieve and sustain profitability in the future;
we have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate the prospects for our future viability and predict our future performance;
our operating results may fluctuate significantly in the future, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide;
the size of the markets for the Proteograph Product Suite may be smaller than estimated, and new market opportunities may not develop as quickly as we expect, or at all, limiting our ability to successfully sell our products;
we have only recently commenced the broad commercial release of the Proteograph Product Suite, and we may not be able to successfully implement this release as planned;
our commercial release success depends on broad scientific and market acceptance of the Proteograph, which we may fail to achieve;
even if the Proteograph Product Suite is broadly commercialized and achieves broad scientific and market acceptance, if we fail to improve it or introduce compelling new products, our revenues and our prospects could be harmed;
the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to reduce its spread have adversely impacted, and are expected to continue to materially and adversely impact, our business and operations;
if we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our products and technology, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our
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competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be impaired;
if we are unable to identify and recruit qualified employees, and retain or maintain our employee base, it may adversely impact our business and operations; and
if we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, or otherwise fail to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 now that we are a large accelerated filer, we may not be able to accurately and timely report our financial results, which may adversely affect our business and investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our Class A common stock.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We are an early-stage life sciences technology company with a history of net losses, which we expect to continue, and we may not be able to generate meaningful revenues or achieve and sustain profitability in the future.
We are an early-stage life sciences technology company, and we have incurred significant losses since we were formed in 2017, and expect to continue to incur losses in the future. We incurred net losses of $23.6 million and $16.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of March 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $150.2 million. These losses and accumulated deficit were primarily due to the substantial investments we have made to develop and improve our technology and the Proteograph Product Suite. Over the next several years, we expect to continue to devote substantially all of our resources towards continuing development and commercialization of the Proteograph Product Suite, including sales and marketing, manufacturing and operations costs, and research and development efforts for products. These efforts may prove more costly than we currently anticipate. While we have generated product revenue, we may never generate revenue sufficient to offset our expenses. In addition, as a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, administrative, insurance and other expenses. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will achieve profitability in the future or that, if we do become profitable, we will sustain profitability.
We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate the prospects for our future viability and predict our future performance.
We have only recently broadly commercialized the Proteograph Product Suite. Our operations to date have been primarily focused on developing our technology and products. Our prospects must be considered in light of the uncertainties, risks, expenses, and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stages of operations. We have not yet achieved market acceptance for our products, produced our products at scale, established a sales model, or conducted sales and marketing activities necessary for successful broad product commercialization. Consequently, predictions about our future success or viability are highly uncertain and may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a company history of successfully developing and commercializing products.
In addition, as a business with a limited operating history, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown obstacles. We will need to transition from a company with a focus on research and development to a company capable of supporting broad commercial activities as well, and we may not be successful in such a transition. We have encountered in the past, and will encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with limited operating histories in emerging and 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.
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Our operating results may fluctuate significantly in the future, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide.
Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:
our ability to successfully commercialize the Proteograph Product Suite on our anticipated timeline;
the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research and development and commercialization activities relating to the Proteograph Product Suite, including our SP100 automation instrument, proprietary engineered nanoparticle (NP) technology and Proteograph Analysis Suite software, which may change from time to time;
the level of demand for any products we are able to commercialize, particularly the Proteograph Product Suite, which may vary significantly from period to period;
our ability to drive adoption of the Proteograph in our target markets and our ability to expand into any future target markets;
our relationship with third-party distributorships, and their ability to promote and sell our products;
the prices at which we will be able to sell the Proteograph Product Suite;
the volume and mix of our sales between the Proteograph Product Suite and associated consumables, or changes in the manufacturing or sales costs related to our products;
the length of time of the sales cycle for purchases of the Proteograph, including lead time needed to procure SP100 automation instruments from our third-party contract manufacturer;
the timing and amount of expenditures that we may incur to develop, commercialize or acquire additional products and technologies or for other purposes, such as the expansion of our facilities;
changes in governmental funding of life sciences research and development or changes that impact budgets and budget cycles;
seasonal spending patterns of our customers;
the timing of when we recognize any revenues;
future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies;
the outcome of any future litigation or governmental investigations involving us, our industry or both;
higher than anticipated service, replacement and warranty costs;
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, investment in life sciences and research industries, our business operations, and resources and operations of our customers, suppliers and supply chain, and distributors; and
general industry, economic and market conditions such as inflation and other factors, including factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors.
The cumulative effects of the factors discussed above could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.
This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If we are unable to commercialize products or generate revenue, or if
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our operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any guidance we may provide, or if the guidance we provide is below the expectations of analysts or investors, it could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
The size of the markets for the Proteograph Product Suite may be smaller than estimated, and new market opportunities may not develop as quickly as we expect, or at all, limiting our ability to successfully sell our products.
The market for proteomics and genomics technologies and products is evolving, making it difficult to predict with any accuracy the size of the markets for our current and future products, including the Proteograph Product Suite. Our estimates of the total addressable market for our current and future products are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates and assumptions. In particular, our estimates are based on our expectations that researchers in the market for certain life sciences research tools and technologies will view our products as competitive alternatives to, or better options than, existing tools and technologies. We also expect researchers will recognize the ability of our products to complement, enhance and enable new applications of their current tools and technologies. We expect them to recognize the value proposition offered by our products, enough to purchase our products in addition to the tools and technologies they already own. Underlying each of these expectations are a number of estimates and assumptions that may be incorrect, including the assumptions that government or other sources of funding will continue to be available to life sciences researchers at times and in amounts necessary to allow them to purchase our products and that researchers have sufficient samples and an unmet need for performing proteomics studies at scale across thousands of samples. In addition, sales of new products into new market opportunities may take years to develop and mature and we cannot be certain that these market opportunities will develop as we expect. New life sciences technology may not be adopted until the consistency and accuracy of such technology, method or device has been proven. As a result, the sizes of the annual total addressable market for new markets and new products are even more difficult to predict. Our product is an innovative new product, and while we draw comparisons between the evolution and growth of the genomics and proteomics markets, the proteomics market may develop more slowly or differently. In addition, the Proteograph Product Suite may not impact the field of proteomics in the same manner or degree, or within the same time frame, that NGS technologies have impacted the field of genomics, or at all. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates of the total addressable market for our products are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates, or those underlying the third-party data we have used, may change at any time, thereby reducing the accuracy of our estimates. As a result, our estimates of the total addressable market for our products may be incorrect.
The future growth of the market for our current and future products depends on many factors beyond our control, including recognition and acceptance of our products by the scientific community and the growth, prevalence and costs of competing products and solutions. Such recognition and acceptance may not occur in the near term, or at all. If the markets for our current and future products are smaller than estimated or do not develop as we expect, our growth may be limited and our business, financial condition and operational results of operations could be adversely affected.
We have only recently commenced the broad release phase of our commercialization plan, and we may not be able to continue this release as planned.
We have only recently initiated the broad commercial release phase for the Proteograph Product Suite, and we may not be able to successfully execute on this phase as planned due to:
the inability to establish the capabilities and value proposition of the Proteograph Product Suite with key opinion leaders and other customers in a timely fashion;
delays or longer-than expected lead times to establish customer contacts, complete responsive presentations including platform evaluations tailored to specific requests, and move expeditiously from quote to order to revenue to receipt of payment due to the budgetary constraints of academic organizations, laboratories, biopharmaceutical companies and others;
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changing industry or market conditions, customer requirements or competitor offerings during broad commercialization;
delays in continuing the build-out of our sales, customer support and marketing organization as needed for broad commercialization;
delays in ramping up manufacturing, either internally or through our suppliers, to meet the expected demand for broad commercialization; and
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and research industries, our business operations, and resources and the operations of our customers, suppliers and supply chain, and distributors.
To the extent our broad commercial release phase is delayed or unsuccessful, our financial results will be adversely impacted.
Even if we are able to execute on our broad commercial release phase as planned, our success depends on broad scientific and market acceptance of the Proteograph Product Suite, which we may fail to achieve.
Our ability to achieve and maintain scientific and commercial market acceptance of the Proteograph Product Suite will depend on a number of factors. We expect that the Proteograph will be subject to the market forces and adoption curves common to other new technologies. The market for proteomics and genomics technologies and products is in its early stages of development. If widespread adoption of the Proteograph takes longer than anticipated, or broad scientific and market acceptance does not occur, we will continue to experience operating losses.
The success of life sciences products is due, in large part, to acceptance by the scientific community and their adoption of certain products in the applicable field of research. The life sciences scientific community is often led by a small number of early adopters and key opinion leaders who significantly influence the rest of the community through publications, including peer-reviewed journals. In such journal publications, the researchers will describe not only their discoveries, but also the methods, and typically the products used, to fuel such discoveries. Mentions in publications, including peer-reviewed journal publications, are a driver for the general acceptance of life sciences products, such as the Proteograph Product Suite. We have and continue to collaborate with a small number of key opinion leaders who are highly skilled at evaluating novel technologies and whose feedback helped us solidify our commercialization plans and processes. Ensuring that early adopters and key opinion leaders publish research involving the use of our products is critical to ensuring our products gain widespread scientific acceptance. In addition, continuing collaborative relationships with key opinion leaders is vital to maintaining any market acceptance we achieve. If too few researchers describe the use of our products, too many researchers utilize or shift to a competing product and publish research outlining their use of that product or too many researchers negatively describe the use of our products in publications, it may drive customers away from our products and it may delay market acceptance and adoption of the Proteograph during broad commercialization.
Other factors in achieving commercial market acceptance, include:
our ability to market and increase awareness of the capabilities of the Proteograph Product Suite;
the ability of the Proteograph Product Suite to perform intended use applications broadly in the hands of customers;
our customers’ willingness to adopt new products and workflows;
the Proteograph’s ease of use and whether it reliably provides advantages over other alternative technologies;
the rate of adoption of the Proteograph Product Suite by academic institutions, laboratories, biopharmaceutical companies and others;
the prices we charge for the Proteograph Product Suite;
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our ability to develop new products and workflows and solutions for customers;
if competitors develop and commercialize products that perform similar functions as the Proteograph; and
the impact of our investments in product innovation and commercial growth.
We cannot assure you that we will be successful in addressing each of these criteria or other criteria that might affect the market acceptance of any products we commercialize, particularly the Proteograph Product Suite. If we are unsuccessful in achieving and maintaining market acceptance of the Proteograph, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.
If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities, we may not be successful in commercializing the Proteograph Product Suite.
We have limited experience as a company in sales and marketing and our ability to successfully commercialize depends on our being able to attract customers for the Proteograph Product Suite. Although members of our management team have considerable industry experience, we need to expand our sales, marketing, distribution and customer service and support capabilities with the appropriate technical expertise during the broad commercial release of the Proteograph Product Suite. To perform sales, marketing, distribution, and customer service and support successfully, we will face a number of risks, including:
our ability to attract, retain and manage the sales, marketing and customer service and support force necessary to commercialize and gain market acceptance for our technology;
the time and cost of establishing a specialized sales, marketing and customer service and support force; and
our sales, marketing and customer service and support force may be unable to initiate and execute successful commercialization activities.
We have enlisted and may seek to enlist additional third parties to assist with sales, distribution and customer service and support globally or in certain regions of the world. There is no guarantee that we have attracted or will be successful in attracting desirable or experienced sales or distribution partners or that we have entered or will be able to enter into such arrangements on favorable terms. If our sales and marketing efforts, or those of any third-party sales and distribution partners, are not successful, the Proteograph may not gain market acceptance, which could materially impact our business operations.
Even if the Proteograph Product Suite is broadly commercialized and achieves broad scientific and market acceptance, if we fail to improve it or introduce compelling new products, our revenues and our prospects could be harmed.
Even if we are able to broadly commercialize the Proteograph Product Suite and achieve broad scientific and market acceptance, our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers will depend in large part on our ability to enhance and improve the Proteograph solution and to introduce compelling new products. The success of any enhancement to the Proteograph Product Suite or introduction of new products depends on several factors, including timely completion and delivery, competitive pricing, adequate quality testing, integration with existing technologies, appropriately timed and staged introduction and overall market acceptance. Any new product or enhancement to the Proteograph that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain defects, errors, vulnerabilities or bugs, or may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue.
The typical development cycle of new life sciences products can be lengthy and complicated, and may require new scientific discoveries or advancements, considerable resources and complex technology and engineering. Such developments may involve external suppliers and service providers, making the management of development projects complex and subject to risks and uncertainties regarding timing, timely delivery of required components or services and satisfactory technical performance of such components or assembled products. If we do not achieve the required technical specifications or successfully manage new product development processes, or if development work is not performed according to schedule, then such new technologies or products may be adversely impacted. If
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we are unable to successfully develop new products, enhance the Proteograph Product Suite to meet customer requirements, compete with alternative products, or otherwise gain and maintain market acceptance, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.
The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to reduce its spread have adversely impacted, and are expected to continue to materially and adversely impact, our business and operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is expected to continue to have, an adverse impact on our operations, particularly as a result of preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses, and governments are taking. Governmental mandates related to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, or public health crises, have impacted, and we expect them to continue to impact, our personnel and personnel at third-party manufacturing facilities in the United States and other countries, and the availability or cost of materials, which would disrupt or delay our receipt of instruments, components and supplies from the third parties we rely on to, among other things, produce our SP100 automation instrument and NPs. For instance, “stay-at-home” orders in California, and specifically San Mateo County where our headquarters is located, that require businesses to implement certain social distancing protocols and other written health and safety plans and measures and which could affect productivity and morale, could be reinstated. We have continued to operate within the rules applicable to our business; however, the imposition of new or extended governmental mandates could further impact our ability to operate effectively and conduct ongoing research and development or other activities. For onsite work in our Redwood City and San Diego offices, we continue to require proof of vaccination and adherence to our testing protocols, which may change from time to time. The COVID-19 pandemic and a skilled labor shortage in general have also had an effect on our ability to attract, recruit and interview candidates at the pace we would typically expect to support our rapidly expanding operations. To the extent that any governmental authority imposes additional regulatory requirements or changes existing laws, regulations, and policies that apply to our business and operations, such as additional workplace safety measures, our product development plans and our commercial plans may be delayed, and we may incur further costs in bringing our business and operations into compliance with changing or new laws, regulations, and policies.
In the near term, we expect that substantially all of our revenue will be derived from sales of the Proteograph Product Suite, including our instruments and associated consumables, to academic, research and commercial customers. We have moved into broad commercial release and, as a result, in the near term, our ability to drive the adoption of the Proteograph solution will depend on our ability to visit customer sites, the ability of our customers to access laboratories, and the ability to install and train on the Proteograph Product Suite and conduct research in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, due to the pandemic, we have encountered delays permitting the travel of our U.S.-based employees to China. We also may encounter delays in other countries. Additionally, since we have moved into broad commercial release, the research and development budgets of these customers, the ability of such customers to receive funding for research, and the ability of such customers to receive instrument installations and visitors to their facilities and to travel to our facilities, other laboratories and industry events, has become increasingly important to the adoption of the Proteograph. All of these considerations are impacted by factors beyond our control, such as:
reductions in capacity or shutdowns of laboratories and other institutions as well as other impacts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as reduced or delayed spending on instruments or consumables as a result of such shutdowns and delays before re-opened laboratories and institutions resume previous levels of research activities that require new purchases of our instruments or consumables;
decreases in government funding of research and development; and
changes to programs that provide funding to research laboratories and institutions, including changes in the amount of funds allocated to different areas of research, changes that have the effect of increasing the length of the funding process or the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers and potential customers and their funding sources.
Additionally, our suppliers have also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, our SP100 automation instrument manufacturer, Hamilton Company, has experienced a surge in demand for equipment and associated consumables used for COVID-19 diagnostics, and as a result, we have experienced longer lead times for
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our instruments. We have also experienced supply delays for critical hardware, instrumentation, medical and testing supplies that we use for product development and certain components of our consumable kits, as these other components and supplies are otherwise diverted to COVID-19-related testing and other uses.
The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly uncertain and subject to sudden change. This impact could have a material, adverse impact on our liquidity, capital resources, operations and business and those of the third parties on which we rely, and could worsen over time. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. While we do not yet know the full extent of potential impacts on our business, any of these occurrences could significantly harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Unfavorable U.S. or global economic conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, or otherwise, could adversely affect our ability to raise capital and our business, results of operations and financial condition.
While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to assess or predict, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets, reducing our ability to raise additional capital through equity, equity-linked or debt financings, which could negatively impact our short-term and long-term liquidity and our ability to operate in accordance with our operating plan, or at all. Additionally, our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for the Proteograph Product Suite and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on favorable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could strain our customers’ budgets or cause delays in their payments to us. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our ability to raise capital, business, results of operations and financial condition.
If we do not sustain or successfully manage our anticipated growth, our business and prospects will be harmed.
Our anticipated growth will place significant strains on our management, operational and manufacturing systems and processes, sales and marketing team, financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business. Developing and commercializing the Proteograph Product Suite will require us to hire and retain scientific, sales and marketing, software, manufacturing, customer service, distribution, quality assurance and other personnel. In addition, we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel in connection with our efforts to comply with the requirements of being a public company. As a public company, our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements and effectively manage these activities. We may face challenges integrating, developing and motivating our rapidly growing employee base. To effectively manage our growth, we must continue to improve our operational and manufacturing systems and processes, our financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business and continue to effectively expand, train and manage our personnel. Our ability to successfully manage our expected growth is uncertain given the fact that we have been in operation only since 2017. As our organization continues to grow, we will be required to implement more complex organizational management structures, and may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the benefits of our corporate culture, including our ability to quickly develop and launch new and innovative products. If we do not successfully manage our anticipated growth, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects will be harmed.
We depend on our key personnel and other highly qualified personnel, and if we are unable to recruit, train and retain our personnel, we may not achieve our goals.
Our future success depends upon our ability to recruit, train, retain and motivate key personnel. Our senior management team, including Omid Farokhzad, one of our founders and our Chief Executive Officer; Omead Ostadan, our President and Chief Operating Officer; and David Horn, our Chief Financial Officer, is critical to our vision, strategic direction, product development and commercialization efforts. On November 20, 2021, Mr. Ostadan took a leave of absence as an officer of the Company for personal reasons lasting approximately three months. Mr.
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Ostadan returned on a part-time basis as the Company’s President on February 28, 2022 and his part-time status is expected to last approximately ten months for ongoing personal reasons. The departure of one or more of our executive officers, senior management team members, or other key employees could be disruptive to our business until we are able to hire qualified successors. We do not maintain “key man” life insurance on our senior management team.
Our continued growth and ability to successfully transition from a company primarily focused on development to commercialization depends, in part, on attracting, retaining and motivating qualified personnel, including highly-trained sales personnel with the necessary scientific background and ability to understand our systems at a technical level to effectively identify and sell to potential new customers. New hires require significant training and, in most cases, take significant time before they achieve full productivity. Our failure to successfully integrate these key personnel into our business could adversely affect our business. In addition, competition for qualified personnel is intense, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego. We compete for qualified scientific and information technology personnel with other life science and information technology companies as well as academic institutions and research institutions. Some of our scientific personnel are qualified foreign nationals whose ability to live and work in the United States is contingent upon the continued availability of appropriate visas. Due to the competition for qualified personnel in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego, we expect to continue to utilize foreign nationals to fill part of our recruiting needs. As a result, changes to United States immigration policies could restrain the flow of technical and professional talent into the United States and may inhibit our ability to hire qualified personnel.
We do not maintain fixed term employment contracts with any of our employees. As a result, our employees could leave our company with little or no prior notice and would be free to work for a competitor. Due to the complex and technical nature of our products and technology and the dynamic market in which we compete, any failure to attract, train, retain and motivate qualified personnel could materially harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We expect to be dependent upon revenue generated from the sale of the Proteograph Product Suite from the time it is commercialized through the foreseeable future.
While we have recently moved into broad commercialization, if we are able to successfully broadly commercialize the Proteograph, we expect that we will generate substantially all of our revenue from the sale of the Proteograph Product Suite and associated consumables. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully commercialize the Proteograph solution, design other products that will meet the expectations of our customers or that any of our future products will become commercially viable. As technologies change in the future for life sciences research tools, generally, and in proteomics and genomics technologies, specifically, we will be expected to upgrade or adapt the Proteograph solution to keep up with the latest technology. To date, we have limited experience simultaneously designing, testing, manufacturing and selling products and there can be no assurance we will be able to do so. Our sales expectations are based in part on the assumption that the Proteograph Product Suite will increase study sizes for our future customers and their associated purchases of our consumables. If sales of our instruments fail to materialize, or our assumptions about study sizes or customer purchases of our consumables, so will the related consumable sales and associated revenue.
In our development and commercialization plans for the Proteograph Product Suite, we may forego other opportunities that may provide greater revenue or be more profitable. If our research and product development efforts do not result in commercially viable products within anticipated timelines, or at all, our business and results of operations will be adversely affected. Any delay or failure by us to develop and release the Proteograph Product Suite or new products or product enhancements would have a substantial adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Our sales have been concentrated in a small number of customers.
During the initial stages of our broad release phase of our commercialization plan, our revenues have been concentrated in a relatively small number of customers, including a related party, PrognomIQ, Inc. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, PrognomIQ, Inc. accounted for 32% of our revenue. If one or more customers,
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including PrognomIQ, Inc., terminate all or any portion of their agreements, delay installations or fail to order the anticipated amount of consumables or services, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. See Note 5 - Revenue and Deferred Revenue and Note 9 - PrognomIQ, Inc. to our notes to financial statements included in Part I, Item 1, herein for further information regarding our relationship with PrognomIQ, Inc.
Our business will depend significantly on research and development spending by academic and other research institutions, and other third parties, including commercial organizations, and any reduction in spending could limit demand for our products and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We expect that substantially all of our sales revenue in the near term will be generated from sales to commercial companies, academic institutions and other research institutions. Certain of these customers’ funding will be, in turn, provided by various state, federal and international government agencies. As a result, the demand for the Proteograph Product Suite will depend upon the research and development budgets of these customers, which are impacted by factors beyond our control, such as:
decreases in government funding of research and development;
changes to programs that provide funding to research laboratories and institutions, including changes in the amount of funds allocated to different areas of research or changes that have the effect of increasing the length of the funding process;
changes in strategy and funding by commercial companies in their efforts around therapeutic and diagnostic product development and their adoption and use of the Proteograph Product Suite;
macroeconomic conditions;
opinions in the scientific community, including researchers’ opinions of the utility of the Proteograph solution;
citation of the Proteograph Product Suite in published research;
potential changes in the regulatory environment;
differences in budgetary cycles, especially government- or grant-funded customers, whose cycles often coincide with government fiscal year ends;
competitor product offerings or pricing;
market-driven pressures to consolidate operations and reduce costs; and
market acceptance of relatively new technologies, such as the Proteograph Product Suite.
In addition, various state, federal and international agencies that provide grants and other funding may be subject to stringent budgetary constraints that could result in spending reductions, reduced grant making, reduced allocations or budget cutbacks, which could jeopardize the ability of these customers, or the customers to whom they provide funding, to purchase our products. For example, congressional appropriations to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have generally increased year-over-year for the last 19 years, and reached a new high in 2020, but the NIH also experiences occasional year-over-year decreases in appropriations, including as recently as 2013. In addition, funding for life science research has increased more slowly during the past several years compared to previous years and has actually declined in some countries. There is no guarantee that NIH appropriations will not decrease in the future. A decrease in the amount of, or delay in the approval of, appropriations to NIH or other similar United States or international organizations, such as the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom, could result in fewer grants benefiting life sciences research. These reductions or delays could also result in a decrease in the aggregate amount of grants awarded for life sciences research or the redirection of existing funding to other projects or priorities, any of which in turn could cause our customers and potential customers to reduce or
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delay purchases of our products. Our operating results may fluctuate substantially due to any such reductions and delays. Any decrease in our customers’ budgets or expenditures, or in the size, scope or frequency of their capital or operating expenditures, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We rely on single suppliers for some of the components of the Proteograph Product Suite, including a single contract manufacturer to manufacture and supply our instruments. If these suppliers or manufacturers should fail or not perform satisfactorily, our ability to meet demand and supply the Proteograph Product Suite would be adversely affected.
We rely on a single contract manufacturer, Hamilton Company, a manufacturer of precision measurement devices, automated liquid handling workstations, and sample management systems located in Nevada and other locations, to manufacture and supply our instruments. Since our contract with Hamilton does not commit them to carry inventory or make available any particular quantities, Hamilton may give other customers' needs higher priority than ours, we may not be able to obtain adequate supplies in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms, and we may incur price increases from Hamilton Company. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased demand for Hamilton’s products, we have seen the lead time for our instruments increase significantly. Further, if Hamilton is unable to obtain critical components used in the Proteograph solution or supply our instruments on the timelines we require, our business and commercialization efforts would be harmed.
In the event it becomes necessary to utilize one or more different contract manufacturers for automated liquid handling workstations, products, or product components associated with the Proteograph Product Suite, we would experience additional costs, delays and difficulties in doing so as a result of identifying and entering into new agreements with new suppliers or manufacturers as well as preparing such new suppliers or manufacturers to meet the logistical requirements associated with supplying and manufacturing the Proteograph Product Suite, and our business would suffer.
In addition, certain of the components used in our products are sourced from limited or sole suppliers. If we were to lose such suppliers, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely basis on acceptable terms, if at all. An interruption in our ability to sell and deliver instruments to customers could occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these components, or if the quality of the components supplied does not meet specifications, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. Our suppliers have also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have also experienced supply delays for critical hardware, instrumentation, medical and testing supplies that we use for product development, and certain components of our consumable kits, as these other components and supplies are otherwise diverted to COVID-19-related testing and other uses. If any of these events occur, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be harmed.
We have limited experience producing and supplying our products, and we may be unable to consistently manufacture or source our SP100 automation instruments and consumables to the necessary specifications or in quantities necessary to meet demand on a timely basis and at acceptable performance and cost levels.
The Proteograph Product Suite is an integrated solution with many different components that work together. As such, a quality defect in a single component can compromise the performance of the entire solution. In order to successfully generate revenue from the Proteograph Product Suite, we need to supply our customers with products that meet their expectations for quality and functionality in accordance with established specifications on a timely basis. Our instruments are manufactured by Hamilton Company at their facility using complex processes, sophisticated equipment and strict adherence to specifications and quality systems procedures. Given the complexity of this automation instrumentation, individual units may occasionally require additional installation and service time prior to becoming available for customer use.
We leverage well-established unit operations to formulate and manufacture our NPs at our facilities in Redwood City, California. We procure certain components of our consumables from third-party manufacturers, which includes the commonly-available raw materials needed for manufacturing our proprietary engineered NPs. These manufacturing processes are complex. As we increase the commercial scale formulation and manufacturing of our
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NP panels, if we are not able to repeatably produce our NPs at commercial scale or source them from third-party suppliers, encounter unexpected difficulties in packaging our consumables, fail to comply with regulations relating to laboratory safety, the handling of human samples, the use of certain hazardous substances or chemicals, including in commercial products, or the collection, reuse, and recycling of waste from products we manufacture, our business will be adversely impacted.
As we continue to scale commercially and develop new products, and as our products incorporate increasingly sophisticated technology, it will be increasingly difficult to ensure our products are produced in the necessary quantities without sacrificing quality. There is no assurance that we or our third-party manufacturer will be able to continue to manufacture our SP100 automation instrument so that it consistently achieves the product specifications and produces results with acceptable quality. Our NPs and other consumables have a limited shelf life, after which their performance is not ensured. While we have completed accelerated stability testing for our NPs, our real-time long-term liquid stability studies are underway, but have not been completed. Shipment of consumables that effectively expire early or shipment of defective instruments or consumables to customers may result in recalls and warranty replacements, which would increase our costs, and depending upon current inventory levels and the availability and lead time for additional inventory, could lead to availability issues. Any future design issues, unforeseen manufacturing problems, such as contamination of our or our manufacturers’ facilities, equipment malfunctions, aging components, quality issues with components and materials sourced from third-party suppliers, or failures to strictly follow procedures or meet specifications, may have a material adverse effect on our brand, business, results of operations and financial condition and could result in us or our third-party manufacturers losing International Organization for Standardization (ISO) quality management certifications. If our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain ISO quality management certifications, customers might choose not to purchase products from us.
In addition, as we commercialize the Proteograph Product Suite, we will also need to make corresponding improvements to other operational functions, such as our customer support, service and billing systems, compliance programs and our internal quality assurance programs. We cannot assure you that any increases in scale, related improvements and quality assurance will be successfully implemented or that appropriate personnel will be available. As we develop additional products, we may need to bring new equipment online, implement new systems, technology, controls and procedures and hire personnel with different qualifications.
An inability to manufacture products and components that consistently meet specifications, in necessary quantities, at commercially acceptable costs and without significant delays, may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Our products could have defects or errors, which may give rise to claims against us, adversely affect market adoption of the Proteograph Product Suite, and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The Proteograph Product Suite utilizes novel and complex technology and may develop or contain undetected defects or errors. We cannot assure you that material performance problems, defects, or errors will not arise, and as we commercialize the Proteograph, these risks may increase. We provide warranties that our products will meet performance expectations and will be free from material defects. The costs incurred in correcting any defects or errors may be substantial and could adversely affect our operating margins.
In manufacturing the Proteograph Product Suite, we depend upon third parties for the supply of our instruments and various components, many of which require a significant degree of technical expertise to produce. If our suppliers fail to produce our SP100 automation instrument and components to specification or provide defective products to us and our quality control tests and procedures fail to detect such errors or defects, or if we or our suppliers use defective materials or workmanship in the manufacturing process, the reliability and performance of our products will be compromised.
If the Proteograph Product Suite contains defects, we may experience:
a failure to achieve market acceptance for the Proteograph or expansion of the Proteograph Product Suite sales;
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loss of customer orders and delay in order fulfillment;
damage to our brand reputation;
increased warranty and customer service and support costs due to product repair or replacement;
product recalls or replacements;
inability to attract new customers;
diversion of resources from our manufacturing and research and development departments to our service department; and
legal claims against us, including product liability claims, which could be costly and time consuming to defend and result in substantial damages.
In addition, we expect that the Proteograph Product Suite will be used with our potential customers’ own mass spectrometry (MS) instruments or the MS instrument of a third-party service provider and the performance of these MS instruments is outside of our control. If such third-party products are not produced to specification, are produced in accordance with modified specifications, are defective, or are not used with recommended equipment, they may not be compatible or perform as intended with the Proteograph. In such case, the reliability, results and performance of the Proteograph may be compromised. The occurrence of any one or more of the foregoing may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
If we do not successfully deploy and implement enhancements of the Proteograph Analysis Suite, our commercialization efforts and therefore business and results of operations could suffer.
The success of the Proteograph Product Suite depends, in part, on our ability to design and deploy the Proteograph Analysis Suite and subsequent enhancements in a manner that enables the integration with our potential customers’ systems and accommodates our customers’ needs. Without the Proteograph Analysis Suite, quality control of the workflow and data analysis is less accessible and robust and it may be difficult for our customers to understand and evaluate the quality of their results.
We have and will continue to spend significant amounts of effort continuing to develop the Proteograph Analysis Suite and potential enhanced versions over time, to meet our customers’ and potential customers’ evolving needs. There is no assurance that the development or deployment of the Proteograph Analysis Suite, or any potential enhancements, will be compelling to our customers. In addition, we may experience delays in our release dates of the Proteograph Analysis Suite or any enhancements, and there can be no assurance that the Proteograph Analysis Suite or any enhancements will be released according to schedule. If our software development and deployment plan, which may include participation from third party vendors and licensors, does not accurately anticipate customer demands, or if we fail to develop the Proteograph Analysis Suite in a manner that satisfies customer preferences in a timely and cost-effective manner, the Proteograph Product Suite may fail to gain market acceptance. The occurrence of any one or more of the foregoing could negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
As we commercialize the Proteograph Product Suite outside of the United States, our international business could expose us to business, regulatory, political, operational, financial, and economic risks associated with doing business outside of the United States.
Engaging in international business inherently involves a number of difficulties and risks, including:
required compliance with existing and changing foreign regulatory requirements and laws that are or may be applicable to our business in the future, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data privacy requirements, labor and employment regulations, anti-competition regulations, the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 and other anti-corruption laws, regulations relating to the use of certain hazardous substances or chemicals in commercial products, and to the collection, reuse, and recycling of waste from products we manufacture;
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required compliance with U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other U.S. federal laws and regulations established by the office of Foreign Asset Control;
export requirements and import or trade restrictions, including, without limitation, trade retaliation laws;
laws and business practices favoring local companies;
foreign currency exchange, longer payment cycles and difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through certain foreign legal systems;
changes in social, economic, political and climate conditions or in laws, regulations and policies governing foreign trade, manufacturing, research and development, investment, and climate control both domestically as well as in the other countries and jurisdictions in which we operate and into which we may sell our products, including as a result of the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit);
potentially adverse tax consequences, tariffs, customs charges, bureaucratic requirements, and other trade barriers;
difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations; and
difficulties protecting, maintaining, enforcing or procuring intellectual property rights.
The collection and transfer of personal data and human samples is subject to increasing regulatory authority around the world. For example, Europe and China have adopted or are in the process of adopting data protections laws, regulations, and practice standards covering personal data, medical samples and data, and their potential transfer across national borders. In some cases, consent from individuals and the opportunity for revocation of consent, handling by local entities, and approvals from regulatory bodies may be required, and enforcement may include suspension of the ability to conduct business in the regulated jurisdiction along with civil fines and criminal penalties. This could increase our compliance costs and subject us to significant risks of doing business in these jurisdictions, and any failure to comply with these laws, rules, and regulations could materially and adversely affect our revenue and business operations.
If one or more of these risks occurs, it could require us to dedicate significant resources to remedy such occurrence, and if we are unsuccessful in finding a solution, our financial results will suffer.
A portion of our international sales will be conducted through third-party distributors, and we will not control their efforts to sell our products. If our relationships with these third-party distributors cannot be established or deteriorate, or if these third-party distributors fail to sell our products, or engage in activities that harm our reputation, our results of operation and business may be negatively affected.
Our current commercial model includes direct sales in the United States, and we are building relationships with third party distributors in various countries, including China, to enable us to enter additional markets more efficiently. If we are unable to enter or maintain such distribution arrangements on acceptable terms, or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our products in certain countries.
Furthermore, distributors can choose the level of effort that they apply to selling our products relative to others in their portfolio. The selection, training, and compensation of distributors’ sales personnel are within their control rather than our own and may vary significantly in quality from distributor to distributor. They may experience their own financial difficulties, or distribution relationships may be terminated or allowed to expire, which could increase the cost of or impede commercialization of our products in applicable countries. Disputes may also arise between us and our distributors that result in the delay or termination of commercialization or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management’s attention and resources. Distributors may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our intellectual property, and our confidential or proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property rights, and confidential or proprietary information, and expose us to potential litigation. Distributors could move forward with competing products developed either independently or in collaboration with others, including our competitors.
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In addition, although we intend to require contract terms obligating our distributors to comply with all applicable laws regarding the sale of our products, including regulatory labelling, protection of personal data, U.S. export regulations and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), we may not be able to ensure proper compliance. If our distributors fail to effectively market and sell our products in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, our results of operations and business may suffer.
The life sciences technology market is highly competitive. If we fail to compete effectively, our business and results of operation will suffer.
We face significant competition in the life sciences technology market. We currently compete with life sciences technology and the diagnostic companies that are supplying components, products and services that serve customers engaged in proteomics analysis. These companies include Agilent Technologies, Bruker Corporation, Danaher, DiaSorin, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. We also compete with a number of companies that have developed, or are developing, proteomic products and solutions, such as Nautilus Biotechnology, Olink Proteomics, Quanterix, Quantum-Si and SomaLogic.
Some of our current competitors are large publicly-traded companies, or are divisions of large publicly-traded companies, and may enjoy a number of competitive advantages over us, including:
greater name and brand recognition;
greater financial and human resources;
broader product lines;
larger sales forces and more established distributor networks;
substantial intellectual property portfolios;
larger and more established customer bases and relationships; and
better established, larger scale and lower cost manufacturing capabilities.
We also face competition from researchers developing their own products. The area in which we compete involves rapid innovation and some of our customers have in the past, and more may in the future, elect to create their own assays rather than rely on a third-party supplier such as ourselves. This is particularly true for the largest research centers and laboratories who are continually testing and trying new technologies, whether from a third-party vendor or developed internally. We will also compete for the resources our customers allocate for purchasing a wide range of products used to analyze the proteome, some of which may be additive to or complementary with our own but not directly competitive.
We cannot assure investors that our products will compete favorably or that we will be successful in the face of increasing competition from products and technologies introduced by our existing or future competitors, companies entering our markets or developed by our customers internally. In addition, we cannot assure investors that our competitors do not have or will not develop products or technologies that currently or in the future will enable them to produce competitive products with greater capabilities or at lower costs than ours or that are able to run comparable experiments at a lower total experiment cost. Any failure to compete effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
We may need to raise additional capital to fund commercialization plans for the Proteograph Product Suite, including manufacturing, sales and marketing activities, expand our investments in research, and develop and commercialize new products and applications.
Based on our current plans, we believe that our current cash, cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash flow requirements for at least twelve months from the date of this Quarterly Report. If our available cash resources and anticipated cash flow from operations are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements including because of lower demand for our products or the realization of other risks described in this
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Quarterly Report, we may be required to raise additional capital prior to such time through issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, entrance into a credit facility or another form of third-party funding or seek other debt financing.
We will consider raising additional capital in the future to expand our business, to pursue strategic investments, to take advantage of financing opportunities or for other reasons, including:
increasing our sales and marketing and other commercialization efforts to drive market adoption of the Proteograph Product Suite;
funding development and marketing efforts of the Proteograph Product Suite or any other future products;
expanding our technologies into additional markets;
acquiring, licensing or investing in technologies and other intellectual property rights;
acquiring or investing in complementary businesses or assets; and
financing capital expenditures and general and administrative expenses.
Our present and future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:
our rate of progress in commercializing the Proteograph Product Suite and new products, and the cost of the sales and marketing activities associated with establishing adoption of our products;
our rate of progress in, and cost of research and development activities associated with, products in research and development; and
the effect of competing technological and market developments.
The various ways we could raise additional capital carry potential risks. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to our stockholders could result. If we raise funds by issuing debt securities, those debt securities would have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our Class A common stock. The terms of debt securities issued or borrowings pursuant to a credit agreement could impose significant restrictions on our operations. If we raise funds through collaborations or licensing arrangements, we might be required to relinquish significant rights to our technologies or products or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.
If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, if we require it, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges, or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in additional dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.
We may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, applications or technologies that we believe could complement or expand the Proteograph Product Suite or future products, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various costs and expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. We may not be able to identify desirable acquisition targets or be successful in entering into an agreement with any particular target or obtain the expected benefits of any acquisition or investment.
To date, the growth of our operations has been organic, and we have limited experience in acquiring other businesses or technologies. We may not be able to successfully integrate acquired personnel, operations and technologies, or effectively manage the combined business following an acquisition. Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities, the use of our available cash, or the incurrence of debt, which could harm
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our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial condition may suffer.
We may not realize the benefits of PrognomIQ as a separate healthcare company in the area of disease testing.
In August 2020, we transferred certain assets to PrognomIQ, as a separate healthcare company to help enable the growth of ecosystems around new applications that leverage the Proteograph solution for unbiased, deep and large-scale proteomic information. As of March 31, 2022, we held approximately 15% of the outstanding capital stock of PrognomIQ. We may not realize the potential benefits of forming PrognomIQ for a variety of reasons, including:
PrognomIQ may be unable to successfully develop viable testing products;
PrognomIQ’s business may not help demonstrate the value of the Proteograph;
an inability to reach agreement with PrognomIQ on future commercial arrangements;
although PrognomIQ accounted for 32% of our revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2022, it may not continue to be a meaningful customer of ours;
PrognomIQ may need to raise additional funding in the future and be unable to do so; and
the formation of PrognomIQ and our continuing equity position in PrognomIQ may add complexities to our business from a finance, tax and accounting perspective.
Further, PrognomIQ is a separate entity, and as such, may decide over time to pursue a different business model, decide to do business with our competitors in addition to or instead of with us, be acquired by a competitor or take other actions that may not be beneficial to us.
Risks Related to Financial Reporting
We are required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to achieve and maintain effective internal controls, our operating results and financial condition could be harmed and the market price of our Class A common stock may be negatively affected.
As a public company with SEC reporting obligations, we are required to document and test our internal control procedures to satisfy the requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which requires annual assessments by management of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Effective December 31, 2021, we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company and the reduced compliance requirements to emerging growth companies no longer apply to us. We must implement and maintain substantial internal control systems and procedures to satisfy the reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
During our assessments, we may identify deficiencies that we are unable to remediate in a timely manner. Testing and maintaining our internal control over financial reporting may also divert management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business. We may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404(b) of SOX. If we conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, the cost and scope of remediation actions and their effect on our operations may be significant. Moreover, any material weaknesses or other deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting may impede our ability to file timely and accurate reports with the SEC. Any of the above could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information or our Class A common stock listing on Nasdaq to be suspended or terminated, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
We previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and if we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, or otherwise fail to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 now that we are a large accelerated filer, we may not be able to accurately and timely report our financial results,
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which may adversely affect our business and investor confidence in us and, as a result, the value of our Class A common stock.
As previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified the following material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting:
there is insufficient accounting personnel to enable segregation of duties relating to the general ledger, disbursement, and certain accounting functions;
there are not formalized processes or controls for account reconciliations, including independent review of such reconciliations, or related financial statement analysis prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (U.S. GAAP); and
there is not a sufficient complement of accounting personnel with the necessary U.S. GAAP technical expertise to timely identify and account for complex or non-routine transactions or to formalize accounting policies, memoranda, or controls for such transactions.
We completed remediation measures related to the material weaknesses and concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021. Our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.
If we are unable to successfully maintain internal control over financial reporting, or identify any additional material weaknesses, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected. In addition, if we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, when required, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, we may face restricted access to the capital markets, and our stock price may be materially adversely affected. Moreover, we could become subject to investigations by regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner or prevent fraud, which would harm our business.
Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations in a timely manner, or at all. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404(a) of SOX or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm in connection with Section 404(b) of SOX, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our consolidated financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. We are also required to disclose material changes made in our internal controls over financing reporting and procedures on a quarterly basis and our management is required to assess the effectiveness of these controls annually. Remediation of previous material weaknesses may not be effective or prevent any future deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock.
To achieve compliance with Section 404(a) within the prescribed period, we have engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a plan to assess and document the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve
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control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are designed and operating effectively and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting.
An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not identify. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal controls could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.
If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies are based on assumptions that change or prove to be incorrect, our results of operation could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and estimates and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. However, we have a limited operating history. For example, in connection with the implementation of the new revenue accounting standard for product sales, management makes judgments and assumptions based on our interpretation of the new standard. The new revenue standard is principle-based and interpretation of those principles may vary from company to company based on their unique circumstances. It is possible that interpretation, industry practice and guidance may evolve as we apply the new standard. If our assumptions underlying our estimates and judgments relating to our critical accounting policies change or if actual circumstances differ from our assumptions, estimates or judgments, our operating results may be adversely affected and could fall below our publicly announced guidance or the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.
Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance
If we elect to label and promote any of our products as clinical diagnostics tests or medical devices, we would be required to obtain prior approval or clearance by the FDA, which would take significant time and expense and could fail to result in FDA clearance or approval for the intended uses we believe are commercially attractive.
Our products are currently labeled and promoted, and are, and in the near-future will be, sold as research use only (RUO) products, primarily to academic and research institutions and research companies, and are not currently designed, or intended to be used, for diagnostic procedures, clinical diagnostic tests or as medical devices. If we elect to label and market our products for use as, or in the performance of, clinical diagnostics in the United States, thereby subjecting them to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation as medical devices, we would be required to obtain premarket 510(k) clearance or premarket approval from the FDA, unless an exception applies.
We may in the future register with the FDA as a medical device manufacturer and list some of our products with the FDA pursuant to an FDA Class I listing for general purpose laboratory equipment. While this regulatory classification is exempt from certain FDA requirements, such as the need to submit a premarket notification commonly known as a 510(k), and some of the requirements of the FDA’s Quality System Regulations (QSRs), we would be subject to ongoing FDA “general controls,” which include compliance with FDA regulations for labeling, inspections by the FDA, complaint evaluation, corrections and removals reporting, promotional restrictions, reporting adverse events or malfunctions for our products, and general prohibitions against misbranding and adulteration.
In addition, we may in the future submit 510(k) premarket notifications to the FDA to obtain FDA clearance of certain of our products on a selective basis. It is possible, in the event we elect to submit 510(k) applications for certain of our products, that the FDA would take the position that a more burdensome premarket application, such as a premarket approval application (PMA) or a de novo application is required for some of our products. If such applications were required, greater time and investment would be required to obtain FDA approval. Even if the FDA agreed that a 510(k) was appropriate, FDA clearance can be expensive and time consuming. It generally takes a significant amount of time to prepare a 510(k), including conducting appropriate testing on our products, and several
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months to years for the FDA to review a submission. Notwithstanding the effort and expense, FDA clearance or approval could be denied for some or all of our products for which we choose to market as a medical device or a clinical diagnostic device. Even if we were to seek and obtain regulatory approval or clearance, it may not be for the intended uses we request or that we believe are important or commercially attractive. There can be no assurance that future products for which we may seek premarket clearance or approval will be approved or cleared by FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority on a timely basis, if at all, nor can there be assurance that labeling claims will be consistent with our anticipated claims or adequate to support continued adoption of such products. Compliance with FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority regulations will require substantial costs, and subject us to heightened scrutiny by regulators and substantial penalties for failure to comply with such requirements or the inability to market our products. The lengthy and unpredictable premarket clearance or approval process, as well as the unpredictability of the results of any required clinical studies, may result in our failing to obtain regulatory clearance or approval to market such products, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations, reputation, and prospects.
If we sought and received regulatory clearance or approval for certain of our products, we would be subject to ongoing FDA obligations and continued regulatory oversight and review, including the general controls listed above and the FDA’s QSRs for our development and manufacturing operations. In addition, we would be required to obtain a new 510(k) clearance before we could introduce subsequent modifications or improvements to such products. We could also be subject to additional FDA post-marketing obligations for such products, any or all of which would increase our costs and divert resources away from other projects. If we sought and received regulatory clearance or approval and are not able to maintain regulatory compliance with applicable laws, we could be prohibited from marketing our products for use as, or in the performance of, clinical diagnostics and/or could be subject to enforcement actions, including warning letters and adverse publicity, fines, injunctions, and civil penalties; recall or seizure of products; operating restrictions; and criminal prosecution.
In addition, we could decide to seek regulatory clearance or approval for certain of our products in countries outside of the United States. Sales of such products outside the United States will likely be subject to foreign regulatory requirements, which can vary greatly from country to country. As a result, the time required to obtain clearances or approvals outside the United States may differ from that required to obtain FDA clearance or approval and we may not be able to obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis or at all. In Europe, we would need to comply with the new Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation 2017/746, which became effective May 26, 2017, with application dates of May 26, 2021 (postponed from 2020) and May 26, 2022 respectively. This will increase the difficulty of regulatory approvals in Europe in the future. In addition, the FDA regulates exports of medical devices. Failure to comply with these regulatory requirements or obtain and maintain required approvals, clearances and certifications could impair our ability to commercialize our products for diagnostic use outside of the United States.
Our products could become subject to government regulation as medical devices by the FDA and other regulatory agencies even if we do not elect to seek regulatory clearance or approval to market our products for diagnostic purposes, which would adversely impact our ability to market and sell our products and harm our business. If our products become subject to FDA regulation, the regulatory clearance or approval and the maintenance of continued and post-market regulatory compliance for such products will be expensive, time-consuming, and uncertain both in timing and in outcome.
We do not currently expect the Proteograph Product Suite to be subject to the clearance or approval of the FDA, as it is not intended to be used for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease. However, as we expand our product line and the applications and uses of our current or products into new fields, certain of our future products could become subject to regulation by the FDA, or comparable international agencies, including requirements for regulatory clearance or approval of such products before they can be marketed. Also, even as our products are labeled, promoted, and intended as RUO, the FDA or comparable agencies of other countries could disagree with our conclusion that our products are intended for research use only or deem our sales, marketing and promotional efforts as being inconsistent with RUO products. For example, our customers may independently elect to use our RUO labeled products in their own laboratory developed tests (LDTs) for clinical diagnostic use, which could subject our products to government regulation, and the regulatory clearance or approval and maintenance process for such products may be uncertain, expensive, and time-consuming. Regulatory requirements related to marketing,
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selling, and distribution of RUO products could change or be uncertain, even if clinical uses of our RUO products by our customers were done without our consent. If the FDA or other regulatory authorities assert that any of our RUO products are subject to regulatory clearance or approval, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be adversely affected.
As manufacturers develop more complex diagnostic tests and diagnostic software, the FDA may increase its regulation of LDTs. Any future legislative or administrative rule making or oversight of LDTs, if and when finalized, may impact the sales of our products and how customers use our products, and may require us to change our business model in order to maintain compliance with these laws. We cannot predict how these various efforts will be resolved, how Congress or the FDA will regulate LDTs in the future, or how that regulatory system will impact our business. Changes to the current regulatory framework, including the imposition of additional or new regulations, including regulation of our products, could arise at any time during the development or marketing of our products, which may negatively affect our ability to obtain or maintain FDA or comparable regulatory approval of our products, if required. Further, sales of devices for diagnostic purposes may subject us to additional healthcare regulation and enforcement by the applicable government agencies. Such laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti-kickback or anti-referral laws, healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, privacy and security laws, Physician Payments Sunshine Act and related transparency and manufacturer reporting laws, and other laws and regulations applicable to medical device manufacturers.
Additionally, on November 25, 2013, the FDA issued Final Guidance “Distribution of In Vitro Diagnostic Products Labeled for Research Use Only.” The guidance emphasizes that the FDA will review the totality of the circumstances when it comes to evaluating whether equipment and testing components are properly labeled as RUO. The final guidance states that merely including a labeling statement that the product is for research purposes only will not necessarily render the device exempt from the FDA’s clearance, approval, and other regulatory requirements if the circumstances surrounding the distribution, marketing and promotional practices indicate that the manufacturer knows its products are, or intends for its products to be, used for clinical diagnostic purposes. These circumstances may include written or verbal sales and marketing claims or links to articles regarding a product’s performance in clinical applications and a manufacturer’s provision of technical support for clinical applications.
In August 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, announced rescission of guidances and other informal issuances of FDA regarding premarket review of LDT absent notice-and-comment rulemaking, stating that, absent notice-and-comment rulemaking, those seeking approval or clearance of, or an emergency use authorization, for an LDT may nonetheless voluntarily submit a premarket approval application, premarket notification or an EUA request, respectively, but are not required to do so. In November 2021, HHS under the Biden administration issued a statement that withdrew the August 2020 policy announcement, stating that HHS does not have a policy on LDTs that is separate from FDA's longstanding approach.
Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce sufficient intellectual property protection for our products and technology, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be impaired.
We rely on patent protection as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary products and technologies, all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. If we fail to obtain, maintain, enforce and protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against us. In addition, we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to recover or restrict use of our intellectual property.
To the extent our intellectual property offers inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we would be exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our intellectual property does not provide adequate coverage of our competitors’ products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business,
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financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent and other intellectual property disputes can be time-consuming, expensive and unpredictable.
Our success depends in large part on our and our licensor’s ability to obtain and maintain protection of the intellectual property we may own solely and jointly with, or license from, third parties, particularly patents, in the United States and other countries with respect to our products and technologies. We apply for patents covering our products and technologies and uses thereof, as we deem appropriate. However, obtaining and enforcing patents is costly, time-consuming and complex, and we may fail to apply for patents on important products and technologies in a timely fashion or at all, or we may fail to apply for patents in potentially relevant jurisdictions. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications, or maintain, enforce and license any patents that may issue from such patent applications, at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, we may not develop additional proprietary products, methods and technologies that are patentable. We may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the rights to patents licensed from or to third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced by such third parties in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.
In addition, the patent position of life sciences technology companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been the subject of much litigation in recent years. Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries or regions may diminish the value of our intellectual property. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. It is possible that none of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents in a timely fashion or at all, and even if patents are granted, they may not provide a basis for intellectual property protection of commercially viable products or services, may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be challenged, narrowed and invalidated by third parties. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents. It is possible that third parties will design around our current or future patents such that we cannot prevent such third parties from using similar technologies and commercializing similar products to compete with us. Some of our owned or licensed patents or patent applications may be challenged at a future point in time and we may not be successful in defending any such challenges made against our patents or patent applications. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents could result in the narrowing, unenforceability or invalidity of such patents and increased competition to our business. The outcome of patent litigation or other proceeding can be uncertain, and any attempt by us to enforce our patent rights against others or to challenge the patent rights of others may not be successful, or, regardless of success, may take substantial time and result in substantial cost, and may divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The U.S. law relating to the patentability of certain inventions in the life sciences technology industry is uncertain and rapidly changing, which may adversely impact our existing patents or our ability to obtain patents in the future.
Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States or in other jurisdictions could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. For instance, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, the United States transitioned to a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application is entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. These changes include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during patent prosecution and additional procedures to challenge the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. The America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and future patent applications, and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Various courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have rendered decisions that impact the scope of patentability of certain inventions or discoveries relating to the life sciences technology. Specifically, these decisions stand for the proposition that patent claims that recite laws of nature or abstract ideas are not themselves patentable unless those patent claims have sufficient additional features that provide practical assurance that the processes are genuine inventive applications of those laws rather than patent drafting efforts designed to monopolize the law of nature itself. What constitutes a “sufficient” additional feature is uncertain. Furthermore, in view of these decisions, since December 2014, the USPTO has published and continues to publish revised guidelines for patent examiners to apply when examining process claims for patent eligibility.
In addition, U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that may have a material adverse effect on our ability to obtain new patents and to defend and enforce our existing patents and patents that we might obtain in the future.
We cannot assure you that our patent portfolio will not be negatively impacted by the current uncertain state of the law, new court rulings or changes in guidance or procedures issued by the USPTO or other similar patent offices around the world. From time to time, the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, the U.S. Congress or the USPTO may change the standards of patentability, scope and validity of patents within the life sciences technology and any such changes, or any similar adverse changes in the patent laws of other jurisdictions, could have a material and negative impact on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our technology and products, including the Proteograph Product Suite, in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States.
The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and we and our licensor may encounter difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Obtaining granted patents in foreign jurisdictions is time-consuming and expensive, the outcome is unpredictable, and some countries are unable to prosecute and grant patents in a timely manner. Consequently, we and our licensor(s) may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in some or all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our or our licensor’s inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. It is unknown whether we will be successful in obtaining patents with sufficient claim scope in certain jurisdictions to block third parties, in a cost effective or in a timely manner, and if we are unable to do so it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation and prospects in various geographies.
Competitors and other third parties may also use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and technologies and may also export infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products. Our and our licensor’s patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. In addition, certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. Furthermore, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of any patents.
Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of many other countries do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the misappropriation or other violations of our intellectual property rights including infringement of our patents in such countries. The legal systems in
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certain countries may also favor state-sponsored or companies headquartered in particular jurisdictions over our first-in-time patents and other intellectual property protection. The absence of harmonized intellectual property protection laws and effective enforcement makes it difficult to ensure consistent respect for patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property rights on a worldwide basis. As a result, it is possible that we will not be able to enforce our rights against third parties that misappropriate our proprietary technology in those countries.
Proceedings to enforce our or our licensor’s patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our and our licensor’s patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our and our licensor’s patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We and our licensors may not prevail in any lawsuits that we or our licensor initiate, or that are initiated against us or our licensor, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our products, services and other technologies and the enforcement of intellectual property. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Issued patents covering our products could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged.
Our owned and licensed patents and patent applications may be subject to validity, enforceability and priority disputes. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability. Some of our patents or patent applications (including licensed patents and patent applications) may be challenged at a future point in time in opposition, revocation, nullification, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference or other similar proceedings. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents in this or any other proceeding could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents, which may lead to increased competition to our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, if we or our licensor initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering our products, the defendant could counterclaim that such patent covering our products, as applicable, is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. There are numerous grounds upon which a third party can assert invalidity or unenforceability of a patent. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, lack of written description or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the relevant patent office, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include ex parte re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review, derivation and equivalent proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions, such as opposition proceedings. Such proceedings could result in revocation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover and protect our products, or exclude our competitor’s products. With respect to the validity of our patents, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which we, our licensor, our or its patent counsel and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. If a defendant or other third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on certain aspects of our products and technologies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license intellectual property, or develop or commercialize current or future products.
We may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our products. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until approximately 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not until such patent applications issue as patents. We might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by each of our pending patent applications and we might not have been the first to file patent
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applications for these inventions. To determine the priority of these inventions, we may have to participate in interference proceedings, derivation proceedings or other post-grant proceedings declared by the USPTO, or other similar proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions, that could result in substantial cost to us and the loss of valuable patent protection. The outcome of such proceedings is uncertain. No assurance can be given that other patent applications will not have priority over our patent applications. In addition, changes to the patent laws of the United States allow for various post-grant opposition proceedings that have not been extensively tested, and their outcome is therefore uncertain. Furthermore, if third parties bring these proceedings against our patents, regardless of the merit of such proceedings and regardless of whether we are successful, we could experience significant costs and our management may be distracted. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, the value of our technology could be materially adversely affected and our business could be harmed.
We may rely heavily on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary and confidential information, including parts of the Proteograph Product Suite, and to maintain our competitive position. However, trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect. In particular, we anticipate that with respect to our technologies, these trade secrets and know how will over time be disseminated within the industry through independent development, the publication of journal articles describing the methodology, and the movement of personnel between academia and industry.
In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into agreements, including confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements, with our employees, consultants, academic institutions, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisers. However, we cannot be certain that such agreements have been entered into with all relevant parties, and we cannot be certain that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors or other third parties will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. For example, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure, which could have a material and adverse impact on our ability to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in the market and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had wrongfully obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time-consuming, it could distract our personnel, and the outcome would be unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets.
We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our confidential proprietary information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, but it is possible that these security measures could be breached. If any of our confidential proprietary information were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, absent patent protection, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position. Competitors or third parties could purchase our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, design around our protected technology, develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside the scope of our intellectual property rights or independently develop our technologies without reference to our trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently discovered by a competitor or other third party, it could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.
We or our licensor may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our owned or in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we or our licensor may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our products. In addition, counterparties to our consulting, sponsored research, software development and other agreements may assert that they have an ownership interest in intellectual property developed under such arrangements. In particular, certain software development agreements pursuant to which certain third parties have developed parts of our proprietary software may not include provisions that expressly assign to us ownership of all intellectual property developed for us by such third parties. Furthermore, certain of our sponsored research agreements pursuant to which we provide certain research services for third parties do not assign to us all intellectual property developed under such agreements. As such, we may not have the right to use all such developed intellectual property under such agreements, we may be required to obtain licenses from third parties and such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive. If we are unable to obtain such licenses and such licenses are necessary for the development, manufacture and commercialization of our products and technologies, we may need to cease the development, manufacture and commercialization of our products and technologies.
Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship of our or our licensor’s ownership of our owned or in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we or our licensor fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our technologies and products, including the Proteograph solution, including our software, workflows, consumables and reagent kits. In such an event, we may be required to obtain licenses from third parties and such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive. If we are unable to obtain and maintain such licenses, we may need to cease the development, manufacture and commercialization of our products and technologies. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees, and certain customers or partners may defer engaging with us until the particular dispute is resolved. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may not be able to protect and enforce our trademarks and trade names, or build name recognition in our markets of interest thereby harming our competitive position.
The registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we own may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic, lapsed or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition. In addition, third parties have filed, and may in the future file, for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks, thereby impacting our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims, or other challenges to our trademarks, brought by owners of trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Further, we may in the future enter into agreements with owners of such third party trade names or trademarks to avoid potential trademark litigation which may impact our ability to use our trade names or trademarks in certain fields of business. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may suffer a competitive disadvantage, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our products and technologies, including the Proteograph Product Suite for an adequate amount of time.
Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. While extensions may
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be available, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. In the United States, a patent’s term may, in certain cases, be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the USPTO in examining and granting a patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over a commonly owned patent or a patent naming a common inventor and having an earlier expiration date. Even if patents covering our products are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products. If one of our products requires extended development, testing and/or regulatory review, patents protecting such products might expire before or shortly after such products are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may become involved in lawsuits to defend against third-party claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property or to protect or enforce our intellectual property, any of which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful, and may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts.
Our commercial success depends in part on our ability and the ability of future collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product and use our products and technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the life sciences technology sector, as well as administrative proceedings for challenging patents, including interference, derivation, inter partes review, post grant review, and reexamination proceedings before the USPTO, or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. We may be exposed to, or threatened with, future litigation by third parties having patent or other intellectual property rights alleging that our products, manufacturing methods, software and/or technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. Numerous issued patents and pending patent applications that are owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are developing our products and technologies. It is not always clear to industry participants, including us, the claim scope that may issue from pending patent applications owned by third parties or which patents cover various types of products, technologies or their methods of use or manufacture. Thus, because of the large number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our fields, there may be a risk that third parties, including our competitors, may allege they have patent rights encompassing our products, technologies or methods and that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization.
If third parties, including our competitors, believe that our products or technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property, such third parties may seek to enforce their intellectual property, including patents, by filing an intellectual property-related lawsuit, including patent infringement lawsuit, against us. Even if we believe the third-party intellectual property claims are without merit, there is no assurance that a court would find in our favor on questions of infringement, validity, enforceability, or priority. For example, we are aware of a U.S. issued patent owned by a third party that is directed to a method for diagnosing a biological condition by analyzing certain types of proteins, including through the use of nanoparticles. Such patent is expected to expire in 2026, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustments or extensions. We are also aware of pending patent applications in Europe and in the United States owned by a third party that are directed to a method of identifying biomarkers in biofluids using nanoparticles and, if issued, is projected to expire in 2037, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustments or extensions. Such patent and patent applications could be construed to cover certain aspects of our products or technologies, including the Proteograph Product Suite. If any of these third parties, or any other third parties, were to assert these or any other patents against us and we are unable to successfully defend against any such assertion, we may be required, including by court order, to cease the development and commercialization of the infringing products or technologies and we may be required to redesign such products or technologies so they do not infringe such patents, which may not be possible or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time. We could also be required to pay damages, which could be significant, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed such patents. We could also be required to obtain a license to such patents in order to continue the development and commercialization of the infringing product or technology, however such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, including because certain of these patents are held by or may be licensed to our competitors. Even if such
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license were available, it may require substantial payments or cross-licenses under our intellectual property rights, and it may only be available on a nonexclusive basis, in which case third parties, including our competitors, could use the same licensed intellectual property to compete with us. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation or prospects.
We may choose to challenge, including in connection with any allegation of patent infringement by a third party, the patentability, validity or enforceability of any third-party patent that we believe may have applicability in our field, and any other third-party patent that may be asserted against us. Such challenges may be brought either in court or by requesting that the USPTO, European Patent Office (EPO), or other foreign patent offices review the patent claims, such as in an ex-parte reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review proceeding, opposition or other comparable proceeding. However, there can be no assurance that any such challenge by us or any third party will be successful. Even if such proceedings are successful, these proceedings are expensive and may consume our time or other resources, distract our management and technical personnel, and the costs of these proceedings could be substantial. There can be no assurance that our defenses of non-infringement, invalidity or unenforceability in a court of law will succeed.
Third parties, including our competitors, could be infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our owned and in-licensed intellectual property rights. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. From time to time, we seek to analyze our competitors’ products and services, and may in the future seek to enforce our rights against potential infringement, misappropriation or violation of our intellectual property. However, the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate to enforce our rights as against such infringement, misappropriation or violation of our intellectual property. Any inability to meaningfully enforce our intellectual property rights could harm our ability to compete and reduce demand for our products and technologies.
Litigation proceedings may be necessary for us to enforce our patent and other intellectual property rights. In any such proceedings, a court may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our owned and in-licensed patents do not cover the technology in question. Further, in such proceedings, the defendant could counterclaim that our intellectual property is invalid or unenforceable and the court may agree, in which case we could lose valuable intellectual property rights, which could allow third parties to commercialize technology or products similar to ours and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or could require us to obtain license rights from the prevailing party in order to be able to manufacture or commercialize our products without infringing such party’s intellectual property rights, and if we unable to obtain such a license, we may be required to cease commercialization of our products and technologies, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The outcome in any such proceedings are unpredictable.
Regardless of whether we are defending against or asserting any intellectual property-related proceeding, any such intellectual property-related proceeding that may be necessary in the future, regardless of outcome, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock. Some of our competitors and other third parties may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct these types of litigation or proceedings. Any of the foregoing, or any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various required procedures, document submissions, fee payments and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States at several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In certain circumstances, we rely on our licensor to pay these fees due to the U.S. and non-U.S. patent agencies and to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to our licensed intellectual property. In many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. However, there are situations in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, our competitors may be able to enter the market without infringing our patents and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties or that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.
We have employed and expect to employ individuals, and engaged consultants and expect to engage consultants, who were previously employed, or consulted, at universities or other companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, advisors and independent contractors do not use confidential or proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that our employees, advisors, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential or proprietary information of their former employers or other third parties, or to claims that we have improperly used or obtained such trade secrets. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights and face increased competition to our business. Any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with advisors, contractors and consultants. A loss of key research personnel work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize potential products, which could harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. This type of litigation or proceeding could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce our resources available for development activities. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of this type of litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Furthermore, individuals executing agreements with us may have pre-existing or competing obligations to a third party, such as an academic institution, and thus an agreement with us may be ineffective in perfecting ownership of inventions developed by that individual, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Furthermore, we or our licensor may in the future be subject to claims by former employees, consultants or other third parties asserting an ownership right in our owned or licensed patents or patent applications. An adverse determination in any such proceeding may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar technology, without payment to us, or could limit the duration of the patent protection covering our technology and products. Such challenges may also result in our inability to develop,
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manufacture or commercialize our products without infringing third-party patent rights. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We currently rely on a license from a third party, and in the future may rely on additional licenses from other third parties, in relation to our technologies and products, including the Proteograph Product Suite and if we lose any of these licenses, then we may be subjected to future litigation.
We are, and may in the future become, a party to license agreements that grant us rights to use certain intellectual property, including patents and patent applications, typically in certain specified fields of use. Currently, we rely on an in-license from The Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Inc. (BWH), for patents, for example, relating to methods of using nanoparticles to measure the proteome, including the methods used in the Proteograph Product Suite and may in the future rely on licenses from other third parties with respect to our products, including the Proteograph Product Suite, or other technology. Our rights to use licensed technology in our business are subject to the continuation of and compliance with the terms of the BWH license and any licenses we may enter into in the future. Some of these licensed rights provide us with freedom to operate for aspects of our products and technologies. As a result, any termination of this license could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to develop, manufacture and commercialize our products, including the Proteograph Product Suite. We may need to obtain additional licenses from others to advance our research, development and commercialization activities. For instance, under our license agreement with BWH, we currently in-license a patent family which includes methods used in the Proteograph Product Suite, and to the extent any additional intellectual property developed by BWH that are not included in such licensed patent families are necessary or useful for the Proteograph Product Suite or any other product or technology, we would need to negotiate for additional licenses to such additional intellectual property. Such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive, in which case third parties, including our competitors, could use the same licensed intellectual property to compete with us. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation or prospects.
Our success may depend in part on the ability of our licensor and any future licensors to obtain, maintain and enforce patent protection for our licensed intellectual property. Under our license agreement with BWH and under any licenses we may enter into in the future, BWH controls, and future licensors may control, the prosecution, maintenance and enforcement of patents and patent applications that are licensed to us. BWH or any future licensors may not successfully prosecute the patent applications we license or prosecute such patent applications in our best interest. Even if patents issue in respect of these patent applications, BWH and any future licensors may fail to maintain these patents, may determine not to pursue litigation against other companies that are infringing these patents or may pursue such litigation less aggressively than we would. Without protection for the intellectual property we license, other companies might be able to offer substantially identical products and technologies for sale, which could materially adversely affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects, financial condition or results of operations.
If we fail to comply with our obligations under any license, collaboration or other agreements, we may be required to pay damages and could lose intellectual property rights necessary for developing and protecting our technologies and products, including the Proteograph Product Suite, or we could lose certain rights to grant sublicenses.
Future agreements may impose, and our current license agreement imposes, various diligence, commercialization, funding, milestone payment, royalty, sublicensing, insurance, patent prosecution and enforcement and other obligations on us and require us to meet development timelines, or to exercise commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize licensed products, in order to maintain the licenses. If we fail to comply with any of these obligations, a licensor(s) may have the right to terminate our license and/or we may be required to pay damages, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products or technology covered by the licensed intellectual property. In addition, while we cannot currently determine the amount of any future royalty obligations we would be required to pay on future sales of a licensed product, the amount may be significant. The amount of our future royalty obligations will depend on the technology and intellectual property we use in products we commercialize, if at all. Therefore, even if we successfully develop and commercialize existing or
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future products, we may be unable to achieve or maintain profitability. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.
Moreover, disputes may also arise between us and our licensor regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:
the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;
our financial or other obligations under the license agreement;
whether, and the extent to which, our products, technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;
our diligence obligations under the license agreement and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;
the inventorship and ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensor(s); and
the priority of invention of patented technology.
If we do not prevail in such disputes, we may lose any or all of our rights under such license agreements, experience significant delays in the development and commercialization of our products and technologies, or incur liability for damages, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. In addition, we may seek to obtain additional licenses from our licensor(s) and, in connection with obtaining such licenses, we may agree to amend our existing licenses in a manner that may be more favorable to the licensor(s), including by agreeing to terms that could enable third parties, including our competitors, to receive licenses to a portion of the intellectual property that is subject to our existing licenses and to compete with our products.
In addition, the agreements under which we currently and in the future license intellectual property or technology from third parties are complex and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize any affected products or services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Absent the license agreements, we may infringe patents subject to those agreements, and if the license agreements are terminated, we may be subject to litigation by the licensor. Litigation could result in substantial costs to us and distract our management. If we do not prevail, we may be required to pay damages, including treble damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses and royalties or be enjoined from selling our products, including the Proteograph Product Suite, which could adversely affect our ability to offer products or services, our ability to continue operations and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.
If we cannot license rights to use technologies on reasonable terms, we may not be able to commercialize new products in the future.
We may identify third-party technology that we may need to license or acquire in order to develop or commercialize our products or technologies, including the Proteograph Product Suite. However, we may be unable to secure such licenses or acquisitions. The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a
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competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us.
We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. In return for the use of a third party’s technology, we may agree to pay the licensor royalties based on sales of our products or services. Royalties are a component of cost of products or technologies and affect the margins on our products. We may also need to negotiate licenses to patents or patent applications before or after introducing a commercial product. We may not be able to obtain necessary licenses to patents or patent applications, and our business may suffer if we are unable to enter into the necessary licenses on acceptable terms or at all, if any necessary licenses are subsequently terminated, if the licensor fails to abide by the terms of the license or fails to prevent infringement by third parties, or if the licensed intellectual property rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.
Certain of our in-licensed patents are, and our future owned and in-licensed patents may be, subject to a reservation of rights by one or more third parties, including government march-in rights, that may limit our ability to exclude third parties from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
In addition, our owned and in-licensed patents may be subject to a reservation of rights by one or more third parties. For example, the U.S. government has certain rights, including march-in rights, to patent rights and technology funded by the U.S. government and licensed to us from BWH. When new technologies are developed with government funding, in order to secure ownership of such patent rights, the recipient of such funding is required to comply with certain government regulations, including timely disclosing the inventions claimed in such patent rights to the U.S. government and timely electing title to such inventions. Any failure to timely elect title to such inventions may provide the U.S. government to, at any time, take title in such inventions. Additionally, the U.S. government generally obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, including a non-exclusive license authorizing the government to use the invention or to have others use the invention on its behalf. If the government decides to exercise these rights, it is not required to engage us as its contractor in connection with doing so. These rights may permit the U.S. government to disclose our confidential and proprietary information to third parties and to exercise march-in rights to use or allow third parties to use our licensed technology. The U.S. government can exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the government-funded technology, because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations, or to give preference to U.S. industry. In addition, our rights in such inventions may be subject to certain requirements to manufacture products embodying such inventions in the United States. Any exercise by the government of any of the foregoing rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our products contain third-party open source software components and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to sell our products and provide third parties access to our proprietary software.
Our products contain software licensed by third parties under open source software licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source software licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. Some open source software licenses contain requirements that the licensee make its source code publicly available if the licensee creates modifications or derivative works using the open source software, depending on the type of open source software the licensee uses and how the licensee uses it. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source software licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public for free. This would allow our competitors and other third parties to create similar products with less development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of our product sales and revenue, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, some companies that use third-party open source software have faced claims challenging their use of such open source software and their compliance with the terms of the applicable open source license. We may be subject to suits by third parties
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claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software, or claiming non-compliance with the applicable open source licensing terms. Use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the public availability of such software may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to compromise or attempt to compromise our technology platform and systems.
Although we review our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our proprietary software to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open source software licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products and proprietary software. Moreover, we cannot assure investors that our processes for monitoring and controlling our use of open source software in our products will be effective. If we are held to have breached the terms of an open source software license, we could be subject to damages, required to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our products on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our products, to discontinue the sale of our products if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.
The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example:
others may be able to make products that are similar to products and technologies we may develop or utilize similar technology that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we own or license now or in the future;
we, or our licensor(s), might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patent or pending patent application that we license or may own in the future;
we, or our licensor(s), might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our or their inventions;
others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our owned or licensed intellectual property rights;
it is possible that our pending patent applications, and our licensed pending patent applications, or those that we may own or license in the future, will not lead to issued patents;
issued patents that we hold rights to may be held invalid or unenforceable, including as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;
our competitors might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;
we, and our licensor(s), may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable;
the patents of others may harm our business; and
we may choose not to file a patent for certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third party may subsequently file a patent covering such intellectual property.
Should any of these events occur, they could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
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Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
An active trading market for our Class A common stock may not be sustained.
Although our Class A common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “SEER,” there is a limited trading history and an active trading market for our Class A common stock may not be sustained. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of your ability to sell your shares of Class A common stock when desired or the prices that you may obtain for your shares. If an active market for our Class A common stock with meaningful trading volume is not sustained, the market price of our Class A common stock may decline materially and you may not be able to sell your shares.
The market price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile.
Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate include, but are not limited to:
the degree to which our launch and commercialization of our products meets the expectations of securities analysts and investors;
actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results, including fluctuations in our quarterly and annual results;
revenue being less than anticipated or operating expenses being more than anticipated;
the failure or discontinuation of any of our product development and research programs;
changes in the structure or funding of research at academic and research laboratories and institutions, including changes that would affect their ability to purchase our instruments or consumables;
the success of existing or new competitive businesses or technologies;
announcements about new research programs or products of our competitors;
developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;
the recruitment or departure of key personnel;
litigation and governmental investigations involving us, our industry or both;
regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;
volatility and variations in market conditions in the life sciences technology sector generally, or the proteomics or genomics sectors specifically;
investor perceptions of us or our industry;
the level of expenses related to any of our research and development programs or products;
actual or anticipated changes in our estimates as to our financial results or development timelines, variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us or changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, that cover our Class A common stock or companies that are perceived to be similar to us;
whether our financial results meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors;
the announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;
sales of our Class A common stock by us or sales of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock by our insiders or other stockholders;
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general economic, industry and market conditions; and
the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters or major catastrophic events.
Recently, stock markets in general, and the market for life sciences technology companies in particular, have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations, particularly in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. Following periods of such volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.
The multi-class structure of our common stock will have the effect of concentrating voting control with certain stockholders and it may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our Class A common stock, which is our publicly-traded class of stock, has one vote per share, and our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, except as otherwise required by law. Our Class B common stock is held by our founders and early investors. As of April 30, 2022, the holders of our Class B common stock hold in the aggregate 40.9% of the voting power of our capital stock.
As a result, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a significant amount of the combined voting power of our common stock and therefore may be able to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. This control will limit to the stockholders’ influence over corporate matters for approximately five years following our initial public offering, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any sale of the company or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited proposals to acquire the company. Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes where sole dispositive power and exclusive voting control with respect to the shares of Class B common stock is retained by the transferring holder. The Class B common stock will also automatically convert into Class A common stock on December 8, 2025. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those individual holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares over the long term.
In July 2017, S&P Dow Jones announced that it would no longer admit companies with multiple-class share structures to certain of its indices. Affected indices include the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Our multi-class capital structure may make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track these indices may not be investing in our stock. It is unclear what effect, if any, exclusion from any indices has had on the valuations of the affected publicly traded companies. It is possible that such policies could depress the valuations of public companies excluded from such indices compared to those of other companies that are included.
If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our Class A common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock relies in part on the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If no or few analysts commence or continue coverage of us, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decrease. If one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our Class A common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our Class A common stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our Class A common stock, which in turn could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.
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Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock by our existing stockholders could cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market could occur at any time following the expiration of the market standoff and lock-up agreements or the early release of these agreements or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of Class A common stock intend to sell shares and could reduce the market price of our Class A common stock.
Shares issued upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our equity incentive plans or pursuant to future awards granted under those plans will become available for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of applicable vesting schedules, any applicable market standoff and lock-up agreements, and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act.
We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay dividends in the future, and, as a result, any return on investment may be limited to the value of our stock.
You should not rely on an investment in our Class A common stock to provide dividend income. We do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends to holders of our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to maintain and expand our existing operations, fund our research and development programs and continue to invest in our commercial infrastructure. In addition, any future credit facility or financing we obtain may contain terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our Class A common stock. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated bylaws designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, and also provide that the federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, each of which could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, stockholders, or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation specifies that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (b) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, stockholders, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (c) any action or proceeding asserting a claim arising pursuant to, or seeking to enforce any right, obligation or remedy under, any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws, (d) any action or proceeding as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or (e) any action or proceeding asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court in Delaware or, if no state court in Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) and any appellate court therefrom, in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over the claims at issue and the indispensable parties; provided that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act.
Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding or owning (or continuing to hold or own) any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing bylaw provisions. Although we believe these exclusive forum provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the
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application of Delaware law and federal securities laws in the types of lawsuits to which each applies, the exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, stockholders, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims against us and our current and former directors, officers, stockholders, or other employees. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder as a result of our exclusive forum provisions. Further, in the event a court finds either exclusive forum provision contained in our amended and restated bylaws to be unenforceable or inapplicable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.
Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our status as a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:
any transaction that would result in a change in control of our company requires the approval of a majority of our outstanding Class B common stock voting as a separate class;
our multi-class common stock structure provides our holders of Class B common stock with the ability to significantly influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock;
our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms and directors will only be able to be removed from office for cause by the affirmative vote of holders of at least two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;
certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation require the approval of stockholders holding two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;
any stockholder-proposed amendment to our amended and restated bylaws require the approval of stockholders holding two-thirds of the voting power of our then outstanding capital stock;
our stockholders may only be able to take action at a meeting of stockholders and may not be able to take action by written consent for any matter;
our stockholders are be able to act by written consent only if the action is first recommended or approved by the board of directors;
vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by our board of directors and not by stockholders;
only the chair of the board of directors, chief executive officer or a majority of the board of directors are authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;
certain litigation against us can only be brought in Delaware;
our restated certificate of incorporation authorizes undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued, without the approval of the holders of our capital stock; and
advance notice procedures apply for stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders.
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These anti-takeover defenses could discourage, delay, or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions they desire, any of which, under certain circumstances, could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our capital stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.
Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2021 we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards (NOLs) of $94.0 million and $84.5 million, respectively, which if not utilized will expire in 2035 for state purposes. We may use these NOLs to offset against taxable income for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. However, Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, may limit the NOLs we may use in any year for U.S. federal income tax purposes in the event of certain changes in ownership of our company. A Section 382 “ownership change” generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of a company’s stock increase their ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not conducted a 382 study to determine whether the use of our NOLs is impaired. We may have previously undergone multiple “ownership changes.” In addition, future issuances or sales of our stock, including certain transactions involving our stock that are outside of our control, could result in future “ownership changes.” “Ownership changes” that have occurred in the past or that may occur in the future could result in the imposition of an annual limit on the amount of pre-ownership change NOLs and other tax attributes we can use to reduce our taxable income, potentially increasing and accelerating our liability for income taxes, and also potentially causing those tax attributes to expire unused. States may impose other limitations on the use of our NOLs. Any limitation on using NOLs could, depending on the extent of such limitation and the NOLs previously used, result in our retaining less cash after payment of U.S. federal and state income taxes during any year in which we have taxable income, rather than losses, than we would be entitled to retain if such NOLs were available as an offset against such income for U.S. federal and state income tax reporting purposes, which could adversely impact our operating results.
We continue to incur significant increased costs and management resources as a result of operating as a public company.
As a public company, we continue to incur significant legal, accounting, compliance and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time and incur significant expense in connection with compliance initiatives. As a public company, we continue to bear all of the internal and external costs of preparing and distributing periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under the securities laws.
In addition, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including SOX, and the related rules and regulations implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market, LLC (Nasdaq) have increased legal and financial compliance costs and make some compliance activities more time-consuming. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment will result in increased general and administrative expenses and may divert management’s time and attention from our other business activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us, and our business may be harmed. In the future, it may be more expensive or more difficult for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.
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General Risks
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters are subject to increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from customers, regulators, investors and other stakeholders and may expose us to reputational, cost and other risks.
Companies across all industries are subject to increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations regarding ESG matters. In particular, customers, regulators, investors and other stakeholders are increasingly focusing on environmental issues, including climate change, energy use, industrial waste, and other sustainability concerns. Failure to implement sufficient standards and practices for responsible corporate citizenship, support for local communities, employee diversity and human capital management, health and safety practices, supply chain management, and corporate governance can increase our costs of production, decrease our revenue, and negatively affect our reputation, employee retention, and the general willingness of customers and suppliers to do business with us and investors to invest in us. If we do not adapt to or comply with evolving ESG standards and regulations, the resulting consequences could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and financial condition.
If our facilities or our third-party manufacturers’ facilities become unavailable or inoperable, our research and development program and commercialization plan could be adversely impacted and manufacturing of our instruments and consumables could be interrupted.
Our Redwood City, California, facilities house our corporate, research and development, NP manufacturing and quality assurance teams. Our instruments are manufactured at our third-party manufacturer’s facilities in Nevada, and our consumables are manufactured at various locations in the United States and internationally.
Our facilities in Redwood City and those of our third-party manufacturers are vulnerable to natural disasters, public health crises, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and catastrophic events. For example, our Redwood City facilities are located near earthquake fault zones and are vulnerable to damage from earthquakes as well as other types of disasters, including fires, wildfires, floods, power loss, communications failures and similar events. If any disaster, public health crisis or catastrophic event were to occur, our ability to operate our business would be seriously, or potentially completely, impaired. If our facilities or our third-party manufacturer’s facilities become unavailable for any reason, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to secure alternative manufacturing facilities with the necessary capabilities and equipment on acceptable terms, if at all. We may encounter particular difficulties in replacing our Redwood City facilities given the specialized equipment housed within it. The inability to manufacture our instruments or consumables, combined with our limited inventory of manufactured instruments and consumables, may result in the loss of future customers or harm our reputation, and we may be unable to re-establish relationships with those customers in the future. Because some of our NPs are perishable and must be kept in temperature controlled storage, the loss of power to our facilities, mechanical or other issues with our storage facilities or other events that impact our temperature controlled storage could result in the loss of some or all of such NPs, and we may not be able to replace them without disruption to our customers or at all.
If our research and development program or commercialization program were disrupted by a disaster or catastrophe, the launch of new products, including the Proteograph Product Suite, and the timing of improvements to our products could be significantly delayed and could adversely impact our ability to compete with other available products and solutions. If our or our third-party manufacturer’s capabilities are impaired, we may not be able to manufacture and ship our products in a timely manner, which would adversely impact our business. Although we possess insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.
If we experience a significant disruption in our information technology systems or breaches of data security, our business could be adversely affected.
We rely, or will rely, on information technology systems to keep financial records, facilitate our research and development initiatives, manage our manufacturing operations, maintain quality control, fulfill customer orders, maintain corporate records, communicate with staff and external parties and operate other critical functions. Our information technology systems and those of our vendors and partners are potentially vulnerable to disruption due to
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breakdown, malicious intrusion and computer viruses or other disruptive events, including, but not limited to, natural disasters and catastrophes. Cyberattacks (including denial of service, ransomware, and other attacks) and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase and cloud-based platform providers of services have been and are expected to continue to be targeted. Methods of attacks on information technology systems and data security breaches change frequently, are increasingly complex and sophisticated, including social engineering and phishing scams, and can originate from a wide variety of sources. In addition to traditional computer “hackers,” malicious code, such as viruses and worms, employee theft or misuse, denial-of-service attacks and sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors now engage in attacks, including advanced persistent threat intrusions. Despite our efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is virtually impossible for us to entirely mitigate these risks. In addition, we have not finalized our information technology and data security procedures and therefore, our information technology systems may be more susceptible to cybersecurity attacks than if such security procedures were finalized. Despite any of our current or future efforts to protect against cybersecurity attacks and data security breaches, there is no guarantee that our efforts are adequate to safeguard against all such attacks and breaches. Moreover, it is possible that we may not be able to anticipate, detect, appropriately react and respond to, or implement effective preventative measures against, all cybersecurity incidents.
If our security measures, or those of our vendors and partners, are compromised due to any cybersecurity attacks or data security breaches, including as a result of third-party action, employee or customer error, malfeasance, stolen or fraudulently obtained log-in credentials or otherwise, our reputation could be damaged, our business and reputation may be harmed, we could become subject to litigation and we could incur significant liability. If we were to experience a prolonged system disruption in our information technology systems or those of certain of our vendors and partners, it could negatively impact our ability to serve our customers, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If operations at our facilities were disrupted, it may cause a material disruption in our business if we are not capable of restoring functionality on an acceptable timeframe. In addition, our information technology systems, and those of our vendors and partners, are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches, whether by internal bad actors, such as employees or other third parties with legitimate access to our or our third-party providers’ systems, or external bad actors, which could lead to the exposure of personal data, sensitive data and confidential information to unauthorized persons. Any such data security breaches could lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, or could lead to the exposure of personal information, including sensitive personal information, of our employees, customers and others, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, any such access, disclosure or other loss or unauthorized use of information or data could result in legal claims or proceedings, regulatory investigations or actions, and other types of liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information, including federal, state and foreign data protection and privacy regulations, violations of which could result in significant penalties and fines. Additionally, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), was approved by California voters in the election on November 3, 2020. The CPRA will modify the California Consumer Privacy Act significantly, potentially resulting in further uncertainty and requiring us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. The CPRA will restrict use of certain categories of sensitive personal information that we may handle, establish restrictions on the retention of personal information, expand the types of data breaches subject to the private right of action, and establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the new law and impose administrative fines. The majority of the CPRA’s provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes will likely be required. Similar laws have been proposed in other states and at the federal level, reflecting a trend toward more stringent data privacy and security legislation in the United States. For example, on March 2, 2021, Virginia enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, or CDPA, which becomes effective on January 1, 2023, and on June 8, 2021, Colorado enacted the Colorado Privacy Act, or CPA, which takes effect on July 1, 2023. The CPA and CDPA share similarities with the CCPA, CPRA, and legislation proposed in other states. Aspects of these state privacy statutes remain unclear, resulting in further uncertainty and potentially requiring us to modify our data practices and policies and to incur substantial additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. In addition, U.S. and international laws and regulations that have been applied to protect user privacy (including laws regarding unfair and deceptive practices in the U.S. and GDPR in the EU) may be subject to evolving interpretations or applications. Furthermore, defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly, divert management’s attention and harm our reputation. In addition, although we seek to detect and investigate all data
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security incidents, security breaches and other incidents of unauthorized access to our information technology systems and data can be difficult to detect and any delay in identifying such breaches or incidents may lead to increased harm and legal exposure of the type described above. Moreover, there could be public announcements regarding any cybersecurity incidents and any steps we take to respond to or remediate such incidents, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these announcements to be negative, it could, among other things, have a material adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock.
The cost of protecting against, investigating, mitigating and responding to potential breaches of our information technology systems and data security breaches and complying with applicable breach notification obligations to individuals, regulators, partners and others can be significant. As cybersecurity incidents continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. The inability to implement, maintain and upgrade adequate safeguards could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Our insurance policies may not be adequate to compensate us for the potential costs and other losses arising from such disruptions, failures or security breaches. In addition, such insurance may not be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are currently subject to, and may in the future become subject to additional, U.S. federal and state laws and regulations imposing obligations on how we collect, store and process personal information. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business. Ensuring compliance with such laws could also impair our efforts to maintain and expand our future customer base, and thereby decrease our revenue.
In the ordinary course of our business, we currently, and in the future will, collect, store, transfer, use or process sensitive data, including personally identifiable information of employees, and intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by ourselves and other parties. The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and transmission of this critical information are vital to our operations and business strategy. We are, and may increasingly become, subject to various laws and regulation relating to data privacy and security in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We also may be subject to contractual obligations and may be, or may be asserted to be, subject to industry standards relating to privacy and data security. The regulatory environment related to data privacy and security is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. These laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is possible that they will be interpreted and applied in ways that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In the United States, various federal and state regulators, including governmental agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, have adopted, or are considering adopting, laws and regulations concerning personal information and data security. Certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to personal information than federal, international or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, all of which may complicate compliance efforts. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which increases privacy rights for California residents and imposes obligations on companies that process their personal information, came into effect on January 1, 2020. Among other things, the CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers and provide such consumers new data protection and privacy rights, including the ability to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal information. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. In addition, laws in all 50 U.S. states require businesses to provide notice to consumers whose personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. State laws are changing rapidly and there is discussion in the U.S. Congress of a new comprehensive federal data privacy law to which we would become subject if it is enacted.
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Furthermore, regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information (known as “protected health information”) and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. Determining whether protected health information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy standards and our contractual obligations can require complex factual and statistical analyses and may be subject to changing interpretation. Although we take measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other malicious or inadvertent disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, manipulated, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, breach or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, and liability under federal or state laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as the HIPAA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), and regulatory penalties. Notice of breaches must be made to affected individuals, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and for extensive breaches, notice may need to be made to the media or State Attorneys General. Such a notice could harm our reputation and our ability to compete.
We are in the process of evaluating compliance needs, but do not currently have in place formal policies and procedures related to the storage, collection and processing of information, and have not conducted any internal or external data privacy audits, to ensure our compliance with all applicable data protection laws and regulations. Additionally, we do not currently have policies and procedures in place for assessing our third-party vendors’ compliance with applicable data protection laws and regulations. All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs, such as costs related to organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees and engaging consultants, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, distract management or divert resources from other initiatives and projects, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our third-party vendors, collaborators, contractors and consultants to comply with any applicable federal, state or similar foreign laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security, or could result in damage to our reputation, as well as proceedings or litigation by governmental agencies or other third parties, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, which would subject us to significant fines, sanctions, awards, penalties or judgments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
None during the three months ended March 31, 2022.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Not applicable.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure
Not applicable.
Item 5. Other Information
None.
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Item 6. Exhibits
Exhibit NumberDescriptionFormFile No.ExhibitFiling Date
10.1+*
10.2+8-K001-3974710.12/18/2022
10.3+8-K001-3974710.13/18/2022
31.1*
31.2*
32.1†*
32.2†*
101.INSXBRL Instance Document
101.SCHXBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CALXBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEFXBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LABXBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PREXBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
__________
+ Indicates management contract or compensatory plan.
† The certifications attached as Exhibit 32.1 and 32.2 that accompany this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, are deemed furnished and not filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.
* Filed herewith

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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements 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.

SEER, INC.
Date: May 6, 2022By:/s/ Omid Farokhzad, M.D.
Omid Farokhzad, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer and
Chair of the Board of Directors
(Principal Executive Officer)

Date: May 6, 2022By:/s/ David R. Horn
David R. Horn
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Accounting Officer)
70
Document
Ex 10.1
SEER, INC.
2020 EMPLOYEE STOCK PURCHASE PLAN
(As most recently amended and restated April 20, 2022)
1.Purpose. The purpose of the Plan is to provide employees of the Company and its Designated Companies with an opportunity to purchase Common Stock through accumulated Contributions. The Company intends for the Plan to have two components: a component that is intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Code Section 423 (the “423 Component”) and a component that is not intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Code Section 423 (the “Non-423 Component”). The provisions of the 423 Component, accordingly, will be construed so as to extend and limit Plan participation in a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis consistent with the requirements of Code Section 423. In addition, this Plan authorizes the grant of an option to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Non-423 Component that does not qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” under Code Section 423; an option granted under the Non-423 Component will provide for substantially the same benefits as an option granted under the 423 Component, except that a Non-423 Component option may include features necessary to comply with applicable non-U.S. laws pursuant to rules, procedures or sub-plans adopted by the Administrator. Except as otherwise provided herein or by the Administrator, the Non-423 Component will operate and be administered in the same manner as the 423 Component.
2.Definitions.
2.1Administrator” means the Board or any Committee designated by the Board to administer the Plan pursuant to Section 3.
2.2Applicable Laws” means the legal and regulatory requirements relating to the administration of equity-based awards, including but not limited to the related issuance of shares of Common Stock, including but not limited to, under U.S. federal and state corporate laws, U.S. federal and state securities laws, the Code, any stock exchange or quotation system on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted and the applicable laws of any non-U.S. country or jurisdiction where options are, or will be, granted under the Plan.
2.3Board” means the Board of Directors of the Company.
2.4Change in Control” means the occurrence of any of the following events, unless specifically provided otherwise by the Administrator with respect to a particular Offering:
(a)Change in Ownership of the Company. A change in the ownership of the Company which occurs on the date that any one person, or more than one person acting as a group (“Person”), acquires ownership of the stock of the Company that, together with the stock held by such Person, constitutes more than fifty percent (50%) of the total voting power of the stock of the Company; provided, however, that for purposes of this subsection (a), the acquisition of additional stock by any one Person, who is considered to own more than fifty percent (50%) of the total voting power of the stock of the Company will not be considered a Change in Control; provided, further, that any change in the ownership of the stock of the Company as a result of a private financing of the Company that is approved by the Board also will not be considered a Change in Control. Further, if the stockholders of the Company immediately before such change in ownership continue to retain immediately after the change in ownership, in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of shares of the Company’s voting stock immediately prior to the change in ownership, direct or indirect beneficial ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the total voting power of the stock of the Company or of the ultimate parent entity of the Company, such
Seer - 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (IPO)(11.15.2020) 4816-8411-7454 v.8.docx


event will not be considered a Change in Control under this subsection (a). For this purpose, indirect beneficial ownership will include, without limitation, an interest resulting from ownership of the voting securities of one or more corporations or other business entities which own the Company, as the case may be, either directly or through one or more subsidiary corporations or other business entities; or
(b)Change in Effective Control of the Company. If the Company has a class of securities registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act, a change in the effective control of the Company which occurs on the date that a majority of members of the Board is replaced during any twelve (12) month period by Directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board prior to the date of the appointment or election. For purposes of this subsection (b), if any Person is considered to be in effective control of the Company, the acquisition of additional control of the Company by the same Person will not be considered a Change in Control; or
(c)Change in Ownership of a Substantial Portion of the Company’s Assets. A change in the ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets which occurs on the date that any Person acquires (or has acquired during the twelve (12) month period ending on the date of the most recent acquisition by such Person or Persons) assets from the Company that have a total gross fair market value equal to or more than fifty percent (50%) of the total gross fair market value of all of the assets of the Company immediately prior to such acquisition or acquisitions; provided, however, that for purposes of this subsection (c), the following will not constitute a change in the ownership of a substantial portion of the Company’s assets: (i) a transfer to an entity that is controlled by the Company’s stockholders immediately after the transfer, or (ii) a transfer of assets by the Company to: (A) a stockholder of the Company (immediately before the asset transfer) in exchange for or with respect to the Company’s stock, (B) an entity, fifty percent (50%) or more of the total value or voting power of which is owned, directly or indirectly, by the Company, (C) a Person, that owns, directly or indirectly, fifty percent (50%) or more of the total value or voting power of all the outstanding stock of the Company, or (D) an entity, at least fifty percent (50%) of the total value or voting power of which is owned, directly or indirectly, by a Person described in this subsection (c)(ii)(C). For purposes of this subsection (c), gross fair market value means the value of the assets of the Company, or the value of the assets being disposed of, determined without regard to any liabilities associated with such assets.
For purposes of this Section 2.4, persons will be considered to be acting as a group if they are owners of a corporation that enters into a merger, consolidation, purchase or acquisition of stock, or similar business transaction with the Company.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, a transaction will not be deemed a Change in Control unless the transaction qualifies as a change in control event within the meaning of Section 409A.
Further and for the avoidance of doubt, a transaction will not constitute a Change in Control if: (x) its primary purpose is to change the jurisdiction of the Company’s incorporation, or (y) its primary purpose is to create a holding company that will be owned in substantially the same proportions by the persons who held the Company’s securities immediately before such transaction.
2.5Code” means the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Reference to a specific section of the Code or regulation thereunder will include such section or regulation, any valid regulation or other formal guidance of general or direct applicability promulgated under such section, and any comparable provision of any future legislation or regulation amending, supplementing or superseding such section or regulation.
2.6Committee” means a committee of the Board appointed in accordance with Section 3 hereof.
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2.7Common Stock” means the Class A common stock of the Company.
2.8Company” means Seer, Inc., a Delaware corporation, or any successor thereto.
2.9Compensation” means an Eligible Employee’s base straight time gross earnings, but exclusive of payments for overtime, shift premium, commissions, incentive compensation, equity compensation, bonuses and other similar compensation. The Administrator, in its discretion, may, on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis, establish a different definition of Compensation for a subsequent Offering Period.
2.10Contributions” means the payroll deductions and other additional payments that the Company may permit to be made by a Participant to fund the exercise of options granted pursuant to the Plan.
2.11Designated Company” means any Subsidiary that has been designated by the Administrator from time to time in its sole discretion as eligible to participate in the Plan. For purposes of the 423 Component, only the Company and its Subsidiaries may be Designated Companies, provided, however that at any given time, a Subsidiary that is a Designated Company under the 423 Component will not be a Designated Company under the Non-423 Component.
2.12Director” means a member of the Board.
2.13Eligible Employee” means any individual who is a common law employee providing services to the Company or a Designated Company and is customarily employed for at least twenty (20) hours per week and more than five (5) months in any calendar year by the Employer, or any lesser number of hours per week and/or number of months in any calendar year established by the Administrator (if required under Applicable Laws) for purposes of any separate Offering or for Participants in the Non-423 Component. For purposes of the Plan, the employment relationship will be treated as continuing intact while the individual is on sick leave or other leave of absence that the Employer approves or is legally protected under Applicable Laws with respect to the Participant’s participation in the Plan. Where the period of leave exceeds three (3) months and the individual’s right to reemployment is not guaranteed either by statute or by contract, the employment relationship will be deemed to have terminated three (3) months and one (1) day following the commencement of such leave. The Administrator, in its discretion, from time to time may, prior to an Enrollment Date for all options to be granted on such Enrollment Date in an Offering, determine (for each Offering under the 423 Component, on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis or as otherwise permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2) that the definition of Eligible Employee will or will not include an individual if he or she: (a) has not completed at least two (2) years of service since his or her last hire date (or such lesser period of time as may be determined by the Administrator in its discretion), (b) customarily works not more than twenty (20) hours per week (or such lesser period of time as may be determined by the Administrator in its discretion), (c) customarily works not more than five (5) months per calendar year (or such lesser period of time as may be determined by the Administrator in its discretion), (d) is a highly compensated employee within the meaning of Code Section 414(q), or (e) is a highly compensated employee within the meaning of Code Section 414(q) with compensation above a certain level or is an officer or subject to the disclosure requirements of Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, provided the exclusion is applied with respect to each Offering under the 423 Component in an identical manner to all highly compensated individuals of the Employer whose employees are participating in that Offering. Each exclusion will be applied with respect to an Offering under the 423 Component in a manner complying with U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(e)(2)(ii). Such exclusions may be applied with respect to an Offering under the Non-423 Component without regard to the limitations of U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2.
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2.14Employer” means the employer of the applicable Eligible Employee(s).
2.15Enrollment Date” means the first Trading Day of each Offering Period.
2.16Exchange Act” means the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
2.17Exercise Date” means the last Trading Day of a Purchase Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that an Offering Period is terminated prior to its expiration pursuant to Section 18, the Administrator, in its sole discretion, may determine that any Purchase Period also terminating under such Offering Period will terminate without options being exercised on the Exercise Date(s) that otherwise would have occurred on the last Trading Day of such Purchase Period.
2.18Fair Market Value” means, as of any date and unless the Administrator determines otherwise, the value of Common Stock determined as follows:
(a)If the Common Stock is listed on any established stock exchange or a national market system, including without limitation the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the Nasdaq Global Market, or the Nasdaq Capital Market of The Nasdaq Stock Market, its Fair Market Value will be the closing sales price for such stock (or, if no closing sales price was reported on that date, as applicable, on the last Trading Day such closing sales price was reported) as quoted on such exchange or system on the date of determination, as reported in The Wall Street Journal or such other source as the Administrator deems reliable;
(b)If the Common Stock is regularly quoted by a recognized securities dealer but selling prices are not reported, the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock will be the mean between the high bid and low asked prices for the Common Stock on the day of determination (or if no bids and asks were reported on that date, as applicable, on the last Trading Day such bids and asks were reported), as reported in The Wall Street Journal or such other source as the Administrator deems reliable;
(c)In the absence of an established market for the Common Stock, the Fair Market Value will be determined in good faith by the Administrator.
The determination of fair market value for purposes of tax withholding may be made in the Administrator’s discretion subject to Applicable Laws and is not required to be consistent with the determination of Fair Market Value for other purposes.
2.19Fiscal Year” means the fiscal year of the Company.
2.20New Exercise Date” means a new Exercise Date if the Administrator shortens any Offering Period then in progress.
2.21Offering” means an offer under the Plan of an option that may be exercised during an Offering Period as further described in Section 6. For purposes of the Plan, the Administrator may designate separate Offerings under the Plan (the terms of which need not be identical) in which Eligible Employees of one or more Employers will participate, even if the dates of the applicable Offering Periods of each such Offering are identical and the provisions of the Plan will separately apply to each Offering. To the extent permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(a)(1), the terms of each Offering need not be identical provided that the terms of the Plan and an Offering together satisfy U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(a)(2) and (a)(3).
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2.22Offering Period” means a period beginning on such date as may be determined by the Administrator, in its discretion, during which an Option granted pursuant to the Plan may be exercised. Upon the Administrator’s determination that Offering Periods shall commence under the Plan (the “Offer Commencement Approval”) and unless determined otherwise by the Administrator prior to the Enrollment Date of an Offering Period, Offering Periods will be the consecutive periods of approximately six (6) months commencing on the first Trading Day on or after May 15 and November 15 of each year following the date of the Offer Commencement Approval, and terminating on the first Trading Day on or after November 15 and May 15, respectively, approximately six (6) months later; provided, however, that the first Offering Period under the Plan will commence with the first Trading Day on or after July 15, 2021 and will end on the first Trading Day on or after November 15, 2021. The duration and timing of Offering Periods may be changed pursuant to Sections 6 and 18.
2.23Parent” means a “parent corporation,” whether now or hereafter existing, as defined in Code Section 424(e).
2.24Participant” means an Eligible Employee that participates in the Plan.
2.25Plan” means this Seer, Inc. 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
2.26Purchase Period” means the period during an Offering Period and during which shares of Common Stock may be purchased on behalf of Participants thereunder in accordance with the terms of the Plan. Purchase Periods will have such duration as determined by the Administrator, commencing after one Exercise Date and ending with the next Exercise Date, except that the first Purchase Period of any Offering Period will commence on the Enrollment Date and end with the next Exercise Date. Unless the Administrator provides otherwise, a Purchase Period in an Offering Period will have the same duration as, and coincide with the length of, such Offering Period.
2.27Purchase Price” means an amount equal to eighty-five percent (85%) of the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the Enrollment Date or on the Exercise Date, whichever is lower; provided however, that the Purchase Price may be determined for subsequent Offering Periods by the Administrator subject to compliance with Code Section 423 (or any successor rule or provision or any other Applicable Law, regulation or stock exchange rule) or pursuant to Section 18.
2.28Registration Date” means the effective date of the first registration statement that is filed by the Company and declared effective pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, with respect to any class of the Company’s securities.
2.29Section 409A” means Code Section 409A and the U.S. Treasury Regulations and guidance thereunder, and any applicable state law equivalent, as each may be promulgated, amended or modified from time to time.
2.30Subsidiary” means a “subsidiary corporation,” whether now or hereafter existing, as defined in Code Section 424(f).
2.31Trading Day” means a day on which the primary stock exchange, national market system, or other trading platform, as applicable, upon which the Common Stock is listed (or otherwise trades regularly, as determined by the Administrator, in its sole discretion) is open for trading.
2.32U.S. Treasury Regulations” means the Treasury Regulations of the Code. Reference to a specific Treasury Regulation or Section of the Code will include such Treasury
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Regulation or Section, any valid regulation promulgated under such Section, and any comparable provision of any future legislation or regulation amending, supplementing or superseding such Section or regulation.
3.Stock.
3.1Stock Subject to the Plan. Subject to adjustment upon changes in capitalization of the Company as provided in Section 17 hereof, the maximum number of shares of Common Stock that will be made available for sale under the Plan will be equal to 602,570 shares of Common Stock.
3.2Automatic Share Reserve Increase. Subject to adjustment upon changes in capitalization of the Company as provided in Section 17 hereof, the number of shares of Common Stock available for issuance under the Plan will be increased on the first day of each Fiscal Year beginning with the 2021 Fiscal Year in an amount equal to the least of (a)  1,807,476 shares of Common Stock, (b) a number of shares of Common Stock equal to one percent (1%) of the total number of shares of all classes of common stock of the Company (whether Class A common stock, Class B common stock or other class of Company common stock) outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding Fiscal Year, or (c) such number of shares determined by the Administrator no later than the last day of the immediately preceding Fiscal Year. The shares of Common Stock may be authorized, but unissued, or reacquired Common Stock.
4.Administration. The Plan will be administered by the Board or a Committee appointed by the Board, which Committee will be constituted to comply with Applicable Laws. The Administrator will have full and exclusive discretionary authority to
(a)construe, interpret and apply the terms of the Plan,
(b)delegate ministerial duties to any of the Company’s employees,
(c)designate separate Offerings under the Plan,
(d)designate Subsidiaries as participating in the 423 Component or Non-423 Component,
(e)determine eligibility,
(f)adjudicate all disputed claims filed under the Plan, and
(g)establish such procedures that it deems necessary or advisable for the administration of the Plan (including, without limitation, to adopt such procedures, sub-plans, and appendices to the enrollment agreement as are necessary or appropriate to permit the participation in the Plan by employees who are foreign nationals or employed outside the U.S., the terms of which sub-plans and appendices may take precedence over other provisions of this Plan, with the exception of Section 3 hereof, but unless otherwise superseded by the terms of such sub-plan or appendix, the provisions of this Plan will govern the operation of such sub-plan or appendix). Unless otherwise determined by the Administrator, the Eligible Employees eligible to participate in each sub-plan will participate in a separate Offering under the 423 Component, or if the terms would not qualify under the 423 Component, in the Non-423 Component, in either case unless such designation would cause the 423 Component to violate the requirements of Code Section 423.
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Administrator is specifically authorized to adopt rules and procedures regarding eligibility to participate, the definition of Compensation, handling of Contributions, making of Contributions to the Plan (including, without
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limitation, in forms other than payroll deductions), establishment of bank or trust accounts to hold Contributions, payment of interest, conversion of local currency, obligations to pay payroll tax, determination of beneficiary designation requirements, withholding procedures and handling of stock certificates that vary with applicable local requirements. The Administrator also is authorized to determine that, to the extent permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(f), the terms of an option granted under the Plan or an Offering to citizens or residents of a non-U.S. jurisdiction will be less favorable than the terms of options granted under the Plan or the same Offering to employees resident solely in the U.S. Every finding, decision and determination made by the Administrator will, to the full extent permitted by law, be final and binding upon all parties.
5.Eligibility.
5.1Offering Periods. With respect to Offering Periods beginning prior to April 20, 2022, any Eligible Employee on a given Enrollment Date will be eligible to participate in the Plan, subject to the requirements of Section 7. Solely with respect to Offering Periods beginning on or after April 20, 2022, any individual who is an Eligible Employee (i) as of the Friday immediately prior to the applicable Enrollment Date and (ii) through that Enrollment Date will be eligible to participate in the Plan with respect to the Offering Period that begins on that Enrollment Date, subject to the requirements of Section 7.
5.2Non-U.S. Employees. Eligible Employees who are citizens or residents of a non-U.S. jurisdiction (without regard to whether they also are citizens or residents of the United States or resident aliens (within the meaning of Code Section 7701(b)(1)(A))) may be excluded from participation in the Plan or an Offering if the participation of such Eligible Employees is prohibited under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction or if complying with the laws of the applicable jurisdiction would cause the Plan or an Offering to violate Code Section 423. In the case of the Non-423 Component, an Eligible Employee may be excluded from participation in the Plan or an Offering if the Administrator has determined that participation of such Eligible Employee is not advisable or practicable.
5.3Limitations. Any provisions of the Plan to the contrary notwithstanding, no Eligible Employee will be granted an option under the Plan (a) to the extent that, immediately after the grant, such Eligible Employee (or any other person whose stock would be attributed to such Eligible Employee pursuant to Code Section 424(d)) would own capital stock of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company and/or hold outstanding options to purchase such stock possessing five percent (5%) or more of the total combined voting power or value of all classes of the capital stock of the Company or of any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company, or (b) to the extent that his or her rights to purchase stock under all employee stock purchase plans (as defined in Code Section 423) of the Company or any Parent or Subsidiary of the Company accrues at a rate, which exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) worth of stock (determined at the Fair Market Value of the stock at the time such option is granted) for each calendar year in which such option is outstanding at any time, as determined in accordance with Code Section 423 and the regulations thereunder.
6.Offering Periods. The Plan will be implemented by Offering Periods established by the Administrator from time to time. Offering Periods will expire on the earliest to occur of (a) the completion of the purchase of shares on the last Exercise Date occurring within twenty-seven (27) months of the applicable Enrollment Date on which the option to purchase shares was granted under the Plan, or (b) such shorter period established prior to the Enrollment Date of the Offering Period by the Administrator, from time to time, in its discretion, on a uniform and nondiscriminatory basis, for all options to be granted on such Enrollment Date. The Administrator will have the power to change the duration of Offering Periods (including the commencement dates thereof) with respect to future Offerings without stockholder approval if such change is announced prior to the scheduled
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beginning of the first Offering Period to be affected thereafter; provided, however, that no Offering Period may last more than twenty-seven (27) months.
7.Participation. An Eligible Employee may participate in the Plan pursuant to Section 5.1 by (a) submitting to the Company’s Finance Department (or its designee), a properly completed subscription agreement authorizing Contributions in the form provided by the Administrator for such purpose (which may be similar to the form attached hereto as Exhibit A), or (b) following an electronic or other enrollment procedure determined by the Administrator, in either case, on or before a date determined by the Administrator prior to an applicable Enrollment Date.
8.Contributions.
8.1Contribution Amounts. At the time a Participant enrolls in the Plan pursuant to Section 7, he or she will elect to have Contributions (in the form of payroll deductions or otherwise, to the extent permitted by the Administrator) made on each pay day during the Offering Period in an amount not exceeding fifteen percent (15%) of the Compensation, which he or she receives on each pay day during the Offering Period; provided, however, that should a pay day occur on an Exercise Date, a Participant will have any Contributions made on such day applied to his or her account under the then-current Purchase Period or Offering Period.
8.2Contribution Methods. The Administrator, in its sole discretion, may permit all Participants in a specified Offering to contribute amounts to the Plan through payment by cash, check or other means set forth in the subscription agreement prior to each Exercise Date of each Purchase Period. A Participant’s subscription agreement will remain in effect for successive Offering Periods unless terminated as provided in Section 12 hereof (or Participant’s participation is terminated as provided in Section 13 hereof).
(a)In the event Contributions are made in the form of payroll deductions, such payroll deductions for a Participant will commence on the first pay day following the Enrollment Date and will end on the last pay day on or prior to the last Exercise Date of such Offering Period to which such authorization is applicable, unless sooner terminated by the Participant as provided in Section 12 hereof (or Participant’s participation is terminated as provided in Section 13 hereof).
(b)All Contributions made for a Participant will be credited to his or her account under the Plan and Contributions will be made in whole percentages of his or her Compensation only. A Participant may not make any additional payments into such account.
8.3Participant Changes to Contributions. A Participant may discontinue his or her participation in the Plan as provided under Section 12. Until and unless determined otherwise by the Administrator, in its sole discretion, during any Offering Period, a Participant may not increase the rate of his or her Contributions and may decrease the rate of his or her Contributions only one (1) time, provided that such decrease is to a Contribution rate of zero percent (0%). In addition, until and unless determined otherwise by the Administrator, in its sole discretion, during any Offering Period, a Participant may increase or decrease the rate of his or her Contributions (as a whole percent to a rate between zero percent (0%) and the maximum percentage specified in Section 8.1), which Contribution rate adjustment will become effective upon the commencement of the next Offering Period and remain in effect for subsequent Offering Periods and, except as set forth in the immediately preceding sentence, any such adjustment will not affect the Contribution rate for any ongoing Offering Period.
(a)A Participant may make a Contribution rate adjustment pursuant to this Section 8.3 by (A) properly completing and submitting to the Company’s Finance Department (or its designee), a new subscription agreement authorizing the change in Contribution rate in the
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form provided by the Administrator for such purpose, or (B) following an electronic or other procedure prescribed by the Administrator, in either case, on or before a date determined by the Administrator prior to (x) the scheduled Enrollment Date of the first Offering Period to be affected or (y) an applicable Exercise Date, as applicable. If a Participant has not followed such procedures to change the rate of Contributions, the rate of his or her Contributions will continue at the originally elected rate throughout the Offering Period and future Offering Periods (unless the Participant’s participation is terminated as provided in Sections 12 or 13).
(b)The Administrator may, in its sole discretion, limit or amend the nature and/or number of Contribution rate changes (including to permit, prohibit and/or limit increases and/or decreases to rate changes) that may be made by Participants during any Purchase Period or Offering Period, and may establish such other conditions or limitations as it deems appropriate for Plan administration.
(c)Except as provided by this Section 8.3, any change in Contribution rate made pursuant to this Section 8.3 will be effective as of the first full payroll period following five (5) business days after the date on which the change is made by the Participant (unless the Administrator, in its sole discretion, elects to process a given change in Contribution rate earlier).
8.4Other Contribution Changes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent necessary to comply with Code Section 423(b)(8) and Section 5.3 hereof (which generally limit participation in an Offering Period pursuant to certain Applicable Laws), a Participant’s Contributions may be decreased to zero percent (0%) by the Administrator at any time during an Offering Period (or a Purchase Period, as applicable). Subject to Code Section 423(b)(8) and Section 5.3 hereof, Contributions will recommence at the rate originally elected by the Participant effective as of the beginning of the first Offering Period (or Purchase Period, as applicable) scheduled to end in the following calendar year, unless the Participant’s participation has terminated as provided in Sections 12 or 13.
8.5Cash Contributions. Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary in the Plan, the Administrator may allow Participants to participate in the Plan via cash contributions instead of payroll deductions if (a) payroll deductions are not permitted or advisable under Applicable Laws, (b) the Administrator determines that cash contributions are permissible for Participants participating in the 423 Component and/or (c) the Participants are participating in the Non-423 Component.
8.6Tax Withholdings. At the time the option is exercised, in whole or in part, or at the time some or all of the Common Stock issued under the Plan is disposed of (or at any other time that a taxable event related to the Plan occurs), the Participant must make adequate provision for the Company’s or Employer’s federal, state, local or any other tax liability payable to any authority including taxes imposed by jurisdictions outside of the U.S., national insurance, social security or other tax withholding or payment on account obligations, if any, which arise upon the exercise of the option or the disposition of the Common Stock (or any other time that a taxable event related to the Plan occurs). At any time, the Company or the Employer may, but will not be obligated to, withhold from the Participant’s compensation the amount necessary for the Company or the Employer to meet applicable withholding obligations, including any withholding required to make available to the Company or the Employer any tax deductions or benefits attributable to the sale or early disposition of Common Stock by the Eligible Employee. In addition, the Company or the Employer may, but will not be obligated to, withhold from the proceeds of the sale of Common Stock or use any other method of withholding the Company or the Employer deems appropriate to the extent permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(f).
8.7Use of Funds. The Company may use all Contributions received or held by it under the Plan for any corporate purpose, and the Company will not be obligated to segregate such
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Contributions except under Offerings or for Participants in the Non-423 Component for which Applicable Laws require that Contributions to the Plan by Participants be segregated from the Company’s general corporate funds and/or deposited with an independent third party, provided that, if such segregation or deposit with an independent third party is required by Applicable Laws, it will apply to all Participants in the relevant Offering under the 423 Component, except to the extent otherwise permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(f). Until shares of Common Stock are issued, Participants will have only the rights of an unsecured creditor with respect to such shares.
9.Grant of Option. On the Enrollment Date of each Offering Period, each Eligible Employee participating in such Offering Period will be granted an option to purchase on each Exercise Date during such Offering Period (at the applicable Purchase Price) up to a number of shares of Common Stock determined by dividing such Eligible Employee’s Contributions accumulated prior to such Exercise Date and retained in the Eligible Employee’s account as of the Exercise Date by the applicable Purchase Price.
9.1Certain Option Limits. In no event will an Eligible Employee be permitted to purchase during each Offering Period more than 1,168 shares of Common Stock (subject to any adjustment pursuant to Section 17), and provided further that such purchase will be subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 3 and 5.3 and in the subscription agreement. The Administrator, in its absolute discretion, may increase or decrease the maximum number of shares of Common Stock that an Eligible Employee may purchase during each Purchase Period or Offering Period, as applicable.
9.2Option Receipt. The Eligible Employee may accept the grant of an option under the Plan by electing to participate in the Plan in accordance with the requirements of Section 7.
9.3Option Term. Exercise of the option will occur as provided in Section 10, unless the Participant’s participation has terminated pursuant to Sections 12 or 13. The option will expire on the last day of the Offering Period.
10.Exercise of Option.
10.1Automatic Exercise. Unless a Participant’s participation in the Plan has terminated as provided in Sections 12 and 13, his or her option for the purchase of shares of Common Stock will be exercised automatically on the Exercise Date, and the maximum number of full shares of Common Stock subject to the option will be purchased for such Participant at the applicable Purchase Price with the accumulated Contributions from his or her account. No fractional shares of Common Stock will be purchased; any Contributions accumulated in a Participant’s account, which are not sufficient to purchase a full share will be retained in the Participant’s account for the subsequent Purchase Period or Offering Period, as applicable, subject to earlier withdrawal by the Participant as provided in Sections 12 or 13. Any other funds left over in a Participant’s account after the Exercise Date will be returned to the Participant. During a Participant’s lifetime, a Participant’s option to purchase shares of Common Stock hereunder is exercisable only by him or her.
10.2Pro Rata Allocations. If the Administrator determines that, on a given Exercise Date, the number of shares of Common Stock with respect to which options are to be exercised may exceed (a) the number of shares of Common Stock that were available for sale under the Plan on the Enrollment Date of the applicable Offering Period, or (b) the number of shares of Common Stock available for sale under the Plan on such Exercise Date, the Administrator may in its sole discretion (x) provide that the Company will make a pro rata allocation of the shares of Common Stock available for purchase on such Enrollment Date or Exercise Date, as applicable, in as
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uniform a manner as will be practicable and as it will determine in its sole discretion to be equitable among all Participants exercising options to purchase Common Stock on such Exercise Date, and continue all Offering Periods then in effect or (y) provide that the Company will make a pro rata allocation of the shares of Common Stock available for purchase on such Enrollment Date or Exercise Date, as applicable, in as uniform a manner as will be practicable and as it will determine in its sole discretion to be equitable among all participants exercising options to purchase Common Stock on such Exercise Date, and terminate any or all Offering Periods then in effect pursuant to Section 18. The Company may make a pro rata allocation of the shares of Common Stock available on the Enrollment Date of any applicable Offering Period pursuant to the preceding sentence, notwithstanding any authorization of additional shares of Common Stock for issuance under the Plan by the Company’s stockholders subsequent to such Enrollment Date.
11.Delivery. As soon as reasonably practicable after each Exercise Date on which a purchase of shares of Common Stock occurs, the Company will arrange the delivery to each Participant of the shares of Common Stock purchased upon exercise of his or her option in a form determined by the Administrator (in its sole discretion) and pursuant to rules established by the Administrator. The Company may permit or require that shares of Common Stock be deposited directly with a broker designated by the Company or with a trustee or designated agent of the Company, and the Company may utilize electronic or automated methods of share transfer. The Company may require that shares of Common Stock be retained with such broker, trustee or agent for a designated period of time and/or may establish other procedures to permit tracking of disqualifying dispositions or other dispositions of such shares. No Participant will have any voting, dividend, or other stockholder rights with respect to shares of Common Stock subject to any option granted under the Plan until such shares have been purchased and delivered to the Participant as provided in this Section 11.
12.Withdrawal.
12.1Withdrawal Procedures. A Participant may withdraw all but not less than all the Contributions credited to his or her account and not yet used to exercise his or her option under the Plan at any time by (a) submitting to the Company’s Finance Department (or its designee) a written notice of withdrawal in the form determined by the Administrator for such purpose (which may be similar to the form attached hereto as Exhibit B), or (b) following an electronic or other withdrawal procedure determined by the Administrator. The Administrator may set forth a deadline of when a withdrawal must occur to be effective prior to a given Exercise Date in accordance with policies it may approve from time to time. All of the Participant’s Contributions credited to his or her account will be paid to such Participant as soon as administratively practicable after receipt of notice of withdrawal and such Participant’s option for the Offering Period will be automatically terminated, and no further Contributions for the purchase of shares of Common Stock will be made for such Offering Period. If a Participant withdraws from an Offering Period, Contributions will not resume at the beginning of the succeeding Offering Period, unless the Participant re-enrolls in the Plan in accordance with the provisions of Section 7.
12.2No Effect on Future Participation. A Participant’s withdrawal from an Offering Period will not have any effect upon his or her eligibility to participate in any similar plan that may hereafter be adopted by the Company or in succeeding Offering Periods that commence after the termination of the Offering Period from which the Participant withdraws.
13.Termination of Employment. Upon a Participant’s ceasing to be an Eligible Employee, for any reason, he or she will be deemed to have elected to withdraw from the Plan and the Contributions credited to such Participant’s account during the Offering Period but not yet used to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Plan will be returned to such Participant, or, in the case of his or her death, to the person or persons entitled thereto, and such Participant’s option will be automatically terminated. Unless determined otherwise by the Administrator in a manner that,
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with respect to an Offering under the 423 Component, is permitted by, and compliant with, Code Section 423, a Participant whose employment transfers between entities through a termination with an immediate rehire (with no break in service) by the Company or a Designated Company will not be treated as terminated under the Plan; however, if a Participant transfers from an Offering under the 423 Component to the Non-423 Component, the exercise of the option will be qualified under the 423 Component only to the extent it complies with Code Section 423; further, no Participant will be deemed to switch from an Offering under the Non-423 Component to an Offering under the 423 Component or vice versa unless (and then only to the extent) such switch would not cause the 423 Component or any option thereunder to fail to comply with Code Section 423.
14.Section 409A. The Plan is intended to be exempt from the application of Section 409A, and, to the extent not exempt, is intended to comply with Section 409A and any ambiguities herein will be interpreted to so be exempt from, or comply with, Section 409A. In furtherance of the foregoing and notwithstanding any provision in the Plan to the contrary, if the Administrator determines that an option granted under the Plan may be subject to Section 409A or that any provision in the Plan would cause an option under the Plan to be subject to Section 409A, the Administrator may amend the terms of the Plan and/or of an outstanding option granted under the Plan, or take such other action the Administrator determines is necessary or appropriate, in each case, without the Participant’s consent, to exempt any outstanding option or future option that may be granted under the Plan from or to allow any such options to comply with Section 409A, but only to the extent any such amendments or action by the Administrator would not violate Section 409A. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company and any of its Parent or Subsidiaries will have no liability, obligation or responsibility to reimburse, indemnify, or hold harmless a Participant or any other party if the option to purchase Common Stock under the Plan that is intended to be exempt from or compliant with Section 409A is not so exempt or compliant or for any action taken by the Administrator with respect thereto. The Company makes no representation that the option to purchase Common Stock under the Plan is compliant with Section 409A.
15.Rights as Stockholder. Until the shares of Common Stock are issued (as evidenced by the appropriate entry on the books of the Company or of a duly authorized transfer agent of the Company), a Participant will have only the rights of an unsecured creditor with respect to such shares, and no right to vote or receive dividends or any other rights as a stockholder will exist with respect to such shares. Shares of Common Stock to be delivered to a Participant under the Plan will be registered in the name of the Participant or, if so required under Applicable Laws, in the name of the Participant and his or her spouse.
16.Transferability. Neither Contributions credited to a Participant’s account nor any rights with regard to the exercise of an option or to receive shares of Common Stock under the Plan may be assigned, transferred, pledged or otherwise disposed of in any way (other than by will or the laws of descent and distribution) by the Participant. Any such attempt at assignment, transfer, pledge or other disposition will be without effect, except that the Company may treat such act as an election to withdraw funds from an Offering Period in accordance with Section 12 hereof.
17.Adjustments, Dissolution, Liquidation, Merger or Change in Control.
17.1Adjustments. In the event that any dividend or other distribution (whether in the form of cash, Common Stock, other securities, or other property), recapitalization, stock split, reverse stock split, reorganization, merger, consolidation, split-up, spin-off, combination, reclassification, repurchase, or exchange of Common Stock or other securities of the Company, or other change in the corporate structure of the Company affecting the Common Stock occurs (other than any ordinary dividends or other ordinary distributions), the Administrator, in order to prevent diminution or enlargement of the benefits or potential benefits intended to be made available under the Plan, will adjust the number and class of common stock that may be delivered under the Plan, the Purchase Price per share, the class and the number of shares of common stock covered by each
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option under the Plan that has not yet been exercised, and the numerical share limits of Sections 3 and 9.1.
17.2Dissolution or Liquidation. In the event of the proposed dissolution or liquidation of the Company, any Offering Period then in progress will be shortened by setting a New Exercise Date, and will terminate immediately prior to the consummation of such proposed dissolution or liquidation, unless provided otherwise by the Administrator. The New Exercise Date will be before the date of the Company’s proposed dissolution or liquidation. The Administrator will notify each Participant in writing or electronically, prior to the New Exercise Date, that the Exercise Date for the Participant’s option has been changed to the New Exercise Date and that the Participant’s option will be exercised automatically on the New Exercise Date, unless prior to such date the Participant has withdrawn from the Offering Period as provided in Section 12 hereof (or, prior to such New Exercise Date, Participant’s participation has terminated as provided in Section 13 hereof).
17.3Merger or Change in Control. In the event of a merger of the Company with or into another corporation or other entity or Change in Control, each outstanding option will be assumed or an equivalent option substituted by the successor corporation or a Parent or Subsidiary of the successor corporation. In the event that the successor corporation refuses to assume or substitute for the option, the Offering Period with respect to which such option relates will be shortened by setting a New Exercise Date on which such Offering Period will end. The New Exercise Date will occur before the date of the Company’s proposed merger or Change in Control. The Administrator will notify each Participant in writing or electronically prior to the New Exercise Date, that the Exercise Date for the Participant’s option has been changed to the New Exercise Date and that the Participant’s option will be exercised automatically on the New Exercise Date, unless prior to such date the Participant has withdrawn from the Offering Period as provided in Section 12 hereof (or, prior to such New Exercise Date, Participant’s participation has terminated as provided in Section 13 hereof).
18.Amendment or Termination.
18.1Amendment, Suspension, Termination. The Administrator, in its sole discretion, may amend, suspend, or terminate the Plan, or any part thereof, at any time and for any reason. If the Plan is terminated, the Administrator, in its discretion, may elect to terminate all outstanding Offering Periods either immediately or upon completion of the purchase of shares of Common Stock on the next Exercise Date (which may be sooner than originally scheduled, if determined by the Administrator in its discretion), or may elect to permit Offering Periods to expire in accordance with their terms (and subject to any adjustment pursuant to Section 17). If the Offering Periods are terminated prior to expiration, all amounts then credited to Participants’ accounts that have not been used to purchase shares of Common Stock will be returned to the Participants (without interest thereon, except as otherwise required under Applicable Laws, as further set forth in Section 22 hereof) as soon as administratively practicable.
18.2Certain Administrator Changes. Without stockholder consent and without limiting Section 18.1, the Administrator will be entitled to change the Offering Periods and any Purchase Periods, designate separate Offerings, limit the frequency and/or number of changes in the amount withheld during an Offering Period, establish the exchange rate applicable to amounts withheld in a currency other than U.S. dollars, permit Contributions in excess of the amount designated by a Participant in order to adjust for delays or mistakes in the Company’s processing of properly completed Contribution elections, establish reasonable waiting and adjustment periods and/or accounting and crediting procedures to ensure that amounts applied toward the purchase of Common Stock for each Participant properly correspond with Contribution amounts, and establish such other limitations or procedures as the Administrator determines in its sole discretion advisable that are consistent with the Plan.
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18.3Changes Due to Accounting Consequences. In the event the Administrator determines that the ongoing operation of the Plan may result in unfavorable financial accounting consequences, the Administrator may, in its discretion and, to the extent necessary or desirable, modify, amend or terminate the Plan to reduce or eliminate such accounting consequence including, but not limited to:
(a)amending the Plan to conform with the safe harbor definition under the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (or any successor thereto), including with respect to an Offering Period underway at the time;
(b)altering the Purchase Price for any Purchase Period or Offering Period including a Purchase Period or Offering Period underway at the time of the change in Purchase Price;
(c)shortening any Purchase Period or Offering Period by setting a New Exercise Date, including a Purchase Period or Offering Period underway at the time of the Administrator action;
(d)reducing the maximum percentage of Compensation a Participant may elect to set aside as Contributions; and
(e)reducing the maximum number of shares of Common Stock a Participant may purchase during any Purchase Period or Offering Period.
Such modifications or amendments will not require stockholder approval or the consent of any Plan Participants.
19.Conditions Upon Issuance of Shares.
19.1Legal Compliance. Shares of Common Stock will not be issued with respect to an option unless the exercise of such option and the issuance and delivery of such shares pursuant thereto will comply with Applicable Laws and will be further subject to the approval of counsel for the Company with respect to such compliance.
19.2Investment Representations. As a condition to the exercise of an option, the Company may require the person exercising such option to represent and warrant at the time of any such exercise that the shares are being purchased only for investment and without any present intention to sell or distribute such shares if, in the opinion of counsel for the Company, such a representation is required.
20.Term of Plan. The Plan will become effective upon the later to occur of (a) its adoption by the Board or (b) the business day immediately prior to the Registration Date. It will continue in effect for a term of twenty (20) years, unless sooner terminated under Section 18.
21.Stockholder Approval. The Plan will be subject to approval by the stockholders of the Company within twelve (12) months after the date the Plan is adopted by the Board. Such stockholder approval will be obtained in the manner and to the degree required under Applicable Laws.
22.Interest. No interest will accrue on the Contributions of a participant in the Plan, except as may be required by Applicable Laws, as determined by the Company, and if so required by the laws of a particular jurisdiction, will apply, with respect to Offerings under the 423 Component, to all Participants in the relevant Offering, except to the extent otherwise permitted by U.S. Treasury Regulations Section 1.423-2(f).
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23.No Effect on Employment. Neither the Plan nor any option under the Plan will confer upon any Participant any right with respect to continuing the Participant’s employment with the Company or its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable, nor will they interfere in any way with the Participant’s right or the right of the Company and its Subsidiaries or Parents, as applicable, to terminate such employment relationship at any time, free from any liability or any claim under the Plan.
24.Reports. Individual accounts will be maintained for each Participant in the Plan. Statements of account will be given to participating Eligible Employees at least annually, which statements will set forth the amounts of Contributions, the Purchase Price, the number of shares of Common Stock purchased and the remaining cash balance, if any.
25.Notices. All notices or other communications by a Participant to the Company under or in connection with the Plan will be deemed to have been duly given when received in the form and manner specified by the Company at the location, or by the person, designated by the Company for the receipt thereof.
26.Legal Construction.
26.1Gender and Number. Except where otherwise indicated by the context, any feminine term used herein also will include the masculine and any masculine term used herein also will include the feminine; the plural will include the singular and the singular will include the plural.
26.2Severability. If any provision of the Plan is or becomes or is deemed to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason in any jurisdiction or as to any Participant, such invalidity, illegality, or unenforceability will not affect the remaining parts of the Plan, and the Plan will be construed and enforced as to such jurisdiction or Participant as if the invalid, illegal, or unenforceable provision had not been included.
26.3Governing Law. The Plan will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Delaware, but without regard to its conflict of law provisions.
26.4Headings. Headings are provided herein for convenience only, and will not serve as a basis for interpretation of the Plan.
27.Compliance with Applicable Laws. The terms of this Plan are intended to comply with all Applicable Laws and will be construed accordingly.
28.Automatic Transfer to Low Price Offering Period. Unless determined otherwise by the Administrator, this Section 28 applies to an Offering Period to the extent such Offering Period provides for more than one (1) Exercise Date within such Offering Period. To the extent permitted by Applicable Laws, if the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on any Exercise Date in an Offering Period is less than the Fair Market Value of a share of Common Stock on the Enrollment Date of such Offering Period, then all Participants in such Offering Period will be withdrawn automatically from such Offering Period immediately after the exercise of their option on such Exercise Date and automatically re-enrolled in the immediately following Offering Period as of the first day thereof.
* * *
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EXHIBIT A

SEER, INC.
2020 EMPLOYEE STOCK PURCHASE PLAN
SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT
_____ Original Application    Offering Date: _________________
_____ Change in Payroll Deduction Rate
1.____________________ hereby elects to participate in the Seer, Inc. 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Plan”) and subscribes to purchase shares of the Company’s Common Stock in accordance with this Subscription Agreement and the Plan. Any capitalized terms not specifically defined in this Subscription Agreement will have the meaning ascribed to them under the Plan.
2.I hereby authorize and consent to payroll deductions from each paycheck in the amount of ____% of my Compensation on each payday (from 0% to 15%) during the Offering Period in accordance with the Plan. (Please note that no fractional percentages are permitted.) I understand that only my first, one election to decrease the rate of my payroll deductions may be applied with respect to an ongoing Offering Period in accordance with the terms of the Plan, and any subsequent election to decrease the rate of my payroll deductions during the same Offering Period, and any election to increase the rate of my payroll deductions during any Offering Period, will not be applied to the ongoing Offering Period.
3.I understand that said payroll deductions will be accumulated for the purchase of shares of Common Stock at the applicable Purchase Price determined in accordance with the Plan. I understand that if I do not withdraw from an Offering Period, any accumulated payroll deductions will be used to automatically exercise my option and purchase Common Stock under the Plan. I further understand that if I am outside of the U.S., my payroll deductions will be converted to U.S. dollars at an exchange rate selected by the Company on the purchase date.
4.I have received a copy of the complete Plan and its accompanying prospectus. I understand that my participation in the Plan is in all respects subject to the terms of the Plan.
5.Shares of Common Stock purchased for me under the Plan should be issued in the name(s) of _____________ (Eligible Employee or Eligible Employee and spouse only).
6.If I am a U.S. taxpayer, I understand that if I dispose of any shares received by me pursuant to the Plan within two (2) years after the Offering Date (the first day of the Offering Period during which I purchased such shares) or one (1) year after the Exercise Date, I will be treated for federal income tax purposes as having received ordinary income at the time of such disposition in an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the shares at the time such shares were purchased by me over the price that I paid for the shares. I hereby agree to notify the Company in writing within thirty (30) days after the date of any disposition of my shares and I will make adequate provision for federal, state or other tax withholding obligations, if any, which arise upon the disposition of the Common Stock. The Company may, but will not be obligated to, withhold from my compensation the amount necessary to meet any applicable withholding



obligation including any withholding necessary to make available to the Company any tax deductions or benefits attributable to sale or early disposition of Common Stock by me. If I dispose of such shares at any time after the expiration of the two (2) year and one (1) year holding periods, I understand that I will be treated for federal income tax purposes as having received income only at the time of such disposition, and that such income will be taxed as ordinary income only to the extent of an amount equal to the lesser of (a) the excess of the fair market value of the shares at the time of such disposition over the purchase price which I paid for the shares, or (b) fifteen percent (15%) of the fair market value of the shares on the first day of the Offering Period. The remainder of the gain, if any, recognized on such disposition will be taxed as capital gain.
7.For employees that may be subject to tax in non U.S. jurisdictions, I acknowledge and agree that, regardless of any action taken by the Company or any Designated Company with respect to any or all income tax, social security, social insurances, National Insurance Contributions, payroll tax, fringe benefit, or other tax-related items related to my participation in the Plan and legally applicable to me including, without limitation, in connection with the grant of such options, the purchase or sale of shares of Common Stock acquired under the Plan and/or the receipt of any dividends on such shares (“Tax-Related Items”), the ultimate liability for all Tax-Related Items is and remains my responsibility and may exceed the amount actually withheld by the Company or a Designated Company. Furthermore, I acknowledge that the Company and/or any Designated Company (a) make no representations or undertakings regarding the treatment of any Tax-Related Items in connection with any aspect of the options under the Plan and (b) do not commit to and are under no obligation to structure the terms of the grant of options or any aspect of my participation in the Plan to reduce or eliminate my liability for Tax-Related Items or achieve any particular tax result. Further, if I have become subject to tax in more than one jurisdiction between the date of my enrollment and the date of any relevant taxable or tax withholding event, as applicable, I acknowledge that the Company and/or the Employer (or former employer, as applicable) may be required to withhold or account for Tax-Related Items in more than one jurisdiction.
Prior to the purchase of shares of Common Stock under the Plan or any other relevant taxable or tax withholding event, as applicable, I agree to make adequate arrangements satisfactory to the Company and/or the applicable Designated Company to satisfy all Tax-Related Items. In this regard, I authorize the Company and/or the applicable Designated Company, or their respective agents, at their discretion, to satisfy any applicable withholding obligations with regard to all Tax-Related Items by one or a combination of the following: (a) withholding from my wages or Compensation paid to me by the Company and/or the applicable Designated Company; or (b) withholding from proceeds of the sale of the shares of Common Stock purchased under the Plan either through a voluntary sale or through a mandatory sale arranged by the Company (on my behalf pursuant to this authorization). Depending on the withholding method, the Company may withhold or account for Tax-Related Items by considering applicable maximum withholding rates, in which case I will receive a refund of any over-withheld amount in cash and will have no entitlement to the Common Stock equivalent.
Finally, I agree to pay to the Company or the applicable Designated Company any amount of Tax-Related Items that the Company or the applicable Designated Company may be required to withhold as a result of my participation in the Plan that cannot be satisfied by the means previously described. The Company may refuse to purchase shares of Common Stock under the Plan on my behalf and/or refuse to issue or deliver the shares or the proceeds of the sale of shares if I fail to comply with my obligations in connection with the Tax-Related Items.
8.By electing to participate in the Plan, I acknowledge, understand and agree that:
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(a)the Plan is established voluntarily by the Company, it is discretionary in nature and it may be modified, amended, suspended or terminated by the Company at any time, to the extent provided for in the Plan;
(b)all decisions with respect to future grants under the Plan, if applicable, will be at the sole discretion of the Company;
(c)the grant of options under the Plan will not create a right to employment or be interpreted as forming or amending an employment or service contract with the Company, or any Designated Company, and will not interfere with the ability of the Company or any Designated Company, as applicable, to terminate my employment (if any);
(d)I am voluntarily participating in the Plan;
(e)the options granted under the Plan and the shares of Common Stock underlying such options, and the income and value of same, are not intended to replace any pension rights or compensation;
(f)the options granted under the Plan and the shares of Common Stock underlying such options, and the income and value of same, are not part of my normal or expected compensation for any purpose, including, but not limited to, calculating any severance, resignation, termination, redundancy, dismissal, end-of-service payments, bonuses, long-service awards, pension or retirement benefits or similar payments;
(g)the future value of the shares of Common Stock offered under the Plan is unknown, indeterminable and cannot be predicted with certainty;
(h)the shares of Common Stock that I acquire under the Plan may increase or decrease in value, even below the Purchase Price;
(i)no claim or entitlement to compensation or damages will arise from the forfeiture of options granted to me under the Plan as a result of the termination of my status as an Eligible Employee (for any reason whatsoever, and whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where I am employed or the terms of my employment agreement, if any) and, in consideration of the grant of options under the Plan to which I am otherwise not entitled, I irrevocably agree never to institute a claim against the Company, or any Designated Company, waive my ability, if any, to bring such claim, and release the Company, and any Designated Company from any such claim that may arise; if, notwithstanding the foregoing, any such claim is allowed by a court of competent jurisdiction, I will be deemed irrevocably to have agreed to not to pursue such claim and agree to execute any and all documents necessary to request dismissal or withdrawal of such claim; and
(j)in the event of the termination of my status as an Eligible Employee (for any reason whatsoever, whether or not later found to be invalid or in breach of employment laws in the jurisdiction where I am employed or the terms of my employment agreement, if any), my right to participate in the Plan and any options granted to me under the Plan, if any, will terminate effective as of the date that I am no longer actively employed by the Company or one of its Designated Companies and, in any event, will not be extended by any notice period mandated under the employment laws in the jurisdiction in which I am employed or the terms of my employment agreement, if any (e.g., active employment would not include a period of “garden leave” or similar period pursuant to the employment laws in the jurisdiction in which I am employed or the terms of
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my employment agreement, if any); the Company will have the exclusive discretion to determine when I am no longer actively employed for purposes of my participation in the Plan (including whether I may still be considered to be actively employed while on a leave of absence).
9.I understand that the Company and/or any Designated Company may collect, where permissible under applicable law certain personal information about me, including, but not limited to, my name, home address and telephone number, date of birth, social insurance number or other identification number, salary, nationality, job title, any shares of Common Stock or directorships held in the Company, details of all options granted under the Plan or any other entitlement to shares of Common Stock awarded, canceled, exercised, vested, unvested or outstanding in my favor (“Data”), for the exclusive purpose of implementing, administering and managing the Plan. I understand that Company may transfer my Data to the United States, which is not considered by the European Commission to have data protection laws equivalent to the laws in my country. I understand that the Company will transfer my Data to its designated broker, or such other stock plan service provider as may be selected by the Company in the future, which is assisting the Company with the implementation, administration and management of the Plan. I understand that the recipients of the Data may be located in the United States or elsewhere, and that a recipient’s country of operation (e.g., the United States) may have different, including less stringent, data privacy laws that the European Commission or my jurisdiction does not consider to be equivalent to the protections in my country. I understand that I may request a list with the names and addresses of any potential recipients of the Data by contacting my local human resources representative. I authorize the Company, the Company’s designated broker and any other possible recipients which may assist the Company with implementing, administering and managing the Plan to receive, possess, use, retain and transfer the Data, in electronic or other form, for the sole purpose of implementing, administering and managing my participation in the Plan. I understand that Data will be held only as long as is necessary to implement, administer and manage my participation in the Plan. I understand that that I may, at any time, view Data, request additional information about the storage and processing of Data, require any necessary amendments to Data or refuse or withdraw the consents herein, in any case without cost, by contacting in writing my local human resources representative. Further, I understand that I am providing the consents herein on a purely voluntary basis. If I do not consent, or if I later seek to revoke my consent, my employment status or career with the Company or any Designated Company will not be adversely affected; the only adverse consequence of refusing or withdrawing my consent is that the Company would not be able to grant me options under the Plan or other equity awards, or administer or maintain such awards. Therefore, I understand that refusing or withdrawing my consent may affect my ability to participate in the Plan. For more information on the consequences of my refusal to consent or withdrawal of consent, I understand that I may contact my local human resources representative.
If I am an employee outside the U.S., I understand that in accordance with applicable law, I have the right to access, and to request a copy of, the Data held about me. I also understand that I have the right to discontinue the collection, processing, or use of my Data, or supplement, correct, or request deletion of my Data. To exercise my rights, I may contact my local human resources representative.
I hereby explicitly and unambiguously consent to the collection, use and transfer, in electronic or other form, of my personal data as described herein and any other Plan materials by and among, as applicable, the Company and its Subsidiaries for the exclusive purpose of implementing, administering and managing my participation in the Plan. I understand that my consent will be sought and obtained for any processing or transfer of my data for any purpose other than as described in the enrollment form and any other plan materials.
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10.If I have received the Subscription Agreement or any other document related to the Plan translated into a language other than English and if the meaning of the translated version is different than the English version, the English version will control, subject to applicable laws.
11.The provisions of the Subscription Agreement and these appendices are severable and if any one or more provisions are determined to be illegal or otherwise unenforceable, in whole or in part, the remaining provisions nevertheless will be binding and enforceable.
12.Notwithstanding any provisions in this Subscription Agreement, I understand that if I am working or resident in a country other than the United States, my participation in the Plan also will be subject to the additional terms and conditions set forth on Appendix A and any special terms and conditions for my country set forth on Appendix A. Moreover, if I relocate to one of the countries included in Appendix A, the special terms and conditions for such country will apply to me to the extent the Company determines that the application of such terms and conditions is necessary or advisable for legal or administrative reasons. Appendix A constitutes part of this Subscription Agreement and the provisions of this Subscription Agreement govern each Appendix (to the extent not superseded or supplemented by the terms and conditions set forth in the applicable Appendix).
13.I hereby agree to be bound by the terms of the Plan. The effectiveness of this Subscription Agreement is dependent upon my eligibility to participate in the Plan.

Employee’s Social
Security Number
(for U.S.-based employees):
Employee’s Address:

I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGHOUT SUCCESSIVE OFFERING PERIODS UNLESS TERMINATED BY ME.
Dated:                 
                Signature of Employee


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EXHIBIT B
SEER, INC.
2020 EMPLOYEE STOCK PURCHASE PLAN
NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL
The undersigned Participant in the Offering Period of the Seer, Inc. 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Plan”) that began on ____________, ______ (the “Offering Date”) hereby notifies the Company that he or she hereby withdraws from the Offering Period. He or she hereby directs the Company to pay to the undersigned as promptly as practicable all the payroll deductions credited to his or her account with respect to such Offering Period. The undersigned understands and agrees that his or her option for such Offering Period will be terminated automatically. The undersigned understands further that no further payroll deductions will be made for the purchase of shares in the current Offering Period and the undersigned will be eligible to participate in succeeding Offering Periods only by delivering to the Company a new Subscription Agreement. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein will have the meaning ascribed to them under the Plan.
Name and Address of Participant:
        
        
        
Signature:
        
Date:     


Document


Ex. 31.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULES 13a-14(a) AND 15d-14(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Omid Farokhzad, certify that:

1.I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Seer, Inc.;

2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

(a)Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b)Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c)Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

(a)All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b)Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.







Ex. 31.1
Date: May 6, 2022
By: /s/ Omid Farokhzad                
Omid Farokhzad
Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors
(Principal Executive Officer)


Document


Ex. 31.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULES 13a-14(a) AND 15d-14(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, David Horn, certify that:

1.I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Seer, Inc.;

2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

(a)Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b)Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c)Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a)All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b)Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.







Ex. 31.2
Date: May 6, 2022
By: /s/ David Horn                
David Horn
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)


Document

Ex. 32.1
CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

In connection with the Quarterly Report of Seer, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2022 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I, Omid Farokhzad, hereby certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:

(1)The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and

(2)The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Date: May 6, 2022
By: /s/ Omid Farokhzad                
Omid Farokhzad
Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors
(Principal Executive Officer)


Document

Ex. 32.2
CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL OFFICER PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

In connection with the Quarterly Report of Seer, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2022 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I, David Horn, hereby certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:

(1)The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and

(2)The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Date: May 6, 2022
By: /s/ David Horn                
David Horn
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Accounting Officer)