EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1178697
Filing Year: 2024
Filename: 1178697_10-K_2024_0001493152-24-011530.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a leading U.S.-based provider of rugged solutions, including rugged phones, connected devices, and consumer durable phones. The Company’s growth strategy aims to enhance our leadership position in the rugged market by offering a comprehensive product portfolio that serves a broader customer base. We plan to penetrate the connected solutions market with high quality and competitively priced products and enter the consumer durable phone market, where we offer more durable devices to mid and value tiers. Since the second quarter of 2023 through the filing date of this report, we have won thirteen product awards for our expanded portfolio from carriers and channel partners. These new products will launch throughout 2024. Additionally, we have a non-core business using the ODM model, where we design products based on a customer’s specifications and find the manufacturer for the product. These products typically have low margins, high volume, and a short life cycle. In 2022 we began selling tablets under this ODM model and ceased tablet sales in October 2023 as their life cycle ended.
We currently have device placements with the three largest wireless carriers in the United States - AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile - as well as the three largest wireless carriers in Canada - Bell, Telus and Rogers. While we primarily sell through the wireless carrier channel, we also sell through distribution channels in North America and Europe. Our tablets were sold unbranded and were imported by our customer to the U.S., for sale in the U.S. Our devices and accessories connect users with voice, data, workflow, and lifestyle applications that enhance the user experience while providing an extra level of protection.
Our solutions include ultra-rugged mobile phones capable of connecting to both public and private wireless networks, industrial-grade accessories that meet specific application requirements, and software applications and cloud-based tools that provide management and deployment services to our customers. We integrate Push-to-Talk (“PTT”) capabilities into both the hardware and software of our mobile phones, including a dedicated hard key that can initiate a PTT call even if the phone is in a sleep-state. The end customers of our solutions include construction, energy and utility, mining, recreation and hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, public sector and transportation entities. These customers primarily purchase our devices and accessories through their wireless carriers. The key attributes of our core solutions, tailored for the needs of our end users, include impact resistance, waterproofing, chemical resistant, and dustproof construction, extended battery life and extra loud audio, supported by a three-year comprehensive warranty. All of our devices run on the Android operating system, providing a familiar and intuitive user interface. Our smartphones have access to a library of millions of applications available through the Google Play Store. We have also implemented dozens of application programming interfaces (“APIs”) specific to our mobile phones and have partnered with third-party application developers to create a purpose-built experience for our end users using these applications on our mobile phones. This includes working with the leading providers of PTT and mission-critical-PTT, or MCPTT applications to deliver a seamless instant communications experience.
We currently have stocked phone and accessory products with the three largest U.S. wireless carriers: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. This means that these carriers test and certify our mobile phones on their networks and maintain inventory in their warehouses. They then sell these products through their enterprise and retail sales teams to end customers, often on a subsidized or financed basis. Our full product portfolio is also stocked with the three largest Canadian wireless carriers.
We enter into master sales arrangements with carriers, including channel partners that contributed approximately 45% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 (under which our partners purchase our solutions for distribution on a purchase order basis). Under these arrangements, we and the channel partners determine sales channel distribution in connection with pricing (including any discounts and price protection) and market positioning of each particular mobile phone product. We also offer our channel partners channel marketing and other promotional incentives, such as sales volume incentives, in exchange for retail price reductions. We may also offer Non-Recurring Engineering, or NRE, services in the form of third-party design services relating to the design of materials and software licenses used in the manufacturing of our products. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 88% and 83%, respectively, of our revenues were derived from our top four customers. Similarly, for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 48% and 42%, respectively, of our revenue came from our tablet product, which had only one customer. We ceased selling tablets in October 2023 as their life cycle ended. As we expand our portfolio and increase sales in Europe and Australia in 2024, we expect our revenues to be less heavily concentrated among our top customers.
For the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022, our revenue was $93.6 million and $69.8 million, respectively. For the same periods, our net loss was $0.1 million and $14.1 million, respectively. Moreover, net revenues from our top four customers were approximately $82 million and $58 million, for the years ended December 31, 2023, and 2022 respectively.
Our Products
Ruggedized Cell Phones
Communication, data collection, productivity and safety among task workers has always been a central requirement in business-critical and mission-critical environments. Organizations with remote and disparate workers-from police and firefighters to construction, oil rig, logistics and manufacturing workers-need an extremely durable solution that provides reliable and secure voice, data and workflow applications. The global market for rugged devices continues to grow and we believe that the use of consumer phones in line-of-business applications provides an attractive market opportunity. Ruggedized mobile phones are well suited for industrial enterprise and other critical infrastructure applications due to their durability and functionality in a range of environments. Equipping workers with smarter mobile phones also helps enable more efficient communication with and between field employees and enhances the information that decision-makers use to deploy resources within their organizations. The timing of our growth into Europe and other areas outside of North America has accelerated due to the shutdown of a former competitor, Bullitt Group Ltd. (“Bullitt”), in January 2024. We are expanding our sales force and increasing our service infrastructure to serve customers that were previously served by Bullitt.
Connected Solutions Market
Products include mobile hotspots and fixed wireless devices that connect to the internet through the cell phone networks. The carriers have created new revenue streams by providing these devices to their customers to access the internet. These devices replace cable internet access and provide new access to rural areas. The market for these devices is growing tremendously in North America and in Europe. We created a division to design, develop and sell connected solutions devices. With competition exiting the carrier space as well as non-competitively priced products in the market, Sonim believes that this space is a great opportunity for expansion. Sonim has developed feature-rich devices that are competitively priced. The mobile hotspot segment has millions of LTE devices that customers will be upgrading to 5G as the cost of the devices becomes more affordable. The fixed wireless access segment is a greenfield opportunity for wireless operators to establish new revenue streams with their customers. In both areas, Sonim plans to gain market share. We received five product awards for hotspot devices from the U.S. and Canadian carriers, as well as an Australian carrier. We expect to begin launching new hotspots in the first half of 2024.
Consumer Durable Market
We are testing our premise that consumers want a more durable low-cost smartphone with the development of a more durable low-cost smartphone. We may launch a new consumer durable smartphone in late 2024 or 2025.
Original Design Manufacturing (“ODM”) Business Model
In this model, we identify a customer, design a product to meet their needs, outsource the production to a third-party partner, and manage the production and quality control of the product. We use our expertise and experience to efficiently and quickly develop new products that are designed based on a customer’s specifications. The model allows us to reduce our risk by preventing us from having to commit resources for the development, production, and financing of the raw materials and inventory. This is not a core business for the Company, but we will continue to take advantage of opportunities. In 2022 we began selling a tablet under the ODM model. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the tablet reached the end of its life cycle, and we stopped selling the product. We started selling low-cost white-label cell phones under this model in December 2023. Revenue from these phones is expected to expand in 2024. Products under the ODM model have lower costs, lower margins, and shorter life cycles than our other products.
Key Features of Our Ruggedized Solutions
● Durability and reliability. Our mobile phones can withstand a variety of harsh environments and are supported by our industry-leading three-year comprehensive manufacturer’s warranty, which includes damage from glass breakage, water, dust, and punctures. Key features of our rugged devices include:
● Puncture, shock, pressure and drop and impact resistance. Durable rubber and Gorilla Glass construction to protect against damage from sharp objects, falls, vigorous movements and compression by heavy weights.
● Waterproof and dustproof construction. Reinforced seals and waterproof mesh membranes to prevent potential damage caused by moisture and debris.
● Multi-shift battery life. Replaceable battery designed to provide sufficient power to last through a dual eight-hour shift in most real-world conditions.
● Extra-loud audio. Produces high sound quality at high volumes and uses noise cancellation technology for loud background noise environments.
● Glove-friendly design. Screens and buttons responsive to touch through gloves and water.
● Operational in and resistant to extreme temperatures. Protective exterior prevents damage to our devices’ hardware from very cold and hot temperatures.
● Chemical resistance. Ability to effectively sterilize and sanitize, regardless of potential contaminants.
● Increased communication and visibility through an enterprise. Our solutions are used to track locations, update and manage various tasks and enable communication with and between task workers. For example, location tracking and data analytics enable fleet optimization, help enterprises make asset allocation and deployment decisions and ensure that fleets are at the right place at the right time. In addition, our solutions are specifically designed to capture, store and analyze multiple data types for enterprise needs, enabling them to make decisions. For example, by leveraging this data, task workers such as first responders can more strategically plan their logistics resulting in decreased response times. Finally, by providing a reliable mode of communication between employees, supervisors and command centers, those not in the field have crucial insight into the status and performance of task workers in the field. This can also result in improved safety for employees that work in high-risk environments.
● Enhanced functionality through software and hardware configurations. Our solutions allow end customers and task workers to customize our mobile phones using Android-based applications and vertical-specific accessories to address their varying needs. Enterprises and agencies can leverage the millions of applications available on the Google Play Store, our dozens of device-specific APIs, and our industrial accessories to create a purpose-built solution to meet the specific use cases of their task workers. For example, school bus operators can combine our ruggedized phones, an industrial mounting kit, a PTT application that leverages our APIs and a location-tracking application to ensure that they have a solution that enables constant communication with dispatchers that is compliant with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s hands-free driving regulations and that can also automatically alert parents of route delays. The ability for enterprises and agencies to customize their solutions allows their task workers to use a single device for tasks that would previously require multiple and often more costly devices.
● Ease of use. Our devices are designed to look and function similarly to the latest generation of consumer-focused mobile phones with additional features for various enterprise-specific purposes, and also run on the Android operating system which has a familiar and intuitive interface. They provide familiar characteristics to many single-purpose devices, such as dedicated physical buttons for PTT and barcode scanning and offer a simplified user interface, which helps minimize the learning curve for task workers who are transitioning from LMR or data capture devices. Furthermore, all of our mobile phones come equipped with our SonimWare software, which helps IT administrators more quickly provision and deploy our devices to task workers, reducing the cost and effort associated with converting to our solutions.
● Consolidation of devices. A large number of devices can lead to excess bulk carried by task workers and can inhibit their mobility in the field. These specialized devices can also be expensive and typically require full replacement after end-of-life, which can be a cumbersome and costly process. By combining commonly used applications and functionality into one ruggedized device with the option for add-ons, enterprises can reduce the need for multiple, single-purpose devices. We believe that replacing outdated single-purpose devices with a Sonim device can enhance fleets’ mobility and economically streamline equipment updates or replacements.
As a result of these key attributes, we believe that our ruggedized, purpose-built mobile solutions can increase the productivity of task workers and significantly reduce the total cost of ownership for entities deploying our solutions.
Our Strategy
The three pillars of our go-forward strategy are as follows:
● Enhance and expand our leadership position in rugged enterprise and public sector markets. Expand into Europe and other markets. Take advantage of sales opportunities due to the shutdown of the Bullitt.
● Approach the data device and connected solutions market with feature-rich devices that are affordably priced and leverage the Company’s high-quality approach to product design and procurement. We have received five product awards for new hotspot devices from U.S. and Canadian carriers, as well as an Australian carrier. These hotspots are expected to launch throughout 2024.
● Address growing market demand in the consumer market for high quality, lower cost, attractively designed handsets that include key rugged features. We will launch a new consumer durable phone in the fourth quarter of 2024 and we will use this as a gage of consumer demand for a more durable consumer smartphone.
Our strategy includes the following:
● Strategically grow the Company. Continue to increase the competencies of the Company to develop new connected solutions and rugged products. Expand the sales force in Europe to take advantage of opportunities for connected solutions devices and for rugged phones following the shutdown of Bullitt.
● Invest in sales channel partnerships and build the Sonim brand to drive sales. Our channel partners are leading global wireless carriers, distributors of data devices, communications system integrators and electronics resellers. These channel partners have large sales forces who sell our solutions to end customers in our target markets. They enable us to cost-effectively scale our business without employing a large direct sales force of our own. Our expansion into the connected solutions markets opens up opportunities with additional carrier partners globally.
Our Target Markets
We believe that our solutions can improve communication reliability, operational efficiency and safety for end customers and task workers in commercial sectors, public sectors, and for individual retail customers. Our ruggedized mobility solutions target three end markets: industrial enterprise, public sector, and consumers that demand a more durable product.
Industrial Enterprise
Transportation and Logistics. Enterprises and fleet workers across supply chain, delivery services, airport workers, and field management rely on mobile devices to operate safely and efficiently in environments that are often susceptible to inclement weather. For enterprises looking to improve supply chain functionality, our mobile resource management applications such as location tracking, mileage tracking, and job dispatch can help businesses monitor operations more efficiently. We believe that a weather-resistant and long-battery ruggedized device, combined with productivity applications and services with the native camera on our XP10 smartphone-provides reliable communication options for transportation and logistics workers. In addition, our solutions reduce the number of devices and tools that these task workers would need to carry in the field by consolidating the functionality of multiple single-purpose devices into one purpose-built mobile device.
Construction. We offer workers in the construction industry crush-, puncture-, scratch- and impact-resistant devices, which we believe to be crucial in environments where there is a high risk of such occurrences. Jobsites also value the PTT capabilities that are tightly integrated into Sonim devices. Additionally, we believe our phones and related accessories help promote worker safety and productivity, with support for lone-worker safety applications and with features such as extended battery life and extra-loud speakers. For business decision-makers, we offer devices with consolidated functionality, which enables a total cost of ownership that we believe is significantly lower versus comparable offerings that enable real-time reporting. This can help eliminate costly delays by capturing verbal, visual, and location data from job sites more efficiently.
Manufacturing. As market demand and competition in the manufacturing sector require more nimble production lines, equipment for reliable communication and safety standard compliance are necessary to improve efficiency and keep workers safe. Our devices’ PTT functionality and extra-loud speakerphones are designed to keep lines of communication open and functional in fast-changing and loud environments, while our glove-friendly touchscreen displays allow workers to have access to real-time data, thus reducing production downtime. Additionally, our devices are designed to survive blunt force and can be sanitized and sterilized for safe use in food or medical processing facilities. We believe that these features can enhance the productivity of workers in the manufacturing industry.
Facilities Management. Service-based operations in large indoor and outdoor facilities, including recreation parks, require management of mobile teams. Our mobile phones consolidate radio, guard tour verification, panic button systems and scanners, which otherwise would require separate and single-purpose equipment. Our devices can improve business operations through functionalities such as automated work order dispatch and job completion verification tools delivered via proprietary third-party applications integrated with our devices.
Energy, Mining, and Utilities. The safety standards for mobile phones used in the energy and utility industry are more stringent due to the reactive characteristics of the natural resources being procured and serviced, as well as the potentially high-voltage or explosive environments. We believe we are uniquely positioned to serve these workers because a number of our devices are designed for use in potentially explosive or hazardous environments (rated Non-Incendive or Intrinsically Safe by either the CSA Group, ATEX or IECEx notified bodies), and their resistance to various chemicals and extreme temperatures. Reliable communication devices are often mission-critical for workers to stay safe while performing energy- and utility-related operations.
Public Sector
Public Safety. In the United States, AT&T’s FirstNet network and Verizon’s public safety prioritization provide optimized networks for this sector. Through our partnerships with the major wireless carriers, we believe we are in a strong position to provide mission-critical solutions to the public safety market as public safety networks mature. Through enhanced communication capabilities, our devices can decrease the response time of first responders and help public safety workers stay safe and connected in hazardous, isolated or emergency conditions. The durability of our phones, combined with their purpose-built functionality, provides a lower total cost of ownership compared to similar products, which is highly attractive to city and state decision-makers.
Federal Government. Whether during natural disasters or day-to-day operations, our devices help provide functionality and reliability that is crucial for federal workers to protect and serve their nation. Our mobile solutions support purpose-built voice communications and data capture applications that allow federal workers to stay connected and quickly make more informed decisions while in the field.
Small Business Users
As small businesses grow more reliant upon mobile devices to support all of their daily activities, mobile devices are now more than ever being placed into situations and environments that are more prone to physical damage including screen breakage and water damage. We believe that this market is currently underserved with only higher cost devices offering the features that are needed. Sonim’s value proposition will be to offer an overall lower total cost of ownership as a small business will not need to lose valuable downtime and money repairing or replacing their device as often as other devices in the market. We will be launching a new semi-rugged smartphone that is sleeker and lighter than our ultra-rugged phones, in the second half of 2024. These phones will be targeted at small business users.
Home and Small Business Internet Users
Mobile hotspots are used by businesses, government employees and consumers. Having the ability to access the internet in a secure way wherever the customers go is essential to many users. Whether it is a salesperson visiting their customers, a police officer using their computer in their patrol car, a student working on a paper or a family going on vacation, the need for reliable internet has become a necessity in today’s world. Mobile hotspots provide the perfect vehicle for taking advantage of these features. We will be launching two new mobile hotspots beginning in the second quarter of 2024 in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
Fixed wireless access provides an economical way for operators to quickly deploy internet to new customers without having to lay costly new cable or fiber. This service is used by businesses and consumers alike. Historically internet connectivity was effectively a monopoly business with major fixed wireline operators dividing up the country. Consumers had little choice when it came to options for internet service. With 5G, wireless operators are using fixed wireless access as a way to add new revenue streams to their businesses. Additionally, fixed wireline operators are using fixed wireless access as a way to quickly deploy to rural areas that were not served by cable companies.
Products and Technology
Features of Our Ruggedized Mobile Phones
Our mobile phones can withstand a variety of harsh environments and are supported by our industry-leading three-year comprehensive manufacturer’s warranty for our ultra-rugged devices. We developed our devices to meet industry standards for protection from the ingress of water and/or micro-particles (IEC standard 60529). Our devices are rated a minimum of IP-68, allowing them to be submersed in up to six and a half feet of water for up to 30 minutes, and our XP10 smartphone has been further tested and certified to withstand sprays of high-pressure streams (up to 1,450 PSI) of hot (80°C) water (IPx9K). We have additionally designed and manufactured our devices to withstand repeated drops to concrete across all angles and faces, attaining MIL-STD-810G ratings and, in 2011, earning the Sonim XP3300 the title of World’s Toughest Phone by the Guinness Book of World Records after surviving a fall from 82 feet 11.7 inches to concrete. Engineered with a protective glass lens that is up to three times thicker than that of other cellular devices in the market and a unique blend of plastic and rubber used in the housings, our ultra-rugged mobile phones are designed to be resistant to punctures caused by impacts from external objects up to 2J on the display lens and 4J on the housing. Furthermore, we understand that the jobs of our end users often take them into extreme environments. As a result, we have designed our devices to operate from -4°F to +131°F, be usable while wearing work gloves (glove-friendly touch display, large physical buttons), be audible in noisy environments with loud 100+ dB loudspeakers and multiple microphone noise-cancellation technology, and, for our XP5plus and XP10 phones to last throughout an average day based on ordinary use without needing to be recharged with large, extended-life batteries. We have also designed, manufactured and certified our devices to be safe for use in potentially hazardous or explosive environments.
In addition, our devices provide a wide range of connectivity options for our end customers (including LTE, 3G, 4G, 5G, GSM, WiFi, NFC, location tracking and Bluetooth for certain of our devices), and our phones support a wide range of global frequencies allowing them to be used almost anywhere in the world where there is cellular coverage. Our phones are certified to work on multiple mobile network operators and come equipped with LTE Band 14 to support FirstNet (built with AT&T). We continue to explore how and when to best support the latest technologies, including 5G, and we plan to incorporate them into our product roadmap when our end market segments require such functionality, and the technology has reached a reasonable level of maturity.
Our Devices
Mobile Phone Products
● Sonim XP10. The Sonim XP10 is an Android-based 5G smartphone.
● Sonim XP5plus. The Sonim XP5plus is a purpose-built 4G feature phone designed for task workers who have a “no frills” attitude about their communications tool.
● Sonim XP3plus. The Sonim XP3plus is a 4G feature phone in a clamshell form factor that offers our customers a cost-effective voice and/or PTT solution without distracting end users from doing their jobs with things like an application store or email.
● Sonim XP Pro. The Sonim XP Pro will be launched in the second half of 2024 with three North American carriers. The XP Pro is an Android-based 5G smartphone that is sleeker and lighter than our XP10 and will be marketed to small businesses that need a phone that is more durable than a consumer phone.
Connected Solutions Products
● Sonim Mid-Range Mobile Hotspot. The Mid-Range Mobile Hotspot is expected to be launched beginning in the second quarter of 2024 with multiple carriers. It allows users to connect to the internet wherever they can access the 5G network.
● Sonim Premium Mobile Hotspot. The Sonim Premium Mobile Hotspot is expected to be launched in the second half of 2024.
Accessories
Our portfolio of industrial-grade accessories extends beyond the traditional consumer cellular ecosystem of wall chargers and cases. We work with a number of accessory manufacturers and design partners to deliver innovative purpose-built accessories that enhance the functionality and usability of our devices.
SonimWare Software
In addition to the ecosystem of Android developers and their applications, which are supported on our devices, we provide a suite of applications and tools that help customers manage, deploy and support their Sonim devices. The capabilities of these software applications differentiate us from many rugged vendors that only focus on hardware. Current capabilities include:
● Sonim Setup Wizard allows provisioning teams to rapidly customize and deploy large number of devices with less manual work and fewer errors.
● Sonim SafeGuard lets user administrators block usage of selected apps and features, ensuring only those critical to job-related functions and cost requirements are used. We are looking to expand the functionality of SafeGuard to extend to the consumer market for key features such as parental controls.
● Sonim Kiosk Mode lets user administrators configure devices with the minimum required functionality, a critical customer need in hazardous environments or anywhere where user safety is paramount.
● Scout App Updater lets administrators control when and where updates are sent to users’ phones.
● Sonim SOS provides emergency alert capabilities for users of Sonim devices to help ensure worker and job-site safety. Additionally, given recent events that highlight school safety concerns, we are working on implementing this solution in our consumer handset line as well as our data solutions products.
Sales and Marketing
As of December 31, 2023, our sales and marketing team consisted of 19 professionals located in the United States, Canada and Europe. We sell our products directly to wireless carriers, through distributors and resellers and directly to end customers. Our marketing efforts consist of product marketing, channel partner/carrier marketing and corporate marketing. Product marketing focuses on ensuring that carrier requirements related to product specifications are in-line with our brand requirements. Channel partner marketing focuses on go-to-market strategy as well as developing supplemental sales tools, carrier and non-carrier marketing campaigns, industry trade show materials and brand awareness. Corporate marketing consists of public relations, social and digital marketing and lead generation operations.
Customers
While we are actively committed to expanding our customer base on various levels, our sales model for the phone business mainly focuses on sales through our channel partners. As a result, a small number of customers account for a large percentage of our net revenue. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the purchaser of our tablets (our largest customer) and the three largest U.S. wireless carriers (our channel partners) accounted for approximately 48% and 35% of our net revenue, respectively, collectively constituted approximately 83% of our net revenue. Although the net revenue from our largest customer (and consequently from tablet sales) ended in October 2023, as we generate more net revenue from other customers, we expect that net revenue from a relatively small group of customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our net revenue in the near term. For further discussion of our revenue trends and risks related to our customers and contractual relationships, please refer to “Part II. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Form 10-K.
Manufacturing
We have outsourced the manufacturing and the final assembly to third-party ODM partners for our phones and data devices.
Competition
We operate in a highly competitive environment serving end customers in the industrial enterprise and public sector markets. These markets are highly fragmented, evolving and increasingly competitive. Competition in our industry is intense and has been characterized by rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, significant barriers to entry in the form of carrier certification requirements, frequent new product introductions, annual operating system changes and rapid changes in end user requirements.
Non-rugged mobile device manufacturers have not historically created devices specifically to compete in the industrial enterprise and public sector markets. These manufacturers typically focus on a different consumer audience and the requirements to manufacture ruggedized phones differ significantly from their core products. Nevertheless, we face competition from manufacturers of non-rugged mobile phones such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, or Samsung, to the extent that end users decide to purchase traditional devices and add a rugged case for use in environments that we believe are better suited for purpose built ruggedized mobile phones. We also face competition from manufacturers of rugged mobile phones such as Samsung, and Kyocera Corporation as well as from large system integrators and manufacturers of private and public wireless network equipment and devices. A large competitor in the rugged phone space, Bullitt Group Ltd., ceased operations in January 2024, which has created an opportunity for us, particularly in Europe.
We believe the principal competitive factors affecting the market for our products are the products’ performance, features (including security features), quality, design innovation, reliability, price, customer service, reputation in the industry, brand loyalty and a strong third-party software and accessories ecosystem. We believe that our strongest competitive advantages are our products’ durability and reputation in the industry, as well as the push to talk capabilities not available in all competitive devices. Additionally, we believe our XP10 rugged smartphone is one of the most rugged smartphones made anywhere in the world and it is consequently able to be fully sterilized and cleaned. In order to compete, we will be required to continue to respond promptly and effectively to the challenges of technological changes and our competitors’ innovations.
Intellectual Property
Our competitiveness and future success are dependent on our ability to protect our own proprietary technology and to access other important intellectual property. We protect our freedom to operate in the markets and mitigate intellectual property costs by proactively securing licenses with key patent holders, filing our own patents, trademarks, and copyrights and participating in defensive patent pools. As of December 31, 2023, we held 17 utility and design patents in the United States and 11 outside the United States and have filed 1 utility and design patent applications in the United States. We also have contractual rights to standard essential patents for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G wireless technologies, some of which require significant royalty payments. As of December 31, 2023, we held 16 trademarks in the United States and 17 trademarks outside the United States and have filed 9 trademark applications in the United States and 11 outside the United States. We opportunistically negotiate licenses with other patent holders where appropriate for our technology.
Our products are built to conform to wireless standards which are covered by numerous essential patents held by third parties. Our wireless carriers require us to provide patent indemnification for the products we sell to them, and in turn, we secure intellectual property indemnification from our suppliers.
We do not believe that our products infringe on the proprietary rights of any third parties. There can be no assurance, however, that third parties will not claim such infringement by us or our channel partners and end customers with respect to current or future products. In the past, we have had third parties assert exclusive patent or other intellectual property rights to technologies that are important to our business. Any such claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, cause product shipment delays or require us to enter into a royalty or licensing agreement, any of which could delay the development and commercialization of our products.
Our smartphone devices use the standard Android operating system and our feature phones use an operating system based on the Android Open Source Project. We additionally integrate third-party licensed software on commercially reasonable terms. Several Android-based apps and extension enablers of Android are developed internally by our employees.
Legislation and Regulation
Wireless communication devices use radio spectrum, which is regulated by government agencies throughout the world. In the United States, use of spectrum is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, for non-federal government entities and federal government entities, respectively. The FCC and NTIA allocate spectrum for various uses, including commercial wireless services and public safety services, and regulate the use of that spectrum and the devices, such as our products, that operate on that spectrum. The FCC and NTIA also adopt requirements that affect wireless equipment, such as limits on radio emissions and rules requiring that handsets have specified capabilities, such as providing location information to 911 operators. The FCC also regulates the testing and certification for the import and/or sale of certain wireless devices.
Other countries also have regulatory bodies that define and implement the rules for using radio spectrum, pursuant to their respective national laws and international coordination under the International Telecommunications Union. Our ability to manufacture and sell products in other countries could be affected by such rules. In addition, any significant variations between the rules in the United States and rules in other countries, including differences in available spectrum bands for wireless communication, could increase the costs of designing and manufacturing our products.
Research and Development
We allocate significant resources and funds to developing robust and innovative solutions for the end users of our products and ensuring that these solutions meet their exacting requirements for functionality and reliability. Our research and development initiatives are led by our internal teams and are supported by third-party original design manufacturers as needed. Our product management team and our sales and marketing team spend time interacting with a combination of end users and IT administrators in our target markets, wireless carriers and application and accessory ecosystem partners to better understand the market requirements for our solutions. Once defined, our engineering organization develops and tests the solution against these requirements and works to achieve technical certification and approval from the wireless carriers which allows the solutions to be sold to our end users.
Employees
We have 67 full time employees and 25 contractors as of December 31, 2023.
None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.
Corporate Information
Sonim Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in the state of Delaware on August 5, 1999, and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Available Information
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, are filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, or the SEC. The SEC’s website is www.sec.gov. Our website provides a link to our SEC filings, which are available free of charge on the same day such filings are made. The specific location on the website where these reports can be found is ir.sonimtech.com. The information contained on the websites referenced in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this filing. Further, the Company’s references to website URLs are intended to be inactive textual references only.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Investing in our securities involves a great deal of risk. Careful consideration should be made of the following factors as well as other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding to purchase our securities. There are many risks that affect our business and results of operations, some of which are beyond our control. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition or operating results could be significantly harmed. This could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks that we do not yet know of or that we currently think are immaterial may also affect our business and results of operations.
SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
The following is a summary of some of the risks and uncertainties as of the date of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. You should read this summary together with the more detailed description of each risk factor contained below in the section titled “Risk Factors.”
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
● Our ability to compete effectively depends on multiple factors and we may not be able to continue to develop solutions to address user needs effectively;
● We face strong competitors with greater resources and more extensive experience in the industry;
● A small number of customers account for a significant portion of our revenue;
● We are materially dependent on some customer relationships that are characterized by non-binding product award letters and the loss of such relationships could harm our business and operating results;
● We rely primarily on third-party contract manufacturers and partners;
● We continue to restructure and transform our business;
● Our entry into the data device sector may divert financial and managerial resources;
● Lengthy customization and certification process for each wireless carrier customer;
● We are dependent on the continued services and performance of our management and key personnel;
● Our products may contain defects or errors;
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition
● We may not generate sufficient liquidity to operate our business and maintain its growth;
● Our liquidity has been adversely impacted by our ongoing net losses;
● We have not been profitable in recent years and may not achieve or maintain profitability;
Risks Related to Information Technology and Intellectual Property
● Without successful protection of our intellectual property, our competitive position may be harmed;
● The occurrence of security breaches, improper access to or disclosure of our data or customer data, and other cyber incidents can inflict monetary and reputational damages;
● Others may claim that we infringe on their intellectual property rights;
Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
● Changes in laws and regulations concerning the use of telecommunication bandwidth could increase our costs and adversely impact our business;
● Changes in U.S. trade policy including tariffs can adversely impact our business;
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
● We are not in compliance with the listing standards of the Nasdaq Stock Market and as a result, our common stock may become delisted;
● Sales of our common stock under the currently effective registration statement or the perception of such sales can result in a decline in the price of our common stock;
● Our quarterly results may vary significantly from period to period;
● Financial projections we communicate to the markets from time to time may be inaccurate; and
General Risk Factors
● We face risks related to the impact of various economic, political, environmental, social, and market events beyond our control can impact our business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
To remain competitive and stimulate consumer and business demand, we must successfully manage the introductions of new products and product lines and the transition and enhancement of existing products.
We operate in a highly competitive, quickly changing environment characterized by evolving industry standards, frequent new product and service introductions, evolving distribution channels, increasing demand for customized product and software solutions, rapid competitive developments; and changing customer demands. Technological advancements could render our products obsolete, which typically erodes prices and causes products to become unmarketable.
Our success will depend on our ability to respond to changing technologies and customer requirements, effectively stimulate customer and business demands for new and upgraded products, and our ability to develop and introduce new and enhanced products in a cost-effective and timely manner. For example, our XP3plus and XP5plus products are compatible with fourth-generation, or 4G, technology, but emerging fifth-generation wireless, or 5G, technology will require network infrastructure upgrades, which could require us to update and migrate all of our systems from 4G to 5G.
As a result, we are currently prioritizing spending on research and development of our consumer durable mobile phones and other data devices. However, the research and development necessary to launch our new products will require us to incur additional costs and our liquidity continues to be adversely impacted by our ongoing net losses. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient resources to complete the development of our new products and bring them to market. Even if we are able to introduce our new ruggedized mobile phones to the market, there can be no assurance that these new product introductions will lead to any sales or increase in revenue. If we fail to develop new products on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if our new products fail to achieve market acceptance, our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity would be further materially adversely affected and we may be required to delay, reduce or cease our operations and we may be required to seek bankruptcy protection. In addition, we introduced and plan to continue introducing new product lines in new markets expanding our business to data device markets, which may require management of new suppliers, potential new customers, and new business models to keep new products competitive.
The development of new or enhanced products is a complex and uncertain process requiring the accurate anticipation of technological and market trends. We may experience design, manufacturing, marketing, and other difficulties that could delay or prevent the development, introduction, or marketing of our new products and enhancements. If we experience delays with new products, if our expectations regarding market demand and direction are incorrect, if sales of our existing products begin to decline more rapidly, or if the rate of decline continues to exceed the rate of growth of our next-generation products, it will materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, and may require us to significantly reduce or even eliminate certain research and development programs.
We participate in a competitive industry, which may become more competitive. Competitors with greater resources and significant experience in high-volume product manufacturing may be able to respond more quickly and cost-effectively than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements.
We face significant competition in developing and selling our solutions. Our primary competitors in the non-rugged mobile device market include Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Our primary competitor in the rugged mobile device market is Kyocera Corporation. We also face competition from large system integrators and manufacturers of private and public wireless network equipment and devices. Competitors in this space include Harris Corporation, JVC KENWOOD Corporation, Motorola Solutions, Inc., MSI, and Tait International Limited.
We cannot assure we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors. Increased competition in mobile computing platforms, or related accessories and software developments may result in price reductions, lower gross profit margins, and loss of market share, and could require increased spending on research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. Some competitors may make strategic acquisitions or establish cooperative relationships with suppliers or companies that produce complementary products, which may create additional pressures on our competitive position in the marketplace.
Most of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases, and significantly greater financial, technical, sales, marketing, and other resources and experience than we do. In addition, because of the higher volume of components that many of our competitors purchase from their suppliers, they are able to keep their supply costs relatively low and, as a result, may be able to recognize higher margins on their product sales than we do. Many of our competitors may also have existing relationships with the channel partners who we use to sell our products, or with our potential customers. This competition may result in reduced prices, reduced margins, and longer sales cycles for our products. Our competitors may also be able to quickly and cost-effectively respond to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements. The combination of brand strength, extensive distribution channels, and financial resources of the larger vendors could cause us to lose market share and could reduce our margins on our products, especially if any of our larger competitors moved into the market for ultra-rugged mobile phones and accessories, as those competitors would enjoy relatively low barriers. If any of our larger competitors were to commit greater technical, sales, marketing, and other resources to our markets, our ability to compete would be adversely impacted. If we are unable to successfully compete with our competitors, our sales will suffer and as a result, our financial condition will be adversely impacted.
We are dependent on the continued services and performance of a concentrated and limited group of senior management and other key personnel, the loss of any of whom could adversely impact our business.
Our future success depends in large part on the continued contributions of a concentrated and limited group of senior management and other key personnel. Beginning in 2021, we outsourced substantially all of our software development and manufacturing work to third parties and, as part of these outsourcings, we transferred or eliminated a significant number of employees. As of December 31, 2023, our worldwide employee headcount was 67 employees.
Due to the small size of our Company and our limited number of employees, each member of our executives, managers and other key personnel serves a critical role to our success. If we are unable to retain sufficiently experienced and capable employees, including those who can help us increase revenues generated from our end market segments, our business and financial results may suffer. The loss of the services of any additional executives, managers or other key personnel could impede the achievement of our strategic objectives, seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy and adversely impact our operating results. In addition, if additional executives, managers or other key personnel resign, retire or are terminated, or their service is otherwise interrupted, including due to global pandemics, we may not be able to replace them in a timely manner and we could experience significant declines in productivity and/or errors due to insufficient staffing or managerial oversight. Moreover, experienced and capable employees in the technology industry remain in high demand, and there is continual competition for their talents. Given our size, we may be at a disadvantage, relative to our larger competitors, in the competition for these personnel.
We currently generate significant net revenue from a small number of customers, and our channel partners. The loss of any of these significant relationships, decline in net revenue from these customers, or their failure to remit contractual payments timely will adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
A small number of customers account for a large percentage of our net revenue. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, the purchaser of our tablets (our then-largest customer) and the three largest U.S. wireless carriers (our channel partners) accounted for approximately 48% and 35% of our net revenue, respectively, collectively constituted approximately 83% of our net revenue. Because we stopped selling our tablet data devices in the fourth quarter of 2023, we expect to generate more revenue from other customers. Nevertheless, net revenue from a relatively small group of customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our net revenue in the near term.
Any delay in payments from our customers for any reason also severely impacts our financial condition, liquidity, and results of operation, including the appropriate allocation of commitments and contingencies. We experienced such payment delays in the past.
We currently rely on the three largest U.S. wireless carriers, and two of the three largest Canadian wireless carriers, for the majority of our revenues. We expect our revenues from mobile devices to remain heavily concentrated among these top wireless carriers, and we will be substantially dependent on these wireless carriers continuing to purchase and promote our products to their sales channels as well as customer demand for devices and services from these wireless carriers (factors over which we do not have any control). The communications industry is also experiencing rapid consolidation and realignment. As a result, our customers may consolidate or align with other entities in a manner that may delay orders or result in reduced demand compared to historical rates for our products.
The loss of one or more of these significant customers, or reduced demand or purchases from these significant customers, would result in significant harm to our revenues and results of operations, and our growth could be limited. In addition, any publicity associated with the loss of any of our carrier customers may adversely affect our reputation and could make it more difficult to attract and retain other customers.
We rely on our channel partners to generate a substantial amount of our revenue. If we are unable to maintain successful relationships with channel partners, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
In the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 35% and 41% of our revenues, respectively, were derived from the three largest U.S. wireless carriers, our channel partners. Our channel partners are primarily wireless carriers who sell our phones through their sales channels. To the extent our channel partners are unsuccessful in selling or do not promote our products, or we are unable to obtain and retain a sufficient number of high-quality channel partners, our business and operating results could be significantly harmed.
We enter into master sales arrangements with the majority of our channel partners. Under the master sales arrangements, our partners purchase our products for distribution on a purchase order basis. While these arrangements are typically long-term, they generally do not contain any firm purchase volume commitments. As a result, our channel partners are not contractually obligated to purchase from us any minimum quantity of products. We are generally required to satisfy any and all purchase orders delivered to us within specified delivery windows, with limited exceptions (such as orders significantly in excess of forecasts). If we are unable to efficiently manage our supply and satisfy purchase orders on a timely basis to our channel partners, we may be in breach of our sales arrangements and lose potential sales. Our sales arrangements also generally include technical performance standards for our mobile phones and accessories sold, which vary by channel partner. If a technical issue with any of our covered products exceeds certain preset failure thresholds for the relevant performance standard or standards, the channel partner typically has the right to cease selling the product, cancel open purchase orders, and levy certain monetary penalties. If our products suffer technical issues or failures following sales to our channel partners, we may be subject to significant monetary impact and our channel partners may cease making purchase orders, which would significantly harm our business and results of operations. In addition, our channel partners retain sole discretion in which of their stocked products to offer their customers. While we may offer limited customer incentives, we generally have limited to no control over which products our channel partners decide to offer or promote, which directly impacts the number of products that our partners will purchase from us.
Our channel partners may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling and supporting our solutions. They may also market, sell and support solutions that are competitive with ours, and may devote more resources to the marketing, sales, and support of such products. They may have incentives to promote our competitors’ products in lieu of our products, particularly for competitors who do a large volume of business with the channel partner. For example, during the summer of 2019, we expected, based on input from our US wireless carrier channel partners, for such channel partners to subsidize our new products following launch, to place new releases in retail locations, and to sign up push-to-talk customers to our new generation phones. In each of these cases, there were significant delays and changes in the rollout of these efforts, which negatively impacted demand for our products and thus our profitability. In the event there is not sufficient demand for our products, our channel partners may stop selling our products completely. While we employ a small direct sales force, our channel partners have significantly larger sales teams who are not contractually obligated to promote any of our devices and often have multiple competing devices in stock to offer their customers. In addition, downstream sales by our channel partners often succeed due to attractive device prices and monthly rate plans, which we do not control. In certain cases, we may promote our own devices through customer incentives, typically in exchange for retail price reductions or contributions of funds for marketing purposes; however, there can be no assurance that any such incentives would contribute to increased purchases of our products. Further, given the impact of attractive pricing on ultimate sales, we generally must offer increased promotional funding or price reductions for our more expensive products. This promotional funding or price reductions operate to reduce our margins and significantly impact our profitability.
New sales channel partners, as well as sales of new products being sold by existing channel partners, may take several months or more to achieve significant sales. Our channel partner sales structure could subject us to lawsuits, potential liability, and reputational harm if, for example, any of our channel partners misrepresents the functionality of our products or services to their customers or violates laws or our corporate policies. Additionally, some of our master agreements with our wireless carrier customers contain most “favored nation” clauses. These clauses typically provide that if we enter into an agreement with another wireless carrier or customer on more favorable terms, we must offer some of those terms to our existing wireless carrier customers. These provisions may obligate us to provide different, more favorable, terms to our existing wireless carrier customers, which could, if applied, result in lower revenues or otherwise adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we fail to effectively manage our existing or future sales channel partners, our channel partners fail to promote our products effectively, we are unable to meet our obligations under our sales arrangements or enter into future agreements with wireless carrier customers that have terms that are more favorable to the customer, our business and results of operations would be harmed.
We continue to transform our business. The assumptions underlying these efforts may prove to be inaccurate, or we may fail to achieve the expected benefits from these efforts, and we may have to restructure or transform our business again in the future.
In order to be successful, we must have a competitive business model that brings innovative products and services to market in a timely way. We continue to restructure and transform our business in response to changes in industry and market conditions and to focus on business simplification, quality improvement, reduced direct and indirect costs, and new revenue growth. We must manage the potentially higher growth areas of our business, which entail higher operational and financial risks, as well as the non-core areas, in order for us to achieve improved results. Our assumptions underlying these actions may not be correct, we may be unable to successfully execute these plans, and even if successfully executed, our actions may not be effective or may not lead to the anticipated benefits. As a result, we may determine that further restructuring or business transformation will be needed, which could result in the need to record further special charges such as costs associated with workforce reductions, and we may be unable to maintain or improve our market competitiveness or profitability.
In connection with the transformation of our business, we have made and will continue to make, judgments as to whether we should outsource the development and manufacturing of our products. If any of these providers experience (i) difficulties in obtaining sufficient supplies of components, (ii) component prices significantly exceeding anticipated costs, (iii) an interruption in their operations, or (iv) otherwise suffers capacity constraints, we could experience a delay in production and shipping of these products, which would have a negative impact on our revenue. Should there be any disruption in services due to natural disasters, economic or political difficulties, transportation restrictions, acts of terror, quarantines, or other restrictions associated with infectious diseases, or other similar events, or any other reason, such disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business. Operating in the international outsourcing environment exposes us to certain inherent risks, including unexpected changes in regulatory requirements and tariffs, and potentially adverse tax consequences, which could materially affect our results of operations. If these providers are unable to achieve greater operational efficiencies, delivery schedules for new product development and current product delivery could be negatively impacted. Currently, we have no second source of manufacturing for a portion of our products. In addition, switching from one provider to another is an expensive, difficult, and time-consuming process, with serious risks to our ability to successfully transfer our development and/or manufacturing operations. If overall demand for our devices increases in the future, we will need to expand our manufacturing capacity in a cost-efficient manner. Our operations, and consequently our revenues and profitability, could be materially adversely affected if we are forced to switch from any of our providers to another provider due to any of a number of factors, including financial difficulties faced by the manufacturer, disagreements in pricing negotiations between us and the manufacturer or organizational changes in the manufacturer.
Further, we have made and will continue to make judgments as to whether we should further reduce, relocate, or otherwise change our workforce. We have outsourced substantially all of our manufacturing functions, software development, and quality control functions to third parties, transferring the employees who previously performed this work. These reductions may have resulted in the loss of institutional knowledge and expertise and the reallocation and combination of certain roles and responsibilities across the organization, all of which could adversely affect our operations. These restructuring and additional measures we might take to reduce costs could divert management attention, yield attrition beyond our intended reduction in force, reduce employee morale, or cause us to delay, limit, reduce, or eliminate certain product development plans, each of which could have an adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Furthermore, our workforce efforts may impair our ability to achieve our current or future business objectives.
Our entry into the data device sector could divert our management team’s attention from existing products, cause delays in launching our new products, or otherwise have a significant adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In August of 2023, as part of our expansion efforts, we announced an expansion of our product portfolio and introduced a new Connected Solutions division which is set to begin launching products in 2024 in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Connected Solutions will primarily consist of mobile hotspots, fixed wireless, and USB dongle devices. The success of this new division depends in large part on our team’s ability to correctly identify and address the market opportunity, to execute our plans to develop, manufacture, market, and sell our new family of data devices.
Our entry into these next-generation devices, and in the overall data device sector other than smartphones, may divert our management team’s attention from existing product development and may cause our inability to achieve the planned product portfolio expansion which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are materially dependent on the adoption of our solutions by both the industrial enterprise and public sector markets, and if end customers in those markets do not purchase our solutions, our revenues will be adversely impacted, and we may not be able to expand into other markets.
Our revenues have historically been in the industrial enterprise market, and we are materially dependent on the adoption of our solutions by both the industrial enterprise and public sector markets. End customers in the public sector market may remain, for reasons outside our control, tied to solutions or other competitive alternatives to our phones. Sales of our products to these buyers may also be delayed or limited by these competitive conditions. If our products are not widely accepted by buyers in those markets, we may not be able to expand sales of our products into new markets, and our business, results of operations, and financial condition may be adversely impacted.
We rely primarily on third-party contract manufacturers and partners. If these relationships are disrupted and we are unable to obtain substitute manufacturers or partners, on favorable terms or at all, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be harmed.
We have outsourced our software development, third-party contract manufacturing, and product assembly operations to third parties located in India and China.
Our contract manufacturers now produce all of our products in facilities located in Asia. All manufacturing of our products is performed in accordance with detailed specifications and product designs furnished or approved by us and is subject to rigorous quality control standards. We periodically review our product manufacturing operations and consider changes we believe may be necessary or appropriate. Although we intend to closely manage the transition process when manufacturing changes, we could experience disruption to our operations during any such transition. Other significant risks include limited control over assembly and testing capacity, delivery schedules, quality assurance, manufacturing yields, production costs, tariffs, and uncertainty over political unrest. Any such disruption could negatively affect our reputation and our operating results.
In addition, we rely on third parties to provide certain services to us, or to our customers, including software development, hosting services, and providers of other cloud-based services. If these third-party providers do not perform as expected, our customers may be adversely affected, resulting in potential liability and negative exposure for us. If it is necessary to migrate these services to other providers due to poor performance, cyber breaches or other security considerations, or other financial or operational factors, it could result in service disruptions to our customers and significant time and expense to us, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Migrating our design methodology to third-party contract manufacturers or partners could involve increased costs, resources, and development time, and could expose us to further risk of losing control over our intellectual property and the quality of our products.
If our products contain defects or errors, we could incur significant unexpected expenses, experience product returns, and lost sales, experience product recalls, suffer damage to our brand and reputation, and be subject to product liability or other claims.
We produce highly complex products that incorporate leading-edge technology, including both hardware and software. The industry standards upon which many of our products are based are also complex, experience changes over time, and may be interpreted in different manners. Software often contains defects or programming flaws that can unexpectedly interfere with expected operations. In addition, our products are complex and are designed to be deployed in large quantities across complex and varying networks. Because of the nature of these products, they can only be fully tested when completely deployed in large networks with high amounts of traffic, and there is no assurance that our pre-shipment testing programs will be adequate to detect all defects. As a result, our customers may discover errors or defects in our hardware or software, or our products may not operate as expected. If we are unable to cure a product defect, we could experience damage to our reputation, reduced customer satisfaction, loss of existing customers and failure to attract new customers, failure to achieve market acceptance, reduced sales opportunities, loss of revenue and market share, increased service and warranty costs, diversion of development resources, legal actions by our customers, and increased insurance costs. Defects, integration issues, or other performance problems in our products could also result in damages to our customers, financial or otherwise. Our customers could seek damages for related losses from us, which could seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity. A product liability claim brought against us, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly. The occurrence of any of these problems would seriously harm our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
Further, errors, defects, or bugs in our solutions could be exploited by hackers or could otherwise result in an actual or perceived breach of our information systems. Alleviating any of these problems could require significant expense and could cause interruptions, delays, or cessation of our product licensing, which would reduce demand for our products and result in a loss of sales, delay in market acceptance, and injure our reputation and could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If our business does not grow as we expect, or if we fail to manage our growth effectively, our operating results and business will suffer.
Our ability to successfully grow our business depends on a number of factors including our ability to:
● accelerate the adoption of our solutions by new end customers;
● expand into new geographical areas and into new vertical markets;
● develop and deliver new products and services;
● increase awareness of the benefits that our solutions offer; and
● become more cost-effective and scalable by utilizing contract manufacturing.
As usage of our solutions grows, we will need to continue to make investments to develop and implement new or updated solutions, technologies, security features, and cloud-based infrastructure operations. In addition, we will need to appropriately scale our internal business systems and our services organization, including the suppliers of our detection equipment and customer support services, to serve our growing customer base. Any failure of, or delay in, these efforts could impair the performance of our solutions and reduce customer satisfaction. Further, our growth could increase quickly and place a strain on our managerial, operational, financial, and other resources, and our future operating results depend to a large extent on our ability to successfully manage our anticipated expansion and growth. To manage our growth successfully, we will need to continue to invest in sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative functions, and other areas. We are likely to recognize the costs associated with these investments earlier than receiving some of the anticipated benefits, and the return on these investments may be lower, or may develop more slowly, than we expect, which could adversely impact our operating results.
If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to take advantage of market opportunities or develop new solutions or upgrades to our existing solutions, satisfy customer requirements, maintain the quality and security of our solutions, or execute our business plan, any of which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
We are required to undergo a lengthy customization and certification process for each wireless carrier customer, which increases our operating expenses and cost of revenue, and failure to obtain such certification would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
Each wireless carrier requires each of our devices to complete a thorough technical acceptance process before it can be stocked and sold. Such acceptance processes impose rigorous and complex requirements on our devices, which result in a lengthy testing and certification process, during which we incur substantial operating expenses related to the wireless carrier’s technical acceptance of our devices. The acceptance processes and related costs to us vary across carrier customers depending on carrier size and level of customization required. Generally, the certification process commences within one to three months of product concept development. During this development stage, certain carriers provide a technology roadmap and target demographics, allowing us to define product specifications to meet carrier goals, while other carriers provide defined specifications and preferred price points. Once we receive approval of a product concept by the carrier, we and the carrier advance the product to the development stage. When the product is close to becoming a functioning model, we commence internal quality assurance processes and field testing, which may include third-party lab testing, in-market field testing, and interoperability testing. Finally, as the last step in the testing phase, the wireless carrier typically conducts testing itself, following which the product may be certified and stocked. The entire process can last from 6 to 18 months depending on the particular wireless carrier and type of device. Any delay in the acceptance process or failure to satisfy the device certification requirements affects our ability to bring products to market and adversely impacts our results of operations and financial condition.
We experience lengthy sales cycles for our products and the delay of an expected large order could result in a significant unexpected revenue shortfall.
The purchase of our products is often an enterprise-wide decision for prospective customers, which requires us to engage in sales efforts over an extended period of time and provide a significant level of education to prospective customers regarding the uses and benefits of such devices. Prospective customers, especially the wireless carriers that sell our products, often undertake a prolonged evaluation process that may take from several months to several years in certain cases. Consequently, if our forecasted sales from a specific customer are not realized, we may not be able to generate revenues from alternative sources in time to compensate for the shortfall. The loss or delay of an expected large order could also result in a significant unexpected revenue shortfall. Moreover, to the extent we enter into and deliver our products pursuant to significant contracts earlier than we expected, our operating results for subsequent periods may fall below expectations. We may spend substantial time, effort, and money on our sales and marketing efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce any sales. If we are unable to succeed in closing sales with new and existing customers, our business, operating results, and financial condition will be harmed.
If we fail to adequately forecast demand for our inventory and supply needs, we could incur additional costs or experience manufacturing delays, which could reduce our gross margin or cause us to delay or even lose sales.
Because our production volumes are based on a forecast of channel partner demand rather than firm purchase commitments from our major customers, our forecasts have been, and there is a risk that our forecasts could be inaccurate in the future. There is a risk that we will be unable to sell our products at the volumes and prices we expect, which may result in excess inventory. We provide, and will continue to provide, forecasts of our demand to our third-party suppliers prior to the scheduled delivery of products to our channel partners. If we overestimate our requirements, our contract manufacturers may have excess component inventory, which could increase our costs. If we underestimate our requirements, our contract manufacturers may have inadequate component inventory, which could interrupt the manufacturing of our products and result in delays in shipments and revenues, lost sales, or we could incur unplanned overtime costs to meet our requirements, resulting in significant cost increases. For example, certain materials and components used to manufacture our products may reach end of life during any of our product’s life cycles, following which suppliers no longer provide such expired materials and components. This would require us to either source and qualify an alternative component, which could require a re-certification of the device by the wireless carriers and/or regulatory agencies or forecast product demand for a final purchase of such materials and components that may reach end of life to ensure that we have sufficient product inventory through a product’s life cycle. If we overestimate forecasted demand, we will hold excess end-of-life materials and components resulting in increased costs. If we underestimate forecasted demand, we could experience delays in shipments and loss of revenues.
In addition, if we underestimate our requirements and the applicable supplier becomes insolvent or is no longer able to timely supply our needs in a cost-efficient manner or at all, we may be required to acquire components, which may need to be customized for our products, from alternative suppliers, including at significantly higher costs. For example, in 2018, one of our suppliers became insolvent and ceased all production, requiring us to seek alternative supply of complex components in a very short time frame. If we cannot source alternative suppliers and/or alternative components, we may suffer delays in shipments or lost sales. Similarly, credit constraints at our suppliers could require us to accelerate payment of our accounts payable, impacting our cash flow. Further, lead times for materials and components that we order vary significantly and depend on factors such as the specific supplier, contract terms, customization needed for any particular component and demand for each component at a given time. Any such failure to accurately forecast demand and manufacturing and supply requirements, and any need to obtain alternative supply sources, could materially harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
The markets for our mobile devices and related accessories may not develop as quickly as we expect or may not develop at all.
Our future success is substantially dependent upon continued adoption of devices and related accessories in the industrial enterprise and public sector markets, including the transition from LMR and PTT to smartphone and cellular networks. These market developments and transitions may take longer than we expect or may not occur at all and may not be as widespread as we expect. If the market does not develop as we expect, our business, operating results, and financial condition will be significantly harmed.
Our dependence on third-party suppliers for key components of our products could delay shipment of our products and reduce our sales.
We depend on certain suppliers for the delivery of components used in the assembly of our products, including machined parts, injection molded plastic parts, printed circuit boards, and other miscellaneous custom parts for our products. Our reliance on third-party suppliers creates risks related to our potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of components and reduced control over pricing and timing of delivery of components. In particular, we have little to no control over the prices at which our suppliers sell materials and components to us. The components business has, from time to time, experienced periods of extreme shortages in product supply, generally as the result of demand exceeding available supply. Many companies use the same raw materials and supplies that we do in the production of their products. Companies with more resources than our own may have a competitive advantage in obtaining raw materials and supplies due to greater buying power. When these shortages occur, suppliers also tend to either increase prices or reduce the number of units sold to customers. In addition, certain supplies of our components are available only from a single source or limited sources and we may not be able to diversify suppliers in a timely manner. We have experienced shortages in the past that have negatively impacted our results of operations and may experience such shortages in the future. These factors can result in reduced supply, higher prices of components used in the assembly of our products, and delays in the receipt of certain of our key components, which in turn may generate increased costs, lower margins, and delays in product delivery, with a corresponding adverse effect on revenues and customer relationships.
We also do not have long-term supply agreements with any of our suppliers. Our current contracts with certain suppliers may be canceled or not extended by such suppliers and, therefore, do not afford us sufficient protection against a reduction or interruption in supplies. Moreover, if any of these suppliers breach their contracts with us, our legal remedies associated with such a breach may be insufficient to compensate us for any damages we may suffer.
Any interruption of supply for any material components of our products for any reason, including but not limited to global or local health crises, or inability to obtain required components from our third-party suppliers, could significantly delay the production and shipment of our products and harm our revenues, profitability and financial condition.
Our future success is dependent on our ability to create independent brand awareness for our company and products with end customers, and our inability to achieve such brand awareness could limit our prospects.
We depend on a small number of wireless carriers to distribute our products . While we intend to accelerate direct marketing and end-customer brand awareness initiatives in the future, our sales and marketing efforts have historically been predominantly focused on channel partners. As such, historically, our operating expenses related to end-customer marketing efforts have historically been very small, representing less than 1.0% of our total sales and marketing expenses (including during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022). Increasing end-customer brand awareness requires investment in our sales and marketing efforts. As a result, we expect our sales and marketing expenses to increase in the future, primarily from increased sales personnel expenses, which will require us to cost-efficiently ramp up our sales and marketing capabilities and effectively target end customers. However, there can be no assurance that we will successfully increase our brand awareness or do so in a cost-efficient manner while maintaining market share within our existing sales channels. Our failure to establish stand-alone brand awareness with end customers of our products would leave us vulnerable to competitors and have an adverse impact on our prospects. If we are unable to significantly increase the awareness of our brand and solutions with end customers in a cost-efficient manner, we will remain significantly dependent on our channel partners for sales of our products and would adversely impact our ability to grow our business.
If we are unable to sell our solutions into new markets, our revenues may not grow.
Any new market into which we attempt to sell our solutions may not be receptive. Our ability to penetrate new markets depends on the quality of our solutions, the continued adoption of our public safety solution by first responders, the perceived value of our solutions as a risk management tool and our ability to design our solutions to meet the demands of our customers. If the markets for our solutions do not develop as we expect, our revenues may not grow.
Our ability to successfully face these challenges depends on several factors, including increasing the awareness of our solutions and their benefits, the effectiveness of our marketing programs, the costs of our solutions, our ability to attract, retain and effectively train sales and marketing personnel, and our ability to develop relationships with wireless carriers and other partners. If we are unsuccessful in developing and marketing our solutions into new markets, new markets for our solutions might not develop or might develop more slowly than we expect, either of which would harm our revenues and growth prospects.
Changes in the availability of federal funding to support local public safety or other public sector efforts could impact our opportunities with public sector end customers.
Many of our public sector end customers rely to some extent on funds from the U.S. federal government to purchase and pay for our solutions. Any reduction in federal funding for local public safety or other public sector efforts could result in our end customers having less access to funds required to continue, renew, expand, or pay for our solutions. If federal funding is reduced or eliminated and our end customers cannot find alternative sources of funding to purchase our solutions, our business will be harmed.
Failure of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, and representatives to use acceptable legal or ethical business practices, or to fail for any other reason, could negatively impact our business.
We do not control the labor and other business practices of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, and third-party sales representatives (the “TPSRs”), and cannot provide assurance that they will operate in compliance with applicable rules, and regulations regarding working conditions, employment practices, environmental compliance, anti-corruption, and trademark a copyright and patent licensing. If one of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, or TPSRs violates labor or other laws or implements labor or other business practices that are regarded as unethical, the shipment of finished products to us could be interrupted, orders could be canceled, relationships could be terminated, and our reputation could be damaged. If one of our suppliers or subcontractors fails to procure the necessary license rights to trademarks, copyrights, or patents, legal action could be taken against us that could impact the salability of our products and expose us to financial obligations to a third party. Any of these events could have a negative impact on our sales and results of operations.
Moreover, any failure of our suppliers, subcontractors, distributors, resellers, and TPSRs, for any reason, including bankruptcy or other business disruption, could disrupt our supply or distribution efforts and could have a negative impact on our sales and results of operations.
We are exposed to risks associated with strategic transactions.
We may pursue mergers, acquisitions, or dispositions of businesses or assets or other strategic transactions that we believe will strengthen, streamline, or expand our business. Each such transaction would be dependent upon several factors, including identifying suitable companies, businesses, or assets that align with our business strategies, reaching an agreement with the potential counterparties on acceptable terms, receipt of any applicable regulatory and other approvals, and other conditions. These transactions involve various risks, including among others:
● difficulties related to integrating or managing applicable parts of an acquired business or joint venture and unanticipated changes in customer and other third-party relationships subsequent to closing;
● diversion of management’s attention from day-to-day operations;
● applicable antitrust laws and other regulations that may limit our ability to acquire targets or require us to divest an acquired business or assets;
● failure to realize anticipated benefits, such as cost savings, revenue enhancements, or strengthening or broadening our business;
● potentially substantial transaction costs associated with acquisitions, joint ventures, or investments if we or a transaction counterparty seek to exit or terminate an interest in the joint venture or investment; and
● potential accounting impairment or actual diminution or loss of value of our investment if future market, business, or other conditions ultimately differ from our assumptions at the time such transaction is consummated.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition
We may not generate sufficient liquidity to operate our business and maintain its growth.
We will require significant funds to implement our business strategy, upgrade and expand our product portfolio, and meet our other liquidity needs. Our historical revenue growth is not indicative of our future performance, particularly given the wind-down of our tablet sales. There can be no assurance that we will generate sufficient revenue to offset the cost of maintaining our remaining operations, including significant accounting, legal, administrative, and other costs associated with being a public company, and successfully expand our business in accordance with our growth strategy. Additionally, our cash needs may increase in the near future as we focus on growing and developing our data devices businesses and expanding our operations internationally, and our liquidity may not be sufficient to achieve these objectives.
We may need to seek to raise additional capital from the sale of securities or the incurrence of indebtedness to allow us to maintain our operations and invest in growth opportunities. There can be no assurance that any debt or equity financing will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, if we issue additional equity securities to raise funds, whether to existing investors or others, the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be reduced. New investors may demand rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of existing holders of common stock. We may also be limited as to the amount of funds we can raise pursuant to SEC rules and the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq.
An inability to maintain adequate cash on hand, generate sufficient cash flow from our operations, or access capital financing on acceptable terms will reduce our chances to compete successfully and expand our business in the manner currently contemplated and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our liquidity has been adversely impacted by our ongoing net losses, and there is no assurance that we will have sufficient liquidity to continue operations.
We have incurred significant net losses since 2013 and have an accumulated deficit of $250.0 million as of December 31, 2023. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to secure sufficient liquidity to fund our operations, including through additional capital from the sale of equity securities or financings, or that we will be able to achieve profitability through cost efficiencies implemented in 2023 and 2022. If we are unable to generate or obtain the requisite amount of financing needed to fund our business operations, our liquidity and ability to continue operations could be materially adversely affected. As a result, we may be required to delay, reduce, or cease our operations and seek bankruptcy protection.
We have not been profitable in recent years and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
We have incurred significant net losses since 2013 and have an accumulated deficit of $250.0 million as of December 31, 2023. We are not certain whether or when we will obtain a high enough volume of sales of our products to sustain or increase our growth or achieve or maintain profitability in the future. We also expect our costs to increase in future periods, which would negatively impact our future operating results if our revenues do not increase. In particular, we expect to continue to expend substantial financial and other resources on:
● research and development related to our solutions, including investments in our engineering and technical teams;
● expansion of our sales and marketing efforts;
● general and administrative expenses, including legal and accounting expenses related to being, a public company; and
● continued expansion of our business.
These investments may not result in increased revenues or growth in our business. Additionally, we have recently and may continue to encounter unforeseen operating expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown factors that may result in losses in future periods. If we are unable to increase our revenues at a rate sufficient to offset the expected increase in our costs, our business, operating results, and financial position may be harmed, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability over the long term. We are subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with the development and release of new products. Our principal sources of liquidity as of December 31, 2023 consist of existing cash and cash equivalents totaling $9.4 million. The cost structure of the company has been significantly reduced and many aspects of product development and operational support have been outsourced to add additional spending flexibility if needed. Existing capital at December 31, 2023 is expected to allow the company to continue operations for at least the next twelve months. If necessary, we will seek to raise additional capital from new debt. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, if we issue additional equity securities to raise funds, whether to existing investors or others, the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be reduced. New investors may demand rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of existing holders of common stock. Additionally, we may be limited as to the amount of funds we can raise pursuant to SEC rules and the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market or Nasdaq. If we cannot grow our revenue run-rate or raise needed funds, we might be forced to make additional reductions in our operating expenses, which could adversely affect our ability to implement our business plan and ultimately our viability as a Company.
Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income will be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of $95.2 million and $88.4 million, respectively, due to prior period losses, a portion of which expire in various years beginning in 2037 and 2035, respectively, if not utilized. In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs to offset future taxable income. Due to the investment by AJP Holding Company, LLC in 2022 and the resulting ownership change, the future use of the NOLs to reduce future taxable income of the Company is severely limited.
Risks Related to Information Technology and Intellectual Property
A security breach or other significant disruption of our IT systems or those of our partners, suppliers, or manufacturers, caused by cyberattacks or other means, could have a negative impact on our operations, sales, and operating results.
We rely extensively on our information systems to manage our business operations. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience attempts to compromise our information technology systems and those of our third-party service providers. All IT systems are potentially vulnerable to damage, unauthorized access, or interruption from a variety of sources, including but not limited to, cyberattacks, cyber intrusions, computer viruses, security breaches, denial-of-service attacks, ransomware or other malware, energy blackouts, natural disasters and severe weather conditions, terrorism, sabotage, war, insider trading, human error, and computer and telecommunication failures. Additionally, like other mobile device manufacturers, we use open-source software from time to time, which may be more susceptible to cybersecurity vulnerabilities that may not be identified timely. We are also dependent upon third-party manufacturers and service providers to adequately protect our IT systems. We do not have direct oversight or influence over how third parties manage the security, quality, or resiliency of their networks.
A cyberattack or other significant disruption involving our IT systems or those of our outsource partners, suppliers, or manufacturers could result in the unauthorized release of proprietary, confidential, or sensitive information of ours or result in virus and malware installation on our devices. Such unauthorized access to, or release of, this information or other security breaches could: (i) allow others to unfairly compete with us, (ii) compromise safety or security, (iii) subject us to claims for breach of contract, tort, and other civil claims, and (iv) damage our reputation. We could face regulatory penalties, enforcement actions, remediation obligations, or private litigation by parties whose data is improperly disclosed or misused. Any or all of the foregoing could negatively impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we are unable to successfully protect our intellectual property, our competitive position may be harmed.
Our ability to compete is heavily affected by our ability to protect our intellectual property. We rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, copyright and trademark laws, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary rights. We also enter, and plan to continue to enter, into confidentiality, invention assignment, or license agreements with our employees, consultants, and other parties with whom we contract, and control access to and distribution of our software, documentation, and other proprietary information. The steps we take to protect our intellectual property may be inadequate, and it is possible that some or all of our confidentiality agreements will not be honored, and certain contractual provisions may not be enforceable. Existing trade secret, trademark, and copyright laws offer only limited protection. Unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our products or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our products is difficult, time-consuming, and costly, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. We cannot assure you that our means of protecting our proprietary rights will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology, the effect of either of which would harm our competitive position in the market. Furthermore, disputes can arise with our strategic partners, customers, or others concerning the ownership of intellectual property.
Others may claim that we infringe on their intellectual property rights, which may result in costly and time-consuming litigation and could delay or otherwise impair the development and commercialization of our products.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in litigation in the United States involving patents and other intellectual property rights, and because our products are comprised of complex technology, we are often involved in or impacted by assertions, including both requests to take licenses and litigation, regarding infringement of patent and other intellectual property rights of third parties. Third parties have asserted, and in the future may assert, intellectual property infringement claims against us and against our channel partners, end customers, and suppliers. Many of these assertions are brought by non-practicing entities whose principal business model is to secure patent licensing revenues from product manufacturing companies. Claims for alleged infringement and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages and invalidation of our intellectual property rights. Defending any such claims, with or without merit, including pursuant to indemnity obligations, could be time-consuming, and expensive, cause product shipment delays, or require us to enter into a royalty or licensing agreement, any of which could delay the development and commercialization of our products or reduce our margins. If we are unable to obtain a required license, our ability to sell or use certain products may be impaired. In addition, if we fail to obtain a license, or if the terms of the license are burdensome to us, our operations could be significantly harmed.
Our use of open-source software could subject us to possible litigation or otherwise impair the development of our products.
A portion of our technologies incorporates open-source software, including open-source operating systems such as Android, and we expect to continue to incorporate open-source software into our platform in the future. Few of the licenses applicable to open-source software have been interpreted by courts, and their application to the open-source software integrated into our proprietary technology platform may be uncertain. If we fail to comply with these licenses, then pursuant to the terms of these licenses, we may be subject to certain requirements, including requirements that we make available the source code for our software that incorporates the open-source software. We cannot assure you that we have not incorporated open-source software in our software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable licenses or our current policies and procedures. If an author or other third party that distributes such open-source software were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could incur significant legal expenses defending against such allegations. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition, or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our technology platform.
With respect to open-source operating systems, if third parties cease continued development of such operating systems or restrict our access to such operating systems, our business and financial results could be adversely impacted. We are dependent on third parties’ continued development of operating systems, software application ecosystem infrastructures, and such third parties’ approval of our implementations of their operating and system and associated applications. If such parties cease to continue development or support of such operating systems or restrict our access to such operating systems, we would be required to change our strategy for our devices. As a result, our financial results could be negatively impacted because a resulting shift away from the operating systems we currently use, and the associated applications ecosystem could be costly and difficult.
Our inability to obtain and maintain any third-party license required to develop new products and product enhancements could seriously harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
From time to time, we are required to license technology from third parties to develop new products or product enhancements. For example, we have entered into worldwide intellectual property cross-license agreements or other technology license agreements with a number of global technology companies in the mobile telecommunications market. Third-party licenses may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we fail to renew any intellectual property license agreements on commercially reasonable terms, or any such license agreements otherwise expire or terminate, we may not be able to use the patents and technologies of these third parties in our products, which are critical to our success. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively control the level of licensing and royalty fees paid to third parties, and a significant increase in such fees could have a significant and adverse impact on our future profitability. Seeking alternative patents and technologies may be difficult and time-consuming, and we may not be successful in finding alternative technologies or incorporating them into our products. Our inability to obtain any third-party license necessary to develop new products or product enhancements could require us to obtain substitute technology of lower quality or performance standards, or at greater cost, which could seriously harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Increasing regulatory focus on privacy and cybersecurity issues and expanding laws could expose us to liability, subject us to lawsuits, investigations, and other liabilities and restrictions on our operations that could significantly and adversely affect our business.
Personal privacy and information security are significant issues in the United States and the other jurisdictions in which we operate or make our products and applications available. The legislative and regulatory framework for privacy and security issues worldwide is rapidly evolving and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Examples of these laws include but are not limited to:
● various comprehensive U.S. state and foreign privacy laws, which give new data privacy rights to their respective residents (including, in California, a private right of action in the event of a data breach resulting from our failure to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices) and impose significant obligations on controllers and processors of consumer data;
● the General Data Protection Regulation and the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulations, which apply to all of our activities conducted from an establishment in the EU or the United Kingdom, respectively, or related to products and services that we offer to EU or the United Kingdom users or customers, respectively, or the monitoring of their behavior in the EU or the UK, respectively; and
● the California Internet of Things Security Law, which regulates the security of data used in connection with internet-connected devices.
We may incur substantial expense in complying with the obligations imposed by various jurisdictions in which we do business or seek to do business and we may be required to make significant changes in our business operations, all of which may adversely impact our revenues and our business overall. Additionally, our failure or perceived failure to comply with privacy and information security laws and regulations would result in negative publicity fines and orders requiring that we change our practices, which will adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and operating results.
Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
Changes in laws and regulations concerning the use of telecommunication bandwidth could increase our costs and adversely impact our business.
Our business depends on our ability to sell devices that use telecommunication bandwidth allocated to licensed and unlicensed wireless services, and that use of that bandwidth is subject to laws and regulations that are subject to change over time. Changes in the permitted uses of telecommunication bandwidth, reallocation of such bandwidth to different uses, and new or increased regulation of the capabilities, manufacture, importation, and use of devices that depend on such bandwidth could increase our costs, require costly modifications to our products before they are sold, or limit our ability to sell those products into our target markets. In addition, we are subject to regulatory requirements for certification and testing of our products before they can be marketed or sold. Those requirements may be onerous and expensive. Changes to those requirements could result in significant additional costs and could adversely impact our ability to bring new products to market in a timely fashion.
The interpretation and implementation of the various provisions of the Communications Act of 1924, as amended, and the FCC rules implementing said act continue to be heavily debated and may have a material adverse effect on our business. FCC regulatory activity has increased in 2023 and 2024, particularly in connection with broadband the origin of hardware (including chipsets) and software used in telecommunication and data devices. We cannot predict how increased regulatory activity at the FCC will impact our businesses but expect increased legal and compliance costs. If we do not comply with FCC rules, regulations, orders, policies, or procedures we could be subject to FCC enforcement actions, fines, and possibly restrictions on our ability to operate or offer certain or all of our products in the United States. Any enforcement action by the FCC, which may be a public process, would hurt our reputation in the industry, could erode customer trust, possibly impair our ability to sell our products to customers, and could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Changes in U.S. trade policy, including the imposition of tariffs and restrictions and the resulting consequences, may have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
The U.S. government has adopted a new approach to trade policy, including in some cases renegotiating and terminating certain existing bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. government has also initiated tariffs on certain foreign goods from a variety of countries and regions, most notably China, where we outsource the manufacturing of our mobile phones, and has raised the possibility of imposing significant, additional tariff increases or expanding the tariffs to capture other types of goods. In response, many of these foreign governments have imposed retaliatory tariffs on goods that their countries import from the U.S. Changes in U.S. trade policy have and may continue to result in one or more foreign governments adopting responsive trade policies that make it more difficult or costly for us to do business in or import our products from those countries. In addition, the FCC rules prohibit communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security from obtaining the equipment authorization that allows the products to be imported, marketed, or sold in the U.S.
This in turn could result in significant additional costs to us when shipping our products to various customers in the United States and could require us to increase prices to our customers, which may reduce demand, or, if we are unable to increase prices, result in lowering our margin on products sold.
We cannot predict the extent to which the U.S. or other countries will impose new or additional quotas, duties, tariffs, taxes or other similar restrictions upon the import or export of our products in the future, nor can we predict future trade policy or the terms of any renegotiated trade agreements and their impact on our business. The adoption and expansion of trade restrictions, the occurrence of a trade war, or other governmental action related to tariffs or trade agreements, or policies has the potential to adversely impact demand for our products, our costs, our customers, our suppliers, and the U.S. economy, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
The unfavorable outcome of any future litigation, arbitration, or administrative action could have a significant adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations.
From time to time, we are a party to litigation, arbitration, or administrative actions. Our business may bring us into conflict with third parties with whom we have contractual or other business relationships, or with our competitors or others whose interests differ from ours. If we are unable to resolve those conflicts on terms that are satisfactory to all parties, we may become involved in litigation brought by or against us. Our financial results and reputation could be negatively impacted by unfavorable outcomes to any future litigation or administrative actions, including those related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, or other anti-corruption laws. Monitoring, initiating, and defending against legal actions is time-consuming for our management, likely to be expensive, and may detract from our ability to fully focus our internal resources on our business activities. In addition, despite the availability of insurance, we may incur substantial legal fees and costs in connection with litigation. Lawsuits are subject to inherent uncertainties, and defense and disposition costs depend upon many unknown factors. Lawsuits could result in judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities, or otherwise negatively affect our legal or contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business. In addition, the inherent uncertainty of such litigation could lead to increased volatility in our stock price and a decrease in the value of our stockholders’ investment in our common stock. There can be no assurances as to the favorable outcome of any litigation or administrative proceedings. In addition, it can be very costly to defend litigation or administrative proceedings and these costs could negatively impact our financial results.
We may incur substantial costs and receive adverse outcomes in litigation, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters in connection with alleged violations of securities laws and regulations.
Our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by unfavorable results in pending or future litigations, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters related to violations or perceived violations of applicable securities laws and regulations by the Company or its affiliates.
We have been subject to the SEC investigation and stockholders’ class actions in the past and may become subject to securities-related investigations or legal proceedings in the future. The ultimate resolution of such investigations and lawsuits cannot be predicted, and the claims raised in these lawsuits may result in further legal matters or actions against us, including, but not limited to, government enforcement actions or additional private litigation. We were subject to an SEC investigation that had started in March 2020. Although there were no penalties imposed against the Company as a result of that SEC investigation, we cannot predict the outcome of any particular proceeding, or whether any new SEC investigation will be resolved favorably or ultimately result in charges or material damages, fines, or other penalties, enforcement actions, or civil or criminal proceedings against us or members of our senior management.
Litigation matters and regulatory investigations, regardless of their merits or their ultimate outcomes, are costly, divert management’s attention, and may materially adversely affect our reputation and demand for our products. We cannot predict with certainty the eventual outcome of pending or future legal matters. An adverse outcome of litigation or legal matters could result in us being responsible for significant damages. Any of these negative effects resulting from litigation, regulatory investigations, and other legal matters could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, export control, and similar laws. Non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal or civil liability and harm our business, revenues, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies and their employees and third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. As we increase our international presence, we may engage with distributors and third-party intermediaries to market our solutions and to obtain necessary permits, licenses, and other regulatory approvals. In addition, we or our third-party intermediaries may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners, and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions that affect transactions with designated foreign countries, nationals and others. In particular, the United States prohibits U.S. persons from engaging with individuals and entities identified as “Specially Designated Nationals,” such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers. These prohibitions are administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. OFAC rules prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in, or facilitating a foreign person’s engagement in, transactions with or relating to the prohibited individual, entity or country, and require the blocking of assets in which the individual, entity or country has an interest. Blocked assets (e.g., property or bank deposits) cannot be paid out, withdrawn, set off or transferred in any manner without a license from OFAC. Other countries in which we operate, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also maintain economic and financial sanctions regimes.
Some of our solutions, including software updates and third-party accessories, may be subject to U.S. export control laws, including the Export Administration Regulations; however, the vast majority of our products are non-U.S.-origin items, developed and manufactured outside of the United States, and therefore not subject to these laws. For third-party accessories, we rely on manufacturers to supply the appropriate export control classification numbers that determine our obligations under these laws.
We cannot assure you that our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. As we increase our international presence, our risks under these laws, rules, and regulations may increase. Further, any change in the applicability or enforcement of these laws, rules, and regulations could adversely impact our business operations and financial results.
Detecting, investigating and resolving actual or alleged violations can require a significant diversion of time, resources, and attention from senior management. In addition, noncompliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, or economic sanctions laws, rules, and regulations could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, revenues, financial condition, and results of operations would be significantly harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to a wide range of product regulatory and safety, consumer, worker safety and environmental laws and regulations.
Our operations and the products we manufacture and/or sell are subject to a wide range of product regulatory and safety, consumer, worker safety and environmental laws and regulations. Compliance with such existing or future laws and regulations could subject us to future costs or liabilities, impact our production capabilities, constrict our ability to sell, expand or acquire facilities, restrict what solutions we can offer and generally impact our financial performance. Our products are designed for use in potentially explosive or hazardous environments. If our product design fails for any reason in such environments, we may be subject to product liabilities and future costs. In addition, some of these laws are environmental and relate to the use, disposal, remediation, emission, discharge of and exposure to hazardous substances. These laws often impose liability and can require parties to fund remedial studies or actions regardless of fault. Environmental laws have tended to become more stringent over time and any new obligations under these laws could have a negative impact on our operations or financial performance.
Laws focused on the energy efficiency of electronic products and accessories, recycling of both electronic products and packaging, reducing or eliminating certain hazardous substances in electronic products, and the transportation of batteries continue to expand significantly. Laws pertaining to accessibility features of electronic products, standardization of connectors and power supplies, the transportation of lithium-ion batteries, and other aspects are also proliferating. There are also demanding and rapidly changing laws around the globe related to issues such as product safety, radio interference, radio frequency radiation exposure, medical related functionality, and consumer and social mandates pertaining to use of wireless or electronic equipment. These laws, and changes to these laws, could have a substantial impact on whether we can offer certain products, solutions, and services, and on what capabilities and characteristics our products or services can or must include.
These laws and regulations impact our products and could negatively impact our ability to manufacture and sell products competitively. In addition, we anticipate that we will see increased demand to meet voluntary criteria related to reduction or elimination of certain constituents from products, increasing energy efficiency and providing additional accessibility.
We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain whether the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract our management, which could make it difficult to manage our business, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.”
We are required to comply with various regulatory and reporting requirements, including those required by the SEC. Complying with these reporting and other regulatory requirements will be time-consuming and will result in increased costs to us and could have a negative effect on our results of operations, financial condition or business.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These requirements may place a strain on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes- Oxley Act requires that we attest to having internal controls over financial reporting. To maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, we will need to commit significant resources, hire additional staff and provide additional management oversight. We will be implementing additional procedures and processes for the purpose of addressing the standards and requirements applicable to public companies. Sustaining our growth also will require us to commit additional management, operational and financial resources to identify new professionals to join our firm and to maintain appropriate operational and financial systems to adequately support expansion. These activities may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a significant adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition or business.
As an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain temporary exemptions from various reporting requirements including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. In addition, we have elected under the JOBS Act to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
When these exemptions cease to apply, we expect to incur additional expenses and devote increased management effort toward ensuring compliance with them. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur as a result of becoming a public company or the timing of such costs.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
We have failed, and may continue to fail, to meet the listing standards of Nasdaq, and as a result, our common stock may become delisted, which could have a material adverse effect on the trading, liquidity, and market price of our common stock.
We must satisfy Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, including, among other things, a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share and timely filing of all periodic financial reports, or risk delisting, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
On September 14, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that, because the bid price for our common stock has fallen below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, we no longer comply with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Bid Price Rule”) for continued listing. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided a period of 180 calendar days, or through March 12, 2024, to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. On March 13, 2024, we received a written notice from Nasdaq that the Company was eligible for an additional 180 calendar day period, or until September 9, 2024 (the “Compliance Date”), to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock must be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten (10) consecutive business days as required under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) before the Compliance Date. If the Company does not regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule by the Compliance Date, the Nasdaq staff will provide written notice to the Company that its common stock is subject to delisting. At that time, the Company may appeal the determination to a Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the “Panel’). A timely request for a hearing will stay any suspension or delisting action pending the issuance of the Panel’s decision.
This is not the first instance of Sonim’s non-compliance with the Bid Price Rule. We intend to actively monitor the closing bid price of our common stock and, as appropriate, will consider available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule, including potentially seeking to effect a reverse share split, if necessary. There can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with respect to the current deficiency including by effecting a reverse share split, or that we will be able to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq Capital Market continued listing requirements in the future or regain compliance with respect to any future deficiencies. In the event we are delisted from Nasdaq, the only established trading market for our common stock would be eliminated, and we would be forced to list our shares on the OTC Markets or another quotation medium, depending on our ability to meet the specific listing requirements of those quotation systems. As a result, an investor would likely find it more difficult to trade or obtain accurate price quotations for our shares. Delisting would likely also reduce the visibility, liquidity, and value of our common stock, reduce institutional investor interest in our company, and may increase the volatility of our common stock. Delisting could also cause a loss of confidence of potential industry partners, lenders, and employees, which could further harm our business and our future prospects.
In prior years, we identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting which, if not remediated, could have resulted in material misstatements in our financial statements.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we identified one material weakness in internal control over financial reporting that pertains to a deficiency in the design and implementation of IT general controls, including elevated (administrator) access to financial reporting systems and subsystems, which are not appropriately restricted and segregated.
We developed and implemented a plan to remediate the material weakness in 2023. The material weakness has been remediated as of December 31, 2023. We cannot assure you that we will not identify additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting in the future.
We may become a “controlled company” within the meaning of the applicable rules of Nasdaq and, as a result, may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. If we rely on these exemptions, our stockholders will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.
Jefferey Wang, a member of our board of directors and the sole manager of AJP, beneficially owns approximately 45.3% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock as of December 31, 2023. Although the sale of shares of our common stock pursuant to this prospectus may decrease the beneficial ownership of Mr. Wang, in the event of purchasing more shares of our common stock Mr. Wang may control a majority of the voting power, and we may then be a “controlled company” within the meaning of applicable rules of the Nasdaq at the time of conversion. Under these rules, a company is a “controlled company” if more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, group, or another company, and such company may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that the company have: (i) a majority of its board of directors comprised of independent directors; (ii) a nominating and corporate governance committee comprised solely of independent directors; (iii) a compensation committee comprised solely of independent directors; and (iv) an annual performance evaluation of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees.
Though we currently neither anticipate becoming a “controlled company,” nor taking advantage of any “controlled company” exemptions even if deemed to be a “controlled company,” if we were to be deemed to be a “controlled company” and were to elect to be exempt from some or all of these corporate governance requirements, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
Sales of our common stock under the currently effective registration statement or the perception of such sales in the public market or otherwise could cause the market price for our common stock to decline, even if our business is doing well.
The sale of shares of our common stock in the public market or otherwise, including sales pursuant to the Form S-3 Registration Statement and Prospectus, dated December 1, 2023, or the perception that such sales could occur, could reduce the prevailing market price of shares of our common stock and increase the volatility of our share price. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us:
● to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate; and
● to comply with the Nasdaq listing standards with regard to the minimum bid price of our common stock.
Resales of our common stock may cause the market price of our securities to drop significantly.
The shares of common stock offered for resale pursuant to the Form S-3 Registration Statement and Prospectus, dated December 1, 2023, represent approximately 48.4% of the outstanding shares of our common stock as of December 31, 2023, and approximately 99% of our public float. Until such time that this registration statement is no longer effective, the registration statement will permit the resale of these shares. As such, sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time.
Our quarterly results may vary significantly from period to period, which could make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below investor, analyst, or our expectations.
Our quarterly results and, in particular, our revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, operating margins and net income (loss), have historically varied significantly from period to period and may continue to do so in the future. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Our budgeted expense levels are based, in large part, on our expectations of future revenue and the development efforts associated with that future revenue. Due to our smaller scale compared to many of our customers, we are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of changes in these customers’ order forecasts. Consequently, if our revenue does not meet projected levels in the short-term, our inventory levels, cost of goods sold and operating expenses would be high relative to revenue, resulting in potential operating losses. If our revenue or operating results do not meet the expectations of investors, the price of our common stock may decline substantially.
Factors that may contribute to fluctuations in our quarterly results, many of which are outside our control and may be difficult to predict, include:
● fluctuations in demand, sales cycles and prices for products and services, including discounts given in response to competitive pricing pressures or to secure long-term customer relationships, as well as the timing of purchases by our key customers;
● fluctuations in our customer, product or geographic mix, including the impact of new customer deployments, which typically carry lower gross margins, customer consolidation, which may affect our ability to grow revenue, and products powered by our next-generation technologies, which initially tend to be lower margin due to higher per unit production costs and greater variability in production yields;
● the timing, market acceptance and rate of adoption of our new product releases and our competitors’ new product releases;
● our ability to manage manufacturing costs, maintain or improve quality, and increase volumes and yields on products;
● our ability to successfully restructure or transform our operations within our anticipated time frame and realize our anticipated savings;
● the price, quality and timing of delivery of key components from suppliers, including any shipping cost increases or delays in the supply of components, as well as impacts due to consolidations amongst our suppliers;
● order cancellations, reductions or delays in delivery schedules by our customers;
● any delay in collecting or failure to collect accounts receivable;
● our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses and the costs and availability of components we purchase for our products;
● any significant changes in the competitive dynamics of the markets we serve, including any new entrants, new technologies, or customer or competitor consolidation, as well as aggressive pricing tactics by our competitors;
● our ability to manage inventory while timely meeting customer demand and avoiding charges for excess or obsolete inventory;
● the availability of third-party service partners to provide contract development and manufacturing services for us;
● the timing of revenue recognition and revenue deferrals;
● any future changes in U.S. GAAP or new interpretations of existing accounting rules;
● the impact of a significant natural disaster, as well as interruptions or shortages in the supply of utilities such as water and electricity;
● general economic and political conditions in domestic and international markets, and other factors beyond our control; and
● additional developments regarding our intellectual property portfolio and regulatory exclusivity protections, if any.
The financial and operational projections that we may provide from time to time are subject to inherent risks.
The projections and timelines that our management may provide from time to time (including with respect to financial or operational matters and the expansion of our product portfolio and business lines) reflect numerous assumptions made by our management with respect to our specific, as well as general business, economic, market and financial conditions, including our ability to correctly assess the demand to such products from different consumers and other matters, all of which may be difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control.
Accordingly, there is a risk that the assumptions made in preparing the projections, or the projections themselves, will prove inaccurate or that our organic growth and expansion may be curtailed. You should be prepared for differences between actual and projected results from time to time. Our future actual results may be materially different from those contained in our projections, both as to amounts and as to timing. The inclusion of projections or timelines in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any other filing we make with the SEC or otherwise communicated to investors by us should not be regarded as an indication that we or our management or representatives considered or consider such projections and timelines to be a reliable prediction of future events, and the projections and timelines should not be relied upon as such.
Unless our common stock continues to be listed on a national securities exchange it will become subject to the so-called “penny stock” rules that impose restrictive sales practice requirements.
If we are unable to maintain the listing of our common stock on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange, our common stock could become subject to the so-called “penny stock” rules if the shares have a market value of less than $5.00 per share. The SEC has adopted regulations that define a penny stock to include any stock that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions, including an exception for stock traded on a national securities exchange. The SEC regulations impose restrictive sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell penny stocks to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. An accredited investor generally is a person whose individual annual income exceeded $200,000, or whose joint annual income with a spouse exceeded $300,000 during the past two years and who expects their annual income to exceed the applicable level during the current year, or a person with net worth in excess of $1.0 million, not including the value of the investor’s principal residence and excluding mortgage debt secured by the investor’s principal residence up to the estimated fair market value of the home, except that any mortgage debt incurred by the investor within 60 days prior to the date of the transaction shall not be excluded from the determination of the investor’s net worth unless the mortgage debt was incurred to acquire the residence. For transactions covered by this rule, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must have received the purchaser’s written consent to the transaction prior to sale. This means that if we are unable to maintain the listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange, the ability of stockholders to sell their common stock in the secondary market could be adversely affected. If a transaction involving a penny stock is not exempt from the SEC’s rule, a broker-dealer must deliver a disclosure schedule relating to the penny stock market to each investor prior to a transaction. The broker-dealer also must disclose the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and its registered representative, current quotations for the penny stock, and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market-maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer’s presumed control over the market. Finally, monthly statements must be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the customer’s account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.
Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may delay or prevent a change in control and may discourage bids for our common stock at a premium over its market price.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide for, among other things:
● the authorization of undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval;
● advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals; and
● certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings.
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 you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and cause us to take other corporate actions than you desire.
Additionally, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. These provisions prohibit large stockholders, in particular a stockholder owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock, from consummating a merger or combination with a corporation unless this stockholder receives board approval for the transaction or 66 2/3% of the shares of voting stock not owned by the stockholder approve the merger or transaction. These provisions of DGCL may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control, and may discourage bids for our common stock at a premium over its market price.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, employees, agents or trustees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee of ours arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each such case subject to such Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation described in the preceding sentence. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, this exclusive forum provision will not apply to claims which are vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, or for which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware does not have subject matter jurisdiction. For instance, the provision would not apply to actions arising under federal securities laws, including suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, jurisdiction over which is exclusively vested by statute in the U.S. federal courts. This exclusive choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the U.S. federal district courts as the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. We will seek to enforce these provisions.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision. The Delaware Supreme Court recently determined that the exclusive forum provision of federal district courts of the United States of America for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act is permissible and enforceable under Delaware law, reversing an earlier decision from the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware that had ruled that such provisions were not enforceable. In light of the Delaware Supreme Court determination that Delaware law permits exclusive federal forum provisions, we have sought to enforce the exclusive federal forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation including in pending litigation. Enforcement of this provision could result in additional costs. If we face relevant litigation and are unable to enforce this provision, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate or decline, resulting in substantial loss of your investment.
The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to, among other things, the factors described in this “Risk Factors” section or otherwise, and other factors beyond our control, such as fluctuations in the valuations of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us.
Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market fluctuations, as well as general economic, systemic, political, and market conditions, such as recessions, interest rate changes, or international currency fluctuations, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.
The trading price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and subject to wide price fluctuations in response to various factors, including:
● market conditions in the broader stock market in general, or in our industry in particular
● actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial and operating results;
● introduction of new products and services by us or our competitors;
● sales, or anticipated sales, of large blocks of our stock;
● issuance of new or changed securities analysts’ reports or recommendations;
● failure of industry or securities analysts to maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates by any industry or securities analysts that follow our company, or our failure to meet such estimates;
● additions or departures of key personnel;
● regulatory or political developments;
● changes in accounting principles or methodologies;
● acquisitions by us or by our competitors;
● litigation and governmental investigations; and
● economic, political, and geopolitical conditions or events.
These and other factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have often instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock.
General Risk Factors
Natural or man-made disasters and other similar events may significantly disrupt our business, and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.
Any of our facilities may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, nuclear disasters, acts of terrorism or other criminal activities, infectious disease outbreaks, and power outages, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to operate our business for some period of time. Any disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business and operating results and harm our reputation. For example, our headquarters in Austin, Texas were shut down without power or water for several days in 2021. In addition, we may not carry business insurance or may not carry sufficient business insurance to compensate for losses that may occur. Any such losses or damages could have a significant adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the facilities of significant vendors may be harmed or rendered inoperable by such natural or man-made disasters, which may cause disruptions, difficulties or significant adverse impact on our business.
Increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from investors, customers, lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders regarding environmental, social and governance, or ESG-related practices and disclosures may adversely affect our reputation, adversely impact our ability to attract and retain employees or customers, expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community or enforcement authorities or otherwise adversely impact our business and results of operations.
There is increasing scrutiny and evolving expectations from investors, customers, lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders on ESG-related practices and disclosures, including those related to environmental stewardship, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion, forced labor, racial justice, and workplace conduct. Regulators have imposed, and likely will continue to impose, ESG-related rules and guidance, which may conflict with one another and impose additional costs on us or expose us to new or additional risks. Moreover, certain organizations that provide information to investors have developed ratings for evaluating companies on their approach to different ESG-related matters, and unfavorable ratings of us or our industry may lead to negative investor sentiment and the diversion of investment to other companies or industries. As a smaller company, we may not have resources to meet the evolving ESG-related expectations of an investment community.
Our operations and performance depend significantly on global and regional economic conditions and adverse economic conditions can materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We are highly susceptible to the global supply chain and any disruptions. The majority of our suppliers and manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. As a result, the Company’s operations and performance depend significantly on global and regional economic conditions.
Adverse macroeconomic conditions, including inflation or recession, new or increased tariffs and other barriers to trade, changes to the U.S. fiscal and monetary policy, tighter credit, higher interest rates, high unemployment, and currency fluctuations can adversely impact consumer confidence and spending and materially adversely affect demand for our products and services. In addition, consumer confidence and spending can be materially adversely affected in response to financial market volatility, negative financial news, declines in income or asset values, energy shortages and cost increases, labor and healthcare costs, and other economic factors. Besides an adverse impact on demand for our products, uncertainty about, or a decline in, global or regional economic conditions can have a significant impact on our counteragents including customers, suppliers, contract manufacturers, logistics providers, cellular network carriers, and channel partners.
These and other economic factors can materially adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations, financial condition, and stock price.
Economic uncertainties or downturns, or political changes, could limit the availability of funds available to our customers and potential customers, which could significantly adversely impact our business.
Current or future economic uncertainties or downturns could adversely impact our business and operating results. Negative conditions in the general economy both in the United States and abroad, including conditions resulting from changes in gross domestic product growth, financial and credit market fluctuations, political deadlock, natural catastrophes, infectious disease outbreaks, and warfare and terrorist attacks in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific region or elsewhere, could cause a decrease in funds available to our customers and potential customers and negatively affect the growth rate of our business.
These economic conditions may make it extremely difficult for our customers and us to forecast and plan future budgetary decisions or business activities accurately, and they could cause our customers to reevaluate their decisions to purchase our solutions, which could delay and lengthen our sales cycles or result in cancellations of planned purchases. Furthermore, during challenging economic times or as a result of political changes, our customers may tighten their budgets and face constraints in gaining timely access to sufficient funding or other credit, which could result in an impairment of their ability to make timely payments to us. In turn, we may be required to increase our allowance for doubtful accounts, which would adversely impact our financial results.
We cannot predict the timing, magnitude or duration of any economic slowdown, instability or recovery, generally or within any particular industry, or the impact of political changes. If the economic conditions of the general economy or industries in which we operate worsen from present levels, or if recent political changes result in less funding being available to purchase our solutions, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely impacted.
Foreign currency fluctuations may reduce our competitiveness and sales in foreign markets.
The relative change in currency values creates fluctuations in product pricing for international customers. These changes in foreign end-customer costs may result in lost orders and reduce the competitiveness of our products in certain foreign markets. These changes may also negatively impact the financial condition of some foreign customers and reduce or eliminate their future orders of our products. In addition, a significant portion of our research and development expenditure takes place in China and India. Fluctuations in the currency values of those countries could negatively impact our operating expenses.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties.
We maintain our corporate headquarters in a leased facility in San Diego, California. In addition, we lease a facility in Shenzhen, China, and a facility in Beijing, China for employees that perform engineering and logistics services. We believe that our facilities are suitable to meet our current needs.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
For information regarding our material legal proceedings, see “Note 12. Commitments and Contingencies” in the accompanying “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in this Annual Report, which information is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Market Information
Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “SONM.”
Holders of Record
As of March 20, 2024, there were 81 holders of record of our common stock based on information furnished by American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, LLC, the transfer agent for our securities.
Dividends
We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not intend to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determinations relating to our dividends and earning retention policies will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, who will review such policies from time to time in light of our earnings, cash flow generation, financial position, results of operations, the terms of our indebtedness and other contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
On October 18, 2023, we issued 230,000 shares of our common stock to a service provider in consideration of consulting services to the Company.
The issuances of the above securities were deemed to be exempt from registration under the Securities Act in reliance upon Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. The service provider described above represented the intention to acquire the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends were affixed to the share certificates issued in such transactions.
Purchase of Equity Securities
None

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. Reserved

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition, Results of Operations.
The following commentary should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes thereto contained in Part IV of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed in the section titled “Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements,” this discussion contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under Item 1A.,”Risk Factors,” included in Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Company Overview
Sonim Technologies is a leading U.S.-based provider of rugged mobile devices and accessories designed for workers physically engaged in their work environments, often in mission-critical roles. As part of our expansion efforts, the Company has introduced our Connected Solutions division which will begin launching products in 2024 in the U.S., Canada and Asia/Pacific. Connected Solutions will primarily consist of devices that connect to the internet including mobile hotspots, fixed wireless devices and USB dongle devices. In addition to this, the Company has expanded its rugged phone portfolio by developing a semi-rugged smartphone that is designed for small businesses through three U.S. carriers beginning in the second half of 2024. The Company is also launching a consumer durable product in late 2024 to address consumers who need more protection in their devices without sacrificing key design elements and maintaining an attractive price point. In 2023, the Company sold tablets that connect to the internet to a customer who rebranded them for sale in the U.S., but such sales have been discontinued in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Since June 2023, the Company has received thirteen product awards from U.S., Canadian, and an Australian carrier for products that will launch in 2024. This includes seven product awards for rugged phones, five product awards for mobile hotspots, and one product award for a consumer durable smartphone. The thirteen product awards compare to one or two product awards per year that the Company received in years prior to 2023.
Revenues in 2023 were primarily generated from sales of our mobile phones and industrial-grade accessories, predominantly to wireless carriers in the United States and Canada. We currently have products available at all three U.S. Tier-one carriers - AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as well as the three primary carriers in Canada - Bell, Telus and Rogers. These carriers then resell our products, along with network services, to end customers focusing on two primary end markets: industrial enterprise and public sector. In 2023 and 2022, tablets were sold to a customer who resold them to a carrier in the U.S. The tablet business was not part of our core business as it was under the ODM model where we designed a product for a specific customer, and we found a manufacturer to produce the product. ODM products have lower margins and shorter product lives as compared to our other products.
Given our primary sales channels in the U.S. and Canada consist of large wireless carriers, our customer base is somewhat concentrated. For the year ended December 31, 2023, large wireless carriers contributed 45% of our revenues, with our top three carrier customers accounting for 40%. Our tablet customer represented 48% of our revenue while smartphones constituted 34% of our revenues and feature phones 17% of our revenues. To help control and manage the quality, cost and reliability of our supply chain, we directly manage the procurement of certain final assembly materials used in our products, which include memory and LCDs. To help contain costs and improve the efficiency of our operations, we have outsourced substantially all of our manufacturing functions, software development and quality control functions to third parties, transferring the employees who previously performed this work. We continue to develop differentiated products to attract and retain customers.
While we continue to design ultra rugged phones and accessories, we have broadened our product range to appeal to a more diverse audience. Our core value proposition, which has earned us a loyal following, remains the foundation of our expanded offerings, including rugged durable phones and wireless data devices. These new products will not only expand our portfolio of products but will also allow the Company to diversify our customer base into new markets. New product launches for hotspots, our new rugged phone for small businesses, and our consumer-oriented phone will begin in 2024 and sales are expected to grow over the next few years.
Our key value proposition in the market is to incorporate specific elements of our rugged roots into our new products with added durability without sacrificing attractive design and value pricing. We believe this is an underserved market opportunity in the small business and consumer spaces. Our expertise in carrier mobility leads us to a natural extension into data devices, where we can leverage our technical expertise as well as our streamlined organization to bring better quality, better specs, and low cost to the marketplace.
Recent Developments
Recent Product Awards
The first step in selling our products through cell phone carriers is to receive a product award from the carrier. The award documents the intent of the carrier to carry the proposed product and offer it to customers through their stores or online. The carrier and Sonim agree to a launch date that is generally nine months or longer from the date of the product award. After the product award, the Company and its partners complete the design that includes the unique specifications from the carrier, test the device, obtain certification from the carrier to sell the device, and begin full scale manufacturing of the product based on purchase orders issued by the carrier.
In the third quarter of 2023, the Company received five separate product awards for the new hotspot devices that connect users to the internet through the 4G or 5G phone network. These devices can replace a cable modem at a much lower monthly cost, are portable, and can be used anywhere that is covered by the 4G or 5G networks. These product awards are from three tier-one carriers in the U.S., one tier-one carrier in Canada, and one tier-one carrier in Australia. The Company expects to launch the hotspots with different carriers beginning in the second quarter of 2024, through the fourth quarter of 2024. Incremental revenue and incremental net income are expected once these products are launched.
In the third quarter of 2023 and in the first quarter of 2024, the Company received three product awards for a new rugged smartphone from U.S. carriers. This phone is sleeker than our ultra-rugged smartphone and will be targeted to small businesses that are exposed to challenging environments and who want a more durable phone that looks and feels like other consumer phones and has the same great features as other Android phones. This product is expected to launch in the second half of 2024.
In the third quarter of 2023, the Company also received a product award for a value 5G smartphone from a tier-one U.S. carrier. This phone looks and feels like other consumer phones and has the same great Android features. The differentiator is that it is much more durable than other phones, and it does not require a separate protective case. This product is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Closure of the SEC Investigation with No Enforcement Action
On March 6, 2023, we received a letter from the SEC that stated that the SEC has concluded the investigation of the Company and does not intend to recommend any enforcement action against the Company.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Currently, our principal source of liquidity consists of cash and cash equivalents totaling $9.4 million, as of December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our net loss was $0.1 million and our use of cash in operations was $4.1 million. Our cash balance is expected to cover any negative cash flow that may be caused by developing new products over the next year. Increased revenue from new products is expected to increase cash flow in the second half of 2024. We expect to meet all obligations with existing cash and operating cash flow for a period of at least one year from the date of release of the financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
Expansion into Europe and the Middle East
In January 2024, the Bullitt Group Ltd., a competitor of the Company for rugged phones, shutdown. This creates an opportunity for the Company to sell our existing rugged phones and to develop new rugged phones for customers that were formally served by Bullitt in Europe and around the world. We are increasing our sales teams for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and are expanding our service infrastructure to serve former Bullitt customers. We expect higher sales in Europe in 2024 and in future years.
Nasdaq Delisting and Reverse Stock Split
On September 14, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that, because the bid price for our common stock has fallen below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days, we no longer comply with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Bid Price Rule”) for continued listing. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided a period of 180 calendar days, or through March 12, 2024, to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. On March 13, 2024, such period was extended by an additional 180 calendar days, or through September 9, 2024. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock must be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten (10) consecutive business days as required under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) (unless the Nasdaq staff exercises its discretion to extend this 10-day period pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(H)) during the 180-day period).
If the Company does not regain compliance during this second 180-day period, the Nasdaq staff will provide written notice to us that our common stock is subject to delisting. At that time, we may appeal the delisting determination to a hearings panel pursuant to the procedures set forth in the applicable Nasdaq Listing Rules. However, there can be no assurance that, if Sonim does appeal the delisting determination by Nasdaq to the panel, such appeal would be successful.
This is not the first instance of Sonim’s non-compliance with the Bid Price Rule. We intend to actively monitor the closing bid price of our common stock and, as appropriate, will consider available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule, including potentially seeking to effect a reverse share split, if necessary. There can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with respect to the current deficiency including by effecting a reverse share split, or that we will be able to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq Capital Market continued listing requirements in the future or regain compliance with respect to any future deficiencies. In the event we are delisted from Nasdaq, the only established trading market for our common stock would be eliminated, and we would be forced to list our shares on the OTC Markets or another quotation medium, depending on our ability to meet the specific listing requirements of those quotation systems. As a result, an investor would likely find it more difficult to trade or obtain accurate price quotations for our shares. Delisting would likely also reduce the visibility, liquidity, and value of our common stock, reduce institutional investor interest in our company, and may increase the volatility of our common stock. Delisting could also cause a loss of confidence of potential industry partners, lenders, and employees, which could further harm our business and our future prospects.
Macroeconomic Events
During the fiscal year 2023, we operated under challenging market conditions, influenced by global events beyond our control such as inflation, supply chain disruptions, tensions between the U.S. and China, war in Ukraine, the overall international instability, and other events discussed in “Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Form 10-K. We have implemented and continue to implement measures to address those challenges. We also continue to actively manage our inventory and establish a relationship with third-party manufacturers in an effort to minimize supply chain disruptions. Nevertheless, the above-described events had and will continue to impact the global macroeconomic and geopolitical environments, capital and commodity markets, and global supply chains, which may have an adverse impact on our operations and hinder our ability to access capital, if needed. Our cost of revenue may increase if the component prices increase.
Key Metrics
We review a variety of key financial metrics to help us evaluate growth trends, establish budgets, measure the effectiveness of our business strategies and assess operational efficiencies.
Units Sold
Our smartphones include the XP10 model sold in 2023 and 2022, and our XP8 model sold in 2022. The number of smartphone units sold during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 increased by 89%, primarily because the XP10 was launched in November 2022 and had a full year of sales in 2023. The Company’s tablet sales increased by 52% in 2023 as compared to 2022 because the tablet was launched in the third quarter of 2022, and 2023 had nine months of tablet sales. We stopped selling the tablet in October, 2023. Our feature phones include the XP3plus, XP3, XP5, XP5s, and XP5plus models. The number of feature phone units sold during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 decreased by 32%, primarily because 2022 had higher sales of the XP3plus after it was launched in September 2021.
Set forth below is units sold by product category (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
Smartphones
Feature phones
Tablets and other
Total Units Sold
Adjusted EBITDA
In addition to our financial results determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we believe the following non-GAAP and operational measures are useful in evaluating our performance-related metrics.
Set forth below is a reconciliation from net loss to Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
Net loss $ (90 ) $ (14,087 )
Depreciation and amortization 2,206 2,375
Stock-based compensation 1,496 1,551
Interest expense
Income taxes
Adjusted EBITDA $ 4,001 $ (9,880 )
We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss adjusted to exclude the impact of stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, interest expense, and income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA is a useful financial metric in assessing our operating performance from period to period by excluding certain items that we believe are not representative of our core business, such as certain material non-cash items and other adjustments, such as stock-based compensation.
We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, viewed in addition to, and not in lieu of, our reported GAAP results, provides useful information to investors regarding our performance and overall results of operations for various reasons, including:
● non-cash equity grants made to employees at a certain price do not necessarily reflect the performance of our business at such time, and as such, stock-based compensation expense is not a key measure of our operating performance; and
● non-cash depreciation and amortization are not considered a key measure of our operating performance.
We use Adjusted EBITDA:
● as a measure of operating performance;
● for planning purposes, including the preparation of budgets and forecasts;
● to allocate resources to enhance the financial performance of our business;
● to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies;
● in communications with our board of directors concerning our financial performance; and
● as a consideration in determining compensation for certain key employees.
Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations include:
● it does not reflect all cash expenditures, future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
● it does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital needs;
● it does not reflect interest expense on our debt or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments; and
● other companies in our industry may define and/or calculate this metric differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
We believe that the growth and future success of our business depend on many factors. While these factors present significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address to improve our results of operations.
Research and Development
We believe that our performance is significantly dependent on the investments we make in research and development and that we must continue to develop and introduce innovative new products on a two- to three-year cycle. Our partnerships with ODMs are expected to enable us to shift between different types and numbers of devices under development while increasing the size of our internal team at a slower pace than our growth in revenue.
While the hardware design of our phones is generally the same for all wireless carriers, each device must be configured to conform to the requirements of each wireless carrier’s network, resulting in higher development expenses as the number of wireless carriers we sell through increases. In addition to the design and configuration costs, each device must undergo a multi-month technical approval process at each carrier before it can be certified to be stocked at each carrier. The approval process for each device for each carrier has historically cost between $1 million and $3 million. We capitalize these certification costs as contract fulfillment assets and amortize them over the estimated life of the product. Prior to the commencement of development of a product for certification, we generally do not receive any purchase orders or commitments. Following a carrier’s review of product concepts, we may receive a product award letter from that carrier to move forward with the development and certification process, at which time we may begin receiving advance purchase orders or commitments. Since the timing of when we seek technical approval with our wireless carriers tends to be cyclical in nature, quarter-over-quarter expenditures may vary significantly depending on the number of approvals in process during the quarter. If we fail to innovate and enhance our product offerings, our brand, market position and revenues may be adversely affected. If our research and development efforts are not successful, then we will not recover these investments that we make.
New Customer Acquisitions
We are focused on continuing to acquire new customers, in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, to support our long-term growth. Historically, we have been dependent on a small number of wireless carriers distributing our products. We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in our sales and marketing efforts to drive new customer acquisitions. We are currently pursuing former customers of Bullitt in Europe and the Middle East to introduce our rugged phone products. A key part of our strategy is to further expand our connected solutions products. We also intend to continue to invest in and expand our international sales teams. As a result, we expect our sales and marketing costs to increase as we seek to acquire new customers. Sales and marketing investments will often occur in advance of any sales benefits from these activities, and it may be difficult for us to determine if we are efficiently allocating our sales and marketing resources.
Seasonality and New Product Introduction
We have historically experienced lower net revenue in our first quarter compared to other quarters in our fiscal year due to seasonal demand associated with the introduction of new products to our lead customers. New product introductions can significantly impact net revenue, gross profit and operating expenses. The timing of product introductions can also impact our net revenue as our wireless carrier customers prepare for a new product launch, and channel inventory of an older product often declines as the launch of a newer product approaches. Net revenue can also be affected when consumers and distributors anticipate a new product introduction. However, neither historical seasonal patterns nor historical patterns of product or service introductions should be considered reliable indicators of our future pattern of product or service introductions, future net sales or financial performance.
Components of Our Results of Operations
The following describes the line items set forth in our consolidated statements of operations.
Revenues
Revenues are recognized on the date that the customer receives the products sold or when title is passed to the customer upon shipment. For products shipped on consignment, revenue is not recognized until the products are sold to the end customer. Any discounts, marketing development funds, product returns or other revenue reductions are treated as offsets to revenues, which is presented on a net basis. A return reserve reduces revenue for products that are sold to distributors with a right of return. We have also historically entered into customer agreements with channel partners that include a combination of products and non-recurring engineering services, or NRE services. When a customer agreement includes NRE services which involve significant design modification and customization of the product software that is essential to the functionality of the hardware, revenues are also recognized as control transfers to the customer under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. All of our revenues are derived from a single segment.
The Company recognizes revenue primarily from the sale of products, including our mobile phones, connected devices, tablets, and accessories, and most of the Company’s contracts include only one performance obligation, namely the delivery of product. A performance obligation is a commitment in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer and is defined as the unit of account for revenue recognition under ASC 606. The Company also recognizes revenue from other contracts that may include a combination of products and NRE services or from the provision of solely NRE services. Where there is a combination of products and NRE services, the Company accounts for the commitments as individual performance obligations if they are both capable of being distinct and are distinct within the context of the contract.
Our customer agreements with channel partners set forth the terms pursuant to which our channel partners purchase our products for distribution on a purchase order basis. While these arrangements are typically long term, they generally do not contain any firm purchase volume commitments. As a result, our channel partners are not contractually obligated to purchase from us any minimum number of products. However, while our channel partners provide us with demand forecasts under these sales arrangements, we are generally required to satisfy any and all purchase orders delivered to us within specified delivery windows, with limited exceptions (such as orders significantly in excess of forecasts). Our sales arrangements also generally include technical performance standards for our mobile phones and accessories sold, which vary by channel partner. If a technical issue with any of our covered products exceeds certain preset failure thresholds for the relevant performance standard or standards, the channel partner typically has the right to cease selling the product, cancel open purchase orders and levy certain monetary penalties. In addition, our channel partners retain sole discretion in which of their stocked products to offer their customers.
We also offer our channel partners channel marketing and other limited promotional incentives, such as sales volume incentives, in exchange for retail price reductions. Under certain of our customer agreements, we may also offer NRE services in the form of third-party design services relating to the design of materials and software licenses used in the manufacturing of our products.
Our tablet sales were with a customer that imported the tablets to the U.S., where the tablets were branded, and sold to a U.S. retailer. Tablet sales ended in October 2023 and are not expected to be resumed in 2024.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit/Gross Margin
Cost of revenues for products manufactured by third parties is the negotiated price that the Company pays for the products. Cost of revenues includes other direct costs related to the final product to the customer, including such items as shipping costs, royalties on third-party technology included in the product, warranty cost accruals, supply chain costs, logistics costs, and packaging and handling costs.
Amortization of NRE expenses and contract fulfillment costs are part of cost of revenues. Gross profit is defined as revenues less cost of revenues. Gross margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenues. We expect that our gross margin may fluctuate from period to period, primarily because of changes in average selling price, changes in the price that we pay for inventory, revenue mix among our devices, and shipping costs. In addition, we may reserve against the value at which we carry our inventory based upon the device’s lifecycle and conditions in the markets in which we sell.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of the following categories:
Research and development. Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation and employee benefits, as well as outsourced costs incurred through our ODM partnerships and other third parties. Research and development expenses also include the costs of developing new products and supporting existing products. Research and development activities include the design of new products, refinement of existing products and design of test methodologies to ensure compliance with required specifications. We consider costs associated with achieving technical acceptance with each product at each carrier to be a contract fulfillment cost that we capitalize. We expect our research and development expenses to fluctuate over time as we experience the various product cycles of our devices.
Sales and marketing. Sales expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, commissions to sales representatives, travel costs and employee benefits, as well as field support and customer training costs. Marketing expenses include all social media and collateral print media, and brand development expenses.
General and administrative. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, travel costs and employee benefits, as well as professional and consulting fees, legal fees, and insurance costs.
Income taxes. As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements we are required to estimate our taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. We account for income taxes in accordance with the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based on temporary differences between the financial reporting and income tax bases of assets and liabilities and the tax effects of net operating loss and credit carryforwards using the enacted tax rates expected to apply in the periods of expected settlement. In addition, this method requires a valuation allowance against net deferred tax assets if, based upon the available evidence, it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.
Results of Operations
Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022:
The following tables present key components of our results of operations for the respective periods (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31, vs 2022
Increase
(Decrease)
%
Net revenues $ 93,632 $ 69,828 $ 23,804 34.1 %
Cost of revenues 74,308 58,205 16,103 27.7 %
Gross profit 19,324 11,623 7,701 66.3 %
Operating expenses:
Research and development 1,772 7,973 (6,201 ) -77.8 %
Sales and marketing 8,768 7,274 1,494 20.5 %
General and administrative 8,271 10,666 (2,395 ) -22.5 %
Total operating expenses 18,811 25,913 (7,102 ) -27.4 %
Net income (loss) from operations (14,290 ) 14,803 -103.6 %
Interest expense (15 ) (97 ) -84.5 %
Other income (expense), net (214 ) (698 ) -144.2 %
Net income (loss) before income taxes (13,903 ) 14,187 -102.0 %
Income tax expense (374 ) (184 ) (190 ) 103.3 %
Net loss $ (90 ) $ (14,087 ) $ 13,997 -99.4 %
Net revenues. Net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased by $23.8 million, or 34.1% to $93.6 million compared to $69.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in net revenues was primarily due to an increase in smartphone sales of $13.6 million and tablet sales of $15.3 million, partially offset by a decrease in feature phone sales. Tablet sales stopped in October 2023 with the end of the product’s life cycle. We expanded our product portfolio with two low-cost smartphones that were developed through our ODM model and started shipping in December 2023, which contributed $0.4 million in revenue in 2023. We have thirteen new product awards, five for mobile hotspots, seven for new rugged phones, and one for a new consumer durable phone. These products are all expected to launch in 2024, and will result in higher revenue in the second half of 2024 and in future years.
Cost of revenues. Total cost of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased $16.1 million, or 27.7%, to $74.3 million, or 79.4% of net revenues, compared to $58.2 million, or 83.4% of net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was attributable to the increase in net revenues. The lower cost of revenues as a percentage of net revenues in 2023 was due to sales mix and specifically the sale of relatively higher margin smartphones in 2023.
Gross profit and margin. Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased $7.7 million, or 66.3%, to $19.3 million, or 20.6% of net revenues, from $11.6 million, or 16.6% of net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase in gross profit was primarily due to higher revenue from smartphone and tablet sales. Gross profit margins reflected a more favorable product mix due to increased sales of the refreshed XP10 rugged smartphone.
Research and development. Research and development (“R&D”) expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023, decreased by $6.2 million, or 77.8%, to $1.8 million compared to $8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was due to 2022 including R&D on the XP10 and the XP5plus that were launched in 2022. R&D expense in 2023 included spending on the new mobile hotspots, and two new smartphones that will launch in 2024.
Sales and marketing. Sales and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased by $1.5 million, or 20.5%, to $8.8 million compared to $7.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase is due to the hiring of new personnel to drive the Company’s expansion into data devices, and the expansion of the sales team to serve Europe, the Middle East and Australia.
General and administrative. General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023, decreased by $2.4 million, or 22.5%, to $8.3 million compared to $10.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This decrease was primarily due to severance costs of $1.2 million incurred in 2022 due to a change in the management team, a decrease in finance headcount, and lower directors and officers insurance costs.
Interest expense. Interest expense is less than $0.1 million in both years because the Company had minimal debt.
Other income (expense), net. Other income (expense), net, decreased by $0.7 million primarily because 2022 had a $0.7 million gain on the termination of the San Mateo office lease.
Income tax expense. We recognized an income tax provision of $0.4 million in 2023 as compared to $0.2 million in 2022. This increase in tax expense in 2023 is primarily due to the Company’s increase in foreign tax expense for its foreign subsidiaries in 2023 as compared to 2022.
Net loss. The net loss for December 31, 2023, was $0.1 million compared to $14.1 million for December 31, 2022. This $14.0 million improvement is primarily due to a $7.7 million increase in gross profit due to higher revenue, a $6.2 million decrease in R&D expenses, and a $2.4 million decrease in General and Administrative expenses, partially offset by a $1.5 million increase in Sales and Marketing expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA was $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to negative $9.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This improvement was primarily due to the same factors in the improvement to Net Loss.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Historically, we have funded operations from a combination of public and private equity financings, convertible loans from existing investors and borrowings under loan agreements. As of December 31, 2023, we did not have any convertible loans or any other borrowing structures in place.
Currently, our principal source of liquidity consists of cash and cash equivalents totaling $9.4 million as of December 31, 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our net loss was $0.1 million. In 2024 we will be launching new products beginning in the second quarter, and these new products are expected to incrementally improve cash flow. In 2024, we will continue to use cash to complete the certification of our new products with the carriers, to develop new products, and to expand our sales and marketing teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. We will adjust our spending to ensure that our cash is sufficient to cover any future negative cash flow.
Our management is currently evaluating various funding alternatives and may seek to raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, mezzanine or debt securities, or through arrangements with strategic or investment partners with greater resources or access to funds, or through obtaining credit from government or financial institutions. As we seek additional sources of financing, there can be no assurance that such financing would be available to us on favorable terms or at all. Our ability to obtain additional financing in the debt and equity capital markets is subject to several factors, including market and economic conditions, our performance and investor sentiment with respect to us and our industry. The shares of our common stock offered for resale pursuant to the Form S-3 Registration Statement and Prospectus, dated December 1, 2023, represented approximately 48.4% of the outstanding shares of our common stock as of December 31, 2023, and approximately 99% of our public float. Given the substantial number of shares of our common stock registered for resale, the perception in the market that the selling securityholders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares could increase the volatility of the market price of our common stock or result in a significant decline in the public trading price of our common stock and hinder our efforts to address our capital needs by means of the sale of our securities.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for the periods presented (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
Net cash used in operating activities $ (4,052 ) $ (12,360 )
Net cash used in investing activities (36 ) (8 )
Net cash provided by financing activities 14,348
Cash flows from operating activities
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash used in operating activities was $4.1 million. Non-cash charges were $4.3 million and changes in operating assets and liabilities were a net use of $8.3 million. Non-cash charges primarily consisted of $2.2 million in depreciation and amortization, $1.5 million in stock-based compensation, $0.4 million in payment for services with common stock, partially offset by non-cash lease liability amortization. The changes in our net operating assets and liabilities were primarily due to an increase in contract fulfillment assets of $4.5 from the capitalization of certification costs, an increase of $3.0 million in accounts receivable due to the timing of sales at year-end, and an increase of $2.6 million in inventory due to the timing of shipments at year-end. These cash decreases were partially offset by a decrease of $1.3 million in non-trade receivables due to the timing of parts deliveries to our manufacturers.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $12.4 million, primarily attributable to a net loss of $14.1 million. Non-cash charges were $1.3 million and changes in operating assets and liabilities were $0.2 million. Non-cash charges primarily consisted of $1.5 million in stock-based compensation, $0.5 million in payment for services with common stock, partially offset by non-cash lease liability amortization, and $0.7 million in a non-cash gain on the termination of a lease. The changes in our net operating assets and liabilities were primarily due to an increase of $11.7 million in accounts payable due to amounts payable to the tablet vendors, a decrease in prepaid expenses of $3.5 million due to the release of prepaid taxes, deposits for manufacturing inventory and prepaid NRE, and a decrease in inventory of $1.3 million. These were partially offset by a $11.3 million increase in accounts receivable from the tablet customer, an increase in capitalized contract fulfillment costs of $4.8 million, and a decrease in accrued expenses of $1.1 million.
Cash flows from investing activities
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, cash used in investing activities was less than $0.1 million each year.
Cash flows from financing activities
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash provided by financing activities was $0.3 million, primarily due to $0.4 million in proceeds from the exercise of stock options, partially offset by $0.1 million for the repayment of debt.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash provided by financing activities was $14.3 million, primarily due to proceeds from the AJP transaction (see Note 9).
Material Cash Requirements
We had approximately $13.5 million in noncancelable purchase orders for inventory and other operating expenses as of December 31, 2023. We anticipate the source of funds to meet these obligations to be existing cash and future product sales.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Certain accounting policies and estimates are particularly important to the understanding of our financial position and results of operations and require the application of significant judgment by our management or can be materially affected by changes from period to period in economic factors or conditions that are outside of our control. As a result, they are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty. In applying these policies, management uses their judgment to determine the appropriate assumptions to be used in the determination of certain estimates. Those estimates are based on our historical operations, our future business plans and projected financial results, the terms of existing contracts, our observance of trends in the industry, information provided by our customers and information available from other outside sources, as appropriate.
Contract Fulfillment Assets and Amortization
The Company determined that the NRE technical approval costs and the NRE field test costs are contract fulfillment costs and recognizes the associated NRE asset as these costs are incurred. The Company tracks the NRE assets by product and customer, then amortizes the NRE assets to Cost of Revenues over a period of four years, which is management’s estimated average product life for each model phone, starting from the date of the first significant sales.
Recently Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which requires measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets held. This guidance is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2022. The adoption of this pronouncement did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and resulted in additional disclosures only.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Item Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information under this item.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The following consolidated financial statements of Sonim Technologies, Inc., and the independent registered public accounting firm’s report are incorporated by reference from Part IV, Item 15(1) and (2):
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (Moss Adams LLP, Campbell, California, PCAOB ID: 659)
Consolidated Balance Sheets - At December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Operations - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, prior to filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures
In designing and evaluating disclosure controls and procedures, our management recognizes that any system of controls, however well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance, and not absolute assurance, that the desired control objectives of the system are met. In addition, the design of any control system is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events. Because of these and other inherent limitations of control systems, there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals in all future circumstances. Accordingly, our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of our disclosure control system are met.
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act. Our management has assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, using the criteria established in “Internal Control-Integrated Framework” (2013), issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, or COSO. Based on that assessment, our management has concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.
Remediation of Previously Identified Material Weaknesses in Internal Control
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting related to the design and implementation of our IT general controls including a failure to document reviews of changes to user roles in our financial reporting systems and subsystems. During 2023, we fully implemented additional control procedures over changes to user roles in our financial reporting systems and subsystems and have operated effectively for a sufficient period of time to conclude that the previously identified material weakness has been remediated.
Attestation Report of Registered Public Accounting Firm
This annual report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm on our internal control over financial reporting due to an exemption established for “emerging growth companies” under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Except as otherwise disclosed, there was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information.
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, or the Code of Conduct, applicable to all of our employees, executive officers, and directors. The Code of Conduct is available on our website at www.sonimtech.com. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors will be responsible for overseeing the Code of Conduct and must approve any waivers of the Code of Conduct for employees, executive officers, and directors. We expect that any amendments to the Code of Conduct, or any waivers of its requirements, will be disclosed on our website.
The additional information required by this Item 10 will either be (i) included in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or (ii) incorporated by reference from our definitive proxy statement to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our 2023 fiscal year.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
The information required by this Item 11 will either be (i) included in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or (ii) incorporated by reference from our definitive proxy statement for the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, in either case to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our 2023 fiscal year.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
The information required by this Item 12 will either be (i) included in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or (ii) incorporated by reference from our definitive proxy statement for the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, in either case to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our 2023 fiscal year.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
The information required by this Item 13 will either be (i) included in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or (ii) incorporated by reference from our definitive proxy statement for the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, in either case to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our 2023 fiscal year.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The information required by this Item 14 will either be (i) included in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or (ii) incorporated by reference from our definitive proxy statement for the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, in either case to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our 2023 fiscal year.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules.
The following documents are filed as part of this report:
1. Financial Statements. The following - consolidated financial statements and related documents are filed as part of this report:
Financial Statements
Page
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Balance Sheets - At December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Operations - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows - Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
to
2. Financial Statement Schedules. Schedules are omitted because they are not required or applicable, or the required information is included in the Financial Statements or related notes.
3. Exhibits. The Exhibits listed in the accompanying Exhibit Index are filed or incorporated by reference as part of, or furnished with, this report.
Exhibit Index
Incorporation by Reference
Exhibit
Number
Exhibit Description
Form
File No.
Exhibit
Filing Date
3.1
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant
8-K
001-38907
3.1
May 17, 2019
3.2
Certificate of Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
8-K
001-38907
3.1
September 15, 2021
3.3
Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant
8-K
001-38907
3.1
November 8, 2021
4.1
Form of Common Stock Certificate of the Registrant
S-1/A
333-230887
4.1
April 29, 2019
4.2
Description of the Registrant’s Securities
10-K
001-38907
4.4
March 27, 2020
10.1†
Equity Incentive Plan and forms of agreements thereunder
S-1
333-230887
10.1
April 15, 2019
10.2†
Sonim Technologies, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated as of September 28, 2023
8-K
001-38907
10.1
September 28, 2023
10.3†
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
S-1/A
333-230887
10.3
April 29, 2019
10.4†
Form of Indemnification Agreement, by and between the Registrant and each of its directors and executive officers
S-1
333-230887
10.4
April 15, 2019
10.5+
Frame Purchase Agreement dated December 18, 2020 by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Dongguan Unicair Communication Technology Co. Ltd.
8-K
001-38907
10.1
December 18, 2020
10.6+
Asset Purchase & Employee Transfer Agreement dated December 22, 2020 by and among Sonim Technologies (India) Private Limited and Coforge Ltd.
8-K
001-38907
10.1
December 29, 2020
10.7+
ODM Services Agreement dated February 26, 2021 by and among Sonim Technologies, Inc. and FIH (Hong Kong) Limited
8-K
001-38907
10.1
March 4, 2021
10.8†*
Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy dated as of January 1, 2024
10.9+
Subscription Agreement, dated as of April 13, 2022, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and AJP Holding Company, LLC
8-K
001-38907
10.1
April 14, 2022
10.10†
Retention and Separation Agreement, dated as of April 13, 2022, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Robert Tirva
10-K
001-38907
10.16
May 2, 2022
10.11†
Release Agreement dated as of July 13, 2022, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Robert Tirva
8-K
001-38907
10.3
July 13, 2022
10.12†+
Amended and restated letter agreement, dated as of December 8, 2023, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Clay Crolius
8-K
001-38907
10.2
December 11, 2023
10.13
Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2022, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and AJP Holding Company, LLC
8-K
001-38907
10.5
July 13, 2022
10.14†+
Amended and restated letter agreement, dated as of December 8, 2023, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Hao (Peter) Liu
8-K
001-38907
10.1
December 11, 2023
10.15†
Employment Agreement, dated as of August 23, 2022, by and between Sonim Technologies, Inc. and Charles Becher
10-K/A
001-38907
10.19
May 1, 2023
10.16†
Consulting Agreement by and between the Company and Alan Howe dated as of August 8, 2023
8-K
001-38907
10.1
August 9, 2023
21.1
Subsidiaries of the Registrant
10-K
001-38907
21.1
March 20, 2023
23.1*
Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
31.1*
Certification of Principal Executive Officer 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.
31.2*
Certification of Principal Financial Officer 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.
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.
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.
97.1*
Sonim Technologies, Inc. Clawback Policy for Incentive-based Compensation effective as of October 2, 2023
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
104*
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and Contained in Exhibit 101)
* Filed herewith
** Furnished herewith
† Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement
+ Schedules and certain portions of this exhibit have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(a)(5) and Item 601(b)(10)(iv) of Regulation S-K