YALA Yalla Group Limited

PART I.

Non-GAAP Measures

To supplement the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP, this annual report presents non-GAAP financial measures, namely non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP net income, as supplemental measures to review and assess our operating performance. The presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We define non-GAAP operating income as operating income excluding share-based compensation. We define non-GAAP net income as net income excluding share-based compensation.

By excluding the impact of share-based compensation expenses, which are non-cash charges, we believe that the non-GAAP financial measures help identify underlying trends in our business and enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects. Investors can better understand our operating and financial performance, compare business trends among different reporting periods on a consistent basis and assess our core operating results, as they exclude share-based compensation expenses, which are not expected to result in cash payments. We also believe that the non-GAAP financial measures allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in financial and operational decision-making.

The non-GAAP financial measure is not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measure has limitations as analytical tools. One of the key limitations of using the non-GAAP financial measures is that they do not reflect all items of income and expense that affect our operations. Share-based compensation has been and may continue to be incurred in our business and is not reflected in the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures. Furthermore, the non-GAAP financial measures may differ from the non-GAAP information used by other companies, including peer companies, and therefore their comparability may be limited.

We compensate for these limitations by providing the relevant disclosure of our non-GAAP financial measures in the reconciliations to the nearest U.S. GAAP performance measures, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

The following table reconciles our non-GAAP operating income in the years presented to operating income:

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The following table reconciles our non-GAAP net income in the years presented to net income:

Not Applicable.

Not Applicable.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

If we fail to retain our existing users, keep them engaged or further grow our user base, our business, operation, profitability and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

The size of our user base and the level of our user engagement are critical to our success. Our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform depends on our ability to maintain and increase the size of our user base and user engagement level. We may be unable to attract and retain users or convert non-paying users into paying users. A decline in our user base may also adversely affect the engagement level of our users and vibrancy of the Yalla community, which may in turn reduce attractiveness of our platform and reduce our monetization opportunities. Any of these factors could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Maintaining and improving the size of our user base and level of user engagement is critical to our continued success. To maintain and improve the size of our user base and high level of user engagement, we would have to ensure that we adequately and timely respond to changes in user preferences, adapt to cultural differences in our target markets, and offer new features that may attract new users, among others. There is no guarantee that we could meet any or all of these goals. A number of factors could negatively affect user retention, growth and engagement, including if:

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If we cannot retain our existing users and expand our user base, the network effect provided by the social nature of our platform will diminish and the popularity of our platform and its profitability may be materially and adversely affected. As a result, our results of operations and financial conditions may be material and adversely affected.

We face risks and uncertainties regarding the growth of the voice-centric social networking and entertainment industry and market acceptance of our platform and services.

The voice-centric social networking and entertainment industry is a relatively new and evolving industry. The growth of the voice-centric social networking and entertainment industry and the level of demand and market acceptance of our platform and services are subject to a high degree of uncertainty. Our future operating results will depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include:

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If we fail to anticipate and effectively manage these risks and uncertainties, our market share may decrease, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth and control our spending to maintain such growth, our brand, business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We have experienced a period of rapid growth and expansion that has placed, and continues to place, significant strain on our management and resources. However, given our limited operating history and the rapidly evolving markets in which we compete, we may encounter difficulties as we expand our operations, technology and product development, selling and marketing, and general and administrative capabilities. We cannot assure you that this level of growth will be sustainable in the future. We believe that our continued growth will depend on our ability to attract and retain users, develop an infrastructure to serve and support an expanding user base, increase user engagement levels, explore new monetization avenues, and convert non-paying users to paying users, among others. We cannot assure you that we will be successful with any of the above.

To manage our growth and maintain profitability, we expect our costs and expenses to continue to increase in the future as we anticipate that we will need to continue to implement, from time to time, a variety of new and upgraded operational and technology systems. We will also need to expand, train, manage and motivate our workforce and manage our relationships with users. All of these endeavors involve risks and will require substantial management efforts, skills and significant additional expenditures. We expect to continue to invest in our infrastructure in order to enable us to provide our services rapidly and reliably to users. Continued growth would put strains on our ability to maintain reliable service levels for all of our users. Managing our growth will require significant expenditures and involve the allocation of valuable management resources. If we fail to achieve the necessary level of efficiency in our organization as we grow, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

Our revenue model for voice-centric social networking and entertainment community may not remain effective and we cannot guarantee that our future monetization strategies will be successfully implemented or generate sustainable revenues and profit.

We primarily generate our revenue by providing group chatting and games services. We operate our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform using a revenue model whereby users can get free access to the basic functions on our platform for our group chatting service but have the options to purchase virtual currencies. Individual users consume virtual currencies to purchase virtual items and upgrade services or play games on our platform. Virtual items primarily consist of various virtual gifts and privileges in chat rooms or games. Upgrade services primarily consist of premium rights or premium membership on our platform. Although our voice-centric social networking and entertainment business has experienced significant growth in recent years, we may not achieve a similar growth rate in the future, as the user demand for this service may change, decrease substantially or dissipate, or we may fail to anticipate and serve user demands effectively.

Although we design the virtual currency systems on our platform based on our knowledge about users’ preferences and behavior, there can be no assurance that users will continue to purchase and spend our virtual currencies. If users’ spending habits change and they choose to only access our platform for free without additional purchases, we may not be able to continue to successfully implement the virtual currency-based revenue model for our platform, in which case we may have to develop other value-added services or products to monetize our user base. We cannot guarantee that our attempts to monetize our user base will continue to be successful, profitable or widely accepted, and therefore the future revenue and income potential of our business are difficult to evaluate.

If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand is of significant importance to the success of our business. A well-recognized brand is important to increasing the number of users and the level of engagement of our users. Since we operate in a highly competitive market, brand maintenance and enhancement directly affect our ability to maintain our market position.

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We have developed our Yalla brand mostly through word of mouth referrals and advertisement on search engines, app stores and other social media platforms. As we expand, we may conduct various additional marketing and brand promotion activities using more methods and channels to continue promoting our brand. We cannot assure you, however, that these activities will be successful or that we will be able to achieve the brand promotion effect we expect.

In addition, any negative publicity in relation to our platform, services or operations, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brands and reputation. We have sometimes received, and expect to continue to receive, complaints from users regarding the quality of the services we offer. Negative publicity or public complaints may harm our reputation, and if complaints against us are not addressed to users’ satisfaction, our reputation and our market position could be significantly harmed, which may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and prospects.

We plan to continue expanding into additional markets where we have limited operating experience and may be subject to increased business, economic and other risks that could affect our operating results.

We are headquartered in the UAE, and MENA is our key market. As of December 31, 2020, our mobile platform was available in over 100 countries, with Yalla in eight languages and Yalla Ludo in four languages. We believe the sustainable growth of our business depends on our ability to increase the penetration of our products in both our existing and new markets. Our continued international operations and global expansion may result in increased costs and expose us to a number of challenges and risks, including:

In particular, we face significant challenges to ensure the content presented on our platform is in compliance with the different regulatory frameworks in the jurisdictions in which our platform is available. These jurisdictions may impose stringent restrictions on the content generated by users and onerous requirements for online platforms to monitor content, and our expansion into new markets could cause substantial increases in our compliance costs. Our experience in existing markets may be of limited value in new markets. The different and potentially more stringent regulatory environments in the new markets may increase our risk exposure in our operations. Any incidents related to our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations or remove inappropriate content could materially and adversely affect our business operations and our reputation.

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Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected by these challenges and risks associated with our global operations.

We face competition in several major aspects of our business. If we fail to compete effectively, we may lose users, which could in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face competition in several major aspects of our business. We directly compete with other voice-centric social networking and entertainment platforms for users. In addition, we compete with other social networking and entertainment platforms. Some of our competitors may have longer operating histories and significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do, and in turn may have an advantage in attracting and retaining users and potential business partners. In addition, our competitors may have significantly larger user bases and more established brand names and user stickiness than we do and therefore are able to more effectively leverage their user bases and brand names to provide online social network and other products and services, and thereby increase their respective market shares. In addition, as user preferences evolve, new forms of mobile entertainment may emerge in the future and compete with our platform.

If we are not able to compete effectively, our overall user base and level of user engagement may decrease, which could reduce the number of our paying users or make us less attractive to potential users and potential business partners. We may be required to devote additional resources to further increasing our brand recognition and promoting our platform and services, and such additional spending may adversely affect our profitability and may not generate the expected results cost-effectively, or at all. Furthermore, if we are involved in disputes with any of our competitors that result in negative publicity to us, such disputes, regardless of their veracity or outcome, may harm our reputation or brand image and in turn lead to a reduced number of users for our platform. Any legal proceedings or measures we take in response to such disputes may be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations and divert our management’s attention.

Our limited operating history with a relatively new business model in a relatively new market makes it difficult to evaluate our business and growth prospects.

Our business operations commenced in April 2016, with commercialization beginning in the same year. We have experienced growth in the number of active users and total revenues in recent years. Our average MAUs increased from 2.2 million in the three months ended December 31, 2018 to 4.2 million in the same period of 2019, and further increased to 16.4 million in the same period of 2020. Our paying users experienced similar rapid growth during the period. Our revenues increased by 49.8% from US$42.4 million in 2018 to US$63.5 million in 2019, and further increased by 112.6% to US$134.9 million in 2020. However, our operational and financial growth in 2018, 2019 and 2020 may not be indicative of our future performance, as our operating results represent a limited history and sample size and may be hard to repeat in the future. For example, since the COVID-19 outbreak, people in impacted regions, including MENA, have generally spent more time online and engaged in more online social networking and entertainment activities, which contributed to the significant increase in our MAU, paying users and revenues in 2020. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain such growth after quarantine measures and other restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic are lifted and more offline activities are resumed in our target markets. Moreover, the PRC government exempted or reduced certain enterprises’ contributions to basic pension insurance, unemployment insurance, and work injury insurance due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, and our PRC subsidiaries were exempted from contributions to certain social insurance between February 2020 and December 2020. Our costs and expenses will likely increase after these exemptions are removed.

Many elements of our business are evolving. The markets for our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform and the related services are relatively new and rapidly developing and are subject to significant challenges, especially in terms of converting non-paying users to paying users, maintaining a stable paying user base and attracting new paying users. Our business plan relies heavily upon an expanding user base and the resulting increased revenues from group chatting and games services, as well as our ability to capitalize on growth opportunities in the social networking and entertainment industry and explore other monetization avenues. We may not succeed in any of these aspects.

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As the voice-centric social networking and entertainment industry in our target markets is relatively young, there are few proven methods of projecting user demand or available industry standards on which we can rely. Our current monetization method is also at a relatively preliminary stage. For example, if we fail to properly manage the volume and price of our virtual items or upgrade services, our users may be less likely to purchase them. We cannot assure you that our monetization attempts will be successful, profitable or accepted by users, and therefore it may be difficult to gauge the income potential of our business.

Addressing these risks and uncertainties will require significant capital expenditures and allocation of valuable management and employee resources. If we fail to successfully address any of the above risks and uncertainties, the size of our user base, our revenues and our operating margin may decline.

Our community culture is vital to our success. Our operations may be materially and adversely affected if we fail to maintain the culture of the Yalla community.

We have cultivated an interactive and vibrant online community centered on our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform. We strive to provide premium user experience by continuously improving user interfaces and features of our platform to adapt to the relevant local cultures and by encouraging social interactions among users. We believe that maintaining and promoting such a vibrant community culture is critical to retaining and expanding our user base. We have taken multiple initiatives to preserve our community culture and values. Leveraging our insights into MENA culture and local user preferences, we infuse our user interfaces with local cultural elements. For non-English versions of Yalla, we update the user interface with color themes and logos related to specific local holidays to celebrate with our users, and virtual gifts are typically designed based on local customs. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our community culture and remain as the preferred platform for our target users. For example, frictions among our users and inflammatory comments posted by Internet trolls and any inappropriate handling of these frictions may damage our community culture and brand image. Any failure to timely screen out and remove illegal or inappropriate content posted on our platform or to identify and close fake accounts of Internet trolls could also adversely affect users’ perception of and experience on our platform. Any damage to our community culture could materially and adversely affect our business prospects and results of operations.

Our business is highly dependent on the proper functioning and improvement of our information technology systems and infrastructure. Our business and operating results may be harmed by service disruptions, or by our failure to timely and effectively scale up and adjust our existing technology and infrastructure.

The popularity of our platform and services and our ability to further monetize our user base depend on our ability to adapt to rapidly changing technologies as well as our ability to continually innovate in response to evolving consumer demands and expectations and market competition. Our ability to provide a superior user experience on our platform depends on the continuous and reliable operation of our IT systems.

We may not be able to procure sufficient bandwidth in a timely manner or on acceptable terms or at all. Failure to do so may significantly impair user experience on our platform and decrease the overall effectiveness of our platform to users. Our IT systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption as a result of fires, floods, earthquakes, power losses, telecommunications failures, undetected errors in software, computer viruses, hacking and other attempts to harm our IT systems. Disruptions, failures, unscheduled service interruptions or a decrease in connection speeds could damage our reputation and cause our users to migrate to our competitors’ platforms. If we experience frequent or constant service disruptions, whether caused by failures of our own IT systems or those of third-party service providers, our user experience may be negatively affected, which in turn may have a material and adverse effect on our reputation and business. We may not be successful in minimizing the frequency or duration of service interruptions. As the number of our users increases and our users generate more content on our platform, we may be required to expand and adjust our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store and monitor content generated by users on our platform. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our platform, particularly during peak usage times, as our services become more complex and as our user base increases.

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We use third-party services and technologies in connection with our business, and any disruption to the provision of these services and technologies to us could result in negative publicity and a slowdown in the growth of our user base, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business partially depends on services provided by, and relationships with, various third parties. For example, we source audio processing and multi-party real-time communication solutions from third parties to support all of our Yalla rooms and we use servers of a third party for data storage and processing. We also rely on third parties to provide software and other IT services to us. If such third parties terminate their services to us or if they encounter technological or other difficulties, we may not be able to find alternative solutions in a timely manner or on terms satisfactory to us. In particular, there are only a limited number of providers of high quality audio processing solutions in the market. In addition, certain third-party software we use in our operations is currently publicly available free of charge. If the provider of any such software decides to charge users or no longer makes the software publicly available, we may need to incur significant costs to obtain licensing, find replacement software or develop it on our own. If we are unable to obtain licensing, find or develop replacement software at a reasonable cost, or at all, our business and operations may be adversely affected.

In addition, we process purchases of our virtual currencies through third-party payment platforms. If any of these third-party payment platforms suffer from security breaches or leakage of user information, users may lose confidence in such payment systems or channels and refrain from purchasing our virtual currencies, in which case our results of operations would be negatively impacted. See “—The security of operations of, and fees charged by, third-party payment platforms may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.”

Certain of our customer service staff are employees of third-party service providers incorporated in Egypt and the UAE. If the third parties’ employees fail to provide satisfactory services to our users, we may not be able to rectify the deficiency in a timely manner, and our business could be adversely affected. Labor or contractual disputes could also arise among us, the third-party service providers and/or the relevant customer service staff, which could cause disturbance of services to our users.

We exercise no control over the third parties with whom we have business arrangements. If such third parties increase their prices, fail to provide their services effectively, terminate their services or agreements or discontinue their relationships with us, we could suffer service interruptions, reduced revenues or increased costs, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We face risks related to health epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters and other outbreaks, which could significantly disrupt our operations.

Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of epidemics or pandemics. In recent years, there have been outbreaks of epidemics in MENA, China and globally. Our business operations could be disrupted if any of our employees are suspected of having COVID-19, H1N1 flu, avian flu or another epidemic or pandemic, since it could require our employees to be quarantined and/or our offices to be disinfected. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that the outbreak harms the economy in our target markets in general and the mobile Internet industry in particular. In particular, COVID-19 has spread globally in the first quarter of 2020, including several countries in MENA. Government measures designed to control the spread of the virus, such as restrictions on travel and the closing-down of businesses to the public, may result in a decline of economic activities in our target markets. Such decline may have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The extent of such impact will depend largely on future developments, which are highly uncertain, including the severity of the outbreak in our target markets and future government measures in response to the outbreak, among other things. In addition, we have implemented working-from-home arrangements for our employees as a result of the outbreak. While we have not experienced any disruption in our operations, such arrangements may adversely affect the efficiency of our workforce.

To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” section, such as those relating to our ability to grow our user base and implement our monetization strategies.

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We are also vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities. It is possible that we may be unable to recover certain data in the event of a server failure. We cannot assure you that any backup systems will be adequate to protect us from the effects of fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events. Any of the foregoing events may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or Internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability to provide services on our platform.

Our business is sensitive to global political and economic conditions. A severe or prolonged downturn in the global economy could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The global macroeconomic environment is facing challenges. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States. There have been concerns over unrest and terrorist threats in MENA, Europe and Africa, which have resulted in volatility in oil and other markets, and concerns over the conflicts involving Ukraine, Syria and North Korea.

We are headquartered in the UAE. MENA is our key market. While the UAE is seen to have a relatively stable political environment, certain other jurisdictions in MENA are not. In particular, since early 2011 there have been increased political risks in several countries in the region, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Syria. These risks have ranged from public demonstrations to, in extreme cases, armed conflicts and civil war and have given rise to a number of regime changes and increased political uncertainty across the region. In particular, the armed conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have the potential to further destabilize the region, further increase uncertainty and have a material negative impact on the regional economy. In mid-2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and certain other countries imposed sanctions on Qatar, which remain in place. In January 2020, the United States conducted a drone strike that killed the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, which escalated tensions between the United States and Iran and heightened the risk for a military conflict between the two countries. The fluctuations in oil price and the outbreak of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020 may materially and adversely affect the economic conditions in MENA. The financial, political and general economic conditions prevailing from time to time across MENA may affect mobile users’ willingness and ability to spend on the mobile Internet and have a material adverse impact on our performance and operating results. It is not possible to predict the occurrence of events or circumstances such as war or hostilities, or the impact of such occurrences, and no assurance can be given that we would be able to sustain our current profit levels if adverse political events or circumstances were to occur, particularly in MENA. A general downturn or instability in certain sectors of MENA’s economies could have an adverse effect on our business. In addition, we may be affected by unexpected changes in regulations and enforcement, nationalization of assets and other governmental actions by the host countries, government regulations that favor local competitors, changing taxation policies, restrictions on converting foreign currencies into U.S. dollars, most of which are beyond our control. Investors should also note that our business could be adversely affected by political, economic or related developments both within and outside MENA because of inter-relationships within the global financial markets.

Significant political, social and economic instability in one or more of our markets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global economy may also materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, continued turbulence in the international markets may adversely affect our ability to access capital markets to meet liquidity needs.

We have incurred and may incur substantial share-based compensation expenses.

On June 22, 2018, we adopted a share incentive plan, which was amended and restated on November 19, 2019 and was further amended in June 2020, or the 2018 Plan. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plans” for a detailed discussion. As of December 31, 2020, we are authorized to grant share awards for issuance of up to a maximum of 41,733,506 ordinary shares under the 2018 Plan, and options to purchase 41,713,506 ordinary shares under the 2018 Plan have been granted and outstanding. We are required to recognize compensation expense for an equity award over the period in which the recipient is required to provide service in exchange for the equity award. We recognized share-based compensation expenses in the amount of US$60.8 million in 2020. As of December 31, 2020, the total unrecognized compensation expense associated with share options amounted to US$76.8 million. On August 31, 2020, we adopted the 2020 Plan. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plans” for a detailed discussion. As of December 31, 2020, we are authorized to grant share awards for issuance of up to a maximum of 2,492,603 ordinary shares under the 2020 Plan, and no share awards have been granted under the 2020 Plan. If additional share options or other equity incentives are granted to our employees, directors or consultants in the future, we will incur additional share-based compensation expense and our results of operations will be further adversely affected.

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Our corporate actions are substantially controlled by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tao Yang, who has the ability to control or exert significant influence over important corporate matters that require approval of shareholders, which may deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your ADSs and materially reduce the value of your investment.

Our third amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that in respect of all matters subject to a shareholders’ vote, each Class A ordinary share is entitled to one vote and each Class B ordinary share is entitled to 20 votes. Mr. Tao Yang, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owns all the Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding and exercises 86.4% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding shares as of December 31, 2020. As a result, Mr. Tao Yang has the ability to control or exert significant influence over important corporate matters; investors may be prevented from affecting important corporate matters involving our company that require approval of shareholders, including:

These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders, including the holders of the ADSs. Furthermore, this concentration of ownership may also discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the dual effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and reducing the price of the ADSs. As a result of the foregoing, the value of your investment could be materially reduced.

User growth and engagement depend upon effective interoperation with mobile operating systems, networks, devices and standards that we do not control.

We make our mobile applications available across a variety of mobile operating systems and devices. We are dependent on the effective interoperation of our mobile applications with mobile operating systems, such as Android and iOS, networks, devices and standards, which we do not control. Any changes in such mobile operating systems, networks, devices or standards that degrade the functionality of our mobile applications or give preferential treatment to competitive products could adversely affect usage of our mobile applications and our ability to deliver high quality user experience. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing mobile applications that operate effectively with these mobile operating systems, networks, devices and standards. In the event that it is difficult for our users to access and use our mobile applications, particularly on their mobile devices, our user growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

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User misconduct and misuse of our platform may adversely impact our brand image, and we may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our platform, or distributed to our users, and the relevant local authorities may impose restrictions on access to our platform.

Our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform enables users to chat, play games and engage in various forms of other online communications in real time. We also allow users to share texts, images and other content with each other through our platform. However, our platform does not require real-name registration and identity verification of our users. In addition, because all of the audio and text communications on our platform are conducted in real time, we are unable to examine the content generated by our users on air before they are streamed on our platform. We require all users to agree to our terms of service upon account registration. Our terms of service set out types of content strictly prohibited on our platform, and we have also developed a content monitoring system that utilizes primarily automation, as well as manual screening, to filter inappropriate content. We also encourage users to report any noncompliance of our terms of service. However, due to the immense quantity of user-generated content on our platform, we may not be able to detect all violations of our terms of service or inappropriate or illegal content streamed, displayed or exchanged over our platform, or determine the type of content or actions that may result in liability to us. Our automated screening system may fail to timely screen out and remove inappropriate or illegal content. As such, relevant government authorities could identify inappropriate or illegal content on our platform, which could lead to restrictions on access to our platform in the relevant jurisdictions. Even if we manage to identify and remove offensive content, we may still be held liable. Negative publicity of incidents related to inappropriate or illegal content on our platform or any misuse of our platform by users could also adversely affect our brand image. As a result, our ability to retain or increase our user base and user engagement may be adversely affected, we may not be able to maintain or grow our revenues as anticipated, and our business prospects and financial results could be adversely affected.

Additionally, it is possible that our users may engage in illegal, obscene or incendiary conversations or activities on or through our platform that may be deemed illegal under the relevant local laws and regulations or inappropriate under local cultures or customs, for which we may be subject to potential liability. Content generated, including text and images posted, by our users may infringe on rights of others. In addition, because we offer our mobile applications in a large number of jurisdictions, and we have not implemented any user screening procedures, we cannot ensure that our provision of online social networking and entertainment services to all users is in compliance with all applicable laws. The jurisdictions in which our mobile applications are available may have regulations governing the distribution of information over the Internet. These regulations may prohibit the display of content that, among other things, impairs the public interest, or is obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. For example, the regulations in some countries in MENA and Southeast Asia prohibit online social networking platforms from being used for dating, pornographic or gambling purposes. While we do not believe our mobile applications are provided to users for any of these purposes, we cannot control how users interact online or offline other than through content monitoring on our mobile applications. We may be subject to fines or other disciplinary actions as prescribed under the relevant local laws and regulations. We may also face claims for defamation, libel, negligence, aiding-and-abetting liability, infringement of copyright, patent, trademark or other intellectual property or third-party rights, other unlawful activities or other theories and claims based on the nature and content of the information delivered on or otherwise accessed through our platform. For example, if any of our users suffers or alleges to have suffered physical, financial or emotional harm as a result of content posted on or conduct initiated from our platform, we may face legal actions initiated by the affected user. In response to such lawsuits, government authorities may take regulatory actions against us based on alleged non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as prohibitions of illegal or inappropriate content on mobile platforms. Defending any such actions could be costly and involve significant time and attention of our management and other resources, which would materially and adversely affect our business and operations. Moreover, the costs of compliance with these regulations may increase as a result of the expansion of our platform, which may adversely affect our results of operations. We may also be required to restrict, discontinue or make other changes to certain features and services provided on our mobile applications, and we may even be prohibited from providing our mobile applications to users in certain jurisdictions. As a result, our business may suffer, our user base, revenue growth and profitability may be materially and adversely affected, and the price of our ADSs may decline.

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Malicious software and applications may affect user experience, which could reduce our ability to attract users and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Malicious software and applications may interrupt the operations of our platform and pass on such malware to our users which could adversely hinder user experience. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully block these attacks. If users experience a malware attack by using our platform, our users may associate the malware with our platform. As a result, our reputation, business, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

The security of operations of, and fees charged by, third-party payment platforms may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Currently, we process purchases of our virtual currencies through third-party payment platforms. In all of these payment transactions, secured transmission of confidential information such as the users’ credit card numbers and personal information over public networks and through the payment platforms is essential to maintaining consumer confidence.

We do not have control over the security measures of our third-party payment platforms. Any security breaches of a payment platform that we use could expose us to litigation and possible liability for failing to secure confidential customer information and could, among other things, damage our reputation and the perceived security of the other payment platforms that we use. If a well-publicized Internet or mobile network security breach were to occur, users may become reluctant to purchase our virtual currencies, even if such breach did not involve payment systems or methods used by us. In addition, there may be billing software errors that would damage customer confidence in these payment platforms. If any of the above were to occur and damage our reputation or the perceived security of the payment platforms we use, we may lose paying users and users may be discouraged from spending on our platform, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, there are currently only a limited number of reputable third-party payment systems in our target markets. If any of these major payment systems decides to cease to provide services to us, or significantly increases the fee rates it charges us for using its payment systems for our virtual currencies, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Users’ payments to purchase and use of virtual currencies on our mobile applications could expose us to additional regulatory requirements and other risks that could be costly or difficult to comply with.

We may be subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the various jurisdictions where our users are located in respect of the users’ payments to purchase virtual currencies on our applications through third-party payment platforms, including those governing money transmission, gift cards and other prepaid access instruments, electronic funds transfers, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, gambling, banking and lending. In some jurisdictions, the application or interpretation of these laws and regulations may be unclear. Our efforts to comply with these laws and regulations could be costly and result in diversion of management time and effort and may still not guarantee compliance. In the event that we are found to be in violation of any such legal or regulatory requirements, we may be subject to monetary fines or other penalties, or we may be required to make product or marketing practice changes, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results. In addition, we may be subject to a variety of additional risks as a result of these payments by users, including potential fraudulent or otherwise illegal activity by users, employees, or third parties.

Changes in laws and regulations related to the Internet and mobile Internet, perceptions toward the use of social media and changes in Internet infrastructure itself may diminish the demand for our platform or products and could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The success of our business depends upon the continued use of the Internet or mobile Internet and social media. Relevant government regulatory authorities, including those in MENA, may adopt laws or regulations that restrict the use of the Internet, mobile Internet or social media in the future. In addition, government agencies or private organizations may impose additional taxes, fees or other charges for accessing the Internet. These laws, taxes, fees or charges could limit the use of the Internet or mobile Internet or decrease the demand for online social media.

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In addition, the performance of our platform could be adversely affected due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased demands of Internet activity, security, reliability, cost, ease-of-use, accessibility and quality of services. The performance of the Internet and mobile Internet has been adversely affected by “viruses,” “worms” and similar malicious programs, as well as the risks associated with other types of security breaches. If the use of the Internet or mobile Internet is reduced as a result of these or other issues, then demand for our platform could decline, which could adversely affect our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Concerns about collection, use, retention, transfer, disclosure, processing and security of personal data could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users from using our platform and services, or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, retention, transfer, disclosure, processing and security of personal information or other privacy-related matters, such as cybersecurity breaches, misuse of personal data and data sharing without necessary safeguards, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation and operating results. MENA is our key market, and the three data centers with servers that collect and process our user data are located in Hong Kong, Germany and the United States. As of December 31, 2020, our platform was available in over 100 countries. The regulatory frameworks regarding privacy issues in many jurisdictions are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant changes from time to time, and therefore we may not be able to comprehensively assess the scope and extent of our compliance responsibility at a global level. Furthermore, the developing requirements relating to clear and prominent privacy notices (including in the context of obtaining informed and specific consents to the collection and processing of personal data, where applicable) may potentially deter users from consenting to certain uses of their personal information. In general, negative publicity of us or our industry regarding actual or perceived violations of our users’ privacy-related rights, including fines and enforcement actions against us or other similarly placed businesses, may also impair users’ trust in our privacy practices and make them reluctant to give their consent to share their data with us.

This risk is enhanced in certain jurisdictions with stringent, extra-territorial data protection laws, and the two regulations that have significant impacts on our industry are the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 that became applicable on May 25, 2018, or the GDPR, and the California Consumer Privacy Act that became effective on January 1, 2020, or the CCPA. The GDPR places stringent obligations and operational requirements on processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, requiring expanded disclosures to data subjects about how their personal data is to be used, limitations on retention of information, mandatory data breach notification requirements, and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained either valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities. The GDPR also enhances the rights of data subjects, who may, for example, request access to their personal data, the deletion and amendment of their personal data, or to have their personal data transferred to another service provider. Data subjects also have the right to be compensated for any material or non-material damage suffered as a result of a controller or processor’s non-compliance with the GDPR. Under the GDPR, data protection supervisory authorities are also given various enforcement powers, including that they can levy fines of up to Euro 20 million or up to 4% of an organization’s total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, for non-compliance, which significantly increases our potential financial exposure for non-compliance. While the GDPR provides a more harmonized approach to data protection regulation across the EU member states, it also gives EU member states certain areas of discretion and therefore laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities may differ on a member state by member state basis, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. The EU has also released a proposed Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications 2002, or the ePrivacy Regulation, to replace the EU’s current Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive, or the ePrivacy Directive, to, among other things, achieve a greater harmonization among EU member states and better align the rules governing online tracking technologies and electronic communications (for example, in relation to the use of cookies and similar technologies and protection against email spam) with the requirements of the GDPR. While the ePrivacy Regulation was originally intended to be adopted on May 25, 2018 (alongside the GDPR), it is currently going through the European legislative process. The current draft of the ePrivacy Regulation significantly increases fining powers to the same levels as GDPR and may lead to broader restrictions on our online activities, including efforts to understand followers’ Internet usage and promote ourselves to them. Outside of the EU, many jurisdictions have adopted or are adopting new data privacy and data protection laws, which may result in additional expenses to us and increase the risk of non-compliance. For example, the CCPA creates new data privacy rights for users and new operational requirements for businesses. The CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing (and sales of personal data) and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. Furthermore, we may need to comply with regulations in other territories that may impose further onerous compliance requirements, such as data localization, which prohibits companies from storing data relating to resident individuals in data centers outside the jurisdiction. The proliferation of such laws within jurisdictions and countries in which we operate may result in conflicting and contradictory requirements.

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While we strive to comply with our data privacy guidelines as well as all applicable data protection laws and regulations or contract obligations, any failure or perceived failure to comply, including in relation to lawful basis of data processing and providing users with sufficient information with respect to our use of their personal data, may result in proceedings or actions against us, including fines and penalties on us, by government entities or proceedings or actions against us by our business partners or others (including enforcement orders requiring us to cease collecting or processing data in a certain way), and could damage our reputation and discourage current and future users from using our mobile applications. In addition, compliance with applicable laws on data privacy requires substantial expenditure and resources, including to continually evaluate our policies and processes and adapt to new requirements that are or become applicable to us on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, which would impose significant burdens and costs on our operations or may require us to alter our business practices. Concerns about the security of personal data could also lead to a decline in general Internet usage, which could lead to lower registered, active or paying user numbers on our platform. Furthermore, if the local government authorities in our target markets require real-name registration for users of our platform, the growth of our user numbers may slow down and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. A significant reduction in registered, active or paying user numbers could lead to lower revenues, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to prevent security breaches, cyber-attacks or other unauthorized access to our systems or our users’ data, we may be exposed to significant consequences, including legal and financial exposure and loss of users, and our reputation, business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We collect, store, transmit and process personal and other sensitive data generated by our users through their interactions with our apps. We may be exposed to risks of security breaches or unauthorized access to or cyber-attacks on our systems or the data we store. Our efforts to protect our data may be unsuccessful due to software “bugs,” system errors or other technical deficiencies, mistakes or malfeasance of our employees or contractors, vulnerabilities of our vendors and service providers, or other cybersecurity-related vulnerabilities. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to prevent and detect security breaches and protect our users’ data, we cannot guarantee that such measures will be sufficient defenses against the evolving techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade services or sabotage systems. Any failure to prevent, detect, or mitigate security breaches, cyber-attacks or other unauthorized access to our systems, theft of users’ accounts or disclosure of our users’ data, including personal information, could result in loss or misuse of such data, interruptions to the services we provide, diminished user experience, loss of user confidence and trust in our products, impairment of our network and technological infrastructure, and harm to our reputation and business, significant legal and financial exposure and potential lawsuits brought by private individuals or regulators. In addition, as we have servers in data centers in Hong Kong, Germany and the United States, we may incur significant costs in protecting them against, or remediating, security breaches and cyber-attacks.

We may be required to obtain and maintain licenses and approvals relating to Internet or telecommunications services in certain jurisdictions.

Our platform is available in over 100 countries, and some of these countries may require us to obtain certain licenses, permits or approvals or conduct certain registrations or filings with local authorities in relation to our mobile applications. Considerable uncertainties exist in the interpretation and implementation of laws and regulations governing our business activities in certain jurisdictions, including MENA.

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Our mobile applications enable voice-based, real time communications on the Internet. As a result, we may be deemed to offer regulated Internet or telecommunications services that require licenses in certain jurisdictions. For example, the law of Saudi Arabia is unclear about whether we are required or eligible to obtain licenses for our provision of audio social media services, including the Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, license. It is also unclear whether our mobile applications fall into regulated telecommunications services or violate any other local telecommunication requirements in the jurisdictions in which our mobile applications are available.

In addition, we may be found by regulators and/or licensed telecommunications service providers in the UAE to be providing VoIPservices without the requisite licenses. VoIP services are specifically regulated under Voice over Internet Protocol Policy, or VoIP Policy, issued by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, or the TRA, on December 30, 2009. “VoIP Services” are defined for the purposes of the VoIP Policy as “all of the services and technologies that allow transmitting, receiving, delivering and routing of voice telecommunications by means of Internet Protocol (IP).” Yalla apps’ free voice chat function may be deemed VoIP services, as such chat function delivers voice communications and multimedia content over the Internet.

Based on a strict interpretation of laws and regulations, VoIP services can only be used in the UAE in limited circumstances where:

Under the Telecoms Law, it is a criminal offense that may be penalized by a fine between AED50,000 (US$13,615) and AED1,000,000 (US$272,294) and/or imprisonment of up to two years to provide regulated telecommunication services without being licensed to do so. It is the supplier, rather than the user, that commits this offense. In practice, the main enforcement action taken against unlicensed VoIP service providers is for the licensed service providers to block the VoIP service in the UAE. To our knowledge, the TRA is not expected to issue any further licenses that would allow the holders of such licenses to provide VoIP services.

There are uncertainties in the UAE market regarding the use of VoIP services, as despite the apparently strict legal position concerning the use of VoIP services and the blocking of certain well-known international VoIP service brands in the UAE, many users in the UAE can in fact use various other VoIP applications, such as certain online gaming platforms. Due to such uncertainties around the use of VoIP, there is no guarantee that the chat room features of our platform will remain available in the UAE in the future.

As of December 31, 2020, we have not obtained any VoIP or other telecommunications license and we have not received any notification from regulators or licensed telecommunications service providers alleging that we provide unlicensed VoIP or telecommunications services. We are nonetheless subject to uncertainties in laws and regulations, including those in MENA. We cannot assure you that we are exempt from the licensing requirements relating to Internet or telecommunications services in the relevant jurisdictions. If our mobile applications were found by a regulatory authority to be in violation of any applicable laws or regulations, such as the lack of requisite approvals or licenses, we may no longer be able to offer our mobile applications in the relevant jurisdiction, and we may also be subject to other penalties. Any such penalties or enforcement actions may disrupt our business operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Third parties may register trademarks or domain names or purchase Internet search engine keywords that are similar to our trademarks, brands or mobile applications, or misappropriate our data and copy our platform, all of which could cause confusion to our users, divert users away from our platform and services or harm our reputation.

Competitors and other third parties may (i) register trademarks or domain names or (ii) in Internet search engine advertising programs and in the header and text of the resulting sponsored links or advertisements, purchase keywords, which are confusingly similar to our trademarks, brands or mobile applications in order to divert potential customers from us to their websites or mobile applications. Preventing such infringing, inappropriate or damaging practices is inherently difficult. If we are unable to prevent such practices, competitors and other third parties may continue to drive potential online customers away from our platform to competing, irrelevant or potentially offensive platforms, which could harm our reputation and cause us to lose revenue.

Third parties may attempt to misappropriate our data through scraping our platform, robots or other means and aggregate this data on their platforms with data from other companies. In addition, “copycat” platforms or applications may attempt to misappropriate data on our platform and imitate our brand or the functionality of our platform. We may not be able to detect all such platforms in a timely manner and, even if we could, technological and legal measures may be insufficient to stop their operations. In those cases, our available remedies may not be adequate to protect us against such platforms. Regardless of whether we can successfully enforce our rights against these platforms, any measures that we may take could require significant financial or other resources from us. Those platforms may also lure away some of our users or reduce our market share, causing material and adverse effects to our business operations.

We may be subject to intellectual property or other third-party rights infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly to defend and may result in diversion of our financial and management resources.

We may be subject to intellectual property or other third-party rights infringement claims, particularly in relation to content generated by our users on our mobile applications. We seek to ensure that our audio streaming and other technologies, as well as the design of our platform and other intellectual properties, are original and do not infringe upon patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property or other rights held by third parties. However, companies in the Internet, technology and media industries are frequently involved in litigations based on allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, invasion of privacy, defamation or violations of other rights. There is no guarantee that third-party right holders will not assert intellectual property infringement or other claims against us in the future for our own intellectual property rights or intellectual property or other rights of third parties. Furthermore, content generated by our users through our platform, including real-time content such as text and images, may potentially infringe on copyrights, images or other intellectual property or other rights of third parties, which could adversely affect our business operations or reputation. Users who generate content that may infringe on copyrights or other rights of third parties may not be easily identifiable, if at all, by a plaintiff, who may then choose to file a claim against us, and these users may not have resources to fully indemnify us, if at all, for any such claims.

If we are found to have violated the intellectual property or other rights of third parties, including failure to remove or block or disconnect links to any infringing content upon receipt of the copyright holder’s notice, we may be enjoined from using such intellectual properties and be forced to pay fines and damages. In addition, we may incur substantial expenses and diversion of our financial and management resources in defending against these third-party infringement claims. Successful infringement or other intellectual property or other third-party rights claims against us may result in substantial monetary liabilities, which may disrupt our operations and materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects. Any infringement claim, whether with merits or not, generates negative publicity which could harm our brand reputation.

Our intellectual property may not provide adequate protection to us, and we may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We regard our trademarks, patents, software copyrights, copyrights, domain names, trade secrets, proprietary technologies and similar intellectual property as critical to our success. We rely on a combination of patent, software copyright, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. We have invested significant resources to develop our own intellectual property. Failure to maintain or protect these rights could harm our business. For example, we have not registered our “Yalla” or “Yalla Ludo” words or logos as trademarks in certain jurisdictions in which our mobile applications are available. In certain other jurisdictions, our trademark registrations did not cover our main activities such as software and entertainment services. While we are in the process of applying for relevant trademark registrations in the UAE and certain other jurisdictions in MENA, we cannot guarantee that the trademark offices in these jurisdictions will grant our trademark applications or that third parties will not oppose our trademark applications. If our trademarks are not granted or successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products and services, which could result in loss of brand recognition and require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. In addition, any unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties may adversely affect our current and future revenues and our reputation.

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Implementation and enforcement of intellectual property-related laws in certain jurisdictions, including those in MENA and the PRC, is still evolving. We have registered software copyrights, patents and trademarks in certain jurisdictions, including in MENA and the PRC. Protection of intellectual property rights in such jurisdictions may not be as effective as in the United States or other developed countries. Furthermore, policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology is difficult and expensive. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, third parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property or seek court declarations that they do not infringe upon our intellectual property rights. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly, and we cannot assure you that the steps we have taken will prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. From time to time, we may have to resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.

Our platform contains open source software, which may pose particular risk to our proprietary software and services in a manner that negatively affects our business.

We use open source software on our platform and will continue to use open source software in the future. There is a risk that open source software licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide or distribute our services. Additionally, we may face claims from third parties claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to make our software source code freely available, purchase a costly license or cease offering the implicated services unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. This re-engineering process could require significant additional technology and product development resources, and we may not be able to complete it successfully.

Our business depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our executive officers, key employees and qualified personnel, and our business operations may be severely disrupted if we lose their services or if they are subject to litigation or regulatory investigations and proceedings.

Our future success depends substantially on the continued efforts of our executive officers and key employees. If one or more of our executive officers or key employees were unable or unwilling to continue their services with us, we might not be able to replace them easily, in a timely manner, or at all. Since the Internet industry is characterized by high demand and intense competition for talents, we cannot assure you that we will be able to attract or retain qualified staff or other highly skilled employees. In addition, as our company is relatively young, our ability to train and integrate new employees into our operations may not meet the growing demands of our business which may materially and adversely affect our ability to grow our business and hence our results of operations.

If any of our executive officers and key employees terminates their services with us, our business may be severely disrupted, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected and we may incur additional expenses to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel. If any of our executive officers or key employees joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose know-how and key professionals and staff members. Each of our executive officers and key employees has entered into a non-compete agreement with us. However, we cannot assure you that we would be able to enforce these non-compete agreements.

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In addition, our executive officers and key employees may from time to time be subject to litigations and regulatory investigations and proceedings or otherwise face potential civil, criminal or other liabilities in relation to commercial, labor, securities or other matters due to past or future conduct of themselves or third parties, which could adversely affect our reputation and these personnel’s ability to continue contributing to our success. These events could also divert management time and attention away from our business and force us to find appropriate replacements for these personnel, which may not be readily available. As a result, our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our results of operations are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations due to a number of factors that could adversely affect our business and the trading price of the ADSs.

We experience seasonality in our business, reflecting seasonal fluctuations in Internet usage. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. In particular, we may experience a decrease in active users during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and the month of Ramadan migrates throughout the seasons. For example, while Ramadan falls within the second quarter of each year from 2018 to 2022, it will start in the first quarter and end in the second quarter of 2023. Due to the foregoing factors, our operating results in one or more future quarters or years may fluctuate. In such event, the trading price of the ADSs would likely be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of the ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

Prior to our initial public offering, we were a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal controls and procedures. Our management has not completed an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, and our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. In the course of auditing the consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, in accordance with the standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States, or the PCAOB.

The material weakness that has been identified relates to our lack of sufficient financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate knowledge of U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements to properly address complex U.S. GAAP accounting issues, and related presentation and disclosure in accordance with U.S. GAAP and SEC financial reporting requirements. We are in the process of implementing a number of measures to address the material weakness that have been identified. For details, see “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to continue implementing these measures in the future, or that we will not identify additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the future. The audit of our financial statements performed by our independent registered public accounting firm was not designed to provide assurance on internal control over financial reporting or to identify internal control deficiencies, and therefore, we may have other material weaknesses or significant deficiencies that are not yet identified.

We are a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 will require that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, as a public company, our reporting obligations place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

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Generally, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, such failure could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and compromise our ability to meet our reporting obligations, which would cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. Any such material misstatement could in turn limit our access to capital markets and lead to a decline in the trading price of the ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations, civil or criminal sanctions and lawsuits. In addition, our internal controls over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors or fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, or if we are unable to maintain proper and effective internal controls, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements. If that were to happen, the market price of the ADSs could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the NYSE, SEC or other regulatory authorities.

We may need additional capital, and we may be unable to obtain such capital in a timely manner or on acceptable terms, or at all. Furthermore, our future capital needs may require us to sell additional equity or debt securities that may dilute our shareholders or introduce covenants that may restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends.

To grow our business and remain competitive, we may require additional capital from time to time. Our ability to obtain additional capital is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

We may be unable to obtain additional capital in a timely manner or on acceptable terms or at all. In addition, we may sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity or equity-linked securities could dilute our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders.

We have limited business insurance coverage, so that any uninsured occurrence of business disruption may result in substantial costs to us and the diversion of our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Insurance companies in the UAE and China currently do not offer as extensive an array of insurance products as insurance companies do in more developed economies. We do not have any business liability or disruption insurance to cover our operations. We have determined that the costs of insuring for these risks and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. Any uninsured occurrence may disrupt our business operations, require us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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Future strategic alliances or acquisitions may have a material and adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations.

We may enter into strategic alliances, including joint ventures or equity investments, with various third parties to further our business purpose from time to time. These alliances could subject us to a number of risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, non-performance by the third parties, increased expenses in establishing new strategic alliances, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business. We may have limited ability to monitor or control the actions of these third parties and, to the extent any of these strategic third parties suffers negative publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with any such third party.

In addition, when appropriate opportunities arise, we may acquire additional technologies, businesses or assets that are complementary to our existing business. In addition to possible shareholders’ approval, we may also have to obtain approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for the acquisitions and to comply with any applicable laws and regulations in the relevant jurisdictions, which could result in increased delay and costs, and may derail our business strategy if we fail to do so. Furthermore, past and future acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business and subject us to additional costs and business uncertainties, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our business operations. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the occurrence of significant goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant.

Risks Relating to Doing Business in Certain Countries and Regions

Investments in emerging markets are subject to greater risks than those in more developed markets.

You should also be aware that investments in emerging markets, such as MENA, are subject to greater risks than those in more developed markets, including risks such as:

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Although MENA has enjoyed significant economic growth over the last several years, there can be no assurance that such growth will continue. Moreover, while certain governments’ policies have generally resulted in improved economic performance, there can be no assurance that such level of performance can be sustained.

Accordingly, you should exercise particular care in evaluating the risks involved and must decide whether, in the light of those risks, your investment is appropriate. Generally, investment in emerging markets is only suitable for sophisticated investors who fully appreciate the significance of the risks involved.

The economies of a number of our markets in MENA are highly dependent upon the oil and gas industry.

The UAE’s economy as well as a number of other economies within MENA are highly dependent upon the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas prices fluctuate in response to changes in many factors, including, but not limited to:

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Oil prices declined significantly beginning in June 2014, and although prices have recovered in 2018, they have remained volatile with periodic declines since October 2018, including during the first quarter of 2020. If oil prices decline again, this is likely to have an adverse effect on the GDP and other economic indicators of oil producing markets, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and may also negatively impact consumer confidence and purchasing power, resulting in lower overall expenditure by mobile users, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business may be adversely affected by changes in government policies, laws and regulations in the UAE.

Our operating subsidiary in the UAE, Yalla Technology FZ-LLC, functions as our primary business operation center and engages in sales, customer service and other business operations. As such, our business may be adversely affected by changes in government policies, laws and regulations in the UAE. For example, although the UAE currently does not have any corporate tax, there have been periodic discussions about the introduction of corporate tax in the UAE. Moreover, value added tax, or VAT, was introduced in the UAE on January 1, 2018 at a rate of 5%. The relevant legislation provides that electronic services that are automatically delivered over the Internet, over an electronic network or over an electronic marketplace are not subject to VAT in the UAE, if such electronic services are used or enjoyed outside of the UAE. The introduction of VAT in the UAE has not had a material impact on our business. However, any further change in VAT in the UAE could increase the costs for users to purchase our virtual currencies and may reduce user spending as a result, which could adversely affect our revenues.

In addition, the AED, which is the legal currency of the UAE, has been pegged to the US dollar at 3.6725 AEDs per U.S. dollar since November 1997. However, there can be no assurance that the AED will not be de-pegged in the future or that the existing peg will not be adjusted in a manner that negatively impacts the level of economic activities in the UAE or negatively impacts the attractiveness of the UAE as a tourist destination, both of which are important factors that drive the level of payments by users from the UAE. Any such de-pegging or adjustment could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be required to be listed in the UAE.

In his capacity as Ruler of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued Decree No. 3 of 2021 on the listing of joint stock companies on securities exchanges in Dubai (the “Decree”). The Decree makes it mandatory for certain companies, established in Dubai or with a significant proportion of its profits or assets in Dubai, to be listed on the Dubai Financial Market or Nasdaq Dubai. The Decree states that foreign companies, being companies established and licensed outside of the UAE with branches, assets or activities in the Emirate of Dubai, may, but are not required to, be listed on the Dubai Financial Market or Nasdaq Dubai. It is not considered that there is any current requirement for us to be listed on either the Dubai Financial Market or Nasdaq Dubai although there can be no guarantee that the provisions of this Decree will not be extended in the future.

If we were required to become a public company in the UAE, we would incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses in order to comply with the various requirements on corporate governance and public disclosure mandated by the regulatory authorities in the UAE. Such requirements could also make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, if we were unable to comply with the relevant listing requirements in the UAE, we could be subject to penalties, and our results of operations, reputation and business would be adversely affected.

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The economic, political and social conditions in MENA and China, as well as government policies, laws and regulations, could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are headquartered in the UAE. MENA is our key market, and we must comply with the applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions of MENA. The regulatory bodies in MENA may not be as fully matured and as established as those of Western Europe and the United States. Existing laws and regulations may be applied inconsistently with anomalies in their interpretation or implementation. Inconsistent interpretation or implementation in relation to existing laws and regulations could restrict our ability to offer our mobile platform in the relevant jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our technology and product development team and certain members of our management are located in the PRC, and two of our operating subsidiaries are incorporated under and governed by the laws of the PRC. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects are, to a certain degree, subject to economic, political and legal developments in China. The economy of China differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the extent of government involvement, its level of development, its growth rate and its control over foreign exchange. The PRC government plays a significant role in regulating industrial development. It also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through the allocation of resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policies and providing preferential treatments to particular industries or companies. All of these factors could affect the economic conditions in China and, in turn, our business.

Since the PRC legal system continues to evolve rapidly, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties, which may limit legal protections available to us. For example, we have been subject to stricter regulatory requirements in terms of our labor contracts with our employees and paying various statutory employee benefits, including pensions, housing fund, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance for the benefit of our employees. We cannot assure you that our employment practices have complied or will be able to comply with all labor-related laws and regulations in the PRC. Furthermore, intellectual property rights and confidentiality protections in China may not be as effective as in the United States or other countries. In addition, we cannot predict the effect of future developments in the PRC legal system, including the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, or the preemption of local regulations by national laws. These uncertainties could limit the legal protections available to us and other foreign investors, including you. In addition, any litigation in China may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources and management attention.

Our failure to obtain, maintain or renew licenses, approvals, permits, registrations or filings necessary to conduct our operations could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Regulatory authorities in various jurisdictions oversee different aspects of our business operations. We are required to obtain a number of licenses, approvals, permits, registrations and filings and are subject to certain reporting obligations required for maintaining our subsidiaries and personnel in such jurisdictions. We cannot assure you that we have obtained all of these licenses, approvals, permits, registrations and filings or will continue to maintain or renew all of them or that we have complied with these requirements in full. If we fail to obtain necessary authorizations, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of illegal revenues, fines and discontinuation or restriction of business operations, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our existing licenses, approvals, registrations or permits in the relevant jurisdictions, renew any of them when their current term expires, or update existing licenses or obtain additional licenses, approvals, permits, registrations or filings necessary for our business expansion from time to time. If we fail to do so, our business, financial conditions and operational results may be materially and adversely affected.

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PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents and entities may limit our overseas investments or otherwise expose us to liability and penalties under PRC law.

PRC enterprises’ overseas direct investment is under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, or the MOFCOM, the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, and shall be subject to relevant governing rules. Where PRC enterprises make overseas direct investment, they shall file with or obtain the approval from the MOFCOM and NDRC, or their local counterparts, and register with the banks as well.

The SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing.

Certain of our directors and officers have completed initial SAFE registration in connection with our financings in accordance with SAFE under SAFE Circular 37. However, we cannot assure you that they will continue to make required filings or updates upon any subsequent change in a timely manner, or at all. Moreover, we may not at all times be fully aware or informed of the identities of all our shareholders or beneficial owners that are required to make or update such registrations, and we cannot compel our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations and outbound investment related regulations, and there is no assurance that such registration, approval, and any subsequent amendment will be completed in a timely manner, or will be completed at all. Certain of our beneficial shareholders who are PRC residents and hold an insignificant number of our shares have not completed their SAFE Circular 37 registration. Failure by these and other shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations or outbound investment related regulations, could subject such shareholders or beneficial owners to fines or legal sanctions from the relevant PRC authorities, and may result in adverse impact on us, such as restrictions on our overseas or cross-border investment activities or our ability to distribute dividends, or influence on our ownership structure.

Furthermore, as these foreign exchange and outbound investment related regulations are relatively new and their interpretation and implementation have been constantly evolving, it is uncertain how these regulations, and any future regulations concerning offshore or cross-border investments and transactions, will be interpreted, amended and implemented by the relevant government authorities. We cannot assure you that we have complied or will be able to comply with all applicable foreign exchange and outbound investment related regulations.

We may be classified as a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, which could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders.

The Enterprise Income Tax Law, or EIT Law, provides that enterprises established outside of the PRC whose “de facto management bodies” are located in the PRC are considered “resident enterprises” and are generally subject to the uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on their worldwide income. In addition, a circular issued by the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, on April 22, 2009, and amended on January 29, 2014 clarified that dividends and other income paid by such “resident enterprises” will be considered to be PRC-source income, subject to PRC withholding tax, currently at a rate of 10%, when recognized by non-PRC enterprise shareholders. This circular also subjects such “resident enterprises” to various reporting requirements with PRC tax authorities. However, it remains unclear how the tax authorities will determine the location of “de facto management bodies” of overseas incorporated enterprises that are controlled by foreign enterprises or individuals. Therefore, although several members of our management are currently located in the PRC, it remains unclear whether the PRC tax authorities would require or permit our overseas registered entities to be treated as PRC resident enterprises. We do not consider our company to be a PRC resident enterprise. However, if PRC tax authorities disagree with our assessment and determine that we are a “resident enterprise,” we may be subject to enterprise income tax at a rate of 25% on our worldwide income and dividends paid by us to our non-PRC shareholders as well as capital gains recognized by them with respect to the sale of our shares or ADSs may be subject to a PRC withholding tax. A determination that we are a PRC resident enterprise would have an impact on our effective tax rate, a material adverse effect on our net income and results of operations, and may require us to withhold tax on dividends to our non-PRC shareholders.

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We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

Pursuant to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 698, issued by the SAT in 2009, where a non-resident enterprise transfers the equity interests of a PRC resident enterprise indirectly by disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, or an Indirect Transfer, and such overseas holding company is located in a tax jurisdiction that (i) has an effective tax rate less than 12.5% or (ii) does not tax foreign income of its residents, the non-resident enterprise, being the transferor, shall report to the competent tax authority of the PRC resident enterprise this Indirect Transfer.

In February 2015, the SAT issued a Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Tax Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 7. SAT Circular 7 provides clearer criteria than SAT Circular 698 for assessment of reasonable commercial purposes and has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity through a public securities market. Where a non-resident enterprise transfers taxable assets indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, which is an Indirect Transfer, the non-resident enterprise as either transferor or transferee, or the PRC entity that directly owns the taxable assets, may report such Indirect Transfer to the relevant tax authority. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such Indirect Transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10% for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise. Both the transferor and the transferee may be subject to penalties under PRC tax laws if the transferee fails to withhold the taxes and the transferor fails to pay the taxes.

We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries and investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxed if our company is the transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is the transferee or payer in such

transactions. For transfer of shares in our company by investors who are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiaries may be requested to assist in the filing under the SAT circulars. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with the SAT circulars, to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

It may be difficult to effect service of process upon us or our directors or executive officers who reside in China, to enforce against them in China any judgments obtained from non-PRC courts or to bring actions in China against us or our management.

Certain of our directors and executive officers reside within China, and a portion of our assets and the assets of those persons are located within China. It may not be possible for investors to effect service of process upon us or those persons inside China or to enforce against us or them in China any judgments obtained from non-PRC courts. China does not have treaties providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan or most other western countries. However, judgments rendered by Hong Kong courts may be recognized and enforced in China if the requirements set forth by the Arrangement on Mutual Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by Courts of Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Pursuant to Agreed Jurisdiction by Parties Concerned are met. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in China of judgments of a court in any of these jurisdictions other than Hong Kong in relation to any matter not subject to binding arbitration provisions may be difficult or impossible.

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Shareholder claims that are common in the United States, including securities law class actions and fraud claims, generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the local authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of other country or region to implement cross-border oversight and regulation, such regulatory cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC and no entities or individuals may provide documents or materials in connection with its securities activities to the overseas without proper authorization. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be available, the inability for overseas securities regulators to directly conduct investigation or collect evidence within China may further increase difficulties faced by investors in protecting your interests.

The audit report included in this annual report is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection. In addition, the adoption of any rules, legislations or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause uncertainty, and we could be delisted if we were unable to meet any PCAOB inspection requirement in time.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included in this annual report, as auditors of companies that are traded publicly in the U.S. and a firm registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the U.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the U.S. and professional standards. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. Accordingly, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities, no organization or individual may provide the documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties. Because our auditors are located in the People’s Republic of China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB. On May 24, 2013, PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations in the United States and China. PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges. On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. The joint statement reflects the U.S. regulators’ heightened interest in this issue. In a statement issued on December 9, 2019, the SEC reiterated concerns over the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of the audit firm work papers with respect to U.S.-listed companies that have operations in China, and emphasized the importance of audit quality in emerging markets, such as China. On April 21, 2020, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a new joint statement, reminding the investors that in investing in companies that are based in or have substantial operations in many emerging markets, including China, there is substantially greater risk that disclosures will be incomplete or misleading, and there is also a greater risk of fraud. In the event of investor harm, there is substantially less ability to bring and enforce SEC, DOJ and other U.S. regulatory actions, in comparison to U.S. domestic companies, and the joint statement reinforced past SEC and PCAOB statements on matters including the difficulty to inspect audit work papers in China and its potential harm to investors.

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Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our consolidated financial statements.

As part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law, in particular China’s, in December 2020, the United States enacted the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, which includes requirements for the SEC to identify issuers whose audit reports are prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate because of restrictions imposed by non-U.S. authorities in the auditor’s local jurisdiction, or covered issuers. The HFCA Act also requires public companies on this SEC list to certify that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government and make certain additional disclosures on foreign ownership and control of such issuers in their SEC filings. Furthermore, the HFCA Act amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to require the SEC to prohibit securities of any U.S. listed companies from being traded on any of the U.S. national securities exchanges, such as NYSE and Nasdaq Stock Market, or in the U.S. “over-the-counter” markets, if the auditor of the U.S. listed companies’ financial statements is not subject to PCAOB inspections for three consecutive “non-inspection” years after the law becomes effective. While the SEC has not yet identified a list of issuers whose auditors are not subject to PCAOB inspections, the first such list could be released in early 2022. On March 24, 2021, the SEC announced the adoption of interim final amendments to implement the submission and disclosure requirements of the HFCA Act. In the announcement, the SEC clarifies that before any issuer will have to comply with the interim final amendments, the SEC must implement a process for identifying covered issuers. The announcement also states that the SEC staff is actively assessing how best to implement the other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the identification process and the trading prohibition requirements. Enactment of the HFCA Act and other efforts to increase the U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, and the market price of the ADSs could be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that we will not be identified by the SEC as an issuer whose audit report is prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate. We cannot assure you that, once we have a “non-inspection” year, we will be able to take remedial measures in a timely manner, and as a result, we cannot assure you that we will always be able to maintain the listing of our ADSs on a national stock exchange in the U.S., such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq Stock Market, or that you will always be allowed to trade our shares or ADSs.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

Starting in 2011, the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in mainland China, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that, under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC.

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In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. A first instance trial of the proceedings in July 2013 in the SEC’s internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC, although that proposed penalty did not take effect pending review by the Commissioners of the SEC. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the Commissioner had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they fail to meet specified criteria, the SEC retains authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Remedies for any future noncompliance could include, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a single firm’s performance of certain audit work, commencement of a new proceeding against a firm, or in extreme cases the resumption of the current proceeding against all four firms. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms’ failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our common stock may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of our ADSs from the NYSE or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee share ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, replacing earlier rules promulgated in 2007. Pursuant to these rules, PRC residents who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the PRC subsidiaries of such overseas-listed company, and complete certain other procedures.

In addition, an overseas-entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. We and our executive officers and other employees granted options who are PRC residents are subject to these regulations. We have made efforts to comply with these requirements. However, there can be no assurance that they can successfully register with SAFE in full compliance with the rules. Failure to complete SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to make payment under our equity incentive plans or receive dividends or sales proceeds related thereto, to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiaries or to conduct other foreign exchange activities, and may further limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law.

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Risks Relating to the American Depositary Shares

The trading price of the ADSs may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to you.

The trading prices of the ADSs have fluctuated since we first listed our ADSs. Since our ADSs became listed on the NYSE on September 30, 2020, the trading prices of our ADSs ranged from US$6.26 to US$41.35 per ADS, and the last reported trading price on April 1, 2021 was US$26.52 per ADS. The prices for our ADSs may continue to fluctuate because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of other listed companies from emerging markets. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of the securities of other companies from emerging markets after their offerings, including technology companies and social media platforms, may affect the attitudes of investors toward companies from emerging markets listed in the U.S., which consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or matters of other companies from emerging markets may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards companies from emerging markets in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. Furthermore, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the U.S., China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009, the second half of 2011, 2015 and the first quarter of 2020, which may have a material and adverse effect on the trading price of the ADSs. In particular, concerns about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered significant price fluctuations in the U.S. stock market.

In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of the ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following:

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If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades the ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for the ADSs to decline.

Because we do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on your investment unless you sell your Class A ordinary shares or ADSs for a price greater than that which you paid for them.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Dividend Policy.” Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in the ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Subject to compliance with the applicable Cayman Islands legal requirements, our board of directors has discretion as to whether to distribute dividends. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in the ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of the ADSs. There is no guarantee that the ADSs will appreciate in the future or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in the ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in the ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of the ADSs in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline.

Sales of the ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of the ADSs to decline significantly. As of March 31, 2021, we have 119,196,117 Class A ordinary shares and 24,734,013 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. All ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares are freely transferable by persons other than our “affiliates” without restriction or additional registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. All of the other ordinary shares outstanding after our initial public offering are available for sale, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act.

Certain major holders of our ordinary shares have the right to cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of ADSs representing these registered shares in the public market could cause the price of the ADSs to decline significantly.

You, as holders of ADSs, may have fewer rights than holders of our Class A ordinary shares and must act through the depositary to exercise those rights.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders and may only exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under our third amended and restated articles of association, the minimum notice period required to convene a general meeting is ten clear days. Pursuant to such requirement, there needs to be at least 10 days between the notice of a general meeting being given and the general meeting, with neither the date on which the notice is, or is deemed to be, given nor the date of the general meeting being counted towards such 10-day notice period. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit you to withdraw your Class A ordinary shares to allow you to cast your vote with respect to any specific matter. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send voting materials to you or carry out your voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but there can be no assurance that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your ADSs. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack recourse if your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.

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The deposit agreement, which defines your rights as an ADS holder, may be amended or terminated without your consent.

We and the depositary may amend or terminate the deposit agreement without your consent. If you continue to hold your ADSs after an amendment to the deposit agreement, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement as amended. See “Item 12. Description of Securities other than Equity Securities—D. American Depositary Shares” for more information.

Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to you in the U.S. unless we register both the distribution and sale of the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not make rights available to you unless both the distribution and sale of the rights and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings in the future and may experience dilution in your holdings.

You may not receive cash dividends or other distributions if the depositary determines it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary will pay cash distributions on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Dividend Policy.” To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is illegal or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.

We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs as a public company, which could lower our profits or make it more difficult to run our business.

As a public company, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company to ensure that we comply with the various requirements on corporate governance practices imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and NYSE.

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For example, we have increased the number of independent directors and adopted policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We have also incurred additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. We expect that these rules and regulations will continue to cause us to incur elevated legal and financial compliance costs, devote substantial management effort to ensure compliance and make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in net revenues for our last financial year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting and permission to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. Once we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against companies following periods of instability in the market price of those companies’ securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our third amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us, which could limit our shareholders’ opportunity to sell their shares, including ordinary shares represented by the ADSs, at a premium.

Our third amended and restated articles of association contain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. For example, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or other rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our Class A ordinary shares, in the form of ADSs or otherwise. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of the ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our third amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain other provisions that could limit the ability of third parties to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in a transaction resulting in a change of control, including a provision that entitles each Class B ordinary share to 20 votes in respect of all matters subject to a shareholders’ vote.

Our third amended and restated articles of association provide that the courts of the Cayman Islands and the U.S. federal courts will be the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for complaints against us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our third amended and restated articles of association provide that, unless otherwise agreed by us, (i) the federal courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear, settle and/or determine any proceeding, action, complaint, dispute, controversy or claim arising under the provisions of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, which are referred to as the “US Actions;” and (ii) save for such US Actions, the courts of the Cayman Islands shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear, settle and/or determine any dispute, controversy or claim whether arising out of or in connection with our articles of association or otherwise, including without limitation:

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These exclusive-forum provisions may increase a shareholder’s cost and limit the shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any of our shares or other security, such as the ADSs, whether by transfer, sale, operation of law or otherwise, shall be deemed to have notice of and have irrevocably agreed and consented to these provisions. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find this type of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find this provision in our third amended and restated articles of association to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could have an adverse effect on our business and financial performance.

ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that holders and beneficial owners of ADSs irrevocably waive the right to a trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, against us or the depositary to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. The waiver continues to apply to claims that arise during the period when a holder holds the ADSs, even if the ADS holder subsequently withdraws the underlying ordinary shares. If this jury trial waiver provision is prohibited by applicable law, an action could nevertheless proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a jury trial waiver under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by a federal court. However, we believe that a jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a jury trial waiver provision, New York courts will consider whether the visibility of the jury trial waiver provision within the agreement is sufficiently prominent such that a party has knowingly waived any right to trial by jury. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. In addition, New York courts will not enforce a jury trial waiver provision in order to bar a viable setoff or counterclaim sounding in fraud or one which is based upon a creditor’s negligence in failing to liquidate collateral upon a guarantor’s demand, or in the case of an intentional tort claim, none of which we believe are applicable in the case of the deposit agreement or the ADSs. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any provision of the federal securities laws. If you or any other holder or beneficial owner of ADSs brings a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and / or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and / or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action, depending on, among other things, the nature of the claims, the judge or justice hearing such claims and the venue of the hearing.

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You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Substantially all of our assets are located outside the United States. In addition, substantially all of our directors and executive officers and the experts named in this annual report reside outside the United States, and most of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against them in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the United States federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands, the UAE, China or other relevant jurisdiction may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act, Cap. 22 (Act 3 of 1961, as consolidated and revised) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands.

The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the U.S. In particular, the Cayman Islands have a less developed body of securities laws than the U.S. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Under Cayman Islands law, a list of the names of the current directors and alternate directors (if applicable) of Cayman Islands exempted companies is made available by the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies for inspection by any person on payment of a fee. The register of mortgages of such companies is open to inspection by creditors and members.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under the third amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder resolution or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

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As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the U.S.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the U.S. that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including: (i) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K; (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; (iii) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and (iv) the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD.

We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the NYSE. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

We are an emerging growth company and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for so long as we are an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards. We will take advantage of the extended transition period. As a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to other public companies that comply with the public company effective dates for these new or revised accounting standards.

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, which could result in adverse United States tax consequences to United States investors.

Based on the past and projected composition of our income and assets, and the valuation of our assets, including goodwill, we do not believe we were a passive foreign investment company (a “PFIC”) for our most recent taxable year, and we do not expect to become a PFIC in the current taxable year or the foreseeable future, although there can be no assurance in this regard.

In general, we will be a PFIC for any taxable year in which:

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The determination of whether we are a PFIC is made annually. Accordingly, it is possible that we may become a PFIC in the current or any future taxable year due to changes in our asset or income composition. Because we have calculated the value of our goodwill by taking into account the expected market value of our ADSs, a decrease in the price of our ADSs may also result in our becoming a PFIC.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, our PFIC status could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to you if you are a United States Holder, as defined under “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations.” For example, if we are or become a PFIC, you may become subject to increased tax liabilities in respect of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares under United States federal income tax laws and regulations, and will become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. See “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company.” There can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for the current or any future taxable year.

As a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

We are a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and the ADSs are listed on the NYSE. The NYSE market rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

Among others, we are not required to: (i) have a majority of the board be independent; (ii) have a compensation committee or a nominating and corporate governance committee consisting entirely of independent directors; (iii) have a minimum of three members on the audit committee; (iv) obtain shareholders’ approval for issuance of securities in certain situations; or (v) have regularly scheduled executive sessions with only independent directors each year.

We intend to rely on the exemptions described above. As a result, you may not be provided with the benefits of certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.

As part of the Reorganization, FYXTech Cayman issued shares to the co-founders of FYXTech BVI and Shenzhen Yale. Upon the issuance of such shares, the equity structure of FYXTech Cayman was substantially identical to that of FYXTech BVI and Shenzhen Yale on a fully-diluted basis. In addition, from May 2018 to December 2018, FYXTech BVI and Shenzhen Yale transferred their business operations, including assets and employees, to Yalla UAE and Hangzhou Yale, respectively. Upon the completion of the Reorganization in December 2018, FYXTech BVI and Shenzhen Yale ceased to be consolidated within our group.

We currently operate our business through Yalla UAE, Hangzhou Yale and Shenzhen Moov. Yalla UAE functions as our primary business operation center and engages in sales, marketing, customer service and other business operations. Hangzhou Yale performs technology and product development functions. Shenzhen Moov primarily performs marketing and financial reporting functions.

Our ADSs, each representing one of our Class A ordinary share, have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since September 30, 2020 under the symbol “YALA.”

Overview

A Community Built on Voice

Voice connects us to our fellow humans.

Voice is unique, like a person’s signature, instantly recognizable by friends.

Voice is fun, stories, songs, jokes and gossips are among the oldest, as well as the most popular, forms of entertainment.

Voice is spontaneous, no need to look for a pen or a keyboard, just open the mouth.

Voice is powerful, it is an effective medium to convey ideas and emotions.

Voice is charming, few things are as beautiful as a loved one’s voice.

Social gatherings for group chatting and other casual entertainment have been a long-standing tradition in MENA. A common example is majlis, a gathering event of friends and neighbors to socialize, exchange gifts and play casual games. Majlis is deeply ingrained in the cultures of many countries in MENA and has remained popular for centuries. Since the founding of our business, we have been helping the local people in MENA to bring their traditions online and continue their social enjoyment in the mobile Internet era. Our products mirror what people enjoy doing in majlis, cafés and other offline leisure and entertainment settings and make social interactions more convenient. Leveraging our cultural insights, we identified voice chats to be uniquely suitable for online social networking and entertainment in MENA and pioneered the development of a voice-centric mobile social networking and entertainment platform in the region.

Today, we are a leading voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform in MENA. We have built a large and vibrant Yalla community. In the fourth quarter of 2020, approximately 16.4 million users visited our platform on average each month; they spent a total of 439.8 million hours in Yalla rooms and played a total of 410.6 million rounds of casual games on Yalla Ludo. The number of paying users on our platform was 5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

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Why Users Love Us

We believe “Yalla” has become synonymous with fun and enjoyable mobile social experience in MENA. Users love our platform for the following reasons:

We provide a mobile platform for users to enjoy superior social experience online. Our mobile applications were inspired by offline social leisure activities in MENA. We bring such activities to the mobile Internet to make them more convenient. Our flagship mobile application, Yalla, primarily features Yalla rooms, which may be viewed as the online version of majlis or cafés, where people spend their leisure time in casual chats. On the other hand, Yalla Ludo resembles a family living room where family members and friends play simple board games that are highly popular in MENA, such as Ludo and Domino. We carefully preserve the traditional features and tastes of these popular games so that our users can easily apply their offline experience to our mobile platform.

Leisure is a mentally beneficial experience, and we believe that leisure activities should be done for their own sake. Our users gather on our platform for a relaxing social leisure experience. Whether their time is spent on an hour of casual chatting or a few rounds of casual games, social interactions and companionships are what our users cherish. We aim to provide our users with a pure social leisure experience. While our users may receive virtual gifts and accumulate virtual currencies on our platform, none of the virtual gifts and virtual currencies are convertible into real money under any circumstance and our users are unable to sell such virtual items to other users through our platform. Instead, users send virtual gifts to express their appreciation of contributions by other users or gain recognition within the community.

We have developed the leading social networking and entertainment platform tailored to the local cultures of our target markets, particularly MENA. We believe localizing is much more than using the local language in user interfaces. Leveraging our insights into MENA culture and local user preferences, we infuse our user interfaces with local cultural elements. For non-English versions of Yalla, we update the user interface with color themes and logos related to specific local holidays to celebrate with our users, and virtual gifts are typically designed based on local customs. As a result of our close attention to detail, our mobile applications deliver a seamless user experience and foster a strong sense of belonging among users. Such localized appeal resonates with users and allows us to build a highly loyal and engaging user community. Our ability to faithfully preserve the traditional flavors of local offline social life also differentiates us from other platforms.

Our users mainly interact through real-time voice chats on our platform. Compared to other forms of online communication such as texts, graphics or video, users are able to communicate more comfortably and effortlessly by voice. Moreover, voice chats are more suitable to the cultural norms in MENA compared to video chats. We believe our voice-centric approach has been one of the key reasons for our success in MENA.

Our platform is designed to maintain users’ equal status, thereby encouraging all of them to freely communicate and interact with each other. There are no differences of influencers and followers, or gurus and newbies. Instead of passively consuming content, users come to our platform in order to actively participate in the social leisure activities we offer. We believe these social interactions foster a sense of community among users and enable our platform to attract and retain users more effectively compared to other platforms.

Our Financial Performance

We have experienced strong revenue growth in recent years. We primarily generate our revenue by providing group chatting and games services. Individual users consume virtual currencies to purchase virtual items and upgrade services or play games on our platform. Virtual items primarily consist of various virtual gifts and privileges in chat rooms or games. Upgrade services primarily consist of premium rights or premium membership on our platform. Our revenues increased by 49.8% from US$42.4 million in 2018 to US$63.5 million in 2019 and further increased by 112.6% to US$134.9 million in 2020.

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Our innovative business model focuses on users’ interactions and social networking experience on our platform. Therefore, we do not incur significant content acquisition cost, such as incentive fees to key users or costs for acquiring media content. Our user acquisition channels have been cost-effective. As a result, we are able to achieve high profitability.

Our Business

The Yalla Community

We have built a loyal and highly interactive Yalla community by offering superior user experience tailored to local cultures. A substantial number of our users are Arabic-speaking, and activities on our platform mirror popular offline social leisure activities in MENA.

The chart below illustrates ways for users to leisurely gather, enjoy social entertainment and build social networks in the Yalla community. As a core feature of our platform, Yalla rooms enable voice-based, real-time, many-to-many interactions. The key additional forms of interactions available on our platform are casual games, messaging and moments, each offering differentiated value propositions to users. Casual games, such as Ludo and Domino, cater to users’ instincts for playing and fun. Messaging allows users to build friendships through in-depth conversations. Moments satisfy users’ desire for self-expression. These interactive features are self-reinforcing and help to enhance user engagement and promote a sense of community among our users.

A Refreshing and Fun-filled Journey into the Yalla Community

We have developed the leading voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform tailored for MENA. For Arabic-speaking users, the journey into the Yalla community is both familiar and refreshing. The Yalla community is familiar to a newcomer, because our platform faithfully preserves the traditional flavors of offline social life in MENA. The vibrant Yalla rooms resemble majlis and cafés, where people spend their leisure time in casual chats. The experience is also refreshing, since we are different from other mobile platforms that use local languages without incorporating local cultures. Users find our localized features heart-warming and develop a sense of belonging towards the Yalla community.

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By way of illustration, the following paragraphs describe the refreshing and fun-filled journey of an Arabic-speaking new user into the Yalla community, as such user explores the interactive features on our platform. These interactive features play a critical role in our efforts to enhance user engagement and monetize user base. We call this exemplar user Amir to simplify the description below.

Welcoming Experience For Newcomers

To convert a new user into a loyal user, we endeavor to quickly familiarize a newcomer like Amir with our platform, especially Yalla rooms. Through this welcoming experience, we help Amir integrate into the Yalla community.

Set forth below are screenshots of the welcoming page and room recommendations.

Vibrant Yalla Rooms

Yalla rooms provide a virtual meeting place for our users to leisurely gather and enjoy voice-based, many-to-many social interactions. After Amir enters a Yalla room, he may participate in voice chats, non-voice chats, gifting and other interactive features, all of which are designed to foster a lively online community. The screenshot of a Yalla room is set forth below.

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Room recommendations among friends are an effective way for users to find interesting rooms, thereby making these rooms more lively. Amir can recommend Yalla rooms to his friends by sending them room invitations. He can also view the rooms that his friends are currently in and enter the room that interests him the most.

As Amir becomes more involved in the Yalla community and establishes his own social circle, he wants to create his own room and take the center of the stage. As the room chair, Amir is able to set interest tags of the room, which reflect his preferred topics for conversations. After creating his Yalla room, Amir is able to meet more people of similar interest or backgrounds. With more like-minded friends in the Yalla community, Amir spends more time on our platform.

Messaging and Moments

To foster social connections in the Yalla community and enhance user stickiness, we offer additional features for users to interact and access entertaining content.

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Screenshots of a messaging page and a moments page are set forth below.

Casual Games

A friend invites Amir to play two casual games on our platform, Ludo and Domino, and he eagerly checks out these games on Yalla Ludo, as both Ludo and Domino are highly popular board games in MENA and can be learned by beginners with relative ease. Screenshots for Domino and Ludo games are set forth below.

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We offer casual games to enrich the entertainment options on our platform and further enhance user interactions. These games help Amir make more friends by serving as icebreakers. While playing games, he can voice-chat and bond with other players. Our system provides two options for player matching in a game. Amir can choose to be assigned with a player that our system selects based on certain criteria, such as language setting, and meet new friends through this function. He can also play the games with friends. Amir needs to spend virtual currencies in order to start a game on Yalla Ludo, and the winner of the game can keep a portion of the virtual currencies paid by the other player. He can also use virtual currencies to gain certain advantages in games. In addition, Amir may socialize with other users through chat rooms on Yalla Ludo.

Set forth below are screenshots of the chat room recommendations and chat rooms on Yalla Ludo.

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Localized Online Events

We organize localized online events, most of which are based on traditional holidays, to further enhance user engagement and interactions. In 2020, we organized 24 online events in Yalla and 16 in Yalla Ludo, all of which were based on Islamic traditional festivals or localized Arabic designs to enhance user engagement and interaction. For example, during the important Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha (July 31, 2020), Amir participated in the online celebration in Yalla after completed his religious routine. He voice-chatted with friends in Yalla rooms, sent and received Eid al-Adha event gifts, and lighted up virtual festival feasts. Before sleep, Amir switched to Yalla Ludo, played Ludo games under the festival event guidelines, completed the activity tasks and received the exclusive Ludo chessboard theme for Eid al-Adha. From July 29 to August 9 in 2020, our users celebrated Eid al-Adha on our platform by sending customized gifts and participating in online tasks. 624 thousand users participated in the event.

Monetization

We primarily generate our revenue by providing group chatting and games services. Individual users consume virtual currencies to purchase virtual items and upgrade services or play games on our platform. Virtual items primarily consist of various virtual gifts and privileges in chat rooms or games. Upgrade services primarily consist of premium rights or premium membership on our platform. Users buy our virtual currencies through third-party payment platforms. Our virtual currencies are non-refundable and do not have expiration date.

We believe our users come to our platform primarily for an enjoyable social experience, and not to make money. We have designed our platform settings to ensure that our users cannot use our platform for money-making purposes. On Yalla, while our users may receive gifts from other users, such gifts cannot be redeemed into real money. Similarly, on Yalla Ludo, while our users may win virtual currencies from other users that they play games with, they can only use such virtual currencies to play more games and/or gain advantages in games. Our users are not allowed to convert any of our virtual currencies into real money or sell our virtual currencies to other users under any circumstances.

Customer Service

Our customer service is available on a 24/7 basis. We engage third-party service providers to perform customer service tasks. Our in-house customer services and operations staff is responsible for managing the customer service representatives employed by the third-party service providers and providing customer services to certain high-paying users, as well as other aspects of operating our online platform.

Our users may submit inquiries, feedbacks or complaints by sending messages via Yalla rooms and the “FAQ & Feedback” portals in our mobile applications at any time. Upon receipt of complaints or inquiries, our customer service representatives will conduct investigations and promptly provide users with explanations and solutions for the issues they report. We also utilize an automated system to address certain common questions from users. We require complaints to be attended to within one business day.

In addition to the routine customer service that is available to all users on our platform, we also provide premium customer service to certain high-paying users. We identify and contact these users and offer them 24/7 access to customer service representatives, which allows the users to receive responses and services in a more timely manner.

Content Management and Monitoring

An engaged and interactive user community is key to our success and we strive to cultivate and maintain a healthy and inviting culture. Our terms of service set out types of content strictly prohibited on our platform, and we have also developed a content monitoring system that utilizes primarily automation, as well as manual screening, to filter inappropriate content. Our operations staff is responsible for reviewing and handling content on our platform to maintain a healthy ecosystem and promote a positive user experience. They are aided by software and technologies to screen text and images that users upload to our system.

We also encourage users to assist us with content monitoring. Room chairs and ministers are incentivized to maintain a healthy environment in their rooms to attract and retain members. They have the ability to remove users from their rooms for rule violations. Other users are able to conveniently notify us about inappropriate behavior on our platform.

Branding and Marketing

We believe that our interactive community culture and large user base have led to repeated user visits and a strong word-of-mouth effect that strengthens awareness of our brand among users.

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As a supplement to word-of-mouth marketing, we often promote our brand and platform through online marketing. We market our platform through advertisements on app stores, Google Ads and various social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. We also collaborate with social media influencers to promote our platform.

Technology

Our advanced and stable technology infrastructure and capabilities allow us to provide users with reliable access to our platform and ensure superior user experience. Our platform incorporates the following features:

Our agreement with Agora has a term of three years and is due to expire in November 2021. If there is no written notice of non-renewal from either party one month before the expiration date, the agreement is automatically renewable for another year upon the expiration of the initial term. The agreement may be terminated by either party for cause, such as breach of contract, if the defaulting party fails to rectify within 30 days after the receipt of written notice or if there is insolvency of either party. If Agora fails to fulfill our service requirements, we may terminate the agreement with 30 days written notice provided that Agora fails to rectify after we give them such feedbacks twice. The initial term of our agreement with Zego expired in March 2021, and the agreement has been automatically renewed for a one-year term. The service fees under each of the agreements are based on the amount of data transmitted and are settled on a monthly basis.

We entered into a framework agreement with the cloud service provider for services to support our Yalla mobile application with a term of one year, which is due to expire in February 2022. The agreement may be terminated by either party for cause, such as breach of contract. We also entered into an agreement with the cloud service provider for services to support our Yalla Ludo mobile application in December 2019. The agreement does not provide for a finite term and may be terminated by either party without cause with one month written notice or for cause, such as breach of contract, with immediate effect upon written notice to the other party. The service fees under each of the agreements are based on the actual services provided.

Product Development

We believe that our ability to develop mobile applications, product features, functions and services tailored to the needs of our user base has contributed to the success of our business. We have been able to rapidly scale our product development output and deliver an increasing range of products and services to fulfill the needs of our expanding user base and optimize the quality of user experience. Our technology and product development team works on both back-end and front-end development of our products and services, including (a) the enhancement of network and server structures, as well as data distribution and transfer technologies to achieve lower latency and reduce interruptions, and (b) the creation of new features and functions to meet the diverse needs of our users. We plan to continue to invest in technology and product development in order to reinforce and solidify our industry-leading position.

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Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is an important aspect of our business, and our practice is to seek protection for our intellectual property as appropriate. We safeguard our proprietary technologies through contractually requiring our employees to keep all our proprietary technologies confidential, as well as seeking to protect our technologies through patents and copyrights.

Our trademarks, including “Yalla,” and “Yalla Ludo,” are a critical component of the value of our business. As of December 31, 2020, we had 52 registered trademarks, 45 pending trademark applications and 35 registered copyrights in 26 jurisdictions, including a number of jurisdictions in MENA. As of December 31, 2020, we had 23 domain names, including yallatech.ae.

We face certain risks relating to our intellectual property. For further information, see “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry—Our intellectual property may not provide adequate protection to us, and we may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry—We may be subject to intellectual property or other third-party rights infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly to defend and may result in diversion of our financial and management resources.”

Data Privacy and Protection

We consider the protection of the personal privacy of each of our users to be of paramount importance. We believe it is crucial that our users understand how we handle their information so that they feel comfortable while accessing our platform. To this end, we have developed a company-wide policy on data collection and use practices to preserve individual privacy rights in all respects, the key principles of which include: (i) providing adequate notice to users as to how their data is being collected and used, (ii) encrypting user data stored on our system, (iii) limiting access of user data to authorized employees and (iv) making reasonable efforts to prevent loss or leakage of user data. We believe the measures we take with respect to data privacy and protection are consistent with industry standards. For risks relating to data privacy and protection, see “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry—Concerns about collection, use, retention, transfer, disclosure, processing and security of personal data could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users from using our platform and services, or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

Competition

We operate an innovative business model of building a voice-centric social networking and entertainment community. As one of the few players in this market, we directly compete with other voice-centric social networking and entertainment platforms for users. In addition, we compete with other social networking and entertainment platforms. Some of our larger competitors have substantially broader service offerings and more working capital to support heavy spending on sales and marketing. We believe that our ability to compete effectively for users depends on many factors, including user experience on our platform, preservation of our vibrant community culture, effectiveness of content monitoring and review, our marketing efforts and reputation of our brands.

In addition, as our business continues to grow, we face significant competition for highly skilled personnel, including management, engineers, product managers and sales and marketing personnel. The success of our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to retain our existing personnel and recruit additional highly skilled employees.

Insurance

We maintain the statutory social insurance as required by the relevant local laws and regulations. In addition, we maintain commercial healthcare insurance for all full-time employees and enhanced healthcare insurance for senior management. However, we do not maintain product liability insurance or insurance policies for our properties. We believe that our existing insurance coverage of our business is consistent with what we believe to be customary for business of our size and type and in line with the standard commercial practice in our industry.

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Regulation

This section sets forth a summary of the most significant rules and regulations that affect our business activities in the United Arab Emirates and China.

United Arab Emirates

Overview of the Emirate of Dubai

Introduction

The UAE is a federation of seven emirates made up of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah. The UAE has one of the most liberal business environments in the Middle East focused around economic liberalization and promoting the role of the private sector. There are currently no exchange controls on the remittance of profits or repatriation of capital. Additionally, the UAE enjoys low tariffs, and there are virtually no restrictions on foreign trade.

Legal System

There are three primary sources of law in the UAE: federal laws and decrees, local laws and Sharia (Islamic law). The secondary source of law is trade custom or practice. In the absence of federal legislation on areas specifically reserved to federal authority, the ruler or local government of each emirate will apply his or its own rules, regulations and practices. Pursuant to its right under the federal constitution (established between the emirates on the creation of the UAE and permanently adopted in July 1996), or the UAE Constitution, the Emirate of Dubai has elected to maintain its own court system, separate from that of the federation, and the courts of Dubai have sole jurisdiction to hear cases brought in Dubai. Although both federal and Dubai courts have a similar three-tier structure (Court of First Instance, Court of Appeal and Court of Cassation/Supreme Court), Dubai has retained complete autonomy over its courts in all matters, including the appointment of judges. In accordance with the UAE Constitution, however, the Dubai courts will first apply federal law where this exists and, in its absence, the laws of Dubai. There are federal codes of law which apply in Dubai and the other emirates dealing with the most important and fundamental principles of law, including civil, commercial, civil procedure, companies, intellectual property, immigration, maritime, industrial, banking and employment law. In contrast, many of the laws enacted by the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, or the Ruler, relate to matters which are more administrative in nature, such as the establishment and operation of government affiliated entities.

In addition, free zones have been created in Dubai. Such free zones have, to varying degrees, different rules and regulations compared to the rest of the emirate. For example, the financial free zones in Dubai are independent of the civil and commercial laws of the UAE, but remain subject to UAE criminal law. Other types of free zones are still subject to the civil, commercial and criminal laws applicable in the UAE, provided that such laws do not contradict the rules and regulations of the relevant free zone. Our UAE subsidiary is not incorporated in a financial free zone and therefore remains subject to civil, commercial and criminal laws in the UAE.

Article 5 in the Federal Law No. 2 of 2015 concerning Commercial Companies Law, or the UAE Companies Law, states that the provisions of the UAE Companies Law shall not apply to companies established in the free zones if a special provision to this effect is contained in the laws or regulations of the relevant free zone.

With the exception of the financial free zones, which require a federal decree, the creation of separate legal systems for each free zone is primarily authorized by local laws or decrees which are issued by the ruler of each concerned emirate.

Free Zone Regulations

Our subsidiary in the UAE, Yalla Technology FZ-LLC, is located in the Dubai Creative Clusters free zone, the DCC free zone, in the Dubai Internet City cluster, and is therefore governed by certain of the federal laws of the UAE, certain of the local laws of the Emirate of Dubai and the regulations of the Dubai Creative Clusters.

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The DCC free zone was created in 2000 pursuant to Law No. 1 of 2000 on Establishing the Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone, or the TECOM Law. The DCC free zone was initially known as Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone. In 2014, the Law No 15 of 2014 Concerning the Creative Clusters in the Emirate of Dubai, or the DCC Law, was implemented. The DCC Law changed the name of the free zone from the DTMFZ to Dubai Creative Clusters, or DCC. The TECOM Law was not repealed when the DCC Law was brought into force but was amended as to replace all references to the DTMFZ with references to the DCC free zone. It was further stipulated that the DCC Law would prevail over that of the TECOM Law should a conflict arise between the two.

The Dubai Development Authority, or the DDA, is the primary regulator of the DCC free zone. The DDA was created pursuant to the TECOM law and is responsible for providing licenses for all companies incorporated in the DCC free zone. Businesses that have been incorporated in the DCC free zone are subject to the regulations of the DDA, together with the laws of Dubai and the UAE (to the extent applicable).

Regulations Relating to Companies

The principal legislation governing companies incorporated in the DCC free zone, such as our UAE subsidiary, is the Dubai Creative Clusters Private Companies Regulations 2016, or the DCC Company Regulations. The DCC Company Regulations exempt companies incorporated in the DCC free zone from the ambit of the UAE Companies Law and permit 100% foreign ownership.

Regulations Relating to Commercial Activities

The provisions of Federal Law No. 18 of 1993 on commercial transactions, or the Commercial Code, generally apply to companies incorporated in the DCC free zone. The Commercial Code covers a broad range of commercial and banking transactions and contains provisions relating to, among other things, commercial obligations, commercial pledges, commercial agency, commercial papers and bankruptcy and liquidation.

The provisions of Federal Law No. 5 of 1985 regarding civil transactions, or the Civil Code, generally apply to commercial transactions to the extent they do not conflict with the corresponding provisions of the Commercial Code. The Civil Code governs, among other things, basic contract law principles, property rights and the creation of various security interests. The Civil Code also contains general provisions imposing liability arising from intentional and negligent acts. Such provisions are derived from the disciplines and principles of Sharia. The Civil Code further provides for a distinction between direct and indirect (or consequential) harm, but does not define these terms.

Regulations Relating to Employment

UAE Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 regulating labor relations, or the Labor Law, applies to all private-sector employees working in the UAE, except for those working in the Dubai International Financial Centre or the Abu Dhabi Global Market and therefore applies to our subsidiary. The Labor Law governs, among other things, minimum employee leave entitlements (for example, sick leave, annual leave and maternity leave), working hours and overtime, work-related injuries and safety standards. In relation to the termination of employment, the Labor Law differentiates between limited and unlimited term employment contracts, with different rules and requirements applying to each. The Labor Law also sets out the compensation which may be awarded to an employee who has been unlawfully dismissed. Such compensation may not exceed the equivalent of three months’ salary.

The Labor Law also provides for compensation payable to workers for injuries sustained during the course of their employment. The Labor Law also provides for a mandatory end of service gratuity to be paid to all employees upon termination of their employment. Employers and employees may not contract out of these minimum standards of employment established by the Labor Law. Trade unions and collective bargaining are not recognized under the Labor Law.

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In addition to the Labor Law, all companies operating within Dubai Internet City (part of the DCC free zone) are also subject to the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Employment Regulations 2004, or the Employment Regulations. The Employment Regulations authorize the DDA to sponsor employees’ residence visas, and contain provisions relating to the identity cards and passports of employees, the provision of medical care, as well as health and safety standards for employees. While applications for visas in the DCC free zone are made to the DDA, it is ultimately the federal immigration authority that grants these visas to the employees of companies in the DCC free zone. The DDA is also authorized to mediate labor disputes (as a preliminary step prior to litigation in the Dubai Labor Court) and to impose fines on companies for failure to comply with the Labor Law or the Employment Regulations. The Labor Law and the Employment Regulations are applicable to all employees working for companies within the DCC free zone, including foreign nationals.

Regulations Relating to Technology Media and Telecommunications

General Content Standards

Notwithstanding that the Federal Law No. 15 for 1980 Concerning Press and Publications, or the PPL, is now almost 40 years old, it is still the key source for content regulations, which has been confirmed in later resolutions from the National Media Council, or the NMC, the regulator in this area, in particular the Cabinet Resolution No. 23 of 2017 Concerning Media Content, or 2017 Cab Resolution, and the Chairman of the Board’s Resolution No. 26 of 2017 on Media Content, or the 2017 Content Resolution. The basis for all content restrictions in respect of media and online platforms comes from the PPL.

The prohibitions contained in Chapter 7 of the PPL include, among other things, no criticism of any of the rulers of the individual emirates that constitute the UAE; no instigation against Islam or the system of ruling; no harm to the interest of the state or values of society; no opinions that violate public discipline and order or circulation of subversive ideas; no instigation of criminal activity or incitement of hatred; no publication of confidential communications without permission; no blemishing of a president of, or agitating relations with, an Arab, Islamic or friendly state; no article defaming Arabs and their civilization and heritage; no news on an ongoing criminal investigation, if the judge has ordered confidentiality; no information about an individual’s private life, if such information is meant to disgrace the individual; no divulgence of a secret that may cause reputational harm; no publication to coerce payment or other benefit; no false news (with bad faith); nothing inconsistent with public order, or that is misleading to the public. Article 5 of the 2017 Content Resolution has guidelines that clarify these prohibitions.

Also of importance is the operation of the Telecommunications Annex 1-IAM Regulatory Policy, under Federal Law No 3 of 2003 regarding the organization of the Telecommunications Sector, or the IAM. The IAM grants the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, or the TRA, the broad ability to block websites and digital content (including games). In particular, the TRA has the ability to block a website that contains content that is “contrary to the public interest, public morality, public order, public and national security, Islamic morality or is otherwise prohibited by any applicable UAE law, regulation, procedure, order or requirement.” As a result, the TRA has the authority to block any website involving inappropriate content, such as pornography, nudity, illegal drugs or gambling.

Finally, Federal Law No. 5 of 2012 on Combatting Cybercrimes, or the CCL, criminalizes certain online behavior and could, if a complaint is raised, result in criminal charges being laid against the entities and people involved with the offending content (such as authors, editors, publishers). Offending content may include pornography, gambling, defamation, breach of privacy, sedition and similar incitements, and promotion of weapons.

Advertising and Commercial Content

Advertising is primarily regulated under the 2017 Content Resolution. Given that the 2017 Content Resolution refers specifically to “advertising” as being part of the definition of “content,” the prohibitions contained within the 2017 Content Resolution that apply to content also apply to advertising. The 2017 Content Resolution is media-neutral in application and apply to traditional advertising as well as advertising on social media and online content (including gaming). The 2017 Content Resolution also addresses specific issues associated with advertising (for example, the separation of advertising from other content).

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The 2017 Content Resolution specifically notes that “[i]t shall be prohibited to advertise any forbidden materials as per the applicable rules and laws such as tobacco.” Various federal and Dubai laws prohibit the advertisement of alcohol, including both “direct” and “indirect” promotion of alcohol. The 2017 Content Resolution states in Article 44(7) that “[n]o advertisement on alcoholic drinks or prohibited drugs shall be allowed by any means directly or indirectly.”

As far as identifying advertising content, Article 19 of the 2017 Cab Resolution states, “[a]ll paid advertising material must be explicitly and clearly stated as paid advertising material.” Article 43 of the 2017 Content Resolution further provides that “[a]ll paid advertising materials or items shall include a clear and candid indication that they are paid advertising materials or items.” This requirement applies to all advertising in all types of media, including social media.

Article 45(7) states that “the identity of the advertisement must be made clear and be presented as they are special and independent from the other advertising and editing materials or items, and borders must be placed to separate such advertisement from any other material or item as well as intervals or time breaks in case of TV and radio broadcasting.”

The Guidelines for Advertising, issued in 2018, provide a summary of laws applicable to advertising. It also contains a list of special conditions for social media. Key points include the use of the hashtag “#ad” or “#paid_ad” for disclosure. Phrases such as “thank you to …” or “in cooperation with…” are not sufficient. These hashtags must be legible and easy to find, and readers should not have to scroll down to find them. Video content must include a verbal reference to the disclosure within the video.

Online Content Licensing and Standards

Online content can be distributed without the need for a license. Licenses are only required for traditional media, unless the activity falls under the scope of the 2018 Electronic Media Regulation Resolution, or the E-Media Law. The relevant licensing requirement applies only to distributors based within the UAE. The E-Media Law opens with the statement that “this Resolution applies to all Electronic Media activities carried out within the State, including those in free zones.”

Article 4 of the E-Media Law addresses the issue of what will be “Licensable Electronic Media Activities”; which includes: website of trading, offering and selling of audiovisual and print material; on-demand electronic publishing and printing; specialized websites (e-ads, news sites, etc.); as well as any electronic activity that the NMC may determine to add.

Article 4(3) and 4(4) of the E-Media Law gives rise to uncertainty. Article 4(3) is uncertain as to the scope of “specialized websites.” From conversations held between Al Tamimi & Company and the NMC, the term is understood to cover commercial websites that replicate newspapers, traditional broadcast and magazines. Currently, there are no additional licensable electronic activities set out by the NMC under the broad powers granted under Article 4(4). Additional licensing requirements could be implemented in the future, and it is conceivable that such requirements could be extended to mobile apps and/or online gaming sites.

Defamation

In the UAE, defamation is a criminal matter. If the defamation is online, it is covered by the CCL. In both cases of offline defamation and online defamation, the relevant department within the police force will determine the party that it wishes to pursue for the violation, such as author, editor and/or publisher. As a result, all publishers of online content have the obligation to screen defamatory content.

Privacy—the Publishing of Private Information by a User

Article 31 of the UAE Constitution states that “[f]reedom of communication by post, telegraph or other means of communication and the secrecy thereof shall be guaranteed in accordance with law.” Nonetheless, the scope of the term “privacy” is not actually determined or set out in any law, meaning that it is almost entirely subjective and therefore can be complex in application.

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Article 378 of the Federal Law No. 3 1987, or the UAE Penal Code, states:

“Whoever publishes news, pictures or comments related to the secrets of private or family life of persons, even if they are true, shall be punished by detention for a period not exceeding one year and by a fine not exceeding ten thousand Dirhams, or by one of these two penalties.”

There is limited guidance as to what “secrets of private or family life” might be, but it would be fair to surmise that if the person themselves had not made a matter public, a third party should not do so. The disclosure of a matter by that person would remove any element of secrecy and render the Article unavailable as the basis for a claim by the supposedly injured party. In that respect, the UAE’s position might be more restrictive than some other jurisdictions.

The UAE Penal Code allows corporate entities to be found guilty of the offenses established by the UAE Penal Code, through the agency of directors, agents and other representatives. A corporate body convicted under these provisions would be liable to pay a fine of up to AED 20,000 and allow for the judges to include a jail sentence of up to 2 years where it is considered to be warranted.

Article 21 of the CCL also addresses the concept of privacy and states that any person who used an Information Network, Electronic Information System or any of the Information Technology Tools in assaulting the privacy of a person shall be punished by imprisonment for at least six months and a fine between AED150,000 (US$40,844) and AED500,000 (US$136,147). Additionally, any person who uses an Electronic Information System or an Information Technology Tool to perform any amendment or processing on a recording, picture or scene for the purpose of defamation or insulting another person or assaulting or violating his or her privacy shall be punished by imprisonment for at least one year and a fine between AED250,000 (US$68,074) and AED500,000 (US$136,147). This is in addition to the fine payable under the UAE Penal Code.

There is no guidance as to what “assaulting the privacy of a person” might mean. The Court has determined that a breach of privacy to simply show a person on a television program without obtaining written consent (and in another case, verbal consent was given but was judged to be imperfect as a consent). Further, by way of example, a man who took a photo of two people fighting in public was found to have breached privacy when he published the photo.

Given this subjectivity and the heavy emphasis placed on privacy by the authorities, anything that is intrinsically “personal” or “sensitive” to another person could be considered private.

Potential Safe Harbor Defense and Third-party Liability

While ordinarily safe harbor defenses would be found in laws relating to copyright in other jurisdictions, the Federal Law No. 7 of 2002 Pertaining to Copyrights and Neighboring Rights, or the Copyright Law, does not contain “safe harbor” provisions designed to immunize intermediaries from liability for copyright damage. In fact, the Copyright Law contains no provision dealing expressly with secondary liability at all. There are no safe harbor defenses in UAE law.

Similarly, the CCL is directed at both owner and operators of an electronic site or information network, so a safe harbor would not be generally available under the CCL either. As such, the CCL may apply to a party that hosts user uploaded content within a chat room or an online voice communication application. Article 39 of the CCL Law provides: “Any owner or operator of an Electronic Site or Information Network who deliberately and knowingly stores or makes available any illegal content or if he fails to remove or blocks access to this illegal content within the period determined in the written notice addressed to him by the competent authorities that states that content is illegal and is available on the Electronic Site or Information Network shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine or by any of these penalties.”

Article 39 of the CCL authorizes a competent authority to issue a takedown notice, and any party that has received such notice is required to respond to the relevant authority. Such takedown requirements are similar to those in other jurisdictions, albeit in practice, takedown notices have not been often issued in the UAE.

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In addition, it is possible to interpret the CCL as stating that any entity acting as an intermediary or service provider could commit an offense if it benefits from or unlawfully facilitates a third party’s uses of communication services through its Information Network. Article 35 of the CCL provides that any person who benefited or unlawfully facilitated a third party use of communication services or audio or visual transmission channels through the Information Network or the Information Technology Tool shall be punished by imprisonment for at least one year and a fine between AED250,000 (US$68,074) and AED1,000,000 (US$272,294).

There is little clarity on what the public prosecutors might deem to be “unlawfully facilitating.” Nonetheless, the term may be interpreted to include the act of retaining content that is known to be infringing the CCL. Although there has been no prosecution on the basis of unlawful facilitation of copy infringement, potential prosecution on such grounds cannot be ruled out in the future.

The above laws only require a party to assist claimants in relation to infringing material once the party receives a takedown notice from a competent UAE authority or a UAE Court order. Where such a notice is issued, the notice will specify the period within which the takedown must be done, or the period within which the party must respond, if that option is provided.

Data Protection Laws

There is no comprehensive data protection legislation in the UAE specifically designed to regulate the collection, processing, transfer and/or use of personal data. There are, however, provisions of general application in the context of privacy that may be relevant to the processing of personal data in the UAE. While these types of provisions are not entirely consistent with the approach to data privacy issues addressed in modern data protection laws in other jurisdictions, they should be considered when assessing the legal basis for processing personal information in the UAE, and associated transfers of personal data to recipients outside the UAE.

Of primary relevance are Articles 379 and 380 (bis) of the UAE Penal Code, which provides:

Article 379: “[…] Any individual who, by reason of his profession, craft, circumstance or art is entrusted with a secret and who discloses it in cases other than those permitted by the law, or who uses it for his own advantage or another person’s advantage, shall be punished by imprisonment of at least one year and/or a fine of at least AED20,000 (US$5,446) unless the individual to whom the secret pertains has consented that it be disclosed or used.”

Article 380 (bis): “Detention shall be inflicted upon whoever unrightfully copies, distributes or provides another person with the content of a phone call or message or information or data or any other such things that he examines by virtue of his profession.” The penalty is not specified in the provision, and reference to the criminal procedure rule would indicate that the detention would be between one month and three years.

The term “secret” contained in Article 379 of the UAE Penal Code is undefined, and it could be interpreted to include sensitive personal data.

Telecommunications Law

Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, services are specifically regulated under Voice over Internet Protocol Policy, or VoIP Policy, issued by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, or the TRA, on December 30, 2009. “VoIP Services” are defined for the purposes of the VoIP Policy as “all of the services and technologies that allow transmitting, receiving, delivering and routing of voice telecommunications by means of Internet Protocol (IP).”

Based on a strict interpretation of laws and regulations, VoIP services can only be used in the UAE in limited circumstances where:

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The sale or supply of telecommunications services to subscribers in the UAE is a regulated activity under the Telecoms Law. No individual or organization is permitted to conduct any regulated activity unless authorized by a license or exempted in accordance with the Telecoms Law. There are currently only two licensed public telecommunications network operators and service providers in the UAE, or the Licensees. The granting of any further public telecommunications licenses is unlikely at this time due to state policy. Importantly, the Licensees are expressly permitted to block VoIP services over their networks which are provided by a person not licensed to do so under the Telecoms Law unless instructed by the TRA to do otherwise.

The TRA issued a statement in March 2015 clarifying that “Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are considered part of the UAE’s regulated activities. The TRA has granted licensed operators the eligibility to provide such services across their networks. Companies wishing to provide such services should coordinate with the UAE’s licensed service providers in this regard.”

However, there are uncertainties in the UAE market regarding the use of VoIP services, as despite the apparently strict legal position concerning the use of VoIP services and the blocking of certain well-known international VoIP service brands in the UAE, many users in the UAE can in fact use various other VoIP applications, such as certain online gaming platforms.

Very recently, there have been media reports that the legal restrictions on the use of VoIP services in the UAE may soon be lifted. To date the TRA has not made any comment on such reports.

The TRA has granted exceptional temporary approval to unblock certain existing services that were blocked on the public telecommunications networks as part of the UAE measures in support of the preventive and precautionary measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. The exceptional temporary approval was based on the community needs and demand at the time.

Under the Telecoms Law, it is a criminal offense that may be penalized by a fine between AED50,000 (US$13,615) and AED1,000,000 (US$272,294) and/or imprisonment of up to two years to provide regulated telecommunication services without being licensed to do so. It is the supplier, rather than the user, that commits this offense.

In practice, the main enforcement action taken against unlicensed VoIP service providers is for the Licensees to block the VoIP service in the UAE.

Our mobile applications, which enable voice-based, real time communications on the Internet, may be deemed to be VoIP services. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry—We may be required to obtain and maintain licenses and approvals relating to Internet or telecommunications services in certain jurisdictions.”

Consumer Protection Law

In November 2020, the UAE issued a new consumer protection law, Federal Law No. (15) of 2020 on Consumer Protection. The new law specifically provides that:

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Consequently, while there needs to be an awareness that the new law has been enacted, immediate action by providers and advertisers in the UAE is not necessary. When the regulations are issued by the UAE Cabinet relevant providers and advertisers in the UAE must be in compliance with the new law and the regulations before the end of the 12-month transition period. As a result of the transition period, the UAE consumers’ rights and obligations under the former law, Federal Law No. 24 of 2006 on Consumer Protection along with Ministerial Resolution No. 12 remain relevant.

UAE consumers are granted the following rights:

The department of economic development in each emirate within the UAE deals with consumer rights issues and implement plans and procedures related to Consumer Protection Laws. It receives consumer complaints and raises consumers’ awareness about their rights and duties.

Regulations Relating to Intellectual Property

Copyright Law

Copyrights are currently regulated in the UAE under the Copyright Law. The Copyright Law protects original expressions of creative works in the fields of literature, art, or the sciences, regardless of the kind or manner of its expression, and regardless of its importance or its purpose. Importantly, the Copyright Law does not protect ideas, but rather the original material produced by virtue of a creative process. There are 12 categories of protected works listed by the Copyright Law:

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The Copyright Law provides for the protection of copyright for a duration of the life of the author plus 50 years after his or her death (in which case the rights pass on to his or her next of kin).

Registration is not a prerequisite to legal protection under the Copyright Law. Legal protection is automatic upon the creation of the work. In the event of enforcement of copyright against a third party, the Dubai Department of Economy will require a certificate of registration to be submitted alongside any complaint. For this, the copyright must be registered with the UAE Ministry of Economy.

Authors derive both economic and moral rights in their work. Economic rights are those rights through which the author can reap material benefit, including the exclusive right to reproduce the work, broadcast or rebroadcast the work, publicly perform the work, translate, modify, alter, lease, rent, lend or publish the work. Whereas moral rights are those rights that vest exclusively in the author of a work, and unlike economic rights, they cannot be waived, transferred or assigned. The Copyright Law recognizes four moral rights, namely:

The Copyright Law also covers neighboring rights; namely, rights over performances, sound recordings, broadcastings, with neighboring rights holders also holding their own economic and moral rights, outlined under the Copyright Law.

The Copyright Law permits the transfer of copyright provided it is: (i) made in writing; (ii) the grant clause or scope is specified (for example, to reproduce, translate, adapt and/or display); and (iii) place and duration is also specified.

Copyright infringement exposes the infringer to criminal (including, fine and/or imprisonment), civil (such as compensation) and/or administrative actions (including, seizure, confiscation and destruction of infringing goods, fines, closure of business premise).

Trademark Law

Trademarks are currently regulated in the UAE under Federal Law Number 37 of 1992 and its amendments, or the Trademark Law. The Trademark Law defines a trademark as anything that takes a distinctive form, whether composed of words, names, symbols, images, advertisements, or any other marks or combination of marks. Sounds can also be considered part of a trademark. Trademarks can be registered for goods as well as services. Trademarks must be used either to distinguish goods or services or to inform the consumer as to the source of the goods or services. A trademark must be:

Trademarks are protected for a period of ten (10) years upon registration with the UAE Ministry of Economy, commencing on the date of first filing; protection can be renewed for a further period of ten (10) years indefinitely. In the event that the registration certificate is not renewed, protection will lapse and the owner will lose all rights in the trademark.

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The Trademark Law determines that any person who registers a mark shall be deemed its sole owner. The ownership of such a mark may not be disputed if a registrant uses it uninterruptedly for a period of five (5) years. Importantly, the owner of a registered trademark can prevent any third party from using an identical or confusingly similar mark to distinguish products that are identical, similar or correlated to those for which he has registered his own trademark.

Trademark owners may license their rights to third parties, indicating the duration of the license, quality control provisions, exclusivity and any formalities. Trademark licenses should be registered if the licensee is to bring an action in this respect against third parties. A trademark owner may also assign his or her trademark to a third party. The transfer must be recorded with the UAE Ministry of Economy as proof of consent to the rights being assigned.

Trademark infringements expose the infringer to criminal (including, fine and/or imprisonment), civil (compensation) and/or administrative actions (including, seizure, confiscation and destruction of infringing goods, fines, closure of business premises).

Patent Law

Patents are currently regulated in the UAE under the Federal Law number 17 of 2002 pertaining to Patents, Utility Models, Industrial models and Designs, or the UAE Patents and Designs Law. The application of the UAE Patents and Designs Law is the responsibility of the UAE Ministry of Economy, which administers the filing, prosecution and registration of patents, designs and utility models.

Patent protection in the UAE is granted for inventions that are novel, inventive and useful. Absolute worldwide novelty is required. The term of protection for patents is 20 years from the filing date. Certain items, such as game rules and guides, are considered unpatentable subject matters in the UAE. On the other hand, computer-implemented methods are among patentable subject matters.

There were two routes to patent protection in the UAE, a national route and a regional route. The national route requires the filing of a national application at the UAE Patent Office. The regional route required the filing of a Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, patent application. A GCC patent offered protection in the 6 GCC countries. However, in January 2021 the GCC Supreme Council decided to stop the GCC patent applications. Accepted applications are published in the UAE Official Gazette after an opposition period of 60 days from the publication date.

Utility models require lesser thresholds of inventiveness, but are subject to the same novelty requirement and, additionally, must be industrially applicable. The life of a utility certificate is 10 years from the date of grant of such utility certificate. Similarly, designs must be innovative, novel (i.e., absolute novelty) and industrially applicable and is valid for a period of ten (10) years.

Regulations Relating to Tax

Value-Added Tax

VAT was introduced at the UAE federal level effective from January 1, 2018. VAT is imposed on the supply of goods and services and on imports of goods and services at the standard rate of 5%, unless the supply or import is subject to the VAT zero rate or exempt from VAT.

Supplies of services fall within the scope of UAE VAT if the place of supply for VAT purposes is located in the UAE. The general rule is that a supply of services is subject to VAT if the supplier has a place of residence for VAT purposes in the UAE. However, the UAE VAT legislation sets out several exceptions concerning the place of supply. Amongst these exceptions, the VAT legislation provides that electronic services that are automatically delivered over the Internet, over an electronic network or over an electronic marketplace are not subject to UAE VAT, if such electronic services are used or enjoyed outside of the UAE.

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Corporate Income Tax

Currently, there is no corporate income tax, or CIT, at the federal level in the UAE. The introduction of a CIT at the federal level has been under discussion in the past. However, while there is a possibility that a federal CIT may be introduced in the future, there has been no public announcement in this regard and there is no indication that it would be implemented in the next few years. Certain emirates in the UAE, such as Dubai, have a CIT at the emirates level. Under these emirates-level decrees, CIT is imposed on the net income generated by bodies corporate and branches operating in the emirate, at progressive rates of up to 55%. However, in practice the emirates-level CIT has only been imposed on companies engaged in upstream oil and gas activities. Free zones in the UAE, such as the DCC free zone, provide for an exemption from emirates-level corporate taxes for 15 to 50 years depending on the free zone. In particular, companies set up in the DCC free zone are exempt from emirates-level corporate taxes in connection with the operations carried out within the DCC, for a period of fifty (50) years starting from the date on which the company or its staff commenced to work. There is no withholding tax in the UAE.

China

Regulations Related to Foreign Investment

Foreign Investment Law

The establishment, operation and management of corporate entities in the PRC is governed by the Company Law of the PRC, or the Company Law, which was promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, on December 29, 1993 and last amended and became effective on October 26, 2018. A foreign-invested company is also subject to the Company Law unless otherwise provided in the foreign investment laws.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress, or the NPC approved the Foreign Investment Law, which became effective on January 1, 2020. On December 26, 2019, the State Council issued the Implementation Rules of the Foreign Investment Law, which became effective on January 1, 2020. The Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Rules of the Foreign Investment Law replaced three existing laws on foreign investments in China, namely, the PRC Equity Joint Venture Law, the PRC Cooperative Joint Venture Law and the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic invested enterprises in China. The Foreign Investment Law establishes the basic framework for the access to, and the promotion, protection and administration of foreign investments in view of investment protection and fair competition.

According to the Foreign Investment Law, the State Council will publish or approve to publish a catalog for special administrative measures, or the “negative list.” The Foreign Investment Law grants national treatment to foreign-invested entities, except for those foreign-invested entities that operate in industries deemed to be either “restricted” or “prohibited” in the “negative list.” The Special Administrative Measures for Entrance of Foreign Investment (2020 Edition), or the 2020 Negative List, which was promulgated jointly by the MOFCOM and the NDRC on June 23, 2020 and became effective on July 23, 2020, replaced and abolished the Special Administrative Measures for Entrance of Foreign Investment (2019 Edition) regulating the access of foreign investors to China. The Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign investors shall not invest in the “prohibited” industries and shall meet the market entry conditions stipulated under the “negative list” for making investment in “restricted” industries.

Furthermore, the Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign-invested enterprises established according to the existing laws regulating foreign investment may maintain their structure and corporate governance within five years after the implementing of the Foreign Investment Law.

In addition, the Foreign Investment Law also provides several protective rules and principles for foreign investors and their investments in the PRC, including, among others, that local governments shall abide by their commitments to the foreign investors; foreign-invested enterprises are allowed to issue stocks and corporate bonds; except for special circumstances, in which case statutory procedures shall be followed and fair and reasonable compensation shall be made in a timely manner, expropriation or requisition of the investment of foreign investors is prohibited; mandatory technology transfer is prohibited; and the capital contributions, profits, capital gains, proceeds out of asset disposal, licensing fees of intellectual property rights, indemnity or compensation legally obtained, or proceeds received upon settlement by foreign investors within China, may be freely remitted inward and outward in RMB or a foreign currency. Also, foreign investors or the foreign investment enterprise should be imposed legal liabilities for failing to report investment information in accordance with the requirements.

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The Implementation Rules of the Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign-invested enterprises and other domestic enterprises shall be equally treated with respect to, among others, the allocation of governmental funding, land supply, tax treatment, licensing and permits.

Regulations Related to Foreign Investment Restrictions

Investments in the PRC by foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises were regulated by the Guidance Catalog of Industries for Foreign Investment, or the Catalog, promulgated by the NDRC and the MOFCOM on June 28, 1995, and most recently amended on June 28, 2017. The Catalog listed three categories with regard to foreign investment: “encouraged”, “restricted” and “prohibited.” Industries not listed in the catalog are generally deemed as falling into a fourth category “permitted” unless specifically restricted by other PRC laws. Establishment of wholly foreign-owned enterprises is generally allowed in encouraged and permitted industries. Some restricted industries are limited to equity or contractual joint ventures, while in some cases Chinese partners are required to hold the majority interests in such joint ventures. In addition, foreign investment in restricted category projects is subject to government approvals. Foreign investors are not allowed to invest in industries in the prohibited category. Industries not listed in the Catalog are generally open to foreign investment unless specifically restricted by other PRC regulations. The “encouraged” foreign investment industries in the Catalog were substituted by the Catalog of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment (2020 Edition), or the 2020 Encouraging Catalog, promulgated by the NDRC on December 27, 2020 and became effective on January 27, 2021. The “restricted” and “prohibited” foreign investment industries in the Catalog were substituted by the Special Management Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment (2020 Edition), or the 2020 Negative List, promulgated by the NDRC on June 23, 2020 and became effective on July 23, 2020.

Regulations Related to Dividend Distribution

The principal regulations governing the distribution of dividends by wholly foreign-owned enterprises include the Company Law, the Foreign Investment Law, the Implementation Rules of the Foreign Investment Law, and the Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, and its implementation rules. Under these regulations, wholly foreign-owned enterprises in the PRC may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, as determined in accordance with the PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in the PRC is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profit, as calculated using the PRC accounting standards, each year to its general reserves until its cumulative total reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital.

Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange

Regulations Related to Foreign Currency Exchange

According to the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations as last amended on August 5, 2008, the foreign exchange income and expenditure and foreign exchange business operations of Chinese institutions and individuals, as well as the foreign exchange income and expenditure and foreign exchange business operations conducted within the territory of the PRC by overseas institutions and individuals, shall be subject to foreign exchange administration. Renminbi is freely convertible for payments of current account items such as trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions and dividend payments, but is not freely convertible for capital expenditure items such as direct investment, loans or investments in securities outside of the PRC unless the approval from the SAFE, or its local counterpart is obtained in advance.

SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign invested Enterprises, or the SAFE Circular 19 which was partly amended by the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or the SAFE Circular 16, effective on June 9, 2016. According to SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16, the flow and use of the Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that Renminbi capital may not be used for business beyond its business scope or to provide loans to persons other than affiliates unless otherwise permitted under its business scope. Violations of SAFE Circular 19 or SAFE Circular 16 could result in administrative penalties.

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Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange Registration of Overseas Investment by PRC Resident

SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014. SAFE Circular 37 regulates foreign exchange matters in relation to the use of special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, by PRC residents or entities to seek offshore investment and financing or conduct round trip investment in China. Under SAFE Circular 37, an SPV refers to an offshore entity established or controlled, directly or indirectly, by PRC residents (including individuals and entities) for the purpose of seeking offshore financing or making offshore investment, using legitimate onshore or offshore assets or interests, while “round trip investment” refers to direct investment in China by PRC residents through SPVs, namely, establishing foreign-invested enterprises to obtain the ownership, control rights and management rights. SAFE Circular 37 provides that, before making contribution into an SPV, PRC residents are required to complete foreign exchange registration with SAFE or its local branch. Following the initial registration, any major changes such as change in the SPV’s PRC resident shareholders, name of the SPV, term of operation or any increase or reduction of the SPV’s registered capital, share transfer or swap, merger or division, or similar development, shall be registered with SAFE in time. SAFE promulgated the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving the Administration of the Foreign Exchange Concerning Direct Investment in February 2015, which took effect on June 1, 2015, and partly amended in December 2019. This notice has amended SAFE Circular 37 requiring PRC residents or entities to register with qualified banks rather than SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. However, remedial registration applications made by PRC residents that previously failed to comply with the SAFE Circular 37 continue to fall under the jurisdiction of the relevant local branch of SAFE.

Regulations Related to Tax

Enterprise Income Tax

On March 16, 2007, the NPC issued the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, which was last amended by the SCNPC on December 29, 2018. The Regulation on the Implementation of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Regulation, was issued by the State Council on December 6, 2007 and became effective on January 1, 2008, and was partly amended on April 23, 2019 and became effective on the same date. Pursuant to the EIT Law and the EIT Regulation, both domestic and foreign-invested enterprises established under the laws of foreign countries or regions whose “de facto management bodies” are located in the PRC are considered resident enterprises. The defined term “de facto management bodies” are“ establishments that carry out substantial and overall management and control over production and operations, personnel, accounting, and properties” of the enterprise. If an enterprise is considered a PRC resident enterprise under the above definition, its global income will be subject to enterprise income tax at the rate of 25%. The Notice on Issues about the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Enterprises Registered Abroad as Resident Enterprises on the Basis of Their Body of Actual Management issued by the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, on April 22, 2009 and effective on January 1, 2008 and partly amended on December 29, 2017 and effective on the same date, sets up a more specific definition of the “de facto management bodies” standard.

Value-Added Tax

The State Council issued the Interim Regulation on Value Added Tax, or the VAT, on December 13, 1993, which was last amended on November 19, 2017. The Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Interim Regulation on VAT was issued by the Ministry of Finance, or the MOF, on December 25, 1993 and last amended on October 28, 2011. According to the Interim Regulation on VAT and Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Interim Regulation on VAT, entities and individuals selling goods in the PRC or providing processing services, repair services and importation services should be subject to VAT, and the payable tax amount shall be calculated by deducting input tax for the current period from output tax for the current period.

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The Notice of Taxation on Implementing the Pilot Program of Replacing Business Tax with VAT in an All-round Manner was issued jointly by the MOF and SAT on March 23, 2016, partly amended by the MOF, SAT and the General Administration of Customs on March 20, 2019 and became effective on April 1, 2019, according to which the countrywide pilot practice of levying VAT in lieu of business tax, or the Pilot Practice, has been carried out since May 1, 2016. According to the specific regulatory documents for the Pilot Practice, including the Implementation Measures for the Pilot Practice of Levying VAT in lieu of Business Tax, the VAT rates vary from 17%, 11%, 6%, 3% to 0% for taxpayers incurring taxable activities. According to the Notice of the MOF and SAT on Adjusting the Value-added Tax Rate effective on May 1, 2018 and the Announcement of the Ministry of Finance, the SAT and the General Administration of Customs on Relevant Policies for Deepening the Value-Added Tax Reform promulgated on March 20, 2019, which came into effect on April 1, 2019, the VAT rates on sales activities and import of goods that were previously 17% and 11%, respectively, were adjusted to 13% and 9%, respectively.

Withholding Income Tax

According to the Arrangement between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income issued by the SAT on August 21, 2006 and that came into effect on December 8, 2006, if the shareholders of a PRC company are Hong Kong residents holding at least 25% of the registered capital of the PRC company, a withholding tax rate of 5% applies to any dividends declared by the PRC company, or if the shareholders of a PRC company are Hong Kong residents holding less than 25% of registered capital, a withholding income tax rate of 10% applies. According to the Announcement of SAT on Issuing the Measures for the Administration of Non-Resident Taxpayers’ Enjoyment of Treaty Benefits issued on October 14, 2019 and effective on January 1, 2020, the withholding tax rate of 5% does not automatically apply. To enjoy the treatment of the dividend clause of a tax treaty, an enterprise shall apply to the local competent tax authorities for approval.

On February 3, 2018, the SAT issued the Announcement on Matters Concerning “Beneficial Owners” in Tax Treaties, which became effective on April 1, 2018, according to which, when determining an applicant’s “beneficial owner” status regarding tax treatments in connection with dividends, interests or royalties in tax treaties, several factors set forth below will be taken into account, although the actual analysis will be fact-specific: (i) whether the applicant is obligated to pay more than 50% of his or her income in 12 months to residents in a third country or region; (ii) whether the business operated by the applicant constitutes a substantial business operation; and (iii) whether the counterparty country or region to the tax treaties does not levy any tax or grants tax exemption on relevant income or levies tax at an extremely low rate. The applicants shall submit relevant documents to the competent tax authorities to prove his or her “beneficial owner” status.

Regulations Related to Employment

On July 5, 1994, the SCNPC promulgated the Labor Law, which was last amended on December 29, 2018 and became effective on the same date. The Labor Law provides that employees are entitled to equal opportunities in employment, selection of occupations, receiving labor remuneration, rest days and holidays, protection of occupational safety and healthcare, social insurance and welfare. On June 29, 2007, the SCNPC adopted the Labor Contract Law, which was last amended on December 28, 2012 and came into effect on July 1, 2013. The Labor Contract Law requires every employer to enter into a written contract of employment with each of its employees. The employer shall not force the employees to work beyond the time limit and each employer must pay overtime compensation to its employees.

The Social Insurance Law was issued by the SCNPC on October 28, 2010, last amended on December 29, 2018 and effective on the same date. Under the Social Insurance Law, an employee shall participate in five types of social insurance funds, including pension insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance and occupational injury insurance. If the employer fails to fully contribute to social insurance funds on time, the collection agency for such social insurance may demand the employer to make full payment or to pay the shortfall within a set period and collect a late charge. If the employer fails to pay after the due date, the relevant government administrative body may impose a fine on the employer. In accordance with the Regulation on the Administration of Housing Funds issued by the State Council on April 3, 1999 and last amended on March 24, 2019 and came into effect on the same date, enterprises must register with the competent managing center for housing funds and shall contribute to the Housing Fund for any employee on its payroll. Where an employer fails to pay up housing funds within the prescribed time limit, the employer may be fined and ordered to make payment within a certain period.

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Regulations Related to Employee Stock Incentive Plan

SAFE promulgated the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues concerning the Administration of Foreign Exchange Used for Domestic Individuals’ Participation in Equity Incentive Plans of Companies Listed Overseas, or the Stock Option Rules in February 2012. Under the Stock Option Rules and other relevant rules and regulations, domestic individuals, which means the PRC residents and non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, who participate in a stock incentive plan in an overseas publicly-listed company are required to register with SAFE or its local branches and complete certain other procedures. Participants of a stock incentive plan who are PRC residents must retain a qualified PRC agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of the overseas publicly-listed company or another qualified institution selected by the PRC subsidiary, to conduct the SAFE registration and other procedures with respect to the stock incentive plan on behalf of its participants. The participants must also retain an overseas entrusted institution to handle matters in connection with their exercise of stock options, the purchase and sale of corresponding stocks or interests and fund transfers. In addition, the PRC agent is required to amend the SAFE registration with respect to the stock incentive plan if there is any material change to the stock incentive plan, the PRC agent or the overseas entrusted institution or other material changes. The PRC agents must, on behalf of the PRC residents who have the right to exercise the employee share options, apply to SAFE or its local branches for an annual quota for the payment of foreign currencies in connection with the PRC residents’ exercise of the employee share options. The foreign exchange proceeds received by the PRC residents from the sale of shares under the stock incentive plans granted and dividends distributed by the overseas listed companies must be remitted into the bank accounts in the PRC opened by the PRC agents before distribution to such PRC residents. In addition, SAFE Circular 37 provides that PRC residents who participate in a share incentive plan of an overseas unlisted special purpose company may register with SAFE or its local branches before exercising rights.

Regulations Related to M&A Rules and Overseas Listings

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, which became effective on September 8, 2006 and was amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rules, among other things, require that (i) PRC entities or individuals obtain MOFCOM approval before they establish or control an SPV overseas, provided that they intend to use the SPV to acquire their equity interests in a PRC company at the consideration of newly issued share of the SPV, or Share Swap, and list their equity interests in the PRC company overseas by listing the SPV in an overseas market; (ii) the SPV obtains MOFCOM’s approval before it acquires the equity interests held by the PRC entities or PRC individual in the PRC company by Share Swap; and (iii) the SPV obtains CSRC approval before it lists overseas.

In addition, on February 3, 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or Circular 6, which officially established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Further, on August 25, 2011, MOFCOM promulgated the Regulations on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, which became effective on September 1, 2011, to implement Circular 6. Under Circular 6 and the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, if MOFCOM decides that a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review, it will submit it to the Inter-Ministerial Panel, an authority established under the Circular 6, to carry out the security review. The regulations prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review by structuring transactions through trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions.

Regulations Related to Leasing

Pursuant to the Law on Administration of Urban Real Estate which took effect in January 1995 with the latest amendment in August 2019, lessors and lessees are required to enter into a written lease contract and both lessor and lessee are also required to register the lease with the real estate administration authorities.

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According to the PRC Contract Law which took effect in October 1999, the lessee may sublease the leased premises to a third party, subject to the consent of the lessor. Where the lessee subleases the premises, the lease contract between the lessee and the lessor remains valid. The lessor is entitled to terminate the lease contract if the lessee subleases the premises without the consent of the lessor. In addition, if the lessor transfers the premises, the lease contract between the lessee and the lessor should still remain valid.

3. Others

Regulations Relating to Personal Privacy and Data Protection

The GDPR, which came into effect on May 25, 2018, increased our burden of regulatory compliance and requires us to change certain of our privacy and data security practices in order to achieve compliance. The GDPR implements more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, requiring expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, mandatory data breach notification requirements, higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained either valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities, expanded definition of personal data, higher consent standards for processing personal data, new individual rights to be forgotten, conducting data protection impact assessment (DPIA) to identify and reduce risks of a data processing activity, appointing data protection officer where applicable and additional obligations relating to contracting with service providers that may process personal data. The GDPR further provides that EU member states may make their own additional laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. Under the GDPR, fines of up to Euro 20 million or up to 4% of an organization’s total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, may be imposed by data protection supervisory authorities for non-compliance, which significantly increases our potential financial exposure for noncompliance. However, in the absence of precedence and guidance from EU regulators, the application of GDPR to, and its enforcement on, Internet services providers without physical establishment in EU remains uncertain. Moreover, the implementation of the GDPR may require substantial amendments to our procedures and policies, and these changes could impact our business by increasing its operational and compliance costs. These regulations regarding data privacy are increasing in number, as well as levels of enforcement, as manifested in increased amounts of fines and the severity of other penalties. We expect that personal privacy and data protection will receive greater attention and focus from regulators, as well as public scrutiny and attention. While we have adopted certain policies and procedures pursuant to the GDPR, including but not limited to the privacy policy and certain internal data protection policy, these policies and procedures may need to be updated when additional information concerning the best practices is made available through guidance from regulators or published enforcement decisions and further detailed policies may need to be adopted in the future in order to ensure our compliance with the GDPR.

In addition, on May 28, 2020, the National People’s Congress of the PRC approved the PRC Civil Code, which took effect on January 1, 2021. Pursuant to the PRC Civil Code, the collection, storage, use, process, transmission, provision and disclosure of personal information shall follow the principles of legitimacy, properness and necessity.

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of December 31, 2020. Equity interests depicted in this diagram are held as to 100%.

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We currently operate our business primarily through Yalla UAE, Hangzhou Yale and Shenzhen Moov. Yalla UAE functions as our primary business operation center and engages in sales, marketing, customer service and other business operations. Hangzhou Yale performs technology and product development functions. Shenzhen Moov primarily performs marketing and financial reporting functions.

Our headquarters are located at our offices in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where we manage our corporate affairs, as well as maintaining certain sales and marketing and customer service personnel. Our technology and product development team is based in our offices in Hangzhou, China.

We currently lease and occupy approximately 2,662 square feet of office space in Dubai, approximately 4,130 square meters of office space in Hangzhou and approximately 738 square meters of office space in Shenzhen. These leases have terms of one year or three years. In addition, we also rent certain co-working spaces in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Overview

We are a leading voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform in MENA. We have built a large and vibrant Yalla community. In the fourth quarter of 2020, approximately 16.4 million users visited our platform on average each month; they spent a total of 439.8 million hours in Yalla rooms and played a total of 410.6 million rounds of casual games on Yalla Ludo. The number of paying users on our platform was 5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

We have experienced strong revenue growth in recent years. We primarily generate our revenue by providing group chatting and games services. Individual users consume virtual currencies to purchase virtual items and upgrade services or play games on our platform. Virtual items primarily consist of various virtual gifts and privileges in chat rooms or games. Upgrade services primarily consist of premium rights or premium membership on our platform. Our revenues increased by 49.8% from US$42.4 million in 2018 to US$63.5 million in 2019 and further increased by 112.6% to US$134.9 million in 2020.

Our innovative business model focuses on users’ interactions and social networking experience on our platform. Therefore, we do not incur significant content acquisition cost, such as incentive fees to key users or costs for acquiring media content. Our user acquisition channels have been cost-effective. As a result, we are able to achieve high profitability.

Our ability to offer superior user experience to enhance user engagement

User experience on our platform is critical to our ability to enhance user engagement. We have devoted to increasing users’ enjoyment of our platform, making Yalla a substantial part of their social life. We actively manage our platform to make the Yalla community more vibrant and interactive. For example, we organize online events on Yalla based on the holidays of the relevant cultures, and we organize tournaments on Yalla Ludo. We believe such online events enable us to foster a sense of community and enhance user engagement, which in turn drives users’ willingness to spend on our platform.

Our ability to monetize

Our results of operations mainly depend on our ability to monetize our user base by converting non-paying users into paying users and keeping them active. Our revenues are primarily affected by the number of paying users. We have experienced significant growth in the number of paying users from 450.9 thousand in the three months ended December 31, 2018 to 723.5 thousand in the three months ended December 31, 2019, and to 5.2 million in the three months ended December 31, 2020. Such growth was primarily due to the expansion of our user base, the superior user experience we offer, diversification of transaction scenarios on our platform and our expansion into new geographic markets.

We incentivize user spending by recognizing their generosity in the Yalla community. We have created rankings to honor users who have sent the most gifts. We will also continue to introduce new virtual items and upgrade services on our platform. We believe our massive and highly engaged user base and our leading position in the voice-centric social networking and entertainment industry in MENA will allow us to continue to strengthen our monetization capabilities.

Our ability to manage our costs and expenses

Due to our innovative business model, we have enjoyed strong unit economics and return for our shareholders. As our platform promotes users’ interactions, we do not incur significant content acquisition cost, such as incentive fees to key users or costs for acquiring media content. Our profitability will depend on our ability to continually improve cost efficiency. Selling and marketing expenses represent a significant component of our costs and expenses. We benefit from organic user acquisition through word-of-mouth referrals, and we will also continue to focus on cost-effective user acquisition channels to manage selling and marketing expenses.

Key Operating Metrics

We regularly review a number of operating metrics, including the following key operating metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe that these key operating metrics are useful to investors because they are frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry.

The following table sets forth our average MAUs, paying users and ARPPU:

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Average MAUs

Average MAUs allows us to evaluate the size of user base and the level of user engagement on our platform. We calculate average MAUs in a given period by dividing (i) the sum of active users for each month of such period, by (ii) the number of months in such period. We define active users as registered users who accessed any of our mobile applications at least once during a given period.

Average MAUs of Yalla and Yalla Ludo have grown significantly since the third quarter of 2019 primarily due to our interactive community culture and large user base that have led to a strong word-of-mouth effect as well as our online marketing efforts. In particular, the increasing popularity of Yalla Ludo in our community not only contributed to the growth in Yalla Ludo’s average MAU directly but also led to its high ranking on certain major app stores’ recommendation pages in 2020, which further contributed to the rapid growth of average MAUs of Yalla Ludo. In addition, the COVID-19 outbreak has incentivized online social networking and entertainment activities, which also enhanced user engagement on our platform in 2020.

Paying Users

Paying users allow us to evaluate the monetization capabilities of our platform. We define paying users as registered users who played a game or purchased our virtual items or upgrade services using virtual currencies on our platform at least once in a given period, except for users who receive all of their virtual currencies directly or indirectly from us for free.

The number of paying users of Yalla grew by 44.3% from 547.1 thousand for the first quarter of 2019 to 789.5 thousand for the second quarter of 2019. The growth was primarily due to the expansion of our user base, diversification of transaction scenarios on our platform, as well as promotional efforts engaged in the quarter.

We adjusted our operational strategy in the third quarter of 2019 and introduced certain free features to enhance user engagement and interactions on Yalla. As a result, some of our previous paying users were able to satisfy their social networking and entertainment needs on Yalla through the free features and therefore the number of paying users of Yalla decreased by 37.6% from 789.5 thousand for the second quarter of 2019 to 492.7 thousand for the third quarter of 2019. We believe the operational adjustment was a success as it enhanced our user experience and contributed to a 11.8% increase in average MAUs of Yalla from 2.4 million for the second quarter of 2019 to 2.7 million for the third quarter of 2019. We believe that it has also brought long-term benefits to our platform, and we have experienced growths in paying users of Yalla after the third quarter of 2019. The number of paying users of Yalla grew from 549.3 thousand for the fourth quarter of 2019 to 1.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase in paying users of Yalla was primarily due to optimization of user experience through improved product design and the expansion of user community.

We have experienced rapid growth in paying users of Yalla Ludo in 2020. The number of paying users of Yalla Ludo grew from 174.2 thousand for the fourth quarter of 2019 to 4.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Such growth was primarily due to optimization of user experience through localized product design and interactive features and the expansion of user community.

ARPPU

ARPPU is a measure we adopted to better understand user behaviors and evaluate our monetization strategies. We calculate ARPPU in a given period by dividing (i) revenue for such period, by (ii) the number of paying users for such period.

We have focused on expanding our user community and encouraging more users to experience the various paid features available on our platform. As the number of paying users increases, new paying users tend to spend less than existing paying users and thereby causes the ARPPU to decrease. The ARPPU of Yalla generally followed such trend, except that there was a significant increase in the ARPPU from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2019 due to the adjustment of our operational strategy as described above. More specifically, paying users who spent relatively less in the second quarter of 2019 were more likely to use the free features we introduced in the third quarter of 2019 to satisfy their social networking and entertainment needs, and therefore the remaining paying users in the third quarter of 2019 were more likely to be relatively higher spending users, which drove up the ARPPU in the quarter.

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We experienced significant decreases in our ARPPU in the first and second quarters of 2020 mainly due to (i) rapid expansion of Yalla community and the significant increases in Yalla’s paying users in these periods; and (ii) we have adopted a different user engagement and monetization model for Yalla Ludo, and therefore the ARPPU of Yalla Ludo has been relatively insignificant in each of the past quarters. With the rapid increase in Yalla Ludo’s average MAU and paying users, we expect Yallo Ludo to become a significant driver of our revenue growth in the future, but expect Yalla Ludo’s ARPPU to remain significantly lower than Yalla’s.

Our ARPPU increased in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 mainly due to an addition of chatroom function in Yalla Ludo, which expanded our monetization opportunities. The ARPPU of Yalla Ludo may continue to experience fluctuations from quarter to quarter due to new features and transaction scenarios we introduce from time to time as well as our marketing efforts in the relevant period.

Key Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenues

We primarily generate our revenue by providing group chatting and games services. We operate a voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform using a revenue model whereby users can get free access to the basic functions on the platform for our group chatting service but have the options to purchase virtual currencies. Individual users consume virtual currencies to purchase virtual items and upgrade services or play games on our platform. Virtual items primarily consist of various virtual gifts and privileges in chat rooms or games. Upgrade services primarily consist of premium rights or premium membership on our platform.

Costs and Expenses

Cost of revenues. Our cost of revenues consists primarily of (i) commission fees paid to third party payment platforms and (ii) staff cost and expenses related to the operations of our mobile platform.

Selling and Marketing. Our selling and marketing expenses consist primarily of (i) advertising costs and market promotion expenses and (ii) staff cost, rental and depreciation related to selling and marketing functions.

General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of (i) staff cost, rental and depreciation related to general and administrative personnel, (ii) professional service fees and (iii) other corporate expenses.

Technology and Product Development. Our technology and product development expenses consist primarily of (i) staff cost and (ii) related expenses for the employees involved in designing and developing new features for our mobile platform and self-developed mobile games.

Taxation

Cayman Islands

We are an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, we are not subject to tax based upon profits, income, gains or appreciations and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. In addition, upon payment of dividends by us to our shareholders, no Cayman Islands withholding tax will be imposed.

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UAE

Under the current laws of the UAE, our subsidiary in the UAE is not subject to tax based upon profits, income, gains or appreciations and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. In addition, upon payment of dividends by us to our shareholders, no UAE withholding tax will be imposed.

Hong Kong

Under the current Hong Kong Inland Revenue Ordinance, our subsidiaries incorporated in Hong Kong are subject to Hong Kong profits tax at a rate of 16.5% on their taxable income generated from the operations in Hong Kong. Payments of dividends by the Hong Kong subsidiaries to us are not subject to withholding tax in Hong Kong. A two-tiered profits tax rates regime was introduced in 2018 where the first HK$2 million of assessable profits earned by a company will be taxed at half of the current tax rate (8.25%), whilst the remaining profits will continue to be taxed at 16.5%. There is an anti-fragmentation measure where each group will have to nominate only one company in the group to benefit from the progressive rates. No provision for Hong Kong profits tax has been made in the financial statements as our subsidiaries in Hong Kong have accumulated loss for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

China

Generally, our subsidiaries in China are subject to enterprise income tax on their taxable income in China at a rate of 25%. The enterprise income tax is calculated based on the entity’s global income as determined under PRC tax laws and accounting standards.

Any dividends paid by our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China to our intermediary holding company in Hong Kong will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10%, unless the relevant Hong Kong entity satisfies all the requirements under the Arrangement between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and receives approval from the relevant tax authority, in which case the dividends paid to the Hong Kong subsidiary would be subject to withholding tax at the standard rate of 5%.

If our holding company in the Cayman Islands or any of our subsidiaries outside of China were deemed to be a “resident enterprise” under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, it would be subject to enterprise income tax on its worldwide income at a rate of 25%.

Critical Accounting Policies, Judgments and Estimates

An accounting policy is considered critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time such estimate is made, and if different accounting estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements.

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on the most recently available information, our own historical experiences and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Since the use of estimates is an integral component of the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from our expectations as a result of changes in our estimates. Some of our accounting policies require a higher degree of judgment than others in their application and require us to make significant accounting estimates.

The following descriptions of critical accounting policies, judgments and estimates should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and other disclosures included in this annual report. When reviewing our consolidated financial statements, you should consider (i) our selection of critical accounting policies, (ii) the judgments and other uncertainties affecting the application of such policies and (iii) the sensitivity of reported results to changes in conditions and assumptions.

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Revenue Recognition

We generate the revenue primarily from our voice-centric social networking and entertainment platform by providing group chatting and games services.

Group chatting service. We provide group chatting service to individual users with free access to the basic functions on the platform. We also provide enhanced experience by sales of virtual items and provision of upgrade service on the platform. We have the sole discretion in designing the specifications and establishing pricing of virtual items and upgrade service. Individual user purchases virtual items and upgrade service using our virtual currency which is in turn acquired through third party payment platforms.

We recognize revenue relating to virtual items at the point-in-time when they are consumed. Upgrade service primarily consists of premium rights or premium membership in chat rooms over a specified limited period or the period the users are registered on the platform. Revenues from the upgrade service with limited period are recognized ratably over the period the service is made available to the users. Revenues from the upgrade service without any time limits are recognized ratably over the estimated period of the relevant user groups.

Games service. We provide games service to individual users through our mobile game applications. Individual users consume virtual currency to play a game, purchase virtual items which can be used to enjoy one time privileges in the game, and upgrade service. Each game is completed within several minutes.

We charge individual users virtual currency to play a game, which currently accounts for a small portion of games service revenue. We have determined that each of these games represents a distinct performance obligation. The related revenue is recognized over the period of the gameplay which takes several minutes. We recognize revenue relating to virtual items upon consumption. Upgrade service primarily consists of premium rights over the period the users are registered on the platform. Revenues from the upgrade service are recognized ratably over the estimated period of the relevant user groups.

The estimated period of upgrade services in both the group chatting service and games service is determined based on the expected service period derived from historical users’ behavioral pattern. This estimate is re-assessed on a quarterly basis. Adjustments arising from the changes of estimated period of the users are applied prospectively as such changes are resulted from new information indicating a change in the users’ behavior.

Virtual currency is non-refundable and does not have expiration date. Proceeds received from users’ purchase of virtual currency are recorded as deferred revenue.

Deferred revenue (a contract liability) is recognized when we have an obligation to transfer services to a customer for which we have received consideration related to our group chatting and games services from the customer.

Share-based Compensation and Valuation of Our Ordinary Shares

We periodically grant share-based awards, mainly including share options to eligible employees and managements, which are subject to service and performance conditions.

We recognize compensation cost for an equity classified award with only service conditions that has a graded vesting schedule on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period for the entire award, provided that the cumulative amount of compensation cost recognized at any date at least equals the portion of the grant date fair value of such award that is vested at that date. For equity awards that contain both a service condition and a performance condition, we recognize compensation cost on a tranche-by-tranche basis, and when we consider that it is probable that the performance condition will be achieved. To the extent the required vesting conditions are not met resulting in the forfeiture of the share-based awards, previously recognized compensation expense relating to those awards is reversed.

The fair value of the options granted is estimated on the date of grant using the binomial option pricing model with the following key assumptions used:

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The estimated fair values of the underlying ordinary shares at the grant date was estimated by management with the assistance of an independent valuation firm. We first determined our enterprise value by using income approach, which required the estimation of future cash flows, and the application of an appropriate discount rate with reference to comparable listed companies engaged in the similar industry to convert such future cash flows to a single present value, and then allocated the enterprise value between the ordinary shares and preferred shares. The expected volatility was estimated based on the historical volatility of comparable peer public companies with a time horizon close to the expected term of our options. The risk-free interest rate was estimated based on the yield to maturity of U.S. treasury bonds denominated in U.S. dollars for a term consistent with the expected term of our options in effect at the option valuation date. The expected exercise multiple was estimated as the average ratio of the stock price to the exercise price of when employees would decide to voluntarily exercise their vested options. As we did not have sufficient information of past employee exercise history, it was estimated by referencing to a widely-accepted academic research publication. Expected dividend yield is zero as we do not anticipate any dividend payments in the foreseeable future. Expected term is the contract life of the option.

Determining the fair value of the share options required us to make complex and subjective judgments, assumptions and estimates, which involved inherent uncertainty. Had we used different assumptions and estimates, the resulting fair value of the share options and the resulting share-based compensation expenses could have been different.

Valuations of our ordinary shares were determined in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation, and with the assistance of an independent valuation firm from time to time. The assumptions we use in the valuation model are based on future expectations combined with management judgment, with inputs of numerous objective and subjective factors, to determine the fair value of our ordinary shares, including the following factors:

In order to determine the fair value of our ordinary shares underlying each share-based award grant, we first determined our business entity value, or BEV, and then allocated the BEV to each element of our capital structure (convertible redeemable preferred shares and ordinary shares) using an option pricing method. In our case, three scenarios were assumed, namely: (i) the liquidation scenario, in which the option pricing method was adopted to allocate the value between convertible preferred shares and ordinary shares, and (ii) the redemption scenario, in which the option pricing method was adopted to allocate the value between convertible preferred shares and ordinary shares, and (iii) the mandatory conversion scenario, in which equity value was allocated to convertible preferred shares and ordinary shares on an as-if converted basis. Increasing probability was assigned to the mandatory conversion scenario during 2018 and 2019 in light of preparations for our initial public offering.

In determining the fair value of our BEV, we applied the income approach/discounted cash flow, or DCF, analysis based on our projected cash flow using management’s best estimate as of the valuation date. The determination of the fair value of our ordinary shares requires complex and subjective judgments to be made regarding our projected financial and operating results, our unique business risks, the liquidity of our shares and our operating history and prospects at the time of valuation.

Assumptions and estimates will not be necessary to determine the fair value of our ordinary shares upon the listing of our ADSs on the NYSE.

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Since the share options have both a service condition and a performance condition on the completion of an initial public offering, no compensation expense relating to the options was recorded for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, because an initial public offering was not deemed probable. We immediately recognized shared-based compensation expenses of US$46.5 million relating to options vested cumulatively upon the completion of our initial public offering. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized US$60.8 million share-based compensation expenses. As of December 31, 2020, the total unrecognized compensation expense associated with non-vested share options amounted to US$76.8 million.

Results of Operations for Continuing Operations

The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the periods presented, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total revenues. This information should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report. The operating results in any period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future period.

Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2020 and Year Ended December 31, 2019

Revenues. Our total revenues increased by 112.6% from US$63.5 million in 2019 to US$134.9 million in 2020, which was primarily driven by an increase of paying users, which grew from 723.5 thousand in the three months ended December 31, 2019 to 5.2 million in the three months ended December 31, 2020. The growth in paying users was primarily due to the superior user experience we offer, diversification of transaction scenarios on our platform and the robust enhancement in Yalla Ludo’s monetization capability.

Costs and expenses. Our total costs and expenses increased by 280.0% from US$34.5 million in 2019 to US$131.2 million in 2020.

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Interest income. Our interest income decreased by 48.1% from US$390.2 thousand in 2019 to US$202.5 thousand in 2020, primarily due to a decrease in interest rates that were applicable to our bank deposits.

Government grant. We recognized government grant of US$99.3 thousand in 2020 from the local government of Hangzhou.

Investment income. Our investment income decreased by 49.3% from US$27.6 thousand in 2019 to US$14.0 thousand in 2020, primarily due to decreased purchase of wealth management products in 2020.

Income tax expense. Our income tax expense increased by 97.6% from US$435.8 thousand in 2019 to US$861.1 thousand in 2020. The increase was due to an increase in our taxable income.

Net income. As a result of the foregoing, our net income decreased by 88.9% from US$28.9 million in 2019 to US$3.2 million in 2020.

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Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2019 and Year Ended December 31, 2018

Revenues. Our total revenues increased by 49.8% from US$42.4 million in 2018 to US$63.5 million in 2019, which was primarily driven by an increase of paying users, which grew from 450.9 thousand in the three months ended December 31, 2018 to 723.5 thousand in the three months ended December 31, 2019. The growth in paying users was primarily due to the superior user experience we offer, diversification of transaction scenarios on our platform and our expansion into new geographic markets.

Costs and expenses. Our total costs and expenses increased by 56.8% from US$22.0 million in 2018 to US$34.5 million in 2019.

Interest income. Our interest income increased by 169.8% from US$144.6 thousand in 2018 to US$390.2 thousand in 2019, primarily due to an increase in bank deposits.

Investment income. Our investment income increased by 384.2% from US$5.7 thousand in 2018 to US$27.6 thousand in 2019, primarily due to increased purchase of wealth management products in 2019.

Income tax expense. Our income tax expense increased by 65.5% from US$263.4 thousand in 2018 to US$435.8 thousand in 2019. The increase was due to an increase in our taxable income, as well as an increase in effective income tax rate from 1.3% in 2018 to 1.5% in 2019.

Net income. As a result of the foregoing, our net income increased by 42.9% from US$20.2 million in 2018 to US$28.9 million in 2019.

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