Overview
Prior to
February 12, 2021, we were a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting
a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. On
February 12, 2021, we completed the Business Combination pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement dated November 19, 2020
that we entered into with Legacy Butterfly. Upon the completion of the Business Combination, we changed our name to “Butterfly Network, Inc.”
and the business of Legacy Butterfly became our business.
We are an innovative digital health business with
a mission of democratizing healthcare by making medical imaging accessible to everyone around the world. Powered by our proprietary Ultrasound-on-Chip™
technology, our solution addresses the needs of point of care imaging with a unique combination of software and hardware technology. Butterfly
iQ, followed by our recently launched Butterfly iQ+, is our first product powered by Butterfly’s Ultrasound-on-Chip™, and
is the only ultrasound transducer that can perform “whole-body imaging” in a single handheld probe using semiconductor technology.
Our Ultrasound-on-Chip™ reduces the cost of manufacturing, while our software is intended to make the product easy to use and fully
integrated with the clinical workflow, accessible on a user’s smartphone, tablet, and almost any hospital computer system connected
to the Internet. Through our portable proprietary, handheld solution, protected by a robust intellectual property portfolio and empowered
in part by its proprietary software and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), Butterfly aims to enable earlier detection throughout
the body and remote management of health conditions around the world.
Digital health is systematically changing the
way healthcare practitioners deliver care by increasing access and significantly reducing patient care costs. Butterfly iQ+ is designed
for this new wave of medical care with an easy-to-use interface that portrays ultrasound images on your smartphone in real-time. Historically,
the global ultrasound market has been dominated by traditional cart-based devices. These devices are accessible only to highly specialized,
highly trained technicians and are located predominantly in hospitals, imaging centers, and physicians’ offices. Many healthcare
institutions throughout the world lack the facilities and capital necessary to acquire and maintain expensive cart-based devices and cannot
afford the highly trained individuals required to operate them. Traditional cart-based equipment typically ranges from $45,000 to $60,000
per new device in the mid-range and is required to be operated by trained healthcare professionals. More recently, we have seen the introduction
of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (“POCUS”) devices with an average price point of $21,000, based on $5,000 to $7,000 per probe,
generally requiring two to three probes to cover a comparable range of cleared indications to the single probe Butterfly iQ+. However,
these POCUS devices are limited by their application of the same 60 year-old piezoelectric crystal technology with which the traditional
cart-based devices operate, leaving limited opportunity for future progress. Although still required to be operated by trained healthcare
practitioners, we believe that Butterfly iQ+ is the next generation of point-of-care devices that will further drive costs down and expand
the current approximately $8 billion ultrasound imaging market.
In 2018, Legacy Butterfly commercially launched
Butterfly iQ, the world’s first handheld, single-probe, whole-body ultrasound system using semiconductor technology that is commercially
available, and in 2020, Legacy Butterfly launched the Butterfly iQ+ with additional features and improved performance. Since then, the
Butterfly iQ and Butterfly iQ+ has been shipped to more than 30,000 medical professionals globally. Butterfly iQ+’s price through
our eCommerce website is $1,999 per device, making it a high-quality and affordable alternative to the costly traditional cart-based equipment
and other handheld devices currently on the market. Powered by our Ultrasound-on-Chip™, Butterfly’s high-performance imaging
capabilities support fast and confident clinical decision-making. Butterfly iQ+ is comprised of both durable hardware and dynamic software
solutions designed to make ultrasound imaging accessible to all healthcare practitioners, including nurses. In the future, we hope to
develop and introduce an even more advanced product that can ultimately be used by patients to self-scan ultrasound images with a device
and transfer these images to doctors electronically in real-time.
The Butterfly iQ+ is an affordable solution that
is designed to help healthcare practitioners save time in their diagnosis and treatment of patients, not only improving overall patient
outcomes but also increasing direct revenue per patient encounter while reducing the need for external imaging or specialist referrals.
We believe the adoption of the Butterfly iQ and iQ+ device by healthcare practitioners is a positive for all healthcare system stakeholders.
Through our ongoing collaborations with the healthcare community, we are continuing to optimize our software ecosystem, including by harnessing
AI to develop additional clinical and product advancements for our users. We believe that these efforts could drive ease-of-use for image
acquisition, improve analysis, and expand its most utilized features with extensive quality control. Our AI has and is expected to continue
to allow us to develop programs that guide and educate healthcare practitioners on how to utilize the Butterfly iQ+ device, with the goal
of improving their clinical impact and productivity globally.
Legacy Butterfly received 510(k) clearance
from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, in 2017 for the Butterfly iQ, which was commercially launched in 2018, and thereafter
commercially launched the Butterfly iQ+ under the same 510(k) in 2020. Our ultrasound system has been cleared by the FDA for the
following uses: peripheral vessel (including carotid, deep vein thrombosis and arterial studies), procedural guidance, small organs (including
thyroid, scrotum and breast), cardiac, abdominal, urology, fetal/obstetric, gynecological, musculoskeletal (conventional), musculoskeletal
(superficial) and opththalmic.
Butterfly iQ+ is commercially available in
over 20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, throughout greater Europe and in parts of Latin
America. Our commercialization strategy is predicated on three primary channels. Namely, we have an eCommerce website through which
we sell our Butterfly iQ+ to healthcare practitioners in these geographies. We also have a targeted enterprise salesforce focused on
large healthcare system-wide implementations. Lastly, we have distributor, veterinary and affiliate relationships to unlock
additional channels to supplement our direct and eCommerce sales. We market our products through our targeted sales organization,
which is engaged in sales efforts and promotional activities primarily to health systems or institutions. Outside the United States,
we also market our products directly to healthcare institutions. In the United States, we sell to or have agreements in place with
most of the top 100 U.S. healthcare systems. Moreover, positive feedback about Butterfly iQ+ among practitioners has historically
been a significant driver of sales, as healthcare practitioners share their appreciation for Butterfly iQ within their medical
communities, which has yielded a strong net promoter score. A net promoter score is a metric used as a measure of customer
satisfaction and word of mouth referrals. A strong net promoter score has been shown to correlate with revenue growth relative to
competitors. We calculate our net promoter score by asking our customers the following question: “How likely are you to
recommend Butterfly iQ to a friend or colleague” on a scale of 1 (not at all likely) through 10 (extremely likely)?
Respondents rating us 6 or below are considered “Detractors,” 7 or 8 are considered “Passives,” and
9 or 10 are considered “Promoters.” To calculate our net promoter score, we subtract the percentage of
Detractors from the percentage of Promoters. For example, if 50% of respondents were Promoters and 10% were Detractors, our net
promoter score would be 40. We measure net promoter score continuously among cloud users by automatically sending net promoter score
survey emails to these users three months after they create their Butterfly user account and every six months thereafter.
Because our net promoter score is measured continuously it is subject to fluctuation; however, our net promoter score historically
has remained strong. As of March 1, 2021, our net promoter score was 64 (USA) and reflects responses received since we began
collecting net promoter score data in 2019, including multiple responses from users that respond to our survey over time. Net
promoter scores vary broadly by industry, with averages generally ranging from 18 (health insurance) to 47 (tablet computers)
based on data published in 2016 by Satmetrix, co-developer of Net Promoter®. Within technology industries, the top net promoter
scores correspond to well-known businesses such as Amazon (66), Apple (66) and Netflix (64) according to Satmetrix. We believe
that this method of calculation aligns with medical device industry standards and that this metric is meaningful for investors
because of the correlation between net promoter score and future growth.
Outside of our core commercial geographies, Butterfly
iQ+ is also being utilized in over 45 low resource settings around the world, where we have partnerships with non-governmental organizations
like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to deliver our technology to underserved communities. Currently, we have over 30 global
health partnerships in place with organizations that align with our mission to democratize medical imaging and bring lifesaving medical
imaging to patients, often for the first time.
Legacy Butterfly was founded in 2011 by Dr. Jonathan
Rothberg, a serial entrepreneur who received the Presidential Medal of Technology & Innovation in 2016 for inventing a novel
next generation DNA sequencing method and has founded more than 10 healthcare/technology companies, including 454 Life Sciences, Ion
Torrent and CuraGen. Legacy Butterfly has raised over $400 million in equity investments and partnership milestones from leading
institutional investors, including Baillie Gifford, and strategic partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Legacy Butterfly sold and shipped approximately
20,200 devices in the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase from approximately 12,900 devices in the year ended December 31,
2019, representing a growth rate of approximately 56.2% year over year. Legacy Butterfly generated total revenue of $46.3 million and
$27.6 million in the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Legacy Butterfly also incurred net losses of
$162.7 million and $99.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that our competitive strengths include the following:
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Large Global Ultrasound Market and Potential to Expand to a Larger Market of Healthcare
Practitioners and Patients. We believe our solution addresses an unmet need across an addressable market of
40 million healthcare practitioners, including approximately 12 million medical doctors and approximately 28 million
nurses and midwives worldwide. We believe our solution can address this market, which is significantly larger than the existing
$8 billion ultrasound market, because our solution not only provides a next generation alternative to legacy cart-based
systems, but more importantly empowers practitioners who desire to modernize their healthcare practice with a diagnostic device and
software system that is smart, mobile, interoperable, and easy to use. Furthermore, existing handheld devices, which only comprise
3% of the global ultrasound units as of 2017, have been unable to satisfy demands of users because they are often using
outdated technology, which leads to higher cost, reduced imaging capacity, lack of user-friendly interfaces, and difficulties with
integration with other systems.
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The low penetration from handheld devices
in a sizable market provides us with significant opportunity for growth. We also believe that the portability, ease-of-use, fast frame
rates and other differentiating features of our ultrasound imaging technology could be attractive to consumers. We believe our differentiated
Butterfly iQ handheld device and our growing user base of Butterfly iQ practitioners, with sales to or agreements with most of the top
100 U.S. healthcare systems and across more than 40 countries, position us well to compete in the existing ultrasound market and to potentially
expand into emerging markets.
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Our Innovative Technology is Well-Positioned for a Health Economy Focused on Affordability and Access
to Care. We believe the small, handheld size, relatively low cost, quality imaging, and interface designed for
ease-of-use are attractive to healthcare systems that seek to contain healthcare costs and improve access to care, when compared to the
limitations and expense of traditional cart-based systems and existing handheld devices. These attributes also allow the use of our Butterfly
iQ+ by practitioners beyond traditional health system environments to pre-hospital settings, urgent care clinics, long-term care and rehabilitation
centers, dialysis centers, ambulatory surgery centers, veterinary clinics and emerging markets. In time, we believe these attributes could
also be attractive to health-centric consumers, which could allow us to potentially further expand beyond traditional healthcare environments
to the home and alternate sites of care should appropriate marketing authorizations be obtained for such intended uses. The advantages
of our technology align with recent industry trends, including the shift to in-home medical care, affordability, harnessing of AI / Big
Data, collaboration through the cloud, disruptive medical innovation, and increasing access to care. In addition, by expanding the settings
in which medical imaging can be done, the Butterfly iQ+ device may provide opportunities for earlier detection and prevention of disease,
while reducing cost. This aligns with the focus on consumer health empowerment, wellness, and acceleration of value-based care, all of
which are themes seen consistently in the healthcare industry today.
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Our Proprietary, Disruptive and Revolutionary Product is Designed to Address an Unmet Need in the
Medical Imaging Market. Legacy Butterfly is the first company to have successfully put ultrasound on a semiconductor
chip. This novel and proprietary Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology enables whole-body complete ultrasound imaging with a single probe.
We are continuing to improve our software by harnessing AI with a goal to drive ease-of-use for image acquisition, improve analysis, guide
and educate practitioners, and provide quality control. As a result of utilizing these technologies, our Butterfly iQ product has a small,
hand-held size, low cost, and simple user interface, making ultrasound technology more accessible outside of large healthcare institutions.
This contrasts sharply to existing systems that are built using often expensive piezoelectric crystal technology, which can lead to high
upfront costs and thereby constrain access and usage.
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Additionally, the technology driving
the Butterfly iQ and Butterfly iQ+ devices may be able to continually scale and improve if Moore’s Law, which is a historical trend
that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will increase over time, remains accurate. For example, the Butterfly iQ+, which
was commercially launched in October 2020, is much less expensive to produce, yet has faster frame rates and further enhanced interoperability
than the Butterfly iQ, which was commercially launched in 2018, and we expect these trends to continue in future products. One aspect
of our software strategy is our Software Development Kit, or SDK, which is meant to provide a governed ecosystem for third parties to
create content and applications that will serve to enrich the overall software ecosystem and deliver additional clinical and product
advancements for our users. To date, we are working with partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to build applications
on our SDK that we expect to then validate, obtain any necessary marketing authorizations for, and deploy to our users. The SDK is important
to our software strategy and overall mission of democratizing medical imaging. Through these product enhancements, and SDK specifically,
we believe our solution will be the primary platform for point of care ultrasound, functioning as an operating system in which new features
can continually be built onto and a central component of all handheld imaging.
We expect to continue development of
the hardware with product offerings that may include enhanced performance, improved image quality and alternative form factors.
Furthermore,
as of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 280 issued patents and approximately 540 pending patent applications. In total,
we own approximately 175 patent families directed to its ultrasound products, including manufacturing, circuit components, and add-on
features.
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Strong Topline Growth, with Subscription-based Recurring Revenue to Enable Long-Term Expansion in
Gross Margin. Since the commercial launch of the Butterfly iQ device in 2018, Legacy Butterfly has experienced
strong topline growth. Legacy Butterfly’s total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 was $46.3 million
and $27.6 million, respectively, representing an increase of $18.7 million. We continue to seek to grow our user base of Butterfly
iQ practitioners and our enterprise sales to health systems to help us further penetrate the global ultrasound market. During the year
ended December 31, 2020, Legacy Butterfly’s product revenue represented approximately 82.9% of its total revenue for the year,
and subscription revenue represented the remaining 17.1% of its total revenue for the year. As our devices continue to be adopted by more
healthcare practitioners and practitioners in the Butterfly network continue to use our devices, we expect total subscription revenue
to increase and that our subscription revenue will become an increasingly important contributor to our overall revenue. Because the cost
and associated expenses to maintain our software are less than the costs and associated expenses of manufacturing and selling our device,
we also anticipate an improvement in our gross margin over time. Additionally, we believe that the recurring nature of subscription revenue
should be subject to less period-to-period fluctuation than our product revenue. Because our AI-backed software enables interoperability,
mobility, and ease-of-use for scanning, we have been able to execute software-only sales deals with enterprise customers, and we expect
to continue to do so in the future. This further reduces fluctuation of our revenue and continues to improve our margin. Finally, as we
continue to enhance our product to become the primary platform for point-of-care ultrasound, we expect that add-on features and platform-associated
accessories will generate additional revenue at minimal cost, continuing to create margin improvement, while increasing growth.
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Visionary founder backed by strong executive leadership team and experienced financial partner with
deep expertise in healthcare. Legacy Butterfly’s Founder and our Chairman, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg,
has dedicated his career to enabling breakthrough technologies to revolutionize healthcare. He has founded more than 10 healthcare/ technology
companies and has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Technology & Innovation in 2016. He is supported
by a world-class management team, including our executive officers and other senior management, with approximately 140 years of
collective experience in healthcare and consumer end-markets. We believe this leadership team positions us well as a disruptive force
in revolutionizing medical imaging. In addition, Longview’s sponsor, Longview Investors LLC, (the “Sponsor”) an affiliate
of Glenview Capital Management, LLC (“Glenview”), brings to the Company extensive public market experience in the healthcare
industry with a long-term orientation across provider, payor, distributor and medical product companies.
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Our Strategies
We believe that our strategies include the following:
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Innovation: Unwavering commitment to leading edge technical innovation. As
the first semiconductor-based point-of-care ultrasound, the Butterfly iQ and iQ+ solution is a leading part of the medical imaging revolution.
Through leveraging this novel technology, our solution can process and store high quality images that can then be transferred between
systems, an interoperability valued by customers in today’s current market. We believe that with our current solution, we have created
a new standard for medical imaging and we are focused on remaining on the leading edge of technical innovation. We believe our solution
is only the first step in our development and we plan to continually improve this product and expand our product and service offerings.
We recently launched the next-generation product Butterfly iQ+ in October 2020, which has improved image quality, durability, and
new functionalities such as bi-plane and needle visualization through Needle VizTM technology and 3D scanning.
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We plan to develop future
applications, subject to appropriate marketing authorization, to leverage our unique hardware foundation and commitment to improving
our software using AI. Simultaneously, we plan to enhance our device’s software capabilities, pursuing marketing
authorizations as necessary, with new features such as anatomical labeling, image quality improvements, and further workflow
automations, in order to more deeply integrate our platform with hospital systems. Additionally, our SDK allows users to create
content and applications on our platform that, subject to validation and any necessary marketing authorization, can be deployed
across all users, further enhancing our software offerings. In this way, our solution will continue to innovate naturally, as well
as through our enhancements to our proprietary technology. In order to pave the way for the potential future at-home use of
Butterfly iQ+ and other future form factors, we anticipate we will need to validate the at-home applications through focused
clinical trials and also seek additional marketing authorizations.
We believe these hardware developments,
along with our software enhancements and user education initiatives, will bring ultrasound to new markets and users. We believe that with
our differentiated and continually expanding solution, we can drive user adoption in new markets. Beyond these hardware and software product
roadmaps, we plan to use the “Butterfly Labs” innovation center to develop new innovative products, services and software
applications, leveraging our core technology and platform capabilities.
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Democratization: Enabling universal adoption of personal medical imaging. We
believe the mobility, ease-of-use, affordability, and interoperability of our solution offer a compelling and differentiated alternative
to existing devices and have broad applicability across new areas of unmet need. With these differentiating characteristics, our solution
not only provides a next generation alternative to legacy cart-based ultrasound systems, but expands the addressable market into a significant
amount of new ultrasound scan settings. Our initial customers consist of primary care physicians, emergency doctors, and anesthesiologists,
all of whom may have access to a shared ultrasound system, but purchase our product in order to have their own device to carry with them
as they practice. Based on their interest and adoption of our solution, we view our global addressable market as 40 million healthcare
practitioners, consisting of 12 million medical doctors and 28 million nurses and midwives, significantly greater than the $8 billion
traditional ultrasound market.
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We have only begun to penetrate this
healthcare practitioner market and plan to continue to grow this through continually increasing adoption and maintaining high user retention.
Initially, we have focused on the approximately three million medical practitioners across anesthesiology, primary care, medical education,
emergency medicine, hospital medicine, musculoskeletal treatments, and urology as well as five million nurses in our core geographies.
Currently, our device is commercially available in over 20 countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, throughout
greater Europe and in parts of Latin America. With such a large addressable market, we believe we can expand successfully over time into
geographies across Latin America and Asia, as well as other geographies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
We believe our device’s
affordability (all-in hardware and software estimated cost of less than $3 per day over an illustrative 3 year ownership period with
Butterfly’s individual user license software subscription), mobility, and ease-of-use, will drive further penetration and
adoption in our existing markets and geographies. We believe our roadmap for product enhancements will supplement this penetration
as well as provide avenues for expansion to new markets. One of our largest growth opportunities is the potential expansion into
remote patient monitoring and products designed for use in the home, subject to appropriate marketing
authorizations. This potential market contains more than 100 million patients with chronic diseases in the United States alone,
including more than 25 million patients in the United States with urinary incontinence, more than 5 million patients in
the United States with congestive heart failure, and approximately 500,000 patients in the United States in need of regular
dialysis. We believe that, subject to appropriate marketing authorization, this technology could enable patient-driven scanning for
monitoring of chronic disease. We believe our application-based platform allows for even further personalization to improve health
outcomes over time. Eventually, as these applications are deployed across the whole user base, we believe this would create a cycle,
leading to more product enhancement and drawing in more users. Ultimately, we strive to create a solution that will be the primary
operating system for all ultrasound scanning.
We believe that through the penetration
of the existing addressable market, and the potential subsequent expansion into new markets and geographies that currently do not use
medical imaging technology, we can bring the adoption of medical imaging to greater scale than ever achieved before.
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Creating value socially, clinically, and economically. Our mission is to
democratize healthcare through providing access to medical imaging at an affordable cost. Because the Butterfly iQ+ is mobile and easy-to-use,
healthcare practitioners can expand their use of ultrasound outside of traditional settings, increasing convenience for both practitioners
and patients. Additionally, frequent and easier access to scanning has the potential to allow practitioners to detect malignancies earlier
and thereby, recommend earlier medical intervention. This could improve health outcomes, while avoiding expensive treatments, generating
economic value for both the patient and payor, which is aligned with the healthcare mega-trend of value-based care. As our device reaches
new markets and new users and, with appropriate marketing authorizations, enables more direct interaction with patients, including remote
patient monitoring, we believe this trend will accelerate, further improving outcomes and reducing costs. This reduction of costs has
the potential to create economic value for the whole healthcare system across all clinical applications and markets where ultrasound scanning
is used.
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In addition to social impact, we believe
our solution will also have significant clinical impact. Through our software solution, empowered by AI, users can upload scanned images
to our HIPAA-compliant cloud, which has unlimited storage, links to hospital and office systems, and can be accessed from a desktop computer.
This allows practitioners to access and transfer their scanned images in a seamless and secure way, leading to additional opportunities
for observation and therefore, we believe, earlier diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, our solution delivers billing codes directly
in the user interface application following scanning, both enhancing practitioner compliance adherence and increasing revenue in fee-for-scan
environments. In these ways, we believe the technology behind our solution and the data that it is able to gather can provide new and
meaningful clinical insights.
Beyond optimizing care in developed
markets, our solution has the potential to expand into markets and geographies that traditionally have restricted access to care, through
its mobility, ease-of-use and affordability. By providing an imaging solution that can connect to practitioners remotely and backing this
solution with continued clinical investment, we believe our solution can significantly increase access to healthcare, empowering healthcare
practitioners to not only help their patients live safer and healthier lives but also provide medical imaging to patients who otherwise
would not have access or could not afford it. We plan to reach these markets primarily through non-profits, non-government organizations,
or NGOs, and in some cases, military and paramedic channels. We believe the accessibility our solution brings could have a profound social
impact on these markets.
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Obsessed by customer success, deploying differentiated channel go-to-market approaches. Our
primary focus is our users’ and customers’ satisfaction, which has yielded a strong net promoter score of 64 (USA). Word of
mouth is the number one driver of sales currently. We intend to grow through providing excellent customer service coupled with our differentiated
and evolving product offering. We have approximately eight customer service representatives, dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners
on the unique features of our solution, and we have also published numerous training videos and tutorials in response to frequently asked
questions. We have invested heavily in building out and educating our salesforce and sales support teams, and plan to continue to do so,
with the ultimate goal of creating an intuitive and informative customer experience. As we continue to grow, we plan to expand on our
educational tools and resources for our customers to guide them in using our products. We believe that we can build a community of users
around our solution to share insights, techniques, and new regulatory compliant ways of applying our solution, all of which we believe
will continue to drive adoption and retention.
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Furthermore, to increase customer
accessibility to our device, we sell through multiple channels, including eCommerce; enterprise (direct); and distributor,
veterinary and affiliates. With its interoperability, image transfer / storage, and mobility / remote-monitoring capabilities, our
solution can integrate and connect with critical healthcare interfaces such as EMR and imaging systems, critical to coordinated
delivery of care. This has helped us to build relationships with and make sales to or agreements with most of the top 100 U.S.
healthcare systems, leading to many of our large volume enterprise (direct) sales. Additionally, our sales channel and support has
strengthened these relationships. These relationships have increased user accessibility to our solution and the breadth of our
network.
As we continue to simplify
enterprise workflow and develop relationships with larger health systems, we have experienced an increase in the proportion of our
sales from enterprise sales compared to eCommerce. Because institutions often make decisions to purchase on a system-wide level,
enterprise sales typically generate economies of scale with larger volumes and larger numbers of users, while also increasing user
retention. The enterprise channel also yields a higher subscription price, which further increases our profitability on devices and
subscriptions sold. We are working towards increasingly integrated solutions to maximize our value to large healthcare customers, as
well as continuing to improve our sales and support infrastructure. Our ability to connect and govern traditional third party
ultrasound systems gives enterprise customers a solution to the governance and workflow challenges that have limited the utilization
and billing of point of care imaging devices. Enterprise customers deploying our solution can benefit from a streamlined clinical
workflow that reduces the exam documentation burden typically associated with traditional ultrasound systems. By adopting Butterfly
Enterprise software, customers can responsibly manage and optimize value from their fleets of point of care imaging devices.
During the year ended December 31,
2020, Legacy Butterfly’s device sales generated approximately 82.9% of its revenue, with its subscription revenue comprising the
remaining 17.1%. As adoption of our devices increases through further penetration and healthcare practitioners in the Butterfly network
continue to use our devices, we expect our revenue mix to shift toward subscriptions. Because the cost and associated expenses to maintain
our software are less than the costs and associated expenses of manufacturing and selling our device, we anticipate an improvement in
margin over time.
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Talent inspired and unified by mission. With over approximately
140 years of collective experience in healthcare and consumer end-markets among our executive officers and senior management,
our management team is unified by our mission to democratize healthcare by making medical imaging accessible globally. We seek to
execute at scale the vision of Legacy Butterfly’s Founder and our Chairman, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg. Our President and
Chief Executive Officer, Todd M. Fruchterman, M.D., Ph.D. has extensive experience in the healthcare industry, most recently as
Group President, Reliability Solutions at Flex Ltd., and prior to that in various leadership roles at 3M Company, including
President and General Manager, Medical Solutions, the largest division of the company, and as President and General Manager,
Critical & Chronic Care Solutions, Senior Vice President R&D, Regulatory Affairs, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief
Medical Officer. Dr. Rothberg and Dr. Fruchterman are supported by a leadership team with many years of technology,
consumer and healthcare experience at leading companies, including Amazon, MedStar Health, Optum and Medtronic. We plan to continue
to add talented and experienced members to our team and maintain our commitment to our mission of democratizing healthcare by making
medical imaging accessible globally.
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We are also supported by long-term investors
that share this commitment to our mission. Longview’s Sponsor, an affiliate of Glenview, brings to the Company extensive public
market experience in the healthcare industry with a long-term orientation across provider, payor, distributor and medical product companies.
Our long-term investors include Baillie Gifford, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Fosun Industrial Co., Limited, and other
investors that have invested in us to promote and enable our vision.
Finally, to enact our vision, we have
developed strong relationships with healthcare institutions as we have sold to or have agreements with most of the top 100 United States
health systems. We believe these institutions and our relationships with them are key elements that underpin our ability to achieve our
mission. Together with these institutions, we have the potential to bring our imaging solution to millions of patients, reducing healthcare
costs and improve outcomes on an enormous scale.
Industry & Market Opportunity
Medical imaging has existed for over 100 years
with the purpose of effectively diagnosing and treating patients. The global ultrasound market has historically consisted of the legacy
cart-based incumbents and more recently developed point-of-care / handheld devices. Built using expensive piezoelectric crystal technology,
these legacy systems limit wider access and usage due to high upfront costs. Legacy cart-based incumbent devices that are used in traditional
hospital systems have a mid-range price point of $45,000 to $60,000 per new system, in addition to burdensome maintenance or service contracts.
These devices are often siloed within hospitals and health systems requiring referrals and coordination between different departments,
and extensive training for the personnel that operate them, limiting utilization of these devices. Limited IT integration and interoperability
capabilities have resulted in image archives that are difficult to move between systems, presenting yet another barrier to care coordination
and optimization. The point-of-care / handheld competitors are less expensive than legacy cart-based systems, with price points ranging
from $5,000 to $7,000 per probe, generally requiring two to three probes to cover a comparable range of cleared indications to the single
probe Butterfly iQ+. Historically, these competitive point-of-care / handheld competitors lack the AI capabilities that the Butterfly
iQ+ provides healthcare practitioners and are less core focal points of large capital equipment focused sales forces, which creates a
unique opportunity for us to not only disrupt and take market share in the existing market, but create and be the leader in new markets.
Between these legacy cart-based incumbent devices
and the point-of-care / handheld competitors, the global ultrasound market in 2017 was valued at approximately $8 billion, consisting
of $6 billion in equipment and $2 billion in services. This market is currently limited to traditional scan settings in developed
markets, such as hospitals, niche doctor offices, and imaging centers. Per IHI Markit data, less than 3% of global ultrasound units
are handheld devices. General Electric, Phillips, Canon Medical Systems (f/k/a Toshiba), Hitachi and Siemens Healthineers are the top
five incumbent ultrasound players.
Through development of our proprietary technology,
we were the first company to successfully put ultrasound on a semiconductor chip and connect it to an iPhone, tablet or Android for ease-of-use.
This has allowed us to create a solution that has the potential to disrupt the current ultrasound market and significantly expand the
total addressable market beyond its current limitations. Butterfly iQ+ takes a small form factor, allowing the user to transport the device
anywhere. Butterfly iQ+’s price through our eCommerce website is $1,999 per device and when factoring in an illustrative single-user
software subscription license over a three year period is estimated to be less than $3 per day, which enables a material return on investment
for healthcare practitioners given common pre-existing CPT codes ranging from $20-150. Finally, our software harnesses AI designed to
drive ease-of-use for image acquisition, improve analysis, guide and educate healthcare practitioners, and provide quality control. The
Butterfly iQ is designed to be intuitive and greatly reduces the amount of training needed for operation, thereby expanding the ultrasound
user base to non-experts, and eventually to patients directly, subject to clearance of at-home uses by the appropriate regulatory authorities.
We believe the mobility, affordability, and ease-of-use characteristics of the device will empower users to operate the Butterfly iQ device
outside traditional scan settings, such as pre-hospital environments, urgent care clinics, long-term care and rehabilitation centers,
dialysis centers, ambulatory surgery centers, veterinary clinics, and potentially, the home, all in both developed and emerging markets.
We believe that the Butterfly iQ can greatly increase accessibility to medical imaging and enable the development of new ultrasound markets
with expanded users (practitioners and patients) and scan settings globally that are uncommon or nonexistent today.
By increasing accessibility to medical
technology outside of traditional settings, the Butterfly iQ has the potential to significantly expand the current total addressable
market for medical imaging. We believe there is strong interest from healthcare practitioners to utilize handheld ultrasound devices
in their day-to-day work, as primary care practitioners represent our largest group of users. We believe the Butterfly iQ device has
the potential to reach up to 40 million global healthcare practitioners, across both developed and emerging markets. Of the
approximately 40 million global healthcare practitioners, we view a subset of approximately eight million as our initial target
market, which is comprised of approximately three million medical doctors across anesthesiology, primary care, medical education,
emergency medicine, hospital medicine, musculoskeletal, and urology, as well as approximately five million nurses, defined as
one-third of the nurses and midwives, all within our core geographies of North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Beyond this
initial market, we believe there are approximately nine million additional medical doctors (12 million total) and approximately
23 million additional nurses and midwives (approximately 28 million total) that would benefit from use of handheld
ultrasound devices.
Furthermore, as patient-focused, value-based care
delivery models continue to scale, we believe handheld ultrasound devices will find a potential market with at-home medical personnel
and, subject to appropriate marketing authorizations, with patients directly.
Products & Services
We provide a complete solution to address an unmet
need in point-of-care medical imaging through a unique combination of hardware and software services. Our hardware is powered by the first
and only currently available ultrasound on a semiconductor chip. Our software addresses the traditional ease-of-use challenges and the
complex clinical workflow throughout a patient’s care pre-and post-examination. Our integrated system with EMRs provides healthcare
practitioners with a tool that enables fast and confident clinical decision-making.
As a diagnostic tool with broad applicability
across numerous medical specialties, Butterfly iQ+ has the potential to serve as the go-to device for healthcare practitioners in determining
approaches to treatment. We believe there is strong applicability for ultrasound devices across anesthesiology, primary care, medical
education, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, musculoskeletal, and urology. Historically, technology and excessive costs have limited
the use of ultrasound devices. As new technology has catalyzed the mobility and ubiquity of medical imaging, the range of uses for ultrasound
devices has greatly expanded. This momentum is supported by clinical evidence that shows that use of ultrasound devices in this modality
can improve patient health outcomes, while significantly lowering the cost of care. The high cost of ultrasound imaging has deterred some
medical professionals from utilizing these devices to prevent the unnecessary costs on providers or patients. However, the Butterfly iQ
device offers providers the use of these images at a low cost that may promote early detection of patient malignancies that, in turn,
reduces costs for providers and reduces the need for external imaging, specialist referrals, and emergency room visits. High-risk patients
who suffer from congestive heart failure and pulmonary diseases will be able to receive regular ultrasound imaging at a low cost, which
is associated with reduced emergency visits and overall patient costs.
Our Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology enables
whole-body complete ultrasound imaging with a single probe, as the Butterfly iQ and iQ+ have a frequency range that enables our device
to produce ultrasound imaging anywhere on the body. Our solution is the only ultrasound transducer that can perform whole-body imaging
in a single handheld probe using semiconductor technology. In addition, the 60 year-old piezoelectric crystal technology used in existing
devices has been less affordable and has not been able to achieve the same versatility or system interoperability. Because our device
is portable, practitioners can easily carry this device with them, providing access to ultrasound virtually anywhere. While currently
our device is used in traditional scan settings, such as hospitals, imaging centers, and physicians’ offices, we believe our device’s
mobility will enable expansion to pre-hospital settings, urgent care clinics, long-term care and rehabilitation centers, dialysis centers,
ambulatory surgery centers, veterinary clinics, and, subject to marketing authorization, homes.
We currently sell the Butterfly iQ+ device
through our eCommerce website, with an optional accompanying software membership at various prices depending on the type of
subscription. We offer a Pro subscription with one user license included, a Pro Team subscription with five user licenses included,
and an enterprise subscription with tiered level pricing. We also sell accessories that supplement our device, including a carrying
case, charger (complimentary with the purchase of the device), holster, and cable accessories. Legacy Butterfly has been selling the
first generation Butterfly iQ since 2018 and launched the second generation Butterfly iQ+ in October 2020.
Our Butterfly iQ+ device connects directly to
an iPhone or Android smartphone and tablet to provide its imaging and software features for more than two consecutive hours and charges
to full battery in approximately five hours. Our proprietary software harnesses AI designed to drive ease-of-use for image acquisition
and improved analysis, further used to guide and educate practitioners, as well as provide quality control. The Butterfly iQ+ has 20 pre-set
settings generated in part with AI that optimize images obtained from scanning different areas of the body. Within the Butterfly application,
users can utilize five imaging modes, including B-Mode, Color Doppler, M-Mode Power Doppler and Pulsed Wave Doppler, as well as additional
measuring tools and obstetrician calculations. These features allow healthcare practitioners to perform surface area and volume measurements
on the anatomical objects that are imaged and can use color Doppler to identify movement of fluid, similar to features provided by legacy
products in the market. For the obstetric clinicians, the device tools can perform gestational age and amniotic fluid index calculations.
We believe these pre-set settings and intuitive operation features through smartphones will enable healthcare practitioners who are not
medical imaging experts to adopt our device, expanding our user base beyond the traditional, limited ultrasound user base. This traditional
base of ultrasound users has been limited because existing ultrasound devices often require unique environments and extensive training
to operate, while the Butterfly iQ+ device can be used by general and other healthcare practitioners across the healthcare industry.
3D Bladder scan with AI-based Auto Bladder Volume tool /
Education and Image Storage /
Color Doppler tool
Through our software subscription options, users
can upload scanned images to our HIPAA-compliant cloud, which has unlimited storage and links to hospital and office systems, allowing
for seamless transfer of images that can also be accessed from a desktop computer. As telemedicine continues to make headway through our
healthcare system, our software application features TeleGuidance, which is the world’s first integrated ultrasound telemedicine
platform. This tool, if eventually approved, would allow a remote, trained healthcare practitioner to view the ultrasound imaging through
the smartphone application and live video. Our platform also features education tools to enable users to quickly gain proficiency in conducting
exams. As we continue to expand on these features, our software updates are implemented real-time, equipping users with new features and
techniques with each update.
Our Butterfly iQ+ device is competitively priced
at $1,999 per device through our eCommerce website, and combined with our standard single-user software license, the total estimated cost
of use amounts to a daily average of less than $3, assuming an illustrative three year ownership period. This compares to the cost of
$5,000 to $7,000 per device for point-of-care / handheld competitors, generally requiring two to three probes to cover a comparable range
of cleared indications to the single probe Butterfly iQ+, and pricing of legacy cart-based incumbents, which are $5,000 to $30,000 per
new device on the low end and can be as much as $100,000 to $250,000 per new device on the high end, before service and maintenance fees.
Additionally, the Butterfly iQ+ device’s remote capabilities, interoperability with other systems, ease-of-use, and affordability
allow trained practitioners to perform ultrasounds from any location where healthcare is provided and we believe will eventually increase
the user base to consumers and non-experts should the appropriate marketing authorizations be obtained for such intended uses, in accordance
with our mission to democratize healthcare by increasing accessibility to medical imaging. We believe this user base expansion and subsequent
adoption is our largest growth driver and represents the forefront of a medical imaging revolution.
Furthermore, we believe our device’s ability
to perform ultrasound outside of traditional environments and by non-expert users will allow for prevention and earlier detection and
enable healthcare practitioners outside of traditional environments to use ultrasound to make more precise diagnosis of malignancies.
This provides patients with faster access to treatment, ultimately reducing cost and improving patient health outcomes. The reduced cost
will also result from lower-cost medical professionals performing diagnosis, enabled by the device’s intuitive user interface. We
believe our device is also more convenient for patients, as the device can be brought to the patient at the bedside (or, subject to future
marketing authorizations, to their home), thereby reducing or eliminating patient wait times while providing secure patient image access.
With our device’s differentiating characteristics, we believe our business is aligned with long-term healthcare mega-trends, most
notably the acceleration of value-based and patient-centric approach to care.
We believe that the software and analytics capabilities
of our solution coupled with the next generation Butterfly iQ+ device empowers smarter and expanded scanning and compliant coding and
documentation that can generate both incremental revenue for healthcare systems and independent practitioners, but also reduce costs for
payers from earlier detection and prevention of adverse downstream events due to suboptimal care decisions or treatment complications.
The Butterfly iQ+ leverages pre-existing, routine CPT codes that enable healthcare providers and practitioners to obtain per-scan reimbursement
in the specialties of anesthesiology, cardiology, critical care, emergency medicine, endocrinology and ultrasound-guided procedures. We
intend to pursue incremental, new or expansionary CPT codes for reimbursement in future scan categories and categories concurrent to support
the successful go-to-market strategy of the product pipeline.
Product Roadmap
Our product roadmap will continue to position
us as a leading disruptor in the medical imaging market and remote patient monitoring market, which we believes consists of over 100 million
patients in the United States alone. As the first semi-conductor based point-of-care ultrasound, the original Butterfly iQ product launched
in 2018 was a differentiated product. We plan to continually improve this product, which will allow us to continue to innovate up the
performance curve. A first step to this was the launch of the next-generation product Butterfly iQ+ in 2020, which has improved image
quality, industry-leading durability, and new functionalities such as bi-plane needle visualization through Needle VizTM technology and
3D scanning.
We expect to continue development of the hardware with product offerings that may include enhanced performance, improved
image quality and alternative form factors.
In addition to our hardware innovations, we employ
a team of computer scientists focused on developing software features that enhance our device’s user interface and increase ease-of-use
to continue to expand our user base. Through our intuitive features and continued user education initiatives, we expect to generate high
adoption rates among healthcare practitioners and further expand our user base into the patient’s home subject to obtaining the
appropriate marketing authorizations. Furthermore, we believe our SDK will continue to drive additional enhancements generated by our
user base, simultaneously increasing the applicability of our solution and driving adoption and retention in our addressable market.
Beyond these hardware and software product roadmaps,
we plan to develop new innovative products, services and software applications,
leveraging the company’s core technology and platform capabilities. Through this product development, we believe we will be positioned
to remain on the forefront of medical imaging with a continued focus on increasing accessibility, allowing us to fulfill our mission
of democratizing healthcare by making medical imaging available to everyone around the world.
Our People
Our mission is to democratize healthcare and
to make medical imaging accessible to everyone around the world by using our proprietary technology.
We believe that our people are the reason for
our success and we have organized ourselves to maximize productivity and performance. We maintain a high bar for talent and actively work
to build diversity within our workforce.
As of March 1, 2021, we had 260 employees,
including 260 full-time employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or are subject to a collective bargaining agreement.
Sales and Marketing
Marketing and Brand Building
Our marketing efforts are focused on developing
a strong reputation with healthcare providers and increasing awareness of our products and services. In addition to print and digital
advertising, positive feedback about the Butterfly iQ+ among practitioners has historically been a significant driver of sales, as healthcare
practitioners share their appreciation for the Butterfly iQ and Butterfly iQ+ within their medical communities, yielding a strong net
promoter score of 64 (USA) as of March 1, 2021. We have conducted customer outreach and marketing through articles and other media
coverage about our products. We market our products through our targeted sales organization, which is engaged in sales efforts and promotional
activities primarily to health systems or institutions. Outside of the United States, we market our products directly to healthcare institutions
and through eCommerce. In the United States, we sell to or have agreements in place with most of the largest 100 U.S. healthcare systems.
We use a variety of marketing tools to drive adoption,
ensure continued usage and establish brand loyalty for our devices and software. We recognize the importance of the role of education
in accelerating adoption of our products by those medical professionals without existing ultrasound skills. To that end, we have hired
a renowned point-of-care ultrasound, or POCUS, educator to lead team expansion and offerings to include didactic, synchronous and asynchronous
coaching, quality as a service and a formal learning management system to track clinicians’ progress. In addition to creating awareness
of the benefits of our hand-held ultrasound device and the advantages of our technology for healthcare providers and patients, we engage
customer service representatives who are dedicated to educating practitioners on the unique features of our device and software and who
have published numerous training videos and tutorials in response to frequently asked questions.
Sales
The Butterfly iQ+ is commercially available
in over 20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, throughout greater Europe and in parts of Latin
America. We believe the Butterfly iQ device has the potential to reach up to 40 million global healthcare practitioners, across
both developed and emerging markets. Of the approximately 40 million global healthcare practitioners, we view a subset of
approximately eight million as our initial target market, which is comprised of approximately three million medical doctors across
anesthesiology, primary care, medical education, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, musculoskeletal, and urology, as well as
approximately five million nurses, defined as one-third of the nurses and midwives, all within our core geographies of North
America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Beyond this initial market, we believe there are approximately nine million additional
medical doctors (12 million total) and approximately 23 million additional nurses and midwives (approximately
28 million total) that would benefit from use of handheld ultrasound devices. We believe the mobility, affordability, and
ease-of-use characteristics of the device will empower users to operate the Butterfly iQ device outside traditional scan settings,
such as pre-hospital environments, urgent care clinics, long-term care and rehabilitation centers, dialysis centers, ambulatory
surgery centers, veterinary clinics, and subject to future marketing authorizations, the home, all in both developed and emerging
markets.
One of our largest growth opportunities is the
potential expansion into remote patient monitoring with wearable products and products designed for use in the home, subject to obtaining
appropriate marketing authorizations. This potential market contains more than 100 million patients with chronic diseases in the
United States alone, including more than 25 million patients in the United States with urinary incontinence, more than 5 million
patients in the United States with congestive heart failure, and approximately 500,000 patients in the United States in need of regular
dialysis.
Butterfly iQ+ is commercially available in over
20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, throughout greater Europe and in parts of Latin America. Butterfly’s
commercialization strategy is predicated on three primary channels:
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an eCommerce website through which we sell the Butterfly iQ+ to healthcare practitioners in these geographies;
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a targeted enterprise sales force focused on direct, large-volume sales to large healthcare system-wide
implementations in the United States and in select markets; and
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distributors, veterinary and affiliates to unlock additional channels to supplement our direct and eCommerce
sales.
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Our eCommerce channel is focused on building awareness
of our brand, attracting qualified traffic to our website and converting healthcare practitioners who visit the website to customers that
purchase our products. The sales cycle through our eCommerce channel is short and simple, where a potential user’s positive purchase
intent is followed immediately by a purchase. For sales to individuals, our eCommerce channel replaces the need for a sales force. By
contrast, our large-volume enterprise sales reflect a complex, multi-step sales cycle involving many parties and components, including
sales and integration support and customer service personnel. Sales through distributors entails our development of relationships with
parties to whom we can delegate our sales in our target markets.
As we continue to simplify enterprise workflow
and develop relationships with larger health systems, we have experienced an increase in the proportion of our sales from enterprise sales
compared to eCommerce. Because institutions often make decisions to purchase on a system-wide level, enterprise sales typically generate
economies of scale with larger volumes and larger numbers of users, while also increasing user retention. The enterprise channel also
yields a higher subscription price, which further increases our profitability on devices and subscriptions sold. We are working to continually
shift volumes to the enterprise channel with the aim of ultimately using this as our primary channel, which may require increases in our
sales force.
During the year ended December 31, 2020,
Legacy Butterfly’s device sales generated approximately 82.9% of its revenue, with its subscription revenue comprising the remaining
17.1%. As adoption of our devices increases through further penetration and healthcare practitioners in the Butterfly network continue
to use our devices, we expect our revenue mix to shift toward subscriptions. Because the cost and associated expenses to maintain our
software are less than the costs and associated expenses of manufacturing and selling our device, we anticipate an improvement in margin
over time.
In terms of geographic markets, for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2020, a substantial majority of Legacy Butterfly’s revenues were derived from sales to customers based
in the United States (87% in the year ended December 31, 2020). We aim to further expand our international customer base in the
future. We believe our differentiated Butterfly iQ handheld device and our growing user base of Butterfly iQ practitioners, with sales
to or agreements with most of the top 100 U.S. healthcare systems and across more than 40 countries, position us well to compete in the
existing ultrasound market and to potentially expand into emerging markets.
We continue to develop our sales and marketing
organization, which consists of a dedicated sales team complemented by a marketing team as well as sales and marketing support personnel.
Our sales force (including marketing, sales and sales and marketing support personnel) as of December 31, 2020, consisted of 51 persons,
46 of whom were located in the United States and five of whom were located in Europe and Australia.
Manufacturing
Our Butterfly iQ products are built using both
custom-made and off-the-shelf components supplied by outside manufacturers and vendors located in China, Taiwan and Thailand. One key
custom-made component in the Butterfly IQ probe is the transducer module for the printed circuit board of the chip. The majority of the
other components for the Butterfly iQ probe are off-the-shelf.
We purchase some of our components and materials
used in manufacturing, including the transducer module, from single sources. Although we believe that alternatives would be available,
it would take time to identify and validate replacement components, which could negatively affect our ability to supply our products on
a timely basis. We cannot give assurances that any alternative supplier would be able to recreate the manufacturing processes currently
in use. To mitigate this risk, we typically carry a significant inventory of critical components.
All of our iQ probes are manufactured, tested,
shipped and supported by Benchmark Electronics, Inc., or Benchmark, from its facilities in Thailand. We believe that this manufacturing
strategy is efficient and conserves capital. However, in the event it becomes necessary to utilize a different contract manufacturer for
our iQ products, we would experience additional costs, delays and difficulties in doing so, and our business could be harmed.
Key Agreements
Foundry Service Agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company Limited
We entered into a Foundry Service Agreement, or
FSA, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, as amended, under which TSMC agreed to manufacture integrated circuits
used for the semiconductor chips in our probes. The FSA provides for us to place purchase orders with TSMC, which are not binding until
accepted by TSMC. The FSA also provides for TSMC to use commercially reasonable efforts to support us for our products to be manufactured
at TSMC and for us to meet minimum purchase obligations. Under the agreement, we prepaid an amount to TSMC to be used against a portion
of the purchase price for future purchases once the prepayment amount is reached. To the extent that we fail to fulfill our monthly wafer
consumption requirement, TSMC has the right to deduct the shortfall from payments made by us to TSMC. In addition, we are required to
buy back from TSMC unused raw wafers that TSMC purchases from its supplier.
The FSA also provides that TSMC will indemnify
us for intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims against us related to the wafer manufacturing process and that we
will indemnify TSMC for any intellectual property infringement or misappropriation claims arising from TSMC’s compliance with our
instructions, specifications, designs or requirements to manufacture, sell, or ship the wafers or arising from any harm caused by our
medical device products.
The FSA’s initial term expires on December 31,
2022, subject to automatic renewal for successive two-year terms unless terminated by either party upon three months’ notice
prior to the end of the then-current term. The FSA may also be terminated by written notice at any time upon the bankruptcy or insolvency
of or upon or after a material breach by the other party. After the initial two-year term, either party may terminate the FSA immediately,
with or without cause, by giving the other party 12 months prior written notice of termination. TSMC may terminate the FSA if we
do not place a purchase order for a period of 12 consecutive months or upon certain change of control transactions, including a merger,
consolidation or other change of control or similar transactions to which we are party involving a semiconductor provider.
In connection with the FSA, we and TSMC developed
a propriety manufacturing process and continue to collaborate on manufacturing process improvements.
Manufacture and Supply Agreement with Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
In October 2015, we entered into a Manufacture
and Supply Agreement with Benchmark, which was amended in August 2019, or the MSA. Under the MSA, as amended, Benchmark agreed to
manufacture our products pursuant to binding purchase orders, as well as non-binding forecasts. The parties have agreed to meet periodically
regarding any minimum order quantities under the MSA.
Under the terms of the MSA, we granted Benchmark
a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, fully-paid, royalty-free license, without the right to sublicense, to use our technology
solely to manufacture our products. The MSA provides that we will own any right, title and interest in any improvements or modifications
to our technology made in the course of performance of Benchmark’s obligations under the MSA. We and Benchmark also agreed to indemnify
each other against certain third-party claims.
The MSA has an initial three-year term and will
renew automatically for additional two-year terms unless either party gives 180 days’ prior written notice before the end of
the then-current term to the other party electing not to renew the agreement. The MSA or any purchase order under the MSA may be terminated
by either party for convenience upon 90 days’ prior written notice to the other party. The MSA may also be terminated by either
party by written notice upon the occurrence of (i) a breach by the other party under the agreement which is not cured within 30 days
after written notice by the terminating party, (ii) other party becomes insolvent, dissolves, liquidates or ceases to conduct business
or (iii) the occurrence of payment-related breaches. Benchmark may also terminate the agreement upon the filing of any petition against
us under bankruptcy or similar laws, where such petition is not vacated within 10 days via court order.
Distribution Agreement with Cardinal Health 105, Inc.
In July 2018, we entered into a Distribution
Agreement with Cardinal Health 105, Inc., or Cardinal Health. Under the Distribution Agreement, we are responsible for delivery of
our products to Cardinal Health’s facilities, and Cardinal Health acts as the distribution agent and authorized distributor of record
of our products to our customers, including, but not limited to, wholesalers, specialty distributors, physicians, clinics, hospitals,
pharmacies and other healthcare providers in the United States. Under the Distribution Agreement, we provide Cardinal Health with forecasts
of the volume of our products to be handled and distributed by Cardinal Health. We make payments to Cardinal Health for its distribution
services pursuant to a fee schedule.
The initial term of the Distribution Agreement
expired in August 2020. The Distribution Agreement is subject to automatic renewal for additional successive two-year terms unless
we terminate the agreement upon 90 prior written days’ notice or Cardinal Health terminates the agreement upon written notice of
non-renewal to us at least 180 days prior to the end of a term. Either party may terminate the Distribution Agreement upon (i) the
other party’s entry into bankruptcy proceedings, receipt of a bankruptcy order that is not discharged within 30 days, or similar
events, or (ii) a material breach by the other party that is not cured within 30 days after the non-breaching party gives written
notice. Additionally, if we breach our payment obligations under the Distribution Agreement and such breach is not cured within 15 days
after Cardinal Health provides written notice of non-payment, Cardinal Heath may terminate the agreement upon 90 days’ prior
written notice.
Intellectual Property
Protection of our intellectual property is a strategic
priority for its business. We rely on a combination of patents, trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights
protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technologies.
The patents owned and in-licensed by us are generally
directed to the architecture of our ultrasonic imaging devices, our microfabricated ultrasonic transducers and machine learning for ultrasound
applications. We have developed a portfolio of issued patents and pending patent applications directed to commercial products and technologies
for potential development. We believe that our intellectual property is a core strength of our business, and our strategy includes the
continued development of our patent portfolio.
Butterfly iQ, iQ+ and Related Technology
As of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately
280 issued patents and approximately 540 pending patent applications. Of our approximately 280 issued patents, approximately 80 were issued
U.S. utility patents and approximately 30 were issued U.S. design patents. Of our approximately 540 pending patent applications, approximately
145 were pending U.S. utility patent applications and approximately 15 were pending U.S. design applications. In addition, as of December 31,
2020, we owned approximately 170 issued patents in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan and
Korea, and approximately 380 pending patent applications in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China,
Taiwan, Korea and India, corresponding to the foregoing. In total, as of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 175 patent families
generally directed to our ultrasound products, including manufacturing, circuit components, and add-on features. These issued patents
and pending patent applications (if they were to issue as patents) have expected expiration dates ranging between 2030 and 2040.
In addition to patents, we also rely on trade
secrets, technical know-how and continuing innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our proprietary
information and other intellectual property by generally requiring our employees, consultants, contractors, suppliers, outside scientific
collaborators and other advisors to execute non-disclosure and assignment of invention agreements on commencement of their employment
or engagement. Agreements with our employees also forbid them from using or incorporating the proprietary rights of third parties during
their engagement with us. We also generally require confidentiality or material transfer agreements from third parties that receive our
confidential data or materials.
License Agreements
We have entered into exclusive and non-exclusive
licenses in the ordinary course of business relating to our technologies or other intellectual property rights or assets.
Exclusive (Equity) Agreement with Leland Stanford Junior University
In June 2013, we entered into an Exclusive
(Equity) Agreement, or the Stanford Agreement, with the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, or Stanford. Pursuant
to the Stanford Agreement, Stanford granted us a co-exclusive, worldwide license to make, have made, use, import, offer to sell and sell
products covered by patent rights to Stanford’s wafer bonding technology. The rights licensed tous are for ultrasound applications
using the wafer bonding technology excluding certain applications, and the license remains exclusive, except for certain non-exclusive
applications, until the earlier of December 23, 2023 or the seventh anniversary of the first sale of any product using the licensed
technology, and thereafter will be nonexclusive until the last licensed patent expires. The last licensed patent is currently expected
to expire in 2030. The rights licensed to us, except for the non-exclusive applications, are sublicensable during such exclusive term,
subject to our continued development or sale of the products using the technology licensed under the agreement and, following the exclusive
term, subject to Stanford’s prior approval. The Stanford Agreement outlines certain milestones to be met by us in connection with
the development and sales of these products.
Under the terms of the Stanford Agreement, we
paid a one-time, non-refundable upfront royalty fee. We are required to pay Stanford low single-digit royalties on all net sales of products
that use the licensed technology, as well as a portion of any sublicensing revenues, during the term of the Stanford Agreement and if
certain products using the licensed technology are made, used, imported, or offered for sale before the date the Stanford Agreement terminates,
and those products are sold after the termination date, we will pay Stanford an earned royalty for our exercise of rights based on the
net sales of those products. We are also obligated to pay Stanford annual license maintenance fees, which are fully creditable against
any royalty payments made by us for such year. We are also required to provide Stanford with periodic reports documenting our progress
toward the development and commercialization of products using the licensed technology. Stanford is responsible under the agreement for
preparing, filing and prosecuting patent claims and for maintaining the patents pertaining to the licensed technology.
Stanford may terminate the agreement in the event
that we are materially delinquent on any payment, fail to diligently develop and commercialize a product incorporating the licensed technology,
materially miss a milestone under the agreement, are in material breach of any substantive provision under the agreement, or knowingly
provide any false report or are materially delinquent on any report, in each case which is not remedied within cure period. In addition,
if we are not diligently developing and commercializing such a product incorporating the licensed technology, materially miss a milestone
or knowingly provide a false report or are delinquent on any report, and we do not cure, the agreement shall not terminate, but it remains
subject to termination by Stanford and the license shall convert to a non-exclusive license. We may terminate the agreement at any time
upon at least 30 days’ prior written notice. Upon termination of the agreement, all rights to the licensed technology revert
to Stanford. Legacy Butterfly’s obligation to pay royalties accrued or accruable survives any termination or expiration of the agreement.
Government Regulation
The diagnostic medical devices that we manufacture
and distribute are subject to regulation by numerous regulatory bodies, including the FDA and comparable international regulatory agencies.
These agencies require manufacturers of medical devices to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing the development, testing,
manufacturing, packaging, labeling, marketing and distribution of medical devices. Devices are generally subject to varying levels of
regulatory control, the most comprehensive of which requires that a clinical evaluation program be conducted before a device can be approved
for marketing and commercial distribution. In addition, healthcare regulatory bodies in the United States and around the world impose
a range of requirements related to paying for medical devices and the procedures in which they are used, including laws intended to prevent
fraud, waste, and abuse of healthcare dollars.
U.S. Laws and Regulations
At the federal level, our diagnostic ultrasound
products and certain accessories are medical devices subject to extensive and ongoing regulation by the FDA. Under the Federal Food, Drug
and Cosmetic Act, referred to as the FDCA, and its implementing regulations, the FDA regulates product design and development, pre-clinical
and clinical testing, pre-market clearance, authorization or approval, establishment registration and product listing, product manufacturing,
product packaging and labeling, product storage, advertising and promotion, product distribution, recalls and field actions, servicing
and post-market clinical surveillance. Some of our products are also subject to the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act, administered
by the FDA, which imposes performance standards and record keeping, reporting, product testing and product labeling requirements for electronic
products that emit radiation, such as x-rays, although diagnostic ultrasound products like ours are subject only to a limited portion
of those requirements. A number of U.S. states also impose licensing and compliance regimes on companies that manufacture or distribute
prescription devices into or within the state.
In addition, the commercialization and use of
our devices in the United States is subject to regulation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, and state agencies
responsible for reimbursement and regulation of payment for health care items and services. Federal laws and regulations apply primarily
in connection with government payer programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, but state laws apply more broadly, encompassing
health care items and services covered by private payers. At the state and federal level, the government’s interest is in regulating
the quality and cost of health care and protecting the independent clinical judgment of licensed healthcare providers.
The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC,
also regulate the advertising and promotion of our products to ensure that any claims made in commerce are consistent with the products’
regulatory clearances, that there is scientific data to substantiate the claims being made, that the advertising is neither false nor
misleading, and that patient or physician testimonials or endorsements we or our agents disseminate comply with disclosure and other regulatory
requirements. In general, medical device manufacturers and distributors may not promote or advertise their products for uses not within
the scope of a given product’s intended use(s), make unsupported safety and effectiveness claims, or use third parties to make claims
about the product that the manufacturer/distributor could not lawfully make itself.
FDA Regulation of Medical Devices
The FDA classifies medical devices into three
classes based on risk. Regulatory control increases from Class I (lowest risk) to Class III (highest risk). The FDA generally
must clear or approve the commercial sale of most new medical devices that fall within product categories designated as Class II
and III. Commercial sales of Class II (except for Class II devices exempt from pre-market notification requirements) and Class III
medical devices within the United States must be preceded either by a pre-market notification and clearance pursuant to Section 510(k) of
the FDCA (Class II) or by the granting of a pre-market approval, or PMA, (Class III), after a pre-market application is submitted.
Both 510(k) notifications and PMA applications must be submitted to FDA with user fees (over $12,000 for a 510(k) and $365,000
for a PMA in FY 2021), although reduced fees for small businesses are available. Class I devices are generally exempt from pre-market
review and notification, as are some moderate-risk Class II devices. All classes of devices must comply with FDA’s Quality
System Regulation, or QSR, establishment registration, medical device listing, labeling requirements, and medical device reporting, or
MDR, regulations, which are collectively referred to as device general controls. Class II devices may also be subject to special
controls such as performance standards, post-market surveillance, FDA guidelines or particularized labeling. Some Class I and Class II
devices can be exempted by regulation from the requirement of compliance with substantially all of the QSR.
A 510(k) pre-market notification must contain
information sufficient to demonstrate that the new device is substantially equivalent to a device commercially distributed prior to May 28,
1976 or to a device that has been determined by the FDA to be substantially equivalent to such a so-called “pre-amendments”
device. To obtain 510(k) clearance for a non-exempt Class II device, we must submit a pre-market notification to the FDA demonstrating
that our product is substantially equivalent to such a predicate device. The FDA’s 510(k) clearance process generally takes
from three to 12 months from the date the application is submitted, but it may take longer if the FDA has significant questions or
needs more information about the new device or its manufacturing or quality controls.
As part of the 510(k) notification process
for Class II devices like our iQ system, which has an existing classification regulation available for purposes of the regulatory
filing, the FDA may require the following:
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Comprehensive product description and indications for use.
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Extensive pre-clinical tests and/or pre-clinical animal studies, performed in accordance with the FDA’s
Good Laboratory Practice, or GLP, regulations, as well as any performance standards or other testing requirements established by FDA through
regulations or device-specific guidance.
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Comprehensive review of predicate devices and development of data supporting the new product’s substantial
equivalence to one or more predicate devices.
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Assuming successful completion of all required
testing, a detailed 510(k) notification is submitted to the FDA requesting clearance to market the product. This pre-market notification
includes all relevant data from pertinent pre-clinical and clinical trials (if applicable), together with detailed information relating
to the product’s manufacturing controls and proposed labeling, and other relevant documentation. The FDA evaluates all 510(k) submissions
prior to filing for full review based on specific acceptance criteria and may issue a refuse-to-accept notification if the submission
is deficient with respect to any of the established criteria. If the FDA determines that the applicant’s device is substantially
equivalent to the identified predicate device(s), the agency will issue a 510(k) clearance letter that authorizes commercial marketing
of the device for one or more specific indications for use. If the FDA determines that the applicant’s device is not substantially
equivalent to the predicate device(s), the agency will issue a not-substantially-equivalent letter stating that the new device may not
be commercially distributed.
After a new medical device receives FDA 510(k) clearance,
any modification that could significantly affect the device’s safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in
its intended use, requires a new 510(k) clearance or could require the submission of a PMA. The FDA requires each manufacturer to
make the determination of whether a device modification requires a new 510(k) notification or PMA in the first instance, but the
FDA may review any such decision. If the FDA disagrees with a manufacturer’s decision not to seek a new 510(k) clearance or
PMA for a particular change, the FDA may retroactively require the manufacturer to seek 510(k) clearance or PMA. The FDA may also
require the manufacturer to cease U.S. marketing and/or recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance or PMA approval for the
modification is obtained.
If a previously unclassified new medical device
does not qualify for the 510(k) pre-market notification process because no predicate device to which it is substantially equivalent
can be identified, the device is automatically classified into Class III. However, if such a device would be considered low or moderate
risk (in other words, it does not rise to the level of requiring the approval of a PMA), it may be eligible for the De Novo classification
process. The De Novo classification process allows a device developer to request that the novel medical device be able to obtain marketing
authorization as either a Class I or Class II device, rather than having it regulated as a high-risk Class III device subject
to the PMA requirements. In December 2018, the FDA issued a Proposed Rule that would formally codify requirements for the medical
device De Novo process and the procedures and criteria for product developers to file a De Novo classification request. Although this
rule was expected to be finalized during the second half of 2020, it remains pending at FDA and the rulemaking process may be subject
to additional activity after the COVID-19 pandemic abates and pressure on the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health,
or CDRH, is reduced. Over the past 20 years, the De Novo process has been implemented by the FDA pursuant to statutory authorities
and through informal guidance and iterative changes by Congress. The Proposed Rule allowed industry stakeholders to participate in
the development of the FDA’s policies and procedures for De Novo requests through the notice-and-comment rulemaking process. Although
the Proposed Rule, if finalized by the FDA, would not impact our marketed products and is not expected to impact our products in current
development, the FDA’s activities are aimed at creating predictability, consistency and transparency for innovative medical device
developers.
As an alternative to the De Novo classification
process, a company that develops or manufactures a novel device could also file a reclassification petition seeking to change the automatic
Class III designation of the novel post-amendment device under Section 513(f)(3) of the FDCA. The FDA can also initiate
reclassification of an existing device type on its own initiative. In December 2018, the FDA issued a final rule to clarify
the administrative process through which the FDA reclassifies a medical device. To reclassify a device under section 513(e) of the
FDCA, the FDA must first publish a proposed reclassification order that includes a summary of the valid scientific evidence that supports
the reclassification; convene a device classification panel meeting; and consider comments to the public docket before it then publishes
a final reclassification order in the Federal Register.
Our iQ and iQ+ probes have been classified and
are regulated as Class II devices, although future products we develop may be classified as Class III devices and may require
a PMA. A PMA application must be supported by valid scientific evidence, which typically requires extensive data, including technical,
pre-clinical, clinical, manufacturing and labeling data, to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction the safety and efficacy of the
device for its intended use(s). A PMA application also must include a complete description of the device and its components, a detailed
description of the methods, facilities and controls used to manufacture the device, and proposed labeling. After a PMA application is
submitted and found to be sufficiently complete, it is considered “filed” and the FDA begins an in-depth review of the submitted
information. During this substantive review period, the FDA may request additional information or clarification of information already
provided. Also during the review period, an advisory panel of experts from outside the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the
application and provide recommendations to the FDA. In addition, the FDA generally will conduct a pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing
facility to evaluate compliance with the QSR, which requires manufacturers to implement and follow design, testing, control, documentation
and other quality assurance procedures.
FDA review of a PMA application is required to
be completed within 180 days of the application’s filing date although in some cases approval may take significantly longer.
The current user fee agreement between the FDA and the medical device industry sets as a target that PMA reviews be completed in under
one year. The FDA can delay, limit or deny approval of a PMA application for many reasons, including:
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the product may not be safe or effective for its intended use(s) to the FDA’s satisfaction;
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the data from the applicant’s pre-clinical studies and clinical trials may be insufficient to support approval;
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the manufacturing process or facilities that the applicant uses may not meet applicable requirements; and
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changes in the FDA approval policies or adoption of new regulations may require additional data to demonstrate the safety or effectiveness
of the device.
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If an FDA evaluation of a PMA application or manufacturing
facility is favorable, the FDA will generally issue an “approval letter,” which usually contains a number of conditions that
must be met in order to secure final approval of the PMA. When and if those conditions have been met to the satisfaction of the FDA, the
agency will issue a PMA approval letter authorizing commercial marketing of a device, subject to the conditions of approval and the limitations
established in the approval letter. If the FDA’s evaluation of a PMA application or manufacturing facility is not favorable, the
FDA will deny approval of the PMA or issue a “not approvable letter.” The FDA may also determine that additional trials are
necessary, in which case the PMA approval may be delayed for several months or years while such additional trials are conducted
and data is submitted in an amendment to the PMA. The PMA process can be expensive, uncertain and lengthy. PMA approval may also be granted
with post-approval requirements such as the need for additional patient follow-up for an indefinite period of time.
New PMA applications or PMA supplements may be
required for any modifications to the manufacturing process, labeling, device specifications, materials or design of a device that is
approved through the PMA process. PMA supplements often require submission of the same type of information as an initial PMA application,
except that the supplements are limited to information needed to support any changes from the device covered by the approved PMA application
and may or may not require as extensive clinical data or the convening of an advisory panel.
Clinical trials are almost always required to
support a PMA application and are sometimes required for a 510(k) pre-market notification. In order to conduct a clinical investigation
involving human subjects for the purpose of demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of a medical device, a company must, among other
things, apply for and obtain institutional review board, or IRB, approval of the proposed investigation. In addition, if the clinical
study involves a “significant risk” (as defined by the FDA) to human health, the sponsor of
the investigation must also submit and obtain FDA approval of an investigational device exemption, or IDE, application. An IDE application
must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory testing results, showing that it is safe to test the device in humans
and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. The IDE application must be approved in advance by the FDA for a specified number
of study participants, unless the product is deemed a non-significant risk device and eligible for abbreviated IDE requirements. Generally,
clinical trials for a significant risk device may begin once the IDE application is approved by the FDA and the study protocol and informed
consent are approved by a duly-appointed IRB at each clinical trial site. The FDA’s approval of an IDE allows clinical testing to
go forward, but does not bind the FDA to accept the results of the trial as sufficient to prove the product’s safety and efficacy,
even if the trial meets its intended success criteria. All clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the FDA’s IDE regulations,
which govern investigational device labeling, prohibit promotion, and specify an array of Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, requirements,
which include, among other things, recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring responsibilities of study sponsors and study investigators.
Clinical trials must further comply with the FDA’s regulations for IRB approval and for informed consent and other human subject
protections. Required records and reports are subject to inspection by the FDA. The results of clinical testing may be unfavorable or,
even if the intended safety and efficacy success criteria are achieved, may not be considered sufficient for the FDA to grant approval
or clearance of a product.
The commencement or completion of any of our clinical
trials may be delayed or halted, or may be inadequate to support approval of a PMA application (or clearance of a 510(k) notification,
as applicable), for numerous reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:
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the FDA, the IRB(s), or other regulatory authorities may not approve a clinical trial protocol or a clinical
trial, or may place a clinical trial on hold;
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participants may not enroll in clinical trials at the rate we anticipate;
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participants may not comply with trial protocols;
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participant follow-up may not occur at the rate we anticipate;
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patients may experience adverse side effects;
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participants may die during a clinical trial, even though their death may not be related to the use of
our products;
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IRBs and third-party clinical investigators may delay or reject our trial protocol;
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third-party clinical investigators may decline to participate in a trial or may not perform a trial on
our anticipated schedule or consistent with the clinical trial protocol, GCPs or other FDA requirements;
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we or third-party organizations may not perform data collection, monitoring and analysis in a timely or
accurate manner or consistent with the clinical trial protocol or investigational or statistical plans;
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third-party clinical investigators may have significant financial interests related to us or the study
that the FDA deems sufficient to make the study results unreliable, or we or investigators fail to disclose such interests;
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any unfavorable regulatory inspections of our clinical trial sites or manufacturing facilities, which
may, among other things, require us to undertake corrective action or suspend or terminate our clinical trials;
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the interim or final results of the clinical trial may be inconclusive or unfavorable as to safety or
effectiveness; and
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the FDA may conclude that the results from our trial and/or trial design are inadequate to demonstrate
safety and effectiveness of the product.
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In 2017, we received 510(k) clearance from
the FDA for our iQ probe, and the FDA determined, following a 2020 pre-submission meeting with us, that the Butterfly iQ+ was eligible
to be marketed under the original 510(k).
In addition, our proprietary software and data
transfer service allows researchers to control the transfer of data from certain devices to research tools and databases according to
their own research workflows. The infrastructure of the data management service is considered a “medical device data system”,
or MDDS, and does not require 510(k) clearance. An MDDS is a hardware or software product that transfers, stores, converts, formats,
and displays medical device data. An MDDS does not modify the data or modify the display of the data, and it does not by itself control
the functions or parameters of any other medical device. An MDDS is not intended to be used for active patient monitoring. Software that
meets the definition of an MDDS (such as that comprising our service offering) is excluded from the definition of “device”
under the FDCA, and from the regulations applicable to devices, while hardware that meets the definition of an MDDS is generally classified
as a low-risk, Class I device product that is exempt from pre-market review and notification.
After a device is authorized for marketing and
placed in commercial distribution (or, for 510(k)-exempt products, placed into commerce without first obtaining FDA clearance or approval),
numerous regulatory requirements continue to apply to the device. All device classes must meet general regulatory controls, including:
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establishment registration and device listing;
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the QSR, which requires manufacturers to follow design, testing, control, storage, supplier/contractor
selection, complaint handling, documentation and other quality assurance procedures;
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labeling regulations, which govern the mandatory elements of the device labels and packaging (including
Unique Device Identifier markings for certain categories of products);
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the MDR regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA if a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious
injury or malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if it were to recur;
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voluntary and mandatory device recalls to address problems when a device is defective and/or could be a risk to health; and
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correction and removal reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA field corrections and product recalls
or removals if undertaken to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to remedy a violation of the FDCA that may present a risk
to health.
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Also, the FDA may require us to conduct post-market
surveillance studies or order us to establish and maintain a system for tracking our products through the chain of distribution to the
patient level. Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, including those applicable to the conduct of our clinical trials,
can result in enforcement action by the FDA, which may lead to any of the following sanctions:
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Warning Letters or Untitled Letters that require corrective action;
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fines and civil penalties;
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unanticipated expenditures;
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delays in approving/clearing or refusal to approve/clear our future products;
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FDA refusal to issue certificates to foreign governments needed to export our products for sale in other countries;
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suspension or withdrawal of FDA approval or clearance;
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product recall or seizure;
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interruption of production;
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operating restrictions;
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We and our contract manufacturers, specification
developers, and some suppliers of components or device accessories are also required to manufacture medical device products in compliance
with current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements set forth in the QSR, unless explicitly exempted by regulation. The QSR requires
a quality system for the design, manufacture, packaging, labeling, storage, installation and servicing of marketed devices, and includes
extensive requirements with respect to quality management and organization, device design, buildings, equipment, purchase and handling
of components or services, production and process controls, packaging and labeling controls, device evaluation, distribution, installation,
complaint handling, servicing, and record keeping. The FDA evaluates compliance with the QSR through periodic and often unannounced inspections
that may include the manufacturing facilities of our subcontractors. Following such inspections, the FDA may issue reports known as Forms
FDA 483 or Notices of Inspectional Observations, which list instances where the FDA inspector believes the manufacturer has failed to
comply with applicable regulations and/or procedures. If the observations are sufficiently serious or the manufacturer fails to respond
appropriately, the FDA may issue Warning Letters, which are notices of intended enforcement actions against the manufacturer, or Untitled
Letters, which are used for less serious violations that may not rise to the level of regulatory significance, or it may take more significant
administrative or legal action. For example, if the FDA believes we or any of our contract manufacturers or regulated suppliers are not
in compliance with these requirements and patients are being subjected to serious risks, it can shut down our manufacturing operations,
require recalls of our products, refuse to approve new marketing applications, initiate legal proceedings to detain or seize products,
enjoin future violations, or assess civil and criminal penalties against us or our officers or other employees. Any such action by the
FDA would have a material adverse effect on our business. We may be unable to comply with all applicable FDA regulations.
U.S. Fraud and Abuse Laws and Other Compliance Requirements
Successfully commercializing a medical device
or technology depends not only on FDA approval, but also on broad health insurance or third-party payor coverage. Government and private
payors institute coverage criteria to ensure the appropriate utilization of products and services and to control costs. Limited third
party payor coverage for a technology or procedure may limit adoption and commercial viability, while broader coverage supports optimal
market uptake. Favorable coverage decisions by government payors like Medicare or Medicaid are critical because private payors typically
follow the government’s lead regarding reimbursement. However, manufacturers whose technology is reimbursed by the government payors
are subject to various U.S. federal and state laws pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse. These laws can be implicated by inappropriate
sales and marketing arrangements with healthcare providers. Many commonly accepted commercial practices are illegal in the healthcare
industry and violations of these laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, in some instances, exclusion from participation
in U.S. federal and state healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Anti-kickback Laws. The
federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or providing remuneration
directly or indirectly to induce either the referral of an individual, or the furnishing, recommending, or arranging of a good or service,
for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid. The definition of “remuneration”
has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value, including such items as gifts, discounts, the furnishing of supplies or equipment,
credit arrangements, waiver of payments, and providing anything at less than its fair market value. The Department of Health and Human
Services — Office of the Inspector General, has issued regulations, commonly known as safe harbors, which set forth
certain provisions that, if satisfied in their entirety, will assure healthcare providers and other parties that they will not be prosecuted
under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. The failure of a transaction or arrangement to fit precisely within one or more safe harbors
does not necessarily mean that it is illegal or that prosecution will be pursued. However, conduct and business arrangements that do not
fully satisfy each applicable safe harbor element may result in increased scrutiny by government enforcement authorities or invite litigation
by private citizens under federal whistleblower laws. The Anti-Kickback Statute is broadly interpreted and aggressively enforced, with
the result that beneficial commercial arrangements can be criminalized in the health care industry because of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The penalties for violating the federal Anti-Kickback
Statute include imprisonment for up to ten years, fines of up to $100,000 per violation and possible exclusion from federal healthcare
programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Many states have adopted prohibitions similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, some of which
apply to the referral of patients for healthcare services reimbursed by any source, not only by the government programs such as Medicare
and Medicaid.
Federal False Claims Act. The
federal False Claims Act prohibits knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim, or the knowing use of false statements
or records to obtain payment from the federal government. When an entity is determined to have violated the False Claims Act, it must
pay three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus mandatory civil penalties of between $11,181 and $22,363 for each
separate false claim. Suits filed under the False Claims Act, known as “qui tam” actions, can be brought by any individual
on behalf of the government and such individuals (known as “relators” or, more commonly, “whistleblowers”) may
share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. In addition, certain states have enacted laws modeled
after the federal False Claims Act. Qui tam actions have increased significantly in recent years, causing greater numbers of healthcare
companies to have to defend a false claim action, even before the validity of the claim is established and even if the government decides
not to intervene in the lawsuit. Healthcare companies may decide to agree to large settlements with the government and/or whistleblowers
to avoid the cost and negative publicity associated with litigation. In addition, the Affordable Care Act amended federal law to provide
that a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False
Claims Act. Criminal prosecution is possible for knowingly making or presenting a false or fictitious or fraudulent claim to the federal
government.
Federal Physician Self-Referral Law. The
Federal Physician Self-Referral Law, also referred to as the Stark Law, prohibits a physician (or an immediate family member of a physician)
who has a financial relationship with an entity from referring patients to that entity for certain designated health services, including
durable medical equipment and supplies, payable by Medicare, unless an exception applies. The Stark Law also prohibits such an entity
from presenting or causing to be presented a claim to the Medicare program for such designated health services provided pursuant to a
prohibited referral, and provides that certain collections related to any such claims must be refunded in a timely manner. Exceptions
to the Stark Law include, among other things, exceptions for certain financial relationships, including both ownership and compensation
arrangements. The Stark Law is a strict liability statute: to the extent that the statute is implicated and an exception does not apply,
the statute is violated. In addition to the Stark Law, many states have implemented similar physician self-referral prohibitions that
may extend to Medicaid, third party payors, and self-pay patients. Violations of the Stark Law must be reported and unauthorized claims
must be refunded to Medicare in order to avoid potential liability under the federal False Claims Act for avoiding a known obligation
to return identified overpayments. Violations of the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law and/or the
federal False Claims Act can also form the basis for exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs.
Civil Monetary Penalties Law. The
Civil Monetary Penalties Law, or CMPL, authorizes the imposition of substantial civil money penalties against an entity that engages in
certain prohibited activities including but not limited to violations of the Stark Law or Anti-Kickback Statute, knowing submission of
a false or fraudulent claim, employment of an excluded individual, and the provision or offer of anything of value to a Medicare or Medicaid
beneficiary that the transferring party knows or should know is likely to influence beneficiary selection of a particular provider for
which payment may be made in whole or part by a federal health care program, commonly known as the Beneficiary Inducement CMP. Remuneration
is defined under the CMPL as any transfer of items or services for free or for less than fair market value. There are certain exceptions
to the definition of remuneration for offerings that meet the Financial Need, Preventative Care, or Promoting Access to Care exceptions
(as defined in the CMPL). Sanctions for violations of the CMPL include civil monetary penalties and administrative penalties up to and
including exclusion from participation in federal health care programs.
State Analogs of Federal Fraud and Abuse Laws. Many
U.S. states have their own laws intended to protect against fraud and abuse in the health care industry and more broadly. In some cases
these laws prohibit or regulate additional conduct beyond what federal law affects. Penalties for violating these laws can range from
fines to criminal sanctions.
HIPAA and Other Privacy Laws and Regulations. The
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and implementing
regulations, or HIPAA, created two new federal crimes: healthcare fraud and false statements relating to healthcare matters. The healthcare
fraud statute prohibits knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including private payors.
A violation of this statute is a felony and may result in fines, imprisonment or exclusion from government sponsored programs. The false
statements statute prohibits knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false,
fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services.
HIPAA, as well as a number of other federal and
state privacy-related laws, extensively regulate the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, known as “protected
health information”, or PHI, under HIPAA. HIPAA applies to health plans, healthcare providers who engage in certain standard healthcare
transactions electronically, such as electronic billing, and healthcare clearinghouses, all of which are referred to as “covered
entities” under HIPAA. HIPAA requires covered entities to comply with privacy regulations limiting the use and disclosure of PHI,
or the Privacy Rule, and security regulations that require the implementation of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to
protect the security of such information, or the Security Rule. HIPAA also requires covered entities to provide notification to affected
individuals and to the federal government in the event of a breach of unsecured PHI, or the Breach Notification Rule. Certain provisions
of the Privacy Rule and all provisions of the Security Rule apply to “business associates,” or organizations that
provide services to covered entities involving the use or disclosure of PHI. Business associates, like us, are subject to direct liability
for violation of these provisions. In addition, a covered entity may be subject to criminal and civil penalties as a result of a business
associate violating HIPAA, if the business associate is found to be an agent of the covered entity. The HIPAA privacy and security rule impose
and will continue to impose significant costs on us in order to comply with these standards.
In addition, certain states have proposed or enacted
legislation that will create new data privacy and security obligations for certain entities, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act
that went into effect January 1, 2020.
FCPA and Other Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption
Laws. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits U.S. corporations and their representatives from
offering, promising, authorizing or making payments to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party or political
candidate in an attempt to obtain or retain business abroad. The scope of the FCPA includes interactions with certain healthcare professionals
or organizations in many countries. Our present and future business has been and will continue to be subject to various other U.S. and
foreign laws, rules and/or regulations.
Physician Payment Sunshine Act.
Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was signed into law in March 2010, the federal government enacted
the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. As a manufacturer of U.S. FDA-regulated devices reimbursable by federal healthcare programs, we are
subject to this law, which requires us to track and annually report certain payments and other transfers of value that we make to U.S.-licensed
physicians or U.S. teaching hospitals. We are also required to report certain ownership interests held by physicians and their immediate
family members. In 2018, the law was extended to require tracking and reporting of transfers of value to physician assistants, nurse practitioners,
and other mid-level practitioners. Reporting requirements will go into effect in 2022 for payments and transfers of value made to these
additional practitioner-types in 2021. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has the potential to impose penalties of up to $1.15 million
per year for violations of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, depending on the circumstances, and payments reported also have the potential
to draw scrutiny on payments to and relationships with physicians, which may have implications under the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark
Law and other healthcare laws.
In addition, there has been a recent trend of
increased federal and state regulation of payments and other transfers of value provided to healthcare professionals and entities. Similar
to the federal law, certain states also have adopted marketing and/or transparency laws relevant to device manufacturers, some of which
are broader in scope. Certain states also mandate that device manufacturers implement compliance programs. Other states impose restrictions
on device manufacturer marketing practices and require tracking and reporting of gifts, compensation, and other remuneration to healthcare
professionals and entities. The need to build and maintain a robust compliance program with different compliance and/or reporting requirements
increases the possibility that a healthcare company may violate one or more of the requirements, resulting in fines and penalties.
International Laws and Regulations
International marketing and distribution of medical
devices are subject to regulation by foreign governments, and such regulations may vary substantially from country to country. The time
required to obtain marketing authorization in a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA clearance or approval,
and the requirements may differ. There is a trend towards harmonization of quality system standards among the European Union, or EU, United
States, Canada and various other industrialized countries.
The primary regulatory environment in Europe is
that of the European Economic Area, or EEA, which is comprised of the 27 Member States of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
In the EEA, medical devices currently are required to comply with the Essential Requirements defined in Annex I to the EU Medical Devices
Directive, or MDD, (applicable in the non-EU EEA Member States via the Agreement on the EEA), a coordinated system for the authorization
of medical devices. The directives and standards outlined in the MDD regulate the design, manufacture, clinical trials, labeling and adverse
event reporting for medical devices. Devices that comply with the requirements of a relevant directive are entitled to bear the CE conformity
marking, indicating that the device conforms to the essential requirements of the applicable directives and, accordingly, can be commercially
distributed throughout the EEA. The method of assessing conformity varies depending on the class of the product, but normally involves
a combination of self-assessment by the manufacturer and a third-party assessment by a “notified body.” A notified body is
an organization designated by an EU country to assess the conformity of certain products before being placed on the market. These bodies
carry out tasks related to conformity assessment procedures set out in the applicable legislation, when a third party is required. This
third-party assessment may consist of an audit of the manufacturer’s quality system and specific testing of the manufacturer’s
product. An assessment by a Notified Body of one country within the EU is required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute
the product throughout the EU.
In 2017, EU regulatory bodies finalized a new
Medical Device Regulation, which replaced the existing MDD framework and provided three years for transition and compliance, for
a final effective date of May 26, 2020. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the European Parliament voted in April 2020
to postpone implementation of the Medical Device Regulation by one year, giving the medical device industry and Notified Bodies until
May 26, 2021 to come into compliance, assuming no additional delays are needed. The Medical Device Regulation changes several aspects
of the existing regulatory framework for medical device marketing in Europe and is expected to result in increased regulatory oversight
of all medical devices marketed in the EU, which may, in turn, increase the costs, time and requirements that need to be met in order
to place an innovative or high-risk medical device on the European market.
Outside of the EU, regulatory authorization needs
to be sought on a country-by-country basis in order for us to market our products. Some countries have adopted medical device regulatory
regimes, such as the Classification Rules for Medical Devices published by the Hong Kong Department of Health, the Health Sciences
Authority of Singapore regulation of medical devices under the Health Products Act, and Health Canada’s risk classification system
for invasive devices, among others. Each country may have its own processes and requirements for medical device licensing, approval/clearance,
and regulation, therefore requiring us to seek marketing authorizations on a country-by-country basis.
Outside the United States, a range of anti-bribery
and anti-corruption laws, as well and some industry-specific laws and codes of conduct, apply to the medical device industry and interactions
with government officials and entities and healthcare professionals. Such laws include, but are not limited to the UK Bribery Act of 2010.
Further, the EU member countries have emphasized a greater focus on healthcare fraud and abuse and have indicated greater attention to
the industry by the European Anti-Fraud Office. Countries in Asia have also become more active in their enforcement of anti-bribery laws
and with respect to procurement and supply chain fraud.
In the EU, increasingly stringent data protection
and privacy rules that have and will continue to have substantial impact on the use of patient data across the healthcare industry
became stronger in May 2018. We are subject to, and work to maintain compliance with, the EU General Data Protection Regulation,
or GDPR. The GDPR applies across the EU and includes, among other things, a requirement for prompt notice of data breaches to data subjects
and supervisory authorities in certain circumstances and significant fines for non-compliance. The GDPR fine framework can be up to 20 million
euros, or up to 4% of the company’s total global turnover of the preceding fiscal year, whichever is higher. The GDPR sets out a
number of requirements that must be complied with when handling the personal data of such EU-based data subjects, including: providing
expanded disclosures about how their personal data will be used; higher standards for organizations to demonstrate that they have obtained
valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities; the obligation to appoint data protection
officers in certain circumstances; new rights for individuals to be “forgotten” and rights to data portability, as well as
enhanced current rights (e.g., access requests); the principal of accountability and demonstrating compliance through policies, procedures,
training and audit; and the new mandatory data breach regime. In particular, medical or health data, genetic data and biometric data where
the latter is used to uniquely identify an individual are all classified as “special category” data under the GDPR and are
afforded greater protection and require additional compliance obligations. Noncompliance could result in the imposition of fines, penalties,
or orders to stop noncompliant activities. Due to the strong consumer protection aspects of the GDPR, companies subject to its purview
must allocate substantial legal costs to the development of necessary policies and procedures and overall compliance efforts. We expect
to incur continued costs associated with maintaining compliance with GDPR into the future.
We will also be subject to evolving EU laws on
data export, where we transfer data outside the EU to ourselves, group companies or third parties. The GDPR only permits exports of data
outside the EU to jurisdictions that ensure an adequate level of data protection. The United States has not been deemed to offer an adequate
level of protection, so in order for us to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States, we must identify a legal basis for
data transfer (e.g., the EU Commission approved Standard Contractual Clauses). On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the EU,
or CJEU, issued a landmark opinion in the case Maximilian Schrems vs. Facebook (Case C-311/18), or Schrems II. This decision
(a) calls into question commonly relied upon data transfer mechanisms as between the EU member states and the United States (such
as the Standard Contractual Clauses) and (b) invalidates the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield on which many companies had relied as an acceptable
mechanism for transferring such data from the EU to the United States. The CJEU is the highest court in Europe and the Schrems II
decision heightens the burden on data importers to assess U.S. national security laws on their business and future actions of EU data
protection authorities are difficult to predict. Consequently, it is an ongoing challenge for data importers like us to identify compliant
methods of data transfers necessary for their businesses. There is some risk of any of data transfers from the EU being halted.
Further, as a result of the United Kingdom’s
decision to leave the EU on January 31, 2020, a decision often referred to as Brexit, there has been some uncertainty with regard
to data protection regulation in the United Kingdom. While the Data Protection Act of 2018 that “implements” and complements
the GDPR achieved Royal Assent on May 23, 2018 and is now effective in the United Kingdom, it was not clear whether a transfer of
data from the EEA to the United Kingdom would remain lawful under GDPR as of the end of a Brexit transition period on December 31,
2020, when the United Kingdom was treated as a third country for purposes of the GDPR (and other EU laws). On December 24, 2020,
the United Kingdom and the EU reached an agreement in principle on the EU-UK Trade Agreement, or the Trade Agreement. Under the Trade
Agreement, for data protection purposes, there is a new transition period of up to six months to enable the European Commission to complete
an adequacy assessment of the United Kingdom’s data protection laws. For the time being, personal data can continue to be exported
from the EEA to the United Kingdom without a requirement that additional safeguards be adopted, and such transfers will not be prohibited
by the GDPR. The new transition period began on January 1, 2021, and ends either (1) on the date which an adequacy decision
in relation to the United Kingdom is adopted by the European Commission under the GDPR, or (2) four months after January 1,
2021, which the GDPR shall be extended by two months unless either the EU or the United Kingdom objects. If the European Commission
does not reach an adequacy determination regarding United Kingdom data protection laws, transfers of personal data from the EU to the
United Kingdom will be prohibited under the GDPR unless EU data exporters take further steps to ensure adequacy for such EU personal data.
Corporate Information
Longview was incorporated in Delaware on February 4,
2020. It was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization
or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Legacy Butterfly was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware
on January 25, 2011. On February 12, 2021, Longview and Legacy Butterfly completed the Business Combination, pursuant to which
Legacy Butterfly became a wholly owned subsidiary of Longview, Longview’s corporate name was changed to Butterfly Network, Inc.
and the business of Legacy Butterfly became the business of the Company. We have wholly owned subsidiaries organized in Australia, Germany,
the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Taiwan. Our principal executive offices are located at 530 Old Whitfield Street, Guilford, Connecticut
06437, and our telephone number is (203) 689-5650.
Information Available on the Internet
Our internet address is https://www.butterflynetwork.com,
to which we regularly post copies of our press releases as well as additional information about us. Our annual reports on Form 10-K,
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, will be available to you free
of charge through the Investor Relations section of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials have been electronically
filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains an internet site
(http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically
with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the SEC. We include our web site address in this Annual Report on Form 10-K only as
an inactive textual reference. Information contained in our website does not constitute a part of this report or our other filings with
the SEC.
Except for the historical information contained
herein, this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include projections about
our finances, plans and objectives for the future, future operating and economic performance and other statements regarding future performance.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in
this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the following
section, as well as those discussed in Part II, Item 7 entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere throughout this report.
You should consider carefully the following
risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this report. If any of the following risks, either alone or taken
together, or other risks not presently known to us or that we currently believe to not be significant, develop into actual events, then
our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially adversely affected. If that happens, the market
price of our common stock could decline, and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment.
Unless the context otherwise requires, references
in this section to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer to Butterfly Network, Inc.
and its subsidiaries following the Business Combination, or to Legacy Butterfly or Longview prior to the Business Combination, as the
case may be.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a limited operating history on which
to assess the prospects for our business, we have generated limited revenue from sales of our products, and we have incurred losses since
inception. We anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for at least the next several years as we continue to
commercialize our existing products and services and seek to develop and commercialize new products and services.
Since inception, we have devoted substantially
all of our financial resources to develop our products and related services. We have financed our operations primarily through the issuance
of equity and convertible debt securities. We have generated limited revenue from the sale of our products and services to date and have
incurred significant losses. The amount of our future net losses will depend, in part, on sales and on-going development of our products
and related services, the rate of our future expenditures and our ability to obtain funding through the issuance of the Company’s
securities, strategic collaborations or grants. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for at least the next several years
as we continue to commercialize our existing products and services and seek to develop and commercialize new products and services. We
anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
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continue to build our sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize our products and services;
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continue to develop our products and services;
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seek to identify, assess, acquire, license and/or develop other products and services and subsequent generations of our current products
and services;
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seek to maintain, protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio;
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seek to attract and retain skilled personnel; and
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support our operations as a public company.
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Our ability to generate future revenue from product
and service sales depends heavily on our success in many areas, including, but not limited to:
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launching and commercializing current and future products and services, either directly or in conjunction
with one or more collaborators or distributors;
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obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval with respect to each of our products and maintaining regulatory
compliance throughout relevant jurisdictions;
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maintaining clinical and economical value for end-users and customers in changing environments;
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addressing any competing technological and market developments;
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negotiating favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements into which we may enter;
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establishing and maintaining distribution relationships with third-parties that can provide adequate (in
amount and quality) infrastructure to support market demand for our products; and
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maintaining, protecting and expanding our portfolio of intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets and know-how.
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We have incurred significant losses since
inception. As such, you cannot rely upon our historical operating performance to make an investment or voting decision regarding the Company.
Since our inception, we have engaged in research
and development activities and launched our first product, Butterfly iQ, in the fourth quarter of 2018, and our second product, Butterfly
iQ+, in 2020. Since commercialization of the Butterfly iQ, we also engaged in the continued development and sales of our enterprise software.
We have financed its operations primarily through the issuance of equity securities and convertible debt. Legacy Butterfly has incurred
net losses of $162.7 million and $99.7 million in the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Legacy Butterfly’s
accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2020 was $394.8 million. We do not know whether or when we will become profitable. Our ability
to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends upon our ability to accelerate the commercialization of our products and service
offerings in line with the demand from new partnerships and our aggressive business strategy. We may be unable to achieve any or all of
these goals.
We may need to raise additional funding
to expand the commercialization of our products and services and to expand our research and development efforts. This additional financing
may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed may force us to delay, limit
or terminate our product commercialization or development efforts or other operations.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts
of cash since inception. We expect to expend substantial additional amounts to commercialize our products and services and to develop
new products and services. We expect to use the funds received in connection with the Business Combination to scale our operations, develop
new products and services, expand internationally, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. We may require additional capital
to expand the commercialization of our existing products and services and to develop new products and services. In addition, our operating
plans may change as a result of many factors that may currently be unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than
planned.
We cannot guarantee that future financing will
be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Moreover, the terms of any future financing may adversely
affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by the Company,
or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. The incurrence of indebtedness could result
in increased fixed payment obligations, and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability
to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions
that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative
partners or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable, and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our
technologies or products or otherwise agree to terms that are unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our
business, operating results and prospects. In addition, raising additional capital through the issuance of equity or convertible debt
securities would cause dilution to holders of our equity securities, and may affect the rights of then-existing holders of our equity
securities. Even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital
if market conditions are favorable or if we have specific strategic considerations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
Our success depends upon market acceptance
of our products and services, our ability to develop and commercialize existing and new products and services and generate revenues, and
our ability to identify new markets for its technology.
We have developed, and we are engaged in the development
of, ultrasound imaging solutions using our ultrasound-on-a-semiconductor-chip technology. We are commercializing Butterfly iQ+ point-of-care
ultrasound imaging devices. Our success will depend on the acceptance of our products and services in the U.S. and international healthcare
markets. We are faced with the risk that the marketplace will not be receptive to our products and services over competing products, including
traditional cart-based ultrasound devices used in hospitals, imaging centers and physicians’ offices, and that we will be unable
to compete effectively. Factors that could affect our ability to successfully commercialize our current products and services and to commercialize
any potential future products and services include:
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challenges of developing (or acquiring externally-developed) technology solutions that are adequate and competitive in meeting the
requirements of next-generation design challenges; and
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dependence upon physicians’ and other healthcare practitioners’ acceptance of our products.
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We cannot assure investors that our current products
and services or any future products and services will gain broad market acceptance. If the market for our current products and services
or any future products and services fails to develop or develops more slowly than expected, or if any of the services and standards supported
by us do not achieve or sustain market acceptance, our business and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.
Medical device development is costly and involves continual technological
change, which may render our current or future products obsolete.
The market for point-of-care medical devices is
characterized by rapid technological change, medical advances and evolving industry standards. Any one of these factors could reduce the
demand for our devices or services or require substantial resources and expenditures for research, design and development to avoid technological
or market obsolescence.
Our success will depend on our ability to enhance
our current technology, services and systems and develop or acquire and market new technologies to keep pace with technological developments
and evolving industry standards, while responding to changes in customer needs. A failure to adequately develop or acquire device enhancements
or new devices that will address changing technologies and customer requirements adequately, or to introduce such devices on a timely
basis, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We might have insufficient financial resources
to improve existing devices, advance technologies and develop new devices at competitive prices. Technological advances by one or more
competitors or future entrants into the field may result in our current devices becoming non-competitive or obsolete, which may decrease
revenues and profits and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We may encounter significant competition across
our existing and future planned products and services and in each market in which we sell or plan to sell our products and services from
various companies, many of which have greater financial and marketing resources than we do. Our primary competitors include General Electric,
Phillips Healthcare, Canon Medical Systems (f/k/a Toshiba), Hitachi and Siemens Healthineers, which, per IHI Markit data, are the top
five manufacturers of legacy cart-based incumbent ultrasound devices.
In addition, our competitors, which are well-established
manufacturers with significant resources, may engage in aggressive marketing tactics. Competitors may also possess the ability to commercialize
additional lines of products, bundle products or offer higher discounts and incentives to customers in order to gain a competitive advantage.
If the prices of competing products are lowered as a result, we may not be able to compete effectively.
We will be dependent upon the success of our sales and customer
acquisition and retention strategies.
Our business is dependent upon the success of
our sales and customer acquisition and retention strategies, and our marketing efforts are focused on developing a strong reputation with
healthcare providers and increasing awareness of our products and services. If we fail to maintain a high quality of service or a high
quality of device technology, we may fail to retain existing users or add new users. If we do not successfully continue our sales efforts
and promotional activities, particularly to health systems and large institutions, or if existing users decrease their level of engagement,
our revenue, financial results and business may be significantly harmed. Our future success depends upon continued expansion of our commercial
operations in the United States and internationally, as well as entering additional markets to commercialize our products and services.
We believe that our growth will depend on the further development and commercialization of our current products and services, which we
anticipate may eventually be used by nearly all targeted individuals, and, regulatory approval of our future products and services. If
we fail to expand the use of our products and services in a timely manner, we may not be able to expand our market share or to grow our
revenue. Our financial performance will be substantially dictated by our success in adding, retaining and engaging active users of our
products. If customers do not perceive our products or services to be useful, reliable and trustworthy, we may not be able to attract
or retain customers or otherwise maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement. As our business model is predicated
on both hardware and software sales, there is risk that any decline in software renewal rates will adversely impact our business. To date,
utilization of our software has varied across different medical specialties, but usage does not directly correlate to renewal of subscriptions,
as different medical specialties interact with the device in different ways depending on their clinical focus and routine. A decrease
in customer retention, growth or engagement with our products and services may have a material and adverse impact on our revenue, business,
financial condition and results of operations.
Any number of factors could negatively affect customer retention, growth
and engagement, including:
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customers increasingly engaging with competing products;
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failure to introduce new and improved products and services;
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inability to continue to develop products for mobile devices that customers find engaging, that work with a variety of mobile operating
systems and networks and that achieve a high level of market acceptance;
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changes in customer sentiment about the quality or usefulness of our products and services or concerns related to privacy and data
sharing, safety, security or other factors;
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inability to manage and prioritize information to ensure customers are presented with content that is engaging, useful and relevant
to them;
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adverse changes in our products that are mandated by legislation or regulatory agencies, both in the United States and internationally;
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technical or other problems preventing us from delivering products or services in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affecting
the user experience.
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If we do not successfully manage the development and launch of
new products, we will not meet our long term forecasts, and operating and financial results and condition could be adversely affected.
Our technology on a microchip has the
potential to allow us to monitor patients in various care settings due to its portability and cost. We expect our development path
will be directed at accessing and optimizing our technology for use in various care settings, potentially including home scanning
and or wearable patient technology, subject to appropriate regulatory authorization. We face risks associated with launching such
new products. If we encounter development or manufacturing challenges or discover errors during our product development cycle, the
product launch dates of new products may be delayed, which will cause delays in our ability to achieve our forecasted results. The
expenses or losses associated with unsuccessful product development or launch activities or lack of market acceptance of our new
products could adversely affect our business or financial condition.
We expect to generate an increasing portion
of our revenue internationally in the future and may become subject to various additional risks relating to its international activities,
which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
During the years ended December 31, 2020
and 2019, approximately 28% and 13%, respectively, of Legacy Butterfly’s product and service revenue was generated from customers
located outside of the United States. We believe that a substantial percentage of our future revenue will come from international
sources as we expand our sales and marketing opportunities internationally. We have limited experience operating internationally, and
engaging in international business involves a number of difficulties and risks, including:
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the challenges associated with building local brand awareness, obtaining local key opinion leader support
and clinical support, implementing reimbursement strategies and building local marketing and sales teams;
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required compliance with foreign regulatory requirements and laws, including regulations and laws relating
to patient data and medical devices;
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trade relations among the United States and those foreign countries in which our current or future customers,
distributors, manufacturers and suppliers have operations, including protectionist measures such as tariffs and import or export licensing
requirements, whether imposed by the United States or such foreign countries, in particular the strained trade relations between United
States and China since 2018;
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difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations;
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difficulties protecting, procuring or enforcing intellectual property rights internationally;
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required compliance with anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, data privacy
requirements, labor laws and anti-competition regulations;
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laws and business practices that may favor local companies;
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longer payment cycles and difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through certain
foreign legal systems;
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political and economic instability; and
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potentially adverse tax consequences, tariffs, customs charges, bureaucratic requirements and other trade
barriers.
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If we dedicate significant resources to our international
operations and are unable to manage these risks effectively, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely
affected.
We are subject to export and import control
laws and regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate such laws
and regulations.
We are required to comply with export and import
control laws, which may affect our ability to enter into or complete transactions with certain customers, business partners, and other
persons. In certain circumstances, export control regulations may prohibit the export of certain products, services, and technologies.
We may be required to obtain an export license before exporting a controlled item, and granting of a required license cannot be assured.
Compliance with the import laws that apply to our businesses may restrict our access to, and may increase the cost of obtaining, certain
products and could interrupt its supply of imported inventory.
Exported technologies necessary to develop and
manufacture certain products are subject to U.S. export control laws and similar laws of other jurisdictions. We may be subject to adverse
regulatory consequences, including government oversight of facilities and export transactions, monetary penalties, and other sanctions
for violations of these laws. In certain instances, these regulations may prohibit us from developing or manufacturing certain of our
products for specific applications outside the United States. Failure to comply with any of these laws and regulations could result in
civil and criminal, monetary, and nonmonetary penalties; disruptions to our business; limitations on our ability to import and export
products and services; or damage to our reputation.
If we experience decreasing prices for our
products and are unable to reduce our expenses, including the per unit cost of producing our products, there may be a material adverse
effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We may experience decreasing prices for our products
due to pricing pressure from managed care organizations and other third-party payors and suppliers, increased market power of our payors
as the medical device industry consolidates, and increased competition among suppliers, including manufacturing services providers. If
the prices for our products and services decrease and we are unable to reduce its expenses, including the cost of sourcing materials,
logistics and the cost to manufacture our products, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely
affected. To the extent that we engage in enterprise sales, we may be subject to procurement discounts, which could have a negative impact
on the prices of our products.
If we are unable to attract, recruit, train,
retain, motivate and integrate key personnel, we may not achieve our goals.
Our future success depends on our ability to attract,
recruit, train, retain, motivate and integrate key personnel, including Legacy Butterfly’s Founder and our Chairman, Dr. Jonathan
Rothberg, and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Todd M. Fruchterman, M.D., Ph.D., as well as its recently expanded management
team and its research and development, manufacturing, software engineering and sales and marketing personnel. Competition for qualified
personnel is intense.
We believe that our management team must be able
to act decisively to apply and adapt our business model in the rapidly changing markets in which we will compete. In addition, we rely
upon technical and scientific employees or third-party contractors to effectively establish, manage and grow our business. Consequently,
we believe that our future viability will depend largely on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, sales, scientific
and technical personnel. In order to do so, we may need to pay higher compensation or fees to our employees or consultants than we currently
expect, and such higher compensation payments may have a negative effect on our operating results. Competition for experienced, high-quality
personnel is intense, and there is no assurance that we will be able to recruit and retain such personnel. Our growth depends, in particular,
on attracting and retaining highly-trained sales personnel with the necessary technical background and ability to understand our products
and services at a technical level to effectively identify and sell to potential new customers and develop new products. Because of the
technical nature of our products and the dynamic market in which we compete, any failure to attract, recruit, train, retain, motivate
and integrate qualified personnel could materially harm our operating results and growth prospects.
We will need to expand our organization,
and we may experience difficulties in recruiting needed additional employees and consultants, which could disrupt our operations.
As our development and commercialization plans
and strategies develop, we will need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial, legal and other resources. The competition
for qualified personnel in the medical device industry is intense. Due to this intense competition, we may be unable to attract and retain
the qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business or to recruit suitable replacement personnel.
Our management may need to divert a disproportionate
amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.
We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, operational
mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could
require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of additional
products. If our management is unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate
and/or grow revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our
ability to commercialize products and services and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any
future growth.
We have limited experience in marketing
and selling our products and related services, and if we are unable to successfully commercialize our products and related services, our
business and operating results will be adversely affected.
We have limited experience marketing and selling
our products and related services. We currently sell our products to healthcare practitioners through eCommerce and enterprise sales.
Future sales of our products will depend in large part on our ability to effectively market and sell our products and services, successfully
manage and expand our sales force, and increase the scope of our marketing efforts. We may also enter into additional distribution arrangements
in the future. Because we have limited experience in marketing and selling our products, our ability to forecast demand, the infrastructure
required to support such demand and the sales cycle to customers is unproven. If we do not build an efficient and effective marketing
and sales force, our business and operating results will be adversely affected.
We have chosen to engage a single supplier,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, to supply and manufacture a key component of our products. If TSMC fails
to fulfill its obligations under its existing contractual arrangements with us or does not perform satisfactorily, or if this relationship
is terminated for other reasons, our ability to source our devices would be negatively and adversely affected. In addition, our obligation
to purchase a minimum volume from TSMC may adversely affect our cash flows.
We have chosen to engage a single supplier, Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, a semiconductor manufacturer, to manufacture and supply all of the wafers used to
create the semiconductor chips in our probes. See Item 1, Business — Manufacturing — Key Agreements — Foundry
Service Agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited. Since our contracts with TSMC are non-exclusive and
do not commit TSMC to supply or manufacture quantities beyond the amounts included in our forecasts, TSMC may give other customers’
needs higher priority than ours, and we may not be able to obtain adequate supplies in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms.
If TSMC is unable to supply components or devices, our business would be harmed.
We entered into a Foundry Service Agreement, or
FSA, with TSMC, under which TSMC agreed to manufacture, and we committed to purchase, a minimum volume of the wafers used for the semiconductor
chips in our probes. Our minimum purchase obligation could adversely affect our cash flows, such as in times when we have sufficient inventory
and would otherwise be able to use our cash for other purposes. Pursuant to the FSA, we are required to buy back from TSMC any unused
raw wafers. If we are required to buy back from TSMC any unused raw wafers pursuant to the FSA, our cash flows may be adversely impacted.
In addition, if we were to lose component suppliers
such as TSMC, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely
basis on acceptable terms, if at all. An interruption in our ability to sell and deliver our products or instruments to customers could
occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these components, or if the quality of the components supplied do not meet our
specifications, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. If any of these events occur, our business and operating results
could be harmed.
We rely on a single contract manufacturer,
Benchmark Electronics, Inc., or Benchmark, to test, assemble and supply our finished products. If Benchmark fails to fulfill its
obligations under its existing contractual arrangements with us or does not perform satisfactorily, our ability to source our devices
could be negatively and adversely affected.
In October 2015, we entered into a Manufacture
and Supply Agreement, or MSA, with Benchmark. Under the MSA, as amended in 2019, Benchmark will manufacture our products pursuant to binding
90-day purchase orders, as well as non-binding 180-day “forecasts” estimating our product shipment requirements, submitted
by us to Benchmark each month, which may become binding in certain cases. We also have certain inventory related obligations, including
the obligation to purchase excess and obsolete components from Benchmark. See Item 1, Business— Manufacturing — Key Agreements — Manufacture
and Supply Agreement with Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
In the event it becomes necessary to utilize a
different contract manufacturer for our component products, we would experience additional costs, delays and difficulties in obtaining
such components as a result of identifying and entering into an agreement with a new contract manufacturer as well as preparing such new
manufacturer to meet the logistical requirements associated with manufacturing our devices, and our business would suffer.
Pricing pressures from contract suppliers
or manufacturers on which we rely may impose pricing pressures.
Third parties such as TSMC may also impose pricing
pressures. Because we currently rely on TSMC to supply our custom components and on Benchmark to manufacture our finished products, such
pricing pressures from either party could increase our costs and could force us to increase the prices of our products if we are unable
to enter into alternative arrangements with other suppliers or manufacturers, potentially leading to decreased customer demand.
We may experience manufacturing problems or delays that could
limit the growth of our revenue or increase our losses.
We may encounter unforeseen situations that would
result in delays or shortfalls in our production as well as delays or shortfalls caused by our outsourced manufacturing suppliers and
by other third-party suppliers who manufacture components for our products. The FDA has comprehensive and prescriptive guidelines for
medical device component manufacturers, requiring these manufacturers to establish and maintain processes and procedures to adequately
control environmental conditions that could adversely affect product quality and impact patient safety. Clean room standards are an example
of these requirements. Failure of component manufacturers or other third-party suppliers to comply with applicable standards could delay
the production of our products. If we are unable to keep up with demand for our products, our revenue could be impaired, market acceptance
for our products could be adversely affected and our customers might instead purchase our competitors’ products. Our inability to
successfully manufacture our products would have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
We rely on limited or sole suppliers for
some of the materials and components used in our products, and we may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to alternative
suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.
We rely on limited or sole suppliers for certain
materials and components that are used in our products. While we periodically forecast our needs for such materials and enter into standard
purchase orders with them, we do not have long-term contracts with some of these suppliers. If we were to lose such suppliers, or if such
suppliers were unable to fulfill our orders or to meet our manufacturing specifications, there can be no assurance that we will be able
to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely basis or on acceptable terms, if at all. An interruption in
our operations could occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these materials and components, or if the quality of the
materials and components supplied do not meet our requirements, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. The time and effort
required to qualify a new supplier and ensure that the new materials and components provide the same or better quality results could result
in significant additional costs. Any such interruption could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations
and reputation. To mitigate this risk, we typically carry significant inventory of critical components. While we believe that our level
of inventory is currently sufficient for us to continue the manufacturing of our products without a disruption to our business in the
event that we must replace one of our suppliers, there can be no assurance that we can maintain this level of inventory in the future.
Acquisitions or joint ventures could disrupt our business, cause
dilution to our stockholders and otherwise harm our business.
We may acquire other businesses, products or technologies
as well as pursue strategic alliances, joint ventures, technology licenses or investments in complementary businesses. Other than the
Business Combination, we have not made any acquisitions to date, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. Any of these transactions
could be material to our financial condition and operating results and expose us to many risks, including:
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disruption in our relationships with customers, distributors, manufacturers or suppliers as a result of
such a transaction;
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unanticipated liabilities related to acquired companies;
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difficulties integrating acquired personnel, technologies and operations into our existing business;
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diversion of management’s time and focus away from operating our business to acquisition integration
challenges;
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increases in our expenses and reductions in our cash available for operations and other uses; and
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possible write-offs or impairment charges relating to acquired businesses.
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Foreign acquisitions involve unique risks in addition
to those mentioned above, including those related to the integration of operations across different cultures and languages, currency risks
and the particular economic, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries.
In addition, the anticipated benefit of any acquisition
may not materialize. Future acquisitions or dispositions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the
incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses or write-offs of goodwill, any of which could harm our financial condition.
We cannot predict the number, timing or size of future joint ventures or acquisitions, if any, or the effect that any such transactions
might have on our operating results.
If we do not successfully optimize and operate
our sales and distribution channels or we do not effectively expand and update infrastructure, our operating results and customer experience
may be negatively impacted.
If we do not adequately predict market demand
or otherwise optimize and operate our sales and distribution channels successfully, this could result in excess or insufficient inventory
or fulfillment capacity, increased costs, or immediate shortages in product or component supply, or harm our business in other ways. In
addition, if we do not maintain adequate infrastructure to enable us to, among other things, manage our purchasing and inventory, this
could negatively impact our operating results and user experience.
If we are unable to continue the development
of an adequate sales and marketing organization and/or if our direct sales organization is not successful, we may have difficulty achieving
market awareness and selling our products in the future.
We must continue to develop and grow our sales
and marketing organization and enter into partnerships or other arrangements to market and sell our products and/or collaborate with third
parties, including distributors and others, to market and sell our products to maintain the commercial success of Butterfly iQ+ and to
achieve commercial success for any of our future products. Developing and managing a direct sales organization is a difficult, expensive
and time-consuming process.
To continue to develop our sales and marketing organization to successfully
achieve market awareness and sell our products, we must:
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continue to recruit and retain adequate numbers of effective and experienced sales and marketing personnel;
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effectively train our sales and marketing personnel in the benefits and risks of our products;
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establish and maintain successful sales, marketing, training and education programs that educate health care professionals so they
can appropriately inform their patients about our products;
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manage geographically dispersed sales and marketing operations; and
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effectively train our sales and marketing personnel on the applicable fraud and abuse laws that govern interactions with healthcare
practitioners as well as current and prospective patients and maintain active oversight and auditing measures to ensure continued compliance.
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We may not be able to successfully manage our sales force or increase
our product sales at acceptable rates.
Our use of programmatic digital advertising
platforms for our eCommerce may lead to unwanted advertising and to reputational harm.
Currently, we use programmatic digital advertising
platforms that automatically place advertisements for our products on websites visited by those who have visited and/or made purchases
from our website. This could lead to unwanted context for advertising about our products and services, resulting in ineffective advertising
or even reputational harm.
If we are unable to establish and maintain adequate sales and
marketing capabilities or enter into and maintain arrangements with third parties to sell and market our products, our business may be
harmed.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to maintain
our current volume of sales in the future. A substantial reduction in sales could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance.
To the extent that we enter into additional arrangements with third parties to perform sales or marketing services in the United States,
Europe or other countries, our product margins could be lower than if we directly marketed and sold our products. To the extent that we
enter into co-promotion or other marketing and sales arrangements with other companies, any revenue received will depend on the skills
and efforts of others, and we cannot predict whether these efforts will be successful. In addition, the growth of market acceptance of
our products by healthcare practitioners outside of the United States will largely depend on our ability to continue to demonstrate the
relative safety, effectiveness, reliability, cost-effectiveness and ease of use of such products. If we are unable to do so, we may not
be able to increase product revenue from our sales efforts in Europe or other countries. If we are unable to establish and maintain adequate
sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, independently or with others, our future revenue may be reduced and our business may be
harmed.
The market for our products and services
is new, rapidly evolving, and increasingly competitive, as the healthcare industry in the United States is undergoing significant structural
change, which makes it difficult to forecast demand for our products and services.
The market for our products and services is new
and rapidly evolving, and it is uncertain whether we will achieve and sustain high levels of demand and market adoption. Our future financial
performance will depend in part on growth in this market and on our ability to adapt to the changing demands of customers. It is difficult
to predict the future growth rate and size of our target market. As a result, our market projections may not be achieved. Negative publicity
concerning our products could limit market acceptance of our products and services. If our customers do not perceive the benefits of our
products and services, or if our products and services do not attract new customers, then our market may not develop at all, or it may
develop more slowly than we expect. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the willingness of healthcare organizations to
increase their use of our technology and our ability to demonstrate the value of our technology relative to competing products and services
to existing and potential customers. If healthcare organizations do not recognize or acknowledge the benefits of our products and services
or if we are unable to reduce healthcare costs or drive positive health outcomes, then the market for our solutions might not develop
at all, or it might develop more slowly than we expect. Similarly, negative publicity regarding patient confidentiality and privacy in
the context of technology-enabled healthcare or concerns experienced by competitors could limit market acceptance of our products and
services.
The healthcare industry in the United States is
undergoing significant structural change and is rapidly evolving. We believe that demand for our products and services has been driven
in large part by rapidly growing costs in the traditional healthcare system, the movement toward patient-centricity and personalized healthcare,
and advances in technology. Widespread acceptance of personalized healthcare is critical to our future growth and success. A reduction
in the growth of personalized healthcare could reduce the demand for our products and services and result in a lower revenue growth rate
or decreased revenue. Additionally, our products and services are offered on a subscription basis, and the adoption of subscription business
models is still relatively new, especially in the healthcare industry. If companies do not shift to subscription business models and subscription
health management tools do not achieve widespread adoption, or if there is a reduction in demand for subscription products and services
or subscription health management tools, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Quality problems could lead to recalls or
safety alerts and/or reputational harm and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition
and cash flows.
Quality of our products is very important to us
and our customers due to the serious and costly consequences of product failure. Our business exposes us to potential product liability
risks that are inherent in the design, manufacture, and marketing of medical devices. Product or component failures, manufacturing nonconformities,
design defects, off-label use, or inadequate disclosure of product-related risks or product-related information with respect to our products,
if they were to occur, could result in inaccurate imaging and safety risks. These problems could lead to the recall of, or the issuance
of a safety alert relating to, our products, and could result in product liability claims and lawsuits.
Additionally, the manufacture and production of
our products must occur in a highly controlled and clean environment to minimize particles and other yield- and quality-limiting contaminants.
Weaknesses in process control or minute impurities in materials may cause defective products. If we are not able to maintain stringent
quality controls, or if contamination problems arise, our development and commercialization efforts could be delayed, which would harm
our business and results of operations.
If we fail to meet any applicable product quality
standards and our products are the subject of recalls or safety alerts, our reputation could be damaged, we could lose customers, and
our revenue and results of operations could decline.
Our devices use lithium-ion battery cells,
which have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flame, and these events may raise concerns about the batteries that we use.
The battery pack used in Butterfly’s iQ+
makes use of lithium-ion cells. On rare occasions, lithium-ion cells can rapidly release the energy they contain by venting smoke and
flames in a manner that can ignite nearby materials. Publicized incidents of laptop computers and cell phones bursting into flames have
focused consumer attention on the safety of these cells. There can be no assurance that the battery packs that we use would not fail,
and this could lead to property damage, personal injury or death, and may subject us to lawsuits. We may also have to recall products
due to battery-related safety concerns, which would be time-consuming and expensive. Also, negative perceptions in the healthcare and
patient communities regarding the suitability of lithium-ion cells for medical applications or any future incident involving lithium-ion
cells could seriously harm our business, even in the absence of an incident involving us.
If we are not able to develop and release
new products and services, or successful enhancements, new features and modifications to our existing products and services, to successfully
implement our Software-as-a-Services, or SAAS, solutions or to achieve adequate clinical utility, our business, financial condition
and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The markets in which we operate are characterized
by rapid technological change, frequent new product and service introductions and enhancements, changing customer demands, and evolving
industry standards. The introduction of products and services embodying new technologies can quickly make existing products and services,
including software memberships, obsolete and unmarketable. Additionally, changes in laws and regulations could impact the usefulness of
our products and could necessitate changes or modifications to our products to accommodate such changes. We invest substantial resources
in researching and developing new products and enhancing existing products by incorporating additional features, improving functionality,
and adding other improvements to meet customers’ evolving needs. The success of any enhancements or improvements to our existing
products or any new products depends on several factors, including timely completion, competitive pricing, adequate quality testing, integration
with new and existing technologies and third-party partners’ technologies and overall market acceptance. We may not succeed in developing,
marketing and delivering on a timely and cost-effective basis enhancements or improvements to our existing products or any new products
that respond to continued changes in market demands or new customer requirements, and any enhancements or improvements to our products
or any new solutions may not achieve market acceptance. Since developing our products is complex, the timetable for the release of new
products and enhancements to existing products is difficult to predict, and we may not offer new products and updates as rapidly as our
customers require or expect. Any new products that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain
errors or defects, or may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate sufficient revenue. Moreover, even if we introduce
new products, we may experience a decline in revenue from our existing products that is not offset by revenue from the new products. For
example, customers may delay making purchases of new products to permit them to make a more thorough evaluation of these products or until
industry and marketplace reviews become widely available. Customers may also delay purchasing a new product because their existing Butterfly
or other device continues to meet their needs. Some customers may hesitate to migrate to a new product due to concerns regarding the performance
of the new product. In addition, we may lose existing customers who choose a competitor’s products and services. This could result
in a temporary or permanent revenue shortfall and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The introduction of new products and solutions
by competitors, the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings or shifts in healthcare benefits trends could
make our products obsolete or adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may experience difficulties
with software development, industry standards, design or marketing that could delay or prevent our development, introduction or implementation
of new products, enhancements, additional features or capabilities. If customers do not widely purchase and adopt our products, we may
not be able to realize a return on our investment. If we do not accurately anticipate customer demand or if we are unable to develop,
license or acquire new features and capabilities on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if such enhancements do not achieve market acceptance,
this could result in adverse publicity, loss of revenue or market acceptance or claims by customers brought against us, each of which
could have a material and adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
The COVID-19 pandemic has and could continue
to negatively affect various aspects of our business, make it more difficult for us to meet our obligations to our customers, and result
in reduced demand for our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results
of operations, or cash flows.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus
was reported to have surface in Wuhan, China, and it has since spread throughout other parts of the world, including the United States.
Any outbreak of contagious diseases, or other adverse public health developments, could have a material adverse effect on our business
operations. These impacts to our operations have included, and could again in the future include, disruptions or restrictions on the ability
of our employees and customers to travel or of us to pursue collaborations and other business transactions, travel to customers and/or
conduct live demonstrations of our products at promotional events, maintain our presence in medical schools and other educational institutions,
oversee the activities of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers and make shipments of materials. We may also be impacted by the
temporary closure of the facilities of suppliers, manufacturers or customers. The COVID-19 pandemic may also continue to have an impact
on customers, as elective surgeries have been postponed and there is greater focus on areas of care with lower profitability, leading,
as a consequence, to lower expenditures on new products and devices by healthcare institutions.
In an effort to halt the outbreak of COVID-19,
a number of countries, including the United States, have placed significant restrictions on travel and many businesses have announced
extended closures. These travel restrictions and business closures have and may in the future adversely impact our operations locally
and worldwide, including our ability to manufacture, market, sell or distribute our products, and such restrictions and closure have caused
or may cause temporary closures of facilities of suppliers, manufacturers or customers. Any disruption in the operations of our employees,
suppliers, customers, manufacturers or access to customers would likely impact our sales and operating results. In addition, travel restrictions
have made it more difficult for us to monitor the quality of our third-party manufacturing operations when we are unable to conduct in-person
quality audits of those facilities. We are continuing to monitor and assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our commercial operations.
However, we cannot at this time accurately predict what effects these conditions will ultimately have on our operations due to uncertainties
relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, and the length of
the travel restrictions and business closures imposed by the governments of impacted countries. In addition, a significant outbreak of
contagious diseases in the human population could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial
markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that could affect demand for our products and likely impact its operating
results.
We will incur increased costs and demands
upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, which could adversely affect our business,
results of operations, and financial condition.
We will incur significant legal, accounting and
other expenses that Legacy Butterfly did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements.
We will also incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well
as rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE. These rules and regulations are expected to increase our legal and financial compliance
costs and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. For example, our executive officers and other personnel will need to
devote substantial time regarding operations as a public company and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. As a result, it
may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers,
which may adversely affect investor confidence in the Company and could cause our business or stock price to suffer.
The enactment of legislation implementing
changes in the U.S. taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other tax reform policies or changes in tax legislation
or policies in jurisdictions outside of the United States could materially impact our results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to income tax in the numerous jurisdictions
in which we operate. Reforming the taxation of international businesses has been a priority for politicians, and a wide variety of potential
changes have been proposed. Some proposals, several of which have been enacted, impose incremental taxes on gross revenue, regardless
of profitability. Furthermore, it is reasonable to expect that global taxing authorities will be reviewing current legislation for potential
modifications in reaction to the implementation of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the TCJA, in the United States. Due to the expanding
scale of our international business activities, changes in the taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate
and the amount of taxes we pay and harm our business.
In the United States, the TCJA enacted on December 22,
2017 significantly affected U.S. tax law by changing how the United States imposes income tax on multinational corporations. The U.S.
Department of Treasury has broad authority to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that may significantly impact how we will
apply the law and impact its results of operations in the period issued.
The TCJA requires complex computations not previously
provided in U.S. tax law. As such, the application of accounting guidance for such items remain uncertain. Further, compliance with the
TCJA and the accounting for such provisions requires an accumulation of information not previously required or regularly produced. As
additional regulatory guidance is issued by the applicable taxing authorities, as accounting treatment is clarified, and as we perform
additional analysis on the application of the law, our effective tax rate could be materially different.
Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future income
may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 30, 2020, Legacy Butterfly
had federal net operating loss carry forwards, or NOLs, to offset future taxable income of approximately $330.2 million, of which
approximately $73.3 million will expire at various dates through December 31, 2031, if not utilized. A lack of future taxable income
would adversely affect our ability to utilize these NOLs. In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize
its pre-change NOLs and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset post-change taxable income. For these
purposes, an ownership change generally occurs where the equity ownership of one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who owns
at least 5% of a corporation’s stock increases its ownership by more than 50 percentage points over its lowest ownership percentage
within a three-year period (calculated on a rolling basis). Our existing NOLs may be subject limitations arising out of previous ownership
changes and we may be limited as to the amount that can be utilized each year as a result of such previous ownership changes. In addition,
future changes in our stock ownership, including future offerings, as well as other changes that may be outside of our control, could
result in additional ownership changes under Section 382 of the Code. Our NOLs may also be impaired under similar provisions of state
law. We have completed a formal study to determine if any ownership changes within the meaning of Sections 382 and 383 of the Code have
occurred and determined no ownership changes have occurred as of December 31, 2020. We have recorded a full valuation allowance related
to our NOLs and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.
In addition to the limitations discussed above
under Sections 382 of the Code, the utilization of NOLs incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, are
subject to limitations adopted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or
the CARES Act. Under the TCJA, in general, NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 may offset no more
than 80 percent of such year’s taxable income and there is no ability for such NOLs to be carried back to a prior taxable year.
The CARES Act modifies the TCJA with respect to the TCJA’s limitation on the deduction of NOLs and provides that NOLs arising in
taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021, may be carried back to each of the five taxable years
preceding the tax year of such loss, but NOLs arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 may not be carried
back. In addition, the CARES Act eliminates the limitation on the deduction of NOLs to 80 percent of current year taxable income
for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2021. As a result of such limitation, we may be required to pay federal income
tax in some future year notwithstanding that Legacy Butterfly had a net loss for all years in the aggregate.
U.S. taxation of international business
activities or the adoption of tax reform policies could materially impact our future financial position and results of operations.
Limitations on the ability of taxpayers to claim
and utilize foreign tax credits and the deferral of certain tax deductions until earnings outside of the United States are repatriated
to the United States, as well as changes to U.S. tax laws that may be enacted in the future, could impact the tax treatment of future
foreign earnings. Should the scale of our international business activities expand, any changes in the U.S. taxation of such activities
could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our future financial position and results of operations.
Taxing authorities may successfully assert that Legacy Butterfly
should have collected or we in the future should collect sales and use, value-added, or similar taxes, and we could be subject to liability
with respect to past or future sales, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Jurisdictions in which we do not collect sales,
use, value-added, or similar taxes on our products may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties,
and interest, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties, interest, or future requirements
would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Further, in June 2018, the Supreme Court held in South
Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. that states could impose sales tax collection obligations on out-of-state sellers even if those sellers
lack any physical presence within the states imposing the sales taxes. Under Wayfair, a person requires only a “substantial
nexus” with the taxing state before the state may subject the person to sales tax collection obligations therein. An increasing
number of states (both before and after the publication of Wayfair) have considered or adopted laws that attempt to impose sales
tax collection obligations on out-of-state sellers. The Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision has removed a significant impediment
to the enactment and enforcement of these laws, and it is possible that states may seek to tax out-of-state sellers on sales that occurred
in prior tax years, which could create additional administrative burdens for us, put us at a competitive disadvantage if such states
do not impose similar obligations on our competitors, and decrease our future sales, which would adversely impact our business, financial
condition, and results of operations.
We could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act and other worldwide anti-bribery laws by us or our agents.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act, or FCPA, which prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S. government officials
for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. Our planned future reliance on independent
distributors to sell our products internationally demands a high degree of vigilance in enforcing our policy against participation in
corrupt activity, because these distributors could be deemed to be our agents, and we could be held responsible for their actions. Other
U.S. companies in the medical device and pharmaceutical fields have faced criminal penalties under the FCPA for allowing their agents
to deviate from appropriate practices in doing business with such non-U.S. government officials. We are also subject to similar anti-bribery
laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act of 2010, which also prohibits commercial
bribery and makes it a crime for companies to fail to prevent bribery. We have limited experience in complying with these laws and in
developing procedures to monitor compliance with these laws by its agents. These laws are complex and far-reaching in nature, and, as
a result, we cannot assure investors that we would not be required in the future to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance
with these laws or any changes in these laws or the interpretation thereof.
Any violations of these laws, or allegations of
such violations, could disrupt our operations, involve significant management distraction, involve significant costs and expenses, including
legal fees, and could result in a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, or results of operations. We
could also incur severe penalties, including criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement, and other remedial measures.
Risks Related to Healthcare Industry Shifts and Changing Regulations
We are subject to extensive government regulation, which could
restrict the development, marketing, sale and distribution of our products and could cause us to incur significant costs.
Our ultrasound imaging products and associated
services are subject to extensive pre-market and post-market regulation by the FDA and various other federal, state, local and foreign
government authorities. Government regulation of medical devices is meant to assure their safety and effectiveness, and includes requirements
for, among other things:
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design, development and manufacturing processes;
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labeling, content and language of instructions for use and storage;
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product testing, pre-clinical studies and clinical trials;
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regulatory clearances and approvals, including pre-market clearance or pre-market approval;
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establishment registration, device listing and ongoing compliance with the QSR requirements;
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advertising and promotion;
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marketing, sales and distribution;
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conformity assessment procedures;
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product traceability and record-keeping procedures;
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review of product complaints, complaint reporting, recalls and field safety corrective actions;
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post-market surveillance, including reporting of deaths or serious injuries and malfunctions that, if
they were to recur, could lead to death or serious injury;
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post-market studies (if applicable); and
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product import and export.
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The laws and regulations to which we and our products
are subject are complex and subject to periodic changes. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to carry on or
expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales.
Before a new medical device, or a significant
modification of a medical device, including a new use of or claim for an existing product, can be marketed in the United States, it must
first receive either 510(k) clearance or premarket approval, or PMA, from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. In the 510(k) clearance
process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a device legally on the market, known
as a “predicate” device, with respect to intended use, technology and safety and effectiveness, in order to clear the proposed
device for marketing. Clinical data is sometimes required to support substantial equivalence. Legacy Butterfly received 510(k) clearance
for the Butterfly iQ in 2017, and the FDA determined, following a 2020 pre-submission meeting with Legacy Butterfly, that the Butterfly
iQ+ was eligible to be marketed under the original 510(k). We may be required to obtain a new 510(k) clearance or PMA for significant
post-market modifications to its products, including any modifications made to the Butterfly iQ+. In order to pave the way for at-home
use of the Butterfly iQ+ and future products or services, we anticipate that we will need to validate at-home applications through focused
clinical trials. Obtaining 510(k) clearance or PMA approval for medical devices can be expensive and time-consuming, and entails
significant user fees, unless an exemption is available. The FDA’s process for obtaining 510(k) clearance usually takes three
to 12 months, but it can last longer. In the PMA approval process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is safe and effective
for its intended use based, in part, on extensive data, including but not limited to, technical, pre-clinical, clinical trial, manufacturing
and labeling data. The process for obtaining a PMA is more costly and uncertain and approval can take anywhere from at least one year
to, in some cases, multiple years from the time the application is initially filed with the FDA. Modifications to products that are
approved through a PMA application generally require further FDA approval. Some of our future products may require PMA approval. In addition,
the FDA may require that we obtain a PMA prior to marketing future changes of our existing products. Further, we may not be able to obtain
additional 510(k) clearances or PMAs for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, our products in a timely
fashion or at all. Delays in obtaining future clearances or approvals could adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced
products in a timely manner, which in turn could harm our revenue and future profitability.
In order to conduct a clinical investigation involving
human subjects for the purpose of demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of a medical device, if necessary, for a PMA application
or 510(k) notification, a company must, among other things, apply for and obtain institutional review board, or IRB, approval of
the proposed investigation. In addition, if the clinical study involves a “significant risk” (as
defined by the FDA) to human health, the sponsor of the investigation must also submit and obtain FDA approval of an investigational device
exemption, or IDE, application and follow applicable IDE regulations. Unless IDE-exempt, nonsignificant risk devices are still subject
to certain abbreviated IDE requirements, however, an IDE application is not required if such abbreviated requirements are met. We may
not be able to obtain any necessary FDA and/or IRB approval to undertake clinical trials in the United States for future devices we develop
and intend to market in the United States. If we do obtain such approvals, the FDA may find that our studies do not comply with the IDE
or other regulations governing clinical investigations or the data from any such trials may not support clearance or approval of the investigational
device. Moreover, certainty that clinical trials will meet desired endpoints, produce meaningful or useful data and be free of unexpected
adverse effects, or that the FDA will accept the validity of foreign clinical study data (if applicable) cannot be assured, and such uncertainty
could preclude or delay market clearance or authorizations resulting in significant financial costs and reduced revenue.
We are also subject to numerous post-marketing
regulatory requirements, which include quality system regulations related to the manufacture of our devices, labeling regulations and
medical device reporting, or MDR, regulations. The last of these regulations requires us to report to the FDA if our devices cause or
contribute to a death or serious injury, or malfunction in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if
the malfunction recurred. If we fail to comply with present or future regulatory requirements that are applicable to Butterfly, we may
be subject to enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions:
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untitled letters, warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;
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customer notification, or orders for repair, replacement or refunds;
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voluntary or mandatory recall or seizure of Butterfly’s current or future products;
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administrative detention by the FDA of medical devices believed to be adulterated or misbranded;
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operating restrictions, suspension or shutdown of production;
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refusal of our requests for 510(k) clearance or PMA of new products, new intended uses or modifications to existing products;
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rescission of 510(k) clearance or suspension or withdrawal of PMAs that have already been granted; and
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The occurrence of any of these events may have
a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
There is no guarantee that the FDA will
grant 510(k) clearance or PMA approval of our future products, and failure to obtain necessary clearances or approvals for our future
products would adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
Some of our new or modified products will require
FDA clearance of a 510(k) notification or FDA approval of a PMA application. The FDA may refuse our requests for 510(k) clearance
or PMA of new products or may not clear or approve these products for the indications that are necessary or desirable for successful commercialization.
Early stage review may also result in delays or other issues. For example, the FDA has issued guidance intended to explain the procedures
and criteria used in assessing whether 510(k) and PMA submissions should be accepted for substantive review. Under the “Refuse
to Accept” guidance, the FDA conducts an early review against specific acceptance criteria to inform 510(k) and PMA submitters
if the submission is administratively complete, or if not, to identify the missing element(s). Submitters are given the opportunity to
provide the FDA with any information identified as missing. If the information is not provided within a specified time, the submission
will not be accepted for FDA review. The FDA may also change its clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise
existing regulations, or take other actions that may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our products under development or impact
our ability to gain clearance or approval for modifications to our currently approved or cleared products in a timely manner. Significant
delays in receiving clearance or approval, or the failure to receive clearance or approval for our new products, would have an adverse
effect on our ability to expand our business.
Recent initiatives by the FDA to enhance
and modernize various regulatory pathways for device products and its overall approach to safety and innovation in the medical technology
industry creates the possibility of changing product development costs, requirements, and other factors and additional uncertainty for
our future products and business.
Regulatory requirements may change in the future
in a way that adversely affects us. Any change in the laws or regulations that govern the clearance and approval processes or the post-market
compliance requirements relating to our current and future products could make it more difficult and costly to obtain clearance or approval
for new products, or to produce, market and distribute existing products.
For example, the FDA and other government agencies
have been focusing on the cybersecurity risks associated with certain medical devices and encouraging device manufacturers to take a more
proactive approach to assessing the cybersecurity risks of their devices both during development and on a periodic basis after the devices
are in commercial distribution. These regulatory efforts could lead to new FDA requirements in the future or additional product liability
or other litigation risks if any of our products is considered to be susceptible to third-party tampering. In December 2016, Congress
passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which made multiple changes to the FDA’s rules for medical devices as well as for clinical
trials, and in August 2017, Congress passed the Medical Device User Fee reauthorization package, which affects medical device regulation
both pre- and post-approval and could have certain impacts on our business. Since that time, the FDA has announced a series of efforts
to modernize and streamline the 510(k) notification and regulatory review process and monitoring post-market safety, and issued a
Proposed Rule to formalize the De Novo classification process to provide clarity to innovative device developers. Changes in the
FDA 510(k) process could make clearance more difficult to obtain, increase delay, add uncertainty and have other significant adverse
effects on our ability to obtain and maintain clearance for our products.
It is unclear at this time whether and how various
activities initiated or announced by the FDA to modernize the U.S. medical device regulatory system could affect our business, as some
of the FDA’s new medical device safety and innovation initiatives have not been formalized and remain subject to change. For example,
a 2018 Medical Device Safety Action Plan announced by former FDA Commissioner Gottlieb included a particular focus on post-market surveillance
and how to respond when new safety concerns emerge once a product is on the market. The increased attention that the medical technology
industry is receiving from FDA leadership that understands the challenging and rapidly changing nature of the U.S. health care system
creates the possibility of unanticipated regulatory and other potential changes to our products and our overall business. In response
to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA’s device and diagnostic center leadership has exercised a significant amount of
enforcement discretion to meet the medical community’s and patients’ needs for remote monitoring and other innovative solutions
that involve digital health products. The FDA has signaled that some of its policy changes adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic could
remain in place after the public health emergency subsides, but it is unclear which policies will be retained or how those policies could
impact the medical device industry in the future.
If we fail to obtain regulatory clearances
in other countries for existing products or products under development, we will not be able to commercialize these products in those countries.
In order for us to market our products in countries
outside of the United States, we must comply with extensive safety and quality regulations in other countries regarding the quality, safety
and efficacy of our products. These regulations, including the requirements for approvals, clearance or CE mark grant, and the time required
for regulatory review, vary from country to country. Failure to obtain regulatory approval, clearance or CE mark (or equivalent) in any
foreign country in which we plan to market our products may harm our ability to generate revenue and harm our business. Approval and CE
marking procedures vary between countries and can involve additional product testing and additional administrative review periods. The
time required to obtain approval or CE mark in other countries might differ from that required to obtain FDA clearance. The regulatory
approval or CE marking process in other countries may include all of the risks detailed above regarding FDA clearance in the United States.
Regulatory approval or the CE marking of a product in one country does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay
in obtaining regulatory approval or a CE mark in one country may negatively impact the regulatory process in others. Failure to obtain
regulatory approval or a CE mark in other countries or any delay or setback in obtaining such approval could have the same adverse effects
described above regarding FDA clearance in the United States.
The primary regulatory environment in Europe is
that of the EEA, which is comprised of the Member States of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. We cannot be certain that
we will be successful in meeting and continuing to meet the requirements to market a medical device in the EEA in light of the current
transition period between the prior system, called the Medical Device Directive, or MDD, to the current system, called the Medical Device
Regulation. The Medical Device Regulation went into force in May 2017 but allowed a three-year transition period until May 2020
for Member States, regulatory authorities, and medical device stakeholders to come into compliance with the new requirements. A one-year
delay of the compliance date of the Medical Device Regulation was implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, making May 2021
the current deadline for industry compliance. Compared to the MDD, the Medical Device Regulation promotes a shift from the pre-approval
stage (i.e., the path to CE Marking) to a life-cycle approach and places greater emphasis on clinical data and clinical evaluations to
assure the safety and performance of new medical devices. Moreover, the Medical Device Regulation includes elements intended to strengthen
the conformity assessment procedures, assert greater control over notified bodies and their standards, increase overall system transparency,
and impose more robust device vigilance requirements on manufacturers and distributors. Among other changes, many device manufacturers
will need to switch notified bodies to one that has received its designation under the Medical Device Regulation, which will require those
manufacturers to undergo an audit and have all their documentation reviewed by the new notified body before it can assess their medical
device products under the new standards. The new rules and procedures that have been created under the overhauled European regulations
will likely result in increased regulatory oversight of all medical devices marketed in the EU, and this may, in turn, increase the costs,
time and requirements that need to be met in order to place an innovative or high-risk medical device on the EEA market.
If we, our contract manufacturers or our
component suppliers are unable to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities, on a timely basis, at acceptable costs and in compliance
with regulatory and quality requirements, the manufacturing and distribution of our devices could be interrupted, and our product sales
and operating results could suffer.
We, our contract manufacturers and our component
suppliers are required to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation or QSR, which is a complex regulatory framework that covers
the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, sterilization, storage,
shipping and servicing of our devices. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored
rigorously through periodic, sometimes unannounced, inspections by the FDA. We cannot assure investors that our facilities or our third-party
manufacturers’ or suppliers’ facilities would pass any future quality system inspection. Failure of our or our third-party
manufacturers and component suppliers to adhere to QSR requirements or take adequate and timely corrective action in response to an adverse
quality system inspection finding could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining regulatory clearances,
recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could have a material adverse
effect on our financial condition or results of operations. Any such failure, including the failure of our contract manufacturers, to
achieve and maintain the required high manufacturing standards could result in further delays or failures in product testing or delivery,
cost overruns, increased warranty costs or other problems that could harm our business and prospects.
In addition, any of our products shipped internationally
are also required to comply with the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, quality system standards as well as European
Directives and norms in order to produce products for sale in the EU. In addition, many countries such as Canada and Japan have very specific
additional regulatory requirements for quality assurance and manufacturing. If we fail to continue to comply with current good manufacturing
requirements, as well as ISO or other regulatory standards, we may be required to cease all or part of our operations until we comply
with these regulations. Maintaining compliance with multiple regulators adds complexity and cost to our manufacturing and compliance processes.
Our current or future products may be subject
to product recalls even after receiving FDA clearance or approval. A recall of our products, either voluntarily or at the direction of
the FDA, or the discovery of serious safety issues with our products, could have a significant adverse impact on us.
The FDA and similar governmental bodies in other
countries have the authority to require the recall of our products if we or our third-party manufacturers fail to comply with relevant
regulations pertaining to, among other things, manufacturing practices, labeling, advertising or promotional activities, or if new information
is obtained concerning the safety or efficacy of these products. For example, under the FDA’s MDR regulations, we are required to
report to the FDA any incident in which our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or in which our products
malfunctioned in a manner likely to cause or contribute to death or serious injury if that malfunction were to recur. Repeated adverse
events or product malfunctions may result in a voluntary or involuntary product recall, or administrative or judicial seizure or injunction,
when warranted. A government-mandated recall may be ordered if the FDA finds that there is a reasonable probability that the device would
cause serious, adverse health consequences or death. A voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of any material deficiency in a
device, such as manufacturing defects, labeling deficiencies, packaging defects or other failures to comply with applicable regulations,
such as a failure to obtain marketing approval or clearance before launching a new product. In February 2020, Legacy Butterfly initiated
a recall of two software tools after being notified by the FDA that each of them required clearance via a 510(k) premarket notification.
In general, if we decide to make a change to our product, we are responsible for determining whether to classify the change as a recall.
It is possible that the FDA could disagree with our initial classification. The FDA requires that certain classifications of recalls be
reported to the FDA within 10 working days after the recall is initiated. If a change to a device addresses a violation of the federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, that change would generally constitute a medical device recall and require submission of a recall
report to the FDA.
Recalls of any of our products would divert managerial
and financial resources and have an adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations and financial condition, which could impair
our ability to produce our products in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to meet its customers’ demands. We may also be
subject to product liability claims, be required to bear other costs, or be required to take other actions that may have a negative impact
on our future sales and our ability to generate profits. Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls, even if they are
not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary recalls involving our products in the future that we determine do not require notification
to the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, the FDA could require us to report those actions as recalls. A future recall,
withdrawal, or seizure of any product could materially and adversely affect consumer confidence in the Butterfly brand, lead to decreased
demand for our products and negatively affect our sales. In addition, the FDA could take enforcement action for failing to report recalls
when they were conducted by us or one of our agents.
We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in improper
or off-label marketing or promotion of our products, including fines, penalties and injunctions.
Our promotional materials and training methods
must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of unapproved, or off-label,
uses. Physicians may, however, use our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s practice of medicine.
Medical device manufacturers and distributors are permitted to promote their products in a way that is consistent with the FDA-authorized
labeling and indications for use. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training materials promote a 510(k)-cleared
or approved medical device in a manner inconsistent with its labeling, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials
or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an Untitled Letter, a Warning Letter, injunction, seizure,
civil fine or criminal penalties. In addition to ensuring that the claims we make are consistent with our regulatory clearances or approvals,
the FDA also ensures that promotional labeling for all regulated medical devices is neither false nor misleading.
It is also possible that other federal, state
or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of
an off-label use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false
claims for reimbursement. In that event, our reputation could be damaged, and adoption of our products could be impaired. Although our
policy is to refrain from making statements or from disseminating promotional material that could be considered off-label promotion of
our products, the FDA or another regulatory agency could disagree and conclude that we have engaged in off-label promotion. In addition,
the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims are expensive to defend
and could divert our management’s attention, result in substantial damage awards against us, and harm our reputation. Recent court
decisions have impacted the FDA’s enforcement activity regarding off-label promotion in light of First Amendment considerations,
although there are still significant risks in this area in part due to the potential False Claims Act exposure. Further, this area is
subject to ongoing policy changes at the federal level, resulting in some degree of uncertainty for regulated businesses. For example,
in September 2020, the FDA issued a proposed rulemaking to revise its regulation governing the types of evidence relevant to determining
the “intended use” of a drug or device under the FDCA, which would have implications for when a manufacturer or distributor
has engaged in off-label marketing. Public comments are being solicited, following which the FDA will be required to publish a final regulation
and justify any additional revisions it may make to this regulatory language.
Direct-to-consumer marketing and social media efforts may expose
us to additional regulatory scrutiny, including from the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and other consumer protection agencies and
regulators.
In addition to the laws and regulations enforced
by the FDA, advertising for various services and for non-restricted medical devices is subject to federal truth-in-advertising laws enforced
by the FTC, as well as comparable state consumer protection laws. Our efforts to promote our prescription products via direct-to-consumer
marketing and social media initiatives may subject us to additional scrutiny of our practices. For example, the FTC and other consumer
protection agencies scrutinize all forms of advertising (whether in digital or traditional formats) for business services, consumer-directed
products, and non-restricted medical devices to ensure that advertisers are not making false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims or
failing to disclose material relationships between the advertiser and its products’ endorsers, among other potential issues. The
FDA oversees the advertising and promotional labeling for restricted medical devices and ensures, among other things, that there is effective
communication of, and a fair and balanced presentation of, the risks and benefits of such high-risk medical devices.
Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, or FTC
Act, the FTC is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices
in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; and (c) gather and
compile information and conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in
commerce. The FTC has very broad enforcement authority, and failure to abide by the substantive requirements of the FTC Act and other
consumer protection laws can result in administrative or judicial penalties, including civil penalties, injunctions affecting the manner
in which we would be able to market services or products in the future, or criminal prosecution. We plan to increase our advertising activities
that may be subject to these federal and state truth-in-advertising laws. Any actual or perceived non-compliance with those laws could
lead to an investigation by the FTC or a comparable state agency, or could lead to allegations of misleading advertising by private plaintiffs.
Any such action against us would disrupt our business operations, cause damage to our reputation, and result in a material adverse effects
on our business.
In some instances in our advertising and
promotion, we may make claims regarding our product as compared to competing products, which may subject us to heightened regulatory scrutiny,
enforcement risk, and litigation risks.
The FDA requires that promotional labeling be
truthful and not misleading, including with respect to any comparative claims made about competing products or technologies. In addition
to FDA implications, the use of comparative claims also presents risk of a lawsuit by the competitor under federal and state false advertising
and unfair competition statutes (e.g., the Lanham Act) or unfair and deceptive trade practices law, and possibly also state libel law.
Such a suit may seek injunctive relief against further advertising, a court order directing corrective advertising, and compensatory and
punitive damages where permitted by law. Further, notwithstanding the ultimate outcome of any Lanham Act or similar complaint, our reputation
and relationship with certain customers or distribution partners may be harmed as a result of the allegations related to our products
or our business practices more generally.
Because we do not require training for users of our current products,
although they are limited under FDA’s marketing clearances to use by trained healthcare practitioners, there exists a potential
for misuse of these products, which could ultimately harm our reputation and business.
Federal regulations allow us to sell our medical
device products to or on the order of practitioners licensed by law to use or order the use of a prescription device. The definition of
“licensed practitioners” varies from state to state. As a result, our products may be purchased or operated by physicians
with varying levels of training and, in many states, by non-physicians, including nurse practitioners, chiropractors and technicians.
Outside the United States, many jurisdictions do not require specific qualifications or training for purchasers or operators of medical
device products. We do not supervise the procedures performed with our products, nor can we require that direct medical supervision occur.
Although product training is offered, neither we nor our distributors require purchasers or operators of our non-invasive products to
attend training sessions. The lack of required training and the purchase and use of our non-invasive products by non-physicians may result
in product misuse and adverse treatment outcomes, which could harm our reputation and expose us to costly product liability litigation.
We are subject to federal, state and foreign
laws prohibiting “kickbacks” and false or fraudulent claims, and other fraud and abuse laws, transparency laws,
and other health care laws and regulations, which, if violated, could subject us to substantial penalties. Additionally, any challenge
to or investigation into our practices under these laws could cause adverse publicity and be costly to respond to, and thus could harm
our business.
Our relationships with customers and third-party
payors are subject to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other health care laws and regulations that may constrain Butterfly’s
sales, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements, including sales programs and certain
customer and product support programs, we may have with hospitals, physicians or other purchasers of medical devices. Other federal and
state laws generally prohibit individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare,
Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent, or are for items or services that were not provided as claimed. These
laws include, among others, the federal healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil False Claims Act, other federal health care
false statement and fraud statutes, the Open Payments program, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, and analogous fraud and abuse and transparency
laws in most states, as described in Item 1, Business — Government Regulation. While the federal laws generally apply
only to products or services for which payment may be made by a federal healthcare program, state laws often apply regardless of whether
federal funds may be involved.
While we believe and make every effort to ensure
that our business arrangements with third parties and other activities and programs comply with all applicable laws, these laws are complex,
and our activities may be found not to be compliant with one or more of these laws, which may result in significant civil, criminal and/or
administrative penalties, fines, damages and exclusion from participation in federal health care programs. Even an unsuccessful challenge
or investigation into our practices could cause adverse publicity, and be costly to respond to, and thus could have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our compliance with Medicare and Medicaid regulations may be reviewed
by federal or state agencies, including the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or OIG, Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, and the U.S. Department of Justice, or may be subject to whistleblower lawsuits under
federal and state false claims laws. To ensure compliance with Medicare, Medicaid and other regulations, government agencies conduct periodic
audits of the Company to ensure compliance with various supplier standards and billing requirements.
Similarly, our international operations are subject
to the provisions of the FCPA, which prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S.
government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. In many countries, the
healthcare professionals that medical device distributors regularly interact with may meet the definition of a foreign official for purposes
of the FCPA. International business operations are also subject to various other international anti-bribery laws such as the U.K. Anti-Bribery
Act. Despite meaningful measures that we undertake to facilitate lawful conduct, which include training and compliance programs and internal
policies and procedures, we may not always prevent unauthorized, reckless or criminal acts by our employees or agents, or employees or
agents of businesses or operations we may acquire. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt operations,
involve significant management distraction and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations,
among other adverse consequences.
If we are found to have violated laws protecting
the confidentiality and security of health information, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, which could increase our liabilities
and harm its reputation or its business.
There are a number of federal and state laws protecting
the confidentiality and security of individually identifiable health information, or protected health information, or PHI, and restricting
the use and disclosure of that protected information. In particular, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services promulgated privacy
rules under the Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. The HIPAA privacy rules protect medical records
and other personal health information by limiting their use and disclosure, giving individuals the right to access, amend and seek accounting
of their own health information and limiting most use and disclosures of health information to the minimum amount reasonably necessary
to accomplish the intended purpose. The HIPAA security rules require the implementation of administrative, physical and technical
safeguards to protect the security of PHI. HIPAA applies to health plans, health care providers who engage in certain standard healthcare
transactions electronically, such as electronic billing, and healthcare clearinghouses, all of which are referred to as “covered
entities.” HIPAA also applies to “business associates,” or organizations that provide services to covered entities involving
the use or disclosure of PHI. Business associates, like us, are subject to direct liability for violations of HIPAA.
Penalties for HIPAA violations can be issued by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, the U.S. Department of Justice, and state attorneys general.
Financial penalties can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation, with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per year for violation.
HIPAA authorizes states attorneys’ general to file suit on behalf of state residents; in such cases, courts can award damages, costs
and attorneys’ fees related to HIPAA violations in addition to the aforementioned financial penalties. While HIPAA does not create
a private right of action allowing individuals to sue in civil court for HIPAA violations, the HIPAA rules have been used as the
basis for a duty of care claim in state civil suits for negligence or recklessness in the misuse or breach of PHI. Further, to provide
“covered entity” clients with services that involve access to PHI, HIPAA requires us to enter into business associate agreements
that require us to safeguard PHI in accordance with HIPAA. If we fail to comply with the terms of our business associate agreements, we
may also be liable contractually.
Additionally, we are subject to any state laws
that are more restrictive than the rules issued under HIPAA. These laws vary by state and could impose stricter standards and additional
penalties. If we are found to be in violation of these applicable state laws, we could be subject to additional civil or criminal penalties,
which could increase our liabilities, harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and
results of operations.
We are subject to complex and evolving U.S.
and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject
to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost
of operations, or declines in customer growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations
in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including laws and regulations relating to privacy, data
sharing and data protection, artificial intelligence and use of machine learning, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property,
advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other
communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, telecommunications, product liability, taxation, economic or other
trade prohibitions or sanctions, corrupt practices, fraud, waste and abuse restrictions, and securities law compliance. The introduction
of new products or expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. For example,
both the federal and various state governments of the United States have adopted or are considering laws, guidelines or rules for
the collection, distribution, use and storage of information collected from or about customers or their devices. The California Consumer
Privacy Act, or CCPA, for example, which became effective January 1, 2020, substantially expands privacy obligations of many businesses
providing services to California residents, including us. The CCPA requires new disclosures to California consumers, imposes new rules for
collecting or using information about minors, and affords consumers new rights, such as the right to know whether the data is sold or
disclosed and to whom, the right to request that a company delete personal information collected, the right to opt out of the sale of
personal information and the right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when a consumer exercises a privacy right. If we
fail to comply with these regulations, 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. Moreover, a newly passed ballot initiative, the California Privacy
Rights Act, or CPRA, which will become operational in 2023, expands on the CCPA, creating new consumer rights and protections, including:
the right to correct personal information, the right to opt out of the use of personal information in automated decision making, the right
to opt out of “sharing” consumer’s personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and the right to restrict
use of and disclosure of sensitive personal information, including geolocation data to third parties. We will need to evaluate and potentially
update our privacy program to ensure compliance with the CPRA and may incur additional costs and expenses in our effort to comply.
In addition, foreign data protection, privacy,
and other laws and regulations can be more restrictive than those in the United States. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/267,
or GDPR, which came into force on May 25, 2018, implemented stringent operational requirements for the collection, use, storage of,
protection of and disclosure of personal data. The GDPR introduced more stringent requirements (which will continue to be interpreted
through guidance and decisions over the coming years), including but not limited to requiring organizations to erase an individual’s
information upon request, limiting the purposes for which personal data may be used, and implementing mandatory data breach notification
requirements, requiring organizations in taking certain measures when engaging third party processors and imposing certain obligations
on service providers. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with
the supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. The European
regime also includes directives which, among other things, require EU member states to regulate marketing by electronic means, the use
of web cookies and other tracking technology. Each EU Member State has transposed the requirements of such directives into its own national
data privacy regime, and therefore, the laws may differ between jurisdictions. We may also be subject to EU rules with respect to
cross-border transfers of personal data out of the European Economic Area, or EEA. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity
and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA to the United States, as the CJEU invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield
Framework, or Privacy Shield, on July 16, 2020, which may impact our ability to transfer personal data outside of the EEA to the
United States or other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU may also require us to find alternative solutions
for the compliant transfer of personal data into and possibly from the United Kingdom as we will have to comply with the GDPR and also
the UK equivalent. If found non-compliant with any of the many requirements under the GDPR, we may be subject to fines of up to the greater
of €20 million or up to 4% of our total global annual turnover.
While the CJEU invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy
Shield Framework, the Court upheld the Standard Contractual Clauses as a valid mechanism for data transfers from the EEA to the United
States. We anticipated this issue, which is why in our Data Processing Addendum, the Standard Contractual Clauses automatically come into
effect as a back-up transfer mechanism for personal data to be transferred from the EEA to the United States in the event of Privacy Shield
invalidation. We are closely following the European Commission’s draft guidance on the Standard Contractual Clauses and the European
Data Protection Board’s draft guidance on supplemental tools to ensure that data transfers are handled in accordance with GDPR and
to determine if any changes to our privacy program are necessary.
Data localization laws in some countries may mandate
that certain types of data collected in a particular country be stored and/or processed within that country. We could be subject to audits
in Europe and around the world, particularly in the areas of consumer and data protection, as we continue to grow and expand our operations.
Legislators and regulators may make legal and regulatory changes, or interpret and apply existing laws, in ways that make our products
less useful to customers, require us to incur substantial costs, expose us to unanticipated civil or criminal liability, or cause us to
change its business practices. These changes or increased costs could negatively impact our business and results of operations in material
ways. If we fail to comply with these standards, we could be subject to criminal penalties and civil sanctions, including fines and penalties
and amounts could be significant.
Cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents
could result in the compromise of confidential data or critical data systems and give rise to potential harm to customers, remediation
and other expenses, expose us to liability under HIPAA, consumer protection laws, or other common law theories, subject us to litigation
and federal and state governmental inquiries, damage our reputation, and otherwise be disruptive to our business and operations.
Cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks
or unintentional events. We collect and store on our networks sensitive information, including intellectual property, proprietary business
information and personally identifiable information of individuals, such as our customers and employees. The secure maintenance of this
information and technology is critical to our business operations. We have implemented multiple layers of security measures to protect
the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data and the systems and devices that store and transmit such data. We utilize
current security technologies, including encryption and data depersonalization, and our defenses are monitored and routinely tested. Despite
these efforts, threats from malicious persons and groups, new vulnerabilities and advanced new attacks against information systems create
risk of cybersecurity incidents. These incidents can include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for
purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Because the techniques
used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and may not immediately produce
signs of intrusion, we may be unable to anticipate these incidents or techniques, timely discover them, or implement adequate preventative
measures.
Cybersecurity threats can come from a variety
of sources, and may range in sophistication from an individual hacker to malfeasance by employees, consultants or other service providers
to state-sponsored attacks. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Over the past
several years, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. Our network and storage applications,
as well as those of our contractors, may be vulnerable to cyber-attack, malicious intrusion, malfeasance, loss of data privacy or other
significant disruption and may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers, employees, consultants or other service providers. In addition,
hardware, software or applications that we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other
problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems
or facilities through fraud, trickery or other forms of deceiving our employees, contractors and temporary staff.
There can be no assurance that we will not be
subject to cybersecurity incidents that bypass our security measures, impact the integrity, availability or privacy of personal health
information or other data subject to privacy laws or disrupt our information systems, devices or business, including our ability to deliver
services to our users. As a result, cybersecurity, physical security and the continued development and enhancement of our controls, processes
and practices designed to protect our enterprise, information systems and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access remain a priority
for us. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance
our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The occurrence of any of these events could
result in:
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harm to customers and end-users;
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business interruptions and delays;
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the loss, misappropriation, corruption or unauthorized access of data;
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litigation, including potential class action litigation, and potential liability under privacy, security and consumer protection laws
or other applicable laws;
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increase to insurance premiums; and
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foreign, federal and state governmental inquiries, any of which could have a material, adverse effect on our financial position and
results of operations and harm our business reputation.
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Security breaches, loss of data and other
disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose
us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect
and store sensitive data, intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by us or our users. This data
encompasses a wide variety of business-critical information, including research and development information, commercial information, and
business and financial information. We face four primary risks relative to protecting this critical information: loss of access; inappropriate
disclosure; inappropriate modification; and inadequate monitoring of our controls over the first three risks.
The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and
transmission of this critical information is vital to our operations and business strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting
such information. Although we take measures to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure, our information technology
and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses, breaches, interruptions due to employee error, malfeasance, lapses
in compliance with privacy and security mandates, or other disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks
and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost, or stolen.
Any such security breach or interruption, as well
as any action by us or our employees or contractors that might be inconsistent with the rapidly evolving data privacy and security laws
and regulations applicable within the United States and elsewhere where we conduct business, could result in enforcement actions by U.S.
states, the U.S. federal government or foreign governments, liability or sanctions under data privacy laws that protect personally identifiable
information, regulatory penalties, other legal proceedings such as, but not limited to, private litigation, the incurrence of significant
remediation costs, disruptions to our development programs, business operations and collaborations, diversion of management efforts and
damage to our reputation, which could harm our business and operations. For example, the CCPA provides for both civil penalties and a
private right of action for data breaches as a result of an entity’s non-compliance with the CCPA. Because of the rapidly moving
nature of technology and the increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats, our measures to prevent, respond to and minimize such
risks may be unsuccessful.
With respect to medical information, we follow
HIPAA rules and applicable state laws, separate personal information from medical information, and further employ additional encryption
tools to protect the privacy and security of Butterfly’s users and medical data. However, hackers may attempt to penetrate our computer
systems, and, if successful, misappropriate personal or confidential business information. In addition, an associate, contractor or other
third party with whom we do business may attempt to circumvent our security measures in order to obtain such information, and may purposefully
or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. While we continue to implement additional protective measures to reduce the
risk of and detect cyber incidents, cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, and the techniques used in such attacks
change rapidly.
In addition, non-compliance with any foreign data
privacy and data security regulations, such as the GDPR, which requires stringent data breach notification obligations, among many other
requirements, resulting in a data breach may result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenues of the
infringer, whichever is greater. There can be no assurance that our efforts to comply with these and other applicable data privacy regulatory
regimes will be successful.
Further, unauthorized access, loss or dissemination
of sensitive information could also disrupt our operations, including our ability to conduct research and development activities, process
and prepare company financial information, manage various general and administrative aspects of our business and damage our reputation,
any of which could adversely affect our business and reputation. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will promptly detect any
such disruption or security breach, if at all. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage
to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the
further development of our products could be delayed.
Broad-based domestic and international government
initiatives to reduce spending, particularly those related to healthcare costs, may reduce reimbursement rates for medical procedures,
which will reduce the cost-effectiveness of our products and services.
Healthcare reforms, changes in healthcare policies
and changes to third-party coverage and reimbursements, including legislation enacted reforming the U.S. healthcare system and both domestic
and foreign healthcare cost containment legislation, and any future changes to such legislation, may affect demand for our products and
services and may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The ongoing implementation of the
Affordable Care Act, in the United States, as well as state-level healthcare reform proposals could reduce medical procedure volumes and
impact the demand for medical device products or the prices at which we can sell products. These reforms include a national pilot program
on payment bundling to encourage hospitals, physicians and other providers to improve the coordination, quality and efficiency of certain
healthcare services through bundled payment models. The impact of this healthcare reform legislation, and practices including price regulation,
competitive pricing, comparative effectiveness of therapies, technology assessments, and managed care arrangements are uncertain. There
can be no assurance that current levels of reimbursement will not be decreased in the future, or that future legislation, regulation,
or reimbursement policies of third parties will not adversely affect the demand for our products and services or our ability to sell products
and provide services on a profitable basis. The adoption of significant changes to the healthcare system in the United States, the EEA
or other jurisdictions in which we may market our products and services, could limit the prices we are able to charge for our products
and services or the amounts of reimbursement available for our products and services, could limit the acceptance and availability of our
products and services, reduce medical procedure volumes and increase operational and other costs.
In addition, the previous presidential administration
has taken steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while other sections of the law have not been fully implemented or effectively repealed
by administrative actions. Following congressional repeal of the “individual mandate” that was in place to strongly encourage
broad participation in the health insurance markets, there has been ongoing litigation focused on the constitutionality of the Affordable
Care Act and the reforms enacted thereunder.
We cannot predict the ultimate impact of this
litigation on the Affordable Care Act or other efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or the subsequent effects of these
broad legislative and policy changes on its business at this time. While we are unable to predict what changes may ultimately be enacted,
to the extent that future changes affect how our products and services are paid for and reimbursed by government and private payers, our
business could be adversely impacted. Moreover, complying with any new legislation under a new presidential administration or reversing
changes implemented under the Affordable Care Act could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on the
business.
Inadequate funding for the FDA, the SEC
and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and
services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business
functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve or
clear new medical device products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to
hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times
at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies
on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process,
which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.
Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may
also increase the time necessary for new products to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely
affect our business. For example, over the last several years, the U.S. government has shut down several times, and certain regulatory
agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. Separately, in response to
the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 10, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone most inspections of foreign manufacturing
facilities and products. On March 18, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone routine surveillance inspections
of domestic manufacturing facilities and provided guidance regarding the conduct of clinical trials, which has since been further updated
and is being refreshed on a periodic basis. As of June 23, 2020, the FDA noted it was continuing to ensure timely reviews of applications
for medical products during the COVID-19 pandemic in line with its user fee performance goals and conducting “mission-critical”
domestic and foreign inspections to ensure compliance of manufacturing facilities with FDA quality standards.
Most recently, as of July 2020, utilizing
a rating system to assist in determining when and where it is safest to conduct such inspections based on data about the virus’s
trajectory in a given state and locality and the rules and guidelines that are put in place by state and local governments, the FDA
is either continuing to, on a case-by-case basis, conduct only “mission-critical” inspections, or, where possible to do so
safely, resuming prioritized domestic inspections, which generally include pre-approval inspections. Foreign pre-approval inspections
that are not deemed mission-critical remain postponed, while those deemed mission-critical will be considered for inspection on a case-by-case
basis. The FDA will use similar data to inform resumption of prioritized operations abroad as it becomes feasible and advisable to do
so. The FDA’s assessment of whether an inspection is mission-critical considers many factors related to the public health benefit
of U.S. patients having access to the product subject to inspection, including whether the products are used to diagnose, treat, or prevent
a serious disease or medical condition for which there is no other appropriate substitute. Both for-cause and pre-approval inspections
can be deemed mission-critical.
Additionally, regulatory authorities outside the
United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government
shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular
inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process
regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our future business. Further, future government shutdowns could
impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.
Risks Related to Butterfly’s Intellectual Property
If we are unable to protect our intellectual
property, our ability to maintain any technological or competitive advantage over our competitors and potential competitors would be adversely
impacted, and our business may be harmed.
We rely on patent protection as well as trademark,
copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technologies,
all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage.
As of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 280 issued patents and approximately 540 pending patent applications. Of our approximately
280 issued patents, approximately 80 were issued U.S. utility patents and approximately 30 were issued U.S. design patents. Of our approximately
540 pending patent applications, approximately 145 were pending U.S. utility patent applications and approximately 15 were pending U.S.
design applications. In addition, as of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 170 issued patents in foreign jurisdictions, including
Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, and 380 pending patent applications in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia,
Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and India, corresponding to the foregoing. In total, as of December 31, 2020, we owned
approximately 175 patent families generally directed to its ultrasound products, including manufacturing, circuit components and add-on
features. These issued patents and pending patent applications (if they were to issue as patents) have expected expiration dates ranging
between 2030 and 2040. If we fail to protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against
us, we may lose our technological or competitive advantage, or we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to recover or
restrict use of our intellectual property.
We cannot assure investors that any of our currently
pending or future patent applications will result in granted patents, and we cannot predict how long it will take for such patents to
be granted or whether the scope of such patents, if granted, will adequately protect our products from competitors. It is possible that,
for any of our patents that have granted or that may be granted in the future, others will design alternatives that do not infringe upon
our patented technologies. Further, we cannot assure investors that other parties will not challenge any patents granted to us or that
courts or regulatory agencies will hold our patents to be valid or enforceable. We cannot guarantee investors that we will be successful
in defending challenges made against our patents and patent applications. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents could result
in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents, or to such patents being interpreted narrowly or otherwise in a manner adverse
to our interests. Our ability to establish or maintain a technological or competitive advantage over our competitors may be diminished
because of these uncertainties. For these and other reasons, our intellectual property may not provide us with any competitive advantage.
For example:
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We or our licensors might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by each of our pending
patent applications or granted patents;
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We or our licensors might not have been the first to file patent applications for its inventions. To determine
the priority of these inventions, we may have to participate in interference proceedings or derivation proceedings declared by the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, that could result in substantial cost to us. No assurance can be given that our patent applications
or granted patents (or those of our licensors) will have priority over any other patent or patent application involved in such a proceeding;
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Others may independently develop similar or alternative products and technologies or duplicate any of
our products and technologies;
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It is possible that our owned or licensed pending patent applications will not result in granted patents,
and even if such pending patent applications grant as patents, they may not provide a basis for intellectual property protection of commercially
viable products, may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be challenged and invalidated by third parties;
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We may not develop additional proprietary products and technologies that are patentable;
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The patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business; and
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While we apply for patents covering our products and technologies and uses thereof, as we deems appropriate,
we may fail to apply for patents on important products and technologies in a timely fashion or at all, or we may fail to apply for patents
in potentially relevant jurisdictions.
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To the extent our intellectual property offers
inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we would be exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our
intellectual property does not provide adequate coverage over our products and protection against our competitors’ products, our
competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.
Software is a critical component of our devices.
To the extent such software is not protected by our patents, we depend on copyright and trade secret protection and non-disclosure agreements
with our employees, strategic partners and consultants, which may not provide adequate protection.
The measures that we use to protect the security of our intellectual
property and other proprietary rights may not be adequate, which could result in the loss of legal protection for, and thereby diminish
the value of, such intellectual property and other rights.
In addition to pursuing patents on our technology,
we also rely upon trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual
provisions, to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property
rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated. In addition, we take steps to protect our intellectual property
and proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees,
consultants, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisors. Our suppliers also have access to the patented technology owned or used
by us as well as other proprietary information, and these suppliers are subject to confidentiality provisions under their agreements with
us.
Such agreements or provisions may not be enforceable
or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure
or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure. Notwithstanding any such agreements,
there is no assurance that our current or former manufacturers or suppliers will not use and/or supply our competitors with our trade
secrets, know-how or other proprietary information to which these parties gained access or generated from their relationship with us.
This could lead to our competitors gaining access to patented or other proprietary information. Moreover, if a party to an agreement with
us has an overlapping or conflicting obligation to a third party, our rights in and to certain intellectual property could be undermined.
Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or
will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be
expensive and time-consuming, the outcome would be unpredictable, and any remedy may be inadequate. In addition, courts outside the United
States may be less willing to protect trade secrets.
In addition, competitors could purchase our products
and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual
property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual
property rights. If our intellectual property does not adequately protect our market share against competitors’ products and methods,
our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.
We are party to the Technology and Services Exchange Agreement
by and among us and certain affiliated companies, pursuant to which the parties have agreed to share personnel and certain non-core technologies.
The sharing arrangements under the agreement may prevent us from fully utilizing our personnel and/or the technologies shared under the
agreement. Furthermore, if this agreement were to terminate, or if we were to lose access to these technologies and services, our business
could be adversely affected.
Legacy Butterfly entered into a Technology and
Services Exchange Agreement, or the TSEA, by and among Legacy Butterfly and other participant companies controlled by the Rothbergs, consisting
of AI Therapeutics, Inc., Quantum-Si Incorporated, Hyperfine Research, Inc., 4Bionics LLC, Tesseract Health, Inc., Liminal
Services, Inc. and Homodeus Inc. The TSEA, signed in November 2020, became effective upon the Closing. Under the TSEA, we and
the other participant companies may, in their discretion, permit the use of certain non-core technologies, which include any technologies,
information or equipment owned or otherwise controlled by the participant company that are not specifically related to the core business
area of the participant, such as software, hardware, electronics, fabrication and supplier information, vendor lists and contractor lists,
with the other participant companies. The TSEA provides that ownership of each non-core technology shared by us or another participant
company will remain with the company that originally shared the non-core technology. In addition, any participant company (including the
Company) may, in its discretion, permit its personnel to be engaged by another participant company to perform professional, technical
or consulting services for such participant. Unless otherwise agreed to by us and the other participant company, all rights, title and
interest in and to any inventions, works-of-authorship, idea, data or know-how invented, made, created or developed by the personnel (employees,
contractors or consultants) in the course of conducting services for a participant company, or Created IP, will be owned by the participant
company for which the work was performed, and the recipient participant company grants to the party that had its personnel provide the
services that resulted in the creation of the Created IP a royalty-free, perpetual, limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable
(and with respect to software, sub-licensable in object code only) license to utilize the Created IP only in the core business field of
the originating participant company, including a license to create and use derivative works based on the Created IP in the originating
participant’s core business field, subject to any agreed upon restrictions.
The technology- and personnel-sharing arrangements
under the TSEA may prevent us from fully utilizing our personnel if such personnel are also being used by the other participant companies
and may also cause our personnel to enter into agreements with or provide services to other companies that interfere with their obligations
to us. Created IP under the TSEA may be relevant to our business and created by our personnel but owned by the other participant companies.
Furthermore, if the TSEA were to terminate, or if we were to lose access to the technologies and services available pursuant to the TSEA,
our business could be adversely affected.
Our wafer bonding technology for ultrasound applications is licensed
to us by Stanford University. Any loss of our rights to this technology could prevent us from selling our products.
Our wafer bonding technology for use in ultrasound
applications is licensed co-exclusively to us from Stanford until the end of December 2023, at which time the license becomes non-exclusive.
We also license on a non-exclusive basis 11 active patents from Stanford. We do not own the patents that underlie these licenses. Our
rights to use the licensed technology and employ the inventions claimed in the licensed patents are subject to the continuation of and
compliance with the terms of the license. Our principal obligations under the license agreements with Stanford include the following:
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meeting certain milestones pertaining to development, commercialization and sales of products using the licensed technology;
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annual maintenance fees;
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using commercially reasonable efforts to develop and sell a product using the licensed technology and developing a market for such
product; and
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providing certain reports.
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If we breach any of these obligations, Stanford
may have the right to terminate the licenses, which could result in us being unable to develop, manufacture and sell products using the
licensed technology. Termination of our license agreements with Stanford would have a material adverse effect on our business.
In addition, we are a party to a number of other
agreements that include licenses to intellectual property, including non-exclusive licenses. We may need to enter into additional license
agreements in the future. Our business could suffer, for example, if any current or future licenses terminate, if the licensors fail to
abide by the terms of the license, if the licensed patents or other rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable, or if we are unable
to enter into necessary licenses on acceptable terms.
We may need or may choose to obtain licenses
from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our current or future products, and we cannot provide any assurances
that we would be able to obtain such licenses.
We may need or may choose to obtain licenses from
third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our current or future products, and we cannot provide any assurances
that third-party patents do not exist that might be enforced against our current or future products in the absence of such a license.
We may fail to obtain any of these licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may
be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. If we could not obtain a license, we
may be required to expend significant time and resources to develop or license replacement technology. If we are unable to do so, we may
be unable to develop or commercialize the affected products, which could materially harm our business and the third parties owning such
intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our
part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation.
Licensing intellectual property involves complex legal, business and
scientific issues. Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:
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the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;
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whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the
licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;
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our right to sublicense patent and other rights to third parties under collaborative development relationships;
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our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development
and commercialization of our products, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations; and
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the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property
by our licensors and us and our partners.
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If disputes over licensed intellectual property
prevent or impair our ability to maintain the licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and
commercialize the affected product, or the dispute may have an adverse effect on our results of operation.
In addition to agreements pursuant to which we
in-license intellectual property, we have in the past, and we may in the future, grant licenses under our intellectual property. Like
in-licenses, out-licenses are complex, and disputes may arise between us and our licensees, such as the types of disputes described above.
Moreover, our licensees may breach their obligations, or we may be exposed to liability due to our failure or alleged failure to satisfy
our obligations. Any such occurrence could have an adverse effect on our business.
If we or any of our partners are sued for
infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, such litigation would be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome
in any such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our success also depends on our ability to develop,
manufacture, market and sell our products and perform our services without infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous
U.S. and foreign-issued patents and pending patent applications owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are developing
products and services. As part of a business strategy to impede our successful commercialization and entry into new markets, competitors
may claim that our products and/or services infringe their intellectual property rights and may suggest that we enter into license agreements.
Even if such claims are without merit, we could
incur substantial costs and the attention of our management, and technical personnel could be diverted in defending us against claims
of infringement made by third parties or settling such claims. Any adverse ruling by a court or administrative body, or perception of
an adverse ruling, may have a material adverse impact on our ability to conduct our business and our finances. Moreover, third parties
making claims against us may be able to obtain injunctive relief against us, which could block our ability to offer one or more products
or services and could result in a substantial award of damages against us. In addition, since we sometimes indemnify customers, collaborators
or licensees, we may have additional liability in connection with any infringement or alleged infringement of third-party intellectual
property.
Because patent applications can take many years
to issue, there may be pending applications, some of which are unknown to us, that may result in issued patents upon which our products
or proprietary technologies may infringe. Moreover, we may fail to identify issued patents of relevance or incorrectly conclude that an
issued patent is invalid or not infringed by our technology or any of our products. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving
patent and other intellectual property rights in the medical device space. As we face increasing competition and as our business grows,
we will likely face more claims of infringement. If a third party claims that we or any of our licensors, customers or collaboration partners
infringe upon a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may have to:
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seek licenses that may not be available on commercially reasonable
terms, if at all;
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abandon any infringing product or redesign our products or
processes to avoid infringement;
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pay substantial damages including, in an exceptional case,
treble damages and attorneys’ fees, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product or proprietary technology at issue
infringes upon or violates the third-party’s rights;
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pay substantial royalties or fees or grant cross-licenses
to our technology; or
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defend litigation or administrative proceedings that may
be costly whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial diversion of our financial and management resources.
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We may be involved in lawsuits to protect
or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents
that we license. In the event of infringement or unauthorized use, we may file one or more infringement lawsuits, which can be expensive
and time-consuming. An adverse result in any such litigation proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated,
being found to be unenforceable or being interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Furthermore,
because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some
of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
Many of our competitors are larger than we are
and have substantially greater resources. They are, therefore, likely to be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation longer
than we could. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise
any funds necessary to continue our operations, continue our internal research programs, in-license needed technology, or enter into development
partnerships that would help us bring our products to market.
In addition, patent litigation can be very costly
and time-consuming. An adverse outcome in any such litigation or proceedings may expose us or any of our future development partners to
loss of its proprietary position, expose us to significant liabilities, or require us to seek licenses that may not be available on commercially
acceptable terms, if at all.
Our issued patents could be found invalid or unenforceable if
challenged in court, which could have a material adverse impact on our business.
If we or any of our partners were to initiate
legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our products or services, the defendant in such litigation
could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims
alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any
of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness or non-enablement, or failure to claim patent eligible subject
matter. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld
relevant information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before
the USPTO even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable.
With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art of which we and the patent
examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we
would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the challenged patent. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact
on our business.
We may be subject to claims that our employees,
consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their other clients or former employers
to us, which could subject us to costly litigation.
As is common in the medical device industry, we
engage the services of consultants and independent contractors to assist us in the development of our products. Many of these consultants
and independent contractors were previously employed at, or may have previously provided or may be currently providing consulting or other
services to, universities or other technology, biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors.
We may become subject to claims that we, a consultant or an independent contractor inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade
secrets or other information proprietary to their former employers or their former or current clients. We may similarly be subject to
claims stemming from similar actions of an employee, such as one who was previously employed by another company, including a competitor
or potential competitor. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these
claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management team. If we were to be unsuccessful, we could
lose access or exclusive access to valuable intellectual property.
We may be subject to claims challenging
the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.
We generally enter into confidentiality and intellectual
property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, and contractors. These agreements generally provide that inventions conceived
by the party in the course of rendering services to us will be our exclusive property. However, those agreements may not be honored and
may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us. For example, even if we have a consulting agreement in place with an academic
advisor pursuant to which such academic advisor is required to assign any inventions developed in connection with providing services to
us, such academic advisor may not have the right to assign such inventions to us, as it may conflict with his or her obligations to assign
all such intellectual property to his or her employing institution.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual
property rights throughout the world, which could materially, negatively affect our business.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on current
and future products in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some
countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries
do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, regardless
of whether we are able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in the United States, we may not be able to prevent third
parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our
inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not
pursued and obtained patent protection to develop their own products, and further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories
where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as it is in the United States. These products may compete with our products
and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. Even if we pursue
and obtain issued patents in particular jurisdictions, our patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or
sufficient to prevent third parties from competing. Patent protection must ultimately be sought on a country-by-country basis, which is
an expensive and time-consuming process with uncertain outcomes. Accordingly, we may choose not to seek patent protection in certain countries,
and we will not have the benefit of patent protection in such countries.
Many companies have encountered significant problems
in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly
certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which could make it
difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally.
Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention
from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications
at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate
and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual
property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we
develop or license and may adversely impact our business.
In addition, we also face the risk that our products
are imported or reimported into markets with relatively higher prices from markets with relatively lower prices, which would result in
a decrease of sales and any payments we receive from the affected market. Recent developments in U.S. patent law have made it more difficult
to stop these and related practices based on theories of patent infringement.
Changes in patent laws or patent jurisprudence
could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.
The America Invents Act, or AIA, was signed into
law on September 16, 2011, and many of the substantive changes under the AIA became effective on March 16, 2013. An important
change introduced by the AIA is that, as of March 16, 2013, the United States transitioned to a “first-to-file” system
for deciding which party should be granted a patent when two or more patent applications are filed by different parties claiming the same
invention. A third party that files a patent application in the USPTO after that date but before we file could therefore be awarded a
patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by the third party. This requires us to be cognizant
of the time from invention to filing of a patent application, but circumstances could prevent us from promptly filing patent applications
on our inventions.
Among some of the other changes introduced by
the AIA are changes that limit where a patent holder may file a patent infringement suit and providing additional opportunities for third
parties to challenge any issued patent in the USPTO. This applies to all of our owned and in-licensed U.S. patents, even those issued
before March 16, 2013. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in U.S.
federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient
for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in
a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our patent claims that would
not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action. The AIA and its implementation
could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our
issued patents.
Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
on several patent cases in recent years, such as Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International, Inc., Association
for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. and
Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain
circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our
ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once
obtained. Depending on actions by the U.S. Congress and decisions by the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing
patents could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and
patents that we might obtain in the future.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection
depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent
agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent
agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process. There
are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete
loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would
otherwise have been the case. In some cases, our licensors may be responsible for, for example, these payments, thereby decreasing our
control over compliance with these requirements.
If our trademarks and trade names are not
adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.
Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade
names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able
to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition by potential partners or customers
in our markets of interest. At times, competitors may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to
build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement
claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our
trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected.
We may use third-party open source software
components in future products, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our
ability to sell such products.
We have chosen, and we may choose in the future,
to use open source software in its products, including our Software Development Kit, or SDK, which is meant to provide a governed ecosystem
for third parties to create content and applications that will serve to enrich the overall software ecosystem and deliver additional clinical
and product advancements for our users. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party
commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement
claims or the quality of the code. Some open source licenses may contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications
or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software we use. If we combine our proprietary software with open source
software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary
software to the public. This would allow our competitors to create similar products with less development effort and time and ultimately
could result in a loss of product sales.
Although we intend to monitor any use of open
source software to avoid subjecting our products to conditions we do not intend, the terms of many open source licenses have not been
interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that any such licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions
or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products. Moreover, there is no assurance that our processes for controlling our use
of open source software in our products will be effective. If we are held to have breached the terms of an open source software license,
we could be required to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our products on terms that are not economically feasible,
to re-engineer our products, to discontinue the sale of our products if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis, or
to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results
and financial condition.
We use third-party software that may cause errors or failures
of our products that could lead to lost customers or harm to our reputation.
We use software licensed from third parties in
our products. Any errors or defects in third-party software or other third-party software failures could result in errors, defects or
cause our products to fail, which could harm our business and be costly to correct. Many of these providers attempt to impose limitations
on their liability for such errors, defects or failures, and if enforceable, we may have additional liability to our customers or third-party
providers that could harm our reputation and increase our operating costs.
We will need to maintain our relationships with
third-party software providers and to obtain software from such providers that does not contain any errors or defects. Any failure to
do so could adversely impact our ability to deliver reliable products to our customers and could harm our reputation and results of operations.
Numerous factors may limit any potential competitive advantage
provided by our intellectual property rights.
The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property
rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, provide a barrier
to entry against our competitors or potential competitors, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. Moreover, if a third party
has intellectual property rights that cover the practice of our technology, we may not be able to fully exercise or extract value from
our intellectual property rights. The following examples are illustrative:
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others may be able to develop and/or practice technology
that is similar to our technology or aspects of our technology but that is not covered by the claims of any patents that have issued,
or may issue, from our owned or in-licensed patent applications;
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we might not have been the first to make the inventions covered
by a pending patent application that we own or license;
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we might not have been the first to file patent applications
covering an invention;
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others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies
without infringing our intellectual property rights;
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pending patent applications that we own or license may not
lead to issued patents;
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patents, if issued, that we own or license may not provide
us with any competitive advantages, or may be held invalid or unenforceable, as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;
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third parties may compete with us in jurisdictions where
we do not pursue and obtain patent protection;
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we may not be able to obtain and/or maintain necessary or
useful licenses on reasonable terms or at all;
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third parties may be able to also license the intellectual
property that we have licensed nonexclusively;
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third parties may assert an ownership interest in our intellectual
property and, if successful, such disputes may preclude us from exercising exclusive rights over that intellectual property;
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we may not be able to maintain the confidentiality of our
trade secrets or other proprietary information;
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we may not develop or in-license additional proprietary technologies
that are patentable; and
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the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.
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Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our
business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Securities
and to Being a Public Company
The Company’s outstanding warrants
will become exercisable for the Company’s Class A common stock upon the first anniversary of Longview’s initial public
offering. The exercise of these outstanding warrants will increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market
and result in dilution to our stockholders.
Following the Business Combination, there were
13,800,000 outstanding public warrants to purchase 13,800,000 shares of our Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50
per share, which warrants will become exercisable 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering, which occurred on May 26,
2020. In addition, there are 6,853,333 private placement warrants outstanding exercisable for 6,853,333 shares of our Class A common
stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. In certain circumstances, the public warrants and private placement warrants may
be exercised on a cashless basis. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of our Class A common stock will be
issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of our Class A common stock and increase the number of shares eligible for resale
in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market could adversely affect the market price of our
Class A common stock, the impact of which is increased as the value of our stock price increases.
We are an emerging growth company and a
smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements
available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less
attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company”
within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting
requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited
to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure
obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding
a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company
for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common
stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no
longer be an emerging growth company as of the last day of such fiscal year. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities
less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance
on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading
market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS
Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies
(that is, those that have not had a registration statement under the Securities Act declared effective or do not have a class of securities
registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides
that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth
companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means
that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth
company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison
of our financial statements with another public company that is not an emerging growth company or is an emerging growth company which
has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards
used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting
company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain
reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will
remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our common stock held by
non-affiliates is greater than or equal to $250 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter, and (ii) our
annual revenues are greater than or equal to $100 million during the last completed fiscal year and the market value of our common
stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent
we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies
difficult or impossible.
If we fail to maintain an effective system
of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result,
our stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm its business and the trading price
of our Class A common stock.
Effective internal control over financial reporting
is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, is designed
to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could
cause us to fail to meet its reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us, as and when required, conducted in connection with
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting
firm, as and when required, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be significant
deficiencies or material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to its financial statements or identify other
areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial
information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to Section 404, we will be required
to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within
the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate its internal control over financial reporting, which is
both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt
a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, take steps to improve control processes
as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement
process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that neither we, nor our independent registered
public accounting firm will be able to conclude within the prescribed timeframe that our internal control over financial reporting is
effective as required by Section 404. This could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence
in the reliability of our financial statements.
Because we are a “controlled company” within the
meaning of the NYSE rules, our stockholders may not have certain corporate governance protections that are available to stockholders of
companies that are not controlled companies.
So long as more than 50% of the voting power for the election of our
directors is held by an individual, a group or another company, we will qualify as a “controlled company” within the meaning
of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Following the completion of the Business Combination, Dr. Rothberg controls approximately
76.2% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning
of the NYSE corporate governance standards and will not be subject to the requirements that would otherwise require us to have: (i) a
majority of independent directors; (ii) a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors; (iii) compensation
of our executive officers determined by a majority of the independent directors or a compensation committee comprised solely of independent
directors; and (iv) director nominees selected, or recommended for our board of directors’ selection, either by a majority
of the independent directors or a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors.
Dr. Rothberg may have his interest in the Company diluted due
to future equity issuances or his own actions in selling shares of our Class B common stock, in each case, which could result in
a loss of the “controlled company” exemption under the NYSE listing rules. We would then be required to comply with those
provisions of the NYSE listing requirements.
The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of
concentrating voting power with the chairman of our board of directors and founder, which will limit an investor’s ability to influence
the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
Shares of our Class B common stock have 20 votes per share, while
shares of our Class A common stock have one vote per share. Dr. Rothberg holds all of the issued and outstanding shares of our
Class B common stock and, following the completion of the Business Combination, holds approximately 76.2% of the voting power of
our capital stock and is able to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors, amendments
of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate
transactions. Dr. Rothberg may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may
be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of
the Company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of the Company,
and may affect the market price of shares of our Class A common stock.
We cannot predict the impact our dual class structure may have
on the stock price of our Class A common stock.
We cannot predict whether our dual class structure will result in a
lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example,
certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indexes.
Under these policies, our dual class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual
funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track those indices will not be investing in our
stock. It is unclear what effect, if any, these policies will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from such indices,
but it is possible that they may depress valuations, as compared to similar companies that are included. As a result, the market price
of shares of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.
Delaware law and provisions in our certificate of incorporation
and bylaws could make a takeover proposal more difficult.
Our organizational documents are governed by Delaware law. Certain
provisions of Delaware law and of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could discourage, delay, defer or prevent a merger, tender
offer, proxy contest or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts
that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of our Class A common stock held by our stockholders. These provisions
provide for, among other things:
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the ability of our board of directors to issue one or more series
of preferred stock;
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stockholder action by written consent only until the first time
when Dr. Rothberg ceases to beneficially own a majority of the voting power of our capital stock;
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certain limitations on convening special stockholder meetings;
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advance notice for nominations of directors by stockholders and
for stockholders to include matters to be considered at our annual meetings;
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amendment of certain provisions of the organizational documents
only by the affirmative vote of (i) a majority of the voting power of our capital stock and (ii) at least two-thirds of the
outstanding shares of our Class B common stock, voting as a separate class; and
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a dual-class common stock structure with 20 votes per share of
our Class B common stock, the result of which is that Dr. Rothberg has the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring
stockholder approval, even though Dr. Rothberg owns less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our capital stock.
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These anti-takeover provisions as well
as certain provisions of Delaware law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire the Company, even if the third party’s
offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain
a premium for their shares. If prospective takeovers are not consummated for any reason, we may experience negative reactions from the
financial markets, including negative impacts on the price of our common stock. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests
and make it more difficult for our stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause the Company to take other corporate
actions that our stockholders desire.
Our certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery
of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings and the federal district courts
as the sole and exclusive forum for other types of actions and proceedings, in each case, that may be initiated by our stockholders, which
could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain what such stockholders believe to be a favorable judicial forum for disputes with
the Company or our directors, officers or other employees.
Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent to
the selection of an alternative forum, any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company; (ii) action
asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by, or any other wrongdoing by, any current or former director, officer or other
employee or stockholder of the Company; (iii) action asserting a claim against the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the
DGCL or our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or (iv) action to interpret, apply, enforce, or determine the validity of
any provisions in the certificate of incorporation of bylaws; or (v) action asserting a claim against the company or any director
or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine, shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be exclusively brought
in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, the federal district
court of the State of Delaware. Subject to the foregoing, the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum for
the resolution of any action, suit or proceeding asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act. The exclusive forum provision does
not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise
acquiring an interest in any shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions
in our certificate of incorporation. These choice-of-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial
forum that he, she or it believes to be favorable for disputes with the Company or our directors, officers or other employees or stockholders,
which may discourage such lawsuits. We note that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce these provisions and that investors
cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities
Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the
Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our certificate
of incorporation inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur
additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business,
financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
Litigation Risks
We face the risk of product liability claims and may be subject
to damages, fines, penalties and injunctions, among other things.
Our business exposes us to the risk of product
liability claims that are inherent in the testing, manufacturing and marketing of medical devices, including those which may arise from
the misuse (including system hacking or other unauthorized access by third parties to its systems) or malfunction of, or design flaws
in, our hardware and software products. This liability may vary based on the FDA classification associated with our devices and with the
state law governing product liability standards applied to specification developers and/or manufacturers in a given negligence or strict
liability lawsuit. We may be subject to product liability claims if its products cause, or merely appear to have caused, an injury. Claims
may be made by patients, healthcare providers or others selling our products. The risk of product liability claims may also increase if
our products are subject to a product recall or seizure. Product liability claims may be brought by individuals or by groups seeking to
represent a class.
Although we have insurance at levels that we believe
to be appropriate, this insurance is subject to deductibles and coverage limitations. Our current product liability insurance may not
continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all, and, if available, the coverage may not be adequate to protect us against
any future product liability claims. Further, if additional medical device products are approved or cleared for marketing, or if we launch
additional 510(k)-exempt device products or products that are not FDA-regulated medical devices, we may seek additional insurance coverage.
If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or on acceptable terms with adequate coverage or otherwise protect against
potential product liability claims, we will be exposed to significant liabilities, which may harm our business. A product liability claim,
recall or other claim with respect to uninsured liabilities or for amounts in excess of insured liabilities could result in significant
costs and significant harm to our business.
We may be subject to claims against us even if
the apparent injury is due to the actions of others or misuse of the device or a partner device. Healthcare providers may use our products
in a manner inconsistent with the products’ labeling and that differs from the manner in which it was used in clinical studies and
approved by the FDA. Off-label use of products by healthcare providers is common, and any such off-label use of our products could subject
us to additional liability, or require design changes to limit this potential off-label use once discovered. Defending a suit, regardless
of merit, could be costly, could divert management attention and might result in adverse publicity, which could result in the withdrawal
of, or result in reduced acceptance of, our products in the market.
Additionally, we have entered into various agreements
where we indemnify third parties for certain claims relating to our products. These indemnification obligations may require us to pay
significant sums of money for claims that are covered by these indemnification obligations. We are not currently subject to any product
liability claims; however, any future product liability claims against us, regardless of their merit, may result in negative publicity
about us that could ultimately harm our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results
of operations.