FTCI · Read the filing

10-K

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024

Commission File Number 001-40350

FTC SOLAR, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (737) 787-7906

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class TradingSymbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.0001 par value FTCI The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☑

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☑

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☑ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐

Non-accelerated filer ☑ Smaller reporting company ☑

Emerging growth company ☑

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No☑

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of the shares of common stock on June 30, 2024 was $29,824,987.

The number of shares of registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 28, 2025, was 12,867,671.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

List hereunder the following documents if incorporated by reference and the Part of the Form 10-K (e.g., Part I, Part II, etc.) into which the document is incorporated:

Portions of the registrant's 2025 Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be filed on or before April 30, 2025, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 1

Summary of Risk Factors 2

PART I

Item 1. Business 4

Item 1A. Risk Factors 13

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 36

Item 1C. Cybersecurity 37

Item 2. Properties 38

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 39

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 39

PART II

Item 6. [Reserved] 42

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 57

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 58

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 93

Item 9B. Other Information 94

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 94

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 95

Item 11. Executive Compensation 95

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 95

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules 96

SIGNATURES 99

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical or current facts contained in this Annual Report may be forward-looking statements. Statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, including, among others, liquidity, growth and profitability strategies and factors and trends affecting our business are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified in some cases by the use of words such as “believe,” “can,” “could,” “potential,” “plan,” “predict,” “goals,” “seek,” “should,” “may,” “may have,” “would,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” the negative of these words, other similar expressions or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.

The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We believe that these factors include, but are not limited to, the factors set forth under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" below. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

In addition, statements that “we believe”, "we expect" and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

You should read this Annual Report with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report, whether as a result of any new information, future events, or otherwise.

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SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS

We are subject to a number of risks that in some cases have and moving forward if realized could further adversely affect our business, strategies, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Some of the more significant risks and uncertainties we face include those summarized below. The summary below is not exhaustive and is qualified by reference to the full set of risk factors set forth in Item 1A. Risk Factors below. Please carefully consider all of the information in this Annual Report, including the full set of risks set forth in the "Risk Factors" section below, and in our other filings with the SEC before making an investment decision regarding us.

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Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

We have a history of losses that may continue in the future and have determined there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern; the demand for our products and related revenue depends on many factors beyond our control; we may not achieve profitability or generate positive cash flow; and we may not be able to obtain desired additional debt or equity financing on terms favorable to us.

Our dependence on a limited number of customers, the payment terms we agree to with such customers and the expected timing of customer project development activity may impair our ability to operate profitably.

The market for our products and services is highly competitive and rapidly evolving and we expect to face increased competition.

Our success in providing panel agnostic versions of our solar tracker systems will depend in part upon our ability to continue to work closely with leading solar panel manufacturers.

We invest significant time, resources and management attention to identifying and developing project leads that are subject to our sales and marketing focus, and if we are unsuccessful in converting such project leads (or awarded orders) into binding purchase orders, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We plan to continue expanding into additional international markets, which will expose us to additional regulatory, economic, political, reputational and competitive risks.

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Risks Related to Government Regulations and Legal Compliance

The reduction, elimination or expiration of government incentives for, or regulations mandating the use of, as well as corporate commitments to the use of, renewable energy and solar energy specifically could reduce demand for solar energy systems and harm our business.

The concentration of our sales in a limited number of specific markets increases risks associated with the reduction, elimination or expiration of governmental subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy products.

Existing electric utility industry policies and regulations, and any subsequent changes, may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar energy systems that may significantly reduce demand for our products and services or harm our ability to compete.

Actions addressing determinations of forced labor practices in China and legislation and policies adopted to address such practices may disrupt the global supply of solar panels and affect our business.

Changes in the U.S. trade environment, including the imposition of import tariffs, could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenue, results of operations or cash flows.

Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us, or our customers, could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Related to Manufacturing and Our Supply Chain

We depend upon a limited number of outside contract manufacturers, and our operations could be disrupted if our relationships with these contract manufacturers are compromised.

We may experience delays, disruptions or quality control problems in our contract manufacturers’ manufacturing operations, which could result in reputational damage and other liabilities to our customers.

We depend on a limited number of contract manufacturers for key components of our products to adequately meet anticipated demand. Due to the limited number of such contract manufacturers, any cessation of operations or production or any shortage, delay, price change, imposition of tariffs or duties or other limitation on our ability to obtain the components we use could result in sales delays, cancellations and loss of market share.

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Risks Related to Intellectual Property

If we fail, in whole or in part, to obtain, maintain, protect, defend or enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, our business and results of operations could be materially harmed.

We may need to defend ourselves against third-party claims that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating third-party intellectual property rights, which could divert management’s attention, cause us to incur significant costs and prevent us from selling or using the products, services or technologies to which such rights relate.

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Risks Related to Information Technology and Data Privacy

A significant cybersecurity incident or other disruption to our technology infrastructure could disrupt our business operations and cause financial and reputational damage.

Unauthorized disclosure of personal or sensitive data or confidential information, whether through a breach of our computer or information technology systems or otherwise, could severely hurt our business.

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Risks Related to Our Capital Strategy, Ownership of Our Common Stock, and Our Senior Notes

An active, liquid trading market for our common stock may not be sustained.

If the trading price of our common stock fails to comply with the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Market, we would face possible delisting, which would result in a limited public market for our common stock and make obtaining future debt or equity financing more difficult for us.

Raising additional funds may cause dilution to existing stockholders and/or may restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights.

The terms and covenants included in the Senior Notes could restrict our business, and if we do not comply with the covenants included in the Senior Notes our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, our operations may not provide sufficient cash to meet the repayment obligations under the Senior Notes.

There may be future sales of our securities or other dilution of our equity, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Certain provisions of the Warrants could discourage an acquisition of us by a third party.

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future.

The price of our common stock could decline if securities analysts do not publish research or if securities analysts or other third parties publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us.

Our directors, executive officers and principal stockholders will continue to have significant influence over our company, which could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Development of the business

FTC Solar, Inc. (the “Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) was founded in 2017 and is incorporated in the state of Delaware. In April 2021, we completed an initial public offering ("IPO"), and our common stock currently trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market ("Nasdaq") under the symbol “FTCI”.

We are a global provider of solar tracker systems, supported by proprietary software and value-added engineering services. Solar tracker systems move solar panels throughout the day to maintain an optimal orientation relative to the sun, thereby increasing the amount of solar energy produced at a solar installation. Our original two modules-in-portrait ("2P") solar tracker system is marketed under the Voyager brand name (“Voyager”) and our one module-in-portrait ("1P") solar tracker system is marketed under the Pioneer brand name ("Pioneer"). We also have a mounting solution to support the installation and use of U.S.-manufactured thin-film modules. Our primary software offerings include SUNPATH which helps customers optimize solar tracking for increased energy production and our SUNOPS real-time operations management platform. In addition, we have a team of renewable energy professionals available to assist our U.S. and worldwide clients in site layout, structural design, pile testing and other needs across the solar project development and construction cycle. Our products and services provide tracker solutions for large utility-scale solar and distributed generation projects around the world. Our customers are primarily engineering, procurement and construction companies ("EPCs") and we also contract with developers and owners. The Company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has international subsidiaries in Australia, China, India, South Africa and Spain.

During 2024, we added to our executive leadership team. In August 2024, Yann Brandt joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer, and he is a member of our Board of Directors. Further, Cathy Behnen was appointed as our Chief Financial Officer in February 2024; we hired Alberto Echeverria, a former CEO and Executive Member of the Board of STI Norland, as our Senior Vice President of International Sales in May 2024; and Kent James joined us in January 2025 as our Chief Commercial Officer for North America.

On November 29, 2024, we effected a 1-for-10 reverse stock split of our outstanding common stock (the "Reverse Stock Split"). The Reverse Stock Split did not impact the par value of our common stock or the authorized number of shares of our common stock.

On December 2, 2024, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with a third-party for the sale of certain assets, including intellectual property, associated with our Atlas web-based software platform, used by customers to organize and manage their solar project portfolios, for a price of $0.9 million, plus future potential earnout payments. The earnout payments, which could total up to $0.2 million, are contingent upon annual license renewals by certain existing customers during 2025.

On December 4, 2024, we entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with an institutional investor as the purchaser under the Purchase Agreement (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we sold, and the Investor purchased $15.0 million in principal amount of senior secured promissory notes (the “Senior Notes”) and warrants (the “Warrants”) (the “Offering”). The Senior Notes mature on December 4, 2029. We granted a security interest to the Investor in substantially all of our assets and certain of our subsidiaries have each guaranteed our obligations under the Senior Notes, and the Senior Notes include the further covenants and terms summarized under "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Senior notes and warrants.".

The Warrants, which were valued at $5.2 million upon issuance and are included as a long-term liability in our Consolidated Balance Sheet, are exercisable for 10 years and allow for the purchase of an aggregate of up to 1,750,000 (on a post-split basis) shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.10 per share. A member of our Board of Directors, Pablo Barahona, invested $500,000 in the Investor, which was used to finance the purchase price of the Offering.

Finally, during 2024, we announced several large new project awards, involving supply agreements for delivery of up to 1 gigawatt of our tracker technology each with Strata Clean Energy, Sandhills Energy and Dunlieh Energy and we launched our automated hail stow solution, aimed at minimizing solar panel damage caused by hailstorms.

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. Under the JOBS Act, we elected to use the allowed extended transition period to delay adopting new or revised accounting

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standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We also qualify as a smaller reporting company under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

Description of the business

We currently offer trackers and software solutions targeting the utility-scale solar energy markets to current and potential customers in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa and Australia.

Our Voyager tracking system is built upon a self-powered 2P single-axis tracker design utilizing a 60-meter independent row architecture, which we believe provides numerous advantages to our customers. We have expanded our Voyager tracker portfolio into ultra-large-format modules ("ULFMs") and U.S. thin-film modules to accommodate the different customer solar installations. We also improved the resilience of the trackers by increasing wind speed tolerance up to 150 miles per hour.

In addition, our Pioneer 1P solar tracker solution leverages technological advantages of Voyager and provides what we believe to be numerous cost savings benefits to our customers relative to other 1P solutions including faster assembly capability, a reduced pile count and embedment depth, and higher slope tolerance. We have continued to broaden compatibility options for Pioneer, including for ULFMs and the newest Series 7 U.S. thin-film modules, as well as additional foundation options, like screw piles.

Our SUNOPS operations management software is designed to help customers identify and resolve tracker underperformance issues, with insights down to a single tracker array. Our SUNPATH software can be used by customers to help recover energy lost due to row-to-row shading on undulating terrain and land-constrained sites while maximizing energy production on cloudy days, which allows our customers to maximize their solar site revenue. This is accomplished through adjusting the tracking angle of each row individually to minimize the impact of shadow casting, especially on undulating terrain, and to optimize tracking angles on cloudy days. SUNPATH leverages satellite imagery to predict cloud movements and to adjust the tracking system in real-time to provide optimal performance.

We continue to make efforts to expand our domestic and international footprint, along with our customer outreach efforts. As an example, in early 2025, we named one of the members of our executive leadership team as our Senior Vice President, Customer Excellence, to lead our initiatives to enhance customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty in order to support our long-term growth. In addition, in 2023, we established a Customer Advisory Board, chaired by the president of Powin, a global leader in energy storage systems, to provide support for our future expected growth and assist in our efforts to ensure a world-class customer experience.

The vast majority of our revenue in the periods presented in this Annual Report was attributable to sales by our legal entities in the United States and Australia.

Since 2022, we have also been focused on efforts to improve our gross margins through design-to-value initiatives intended to reduce our product cost structure, as well as other efforts to make our period cost structure more efficient, without sacrificing service to our customers.

We currently operate in one business segment, the manufacturing and servicing of solar tracker systems.

We report both product and service revenue in our consolidated financial statements. Product revenue is derived from the sale of solar tracker systems and customized components for those systems, individual part sales for certain specific transactions and the sale of term-based software licenses. Service revenue includes revenue from shipping and handling services, engineering consulting and pile testing services, our subscription-based enterprise licensing model and maintenance and support services in connection with the term-based software licenses.

We incur costs associated with the revenue generated related to (i) the raw materials used in our solar tracker systems, including parts and components, (ii) equipment manufacturing activities, net of incentives earned, (iii) personnel costs attributable to procurement, installation and delivery of finished products and services, (iv) freight and delivery, (v) product warranty, (vi) insurance, and (vii) customer support.

We currently outsource all manufacturing to contract manufacturing partners. We are focused on growing our U.S. manufacturing supply partners in order to reduce lead times for our customers, as well as other potential benefits. As an example, on February 9, 2023, we entered into a limited liability company agreement (the "LLC Agreement") with Taihua New Energy (Thailand) Co., LTD ("Taihua"), a leading steel fabricator and an existing vendor, and DAYV LLC, for the creation of Alpha Steel LLC ("Alpha Steel"), a Delaware limited liability company dedicated to producing steel components, including torque tubes and structural fasteners, for utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects. The Alpha Steel facility, which is located outside of Houston in Sealy, Texas, began limited commercial

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production late in the fourth quarter of 2023. For further discussion, see Note 11 "Equity method investment" included in our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

In addition to Alpha Steel, we plan to continue to partner with other U.S.-based manufacturers to further add to our domestic content capabilities and we will continue to use existing and new international manufacturers to expand our capacity, as needed, to address anticipated increases in future volume.

Based on the U.S. dollar amount of purchase orders we issued during the year ended December 31, 2024, the percentage of our spending involved partners located in the following countries:

Vendor location Year ended December 31, 2024

United States 66 %

India 9 %

Thailand 5 %

All other 9 %

Market factors

Several market factors are driving the growth in solar energy including:

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the declining cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules over the last several years, although this may be affected in the future in the event of higher tariffs being applied;

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government incentives such as tax incentives, Renewable Portfolio Standards ("RPS") and international climate commitments to accelerate the adoption of solar energy;

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increasing demand for electricity associated with new data center construction and expansion of the use of artificial intelligence;

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environmental concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions;

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technological advancements in solar panel design and efficiency; and

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corporate sustainability goals, among other factors.

Our global market opportunity is driven by three primary factors: (i) overall growth in utility-scale solar projects, (ii) the increased usage of trackers as the preferred mounting system in utility-scale solar projects and (iii) our ability to execute our product roadmap by providing new products that improve performance and cost efficiency of solar power projects.

Governments across the globe have established policies to support a transition away from fossil fuels and towards low-carbon forms of energy, such as solar power. In the United States, while there is no federal legislation implementing RPS, over half of the states have implemented their own RPS policies with some setting ambitious targets of 50% or even 100% of electric power coming from renewable energy sources by specific dates.

The U.S. government has typically relied on federal tax credits, grants and loan programs to encourage development of new renewable energy technologies and projects. The most notable incentive program impacting our U.S. business has historically been the investment tax credit ("ITC") for solar energy projects, which allows taxpayers to offset their U.S. federal income tax liability by a certain percentage of their cost basis in solar energy systems placed in service for commercial use. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 ("IRA"), passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, expanded and extended the tax credits and other tax benefits available to solar energy projects and the solar energy supply chain. ITCs are currently available at a base rate of 30% for projects that begin construction by the end of 2032, and decline to 26% and 22% for projects beginning construction in 2033 and 2034, respectively. Bonus credits are additionally available for projects that meet applicable domestic content and prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules. U.S. manufacturers of specific solar components are now eligible to claim production tax credits under Section 45X of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which was established as part of the IRA and is a per-unit tax credit earned for each clean energy component manufactured domestically and sold by a manufacturer. Our investment in, and commitments made to Alpha Steel allow us to obtain benefits of lower product costs from Alpha Steel as a result of the production tax credit program, subject to our level of purchases from Alpha Steel.

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Globally, investments in renewable energy have accelerated since the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the "Convention"), which became effective in 2016, and which requires signatory nations to set certain carbon reduction goals, among other commitments. However, the Trump Administration has issued an executive order to start the process to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and is unlikely to support future international efforts to combat climate change. U.S. withdrawal from the Convention, however, does not limit the efforts by other signatories to achieve their commitments under the Convention.

Prior to the Trump Administration, these factors, along with efficiency improvements and cost reductions in the underlying photovoltaic cell technology used in solar energy production, have contributed to solar energy becoming the fastest growing source of new electricity in America. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, in its January 2025 Short-Term Energy Outlook, estimates that solar generation, as a result of capacity additions, will increase in the United States by 34% in 2025 and 17% in 2026 and will supply most of the increase in electrical generation during those years. The election of Donald Trump and Republican control of the U.S. Congress, has created uncertainty regarding whether changes will be made to available tax credits and other government subsidies and whether other actions will be taken by the Trump Administration or Congress that eliminate or reduce solar-related incentives and subsidies or that otherwise directly or indirectly impact the solar energy industry, and which could have an adverse impact on short- and long-term outlook of the solar industry in the U.S. and abroad.

Solar trackers have been gaining market share versus fixed-tilt mounting systems due to their ability to optimize energy production, accommodate more varied terrain and offer a more attractive return on investment. Based on information published in 2024 by Credence Research, in 2023, North America and Europe collectively accounted for over half of the solar tracker market with Asia Pacific having a market share around 38% - 42%. We believe we are well positioned to benefit from the accelerating adoption of both one and two-panel in-portrait tracker systems, bifacial panels and larger-format or higher-powered bifacial panels.

Our growth strategy is based on (i) increasing our market share in the United States, (ii) continuing our international expansion, including by increasing our sales to the distributed generation market, (iii) enhancing our tracker product offerings, (iv) reducing our operating costs through operating leverage, (v) expanding our software offering by supporting lean construction, operating, maintenance and lifecycle management and improving the attachment rate of enhanced software to tracker sales, and (vi) identifying additional strategic acquisitions or other opportunities.

Government policies and regulations

While U.S. federal and state governments have provided incentives for expansion of the use of solar energy, as described above, other policies and actions of the U.S. federal government have had a negative impact on demand through creation of uncertainty as to the ability and cost of importing solar modules into the United States.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act ("UFLPA") was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. The UFLPA established a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China ("Xinjiang"), or that are produced by certain entities, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry to the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") began implementing the presumption set out in the UFLPA on June 21, 2022, resulting in new rules for solar module importers and reviews by CBP.

On April 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in response to a petition by Auxin Solar, Inc. ("Auxin"), published a notice initiating an investigation ("the Solar Circumvention Investigation") of claims related to alleged circumvention of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties ("AD/CVD") by solar manufacturers in certain Southeast Asian countries, in an effort to determine whether or not solar cells and/or modules made in those Southeast Asian nations use parts originating from China in order to circumvent the AD/CVD tariffs. On June 6, 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order allowing U.S. solar deployers to import solar modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam free from certain duties for 24 months, along with other incentives designed to accelerate U.S. domestic production of clean energy technologies. This moratorium ended in June 2024 and China-wide anti-dumping duties are now nearly 240% and countervailing duties for all other countries are over 15%. Additionally, on December 29, 2023, Auxin and Concept Clean Energy, Inc. filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legal basis for the moratorium and implementing regulations. Several motions have been filed to date, including a motion to dismiss by the U.S. government, which the court rejected. If the suit proves successful, solar module importers could owe retroactive duties on goods that have already cleared customs. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce is currently conducting an antidumping and countervailing duty

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investigation into imports of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, which may result in additional duties imposed on imports from those nations.

These policies and actions, along with delays in receiving permits from certain local and state entities, and backlogs in the interconnection queue study process in various regions, resulted in some developers deferring projects, which negatively impacted our 2024 and 2023 revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our revenue and our cash flows in 2025.

There continues to be some uncertainty in the market around achieving full compliance with UFLPA, whether related to sufficient traceability of materials or other factors. Escalating trade tensions, particularly between the United States and China, have led to increased tariffs and trade restrictions, including tariffs applicable to certain raw materials and components for our products. We have taken measures with the intention of mitigating the effect of tariffs and the impact of AD/CVD and UFLPA on our business by reducing our reliance on China and enhancing our U.S.-based supply chain, including through our investment in Alpha Steel.

Environmental, social and governance (“ESG”)

Our mission and core values -

Our mission is to drive energy independence through effective and efficient solar engineering and innovation.

The following three central pillars are what we were founded on and what currently guides our company:

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Sustainability, as we were born from sustainable products

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Innovation in the energy transition

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Asset-light to provide efficient and flexible capacity

We accelerate the adoption of renewable energy by reducing the cost of construction, simplifying the installation process and improving the energy yield of solar projects, thus supporting the transition away from fossil fuels. We make solar energy generation more efficient and attainable with our software, engineering and differentiated products.

We are committed to the following core values in the way we do business:

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Integrity - We do the right thing. We are humble and listen to new ideas. We respect our customers and our teammates.

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Accountability - We are all accountable and act with urgency. We are transparent and deliver on our commitments. We come together to solve problems.

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Innovation - We collaborate to create world class solutions. We foster a learning culture. We turn great ideas into our future.

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Excellence - We are committed to high quality. We plan well and execute flawlessly. We are focused on results.

Environmental management -

We are committed to protecting our environment for the benefit of current and future generations. We design our products and operations to reduce environmental impacts and maximize environmental savings.

Since 2018, we have maintained ISO 14001:2015 certification through third-party assurance. The standard from the International Organization for Standardization ("ISO") details the requirements for an environmental management system that we use to measure and manage our environmental performance. Specifically, our tracker business is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certified, and through Intertek has met the standards necessary to qualify for the UL certification for solar trackers. Our contract manufacturing partners also undergo a qualification process to remain on our approved vendor list, which includes a review and assessment of their environmental performance.

We assess our emissions across our global operations, focusing initially on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Our Scope 1 emissions cover a fleet of light-duty trucks we operate for equipment delivery and technical support. Our Scope 2 emissions are associated with purchased electricity primarily at our offices in Texas, India, Australia. All of our manufacturing is outsourced to contract manufacturing partners, and we currently do not own or lease any manufacturing facilities.

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We continue to shift away from non-renewable and non-recyclable materials, toward more sustainable materials, such as wood and paper, wherever possible. Additionally, we designed our solar tracker offerings to minimize steel content, to require no specialized tools and to reduce labor hours needed for installation and maintenance. We also launched a supplier engagement program dedicated to empowering our supply chain partners to integrate sustainable practices while ensuring consistent quality.

Social -

In addition to providing training to our employees and regular reinforcement of our core values, we have also invested resources in developing a workforce where our teams can enjoy a collaborative environment.

Personal health and safety of each employee is of utmost importance, and we work to continually improve our safety policies and procedures. Our employees do not directly perform solar installations, but we consider the safety of the on-site installers when designing our products and installation procedures.

ISO 45001 is a framework that was developed to address occupational health and safety risks in the workplace using best practices from international labor standards and regulatory agencies. As noted above, we hold ISO 45001:2018 certification and use a separate but aligned qualification process with our contract manufacturing partners.

We provide competitive medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance and savings plan benefits to our employees and regularly publicly recognize individual and teamwork and innovations in company-wide meetings.

Governance -

We are governed by a board of directors comprising seven members, including five independent members. Our board has established an audit committee, compensation committee and nominating and governance committee, consisting solely of independent members, to advise the full board on various matters. The audit committee will also periodically meet separately with our independent auditors, without the presence of management, to discuss any matters of importance or concern to our auditors. Additionally, our Director of Internal Audit organizationally reports directly to the audit committee.

Our executive officers serve at the discretion of our board of directors and hold office until his or her successor is duly appointed or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. There are no family relationships among any of our directors or executive officers. The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers and members of our Board of Directors as of December 31, 2024:

Name Age Company Position/Board Member Occupation

Executive Officers

Yann Brandt 42 President and Chief Executive Officer, Director

Sasan Aminpour 61 Chief Operating Officer

Cathy Behnen 61 Chief Financial Officer

Non-employee Members of the Board of Directors

Ahmad ChatilaDirector 57 Managing Partner Fenice Investment Group

David SpringerDirector 56 Chief Operating Officer Recurrent Energy

In addition to our executive officers, our global executive leadership team at December 31, 2024, also included other individuals, including our Chief Human Resources Officer, Senior Vice President of Capital Markets and Business Development, Senior Vice President of North America Sales, Senior Vice President of International Sales and the Chief of Staff. Additional biographical information on our executive officers will be set forth in the 2025 Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders and is incorporated herein by reference.

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Outlined below under "Human capital resources", is information on the diversity in gender, age and ethnicity of our board of directors, executive leadership team and employee population as of December 31, 2024.

Climate change

Climate change has primarily impacted our business operations by increasing demand for solar power generation and, as a result, for use of our products.

While climate change has not resulted in any material negative impact to our operations to date, we recognize the risk of disruptions to our supply chain due to extreme weather events. This, among other things, has led us to expand the diversity of our supplier base and to partner with more local suppliers to reduce shipping and transportation needs. We are also increasingly partnering with larger scale steel producers rather than smaller suppliers to facilitate scaling of our operations while remaining conscious of the environmental impacts of steel manufacturing as the regulatory landscape around these high-emitting industries evolves. An example of this strategy is our investment in Alpha Steel, a U.S.-based manufacturing partnership with a leading steel fabricator.

We also attempt to mitigate the climate-related risks from the use of our products by designing our equipment and systems to have a high-slope tolerance and wind mitigation capabilities, while at the same time reducing the required foundation/pile count needed. This allows our trackers to be installed in increasingly hostile environments with minimal disturbance to the surrounding land.

Seasonality

Our revenue may be impacted by seasonality and variability related to the timing of construction activity. Based on historical experience, we have experienced to some degree lower levels of customer purchasing during winter months in cold-weather climates as it is more costly to our customers to set foundations when the ground is frozen, however, such fluctuations due to seasonality have not had a material adverse impact on our operations.

Competition

The tracker industry is highly specialized and dominated by a relatively small number of companies. Our direct tracker competitors include Array Technologies, Inc., GameChange Solar, Nextracker Inc. and PVH. We also compete indirectly with manufacturers of fixed-tilt mounting systems. We compete on the basis of product performance and features, total cost of ownership (usually measured by the levelized cost of energy), reliability and duration of product warranty, sales, manufacturing and distribution capabilities, training, customer support and the ability to identify, hire and retain qualified personnel.

Patents, trademarks and trade names

We maintain a robust program of research and development to continue to enhance and expand our product offerings to our customers. During the year ended December 31, 2024, our research and development costs totaled $5.9 million, including employee salaries and benefit costs.

Our trademarks and trade names include, but are not limited to, Voyager Tracker, Pioneer Tracker, SUNPATH, SUNOPS and FTC Solar, which are protected under applicable intellectual property laws. This Annual Report also may contain trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, the trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights referred to in this Annual Report are listed without the TM, SM, © and ® symbols, but we will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensors, if any, to these trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights.

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At December 31, 2024, we had patents in the following locations:

Locations Patents Granted Patents Allowed and Pending for Examination

United States 49 2

Australia 4 1

All other 7 1

Our issued U.S. patents are expected to expire between 2027 and 2043.

Human capital resources

Our year-end headcount by department for each period was as follows:

Operations and support 93 106

Research and development 45 41

Sales and marketing 20 22

General and administrative 44 44

Total headcount at period end 202 213

Our employees at each year end were located in the following countries:

Australia 4 5

Total headcount at period end 202 213

We believe we have a diverse employee base in terms of gender, age, experience, background and ethnicity. As an example, the self-identified gender of our board of directors and global employee workforce at December 31, 2024, was as follows:

Gender Board of Directors Global Executive Leadership Team All globalemployees

Total at period end 7 8 202

The age range for our board of directors and global employee workforce at December 31, 2024, was as follows:

Total at period end 7 8 202

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Additionally, we gather ethnicity information on our U.S. employees, which at December 31, 2024, was as follows:

African American or Black — 1 8

Hispanic or Latinx 1 1 9

White (not Hispanic or Latino)(a) 4 4 45

Two or more races (not Hispanic or Latino) — 1 5

Total at period end 7 7 82

___________

We also seek to attract, advance and empower women in advancing their skills and career opportunities through networking, mentorship and professional development. As an example, we sponsor an internal Women's Innovation Network (WIN) which is focused on attracting, empowering and investing in women's skill and career opportunities. This group holds periodic on-line meetings and events open to the entire employee population at various times during each year. At December 31, 2024, women held the following leadership positions within the Company:

Leadership positions held by women Global

Women on the board of directors 1

Women on the compensation committee of the board of directors 1

Women on the audit committee of the board of directors 1

Women on the executive leadership team 2

Female program managers 18

Female people managers 10

We use a mix of competitive base salary, performance-based equity compensation awards and other employee benefits to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified employees and executives. The health and safety of our employees are of primary concern. Many of our employees work remotely when feasible.

We encourage our employees to take appropriate precautions in accordance with guidance from public health organizations and in following company guidelines to protect their health and safety. Employees are expected to report all instances of unsafe working conditions or safety incidents that occur. We use the ISO 45001 framework to address occupational health and safety risks in the workplace, using best practices from international standards and regulatory agencies. We also provide training to employees on safety measures they are expected to follow, as well as providing appropriate personal protective equipment as needed. Our Executive Leadership Team frequently reviews and monitors safety statistics on our workforce and takes appropriate corrective action when necessary.

None of our employees are represented by a labor union, and we consider relations with our employees to be good.

Available information

We disseminate information about the Company through required filings we make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and, at our discretion, on our website at www.ftcsolar.com.

Information contained on or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report and should not be considered part of this Annual Report or other filings we make with the SEC. The SEC maintains a site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding reporting issuers. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K are filed electronically and are available free of charge at http://www.sec.gov. Additionally, these reports are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Paper copies may also be obtained at no cost upon request to our Chief Financial Officer at 9020 North Capital of Texas Hwy., Building 1, Suite 260, Austin, TX 78759 or by calling (737) 787-7906.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

In conducting our business, we may face risks and uncertainties that may interfere with our business objectives. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, as well as all of the other information contained in this Annual Report, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The risks and uncertainties below are not the only ones that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. The occurrence of any of the following risks, or others specified below, could materially and adversely affect our business, strategies, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In such case, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

We have incurred cumulative losses since inception and have a history of cash outflows from operations, inclusive of $34.7 million in cash utilized for our operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2024. Additionally, our revenue declined from $127.0 million in 2023 to $47.4 million in 2024. At December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $347.7 million, cash on hand of $11.2 million and $27.1 million of working capital. Given these and other factors, as further discussed in Note 2, "Summary of significant accounting policies" in our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report, there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern during the next year. Our ability to continue as a going concern requires that we obtain sufficient funding, either through external financing transactions or cash generated from operations.

As of December 31, 2024, in addition to our cash on hand and working capital, we had approximately $64.9 million of remaining capacity available for future sales of our common stock under our ATM program as defined and described further in Note 16, "Stockholders' equity" in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report. Our ability to use the ATM program may be constrained by the size of our non-affiliate market capitalization, our trading volume and other factors, and there can be no assurance regarding the price at which we will be able to sell such shares, and any sales of our common stock under the ATM program may be at prices that result in additional dilution to our existing stockholders.

To bolster our balance sheet and to further fund our business operations, pursuant to the Purchase Agreement we entered into with the Investor, we sold $15.0 million in principal amount of Senior Notes on December 4, 2024. The Senior Notes mature on December 4, 2029, and they bear interest at 11% per annum; provided however, that the Company may, at its option, following notice to the holder, instead increase the outstanding principal amount of the Senior Notes by the amount of such interest at the rate of 13% per annum (which we have elected). The Senior Notes are secured by substantially all of our and our subsidiaries' assets. In addition to limitations on certain financial activities, including payment of dividends, and other customary covenants, during the period the Senior Notes are outstanding, we will be required to (i) maintain a minimum of $5.0 million of unrestricted cash on the last calendar day of each quarter, (ii) have annual revenue of $100 million for 2025 and $200 million for subsequent years and (iii) have annual EBITDA, as defined in the Purchase Agreement, of at least $25 million starting in 2026. A breach of these financial covenants, or the other covenants included in the Senior Notes, would constitute an event of default under the Senior Notes, resulting in the entire unpaid principal and accrued interest under the Senior Notes becoming due and payable, and enable the Investor to foreclose on our assets if we are not able to repay the outstanding obligations.

We also executed a term sheet with the Investor on March 4, 2025, in which the Investor agreed to purchase up to an additional $10.0 million in principal amount of senior secured promissory notes and warrants to purchase up to 1,166,667 shares of our common stock.

The demand for our products depends on many factors outside of our control, and we may not be able to grow our revenue as expected, or our revenue may decline further for a number of reasons, including (i) delays in, or cancellation of, our customers' project development activity due to the inability of our customers to obtain (a) funding at an acceptable cost, (b) permits, (c) interconnection agreements, or (d) other matters; (ii) any slowdown in the level of investments in solar energy projects that may result from slowdowns in economic growth in the U.S. or outside of the U.S.; (iii) U.S. and global macroeconomic trends including with respect to (a) increases in governmental tariffs or

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restrictions on imports, (b) changes in interest rates and inflation, (c) changes to or the availability of tax credits or other governmental incentives available for solar project development or the manufacturing of solar components; (iv) a decline in demand for our offerings, or an increase in the cost of our offerings, including as a result of increases in the cost of or limited supplies of the raw materials necessary to produce our products and offerings; (v) increased competition; (vi) a lack of success in converting sales leads into binding purchase orders; (vii) loss of existing customers; (viii) our inability to sell software and other complementary products; (ix) a decrease in the growth of the solar industry or our market share, including as a result of potential increases in governmental support for other sources of energy production; (x) future decline in average selling prices of our products and services; (xi) our inability to enter certain international markets; (xii) technological changes or development that could render our products and services obsolete or uncompetitive; or, (xiii) our failure to capitalize on growth opportunities. Additionally, demand for our products may be impacted by the delays that have occurred in the integration of new solar resources due to interconnection queue study backlogs and the identified need for the construction of transmission grid upgrades. Further, regional Transmission Organizations have adopted metrics such as the effective load carrying capability metric used in the PJM Interconnection (“PJM”) that impose low capacity values on solar, and high values on baseload plants. PJM has offered an accelerated interconnection process that will prioritize generators with high effective load carrying capabilities, which may expedite the interconnection of thermal generation over renewable generation. Various counties have imposed limits on new renewable projects, which also could temper the level of new solar projects.

We may not achieve profitability or positive cash flow for a number of reasons, including further declines in, or continued low levels of, revenue, as well as increases in costs to manufacture our products, U.S. and global macroeconomic trends, including with respect to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs and the imposition of additional tariffs applicable to our industry or our products. In addition, we may be unable to identify further cost savings opportunities below present levels that would not adversely impact the functioning of our existing operations needed to meet customer and regulatory requirements. We also expect we could incur additional costs and expenses should activity levels increase from recent project wins that would allow us to continue to expand our business, including in connection with any future acquisitions, as well as ongoing development and marketing of our products and services, expanding into new markets and geographies with respect to both manufacturing and sales of our products, maintaining and enhancing our research and development operations, hiring additional personnel, incurring additional overhead costs and incurring greater costs from professional third-party advisors as necessary in connection with any expansion of our business. We do not know whether our revenue will grow rapidly enough to absorb such costs and expenses, or the extent of such costs and expenses and their impact on our results of operations. If we fail to generate sufficient revenue to support our operations, we may not be able to achieve profitability or generate sufficient cash flow to meet our financial obligations and our liquidity position will be negatively impacted. Additionally, if we fail to grow our revenue and EBITDA to levels required by the financial covenants included in our Senior Notes, as described above, we may default under the Senior Notes and/or not have sufficient cash flow available to repay the Senior Notes early in the event of our failure to meet those financial covenants or upon maturity of the Senior Notes. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources" for a further discussion of the other factors that may impact our liquidity position.

We may need to issue additional debt or obtain new equity financing to fund our operations and to execute on our current and future business strategies and plans. We may be unable to obtain any desired additional debt or equity financing on terms favorable to us, or at all, depending on, among other things, the ability to issue debt that is subordinate to the security interests under the Senior Notes (or to obtain the consent of the Investor to issue additional secured debt), interest rates, our stock price, our market capitalization, the availability of or our ability to use our ATM program, our ability to have our stock continue to trade on active markets and existing market or other conditions. The ability to raise additional financing depends on numerous factors that are outside our control, including general economic and market conditions, interest rates, the health of financial institutions, investors' and lenders' assessments of our prospects and the prospects of the solar industry in general.

If we are not able to secure adequate additional funding when needed or do not generate sufficient cash from operations, we will need to reevaluate our operating plan and may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible, or suspend or curtail planned programs. These actions could materially impact our business, results of operations and future prospects. There can be no assurance that in the event we require additional financing, such financing will be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. Failure to generate sufficient cash from operations, raise additional capital, win new and retain current customers and vendors, or reduce certain discretionary spending would have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our intended business objectives.

For further discussion, see "Liquidity and Capital Resources" in Part II, Item 7 below.

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We have been dependent in each year since our inception on a small number of customers who generate a significant portion of our business. During the year ended December 31, 2024, four customers accounted for approximately 39%, 11%, 11% and 11%, respectively, of total revenue. During the year ended December 31, 2023, four customers accounted for approximately 23%, 19%, 17% and 13%, respectively, of total revenue. Further, our trade accounts receivables are all from companies within or those that serve the solar industry. At December 31, 2024, three customers accounted for approximately 74% of our total receivables, including one customer that accounted for approximately 42% of our total receivables.

Our level of manufacturing and logistics activity, and thus our revenue, also can be significantly impacted by delays or changes in the expected timing of customer project development activity. In recent periods our customers have encountered delays in beginning or continuing project development caused by interconnection issues, including permit delays, equipment shortages, obtaining project financing at acceptable levels and addressing uncertainty in changes in government regulations, as described further below. Due to our limited number of large customers, such delays in project development activity can have a material impact on our consolidated financial results.

As a result, we may have difficulty operating profitably or generating positive cash flow if there is a delay or default in payment by any of our customers, we lose an existing order, an existing order or project is delayed, postponed or cancelled, or we are unable to generate new orders from new or existing customers. For example, in both 2024 and 2023, the timeline for constructing a number of projects that had been awarded to us was subsequently delayed after being awarded due to various reasons including delays by our customer in obtaining permits, interconnection agreements, project financing or other matters. In addition, we often make significant expenditures in fulfilling an order prior to being paid in full by our customer for such order, and therefore any delay or default in payment by a customer may result in our business, prospects, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations being materially adversely affected. Furthermore, to the extent that any one customer or a small number of customers continues to account for a large percentage of our revenue, the loss of any such customer or that customer’s inability to meet its payment obligations could materially affect our ability to operate profitably. In certain circumstances we may not have sufficient recourse to recover our losses in full after a customer fails to meet its payment obligations. As an example, during 2024, we wrote-off $8.9 million of uncollectible receivables relating to a specific customer that was unable to fully satisfy their payment obligations to us after selling their project to a new developer. Each period we recognize expected credit losses from our customers by taking into consideration historical experience and certain other factors, as appropriate, such as credit quality, current economic or other conditions and changes in project status that may affect a customer's ability to pay. Further information on our reserves for expected credit losses may be found in Note 5, "Accounts receivable, net" in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report. We anticipate that our dependence on a limited number of customers in any given fiscal year, as well as being required to make significant expenditures in fulfilling an order prior to being paid in full by our customer for such order, will continue for the foreseeable future. There is always a risk that existing customers will elect not to do business with us in the future or will experience financial difficulties, and the nature of our business requires us to take credit risk on behalf of our customers. If we do not book more orders with existing customers, or develop relationships with new customers, we may not be able to increase, or even maintain, our revenue, and our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.

The market for our products and services is highly competitive and rapidly evolving and we expect to face increased competition.

Our solar tracker systems and other solar energy products and services are used primarily in utility-scale ground-mounted solar energy projects. As a result, our future success depends on continued demand for additional electricity generation involving use of utility-scale solar energy products and services and the ability of solar equipment manufacturers and suppliers to meet this demand. The solar industry is an evolving industry that has experienced substantial changes in recent years, and consumers and businesses ultimately may not continue to adopt solar energy as an alternative energy source at levels sufficient to grow our business. Some of the factors that may impact the demand for solar energy include:

•

the cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of solar energy systems, including solar photovoltaic modules, compared to conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources and products, including the pricing, availability and lead times of transformers and other component parts used in solar energy systems, which may be impacted in the event of higher tariffs being applied;

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•

continued government support for alternative energy generation technologies and products, including the scale and scope of federal, state, local and foreign government subsidies and tax incentives to support the development and deployment of solar energy products;

•

changes in expectations for new electricity demand associated with new data center constructions and assumptions regarding expansion of the use of artificial intelligence;

•

changes in the price of electricity due to changes in the price of natural gas or other fuels, including government subsidies for those sources, which, if prices decline, could negatively impact the owners of solar energy projects or make the purchase of solar energy systems less economically attractive and would likely result in lower sales of our products and services;

•

changes in the trade environment and tax treaties between the United States and other countries, such as China, as well as import tariffs and other laws and regulations that impact the ability to import our products or other products necessary for the construction of solar energy projects;

•

investment by end-users of solar energy products, which tends to decrease when economic growth slows, or interest rates rise; and

•

changes in corporate sustainability goals, among other factors

The market for solar energy products and services is highly competitive with relatively low barriers to entry. We principally compete with other solar tracker equipment suppliers, as well as fixed-tilt suppliers. A number of companies have developed or are developing solar tracker systems and other products and services that compete or will compete directly with our products and services in the utility-scale solar energy market. Competitors in the solar tracker market include, among others, Array Technologies, Inc., GameChange Solar, Nextracker Inc. and PVH. In addition, there are numerous private company competitors, both domestically and internationally. We expect competition to continue to intensify as new competitors enter the market and existing competitors attempt to increase their market shares.

Several of our existing and potential competitors are significantly larger than we are and may have greater financial, marketing, manufacturing, distribution and customer support resources, as well as broader brand recognition and greater market penetration, especially in certain markets. For example, certain of our competitors have greater capacity and ability to manufacture their products in the United States, which can provide a competitive advantage. In addition, our competitors’ existing or future products may result in higher energy production and lower cost of energy for the solar energy projects to which they are deployed, either broadly or in certain conditions. Some of our competitors have more resources and experience in developing or acquiring new products and technologies and creating market awareness for these offerings, as well as more established customer relationships due to their longer operating histories. Because we are a newer participant in the solar tracker market, both in the United States and globally compared to some of our competitors, it is essential that we acquire market share from our competitors, and our failure to do so could impact our ability to continue to grow our business.

Further, technological advances in the tracker industry are developing rapidly and certain competitors may be able to develop or deploy new products and services more quickly than we can, or that are more reliable or that provide more functionality than ours. For example, we intend to continue to develop and deploy new products that can withstand higher wind speeds, are more adaptable to irregular site boundaries and undulating terrain and can better support larger-format panels; however, our competitors may do so more quickly or effectively. In addition, some of our competitors have the financial resources to offer competitive products at aggressive pricing levels, which could cause us to lose sales or market share, or prevent us from gaining sales or market share, or require us to lower prices for our products and services to compete effectively. If we have to reduce our prices, or if we are unable to offset any future reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volume, reducing our costs and expenses, or introducing new products and services, our revenue and gross profit would suffer.

We also may face competition from some of our customers or potential customers or other participants in the solar energy industry who evaluate our capabilities against the merits of manufacturing products internally or as a complementary offering to their other products. For example, solar panel manufacturers or project developers could develop or acquire competing technology and, in the case of project developers, use such technology in their solar energy projects. Due to the fact that such customers may not seek to make a profit directly from the manufacture of these products, they may have the ability to manufacture competitive products at a lower cost than we would charge such customers. As a result, our customers or potential customers may purchase fewer of our systems or sell products that compete with our systems, which would negatively impact our revenue and gross profit.

Any failure by us to develop or adopt new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to adapt or react to changes in existing technologies, could result in product obsolescence, the loss of competitiveness of our products, including

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offering lower cost savings or return on investment relative to competing products, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. For example, at inception of the company, our primary product offering was a 2P tracker solution. As a result of UFLPA and AD/CVD regulations, among other factors, which impacted imports of solar modules from international locations, we experienced a decline in demand from customers in recent years for 2P tracker solutions in favor of 1P tracker solutions which limited the potential projects and markets to which we could sell our products. We introduced our 1P tracker solution in the second half of 2023 and are beginning to see increasing demand for that new product offering. However, if our 1P tracker solution does not achieve broader market acceptance, future demand for our 1P tracker solution, in addition to our 2P tracker solution, may not grow at levels expected or required for us to increase our revenue to a level to be profitable.

Broad market acceptance for our products and services may be affected by a number of factors, including:

•

our ability to produce solar tracker systems that compete favorably against other products on the basis of price, quality, cost of installation, overall cost savings, reliability and performance;

•

our ability to timely introduce new products and complete new designs, and qualify and certify our products;

•

whether project developers, solar asset owners, EPC contractors and solar financing providers will continue to adopt and finance our solar tracker systems and other products and services, including as a result of the quality, reliability and performance of our tracker systems that are in operation;

•

the ability of prospective customers to obtain financing, including tax equity financing, for solar energy installations using our products on acceptable terms or at all;

•

our ability to develop products and related processes that comply with local standards and regulatory requirements, as well as local content requirements; and

•

our ability to develop and maintain successful relationships with our customers and contract manufacturers.

The ability of our customers to obtain project financing on acceptable terms may be impacted by interest rates at current elevated levels in relation to rates of several years ago, further increases in interest rates, increased inflation or a reduction in the supply of, or change in the market terms offered for project debt or tax equity financing or regulatory restrictions on lenders, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Our reputation and our relationship with our customers are paramount to us, and we have invested heavily in building a brand and solutions associated with high quality, differentiated product offerings and strong customer service. We believe that maintaining the quality of our products and the strength of our reputation is critical to our existing customer relationships and our ability to win new customers and maintain and enhance our market acceptance. Any negative publicity can adversely affect our reputation, and may arise from many sources, including actual or alleged misconduct, errors or improper business practices by employees, officers or current or former directors, including for activities external to FTC Solar, employee claims against us, product defects or failures, future litigation or regulatory actions, matters affecting our financial reporting or compliance with SEC or exchange listing requirements, media coverage, whether accurate or not, governance lapses or workplace misconduct. In addition, we and our officers, directors and/or employees could be involved in future litigation or claims which could result in negative publicity and adversely impact our business, even if without merit. Any such reputational damage could reduce demand for our products, undermine the loyalty of our customers or reduce our ability to attract new customers and recruit and retain employees, and adversely impact our ability to increase our market share and revenue.

Our success in providing panel agnostic versions of our solar tracker systems will depend in part upon our ability to continue to work closely with leading solar panel manufacturers.

We have expanded our Voyager tracker portfolio into ULFMs and U.S. thin-film modules to accommodate different customer solar installations. We also improved the resilience of the trackers by increasing wind speed tolerance up to 150 miles per hour.

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The market success of our panel agnostic tracker solutions will depend in part on our ability to continue to work closely with solar panel manufacturers to design solar tracker systems that are compatible with their solar panels. The solar panel manufacturer market is large and diversified, with many market participants, and we may not be able to effectively work with all necessary solar panel manufacturers on the development of such compatible tracker solutions for a variety of reasons, including differences in marketing or selling strategy, our available financial resources, competitive considerations, engineering challenges, lack of competitive pricing and technological compatibility. In addition, our ability to form effective partnerships with solar panel manufacturers may be adversely affected by the substantial challenges faced by many of these manufacturers due to declining prices and revenue from sales of solar panels and the possibility of increased tariffs in the United States.

The commercial contracting and bidding process for solar project development is long and has multiple steps and uncertainties. We closely monitor the development of potential sales leads through this process. Project leads may not be converted into binding purchase orders at any stage of the bidding process because either (i) a competitor's product is selected to fulfill some or all of the order due to price, functionality or other reasons or (ii) the project does not progress to the stage involving the purchase of tracker systems. In addition, there is a risk that an awarded order (which is an order for which we are in the process of documenting a contract but for which a contract has not yet been signed, or that have been awarded in writing or verbally with a mutual understanding that the order will be contracted in the future) will not be converted into a binding purchase order, or the time for converting such awarded order to a binding purchase order will be longer than expected. In particular, we have seen awarded orders take a longer period of time than expected to convert to binding purchase orders, and expect this trend to continue in the future in respect of currently awarded orders and future awarded orders, as a result of developers deferring projects due to the inability to obtain project financing, permitting or interconnection agreements, uncertainty of panel supply, costs related to UFLPA and AD/CVD enforcement actions, as described elsewhere, regulation uncertainty, including related to changes, if any, to the IRA, as well as other factors that impact the project development timeline of our customers. Such factors have had a material negative impact in our 2024 and 2023 revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our anticipated revenue and our cash flows in 2025. There is also a risk that an awarded order once converted to a binding purchase order will not be subject to the same pricing or timeline as we originally anticipated, or that a customer will subsequently seek to amend, terminate or otherwise breach a purchase order that has been received due to a customer not being able to comply with, or requiring a modification to, terms related to pricing or timeline in such purchase order. In addition, in certain circumstances we receive a purchase order that does not include binding pricing or a firm timeline for product delivery and payment terms, and will require a subsequent change order in order to document such items. In these circumstances, there is a risk that such a change order will not be entered into, will be entered into on a date that is later than expected, or will be entered into on terms that are unfavorable to us, which in either cases could impact the amount of our revenue or the timing thereof. In 2024 and 2023, we have seen customers seek amendments or modifications to purchase orders, and have also seen customers breach their obligations under purchase orders, as a result of customers being unable to meet timing and payment obligations due to developers deferring projects for the reasons stated above, which have negatively impacted our 2024 and 2023 revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our anticipated revenue and our cash flow in 2025. If we fail to convert a significant number of project leads that are subject to our sales and marketing focus (or awarded orders) into binding purchase orders, or the time for converting awarded orders to a binding purchase order is longer than expected, or the pricing and timing in binding purchase orders is not as favorable to us as originally anticipated in the awarded order, or a purchase order has to be subsequently amended or supplemented on account of changes or additions related to pricing or product delivery, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Due to the seasonality of construction in the United States, our results of operations may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, which could make our future performance difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock.

Our quarterly results of operations are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly in the future. Because a substantial majority of our sales are concentrated in the U.S. market, we have experienced to a certain extent seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in the past as a result of seasonal fluctuations in our customers’ businesses, although we believe such impacts to date have not been material. Additionally, our end-users’ ability to install solar energy systems is affected by weather. For example, during the winter months in cold-weather climates in the United States, construction may be delayed in order to let the ground thaw to reduce costs. Such installation delays can impact the

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timing of orders for our products. We have expanded into areas with traditionally warmer climates which has resulted in less pronounced seasonal variations in our revenue profile, and we expect this trend to continue as we continue to expand into such areas.

The true extent of historic fluctuations due to the seasonality of construction may have been masked by recent impacts from project delays, tariffs, import restrictions and other regulatory issues, as well as inflation and fluctuations in costs associated with our supply chain and consequently may not be readily apparent from our historical results of operations and may be difficult to predict. Any substantial decrease in revenue would have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.

We plan to continue expanding into additional international markets, which will expose us to additional regulatory, economic, political, reputational and competitive risks.

We have been, and plan to continue, expanding our operations to other countries, which requires significant resources and management attention and subjects us to regulatory, economic, political and competitive risks in addition to those we already face in the United States. There are significant risks and costs inherent in doing business in international markets, including:

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difficulty in establishing and managing international operations, including establishment of local customer service operations and local sales operations, and the associated legal compliance costs;

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risks related to the usage of international sales representatives, who we do not presently engage but may in the future, who would not be our employees and would not be under our direct control, including legal compliance risks and reputational risks;

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acceptance of our current tracker systems or other solar energy products and services in markets in which they have not traditionally been used;

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price declines in solar panels in certain geographic regions, such as the European Union, which can make our offerings less competitive;

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our ability to accurately forecast product demand and manage manufacturing capacity and production;

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willingness of our potential customers to incur a higher upfront capital investment for Voyager or Pioneer than may be required for competing fixed-tilt ground-mounted systems;

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our ability to obtain timely qualification and certification of new products in new markets and subsequent adoption challenges, including overcoming potentially higher upfront capital investments compared to competing fixed-tilt ground-mounted systems;

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our ability to reduce production costs to price our products competitively;

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availability of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy products and services;

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our ability to protect and enforce intellectual property rights abroad;

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compliance with sanctions laws and anti-bribery laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), by us, our employees, our sales representatives and our business partners;

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import and export controls and restrictions and changes in trade regulations;

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tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, tax consequences and local content requirements;

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fluctuations in currency exchange rates and the requirements of currency control regulations, which might restrict or prohibit conversion of other currencies into U.S. dollars; and

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political or social unrest, military conflict or economic instability in a specific country or region in which we operate.

We have limited experience with certain international regulatory environments and market practices and may not be able to penetrate or successfully operate in the markets we may choose to enter or have entered or otherwise effectively mitigate the regulatory, economic, political, reputational and competitive risks that are inherent when operating in such environments. In addition, we may incur significant expenses as a result of our international expansion, and we may not be successful. For example, we have made investments into the European, South African and Asian markets but are yet to realize material revenue from customers in such markets, and we typically anticipate that we will not realize material revenue from customers in new markets until significant time and expense has been invested, and in some cases we may not realize material revenue at all despite making such investments. Our failure

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to successfully manage these risks could harm our international operations and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We may invest in or acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in dilution to our stockholders, reduce our available cash that could be used for other purposes and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our results of operations.

We may decide to continue to grow our business through additional investments in or acquisitions of businesses and technologies rather than through internal development. The identification of suitable investment or acquisition candidates can be difficult, time consuming and costly, and we may not be able to successfully complete newly identified investment opportunities or acquisitions, or successfully integrate new acquisitions such that they become long-term profitable operations. The risks we face in connection with investments or acquisitions include, but are not limited to:

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diversion of management time and focus from operating our business, as well as use of Company resources (including cash) to addressing acquisition integration challenges;

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retention of key employees from the acquired company;

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failure to realize long-term value and synergies from investments or acquisitions;

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failure to realize incremental revenue or profit that was anticipated to result from investments or acquisitions;

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failure to synchronize and integrate the operations of an acquired company with our operations, including blending of corporate cultures;

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assumption of unanticipated liabilities for activities of an investee or the acquired company before the acquisition; and

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litigation or other claims in connection with the acquisition, including claims from terminated employees, customers, former stockholders or other third parties.

Our failure to address these risks or other risks encountered in connection with currently completed or future investments and acquisitions could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of these investments or acquisitions and incur unanticipated liabilities, or otherwise harm our business. Currently completed or future investments or acquisitions also could result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, use of our cash in payment of cash consideration or additional investment capital, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses, any of which could harm our financial condition. For example, during 2023, we acquired a 45% interest in Alpha Steel, a newly formed partnership with a leading steel fabricator to produce steel components, including torque tubes, for utility-scale solar projects. The Alpha Steel facility, which is located outside of Houston in Sealy, Texas, began limited commercial production late in the fourth quarter of 2023. We have made capital contributions to Alpha Steel to date totaling $2.7 million and could be required to make up to $0.8 million in additional capital contributions as Alpha Steel expands production. We are also contingently liable for certain unpaid vendor obligations, including issued but unsatisfied purchase orders issued by Alpha Steel totaling approximately $0.2 million as of December 31, 2024. In addition, pursuant to a three-year supply agreement we entered into with Alpha Steel, we have committed to placing a minimum level of purchase orders for torque tubes with Alpha Steel during the period from January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, with such volume commitments increasing in each of the next two annual periods. In the event we fail to meet our minimum required purchase commitments in any period, we would contractually be required to make a cash payment for the net profit attributable to any unfilled requirements, calculated as specified in the agreement, in an amount not to exceed $4.0 million in the aggregate. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we recognized a loss of approximately $1.1 million for our equity share of the 2024 net operating loss of Alpha Steel. Any of the risks described above, if realized, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Defects or quality or performance problems in our products could result in loss of customers, reputational damage and decreased revenue, and we may face warranty, indemnity and product liability claims arising from defective products.

Although we set stringent quality standards for our products, they may contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new generations are released. Errors, defects or poor performance can arise due to design flaws, defects in raw materials or components, manufacturing difficulties and quality control failures, which can affect both the quality and the yield of the product. Any actual or perceived errors, defects or poor performance in our products could result in replacements or recalls, remediation requests and warranty claims, shipment delays, rejection

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of our products, damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, diversion of our sales personnel from sales efforts and increases in customer service and support costs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, defective products may give rise to warranty, indemnity, product liability, liquidated damages or other contractual claims against us that exceed any revenue or profit we receive from the affected products, including claims for damages related to aspects or components of a solar energy project that go beyond the scope of our product offerings. Our limited warranties cover defects in materials and workmanship of our products. As a result, we bear the risk of warranty claims long after we have sold products and recognized revenue. Our accrued reserves for warranty claims and remediation are based on available industry data relating to the nature and frequency of product failure rates and, where possible, on our historical experience, which may be limited in certain circumstances. As a result, our assumptions could prove to be materially different from the warranty obligations that we may be required to compensate customers for in the case of defective products. Our failure to accurately predict future warranty claims could result in unexpected volatility in, and have a material adverse effect on, our financial condition. In addition, while we seek to support our warranty obligations with warranties from our contract manufacturers, such warranties may not be of the same scope as our warranty obligations, or we may not be able to effectively enforce our rights thereunder.

If one of our products were to cause injury to someone or cause property damage, including as a result of product malfunctions, defects or improper installation, then we could be exposed to product liability claims. We could incur significant costs and liabilities if we are sued and if damages are awarded against us, which could far exceed the revenue we recognize in connection with the related project. Further, any product liability claim we face could be expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention. The successful assertion of a product liability claim against us could result in potentially significant monetary damages, penalties or fines, subject us to adverse publicity, damage our reputation and competitive position and adversely affect sales of our products. In addition, product liability claims, injuries, defects or other problems experienced by other companies in the solar energy industry could lead to unfavorable market conditions for the industry as a whole and may have an adverse effect on our ability to attract new customers, thus harming our growth and financial performance.

If we fail to retain key personnel or if we fail to attract additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated level of growth, and our business could suffer.

Our future success and ability to implement our business strategy depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain key personnel, and on the continued contributions of members of our senior management team and key technical personnel, each of whom would be difficult to replace. All of our employees, including our senior management, are free to terminate their employment relationships with us at any time. Competition for highly skilled individuals with technical expertise is extremely intense in our industry, and we face challenges identifying, hiring and retaining qualified personnel in many areas of our business. Additionally, in response to adverse market and regulatory conditions, as well as other factors, we made workforce reductions in the fourth quarter of 2024 and in August 2023, which included certain members of our executive leadership team. Both our then President and Chief Executive Officer and then Chief Financial Officer agreed that each would step down from their positions, and such executives departed the Company, effective in December 2023.

If our expectations of future growth materialize, we would expect to begin to increase our workforce again at the appropriate time. Integrating new employees into our team could be disruptive to our operations, requiring substantial resources and management attention and ultimately prove unsuccessful. Any inability to retain our current senior management and other key personnel or to attract additional qualified personnel could limit or delay our strategic efforts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

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Risks Related to Government Regulations and Legal Compliance

Federal, state, local and foreign government bodies provide incentives to owners, end-users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of solar energy systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments of renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation and manufacturing of specific solar components, as well as exclusions of solar energy systems from property tax assessments.

The most notable incentive program impacting our U.S. business has historically been the ITC for solar energy projects, which allows taxpayers to offset their U.S. federal income tax liability by a certain percentage of their cost basis in solar energy systems placed in service for commercial use. The IRA, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, expanded and extended the tax credits and other tax benefits available to solar energy projects and the solar energy supply chain. ITCs are currently available at a base rate of 30% for projects that begin construction by the end of 2032, and decline to 26% and 22% for projects beginning construction in 2033 and 2034, respectively. Bonus credits are additionally available for projects that meet applicable domestic content and prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules. U.S. manufacturers of specific solar components are now eligible to claim production tax credits under Section 45X of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which was established as part of the IRA and is a per-unit tax credit earned for each clean energy component manufactured domestically and sold by a manufacturer. Our investment in, and commitments made to Alpha Steel allow us to obtain benefits of lower product costs from Alpha Steel as a result of the production tax credit program, subject to our level of purchases from Alpha Steel. Any effort to reduce, eliminate or modify (including through implementing regulations) the IRA could have a material adverse impact on our business.

In addition, similar incentives may exist in, or be developed outside of, the United States, which could impact demand for our products and services as we expand our business into foreign jurisdictions. For example, a feed-in-tariff ("FIT") is a type of incentive that pays owners of renewable energy systems, including solar energy systems, a certain amount per unit of electricity they generate and provide to the grid. While FITs are relatively rare as a solar policy mechanism in the United States, they are more common internationally. Our international customers and end-users may have access to FITs, tax deductions and grants toward equipment purchases. Our ability to successfully penetrate new geographic markets may depend on new countries adopting, to the extent such incentives are not currently in place, and maintaining such incentives to promote solar electricity.

The range and duration of these incentives vary widely by jurisdiction. Our customers typically use our systems for utility scale grid-connected electric power generation projects that sell solar power under a power purchase agreement or into an organized electric market. This segment of the solar industry has historically depended in large part on the availability and size of government incentives and regulations mandating the use of renewable energy. Consequently, the reduction, elimination or expiration of government incentives for grid-connected solar electricity or regulations mandating the use of renewable energy may negatively affect the competitiveness of solar electricity relative to conventional and non-solar renewable sources of electricity, and could harm or halt the growth of the solar electricity industry and our business. These subsidies and incentives may expire (i) on a particular date, (ii) when the allocated funding is exhausted or may be reduced or terminated as solar energy adoption rates increase or as a result of legal challenges, (iii) upon the adoption of new statutes or regulations or (iv) with the passage of time. These reductions or terminations may occur without warning, which would negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Corporate social responsibility efforts, such as net zero emission pledges, have fostered private sector investment in solar energy systems in recent years. To the extent that these corporate policies are redirected away from renewable energy in general or solar energy in particular, our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows may be negatively impacted.

In addition, federal, state, local and foreign government bodies have implemented various policies that are intended to promote renewable electricity generally or solar electricity in particular. RPS are a set of policies designed to increase the use of renewable energy sources for electricity generation. In general, RPS set a minimum requirement for the share of electricity supply that comes from designated renewable energy resources by a certain date or year. In the United States, while there is no federal legislation implementing RPS, over half of the states have implemented their own RPS policies with some setting ambitious targets of 50% or even 100% of electric power coming from renewable energy sources by specific dates. A common feature of RPS policies is a renewable electricity credit trading system that reduces the cost to comply with the RPS.

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The cost of solar power may exceed retail electricity rates from other sources. Electric utility companies or generators of electricity from other non-solar renewable sources of electricity may successfully lobby for changes in the relevant legislation in their markets that are harmful to the solar industry. Furthermore, Regional Transmission Organizations and electric utility companies may continue to pursue market rules, pricing structures or interconnection requirements that could adversely affect our sales and be harmful to the solar generation industry.

The majority of our revenue during the periods covered by this Annual Report resulted from sales by our subsidiary in the United States. For example, for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, 89% and 94%, respectively, of total third-party revenue resulted from sales by our U.S. subsidiary. We expect to continue to generate a substantial amount of our revenue from our U.S. subsidiary in the future.

There are a number of important incentives, including those provided in the IRA, as described above, that have a certain time limit and are expected to phase down or terminate in the future, which could adversely affect sales of our products in the United States. Additionally, as we further expand to other countries, changes in incentive programs or electricity policies could negatively affect returns on our investments in those countries as well as our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Federal, state, local and foreign government regulations and policies concerning the broader electric utility industry, as well as internal policies and regulations promulgated by electric utilities and organized electric markets with respect to fees, practices and rate design, heavily influence the market for electricity generation products and services. These regulations and policies often affect electricity pricing and the interconnection of generation facilities, and can be subject to frequent modifications by governments, regulatory bodies, utilities and market operators. For example, changes in fee structures, electricity pricing structures and system permitting, interconnection and operating requirements can deter purchases of renewable energy products, including solar energy systems, by reducing anticipated revenue or increasing costs or regulatory burdens for would-be system purchasers. The resulting reductions in demand for solar energy systems could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

A significant development in renewable energy pricing policies in the United States occurred on July 16, 2020, when the FERC issued a final rule amending regulations that implement the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”). In general, PURPA encouraged the development of small renewable energy projects by requiring utilities to purchase power from qualifying facilities, which can influence electricity prices. In some cases, this requirement has led to higher electricity prices, as utilities may have to pay more than market rates for renewable energy. These effects could reduce demand for PURPA-eligible solar energy systems and could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, changes in our products or changes in export and import laws and implementing regulations may create delays in the introduction of new products in international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our products internationally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries altogether. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Since 2016, CBP has issued a number of withholding release orders ("WROs") directed at forced labor in China, including WROs directed specifically at activity in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. As a result of these orders, certain products, including solar panels manufactured with polysilicon from Xinjiang, are effectively barred from entering the United States. Despite our due diligence efforts, as well as contractual provisions we put in place that forbid our suppliers from using forced labor or components that were produced using forced labor, we cannot determine with certainty whether our suppliers may violate our contracts or become subject to a WRO, which could subject us to legal, reputational, and other risks. If this were to occur, we might have to find alternative suppliers on short notice, resulting in construction delays and disruption and higher costs. Additionally, WROs have and could continue to impact the importation of solar panels. While we are not directly involved in the importation of solar panels, such WROs can negatively impact the global solar market and the timing and viability of solar projects to which we sell our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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The UFLPA was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. The UFLPA established a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in Xinjiang, or that are produced by certain entities, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry to the United States. CBP began implementing the presumption set out in the UFLPA on June 21, 2022, resulting in new rules for solar module importers and reviews by CBP. While we do not import solar modules directly, solar modules are necessary in order for our customers’ projects to progress forward, and therefore any disruption in the global supply of solar modules may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Changes in the U.S. trade environment, including the imposition of import tariffs, could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenue, results of operations or cash flows.

Trade policies and international disputes at times result in increased tariffs, trade barriers and other restrictive measures. In particular, China and the United States have imposed significant tariffs on imports of goods from each other's respective countries in recent years. These developments and any further tariff increases could potentially impact our suppliers’ hardware component prices and impact any plans to provide services in China and other international markets. These developments could have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets.

China is a major producer of solar cells and other solar products. Certain solar cells, modules, laminates and panels from China are subject to tariffs imposed by the United States. Tariffs on solar cells, modules and inverters from China may put upwards pressure on prices of energy products in other countries.

On April 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in response to a petition by Auxin, published a notice initiating the Solar Circumvention Investigation relating to alleged circumvention of AD/CVD by solar manufacturers in certain Southeast Asian countries. On June 6, 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order allowing U.S. solar deployers to import solar modules and cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam free from certain duties for 24 months, along with other incentives designed to accelerate U.S. domestic production of clean energy technologies. This moratorium ended in June 2024 and China-wide anti-dumping duties are now nearly 240% and countervailing duties for all other countries are over 15%. Additionally, on December 29, 2023, Auxin and Concept Clean Energy, Inc. filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legal basis for the moratorium and implementing regulations. Several motions have been filed to date, including a motion to dismiss by the U.S. government, which the court rejected. If the suit proves successful, solar module importers could owe retroactive duties on goods that have already cleared customs. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce is currently conducting an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation into imports of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, which may result in additional duties imposed on imports from those nations.

Furthermore, the United States continues to impose tariffs on goods imported from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the “Section 301 Tariffs”). Although these tariffs were reduced in connection with the “Phase One” Agreement between the United States and China, which was signed in January 2020, the United States continues to impose tariffs ranging from 7.5% to 25% on a wide range of Chinese imports. These tariffs apply to solar products such as modules, inverters, and non-lithium-ion batteries. Since these tariffs impact the purchase price of solar products, they raise the cost associated with purchasing these solar products from China and reduce the competitive pressure on providers of solar products not subject to these tariffs.

In 2018, the President of the United States announced the imposition of tariffs on certain imported solar cells and modules under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the “Section 201 Tariffs”). These tariffs apply on a global basis, to cells and modules from a variety of jurisdictions. The amount of these tariffs has declined over time, and is currently 14.25% ad valorem. On August 12, 2024, President Biden announced an adjustment to the tariff rate quota on solar cells raising it from 5 GW per year to 12.5 GW, starting August 1, 2024.

Finally, the new Trump administration has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs, affecting steel and aluminum imports into the United States, which could result in interruptions in the supply chain and impact costs and our gross margins.

As described further in Part I, Item 3, "Legal Proceedings" below, in March 2023, we received notices from CBP of assessments for tariffs under Sections 301 and 232 and for antidumping and countervailing duties with respect to merchandise we had imported from Thailand in 2022. We are currently disputing the applicability of these assessments and have filed a formal protest with regard to one assessment and plan to do the same with a revised assessment received from CBP. Since the outcome of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, the costs associated with these assessments could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position, or liquidity.

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Tariffs currently in place and the possibility of additional tariffs in the future have created uncertainty in the industry. If the price of solar systems in the United States increases further, the use of solar systems could become less economically feasible and could further reduce our gross margin or reduce demand for solar systems manufactured and sold, which in turn may decrease demand for our products. Additionally, existing or future tariffs may negatively affect our customers and manufacturing partners.

We have taken measures with the intention of mitigating the effect of tariffs and the impact of AD/CVD and UFLPA on our business by reducing our reliance on China and enhancing our U.S.-based supply chain, including through our investment in Alpha Steel.

Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us, or our customers, could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in corporate tax rates, tax incentives for renewable energy projects, the realization of net deferred tax assets relating to our U.S. operations, the taxation of foreign earnings and the deductibility of expenses under future tax reform legislation could have a material impact on the value of our deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges in the current or future taxable years, and could increase our future U.S. tax expense, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We could be adversely affected by any violations of the FCPA and other foreign anti-bribery laws, as well as of export controls and economic sanctions laws.

The FCPA generally prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Other countries in which we operate also have anti-bribery laws, some of which prohibit improper payments to government and non-government persons and entities. We have adopted policies that mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. However, we currently operate in and intend to further expand into, many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. In addition, due to the level of regulation in our industry, our entry into certain jurisdictions requires substantial government contact where norms can differ from U.S. standards. It is possible that our employees, subcontractors, agents and partners may take actions in violation of our policies and anti-bribery laws. Furthermore, we are subject to rules and regulations of the United States and other countries relating to export controls and economic sanctions, including, but not limited to, trade sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as well as the Export Administration Regulations administered by the Department of Commerce. These regulations may limit our ability to market, sell, distribute or otherwise transfer our products or technology to prohibited countries or persons. Any violation of such laws, even if prohibited by our policies, could subject us to criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and reputation.

Risks Related to Manufacturing and Our Supply Chain

We depend upon a limited number of outside contract manufacturers, and our operations could be disrupted if our relationships with these contract manufacturers are compromised.

We do not have internal manufacturing capabilities, and currently rely on contract manufacturers to build all of our products (including through our investment in Alpha Steel). Based on the U.S. dollar amount of purchase orders we issued during the year ended December 31, 2024, 66%, 11%, 9% and 5% of our spending involved contract manufacturers located in the United States, China, India and Thailand, respectively.

Our reliance on a limited number of contract manufacturers in a limited number of countries makes us vulnerable to possible capacity constraints and reduced control over component availability, quality, delivery schedules, manufacturing yields and costs. At December 31, 2024, we did not have long-term supply contracts with any of our contract manufacturers, although we did enter into a three-year supply agreement with Alpha Steel in February 2023 that requires certain minimum purchase thresholds during the term of the supply agreement, effective beginning in January 2024, and a specified maximum payment amount of $4 million owed if such thresholds are not met. Our other contract manufacturers are not obligated to supply products to us for any period, in any specified quantity or at any certain price beyond the single delivery contemplated by the relevant purchase order. While we may enter into long-term master supply agreements with our contract manufacturers in the future if the volume of our business grows in a way that makes such additional arrangements economically feasible, we may not be successful in negotiating such agreements on favorable terms or at all. With respect to any such long-term master supply agreements, we could be subject to terms that may be harmful to our business, including in the event that we do not have the customer demand necessary to utilize the products that we are required to purchase or have made deposits for, or in the event that we

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are required to purchase products at a price in excess of the prevailing market rate. Any change in our relationships with our contract manufacturers or changes to contractual terms of our agreements with them could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The revenue that certain of our contract manufacturers generate from our orders represents a relatively small percentage of their overall revenue. As a result, fulfilling our orders may not be considered a priority in the event of constrained ability to fulfill all of their customer obligations in a timely manner. Our use of international facilities may increase supply risk, including the risk of supply interruptions or reductions in manufacturing quality or controls.

We may be negatively impacted by the deterioration in financial conditions of our limited number of contract manufacturers. If any of our contract manufacturers were unable or unwilling to manufacture the components that we require for our products in sufficient volumes, at high-quality levels, on a timely basis and pursuant to existing supply agreement or purchase order terms, due to financial conditions or otherwise, we would have to identify, qualify and select acceptable alternative contract manufacturers. An alternative contract manufacturer may not be available to us when needed or may not be in a position to satisfy our quality or production requirements on commercially reasonable terms, including price and timing. Any significant interruption or delays in manufacturing would require us to reduce or delay our supply of products to our customers or increase our shipping costs to make up for delays in manufacturing, if possible, which in turn could reduce our revenue, cause us to incur delay liquidated damages or other liabilities to our customers, harm our relationships with our customers, damage our reputation or cause us to forego potential revenue opportunities. While we may have contractual remedies against our contract manufacturers for the supply chain malfunctions noted above to support any liabilities to our customers, such remedies may not be sufficient in scope, we may not be able to effectively enforce such remedies, and we may incur significant costs in enforcing such remedies.

Our product development, manufacturing and testing processes are complex and require significant technological and production-related expertise. Such processes involve a number of precise steps from design to production. Any change in our processes could cause one or more production errors, requiring a temporary suspension or delay in a manufacturer's production line until the errors can be researched, identified, analyzed and properly addressed and rectified. This may occur particularly as we introduce new products, modify our engineering and production techniques and/or expand our capacity. In addition, delays, disruptions or our failure to maintain appropriate quality assurance processes could result in increased product failures, loss of customers, increased warranty claims, delay liquidated damages claims or other liabilities to our customers, increased production and logistics costs and delays. While we may have contractual remedies against our contract manufacturers for such quality assurance failures to support any liabilities to our customers, such remedies may not be sufficient in scope, we may not be able to effectively enforce such remedies, and we may incur significant costs in enforcing such remedies. Any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on a limited number of contract manufacturers for certain key components used to manufacture our products, making us susceptible to quality issues, shortages and price changes. Some of our contract manufacturers have in the past stopped producing or limited their production of our components, faced supply constraints or increased prices on the raw materials for their components, ceased operations or been acquired by, or entered into exclusive arrangements with, one or more of our competitors, and such actions may occur again in the future. Additionally, these manufacturers could stop selling to us at commercially reasonable prices, or at all. Because there are a limited number of contract manufacturers of the key components used to manufacture our products, it may be difficult to quickly identify alternate manufacturers or to qualify alternative components on commercially reasonable terms, and our ability to satisfy customer demand may be adversely affected. Transitioning to or redesigning a product to accommodate a new contract manufacturer would result in additional costs and delays. These outcomes could harm our business or financial performance.

Any interruption in the supply of limited source components for our products would adversely affect our ability to meet scheduled product deliveries to our customers, could result in lost revenue or higher expenses and would harm our business.

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The interruption of the flow of components from international contract manufacturers could disrupt our supply chain, including as a result of the imposition of additional laws, duties, tariffs and other charges on imports and exports.

We purchase some of our components outside of the United States through arrangements with various international contract manufacturers. Political, social or economic instability in these regions, or in other regions where our products are made, could cause disruptions in trade, including, without limitation, exports to the United States. As detailed previously, trade disputes between various countries, particularly China and the United States, have created uncertainty with respect to the ability to import certain technologies and products into the United States, as well as in respect of tariff impacts on the costs of some of our components. In addition, recent WROs related to polysilicon requires panel importers to demonstrate that polysilicon used in their panels has not been sourced using forced labor. To date, CBP has used the WROs to detain solar panels, which has disrupted the U.S. solar installation market and caused additional uncertainty on future projects. These WRO actions, as well as other governmental actions that have or may impact the importation of solar panels (including the UFLPA), have and could continue to negatively impact the global solar market and the timing and viability of solar projects to which we sell our products, which has negatively impacted our revenue and cash flows and may continue to negatively impact our anticipated revenue and cash flows in 2025, and which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. While our products do not contain polysilicon, the degree of our exposure is dependent on, among other things, the impact of these measures on the projects that are also intended to use our products, with such impact being largely out of our control. Other events that could also cause disruptions to our supply chain include, but are not limited to:

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additional trade enforcement actions that lead to imposition of additional tariffs and other charges on imports and exports that could relate to imports from a number of different countries;

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the potential imposition of restrictions on our acquisition, importation or installation of equipment under future U.S. regulations;

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quotas imposed on the import volume of certain products;

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foreign currency fluctuations;

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public health issues and epidemic diseases, their effects (including any disruptions they may cause) or the perception of their effects;

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extreme weather events that may affect manufacturing output or the transportation of materials and equipment to other countries or regions of the world;

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wars, military operations or other hostilities, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East; and

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significant labor disputes, such as transportation worker strikes.

Failure by our contract manufacturers to use ethical business practices and comply with applicable laws and regulations may adversely affect our business.

While our contract manufacturers are required to adhere to certain business practices to remain on our approved vendor list, which we monitor on a continuous basis, we do not control our contract manufacturers’ operations or their business practices. Additionally, our contract manufacturers may not follow ethical business practices, such as fair wage practices or comply with environmental, safety, labor, sanctions and anti-corruption laws and other local laws or other regulations of which we may not be aware. For example, as we continue to expand our business into foreign jurisdictions, the manufacture of our products may be subject to local content requirements, which require our products to incorporate materials from certain local providers. A lack of demonstrated compliance could damage our reputation and lead us to seek alternative manufacturers, which could increase our costs and result in delayed delivery of our products, product shortages or other disruptions of our operations. Violation of labor or other laws by our contract manufacturers or the divergence of a contract manufacturer’s labor or other practices from those generally accepted as ethical in the United States or other markets in which we do business could also attract negative publicity for us and harm our business.

We may not have sufficient insurance coverage to cover business continuity.

We rely on a limited number of contract manufacturers and, as a result, a sustained or repeated interruption in the manufacturing of our products by such outsourced manufacturers due to fire, flood, war, pandemic or natural disasters, and/or an interruption in the provision of the required components for our business by these manufacturers may interfere with our ability to sell our products to our customers in a timely manner. The nature of our business and

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our size makes it difficult to insure some or all of the possible harms that could result if we fail to sell and deliver our products in a timely manner, which may adversely affect our financial results.

We and our contract manufacturers are dependent on domestic and international transportation and logistics markets to deliver our products. If we or our contract manufacturers experience disruptions, unavailability or escalated pricing in the transportation and logistics markets, which include trucking, vessels, ports and related infrastructure and logistics, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely impacted.

We and our contract manufacturers rely on domestic and international transportation and logistics markets to deliver our products to customers. Our ability and the ability of our contract manufacturers to deliver our products could be adversely impacted by shortages in available cargo capacity, changes by carriers and transportation companies in policies and practices, such as scheduling, pricing, payment terms and frequency of service or increases in the cost of fuel, taxes and labor, and other factors, such as extreme weather events or labor strikes and work stoppages, not within their control. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in diminished cargo capacity and port detainment of vessels which caused delays in delivery of our products to project sites during 2020 and into 2022. In addition, we have seen delays, disruptions and price increases in international transportation and logistics markets due to closures or capacity restrictions applicable to both the Panama Canal and Suez Canal (including the diversion of shipping vessels from the Red Sea as a result of attacks on shipping vessels there). Material interruptions in service or stoppages in transportation and logistics markets, whether caused by strike, work stoppage, lock-out, slowdown or otherwise, and escalated pricing in transportation and logistics markets could materially and adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

Our success partly depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets to establish and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, as well as unfair competition laws, confidentiality and license agreements and other contractual arrangements. As of December 31, 2024, we had patents in the following locations:

Locations Patents Granted Patents Allowed and Pending for Examination

United States 49 2

Australia 4 1

All other 7 1

Our issued U.S. patents are expected to expire between 2027 and 2043.

Our trademarks and trade names include, but are not limited to, Voyager Tracker, Pioneer Tracker, SUNPATH, SUNOPS and FTC Solar, which are protected under applicable intellectual property laws. Our pending patent and trademark applications or other applications for intellectual property registrations may not be approved, issued or granted, and our existing and future intellectual property rights may not be valid, enforceable or sufficiently broad to prevent competitors from using technology similar to or the same as our proprietary technology, to prevent our contract manufacturers from providing similar technology to our competitors or to sufficiently allow us to develop and maintain recognized brands. Additionally, our intellectual property rights may afford only limited protection of our intellectual property and may not (i) prevent our competitors or contract manufacturers from duplicating our processes or technology, (ii) prevent our competitors from gaining access to our proprietary information and technology or (iii) permit us to gain or maintain a competitive advantage. Any impairment or other failure to obtain sufficient intellectual property protection could impede our ability to market our products and services, negatively affect our competitive position and harm our business and operating results, including forcing us to, among other things, rebrand or re-design our affected products and services. In countries where we have not applied for patent protection or trademark or other intellectual property registration or where effective patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws and judicial systems may not be available to the same extent as in the United States, we may be at greater risk that our proprietary rights will be circumvented, misappropriated, infringed or otherwise violated.

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To protect our unregistered intellectual property, including our trade secrets and know-how, we rely in part on trade secret laws and confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and independent contractors. We also require third parties, such as our customers and contract manufacturers, which may have access to our proprietary technologies and information to enter into non-disclosure agreements or other contracts containing obligations to maintain the confidentiality of our intellectual property. Such measures, however, provide only limited protection, and our confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements and other agreements containing confidentiality provisions may not prevent unauthorized disclosure or use of our confidential information, especially after our employees or third parties end their employment or engagement with us, and may not provide us with an adequate remedy in the event of such disclosure. Furthermore, competitors or other third parties may independently discover our trade secrets, copy or reverse engineer our products or services or portions thereof, or develop similar technology. If we fail to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, or if such intellectual property and proprietary rights are infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially harmed.

Our competitors and other third parties hold numerous patents related to technologies used in our industry, and may hold or obtain patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights that could prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products and services, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. From time to time, we may be subject to claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violation of patents or other intellectual property rights or licensing fee and royalty claims and related litigation, and, if we gain greater recognition in the market, we face a higher risk of being the subject of these types of claims. For example, in early 2021 we learned that a claim had been filed against us seeking damages for alleged breach of contract and other claims related to a patent license agreement and consulting relationship, and the same plaintiff subsequently filed a separate lawsuit against us alleging a claim for patent infringement in respect of the same underlying technology. We reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiff in December 2022 in which we agreed to (i) pay an aggregate of $1.5 million in certain installments, and (ii) issue the plaintiff 79,740 (on a post-split basis) shares of our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, in January 2023 valued at $2.0 million. We also agreed to an arrangement whereby we were granted a worldwide license under certain of the plaintiff's patents for an initial term of three years, subject to annual renewals at our option.

Regardless of the merit of any claims that may be made against us, responding to such claims can be time consuming, can divert management’s attention and resources, and may cause us to incur significant expenses in litigation or settlement. While we believe that our products and services do not infringe in any material respect upon any valid intellectual property rights of third parties, we may not be successful in defending against any such claims. If we do not successfully defend or settle an intellectual property claim, we could be liable for significant monetary damages and could be prohibited from continuing to use certain technology, business methods, content or brands, could be prohibited from continuing to sell certain products or services, or could be required to license such intellectual property from the applicable third party, which could require us to pay significant royalties, increasing our operating expenses. Even if we do reach a settlement agreement to resolve an intellectual property claim, such settlement agreement could also result in our making a significant monetary payment or paying significant royalties. If a license is not available at all or not available on reasonable terms, we may be required to develop or license a non-infringing alternative, either of which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop a non-infringing alternative, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our offerings and may be unable to effectively compete. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We use “open-source” software, and any failure to comply with the terms of one or more open-source licenses could negatively affect our business.

Our products and services use certain software licensed by its authors or other third parties under so-called “open-source” licenses. Some of these open-source licenses may contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works that we create based upon the open-source software, and that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of a particular open-source license or other license granting third parties rights with respect to such software. In certain circumstances, if we combine our proprietary software with certain open-source software, we could be required to release the source code for such proprietary software. Additionally, to the extent that we do not comply with the terms of the open-source licenses to which we are subject, or such terms are interpreted by a court in a manner different than our own interpretation of such terms, then we may be required to disclose certain of our proprietary software or take other actions that could negatively impact our business. Further, the use of open-source software can lead to vulnerabilities that may make our software susceptible

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to attack, and open-source licenses generally do not provide warranties or controls on the origin of the software. While we attempt to utilize open-source software in a manner that helps alleviate these risks, our attempts may not be successful.

Risks Related to Information Technology and Data Privacy

A significant cybersecurity incident or other disruption to our technology infrastructure could disrupt our business operations and cause financial and reputational damage.

We rely extensively on various information technology systems, including data centers, hardware, software and applications to manage many aspects of our business, including to operate and provide our products and services, to process and record transactions, to enable effective communication systems, to pay our employees, to track inventory flow, to manage logistics and to generate performance and financial reports. Some of our most critical systems are provided and hosted by third-party software vendors in arrangements commonly known as software as a service. We are dependent on the integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems and related back-up systems. Our computer and information technology systems and the third-party systems upon which we rely are also subject to unauthorized access, damage, interruption or shutdown from a number of causes, including computer viruses, ransomware, malware, phishing or distributed denial-of-service attacks, security breaches or cyber-attacks, which could lead to delays in our business operations or subject us to liability and, if significant or extreme, require public disclosure, which could negatively affect our results of operations. In addition, any interruption in the operation of our website or information technology systems could cause us to suffer reputational harm, lose sales, and expose us to litigation or government action, including penalties, fines or judgments.

Some aspects of our business involve the collection, receipt, use, storage, processing and transmission of personal information, including that of our customers’ and end-users of our customers’ solar energy systems, website visitors, employees, contract manufacturers and other third parties. We may collect personal information, including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, credit information, and energy production statistics and consumer preferences, some of which is entrusted to third-party service providers. We increasingly rely on commercially available systems, software, tools (including encryption technology) and monitoring technologies to provide security and oversight for processing, transmission, storage and protection of confidential information and personal data. Despite the security measures we have in place, our facilities and systems, and those of third parties with which we do business, may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism and theft (including misappropriation of our financial resources), computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, or other similar events, and an inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure could occur or third parties could gain unauthorized access to this type of confidential information and personal data.

Electronic security attacks designed to gain access to personal, sensitive or confidential data by breaching mission critical systems of large organizations are constantly evolving, and high-profile electronic security breaches leading to unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or personal data have occurred recently at a number of major U.S. companies.

FTC Solar, Inc. FTCI US Equity

FTCI · 10-K · period ended 2024-12-31

Item 1. Business.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

FTC Solar, Inc. FTCI US Equity☆

FTCI · 10-K · period ended 2024-12-31

Item 1. Business.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

FTC Solar, Inc. FTCI US Equity