Item 1A. Risk Factors
A description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business is set forth below. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 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. If any of the risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.
Risks Related to Our Business and Business Development
If we fail to manage our growth effectively and efficiently, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of service and customer satisfaction, or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced significant growth in recent periods and anticipate our operations will continue to expand. To manage our current and anticipated future growth effectively, we must continue to maintain, enhance and scale our finance and accounting systems and controls, as well as our information technology, or IT, and security infrastructure, including with respect to internal information sharing and interconnectivity between various systems within our infrastructure and other business systems. Failure to maintain and improve our technologies may hinder our growth potential and adversely impact our operations and overall financial performance.
To support our growth, we expect to continue to invest in sales and marketing activities as well as research and development to increase our brand awareness, attract and retain customers, increase the functionality of our platform, introduce additional related products and services, and to expand to new verticals and geographies. A significant portion of such investments will precede the benefits, and we cannot be sure that we will receive an adequate return on our investments. Failure to manage growth effectively could lead us to over-invest or under-invest in development and operations, resulting in weaknesses in our infrastructure, systems, or controls, giving rise to operational mistakes, financial losses, loss of productivity or business opportunities, reduce customer satisfaction, limit our ability to respond to competitive pressures, and could result in loss of employees and reduced productivity of remaining employees. In addition, our expenses may increase more than expected, our revenue may not increase or may grow more slowly than expected, and we may be unable to implement our business strategy.
If we do not attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase our customers’ use of our platform, our business will suffer.
We derive, and expect to continue to derive, a majority of our revenue and cash inflows from our integrated cloud-based restaurant management platform, which encompasses software, financial technology, and hardware components. As such, our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase use of the platform by our customers is critical to our success.
Our future revenue will depend in large part on our success in attracting additional customers to our platform. Our ability to attract additional customers will depend on a number of factors, including the effectiveness of our sales team, the success of our marketing efforts, our levels of investment in expanding our sales and marketing teams, referrals by existing customers, and the availability of competitive restaurant technology platforms. We may not experience the same levels of success with respect to our customer acquisition strategies as seen in prior periods, and if the costs associated with acquiring new customers materially rises in the future, our expenses may rise significantly.
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In addition, while a majority of our current customer base consists of small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, we continue to pursue customer growth within the enterprise and mid-market segments of the restaurant market, as well as among SMBs. We have also expanded into new verticals such as food and beverage retail and may continue to explore other opportunities. Each of those sub-markets poses different sales and marketing challenges, product-market fits, and has different requirements, and we cannot be sure that we will achieve the same success in those market segments as we have achieved to date. The long-term potential of our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to expand our business successfully into these sub-markets.
Our business also depends on retaining our existing customers. Our business is subscription-based, and contract terms for our SaaS products generally range from 12 to 36 months. Customers are not obligated to, and may not, renew their subscriptions after their existing subscriptions expire. As a result, even though the number of customers using our platform has grown steadily in recent years, there can be no assurance that we will be able to retain these customers or any new customers that may enter into subscriptions. Renewals of subscriptions may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the level of satisfaction with our platform or support; the perception that a competitive platform, product or service presents a better or less expensive option; changes in our customers’ spending levels; changes in consumer behavior; or our failure to successfully deploy sales and marketing efforts towards existing customers as they approach the expiration of their subscription term. In addition, we may terminate our relationships with customers for various reasons, such as heightened credit risk, excessive card chargebacks, unacceptable business practices, or contract breaches.
Further, if customers on our platform were to cease operations, temporarily or permanently, or face financial distress or other business disruption, our ability to retain customers would suffer. This risk is particularly pronounced with restaurants, as each year a meaningful percentage of restaurants go out of business, and can be impacted by inflation and interest rate changes, policy changes and other global financial, economic, political, and health events.
In addition to attracting new customers and retaining existing customers, we seek to expand usage of our platform by broadening adoption of the various products included within our platform. Although we have seen the average number of modules adopted by our customers increase in recent periods, we cannot be certain that such trend will continue. Further, while many of our customers deploy our platform to all of their locations, some of our customers initially deploy our platform to a subset of locations. We also accommodate select enterprise customers by entering into certain arrangements that do not contain a minimum location commitment. For those customers, we seek to expand use of our platform to additional locations over time. Our ability to increase adoption of our products by our customers and to increase penetration of our existing customers’ locations will depend on a number of factors, including our customers’ satisfaction with our platform, competition, pricing, and our ability to demonstrate the value proposition of our products.
Our costs associated with renewals and generating sales of additional products to existing customers are substantially lower than our costs associated with entering into subscriptions with new customers. Accordingly, our business model relies to a significant extent on our ability to renew subscriptions and sell additional products to existing customers, and, if we are unable to retain revenue from existing customers or to increase revenue from existing customers, our operating results would be adversely impacted even if such lost revenue were offset by an increase in revenue from new customers.
We may not be able to sustain our recent revenue growth in future periods.
We have grown steadily over the last several years. For example, in the fiscal years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our revenue was $4,960 million and $3,865 million, respectively, representing a 28% growth rate. You should not rely on our revenue or key business metrics for any previous quarterly or annual period as indicative of our revenue, revenue growth, key business metrics, or key business metrics growth in future periods. In particular, our revenue growth rate has fluctuated in prior periods. We expect our revenue growth rate to continue to fluctuate over the short and long term. We may experience declines in our revenue growth rate as a result of a number of factors, including slowing demand for our platform, insufficient growth in the number of customers and their guests that utilize our platform, increasing competition, changing customer and guest behaviors, a decrease in the growth of our overall market, our failure to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities, the impact of regulatory requirements, the maturation of our business, and macroeconomic conditions, among others.
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We have a limited operating history in an evolving industry at our current scale, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
We launched our operations in 2013, have grown significantly in recent periods, and have a limited operating history, particularly at our current scale. In addition, we operate in an evolving industry and have frequently expanded our platform features and services and, from time to time, have changed our pricing methodologies. This limited operating history and our evolving business make it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and the risks and challenges we may encounter. These risks and challenges include, but are not limited to, our ability to:
•accurately forecast our revenue and plan our operating expenses;
•increase the number of and retain existing customers and their guests using our platform;
•successfully compete with current and future competitors;
•successfully expand our business in existing markets and enter new markets and geographies;
•anticipate and respond to macroeconomic changes and changes in the markets in which we operate;
•maintain and enhance the value of our reputation and brand;
•comply with regulatory requirements in highly regulated markets;
•adapt to rapidly evolving trends in the ways customers and their guests interact with technology;
•avoid interruptions or disruptions in our service, including prevention of cyber-attacks or otherwise;
•develop a scalable, high-performance technology infrastructure that can efficiently and reliably handle significant surges of usage by our customers and their guests as compared to historic levels and increased usage generally, as well as the deployment of new features and services;
•maintain, scale, and effectively manage our internal infrastructure systems, such as information strategy and sharing and interconnectivity between systems;
•hire, integrate, and retain talented technology, sales, customer service, and other personnel;
•effectively manage rapid growth in our personnel and operations; and
•effectively manage our costs.
Further, because we have limited historical financial data relevant to our current scale and operations and operate in a rapidly evolving market, any predictions about our future revenue and expenses may not be as accurate as they would be if we had a longer operating history or operated in a more predictable market. We have encountered in the past, and will encounter in the future, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies with limited operating histories in rapidly changing industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties, which we use to plan and operate our business, are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our results of operations could differ materially from our expectations and our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
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Our platform includes our payment services, and our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers depends in part on our ability to offer payment processing services with the desired functionality at an attractive price.
We generally sell subscriptions to our platform together with our payment services. Except for a small number of enterprise brands, customers are unable to subscribe to our platform without also subscribing to our payment services. While we believe that offering a complete all-in-one platform that includes payment processing functionality along with all the other functionality of our platform offers our customers significant advantages over separate point of sale solutions, some potential or existing customers may not desire to use our payment processing services or to switch from their existing payment processing vendors. Some of our potential customers for our platform may not be willing to switch payment processing vendors for a variety of reasons, such as transition costs, business disruption, and loss of accustomed functionality. There can be no assurance that our efforts to overcome these factors will be successful, and this resistance may adversely affect our growth.
The attractiveness of our payment processing services also depends on our ability to integrate emerging payment technologies, including crypto currencies, other emerging or alternative payment methods, and credit card systems that we or our processing partners may not adequately support or for which we or they do not provide adequate processing rates. In the event such methods become popular among consumers, any failure to timely integrate emerging payment methods into our software, anticipate consumer behavior changes, or contract with processing partners that support such emerging payment technologies could reduce the attractiveness of our payment processing services and of our platform, and adversely affect our operating results.
Our operating results depend in significant part on our payment processing services, and the revenue and gross profit we derive from our payment processing activity in a particular period can vary due to a variety of factors.
Even if we succeed in increasing subscriptions to our platform and retaining subscription customers, the revenue we derive from payment processing services may vary from period to period depending on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict. Our revenue from payment processing services is generally calculated as a percentage of payment volume plus a per-transaction fee and, accordingly, varies depending on the total dollar amount processed through the Toast platform. This amount may vary, depending on, among other things, the success of our customers’ businesses, the proportion of our customers’ payment volumes processed through our platform, ticket size, consumer spending levels in general, and overall economic conditions. In addition, the revenue and gross profit derived from our payment processing services varies depending on the particular type of payment processed on our platform. For example, card-not-present transactions, which are transactions for which the credit card is not physically present at the merchant location at the time of the transaction, are generally associated with higher payment processing revenue and gross profit compared to card-present transactions, and debit card transactions are generally also associated with higher gross profit compared to credit card transactions. The ratio of card-not-present and debit card transactions as a proportion of the total payment transactions processed through our platform can fluctuate from time to time and may be impacted by global events, leading to corresponding fluctuations in our revenue and gross profit.
A majority of our customers are SMBs, which can be more difficult and costly to retain than enterprise customers and are subject to increased impacts of economic fluctuations, which may adversely affect our business and operations.
A majority of our customers are SMBs and we expect they will continue to comprise a large portion of our customer base for the foreseeable future. Selling to and retaining SMBs can be more difficult than retaining enterprise customers, as SMBs often have higher rates of business failure and more limited resources, may have decisions related to the choice of payment processor dictated by their affiliated parent entity and are more readily able to change their payment processors than larger organizations.
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SMBs are also typically more susceptible to the adverse effects of macroeconomic conditions, including those caused by fluctuating inflation levels and interest rates and policy changes. Adverse changes in the economic environment or business failures of our SMB customers may have a greater impact on us than on our competitors who do not focus on SMBs to the extent that we do. If the demand for restaurant management platforms by SMBs does not continue to grow, or if we are unable to maintain our market share with SMBs, our revenue and other growth rates could be adversely affected.
We rely in part on revenue from subscription contracts, and because we recognize revenue from subscription contracts over the term of the relevant subscription period, downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations.
Subscription services revenue accounts for a significant portion of our total revenue. If our sales of new or renewal subscription contracts decline, our revenue and revenue growth may decline. We recognize subscription revenue ratably over the term of the relevant subscription period, which generally ranges from 12 to 36 months in duration. As a result, much of the subscription revenue we report each quarter is derived from subscription contracts that we sold in prior periods.
Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscription contracts in any one quarter will not be fully reflected in revenue in that quarter, but will negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in new or renewal sales of our subscriptions is not reflected in full in our results of operations in a given period. Also, it is difficult for us to rapidly increase our subscription revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new and renewal subscription contracts must be recognized ratably over the applicable subscription period. Furthermore, any increases in the average term of subscription contracts would result in revenue for those subscription contracts being recognized over longer periods of time.
Our future revenue will depend in part on our ability to expand the financial technology services we offer to our customers and increase adoption of those services.
We offer our customers a variety of financial technology products and services, and we intend to make available additional financial technology products and services to our customers in the future. A number of these services require that we enter into arrangements with financial institutions or other third parties. For example, one of our bank partners, which is a Utah-chartered and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC,-insured industrial bank, offers qualified customers working capital loans, which we service. In order to provide these and future financial technology products and services, we may need to establish additional partnerships with third parties, comply with a variety of regulatory requirements, and introduce internal processes and procedures to comply with applicable law and the requirements of our partners, all of which may involve significant cost, require substantial management attention, and expose us to new business and compliance risks. We cannot be sure that our current or future financial technology services will be widely adopted by our customers or that the revenue we derive from such services will justify our investments in developing and introducing these services.
We do not have sufficient history with our subscription or pricing models to accurately predict optimal pricing strategies necessary to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
As we optimize our subscription pricing and packaging models, we may not accurately predict or achieve the optimal pricing and packaging model at all times, which could lead to reduced profitability or market share. Changes to our pricing and packaging model may also lead to reputational damage, competitive harm, regulatory scrutiny, and potential legal liabilities, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Furthermore, as the market for our platform matures, or as competitors introduce new products or services that compete with ours, or change their pricing strategy, we may be unable to attract new customers at the same price or based on the same pricing and packaging models that we have used historically.
Moreover, while SMBs continue to comprise the majority of our customer base, we have and will continue to seek subscriptions from enterprise customers, which may be more likely to demand price concessions or request customized features and packaging. As a result, we may be required to adjust our prices and product offerings for certain customers, which could adversely affect our revenue, gross margin, profitability, financial position, and cash flow.
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We are subject to risks associated with certain financial products we offer and our handling of customer funds, including counterparty risk with key partners, the ability of our customers to pay their obligations, and the risk of fraud.
Our business offers various products and features to digitize financial operations for our customers, including payment processing, access to capital, and payment execution to service providers. Current and future financial products offered by Toast, Toast Capital, or through either party’s bank partners, subject us to risks. If we cannot source capital or partner with financial institutions to fund financial solutions for our customers, we might have to reduce the availability of these services, or cease offering them altogether. Toast Capital’s bank partner offers qualified Toast customers working capital loans in accordance with credit policies established by our bank partner. Toast Capital markets the loans and acts as servicer of the loans and receives a servicing fee based on the outstanding balance of loans being serviced as well as a fee that varies depending on the credit performance of the loans extended under the program. We do not currently have partnerships with other financial institutions for such loans and are reliant on our bank partner to support this program. If our bank partner were to terminate its relationship with us, we would be unable to make working capital loans available to our customers, at least in the short-term, until we are able to enter into a relationship with another financial institution to offer similar loans. In addition, our bank partner may not expand its lending under this program to support future demand for such loans from our customers. There can be no assurance that we would be able to enter into a similar relationship with another financial institution to make working capital loans available to our customers on terms our customers would find attractive, or at all.
Under our agreement with our bank partner, on a monthly basis, we are obligated to purchase loans made in a particular quarter that have been (or are scheduled to be) charged off, are otherwise non-performing, or do not satisfy our bank partner’s credit policy, unless such purchase would cause the principal amount of such purchased loans to exceed 15% of the original principal amount of loans made in the applicable quarter. As a result of this potential purchase obligation, and our servicing fee and credit performance fee, we are subject to credit risk on the loans extended by our bank partner under this program. Accordingly, if we fail to accurately predict the likelihood of default or timely repayment of loans, our business may be materially and adversely affected. For example, if more of our customers cease operations, experience a decline in their revenue, or engage in fraudulent behavior and are not able to repay their loans, our business may be materially and adversely affected. A decline in macroeconomic conditions could increase the risk of non-payment or fraud and could also lead to a decrease in the number of customers eligible for loans or financing. In addition, although our bank partner acts as the lender with respect to these working capital loans, we are subject to numerous contractual and regulatory requirements in connection with our marketing and servicing activities in connection with these loans. If we were to fail to comply with these requirements, we could be subject to liability, regulatory sanctions, or claims by our customers or our bank partner, and our bank partner could terminate its relationship with us. We intend to continue to explore additional financial or other solutions to offer to our customers. Some of those solutions may require, or be deemed to require, additional procedures, partnerships, licenses, regulatory approvals and requirements, or capabilities. Should we fail to address these requirements, or should these new solutions, or new regulations or interpretations of existing regulations, impose requirements on us that are impractical or that we cannot satisfy, the future growth and success of our financial business may be materially and adversely affected.
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Our business also handles payroll processing administration for a number of our customers. Consequently, at any given time, we may be advancing funds on behalf of customers or holding or directing funds of customers, while payroll payments are being processed. Given the handling of customer funds and the large volume of different financial transactions we manage, we are a target for parties who seek to commit acts of financial fraud using stolen identities and bank accounts, compromised business email accounts, employee or insider fraud, account takeover, false applications, check fraud, wire fraud, and stolen cards or card account numbers. The techniques used to perpetrate fraud on our platform are continually evolving, and we expend considerable resources to continue to monitor and combat them. As we continue our operations or introduce new products and features, we have and may in the future suffer losses from acts of financial fraud committed by our customers and their guests or employees, our employees, or third parties. In addition, our customers may suffer losses from acts of financial fraud by third parties posing as us through account takeover, credential harvesting, use of stolen identities, and various other techniques, which could harm our reputation, prompt us to reimburse our customers for such losses in order to maintain customer relationships, or expose us to civil and criminal liabilities. Finally, if our partners or the financial institution in which we hold these funds suffers any kind of insolvency or liquidity event, fails to have adequate controls or to deliver their services in a timely manner, we may at times experience losses with limited ability to recoup loss or to directly strengthen relevant controls. If we are unable to effectively manage the risks of offering financial solutions including payroll services, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be negatively impacted. Macroeconomic factors such as changes in interest rates may also increase our costs in servicing certain financial solutions or other products.
Any failure to offer high-quality customer support may adversely affect our relationships with our customers and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In deploying and using our platform, our customers depend on our 24/7 support team to resolve complex technical and operational issues, including ensuring that our platform is implemented in a manner that integrates with a variety of third-party platforms. We also rely on third parties to provide some support services, and our ability to provide effective support is partially dependent on our ability to attract and retain qualified and capable third-party service providers. As we continue to grow our business and improve our offerings, we may face challenges related to providing high-quality support services at scale. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in demand for customer support or to modify the nature, scope, and delivery of our customer support to compete with changes in customer support services provided by our competitors. Increased demand for customer support, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and adversely affect our operating results. Our sales are highly dependent on our business reputation and on positive recommendations from our existing customers. Any failure to maintain high-quality customer support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality customer support, could adversely affect our reputation and brand, our ability to benefit from referrals by existing customers, our ability to sell our platform to existing and prospective customers, and our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
The long-term potential of our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to expand our business successfully into international markets.
Although the majority of our revenue is derived from customers located in the United States, the long-term potential of our business will depend in part on our ability to expand our business into international markets. However, we have limited experience with international customers and in selling our platform internationally. Accordingly, we cannot be certain that our business model will be successful, or that our platform will achieve commercial acceptance, outside the United States.
Conducting international operations subjects us to risks that we have not generally faced in the United States, including but not limited to:
•managing geographically separate organizations, systems, and facilities;
•challenges caused by language and cultural differences;
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations, including employment laws and regulations;
•presence of more established competitors and/or local competitors favored by local business practices;
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•compliance challenges related to the complexity of multiple, conflicting, and changing governmental laws and regulations, including data privacy, employment, tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery laws and regulations and sanction regimes, including but not limited to, additional exposure to GDPR, rules and programs administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, domestic and international anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and the U.K. Bribery Act, as well as other similar anti-bribery and anti-kickback laws and regulations;
•different pricing environments, sales cycles, and collections issues;
•financial and other impacts to our business resulting from fluctuations in currency exchange rates and unit economics across multiple jurisdictions, including the possibility of use of hedging arrangements to reduce potential foreign currency exchange exposure;
•increased financial accounting and other reporting burdens and complexities, including rapidly changing requirements with respect to corporate sustainability reporting;
•enforcing intellectual property rights outside of the United States;
•difficulty entering new non-U.S. markets due to, among other things, difficulties in achieving consumer acceptance of our platform in new markets and more limited business knowledge of these markets; and
•general economic and political conditions.
Expanding our business internationally requires significant additional investment in our platform, operations, infrastructure, compliance efforts, and sales and marketing organization, and any such investments may not be successful or generate an adequate return on our investment.
We depend on the experience and expertise of our management team and qualified personnel. Our ability to recruit, retain, and develop talent is critical to our success and growth.
Our business functions at the intersection of rapidly changing technological, social, economic, and regulatory environments that require a wide range of expertise and intellectual capital. Our success depends on the continued service of our management team and qualified personnel.
For us to successfully compete and grow, we must recruit, retain, and develop personnel who can provide the necessary expertise across a broad spectrum of disciplines. In addition, we must develop, maintain and, as necessary, implement appropriate succession plans to ensure we have the necessary human resources capable of maintaining continuity in our business. The loss of management team members and other qualified personnel may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives and could harm our business and our customer relationships. Changes in our work environment and workforce, including those arising from any restructuring actions or hybrid work policies, may create operational and workplace culture challenges, which could negatively impact our ability to increase employee productivity or attract and retain our employees and could adversely affect our operations.
The market for qualified personnel is competitive, and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors. Our effort to retain and develop personnel may also result in significant additional expenses, which could adversely affect our profitability. In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards they receive in connection with their employment, which has been and could be subject to fluctuations from time to time. If the perceived value of our equity awards declines, it may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees.
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We are also substantially dependent on our direct sales force to obtain new customers and increase sales to existing customers. There is significant competition for sales personnel with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve significant revenue growth will depend, in large part, on our success in recruiting, training, and retaining a sufficient number of sales personnel to support our growth. If we are unable to hire, train, and retain a sufficient number of qualified and successful sales personnel, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed.
From time to time, we are subject to various legal proceedings that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
From time to time, we are or may become involved in claims, lawsuits (whether class actions or individual lawsuits), arbitration proceedings, government investigations, and other legal or regulatory proceedings involving commercial, corporate and securities matters; privacy, marketing and communications practices; labor and employment matters; alleged infringement of third-party patents and other intellectual property rights; and other matters. The results of any such claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations, or other legal or regulatory proceedings cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant management attention, and divert significant resources. Determining reserves for our pending litigation is a complex and fact-intensive process that requires significant subjective judgment and speculation. It is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in substantial damages, settlement costs, fines, and penalties. These proceedings could also result in harm to our reputation and brand, sanctions, consent decrees, injunctions, or other orders requiring a change in our business practices. Any of these consequences could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, under certain circumstances, we have contractual and other legal obligations to indemnify and to incur legal expenses on behalf of our business, customers, and commercial partners and current and former directors and officers. In addition, certain litigation or the resolution of certain litigation may affect the availability or cost of some of our insurance coverage, which could adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows, expose us to increased risks that would be uninsured, and adversely impact our ability to attract directors and officers.
Notwithstanding the terms of our agreements with our customers, it is possible that one or more of our customers could breach their obligations, which in the aggregate, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. For example, if a customer defaults on its obligations under a customer agreement or terminates a customer agreement prior to the contractual termination date, we may be required to assert a claim to acquire the amount in full due under the customer agreement, which we may choose not to pursue. However, if we choose to pursue any such claim, we may incur substantial costs to resolve claims or enter into litigation or arbitration, and even if we were to prevail in the event of claims, litigation or arbitration, such claims, litigation, or arbitration could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and other employees from our business operations.
We also include arbitration and class action waiver provisions in our terms of service with the customers that utilize our platform and certain agreements with our employees. These provisions are intended to streamline the litigation process for all parties involved, as they can in some cases be faster and less costly than litigating disputes in state or federal court. However, arbitration can nevertheless be costly and burdensome, and the use of arbitration and class action waiver provisions subjects us to certain risks to our reputation and brand, as these provisions have been the subject of increasing public scrutiny. In order to minimize these risks to our reputation and brand, we may limit our use of arbitration and class action waiver provisions, or we may be required to do so in any particular legal or regulatory proceeding, either of which could cause an increase in our litigation costs and exposure. Additionally, we permit certain customers and other users of our platform to opt out of such provisions, which could cause an increase in our litigation costs and exposure.
Further, with the potential for conflicting rules regarding the scope and enforceability of arbitration and class action waivers on a state-by-state basis, as well as between state and federal law, there is a risk that some or all of our arbitration and class action waiver provisions could be subject to challenge or may need to be revised to exempt certain categories of protection. If these provisions were found to be unenforceable, in whole or in part, or specific claims are required to be exempted, we could experience an increase in our costs to litigate disputes and in the time involved in resolving such disputes, and we could face increased exposure to potentially costly lawsuits, each of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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We have closed multiple acquisitions and may acquire or invest in other companies or technologies in the future, which could divert management’s attention, fail to meet our expectations, result in additional dilution to our stockholders, increase expenses, disrupt our operations, or harm our operating results.
We have closed multiple acquisitions and investments and may in the future acquire or invest in other businesses, products, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform, enhance our technical capabilities, or otherwise offer growth opportunities. We may not be able to fully realize the anticipated benefits of our past or future acquisitions.
We cannot forecast the number, timing or size of any future acquisitions or other similar strategic transactions. We may not be able to successfully identify future acquisition opportunities or complete any such acquisitions if we cannot reach agreement on commercially favorable terms, if we lack sufficient resources to finance the transaction on our own and cannot obtain financing at a reasonable cost, or if regulatory authorities prevent such transactions from being completed. In addition, the pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses related to identifying, investigating, and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated. Further, we may have to pay cash, incur debt, or issue securities, including equity-based securities, to pay for acquisitions, joint ventures, or strategic investments, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock or result in dilution to our existing stockholders.
There are inherent risks in integrating and managing acquisitions. When we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to assimilate or integrate the acquired personnel, operations, and technologies successfully or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: unanticipated costs associated with the acquisition, including but not limited to, integration and compliance costs; the inability to generate sufficient revenue to offset acquisition costs; the inability to maintain relationships with customers and partners of the acquired business; the difficulty of incorporating acquired technology into our platform and of maintaining quality and security standards consistent with our brand; harm to our existing business relationships as a result of the acquisition; and the potential loss of key employees. Acquisitions also increase the risk of unforeseen legal liability arising from prior or ongoing acts or omissions by the acquired businesses which are not discovered by due diligence during the acquisition process or that prove to have a greater than anticipated adverse impact. We have previously acquired and continue to evaluate companies that operate in highly regulated markets. There is no assurance that acquired businesses will have invested sufficient efforts in their own regulatory compliance, and we may need to invest in and seek to improve the regulatory compliance controls and systems of such businesses. Generally, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, or if we are unable to establish effective regulatory compliance controls with respect to an acquired business, our operating results, business, and financial condition may suffer.
In addition, we have previously acquired and may in the future pursue acquisitions of companies with extensive operations outside the United States. These types of acquisitions often involve additional or increased risks compared to acquisitions of operations within the United States.
The diversion of management’s attention and any delays or difficulties encountered in connection with acquisitions and their integration could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
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Risks Related to Our Technology and Privacy
We are responsible for transmitting a high volume of sensitive and personal information through our platform and our success depends upon the security of this platform. Any actual or perceived breach of our system that would result in disclosure of such information could materially impact our business.
We, our customers, our partners, and other third parties, including third-party vendors, cloud service providers, and payment processors that we use, obtain and process large amounts of sensitive and personal information, including information related to our customers, their employees, their guests, and their transactions. We face risks, including to our reputation as a trusted brand, in the handling and protection of this information, and these risks will increase as our business continues to expand to include new products and technologies. Our operations involve the storage, transmission, and processing of our customers’ proprietary information and sensitive and personal information of our customers, their guests, and their employees, including contact information and payment information, purchase histories, lending information, and payroll information. Cyber incidents have been increasing in sophistication and frequency and can include third parties gaining access to employee or guest information using stolen or inferred credentials, computer malware, viruses, spamming, phishing attacks, ransomware, card skimming code, and other deliberate attacks and attempts to gain unauthorized access. As AI technologies, including generative AI models, develop rapidly, threat actors are using these technologies to create new attack methods that are increasingly automated, targeted, and coordinated and more difficult to defend against. In addition, our customers may authorize third-party technology providers to access their data and any unauthorized use of the third-party technology may result in unauthorized access to such data we obtain and process. These incidents can also originate on our vendors’ websites or systems, which can then be leveraged to access our website or systems, further preventing our ability to successfully identify and mitigate the attack. As a result, unauthorized access to, security breaches of, or denial-of-service attacks against our platform (or any platform of our third-party vendors) could result in the loss of service, unauthorized access to or use of, and/or loss of, such data, as well as loss of intellectual property, guest information, employee data, trade secrets, or other confidential or proprietary information.
We have administrative, technical, and physical security measures in place and proactively employ multiple security measures at different layers of our systems to defend against intrusion and attack and to protect our information; however, we have experienced security and privacy incidents in the past, and we may face additional incidents in the future. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures that will be sufficient to counter all current and emerging technology threats. In addition, any security breaches that occur may remain undetected for extended periods of time. While we also have and will continue to make significant efforts to address any IT security and privacy issues with respect to acquisitions we make, we may still inherit such risks when we integrate these companies.
We also have policies and procedures in place to contractually require third parties to which we transfer data to implement and maintain appropriate security and privacy measures. Sensitive and personal information is processed and stored by our customers, software and financial institution partners and third-party service providers to whom we outsource certain functions. Threats to third-party systems can originate from human error, fraud, or malice on the part of employees or third parties, or simply from accidental technological failure, and/or computer viruses and other malware that can be distributed and infiltrate systems of third parties on whom we rely. While we select third parties to which we transfer data carefully, we do not control their actions, and these third parties may experience breaches that result in unauthorized access of data and information stored with them despite these contractual requirements and the security measures these third parties employ.
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If any security breach involving our systems or the systems of third parties that store or process our data or significant denial-of-service attacks or other cyber attack occurs or is believed to have occurred, our reputation and brand could be damaged, we could be required to expend significant capital and other resources to alleviate problems caused by such actual or perceived breaches or attacks and remediate our systems. In addition, we could be exposed to a risk of loss, litigation, or regulatory action and possible liability, some or all of which may not be covered by insurance, and our ability to operate our business may be impaired. Unauthorized parties have in the past gained access, and may in the future gain access, to systems or facilities used in our business through various means, including gaining unauthorized access into our systems or facilities or those of customers and their guests, attempting to fraudulently induce our employees, customers, their guests, or others into disclosing usernames, passwords, payment card information, or other sensitive or personal information, which may in turn be used to access our IT systems or fraudulently transfer funds to bad actors.
If new or existing customers believe that our platform does not provide adequate security for the storage of personal or sensitive information or its transmission over the Internet, they may not adopt our platform or may choose not to renew their subscriptions to our platform, which could harm our business. Additionally, actual, potential, or anticipated attacks may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants. Our errors and omissions insurance policies covering certain security and privacy damages and claim expenses may not be sufficient to compensate for all potential liability. Although we maintain cyber liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all.
Further, because data security is a critical competitive factor in our industry, we may make statements in our privacy statements and notices and in our marketing materials describing the privacy and security of our platform, including descriptions of certain security measures we employ or such features embedded within our products. Should any of these statements be untrue, become untrue, or be perceived to be untrue, even if through circumstances beyond our reasonable control, we may face claims, including claims of unfair or deceptive trade practices, brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, state, local, or foreign regulators (e.g., a European Union-based data protection agency), or private litigants. U.S. and global regulators have also adopted or proposed enhanced cyber risk management standards that would apply to us and our financial institution partners and that would address cyber risk governance and management, management of internal and external dependencies, and incident response, cyber resilience, and situational awareness. Legislation and regulations on cybersecurity, data privacy and data localization may compel us to enhance or modify our systems, invest in new systems, or alter our business practices or our policies on data governance and security. If any of these outcomes were to occur, our operational costs could increase significantly. Failure to comply with applicable laws in this area could also result in significant fines, penalties, and reputational damage.
Interruptions or performance problems associated with our technology and infrastructure may adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our continued growth depends in part on the ability of our existing and potential customers to access our platform at any time and within an acceptable amount of time. Our platform is proprietary, and we rely on the expertise of members of our engineering, operations, and software development teams for our platform’s continued performance. We have experienced system outages in the past, including in some cases as a result of disruptions at our third-party vendors, and may in the future experience, disruptions, outages, and other performance problems related to our platform due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, introductions of new functionality, human or software errors, delays in scaling our technical infrastructure if we do not maintain enough excess capacity and accurately predict our infrastructure requirements, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of users accessing our platform simultaneously, denial-of-service attacks, actions or inactions attributable to third parties, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks and other geopolitical unrest, computer viruses, ransomware, malware, or other events. Our systems also may be subject to break-ins, sabotage, theft, and intentional acts of vandalism, including by our own employees. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. Further, our business and/or network interruption insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses that may result from interruptions in our service as a result of system failures and similar events.
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From time to time, we may experience limited periods of server downtime due to server failure or other technical difficulties. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve our performance, especially during peak usage times and as our platform becomes more complex and our user traffic increases. If our platform is unavailable or if our users are unable to access our platform within a reasonable amount of time, or at all, our business would be adversely affected and our brand could be harmed. In the event of any of the factors described above, or certain other failures of our infrastructure, customer or guest data may be permanently lost. Moreover, a limited number of our agreements with customers provide for limited service-level commitments, and we may enter into additional agreements providing such commitments from time to time. If we experience significant periods of service downtime in the future, we may be subject to claims by our customers against these service level commitments. These events have resulted in losses in revenue, though such losses have not been material to date. System failures in the future could result in significant losses of revenue.
We have and may, from time to time, voluntarily provide certain credits to our customers to compensate them for the inconvenience caused by a system failure or similar event, to support our customers and for the benefit of the restaurant community as part of our ongoing goodwill efforts. We are committed to providing our customers high platform reliability, and may utilize significant time, human capital and other resources to analyze the root causes of these performance problems and address any gaps identified, which in turn may take away resources from other business activities. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed, and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.
Our success depends upon our ability to continually enhance the performance, reliability, and features of our platform.
The markets in which we compete are characterized by constant change and innovation, and we expect them to continue to evolve rapidly. To attract new customers, retain existing customers, and increase sales to both new and existing customers, we must develop products and services in a cost effective and timely manner that reflect the changing nature of restaurant management software, respond to new product offerings by competitors, technological advances, and emerging industry standards and practices, and expand beyond our core functionalities to other areas of managing relationships with our customers, as well as their relationships with their guests. As the number of our customers with higher volume sales and more locations increases on our platform, so does the need for us to offer increased functionality, scalability, and support, which requires us to devote additional resources to such efforts.
The success of these and any other enhancements to our platform depends on several factors, including timely completion, adequate quality testing and sufficient demand, and the accuracy of our estimates regarding the total addressable market for new products and/or enhancements and the portion of such total addressable market that we expect to capture for such new products and/or enhancements. Any new product or service that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain defects, may not have an adequate total addressable market or market demand or may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate meaningful revenue.
We have scaled our business rapidly, and significant new platform features and services have in the past resulted in, and in the future may continue to result in, operational challenges affecting our business. Developing and launching enhancements to our platform and new services on our platform may involve significant technical risks and upfront capital investments that may not generate return on investment. For example, we may use new technologies ineffectively, or we may fail to adapt to emerging industry standards. We may experience difficulties with software development that could delay or prevent the development, introduction or implementation of new products and enhancements. Software development involves a significant amount of time, as it can take our developers months to update, code, and test new and upgraded products and integrate them into our platform. The continual improvement and enhancement of our platform requires significant investment, and we may not have the resources to make such investment.
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If we are unable to successfully develop new products or services, enhance the functionality, performance, reliability, design, security, and scalability of our platform in a manner that responds to our customers’ and their guests’ evolving needs, or gain market acceptance of our new products and services, or if our estimates regarding the total addressable market and the portion of such total addressable market which we expect to capture for new products and/or enhancements prove inaccurate, our business and operating results will be harmed.
Defects, errors, or vulnerabilities in our applications, backend systems, hardware, or other technology systems and those of third-party technology providers could harm our reputation and brand and adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The software underlying our platform is highly complex and may contain undetected errors or vulnerabilities, some of which may only be discovered after the code has been released. Our practice is to effect frequent releases of software updates. Third-party software that we incorporate into our platform and our backend systems, hardware, or other technology systems, or those of third-party technology providers, may also be subject to defects, errors, or vulnerabilities. Any such defects, errors, or vulnerabilities could result in negative publicity, a loss of customers or loss of revenue, and access or other performance issues. Such vulnerabilities could also be exploited by bad actors and result in exposure of customer or guest data, or otherwise result in a security breach or other security incident. We may need to expend significant financial and development resources to analyze, correct, eliminate, or work around errors or defects or to address and eliminate vulnerabilities. Any failure to timely and effectively resolve any such errors, defects, or vulnerabilities could adversely affect our business, reputation, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.
We use artificial intelligence in our platform and product offerings. Issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning could adversely affect our results of operations.
We utilize artificial intelligence, or AI, solutions both for internal productivity purposes and in products and services available to our customers. We also work with partners who have incorporated or may incorporate AI solutions in their products and services. As with many innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could affect its further development, adoption, and utilization, and therefore affect our business. For example, if the content, recommendation or analyses that AI applications assist in producing, or their training data are or are alleged to be deficient or inaccurate, we could be subject to competitive risks, potential legal liability, and reputational harm. Furthermore, the integration of third-party AI models, including Large Language Models, within our products and services may rely, in part, on certain safeguards implemented by the third-party developers of the underlying AI models, including those related to the accuracy, bias, and other variables of the data, and these safeguards may be insufficient. The use of AI applications may also result in cybersecurity incidents, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, AI may present evolving ethical issues. If our use of AI becomes controversial, we may experience reputational harm or legal liability.
Further, given the early stage of generative AI, factors that may impact this type of technology, such as new government regulations and market demand, are uncertain, and we may be unsuccessful in our product development efforts. For example, several US states have introduced or enacted legislation that is designed to govern the development or use of AI. Other states and countries have or are considering applicable legislation, and the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to introduce a common regulatory and legal framework for EU Member States, came into effect on August 1, 2024. Our ability to use and offer AI and machine learning solutions may be constrained by current or future laws, regulatory or self-regulatory requirements. The rapid evolution of AI, including potential additional government regulation of AI and its various uses, may require significant resources for us to implement compliant and ethical AI practices.
Our competitors or other third parties have incorporated and may also incorporate AI into their products and services. If they adopt the use of AI more quickly or more successfully than us, our ability to compete effectively may be impaired, which may adversely affect our results of operations.
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Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
If we are unable to achieve adequate revenue growth while our expenses increase, we may not consistently maintain or increase profitability in the future.
We expect to continue to invest in expanding our business, building software and hardware designed specifically for the markets we serve, and maintaining high levels of customer support, each of which we consider critical to our continued success. In addition, to support the continued growth of our business and to meet the demands of continuously changing security and operational requirements, we plan to continue investing in our technology infrastructure and expect to see a continued increase in total operating expenses. If we are unable to generate adequate revenue growth and manage our expenses, we may not consistently maintain or increase profitability in the future.
Further, we may make decisions that will adversely affect our short-term operating results if we believe those decisions will improve the experiences of our customers and their guests and if we believe such decisions will improve our operating results over the long term. For example, from time to time, we have implemented, and may in the future implement, expense cut initiatives and reduction to the size of our workforce to, among other things, align our cost structure with our business and longer term strategies, which may increase expenses in the short term and impact our ability to grow or quickly develop and introduce products. These decisions may not be consistent with the expectations of investors and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case our business may be materially and adversely affected.
Unfavorable conditions in the restaurant industry or the global economy could limit our ability to grow our business and materially impact our financial performance.
Our operating results may vary based on the impact of global events, such as geopolitical events, presidential elections and resulting policy changes, natural disasters, public health concerns or epidemics, and macroeconomic conditions, such as sanctions and tariffs, changes in inflation and interest rates and their potential impact on consumer spending. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our business and operations in a variety of ways, including supply chain challenges, disruptions in our sales and marketing efforts, restrictions in our ability to conduct research and development and other business activities, uncertainty in restaurant technology spending, and fluctuation on the payment volume processed through our platform.
Furthermore, our revenue growth and potential profitability depend on demand for business management software and platforms serving the restaurant industry. Historically, during economic downturns, there have been reductions in spending on IT as well as pressure for extended billing terms and other financial concessions. The adverse impact of economic downturns may be particularly acute among SMBs, which comprise the majority of our customer base. If economic conditions deteriorate, our current and prospective customers may elect to decrease their IT budgets, which would limit our ability to grow our business and adversely affect our operating results.
A deterioration in general economic conditions (including distress in financial markets, fluctuations in inflation and interest rates, policy changes or changes relating to tariffs, and turmoil in specific economies around the world) may adversely affect our financial performance by causing a reduction in locations through restaurant closures or a reduction in gross payment volume. A reduction in the amount of consumer spending or credit card transactions could result in a decrease of our revenue and profits. Adverse economic factors may accelerate the timing, or increase the impact of, risks to our financial performance. These factors could include:
•restrictions on credit lines to consumers or limitations on the issuance of new credit cards;
•uncertainty and volatility in the performance of our customers’ businesses, particularly SMBs;
•customers or consumers decreasing spending for value-added services we market and sell;
•declining economies and the pace of economic recovery which can change consumer spending behaviors;
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•low levels of consumer and business confidence typically associated with inflationary or recessionary environments;
•high unemployment levels, which may result in decreased spending by consumers;
•budgetary concerns in the United States and other countries around the world, which could impact consumer confidence and spending; and
•government actions, including the effect of laws and regulations and any related government stimulus.
Our revolving credit facility provides our lenders with a first-priority lien against substantially all of our assets, and contains financial covenants and other restrictions on our actions that may limit our operational flexibility or otherwise adversely affect our results of operations.
We are party to a revolving credit and guaranty agreement which contains a number of covenants that restrict our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, create or incur liens, merge or consolidate with other companies, sell substantially all of our assets, liquidate or dissolve, make distributions to equity holders, pay dividends, make redemptions and repurchases of stock, or engage in transactions with affiliates. We are also required to maintain a minimum liquidity balance. While we have no outstanding debt under this agreement, we are still required to comply with certain covenants and restrictions under this agreement, which may make it more difficult for us to successfully execute our business strategy, invest in our growth strategy, and compete against companies who are not subject to such restrictions.
A failure by us to comply with these covenants or payment requirements specified in the revolving credit and guaranty agreement could result in an event of default under the agreement, which would give the lenders the right to terminate their commitments to provide loans and extensions of credit and to declare any and all debt outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable. In addition, the lenders would have the right to proceed against the collateral in which we granted a security interest to them, which consists of substantially all our assets.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of December 31, 2024, we had accumulated $768 million and $837 million of federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, respectively, available to reduce future taxable income. Of the federal NOLs, $683 million have an indefinite carryforward period but may not offset more than 80% of current taxable income annually, and $85 million will expire at various dates through 2037. Of the state NOLs, the majority will begin to expire in 2034. It is possible that we will not generate taxable income in time to use NOLs before their expiration, or at all. Under Section 382 and Section 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOLs and other tax attributes, including R&D tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5 percent stockholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have completed a historical ownership change analysis and while we have experienced ownership changes in the past, none of our existing federal and state tax attributes are currently subject to historical limitations that are expected to materially limit our utilization. Our ability to utilize our federal and state attributes could be limited by ownership changes that may occur in the future.
We experience elements of seasonal fluctuations in our financial results, which could cause our stock price to fluctuate.
Our business is highly dependent on the behavior patterns of our customers and their guests. We experience seasonality in our financial technology revenue which is largely driven by the level of payment volume processed through our platform. For example, our average customers typically have greater sales during the warmer months, though this seasonal effect varies regionally. As a result, our financial technology revenue per location has historically been stronger in the second and third quarters. As a result, seasonality may cause fluctuations in our financial results, and other trends that develop may similarly impact our results of operations.
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Our failure or perceived failure to achieve our environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, goals or maintain ESG practices that meet evolving stakeholder expectations could adversely affect us.
We have published ESG initiatives, goals, and commitments. These goals, commitments, and targets reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. We are also subject to the evolving and divergent views on ESG matters by different stakeholders including investors, employees, and regulatory agencies. New laws and regulations relating to ESG matters, including climate change, human capital, and diversity, such as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, have been implemented, or are being developed and formalized in the U.S. and elsewhere. These regulations may entail specific, target-driven frameworks and other disclosure requirements. Our failure or perceived failure to achieve some or all of our ESG goals or maintain ESG-related practices that meet evolving stakeholder expectations or regulatory requirements could harm our reputation, adversely impact our ability to attract and retain employees or customers, and expose us to increased scrutiny from the investment community, regulatory authorities, and others or subject us to liability.
We rely primarily on third-party insurance policies to insure our operations-related risks. If our insurance coverage does not cover a particular loss or is insufficient for the needs of our business or our insurance providers are unable to meet their obligations, we may not be able to mitigate the risks facing our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We procure third-party insurance policies to cover various operations-related risks including employment practices liability, workers’ compensation, business interruptions, cybersecurity and data breaches, crime, directors’ and officers’ liability, and general business liabilities, but our insurance may not cover 100% of the costs and losses from all events. For certain types of operations-related risks or future risks related to our new and evolving services, we may not be able to, or may choose not to, acquire insurance. In addition, we may not obtain enough insurance to adequately mitigate such operations-related risks or risks related to our new and evolving services, and we may have to pay high premiums, self-insured retentions, or deductibles for the coverage we do obtain. Additionally, if any of our insurance providers becomes insolvent, it would be unable to pay any operations-related claims that we make. Further, some of our agreements with customers may require that we procure certain types of insurance, and if we are unable to obtain and maintain such insurance, we would be in violation of the terms of these customer agreements.
We are responsible for certain retentions and deductibles that vary by policy, and we may suffer losses that exceed our insurance coverage by a material amount. If the amount of one or more operations-related claims were to exceed our applicable aggregate coverage limits, we would bear the excess, in addition to amounts already incurred in connection with deductibles, or self-insured retentions. Insurance providers have raised premiums and deductibles for many businesses and may do so in the future. As a result, our insurance and claims expenses could increase, or we may decide to raise our deductibles or self-insured retentions when our policies are renewed or replaced. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected if the cost per claim, premiums, or the number of claims significantly exceeds our historical experience and coverage limits; we experience a claim in excess of our coverage limits; our insurance providers fail to pay on our insurance claims; we experience a claim for which coverage is not provided; or the number of claims under our deductibles or self-insured retentions differs from historical averages.
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Risks Related to Competition, Sales, and Marketing
The markets in which we participate are intensely competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
The overall market for restaurant management software is rapidly evolving and subject to changing technology, shifting customer and guest needs, and frequent introductions of new applications. Our competitors vary in size and in the breadth and scope of the products and services they offer. In addition, there are a number of companies that are not currently direct competitors but that could in the future shift their focus to the restaurant industry and offer competing products and services, which could compete directly in our entire customer community or in a certain segment within the restaurant industry. There is also a risk that certain of our current customers and business partners could terminate their relationships with us and use the insights they have gained from partnering with us to introduce their own competing products.
Some of our current and future competitors may enjoy competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, greater category share in certain markets, market-specific knowledge, established relationships with restaurants, larger existing user bases in certain markets, more successful marketing capabilities, more integrated products and/or platforms, and substantially greater financial, technical, sales, and marketing, and other resources than we have. Additionally, some potential customers in the restaurant industry, particularly large organizations, have elected, and may in the future elect, to develop their own business management and point of sale software and platforms. Certain of our competitors have partnered with, or have acquired or been acquired by, and may in the future partner with or acquire, or be acquired by, other competitors, thereby leveraging their collective competitive positions and making it more difficult to compete with them. We believe that there are significant opportunities to further increase our revenue by expanding our addressable market. As we continue to expand our business by selling subscriptions to our platform in international markets and other verticals such as the retail market, we will also face competition from incumbents in these markets.
Additionally, many of our competitors are well capitalized and offer discounted services, lower customer processing rates and fees, customer discounts and promotions, innovative platforms and offerings, and alternative pay models, any of which may be more attractive than those that we offer. Such competitive pressures may lead us to maintain or lower our processing rates and fees or maintain or increase our incentives, discounts, and promotions in order to remain competitive, particularly in markets where we do not have a leading position. Such efforts have negatively affected, and may continue to negatively affect, our financial performance, and there is no guarantee that such efforts will be successful. Further, the markets in which we compete have attracted significant investments from a wide range of funding sources, and we anticipate that many of our competitors will continue to be highly capitalized. These investments, along with the other competitive advantages discussed above, may allow our competitors to continue to lower their prices and fees, or increase the incentives, discounts, and promotions they offer and thereby compete more effectively against us.
Some of our competitors offer specific point solutions, including subscriptions to software products without the requirement to use related payment processing services. While we believe that our integrated software and payments platform offers significant advantages over such point solutions and permit certain enterprise brands to utilize third-party payment service, customers who have specific needs that are addressed by these point solutions, and customers who do not want to change from an existing payment processing relationship to use our payment processing services, may believe that products and services offered by competitors better address their needs.
Additionally, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than us to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, or customer requirements. With the introduction of new technologies and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. For example, our competitors may adopt certain of our platform features or may adopt innovations that customers value more highly than ours, which would render our platform less attractive and reduce our ability to differentiate our platform. Pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins, increased churn, reduced customer retention, losses, or the failure of our platform to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance. For all of these reasons, we may fail to compete successfully against our current and future competitors. If we fail to compete successfully, our business will be harmed.
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Potential changes in competitive landscape, including disintermediation from other participants in the payments chain, could harm our business.
We expect the competitive landscape in the restaurant technology industry will continue to change in a variety of ways, including:
•rapid and significant changes in technology, resulting in new and innovative payment methods and programs, that could place us at a competitive disadvantage and reduce the use of our platform and services;
•competitors, including third-party processors and integrated payment providers, customers, governments, and/or other industry participants may develop products and services that compete with or replace our platform and services, including products and services that enable payment networks and banks to transact with consumers directly;
•competitors may also elect to focus exclusively on one segment of the restaurant industry and develop product offerings uniquely tailored to that segment, which could impact our addressable market and reduce the use of our platform and services;
•participants in the financial services, payments, and payment technology industries may merge, create joint ventures, or form other business alliances that may strengthen their existing business services or create new payment services that compete with our platform and services; and
•new services and technologies that we develop may be impacted by industry-wide solutions and standards related to migration to Europay, Mastercard, and Visa standards, including chip technology, tokenization, and other safety and security technologies.
Certain competitors could use strong or dominant positions in one or more markets to gain a competitive advantage against us, such as by integrating competing platforms or features into products they control, including search engines, web browsers, mobile device operating systems, or social networks; by making acquisitions; or by making access to our platform more difficult. Failure to compete effectively against any of these or other competitive threats could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We expend significant resources pursuing sales opportunities, and if we fail to close sales after expending significant time and resources to do so, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The initial installation and set-up of many of our services often involve significant resource commitments by our customers, particularly those with larger operational scale. Potential customers generally commit significant resources to an evaluation of available services and may require us to expend substantial time, effort, and money educating them as to the value of our services. Our sales cycle may be extended due to our customers’ budgetary constraints or for other reasons. In addition, as we seek to sell subscriptions to our platform to additional enterprise customers, we anticipate that the sales cycle associated with those potential customers will be longer than the typical sales cycle for SMB customers, and that sales to enterprise customers will require us to expend greater sales and marketing and management resources. If we are unsuccessful in closing sales after expending significant funds and management resources, or we experience delays or incur greater than anticipated costs, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
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Risks Related to Our Partners and Other Third Parties
We rely on third-party payment processors to facilitate payments made by guests, payments made to customers, and payments made on behalf of customers, and if we cannot manage risks related to our relationships with our current or future third-party payment processors, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We rely on third-party payment processors to facilitate payments made by guests and payments made to customers on our platform. While we may continue to seek payment processing relationships with additional payment processors from time to time, we expect to continue to rely on a limited number of payment processors for the foreseeable future. We have experienced interrupted operations with respect to payments processed through our third-party payment partners, which in some cases resulted in the temporary inability of our customers to collect payments from their guests through our platform and disruptions in certain features, and we may experience similar events in the future. In the event that any of our current or future third-party payment processors fail to maintain adequate levels of support, experience interrupted operations, do not provide high quality service, increase the fees they charge us, discontinue their lines of business, terminate their contractual arrangements with us, or cease or reduce operations, we may suffer additional costs and be required to pursue new third-party relationships, which could materially disrupt our operations and our ability to provide our products and services, and could divert management’s time and resources. In addition, such incidents have resulted in and may result in periods of time during which our platform cannot function properly, and therefore cannot collect payments from customers and their guests, which could adversely affect our relationships with our customers and our business, reputation, brand, financial condition, and results of operations. It would be difficult to replace third-party processors in a timely manner if they were unwilling or unable to provide us with these services in the future, and our business and operations could be adversely affected. If these services fail or are of poor quality, our business, reputation, and operating results could be harmed.
Further, our contracts with third-party payment processors require, and additional contracts may in the future require, us to bear risk for compliance with the operating rules, or the Payment Network Rules, of Visa, Mastercard, and other payment networks, or collectively, the Payment Networks, with whom we are registered as a payment facilitator or certified service provider, and applicable law, and the risk of fraud. In the event any of our current or future third-party payment processors are subjected to losses, including any fines for reversals, chargebacks, or fraud assessed by the Payment Networks, that are caused by us or our customers due to failure to comply with the Payment Network Rules or applicable law, our third-party payment processor may impose penalties on us, increase our transaction fees, or restrict our ability to process transactions through the Payment Networks, and we may lose our ability to process payments through one or more Payment Networks. Thus, in the event of a significant loss by a third-party payment processor, we may be required to expend a large amount of cash promptly upon notification of the occurrence of such an event. A contractual dispute with our processing partner could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We are also dependent upon various large banks and regulators to execute electronic payments and wire transfers as part of our client payroll, tax, and other money movement services. Termination of any such banking relationship, a bank’s refusal or inability to provide services on which we rely, outages, delays, or systemic shutdown of the banking industry would impede our ability to process funds on behalf of our payroll, tax, and other money movement services clients and could have an adverse impact on our financial results and liquidity.
If we fail to comply with the applicable requirements of payment networks, they could seek to fine us, suspend us, or terminate our registrations. If our customers incur fines or penalties that we cannot collect from them, we may have to bear the cost of such fines or penalties.
In order to provide our transaction processing services, we are registered as a payment facilitator or certified service provider with the Payment Networks. We and our customers must comply with the Payment Network Rules. The Payment Network Rules require us to also comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or the Security Standard, which is a set of rules and standards designed to ensure that all companies that process, store, or transmit payment card information maintain a secure environment to protect cardholder data.
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If we fail to, or are alleged to have failed to, comply with the Payment Network Rules or the Security Standard, we may be subject to fines, penalties, or restrictions, including, but not limited to, higher transaction fees that may be levied by the Payment Networks for failure to comply with the Payment Network Rules. If a customer fails or is alleged to have failed to comply with the Payment Network Rules, we could also be subject to a variety of fines or penalties that may be levied by the Payment Networks. If we cannot collect such amounts from the applicable customer, we may have to bear the cost of the fines or penalties, and we may also be unable to continue processing payments for that customer. These potential fines or penalties may result in lower earnings for us. In addition to these fines and penalties, if we or our customers do not comply with the Payment Network Rules or the Security Standard, we may lose our status as a payment facilitator or certified service provider. Our failure to comply with such rules and standards could mean that we may no longer be able to provide certain of our services as they are currently offered, and that existing customers, sales partners, or other third parties may cease using or referring our services. Prospective merchant customers, financial institutions, sales partners, or other third parties may choose to terminate negotiations with us or delay or choose not to consider us for their processing needs. In each of these instances, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be adversely affected.
In addition to payment cards, our transaction processing services are subject to Nacha Rules, formerly the National Automated Clearing House Association Rules. Any changes in the Nacha Rules that increase our cost of doing business or limit our ability to provide processing services to our customers will adversely affect the operation of our business. If we or our customers fail to comply with the Nacha Rules or if our processing of customer transactions is materially or routinely delayed or otherwise disrupted, our partner financial institutions could suspend or terminate our access to Nacha’s clearing and settlement network, which would make it impossible for us to conduct our business on its current scale.
Additionally, we periodically conduct audits and self-assessments to verify our compliance with Nacha Rules. If an audit or self-assessment under Nacha Rules identifies any deficiencies that we need to remediate, the remediation efforts may distract our management team and other staff and be expensive and time consuming. Nacha may update its operating rules and guidelines at any time, which could require us to take more costly compliance measures or to develop more complex monitoring systems. Our partner financial institutions could also change their interpretation of Nacha requirements, similarly requiring costly remediation efforts and potentially preventing us from continuing to provide services through such partner financial institutions until we have remediated such issues to their satisfaction.
As our business continues to develop and expand, and we create new product offerings, we may become subject to additional rules, regulations, and industry standards. We may not always accurately interpret or predict the scope or applicability of certain regulations and standards, including the Security Standard, to our business, particularly as we expand into new product offerings, which could lead us to fall out of compliance with the Security Standard or other rules. Further, the Payment Networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or re-interpret existing rules in ways that might prohibit us from providing certain services to some users, be costly to implement, or be difficult to follow. Any changes in the Payment Network Rules or the Security Standard, including our interpretation and implementation of the Payment Network Rules or the Security Standard to our existing or future business offerings, or additional contractual obligations imposed on us by our customers relating to privacy, data protection, or information security, may increase our cost of doing business, require us to modify our data processing practices or policies, or increase our potential liability in connection with breaches or incidents relating to privacy, data protection, and information security, including resulting in termination of our registrations with the Payment Networks. The termination of our registrations, or any changes in the Payment Network Rules that would impair our registrations, could require us to stop providing payment facilitation services relating to the affected Payment Network, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
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The Payment Network Rules, including rules related to the assessment of interchange and other fees, may be influenced by our competitors. Increases in Payment Network fees or new regulations could negatively affect our earnings.
The Payment Network Rules are set by their boards, which may be influenced by card issuers, and some of those issuers are our competitors with respect to these processing services. Many banks directly or indirectly sell processing services to customers in direct competition with us. These banks could attempt, by virtue of their influence on the Payment Networks, to alter the Payment Networks’ rules or policies to the detriment of other members and non-members including certain of our businesses.
We pay interchange, assessment, transaction, and other fees set by the Payment Networks to such networks and, in some cases, to the card issuing financial institutions for each transaction we process. From time to time, the Payment Networks increase the fees that they charge members or certified service providers. We could attempt to pass these increases along to our customers and their guests, but this strategy might result in the loss of customers to our competitors that do not pass along the increases. If competitive practices prevent us from passing along the higher fees to our customers and their guests in the future, we may have to absorb all or a portion of such increases, which may increase our operating costs and reduce our earnings.
In addition, regulators are subjecting interchange and other fees to increased scrutiny, and new regulations or interpretations of existing regulations could require greater pricing transparency of the breakdown in fees or fee limitations, which could lead to increased price-based competition, lower margins, and higher rates of customer attrition, and affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We rely on customers on our platform for many aspects of our business, and any failure by them to maintain their service levels or any changes to their operating costs could adversely affect our business.
We rely on customers on our platform to provide quality foods, beverages, and service and experience to their guests. Further, an increase in customer operating costs could cause customers on our platform to raise prices, cease operations, or renegotiate processing rates, which could in turn adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Many of the factors affecting customer operating costs, including the cost of offering off-premise dining, are beyond the control of customers and include inflation, costs associated with the goods provided, labor and employee benefit costs, costs associated with third-party delivery services, rent costs, and energy costs. Additionally, if customers try to pass along increased operating costs by raising prices for their guests, order volume may decline, which we expect would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
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We depend upon third parties to manufacture our products and to supply key components necessary to manufacture our products. We do not have long-term agreements with all of our manufacturers and suppliers, and if these manufacturers or suppliers become unwilling or unable to provide an adequate supply of components, we may not be able to find alternative sources in a timely manner and our business would be impacted.
Many of the key components used to manufacture our products, such as our customer-facing displays, come from limited or single sources of supply, and therefore a disruption with one manufacturer in our supply chain may have an adverse effect on other aspects of our supply chain and may disrupt our ability to effectively and timely deliver our hardware products. In addition, in some cases, we rely only on one hardware manufacturer to fabricate, test, and assemble our products. In general, our contract manufacturers fabricate or procure components on our behalf, subject to certain approved procedures or supplier lists, and we do not have firm commitments from all of these manufacturers to provide all components, or to provide them in quantities and on timelines that we may require. Due to our reliance on the components or products produced by suppliers such as these, we are subject to the risk of shortages and long lead times in the supply of certain components or products. We have been and will continue exploring and working with alternative manufacturers for the assembly of our products and certain single-sourced components used in our products. In the case of off-the-shelf components, we are subject to the risk that our suppliers may discontinue or modify them, or that the components may cease to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. We have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, component shortages, or delays or other problems in product assembly, and the availability and cost of these components or products may be difficult to predict. For example, our manufacturers may experience temporary or permanent disruptions in their manufacturing operations due to equipment breakdowns, labor strikes or shortages, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, civil unrest, hostilities or wars, component or material shortages, cost increases, acquisitions, insolvency, changes in legal or regulatory requirements, or other similar problems.
As the scale of our hardware production increases, we will also need to accurately forecast, purchase, warehouse, and transport components at high volumes to our manufacturing facilities and servicing locations. If we are unable to accurately match the timing and quantities of component purchases to our actual needs or successfully implement automation, inventory management, and other systems to accommodate the increased complexity in our supply chain and parts management, or if we are affected by adverse global supply chain dynamics, such as fluctuation in freight costs, we may incur unexpected production disruption, storage, transportation, and write off costs, which may harm our business and operating results. Given the uncertainty and instability of global economic and political environment, we cannot predict how, the duration of and the extent to which our operations and financial results may be affected.
In the event of a shortage or supply interruption from suppliers of components used in our hardware products, we may not be able to develop alternate sources quickly, cost effectively, or at all. This supply interruption could harm our relationships with our customers, prevent us from acquiring new customers, and materially and adversely affect our business. Additionally, various sources of supply-chain risk, including strikes or shutdowns at delivery ports or loss of or damage to our products while they are in transit or storage, intellectual property theft, losses due to tampering, third-party vendor issues with quality or sourcing control, failure by our suppliers to comply with applicable laws and regulation, existing and potential tariffs and sanctions, including those applicable to our relationships with vendors in China, or other trade restrictions, or other similar problems could increase our cost of production, limit or delay the supply of our products, or harm our reputation.
We also rely on certain suppliers located internationally as part of our supply chain, and the supply risks described above may similarly apply to or be more pronounced in respect of those international suppliers. For example, we have several long-term contracts with companies based in China and other parts of Asia. Issues and claims relating to these contracts and business arrangements may require us to bring a claim in China or another jurisdiction in Asia, which may be difficult and expensive to arbitrate, litigate, enforce, or otherwise resolve. In addition, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts in these international jurisdictions would recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts. Any litigation in international jurisdictions, including in China or other parts of Asia, may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.
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We primarily rely on Amazon Web Services to deliver our services to customers on our platform, and any disruption of or interference with our use of Amazon Web Services could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We currently host our platform and support our operations on multiple data centers provided by Amazon Web Services, or AWS, a third-party provider of cloud infrastructure services. We do not have control over the operations of the facilities of AWS that we use. AWS’ facilities have been and could in the future be subject to damage or interruption from natural disasters, cybersecurity attacks, terrorist attacks, power outages, and similar events or acts of misconduct. The occurrence of any of the above circumstances or events and the resulting impact on our platform may harm our reputation and brand, reduce the availability or usage of our platform, lead to a significant short-term loss of revenue, increase our costs, and impair our ability to retain existing customers or attract new customers, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Even though our platform is hosted in the cloud solely by AWS, we believe that we could transition to one or more alternative cloud infrastructure providers on commercially reasonable terms. In the event that our agreement with AWS is terminated or we add additional cloud infrastructure service providers, we may experience significant costs or downtime for a short period in connection with the transfer to, or the addition of, new cloud infrastructure service providers. However, we do not believe that such transfer to, or the addition of, new cloud infrastructure service providers would cause substantial harm to our business, financial condition, or results of operations over the longer term.
We depend on the interoperability of our platform across third-party applications and services that we do not control.
We have integrations with various third parties, both within and outside the restaurant ecosystem. Third-party applications, products, and services are constantly evolving, and we may not be able to maintain or modify our platform to ensure its compatibility with third-party offerings. In addition, some of our competitors or customers on our platform may take actions that disrupt the interoperability of our platform with their own products or services, or they may exert strong business influence on our ability to, and the terms on which we operate and distribute our platform. As our platform evolves, we expect the types and levels of competition we face to increase. Should any of our competitors or customers on our platform modify their technologies, standards, or terms of use in a manner that degrades the functionality or performance of our platform or is otherwise unsatisfactory to us or gives preferential treatment to our competitors’ products or services, our platform, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our partnerships with third parties are an important source of new business for us, and, if those third parties were to reduce their referral of customers to us, our ability to increase our revenue would be adversely affected.
We have partnerships with third parties that are an important source of new business. If any of our third-party partners, such as our partners in the online food marketplace that provide referrals, were to switch to providing marketing support for another payment processor, terminate their relationship with us, merge with or be acquired by one of our competitors, or shut down or become insolvent, we may no longer receive the benefits associated with that relationship, such as new customer referrals, and we also risk losing existing customers and the related payment processing that were originally referred to us by such third-party. Any of these events could adversely affect our ability to increase our revenue.
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Our business is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations, many of which are unsettled and still developing, and our or our customers’ failure to comply with such laws and regulations could subject us to claims or otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
The restaurant technology industry and the offering of financial products therein is relatively nascent and rapidly evolving. We are or may become subject to a variety of laws and regulations. Laws, regulations, and standards governing issues such as worker classification, labor and employment, anti-discrimination, online credit card payments and other electronic payments, money transmission and money services, payment and payroll processing, on-demand pay, lending and loan brokering, loan servicing, debt collection, insurance, financial services, gratuities, pricing and commissions, text messaging, subscription services, intellectual property, data retention, privacy, data security, consumer protection, background checks, accessibility, wages, and tax are often complex and subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity. The scope and interpretation of existing and new laws, and whether they are applicable to us, is often uncertain and may be conflicting, including varying standards and interpretations between state and federal law, between individual states, and even at the city and municipality level. As a result, their application in practice may change or develop over time through judicial decisions or as new guidance or interpretations are provided by regulatory and governing bodies, such as federal, state, and local administrative agencies.
It is also likely that if our business grows and evolves and our services are used in a greater number of geographies, we would become subject to laws and regulations in additional jurisdictions. It is difficult to predict how existing laws would be applied to our business and the new laws to which it may become subject.
We may not be able to respond quickly or effectively to regulatory, legislative, and other developments, and these changes may in turn impair our ability to offer our existing or planned features, products, and services, and/or increase our cost of doing business. While we have and will need to continue to invest in the development of policies and procedures in order to comply with the requirements of the evolving, highly regulated regulatory regimes applicable to our business and those of our customers, our compliance programs are relatively nascent and we cannot assure that our compliance programs will prevent the violation of one or more laws or regulations. If we are not able to comply with these laws or regulations or if we become liable under these laws or regulations, including any future laws or obligations that we may not be able to anticipate at this time, we could be adversely affected, and we may be forced to implement new measures to reduce our exposure to this liability. This may require us to expend substantial resources, discontinue certain services or platform features, limit our customer base, or find ways to limit our offerings in particular jurisdictions, which would adversely affect our business. Any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could also subject us to claims and other legal and regulatory proceedings, fines, or other penalties, criminal and civil proceedings, forfeiture of significant assets, revocation of licenses, inability to offer our products and services in all jurisdictions as we do currently, and other enforcement actions. In addition, the increased attention focused upon liability issues as a result of lawsuits and legislative proposals could adversely affect our reputation or otherwise impact the growth of our business.
Further, from time to time, we may leverage third parties to help conduct our businesses in the United States or abroad. We may be held liable for any corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party partners and intermediaries, our employees, representatives, contractors, channel partners, and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, we cannot assure you that our employees and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible.
Illegal or improper activities of customers or customer noncompliance with laws and regulations governing, among other things, online credit card payments, financial services, gratuities, pricing and commissions, insurance, data retention, privacy, data security, consumer protection, wages, and tax could expose us to liability and adversely affect our business, brand, financial condition, and results of operations. While we have implemented various measures intended to anticipate, identify, and address the risk of these types of activities, these measures may not adequately address or prevent all illegal or improper activities by these parties from occurring and such conduct could expose us to liability, including through litigation, or adversely affect our brand or reputation.
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We are subject to extensive and complex rules and regulations, licensing, and examination by various federal, state and local government authorities and government agencies, and a failure to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to us could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, changes in legislative and regulatory policy affecting payment processing or small business lending could have a material adverse effect on our business.
In connection with our financial technology solutions, we must comply with a number of federal, state and local laws and regulations, including state and federal unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices laws, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd Frank Act. We must also comply with laws related to lending, loan brokering, loan servicing, debt collection, on-demand pay, insurance, money laundering, money transfers, and advertising, as well as a number of domestic and international privacy and information security laws, including the CCPA and the GDPR. The GDPR in the EU and the UK, which have been incorporated into their respective laws, impose stringent requirements on the processing of personal data. These requirements encompass: (i) providing information to individuals regarding data processing activities; (ii) ensuring a legal basis or condition applies to the processing of personal data and, where applicable, obtaining consent from individuals to whom the data processing relates; (iii) responding to data subject requests; (iv) imposing requirements to notify the competent national data protection authorities and data subjects of personal data breaches; (v) implementing safeguards in connection with the security and confidentiality of the personal data; (vi) accountability requirements; and (vii) taking certain measures when engaging third-party processors. Noncompliance with these privacy and security laws could result in significant penalties and remediation obligations. For example, under the GDPR, noncompliance can result in penalties up to the greater of 4% of worldwide annual revenue or €20 million (£17.5 million in the UK) depending on the circumstances. Additionally, we are or may become subject to a wide range of complex laws and regulations concerning the withholding, filing, and remittance of income and payroll taxes in connection with our payroll processing business. We may, in the future, offer additional financial technology solutions to guests of our customers that may be subject to additional laws and regulations or be subject to the aforementioned laws and regulations in novel ways.
Lending facilitated through the Toast Capital platform must comply with anti-discrimination statutes such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and state law equivalents that prohibit creditors from discriminating against loan applicants and borrowers based on certain characteristics, such as race, religion and national origin. In addition to reputational harm, violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act can result in actual damages, punitive damages, injunctive or equitable relief, attorneys’ fees, and civil money penalties.
In addition, federal and state financial services regulators are aggressively enforcing existing laws, regulations, and rules and enhancing their supervisory expectations regarding the management of legal and regulatory compliance risks. This shift in government enforcement policies and priorities may increase the risk that we will be subject to penalties and other materially adverse consequences through government enforcement actions. A finding that we failed to comply with applicable federal, state, and local law could result in actions that make our platform less convenient and attractive to, and potentially unsuitable for, customers and their guests or that have other materially adverse effects on our operations or financial condition. Further, in June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its longstanding approach under the Chevron doctrine, which provided for judicial deference to regulatory agencies. As a result of this decision, we cannot be sure whether there will be increased challenges to existing agency regulations or how lower courts will apply the decision in the context of other regulatory schemes without more specific guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision could significantly impact consumer protection, advertising, privacy, artificial intelligence, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering practices and other regulatory regimes with which we are required to comply. Any such regulatory developments could result in uncertainty about and changes in the ways such regulations apply to us, and may require additional resources to ensure our continued compliance.
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Our subsidiary, TPS, holds money transmitter licenses or similar authorizations in multiple states where they may be required in order for us to offer our payroll processing products. Each of the issuers of licenses has the authority to supervise and examine our activities. Licensing determinations are matters of regulatory interpretation and could change over time. For example, certain states may have a more expansive view than others of what activities qualify as lending, loan brokering, loan servicing, debt collection, on-demand pay, money transmission, or payroll processing and require a license. Government authorities could disagree with our licensing position or our reliance on certain exemptions from licensing requirements or determine that Toast, TPS, or another Toast subsidiary or affiliate should have applied for licenses sooner, and they could require us to obtain such licenses, fine us for unlicensed activity, require us to enter into a consent agreement, or subject us to other investigations and enforcement actions. They could also require us to cease conducting certain aspects of our business until we are properly licensed or deny us a license. An adverse licensing determination or the revocation of a license in one jurisdiction could adversely affect our licensing status in other jurisdictions. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain any such licenses, and, even if we are able to do so, we could be required to make products and services changes in order to obtain and maintain such licenses, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business. As we obtain such licenses, we are and will become subject to many additional requirements and limitations, including those with respect to the custody of customer funds; record-keeping requirements; disclosure requirements; examination requirements; annual or biennial activity reporting and license renewal requirements; notification and approval requirements for changes in our officers, directors, stock ownership, or corporate control; permissible investment requirements; capital or minimum net worth requirements; bonding; restrictions on marketing and advertising; qualified individual requirements; anti-money laundering and compliance program requirements; data security and privacy requirements; and review requirements for customer-facing documents. The cost of obtaining and maintaining licenses can be material.
Our subsidiary, Toast Insurance Services, Inc., and certain personnel hold insurance related licenses. We cannot assure you that we, or our licensed personnel, are and will remain at all times, in full compliance with insurance laws and regulations and we may be subject to fines, enforcement actions, void contracts, or our insurance operations in that state may be suspended or prohibited in the event of any non-compliance. If we, or our licensed personnel, apply for new licenses, we may become subject to additional licensing requirements, which we may not be in compliance with at all times.
Importantly, we provide our financial technology solutions in a constantly changing legal and regulatory environment. New laws or regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations, affecting our financial technology solutions could have a materially adverse impact on our ability to operate as currently intended and cause us to incur significant expense in order to ensure compliance. For example, government agencies may impose new or additional rules that (i) prohibit, restrict, and/or impose taxes or fees on payment processing transactions in, to or from certain countries or with certain governments, individuals, and entities; (ii) impose additional client identification and client due diligence requirements; (iii) impose additional reporting or recordkeeping requirements, or require enhanced transaction monitoring; (iv) limit the types of entities capable of providing payment processing services, or impose additional licensing or registration requirements; (v) impose minimum capital or other financial requirements; (vi) require enhanced disclosures to our payment processing clients; (vii) cause loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform, or any of the underlying terms of those loans, to be unenforceable against the relevant borrowers; (viii) limit the number or principal amount of payment processing transactions that may be sent to or from a jurisdiction, whether by an individual or in the aggregate; and (ix) restrict or limit our ability to facilitate processing transactions using centralized databases. These regulatory changes and uncertainties make our business planning more difficult. They could require us to invest significant resources and devote significant management attention to pursuing new business activities, change certain of our business practices or our business model, or expose us to additional costs (including increased compliance costs and/or customer remediation), any of which could adversely impact our results of operations. If we fail to comply with new laws or regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations, our ability to operate our business, our relationships with our customers, our brand, and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Proposals to change the statutes affecting working capital loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may periodically be introduced in Congress and state legislatures. If enacted, those proposals could affect Toast Capital’s operating environment in substantial and unpredictable ways.
As we expand our presence internationally, we may become subject to the laws, regulations, licensing schemes, industry standards, and payment card networks rules applicable in such jurisdictions, which may require us to invest additional resources to adopt appropriate compliance policies and measures. If we are unable to comply with the rules or laws of new jurisdictions in which we conduct business, our business or reputation may be adversely affected.
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Our relationship with our bank partner that makes loans to our customers may subject us to regulation as a service provider or a lender, and loans found to be made in violation of applicable law may be unenforceable, which could damage our commercial relationships and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
The working capital loans that we market to our customers are made by our bank partner. We are a service provider of this bank, providing marketing and loan administration services. Our contract with our bank partner requires us to comply with state and federal lending and servicing-related laws and regulations. These contracts with bank partners may make us responsible for program compliance. In the future, we may enter into similar partner arrangements with other state or federally chartered financial institutions that may require us to comply with the laws to which such third parties are subject. As a service provider to financial institutions, such as banks, we are or may become subject to regulatory oversight and examination by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency body, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or the OCC, the FDIC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, and various other federal and state regulatory authorities. We also may be subject to similar review by state agencies that regulate our partner financial institutions.
The Interagency Guidance on Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management, jointly adopted by the federal banking regulators in 2023, provides a framework for clarifying the supervisory expectation on financial institutions that engage in financial services (such as lending activities) through third parties. The guidance includes supervisory expectations for third-party risk management programs, diligence, monitoring, and examination. The increased supervisory attention on bank partnership arrangements could make bank service provider arrangements more costly, and lead to increases in our operating costs. Going forward, we may have increased difficulty in establishing or maintaining such arrangements, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
These and other potential changes to laws and regulations and enhanced regulatory oversight of our partner financial institutions may require us to divert more resources to our compliance programs and maintaining our relationships with our partner financial institutions, terminate or modify our relationships with our partner financial institutions, or otherwise limit the manner in which we conduct our business. If we are unable to adapt our products and services to conform to the new laws and regulations, or if these laws and regulations have a negative impact on our clients, we may experience client losses or increased operating costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may also be challenged that our bank partner is not the “true lender” of the loans. Loans facilitated by Toast Capital are made by our bank partner in reliance on the position that the bank is the “true lender” for such loans. That true lender status determines various elements of the structure of the loan program, including that we do not hold licenses required solely for being the party that makes loans to our customers, and loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may involve pricing and payment structures permissible at origination because the lender is a bank, and/or the disclosures provided to borrowers are accurate and compliant in reliance of the status of the lender as a bank. Because the loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform are made by our bank partner, many state financial regulatory requirements, including usury restrictions (other than the restrictions of the state in which our bank partner made a particular loan is located) and many licensing requirements and substantive requirements under state lender licensing laws, are treated as inapplicable based on principles of federal preemption or express exemptions provided in relevant state laws for certain types of financial institutions or loans they make.
Certain recent litigation and regulatory enforcement have challenged, or is currently challenging, the characterization of bank partners as the “true lender” in connection with programs involving marketing, processing, and/or servicing relationships between a bank partner and non-bank lending platforms. In addition, lawmakers have expressed concerns that bank partner arrangements undermine consumer safeguards, including state usury laws, and encouraged federal regulators to intervene. If we were to be determined the “true lender” of loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform, we could face penalties and/or loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may be or become void, voidable, or otherwise impaired in a manner that may have adverse effects on our operations (either directly or as a result of an adverse impact on our relationship with our bank partner).
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There have been no formal proceedings against us or indications of any proceedings against us to date, but there can be no assurance that state agencies or regulators will not make assertions with respect to the loans facilitated by our platform in the future. If a court or a state or federal enforcement agency were to deem Toast or Toast Capital, rather than our bank partner, the “true lender” for loans facilitated through our platform, and if for this reason (or any other reason) the loans were deemed subject to and in violation of certain state lender licensing and usury laws, we could be subject to fines, damages, injunctive relief (including required modification or discontinuation of our business in certain areas), and other penalties or consequences, and the loans could be rendered void or unenforceable in whole or in part, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business (directly, or as a result of adverse impact on our relationships with our bank partner).
Last, terms of certain loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform could, or may in the future, be challenged as violating applicable lending regulations. When establishing the factor rate and payment structures that are charged to borrowers on loans we market and service, our bank partner relies on certain authority under federal law to export the interest requirements of the state where the bank is located to borrowers located in other states. Further, we rely on the ability of subsequent holders to continue charging such factor rate and payment structures and to enforce other contractual terms of the loans that are permissible under federal banking laws following the acquisition of the loans. In some states, the factor rate of some loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform, if considered interest, may exceed the maximum interest rate permitted from time to time for loans made by non-bank lenders to borrowers located in such states. In addition, the rate structures for some loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may not be permissible in all states for non-bank lenders and/or the amounts charged in connection with loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may not be permissible in all states for non-bank lenders.
Usury, fee, and disclosure related claims involving loans facilitated through the Toast Capital platform may be raised in multiple ways. We and our bank partner may face litigation, government enforcement, or other challenge, for example, based on claims that the bank did not establish loan terms that were permissible in the state in which it is located or did not correctly identify the home or host state in which it is located, or in which the borrower is located, for purposes of interest exportation authority under federal law.
If a borrower or any state agency were to successfully bring a claim against us or our bank partner for a state licensing or usury law violation and the rate at issue on the loan was deemed impermissible under applicable state law, we and our bank partner may face various commercial and legal repercussions, including not receiving the total amount of payments expected, and in some cases, the loans could be deemed void, voidable, rescindable, or otherwise impaired or we or our bank partner may be subject to monetary, injunctive or criminal penalties. Were such repercussions to apply to us, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations; and were such repercussions to apply to our bank partner, it could be discouraged from making loans to our customers. We may also be subject to the payment of damages in situations where we agreed to provide indemnification to our bank partner, as well as fines and penalties assessed by state and federal regulatory agencies.
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Our involvement in our payroll and transaction processing services could be subject to federal and state money service business or money transmitter registration and licensing requirements that could result in substantial compliance costs, and our business could be adversely affected if we fail to predict how a particular law or regulation should be applied to our business. Failure to comply with anti-money laundering, economic and trade sanctions regulations, the FCPA, and similar laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
While we believe we have defensible arguments in support of our positions that our involvement in our transaction processing services is not subject to federal money services business, or MSB, registration and state money transmitter licensing in all states, we have not expressly obtained confirmation of such positions from FinCEN or all state regulators that administer the state money transmission or payroll processor laws. It is possible that certain state regulators may determine that our activities are subject to licensing. Any determination that we are in fact required to be licensed in a state that we have not already had a license may require substantial expenditures of time and money and could lead to liability in the nature of penalties or fines, costs, legal fees, reputational damage, or other negative consequences as well as cause us to be required to cease operations in some of the states we service, which would result have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and reputation. In the past, certain competitors have been found to violate laws and regulations related to money transmission, and they have been subject to fines and other penalties by regulatory authorities. Regulators and third-party auditors have also identified gaps in how similar businesses have implemented anti-money laundering programs. The adoption of new money transmitter, payroll processor, or money services business laws in jurisdictions, or changes in regulators’ interpretation of existing state and federal money transmitter, payroll processor, or money services business laws or regulations, could subject us to new registration or licensing requirements. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain or maintain any such licenses in all of states where we offer transaction processing services, and, even if we were able to do so, there could be substantial costs and potential product changes involved in maintaining such licenses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, there are substantial costs and potential product changes involved in maintaining and renewing such licenses, and we could be subject to fines, license revocation, or other enforcement action if we are found to violate disclosure, reporting, anti-money laundering, capitalization, corporate governance, or other requirements of such licenses. An adverse licensing determination or the revocation of a license in one jurisdiction could prevent us from operating certain aspects of our business in that jurisdiction, and could adversely affect our licensing status in other jurisdictions. These factors could impose substantial additional costs, involve considerable delay in the development or provision of our products or services, require significant and costly operational changes, or prevent us from providing our products or services in any given market.
Our offering of stored value cards, gift cards and electronic gift certificates may also trigger various federal and state laws and regulations. The customers who utilize our gift card processing products and services may be subject to these laws and regulations, which may include the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009. In addition, the payroll cards that are offered to our customers’ workers are issued by a bank partner. We are a service provider of this bank, providing marketing and account administration services. Our contract with the bank partner requires us to comply with state and federal laws and regulations (including laws that apply only to the bank directly).
TPS is registered with FinCEN as an MSB. Registration as an MSB subjects us to the regulatory and supervisory jurisdiction of FinCEN, the anti-money laundering provisions of the BSA, and its implementing regulations applicable to MSBs. FinCEN may also interpret the BSA and its regulations as requiring registration of our parent company or other subsidiaries as MSBs. State regulators often impose similar requirements on licensed money transmitters. In addition, our contracts with financial institution partners and other third parties may contractually require us to maintain an anti-money laundering program. We are also subject to economic and trade sanctions programs, including those administered by OFAC, which prohibit or restrict transactions to or from or dealings with specified countries, their governments, and in certain circumstances, their nationals, and with individuals and entities that are specially-designated nationals of those countries, narcotics traffickers, terrorists or terrorist organizations, and other sanctioned persons and entities.
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We may in the future operate our business in foreign countries where companies often engage in business practices that are prohibited by U.S. and other regulations applicable to us. We are subject to anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA and other laws that prohibit the making or offering of improper payments to foreign government officials and political figures, including anti-bribery provisions enforced by the Department of Justice and accounting provisions enforced by the SEC. These laws prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by the United States and other business entities for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We have implemented policies, procedures, systems, and controls designed to identify and address potentially impermissible transactions under such laws and regulations; however, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, consultants, and agents, including those that may be based in or from countries where practices that violate U.S. or other laws may be customary, will not take actions in violation of our policies, for which we may be ultimately responsible.
Our failure to comply with anti-money laundering, economic, and trade sanctions regulations, the FCPA, and similar laws could subject us to substantial civil and criminal penalties or result in the loss or restriction of our federal MSB registration and state money transmitter licenses (or the inability to obtain new licenses necessary to operate in certain jurisdictions). We may also face liability under our contracts with third parties, which may significantly affect our ability to conduct some aspects of our business. Additionally, changes in this regulatory environment may significantly affect or change the manner in which we currently conduct some aspects of our business. For example, bank regulators are imposing additional and stricter requirements on banks to ensure they are meeting their BSA obligations, and banks are increasingly viewing money services businesses, as a class, to be higher risk customers for money laundering. As a result, our bank partners may limit the scope of services they provide to us or may impose additional requirements on us. These regulatory restrictions on banks and changes to banks’ internal risk-based policies and procedures may result in a decrease in the number of banks that may do business with us, may require us to change the manner in which we conduct some aspects of our business, may decrease our revenue and earnings and could have a materially adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.
Our platform regularly collects and stores personal information and, as a result, both domestic and international privacy and data security laws apply. As these laws are enhanced or new laws are introduced, our business could incur additional costs and liabilities and our ability to perform our services and generate revenue could be impacted.
As we seek to build a trusted and secure platform for and to expand our network of customers and facilitate their transactions and interactions with their guests, we will increasingly be subject to laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, retention, privacy, security, and transfer of information, including the personal information of their employees and guests. Domestically, this includes federal as well as state-specific legislation, including but not limited to the CCPA. Additionally, a number of U.S. state-specific privacy laws have recently become effective or will become effective in 2024. As we expand internationally, international privacy laws pertaining to the processing and security of personal information become more relevant to our business, including but not limited to the GDPR, the United Kingdom GDPR and local privacy legislation, as well as Canadian privacy legislation, including Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and local provincial legislation. As with the other laws and regulations noted above, these laws and regulations may change or be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is possible they will be interpreted and applied in ways that will materially and adversely affect our business.
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As noted above, many states in which we operate have laws that protect the privacy and security of sensitive and personal information. Certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to sensitive and personal information than federal or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, which may complicate compliance efforts. For example, the CCPA was amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, which went into effect in January 2023, significantly amended the CCPA and requires companies covered by the legislation to provide disclosures to California consumers and afford such consumers rights with respect to their personal information, including the right to request deletion of their personal information, the right to receive the personal information on record for them, the right to know what categories of personal information generally are maintained about them, as well as the right to opt-out of certain sales of personal information and sharing personal information for certain advertising purposes. The CCPA also granted a new state agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency, powers to adopt and enforce regulations interpreting the CCPA, and the agency is continuing to adopt new rules that may require us to evolve and adapt our compliance strategies. The effects of the CCPA are potentially significant and may require us to modify our data collection or processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply and increase our potential exposure to regulatory enforcement and/or litigation. In addition, the CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal information. This private right of action may increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation.
A number of states have enacted and implemented various forms of consumer privacy legislation similar to the CCPA. We anticipate that more states may enact legislation similar to the CCPA and other state privacy laws, which provide consumers with new privacy rights and increase the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information of such consumers. Moreover, states may pass consumer privacy laws that deviate from or exceed the requirements of the existing laws, or that regulate specific business practices. For example, Washington state’s My Health My Data Act came into effect in 2024 and requires regulated businesses to apply specific protections for consumer health data, which is defined broadly to include certain data categories that are not directly related to health, such as location information. These state privacy developments have prompted a number of proposals for new federal and state-level privacy legislation and regulation. Such proposed legislation and regulation, if enacted, may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment of resources in compliance programs, impact strategies, and the availability of previously useful data, and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies.
The regulatory framework governing the collection, processing, storage, use, and sharing of certain information, particularly financial and other personal information, is rapidly evolving and is likely to continue to be subject to uncertainty and varying interpretations. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing data management practices or the features of our services and platform capabilities. Any failure or perceived failure by us, or any third parties with which we do business, to comply with our posted privacy statements or notices, changing consumer expectations, evolving laws, rules and regulations, industry standards, or contractual obligations to which we or such third parties are or may become subject, may result in actions or other claims against us by governmental entities or private actors, the expenditure of substantial costs, time, and other resources or the incurrence of significant fines, penalties, or other liabilities. In addition, any such action, particularly to the extent we were found to have engaged in violations or otherwise liable for damages, would damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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