GRNV GreenVision Aquisition Corporation

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described in this Annual Report are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We were incorporated as a Delaware corporation in October 2015 for the purpose of becoming a seamless transportation and payment ecosystem for micro-mobility vehicle sharing. Since inception, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to building our intellectual property portfolio, planning our business, raising capital and providing general and administrative support for these operations. Further, we have only generated limited revenue to date and have no history of profitability. If we do not generate positive cash flow in a timely manner and attain profitability, we may not be able to remain in business. We are also subject to business risks associated with new business enterprises, including risks relating to the development and testing of our product, software, initial and continuing regulatory compliance, privacy and data storage matters, vendor manufacturing costs, product production and assembly, and the competitive and regulatory environments in the multiple regions in which we operate. We expect our financial condition and operating results to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. In addition, as an early-stage company, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown circumstances. As we work to transition from initial start-up activities to commercial production and sales, it is difficult to forecast our future results, and we have limited insight into trends that may emerge and affect our business. The estimated costs and timelines that we have developed to achieve our growth projections are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties involved in the transition from a start-up company. Market conditions, many of which are outside of our control and subject to change, including general economic conditions, the impacts and ongoing uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, fuel and energy prices, regulatory requirements and incentives, competition and the pace and extent of vehicle electrification generally, will impact demand for our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We have realized significant operating losses to date and expects to incur losses in the future.

We have operated at a loss since inception, and these losses are likely to continue. Our net loss for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 was $72.0 million and $24.6 million, respectively. We might not ever be profitable or generate sufficient profits to distribute dividends to our shareholders. Until we achieve profitability, we will have to seek other sources of capital to continue operations.

We will need additional capital to fund our operations, which, if obtained, could result in substantial dilution or significant debt service obligations. We may not be able to obtain additional capital on commercially reasonable terms, which could adversely affect our liquidity and financial position. 

We expect that we will need to obtain additional financing, either through borrowings, private offerings, public offerings, or some type of business combination, such as a merger, or buyout to continue operating and to expand our business. We may be unable to acquire the additional funding necessary to expand our business as intended or even to continue operating. Accordingly, if we are unable to generate adequate cash from operations, and if we are unable to find sources of funding, it may be necessary for us to sell all or a portion of our assets, enter into a business combination, or reduce or eliminate operations. These possibilities, to the extent available, may be on terms that result in significant dilution to shareholders, in per share value and/or voting power, or that result in shareholders losing all of their investment in the Company.

If we are able to raise additional capital, we do not know what the terms of any such capital raising would be. In addition, any future sale of our equity securities would dilute the ownership and control of current equity holders and could be at prices substantially below our per share price in our initial public offering, at which our shares have previously been sold in the public market or at which our publicly traded warrants may be exercised. Our inability to raise capital could require us to significantly curtail or terminate our operations. We may seek to increase cash reserves through the sale of additional equity or debt securities. The sale of convertible debt securities or additional equity securities could result in additional and potentially substantial dilution to shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations and liquidity. In addition, our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties. Financing might not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Any failure to raise additional funds on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition.

The conversion of the Convertible Notes and the exercise of the Warrants will further dilute the outstanding shares of shares of common stock and could adversely impact the price of our Class A common stock.

As of April 13, 2022, our transfer agent had recorded approximately 1,036,340 shares of Class A Common Stock as unrestricted and freely tradable. In addition, there is

If the holders of our free trading shares wanted to sell these shares or if the holders of the securities that may be converted or exercised into free trading shares of Class A common stock and want to sell those free trading shares, there might not be enough purchasers to maintain the market price of our shares of Class A Common Stock on the date of such sales. Any such sales of free-trading shares, or the fear of such sales, could substantially decrease the market price of our shares of Class A Common Stock and the value of your investment.

Our financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 include an explanatory paragraph from our auditor indicating that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

The auditor’s opinion accompanying our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, include an explanatory paragraph indicating that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern as a result of recurring losses from operations and negative cash flows. Since inception, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to initiating our micro-mobility services in various cities, building our intellectual property portfolio, planning our business, raising capital and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We expect our financial condition and operating results to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control.

If we engage in future acquisitions or strategic partnerships, this may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities, and subject us to other risks.

We may evaluate various acquisition opportunities and strategic partnerships, including licensing or acquiring complementary services, intellectual property rights, technologies, media content or businesses. Any potential acquisition or strategic partnership may entail numerous risks, including:

We have debts and may incur additional debts in the future. Our debt repayment obligations may limit our available resources and the terms of debt instruments may limit our flexibility in operating our business.

As of December 31, 2021, we had total outstanding notes and bonds in a principal amount of approximately $52 million, mostly comprised of loans from an Italian bank, funds provided under a Loan and Security Agreement and three convertible debentures. Subject to the limitations under the terms of our existing debt, we may incur additional debt, secure existing or future debt or refinance our debt. In particular, we may need to incur additional debts to fund our activities, and the terms of such financing may not be attractive.

Even if the holders of our convertible debentures convert all of those debentures into shares of common stock, we will use a substantial portion of our cash flows, cash on hand and/or capital raises to pay the principal and interest on our indebtedness. These payments will reduce the funds available for working capital, capital expenditures and other corporate purposes and will limit our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital or making capital expenditures for expansion plans and other investments, which may in turn limit our ability to implement our business strategy. Our debt may also increase our vulnerability to downturns in our business, in our industry or in the economy as a whole and may limit our flexibility in terms of planning or reacting to changes in our business and in the industry and could prevent us from taking advantage of business opportunities as they arise. Our business might not generate sufficient cash flow from operations and future financing might not be available in sufficient amounts or on favorable terms to enable us to make timely and necessary payments under the terms of our indebtedness or to fund our activities.

In addition, the terms of certain of our debt facilities subject us to certain limitations in the operation of our business, due to restrictions on incurring additional debt and encumbrances, carrying out corporate reorganizations, selling assets, paying dividends or making other distributions. Any debt that we incur or guarantee in the future could be subject to additional covenants that could make it difficult to pursue our business strategy, including through potential acquisitions or divestitures.

If we breach covenants under our outstanding debts, we could be held in default under such loans, which could accelerate our repayment dates and result in the transfer of our intellectual property.

If we were to default on any of our debt, we could be required to make immediate repayment, other debt facilities may be cross-defaulted or accelerated, and we may be unable to refinance our debt on favorable terms or at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial position.

In addition, in connection with the $15 million loan under the Loan and Security Agreement entered into with various creditors on March 23, 2021, we granted the administrative agent for the lenders a security interest in our intellectual property. If we were to default and the administrative agent acquired our intellectual property, we could not continue our operations as currently carried out.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations

Risks to Our Micro-Mobility Business

The market for micro-mobility vehicle sharing is in an early stage of growth, and if such market does not continue to grow, grows more slowly than we expect or fails to grow as large as we expect, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The market for micro-mobility vehicle sharing is new and unproven, and it is uncertain whether demand for our services will continue to grow and achieve wide market acceptance. Our success depends on the willingness of people to widely adopt micro-mobility vehicle sharing. If the public does not perceive such sharing as beneficial, or chooses not to adopt it as a result of concerns regarding safety, affordability or for other reasons, whether as a result of incidents on our platform or on our competitors’ platforms or otherwise, then the market for our micro-mobility sharing network may not further develop, may develop more slowly than we expect or may not achieve the growth potential we expect, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we are unable to efficiently grow and further develop our network of shared vehicles and manage the related risks, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

While some major cities have widely adopted micro-mobility vehicle sharing, new markets might not accept, or existing markets might not continue to accept, micro-mobility vehicle sharing, and even if they do, we might not be able to execute our business strategy. Even if we are able to successfully develop and implement our network of shared vehicles, there may be heightened public skepticism of this nascent service offering. In particular, there could be negative public perception surrounding micro-mobility vehicle sharing, including the overall safety and the potential for injuries occurring as a result of accidents involving an increased number of bikes, scooters and mopeds on the road. Such negative public perception may result from incidents on our platform or incidents involving competitors’ offerings.

We use a limited number of external suppliers for our vehicles, and a continuous, stable and cost-effective supply of vehicles that meet our standards is critical to our operations. We expect to continue to rely on external suppliers in the future and might not be able to maintain our existing relationships with these suppliers and continue to be able to source our vehicles on a stable basis, at a reasonable price or at all.

The supply chain for vehicles exposes us to multiple potential sources of delivery failure or shortages. In the event that the supply of vehicles or key components is interrupted or there are significant increases in prices, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Additionally, changes in business conditions, force majeure, governmental changes and other factors beyond our control or that we do not presently anticipate could also affect our suppliers’ ability to deliver on a timely basis.

We incurred significant costs related to the design, purchase, sourcing and operations of our micro-mobility network and expect to continue incurring such costs as we expand our network of shared vehicles. The prices of our vehicles may fluctuate depending on factors beyond our control including market and economic conditions, tariffs and demand. Substantial increases in prices of these assets or the cost of our operations would increase our costs and reduce our margins, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our vehicles or components thereof may experience quality problems or defects from time to time, which could result in decreased usage of our micro-mobility network. We might not be able to detect and fix all defects in our vehicles. Failure to do so could result in lost revenue, litigation or regulatory challenges, including personal injury or products liability claims, and harm to our reputation.

We envision expanding our current core business to include other sharing services. Failure to provide these additional services as envisioned or at all, could affect our growth prospects and operating results.

The revenue that we generate from our network of shared offerings may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to, among other things, seasonal factors including weather. Our limited operating history makes it difficult for us to assess the exact nature or extent of the effects of seasonality on our network of shared offerings, however, we expect the demand for vehicle rentals to decline over the winter season and increase during more temperate and dry seasons. Any of the foregoing risks and challenges could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to cost-effectively attract new riders, or to increase utilization of our platform by existing riders, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our success depends in part on our ability to cost-effectively attract new riders, retain existing riders and increase utilization of our platform by current riders. Our riders have a wide variety of options for transportation, including personal vehicles, rental cars, taxis, public transit and other ridesharing and bike and scooter sharing offerings. Rider preferences may also change from time to time. To expand our rider base, we must appeal to new riders who have historically used other forms of transportation or other micro-mobility sharing platforms. Our reputation, brand and ability to build trust with existing and new riders may be adversely affected by complaints and negative publicity about us, our offerings on our platform, or our competitors, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents. Further, if existing and new riders do not perceive our vehicles to be reliable, safe and affordable, or if we fail to offer new and relevant offerings and features on our platform, we may not be able to attract or retain riders or to increase their utilization of our platform. As we continue to expand into new geographic areas and into other modes of transportation, we will be relying in part on referrals from existing riders to attract new riders, and therefore we must take efforts to ensure that existing riders remain satisfied with our offerings. If we fail to continue to grow our rider base, retain existing riders or increase the overall utilization of our platform by existing riders, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Although we may grow our ride base in cities where we operate, if we do not enter new markets, fails to do so on the scale that we anticipate or loses permits to operate in those cities in which we currently offer micro-mobility services, the growth in our overall rider base may fall below our expectations. If we do not achieve sufficient utilization of our asset-intensive micro-mobility network, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We could be subject to claims from riders third parties that are harmed whether or not our platform is in use, which could adversely affect our business, brand, financial condition and results of operations.

We may become subject to claims, lawsuits, investigations and other legal proceedings relating to injuries to, or deaths of, riders, or third parties that are attributed to us through our offerings. We may be subject to personal injury claims whether or not such injury actually occurred as a result of activity on our platform. Regardless of the outcome of any legal proceeding, any injuries to, or deaths of, any riders or third parties could result in negative publicity and harm to our brand, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. Our insurance policies and programs may not provide sufficient coverage to adequately mitigate the potential liability we face, especially where any one incident, or a group of incidents, could cause disproportionate harm, and we may have to pay high premiums or deductibles for coverage and, for certain situations, we may not be able to secure coverage at all.

As we expand our micro-mobility network, we may be subject to an increasing number of claims, lawsuits, investigations or other legal proceedings related to injuries to, or deaths of, riders. Any such claims arising from the use of our vehicles, regardless of merit or outcome, could lead to negative publicity, harm to our reputation and brand, significant legal, regulatory or financial exposure or decreased use of our vehicles. Furthermore, certain assets and components we design, and manufacture could contain design or manufacturing defects, which could also lead to injuries or death to riders. We might not be able to detect, prevent, or fix all defects, and failure to do so could harm our reputation and brand or result in personal injury or products liability claims or regulatory proceedings. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We will face significant market competition in the transportation industry.

Our micro-mobility sharing services compete with all other providers of short-distance transport including busses, subways, bicycles, cars, trams, motorcycles, mopeds, scooters and walking, among other transportation modes. Some of these modes of transport may be perceived as cheaper, more convenient, safer, healthier or more comfortable than using our vehicles.

In addition to competing with these other modes of transport, we more specifically competes with micro-mobility sharing platforms. If the cost, ease of use, safety or other perceived advantages of these platforms are deemed by significant portions of the public to be superior to our platform, we may not achieve a user base that is sufficient to achieve profitability. Our main competitors in the micro-mobility sharing market include Lyft, Lime and Bird. We also compete with bike sharing services like Spin, car sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, certain non-ridesharing “Transportation as a Service”, or “TaaS” network companies, taxicab and livery companies as well as traditional automotive manufacturers, such as BMW, which have entered the TaaS market, among others.

These competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing, research and development, manufacturing and other resources, greater name recognition, longer operating histories or a larger user base than we do. They may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of offerings and offer lower prices than us, which could adversely affect our results of operations. Further, they may have greater resources to deploy towards the research, development, and commercialization of new technologies, including e-scooters, e-bikes or e-scooters, or they may have other financial, technical or resource advantages. These factors may allow our competitors to derive greater revenue and profits from their existing user bases, attract and retain new riders at lower costs or respond more quickly to new and emerging technologies and trends. Our current and potential competitors may also establish cooperative or strategic relationships amongst themselves or with third parties that may further enhance their resources and offerings. If we are unable to compete successfully, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We face intense competition and could lose market share to competitors, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The market for TaaS networks is intensely competitive and characterized by rapid changes in technology, shifting rider needs and frequent introductions of new services and offerings. We expect competition to continue, both from current competitors and new entrants in the market that may be well-established and enjoy greater resources or other strategic advantages. If we are unable to anticipate or react to these competitive challenges, our competitive position could weaken, or fail to improve, and we could experience a decline in revenue or growth stagnation that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our reputation, brand, and the network effects among riders on our platform are important to our success, and if we are not able to continue developing our reputation, brand and network effects, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We believe that building a strong reputation and brand as a safe, reliable, and affordable platform and continuing to increase the strength of the network effects among riders on our platform are critical to our ability to attract and retain customers. The successful development of our reputation, brand and network effects will depend on a number of factors, many of which are outside our control. Negative perception of our platform or company may harm our reputation, brand, and networks effects, including as a result of:

If we do not successfully develop our brand, reputation and network effects and successfully differentiate our offerings from competitive offerings, our business may not grow, we may not be able to compete effectively, and we could lose existing riders or fail to attract new riders, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Any failure to offer high-quality user support may harm our relationships with users and could adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our ability to attract and retain riders depends in part on the ease and reliability of our offerings, including our ability to provide high-quality support. Users on our platform depend on our support organization to resolve any issues relating to our offerings, such as being overcharged for a ride or reporting a safety incident. Our ability to provide effective and timely support largely depends on our ability to attract and retain service providers who are qualified to support users and sufficiently knowledgeable regarding our offerings. As we expand our geographic reach and mobility sharing platforms, we will face challenges related to providing quality support services at scale. Any failure to provide efficient user support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, could adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Failure by us to deal effectively with fraud, theft and vandalism could harm our business.

We may in the future incur, losses from various types of fraud, including use of stolen or fraudulent credit card data or claims of unauthorized payments by a rider. Bad actors use increasingly sophisticated methods to engage in illegal activities involving personal information, such as unauthorized use of another person’s identity, account information or payment information and unauthorized acquisition or use of credit or debit card details, bank account information and mobile phone numbers and accounts. Under current credit card practices, we may be liable for rides facilitated on our platform with fraudulent credit card data, even if the associated financial institution approved the credit card transaction. Despite measures we have taken to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent or other malicious activity on our platform, we cannot guarantee that any of our measures will be effective or will scale efficiently with our business. Any failure to adequately detect or prevent fraudulent transactions could harm our reputation or brand, result in litigation or regulatory action and lead to expenses that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Additionally, because our vehicles are accessible to the public where they have last been parked or where we have decided to place them, they are vulnerable to harm from the public. Bad actors could decide to steal, vandalize, or otherwise harm or destroy our vehicles. For example, shared scooters and bikes have been burned or damaged in recent protests in France, and swappable batteries in shared vehicles have been targeted for theft for the black-market resale of their components. Any such damage or destruction to our vehicles could result in a loss of revenue and additional expenses to replace or repair the damaged vehicle.

We depend upon a limited number of third-party manufacturers to produce and test our products and to maintain our payment platform. Any disruptions in the operations of, or the loss of, any of these third parties could adversely affect our business.

We subcontract all of our manufacturing, assembly and testing of our vehicles. Our payment platform was developed by third parties. We depend upon a limited number of third parties to perform these functions, some of which are only available from single sources with which we do not have long-term contracts. In particular, we rely on:

•        Stripe, Inc. for payment processing,

•        Segway Group for supplying e-scooters and e-bikes and

•        Segway Group and V-Moto Soco Group for e-mopeds.

Our reliance on sole or limited source vendors involves risks. These risks include possible shortages of key components, product performance shortfalls, and reduced controls over delivery schedules, manufacturing capability, quality assurance, quantity, and costs, among others. For example, our roll out of e-bike services in the second half of 2020 was slowed by the failure of a third-party manufacturer to provide a sufficient supply of reliable e-bikes that met our operational standards. Our operations also may be harmed by lengthy or recurring disruptions at any of the facilities of our manufacturers. These disruptions may include, without limitation, labor strikes, work stoppages, fire, earthquake, flooding, or other natural disasters. These disruptions could cause significant delays in shipments until we are able to shift the products from an affected manufacturer to another manufacturer. The loss of a significant third-party manufacturer or the inability of a third-party manufacturer to meet performance and quality specifications or delivery schedules could harm our business.

Product liability claims could adversely affect our business.

The operation of the types of vehicles we offer, especially on or near roads, subjects their users to danger, and users of such vehicles have been seriously injured and even died as a result of their use. As we expand our micro-mobility network, we may be subject to an increasing number of claims, lawsuits, investigations, or other legal proceedings related to injuries to, or deaths of, riders of our vehicles or other offerings. Any such claims arising from the use of our offerings, regardless of merit or outcome, could lead to negative publicity, harm to our reputation and brand, significant legal, regulatory, or financial exposure or decreased use of our vehicles or other offerings. We might not be able to detect, prevent, or fix all defects, and failure to do so could harm our reputation and brand or result in personal injury or products liability claims or regulatory proceedings. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our vehicles may experience quality problems from time to time, which could result in product recalls, injuries, litigation, enforcement actions and regulatory proceedings, and could adversely affect our business, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our vehicles may contain defects in their design, materials and construction or may be improperly maintained or repaired. These defects or improper maintenance or repair could unexpectedly interfere with the intended operations of the vehicles, which could result in injuries to riders. Failure to detect, prevent or fix defects or to properly maintain or repair vehicles could result in a variety of consequences including product recalls, injuries, litigation, enforcement actions and regulatory proceedings, among others. The occurrence of real or perceived quality problems or material defects in our current or future e-bikes, e-scooters and e-scooters could result in negative publicity, regulatory proceedings, enforcement actions or lawsuits filed against us, particularly if riders are injured. Even if injuries to riders are not the result of any defects in or the failure to properly maintain or repair our vehicles or other offerings, we may incur expenses to defend or settle any claims and our brand and reputation may be harmed. Any of the foregoing risks could also result in decreased usage of our network of shared transportation modes and adversely affect our business, brand, financial conditions, and results of operations.

Risks to Helbiz Live

We have never previously provided streaming media content offering.

We launched Helbiz Live, our streaming media content offering, in August 2021. We do not have a history of offering live or on-demand content and may not be successful in providing a platform that reliably provides such content in a high-quality format. Any such failures may lead to a demand for Helbiz Live below our projections and may ultimately prove fatal to us.

In connection with the launch of Helbiz Live, we have undertaken substantial obligations. We acquired the rights to broadcast on a non-exclusive basis in Italy, approximately 390 Serie B regular season games for the next three seasons at a cost of approximately €12 million per season, approximately $14 million. Additionally, Helbiz Media has been appointed by the League Serie B as exclusive distributor of the Series B international media rights and thanks to such agreement with the League Serie B, Helbiz Media will commercialize such international rights on behalf of the League Series B. The agreement includes a minimum sales requirement of €2.5 million per season, approximately $3 million, that Helbiz Media will guarantee to the League Series B. Any sales exceeding the €2.5 million, approximately $3 million, will be shared on a 50/50 basis between Helbiz Media and League Series B.

We may have overestimated the appeal of the Italian Serie B soccer league and the other content available on Helbiz Live and, as a result, may not acquire as many subscribers to Helbiz Live as we anticipate or generate the revenues that we anticipate from the distribution of the content or advertising in connection therewith. The operation of Helbiz Live will take capital and management’s time away from our core micro-mobility operations.

We may be unable to attract and retain visitors to Helbiz Live.

Our success in attracting subscribers to our media platforms, and our success in keeping these subscribers depends, in part, upon our continued ability to license high-quality, engaging and commercially valuable content and connect consumers with the formats and types of content that meet their specific interests. We may not be able to identify the desired variety and types of content in a cost-effective manner or meet rapidly changing consumer demand in a timely manner, if at all. Additionally, consumers may reject the format of our media platforms in favor of traditional cable or satellite television services or other “over-the-top” platforms. Any failure to identify and license high-quality, commercially valuable content could negatively impact user experiences and reduce subscribers, which could adversely affect our prospects, business, financial condition, or results of operations.

We may not be able to acquire new rights and licenses, or to retain our existing rights, on commercially viable terms.

We face competition for media content, especially that derived from sporting events, from a number of different current and potential sources, namely broadcasters, publishers, agencies and digital media companies. Increasing competition has resulted in, and will likely continue to result in, material increases in license fees payable to rights holders, particularly for rights to distribute live sports video.

Our competitors, particularly those that are more experienced or have greater financial resources than we do, may outbid us for licenses, or we may be unable to renew our licenses to broadcast the Serie B games on commercially favorable terms. We may also be unable to acquire media content, including sports rights, due to general price inflation in rights. In addition, existing content owners may decide to retain and commercialize their own media content, rather than license such content. The widespread adoption of this approach could materially reduce the number and quality media content that are available for licensing, which could increase competition for, and accordingly the prices of, such rights. If we are unable to expand our portfolio of media content or maintain or renew our existing licenses on commercially viable terms, we may face decreasing demand for Helbiz Live.

We face intense competition in streaming media.

The entertainment industry is intensely competitive as is the streaming media component of that industry. We compete for the public’s attention with many other forms of live and on-demand entertainment including cinema, theater, in-person sporting events, television, satellite and cable and other over-the-top, or streaming, services. We have numerous competitors, some of the largest of which are large international traditional broadcast television networks (RAI), cable and satellite providers (SkyTV and ESPN) and over-the-top streaming providers (Amazon and NetFlix). Almost all of our television, satellite, cable and over-the-top competitors offer more and more varied media content than our offers.

As the cost of entry to the streaming industry is high and most of our competitors are well established, we do not have the same resources that they do to acquire new content with broad appeal. As a result, we will focus on acquiring streaming content that may be deemed more niche and with less of an appeal to a wider audience. We currently have rights to a limited amount of media content in Italy, all of which is soccer, and we may not be able to significantly expand or diversify our streaming content. Although we believe in the quality of the Serie B soccer games that we are licensed to broadcast in Italy on our app, we recognize that this is the second-tier soccer league in Italy and many people consider it to be less competitive than many other soccer leagues in Europe. It is unlikely that we can outbid our competitors in the near future for the rights to soccer games from leagues that are considered more competitive.

Helbiz Live will initially depend on the scheduling, broadcasting, and popularity of sporting events, as well as on the federations that regulate sporting events.

We have acquired the rights to broadcast in Italy certain sporting events including all soccer games played over several seasons in the Italian Serie B soccer league, certain soccer games to be played in the German Cup as well as highlights of each round of the German Cup, weekly highlights for NFL football games and other original content developed by the NFL, a select number of NCAA football games and playoffs, a select number of NCAA men’s basketball games and playoff, and certain Major League Baseball games, and we intend to acquire the international rights to broadcast other sporting events. There may be periods in the year during which there are no sporting events available on our app, notably for a large portion of the summer, and other events that we acquire may be seasonal or occur at irregularly or at regular but infrequent intervals. The long-term cancellation, postponement or curtailment of significant sports events, due to, among other things, adverse weather conditions, terrorist acts, other acts of war or hostility or the outbreak of infectious diseases, or cancellation of, disruption to, or postponement of the live broadcasting of such sports events, due to contractual disputes, technical or communication problems, or the insolvency of a major broadcaster, may have a material adverse effect on our prospects, business, financial condition or results of operations.

Helbiz Live will initially depend on the popularity of Serie B, the German Cup, NFL highlights, NCAA football and men’s basketball and Major League Baseball in Italy. This popularity could be tarnished by scandal such as 2006’s Calciopoli match-fixing scandal in Italy’s Serie A and Serie B. Negative publicity about potential fraud (including money laundering) and corruption in sports (including collusion and match-fixing) may affect the number of subscribers, our ability to distribute the rights to Serie B games outside of Italy to other broadcasting players or the willingness of advertisers and sponsors to advertise and sponsor such sporting events. This could have a material adverse effect on our prospects, business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Helbiz Live has contractual relationships with a number of third parties, which exposes us to counterparty risks.

We have contractual relationships with a number of third parties, including rights holders, content distribution networks and other suppliers, which exposes us to a range of counterparty risks.

Rights holders. Helbiz Live has procured and intends to procure additional rights, directly or indirectly, from the original rights holders, such as sports federations, leagues, tournaments, or other rights holders. If such rights holders procure, or it is alleged that they have procured, rights in an illegal or wrongful manner, we are exposed to the risk of reputational harm in connection with procuring such rights from them. We also face the risk that these entities will be unable to fulfil their obligations under our contracts with them.

Content distribution. We depend on Comintech, an Italian technology company focused on audiovisual distribution, for our global content delivery network (i.e., delivery of our content (live, VOD and HTTP) in a fast, secure, and reliable manner over the internet). If this third party’s systems were to fail, we would not be able to stream our media content on our own systems, which would reflect unfavorably on our business reputation or otherwise negatively impact our prospects, business, financial position, or results of operation.

In addition, multiple third parties provide technical office space, rack hosting and technical services. Loss of service from these suppliers to our equipment may adversely impact our live feed delivery and VoD content distribution.

A material disruption in any of the foregoing providers’ ability to provide the relevant services to Helbiz could have a material adverse impact on our prospects, business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Risks Related to Helbiz Kitchen

We have never previously provided food or food delivery services.

We launched Helbiz Kitchen, a delivery-only “ghost kitchen” restaurant concept that specializes in preparing healthy-inspired, high-quality, fresh, made-to-order meals. We do not have a history of offering food or food delivery services and may not be successful in providing such services or expanding beyond Milan, Italy, our initial pilot city. Any such failures may lead to Helbiz Kitchen generating less revenue than we project and may ultimately prove fatal to Helbiz Kitchen.

In connection with the launch of Helbiz Kitchen, we have undertaken substantial obligations, including the lease of an approximately 21,500 square foot facility in Milan, Italy, and the hiring of approximately 60 people. We may have overestimated the appeal of our ghost kitchens and, as a result, may not generate as much revenue as we anticipate. The operation of Helbiz Kitchen will take capital and management’s time away from our core micro-mobility operations.

Helbiz Kitchen will face competition, which could negatively impact our business.

The restaurant industry is intensely competitive, and we will compete with many well-established food service companies on the basis of product choice, quality, affordability, service and location. We expect competition to be intense because consumer trends are favoring limited service restaurants that offer healthy-inspired menu items made with better quality products, and many limited service restaurants are responding to these trends. With few barriers to entry, our competitors will include a variety of independent local operators, in addition to well-capitalized regional, national, and international restaurant chains and franchises, and new competitors may emerge at any time. Furthermore, delivery aggregators and food delivery services provide consumers with convenient access to a broad range of competing restaurant chains and food retailers, particularly in urbanized areas. We will also compete for qualified suitable ghost kitchen locations and management and personnel. Our ability to compete will depend on the success of our plans to attract initial consumers, expand our initial products, to effectively respond to consumer preferences and to manage the complexity of restaurant operations as well as the impact of our competitors’ actions. In addition, Helbiz Kitchen’s long-term success will depend on our ability to provide our customers’ a satisfactory experience while ordering on the Helbiz app, receiving the deliveries, and eating the food prepared by Helbiz Kitchen. Some of Helbiz’s competitors have substantially greater financial resources, higher revenues, and greater economies of scale than we do. These advantages may allow them to implement their operational strategies more quickly or effectively than we can or benefit from changes in technologies, which could harm our competitive position.

We could be subject to claims from consumers of the food produced by Helbiz Kitchen or from persons or property allegedly damaged by our delivery drivers, which could adversely affect our business, brand, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may become subject to claims, lawsuits, investigations, and other legal proceedings relating to injuries to, or deaths of, riders, or third parties that are attributed to food prepared by Helbiz Kitchen or delivered by our drivers. We may be subject to personal injury claims whether or not such injury actually occurred is related to us. Regardless of the outcome of any legal proceeding, any injuries to, or deaths of, any riders or third parties could result in negative publicity and harm to our brand, reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations. Our insurance policies and programs may not provide sufficient coverage to adequately mitigate the potential liability we face, especially where any one incident, or a group of incidents, could cause disproportionate harm, and we may have to pay high premiums or deductibles for coverage and, for certain situations, we may not be able to secure coverage at all.

Changes in food and supply costs or failure to receive frequent deliveries of food ingredients and other supplies could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The profitability of Helbiz Kitchen will depend in part on our ability to anticipate and react to changes in food and supply costs, and our ability to maintain our menu depends in part on our ability to acquire ingredients that meet specifications from reliable suppliers. Shortages or interruptions in the availability of certain supplies caused by unanticipated demand, problems in production or distribution, food contamination, pandemics such as COVID 19, inclement weather or other conditions could adversely affect the availability, quality, and cost of our ingredients, which could harm our operations. This risk is aggravated by the war in Ukraine which will decrease the global supply of commodities, such as wheat and potash, for which a substantial portion are produced in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Any increase in the prices of the food products critical to the menus of Helbiz Kitchen could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. Although we try to manage the impact that these fluctuations have on our operating results, we remain susceptible to increases in food costs as a result of factors beyond our control, such as general economic conditions, seasonal fluctuations, weather conditions, demand, food safety concerns, generalized infectious diseases, product recalls, fuel prices and other government regulations. Therefore, material increases in the prices of the ingredients most critical to our menu could adversely affect our operating results or cause us to consider changes to our product delivery strategy and adjustments to our menu pricing.

If any of Helbiz Kitchen’s distributors or suppliers perform inadequately, or our distribution or supply relationships are disrupted for any reason, there could be a material adverse effect on Helbiz’s business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We may not be able to anticipate or react to changing food costs by adjusting our purchasing practices or menu prices, which could cause our operating results to deteriorate. If we cannot replace or engage distributors or suppliers who meet our specifications in a short period of time, that could increase our expenses and cause shortages of food and other items at our restaurants or their removal from menus. These potential changes in food and supply costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The planned rapid increase in the number of ghost kitchens run by Helbiz Kitchen may make our future results unpredictable.

We initiated services out of our pilot ghost kitchen in Milan, Italy in June 2021 and plan to increase the number of ghost kitchens. This growth strategy and the substantial investment associated with the development of each new ghost kitchen may cause our operating results to fluctuate unpredictably or have an adverse effect on our profits. In addition, we may find that our Helbiz Kitchen concept has limited appeal in new markets. Our ghost kitchens may not be successful, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Food safety and quality concerns may negatively impact our business and profitability, our internal operational controls and standards may not always be met, and our employees may not always act professionally, responsibly and in our and our customers’ best interests.

Incidents or reports of food-borne or water-borne illness or other food safety issues, food contamination or tampering, employee hygiene and cleanliness failures or improper employee conduct at our ghost kitchens could lead to product liability or other claims as could reckless driving by our delivery drivers. Such incidents or reports could negatively affect our brand and reputation as well as our business, revenues, and profits. Similar incidents or reports occurring at limited-service restaurants unrelated to us could likewise create negative publicity, which could negatively impact consumer behavior towards us.

Our internal controls and training might not be fully effective in preventing all food-borne illnesses. Some food-borne illness incidents could be caused by third-party food suppliers and transporters outside of our control. New illnesses resistant to our current precautions may develop in the future, or diseases with long incubation periods could arise, that could give rise to claims or allegations on a retroactive basis. One or more instances of food-borne illness in one of our ghost kitchens could negatively affect sales from all of our ghost kitchens if highly publicized.

A prolonged economic downturn could materially affect Helbiz Kitchen in the future.

The restaurant industry depends upon consumer discretionary spending. The recession from late 2007 to mid-2009 reduced consumer confidence to historic lows, impacting the public’s ability and desire to spend discretionary dollars as a result of job losses, home foreclosures, significantly reduced home values, investment losses, bankruptcies and reduced access to credit, resulting in lower levels of customer traffic and lower average check sizes in fast casual restaurants that serve food similar to us. Many countries are again experiencing an economic downturn as a result of COVID-19, a condition that may be aggravated by the war in Europe. If the economies where we intend to operate ghost kitchens experience another significant decline, our business and results of operations could be materially adversely affected and may result in a deceleration of the number and timing of new ghost kitchen openings.

We intend to be locked into long-term and non-cancelable leases for our ghost kitchens and may be unable to renew leases at the end of their terms.

We expect that many of our ghost kitchen leases will be non-cancelable and typically have initial terms up to between 4 and 10 years and 1-3 renewal terms of 4 to 6 years each that we may exercise at our option. This is in line with our pilot ghost kitchen in Milan, Italy where we have a six-year lease with approximately €120,000 due in rent per year, approximately $141,000. Even if we close a ghost kitchen, we may be required to perform our obligations under the applicable lease, which could include, among other things, payment of the base rent, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance for the balance of the lease term. In addition, in connection with leases for ghost kitchens that we may operate, at the end of the lease term and any renewal period, be unable to renew the lease without substantial additional cost, if at all. Although we have a €1.4 million, approximately $1.7 million, option at the end of the lease to purchase the property that we lease for the ghost kitchen in Milan, we may not have the resources to exercise the option at the end of the lease. As a result, Helbiz may close or relocate the ghost kitchen, which could subject us to construction and other costs and risks.

General Risks to Our Business

We may become subject to claims, lawsuits, government investigations and other proceedings that may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may become subject to claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations and other legal and regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of business, including those involving personal injury, property damage, worker classification, labor and employment, anti-discrimination, commercial disputes, competition, consumer complaints, intellectual property disputes, compliance with regulatory requirements and other matters, and we may become subject to additional types of claims, lawsuits, government investigations and legal or regulatory proceedings as our business grows and as we deploy new offerings, including proceedings related to product liability or acquisitions, securities issuances or business practices.

For example, we were recently a defendant in a putative class action suit in New York relating to an initial coin offering of a crypto currency, the HBZ coin, conducted by HBZ Systems PTE Ltd. (“HBZ Systems”) in early 2018. Although HBZ Systems has some common ownership with us, we consider it an unrelated party. Following the initial coin offering, HBZ Systems had entered into an arms’-length loan agreement pursuant to which we received a loan of $1,361,717 with a 9% interest rate per annum (as disclosed in our financial statements), fully repaid during 2021. Helbiz received no other funds from HBZ Systems.

As part of the loan agreement, Helbiz and HBZ Systems also entered into a Software Development and Service Agreement (“Software Development and Service Agreement”). Pursuant to the Software Development and Service Agreement, we agreed to design and create a shared mobility platform, integrate the HBZ coin as a payment method on that shared mobility platform, and integrate the purchasing and transfer of HBZ coins directly into the platform. By March 2019, we had provided all of the services required under the Software Development and Service Agreement and the HBZ coin had been successfully integrated into the platform. Ultimately, the efforts to create a viable long-term coin were unsuccessful. Despite our efforts, there was minimal adoption from customers of the HBZ coin. In light of the significant expenses associated with keeping the HBZ coin on the platform, in August 2019, we and HBZ Systems mutually agreed to remove the HBZ coin from the Helbiz platform.

Although this suit was dismissed with prejudice, plaintiffs appealed the dismissal, and in October 2021, the plaintiffs won their appeal to have the suit not dismissed. Defending this litigation required a substantial amount of funds and our management’s time. The plaintiffs brought this action again in New York in March 2022.

The results of any such claims, lawsuits, arbitration proceedings, government investigations or other legal or regulatory proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, be harmful to our reputation, require significant management attention and divert significant resources. Determining whether to maintain reserves for litigation and the amount of any such reserves 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 that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. 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. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, Helbiz has contractual and other legal obligations to indemnify and to incur legal expenses on behalf of our business and commercial partners and current and former directors and officers.

A determination in, or settlement of, any legal proceeding, whether we are party to such legal proceeding or not, that involves our industry, could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, we may include arbitration provisions in our terms of service with the riders on our platform. These provisions are intended to streamline the litigation process for all parties involved, as arbitration can in some cases be faster and less costly than litigating disputes in state or federal court. However, arbitration may become more costly for us, or the volume of arbitration could increase to a point where it becomes burdensome, and the use of arbitration provisions may subject us to certain risks to our reputation and brand, as these provisions have been the subject of increasing public scrutiny. To minimize these risks to our reputation and brand, we may limit our use of arbitration provisions or be required to do so in a legal or regulatory proceeding, either of which could increase litigation costs and exposure.

Further, with the potential for conflicting rules regarding the scope and enforceability of arbitration on a jurisdictional basis, there is a risk that some or all of the arbitration provisions we use could be subject to challenge or may need to be revised to exempt certain categories of protection. If our arbitration agreements were found to be unenforceable, in whole or in part, or specific claims are required to be exempted from arbitration, we could experience an increase in costs to litigate disputes and 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.

If competitors acquire rights to our intellectual property, or to intellectual property that we license, it will be easier for those competitors to offer products similar to those of ours.

Although we own an array of proprietary technology that supplements and advances the technology, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology without authorization, develop similar technology independently or design around the patents we own or licenses. If any of our patents fail to protect the relevant technology, it will be easier for competitors to offer products similar to us. In addition, effective copyright, trademark, and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain countries. Moreover, we may be required to license our intellectual property to third parties. Likewise, media content licensed by us could be illegally made available on other platforms which could drive down the demand for our Helbiz Live platform. 

Failure to expand our business as envisioned could adversely affect our business.

We intend to expand our micro-mobility sharing platform to new cities, to offer additional types of shared vehicles and to offer additional micro-mobility options in our existing cities. The challenges involved in such expansions include the navigation of local and national rules and regulations to initiate such platforms, adjusting to the sensitivities of new distinct markets, increased capital requirements to build, stock and advertise such platforms and the staffing and maintenance for the continuation of such platforms. We also intend to expand the media content available on Helbiz Live. Quality media content may not be available at prices that we can reasonably afford. Additionally, following the opening of our pilot ghost kitchen in Milan, Italy in June 2021, we intend to expand the menus available at that pilot ghost kitchen and to open additional ghost kitchens in other cities. Failure to execute such expansions could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We depend on key personnel and may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel necessary for the design, development, marketing, and sale of our services.

Our future success depends on the efforts of key personnel, especially Salvatore Palella, the Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Hannestad, the Chief Operating Officer, and Giulio Profumo, the Chief Financial Officer. The loss of services of any key personnel may have an adverse effect on us. We might not be successful in attracting and retaining the personnel we require to develop and market our business and conduct operations. The loss of one or more of our key employees or inability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel could negatively impact our ability to design, develop, and sell our service.

If regional instability were to spread, our operations could be adversely affected

We conduct a substantial portion of our operations in Italy. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and the resulting war is ongoing. As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”), if the war in Ukraine were to spread into a NATO country, Italy would be required, pursuant to the terms of NATO membership, to treat such action as an attack on its own territory. Any spread of the conflict in Ukraine to other European countries, especially NATO ones, could cause Italy to join such conflict. Such spread of the conflict could cause us to curtail or suspend our Italian operations, affect the commuting and spending patterns of our users or adversely affect the Italian economy.

We rely on third-party payment processors to process payments made by riders on our platform, and if we cannot manage our relationships with such third parties and other payment-related risks, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. 

We rely on a limited number of third-party payment processors to process payments made by the riders, subscribers, and users on our platform. If any of our third-party payment processors terminates their relationship with us or refuses to renew an agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate payment processor and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such payment processor in an acceptable timeframe. Further, the software and services provided by third-party payment processors may not meet our expectations, contain errors or vulnerabilities, be compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could cause us to lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment transactions on our platform, any of which could make our platform less convenient and attractive to users and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain riders. Nearly all of our riders’, subscribers’ and users’ payments are made by credit card, debit card or through third-party payment services, which subject us to certain regulations and to the risk of fraud. We may in the future offer new payment options to riders that may be subject to additional regulations and risks. We are also subject to a number of other laws and regulations relating to the payments we accept from riders, including with respect to money laundering, money transfers, privacy and information security. If we fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, fines or higher transaction fees and may lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment card transactions, which could make our offerings less convenient and attractive to riders. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Additionally, our payment processors require us to comply with payment card network operating rules, which are set and interpreted by the payment card networks. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or re-interpret existing rules in ways that might prohibit us from providing certain offerings to some users, be costly to implement or difficult to follow. We have agreed to reimburse our payment processors for fines they are assessed by payment card networks if we or the users on our platform violate these rules. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We rely on other third-party service providers and if such third parties do not perform adequately or terminate their relationships, our costs may increase and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our success depends in part on our relationships with other third-party service providers. For example, we relies on third-party encryption and authentication technologies licensed from third parties that are designed to securely transmit personal information provided by riders on our platform as well as Comintech S.r.l., which provide the content distribution system and content management system for Helbiz Live Further, from time to time, we may enter into strategic commercial partnerships in connection with the development of new technology, the provision of new or enhanced offerings for users on our platform and our expansion into new markets. If any of our partners terminates their relationship with us or refuses to renew their agreement with us on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate provider, and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such providers in an acceptable timeframe. We also rely on other software and services supplied by third parties, such as communications and internal software, and our business may be adversely affected to the extent such software and services do not meet our expectations, contain errors or vulnerabilities, are compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could increase our costs and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, any negative publicity related to any of our third-party partners, including any publicity related to quality standards or safety concerns, could adversely affect our reputation and brand, and could potentially lead to increased regulatory or litigation exposure.

We incorporate technology from third parties into our platform and has contracted to provide media content from third parties on Helbiz Live. We cannot be certain that our licensors are not infringing the intellectual property rights of others or that the suppliers and licensors have sufficient rights to the technology in all jurisdictions in which we may operate. Some of our license agreements may be terminated by our licensors for convenience. If we are unable to obtain or maintain rights to any of this technology because of intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties against our suppliers and licensors or against us, or if we are unable to continue to obtain the technology or enter into new agreements on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to develop our platform containing that technology could be severely limited and our business could be harmed. Additionally, if we are unable to obtain necessary technology from third parties, we may be forced to acquire or develop alternate technology, which may require significant time and effort and may be of lower quality or performance standards. This would limit and delay our ability to provide new or competitive offerings and increase our costs. If alternate technology cannot be obtained or developed, we may not be able to offer certain functionality as part of our offerings, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our marketing efforts to help grow our business may not be effective.

Promoting awareness of our offerings is important to our ability to grow our business and to attract new riders, subscribers and users and can be costly. We believe that much of the growth in our rider, subscriber and user base will be attributable to our paid marketing initiatives. Our marketing efforts currently include referrals, affiliate programs, free or discount trials, partnerships, display advertising, television, billboards, radio, video, content, direct mail, social media, email, hiring and classified advertisement websites, mobile “push” communications, search engine optimization and keyword search campaigns. As we expand our geographic reach and mobility sharing platforms, begins to provide media content on Helbiz Live and launches Helbiz Kitchen, our marketing initiatives will become increasingly expensive and generating a meaningful return on those initiatives may be difficult. Even if we successfully increase revenue as a result of our paid marketing efforts, we may not offset the additional marketing expenses we incur.

If our marketing efforts are not successful in promoting awareness of our offerings or attracting new riders, subscribers, or users, or if we are not able to cost-effectively manage marketing expenses, our results of operations could be adversely affected. If marketing efforts are successful in increasing awareness of our offerings, this could also lead to increased public scrutiny of our business and increase the likelihood of third parties bringing legal proceedings against us. Any of the foregoing risks could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our future success depends on our ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes that could make our current or future technologies less competitive or obsolete.

Rapid, significant, and disruptive technological changes continue to impact the industries in which we operate. Our competitors or others might develop technologies that are more effective than current or future technologies, or that render our technologies less competitive or obsolete. If competitors introduce superior Technologies or media content and Helbiz cannot make upgrades to our process to remain competitive, our competitive position, and in turn our business, revenues, and financial condition, may be materially and adversely affected. Further, many of our competitors may have superior financial and human resources deployed toward research and development efforts. We are relatively constrained financial and human resources may limit our ability to effectively keep pace with relevant technological changes.

We are subject to intense competition.

We currently face significant competition in our markets and expect that intense competition will continue. Our competes primarily based on:

•        comprehensiveness of product solutions;

•        product performance and quality;

•        user interface;

•        design and engineering capabilities;

•        compliance with industry standards;

•        time to market;

•        cost;

•        new product innovations;

•        quality of proposed media content;

•        quality of the food offered on Helbiz Kitchen and the ease of getting that food; and

•        customer support.

This competition has resulted and is expected to continue to result in declining average selling prices for our products and services. We anticipate that additional competitors will enter our markets as a result of growth opportunities in wireless telecommunications, the trend toward global expansion by foreign and domestic competitors, technological and public policy changes and relatively low barriers to entry in selected segments of the industry.

Many of our current and potential competitors have advantages over us, including without limitation:

•        existing royalty-free cross-licenses to competing and emerging technologies;

•        longer operating histories and presence in key markets;

•        access to in-house semiconductor manufacturing facilities;

•        greater name recognition;

•        access to larger customer bases;

•        greater access to capital markets;

•        extensive libraries of media content and rights to broadcast high-demand sporting events;

•        multiple kitchens with in-house delivery operations; and

•        greater financial, sales and marketing, manufacturing, distribution, technical and other resources than we have.

As a result of these factors, these competitors may be more successful than us. These competitors may have more established relationships and distribution channels. These competitors also have established or may establish financial or strategic relationships among themselves or with our existing or potential customers, resellers or other third parties. These relationships may affect customers’ decisions. Accordingly, new competitors or alliances among competitors could emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share our detriment.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

We will require intellectual property protection and may be subject to the intellectual property claims of others.

We rely on intellectual property for operation of our platform, including the operation of our mobile app, the renting of our vehicles, the tracking and maintenance of our vehicles, the receipt of payment for rentals and the rights to broadcast media content. If a third party challenges the continued use of such intellectual property or if we are unable to maintain licenses that we have for the use of such intellectual property, our competitive position could suffer. Notwithstanding our efforts to protect our use of the intellectual property, our competitors may independently develop or license similar or alternative technologies or products that are equal to or superior to us without infringing on any of our intellectual property rights.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights or if our intellectual property rights are inadequate for our technology and products, our competitive position could be adversely affected.

Our commercial success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection in the United States and other countries with respect to proprietary technology that we use and license. We rely on trade secrets, patent, copyright and trademark laws, and confidentiality and other agreements with employees and third parties, all of which offer only limited protection. We will seek to protect our proprietary position by filing and prosecuting patent applications for utility patents in the United States and abroad related to our platform and products that are important to our business and, to the extent permitted by local law, also record our copyrights and trademarks and take such additional reasonable steps as are available to otherwise protect our trade secrets and other intellectual property.

Our business relies on our proprietary technology platform, but we have no patents or limited patent applications to protect the intellectual property underlying this platform . The steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights and the steps that licensors take to protect intellectual property that we license may not be adequate to preclude misappropriation of our proprietary information or infringement of our intellectual property rights, both inside and outside the United States. If we or such licensors are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for technology and products that we use, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficient, competitors could develop and commercialize platforms and products similar or superior to us, and our ability to successfully commercialize our platforms and products may be adversely affected. We are also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of our development and commercialization activities until it is too late to obtain patent protection on them.

Because the issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to inventorship, scope, validity, or enforceability, issued patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in the loss of patent protection, the narrowing of claims in such patents or the invalidity or unenforceability of such patents, which could limit the ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology, products, or platforms, or limit the duration of the patent protection for technology and products. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing. Therefore, if we file one or more patent applications to protect our technology, we cannot be certain that we will be the first to make the technology claimed in the pending patent applications, or that we will be the first to file for patent protection of such technology.

Protecting against the unauthorized use of patented technology, trademarks and other intellectual property rights is expensive, difficult and may in some cases not be possible. In some cases, we may also be difficult or impossible to detect third-party infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, even in relation to issued patent claims or recorded copyrights or trademarks and proving any such infringement may be even more costly and difficult.

Obtaining and maintaining patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or U.S. PTO, and various foreign national or international patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the U.S. PTO and various foreign national or international patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. While an inadvertent lapse can, in many cases, be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance may result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of patent rights include, but are not limited to, failure to timely file national and regional stage patent applications based on our international patent application, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we apply for patents but fail to maintain the patent applications or any issued patents covering our products, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may become subject to claims by third parties asserting that we or our employees have infringed or misappropriated their intellectual property or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our products, and to use our related proprietary technologies without violating the intellectual property rights of others. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products, including interference or derivation proceedings before the U.S. PTO. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us or third parties from whom we license intellectual property based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue commercializing our products. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Under certain circumstances, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the applicable product candidate. In addition, in any such proceeding or litigation, we could be found liable for monetary damages. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our platform and products or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Any claims by third parties that we or parties from whom we license intellectual property have misappropriated their trade secrets could have a similar negative impact on our business.

We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful, and have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

Competitors may infringe upon patents we license or may acquire or misappropriate or otherwise violate our intellectual property rights, including our trade secrets, even if done inadvertently. To counter infringement or unauthorized use or disclosure, litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of our own intellectual property rights or the proprietary rights of others. Also, third parties may initiate legal proceedings against us to challenge the validity or scope of intellectual property rights we own or license. These proceedings can be expensive and time consuming. Many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to defend their intellectual property rights than we can. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property. Litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of management resources, which could harm our business and financial results. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned or licensed by us is invalid or unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that the patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more patents at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable or interpreted narrowly. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, we could have a material adverse effect on the value our securities.

If we are not able to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information, the value of our technology could be significantly diminished.

We rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary technologies to the fullest extent possible. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We rely in part on confidentiality agreements with current and former employees, consultants, manufacturers, vendors, and other advisors to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. In addition, we cannot guarantee that we have executed these agreements with each party that may have or has had access to our trade secrets. Any party with whom we executed such an agreement may breach that agreement and disclose our proprietary information, including trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate or timely remedies for such breaches.

Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or completely unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they disclose such trade secrets, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor or other third-party, our competitive position would be harmed.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting, and defending patents on all of our products throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may be able to export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but where enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products in jurisdictions where we do not have any issued patents and our patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing.

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents or other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to manufacturing, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of any patents we obtain or the marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. As a result, proceedings to enforce patent rights in certain foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business and could be unsuccessful.

Various websites and apps are dedicated to illegally making copyrighted media content available to view free of charge on both a live and on-demand basis. Many of these websites and apps are located in jurisdictions where getting authorities to intervene and protect the owner or licensee of such illegally broadcast media content is a long process, if the process occurs at all. If the media content that we license is widely available free of charge, potential subscribers to Helbiz Live may instead choose to watch this content for free instead of paying us.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, or permit us to maintain a competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative:

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Our business is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations, many of which are evolving, and failure to comply with such laws and regulations could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We are subject to a wide variety of laws in Europe, the United States, and other jurisdictions. Laws, regulations, and standards governing issues such as ridesharing, product liability, personal injury, text messaging, subscription services, intellectual property, consumer protection, taxation, privacy, data security, competition, terms of service, mobile application accessibility, and vehicle sharing are often complex and subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity. 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.

The ridesharing industry and our business model is relatively nascent and rapidly evolving. New laws and regulations and changes to existing laws and regulations continue to be adopted, implemented, and interpreted in response to the industry and related technologies. As we expand our business into new markets or introduces new offerings into existing markets, regulatory bodies or courts may claim that we or users on our platform are subject to additional requirements, or that we are prohibited from conducting business in certain jurisdictions, or that users on our platform are prohibited from using the platform, either generally or with respect to certain offerings.

Certain jurisdictions and governmental entities require us to obtain permits, pay fees or penalties or comply with certain other requirements to provide vehicle sharing offerings. These jurisdictions and governmental entities may reject our applications for permits or deny renewals, delay our ability to operate, increase their fees or charge new types of fees, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Additionally, many of the permits that we have received are for set periods of time and need to be renewed every one to two years. If governmental authorities were to revoke any permit that we had previously been granted or deny the renewal of any of our permits, our rider base and the associated revenues would decrease.

Regulatory bodies may enact new laws or promulgate new regulations that are adverse to our business, or they may view matters or interpret laws and regulations differently than they have in the past or in a manner adverse to our business. Such regulatory scrutiny or action may create different or conflicting obligations on us from one jurisdiction to another.

The industry is relatively nascent and is rapidly evolving and increasingly regulated. We could be subject to intense and even conflicting regulatory pressure from national, regional, and municipal regulatory authorities. Adverse changes in laws or regulations at all levels of government or bans on or material limitations to our offerings could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our success, or perceived success, and increased visibility may also drive some businesses that perceive our business model negatively to raise their concerns to local policymakers and regulators. These businesses and their trade association groups, or other organizations may take actions and employ significant resources to shape the legal and regulatory regimes in jurisdictions where we may have, or seek to have, a market presence in an effort to change such legal and regulatory regimes in ways intended to adversely affect or impede our business and the ability of riders to utilize our platform.

Any of the foregoing risks could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Risks Related to Customer Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data

Any actual or perceived security or privacy breach could interrupt our operations and adversely affect our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our business involves the collection, storage, processing and transmission of users’ personal data and other sensitive data. An increasing number of organizations, including large online and off-line merchants and businesses, other Internet companies, financial institutions, and government institutions, have disclosed breaches of their information security systems and other information security incidents, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage information systems change frequently and may not be known until launched, we may be unable to anticipate or prevent these attacks. Unauthorized parties may in the future gain access to our systems or facilities through various means, including gaining unauthorized access into our systems or facilities or those of our service providers, partners or users on our platform, or attempting to fraudulently induce our employees, service providers, partners, users or others into disclosing rider names, passwords, payment card information or other sensitive information, which may in turn be used to access our information technology systems, or attempting to fraudulently induce employees, partners or others into manipulating payment information, resulting in the fraudulent transfer of funds to criminal actors. In addition, users on our platform could have vulnerabilities on their own mobile devices that are entirely unrelated to our systems and platform but could mistakenly attribute their own vulnerabilities to us. Further, breaches experienced by other companies may also be leveraged against us. For example, credential stuffing attacks are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated actors can mask their attacks, making them increasingly difficult to identify and prevent. Certain efforts may be state-sponsored or supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more difficult to detect.

Although we use systems and processes that are designed to protect users’ data, prevent data loss and prevent other security breaches, these security measures cannot guarantee security. Our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to cyberattacks or security breaches, and third parties may be able to access our users’ personal information and limited payment card data that are accessible through those systems. Employee error, malfeasance or other errors in the storage, use or transmission of personal information could result in an actual or perceived privacy or security breach or other security incident. Although we have policies restricting the access to the personal information we store, we may be subject to accusations in the future of employees violating these policies.

Any actual or perceived breach of privacy or security could interrupt our operations, result in our platform being unavailable, result in loss or improper disclosure of data, result in fraudulent transfer of funds, harm our reputation and brand, damage our relationships with third-party partners, result in significant legal, regulatory and financial exposure and lead to loss rider confidence in, or decreased use of, our platform, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any breach of privacy or security impacting any entities with which our shares or discloses data (including, for example, third-party technology providers) could have similar effects. Further, any cyberattacks, or security and privacy breaches directed at our competitors could reduce confidence in the ridesharing industry as a whole and, as a result, reduce confidence in us.

Additionally, defending against claims or litigation based on any security breach or incident, regardless of their merit, could be costly and divert management’s attention. Our insurance coverage might not be adequate for data handling or data security liabilities actually incurred, that insurance will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could have an adverse effect on our reputation, brand, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Changes in laws or regulations relating to privacy, data protection or the protection or transfer of personal data, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws and regulations or any other obligations relating to privacy, data protection or the protection or transfer of personal data, could adversely affect our business.

We receive, transmits and stores personally identifiable information and other data relating to the users on our platform. Numerous local, municipal, state, federal and international laws and regulations address privacy, data protection and the collection, storing, sharing, use, disclosure, and protection of certain types of data. These laws, rules and regulations evolve frequently, and their scope may continually change, through new legislation, amendments to existing legislation and changes in enforcement, and may be inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another. Changes in laws or regulations relating to privacy, data protection and information security, particularly any new or modified laws or regulations that require enhanced protection of certain types of data or new obligations with regard to data retention, transfer or disclosure, could greatly increase the cost of providing our offerings, require significant changes to our operations or even prevent us from providing certain offerings in jurisdictions in which we currently operate and in which we may operate in the future.

Further, as we continue to expand our geographic reach, our platform offerings and user base, we may become subject to additional privacy-related laws and regulations. Additionally, we have incurred, and may continue to incur, significant expenses in an effort to comply with privacy, data protection and information security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations. In particular, with laws and regulations imposing new and relatively burdensome obligations, and with substantial uncertainty over the interpretation and application of these and other laws and regulations, we may face challenges in addressing their requirements and making necessary changes to our policies and practices and may incur significant costs and expenses in an effort to do so.

Despite our efforts to comply with applicable laws, regulations and other obligations relating to privacy, data protection and information security, it is possible that our practices, offerings or platform could be inconsistent with, or fail or be alleged to fail to meet all requirements of, such laws, regulations or obligations. The failure, or the failure by third-party providers or partners, to comply with applicable laws or regulations or any other obligations relating to privacy, data protection or information security, or any compromise of security that results in unauthorized access to, or use or release of personally identifiable information or other rider data, or the perception that any of the foregoing types of failure or compromise has occurred, could damage our reputation, discourage new and existing riders from using our platform or result in fines or proceedings by governmental agencies and private claims and litigation, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if not subject to legal challenge, the perception of privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may harm our reputation and brand and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Systems failures and resulting interruptions in the availability of our website, applications, platform, or offerings could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our systems, or those of third parties upon which we rely, may experience service interruptions or degradation because of hardware and software defects or malfunctions, distributed denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, 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 employees. Some of our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. Our business interruption insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses that may result from interruptions in service as a result of systems failures and similar events.

We will likely experience system failures and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce or affect the speed or functionality of our offerings. These events have resulted in, and similar future events could result in, losses of revenue. A prolonged interruption in the availability or reduction in the availability, speed or other functionality of our offerings could adversely affect our business and reputation and could result in the loss of users. Moreover, to the extent that any system failure or similar event results in harm or losses to the users using our platform, we may make voluntary payments to compensate for such harm or the affected users could seek monetary recourse or contractual remedies from us for their losses and such claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time-consuming and costly for us to address.

Our business could be adversely impacted by changes in the Internet and mobile device accessibility of users and unfavorable changes in or our failure to comply with existing or future laws governing the Internet and mobile devices.

Our business depends on users’ access to our platform via a mobile device and the Internet. We may operate in jurisdictions that provide limited Internet connectivity, particularly as we expand internationally. Internet access and access to a mobile device are frequently provided by companies with significant market power that could take actions that degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of users’ ability to access our platform. In addition, the Internet infrastructure that we and users of our platform rely on in any particular geographic area may be unable to support the demands placed upon it. Any such failure in Internet or mobile device accessibility, even for a short period of time, could adversely affect our results of operations.

Moreover, we are subject to a number of laws and regulations specifically governing the Internet and mobile devices that are constantly evolving. Existing and future laws and regulations, or changes thereto, may impede the growth and availability of the Internet and online offerings, require us to change our business practices or raise compliance costs or other costs of doing business. These laws and regulations, which continue to evolve, cover taxation, privacy and data protection, pricing, copyrights, distribution, mobile and other communications, advertising practices, consumer protections, the provision of online payment services, unencumbered Internet access to our offerings and the characteristics and quality of online offerings, among other things. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in damage to our reputation and brand and loss in business and result in proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others, which could adversely impact our results of operations.

We rely on mobile operating systems and application marketplaces to make our apps available to the riders, subscribers, and users on our platform, and if we do not effectively operate with or receive favorable placements within such application marketplaces and maintain high rider reviews, our usage or brand recognition could decline and our business, financial results and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We depend in part on mobile operating systems, such as Android and iOS, and their respective application marketplaces to make our apps available to riders, subscribers, and users on our platform. Any changes in such systems and application marketplaces that degrade the functionality of these apps or give preferential treatment to competitors’ apps could adversely affect our platform’s usage on mobile devices. If such mobile operating systems or application marketplaces limit or prohibit us from making our apps available, make changes that degrade the functionality of our apps, increase the cost of using our apps, impose terms of use unsatisfactory to us or modify their search or ratings algorithms in ways that are detrimental to us, or if our competitors’ placement in such mobile operating systems’ application marketplace is more prominent than the placement of our apps, overall growth in our riders, subscribers and user base could slow. For example, for several days in April 2020, Google Play removed our mobile app from their store out an abundance of caution for an alleged violation of Google Play’s policies regarding COVID-19. During this time, our mobile app continued to function, but it was not available for download on phones operating on the Android system. Although we appealed this problem and resolved it without needing to change our app or business plan or issue any clarifying statements, any future problem of a similar nature or otherwise related to the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

As new mobile devices and mobile platforms are released, there is no guarantee that certain mobile devices will continue to support our platform or effectively roll out updates to our app. Additionally, to deliver a high-quality app, we need to ensure that our offerings are designed to work effectively with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks, and standards. We may not be successful in developing or maintaining relationships with key participants in the mobile industry that enhance riders’, subscribers’ and users’ experiences. If users of our platform encounter any difficulty accessing or using our apps on their mobile devices or if we are unable to adapt to changes in popular mobile operating systems, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Defects, errors or vulnerabilities in our applications, backend systems 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. The third-party software that we incorporate into our platform may also be subject to errors or vulnerability. Any errors or vulnerabilities discovered in our code or from third-party software after release could result in negative publicity, a loss of users or loss of revenue and access or other performance issues. Such vulnerabilities could also be exploited by malicious actors and result in exposure of data of users on our platform, or otherwise result in a data breach as defined under various laws and regulations. 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, financial condition and results of operations as well as negatively impact our reputation or brand.

We may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation, or result in legal or regulatory proceedings.

Our business relies on the use of customer accounts linked to bank accounts or credit cards as well as tracking certain movements of our customers. The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business could result in significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly evolving and expanding, creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others.

General Risks

A pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak of an infectious disease in the United States or worldwide, including the outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus disease, COVID-19, could adversely affect our business.

If a pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak of an infectious disease occurs in the United States or worldwide or is extended through new variants, our business may be adversely affected. The severity, magnitude and duration of the current COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and rapidly changing. As of the date of this prospectus, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our business, results of operations and financial condition remains uncertain. Furthermore, because of our business model, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations and overall financial condition until future periods.

Adverse market conditions resulting from the spread of COVID-19 materially adversely affected our business and could continue to materially adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock. For example,

Numerous state and local jurisdictions, including all markets where we operate, have imposed, and others in the future may impose, “shelter-in-place” orders, quarantines, executive orders and similar government orders and restrictions for their residents to control the spread of COVID-19. Such orders or restrictions have resulted in largely remote operations at our headquarters, work stoppages among some vendors and suppliers, slowdowns and delays, travel restrictions and cancellation of events, among other effects, thereby significantly and negatively impacting our operations. Other disruptions or potential disruptions include restrictions on the ability of our personnel to travel; inability of our suppliers to manufacture goods and to deliver these to us on a timely basis, or at all; inventory shortages or obsolescence; delays in actions of regulatory bodies; diversion of or limitations on employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the operations of our business, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with groups of people; business adjustments or disruptions of certain third parties; and additional government requirements or other incremental mitigation efforts. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity and spread of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others.

It is not currently possible to reliably project the direct impact of COVID-19 on our operating revenues and expenses. Key factors include the duration and extent of the outbreak in our service areas as well as societal and governmental responses. Further, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that we experienced slowed growth and a decline in new customer demand as operations were suspended or curtailed in some cities, the launch of services into new cities was delayed and commuters and tourists, key targets for our consumers, made less journey, and such slowed growth may continue or worsen. We believe that the continued severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused our ridership not to have grown as quickly as anticipated. If the COVID-19 pandemic worsens, especially in regions where we have offices or operations, our business activities originating from affected areas could be adversely affected. Disruptive activities could include business closures in impacted areas, further restrictions on our employees’ and service providers’ ability to travel, impacts to productivity if our employees or their family members experience health issues, and potential delays in hiring and onboarding of new employees. We may take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required by local, state, or federal authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees. Such measures could negatively affect our sales and marketing efforts, sales cycles, employee productivity, or customer retention, any of which could harm our financial condition and business operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic could also cause our third-party data center hosting facilities and cloud computing platform providers, which are critical to our infrastructure, to shut down their business, experience security incidents that impact our business, delay, or disrupt performance or delivery of services, or experience interference with the supply chain of hardware required by their systems and services, any of which could materially adversely affect our business. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in our employees and those of many of our vendors working from home and conducting work via the internet, and if the network and infrastructure of internet providers becomes overburdened by increased usage or is otherwise unreliable or unavailable, our employees’, and our customers’ and vendors’ employees’, access to the internet to conduct business could be negatively impacted. Limitations on access or disruptions to services or goods provided by or to some of our suppliers and vendors upon which our platform and business operations relies, could interrupt our ability to provide our platform, decrease the productivity of our workforce, and significantly harm our business operations, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our platform and the other systems or networks used in our business may experience an increase in attempted cyber-attacks, targeted intrusion, ransomware, and phishing campaigns seeking to take advantage of shifts to employees working remotely using their household or personal internet networks and to leverage fears promulgated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of any of these unauthorized attempts could substantially impact our platform, the proprietary and other confidential data contained therein or otherwise stored or processed in our operations, and ultimately our business. Any actual or perceived security incident also may cause us to incur increased expenses to improve our security controls and to remediate security vulnerabilities.

The extent and continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business will depend on certain developments, including: the duration and spread of the outbreak; government responses to the pandemic; the impact on our customers and our sales cycles; the impact on customer, industry, or employee events; and the effect on our partners and supply chains, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. Because of our business model, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations and overall financial condition until future periods. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, we may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, including but not limited to those relating to cyber-attacks and security vulnerabilities, interruptions or delays due to third-parties, or our ability to raise additional capital or generate sufficient cash flows necessary to expand our operations.

Any global systemic political, economic, and financial crisis (as well as the indirect effects flowing therefrom) could negatively affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

In recent times, several major systemic economic and financial crises negatively affected global business, banking, and financial sectors. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and reduced U.S. G.D.P. significantly and led to unprecedented claims of unemployment. Additionally, fear of higher inflation has unsettled financial markets and, if such higher inflation materializes, global economic health could be jeopardized. These types of crises, including the prolonged decrease in economic growth or insolvency of major countries, could cause turmoil in global markets that often result in declines in electronic products sales from which we generate income through our products and services. For example, there could be knock-on effects from these types of crises on our business, including significant decreases in ridership of our devices; insolvency of key suppliers resulting in product delays; customer insolvencies; delays in, or the cancellation of, a portion or all of the Series B season; and counterparty failures negatively impacting our treasury operations. Any future systemic political, economic, or financial crisis could cause revenue for the ridesharing industry as a whole to decline dramatically, which could reduce our revenues. Further, in times of market instability, sufficient external financing may not be available to us on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If sufficient external financing is not available when needed to meet capital requirements, we may be forced to curtail our expansion, modify plans, or delay the deployment of new or expanded services until we obtain such financing. Thus, any future global economic crisis could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Our operational results could also be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters (such as earthquakes), shortages or interruptions in the supply of utilities (such as shortages in electricity caused by changes in governmental energy policy), in the locations in which we, or our customers or suppliers operate or by industrial accidents, fires or explosions.

The frequency and severity of natural disasters and severe weather has been increasing, in part due to climate change or systemic regional geological changes that manifest in damaging earthquakes. We have operations in locations subject to natural disasters, such as flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, and droughts as well as interruptions or shortages in the supply of utilities, such as water and electricity, or access to land, air, or sea infrastructures, that could disrupt operations. Thus, if one or more natural disasters, shortage or interruptions to the supply of utilities (such as shortages in electricity caused by a nuclear-free energy policy) that results in a prolonged disruption to our operations or those of our customers or suppliers, or if any of our vendor facilities were to be damaged or cease operations as a result of an explosion or fire, it could reduce our ability to provide our services and may cause us to lose important customers, thereby having a potentially adverse and material impact on our operational and financial performance.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Organizational Structure

The price of our common stock likely will be volatile like the stocks of other early-stage companies.

The stock markets in general and the markets for early-stage stocks have experienced extreme volatility. The market for the common stock of smaller companies such as ours is characterized by significant price volatility when compared to the shares of larger, more established companies that trade on a national securities exchange and have large public floats, and we expect that our share price will be more volatile than the shares of such larger, more established companies for the indefinite future.

In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section, price declines in our common stock could also result from general market and economic conditions and a variety of other factors, including:

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a particular company’s securities, litigation has often been brought against that company. Any such lawsuit could consume resources and management time and attention, which could adversely affect our business.

We have broad discretion in the use of our existing cash, cash equivalents and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of our existing cash, cash equivalents. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of our existing cash, cash equivalents and the net proceeds, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. Our management might not apply our cash resources in ways that ultimately increase the value of your investment. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business. Pending their use, we may invest our cash resources in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing securities. These investments may not yield a favorable return to our stockholders.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be our stockholders’ sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market by our existing stockholders could cause our stock price to decline.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

We have a controlling stockholder whose interests may differ from those of our public stockholders.

Approximately 60% of the voting power of our Common Stock is controlled, directly or indirectly, by our founder, Salvatore Palella. Mr. Palella has significant influence over corporate management and affairs, as well as matters requiring stockholder approval, and he is able to, subject to applicable law, participate in the election of the members of the Board of Directors and actions to be taken by us, including amendments to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (assuming it is approved by the stockholders) and our Amended and Restated Bylaws and approval of significant corporate transactions, including mergers and sales of substantially all of our assets. The directors so elected will have the authority, subject to applicable rules and regulations, to issue additional stock, implement stock repurchase programs, declare dividends and make other decisions. It is possible that the interests of this stockholder may in some circumstances conflict with the Company’s interests and the interests of our other stockholders. This could influence his decisions, including with regard to whether and when to dispose of assets and whether and when to incur new or refinance existing indebtedness. In addition, the determination of future tax reporting positions, the structuring of future transactions and the handling of any future challenges by any taxing authorities to the Company’s tax reporting positions may take into consideration this stockholder’s tax or other considerations, which may differ from the Company’s considerations or those of our other stockholders.

We are a “controlled company” following the Business Combination under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards, our stockholders may not have certain corporate governance protections that are available to stockholders of companies that are not controlled companies.

So long as more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, a group or another company, we will qualify as a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing requirements. Effective as of the completion of the Business Combination, Mr. Palella, through holdings of the Class B Common Stock controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a result, we are a “controlled company” under The Nasdaq Stock Market listing standards and are subject to the requirements that would otherwise require us to have: (i) a majority of independent directors; (ii) a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors; (iii) compensation of our executive officers determined by a majority of the independent directors or a compensation committee comprised solely of independent directors; and (iv) director nominees selected, or recommended for the Board’s selection, either by a majority of the independent directors or a nominating committee comprised solely of independent directors. Although we do not intend for the combined company to rely on the exemptions for controlled companies, we may eventually rely upon the controlled company exemption.

The dual class structure of our common stock will have the effect of concentrating voting power with our Chief Executive Officer and Founder, which will limit an investor’s ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.

Shares of our Class B Common Stock have such number of votes per share equal to the lesser of ten (10) votes per share or such number of votes per share such that the total number of shares of our Class B Common Stock issued to the Founder represent, in the aggregate, no more than 60% of all of the then outstanding voting securities of the Company, while shares of our Class A Common Stock will have one vote per share. Upon the consummation of the Business Combination, Mr. Palella, the founder of Helbiz, holds all of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B Common Stock. Accordingly, upon the consummation of the Business Combination, Mr. Palella holds approximately 60% of the voting power of our capital stock and is able to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or other major corporate transactions. Mr. Palella may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of the Company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of the securities, and might ultimately affect the market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock.

We cannot predict the impact that the dual class structure may have on the stock price of our Class A Common Stock.

We cannot predict whether our dual class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A Common Stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indexes. In July 2017, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Beginning in 2017, MSCI, a leading stock index provider, opened public consultations on their treatment of no-vote and multi-class structures and temporarily barred new multi-class listings from certain of our indices; however, in October 2018, MSCI announced its decision to include equity securities “with unequal voting structures” in its indices and to launch a new index that specifically includes voting rights in its eligibility criteria. Under the announced policies, our dual class capital structure would make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track those indices will not be investing in our stock. These policies are still fairly new, and it is as of yet unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included. Because of our dual class structure, we will likely be excluded from certain of these indexes and we cannot assure you that other stock indexes will not take similar actions. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indexes, exclusion from stock indexes would likely preclude investment by many of these funds and could make shares of our Class A Common Stock less attractive to other investors. As a result, the market price of shares of our Class A Common Stock could be adversely affected.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Class A Common Stock will depend on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. Currently, we do not have any analyst coverage and may not obtain analyst coverage in the future. In the event we obtain analyst coverage, we will not have any control over such analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.