Rekor Systems, Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

CERTAIN TERMS

Unless the context requires otherwise, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) to “Rekor Systems, Inc.,” “Rekor,” “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to Rekor Systems, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts, such as statements regarding the objectives of management, timing and the likelihood of success of various activities, the future performance of current and prospective products and services and our future results of operations and financial position, are forward-looking statements, which include all expressions of the expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, plans, prospects or strategies of the Company. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “target,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” “possible,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the management of the Company in light of their respective experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and their potential effects on the Company as well as other factors they believe are appropriate in the circumstances. They speak only as of the date of this Annual Report and are subject to several substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions described under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond our control, actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied and you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of the assumptions being made prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

We are a global leader in the development and implementation of intelligent infrastructure focused on addressing critical challenges across transportation management, public safety, and key commercial markets. With a real-time intelligence platform driven by deep access to data, AI-powered software, and smart optical devices at-the-edge, we combine our industry expertise and advanced proprietary technologies to deliver unrivaled insights that increase roadway safety, efficiency, and sustainability while enabling safer, smarter, and more connected cities and communities. We operate across 80 countries as we deliver transformative mission-critical intelligent infrastructure solutions and services for government agencies and commercial clients in the United States and around the world. 

Digital Divide

Society is increasingly digital, automated, and real-time. Technological advancements in the past decade have transformed the way people connect, interact, and transact with others and with the world around them. Infrastructure is the backbone of a functioning economy: people, vehicles, materials, and information all require 24/7 mobility, something that depends on well-maintained, synchronized networks and systems. Unfortunately, many areas of the world are faced with aging and legacy infrastructure today resulting from decades of neglect and underinvestment, particularly in the sectors of transportation, mobility, and public safety. The cost, complexity and interdependency of these systems have made many organizations slow to adopt advances in technology.  This creates a digital divide between what is made possible by technology, and the current reality of infrastructure today. We see an array of corresponding concerns around mobility, public safety, and sustainability impact:

		●	Staggering fatalities and injuries: Globally, roadway crashes cause nearly 1.3 million preventable deaths and 50 million injuries each year – making it the leading killer of children and young people worldwide. These numbers in both absolute and relative terms, have remained largely unchanged for the past 20 years.
		●	Urbanization complexities: As of 2021, 57% of the world's population lives in urban areas, and expected to increase to 68% by 2050, adding about 2.22 billion “connected” people to urban areas. Complexities of urban traffic has been forcing city planners and governments to find smarter ways to improve mobility by reducing traffic congestion, ensure road safety and above all limit serious environmental damage due to increased pollution.
		●	Mushrooming Congestion: Traffic congestion costs Americans an average of 97 hours and more than $1,000 in wasted fuel and time every year.
		●	Disjointed systems and siloed communication: Traffic managers and first responders today rely on a patchwork of separate, non-integrated systems.  The inability to seamlessly share data between systems and communicate analytical results between agencies and departments in real time, means critical decisions are being made without the most accurate and up-to-date information.
		●	Legacy and underused technology: Most technology currently used for traffic management and public safety is limited to a single purpose and does not make use of the most recent advances in imaging, data science and communications. It is also often priced at a premium, placing it outside the reach of many agencies and departments.
		●	Manual and analog approaches: Current incident and hazard detection relies heavily on physical inspections, observation, and citizen reporting. This creates knowledge gaps, burdens resources, and slows responses. Traffic managers and first responders are obligated to use manual processes to monitor roadway status and communicate with supporting departments.
		●	Outdated, damaged highways: The National Highway System was built in 1956.  Since then the population of the United States has more than doubled, while vehicle miles traveled have quadrupled. Today, 50% of roads are rated in poor or mediocre condition.

Continued population growth and increased urbanization present unprecedented economic, mobility, public safety, and environmental challenges to cities, states, and metropolitan areas. Today’s challenges cannot be solved by simply replicating existing approaches and adding more legacy technology. For the ongoing mobility transformation to keep up with fast-changing global dynamics requires inventive approaches. Enhancements in data collection, analytics and communications can be employed. 

Smarter, data-driven solutions can make better use of existing infrastructure, rather than tearing it up and starting over. Roads, bridges, tunnels, and residential areas have much “to tell us” about how to optimally serve the public with an efficient, safe, and healthy living environment if we tap into the data it can provide and exploit that knowledge intelligently. Successful approaches will leverage AI-powered software, smart devices, data, and solutions that can integrate into existing infrastructure and workflows. We see this as the path to intelligence-driven infrastructure and one that gives us a clear market advantage. 

Bridging the Divide

Spurred by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the United States, we expect the world to see a once-in-a-generation surge of investment in infrastructure and competitiveness. The bill allocates $550 billion in new spending, spread out over five years, to rebuild roads, bridges and rails, and airports, in addition to providing high-speed internet access and addressing climate concerns. As part of this, federal, state, and local governments are prioritizing strategic investments dedicated to improving existing transportation management and increasing public safety through modern, efficient, and connected infrastructure. Officials are also planning for roadways of the future that can account for connected and autonomous vehicles. With these investments, we estimate an addressable global intelligent infrastructure market of $148 billion by 2026.

With access to multiple sources of data and our award winning AI-driven innovations, we believe we have established a leadership position in intelligent infrastructure solutions that puts us at the center of this emerging opportunity. With our advanced technology and domain expertise, we have developed solutions that address diverse use cases across a number of public and private sector segments.  Using our proprietary centralized platform to maximize the value of our technology to customers, we are well positioned to help governments and businesses collect, analyze and turn infrastructure data into insights with new products and services that increase mobility and safety, drive revenue, and power innovation for billions of people and trillions of interactions.

Intelligence-Driven Innovation

As described below, we have concentrated on developing our intelligent infrastructure solutions to work through a single integrated platform, which creates a unique, market-advantaged position for us. The volume, variety, velocity, and veracity of data that we capture and apply to our proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning models provide us with an even greater advantage. From the very beginning, we have been collecting, aggregating, cleansing, extracting, transforming, and using data to build and improve our models. 

Today, we can look at the roadway and extract and process a deeply detailed picture of the environment and what is moving in that environment with an unmatched level of accuracy in our inferences, predictive analytics, and insights. We are rapidly growing the geographic area connected by smart optical IoT devices at-the-edge to the open architecture of our Rekor One intelligence platform. In addition to digitizing existing infrastructure by capturing real-time data from new and existing roadway devices, our platform enables us to extend the scope of our knowledge via proprietary algorithms that pull the data and process it through our models. This reduces our clients’ need to invest in legacy system upgrades and gives them the ability to gain additional value from existing infrastructure. Beyond this, we are augmenting our own data through a growing network of data partners.  This provides multiple trillions of additional data points that unlock further real-time and predictive operational insights about what is happening in a given transportation environment at every moment. Example data sources from our partner network include mobility, navigation, and traffic applications, in-vehicle data, connected, autonomous vehicles ("CAV") datasets, weather, supply chain, event management, and a rapidly growing list of customer-provided and crowd-sourced data. The more data we capture and inject into our machine learning models, the smarter and more accurate they become. Due to the incredible strength and accuracy of our models, we can extract more data from the roadways than ever before possible, and generate rich multi-dimensional insights for our customers about what is happening in real-time. In addition, we use AI-driven predictive analytics to forecast what will happen in the next five minutes, in 12 or 24 hours, and even days and months into the future. From these insights, customers can make better informed proactive decisions and achieve improved operational efficiency through a more strategic allocation of resources. All of this is facilitated by our proprietary Rekor One™ intelligence platform.

Fueled by Data and Artificial Intelligence

At the core of all our intelligent infrastructure solutions is the Rekor One intelligence platform. Fueled by rich data and powered by AI, Rekor One is purpose-built to be a single source of truth and insights serving multiple customer segments and multiple missions. From Rekor One, we can simultaneously deliver vertical-specific solutions for traffic management, public safety, and commercial markets.

With the Rekor One platform as our foundation, we collect and transform data into information, and information into knowledge to give governments and businesses a comprehensive picture of roadways, vehicles, traffic, incidents, and more. Our solutions deliver unrivaled insights that increase roadway safety, efficiency, and sustainability while enabling safer, smarter, and more connected cities and communities.

Built on the foundation of Rekor One, we deliver vertical-specific solutions for traffic management, public safety, and commercial markets.

Example use-cases we can support include:

The Road Ahead

We believe the world is at an inflection point. In the next five years, governments will make significant investments to improve aging infrastructure, roadway conditions, and public safety via modern, efficient, and connected infrastructure. Recent technological developments such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, edge- and cloud-based computing, and advances in rich data management have put us in a unique position to help revolutionize mobility through intelligent infrastructure and close the gap between rapidly evolving technology and aging, legacy infrastructure. These are not just our aspirational goals, but things we’re working on now. By aggregating data from optical sensors, connected vehicles, and third-party providers, processing it using artificial intelligence, and packaging it to provide real-time insights and long-term solutions for intelligent infrastructure, we sustainably help governments and businesses address both issues of aging infrastructure and the unprecedented mobility, public safety, economic, and environmental challenges they face.

We believe our leadership in intelligent infrastructure solutions, advanced technology, and breadth of use cases across multiple industries puts us in an advantaged market position at the forefront of developing a new economy and poised to unlock massive gains as we provide governments and businesses with new products and services that use trillions of intelligent infrastructure interactions to increase safety and sustainability, drive revenue, and power innovation for the benefit of billions of people.

Our operations are conducted by our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Rekor Recognition Systems, Inc. (“Rekor Recognition”) and Waycare Technologies, Ltd. (“Waycare”).

Platforms, Products, and Solutions

We generate revenue through the sale of software and software related data services as well as through the sale of associated hardware and peripheral products. Our Rekor One™ platform has been designed as the engine of a unifying operating system that supports the assimilation analysis and distribution of the data generated from these products and services as well as data incorporated from other sources. While we expect to continue to provide long-term licenses with maintenance contracts in the case of certain strategic partnerships and customized fulfillment for large customers, we expect the bulk of our current solutions to be sold through subscriptions using a software as a service (“SaaS”) sales model. In some cases, these subscriptions are associated with hardware sales, while in others they are provided for use with existing systems. An advantage of the Rekor One™ platform is that it is designed to enable customers to subscribe to our software services for use on a network of existing sensors and then supplement and upgrade the network over time using our custom-designed proprietary sensor systems.

Rekor One™ Intelligence Platform

Rekor One™ was purpose-built to be our foundation as a single AI-powered intelligence platform designed to serve multiple missions. Rekor One™ is a modular, configurable, rapid development platform that houses the machine learning models and other proprietary technology that power all our business lines and solutions, including Rekor One™ for Traffic Management, Rekor One™  for Public Safety, and multiple commercial use-cases. 

Rekor One™ and all our intelligent infrastructure solutions powered by Rekor One™ use industry leading security technologies and standards to protect all captured and connected data from unauthorized access or use. We use end-to-end encryption and proprietary data filters as additional protective measures. Data that we capture is used to feed our services and solutions under strict privacy protocols. Customers can access their data 24/7 until it is purged and have the flexibility to manage their data retention periods based on their needs and local regulations. Our platform also uses AWS GovCloud hosting for secure data handling and is stored in secure databases where only authorized system admins have access. Additionally, Rekor One™ incorporates Rekor’s privacy filter to strip personally identifiable information (“PII”) from data using our proprietary algorithm that is completely irreversible. 

Rekor One™ Traffic Management Solutions

Our suite of Traffic Management solutions is powered by the Rekor One™ intelligence platform and its proprietary data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies. Within the Traffic Management vertical, we provide a wide range of solutions that can benefit cities, states, municipalities, departments of transportation and transit agencies. These products include software modules for Roadway Monitoring and Response (“RMR”), Traffic and Infrastructure Analytics (“TIA”), and our Live and Archival Traffic View (“LATV”). In all instances, our Rekor One™ Traffic Management solutions include a subscription that allows customers to effectively digitize their data resources from existing infrastructure and leverage that data with third-party data and software based services we provide. As described below, these solutions give them advanced tools to make critical real-time decisions as well as develop long-range strategies that improve the lives of their citizens.

Rekor One™ Traffic Management - Roadway Monitoring and Response

Powered by Rekor One™, our RMR solution is a full-scale cross-agency incident detection and management solution that allows customers to effectively implement incident detection and management within their existing workflow and gain real-time access to vital information needed to rapidly identify, manage, and recover from incidents.

The RMR solution is used to identify and verify incidents as well as assist in responding to and clearing them. It uses Rekor’s proprietary technology to detect anomalies and irregularities in traffic patterns, understand when incidents happen, and even identify areas of high risk where incidents can potentially occur in the future. These tools make incident detection far more reliable and efficient. Departments of Transportation (“DOT”) are now able to quickly identify the anomalies and incidents on roads in real-time and see them displayed on a user-friendly live map interface. Dashboards provide comprehensive monitoring of roadways and the ability to share information with partner agencies and directly to the public in real-time. RMR also includes reporting capabilities to archive incident and event information, and analytics to help users better understand trends, patterns, and planning. This helps the DOT to make proactive decisions based on the incident spot and immediate incident alarm, providing accurate information about what is happening in the public passageway using the existing surveillance infrastructure. Users are quickly notified of incidents and are alerted to areas of risk identified by our algorithms using multi-sourced data and trends. These insights are just a part of our suite of traffic management solutions which provide a wide array of analytics, reports, data sharing, public communications, and unique HD video management features to help support planning, situational awareness, operations that is vital for our customers.

The RMR solution provides dedicated modules that are tailor-made for different users, including modules for traffic management centers, freeway service patrol, first responders, maintenance crews, and transit. Each module provides unique value to individual users, while our proprietary platform brings them all together into one seamless environment. Customers can integrate their current roadside cameras and other devices to feed information directly into the RMR solution and can deploy our advanced IP optical edge devices and cameras to gather additional data from the roadway in real-time. This, in combination with third-party data including data from connected vehicles, GPS, events, construction, weather, and a number of other sources, provides a truly complete view of the roadway and infrastructure systems for customers. These improvements over the traditional incident management infrastructure, and the benefits they offer, have gained significant attention from governing authorities across the globe.

Rekor One™ Traffic Management – Traffic and Infrastructure Analytics 

Traditional approaches to capturing data for roadway and infrastructure analytics and planning employ expensive, manual processes that use antiquated technology to capture a fraction of the information needed for a fraction of the time. Powered by Rekor One, our TIA solution enables customers get access to comprehensive, de-identified traffic and infrastructure analytics that not only provide instant information on current roadway activity, but also historic information, so that planners and engineers can track patterns, trends, and formulate decisions using both real-time and complete archival data. Customers access their dashboard on web-based cloud instances and review on-demand traffic reports and analytics that breakdown vehicle volumes and patterns, vehicle classification, estimated tonnage, electric vehicle adoption and volume, average greenhouse gas emissions, smog scores, average speed over distance, along with many other tailored views that a customer may select. Customers can easily group different geographies and regions and compare them against one other, drill down into specific dates and times of interest, and even export raw data to further pursue their planning needs. In addition, customers can easily leverage live stream HD video from the edge of the roadway at any time to meet their core missions via our deployed advanced IP optical edge devices and cameras that gather volumes of de-identified data from the roadway in real-time.

Our TIA solution can also be of immense value for commercial entities. Many businesses need to understand the vehicle flow, patterns, types, and other important analytics regarding vehicles around their businesses. In addition, the vehicle recognition technology that we deploy to capture this data can be readily leveraged to accomplish a wide range of commercial use-cases. Whether it is a quick-service restaurant that wants to easily identify repeat customers so they can present them with their favorite orders and facilitate contactless payment, or it is a shipping and logistics provider that wants to understand and control the flow of vehicles coming in and out of important areas, our cutting-edge technology can facilitate it.

Rekor One™ Traffic Management – Live and Archival Traffic View

Our LATV solution provides highway departments and other agencies an inexpensive and scalable way of delivering more detailed and comprehensive situational awareness of what is happening on their roadways. Many of them already have legacy infrastructure in place to provide situational awareness on the roadway, but much of it focuses only on major roadways, provides limited storage capacity and relies on expensive equipment that often delivers less quality and resolution than is desired. Our LATV solution offers live stream HD video from the edge of the roadway that users can access on-demand. Multiple locations are easily networked and viewed through an optimized web-based dashboard. Users can quickly review and assess locations of interest for instant situational awareness and also search and retrieve archival footage of interest that can be stored on our edge devices for up to 30 days. Authorized agencies are also able to easily share key video footage via secure public and private links.

Rekor One™ Public Safety

Our public safety solution includes license plate and vehicle recognition technology that can analyze multi-spectral images and video streams using AI trained algorithms. It can concurrently extract license plate data by state or province from many countries, together with the vehicle’s make, model, color, body type, and direction of travel. Our technology can also capture subtle and unique vehicle characteristics including rust, the presence of a roof rack, mismatched paint, or the like, so law enforcement can leverage that information for investigative policing and forensics. When combined with high performance reads, parallel processing capability and best-in-class hardware accessories, such as optical sensors and communications modules, the solution captures license plate data and vehicle characteristics across multiple lanes at high vehicle speeds with a high degree of accuracy. Our optical sensors are also able to effectively operate in unusually difficult conditions, such as low lighting, poor weather, extreme camera viewing angles, and obstructions.

Rekor One™ Public Safety - Rekor Contactless Compliance

Rekor’s Contactless Compliance application delivers a turnkey information and citation management solution for cities, states, and municipalities for both primary and secondary offenses. Our plate-based Contactless Compliance product provides a safe, equitable, and unbiased enforcement method that requiresno human involvement. Rekor’s contactless compliance programs issue notices and/or send information to registered vehicle owners when a non-compliant vehicle is detected by an optical sensor. Non-compliant vehicles are any vehicles actively detected to be violating the law or otherwise requiring a compliance notice. Non-compliance may include uninsured vehicles, vehicles with expired registration, and vehicles with outdated emissions/inspection statuses. Our contactless compliance programs also include red light and speed violations which have an immediate impact to the safety of others on the road. We provide an application programming interface for third-party payment gateways for credit card transactions to accommodate both phone and web payments. The interface can also automatically record payments in the system and provide functionality to research, manage unapplied payments and reconcile receipts. A full call-center is also provided with our Contactless Compliance product to help facilitate payment or information distribution to non-compliant citizens remotely. We have active deployments of our contactless compliance solution scanning millions of plates and delivering thousands of notices/tickets, including a program for the State of Oklahoma that facilitates enrolling uninsured motorists as well as a number of Automated Traffic Safety Enforcement (“ATSE”) deployments enforcing red light and speed violations.

Rekor One™ Public Safety - Rekor Scout™

Rekor Scout provides accurate license plate and vehicle recognition on nearly any IP, traffic, or security camera and can be subscribed to separately for use with existing camera or sensor systems. It displays results on a web-based dashboard that can be accessed from anywhere by any authorized user. The platform connects to National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) lists and permits the agency to establish customized hotlists with alerts, apply customized data retention policies and share data with other agencies. Vehicles listed on "blacklists" (stolen, terrorists, amber alerts, etc.) generate an alarm in the dispatching room so that they can be intercepted by a patrol. Millions of cars per week are automatically checked in this way.

Rekor One™ Public Safety - Rekor Blue™

Rekor Blue™ is our premier smartphone app designed specifically for law enforcement. Built using the same recognition engine as Rekor Scout™, it  delivers public safety officers advanced data capture in the palm of the hand, providing access to extremely accurate license plate recognition in areas not covered by stationary or mobile sensors, even without network connectivity. Rekor Blue™  retrieves vehicle license plate number and state of registration and automatically organizes information by sessions, capturing date, location, and timestamp. Verified Rekor Blue™ reads can then sync with the Rekor Scout™ environment and users can receive in-app alerts using plate matches from custom and connected hotlists. With on-device encrypted lists and data, Rekor Blue™  is compliant with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Justice Information System (“CJIS”).

Additional Software Products Supporting Transportation, Public Safety and Commercial Use-Cases

There are many uses for automated recognition systems that provide vehicle identification faster, and more accurately and efficiently without having to increase the number of monitoring personnel. Our solutions are used for car park management, retail park security, weighbridges, tolling, bus lane enforcement, and other intelligent transport applications. Since the acquisition of our industry leading vehicle recognition systems in 2019, we have refined and rebranded our software to highlight different software services and released several hardware products packaged with preloaded versions of our vehicle recognition engine. These can provide an advanced turnkey system for LPR and vehicle recognition at-the-edge. We have also developed a broad range of vehicle recognition product and service lines, starting with security and parking operations and expanding into roadway compliance program operations, auto wash and service, quick service restaurants and drive-in retail. We have also launched a robust eCommerce portal on the OpenALPR.com site, enabling customers to conveniently purchase software products with just a credit card and a click. This allows owners to immediately enhance their business operations while reducing the operating cost for us.

Rekor CarCheck™

Through our eCommerce platform, we offer commercial versions of Rekor Scout which are sold as a subscription service. Rekor Scout for commercial users includes specialized offerings that bring value to a variety of industries including parking, retail, logistics and security. In addition, we also offer an API of our vehicle recognition technology for commercial applications under the name Rekor CarCheck™. This API supports nearly any programming language, analyzes still images of vehicles from different countries and responds in seconds with accurate license plate data, vehicle make, model, body type and color. Rekor CarCheck is also sold through a subscription-based plan and is used by a broad range of industries for various use cases. Any mission that has a need for cost-efficient state-of-the-art vehicle and/or license plate recognition can benefit from the use of Rekor CarCheck™.

AutoNotice™ 

AutoNotice™ is a cloud-based financial management application. AutoNotice provides a plate-based management account system that offers our customers a multi-tiered database that can assist with most record management operations. AutoNotice also provides an application programming interface for third-party payment gateways for credit card transactions to accommodate both phone and web payments. AutoNotice can automatically record payments in the system and provide functionality to research, manage unapplied payments and reconcile receipts.

Hardware Products

We also have a unique and differentiated portfolio of AI-based state-of-the-art hardware products purpose-built to optimize the value of our software as well as bring the advantages of edge processing to any capture of real-time roadway data. Our edge processing systems provide for the execution, directly on the device at the point of capture, of data aggregation and manipulation as well as other artificial intelligence routines. This allows our customers to capture, process and transform roadway data at the source and in real-time, so it can be deployed quickly and affordably with reduced bandwidth requirements. Rekor’s law enforcement products and services also include speed trailer and other in-car and mobile vehicle recognition devices.

Rekor Edge Series

Our Rekor Edge Series is a family of mountable vehicle recognition systems that seamlessly capture and process vehicle data. Multiple configurations are available depending on read distance, traffic speed, and lane coverage needs. All Edge Series devices can easily mount to a building or pole and be optionally solar-powered. Features of all Edge Series devices are:

Rekor Edge Pro

Rekor Edge Pro is a complete vehicle recognition solution that can be used on a standalone basis or integrated into a network. Engineered for roadway speeds up to 70 mph, 1-2 lanes, and 75 ft max range, the system can be deployed in neighborhoods, campuses, business districts, and also be used for parking and access control. It captures and processes data on-device within a durable enclosure. The unit is simple to install and features optional solar power that expands the number of locations where Rekor Edge Pro can meet the customer’s needs. 

Rekor Edge Max

Rekor Edge Max is also a complete vehicle recognition solution that can be used on a standalone basis or integrated into a network. Engineered for high-speed primary roadways and highways up to 120 mph, 3-4 lanes (up to 6 lanes with dual cameras), and 300 ft max range, Edge Max seamlessly captures and processes vehicle data on-device and from advanced distances. The system features a durable enclosure, onboard modem, easy mounting, optional solar power, and can be configured with two cameras to increase capture range.

Competitive Strengths

Our patented technology has been featured by prominent outlets and has enabled us to further develop our global, expanding footprint. Our award-winning proprietary technology and customer service has allowed us to win competitive bids against legacy incumbents. To date, we have not seen a peer that can provide the breadth, depth, and sophistication that we can on a single integrated platform that can serve multiple missions and agencies. We will continue working hard to capitalize on our first mover advantage and will continue to invest in the company competitiveness and key differentiators.

In the traffic management, public safety, and commercial markets, we believe we have, and can further develop a range of competitive strengths:

Customer Segments and Markets

We provide our technology and solutions to customers in 80 countries around the world. Many of the markets we serve currently rely on legacy, outdated physical infrastructure, or are in the early stages of technology adoption, and present strong growth opportunities. Current customers include cities, states, municipalities, departments of transportation, transit agencies, law enforcement agencies, highway authorities, parking system operators, private security companies, and wholesale and retail operations supporting logistics, quick service restaurants and customer loyalty programs. We have entered into pilots, proof of concept, and full-scale deployment agreements with multiple cities throughout the Americas. We will continue to sell perpetual licenses and hardware when a business opportunity arises, but our core business model is focused on SaaS offerings and services with recurring annual revenues. Our eCommerce site and our recently launched iOS and Android apps allow us to serve smaller organizations and individuals at scale using a low-touch, self-service recurring revenue model.

We believe that the market for our solutions and services is very large, with a total addressable market in the intelligent infrastructure segment that has been estimated to grow to $148 billion by 2026. Within this total addressable market, there are a wide range of market segments that we look to address, including: intelligent transportation systems; smart mobility, traffic analytics, incident detection and location systems; traffic management, parking management and enforcement; safe and smart cities and roadways; vehicle regulatory compliance programs; government, military, corporate, community and personal security; commercial real-estate; insurance; advertising; wholesale and large retail logistics and customer loyalty programs; as well as public safety.

The vertical-specific solutions powered by our Rekor One intelligence platform have only been offered since 2020. As they continue to gain adoption by both government agencies and commercial entities, we believe that our competitive position will continue to accelerate.

Business Drivers and Growth Strategies

We believe that the intelligent infrastructure industry is today at the epicenter of converging forces that will drive changes in the way government agencies and businesses operate. With rising safety concerns on the roadway and an increasing consensus about the need to improve aging infrastructure, we have seen a desire for agencies to adopt new technologies and, better manage an influx of massive amounts of data that is difficult to transform into solutions. An example of this is the significant increase in government funding now committed to expand and digitize transportation infrastructure in the United States. There is also a specific focus on deploying solutions that are scalable, efficient, equitable and sustainable.

Rapid urbanization, increased globalization, and increased awareness about the human impact on the planet are all driving factors for intelligent transportation and infrastructure. We believe that our growth will be impacted by increased appreciation of the improvements in security, public safety and business intelligence that can be provided by our products and services. As better and more timely information is made available about the conditions on the roadway and within the boundaries of a city or municipality, more stakeholders will want to make use of this information for different purposes. This includes a growing appreciation of the benefits that smart cities and smart highways can provide.

A core strength for us is that we use AI to extract information about the movements of vehicles and other objects on the roadway to enhance safety, increase operational efficiencies, reduce congestion and improve the environment. We believe this can play an important role in enabling intelligent roadways and smart cities. Organizations, including original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) in the transportation industry are beginning to focus on how to leverage connected vehicle data with AI to improve safety. As we continue to build partnerships and further enhance our solutions with data, we will begin to not only ingest information but also help facilitate the delivery of information back to citizens in real-time.

We plan to continue to pursue the growth of our Rekor One™ platform across relevant systems to provide infrastructure information to different state municipalities. The development of the Rekor One platform to share information among multiple agencies to support a variety of community safety, intelligent roadway and revenue generation activities has been a conscious part of our “land and expand” growth strategy.

As an organization, we are focused on scaling our resources to support substantial growth within the industry through the expansion of customers, products, services, and partnerships. Our land and expand strategy not only involves expanding the services and solutions we provide to existing customers, but also facilitating cooperation between our existing customers and new customers that can be part of an expanded network of information.

As we work to develop our sales and marketing capabilities, we expect our efforts concerning products and services to be concentrated principally on subscription-based solutions, with hardware sales used primarily as a driver for such subscriptions. 

We may also use a portion of our cash on hand and common stock for acquisitions or strategic investments in complementary businesses, products, services, or technologies, including companies that might benefit from the use of our technology. However, we do not have agreements or commitments to enter into any such acquisitions or investments at this time. We are looking to be a leader in the industry through organic growth and accelerate our growth and expand our capabilities through strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.

Competition

Our current strategy focuses on providing actionable solutions to several markets within the intelligent infrastructure industry. There are a wide range of competitors who provide products and services across parts of our product portfolio as well as within the industry. We categorize our competitors into four types, data creators, data aggregators, insights platforms, and smart city technology providers.

We also have competitors solely focused on Automatic License Plate Recognition ("ALPR") and vehicle recognition technology in security and public safety applications. Data-focused competitors who are compiling and selling data in some cases also act as a data source partner for us. Additionally, we face competition in certain automated safety solutions from other vendors in the areas of red-light, tolling, uninsured vehicle photo enforcement and speed photo enforcement.

In some cases, the continued success of our go-to-market strategy will depend on our ability to develop an appreciation for the value of new or significantly different offerings than are currently available to the market.  In others, our products and services will need to  either appeal to or outperform established industry participants.  Where established markets for our products and services exist, they are characterized by long established relationships. To participate in these markets, we will need to play a role in evolving industry standards and work to gain recognition of the price and performance characteristics of our products. Many of our potential partners and  competitors are in a position to be more competitive through aggressive pricing of currently established products, and may compete by seeking to imitate the Company’s products or even infringe on its intellectual property.

Principal competitive factors important to the Company include design innovation, product and service features (including security and privacy features), relative price and performance, product and service quality and reliability and service and support. Where we are not able to partner with established participants, we will need to further develop our marketing and distribution capabilities and our corporate reputation in the market segments we compete in. The Company faces substantial competition in the transportation and public safety markets from companies that have significant technical, marketing, distribution and other resources, as well as established hardware, software, and service offerings with large customer bases. In addition, many of the Company’s competitors in these markets have a larger installed base of active devices.

Most of our competitors only compete in a subset of the market, focusing on their hardware, or leveraging third-party data for a solution. We believe we can differentiate ourselves from our competition using our ability to provide solutions across a wide range of use-cases by (1) more efficiently collecting reliable data from existing infrastructure, (2) aggregating that data with third-party data, (3) processing the data using superior analytical tools, and (4) distributing datasets and actionable insights tailored to the individual needs of multiple agencies through a single platform. We can deliver solutions that meet customer needs across the value chain by using and upgrading existing infrastructure, combining data from the infrastructure with third party data and providing valuable real time, historical and predictive insights drawn from the data to multiple consumers.

Marketing and Sales

We offer our products, solutions, and services in various markets.  Our primary route to market is direct to the end-user via a high-touch consultative sales process.  We have strategic alliances and national level partnerships that help us extend our reach and bundle our technology into purpose-built solutions for various market segments.  Our rapidly expanding direct sales force is organized into groups aligned to the Intelligent Traffic Systems (“ITS”) chapters.

As we engage further with the DOT and municipalities, we will continue to keep a very focused effort on the law enforcement communities.  Our market-leading solutions continue to provide significant value to those communities, and we will continue to extend that value into an intelligence-based policing framework. Because our technology gives us the ability to understand vehicle characteristics and behaviors above and beyond simple license plate capture, we can support new methods of intelligent policing and regulatory compliance.  In 2022, we also plan to extend our reach into smaller communities through a concentrated inside sales effort and will continue to service the medium-large police departments through our direct sales representatives.

As our primary market is state and local government, the majority of our sales efforts end up in a request for proposal process.  In 2022, we will be significantly expanding our proposal team to capture and submit more proposals in total as well as expanding our ability to submit concurrently.

eCommerce

Through our eCommerce platform, we allow businesses and individuals to conveniently purchase a full range of our high-value vehicle recognition solutions with just a credit card and a click. The eCommerce platform enables self-service sign-up and a range of subscription options while also acting as a funnel directly to sales support if customers need more information. In 2022, we plan to launch our first hardware device for sale directly through the eCommerce platform. This device is our Edge Pro camera system that has our ALPR software already preloaded and enables customers to activate AI-based vehicle recognition services through a subscription online or by telephone. We plan to launch the product onto the website and ship it to customers globally with the option to add enhancements for solar power and various pole configurations.

Research and Development

Because the industries in which we compete are characterized by rapid technological advances, our ability to compete successfully depends heavily upon its ability to ensure a continual and timely flow of competitive products, services and technologies to the marketplace. We continue to develop new technologies to enhance existing products and services, and to expand the range of its offerings through research and development, licensing of intellectual property and acquisition of third-party businesses and technology. We must also keep pace with our customers’ technical developments, satisfy industry standards and meet our customers’ increasingly demanding performance, productivity, quality and predictability requirements. Therefore, we expect to continue substantial investments in research and development.

Proprietary Technology and Intellectual Property

We currently hold a collection of intellectual property rights relating to certain aspects of our hardware devices, accessories, software, and services. This includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade dress and other forms of intellectual property rights in the U.S. and foreign countries. Although we believe the ownership of such intellectual property rights is an important factor in our business and that its success does depend in part on such ownership, we rely primarily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of our personnel.

We regularly file patent applications to protect innovations arising from its research, development and design, and is currently pursuing multiple patent applications. 

Acquisitions

On August 18, 2021, we completed the Waycare Technology Acquisition.

Additional information concerning the Waycare Technology Acquisition is provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K under ITEM 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations.”

Human Capital Management

Our employees represent the best and brightest in our industry and the talent we select to be a part of our team defines our culture and success. Our global workforce is highly educated, technical and specialized, with a substantial majority of employees working in technical roles.

As of March 31, 2022, we had 250 employees, of which 249 were full-time and one was considered part-time. We consider our employee relations to be good. To date, we have been able to locate and engage highly qualified employees as needed and do not expect our growth efforts to be constrained by a lack of qualified personnel.

Seasonality

We generate revenues from licensing and subscriptions to our products and services. Therefore, we do not currently anticipate a significant seasonality impact on our revenues. Should our penetration of tolling and other markets involving per recognition fees expand, we would expect to become more subject to seasonal traffic patterns.

Insurance and Risk Management

We maintain insurance covering professional liability and claims involving bodily injury, property and economic loss. We consider our present limits of coverage, deductibles, and reserves to be adequate. Whenever possible, we endeavor to eliminate or reduce the risk of loss on a project through quality assurance and control, risk management, workplace safety, and other similar methods.

Risk management is an integral part of our project management approach for fixed-price contracts and our project execution process. We also evaluate risk through internal risk analyses in which our management reviews higher-risk projects, contracts, or other business decisions that require corporate legal and risk management approval.

Regulation

We are regulated in some of the fields in which we operate. When working with governmental agencies and entities, we must comply with laws and regulations relating to the formation, administration, and performance of contracts. These laws and regulations contain terms that, among other things may require certification and disclosure of all costs or pricing data in connection with various contract negotiations. We are subject to the laws and regulations that restrict the use and dissemination of information classified for national security purposes.

To help ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, our employees are sometimes required to complete tailored ethics and other compliance training relevant to their position and our operations.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Certain factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, in addition to other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment. 

Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure and Business

We are currently not profitable, and we may be unable to become profitable on a quarterly or annual basis.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a loss from continuing operations of $26,777,000. We cannot assure that we will be profitable in the future or that our financial performance will sustain a sufficient level to completely support operations. Our ability to become profitable in future periods could be impacted by government activity and regulation, economic instability and other items that are not in our control, and the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant portion of our expenses are fixed in advance. As such, we generally are unable to reduce our expenses significantly in the short term to compensate for any unexpected delay or decrease in anticipated revenues or increases in planned investments. In addition, we have experienced and expect to continue to experience significant expenses related to acquisitions and the development of new products and services. Our strategic transition to a technology-based company focused on vehicle recognition systems will require us to generate sufficient new revenues from the vehicle recognition market to support our business plan while continuing to operate as a public company. As a result, we may continue to experience operating losses and net losses in the future, which would make it difficult to fund operations and achieve our business plan and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

We rely, in part, on third-party data providers and existing camera networks to grow our business. If we are unable to enter into agreements with third-party data providers or successfully maintain them, our growth may be adversely impacted.

We rely, in part, on access the third-party data and access to existing camera networks to grow our business. The majority of the third-party data agreements allow us to access connected vehicle data, existing camera networks or other data services, thereby increasing the data points used in our solutions.

Any agreement we enter into with a third party may not be on favorable terms, and the expected benefits and growth from these agreements may not materialize as planned. Despite our past experience, opportunities to grow our business through third-party data may not be available to us in the future.

The market for our Rekor One platform is new and unproven, and may decline or experience limited growth and is dependent in part on our ability to attract new customers to adopt our platform and use our services.

The market for an ecosystem that connects government agencies, service providers and, ultimately, drivers is relatively new and some aspects of it are unproven, therefore, it is subject to several risks and uncertainties. We believe that our future success will significantly depend in large part on the growth, if any, of this market. The use of advanced vehicle recognition systems and marketplace data to obtain data on vehicles, drivers and the environment is still relatively new and consumers may not recognize the need for, or benefits of, our platform and solutions. Moreover, if they do not recognize the need for and benefits of our platform and solutions, they may decide to adopt alternative services to satisfy some portion of their business needs.

Our ability to expand the market that our platform and solutions address depends upon a number of factors, including the cost, performance and perceived value associated with them. The market for our platform and solutions could fail to grow significantly or there could be a reduction in demand for its services as a result of a lack of acceptance, technological challenges, competing services, decreases in spending by current and prospective customers, weakening economic conditions and other causes. If our market does not experience significant growth, or demand for our services decreases, then our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We depend on component and product manufacturing provided by outsourcing partners, most of which are located outside of the U.S.

We rely on single-source outsourcing partners primarily located in Asia to supply and manufacture many components of substantially all of our hardware products. Any failure of these partners to perform can have a negative impact on our cost or supply of components or finished goods. In addition, manufacturing or logistics in these locations or transit to final destinations can be disrupted for a variety of reasons, including natural and man-made disasters, information technology system failures, commercial disputes, military actions, economic, business, labor, environmental, public health or political issues, or international trade disputes.

Our internal investments and go-to-market strategy may place downward pressure on our operating margins.

To increase our revenue growth, we continue to invest in our business, including investments into new markets as part of our go-to-market strategy and investment in continuous innovation and product development to expand the suite of solutions we provide to our customers. Our operating margins may experience downward pressure in the short term as a result of these investments. Furthermore, our investments may not produce the expected results. If we are unable to successfully execute our go-to-market strategy, we may experience decreases in our revenues and operating margins.

We have not been a leading provider of public safety products and services in the past and do not have the level of established contacts and existing business relationships that some of our competitors have.

Although it is growing, our presence in the public safety, transportation and parking markets has been limited. As a result of this, although we believe our products and services have significant competitive advantages, we may encounter difficulties in establishing widespread market acceptance of our products in various markets and regions. Early successes in penetrating these markets and regions may not be able to be sustained once our ability to compete with our more established competitors comes to their attention. They may seek to develop more competitive products before their existing contracts expire, reduce prices, use to advantage their past association as a trusted provider and their superior financial and marketing resources and use other stratagems to this competitive advantage, which could significantly impact our ability to continue to grow.

We will need to raise additional capital in the future, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

We have experienced fluctuations in earnings and cash flows from operations from year to year. To support business growth, or if our business declines, we may need to raise additional capital to support operations, pursue acquisitions or expand our operations. Such additional capital may be raised through bank borrowings, or other debt or equity financings. We cannot assure you that any additional capital will be available on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all, and such additional financing may result in further dilution to our stockholders.

Our capital requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to: our ability to increase revenue, reduce net losses or generate net income; market acceptance of our services, and the overall level of sales of our services; our need to respond to technological advancements and our competitors’ introductions of new products, services or technologies; our ability to control costs; promptness of customer payments; our ability to successfully negotiate arrangements with credit providers; and enhancements to subsidiaries’ infrastructure and systems.

If our capital requirements are materially different from those currently planned, we may need additional capital sooner than anticipated. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders will be reduced, and such securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to our common stock. Additional equity or debt financing may not be available on favorable terms, on a timely basis, or at all. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to continue our operations as planned, develop or enhance our products, expand our sales and marketing programs, take advantage of future opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, or we may be forced to sell assets at prices below their stated value.

If we experience declining or flat revenues and fail to manage such declines effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plans and may experience future weaknesses in operating results.

To achieve future growth, we will need to continue to add additional qualified personnel and invest in additional research and development and sales and marketing activities, which could lead to increases in our expenses and future declines in operating results. In addition, our future expansion is expected to place a significant strain on our managerial, administrative, operational, financial and other resources. If we are unable to manage these activities or any revenue declines successfully, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

If we are unable to retain our existing customers, our revenue and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Customers have no obligation to renew their subscriptions after their subscription period expires, and these subscriptions may not be renewed on the same or more profitable terms. As a result, our ability to sustain our revenue base depends in part on subscription renewals. We may not be able to accurately predict future trends in customer renewals, and our customers’ renewal rates may decline or fluctuate because of several factors, including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our products and services, the prices of our services, the prices of the products and services offered by our competitors or reductions in our customers’ spending levels. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions for our products and services, renew on less favorable terms, or do not purchase additional functionality or subscriptions, our revenue may grow more slowly than expected or decline, and our profitability and gross margins may be harmed.

Our sales cycles for commercial and government clients can be long, unpredictable and require considerable time and expense, which may cause our operating results to fluctuate.

The timing of our revenue from sales to commercial and government clients is difficult to predict. These efforts require us to educate our clients about the use and benefit of our services, including the technical capabilities and potential cost savings to an organization. Commercial clients typically undertake a significant evaluation and pilot testing process that has in the past, resulted in lengthy sales cycles, typically several months. We spend substantial time, effort and money on our commercial sales efforts without any assurance that these efforts will produce any sales. In addition, subscriptions are frequently subject to budget constraints and unplanned administrative, processing and other delays. If sales expected from a specific client for a particular reporting period are not realized in that period or at all, our results could fall short of expectations and our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Industry consolidation may result in increased competition.

Some of our competitors have made or may make acquisitions or may enter into partnerships or other strategic relationships to offer a more comprehensive service than they had offered individually. In addition, new entrants not currently considered to be competitors may enter the market through acquisitions, partnerships or strategic relationships. We expect these trends to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or maintain their market positions. Many of the companies driving this trend have significantly greater financial, technical and other resources than we do and may be better positioned to acquire and offer complementary services and technologies. Such combinations and realignments may create more compelling service offerings or offer greater pricing flexibility than we can or may engage in business practices that make it more difficult for us to compete effectively, including on the basis of price, sales and marketing programs, technology or service functionality. These pressures could result in a loss of customers, reduction in revenues or limitation on our ability to grow.

We may not be able to respond to rapid technological changes in time to address the needs of our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our sales and profitability.

The cloud-based services and AI-based product markets in which many of our products and services compete are characterized by rapid technological change, the frequent introduction of new products and services and evolving industry standards. Our ability to remain competitive will depend in large part on our ability to continue to enhance our existing products and services and develop new service offerings that keep pace with these markets’ rapid technological developments. Additionally, to achieve market acceptance, we must effectively anticipate and offer products and services that meet changing client demands in a timely manner. Clients may require features and capabilities that our current products and services do not have. If we fail to develop products and services that satisfy customer requirements in a timely and cost-effective manner, our ability to renew subscriptions with existing clients and our ability to create or increase demand for our products and services will be harmed, and our revenue and results of operations would be adversely affected.

The success of our business will depend, in part, on the continued services of certain key personnel and our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel.

The success of our business will depend, in part, on the continued services of certain members of our management. Our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel could significantly disrupt our business.

Although we take prudent steps to retain key personnel, we face competition for qualified individuals from numerous professional services and technology companies. For example, our competitors may be able to attract and retain more qualified professional and technical personnel by offering more competitive compensation packages. If we are unable to attract new personnel and retain our current personnel, we may not be able to develop and maintain our services at the same levels as our competitors and we may, therefore, lose potential customers and sales penetration in certain markets. It may also be difficult to attract and retain qualified individuals in the timeframe demanded by our clients. Furthermore, some of our contracts may require us to employ only individuals who have particular government security clearance levels.

We may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions which we consummate, and we may be subject to business uncertainties.

Uncertainties about the effect of our recent and planned acquisitions on employees and customers may have an adverse effect on our Company. These uncertainties may impair our ability to attract, retain and motivate key personnel for a period of time after the acquisitions, and could cause customers, suppliers and others that deal with us to seek to change existing business relationships with us, which may have an adverse effect on our Company. Employee retention may be particularly challenging, as employees may experience an uncertainty about their future roles with us.

The achievement of the benefits expected from the integration of acquired companies may require us to incur significant costs. The incurrence of any such costs, as well as any unexpected costs or delays, in connection with such integration, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

We may be required to write-down certain assets after completing our required annual evaluations, which may affect our reported financial results.

The initial determination of the fair value of assets we acquire upon consummation of an acquisition is based upon an internal valuation. We are required to analyze the carrying value of our acquired intangibles and goodwill on an annual basis going forward. After the detailed annual evaluation of the carrying value of the intangible assets, as supported by external analysis, we may be required to make adjustments to our consolidated balance sheet and/or statement of operations. Any adjustments will affect our reported financial results.

Our operating results may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for our licensing and subscription products and services or pay regulatory fees in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.

Primarily due to the nature of our cloud-based services in certain states and countries, we do not believe we are required to collect sales or other related taxes from our customers in certain states or countries. However, one or more other states or countries may seek to impose sales, regulatory fees or other tax collection obligations on us, including for past sales by us or our resellers and other partners. A successful assertion that we should be collecting sales or other related taxes on our services or paying regulatory fees could result in substantial tax liabilities for past sales, discourage customers from purchasing our services or otherwise harm our business and operating results.

Improper disclosure of confidential and personal data could result in liability and harm to our reputation.

Our handling and storage of the data we collect from some of our customers, vendors and employees, and our processing of data, which may include confidential or personally identifiable information, through the services we provide, may be subject to a variety of laws and regulations, which have been adopted by various federal, state and foreign governments to regulate the collection, distribution, use and storage of personal information of individuals. Several foreign countries in which we conduct business, including the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and Canada, currently have in place or have recently proposed, laws or regulations concerning privacy, data protection and information security, which are more restrictive than those imposed in the United States. Some of these laws are in their early stages and we cannot yet determine the impact these revised laws and regulations, if implemented, may have on our business. However, any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with these privacy laws, regulations, policies or obligations or any security incident that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of personally identifiable information or other customer data in our possession, could result in government enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties and/or adverse publicity, all of which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business.

For example, the EEA wide General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became applicable on May 25, 2018, replacing the data protection laws of each EEA member state. The GDPR implemented more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, increased requirements to erase an individual’s information upon request, mandatory data breach notification requirements and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained valid consent for certain data processing activities. It also significantly increases penalties for non-compliance, including where we act as a service provider (e.g. data processor). If our privacy or data security measures fail to comply with applicable current or future laws and regulations, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, enforcement notices requiring us to change the way we use personal data or our marketing practices, fines, for example, of up to 20 million Euros or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year (whichever is higher) under the GDPR, or other liabilities, as well as negative publicity and a potential loss of business.

Data protection regulation remains an area of increased focus in all jurisdictions and data protection regulations continue to evolve. There is no assurance that we will be able to meet new requirements that may be imposed on the transfer of personally identifiable information from the EU to the United States without incurring substantial expense or at all. European and/or multi-national customers may be reluctant to purchase or continue to use our services due to concerns regarding their data protection obligations. In addition, we may be subject to claims, legal proceedings or other actions by individuals or governmental authorities if they have reason to believe that our data privacy or security measures fail to comply with current or future laws and regulations.

Moreover, we must ensure that certain vendors and customers who have access to such information also have the appropriate privacy policies, procedures and protections in place. Although we take customary measures to protect such information, the continued occurrence of high-profile data breaches provides evidence of an external environment increasingly hostile to information security. If our security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee or subcontractor error, malfeasance or otherwise, and, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to customer data, our reputation may be damaged, our business may suffer and we could incur significant liability. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and are growing increasingly sophisticated. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

This environment demands that we continuously improve our design and coordination of security controls throughout our business. Despite these efforts, it is possible that our security controls over data, training and other practices we follow may not prevent the improper disclosure of personally identifiable or other confidential information.

If an actual or perceived breach of our security occurs, we could be liable under laws and regulations that protect personal or other confidential data resulting in increased costs or loss of revenues and the market perception of our services could be harmed.

Our business could be negatively impacted by cyber and other security threats or disruptions.

We face various cyber and other security threats, including attempts to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and networks; insider threats; threats to the security of our facilities and infrastructure; and threats from terrorist acts or other acts of aggression. Cyber threats are constant and evolving and include, but are not limited to, computer viruses, malicious software, destructive malware, attacks by computer hackers attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, disruption or denial of service attacks, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in mission critical systems, unauthorized release or loss of confidential, personal or otherwise protected information (ours or that of our employees, customers or subcontractors), and corruption of data, networks or systems. In addition, we could be impacted by cyber threats or other disruptions or vulnerabilities found in products we use or in our partners’ or customers’ systems that are used in connection with our business. Our clients and subcontractors face similar threats and/or they may not be able to detect or deter them, or effectively mitigate resulting losses. These threats could damage our reputation as well as our subcontractor’s ability to perform and could affect our client’s ability to pay.

Although we use various procedures and controls to monitor and mitigate the risk of these threats to us, our clients and our partners, there can be no assurance that these procedures and controls will be sufficient. The impact of these factors is difficult to predict, but one or more of them could result in the loss of information or capabilities, harm to individuals or property, damage to our reputation and/or require remedial actions or lead to loss of business, regulatory actions potential liability and financial loss, any one of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and/or cash flows.

We are dependent upon technology services, and if we experience damage, service interruptions or failures in our computer and telecommunications systems, our customer and worker relationships and our ability to attract new customers may be adversely affected.

Our business could be interrupted by damage to or disruption of our computer, telecommunications equipment, software systems, or software applications. Our customers’ businesses may be adversely affected by any system, application or equipment failure we experience. As a result of any of the foregoing, our relationships with our customers may be impaired, we may lose customers, our ability to attract new customers may be adversely affected and we could be exposed to contractual liability. Precautions in place to protect us from, or minimize the effect of, such events may not be adequate.

In addition, the failure or disruption of mail, communications and/or utilities could cause an interruption or suspension of our operations or otherwise harm our business. Our property and business interruption insurance may be inadequate to compensate us for all losses that may occur as a result of any system or operational failure or disruption and, as a result, revenue, profits and operating results could be adversely affected.

If we do not keep pace with rapid technological changes and evolving industry standards, we will not be able to remain competitive, and the demand for our services will likely decline.

The markets in which we operate are in general characterized by the following factors: changes due to rapid technological advances; additional qualification requirements related to technological challenges; and evolving industry standards and changes in the regulatory and legislative environment. Our future success will depend upon our ability to anticipate and adapt to changes in technology and industry standards and to effectively develop, introduce, market and gain broad acceptance of new product and service enhancements incorporating the latest technological advancements.

A downturn of the U.S. or global economy could result in our customers using fewer products and services or becoming unable to pay us for our services on a timely basis or at all, which would materially adversely affect our business.

Because demand for our solutions and services are sensitive to changes in the level of economic activity, our business may suffer during economic downturns. During periods of weak economic growth or economic contraction, the demand for outsourced services could decline. When demand drops, our operating profit could be impacted unfavorably as we experience a deleveraging of our selling and administrative expense base because expenses may not decline as quickly as revenues. In periods of decline, we can only reduce selling and administrative expenses to a certain level without negatively impacting the long-term potential of our business.

Additionally, during economic downturns, government agencies and companies may slow the rate at which they pay their vendors, or they may become unable to pay their obligations. If our customers become unable to pay amounts owed to us or pay us more slowly, then our cash flow and profitability may suffer significantly.

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations, which could subject our business to higher tax liability.

We may be limited in the portion of net operating loss carryforwards that we can offset future taxable income for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. As of December 31, 2021, we had gross federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of approximately $51,838,000 and $43,570,000, respectively. A lack of future taxable income could adversely affect our ability to use these NOLs. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, including through acquisitions, could result in ownership changes under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code and may result in a limitation on the amount of NOL carryforwards that could be used annually to offset future taxable income and taxes payable. Our NOLs at December 31, 2021 may also be impaired under similar provisions of state law and may expire unused or underused, which would prevent us from using our NOL carryforwards to offset future taxable income.

Assertions by a third party that our services and solutions infringe its intellectual property, whether or not correct, could subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation or result in settlements or licensing arrangements that could affect our short-term or long-term profitability.

There is frequent litigation in the software and technology industries based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. Regardless of the merit of these claims, they can be time-consuming, result in costly litigation and diversion of technical and management personnel or require us to develop non-infringing technology or enter into license agreements. Because of the potential for court awards that are difficult to predict, it is not unusual to find even arguably unmeritorious claims settled for significant amounts. In addition, our service agreements may require us to indemnify our customers from certain third-party intellectual property infringement claims, which could increase our costs as a result of defending such claims and may require that we pay damages if there were an adverse ruling related to any such claims. Competitors may also seek to use these claims and the pendency of associated litigation as a means of attempting to discredit us or make potential customers fearful of using us, which could harm our relationships with our customers, deter future customers from subscribing to our services or expose us to further litigation. These costs, monetary or otherwise, associated with defending against third-party allegations of infringement could have negative effects on our business, financial condition and operating results. 

If our services are used to commit intentional or illegal acts, we may incur significant liabilities, our services may be perceived as not secure, and customers may curtail or stop using our services.

Certain services offered by us enable customers to capture data from video images. Although our service agreements require our customers to comply with all applicable laws, we do not exercise direct control overuse or content of information obtained by our customers through the use of our services. If our services are used by others to commit bad or illegal acts, we may become subject to claims and subject to other potential liabilities. Defending against such claims could be expensive and time-consuming, and there is a possibility that we could incur significant liability to entities who were harmed by such acts. As a result, our business may suffer, and our reputation may be damaged.

We use a limited number of data centers to deliver our services. Any disruption of service at these facilities could harm our business.

Our cloud-based services are hosted from third-party data center facilities located in various parts of the United States. We also use these facilities for some of our development efforts. We do not control the operation of these facilities. The owners of these data center facilities have no obligation to renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we are unable to renew these agreements on commercially reasonable terms, we may be required to transfer to new data center facilities, and we may incur significant costs and possible service interruption in connection with doing so. In addition, our operations and development efforts could be seriously affected by failures or interruptions in service at these facilities. Any changes in third-party service levels at these third-party data centers or any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our services related to the non-performance of these facilities could harm our reputation and may damage our clients’ businesses. Interruptions in our services might reduce our revenue, cause us to issue credits to clients, subject us to potential liability, cause clients to terminate their subscriptions or harm our renewal rates.

Our data centers are vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error, intentional bad acts, pandemics, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, war, terrorist attacks, power losses, hardware failures, systems failures, telecommunications failures and similar events. The occurrence of a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, vandalism or other misconduct, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in our services. 

Our long-term success depends, in part, on our ability to expand the sales of our services to customers located outside of the United States, and thus our business is susceptible to risks associated with international sales and operations.

Conducting international operations subjects us to other risks than those we have generally faced in the United States. These risks include: localization of our services and adaptation for local practices, differences in local, legal standards and regulatory requirements; difficulties in managing and staffing international operations; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; dependence on customers, third parties, and channel partners with whom we do not have extensive experience; potentially adverse tax consequences, including the complexities of foreign value-added or other tax systems; reduced or varied protection for intellectual property rights in some countries; and increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities. Operating in international markets also requires significant management attention and financial resources. The investment and additional resources required to establish operations and manage growth in other countries may not produce desired levels of revenue or profitability.

Our success depends in large part on our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights.

We rely on a combination of trade secret, patent, copyright, service mark and trademark laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to establish and protect our intellectual property rights, all of which can provide only limited protection. In addition, we have not patented significant technologies used to provide our services. We cannot assure you any future patents that may be applied for and issued will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Any patents that may issue in the future from future patent applications may not provide sufficiently broad protection or they may not prove to be enforceable in actions against alleged infringers. Also, we cannot assure you that any future service mark or trademark registrations will be issued for pending or future applications or that any registered service marks or trademarks will be enforceable or provide adequate protection of our proprietary rights.

We endeavor to enter into agreements with our employees and contractors and agreements with parties with whom we do business to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. The steps we have taken, however, may not prevent unauthorized use or the reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, others may independently develop technologies that are competitive to ours or infringe our intellectual property. Enforcement of our intellectual property rights also depends on our successful legal actions against these infringers, but these actions may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed.

Furthermore, effective patent, trademark, service mark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services are available. In addition, the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in Internet-related industries are uncertain and still evolving.

Material defects or errors in the software that we use to deliver our services could harm our reputation, result in significant costs to us and impair our ability to sell our solutions.

The software applications underlying our products and services are inherently complex and may contain material defects or errors, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. Any defects that cause interruptions to the availability of our products and services could result in: a reduction in sales or delay in market acceptance of our services; sales credits or refunds to customers; loss of existing customers and difficulty in attracting new customers; reputational harm; and diversion of internal resources. The costs incurred in correcting any material defects or errors in our products and services may be substantial and could harm our operating results.

Government regulation of the Internet, telecommunications and other communications technologies could harm our business and operating results.

As internet commerce and telecommunications continue to evolve, increasing regulation by federal, state or foreign governments and agencies becomes more likely. Any increase in regulation could affect our clients’ ability to collect and share data, potentially reducing demand for our products and services. In addition, taxation of products and services provided over the Internet or other charges imposed by government agencies or by private organizations for accessing the Internet or utilizing telecommunications services may also be imposed. Any regulation imposing greater fees for internet use or restricting the exchange of information over the internet could diminish the viability of our services, which could harm our business and operating results.

Natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control may damage our business and operating results.

In the event of natural disasters, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, including from the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflicts, or other events outside of our control, our business and operating results could suffer. Moreover, these types of events could negatively impact consumer spending in the impacted regions or depending upon the severity, globally, which could adversely impact our operating results.

We may be impacted by macroeconomic conditions resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the first quarter of 2020, there has been a worldwide impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Government regulations and shifting social behaviors have limited or closed non-essential transportation, government functions, business activities and person-to-person interactions. In some cases, the relaxation of such trends has been followed by actual or contemplated returns to stringent restrictions on gatherings or commerce, including in parts of the U.S., and the rest of the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, certain industry events at which we present and participate have been canceled, postponed or moved to virtual-only experiences, we have encouraged all of our employees to work remotely, and we may deem it advisable to similarly alter, postpone or cancel entirely additional customer, employee or industry events in the future due to the ongoing pandemic. Additionally, we may see our services carrying less revenue-generating traffic in areas subject to “shelter in place” restrictions or related government orders as the population of those areas refrain from traveling and normal commerce activities. 

We cannot predict the duration or direction of current global trends or their sustained impact. Ultimately, we continue to monitor macroeconomic conditions to remain flexible and to optimize and evolve our business as appropriate, and we will have to accurately project demand and deploy our solutions, workforce and other resources accordingly. If we experience unfavorable market conditions, or if we cannot or do not maintain operations at a scope that is commensurate with such conditions or are later required to or choose to suspend such operations, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be harmed.

Risks relating to our common stock

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

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business, our market and our competitors. We do not have any control over these 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 covering us 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.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

As of March 31, 2022, we have a total of 44,949,939 shares of common stock outstanding and 694,876 warrants. Based on shares outstanding as of March 31, 2022, 5,564,807 shares of common stock, or 12.4%, are beneficially owned by our officers, directors and their affiliated entities, and will be subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 under the Securities Act and various vesting agreements. In addition, 2,322,166 shares of our common stock that are subject to outstanding options, restricted stock units and warrants as of March 31, 2022, will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting agreements, and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act.

We cannot predict what effect, if any, sales of our shares in the public market or the availability of shares for sale will have on the market price of our common stock. However, future sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, including shares issued on exercise of outstanding options, or the perception that such sales may occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

We also expect that significant additional capital may be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. On February 24, 2022, we entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the "2022 Sales Agreement") with B. Riley Securities, Inc., as sales agent, to create an at the market equity program, or ATM program, under which we, from time to time, may offer and sell shares of common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $50,000,000. As of March 31, 2022 the Company issued 728,452 shares of its common stock in exchange for net cash of $3,303,000 under the 2022 Sales Agreement. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock.

Investors may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings.

In order to raise additional capital, we may in the future offer additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock. We cannot assure investors that we will be able to sell shares or other securities in any other offering at a price per share that is equal to or greater than the price per share paid by investors, and investors purchasing our shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing stockholders. The price per share at which we sell additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock in future transactions may be higher or lower than the price per share paid by investors.

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

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently anticipate that for the foreseeable future we will retain all of our future earnings for the development, operation and growth of our business and general corporate purposes. Any future determination to pay dividends on our common stock will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.

Our executive officers, directors, principal stockholders and their affiliates will continue to exercise significant influence over our company, which will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could delay or prevent a change in corporate control.

As of March 31, 2022, our executive officers, directors, five percent or greater stockholders and their respective affiliates owned in the aggregate approximately 12.6% of our common stock.

These stockholders have the ability to influence us through this ownership position and may have a determining role in matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, these stockholders may be able to ultimately determine elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, or approval of any merger, sale of assets, or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock that you may feel are in your best interest as one of our stockholders. The interests of this group of stockholders may not always coincide with your interests or the interests of other stockholders and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other stockholders, including seeking a premium value for their common stock, and might affect the prevailing market price for our common stock.

We are a “smaller reporting company” and, as a result of the reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to smaller reporting companies, our common stock may be less attractive to investors.

We are currently a “smaller reporting company,” meaning that we are not an investment company, an asset-backed issuer, or a majority-owned subsidiary of a parent company that is not a “smaller reporting company,” and have had annual revenues of less than $100 million and public float of less than $700 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. As a “smaller reporting company,” we are subject to lesser disclosure obligations in our SEC filings compared to other issuers. Specifically, "smaller reporting companies" are able to provide simplified executive compensation disclosures in their filings, are exempt from the provisions of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requiring that independent registered public accounting firms provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting and have certain other decreased disclosure obligations in their SEC filings, including, among other things, only being required to provide two years of audited consolidated financial statements in annual reports. Decreased disclosures in our SEC filings due to our status as a “smaller reporting company” may make it harder for investors to analyze our operating results and financial prospects.

Delaware law and provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could make a merger, tender offer or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our common stock.

The anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, may discourage, delay or prevent a change of control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with stockholders owning in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock for three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including that: the request of one or more stockholders holding shares in the aggregate entitled to cast not less than 35% of the vote at a meeting is required to call a stockholder meeting. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and cause us to take certain actions you desire.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our principal executive offices are located at 6721 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 400, Columbia, Maryland 21046. We do not own any real property. We do not consider any of our leased properties to be materially important to us. While we believe it is necessary to maintain offices through which our services are coordinated, we feel there are sufficient available office rental properties to adequately serve our needs should we need to relocate or expand our operations.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

On August 19, 2019, we filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against three former executives of the Company who were founders of two related former subsidiaries (the “Firestorm Principals”)—Rekor Systems, Inc. v. Suzanne Loughlin, et al., Case no. 1:19-cv-07767-VEC. On January 30, 2020, we filed a Second Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”). The Complaint alleges that the Firestorm Principals fraudulently induced the execution of the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement wherein Firestorm was acquired by the Company. The Complaint also alleges claims for breach of fiduciary duty, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), conversion, and trespass to chattels arising from the Firestorm Principals’ alleged deletion of company email records. The Complaint requests equitable rescission of the acquisition transaction and monetary damages.

The Firestorm Principals answered together with counterclaims on February 28, 2020. Thereafter, on March 30, we moved to dismiss certain counterclaims against certain directors and officers named as counterclaim-defendants, resulting in the Firestorm Principals voluntarily dismissing the counterclaims against those parties. Thereafter the Company filed its response and affirmative defenses to the Counterclaims on April 22, 2020. On April 27, 2020, the Firestorm Principals filed a Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, which we opposed. In addition, on December 9, 2019, the Firestorm Principals filed a motion for an interim award of expenses and attorney’s fees. With respect to the Firestorm Principals’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Court’s November 23, 2020 order denied that motion in its entirety. In that same order, the Court granted in part and denied in part the Firestorm Principals’ fee advance motion.

On April 27, 2021, the Firestorm Principals filed a notice of motion for partial summary judgment, seeking summary judgment on several of the Company’s claims and the Firestorm Principals’ counterclaims, which the Company, along with counterclaim-defendants Firestorm Franchising, LLC and Firestorm Solutions, LLC, opposed. On March 14, 2022, the Court issued an opinion and order which denied summary judgment to the Firestorm Principals on the Company's main fraudulent omission claim, the conversion and trespass to chattels claims as to Defendants Loughlin and Rhulen and the breach of fiduciary duty claim as to Defendant Loughlin. The Court also denied summary judgment to the Firestorm Principals on their breach of warrants, anticipatory breach of warrants, and anticipatory breach of promissory notes counterclaims and the breach of contract counterclaim asserted by Defendant Satterfield. The Court granted summary judgment to the Firestorm Principals on our CFAA claims, based on recent case law clarifying that such claims do not apply to employees who have authorized access to an employer’s computer and misuse that access, and granted summary judgment on our CFAA, conversion, and trespass to chattels claims against one defendant because Rekor represented it was prepared to dismiss those claims. The Court also granted summary judgment on one breach of contract counterclaim asserted by a company related to the Firestorm Principals, holding that the $25,500 amount at issue could not be set off by or recouped from our damages in the case.

In 2020, the Firestorm Principals filed various suits in New York, Delaware and Virginia against our directors and officers, alleging breach of fiduciary duty and libel. The defendants in the suits moved to dismiss these complaints. At this stage of these litigations, suits against two of the directors have been dismissed. On September 28, 2021, the Court issued an order denying the motion to dismiss one of the actions in Delaware. On October 21, 2021, the Delaware Action defendants filed a motion for reconsideration of the Court’s dismissal order; that reconsideration motion was denied on February 28, 2022. On March 16, 2022, the court in the Virginia Action dismissed the breach of fiduciary duty claim without prejudice (so it can be refiled in Delaware Chancery Court) and denied the motion with respect to the defamation claim on jurisdictional grounds. The defamation claim will now be challenged on substantive grounds.

At this stage of these litigations, we are unable to render an opinion regarding the likelihood of a favorable outcome. We intend to continue vigorously litigating its claims against the Firestorm Principals and believe that the Firestorm Principals’ remaining counterclaims and suits against Rekor directors and officers are without merit.

On January 31, 2020, our wholly-owned subsidiary, OpenALPR, filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against a former customer, Plate Capture Solutions, Inc. (“PCS”) for breach of software license agreements pursuant to which software was licensed to PCS. On June 14, 2020, PCS filed its operative answer to the Complaint. On June 21, 2020, PCS filed a motion to join us and another entity, OpenALPR Technology, Inc., as parties to the litigation and made claims against them and counterclaims against OpenALPR for defamation, fraud and intentional interference with existing and future business relationships. On July 13, 2020, OpenALPR filed an opposition to the motion for joinder. On November 23, 2020, the court denied PCS’s Motion for Joinder with prejudice. On August 30, 2021, OpenALPR and PCS filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, and the court ordered dismissal of the case with prejudice on August 31, 2021. We consider this matter closed.

On September 18, 2020, Fordham Financial Management, Inc. (“Fordham”) commenced a lawsuit against us in the Supreme Court for the State of New York, New York County. Fordham alleges that we breached an underwriting agreement with Fordham. Fordham has brought claims for breach of contract, a declaratory judgment, and attorneys’ fees and expenses, and seeks damages. The Complaint was served to us on September 25, 2020. We issued a motion to dismiss counterclaims on June 23, 2021. The Court granted Fordham’s motion to dismiss our counterclaims on October 23, 2021. On November 29, 2021, the Company filed a notice of appeal with the Appellate Division and a motion to reargue that decision and order, arguing that the court misunderstood the nature and purpose of the prospectus supplement, which was actually prepared by plaintiff after it set the prices for the 2018 offering. On March 3, 2022, the court denied the motion to reargue. In doing so, however, the court clarified that the dismissal was without prejudice, which would permit the Company to refashion the counterclaims. Meanwhile, the Company’s deadline to perfect its concurrent appeal in the appellate division is May 30, 2022.

At this stage of the Fordham litigation, we are unable to render an opinion regarding the likelihood of a favorable outcome. However, we maintain that Fordham’s claims have no merit. To that end we intend to vigorously litigate this action.

In June 2021, a putative shareholder class action lawsuit (captioned Miller v. Rekor Systems, Inc. et al.) was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, naming as defendants Rekor Systems, Inc. and certain of its officers. It alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 related to our automatic license plate recognition technology and uninsured vehicle enforcement diversion related business and sought damages on behalf of shareowners who acquired our stock between April 12, 2019 and May 25, 2021. The court appointed a lead plaintiff. In November 2021, the plaintiff filed an order of dismissal, seeking to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice. This matter was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. 

In addition, from time to time, we may be named as a party to various other lawsuits, claims and other legal and regulatory proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These actions typically seek, among other things, compensation for alleged personal injury, breach of contract, property damage, infringement of proprietary rights, punitive damages, civil penalties or other losses, or injunctive or declaratory relief. With respect to such lawsuits, claims and proceedings we accrue reserves when a loss is probable, and the amount of such loss can be reasonably estimated. It is our opinion that the outcome of these proceedings, individually and collectively, will not be material to our consolidated financial statements as a whole.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “REKR”.

Holders

As of  March 31, 2022, there were 73 registered holders of record of our common stock, excluding stockholders for whom shares are held in “nominee” or “street name.” The actual number of common stockholders is greater than the number of record holders and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our earnings will be used to provide working capital, to support our operations, and to finance the growth and development of our business, including potentially the acquisition of, or investment in, businesses, technologies or products that complement our existing business. Any future determination relating to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our future earnings, capital requirements, financial condition, future prospects, applicable Delaware law, which provides that dividends are only payable out of surplus or current net profits and other factors our Board of Directors might deem relevant.

Recent Sale of Unregistered Securities

Automatic Conversion of Series A Cumulative Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock and Series B Cumulative Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock Following Registered Public Offering

On February 9, 2021, we issued and sold 6,126,936 shares of our common stock, which includes 799,166 shares of common stock sold pursuant to the exercise of an overallotment option (the "2021 Public Offering"). The net proceeds to the Company, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately $70.1 million. The shares were sold pursuant to an underwriting agreement with B. Riley Securities, Inc. and Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, as representatives of the several underwriters named therein and our shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration Statement No. 333-224423) filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) that became effective on April 30, 2018. On February 4, 2021, a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus were filed with the SEC in connection with the offering and a related registration statement (File No. 333-252735) was filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) promulgated under the Securities Act.

As a result of the closing of the 2021 Public Offering, all of our issued and outstanding Series A Cumulative Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series A Preferred Stock”) and Series B Cumulative Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series B Preferred Stock”) were automatically converted pursuant to their respective terms into an aggregate of 1,416,785 shares of our common stock. As a result of the automatic conversion of the Series A Preferred, the Series A Preferred will no longer be quoted on the OTC Pink. The Series B Preferred was not quoted on any trading market.

Waycare Acquisition

On August 18, 2021, the Company completed its acquisition of Waycare by acquiring 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Waycare. As a result of the acquisition, Waycare is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. The aggregate purchase price for the shares of Waycare was $60,171,000, less the amount of Waycare’s debt and certain transaction expenses and subject to a customary working capital adjustment. The purchase price was comprised of  $39,884,000 of cash and 2,784,474 shares of the Company’s common stock, valued at $20,287,000. As a result of the transaction, Waycare became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Additionally, pursuant to the terms of the Waycare purchase agreement, the Company reserved for issuance to Waycare’s continuing employees an aggregate of 686,248 restricted stock units, which were granted on November 3, 2021 pursuant to the terms of the Company’s 2017 Equity Award Plan, as amended. The restricted stock units are subject to customary vesting schedules and are intended to incentivize the continued performance of Waycare’s employees. On August 24, 2021, a registration statement on Form S-8 was filed with the SEC (File No. 333-259041), to registered 597,544 shares issued in exchange for options held under Waycare’s employee incentive plan. On October 29, 2021, a resale registration statement on Form S-3 was filed with the SEC (File No. 333-26067), and subsequently declared effective by the SEC on November 10, 2021, allowing for the registered resale of 2,186,931 shares of common stock received as consideration by Waycare’s former stockholders.

Use of Proceeds

We have generated losses since our inception and have relied on cash on hand, external bank lines of credit, short-term borrowing arrangements, issuance of debt, the sale of a note, sale of our non-core subsidiaries, and the sale of common stock to provide cash for operations. We attribute losses to financing and acquisition costs, public company corporate overhead, lower than expected revenue, and lower gross profit of some of our subsidiaries. Our proceeds have been primarily used for research and development and sales and marketing expenses related to new product development and our strategic shift to develop and promote capabilities of our technology offerings.

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Annual Report and the historical financial statements of Rekor Systems, Inc., and the related notes thereto.

Overview

We are a global leader in intelligent infrastructure focused on addressing critical challenges across transportation management, public safety, and key commercial markets. With a real-time intelligence platform driven by deep access to data, AI-powered software, and smart optical devices at-the-edge, we combine our industry expertise and advanced proprietary technologies to deliver unrivaled insights that increase roadway safety, efficiency, and sustainability while enabling safer, smarter, and more connected cities and communities. Our products are used in over 80 countries as we deliver mission-critical intelligent infrastructure solutions and services for government agencies and commercial clients in the world. 

General

The information provided in this discussion and analysis of Rekor’s financial condition and results of operations covers the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. In 2021, we completed the acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Waycare Technologies, Ltd. During 2020 we sold our fully-owned subsidiaries AOC Key Solutions Inc. (“AOC Key Solutions”) and Global Technical Services Inc. (“TeamGlobal”). As a result of the dispositions, we determined in 2020 that all the remaining operations that comprised our Professional Services Segment met the criteria to be considered discontinued and they are no longer presented as continuing operations.

Our financial results are impacted principally by the demand by clients for our products and services, the degree to which full-time staff can be kept occupied in revenue-generating activities and the success of our sales team in generating client engagements.

Unexpected changes in the demand for our products and services can result in significant variations in revenues, and present a challenge to optimal hiring, staffing and use of consultants. The volume of work performed can vary from period to period.

Acquisitions and Dispositions

On April 2, 2020, we sold AOC Key Solutions for an aggregate purchase price of $4,000,000, consisting of $3,400,000 in cash and a subordinated promissory note in the amount of $600,000.

On June 29, 2020, we sold TeamGlobal for an aggregate purchase price of $4,000,000, consisting of $2,300,000 in cash and a secured promissory note in the amount of $1,700,000.

On August 18, 2021, we completed the acquisition of Waycare Technologies Ltd. (“Waycare”) for an aggregate purchase price of $60,171,000, consisting of  $39,884,000 in cash and $20,287,000 of stock consideration.

Opportunities, Trends and Uncertainties

We look to identify the various trends, market cycles, uncertainties and other factors that may provide us with opportunities and present challenges that impact our operations and financial condition from time to time. Although there are many that we may not or cannot foresee, we believe that our results of operations and financial condition for the foreseeable future will be primarily affected by the following:

Other than as discussed above and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are not aware of any trends, events or uncertainties that are likely to have a material effect on our financial condition.

Components of Operating Results

Revenues

We derive revenues substantially from the sale of software, hardware and related services.

Software sales include subscriptions for the use of our software as a service (“SaaS”) and software licenses. SaaS revenues are treated as recurring revenue and provided both through negotiated agreements with larger governmental and commercial customers and through subscriptions from smaller customers. License sales are typically term agreements, including agreements for perpetual licenses, that may include maintenance obligations for software updates that keep up with changes in vehicle models and license plate designs.

Hardware is sold through direct sales or subscriptions and is typically sold with a software subscription or license arrangement. Revenue from direct sales is generally recognized when the hardware is delivered, or installation is completed in accordance with the terms of the contract. Subscription revenues may include hardware and software subscriptions and are recognized as recurring revenue throughout the term of the lease agreement.

Our related services include customer support and implementation services, as well as management services such as violation notices, billing and collections, website portals and call centers related to programs that employ our software solutions. In addition, we engage in pilot programs with governmental and commercial entities that include extension or renewal features that may result  in recurring revenues and/or additional point in time revenues at the completion of the pilot program.

Costs of revenues, excluding depreciation and amortization

Direct costs of revenues consist primarily of the portion of technical and non-technical salaries and wages and payroll-related costs incurred in connection with revenue-generating activities. Direct costs of revenues also include production expenses, data subscriptions, sub-consultant services and other expenses that are incurred in connection with our revenue-generating activities. Direct costs of revenues exclude the portion of technical and non-technical salaries and wages related to marketing efforts, vacations, holidays, and other time not spent directly generating fees under existing contracts. Such costs are included in operating expenses. We expense direct costs of revenues when incurred.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses consist of general and administrative expenses, sales and marketing, research and development and depreciation and amortization. Personnel costs are the most significant component of operating expenses and consist of salaries, benefits, bonuses, payroll taxes and stock-based compensation expenses. Operating expenses also include depreciation, amortization and impairment of assets.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist of personnel costs for our executive, finance, legal, human resources and administrative departments. Additional expenses include office leases, professional fees and insurance.

We expect our general and administrative expenses to continue to remain high for the foreseeable future due to the costs associated with our growth and the costs of accounting, compliance, insurance and investor relations as a public company. Our general and administrative expenses may fluctuate as a percentage of our revenue from period to period due to the timing and extent of these expenses. However, we expect our general and administrative expenses to decrease as a percentage of our revenue over the long term.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses consist of personnel costs, marketing programs, travel and entertainment associated with sales and marketing personnel, expenses for conferences and trade shows. We intend to make significant investments in our sales and marketing expenses to grow revenue, further penetrate the market and expand our customer base.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses consist of personnel costs, software used to develop our products and consulting and professional fees for third-party development resources. Our research and development expenses support our efforts to continue to add capabilities to and improve the value of our existing products and services, as well as develop new products and services.

We expect our research and development expenses to continue to increase in absolute dollars for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in research and development efforts to enhance the functionality of our AI solutions. However, we expect our research and development expenses to decrease as a percentage of our revenue over the long term, although our research and development expenses may fluctuate as a percentage of our revenue from period to period due to the timing and extent of these expenses. 

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expenses are primarily attributable to our capital investments and consist of fixed asset depreciation, amortization of right-of-use assets, amortization of intangibles considered to have definite lives, and amortization of capitalized internal-use software costs.

Other Income (Expense)

Other income (expense) consists primarily of interest expense in connection with our debt arrangements, costs associated with the extinguishment of our debt arrangements, gains on the sale of subsidiaries, gains or losses on the sale of fixed assets, and interest income earned on cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and note receivables.

Income Tax Provision

Income tax provision consists primarily of income taxes in certain domestic jurisdictions in which we conduct business. We have recorded deferred tax assets for which a full valuation allowance has been provided, including net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits. We expect to maintain this full valuation allowance for the foreseeable future as it is more likely than not that some or all of those deferred tax assets may not be realized based on our history of losses.

Results of Operations

Our historical operating results in dollars are presented below. The analysis of operation is solely related to continuing operations and does not consider the results of discontinued operations. The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the foregoing information contained in this Item 7 and with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in Item 8 of Part II, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” Only historical operating results are presented below. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of future results.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

Revenue

The increase in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, was a result of additional products and programs we offered, and increases in our direct sales of existing products and programs.

In 2021, we initiated services for Oklahoma’s UVED Program which has generated revenue of $1,282,000 during the year ended December 31, 2021.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, $925,000 of revenue was attributed to Waycare.

We also saw an increase, during the year ended December 31, 2021, in hardware sales and sales of perpetual software licenses to larger customers. Revenue relating to the delivery of the hardware and perpetual licenses was recognized as point in time revenue, while revenue relating to the software subscriptions and future maintenance services will be recognized as recurring revenue over the remaining life of the sales or licensing agreements.

Cost of Revenue, Excluding Depreciation and Amortization

For the year ended December 31, 2021, cost of revenue, excluding depreciation and amortization increased compared to the corresponding prior periods primarily due to an increase in personnel and other direct costs that were incurred to support our increase in revenue.

Operating Expenses 

General and Administrative Expenses

The increase general and administrative expenses of $12,677,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, was primarily due to a $6,065,000 increase in personnel costs related to an increase in headcount, including a $2,309,000 increase in stock-based compensation. Additionally, we saw increase in professional fees of $4,290,000, including $2,025,000 related to one-time fees associated with merger and acquisition transactions.

Selling and Marketing Expenses

The increase of $2,334,000 in selling and marketing expenses during the year is attributable mainly to increased marketing efforts to promote our products and services including digital marketing and other sales efforts. In connection with these efforts, there was an increase in staffing to support the Company’s growth plan which led to a $1,170,000 increase in personnel costs, including a $168,000 increase in stock-based compensation. Additionally, for the year ended December 31, 2021, we saw an increase in advertising expenses of $474,000.

Research and Development Expense

The increase in research and development expenses of $5,107,000 during the year was primarily attributable to the development of new products and additional software capabilities, mainly as a result of an increase in headcount and hours associated with research and development activities. In the current year, there was an increase in staffing to support the Company’s new products which led to a $4,777,000 increase in personnel costs, including a $595,000 increase in stock-based compensation.

Depreciation and Amortization

The increase in depreciation and amortization during the year is attributable primarily to increased technology-based intangible assets that were acquired as part of our acquisition of Waycare.

Other Income (Expense)

The decrease in interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 is due to the staged retirement of the 2019 Promissory notes in 2020.

The gain on the extinguishment of debt for the year ended December 31, 2021, was related to the forgiveness of the PPP loans. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred a loss on extinguishment of debt related to fees associated with the early extinguishment of the principal balance of our 2019 Promissory Notes. 

In connection with the sale of AOC Key Solutions and TeamGlobal, we recognized a gain on the sale of the business of $3,631,000 during the year ended December 31, 2020. 

Income Tax Expense

The income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2021, was $3,819,000, which is due primarily to the step-up in the basis of intangible assets related to the Waycare acquisition, as compared to tax expense of $23,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020. We established a valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in the fourth quarter of 2017 and have continued to maintain a full valuation allowance through the year ended December 31, 2021.

Non-GAAP Measures

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

We calculate EBITDA as net loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for (i) impairment of intangible assets, (ii) loss on extinguishment of debt, (iii) stock-based compensation, (iv) losses or gains on sales of subsidiaries, (v) losses associated with equity method investments, (vi) merger and acquisition transaction costs and (vii) other unusual or non-recurring items. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”) and should not be considered as an alternative to net earnings or cash flow from operating activities as indicators of our operating performance or as a measure of liquidity or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with U.S. GAAP. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are presented because we believe they are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of a company’s ability to service and/or incur debt. However, other companies in our industry may calculate EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do.

The following table sets forth the components of the EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods included (dollars in thousands):

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin

Adjusted Gross Profit is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as revenue less cost of revenue, excluding depreciation and amortization. We define Adjusted Gross Margin as our Adjusted Gross Profit divided by our revenue. We expect Adjusted Gross Margin to continue to improve over time to the extent that we can gain efficiencies through the adoption of our technology and successfully cross-selling and upselling our current and future offerings. However, our ability to improve Adjusted Gross Margin overtime is not guaranteed and could be impacted by the factors affecting our performance. We believe Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin are useful to investors, as they eliminate the impact of certain non-cash expenses and allow a direct comparison of these measures between periods without the impact of non-cash expenses and certain other nonrecurring operating expenses.

The following table sets forth the components of the Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin for the periods included:

Adjusted Gross Margin, for the year ended December 31, 2021 decreased to 56.4% from 61.9% for the year ended December 31, 2020. The fluctuation in Adjusted Gross Margin was driven primarily by our mix of software and hardware sales. Software sales carry a higher margin than hardware sales as there are fewer costs associated with software sales. However, hardware sales are typically associated with performance obligations that will provide higher margin recurring revenue in the future. Additionally, as part of our planned go-to-market strategy, we offer our customers short-term pilot programs which range from three to six months. Our pilot programs generally have lower margins due to additional upfront costs we incur to establish the program, which will not be incurred again if the pilot program is converted into a long-term program.

Key Performance Indicators

We regularly review several indicators, including the following key indicators, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. Since much of our revenue from hardware sales is associated with future recurring revenues from subscriptions and maintenance fees, we expect the percentage of our revenue that is associated with point-in-time hardware sales to gradually decline in relation to recurring revenues.

Recurring Revenue

The growth of our recurring revenue provides some insights into our future operating results and cash flow from operations. This enables us to better manage and invest in our business.

We continue to focus on long-term contracts with recurring revenue as part of our business model. This model emphasizes the importance of securing geographic coverage in connection with one customer solution so that additional products and services can be provided more efficiently through the same network infrastructure. We expect recurring revenue growth in future periods to continue to increase as we move to market our suite of products through the Rekor One™ platform.

Total Contract Value

The total contract value of contracts won in the current period also provides us some visibility into our future operating results and cash flows from operations. Total contract value is a non-GAAP measure in which there are certain assumptions that we make when determining the total contract value of an agreement, such as the success rate of renewal periods, cancellations and usage estimates. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we won contracts valued at $8,936,000, compared to $6,613,000 of contracts won for the year ended December 31, 2020. This growth represents a $2,323,000 or 35% growth, period over period.

Performance Obligations

While a portion of the total contract value won in a particular period represents point-in-time revenue or recurring revenue earned during the period, the remainder represents future performance obligations that can provide insights into the growth of our revenues. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $22,587,000 of performance obligations with respect to contracts that were closed prior to December 31, 2021 but have a contractual period beyond December 31, 2021. This represents growth of $5,882,000 or 35% compared to $16,705,000 of performance obligations as of December 31, 2020. These contracts generally cover a term of one to five years, which the Company will recognize revenue ratably over the contract term. We currently expect to recognize approximately 41% of this amount over the succeeding twelve months, and the remainder is expected to be recognized over the following four years. On occasion, our customers will prepay the full contract or a substantial portion of the contract. Amounts related to the prepayment of the contract related to the performance obligation for a service period that is not yet met are recorded as part of our contract liabilities balance.

Lease Obligations

As of December 31, 2021, we leased building space at the following locations in the U.S.:

We believe our facilities are in good condition and adequate for their current use. We expect to improve, replace and increase facilities as considered appropriate to meet the needs of our planned operations.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The net cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the periods below were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Net cash used in operating activities – continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2021, had a net decrease of $6,853,000, which was attributable to the increase in the loss from continuing operations of $12,815,000. This amount was partially offset by an increase in share-based compensation expense, a non-cash adjustment, which increased by $3,113,000 to $3,909,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $796,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020. Additionally, for the year ended December 31, 2021, there was a non-cash adjustment of $3,819,000 related to an income tax benefit that was primarily due to the step up in basis of the identified definite-lived intangible asset related to technology acquired as part of the acquisition of Waycare. This increase is due to the number of shares that were issued as well as the increase in our stock price. Additionally, for the year ended December 31, 2020, there was a $3,631,000 gain on the sale of AOC Key Solutions and TeamGlobal. The gain on the sale is shown as a decrease in cash flow from operations and an increase in cash flow from investing activities to reflect the nature of the transactions.

The net increase in net cash used in investing activities – continuing operations of $51,955,000 was primarily due to the net cash outlay in relation to the acquisition of Waycare of $39,770,000 and the $1,250,000 SAFE investment in Roker. Additionally, during the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company's capital expenditures increased by $5,235,000 compared to the prior period. The increase in capital expenditures, period over period, was related to supporting the Company's go-to-market strategy. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the cash provided by investing activities from continuing operations was primarily due to the cash proceeds of the sale of AOC Key Solutions and TeamGlobal.

Net cash provided by financing activities – continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2021, increased $45,545,000 from the prior year ended December 31, 2020. In the current year, through our 2021 Public Offering, we received net proceeds, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us, of $70,125,000.

For the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we funded our operations primarily through cash from operating activities from our subsidiaries, issuance of debt, the sale of our subsidiaries and the sale of equity. As of December 31, 2021, we had unrestricted cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations of $25,796,000 and working capital of $16,989,000, as compared to unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $20,595,000 and working capital of $18,324,000 as of December 31, 2020. Management believes that based on relevant conditions and events that are known and reasonably knowable, its current forecasts and projections, for one year from the date of the filing of the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, indicate the Company’s ability to continue operations as a going concern for that one-year period.

Balance Sheet Arrangements, Contractual Obligations and Commitments

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have had or are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital resources or capital expenditures.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of our operations is based upon our audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. 

We believe the application of accounting policies, and the estimates inherently required therein, are reasonable. These accounting policies and estimates are periodically reevaluated, and adjustments are made when facts and circumstances dictate a change. Rekor bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that the management of Rekor believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form management’s basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that may not be readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions, or if management made different judgments or utilized different estimates.

For further information on all of our significant accounting policies, see Note 1 — Business and Significant Accounting Policies in the accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Revenue Recognition

The Company derives its revenues primarily from Software as a Service (“SaaS”), subscriptions, customer support services, contactless compliance solutions, implementation services, perpetual license sales and the sale of hardware in connection with its software solutions. Revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products and services to the Company’s customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for those products and services.

To determine revenue recognition for arrangements that the Company determines are within the scope of ASC 606, the Company performs the following five steps:

Revenues

Recurring revenue

Recurring revenue includes the Company’s SaaS revenue, subscription revenue, eCommerce revenue and customer support revenue. The Company generates recurring revenue from long-term contracts with customers that provide periodic payments and short-term contracts that are automatically invoiced on a monthly basis. The Company’s recurring revenue is generated by a combination of direct sales, partner-assisted sales, and eCommerce sales.

Recurring revenues are generated through the Company’s SaaS model, where the Company provides customers with the right to access the Company’s software solutions for a fee. These services are made available to the customer continuously throughout the contractual period. However, the extent to which the customer uses the services may vary at the customer’s discretion. The Company's contracts with customers are generally for a term of one to five years. The payment for SaaS solutions may be received either at the inception of the arrangement or over the term of the arrangement. These SaaS solutions are considered to have a single performance obligation where the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefit, and as such, we recognize revenue for these arrangements ratably over the term of the contractual agreement.

The Company also currently receives recurring revenues under contracts entered into using a subscription model for bundled hardware and software over a period. Payments for these services and subscriptions are received periodically over the term of the agreement and revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement. In addition, some of our subscription revenue includes providing, through a web server, access to the Company’s software solutions, a self-managed database, and a cross-platform application programming interface. The subscription arrangements with these customers typically do not provide the customer with the right to take possession of the Company’s software at any time. Instead, customers are granted continuous access to the Company’s solutions over the contractual period. The Company’s subscription services arrangements are non-cancelable and do not contain refund-type provisions. Accordingly, any fixed consideration related to the arrangement is generally recognized as recurring revenue on a straight-line basis over the contract term beginning on the date access to the Company’s software is provided.

eCommerce revenue is defined by the Company as revenue obtained through direct sales on the Company’s eCommerce platform. The Company’s eCommerce revenue generally includes subscriptions to the Company’s vehicle recognition software which can be purchased online and activated through a digital key. The Company's contracts with customers are generally for a term of one month with automatic renewal each month. The Company invoices and receives fees from its customers monthly.

Customer support revenue is associated with perpetual licenses and long-term subscription arrangements and consists primarily of technical support and product updates. The Company’s customer support team is ready to provide these maintenance services, as needed, to the customer during the contract term. The customer benefits evenly throughout the contract period from the guarantee that the customer support resources and personnel will be available to them. As customer support is not critical to the customers' ability to derive benefit from their right to use the Company’s software, customer support is considered a distinct performance obligation when sold together with a long-term license for software. Customer support for perpetual and term licenses is renewable, generally on an annual basis, at the option of the customer. Customer support for subscription licenses is renewable concurrently with such licenses for the same duration of time. Revenue for customer support is recognized ratably over the contract period based on the start and end dates of the customer support obligation, in line with how the Company believes services are provided.

Product and service revenue

Product and service revenue is defined as the Company’s contactless compliance revenue, implementation revenue, perpetual license sales and hardware sales.

Contactless compliance solutions revenues reflect arrangements to provide traffic safety systems to several jurisdictions in North America. These systems include hardware that identifies red light and school safety zone traffic violations and software that captures and records forensic images and analyzes the images to provide data and supports citation management services. In the first quarter of 2021, the Company launched a new service offering for the State of Oklahoma to support its Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (“UVED”) Program. Rekor provides hardware, software and services to identify uninsured motor vehicles, notify owners of non-compliance and assist them in obtaining the required insurance as an alternative to traditional enforcement methods. Revenue is recognized monthly based on the number of citations collected by the relevant jurisdiction.

Implementation revenue is recognized when the Company provides pilot programs to customers. Pilot programs may involve a one-time fee for a defined period in which the customer can use the Company’s software in connection with a previously installed camera network or connected vehicle data. At the end of the pilot program, the customer can convert from a pilot program to a subscription model which has a typical term between one and five years. The Company’s pilot program revenue is recognized at various stages of completion.

In addition to the recurring software sales, the Company will recognize revenue related to the sale of perpetual software licenses. The Company sells perpetual licenses which provide customers the right to use software for an indefinite period in exchange for a one-time license fee, which is generally paid at contract inception. The Company’s perpetual licenses provide a right to use intellectual property (“IP”) that is functional in nature and have significant stand-alone functionality. Accordingly, for perpetual licenses of functional IP, revenue is recognized at the point-in-time when the customer has access to the software, which normally occurs once software activation keys have been made available to the customer.

The Company generates revenue through the sale of hardware through its partner program distribution channels. The Company satisfies its performance obligation upon the transfer of control of hardware to its customers. The Company invoices end-user customers upon transfer of control of the hardware to its customers. The Company offers hardware installment to customers which ranges from one to six months. The revenue related to the installation component is recognized at various stages of completion.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable are customer obligations due under normal trade terms. We perform continuing credit evaluations of our clients’ financial condition, and we generally do not require collateral.

Management reviews accounts receivable to determine if any receivables will potentially be uncollectible. Factors considered in the determination include, among other factors, the number of days an invoice is past due, client historical trends, available credit rating information, other financial data and the overall economic environment. Collection agencies may also be used if management so determines.

We record an allowance for doubtful accounts based on specifically identified amounts that are believed to be uncollectible. We also record as an additional allowance a certain percentage of aged accounts receivable, based on historical experience and our assessment of the general financial conditions affecting its customer base. If actual collection experience changes, revisions to the allowance may be required. After all reasonable attempts to collect an account receivable have failed, the amount of the receivable is written off against the allowance. 

Goodwill

The excess purchase consideration over the fair value of acquired assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. Goodwill is not amortized but rather subject to a periodic impairment testing on an annual basis. The Company will assess goodwill for impairment annually on October 1st of each year, or more often if events or changes in circumstances indicate that it might be impaired, by comparing its carrying value to the reporting unit’s fair value. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had not recognized any impairment to goodwill. 

Business Combination

Management conducts a valuation analysis on the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date thereof. During the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, the Company may record adjustments to the fair value of these tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. In addition, uncertain tax positions and tax-related valuation allowances are initially established in connection with a business combination as of the acquisition date. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the fair value of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Amounts paid for acquisitions are allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition. The Company allocates a portion of the purchase price to the fair value of identifiable intangible assets. The fair value of identifiable intangible assets is based on a detailed valuation that uses information and assumptions provided by management. The Company allocates any excess purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired to goodwill.

Income Taxes

We use the liability method of accounting for income taxes as set forth in the authoritative guidance for accounting for income taxes. This method requires an asset and liability approach for the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the consolidated financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

Management has evaluated the recoverability of the net deferred income tax assets and the level of the valuation allowance required with respect to such net deferred income tax assets. After considering all available facts, we fully reserved for our net deferred tax assets because management believes that it is more likely than not that their benefits will not be realized in future periods. We will continue to evaluate net deferred tax assets to determine whether any changes in circumstances could affect the realization of their future benefit. If it is determined in future periods that portions of the net deferred income tax assets satisfy the realization standard, the valuation allowance will be reduced accordingly.

The tax effects of uncertain tax positions are recognized in the consolidated financial statements only if the position is more likely than not to be sustained on audit, based on the technical merits of the position. For tax positions meeting the more likely than not threshold, the amount recognized in the consolidated financial statements is the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized. It is our accounting policy to account for Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 740-10-25-related penalties and interest as a component of the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of operations.

As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, our evaluation revealed no uncertain tax positions that would have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements. The 2018 through 2020 tax years remain subject to examination by the IRS, as of December 31, 2021. 

Liquidity and Management’s Plan

The Company has generated losses since its inception and has relied on cash on hand, external bank lines of credit, the sale of a note, proceeds from the sale of common stock, proceeds from the private sale of the Company’s non-core subsidiaries, proceeds from note receivables, debt financings and a public offering of its common stock to support cash flow from operations. The Company attributes losses to non-capital expenditures related to the scaling of existing products, development of new products and service offerings and marketing efforts associated with these products and services. As of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had a net loss from continuing operations of  $26,777,000 and working capital of  $16,989,000.

The Company's net cash position was increased by $5,592,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to the net proceeds of $70,125,000 from the completion of the 2021 Public Offering. This amount was offset by the net cash outlay of $39,770,000 in connection with the acquisition of Waycare.

Management believes that based on relevant conditions and events that are known and reasonably knowable, its current forecasts and projections, for one year from the date of the filing of the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, indicate the Company’s ability to continue operations as a going concern for that one-year period. The Company is actively monitoring its operations, the cash on hand and working capital. Should access to funds be unavailable, the Company will need to seek out additional sources of funding. On February 24, 2022, the Company entered into an At-the-Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the “2022 Sales Agreement”) with B. Riley Securities, Inc. (the “Agent”) to create an at the market equity program under which the Company from time to time may offer and sell shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, having an aggregate offering price of up to $50,000,000 through or to the Agent.  Furthermore, the Company has contingency plans to reduce or defer expenses and cash outlays should operations weaken in the look-forward period or additional financing, if needed, is not available.

New Accounting Pronouncements

See Item 8 of Part II, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data — Note 1 — Business and Significant Accounting Policies” 

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK

As a “smaller reporting company” as defined by Item 10 of Regulation S-K, the Company is not required to provide the information required by this Item.

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and
Stockholders of Rekor Systems, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Rekor Systems, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgment. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Evaluation of standalone selling prices of revenue performance obligations

As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company recognized revenue of $14.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company allocates value to each distinct performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis. The Company determines standalone selling price based on pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and other factors, including the geographic locations of customers, negotiated discounts from price lists and selling method.

We identified the evaluation of standalone selling prices for the Company’s products and services as a critical audit matter. Subjective auditor judgment was involved in evaluating the Company’s assumptions regarding market conditions and pricing practices, including historical sales data and discounts from list price, where there was no direct observable data available.

The following are primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the Company’s estimated standalone selling prices, including their compliance with the Company’s accounting policy, by assessing available, relevant external information and comparing the estimated standalone selling prices to internal historical disaggregated sales data, including discounts from list price. We selected certain customer agreements and read contract source documents to assess the relevance and reliability of the historical sales data used by the Company to estimate standalone selling prices, and tested the mathematical accuracy of the median or average discount from list price for the products and services.

Liquidity

As described in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has adequate cash on hand which will provide sufficient liquidity to finance the operating activities of the Company for twelve months from the issuance of these financial statements. We determined that the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is a critical audit matter due to management’s significant judgments and assumptions used in estimating future cash flows.

To address this critical audit matter, we reviewed forecasted information, assessed reasonableness of the forecasted operating results and uses and sources of cash used in management’s assessment. This testing included inquiries with management, comparison of prior period forecasts to actual results, assessment of available financing, consideration of positive and negative evidence impacting management’s forecasts, market and industry factors.

Accounting for Acquisition of Waycare Technologies, Ltd.

During 2021, the Company completed its acquisition of Waycare Technologies, Ltd. (“Waycare”) for total consideration of $60.2 million, as disclosed in Note 2 to the financial statements. The acquisition is accounted for as a business combination and the Company preliminarily allocated approximately $17.0 million of the purchase price to the acquired technology related intangible assets. The determination of fair value requires significant judgment by management and third-party valuation specialists to develop significant estimates and assumptions used in cash flow models. We identified the purchase price allocation as a critical audit matter. Auditing management’s judgments used in the discounted cash flow model including the forecasts of revenue and operating expense growth rates, royalty rates and discount rates involved especially challenging auditor judgment due to the nature and extent of audit effort required.

The primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included evaluating the Company's valuation model, the method and significant assumptions used, and testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data supporting the significant assumptions and estimates. We involved personnel with specialized knowledge and skill to assist in evaluating the reasonableness of the valuation methodology and certain significant assumptions.

/s/ Friedman LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2019.

East Hanover, New Jersey

March 31, 2022

REKOR SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Dollars in thousands, except share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

REKOR SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Dollars in thousands, except share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

REKOR SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT)

(Dollars in thousands, except share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

REKOR SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Dollars in thousands)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

REKOR SYSTEMS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

NOTE 1 – BUSINESS AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Rekor Systems, Inc. (“Rekor”) (formerly Novume Solutions, Inc.) was formed in February 2017. The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Rekor, the parent company, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries Rekor Recognition Systems, Inc., OpenALPR Software Solutions, LLC and Waycare Technologies Ltd. (collectively, the “Company”). The Company is a global leader in intelligent infrastructure focused on addressing the world’s most critical challenges across transportation management, public safety, and key commercial markets. With a real-time intelligence platform driven by deep access to data, AI-powered software, and smart optical devices at-the-edge, the Company combines its industry expertise and advanced proprietary technologies to deliver insights that increase roadway safety, efficiency, and sustainability while enabling safer, smarter, and more connected cities and communities.

On August 18, 2021, the Company completed its acquisition of Waycare Technologies Ltd. (“Waycare”) by acquiring 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Waycare, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Since the acquisition of Waycare occurred on August 18, 2021, the results of operations for Waycare from the date of acquisition have been included in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021. In March 2019, the Company acquired substantially all the assets of OpenALPR Technology, Inc. This acquisition (the “OpenALPR Technology Acquisition”) transferred vehicle recognition software and associated licenses and proprietary rights to OpenALPR Software Solutions, LLC (“OpenALPR”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rekor Recognition. Concurrently, the Company reorganized and retooled its product development, business development and administrative resources to better serve the Company’s direction

Previously, the Company provided professional services and staffing solutions to the government contracting and the aerospace and aviation industries through the Company’s Professional Services Segment. The Professional Services Segment included the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries AOC Key Solutions Inc. (“AOC Key Solutions”), Global Technical Services, Inc. (“GTS” or “TeamGlobal”), Firestorm Solutions, LLC (Firestorm Solutions”) and Firestorm Franchising, LLC (“Firestorm Franchising” and, together with Firestorm Solutions, “Firestorm”). As part of the development of a new line of products for the public safety and security markets, the Company determined that its resources were best concentrated on vehicle recognition products and services and completed dispositions in our Professional Services Segment. On April 2, 2020, the Company sold AOC Key Solutions. As of June 29, 2020, the Company sold Team Global and determined that all the remaining operations that comprised its Professional Services Segment met the criteria to be presented as discontinued.

Basis of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and in accordance with the accounting rules under Regulation S-X, as promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the extensive use of management’s estimates. Management uses estimates and assumptions in preparing consolidated financial statements. Those estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, and reported revenues and expenses. On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates, including those related to the collectability of accounts receivable, the fair value of intangible assets, the allocation of intangible assets, the fair value of debt and equity instruments, income taxes and determination of standalone selling prices in contracts with customers that contain multiple performance obligations. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Reclassifications

Certain amounts in the prior year's consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform to the current year's presentation. Beginning in the third quarter of 2021, depreciation and amortization is presented separately from cost of revenue, general and administrative expenses, selling and marketing expenses and research and development expenses on the consolidated statements of operations, whereas in prior periods these amounts were included together with the aforementioned financial statement captions. Additionally, as of September 30, 2021, the Company began to present other current liabilities separately from accounts payable and accrued expenses. Other current liabilities primarily consist of payroll and payroll-related accounts. Amounts as of  December 31, 2021, and for the year ended December 31, 2020, have been reclassified to conform to the current year’s presentation.

Liquidity

For all annual and interim periods, management will assess going concern uncertainty in the Company’s consolidated financial statements to determine whether there is sufficient cash on hand and working capital, including available borrowings on loans, to operate for a period of at least one year from the date the consolidated financial statements are issued, which is referred to as the “look-forward period”, as defined in U.S. GAAP. As part of this assessment, based on conditions that are known and reasonably knowable to management, management will consider various scenarios, forecasts, projections and estimates and will make certain key assumptions. These assumptions include, among other factors, its ability to raise additional capital, if necessary, the expected timing and nature of the Company’s programs and projected cash expenditures and its ability to delay or curtail these programs or expenditures to the extent management has the proper authority to do so and considers it probable that those implementations can be achieved within the look-forward period.

The Company has generated losses since its inception and has relied on cash on hand, external bank lines of credit, the sale of a note, proceeds from the sale of common stock, proceeds from the private sale of the Company’s non-core subsidiaries, proceeds from note receivables, debt financings and public offerings of its common stock to support cashflow from operations. The Company attributes losses to non-capital expenditures related to the scaling of existing products, development of new products and service offerings and marketing efforts associated with these products and services. As of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had a net loss from continuing operations of  $26,777,000 and working capital of  $16,989,000.

The Company's net cash position increased by $5,592,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily due to the net proceeds of $70,125,000 from the completion of the 2021 Public Offering (see NOTE 14 - STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY for details on the 2021 Public Offering). This amount was offset by operating losses and the net cash outlay of $39,770,000 in connection with the acquisition of Waycare (see NOTE 2 – ACQUISITIONS for details on the Waycare acquisition).

Management believes that based on relevant conditions and events that are known and reasonably knowable, its current forecasts and projections, for one year from the date of the filing of the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, indicate the Company’s ability to continue operations as a going concern for that one-year period. The Company is actively monitoring its operations, the cash on hand and working capital. Should access to funds be unavailable, the Company will need to seek out additional sources of funding. Furthermore, the Company has contingency plans to reduce or defer expenses and cash outlays should operations weaken in the look-forward period or additional financing, if needed, is not available.

The Company's ability to generate positive operating results and complete the execution of its business strategy will depend on (i) its ability to continue the growth of its technology business, (ii) the continued performance of its contractors, subcontractors and vendors, (iii) its ability to maintain and build good relationships with its lenders and financial intermediaries, (iv) its ability to maintain timely collections from existing customers, and (v) the stabilization of the world economy and global financial markets. To the extent that events outside of the Company's control have a significant negative impact on economic and/or market conditions, they could affect payments from customers, services and supplies from vendors, its ability to continue to secure and implement new business, raise capital, and otherwise, depending on the severity of such impact, materially adversely affect its operating results.

Rounding

Dollar amounts, except per share data, in the notes to these consolidated financial statements are rounded to the closest $1,000.

Functional Currency

The U.S. dollar (“U.S. dollar” or “$“) is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the operations of the Company is conducted. Substantial revenues and a substantial portion of the operational costs are denominated in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, the functional currency of the Company is the U.S. dollar.

Transactions and balances originally denominated in U.S. dollars are presented at their original amounts. Balances in non-U.S. dollar currencies are translated into U.S. dollars using historical and current exchange rates for non-monetary and monetary balances, respectively. For non-U.S. dollar transactions and other items in the financial statements, the following exchange rates are used: (i) for transactions – exchange rates at transaction dates or average exchange rates; and (ii) for other items (derived from non-monetary balance sheet items such as depreciation and amortization) – historical exchange rates. Currency transaction gains and losses are presented in other income, net on the audited consolidated statement of operations. The accumulated currency translation adjustments for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were immaterial.

Concentration of Risk

The Company deposits its temporary cash investments with highly rated quality financial institutions that are located in the United States and Israel. The United States deposits are federally insured up to $250,000 per account. As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, the Company had deposits from continuing operations totaling $26,600,000 and $21,007,000, respectively, in three U.S. financial institutions and one Israeli financial institution.

The Company has a market concentration of revenue and accounts receivable from continuing operations related to its customer base. 

Company A and Company B accounted for 17% and 11%, respectively, of the Company’s total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Company D accounted for 16% of the Company’s total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020.

As of December 31, 2021, accounts receivable from Company C accounted for 13%, of the consolidated accounts receivable balance. As of December 31, 2020, Company A and Company B accounted for 16% and 30%, respectively, of the consolidated accounts receivable balance.

No other single customer accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s consolidated revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 or consolidated accounts receivable balance as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid debt instruments, including U.S. Treasury Bills purchased with a maturity of three months or less, to be cash equivalents.

Cash subject to contractual restrictions and not readily available for use is classified as restricted cash and cash equivalents. The Company’s restricted cash balances are primarily made up of cash collected on behalf of certain client jurisdictions. Restricted cash and cash equivalents for these client jurisdictions as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 were $804,000 and $412,000, respectively, and correspond to equal amounts of related accounts payable and are presented as part of accounts payable and accrued expenses in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Accounts receivable are customer obligations due under normal trade terms. The Company performs continuing credit evaluations of its clients’ financial condition, and the Company generally does not require collateral.

The timing of revenue recognition, billings, and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled accounts receivables, and contract liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. Billed and unbilled accounts receivable are presented as part of accounts receivable, net, on the consolidated balance sheets. When billing occurs after services have been provided, such unbilled amounts will generally be billed and collected within 60 to 120 days but typically no longer than over the next twelve months. Unbilled accounts receivables of $415,000 and $600,000 were included in accounts receivable, net, in the consolidated balance sheets as of  December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts at an amount estimated to be sufficient to cover the risk of collecting less than full payment of the receivables. At each balance sheet date, the Company evaluates its receivables and will assess the allowance for doubtful accounts based on specific customer collection issues and historical write-off trends. After all reasonable attempts to collect an account receivable have failed, the amount of the receivable is written off against the allowance.

Based on the information available, the Company determined that an allowance for loss of $11,000 and $22,000 was required on December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Note Receivables

In connection with the sale of AOC Key Solutions in April 2020, the Company received a $600,000, five-year promissory note due March 2025, that carried an interest rate of 8%. Based on the general market conditions and the credit quality of the buyer at the time of the sale, the Company determined that the fixed interest rate approximated the current market rates.

During the fiscal year 2020, the full principal balance of the $600,000 note associated with the sale of AOC Key Solutions was paid in full.

In connection with the sale of TeamGlobal in June 2020, the Company received a $1,700,000, five and a half year promissory note due December 2025, that carries an interest rate of 4% and is secured by a first priority security interest in the shares of TeamGlobal. Monthly principal payments on the promissory note began in 2021. Based on the general market conditions, the security interest held by the Company and the credit quality of the buyer at the time of the sale, the Company determined that the fixed interest rate approximates the current market rates.

Interest income recognized for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $62,000 and $54,000, respectively, and is included as part of other income on the consolidated statement of operations. 

Inventory

Inventory principally consists of parts and finished goods held temporarily until installed for service. The Company regularly evaluates its ability to realize the value of inventory based on a combination of factors including the following: historical usage rates, forecasted sales or usage, estimated current and future market values and new product introductions. Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value. The cost is determined by the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) method.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost or fair value at acquisition date for assets obtained through business combinations, less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation expense is classified within the corresponding operating expense categories on the consolidated statements of operations.

Depreciation is recorded on a straight-line basis over the following estimated lives:

Repairs and maintenance are expensed as incurred. Expenditures for additions, improvements and replacements are capitalized.

The Company tests its property and equipment for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may no longer be recoverable. Recoverability of property and equipment is measured by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the sum of the expected undiscounted cash flow is less than the carrying amount of the asset, the Company recognizes an impairment loss, which is the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the asset, using the expected future discounted cash flows.

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not recognize an impairment loss on its property and equipment.

Deposits

Deposits consist of cash payments made by the Company related to security deposits for leased assets and deposits on property and equipment which the Company has not yet received.

Software Development Costs

Research and development costs to develop software to be sold, leased or marketed are expensed as incurred up to the point of technological feasibility for the related software product. Capitalized internally developed software costs, net, not yet placed in service were $0 and $216,000 as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company placed in service $216,000 and $730,000, respectively, of capitalized development costs related to software to be sold, leased or marketed.

Software developed for internal use, with no substantive plans to market such software at the time of development, are capitalized during the application phase and included in intangible assets, net in the consolidated balance sheets. Costs incurred during the preliminary planning and evaluation and post implementation stages of the project are expensed as incurred. Costs incurred during the application development stage of the project are capitalized. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company capitalized $4,000 and $162,000, respectively, of development costs related to internal use software.

Intangible Assets

Intangible assets include capitalized internally developed software and amounts recognized in connection with acquisitions, including customer relationships, technology and marketing related assets. Intangible assets, other than software development costs, are initially valued at fair market value using generally accepted valuation methods appropriate for the type of intangible asset. Amortization is recognized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of the intangible assets. Intangible assets with definite lives are reviewed for impairment if indicators of impairment arise.

Leases

The Company accounts for its leases in accordance with Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) Topic 842, Leases ("ASC 842"). The standard provides several optional practical expedients for use in transition. The Company elected to use what the Financial Accounting Standard Board (“FASB”) has deemed the “package of practical expedients,” which allows the Company not to reassess the Company’s previous conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and the accounting treatment for initial direct costs. ASU 2016-02 also provided several optional practical expedients for the ongoing accounting for leases. The Company has elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that qualify, meaning that for leases with terms of twelve months or less, the Company will not recognize right-of-use ("ROU") assets or lease liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Additionally, the Company has elected to use the practical expedient to not separate lease and non-lease components for leases of real estate, meaning that for these leases, the non-lease components are included in the associated ROU asset and lease liability balances on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.

The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease and the classification of that lease, if applicable, at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease ROU assets, operating lease liabilities and operating lease liabilities (net of current portion) in the consolidated balance sheets. The Company does not currently have any finance leases.

ROU assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent the Company’s obligation to make lease payments under the lease. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. The implicit rate within the Company’s operating leases are generally not determinable and the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate at the lease commencement date to determine the present value of lease payments. The determination of the Company’s incremental borrowing rate requires judgment. The Company determined the incremental borrowing rate for each lease using the Company’s current borrowing rate, adjusted for various factors including level of collateralization and term to align with the terms of the lease. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease prepayments, offset by lease incentives. Certain of the Company’s leases include options to extend or terminate the lease. An option to extend the lease is considered in connection with determining the ROU asset and lease liability when it is reasonably certain the Company will exercise that option. An option to terminate is considered unless it is reasonably certain the Company will not exercise the option.

Lease expense for lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

Business Combination

Management conducts a valuation analysis on the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date thereof. During the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, the Company may record adjustments to the fair value of these tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. In addition, uncertain tax positions and tax-related valuation allowances are initially established in connection with a business combination as of the acquisition date. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the fair value of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Amounts paid for acquisitions are allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition. The Company allocates a portion of the purchase price to the fair value of identifiable intangible assets. The fair value of identifiable intangible assets is based on a detailed valuation that uses information and assumptions provided by management. The Company allocates any excess purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired to goodwill.

Equity Method Investments

Investments in the common stock of entities other than the Company’s consolidated subsidiaries are accounted for under the equity method in accordance with the FASB ASC 323, Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures. Under the equity method, the initial investment is recorded at cost and the investment is subsequently adjusted for its proportionate share of earnings or losses, including consideration of basis differences resulting from the difference between the initial carrying amount of the investment and the underlying equity in net assets. The difference between the carrying amount of the investment and the underlying equity in net assets is primarily attributable to goodwill and other intangible assets. When the fair value or income information is not readily determinable, the Company has elected to apply the measurement alternative, and report the investment at cost, less impairment.

Goodwill

The excess purchase consideration over the fair value of acquired assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. Goodwill is not amortized but rather subject to a periodic impairment testing on an annual basis. The Company will assess goodwill for impairment annually on October 1st of each year, or more often if events or changes in circumstances indicate that it might be impaired, by comparing its carrying value to the reporting unit’s fair value. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had not recognized any impairment to goodwill. 

Revenue Recognition

The Company derives its revenues primarily from the sale of software, hardware and related services, including customer support and implementation services and management services in connection with our traffic safety solutions. Revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products and services to the Company’s customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for those products and services.

To determine revenue recognition for arrangements that the Company determines are within the scope of ASC 606, the Company performs the following five steps:

The following table presents a summary of revenue (dollars in thousands):

Information about the Company’s revenue in different geographic regions, which is attributable to the Company’s operations located primarily in the United States, Canada, and other countries is as follows (dollars in thousands):

For the year ended December 31, 2021, except for the United States and Canada, total revenue in any single country was less than 10% of consolidated revenue.

Revenues

Recurring revenue

Recurring revenue includes the Company’s SaaS revenue, subscription revenue, eCommerce revenue and customer support revenue. The Company generates recurring revenue from long-term contracts with customers that provide periodic payments and short-term contracts that are automatically invoiced on a monthly basis. The Company’s recurring revenue is generated by a combination of direct sales, partner-assisted sales, and eCommerce sales.

Recurring revenues are generated through the Company’s SaaS model, where the Company provides customers with the right to access the Company’s software solutions for a fee. These services are made available to the customer continuously throughout the contractual period. However, the extent to which the customer uses the services may vary at the customer’s discretion. The Company's contracts with customers are generally for a term of one to five years. The payment for SaaS solutions may be received either at the inception of the arrangement or over the term of the arrangement. These SaaS solutions are considered to have a single performance obligation where the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefit, and as such, we recognize revenue for these arrangements ratably over the term of the contractual agreement.

The Company also currently receives recurring revenues under contracts entered into using a subscription model for bundled hardware and software over a period. Payments for these services and subscriptions are received periodically over the term of the agreement and revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement. In addition, some of our subscription revenue includes providing, through a web server, access to the Company’s software solutions, a self-managed database, and a cross-platform application programming interface. The subscription arrangements with these customers typically do not provide the customer with the right to take possession of the Company’s software at any time. Instead, customers are granted continuous access to the Company’s solutions over the contractual period. The Company’s subscription services arrangements are non-cancelable and do not contain refund-type provisions. Accordingly, any fixed consideration related to the arrangement is generally recognized as recurring revenue on a straight-line basis over the contract term beginning on the date access to the Company’s software is provided.

eCommerce revenue is defined by the Company as revenue obtained through direct sales on the Company’s eCommerce platform. The Company’s eCommerce revenue generally includes subscriptions to the Company’s vehicle recognition software which can be purchased online and activated through a digital key. The Company's contracts with customers are generally for a term of one month with automatic renewal each month. The Company invoices and receives fees from its customers monthly.

Customer support revenue is associated with perpetual licenses and long-term subscription arrangements and consists primarily of technical support and product updates. The Company’s customer support team is ready to provide these maintenance services, as needed, to the customer during the contract term. The customer benefits evenly throughout the contract period from the guarantee that the customer support resources and personnel will be available to them. As customer support is not critical to the customers' ability to derive benefit from their right to use the Company’s software, customer support is considered a distinct performance obligation when sold together with a long-term license for software. Customer support for perpetual and term licenses is renewable, generally on an annual basis, at the option of the customer. Customer support for subscription licenses is renewable concurrently with such licenses for the same duration of time. Revenue for customer support is recognized ratably over the contract period based on the start and end dates of the customer support obligation, in line with how the Company believes services are provided.

Product and service revenue

Product and service revenue is defined as the Company’s contactless compliance revenue, implementation revenue, perpetual license sales and hardware sales.

Contactless compliance solutions revenues reflect arrangements to provide traffic safety systems to several jurisdictions in North America. These systems include hardware that identifies red light and school safety zone traffic violations and software that captures and records forensic images and analyzes the images to provide data and supports citation management services. In the first quarter of 2021, the Company launched a new service offering for the State of Oklahoma to support its Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (“UVED”) Program. Rekor provides hardware, software and services to identify uninsured motor vehicles, notify owners of non-compliance and assist them in obtaining the required insurance as an alternative to traditional enforcement methods. Revenue is recognized monthly based on the number of citations collected by the relevant jurisdiction.

Implementation revenue is recognized when the Company provides pilot programs to customers. Pilot programs may involve a one-time fee for a defined period in which the customer can use the Company’s software in connection with a previously installed camera network or connected vehicle data. At the end of the pilot program, the customer can convert from a pilot program to a subscription model which has a typical term between one and five years. The Company’s pilot program revenue is recognized at various stages of completion.

In addition to the recurring software sales, the Company will recognize revenue related to the sale of perpetual software licenses. The Company sells perpetual licenses which provide customers the right to use software for an indefinite period in exchange for a one-time license fee, which is generally paid at contract inception. The Company’s perpetual licenses provide a right to use intellectual property (“IP”) that is functional in nature and have significant stand-alone functionality. Accordingly, for perpetual licenses of functional IP, revenue is recognized at the point-in-time when the customer has access to the software, which normally occurs once software activation keys have been made available to the customer.

The Company generates revenue through the sale of hardware through its partner program distribution channels. The Company satisfies its performance obligation upon the transfer of control of hardware to its customers. The Company invoices end-user customers upon transfer of control of the hardware to its customers. The Company offers hardware installment to customers which ranges from one to six months. The revenue related to the installation component is recognized at various stages of completion.

Revenue by Customer Type

The following table presents a summary of revenue by customer type (dollars in thousands):

Performance obligations

The Company contracts with customers in a variety of ways, including contracts that obligate the Company to provide services over time. Some contracts include performance obligations for several distinct services. For those contracts that have multiple distinct performance obligations, the Company allocates the total transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price, which is determined based on the Company’s overall pricing objectives, taking into consideration market conditions and other factors. This may result in a deferral or acceleration of revenue recognized relative to cash received for each distinct performance obligation. When the Company recognizes revenue due to the sale of hardware or perpetual software licenses, the impact on the overall unsatisfied performance obligations is relatively small as the Company satisfies most of its performance obligations at the point in time that the control of the hardware or software has transferred to the customer.

Where performance obligations for a contract with a customer are not yet satisfied or have only been partially satisfied as of a particular date, the unsatisfied portion is to be recognized as revenue in the future. As of December 31, 2021 the Company had approximately $22,587,000 of remaining performance obligations not yet satisfied or partially satisfied. The Company expects to recognize approximately 41% of this amount as revenue over the succeeding twelve months, and the remainder is expected to be recognized over the next two to four years thereafter. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had approximately $16,705,000 of performance obligations not yet satisfied or partially satisfied.

Contract liabilities

When the Company advance bills clients prior to providing services, generally such amounts will be earned and recognized in revenue within the next month to five years, depending on the subscription or licensing period. These assets and liabilities are reported on the consolidated balance sheets on a contract-by-contract basis at the end of each reporting period. Changes in the contract asset and liability balances during the year ended December 31, 2021, were not materially impacted by any other factors. Contract liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, were $3,272,000 and $2,084,000, respectively. All contract liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, were attributable to continuing operations. During the year ended December 31, 2021, $1,111,000 of the contract liabilities balance as of December 31, 2020, was recognized as revenue.

The contract liabilities as of December 31, 2021, are expected to be recognized as revenue during the years ended December 31, (dollars in thousands):

Practical Expedients Election ‒ Costs to Obtain and Fulfill a Contract ‒ The Company’s incremental costs to obtain a contract consist of sales commissions. The Company elected to use the practical expedient to expense costs to obtain a contract as incurred when the amortization period would have been one year or less. As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, costs incurred to obtain contracts in excess of one year have been immaterial to date.

Advertising

The Company expenses all non-direct response advertising costs as incurred. Advertising costs for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were $695,000 and $221,000, respectively, and are included in sales and marketing expenses in the consolidated statement of operations.

Income Taxes

Income tax expense consists of U.S. federal and state income taxes. The Company is required to pay income taxes in certain state jurisdictions.

The Company uses the liability method of accounting for income taxes as set forth in the authoritative guidance for accounting for income taxes. This method requires an asset and liability approach for the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the consolidated financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

The Company evaluates the recoverability of the net deferred income tax assets and the level of the valuation allowance required with respect to such net deferred income tax assets. After considering all available facts, the Company fully reserved for its net deferred tax assets, outside of the deferred tax liability related to the indefinite-lived intangible, because management believes that it is not more likely than not that their benefits will be realized in future periods. The Company will continue to evaluate its net deferred tax assets to determine whether any changes in circumstances could affect the realization of their future benefit. If it is determined in future periods that portions of the Company’s net deferred income tax assets satisfy the realization standard, the valuation allowance will be reduced accordingly.

The tax effects of uncertain tax positions are recognized in the consolidated financial statements only if the position is more likely than not to be sustained on audit, based on the technical merits of the position. For tax positions meeting the more likely than not threshold, the amount recognized in the consolidated financial statements is the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized. It is the Company’s accounting policy to account for ASC 740-10 related penalties and interest as a component of the income tax provision in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, the Company’s evaluation revealed no uncertain tax positions that would have a material impact on the financial statements. The 2018 through 2020 tax years remain subject to examination by the IRS, as of December 31, 2021. 

Equity-Based Compensation

The Company recognizes equity-based compensation costs related to all share-based payments, including stock options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”), based on the grant-date fair value of the award on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, net of actual forfeitures. The fair value of RSUs is measured on the grant date based on the closing fair market value of the Company’s common stock. The Company estimates the fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The use of the Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires the use of subjective assumptions, including the fair value and projected volatility of the underlying common stock and the expected term of the award.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company did not issue any stock options. The fair value of each option granted in 2020 was estimated as of the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions during the year ended December 31, 2020:

Risk-Free Interest Rate – The yield on actively traded non-inflation indexed U.S. Treasury notes with the same maturity as the expected term of the underlying grants was used as the average risk-free interest rate.

Expected Term – The expected term of options granted was determined based on management’s expectations of the options granted which are expected to remain outstanding.

Expected Volatility – Because the Company’s common stock has only been publicly traded since 2017, there is not a substantive share price history to calculate volatility and, as such, the Company has elected to compute its expected volatility based on the average volatilities of similar entities, as well as, considering its volatility since becoming public.

Dividend Yield – The Black-Scholes option pricing model requires an expected dividend yield as an input. The Company has not issued common stock dividends in the past nor does the Company expect to issue common stock dividends in the future.

Forfeiture Rate – We account for forfeitures as they occur.

Series A Cumulative Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The carrying amounts reported in the consolidated balance sheets for cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, accounts receivable and accounts payable approximate fair value as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, because of the relatively short-term maturity of these financial instruments. The carrying amount reported for long-term debt and long-term receivables approximates fair value as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, given management’s evaluation of the instrument’s current rate compared to market rates of interest and other factors.

The determination of fair value is based upon the fair value framework established by ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (“ASC 820”). Fair value is defined as the exit price, or the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants as of the measurement date. ASC 820 also establishes a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that the most observable inputs be used when available. Observable inputs are inputs market participants would use in valuing the asset or liability and are developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the Company’s assumptions about the factors market participants would use in valuing the asset or liability. The guidance establishes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 – Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

Level 3 – Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

Assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurements. Changes in the observability of valuation inputs may result in a reclassification of levels for certain securities within the fair value hierarchy.

The Company’s goodwill and other intangible assets are measured at fair value at the time of acquisition and analyzed on a recurring and non-recurring basis for impairment, respectively, using Level 3 inputs.

The Company considers its note receivable and Simple Agreement for Future Equity (“SAFE”) investment to be Level 3 investments and that the fair value approximates the carrying value.

There were no changes in levels during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Loss per Share

Basic loss per share, or "EPS", is computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted EPS is computed using the weighted average number of common and potentially dilutive securities outstanding during the period, except for periods of net loss for which no potentially dilutive securities are included because their effect would be anti-dilutive. Potentially dilutive securities consist of common stock issuable upon exercise of stock options or warrants using the treasury stock method. Potentially dilutive securities issuable upon conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock are calculated using the if-converted method.

The Company calculates basic and diluted loss per common share using the two-class method. Under the two-class method, net earnings are allocated to each class of common stock and participating security as if all of the net earnings for the period had been distributed. Participating securities consist of preferred stock that contains a nonforfeitable right to receive dividends and therefore are considered to participate in undistributed earnings with common stockholders.

The Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock had the non-forfeitable right to participate on an as converted basis at the conversion rate then in effect in any common stock dividends declared and, as such, is considered a participating security. The Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock have been included in the computation of basic and diluted loss per share pursuant to the two-class method. Holders of the Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock did not participate in undistributed net losses because they were not contractually obligated to do so.

Treasury shares are presented as a reduction of equity, at their cost to the Company.

New Accounting Pronouncements

New Accounting Pronouncements Effective in the Year Ended December 31, 2021

In January 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-01, Investments-Equity Securities (Topic 321), Investments-Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), and Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) (“ASU 2020-01”). The new standard clarifies the interaction of accounting for the transition into and out of the equity method. The new standard also clarifies the accounting for measuring certain purchased options and forward contracts to acquire investments. ASU 2020-01 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of 2021. The adoption of ASU 2020-01 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or notes.

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (“ASU 2019-12”). ASU 2019-12 eliminated previously allowed exceptions and clarified existing guidance in the accounting for income taxes, including in the areas of franchise taxes, the tax basis of goodwill and interim period effects of changes in tax laws. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of 2021. The adoption of ASU 2019-12 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or notes.

New Accounting Pronouncements Effective in Future Periods

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13 Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU 2016-13”) which requires the measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost. ASU 2016-13 replaces the existing incurred loss impairment model with an expected loss methodology, which will result in more timely recognition of credit losses. ASU 2016-13 is effective for annual reporting periods, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2022. Upon adoption of the new standard, the Company will begin recognizing an allowance for credit losses based on the estimated lifetime expected credit loss related to the Company’s financial assets. Due to the nature and extent of the Company’s financial instruments (primarily accounts receivable and a note receivable) currently within the scope of ASU 2016-13 and based on the Company’s analysis of ASU 2016-13 and the historical, current and expected credit quality of the Company’s customers, the Company does not expect ASU 2016-13 to have a material impact on its consolidated statements of operations and balance sheets.

The Company does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, other than the standards discussed above, could have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements. As new accounting pronouncements are issued, the Company will adopt those that are applicable under the circumstances.

NOTE 2 – BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS

Waycare Technologies Acquisition

On August 18, 2021, the Company completed its acquisition of Waycare by acquiring 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Waycare. The aggregate purchase price for the shares of Waycare was $60,171,000, less the amount of Waycare’s debt and certain transaction expenses and subject to a customary working capital adjustment. The purchase price was comprised of $39,884,000 of cash and 2,784,474 shares of the Company’s common stock, valued at $20,287,000. As a result of the transaction, Waycare has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

The purchase price has been preliminarily allocated to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on fair values as of the acquisition date. Since the acquisition of Waycare occurred on August 18, 2021, the results of operations for Waycare from the date of acquisition have been included in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021. The table below shows the breakdown related to the preliminary purchase price allocation for the acquisition (dollars in thousands):