908 Devices Inc. (MASS)

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We have developed an innovative suite of purpose-built handheld and desktop devices for point-of-need chemical analysis. Leveraging complementary analytical technologies including our proprietary mass spectrometry, or Mass Spec, microfluidics, and analytics and machine learning technologies, we make devices that are significantly smaller and more accessible than conventional laboratory instruments. Our devices are used at the point-of-need to interrogate unknown and invisible materials and provide quick, actionable answers to directly address some of the most critical problems in forensics, bioprocessing, pharma/biopharma, life science research and adjacent markets.

We create simplified measurement devices that our customers can use as accurate tools where and when their work needs to be done, rather than overly complex and centralized analytical instrumentation. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide will accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users.

Front-line workers rely upon our handheld devices to combat the opioid crisis and detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit materials in the air or on surfaces at levels 1,000 times below their lethal dose. First responders also utilize our handheld devices to detect and identify thousands of hazardous bulk materials. Our desktop devices are accelerating development and production of biotherapeutics by identifying and quantifying extracellular species in bioprocessing critical to cell health and productivity. They sit alongside or are directly connected to bioreactors and fermenters producing drug candidates, functional proteins, cell and gene therapies, and synthetic biology derived products. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users. The term “products” as used in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” refers to the MX908, ThreatID, ProtectIR, XplorIR, Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maverick, Maven and related sampling devices.

On April 29, 2024, we entered into an Equity Purchase Agreement, or the Purchase Agreement, with RedWave, CAM3 HoldCo, LLC, a Connecticut limited liability company, or Seller Entity, each of the holders of outstanding equity interests of Seller Entity, or the Beneficial Sellers, and the other parties thereto, pursuant to which we purchased all of the outstanding equity interests of RedWave, and the transaction closed on the same day. The purchase price included an initial payment of $45.0 million in cash and 1,497,171 unregistered shares of the Company’s common stock, which reflects closing adjustments relating to working capital, cash and debt adjustments. The cash consideration is subject to additional working capital, cash, debt, and transaction expense adjustments. RedWave is a leading provider of portable Fourier Transform Infrared, or FTIR, spectroscopic analyzers for rapid chemical identification of bulk materials. FTIR, an optical spectroscopy technology, is highly regarded for its specific substance identification abilities across a broad range of bulk materials. This acquisition provides us with an expanded portfolio of handheld chemical analysis devices for forensic workflows that quickly detect and identify unknown solids, liquids, vapors, and aerosols at the point of need. In addition, RedWave bolsters our desktop portfolio with a line of accessories for pharma Process Analytical Technology, or PAT, and industrial Quality Control applications.

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful further development and commercialization of our products. We generated revenue of $59.6 million and $50.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively,

65

Table of Contents

and incurred net losses of $72.2 million and $36.4 million for those same years. As of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $242.8 million. We expect to continue to incur net losses as we focus on growing commercial sales of our products in both the United States and international markets, including growing our sales teams, scaling our manufacturing operations, continuing research and development efforts to develop new products and further enhance our existing products. Further, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a result, we may need additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Restructuring and Strategic Re-Alignment

In November 2024, we announced an organizational restructuring to strengthen operational efficiencies. As part of the organizational restructuring, and to reduce our annual cash burn, we implemented an approximately 11% workforce reduction to rationalize our bioprocessing and life science instrumentation investments in sales, marketing and research and development during the current slower growth market environment. In addition, throughout 2025 we are planning to transition manufacturing operations from Massachusetts to North Carolina and Connecticut.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, we incurred approximately $0.7 million of expenses related to this organizational restructuring. These expenses were substantially for cash payments of severance and employee benefits and were paid as of December 31, 2024.

This organizational restructuring was substantially completed in December 2024 and there were no related accrued liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2024. The Company has not yet incurred any facility or other exit costs for transitioning manufacturing operations from Massachusetts to North Carolina and Connecticut, however we expect to incur costs related to moving our manufacturing operations in 2025.

Global Economic Conditions

We are continuing to closely monitor macroeconomic factors, including, but not limited to, continued inflationary and interest rate pressures, challenging capital market conditions and the limited availability of financing alternatives, which may have an impact on our business, results of operations and financial results.

We are closely monitoring continued economic uncertainty in the United States and abroad, including volatility in the global markets and the rise and fluctuations in inflation and interest rates. These developments and the potential worsening of other macro-economic conditions present risks for us, and our suppliers and customers. For example, general inflation in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and other geographies has recently been at levels not experienced in recent decades, which has led to higher prices for our raw materials and other inputs, as well as higher salaries and travel expenses, which could continue to negatively impact our business by increasing our cost of sales and operating expenses. General inflation could also negatively impact our business if it leads to spending pressure and decreased available capital for our customers to deploy to purchase our products and services.

66

Table of Contents

In addition, while the United States Federal Reserve has recently begun to lower interest rates, it has over the past couple of years raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation. Inflation, together with increased interest rates, may cause our customers to reduce or delay orders for our goods and services thereby causing a decrease in or change in timing of sales of our products and services. The impact of future inflation and interest rate fluctuations on the results of our operations cannot be accurately predicted.

Challenging capital market conditions and the limited availability of financing alternatives, together with inflationary and interest rates pressures, may contribute to more cautious spending by our customers. Certain of our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, including bioprocessing customers, may evaluate their inventory levels, cash on hand and path to profitability, and institute cost controls and take other actions to reduce or delay purchases of our products and services. We cannot accurately predict the full impact of current macroeconomic factors on the budgets and capital expenditures of our customers, or the timing of the normalization of customer purchasing patterns.

We are closely monitoring the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the ongoing hostilities in Israel, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip and other locations in the Middle East. Although we do not directly source any material products or supplies from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon or the Gaza Strip, our customers in Europe and the Middle East could be impacted by extended conflicts or an escalation of these conflicts into neighboring countries.

While it is difficult to predict all of the impacts these global economic events and continued inflationary and interest rate pressures will have on our business and to predict the effects of these factors on our customers’ spending in the near term, we believe the long-term opportunity that we see for our products and services remain unchanged.

Additional information regarding these global impacts on our business is set forth within this Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Factors affecting our performance

We believe that our financial performance has been and in the foreseeable future will continue to be primarily driven by the following factors. While each of these factors presents significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address in order to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address the factors below is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Device sales

Our financial performance has largely been driven by, and in the future will continue to be impacted by, the rate of sales of our handheld and desktop devices. Management focuses on device sales as an indicator of current business success and a leading indicator of likely future recurring revenue from consumables and services. We expect our device sales to continue to grow as we increase penetration in our existing markets and expand into, or offer new features and solutions that appeal to, new markets.

We plan to grow our device sales in the coming years through multiple strategies including expanding our sales efforts domestically and globally and continuing to enhance the underlying technology and applications for bioprocessing and life sciences research related to our Maverick, Rebel, ZipChip Interface, and Maven and related sampling devices. We regularly solicit feedback from our customers and focus our research and development efforts on enhancing our devices and enabling our customers to use additional applications that address their needs, which we believe in turn helps to drive additional sales of our devices and consumables.

Our sales process varies considerably depending upon the type of customer to whom we are selling. Our handheld device orders relate to our MX908, ThreatID, ProtectIR, and XplorIR, as well as components for the Aerosol and Vapor Chemical Agent Detectors (“AVCAD”) sold to our channel partner. Historically, our handheld devices have been used by municipal, state, federal and foreign governments and governmental agencies. Our sales process with government customers is often long and involves multiple levels of approvals, testing and, in some cases, trials. Device orders from a

67

Table of Contents

government customer are typically large orders and can be impacted by the timing of their capital budgets. As a result, the revenue for our handheld devices can vary significantly from period-to-period and has been and may continue to be concentrated in a small number of customers in any given period.

Our desktop devices are typically used by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academia markets. Our sales cycles within these markets tend to vary based on the size of the customer and the number of devices they purchase. Our shortest sales cycles are typically for small laboratories and individual researchers where, in some cases, we receive purchase orders from these customers within three months. Our sales process with other institutions can be longer with most customers submitting purchase orders within six to twelve months. Given the variability of our sales cycle, we have in the past experienced, and likely will in the future experience, fluctuations in our desktop device sales on a period-to-period basis.

Recurring revenue

We regularly assess trends relating to recurring revenue which includes consumables and services based on our product offerings, our customer base and our understanding of how our customers use our products. Recurring revenue was 39% and 33% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Our recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue will vary based upon new device placements in the period. As our device installed base expands, recurring revenue on an absolute basis is expected to increase and over time should be an increasingly important contributor to our revenue.

Revenue from the sales of consumables will vary by type of device. We expect that recurring revenue as a percentage of the original device price to be higher for our desktop devices (Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maverick, Maven and related sampling devices) than for our handheld devices (MX908, ThreatID, ProtectIR, and XplorIR). While we sell single-use swab samplers for MX908 to be used in liquid and solid materials analysis, there are a number of other applications that the MX908 can be used for that do not require consumables. ThreatID, ProtectIR, and XplorIR do not have consumables. Rebel and ZipChip Interface require consumables kits for all areas of operations. Currently, Rebel customers, who are actively utilizing the device, are consuming on average approximately half a 200-sample kit per month. With continuous operation, the Rebel is capable of consuming approximately one 200-sample kit per day. Maverick devices require consumables, probes and standards for all areas of operations. Maven and related sampling devices require consumable sets of buffers, probes and biosensors for all areas of operations.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is derived from sales of our devices, consumables and services. There will be fluctuations in mix between devices and consumables from period-to-period. Over time, as our device installed base grows and we see adoption of Rebel, we expect consumables revenue to constitute a larger percentage of total revenue. However, the percentage will be subject to fluctuation based upon our handheld sales in a period. In addition, our selling price and, consequently, our margins, are higher for those devices and consumables that we sell directly to customers as compared to those that we sell through channel partners. While we expect the mix of direct sales as compared to sales through channel partners to remain relatively constant in the near term, we are currently evaluating increasing our direct sales capabilities in certain geographies.

Future device and consumable selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including the introduction by others of competing products and solutions. We aim to mitigate downward pressure on our average selling prices by increasing the value proposition offered by our devices and consumables, primarily by expanding the applications for our devices and increasing the quantity and quality of data that can be obtained using our consumables.

68

Table of Contents

Product adoption

We monitor our customers’ stage of adoption of our products to provide insight into the timing of future potential sales and to help us formulate financial projections. Typical stages of adoption include testing, trials, pilot and deployment as follows:

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review the number of product placements and cumulative product placement as key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our product placements (units recognized as revenue) were as follows:

​

The number of product placements vary considerably from period-to-period due to the type and size of our customers and concentrations among larger government customers as described above. We expect continued fluctuations in our period-to-period number of product placements.

Our cumulative product placements consist of the following number of devices:

​

69

Table of Contents

Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

We generate product and service revenue from the sale of our devices and recurring revenue from the sale of consumables and contract revenue. Device sales accounted for 61% and 67% of our total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Consumables and contract revenue accounted for 39% and 33% of our total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Our current device offerings include:

​

​

We sell our devices directly to customers and through channel partners. Each of our device sales drives various streams of recurring revenue comprised of consumable and accessory product sales and service revenue.

​

Our consumables consist of:

​

​

Rebel and ZipChip Interface consumables can only be used with our devices and there are no alternative after-market options that can be used as a substitute. Each chip is used for a defined number of samples (or runs). We recognize revenue from the sale of consumables as the consumable products are shipped.

We also offer our customers extended warranty and service plans. Our extended warranty and service plans are offered for periods beyond the standard one-year warranty that all of our customers receive. These extended warranty and service plans generally have fixed fees and terms ranging from one additional year to four additional years. We recognize revenue from the sale of extended warranty and service plans over the respective coverage period, which approximates the service effort provided by us.

​

Contract agreements are arrangements whereby we provide engineering services for the development of our technology platform for specific programs or new and expanding applications of our technologies for future commercial endeavors. Our contract agreements are with the U.S. government and commercial entities (who may be contracting with the government). Contracts typically include compensation for labor effort and materials incurred related to the deliverables under the contract. Our contract revenue was primarily related to one customer during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, our revenue was comprised of revenue from the following sources (in thousands):

​

70

Table of Contents

Our revenue is comprised of sales of our handheld and desktop devices and related consumables, service contracts and contract revenue to end-users in the government, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and academia markets as follows (in thousands):

​

​

We sell our products primarily in the United States; however, we are continuing to expand our global sales efforts as we see traction in our products and assess global market needs. The majority of our international sales are through contractual arrangements with channel partners.

​

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Cost of product revenue primarily consists of costs for raw material parts and associated freight, shipping and handling costs, royalties, contract manufacturer costs, salaries and other personnel costs, overhead, amortization of intangibles and other direct costs related to those sales recognized as product revenue in the period.

​

Cost of service and contract revenue primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, travel related to services provided, facility costs associated with training, warranties and other costs of servicing equipment on a return-to-factory basis and at customer sites. Cost of contract revenue primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, materials, travel and other direct costs related to the contract revenue recognized in the period.

​

Gross profit is calculated as revenue less cost of revenue. Gross profit margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue. Our gross profit in future periods will depend on a variety of factors, including: market conditions that may impact our pricing, sales mix among devices, sales mix changes among consumables, excess and obsolete inventories, our cost structure for manufacturing operations relative to volume, and product warranty obligations. Our gross profit in future periods will vary based upon our channel mix and may decrease based upon our distribution channels and the potential to establish original equipment manufacturing channels for certain components of our technology platform which would have a lower gross margin.

​

We expect that our gross profit margin will increase over the long term as our sales and production volumes increase and our cost per unit decreases due to efficiencies of scale. We intend to use our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities to further advance and improve the efficiency of our manufacturing, which we believe will reduce costs and increase our gross margin.

​

Operating Expenses

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for our research activities, product development, hardware and software engineering and consultant services and other costs associated with our technology platform and products, which include:

71

Table of Contents

We believe that our continued investment in research and development is essential to our long-term competitive position.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other personnel costs, and stock-based compensation for our sales and marketing, finance, legal, human resources and general management, as well as professional services, such as legal, audit and accounting services.

We expect, but cannot guarantee, that annual selling, general and administrative expenses will not increase significantly over the next 12 to 14 months.

Change in fair value of contingent consideration

​

Change in fair value of contingent consideration represents the change in fair value of the contingent consideration obligation included in contingent consideration on the consolidated balance sheets as of the end of each period. Remeasurement of the contingent consideration obligation is done each quarter and the carrying value of the obligation is adjusted to the current fair value through our consolidated statements of operations.

​

Goodwill impairment

​

Goodwill impairment is the result of the fair value of our single reporting unit being less than its carrying value. The goodwill impairments in 2024 resulted from sustained decreases in our publicly quoted share price and market capitalization and as of December 31, 2024 our goodwill was reduced to zero.

​

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income

Interest income consists of interest earned on our invested cash balances.

​

Interest expense

​

Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with outstanding borrowings under our loan and security agreements and the amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts associated with such arrangements.

Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest income from our cash and cash equivalents, miscellaneous other income and expense unrelated to our core operations.

Provision for Income Taxes

We have not recorded any U.S. federal or state income tax benefits for the net operating losses we have incurred in each year or for the research and development tax credits we generated in the United States and have recorded a full valuation allowance against our net deferred assets, as we believe, based upon the weight of available evidence, that it is more likely than not that all of our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits will not be realized.

72

Table of Contents

We recognized an income tax benefit of $0.3 million and $0.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The income tax benefit recognized during the year ended December 31, 2024 primarily resulted from a reduction in the deferred tax liabilities recorded as part of our acquisition of 908 Devices GmbH.

As of December 31, 2024, the Company had gross federal and state operating loss carryforwards of $127.9 million and $92.5 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income and begin to expire in 2032 and 2025, respectively, of which $93.5 million of federal gross operating losses do not expire. As of December 31, 2024, the Company also had U.S. federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $8.6 million and $4.8 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future tax liabilities and begin to expire in 2032 and 2030, respectively.

Results of Operations

The results of operations presented below should be reviewed in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following tables set forth our results of operations for the periods presented:

Comparison of the Years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

​

73

Table of Contents

Revenue, Cost of revenue and Gross profit

Product

Our product revenue is comprised of revenue from sales of devices and related accessories and consumables and service as follows:

​

​

Product revenue increased by $3.7 million, or 9%, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily related to $9.8 million in product revenue from our recently acquired FTIR products. This increase was offset in part by a $3.2 million decrease in MX908 related handheld product revenue, mainly due to fewer device placements, a $1.8 million decrease from component shipments under our subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract, as well as a $0.9 million decrease in desktop product revenue, mainly due to the mix of devices and three fewer desktop device placements, for the year ended December 31, 2024.

​

Product cost of revenue increased by $3.2 million, or 17%, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase in product cost of revenue was primarily related to a $2.3 million increase in production costs related to the higher product revenues, $1.7 million in higher intangible amortization and $1.1 million in higher personnel related costs, partly related to our RedWave acquisition. These increases were offset in part by a $1.3 million increase in labor and overhead absorption related to the level of production builds and a $0.9 million decrease in materials and supplies consumed in production related activities.

Product gross profit increased by $0.5 million, or 2%, and gross profit margin decreased by 3% for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase in product gross profit was primarily due to the higher product revenue volume, net of favorable timing of production and lower material costs, offset in part by increases in intangible amortization and other production related costs for the year ended December 31, 2024.

​

Service and Contract

​

Our service and contract revenue is comprised of revenue from sales of extended warranty and service plans and customer training as follows:

​

​

Service and contract revenue increased by $5.7 million, or 57%, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily related to an increase in handheld service revenues related to extended service contracts and training for MX908 devices and to a lesser extent our recently acquired FTIR products, as well as a $0.6 million increase in desktop service revenue. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recognized contract revenue with three new commercial entities. Contract revenue for the year ended December 31,

74

Table of Contents

2023 was related to activities under our subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract, which was concluded in the second quarter of 2023.

​

Service and contract cost of revenue increased by $1.7 million, or 25%, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase in service cost of revenue was primarily related to a $0.8 million increase in personnel and other operating costs, partly related to our RedWave acquisition, a $0.4 million increase in material costs and contract trainers, and a $0.1 million increase related to stock-based compensation.

Service and contract gross profit increased by 114%, and gross profit margin increased by thirteen percentage points for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, primarily due to an increase in service volume related to extended service contracts and training revenue, leveraging our investments in personal and service infrastructure.

​

Operating Expenses

Research and development

​

Our research and development expenses were $25.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $3.6 million from research and development expenses of $21.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was mainly due to the increased expenses from the RedWave acquisition and was due primarily to a $2.0 million increase in personnel and related costs, a $0.8 million increase in stock-based compensation, a $0.5 million increase in project spend related to materials and consulting, and a $0.2 million increase in depreciation and occupancy related expenses, mainly related to our facilities in Connecticut and North Carolina.

​

Selling, general and administrative expenses

​

Our selling, general and administrative expenses were $53.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $7.6 million from selling, general and administrative expenses of $46.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The increase was partly due to the increased expenses from the RedWave acquisition and was due primarily to a $2.4 million increase in banker, legal and accounting fees, mainly related to the RedWave acquisition of RedWave, a $2.5 million increase in salaries and related costs, a $1.0 million increase in stock-based compensation, a $0.7 million increase in consulting, legal and related costs not related to the RedWave acquisition, a $0.5 million increase in travel and related costs, a $0.3 million increase in material spend, a $0.2 million increase in trade shows and a $0.4 million increase across all other operating costs. These increases were partially offset by a $0.3 million decrease in insurance costs and a $0.2 million decrease in provisions for bad debts.

​

75

Table of Contents

Change in fair value of contingent consideration

​

​

The key assumptions, such as revenue projections, equity volatility rate of the Company, revenue volatility rate and discount rate are utilized to estimate the fair value of the contingent consideration under Monte Carlo simulation. The decline in such key assumptions resulted in a decrease to the fair value of the contingent consideration obligation for the year ended December 31, 2024 of a credit of $13.2 million from the RedWave acquisition date fair value. Specifically, the decrease to the fair value of contingent consideration was primarily due to the change in revenue projections from operating decisions made post-acquisition and sustained decreases in the Company’s publicly quoted share price during the third and fourth quarters of 2024. For the year ended December 31, 2023, a charge of $0.1 million was recorded to increase the value of the contingent consideration liability related to the Trace acquisition.

​

Goodwill impairment

​

​

As a result of sustained decreases in our publicly quoted share price and market capitalization, a $40.7 million goodwill impairment was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2024.

​

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income

​

Interest income decreased by $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $6.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decrease was due to the lower cash, cash equivalent and marketable securities balance, primarily due to the average balance during the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, primarily due to the use of cash with the RedWave acquisition.

​

Interest expense

Interest expense decreased by $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decrease was primarily due to costs incurred in March 2023 related to the write-off of deferred financing costs on our 2022 Revolver, which was in default and later amended in August 2023.

Other income (expense), net

Other expense, net for the year ended December 31, 2024 did not change materially from the year ended December 31, 2023.

Benefit for Income Taxes

Benefit for income taxes increased by $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 from $0.2 million from the year ended December 31, 2023. The income tax benefit recognized during the periods was primarily resulting from a reduction in the deferred tax liabilities recorded as part of our acquisition of 908 Devices GmbH.

76

Table of Contents

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of redeemable preferred stock, borrowings under loan agreements and revenue from sales of our products and services and license and contract revenue, proceeds from our IPO in December 2020, and our underwritten public offering in November 2021. As of December 31, 2024, we had cash and cash equivalents of $44.0 million and marketable securities of $25.6 million, which were held for working capital purposes and for investment in growth opportunities. Our marketable securities consist of U.S. treasury securities. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next twelve months.

We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we expect. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

On November 2, 2022, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2022 Revolver, with Silicon Valley Bank, or the Lender.

The 2022 Revolver provided for a revolving line of credit of up to $35.0 million. We were permitted to make interest-only payments on the revolving line of credit through November 2, 2025, at which time all outstanding indebtedness would be immediately due and payable. The outstanding principal amount of any advance accrued interest at a floating rate per annum equal to the greater of (i) three and one-half percent (3.50%) and (ii) the “prime rate” as published in The Wall Street Journal for the relevant period minus one-half percent (0.50%). Our obligations under the 2022 Revolver were secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding our intellectual property, which was subject to a negative pledge. The revolving line of credit under the 2022 Revolver was scheduled to terminate on November 2, 2025.

​

The 2022 Revolver also contained certain financial covenants, including a requirement that the amount of unrestricted and unencumbered cash minus advances under the 2022 Revolver was not less than the amount equal to the greater of (i) $10.0 million or (ii) nine (9) months of cash burn. The 2022 Revolver contained customary representations and warranties, as well as certain non-financial covenants, including limitations on, among other things, our ability to change the principal nature of our business, dispose of our business or property, engage in any change of control transaction, merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, incur additional indebtedness or liens, pay dividends or make other distributions on capital stock, redeem our capital stock, engage in transactions with affiliates or otherwise encumber our intellectual property, in each case, subject to customary exceptions.

​

77

Table of Contents

As of December 31, 2023, there were no balances outstanding under the 2022 Revolver. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding principal balance under the 2022 Revolver was $15.0 million, which was repaid in full on January 4, 2023. The interest rate applicable to borrowing under the 2022 Revolver was 7.0% as of December 31, 2022.

​

On March 10, 2023, the Lender, also one of our financial institutions, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, as receiver.

​

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had transferred substantially all its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities away from the Lender and deposited the funds with new financial institutions. As a result of the transfer of the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, the Company was in default, of its financial covenants under the 2022 Revolver. The Company recorded a loss on extinguishment of $0.5 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023, which was included in interest expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

​

On August 4, 2023, we entered into a Default Waiver and First Amendment to Loan and Security Agreement with the Lender, or the Amended 2022 Revolver, in which the Lender waived its rights and remedies against the Company and amended the 2022 Revolver. The Amended 2022 Revolver provides for a revolving line of credit of up to $10.0 million. The Company is permitted to make interest-only payments on the revolving line of credit through November 3, 2025, at which time all outstanding indebtedness shall be immediately due and payable. The outstanding principal amount of any advance shall accrue interest at a floating rate per annum equal to the greater of (i) four and one-half percent (4.50%) and (ii) the “prime rate” as published in The Wall Street Journal for the relevant period minus one-half percent (0.50%). The Company’s obligations under the Amended 2022 Revolver are secured by substantially all of the Company’s assets, excluding its intellectual property, which is subject to a negative pledge. The revolving line of credit under the Amended 2022 Revolver terminates on November 3, 2025. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, there were no balances outstanding under the Amended 2022 Revolver.

Pursuant to the Amended 2022 Revolver, the Lender waived filing any legal action or instituting or enforcing any rights and remedies it may have had against the Company in connection with the Company’s failing to maintain all of its operating accounts, depository accounts and excess cash with the Lender, as previously required under the 2022 Revolver. The Company recorded a credit of $0.3 million during the three months ended September 30, 2023 related to the previously recorded early termination penalties.

The Amended 2022 Revolver also contains certain financial covenants, including a requirement that the Company maintain $20.0 million on account at or through the Lender and that the amount of unrestricted and unencumbered cash minus advances under the Amended 2022 Revolver, is not less than the amount equal to the greater of (i) $10.0 million or (ii) nine (9) months of cash burn. The Amended 2022 Revolver contains customary representations and warranties, as well as certain non-financial covenants, including limitations on, among other things, the Company’s ability to change the principal nature of its business, dispose of the Company’s business or property, engage in any change of control transaction, merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, incur additional indebtedness or liens, pay dividends or make other distributions on capital stock, redeem the Company’s capital stock, engage in transactions with affiliates or otherwise encumber the Company’s intellectual property, in each case, subject to customary exceptions.

We may seek additional funding through private or public equity financings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and marketing, channel partner or licensing arrangements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain additional funds on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or equity-linked securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Future debt financing, if available, may involve covenants, in addition to our existing covenants, restricting our operations or our ability to incur additional debt or potentially limiting our ability to obtain new debt financing or the refinance of our existing debt. Any debt or equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our products, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we do not have or are not able to obtain sufficient funds, we may have to delay development or commercialization of our products. We also may have to reduce marketing, customer support or other resources devoted to our products or cease operations.

78

Table of Contents

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented:

​

Operating Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash used in operating activities was $30.2 million, primarily resulting from our net loss of $72.2 million and net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $2.5 million, partially offset by noncash charges of $44.5 million. Net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2024, consisted primarily of a $2.9 million decrease from changes in accounts receivable and a $1.7 million decrease from changes in inventory, partially offset by a $2.3 million increase from changes in accounts payable and accrued expenses. Noncash changes consisted primarily of a $40.7 million goodwill impairment charge and $11.8 million in stock-based compensation charges, partially offset by $13.2 million from the change in fair value of contingent consideration.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in operating activities was $25.1 million, primarily resulting from our net loss of $36.4 million and net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $1.6 million, partially offset by noncash charges of $12.9 million. Net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2023, consisted primarily of a $3.9 million decrease from changes in inventory and a $1.6 million decrease from changes in operating lease liabilities, partially offset by a $1.7 million increase from changes in right-of-use operating lease assets, a $2.0 million increase from changes in accounts payable and accrued expenses and a $0.7 million increase from changes in account receivable.

Investing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash used in investing activities was $46.3 million, due to cash paid with the acquisition of RedWave of $44.8 million and $0.6 million in purchases of property and equipment. In addition, $55.5 million in cash was used for purchases of marketable securities, partially offset by $54.6 million in proceeds from maturities of marketable securities.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities was $26.4 million, due to $48.9 million in purchases of marketable securities, partially offset by $24.5 million in proceeds from maturities of marketable securities and $2.0 million in purchases of property and equipment.

Financing Activities

Cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2024, was $0.4 million, due primarily to a $0.5 million payment for contingent consideration earned with our acquisition of Trace Analytics GmbH.

Cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2023, was $15.9 million, consisting primarily of the repayment of $15.0 million outstanding under the 2022 Revolver and $1.1 million in payments for contingent consideration related to the release of the $0.9 million assignment of the pension liability in connection with our acquisition of Trace Analytics GmbH and the $0.2 million initial fair value of contingent consideration, related to the $0.5 million initial milestone achievement in August 2023, that was paid in 2023.

79

Table of Contents

Contractual Obligations

We have operating lease obligations for office space and certain equipment, which have remaining lease terms ranging from less than one year to nine years. The total future minimum payments under such leases are $8.5 million as of December 31, 2024, of which $2.3 million is expected to be paid in 2025.

At times, we have purchase orders or contracts for the purchase of supplies and other goods and services. We are not able to determine the aggregate amount of such purchase orders that represent contractual obligations, as purchase orders may represent authorizations to purchase rather than binding agreements. Our purchase orders are based on our current procurement or development needs and are fulfilled by our vendors within short time horizons.

We have also entered into a license agreement under which we are obligated to make royalty payments in the low single digit percent range. We have not included future payments under this agreement in the table of contractual obligations above since the payment obligations under this agreement are contingent upon generating product sales.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we made no cash contributions to our foreign pension plan, assumed as a part of Trace Analytics GmbH acquisition. The plan was transferred and the Company was released from the pension obligation in April 2023.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue from sales to customers under Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, or ASC 606 by applying the following five steps: (1) identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer, (2) identification of the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determination of the transaction price, (4) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (5) recognition of revenue when, or as, performance obligations are satisfied.

For a contract with multiple performance obligations, we allocate the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis using our best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct product or service in the contract. The primary method used to estimate standalone selling price is the price observed in standalone sales to customers; however, when prices in standalone sales are not available, we may use third party pricing for similar products or services or estimate the standalone selling price, which is set by management. Allocation of the transaction price is determined at the contract’s inception and is not updated to reflect changes between contract inception and when the performance obligations are satisfied.

We derive revenue primarily from the sale of handheld and desktop products and related consumables and services. Revenue is recognized when control of the promised products, consumables or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those products, consumables or

80

Table of Contents

services (the transaction price). A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct product or service to a customer and is the unit of accounting under ASC 606. For devices and consumables sold by us, control transfers to the customer at a point in time. To indicate the transfer of control, we must have a present right to payment, legal title must have passed to the customer, the customer must have the significant risks and rewards of ownership, and where acceptance is other than perfunctory, the customer must have accepted the product or service. Our principal terms of sale are freight on board, or FOB, shipping point, or equivalent, and, as such, we primarily transfer control and record revenue for product sales upon shipment. Sales arrangements with delivery terms that are not FOB shipping point are not recognized upon shipment and the transfer of control for revenue recognition is evaluated based on the associated shipping terms and customer obligations. If a performance obligation to the customer with respect to a sales transaction remains to be fulfilled following shipment (typically installation or acceptance by the customer), revenue recognition for that performance obligation is deferred until such commitments have been fulfilled. For extended warranty and support, control transfers to the customer over the term of the arrangement. Revenue for extended warranty and support is recognized based upon the period of time elapsed under the arrangement as this period represents the transfer of benefits or services under the agreement.

From time to time, we generate revenue from short and long-term contracts associated with the design and development and delivery of detection devices or related design and support services.

Generally, revenue for long-term contracts is recognized based upon the cost-to-cost measure of progress, provided that we meet the criteria associated with transferring control of the good or service over time such as not creating an asset with an alternative use and having an enforceable right to payment for completed performance. However, we evaluate the proper revenue recognition on a contract by contract basis, as each contract generally contains terms specific to the underlying agreement which result in differing performance obligations and payment terms (cost plus, fixed price agreements among others). For revenue recognized under the cost-to-cost measure of progress basis, we continually assess total costs expected to be incurred and if such costs require adjustment to the measure of progress, we record such adjustment as a change in estimate on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

We include the unconstrained amount of consideration in the transaction price. The amount included in the transaction price is constrained to the amount for which it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur. At the end of each subsequent reporting period, as required by ASC 606, we re-evaluate the estimated consideration included in the transaction price and any related constraint, and if necessary, adjust our estimate of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

Distribution Channels

A majority of our revenue is generated by sales in conjunction with our channel partners, such as our international channel partners and in the United States for end customers where a government contract is required or a customer has a pre-existing relationship. When we transact with a channel partner, our contractual arrangement is with the partner and not with the end-use customer. Whether we transact business with and receive the order from a channel partner or directly from an end-use customer, our revenue recognition policy and resulting pattern of revenue recognition for the order are the same.

Stock-Based Compensation

We measure stock-based option awards granted to employees, consultants and directors based on their fair value on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Compensation expense for those awards is recognized, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. The straight-line method of expense recognition is applied to all awards with service-only conditions, while the graded vesting method is applied to all grants with both service and performance conditions. Forfeitures are recorded as they occur instead of estimating forfeitures that are expected to occur.

81

Table of Contents

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model uses as inputs the fair value of our common stock and assumptions we make for the volatility of our common stock, the expected term of our common stock options, the risk-free interest rate for a period that approximates the expected term of our common stock options, and our expected dividend yield.

Valuation of Inventory

Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Cost is computed using the first-in, first-out method. We regularly review inventory quantities on-hand for excess and obsolete inventory and, when circumstances indicate, record charges to write down inventories to their estimated net realizable value, after evaluating historical sales, future demand, market conditions and expected product life cycles. Such charges are classified as cost of revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Any write-down of inventory to net realizable value creates a new cost basis.

Goodwill and Long-Lived Assets

Goodwill is not amortized, but is evaluated for impairment on an annual basis, or on an interim basis when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. In assessing the recoverability of goodwill, we must make assumptions regarding the estimated future cash flows, and other factors, to determine the fair value of these assets. If these estimates or their related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record impairment charges against these assets in the reporting period in which the impairment is determined.

We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, which is the operating segment, in the fourth quarter of every year. We have the option of performing a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary before performing the quantitative assessment. If as a result of the quantitative assessment, it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, a quantitative impairment test will be required. The quantitative goodwill impairment test requires management to estimate and compare the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying value. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets, goodwill is not impaired. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value, the difference is recorded as an impairment loss up to the amount of goodwill.

We review other long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of an asset or an asset group may not be recoverable. In evaluating long-lived assets for recoverability, we estimate the future cash flows that are expected from the use of each asset. Impairment losses are measured and recorded for the excess of an asset's carrying value over its fair value. To determine the fair value of long-lived assets, we utilize the valuation technique or techniques deemed most appropriate based on the nature of the asset or asset group, which may include the use of quoted market prices, prices for similar assets or other valuation techniques such as discounted future cash flows or earnings.

Business combination

Under the acquisition method of accounting, we generally recognize the tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values on the date of acquisition. The fair values assigned, defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants, are based on estimates and assumptions determined by management. The excess consideration over the aggregate value of tangible and intangible assets, net of liabilities assumed, is recorded as goodwill. These valuations require significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets.

We estimate the fair value of the contingent consideration earnouts using the Monte Carlo Simulation or probability weighted scenario depending on the nature of the contingent consideration and update the fair value of the contingent consideration at each reporting period based on the estimated probability of achieving the earnout targets and applying a discount rate that captures the risk associated with the expected contingent payments. To the extent that these estimates change in the future regarding the likelihood of achieving these targets, we may need to record material adjustments to

82

Table of Contents

our accrued contingent consideration. Such changes in the fair value of contingent consideration are recorded as contingent consideration expense or income in the consolidated statements of operations.

We use the income approach to determine the fair value of certain identifiable intangible assets including customer relationships and developed technology. This approach determines fair value by estimating after-tax cash flows attributable to these assets over their respective useful lives and then discounting these after-tax cash flows back to a present value. We base our assumptions on estimates of future cash flows, expected growth rates, expected trends in technology, probabilities of customer renewals, etc. We base the discount rates used to arrive at a present value as of the date of acquisition on the time value of money and certain industry-specific risk factors. We believe the estimated purchased customer relationships, developed technology, software and trade name amounts determined represent the fair value at the date of acquisition and do not exceed the amount a third-party would pay for the assets.

If the actual results differ from the estimates and judgments used in these estimates, the amounts recorded in the financial statements may be exposed to potential impairment of the intangible assets and goodwill. The determination of fair value is considered a critical accounting estimate because the valuation techniques mentioned use significant estimates and assumptions, including projected future revenues, a hypothetical royalty rate, the expected economic life of the asset, tax rates and a discount rate that reflects the level of risk associated with the future earnings attributable to the asset.

During the measurement period, which is up to one year from the acquisition date, adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed may be recorded, with the corresponding offset to goodwill.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is disclosed in Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Inflation Risk

During the last two years, inflation and changing prices have not had a material effect on our business. We are unable to predict whether inflation or changing prices will materially affect our business in the foreseeable future.

​

​

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We have developed an innovative suite of purpose-built handheld and desktop devices for point-of-need chemical and biochemical analysis. Leveraging our proprietary mass spectrometry, or Mass Spec, microfluidics, and analytics and machine learning technologies, we make devices that are significantly smaller and more accessible than conventional laboratory instruments. Our devices are used at the point-of-need to interrogate unknown and invisible materials and provide quick, actionable answers to directly address some of the most critical problems in life sciences research, bioprocessing, pharma/biopharma, forensics and adjacent markets. The term “products” as used in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” refers to the Maverick, MX908, Rebel, ZipChip Interface, and Maven and related sampling devices.

We create simplified measurement devices that our customers can use as accurate tools where and when their work needs to be done, rather than overly complex and centralized analytical instrumentation. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide will accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users.

Front-line workers rely upon our handheld devices to combat the opioid crisis and detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit materials in the air or on surfaces at levels 1,000 times below their lethal dose. Our desktop devices are accelerating development and production of biotherapeutics by identifying and quantifying extracellular species in bioprocessing critical to cell health and productivity. They sit alongside or are directly connected to bioreactors and fermenters producing drug candidates, functional proteins, cell and gene therapies, and synthetic biology derived products. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users.

On August 3, 2022, we completed our acquisition of 100% of the registered share capital of Trace Analytics GmbH, renamed 908 Devices GmbH, pursuant to a share purchase and transfer agreement, for a total purchase price consideration of $17.3 million, comprised of (i) a $14.4 million initial cash payment, (ii) up to $2.0 million contingent cash consideration upon achievement of certain milestones over a twenty-four-month period and (iii) $0.9 million contingent pension liability holdback to be released upon discharging or transferring of such liability from 908 Devices GmbH. 908 Devices GmbH is a leading provider of online analysis systems for biotech applications in research, development and production. 908 Devices GmbH’s products are used for monitoring and control of complex processes in industrial pharmaceutical productions under continuous measurement conditions. We expect to integrate acquired sampling technology within future product offerings.

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful further development and commercialization of our products. We generated revenue of $50.2 million and $46.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and incurred net losses of $36.4 million and $33.6 million for those same years. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $170.6 million. We expect to continue to incur net losses as we focus on growing commercial sales of our products in both the United States and international markets, including growing our sales teams, scaling our manufacturing operations, continuing research and development efforts to develop new products and further enhance our existing products. Further, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a

66

Table of Contents

result, we may need additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Global Economic Conditions

We are continuing to closely monitor macroeconomic factors, including, but not limited to, continued inflationary and interest rate pressures, challenging capital market conditions and the limited availability of financing alternatives, which may have an impact on our business, results of operations and financial results.

We are closely monitoring continued economic uncertainty in the United States and abroad, including volatility in the global markets and the rise and fluctuations in inflation and interest rates. These developments and the potential worsening of other macro-economic conditions present risks for us, and our suppliers and customers. For example, general inflation in the United States, EMEA and other geographies has recently been at levels not experienced in recent decades, which has led to higher prices for our raw materials and other inputs, as well as higher salaries and travel expenses, which could continue to negatively impact our business by increasing our cost of sales and operating expenses. General inflation could also negatively impact our business if it leads to spending pressure and decreased available capital for our customers to deploy to purchase our products and services.

In addition, the United States Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation. Inflation, together with increased interest rates, may cause our customers to reduce or delay orders for our goods and services thereby causing a decrease in or change in timing of sales of our products and services. The impact of future inflation and interest rate fluctuations on the results of our operations cannot be accurately predicted.

Challenging capital market conditions and the limited availability of financing alternatives , together with inflationary and interest rates pressures, may contribute to more cautious spending by our customers. Certain of our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, including bioprocessing customers, may evaluate their inventory levels, cash on hand and path to profitability, and institute cost controls and take other actions to reduce or delay purchases of our products and services. We cannot accurately predict the full impact of current macroeconomic factors on the budgets and capital expenditures of our customers, or the timing of the normalization of customer purchasing patterns.

We are closely monitoring the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the ongoing hostilities in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Although we do not directly source any material products or supplies from Russia, Ukraine, Israel or the Gaza Strip, our customers in Europe and the Middle East could be impacted by extended conflicts or an escalation of these conflicts into neighboring countries.

While it is difficult to predict all of the impacts these global economic events and continued inflationary and interest rate pressures will have on our business and to predict the effects of these factors on our customers’ spending in the near term, we believe the long-term opportunity that we see for our products and services remain unchanged.

67

Table of Contents

Additional information regarding these global impacts on our business is set forth within this Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Factors affecting our performance

We believe that our financial performance has been and in the foreseeable future will continue to be primarily driven by the following factors. While each of these factors presents significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address in order to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address the factors below is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Device sales

Our financial performance has largely been driven by, and in the future will continue to be impacted by, the rate of sales of our handheld and desktop devices. Management focuses on device sales as an indicator of current business success and a leading indicator of likely future recurring revenue from consumables and services. We expect our device sales to continue to grow as we increase penetration in our existing markets and expand into, or offer new features and solutions that appeal to, new markets.

We plan to grow our device sales in the coming years through multiple strategies including expanding our sales efforts domestically and globally and continuing to enhance the underlying technology and applications for life sciences research related to our Maverick, Rebel, ZipChip Interface, and Maven and related sampling devices. We regularly solicit feedback from our customers and focus our research and development efforts on enhancing our devices and enabling our customers to use additional applications that address their needs, which we believe in turn helps to drive additional sales of our devices and consumables.

Our sales process varies considerably depending upon the type of customer to whom we are selling. Our handheld device orders relate to our MX908 as well as components for the Aerosol and Vapor Chemical Agent Detectors (“AVCAD”) sold to our channel partner. Historically, our handheld devices have been used by state, federal and foreign governments and governmental agencies. Our sales process with government customers is often long and involves multiple levels of approvals, testing and, in some cases, trials. Device orders from a government customer are typically large orders and can be impacted by the timing of their capital budgets. As a result, the revenue for our handheld devices can vary significantly from period-to-period and has been and may continue to be concentrated in a small number of customers in any given period.

Our desktop devices are typically used by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academia markets. Our sales cycles within these markets tend to vary based on the size of the customer and the number of devices they purchase. Our shortest sales cycles are typically for small laboratories and individual researchers where, in some cases, we receive purchase orders from these customers within three months. Our sales process with other institutions can be longer with most customers submitting purchase orders within six to twelve months. Given the variability of our sales cycle, we have in the past experienced, and likely will in the future experience, fluctuations in our desktop device sales on a period-to-period basis.

Recurring revenue

We regularly assess trends relating to recurring revenue which includes consumables and services based on our product offerings, our customer base and our understanding of how our customers use our products. Recurring revenue was 33% and 35% of total product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our recurring revenue as a percentage of total product and service revenue will vary based upon new device placements in the period. As our device installed base expands, recurring revenue on an absolute basis is expected to increase and over time should be an increasingly important contributor to our revenue.

68

Table of Contents

Revenue from the sales of consumables will vary by type of device. We expect that recurring revenue as a percentage of the original device price to be higher for our desktop devices (Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maverick, Maven and related sampling devices) than for our handheld device (MX908). While we sell single-use swab samplers for MX908 to be used in liquid and solid materials analysis, there are a number of other applications that the MX908 can be used for that do not require consumables. Rebel and ZipChip Interface require consumables kits for all areas of operations. Currently, Rebel customers, who are actively utilizing the device, are consuming on average approximately half a 200-sample kit per month; however, Rebel is a relatively new product and purchasing patterns related to our consumables kits are evolving. We expect that the number of kits sold per month will vary over the short term. In time, we expect Rebel consumables kits sales to become more consistent as our installed base grows and our customers establish usage patterns. At maximum potential capacity, with continuous operation, the Rebel can consume approximately one 200-sample kit per day. Maverick devices require consumables, probes and standards for all areas of operations. Maven and related sampling devices require consumable sets of buffers, probes and biosensors for all areas of operations.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is derived from sales of our devices, consumables and services. There will be fluctuations in mix between devices and consumables from period-to-period. Over time, as our device installed base grows and we see adoption of Rebel, we expect consumables revenue to constitute a larger percentage of product and service revenue. However, the percentage will be subject to fluctuation based upon our handheld sales in a period. In addition, our selling price and, consequently, our margins, are higher for those devices and consumables that we sell directly to customers as compared to those that we sell through channel partners. While we expect the mix of direct sales as compared to sales through channel partners to remain relatively constant in the near term, we are currently evaluating increasing our direct sales capabilities in certain geographies.

Future device and consumable selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including the introduction by others of competing products and solutions. We aim to mitigate downward pressure on our average selling prices by increasing the value proposition offered by our devices and consumables, primarily by expanding the applications for our devices and increasing the quantity and quality of data that can be obtained using our consumables.

Product adoption

We monitor our customers’ stage of adoption of our products to provide insight into the timing of future potential sales and to help us formulate financial projections. Typical stages of adoption include testing, trials, pilot and deployment as follows:

69

Table of Contents

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review the number of product placements and cumulative product placement as key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our product placements (units recognized as revenue) were as follows:

​

The number of product placements vary considerably from period-to-period due to the type and size of our customers and concentrations among larger government customers as described above. We expect continued fluctuations in our period-to-period number of product placements.

Our cumulative product placements consist of the following number of devices:

​

Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

Product and Service Revenue

We generate product and service revenue from the sale of our devices and recurring revenue from the sale of consumables and services. Device sales accounted for 67% and 65% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Consumables and service revenue accounted for 33% and 35% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Our current device offerings include:

​

We sell our devices directly to customers and through channel partners. Each of our device sales drives various streams of recurring revenue comprised of consumable product sales and service revenue.

Our consumables consist of:

​

70

Table of Contents

Rebel and ZipChip Interface consumables can only be used with our devices and there are no alternative after-market options that can be used as a substitute. Each chip is used for a defined number of samples (or runs). We recognize revenue from the sale of consumables as the consumable products are shipped.

We also offer our customers extended warranty and service plans. Our extended warranty and service plans are offered for periods beyond the standard one-year warranty that all of our customers receive. These extended warranty and service plans generally have fixed fees and terms ranging from one additional year to four additional years. We recognize revenue from the sale of extended warranty and service plans over the respective coverage period, which approximates the service effort provided by us.

We expect consumables and service revenue to increase in future periods as our installed base grows and we are able to generate recurring sales.

Contract revenue

Contract agreements are arrangements whereby we provide engineering services for the development of our technology platform for specific programs or new and expanding applications of our technologies for future commercial endeavors. Our contract agreements are with the U.S. government and commercial entities (who may be contracting with the government). Contracts typically include compensation for labor effort and materials incurred related to the deliverables under the contract. Our license and contract revenue was primarily related to one customer during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.

During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our revenue was comprised of revenue from the following sources (in thousands):

​

Our product and service revenue is comprised of sales of our handheld and desktop devices and related consumables and service contracts to end-users in the government, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and academia markets as follows (in thousands):

​

​

We sell our products primarily in the United States; however, we are continuing to expand our global sales efforts as we see traction in our products and assess global market needs. The majority of our international sales are through channel partners and to a lesser extent, starting in 2023, through our 908 Devices GmbH subsidiary for our desktop sales in Europe and the United Kingdom.

71

Table of Contents

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Product cost of revenue primarily consists of costs for raw material parts and associated freight, shipping and handling costs, royalties, contract manufacturer costs, salaries and other personnel costs, overhead, amortization of intangibles and other direct costs related to those sales recognized as product revenue in the period.

​

Cost of revenue for services primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, travel related to services provided, facility costs associated with training, warranties and other costs of servicing equipment on a return-to-factory basis and at customer sites. Contract cost of revenue primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, materials, travel and other direct costs related to the revenue recognized in the period. The contract cost of revenue will vary based upon the type of contract, including whether it is primarily for development services or for both materials and development services.

​

We expect that our cost of revenue will increase or decrease to the extent that our revenue increases and decreases and depending on how many contracts we have ongoing at any given point in time and the stage of those contracts.

​

Gross profit is calculated as revenue less cost of revenue. Gross profit margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue. Our gross profit in future periods will depend on a variety of factors, including: market conditions that may impact our pricing, sales mix among devices, sales mix changes among consumables, excess and obsolete inventories, our cost structure for manufacturing operations relative to volume, and product warranty obligations. Our gross profit in future periods will vary based upon our channel mix and may decrease based upon our distribution channels and the potential to establish original equipment manufacturing channels for certain components of our technology platform which would have a lower gross margin.

​

We expect that our gross profit margin for product and service will increase over the long term as our sales and production volumes increase and our cost per unit decreases due to efficiencies of scale. We intend to use our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities to further advance and improve the efficiency of our manufacturing, which we believe will reduce costs and increase our gross margin. We expect that our gross profit margin for contract will remain consistent for our contracts that are cost reimbursement contracts.

​

Operating Expenses

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for our research activities, product development, hardware and software engineering and consultant services and other costs associated with our technology platform and products, which include:

We believe that our continued investment in research and development is essential to our long-term competitive position and expect these expenses to increase in future periods.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other personnel costs, and stock-based compensation for our sales and marketing, finance, legal, human resources and general management, as well as

72

Table of Contents

professional services, such as legal, audit and accounting services. We expect selling, general and administrative expenses, amortization of customer relationship and tradename intangibles to increase in future periods as the number of sales, sales application specialists and marketing and administrative personnel grows and we continue to introduce new products, invest in demonstration equipment, broaden our customer base and grow our business. We also anticipate that we will incur increased accounting, audit, legal, regulatory, compliance and director and officer insurance costs as well as investor and public relations expenses associated with operating as a public company.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income

Interest income consists of interest earned on our invested cash balances.

​

Interest expense

​

Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with outstanding borrowings under our loan and security agreements and the amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts associated with such arrangements.

Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest income from our cash and cash equivalents, miscellaneous other income and expense unrelated to our core operations.

Provision for Income Taxes

We have not recorded any U.S. federal or state income tax benefits for the net operating losses we have incurred in each year or for the research and development tax credits we generated in the United States and have recorded a full valuation allowance against our net deferred assets, as we believe, based upon the weight of available evidence, that it is more likely than not that all of our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits will not be realized.

We recognized an income tax benefit of $0.2 million and $0 during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The income tax benefit recognized during the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily resulted from a reduction in the deferred tax liabilities recorded as part of our acquisition of 908 Devices GmbH.

As of December 31, 2023, we had gross federal and state operating loss carryforwards of $108.2 million and $77.4 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income and begin to expire in 2032 and 2025, respectively, of which $73.8 million of federal gross operating losses do not expire. As of December 31, 2023, we also had U.S. federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $7.2 million and $3.4 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future tax liabilities and begin to expire in 2032 and 2030, respectively.

Results of Operations

The results of operations presented below should be reviewed in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following tables set forth our results of operations for the periods presented:

73

Table of Contents

Comparison of the Years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022:

​

Revenue, Cost of revenue and Gross profit

Product

Our product revenue is comprised of revenue from sales of devices and related accessories and consumables and service as follows:

​

​

Product revenue increased by $2.7 million, or 7%, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily related to an increase in handheld sales of $5.8 million, which was due to an increase of $7.9 million in handheld device sales, primarily related to a 32 unit increase in MX908 device placements and shipments of AVCAD components under our subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract, offset in part by a $2.2 million decrease in consumables and accessories, primarily related to Aero module shipments, an accessory for the MX908, to the US Army in the year ended December 31, 2022

74

Table of Contents

that were not repeated in 2023. The increase in handheld revenue was offset in part by a decrease of $4.1 million in desktop sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, which was primarily related to a decrease of $3.4 million in desktop device revenue, offset in part by an increase in desktop consumables and accessories for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decrease in device revenue was driven by a 35 unit decrease in Rebel device placements and an 11 unit decrease in ZipChip Interface placements compared to 2022, offset in part by new product shipments for Maven and Maverick.

​

Product cost of revenue increased by $2.4 million, or 15%, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in product cost of revenue was primarily related to additional volume and material costs for product shipped of approximately $0.9 million, as well as $0.5 million in higher materials and supplies consumed in warranty obligations related primarily to part replacements, $0.3 million in intangibles amortization, and $0.3 million in higher provisions for excess and obsolete materials.

Product gross profit increased by $0.3 million, or 1%, and gross profit margin decreased by 3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in product gross profit was, primarily due to the increased volume in sales. The decrease in product gross profit margin percentage of 3% is driven primarily by three factors. These factors, each of which resulted in an approximate 1% decrease in product gross profit margin, were: an increase in materials and supplies used in warranty obligations, an increase in the provision for excess and obsolete materials, and higher non-cash charges for intangible amortization.

​

Service

​

Our service revenue is comprised of revenue from sales of extended warranty and service plans and customer training as follows:

​

​

Service revenue increased by $2.7 million, or 38%, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily related to an increase in handheld service revenues related to extended service contracts for MX908 devices and to a lesser extent increases in handheld training revenue and revenue from desktop service arrangements.

​

Service cost of revenue increased by $2.0 million, or 44%, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in service cost of revenue was primarily related to a $0.5 million increase in fees paid to contract trainers used to support the higher handheld training revenue, a $0.4 million increase in materials related to servicing the installed base, a $0.2 million increase in stock based compensation and an increase in personnel costs to support the increase in service revenue.

Service gross profit increased by $0.7 million, or 28%, and gross profit margin decreased by 3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the increase in materials shipped under service arrangements and an increase in the use of independent contract trainers versus internal resources to meet the increased demand for handheld training.

​

75

Table of Contents

Contract

​

Contract revenue decreased by $2.0 million, or 84%, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The majority of contract revenue, for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, was related to activities under our subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract, which was concluded in the second quarter of 2023 and represented a decrease of $1.3 million in contract revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decrease in contract revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 is also related to the completion of work in 2022 related to a prime contract directly with the U.S. government and a subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.K. government prime contract.

​

Contract cost of revenue decreased by $0.3 million, or 75% for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was primarily due to lower material costs with the subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract compared to the contract deliverables for the prime contract held directly with the U.S. government and a subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.K. government prime contract for the year ended December 31, 2022.

​

Contract gross profit decreased by $1.7 million and gross profit margin decreased by 10% for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the mix in contract deliverables, including a mix of materials with lower costs during the year ended December 31, 2022, which resulted in a higher gross profit margin for that period, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023.

​

Operating Expenses

Research and development

​

Our research and development expenses were $21.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, an increase of $4.4 million from research and development expenses of $17.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due primarily to a $2.2 million increase in salaries and related costs from growing our headcount in 2023, a $1.0 million increase in stock-based compensation, and a $1.0 million increase in occupancy related expenses, mainly related to our new facility in North Carolina.

​

Selling, general and administrative expenses

​

76

Table of Contents

Our selling, general and administrative expenses were $46.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, an increase of $2.3 million from selling, general and administrative expenses of $43.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due primarily to a $1.1 million increase in salaries and related costs from growing our headcount in 2023, a $1.3 million increase in stock-based compensation, a $1.1 million increase in commissions earned, primarily related to handheld device sales, a $0.4 million increase related to software subscriptions and dues, a $0.4 million increase in provision for credit losses and a $0.2 million increase in acquisition-related costs for intangible amortization and accretion and valuation of contingent milestones. These increases were partially offset by a $1.3 million decrease in insurance costs, primarily related to our director and officers insurance premiums that decreased with market rates for 2023 and a $1.0 million decrease in professional fees for legal, audit, tax and other related costs, partly related to costs incurred with our acquisition of Trace Analytics GmbH during the year ended December 31, 2022.

​

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income

​

Interest income increased by $4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due primarily to higher interest rates on our interest bearing accounts and interest earned on our marketable securities, which were purchase during the year ended December 31, 2023.

​

Interest expense

Interest expense increased by $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to costs incurred in March 2023 related to the write-off of deferred financing costs on our 2022 Revolver, which was in default and later amended in August 2023.

Other income (expense), net

​

Other expense, net was $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and did not change materially from $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Benefit for Income Taxes

Benefit for income taxes increased by $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, from $0.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The income tax benefit recognized during the year ended December 31, 2023 primarily resulted from a reduction in the deferred tax liabilities recorded as part of our acquisition of 908 Devices GmbH.

​

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of redeemable preferred stock, borrowings under loan agreements and revenue from sales of our products and services and license and contract revenue, proceeds from our IPO in December 2020, and our underwritten public offering in November 2021. As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $121.0 million and marketable securities of $24.6 million, which were held for working capital purposes and for investment in growth opportunities. Our marketable securities consist of U.S. treasury securities. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next twelve months.

We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we expect. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

77

Table of Contents

On March 11, 2021, we entered into an Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2021 Revolver, with Signature Bank, to replace our 2019 Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2019 Loan. The 2021 Revolver created a revolving line of credit totaling $25.0 million and eliminated the existing term loan. Borrowings under the revolving line of credit bear interest at an annual rate equal to the greater of (i) one-half percent (0.5%) above the prime rate or (ii) 4.0% and mature on March 11, 2024. Borrowings are collateralized by substantially all of our property, excluding intellectual property, which is subject to a negative pledge. The 2021 Revolver subjects us to various customary covenants, including requirements as to financial reporting and financial covenants (including an unrestricted minimum cash level of $10.0 million), and restrictions on our ability to dispose of our business or property, to change our line of business, to liquidate or dissolve, to enter into any change in control transaction, to merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, to incur additional indebtedness, to incur liens on our property, to pay any dividends or make other distributions on capital stock other than dividends payable solely in capital stock, to redeem capital stock, to enter into in-bound licensing agreements, to engage in transactions with affiliates, and to encumber our intellectual property. Events of default under the 2021 Revolver include failure to make payments when due, insolvency events, failure to comply with covenants or material adverse events with respect to us. Upon the occurrence of an event of default and until such event of default is no longer continuing, the annual interest rate will be 5.0% above the otherwise applicable rate.

The terms of the 2021 Revolver required that the existing term loan outstanding under the 2019 Loan be repaid with an advance under the line of credit. Accordingly, on March 11, 2021, we used $14.5 million of proceeds from the revolving line of credit to repay all amounts then due on the existing term loan. We also borrowed an additional $0.5 million from the 2021 Revolver in March 2021. On November 2, 2022, we satisfied in full all of our obligations and voluntarily terminated 2021 Revolver. We did not incur any early termination penalties in connection with the termination of the 2021 Revolver. No amounts were outstanding upon termination of the 2021 Revolver.

On November 2, 2022, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2022 Revolver, with Silicon Valley Bank, or the Lender.

The 2022 Revolver provided for a revolving line of credit of up to $35.0 million. We were permitted to make interest-only payments on the revolving line of credit through November 2, 2025, at which time all outstanding indebtedness would be immediately due and payable. The outstanding principal amount of any advance accrued interest at a floating rate per annum equal to the greater of (i) three and one-half percent (3.50%) and (ii) the “prime rate” as published in The Wall Street Journal for the relevant period minus one-half percent (0.50%). Our obligations under the 2022 Revolver were secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding our intellectual property, which was subject to a negative pledge. The revolving line of credit under the 2022 Revolver was scheduled to terminate on November 2, 2025.

​

The 2022 Revolver also contained certain financial covenants, including a requirement that the amount of unrestricted and unencumbered cash minus advances under the 2022 Revolver was not less than the amount equal to the

78

Table of Contents

greater of (i) $10.0 million or (ii) nine (9) months of cash burn. The 2022 Revolver contained customary representations and warranties, as well as certain non-financial covenants, including limitations on, among other things, our ability to change the principal nature of our business, dispose of our business or property, engage in any change of control transaction, merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, incur additional indebtedness or liens, pay dividends or make other distributions on capital stock, redeem our capital stock, engage in transactions with affiliates or otherwise encumber our intellectual property, in each case, subject to customary exceptions.

​

As of December 31, 2023, there were no balances outstanding under the 2022 Revolver. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding principal balance under the 2022 Revolver was $15.0 million, which was repaid in full on January 4, 2023. The interest rate applicable to borrowing under the 2022 Revolver was 7.0% as of December 31, 2022.

​

On March 10, 2023, the Lender, also one of our financial institutions, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, as receiver.

​

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had transferred substantially all its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities away from the Lender and deposited the funds with new financial institutions. As a result of the transfer of the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, the Company was in default, of its financial covenants under the 2022 Revolver. The Company recorded a loss on extinguishment of $0.5 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023, which was included in interest expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

​

On August 4, 2023, we entered into a Default Waiver and First Amendment to Loan and Security Agreement with the Lender, or the Amended 2022 Revolver, in which the Lender waived its rights and remedies against the Company and amended the 2022 Revolver. The Amended 2022 Revolver provides for a revolving line of credit of up to $10.0 million. The Company is permitted to make interest-only payments on the revolving line of credit through November 3, 2025, at which time all outstanding indebtedness shall be immediately due and payable. The outstanding principal amount of any advance shall accrue interest at a floating rate per annum equal to the greater of (i) four and one-half percent (4.50%) and (ii) the “prime rate” as published in The Wall Street Journal for the relevant period minus one-half percent (0.50%). The Company’s obligations under the Amended 2022 Revolver are secured by substantially all of the Company’s assets, excluding its intellectual property, which is subject to a negative pledge. The revolving line of credit under the Amended 2022 Revolver terminates on November 3, 2025. As of December 31, 2023, there were no balances outstanding under the Amended 2022 Revolver.

Pursuant to the Amended 2022 Revolver, the Lender waived filing any legal action or instituting or enforcing any rights and remedies it may have had against the Company in connection with the Company’s failing to maintain all of its operating accounts, depository accounts and excess cash with the Lender, as previously required under the 2022 Revolver. The Company recorded a credit of $0.3 million during the three months ended September 30, 2023 related to the previously recorded early termination penalties.

The Amended 2022 Revolver also contains certain financial covenants, including a requirement that the Company maintain $20.0 million on account at or through the Lender and that the amount of unrestricted and unencumbered cash minus advances under the Amended 2022 Revolver, is not less than the amount equal to the greater of (i) $10.0 million or (ii) nine (9) months of cash burn. The Amended 2022 Revolver contains customary representations and warranties, as well as certain non-financial covenants, including limitations on, among other things, the Company’s ability to change the principal nature of its business, dispose of the Company’s business or property, engage in any change of control transaction, merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, incur additional indebtedness or liens, pay dividends or make other distributions on capital stock, redeem the Company’s capital stock, engage in transactions with affiliates or otherwise encumber the Company’s intellectual property, in each case, subject to customary exceptions.

We may seek additional funding through private or public equity financings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and marketing, channel partner or licensing arrangements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain additional funds on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or equity-linked

79

Table of Contents

securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Future debt financing, if available, may involve covenants, in addition to our existing covenants, restricting our operations or our ability to incur additional debt or potentially limiting our ability to obtain new debt financing or the refinance of our existing debt. Any debt or equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our products, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we do not have or are not able to obtain sufficient funds, we may have to delay development or commercialization of our products. We also may have to reduce marketing, customer support or other resources devoted to our products or cease operations.

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented:

​

Operating Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in operating activities was $25.1 million, primarily resulting from our net loss of $36.4 million and net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $1.6 million, partially offset by noncash charges of $12.9 million. Net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2023, consisted primarily of a $3.9 million decrease from changes in inventory and a $1.6 million decrease from changes in operating lease liabilities, partially offset by a $1.7 million increase from changes in right-of-use operating lease assets, a $2.0 million increase from changes in accounts payable and accrued expenses and a $0.7 million increase from changes in account receivable.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in operating activities was $21.0 million, primarily resulting from our net loss of $33.6 million, partially offset by net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $3.3 million and noncash charges of $9.3 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2022, consisted primarily of a $5.9 million increase from changes in account receivable, a $1.9 million increase from changes in deferred revenue and a $1.2 million increase in right-of-use operating lease assets, partially offset by a $5.5 million decrease from changes in inventory and a $1.3 million decrease from operating lease liabilities.

Investing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities was $26.4 million, due to $48.9 million in purchases of marketable securities, partially offset by $24.5 million in proceeds from maturities of marketable securities and $2.0 million in purchases of property and equipment.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in investing activities was $15.8 million, due primarily to $13.8 million used with the acquisition of Trace Analytics GmbH that occurred in August 2022 and $2.0 million in purchases of other property and equipment.

Financing Activities

Cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2023, was $15.9 million, consisting primarily of the repayment of $15.0 million outstanding under the 2022 Revolver and $1.1 million in payments for contingent

80

Table of Contents

consideration related to the release of the $0.9 million assignment of the pension liability in connection with our acquisition of Trace Analytics GmbH and the $0.2 million initial fair value of contingent consideration, related to the $0.5 million initial milestone achievement in August 2023, that was paid in 2023.

Cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2022, was $1.2 million, consisting primarily of proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon option exercises. We also paid off and drew down $60.0 million under the 2022 Revolver and 2021 Revolver, resulting in no net proceeds during the year ended December 31, 2022.

Contractual Obligations

We have operating lease obligations for office space and certain equipment, which have remaining lease terms ranging from two to seven years. The total future minimum payments under such leases are $7.0 million as of December 31, 2023, of which $2.4 million is expected to be paid in 2024.

At times, we have purchase orders or contracts for the purchase of supplies and other goods and services. We are not able to determine the aggregate amount of such purchase orders that represent contractual obligations, as purchase orders may represent authorizations to purchase rather than binding agreements. Our purchase orders are based on our current procurement or development needs and are fulfilled by our vendors within short time horizons.

We have also entered into a license agreement under which we are obligated to make royalty payments in the low single digit percent range. We have not included future payments under this agreement in the table of contractual obligations above since the payment obligations under this agreement are contingent upon generating product sales.

During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we made no cash contributions to our foreign pension plan, assumed as a part of Trace Analytics GmbH acquisition. The plan was transferred and the Company was released from the pension obligation in April 2023.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue from sales to customers under Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, or ASC 606 by applying the following five steps: (1) identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer, (2) identification of the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determination of the transaction price, (4) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (5) recognition of revenue when, or as, performance obligations are satisfied.

For a contract with multiple performance obligations, we allocate the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis using our best estimate of the standalone selling price

81

Table of Contents

of each distinct product or service in the contract. The primary method used to estimate standalone selling price is the price observed in standalone sales to customers; however, when prices in standalone sales are not available, we may use third party pricing for similar products or services or estimate the standalone selling price, which is set by management. Allocation of the transaction price is determined at the contract’s inception and is not updated to reflect changes between contract inception and when the performance obligations are satisfied.

Product and Service Revenue

We derive revenue primarily from the sale of handheld and desktop products and related consumables and services. Revenue is recognized when control of the promised products, consumables or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those products, consumables or services (the transaction price). A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct product or service to a customer and is the unit of accounting under ASC 606. For devices and consumables sold by us, control transfers to the customer at a point in time. To indicate the transfer of control, we must have a present right to payment, legal title must have passed to the customer, the customer must have the significant risks and rewards of ownership, and where acceptance is other than perfunctory, the customer must have accepted the product or service. Our principal terms of sale are freight on board, or FOB, shipping point, or equivalent, and, as such, we primarily transfer control and record revenue for product sales upon shipment. Sales arrangements with delivery terms that are not FOB shipping point are not recognized upon shipment and the transfer of control for revenue recognition is evaluated based on the associated shipping terms and customer obligations. If a performance obligation to the customer with respect to a sales transaction remains to be fulfilled following shipment (typically installation or acceptance by the customer), revenue recognition for that performance obligation is deferred until such commitments have been fulfilled. For extended warranty and support, control transfers to the customer over the term of the arrangement. Revenue for extended warranty and support is recognized based upon the period of time elapsed under the arrangement as this period represents the transfer of benefits or services under the agreement.

Contract Revenue

We generate revenue from short and long-term contracts associated with the design and development and delivery of detection devices or related design and support services. To date, these contracts are primarily with the U.S. government or commercial entities contracting with the U.S. government, but we have also had such contracts with commercial partners. Our contracts with the U.S. government typically are subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, and are priced based on estimated or actual costs of producing goods or providing services. The FAR provides guidance on the types of costs that are allowable in establishing prices for goods or services provided under U.S. government contracts. The pricing for non-U.S. government contracts is based on the specific negotiations with each customer.

Under the typical payment terms of U.S. government fixed-price contracts, the customer pays in accordance with the terms of the specific agreement, but generally through progress payments. If these progress payments are made in advance, these payments are recorded as a contract liability, classified as deferred revenue within the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, until we provide the underlying services. For U.S. government cost-type contracts, the customer generally pays for actual costs incurred within a short period of time. For contracts with commercial partners, payments are made in accordance with the terms of the specific agreement. For agreements which call for milestone payments, to the extent we do not conclude that it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue will occur, a contract asset is generated until we are permitted to bill for costs incurred, which is classified as unbilled receivables in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet. In some cases, payments received in advance under license agreements are recorded as deferred revenue and recognized over the respective contract term, absent any other performance obligations.

Generally, revenue for long-term contracts is recognized based upon the cost-to-cost measure of progress, provided that we meet the criteria associated with transferring control of the good or service over time such as not creating an asset with an alternative use and having an enforceable right to payment for completed performance. However, we evaluate the proper revenue recognition on a contract by contract basis, as each contract generally contains terms

82

Table of Contents

specific to the underlying agreement which result in differing performance obligations and payment terms (cost plus, fixed price agreements among others). For revenue recognized under the cost-to-cost measure of progress basis, we continually assess total costs expected to be incurred and if such costs require adjustment to the measure of progress, we record such adjustment as a change in estimate on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

We include the unconstrained amount of consideration in the transaction price. The amount included in the transaction price is constrained to the amount for which it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur. At the end of each subsequent reporting period, as required by ASC 606, we re-evaluate the estimated consideration included in the transaction price and any related constraint, and if necessary, adjust our estimate of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

Distribution Channels

A majority of our revenue is generated by sales in conjunction with our channel partners, such as our international channel partners and in the United States for end customers where a government contract is required or a customer has a pre-existing relationship. When we transact with a channel partner, our contractual arrangement is with the partner and not with the end-use customer. Whether we transact business with and receive the order from a channel partner or directly from an end-use customer, our revenue recognition policy and resulting pattern of revenue recognition for the order are the same.

Stock-Based Compensation

We measure stock-based option awards granted to employees, consultants and directors based on their fair value on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Compensation expense for those awards is recognized, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. The straight-line method of expense recognition is applied to all awards with service-only conditions, while the graded vesting method is applied to all grants with both service and performance conditions. Forfeitures are recorded as they occur instead of estimating forfeitures that are expected to occur.

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model uses as inputs the fair value of our common stock and assumptions we make for the volatility of our common stock, the expected term of our common stock options, the risk-free interest rate for a period that approximates the expected term of our common stock options, and our expected dividend yield.

Valuation of Inventory

Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Cost is computed using the first-in, first-out method. We regularly review inventory quantities on-hand for excess and obsolete inventory and, when circumstances indicate, record charges to write down inventories to their estimated net realizable value, after evaluating historical sales, future demand, market conditions and expected product life cycles. Such charges are classified as cost of revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Any write-down of inventory to net realizable value creates a new cost basis.

Goodwill

Goodwill is not amortized, but is evaluated for impairment on an annual basis, or on an interim basis when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. In assessing the recoverability of goodwill, we must make assumptions regarding the estimated future cash flows, and other factors, to determine the fair value of these assets. If these estimates or their related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record impairment charges against these assets in the reporting period in which the impairment is determined.

We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, which is the operating segment, in the fourth quarter of every year. We have the option of performing a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing

83

Table of Contents

is necessary before performing the quantitative assessment. If as a result of the quantitative assessment, it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, a quantitative impairment test will be required. The quantitative goodwill impairment test requires the management to estimate and compare the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying value. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets, goodwill is not impaired. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value, the difference is recorded as an impairment loss up to the amount of goodwill.

We review other long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of an asset or an asset group may not be recoverable. In evaluating long-lived assets for recoverability, we estimate the future cash flows that are expected from the use of each asset. Impairment losses are measured and recorded for the excess of an asset's carrying value over its fair value. To determine the fair value of long-lived assets, we utilize the valuation technique or techniques deemed most appropriate based on the nature of the asset or asset group, which may include the use of quoted market prices, prices for similar assets or other valuation techniques such as discounted future cash flows or earnings.

Business combination

Under the acquisition method of accounting, we generally recognize the tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values on the date of acquisition. The fair values assigned, defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants, are based on estimates and assumptions determined by management. The excess consideration over the aggregate value of tangible and intangible assets, net of liabilities assumed, is recorded as goodwill. These valuations require significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets.

We estimate the fair value of the contingent consideration earnouts using the Monte Carlo Simulation or probability weighted scenario depending on the nature of the contingent consideration and update the fair value of the contingent consideration at each reporting period based on the estimated probability of achieving the earnout targets and applying a discount rate that captures the risk associated with the expected contingent payments. To the extent that these estimates change in the future regarding the likelihood of achieving these targets, we may need to record material adjustments to our accrued contingent consideration. Such changes in the fair value of contingent consideration are recorded as contingent consideration expense or income in the consolidated statements of operations.

We use the income approach to determine the fair value of certain identifiable intangible assets including customer relationships and developed technology. This approach determines fair value by estimating after-tax cash flows attributable to these assets over their respective useful lives and then discounting these after-tax cash flows back to a present value. We base our assumptions on estimates of future cash flows, expected growth rates, expected trends in technology, probabilities of customer renewals, etc. We base the discount rates used to arrive at a present value as of the date of acquisition on the time value of money and certain industry-specific risk factors. We believe the estimated purchased customer relationships, developed technology, software and trade name amounts determined represent the fair value at the date of acquisition and do not exceed the amount a third-party would pay for the assets.

If the actual results differ from the estimates and judgments used in these estimates, the amounts recorded in the financial statements may be exposed to potential impairment of the intangible assets and goodwill. The determination of fair value is considered a critical accounting estimate because the valuation techniques mentioned use significant estimates and assumptions, including projected future revenues, a hypothetical royalty rate, the expected economic life of the asset, tax rates and a discount rate that reflects the level of risk associated with the future earnings attributable to the asset.

During the measurement period, which is up to one year from the acquisition date, adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed may be recorded, with the corresponding offset to goodwill.

84

Table of Contents

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is disclosed in Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Inflation Risk

During the last two years, inflation and changing prices have not had a material effect on our business. We are unable to predict whether inflation or changing prices will materially affect our business in the foreseeable future.

​

​

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We have developed an innovative suite of purpose-built handheld and desktop mass spectrometry, or Mass Spec, devices for the point-of-need. Leveraging our proprietary platform technology, we make the extraordinary analytical power of Mass Spec available in devices that are significantly smaller and more accessible than conventional laboratory instruments. Our Mass Spec devices are used at the point-of-need to interrogate unknown and invisible materials and provide quick, actionable answers to directly address some of the most critical problems in life sciences research, bioprocessing, industrial biotech, forensics and adjacent markets.

We create simplified measurement devices that our customers can use as accurate tools where and when their work needs to be done, rather than overly complex and centralized analytical instrumentation. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide will accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users.

Front-line workers rely upon our handheld devices to combat the opioid crisis and detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit materials in the air or on surfaces at levels 1,000 times below their lethal dose. Our desktop devices are accelerating development and production of biotherapeutics by identifying and quantifying extracellular species in bioprocessing critical to cell health and productivity. They sit alongside bioreactors and fermenters producing drug candidates, functional proteins, cell and gene therapies, and synthetic biology derived products. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users. The term “products” as used in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” refers to the MX908, Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maven and related sampling devices.

On August 3, 2022, we completed our acquisition of 100% of the registered share capital of Trace pursuant to a share purchase and transfer agreement, for a total purchase price consideration of $17.3 million, comprised of (i) a $14.4 million initial cash payment, (ii) up to $2.0 million contingent cash consideration upon achievement of certain milestones over a twenty-four-month period and (iii) $0.9 million contingent pension liability holdback to be released upon discharging or transferring of such liability from Trace. Trace is a leading provider of online analysis systems for biotech applications in research, development and production. Trace’s products are used for monitoring and control of complex processes in industrial pharmaceutical productions under continuous measurement conditions. We expect to integrate acquired sampling technology within future product offerings.

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful further development and commercialization of our products. We generated revenue of $46.9 million and $42.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and incurred net losses of $33.6 million and $22.2 million for those same years. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $134.2 million. We expect to continue to incur net losses as we focus on growing commercial sales of our products in both the United States and international markets, including growing our sales teams, scaling our manufacturing operations, continuing research and development efforts to develop new products and further enhance our existing products. Further, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a result, we may need additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses.

69

Table of Contents

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Global Economic Conditions Including COVID-19

We are continuing to closely monitor macroeconomic impacts, including, but not limited to, developments affecting financial institutions and the COVID-19 pandemic and potential recessionary pressures, on our business, results of operations and financial results.

During 2022, our performance was affected by impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, including supply chain disruptions, delays and rising costs, as well as labor challenges associated with employee absences, remote work, and adjusted work schedules. Moreover, a significant portion of our field sales, customer training events and other application services have been conducted in person, and the rollout of our new products has historically been supported by our participation at industry conferences, and our ability to participate in these customer and industry events improved in 2022 but remains limited by prohibitions on travel, restricted access to customer locations and large in-person gatherings. As the situation around COVID-19, including any variants thereof, evolves further, we are continuing to focus on promoting the health, safety and financial security of our employees and serving our customers. We will continue to monitor supply chain risks and other impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are monitoring ongoing events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, including Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, being closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC, as receiver on March 10, 2023 and Signature Bank being closed by its New York charter authority on March 12, 2023. As of March 10, 2023, we had substantially all of our cash and cash equivalents on deposit with SVB and Signature Bank. We are also monitoring the impacts that these events may have on our customers and vendors.

We are also closely monitoring increased economic uncertainty in the United States and abroad, including volatility in the global markets and the rise and fluctuations in inflation and interest rates. These developments and the potential worsening of other macro-economic conditions present risks for us and our suppliers. For example, general inflation in the United States, Europe, EMEA and other geographies has risen to levels not experienced in recent decades, which has led to rising prices for our raw materials and other inputs, as well as rising salaries and travel expenses, which could continue to negatively impact our business by increasing our cost of sales and operating expenses. General inflation could also negatively impact our business if it leads to spending pressure and decreased available capital for our customers to deploy to purchase our products and services.

In addition, the United States Federal Reserve has raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation. Inflation, together with increased interest rates, may cause our customers to reduce or delay orders for our goods and services thereby causing a decrease in or change in timing of sales of our products and services. The impact of future inflation and interest rate fluctuations on the results of our operations cannot be accurately predicted.

While it is difficult to predict all of the impacts these global economic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic

70

Table of Contents

and developments affecting financial institutions, and rising inflation and interest rates will have on our business and to predict the effects of these factors on our customers’ spending in the near term, we believe the long-term opportunity that we see for our products and services remain unchanged.

Additional information regarding these global impacts on our business is set forth within this Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Factors affecting our performance

We believe that our financial performance has been and in the foreseeable future will continue to be primarily driven by the following factors. While each of these factors presents significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address in order to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address the factors below is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Device sales

Our financial performance has largely been driven by, and in the future will continue to be impacted by, the rate of sales of our handheld and desktop devices. Management focuses on device sales as an indicator of current business success and a leading indicator of likely future recurring revenue from consumables and services. We expect our device sales to continue to grow as we increase penetration in our existing markets and expand into, or offer new features and solutions that appeal to, new markets.

We plan to grow our device sales in the coming years through multiple strategies including expanding our sales efforts domestically and globally and continuing to enhance the underlying technology and applications for life sciences research related to our Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maven and related sampling devices. We regularly solicit feedback from our customers and focus our research and development efforts on enhancing our devices and enabling our customers to use additional applications that address their needs, which we believe in turn helps to drive additional sales of our devices and consumables.

Our sales process varies considerably depending upon the type of customer to whom we are selling. Historically, our handheld devices have been used by state, federal and foreign governments and governmental agencies. Our sales process with government customers is often long and involves multiple levels of approvals, testing and, in some cases, trials. Device orders from a government customer are typically large orders and can be impacted by the timing of their capital budgets. As a result, the revenue for our handheld devices can vary significantly from period-to-period and has been and may continue to be concentrated in a small number of customers in any given period.

Our desktop devices are typically used by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academia markets. Our sales cycles within these markets tend to vary based on the size of the customer and the number of devices they purchase. Our shortest sales cycles are typically for small laboratories and individual researchers where, in some cases, we receive purchase orders from these customers within three months. Our sales process with other institutions can be longer with most customers submitting purchase orders within six to twelve months. Given the variability of our sales cycle, we have in the past experienced, and likely will in the future experience, fluctuations in our desktop device sales on a period-to-period basis. Additionally, we have experienced and may continue to experience the impact of laboratory shutdowns and limited access to laboratories, related to COVID-19 on device and consumable sales to these markets.

Recurring revenue

We regularly assess trends relating to recurring revenue which includes consumables and services based on our product offerings, our customer base and our understanding of how our customers use our products. Recurring revenue was 35% and 19% of total product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Our recurring revenue as a percentage of total product and service revenue will vary based upon new device placements

71

Table of Contents

in the period. As our device installed base expands, recurring revenue on an absolute basis is expected to increase and over time should be an increasingly important contributor to our revenue.

Revenue from the sales of consumables will vary by type of device. We expect that recurring revenue as a percentage of the original device price to be higher for our desktop devices (Rebel, ZipChip Interface, Maven and related sampling devices) than for our handheld device (MX908). While we sell single-use swab samplers for MX908 to be used in liquid and solid materials analysis, there are a number of other applications that the MX908 can be used for that do not require consumables. MX908 recurring revenue is also comprised of accessories, such as the Aero module, which can drive the handheld recurring revenue as a percent of overall product and service revenue higher in certain periods. Rebel and ZipChip Interface require consumables kits for all areas of operations. Currently, Rebel customers, who are actively utilizing the device, are consuming on average approximately half a 200-sample kit per month; however, Rebel is a relatively new product and purchasing patterns related to our consumables kits are evolving. We expect that the number of kits sold per month will vary over the short term. In time, we expect Rebel consumables kits sales to become more consistent as our installed base grows and our customers establish usage patterns. At maximum potential capacity, with continuous operation, the Rebel can consume approximately one 200-sample kit per day. Maven and related sampling devices require consumable sets of buffers, probes and biosensors for all areas of operations.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is derived from sales of our devices, consumables and services. There will be fluctuations in mix between devices and consumables from period-to-period. Over time, as our device installed base grows and we see adoption of Rebel, we expect consumables revenue to constitute a larger percentage of product and service revenue. However, the percentage will be subject to fluctuation based upon our handheld sales in a period. In addition, our selling price and, consequently, our margins, are higher for those devices and consumables that we sell directly to customers as compared to those that we sell through distributors. While we expect the mix of direct sales as compared to sales through distributors to remain relatively constant in the near term, we are currently evaluating increasing our direct sales capabilities in certain geographies.

Future device and consumable selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including the introduction by others of competing products and solutions. We aim to mitigate downward pressure on our average selling prices by increasing the value proposition offered by our devices and consumables, primarily by expanding the applications for our devices and increasing the quantity and quality of data that can be obtained using our consumables.

Product adoption

We monitor our customers’ stage of adoption of our products to provide insight into the timing of future potential sales and to help us formulate financial projections. Typical stages of adoption include testing, trials, pilot and deployment as follows:

72

Table of Contents

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review the number of product placements and cumulative product placement as key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, our product placements (units recognized as revenue) by device type were as follows:

​

The number of product placements vary considerably from period-to-period due to the type and size of our customers and concentrations among larger government customers as described above. We expect continued fluctuations in our period-to-period number of product placements.

Our cumulative product placements consist of the following number of devices:

​

Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

Product and Service Revenue

We generate product and service revenue from the sale of our devices and recurring revenue from the sale of consumables and services. Device sales accounted for 65% and 81% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Consumables and service revenue accounted for 35% and 19% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Our current device offerings include:

​

We sell our devices directly to customers and through distributors. Each of our device sales drives various streams of recurring revenue comprised of consumable product sales and service revenue.

Our consumables consist of:

73

Table of Contents

​

Rebel and ZipChip Interface consumables can only be used with our devices and there are no alternative after-market options that can be used as a substitute. Each chip is used for a defined number of samples (or runs). We recognize revenue from the sale of consumables as the consumable products are shipped.

We also offer our customers extended warranty and service plans. Our extended warranty and service plans are offered for periods beyond the standard one-year warranty that all of our customers receive. These extended warranty and service plans generally have fixed fees and terms ranging from one additional year to four additional years. We recognize revenue from the sale of extended warranty and service plans over the respective coverage period, which approximates the service effort provided by us.

We expect consumables and service revenue to increase in future periods as our installed base grows and we are able to generate recurring sales.

Licenses and contract revenue

License and contract agreements are arrangements whereby we provide engineering services for the development of our technology platform for specific programs or new and expanding applications of our technologies for future commercial endeavors. Our license and contract agreements are with the U.S. government and commercial entities (who may be contracting with the government). Contracts typically include compensation for labor effort and materials incurred related to the deliverables under the contract. Our license and contract revenue was primarily related to one customer during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.

During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, our revenue was comprised of revenue from the following sources:

​

Our product and service revenue is comprised of sales of our handheld and desktop devices and related consumables and service contracts to end-users in the government, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and academia markets as follows:

​

74

Table of Contents

​

​

We sell our products primarily in the United States; however, we are expanding our global sales efforts as we see traction in our products and assess global market needs. The majority of our international sales are through a distribution channel.

Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Product cost of revenue primarily consists of costs for raw material parts and associated freight, shipping and handling costs, royalties, contract manufacturer costs, salaries and other personnel costs, overhead, amortization of intangibles and other direct costs related to those sales recognized as product revenue in the period.

Cost of revenue for services primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, travel related to services provided, facility costs associated with training, warranties and other costs of servicing equipment on a return-to-factory basis and at customer sites. License and contract cost of revenue primarily consists of salaries and other personnel costs, materials, travel and other direct costs related to the revenue recognized in the period. The license and contract cost of revenue will vary based upon the type of contract, including whether it is primarily for development services or for both materials and development services.

We expect that our cost of revenue will increase or decrease to the extent that our revenue increases and decreases and depending on how many contracts we have ongoing at any given point in time and the stage of those contracts.

Gross profit is calculated as revenue less cost of revenue. Gross profit margin is gross profit expressed as a percentage of revenue. Our gross profit in future periods will depend on a variety of factors, including: market conditions that may impact our pricing, sales mix among devices, sales mix changes among consumables, excess and obsolete inventories, our cost structure for manufacturing operations relative to volume, and product warranty obligations. Our gross profit in future periods will vary based upon our channel mix and may decrease based upon our distribution channels and the potential to establish original equipment manufacturing channels for certain components of our technology platform which would have a lower gross margin.

We expect that our gross profit margin for product and service will increase over the long term as our sales and production volumes increase and our cost per unit decreases due to efficiencies of scale. We intend to use our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities to further advance and improve the efficiency of our manufacturing, which we believe will reduce costs and increase our gross margin. We expect that our gross profit margin for license and contract will remain consistent for our contracts that are cost reimbursement contracts.

75

Table of Contents

Operating Expenses

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for our research activities, product development, hardware and software engineering and consultant services and other costs associated with our technology platform and products, which include:

We believe that our continued investment in research and development is essential to our long-term competitive position and expect these expenses to increase in future periods.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other personnel costs, and stock-based compensation for our sales and marketing, finance, legal, human resources and general management, as well as professional services, such as legal, audit and accounting services. We expect selling, general and administrative expenses, amortization of customer relationship and tradename intangibles to increase in future periods as the number of sales, sales application specialists and marketing and administrative personnel grows and we continue to introduce new products, invest in demonstration equipment, broaden our customer base and grow our business. We also anticipate that we will incur increased accounting, audit, legal, regulatory, compliance and director and officer insurance costs as well as investor and public relations expenses associated with operating as a public company.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest expense

Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with outstanding borrowings under our loan and security agreements and the amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts associated with such arrangements.

Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest income from our cash and cash equivalents, miscellaneous other income and expense unrelated to our core operations.

Provision for Income Taxes

We have not recorded any U.S. federal or state income tax benefits for the net operating losses we have incurred in each year or for the research and development tax credits we generated in the United States and have recorded a full valuation allowance against our net deferred assets, as we believe, based upon the weight of available evidence, that it is more likely than not that all of our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits will not be realized. As of December 31, 2022, we had gross federal and state operating loss carryforwards of $92.3 million and $64.0 million, respectively,

76

Table of Contents

which may be available to offset future taxable income and begin to expire in 2032 and 2025, respectively, of which $57.9 million of federal gross operating losses do not expire. As of December 31, 2022, we also had U.S. federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $5.9 million and $2.8 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future tax liabilities and begin to expire in 2032 and 2029, respectively.

Results of Operations

The results of operations presented below should be reviewed in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following tables set forth our results of operations for the periods presented:

Comparison of the Years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

​

Revenue, Cost of revenue and Gross profit

Product and service

​

77

Table of Contents

Our product and service revenue is comprised of revenue from sales of devices and related consumables and service as follows:

​

Product and service revenue increased by $3.4 million, or 8%, for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. Device sales accounted for 65% and 81% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Consumables and service revenue accounted for 35% and 19% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The decrease in device sales of $4.5 million was primarily due to a decrease of $5.3 million in handheld device sales from 122 fewer MX908 devices sold. This decrease was primarily related to shipments to the United States Army, offset in part by an increase in sales within state and local and certain international markets in the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in devices sales was offset in part by a $0.8 million increase in device sales related to our desktop products primarily due to higher average selling prices and channel mix for our Rebel and ZipChip devices, offsetting a 2 unit decrease in desktop devices, and the device revenue from Maven and related sampling device placements in the year ended December 31, 2022. Consumables and service revenue increased by $7.9 million due to an increase of $3.6 million from handheld accessories and consumables, primarily related to the Aero module and the shipments to the US Army in 2022, an increase in service revenue of $3.4 million and a $0.9 million increase in desktop consumables, mainly from Rebel kit sales.

Product and service cost of revenue increased by $1.8 million, or 10%, for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in product and service cost of revenue was primarily related to a $1.5 million increase in personnel related costs, a $0.6 million increase in freight costs and a $0.5 million increase related to volume, mix and production related costs and variances. These increases were offset in part by a $0.5 million decrease in warranty costs and a $0.5 million decrease in royalty costs, primarily related to lower device sales for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Product and service gross profit increased by $1.6 million, or 7%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to the increase in recurring revenues, offset in part by investments in our service resources to support our growing installed base and increases in manufacturing infrastructure. Gross profit margin was down slightly at 54% for the year ended December 31, 2022.

License and contract

​

License and contract revenue increased by $1.3 million, or 116%, for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in license and contract revenue was primarily related to activities under our subcontract agreement with a commercial entity that holds a U.S. government prime contract resulting in $0.9 million higher contract revenue in the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The additional increase in license and contract revenue is related to work performed under a prime contract held directly with the U.S. government that concluded in the year ended December 31, 2022.

78

Table of Contents

License and contract cost of revenue increased $0.1 million, or 25% for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the year ended December 31, 2021 due to the mix of contract deliverables across the current contracts.

License and contract gross profit increased by $1.2 million, or 154%, and gross profit margin increased by 12 percentage points for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to the mix in contract deliverables, including alignment of effort completed to date with funding on the contracts resulting in higher contract revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Operating Expenses

Research and development

​

Our research and development expenses were $17.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, an increase of $4.5 million from research and development expenses of $13.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was due primarily to a $2.5 million increase in salaries and related costs from growing headcount, a $1.2 million increase in stock-based compensation and a $0.4 million increase in materials and supplies related to product development efforts.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

​

Our selling, general and administrative expenses were $43.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, an increase of $11.6 million from selling, general and administrative expenses of $32.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was due primarily to a $6.3 million increase in salaries and related costs from growing headcount, and a $3.3 million increase in stock-based compensation. The remaining $2.0 million increase during the year ended December 31, 2022 was due primarily to a $1.4 million increase in travel expenses, a $0.6 million increase in IT related subscription fees, a $0.6 million increase related to legal fees, and a $1.2 million increase related to all other selling, general and administrative expenses, which was partially offset by a $1.8 million decrease in allowance for bad debt recorded in the year ended December 31, 2021.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest income

Interest income increased by $1.5 million from $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was due to an increase in interest earned from our higher cash and cash equivalent balances from the proceeds from the November 2021 Offering, as well as higher interest rates on our interest bearing accounts.

Interest expense

Interest expense decreased by $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, from $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to lower average outstanding borrowings during the year

79

Table of Contents

ended December 31, 2022 and a loss on extinguishment of debt of $0.2 million recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net was $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. Other income (expense), net did not change materially from other income (expense), net of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of redeemable preferred stock, borrowings under loan agreements and revenue from sales of our products and services and license and contract revenue, proceeds from our IPO in December 2020, and, most recently, with proceeds from our underwritten public offering in November 2021. As of December 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents of $188.4 million. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next twelve months. We do not believe that the events that have impacted SVB and Signature Bank will impact our ability to operate for at least the next twelve months.

We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we expect. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

On March 11, 2021, we entered into an Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2021 Revolver, with Signature Bank, to replace our 2019 Loan and Security Agreement, or the 2019 Loan. The 2021 Revolver created a revolving line of credit totaling $25.0 million and eliminated the existing term loan. Borrowings under the revolving line of credit bear interest at an annual rate equal to the greater of (i) one-half percent (0.5%) above the prime rate or (ii) 4.0% and mature on March 11, 2024. Borrowings are collateralized by substantially all of our property, excluding intellectual property, which is subject to a negative pledge. The 2021 Revolver subjects us to various customary covenants, including requirements as to financial reporting and financial covenants (including an unrestricted minimum cash level of $10.0 million), and restrictions on our ability to dispose of our business or property, to change our line of business, to liquidate or dissolve, to enter into any change in control transaction, to merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, to incur additional indebtedness, to incur liens on our property, to pay any dividends or make other distributions on capital stock other than dividends payable solely in capital stock, to redeem capital stock, to enter into in-bound licensing agreements, to engage in transactions with affiliates, and to encumber our intellectual property. Events of default under the 2021 Revolver include

80

Table of Contents

failure to make payments when due, insolvency events, failure to comply with covenants or material adverse events with respect to us. Upon the occurrence of an event of default and until such event of default is no longer continuing, the annual interest rate will be 5.0% above the otherwise applicable rate.

The terms of the 2021 Revolver required that the existing term loan outstanding under the 2019 Loan be repaid with an advance under the line of credit. Accordingly, on March 11, 2021, we used $14.5 million of proceeds from the revolving line of credit to repay all amounts then due on the existing term loan. We also borrowed an additional $0.5 million from the 2021 Revolver in March 2021. On November 2, 2022, we satisfied in full all of our obligations and voluntarily terminated 2021 Revolver. We did not incur any early termination penalties in connection with the termination of the 2021 Revolver. No amounts were outstanding upon termination of the 2021 Revolver.

On November 2, 2022, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement with Silicon Valley Bank (the “2022 Revolver”).

The 2022 Revolver provides for a revolving line of credit of up to $35.0 million. We are permitted to make interest-only payments on the revolving line of credit through November 2, 2025, at which time all outstanding indebtedness shall be immediately due and payable. The outstanding principal amount of any advance shall accrue interest at a floating rate per annum equal to the greater of (i) three and one-half percent (3.50%) and (ii) the “prime rate” as published in The Wall Street Journal for the relevant period minus one-half percent (0.50%). Our obligations under the 2022 Revolver are secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding our intellectual property, which is subject to a negative pledge. The revolving line of credit under the 2022 Revolver terminates on November 2, 2025.

As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding principal balance under the 2022 Revolver was $15.0 million, which was repaid in full on January 4, 2023. The interest rate applicable to borrowing under the 2022 Revolver was 7.0% as of December 31, 2022.

The 2022 Revolver also contains certain financial covenants, including a requirement that the amount of unrestricted and unencumbered cash minus advances under the 2022 Revolver, is not less than the amount equal to the greater of (i) $10.0 million or (ii) nine (9) months of cash burn. The 2022 Revolver contains customary representations and warranties, as well as certain non-financial covenants, including limitations on, among other things, our ability to change the principal nature of our business, dispose of our business or property, engage in any change of control transaction, merge or consolidate with any other entity or to acquire all or substantially all the capital stock or property of another entity, incur additional indebtedness or liens, pay dividends or make other distributions on capital stock, redeem our capital stock, engage in transactions with affiliates or otherwise encumber our intellectual property, maintain no more than $3.6 million in non-SVB accounts at any point in time, in each case, subject to customary exceptions.

As of March 14, 2023, the ability to access the 2022 Revolver will be dependent on maintaining compliance with certain financial covenants, including maintaining the appropriate amount of deposits with SVB, and SVB being able to fulfill its obligations if we were to draw down under the 2022 Revolver. Please refer to Note 19 to our consolidated financial statements for further discussion regarding the potential impacts of the closure of SVB.

We may seek additional funding through private or public equity financings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and marketing, distribution, or licensing arrangements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain additional funds on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity or equity-linked securities, our stockholders may experience dilution. Future debt financing, if available, may involve covenants, in addition to our existing covenants, restricting our operations or our ability to incur additional debt or potentially limiting our ability to obtain new debt financing or the refinance of our existing debt. Any debt or equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our products, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we do not have or are not able to obtain sufficient funds, we may have to delay development or commercialization of our products. We also may have to reduce marketing, customer support or other resources devoted to our products or cease operations.

81

Table of Contents

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented:

​

Operating Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in operating activities was $21.0 million, primarily resulting from our net loss of $33.6 million, partially offset by net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $3.3 million and noncash charges of $9.3 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2022, consisted primarily of a $5.9 million increase from changes in account receivable, a $1.9 million increase from changes in deferred revenue and a $1.2 million increase in right-of-use operating lease assets, partially offset by a $5.5 million decrease from changes in inventory and a $1.3 million decrease from operating lease liabilities.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used in operating activities was $29.1 million, primarily consisting of net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $12.4 million and our net loss of $22.2 million, partially offset by $5.5 million in non-cash charges which include a $2.5 million stock-based compensation expense and a $1.7 million provision for doubtful accounts. Net cash used in changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2021 consisted primarily of an increase in account receivable of $11.3 million and an increase in inventory of $4.5 million and an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $4.1 million, partially offset by a $5.4 million increase in deferred revenue and a $2.8 million increase in account payable and accrued expenses.

Investing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in investing activities was $15.8 million, due primarily to $13.8 million used with the acquisition of Trace that occurred in August, 2022 and purchases of other property and equipment.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used in investing activities was $0.7 million, due to purchases of laboratory and demonstration equipment.

Financing Activities

Cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2022, was $1.2 million, consisting primarily of proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon option exercises. We also paid off and drew down $60.0 million under the 2022 Revolver and 2021 Revolver, resulting in no net proceeds during the year ended December 31, 2022.

Cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021, was $94.7 million, consisting primarily of proceeds of $94.8 million from the issuance of common stock in an underwritten public offering that closed in November 2021, partially offset by $0.8 million payments of offering costs related to our public offering. We also received net proceeds from borrowings under the 2021 Revolver of $15.0 million. We used proceeds of $14.5 million

82

Table of Contents

from the revolving line of credit to repay our previously outstanding borrowings under our loan and security agreement. Prior to repayment of our loan and security agreement, we had made principal payments of $0.5 million.

Contractual Obligations

We have operating lease obligations for office space and certain equipment, which have remaining lease terms ranging from less than one year to approximately seven years. The total future minimum payments under such leases are $9.1 million as of December 31, 2022, of which $2.2 million is expected to be paid in 2023.

At times, we have purchase orders or contracts for the purchase of supplies and other goods and services. We are not able to determine the aggregate amount of such purchase orders that represent contractual obligations, as purchase orders may represent authorizations to purchase rather than binding agreements. Our purchase orders are based on our current procurement or development needs and are fulfilled by our vendors within short time horizons.

We have also entered into license agreements under which we are obligated to make royalty payments in the 2% to 5% range, subject to a minimum royalty fee of $0.1 million annually. We have not included future payments under these agreements in the table of contractual obligations above since the payment obligations under these agreements are contingent upon generating product sales. We have not included annual minimum royalty payments in the table above because, although the amounts and timing are known, we cannot currently determine the final termination date of the agreement and, as a result, we cannot determine the total amounts of such payments we will be required to make under the agreements.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, we made no cash contributions to our foreign pension plan, assumed as a part of Trace acquisition.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue from sales to customers under Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, or ASC 606 by applying the following five steps: (1) identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer, (2) identification of the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determination of the transaction price, (4) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (5) recognition of revenue when, or as, performance obligations are satisfied.

For a contract with multiple performance obligations, we allocate the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis using our best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct product or service in the contract. The primary method used to estimate standalone selling price is the price observed in standalone sales to customers; however, when prices in standalone sales are not available, we may use third party pricing for similar products or services or estimate the standalone selling price, which is set by management.

83

Table of Contents

Allocation of the transaction price is determined at the contract’s inception and is not updated to reflect changes between contract inception and when the performance obligations are satisfied.

Product and Service Revenue

We derive revenue primarily from the sale of handheld and desktop products and related consumables and services. Revenue is recognized when control of the promised products consumables or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those products, consumables or services (the transaction price). A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct product or service to a customer and is the unit of accounting under ASC 606. For devices and consumables sold by us, control transfers to the customer at a point in time. To indicate the transfer of control, we must have a present right to payment, legal title must have passed to the customer, the customer must have the significant risks and rewards of ownership, and where acceptance is other than perfunctory, the customer must have accepted the product or service. Our principal terms of sale are freight on board, or FOB, shipping point, or equivalent, and, as such, we primarily transfer control and record revenue for product sales upon shipment. Sales arrangements with delivery terms that are not FOB shipping point are not recognized upon shipment and the transfer of control for revenue recognition is evaluated based on the associated shipping terms and customer obligations. If a performance obligation to the customer with respect to a sales transaction remains to be fulfilled following shipment (typically installation or acceptance by the customer), revenue recognition for that performance obligation is deferred until such commitments have been fulfilled. For extended warranty and support, control transfers to the customer over the term of the arrangement. Revenue for extended warranty and support is recognized based upon the period of time elapsed under the arrangement as this period represents the transfer of benefits or services under the agreement.

License and Contract Revenue

We generate revenue from short and long-term contracts associated with the design and development and delivery of detection devices or related design and support services. To date, these contracts are primarily with the U.S. government or commercial entities contracting with the U.S. government, but we have also had such contracts with commercial partners. Our contracts with the U.S. government typically are subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, and are priced based on estimated or actual costs of producing goods or providing services. The FAR provides guidance on the types of costs that are allowable in establishing prices for goods or services provided under U.S. government contracts. The pricing for non-U.S. government contracts is based on the specific negotiations with each customer.

Under the typical payment terms of U.S. government fixed-price contracts, the customer pays in accordance with the terms of the specific agreement, but generally through progress payments. If these progress payments are made in advance, these payments are recorded as a contract liability, classified as deferred revenue within the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, until we provide the underlying services. For U.S. government cost-type contracts, the customer generally pays for actual costs incurred within a short period of time. For contracts with commercial partners, payments are made in accordance with the terms of the specific agreement. For agreements which call for milestone payments, to the extent we do not conclude that it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue will occur, a contract asset is generated until we are permitted to bill for costs incurred, which is classified as unbilled receivables in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet. In some cases, payments received in advance under license agreements are recorded as deferred revenue and recognized over the respective contract term, absent any other performance obligations.

Generally, revenue for long-term contracts is recognized based upon the cost-to-cost measure of progress, provided that we meet the criteria associated with transferring control of the good or service over time such as not creating an asset with an alternative use and having an enforceable right to payment for completed performance. However, we evaluate the proper revenue recognition on a contract by contract basis, as each contract generally contains terms specific to the underlying agreement which result in differing performance obligations and payment terms (cost plus, fixed price agreements among others). For revenue recognized under the cost-to-cost measure of progress basis, we

84

Table of Contents

continually assess total costs expected to be incurred and if such costs require adjustment to the measure of progress, we record such adjustment as a change in estimate on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

We include the unconstrained amount of consideration in the transaction price. The amount included in the transaction price is constrained to the amount for which it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur. At the end of each subsequent reporting period, as required by ASC 606, we re-evaluate the estimated consideration included in the transaction price and any related constraint, and if necessary, adjust our estimate of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period of adjustment.

Distribution Channels

A majority of our revenue is generated by sales in conjunction with our distribution partners, such as our international distributors and in the United States for end customers where a government contract is required or a customer has a pre-existing relationship. When we transact with a distribution partner, our contractual arrangement is with the partner and not with the end-use customer. Whether we transact business with and receive the order from a distribution partner or directly from an end-use customer, our revenue recognition policy and resulting pattern of revenue recognition for the order are the same.

Stock-Based Compensation

We measure stock-based option awards granted to employees, consultants and directors based on their fair value on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. Compensation expense for those awards is recognized, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. The straight-line method of expense recognition is applied to all awards with service-only conditions, while the graded vesting method is applied to all grants with both service and performance conditions. Forfeitures are recorded as they occur instead of estimating forfeitures that are expected to occur.

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model uses as inputs the fair value of our common stock and assumptions we make for the volatility of our common stock, the expected term of our common stock options, the risk-free interest rate for a period that approximates the expected term of our common stock options, and our expected dividend yield.

Valuation of Inventory

Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Cost is computed using the first-in, first-out method. We regularly review inventory quantities on-hand for excess and obsolete inventory and, when circumstances indicate, record charges to write down inventories to their estimated net realizable value, after evaluating historical sales, future demand, market conditions and expected product life cycles. Such charges are classified as cost of revenue in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. Any write-down of inventory to net realizable value creates a new cost basis.

Goodwill

Goodwill is not amortized, but is evaluated for impairment on an annual basis, or on an interim basis when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. In assessing the recoverability of goodwill, we must make assumptions regarding the estimated future cash flows, and other factors, to determine the fair value of these assets. If these estimates or their related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record impairment charges against these assets in the reporting period in which the impairment is determined.

We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, which is the operating segment, in the fourth quarter of every year. We have the option of performing a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary before performing the quantitative assessment. If as a result of the quantitative assessment, it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, a quantitative impairment test will be

85

Table of Contents

required. The quantitative goodwill impairment test requires the management to estimate and compare the fair value of the reporting unit with its carrying value. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets, goodwill is not impaired. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value, the difference is recorded as an impairment loss up to the amount of goodwill.

We review other long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of an asset or an asset group may not be recoverable. In evaluating long-lived assets for recoverability, we estimate the future cash flows that are expected from the use of each assets. Impairment losses are measured and recorded for the excess of an asset's carrying value over its fair value. To determine the fair value of long-lived assets, we utilize the valuation technique or techniques deemed most appropriate based on the nature of the asset or asset group, which may include the use of quoted market prices, prices for similar assets or other valuation techniques such as discounted future cash flows or earnings.

Business combination

Under the acquisition method of accounting, we generally recognize the tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values on the date of acquisition. The fair values assigned, defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between willing market participants, are based on estimates and assumptions determined by management. The excess consideration over the aggregate value of tangible and intangible assets, net of liabilities assumed, is recorded as goodwill. These valuations require significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets.

We estimate the fair value of the contingent consideration earnouts using the Monte Carlo Simulation or probability weighted scenario depending on the nature of the contingent consideration and updates the fair value of the contingent consideration at each reporting period based on the estimated probability of achieving the earnout targets and applying a discount rate that captures the risk associated with the expected contingent payments. To the extent that these estimates change in the future regarding the likelihood of achieving these targets, we may need to record material adjustments to our accrued contingent consideration. Such changes in the fair value of contingent consideration are recorded as contingent consideration expense or income in the consolidated statements of operations.

We use the income approach to determine the fair value of certain identifiable intangible assets including customer relationships and developed technology. This approach determines fair value by estimating after-tax cash flows attributable to these assets over their respective useful lives and then discounting these after-tax cash flows back to a present value. We base our assumptions on estimates of future cash flows, expected growth rates, expected trends in technology, probabilities of customer renewals, etc. We base the discount rates used to arrive at a present value as of the date of acquisition on the time value of money and certain industry-specific risk factors. We believe the estimated purchased customer relationships, developed technology, software and trade name amounts determined represent the fair value at the date of acquisition and do not exceed the amount a third-party would pay for the assets.

If the actual results differ from the estimates and judgments used in these estimates, the amounts recorded in the financial statements may be exposed to potential impairment of the intangible assets and goodwill. The determination of fair value is considered a critical accounting estimate because the valuation techniques mentioned use significant estimates and assumptions, including projected future revenues, a hypothetical royalty rate, the expected economic life of the asset, tax rates and a discount rate that reflects the level of risk associated with the future earnings attributable to the asset.

During the measurement period, which is up to one year from the acquisition date, adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed may be recorded, with the corresponding offset to goodwill.

86

Table of Contents

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is disclosed in Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Inflation Risk

During the last two years, inflation and changing prices have not had a material effect on our business. We are unable to predict whether inflation or changing prices will materially affect our business in the foreseeable future.

​

​

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the ‘‘Risk Factors’’ section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We have developed an innovative suite of purpose-built handheld and desktop mass spectrometry, or Mass Spec, devices for the point-of-need. Leveraging our proprietary platform technology, we make the extraordinary analytical power of Mass Spec available in devices that are significantly smaller and more accessible than conventional laboratory instruments. Our Mass Spec devices are used at the point-of-need to interrogate unknown and invisible materials and provide quick, actionable answers to directly address some of the most critical problems in life sciences research, bioprocessing, industrial biotech, forensics and adjacent markets.

We create simplified measurement devices that our customers can use as accurate tools where and when their work needs to be done, rather than overly complex and centralized analytical instrumentation. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide will accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users.

Front-line workers rely upon our handheld devices to combat the opioid crisis and detect counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit materials in the air or on surfaces at levels 1,000 times below their lethal dose. Our desktop devices are accelerating development and production of biotherapeutics by identifying and quantifying extracellular species in bioprocessing critical to cell health and productivity. They sit alongside bioreactors and fermenters producing drug candidates, functional proteins, cell and gene therapies, and synthetic biology derived products. We believe the insights and answers our devices provide accelerate workflows, reduce costs, and offer transformational opportunities for our end users. The term “products” as used in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” refers to the MX908, Rebel and ZipChip Interface.

Since inception, we have focused substantially all of our resources on designing, developing and building our proprietary Mass Spec platform and associated technologies, supporting software improvements and data analysis, organizing and staffing our company, planning our business, raising capital, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from sales of preferred stock and borrowings under loan agreements and, more recently, with the proceeds from two public equity offerings. On December 22, 2020, we completed our initial public offering, or IPO, pursuant to which we issued and sold 7,475,000 shares of common stock, inclusive of 975,000 shares pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. We received net proceeds of $136.6 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs. On November 15, 2021, we completed an underwritten public offering, pursuant to which we issued and sold 3,150,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $32.00 per share. We received net proceeds of $94.4 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs.

Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful further development and commercialization of our products. We generated revenue of $42.2 million and $26.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and incurred net losses of $22.2 million and $12.8 million for those same years. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $100.6 million. We expect to continue to incur net losses as we focus on growing commercial sales of our products in both the United States and international markets, including growing our sales teams, scaling our manufacturing operations, continuing research and development efforts to develop new products and further enhance our existing products. Further, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. As a

71

Table of Contents

result, we may need additional funding for expenses related to our operating activities, including selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and strategic alliances. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our products, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

COVID-19

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, or COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Less than four months later, in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and the virus has now spread to many other countries and regions and every state within the United States, including Massachusetts, where our primary offices and manufacturing facility are located. The impact of this pandemic has been and will likely continue to be extensive in many aspects of society, which has resulted in and will likely continue to result in significant disruptions to the global economy, as well as businesses and capital markets around the world.

In 2020, we had impacts to our business as a result of COVID-19 including disruptions to our manufacturing operations and supply chain caused by facility closures, reductions in operating hours, staggered shifts and other social distancing efforts, decreased productivity and unavailability of materials or components, limitations on our employees’ and customers’ ability to travel, and delays in product installations, trainings or shipments to and from affected countries and within the United States.

In 2021, we saw an increase in desktop customer activity in the lab and customers enabling on site installations and trainings. However, we continued to experience extended lead times on our supply chain and limitations on travel, among other disruptions we experienced in 2020. The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and the emergence of new variants, the precautionary measures that we adopt, and/or the need to dedicate additional resources to obtain alternate suppliers and implement design or manufacturing changes to utilize such alternate products, may continue to create operational and other challenges.

We do not yet know the net impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our business and cannot guarantee that it will not be materially negative. For example, in 2021, we recorded an increase to our allowance for doubtful accounts of $1.7 million for a customer in the Middle East where due to the credit and economic conditions, including the impact of COVID-19, we determined that it is probable that collection will not occur. Although we continue to monitor the situation and may adjust our current policies as more information and public health guidance become available, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the precautionary measures that we have adopted may create operational and other challenges, any of which could harm our business and results of operations. While we maintain an inventory of finished products and raw materials used in our products, a prolonged pandemic could lead to shortages in the raw materials necessary to manufacture our products. If we experience a prolonged disruption in our manufacturing, supply chains or commercial operations, or if demand for our products or our customers’ ability to make payments is significantly reduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we would expect to experience a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Historically, a significant portion of our field sales, customer training events and other application services have been conducted in person, and the rollout of our new products has historically been supported by our participation at

72

Table of Contents

industry conferences. Currently, as a result of the work and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the precautionary measures that we have adopted, a significant portion of our field sales and professional services activities continue to be conducted remotely, which has resulted in a decrease in our travel expenditures. However, we have recently permitted certain of our employees to travel to our customers and industry conferences where permitted by local authorities, and expect that our travel expenditures will also begin to increase. Any prolonged restrictive measures put in place in order to control the spread of COVID-19, including new variants, or other adverse public health developments in any of our targeted markets may have a material and adverse effect on our business operations and results of operations. We do not yet know the extent of the negative impact of such restrictions and precautionary measures, including the lifting of our travel restrictions in limited circumstances, on our ability to attract new customers or retain and expand our relationships with existing customers over the near and long term.

Factors affecting our performance

We believe that our financial performance has been and in the foreseeable future will continue to be primarily driven by the following factors. While each of these factors presents significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address in order to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address the factors below is subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Device sales

Our financial performance has largely been driven by, and in the future will continue to be impacted by, the rate of sales of our handheld and desktop devices. Management focuses on device sales as an indicator of current business success and a leading indicator of likely future recurring revenue from consumables and services. We expect our device sales to continue to grow as we increase penetration in our existing markets and expand into, or offer new features and solutions that appeal to, new markets.

We plan to grow our device sales in the coming years through multiple strategies including expanding our sales efforts domestically and globally and continuing to enhance the underlying technology and applications for life sciences research related to our Rebel and ZipChip Interface. We regularly solicit feedback from our customers and focus our research and development efforts on enhancing our devices and enabling our customers to use additional applications that address their needs, which we believe in turn helps to drive additional sales of our devices and consumables.

Our sales process varies considerably depending upon the type of customer to whom we are selling. Historically, our handheld devices have been used by state, federal and foreign governments and governmental agencies. Our sales process with government customers is often long and involves multiple levels of approvals, testing and, in some cases, trials. Device orders from a government customer are typically large orders and can be impacted by the timing of their capital budgets. As a result, the revenue for our handheld devices can vary significantly from period-to-period and has been and may continue to be concentrated in a small number of customers in any given period.

Our desktop devices are typically used by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academia markets. Our sales cycles within these markets tend to vary based on the size of the customer and the number of devices they purchase. Our shortest sales cycles are typically for small laboratories and individual researchers where, in some cases, we receive purchase orders from these customers within three months. Our sales process with other institutions can be longer with most customers submitting purchase orders within six to twelve months. Given the variability of our sales cycle, we have in the past experienced, and likely will in the future experience, fluctuations in our desktop device sales on a period-to-period basis. Additionally, we have experienced and may continue to experience the impact of laboratory shutdowns related to COVID-19 on device and consumable sales to these markets.

Recurring revenue

We regularly assess trends relating to recurring revenue which includes consumables and services based on our product offerings, our customer base and our understanding of how our customers use our products. Recurring revenue was 19% and 14% of total product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

73

Table of Contents

Our recurring revenue as a percentage of total product and service revenue will vary based upon new device placements in the period. As our device installed base expands, recurring revenue on an absolute basis is expected to increase and over time should be an increasingly important contributor to our revenue.

Revenue from the sales of consumables will vary by type of device. We expect that recurring revenue as a percentage of the original device price to be higher for our desktop devices (Rebel and ZipChip Interface) than for our handheld device (MX908). While we sell single-use swab samplers for MX908 to be used in liquid and solid materials analysis, there are a number of other applications that the MX908 can be used for that do not require consumables. Rebel and ZipChip Interface require consumables kits for all areas of operations. Currently, Rebel customers, who are actively utilizing the device, are consuming on average one 200-sample kit per month; however, Rebel is a new product and purchasing patterns related to our consumables kits are evolving. We expect that the number of kits sold per month will vary over the short term. In time, we expect Rebel consumables kits sales to become more consistent as our installed base grows and our customers establish usage patterns. At maximum potential capacity, with continuous operation, the Rebel can consume approximately one 200-sample kit per day.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is derived from sales of our devices, consumables and services. There will be fluctuations in mix between devices and consumables from period-to-period. Over time, as our device installed base grows and we see adoption of Rebel, we expect consumables revenue to constitute a larger percentage of product and service revenue. However, the percentage will be subject to fluctuation based upon our handheld sales in a period. In addition, our selling price and, consequently, our margins, are higher for those devices and consumables that we sell directly to customers as compared to those that we sell through distributors. While we expect the mix of direct sales as compared to sales through distributors to remain relatively constant in the near term, we are currently evaluating increasing our direct sales capabilities in certain geographies.

Future device and consumable selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including the introduction by others of competing products and solutions. We aim to mitigate downward pressure on our average selling prices by increasing the value proposition offered by our devices and consumables, primarily by expanding the applications for our devices and increasing the quantity and quality of data that can be obtained using our consumables.

Product adoption

We monitor our customers’ stage of adoption of our products to provide insight into the timing of future potential sales and to help us formulate financial projections. Typical stages of adoption include testing, trials, pilot and deployment as follows:

Key Business Metrics

We regularly review the number of product placements and cumulative product placement as key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

74

Table of Contents

During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, our product placements (units recognized as revenue) by device type were as follows:

​

The number of product placements vary considerably from period-to-period due to the type and size of our customers and concentrations among larger government customers as described above. We also have been impacted by laboratory shutdowns related to COVID-19, especially with our ZipChip Interface device. We expect continued fluctuations in our period-to-period number of product placements.

Our cumulative product placements consist of the following number of devices:

​

Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

Product and Service Revenue

We generate product and service revenue from the sale of our devices and recurring revenue from the sale of consumables and services. Device sales accounted for 81% and 86% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Consumables and service revenue accounted for 19% and 14% of our product and service revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Our current device offerings include:

We sell our devices directly to customers and through distributors. Each of our device sales drives various streams of recurring revenue comprised of consumable product sales and service revenue.

Our consumables consist of:

75

Table of Contents

Rebel and ZipChip Interface consumables can only be used with our devices and there are no alternative after-market options that can be used as a substitute. Each chip is used for a defined number of samples (or runs). We recognize revenue from the sale of consumables as the consumable products are shipped.