Open Lending (LPRO) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

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

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Open Lending Corporation, headquartered in Austin, Texas, provides loan analytics, risk-based loan pricing, risk modeling and automated decision technology for automotive lenders throughout the United States (“U.S.”), which enables each lending institution to book near-prime and non-prime automotive loans, coupled with real-time underwriting of loan default insurance, out of their existing business flow. We also operate as a third-party administrator that adjudicates insurance claims and premium adjustments on automotive loans.

Nebula Acquisition Corporation (“Nebula”) was originally incorporated in Delaware on October 2, 2017 as a special purpose acquisition company for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. On June 10, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), Nebula entered into a business combination pursuant to that certain Business Combination Agreement by and among Nebula, Open Lending, LLC (“Predecessor”), BRP Hold 11, Inc. (the “Blocker”), the Blocker’s sole stockholder, Nebula Parent Corp., NBLA Merger Sub LLC, NBLA Merger Sub Corp., and Shareholder Representative Services LLC, as the security holder representative (the “Business Combination”).

We have evaluated how the Company is organized and managed and have identified only one operating segment. All of our operations and assets are in the U.S., and all of our revenues are attributable to U.S. customers.

We are a leading provider of lending enablement and risk analytics to credit unions, regional banks, finance companies and the captive finance companies of automakers. Our customers, collectively referred to herein as automotive lenders, make automotive consumer loans to underserved near-prime and non-prime borrowers by harnessing our risk-based interest rate pricing models, powered by our proprietary data and real-time underwriting of automotive loan default insurance coverage from insurers. Since our inception in 2000, we have facilitated over $18.3 billion in automotive loans, accumulated more than 20 years of proprietary data and developed over two million unique risk profiles. We currently serve 438 active lenders.

Our flagship product, Lenders Protection Platform (“LPP”), is a cloud-based automotive lending platform. LPP supports loans made to near-prime and non-prime borrowers and is designed to underwrite default insurance by linking automotive lenders to insurance companies. The platform uses risk-based pricing models that enable automotive lenders to assess the credit risk of a potential borrower using data driven analysis. Our proprietary risk models project loan performance including expected losses and prepayments in arriving at the optimal rate. With five second decisioning, LPP generates a risk-based, all-inclusive interest rate for a loan that is customized to each automotive lender, reflecting cost of capital, loan servicing and acquisition costs, expected recovery rates and target return on assets. LPP risk models use a proprietary score in assessing and pricing risk on automotive loan applications. This score combines credit bureau data and Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) compliant alternative consumer data to more effectively assess risk and determine the appropriate insurance premium for any given loan application.

LPP is powered by technology that delivers speed and scalability in providing interest rate decisioning to automotive lenders through electronic system integration. It supports the full transaction lifecycle, including credit application, underwriting, real-time insurance approval, settlement, servicing, invoicing of insurance premiums and fees and advanced data analytics of automotive lender’s portfolio under the program.

A key element of LPP is the unique database that drives risk decisioning using data accumulated for more than 20 years. When a loan is insured at origination, certain attributes of the transaction are stored in our database. Through the claims management process, we ultimately obtain loan life performance data on each insured loan. Having granular origination and performance data allows our data scientists and actuaries to evolve and refine risk models.

We target the financing needs of near-prime and non-prime borrowers, or borrowers with a credit bureau score generally between 560 and 699, who are underserved in the automotive finance industry. Traditional automotive lenders focus on prime borrowers, where an efficient market has developed with interest rate competition that benefits borrowers. Borrowers who must utilize the near-prime and non-prime automotive lending market have fewer lenders focused on loans with longer terms or higher interest rates. As a result, many near-prime and non-prime borrowers turn to sub-prime lenders, resulting in higher interest rate loan offerings than such borrower’s credit profile often merits or warrants. We seek to make the near-prime and non-prime market more competitive, resulting in more attractive loan terms.

We operate a business-to-business model. Our customers are automotive lenders. LPP enables automotive lenders to expand their lending guidelines to offer loans to borrowers with lower credit scores, potentially leading to increased loan originations and higher loan advance rates. LPP integrates directly with automotive lenders’ existing loan origination systems, facilitating electronic delivery of all-inclusive loan rates in real-time to automotive lenders. LPP is designed to provide a real-time experience for automotive lenders that is intuitive and easy to use.

We have exclusivity agreements with insurance carriers who provide default insurance to automotive lenders on individual automotive loans processed through LPP, which underwrites the risk on each loan application. The insurance carriers issue default insurance to our customers, thereby creating a direct contractual relationship between the insurer and the lender. We allocate loan applications to insurance carriers based on pre-determined percentages, which are embedded within LPP.

The insurance carriers contract with our wholly owned subsidiary, Insurance Administrative Services, LLC (“IAS”), to perform claims administration and in turn pay us administrative fees representing a portion of the insurance premiums paid by the automotive lenders. IAS provides continuity of customer service and allows for a seamless experience between LPP, insurance carriers and automotive lenders.

LPP program fees vary as a percentage of the loan amount, averaging $488 per loan in 2022, and are recognized upon receipt of the loan by the consumer. The program fee is paid either in one single payment in the month following loan certification or in equal monthly payments over the 12 months following loan certification. Claims management administration fees are calculated as 3% of monthly insurance earned premium for as long as a loan remains outstanding. The administration fee is recognized monthly as earned and decreases over time as the loan amortizes. Profit share represents our participation in the underwriting profit generated through the use of LPP. We receive 72% of the aggregate monthly insurance underwriting profit on each insurer’s portfolio, calculated as the monthly premium earned by the carrier less the carrier’s expenses and incurred losses. The underwriting profit on each loan is earned upfront and received over its life, with the majority received in the first 12 months of the loan. In 2022, LPP generated, on average, $579 in profit share revenue per loan, which excludes the change in estimate associated with profit share reported on loans certified in prior periods. We refer to the prior periods as historic vintages.

We believe the automotive industry is still seeking solutions to address the near-prime and non-prime borrower market. The near-prime and non-prime automotive loan origination market is a large, underserved sector, estimated at $270 billion annually. We currently serve approximately 2% of this market, providing a significant growth opportunity. In addition, our market opportunity related to the refinancing of near-prime and non-prime automotive loans is estimated at $40 billion annually.

LPP enables the parties in our robust ecosystem to benefit from the ability to integrate with one another through our platform, which we believe improves the volume and quality of lending options made available to both lenders and borrowers in the automotive market.

We support new and used automotive loans originated through a number of channels, including direct loans where the customer interfaces directly with the lender, indirect loans through networks of auto dealers who work with our lenders, and in targeted refinance programs implemented by our lenders.

As of December 31, 2022, we partnered with four insurance carriers to provide auto loan default insurance policies for LPP certified loans. Our carrier partners are required to maintain not less than “A-” Financial Strength Rating by A.M. Best insurance rating company.

We address the financing needs of borrowers with a credit score generally between 560 and 699, also referred to as consumers. We seek to meet their specific needs by supporting lending opportunities through the use of LPP.

portfolios with a risk profile supported by credit default protection from highly rated insurers. Additionally, many of the loans generated using LPP have already been processed and denied through the automotive lender’s loan origination system. The automotive lenders already incur costs for processing such loans and LPP enables such lenders to convert the costs of a denied loan into an earning asset.

We experience competition to sign and maintain automotive lenders and to facilitate funding of near-prime and non-prime auto loans. LPP, which combines lending enablement, risk analytics, near-prime and non-prime auto loan performance data, real-time loan decisioning, risk-based pricing and auto loan default insurance, is a unique solution for which we have not identified any direct competitors.

We compete with loan origination system providers that perform custom underwriting rules and loan underwriting, as well as third-party lending-as-a-service companies that provide turn-key loan origination systems.

The near-prime and non-prime lending market is highly fragmented and competitive. We face competition from a diverse landscape of consumer lenders, including traditional banks and credit unions, as well as alternative technology-enabled lenders. Many of our competitors are (or are affiliated with) financial institutions with the capacity to hold loans on their balance sheets. These would include money center banks, super-banks, banks, captive finance companies of automakers and sub-prime lenders.

Some of these competitors offer a broader suite of products and services than we do, including retail banking solutions, credit and debit cards and loyalty programs.

We operate in a heavily regulated industry that is highly focused on consumer protection. Statutes, regulations and practices that have been in place for many years may be changed, and new laws have been, and may continue to be, introduced to address real and perceived problems in the financial services industry in general and automotive lending in particular. These laws and how they are interpreted continue to evolve.

The regulatory framework to which we are subject includes U.S. federal, state and local laws, regulations and rules. U.S. federal, state and local governmental authorities, including state financial services and insurance regulatory agencies, have broad oversight and supervisory authority over our business. Federal and state agencies also have broad enforcement powers over us, including powers to investigate our business practices and broad discretion to deem particular practices unfair, deceptive, abusive or otherwise not in accordance with the law.

Our business requires compliance with several regulatory regimes, including consumer lending. In particular, the laws which we may be subject to directly or indirectly include, but are not limited to, the following:

We are also subject to state insurance, insurance brokering, insurance agency regulations, third-party administration company statutes and similar statutes.

The number and complexity of these laws, discussed below, present compliance and litigation risks from inadvertent error and omissions which we may not be able to eliminate from our operation or activities. The laws, regulations and rules described above are subject to legislative, administrative and judicial interpretation, and some of these laws and regulations have been

infrequently interpreted or only recently enacted. Infrequent interpretations of these laws and regulations or an insignificant number of interpretations of recently enacted laws and regulations can result in ambiguity with respect to permitted or prohibited conduct under these laws and regulations. Any ambiguity under the laws and regulations to which we are subject may lead to regulatory investigations or enforcement actions and private causes of action, such as class-action lawsuits, with respect to our compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The safety, health and wellness of our employees is a top priority. On an ongoing basis, we promote the health and wellness of our employees by strongly encouraging work-life balance, offering flexible work schedules, parental leave, on-site gym, keeping the employee portion of health care premiums to a minimum and sponsoring various wellness programs.

Our website address is www.openlending.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available through the investor relations page of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our website and the information contained therein or connected thereto are not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report.

If automotive lenders make fewer overall automotive loans or cease to use LPP to make such loans, we will fail to generate future revenues. To attract and retain automotive lenders, we market LPP to automotive lenders on the basis of a number of factors, including loan analytics, risk-based pricing, risk modeling and automated decision-technology, as well as integration, customer service, brand and reputation. Automotive lenders are able to leverage the geographic diversity of the loans they can originate through LPP with the simplicity of our five-second, all-inclusive loan offer generation. Automotive lenders, however, have alternative sources for internal loan generation, and they could elect to originate loans through those alternatives rather than through LPP. There is significant competition for existing automotive lenders. If we fail to retain automotive lenders, and do not enroll new automotive lenders of similar size and profitability, it will have a material adverse effect on our business and future growth. There has been some turnover in automotive lenders, as well as varying activation rates and volatility in usage of our platform by automotive lenders, and this may continue or increase in the future. Agreements with automotive lenders are cancellable on thirty days’ notice and do not require any minimum monthly level of application submissions. If a significant number of existing automotive lenders decide to stop using LPP or to use other competing platforms, thereby reducing their use of LPP, it would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our business, the consumer financial services industry and automotive lenders’ businesses, are sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. Economic factors such as interest rates, inflation, changes in monetary and related policies, market volatility, consumer confidence and unemployment rates are among the most significant factors that impact consumer spending behavior. Weak economic conditions or a significant deterioration in economic conditions reduce the amount of disposable income consumers have, which in turn reduces consumer spending and the willingness of qualified borrowers to take out loans. Such conditions are also likely to affect the ability and willingness of borrowers to pay amounts owed to automotive lenders, each of which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

General economic conditions and the willingness or ability of automotive lenders to deploy capital impact our performance. Recently, the credit markets have experienced instability, resulting in credit and liquidity concerns and increased loan default

rates. Many lenders have subsequently reduced their willingness to make new loans and have tightened their credit requirements.

The generation of new loans through LPP, as well as the transaction fees and other fee income associated with such loans, is dependent upon sales of automobiles by dealers. Dealers’ sales may decrease or fail to increase as a result of factors outside of their control, such as the macroeconomic conditions referenced above, or business conditions affecting a particular automobile dealer, industry vertical or region. Weak economic conditions also could extend the length of dealers’ sales cycle and cause customers to delay making (or not make) purchases of automobiles. The decline of sales by dealers for any reason will generally result in lower credit sales and, therefore, lower loan volume and associated fee income for automotive lenders, and therefore, for us. This risk is particularly acute with respect to the largest automobile dealers associated with automotive lenders that account for a significant amount of our platform revenue.

In addition, if an automobile dealer or automotive lender closes some or all of its locations or becomes subject to a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy proceeding (or if there is a perception that it may become subject to a bankruptcy proceeding), LPP borrowers may have less incentive to pay their outstanding balances to automotive lenders, which could result in higher charge-off rates than anticipated.

Weakening economic conditions, in particular increases in unemployment, will lead to increased defaults and insurance claim payments, resulting in higher losses for insurance carriers. Increased claim payments may affect the willingness of insurance carriers to provide default insurance. In the event insurer losses cause one of our insurance carriers to cease providing insurance, it would have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results.

The severity of loss on consumer defaults impacts our profit share revenue. To the extent inflated used car values revert to normalized levels, future decreases in used car values could increase severity of loss, which could have a material adverse impact to our profit share revenue.

New vehicle production has declined substantially in 2021 and 2022 as compared to prior years, due in large part to the global semiconductor chip supply shortage and related supply chain disruptions. As a result, new vehicle inventory in the U.S. in 2021 and 2022 was appreciably lower than in prior years. This significantly lower level of new vehicle inventory has harmed, and may continue to harm, our business. The lower level of new vehicle production has diminished the need for automotive loans, which has in turn reduced demand from our lender customers for LPP. Additionally, as chips have become more scarce, auto manufacturers have been more inclined to allocate chips to their most profitable units, which are usually their most expensive vehicles. This has reduced demand for LPP since our lender customers typically utilize LPP to facilitate more auto loans to borrowers in the near-prime and non-prime credit space who do not normally purchase the most expensive vehicles. Further, while the current supply of new vehicles is substantially lower than historical levels, the demand for new vehicles has not abated. New vehicle prices have risen accordingly, and these higher prices have pushed many would-be borrowers out of the new car market altogether.

All of these factors, in addition to any other chip shortage-related risks to our business that may develop over time, may affect our ability to generate certified loans through LPP, and therefore pose and may continue to pose material risks to our operating results, financial condition and cash flows, particularly since the duration of the current chip shortage is unknown.

Our top ten automotive lenders (including certain groups of affiliated automotive lenders) accounted for a significant percentage of the total program fee revenue in 2022. We expect to have significant concentration in our largest automotive lender relationships for the foreseeable future. In the event that one or more of our significant automotive lenders, or groups of automotive lenders terminate their relationships with us, or if one or more of our significant automotive lenders generates significantly fewer certified loans, the number of loans originated through LPP would decline, which would materially and adversely affect our business and, in turn, our revenue.

Our success depends on the active and effective adoption of LPP by automotive lenders in originating loans to near-prime and non-prime borrowers. We rely on automotive lenders to utilize LPP within their loan origination systems. Although automotive lenders generally are under no obligation to use LPP in generating their loans, the integrated loan and insurance offering by

LPP encourages the use of LPP by automotive lenders. Any adverse accounting determinations concerning loans generated by automotive lenders using LPP could negatively affect further adoption of LPP. The failure by automotive lenders to effectively adopt LPP would have a material adverse effect on the rate at which they can lend to near-prime and non-prime borrowers and in turn, would have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues and financial condition.

As of December 31, 2022, we relied on four insurance carriers to insure the loans generated by the automotive lenders using LPP. We have entered into separate producer and claims service agreements with each of these carriers. The producer and claims service agreements with these insurance carriers generally contain customary termination provisions that allow them to terminate the agreement upon written notice after the occurrence of certain events including, among other things, breach of the producer agreement; changes in regulatory requirements making the agreement unenforceable; or for convenience once the agreement’s fixed term has come to an end.

On January 24, 2023, CNA, one of our insurance carriers, informed us of their intent not to renew their producer and claims service agreements with us when they expire on December 31, 2023. CNA will continue to provide auto loan default insurance policies for LPP certified loans until the terms of their producer and claims service agreements expire on December 31, 2023, unless mutual agreements with CNA are reached to transition new originations to our other insurance carriers prior to December 31, 2023. In addition, CNA will continue to service and provide claim funding for any of its existing default insurance policies for the remaining life of the loans associated with such policies.

Following CNA’s departure from LPP at the end of 2023, we will continue to partner with three insurance carriers: (i) AmTrust, which is under contract through December 2028, (ii) American National Insurance Company, which is under contract through June 2026, and (iii) Arch Insurance North America, which is under contract through April 2027. If any of our other insurance carriers were to terminate their agreements with us and we are unable to replace their commitments, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations and financial condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected workforces, organizations, customers, economies and financial markets globally. In light of the uncertainty relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants, we have taken precautionary measures, including offering many employees a work from home option. Although we continue to monitor the situation and may adjust our current policies as more information and public health guidance become available, precautionary measures that have been adopted could negatively affect our customer success efforts, customer retention, sales and marketing efforts, delay and lengthen our sales cycles, affect our revenue growth rate, or create operational or other challenges, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.

The extent and duration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy remains uncertain at this time. Any continued significant economic impact could have a substantial adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations. If these conditions persist for a prolonged period, they could have a material adverse effect on our future revenue and net income.

Our growth has caused significant demands on operations, marketing, compliance and accounting infrastructure, and has resulted in increased expenses, which we expect to continue as we grow. In addition, we are required to continuously develop and adapt systems and infrastructure in response to the increasing sophistication of the consumer finance market and regulatory developments relating to existing and projected business activities and those of automotive lenders. Our future growth will depend, among other things, on our ability to maintain an operating platform and management system sufficient to address growth and will require us to incur significant additional expenses and to commit additional senior management and operational resources.

As a result of our growth, we face significant challenges in:

We may not be able to manage expanding operations effectively, and any failure to do so could adversely affect the ability to generate revenue and control expenses.

Reputational risk, or the risk of negative publicity or to public opinion, is inherent to our business. Recently, consumer financial services companies have experienced increased reputational harm as consumers and regulators take issue with certain practices and judgments, including, for example, fair lending, credit reporting accuracy, lending to members of the military, state licensing (for automotive lenders, servicers and money transmitters) and debt collection. Given that our primary customers are automotive lenders in the customer financial services space, any reputational risk associated with our customers is in turn attributable to us. Maintaining a positive reputation is critical to our ability to attract and retain existing and new automotive lenders, insurance carriers, investors and employees. Negative public opinion can arise from many sources, including actual or alleged misconduct, errors or improper business practices by employees, automotive lenders, insurance carriers, automobile dealers, outsourced service providers or other counterparties; litigation or regulatory actions; failure by us, automotive lenders, or automobile dealers to meet minimum standards of service and quality; inadequate protection of consumer information; failure of automotive lenders to adhere to the terms of their LPP agreements or other contractual arrangements or standards; failure of insurance carriers and our subsidiary, IAS, to satisfactorily administer claims; compliance failures; and media coverage, whether accurate or not. Negative public opinion can diminish the value of our brand and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain automotive lenders and insurance carriers as a result of which our operations may be materially harmed and we could be exposed to litigation and regulatory action.

Through the use of LPP, we gather and store personally identifiable information on consumers such as social security numbers, names and addresses. A cybersecurity breach where this information is stolen or made public would result in negative publicity and additional costs to mitigate the damage to customers. While we have taken reasonable steps to protect such data, techniques used to gain unauthorized access to data and systems, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems, are constantly evolving, and we may be unable to anticipate such techniques or implement adequate preventative measures to avoid unauthorized access or other adverse impacts to such data or our systems.

LPP is vulnerable to software bugs, computer viruses, internet worms, break-ins, phishing attacks, attempts to overload servers with denial-of-service, or other attacks or similar disruptions, any of which could lead to system interruptions, delays, or shutdowns, causing loss of critical data or the unauthorized access of data. Computer malware, viruses, and computer hacking and phishing attacks have become more prevalent in our industry. Functions that facilitate interactivity with other internet platforms could increase the scope of access of hackers to user accounts. Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm

may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of our products to the satisfaction of our customers and their consumers may harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing customers. Although we have systems and processes that are designed to protect data, prevent data loss, disable undesirable accounts and activities and prevent or detect security breaches, we cannot assure that such measures will provide absolute security. If an actual or perceived breach of security occurs to our systems or a third party’s systems, we could also be required to expend significant resources to mitigate the breach of security and to address matters related to any such breach, including notifying users or regulators.

The fixed interest rates charged on the loans that automotive lenders originate are calculated based upon market benchmarks at the time of origination. Market benchmarks typically rise when the U.S. Federal Reserve raises the federal funds rate, and the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to continue raising the federal funds rate in 2023 to combat inflation. Any such increases in the market benchmark would result in increases in the interest rates on new loans. Increased interest rates have and may continue to adversely impact the spending levels of consumers and their ability and willingness to borrow money. Higher interest rates often lead to higher rates charged to the consumer, which could negatively impact the ability of automotive lenders to generate volume and in turn, our ability to generate revenues on loans originated using LPP. Higher interest rates may also increase the payment obligations of consumers, which may reduce the ability of consumers to remain current on their obligations to automotive lenders and, therefore, lead to increased delinquencies, defaults, consumer bankruptcies and charge-offs, and decreasing recoveries, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business.

We operate in a rapidly changing and competitive industry, and our projections will be subject to the risks and assumptions made by management with respect to our industry. Operating results are difficult to forecast because they generally depend on a number of factors, including the competition we face, our ability to attract and retain automotive lenders, the active and effective adoption of LPP by automotive lenders in originating loans to near-prime and non-prime borrowers, our profit share assumptions and general industry trends. Additionally, as described herein, our revenue is impacted, to a significant extent, by the general economy and the financial performance of automotive lenders. Our business may be affected by reductions in consumer spending from time to time as a result of a number of factors which may be difficult to predict. This may result in decreased revenue levels, and we may be unable to adopt measures in a timely manner to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in income. This inability could cause our operating results in a given quarter to be higher or lower than expected. If actual results differ from our estimates, analysts may negatively react, and our stock price could be materially and adversely impacted.

We have significant vendors that, among other things, provide us with financial, technology, insurance and other services to support our loan protection services, including access to credit reports and information. Under various legal theories and contractual requirements, companies may be held responsible for the actions of their subcontractors. Accordingly, we could be adversely impacted to the extent that our vendors fail to comply with the legal requirements applicable to the particular products or services being offered.

In some cases, third-party vendors, including resellers and aggregators, are the sole source, or one of a limited number of sources, of the services they provide to us. Certain of our vendor agreements are terminable on little or no notice, and if current vendors were to stop providing services to us on acceptable terms, we may be unable to procure alternatives from other vendors in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms (or at all). If any third-party vendor fails to provide the services we require, fails to meet contractual requirements (including compliance with applicable laws and regulations), fails to maintain adequate data privacy and electronic security systems, or suffers a cyber-attack or other security breach, we could be subject to regulatory enforcement actions and suffer economic and reputational harm that could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, we may incur significant costs to resolve any such disruptions in service, which could adversely affect our business.

Our business is subject to increased risks of litigation and regulatory actions as a result of a number of factors and from various sources, including as a result of the highly regulated nature of the financial services industry, insurance carriers and the focus of state and federal enforcement agencies on the financial services industry and insurance carriers.

From time to time, we are also involved in, or the subject of, reviews, requests for information, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal) by state and federal governmental agencies, including insurance regulators and the Department of Insurance of many states, regarding our business activities and our qualifications to conduct business in certain jurisdictions, which could subject us to significant fines, penalties, obligations to change business practices and other requirements resulting in increased expenses and diminished earnings. Our involvement in any such matter could also cause significant harm to our reputation and divert management attention from business operations, even if the matters are ultimately determined in our favor. Moreover, any settlement, or any consent order or adverse judgment in connection with any formal or informal proceeding or investigation by a government agency, may prompt litigation or additional investigations or proceedings as other litigants or other government agencies begin independent reviews of the same activities.

In addition, a number of participants in the consumer finance industry have been the subject of punitive class action lawsuits; state attorney general actions and other state regulatory actions; federal regulatory enforcement actions, including actions relating to alleged unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices; violations of state licensing and lending laws, including state usury laws; actions alleging discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender or other prohibited bases; and allegations of noncompliance with various state and federal laws and regulations relating to originating and servicing consumer finance loans. The current regulatory environment, increased regulatory compliance efforts and enhanced regulatory enforcement have resulted in significant operational and compliance costs and may prevent us from providing certain products and services. There is no assurance that these regulatory matters or other factors will not, in the future, affect how we conduct business and, in turn, have a material adverse effect on our business. In particular, legal proceedings brought under state consumer protection statutes or under several of the various federal consumer financial services statutes may result in a separate fine for each violation of the statute, which, particularly in the case of class action lawsuits, could result in damages substantially in excess of the amounts we earned from the underlying activities. Similar risks exist for insurance producing and claims administration services, which are highly regulated.

In addition, from time to time, through our operational and compliance controls, we identify compliance issues that require us to make operational changes and, depending on the nature of the issue, result in financial remediation to impacted customers. These self-identified issues and voluntary remediation payments could be significant, depending on the issue and the number of customers impacted, and also could generate litigation or regulatory investigations that subject us to additional risk.

Fraud is prevalent in the financial services industry and is likely to increase as perpetrators become more sophisticated. We are subject to the risk of fraudulent activity with respect to the underwriting policies of insurance carriers, automotive lenders, their customers and third parties handling customer information. Our resources, technologies and fraud prevention tools may be insufficient to accurately detect and prevent fraud. The level of our fraud charge-offs could increase and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if fraudulent activity were to significantly increase. High profile fraudulent activity could also negatively impact our brand and reputation, which could negatively impact the use of our services and products. In addition, significant increases in fraudulent activity could also lead to regulatory intervention, which could increase our costs and also negatively impact our business.

In the normal course of our business, we collect, process and retain sensitive and confidential information regarding automotive lenders, insurance carriers and consumers. We also have arrangements with certain third-party service providers that require us to share consumer information. Although we devote significant resources and management focus to ensuring the security, confidentiality and integrity of our systems through information security and business continuity programs, our facilities and systems, and those of automotive lenders, insurance carriers and third-party service providers, are vulnerable to external or internal security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming or human errors, and other similar events. We, automotive lenders, insurance carriers and third-party service providers have experienced all of these events to varying degrees in the past and expect to continue to experience them in the future. We also face security threats from malicious third parties that could obtain unauthorized access to our systems and networks, and we anticipate these threats will continue to grow in scope and complexity over time. These events could interrupt our business or operations, result in

significant legal and financial exposure, supervisory liability, damage to our reputation and a loss of confidence in the security, confidentiality and integrity of our systems, products and services. Although the impact to date from these events has not had a material adverse effect on us, no assurance is given that this will be the case in the future.

Information security risks in the financial services industry have increased recently, in part because of evolving technologies, the use of the internet and telecommunications technologies (including mobile devices) to conduct financial and other business transactions and the increased sophistication and activities of organized criminals, perpetrators of fraud, hackers, terrorists and others. In addition to cyber-attacks and other security breaches involving the theft of sensitive and confidential information, hackers recently have engaged in attacks that are designed to disrupt key business services, such as consumer-facing websites. We and automotive lenders may not be able to anticipate or implement effective preventive measures against all security breaches of these types, especially because the techniques used change frequently and because attacks can originate from a wide variety of sources. We employ prevention, detection and response mechanisms designed to prevent, detect, contain and mitigate security incidents. Nonetheless, prevention and early detection efforts may be thwarted by sophisticated attacks and malware designed to avoid prevention and detection. We also may fail to detect the existence of a successful security breach related to the information of automotive lenders, insurance carriers and consumers that we retain as part of our business and may be unable to prevent unauthorized access to that information.

We also face risks related to cyber-attacks and other security breaches that typically involve the transmission of sensitive information regarding borrowers through various third parties, including automotive lenders, insurance carriers and data processors. Some of these parties have in the past been the target of security breaches and cyber-attacks. Because we do not control these third parties or directly oversee or manage the security of their systems, future security breaches or cyber-attacks affecting any of these third parties could impact us through no fault of our own, and in some cases, we may have exposure and suffer losses for breaches or attacks relating to them. While we regularly conduct security assessments of significant third-party service providers, no assurance is given that our third-party information security protocols are sufficient to withstand a cyber-attack or other security breach.

The access by unauthorized persons to, or the improper disclosure by us of, confidential information regarding consumers, LPP customers or our proprietary information, software, methodologies and business secrets could interrupt our business or operations, result in significant legal and financial exposure, supervisory liability, damage to our reputation or a loss of confidence in the security, confidentiality and integrity of our systems, products and services, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business. In addition, there have been a number of well-publicized attacks or breaches affecting companies in the financial services industry that have heightened concern by consumers, which could also intensify regulatory focus, cause users to lose trust in the security of the industry in general and result in reduced use of our services and increased costs, all of which could also have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to deliver products and services to automotive lenders, service loans made by automotive lenders and otherwise operate our business and comply with applicable laws depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation and availability of our computer systems and third-party data centers, as well as those of automotive lenders and third-party service providers.

These computer systems and third-party data centers may encounter service interruptions at any time due to system or software failure, natural disasters, severe weather conditions, pandemics, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks or other events. Any such catastrophes could have a negative effect on our business and technology infrastructure (including our computer network systems), on automotive lenders and insurance carriers and on consumers. These events also could impair the ability of third parties to provide critical services to us. All of these adverse effects of catastrophic events could result in a decrease in the use of our solution and payments to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, the implementation of technology changes and upgrades to maintain current and integrate new systems may cause service interruptions, transaction processing errors or system conversion delays and may cause us to fail to comply with applicable laws, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We expect that new technologies and business processes applicable to the consumer financial services industry will continue to emerge and that these new technologies and business processes may be more advanced than those we currently use. There is no assurance that we will be able to successfully adopt new technology as critical systems and applications become obsolete and more advanced ones become available. A failure to maintain and/or improve current technology and business processes could cause disruptions in our operations or cause our solution to be less competitive, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to attract automotive lenders to LPP is significantly dependent on our ability to effectively evaluate a consumer’s credit profile and likelihood of default and potential loss in accordance with automotive lenders’ and insurance carriers’ underwriting policies. Our business depends significantly on the accuracy and success of our underwriting model. To conduct this evaluation, we use proprietary credit decisioning and scoring models. If any of the credit decisioning and scoring models we use contain programming or other errors, is ineffective or the data provided by consumers or third parties is incorrect or stale, or if we are unable to obtain accurate data from consumers or third parties (such as credit reporting agencies), our loan pricing and approval process could be negatively affected, resulting in mispriced or misclassified loans, incorrect approvals or denials of loans. This could damage our reputation and relationships with automotive lenders and insurance carriers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In evaluating loan applicants, we rely on information furnished to us by or on behalf of consumers, including credit, identification, employment and other relevant information. Some of the information regarding consumers provided to us is used in our proprietary credit decisioning and scoring models, which we use to determine whether an application meets the applicable underwriting criteria. We rely on the accuracy and completeness of that information.

Not all consumer information is independently verified. As a result, we rely on the accuracy and completeness of the information provided by consumers or indirectly by automotive lenders. If any of the information that is considered in the loan review process is inaccurate, whether intentional or not, and such inaccuracy is not detected prior to loan funding, the loan may have a greater risk of default than expected. Additionally, there is a risk that, following the date of the credit report that we obtain and review, a consumer may have defaulted on, or become delinquent in the payment of, a pre-existing debt obligation, taken on additional debt, lost his or her job or other sources of income, or experienced other adverse financial events. Any significant increase in inaccuracies resulting in losses could adversely affect our business.

In assisting automotive lenders with the design of the products that are offered on LPP, we make assumptions about various matters, including repayment timing and default rates, and then utilize proprietary underwriting modeling to analyze and forecast the performance and profitability of the loans. Our assumptions may be inaccurate and models may not be as predictive as expected for many reasons, including that they often involve matters that are inherently difficult to predict and beyond our control (e.g., macroeconomic conditions) and that they often involve complex interactions between a number of dependent and independent variables and factors. Any significant inaccuracies or errors in assumptions could impact the profitability of the products to automotive lenders, as well as the profitability of our business, and could result in our underestimating potential losses and overstating potential automotive lender returns.

Our success depends on our ability to generate usage of LPP. The consumer lending industry is highly competitive and increasingly dynamic as emerging technologies continue to enter the marketplace. Technological advances and heightened e-commerce activities have increased consumers’ accessibility to products and services, which has intensified the desirability of offering loans to consumers through digital-based solutions. We face competition in areas such as compliance capabilities, financing terms, promotional offerings, fees, approval rates, speed and simplicity of loan origination, ease-of-use, marketing expertise, service levels, products and services, technological capabilities and integration, customer service, brand and reputation. Our existing and potential competitors may decide to modify their pricing and business models to compete more directly with our model. Any reduction in usage of LPP, or a reduction in the lifetime profitability of loans under LPP in an effort to attract or retain business, could reduce our revenues and earnings. If we are unable to compete effectively for customer usage, our business could be materially and adversely affected.

Our business currently is concentrated on supporting consumer lending in the U.S. automobile industry. As a result, we are more susceptible to fluctuations and risks particular to U.S. consumer credit than a more diversified company would be as well as to factors that may drive the demand for automobiles, such as sales levels of new automobiles and the aging of existing inventory. We are also more susceptible to the risks of increased regulations and legal and other regulatory actions that are targeted at consumer credit and the specific consumer credit products that automotive lenders offer (including promotional financing) in the U.S. automobile industry. Our business concentration in the U.S. could have a material, adverse effect on our business.

We may in the future further expand into other industry verticals. There is no assurance that we will be able to successfully develop consumer financing products and services for these new industries. Our investment of resources to develop consumer financing products and services for the new industries we enter may either be insufficient or result in expenses that are excessive in light of loans actually originated by lenders in those industries. Additionally, our over 20 years of experience is in the automotive lending industry and therefore, industry participants in new industry verticals may not be receptive to our financing solutions and we may face competitors with more experience and resources. The borrower profile of consumers in new verticals may not be as attractive, in terms of average FICO scores or other attributes, as in current verticals, which may lead to higher levels of delinquencies or defaults than we have historically experienced. Industries change rapidly, and we make no assurance that we will be able to accurately forecast demand (or the lack thereof) for a solution or that those industries will be receptive to our product offerings. Failure to predict demand or growth accurately in new industries could have a material adverse impact on our business.

Our future success will depend on our ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified personnel for all areas of our organization, particularly information technology and sales. Trained and experienced personnel are in high demand and are in short supply. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced employees have greater resources than us and may be able to offer more attractive terms of employment. In addition, we invest significant time and expense in training employees, which increases their value to competitors that may seek to recruit them. We may not be able to attract, develop and maintain the skilled workforce necessary to operate our business, and labor expenses may increase as a result of a shortage in the supply of qualified personnel, which will negatively impact our business.

Our 2022 Credit Agreement (as defined hereinafter) provides for credit facilities (“Credit Facilities”) consisting of a senior secured term loan facility of up to $150.0 million along with a senior secured revolving loan facility of up to $150.0 million at any time outstanding. Borrowings under the 2022 Credit Agreement bear interest at a variable rate based on the net secured leverage ratio. Our obligations under the 2022 Credit Agreement are guaranteed by all of our subsidiaries and secured by substantially all of our assets and substantially all of our subsidiaries’ assets, in each case, subject to certain customary exceptions. The Credit Facilities mature on September 9, 2027.

The 2022 Credit Agreement contains affirmative and negative covenants customarily applicable to senior secured credit facilities, including covenants that, among other things, will limit or restrict the ability of the loan parties, subject to negotiated exceptions, to incur additional indebtedness and additional liens on their assets, engage in mergers or acquisitions or dispose of assets, pay dividends or make other distributions, voluntarily prepay other indebtedness, enter into transactions with affiliated persons, make investments, and change the nature of their businesses.

The 2022 Credit Agreement also contains customary events of default (subject to thresholds and grace periods), including payment default, covenant default, cross default to other material indebtedness, and judgment defaults.

Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, such as market fluctuations impacting net income. Breaches of these covenants will result in a default under the 2022 Credit Agreement, subject to any applicable cure rights, in which case the administrative agent may accelerate the outstanding term loan.

If such acceleration under the 2022 Credit Agreement occurs, our ability to fund operations could be seriously harmed.

We rely on a combination of trademarks, service marks, copyrights, trade secrets, domain names and agreements with employees and third parties to protect our proprietary rights. We have service mark registrations in the U.S. We also own the domain name rights for Openlending.com, Openlending.net, Openlending.us, Dev-openlending.com, Lendersprotection.org, Lendersprotection.us, Lend-pro.org, Lend-pro.us, Lend-pro.net, Lendpro.net, Lendpro.org, Lendpro.us, Lend-pro.com, Lendersprotection.com, Sayyestomoreloans.com, Sayyestomoreloans.net, as well as other words and phrases important to our business. Nonetheless, third parties may challenge, invalidate or circumvent our intellectual property, and our intellectual property may not be sufficient to provide us with a competitive advantage.

Despite our efforts to protect these rights, unauthorized third parties may attempt to duplicate or copy the proprietary aspects of our technology and processes. Our competitors and other third parties independently may design around or develop similar technology or otherwise duplicate our services or products such that we could not assert our intellectual property rights against them. In addition, our contractual arrangements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our intellectual property and confidential and proprietary information or provide an adequate remedy in the event of an unauthorized disclosure. These measures may not prevent misappropriation or infringement of our intellectual property or proprietary information and the resulting loss of competitive advantage, and we may be required to litigate to protect our intellectual property and proprietary information from misappropriation or infringement by others, which is expensive and could cause a diversion of resources and may not be successful.

We also may encounter disputes from time to time concerning intellectual property rights of others, and we may not prevail in these disputes. Third parties may raise claims against us alleging that we, our consultants or other third parties retained or indemnified by us, infringed on their intellectual property rights. Some third-party intellectual property rights may be extremely broad, and it may not be possible for us to conduct operations in such a way as to avoid all alleged violations of such intellectual property rights. Given the complex, rapidly changing and competitive technological and business environment in which we operate, and the potential risks and uncertainties of intellectual property-related litigation, an assertion of an infringement claim against us may cause us to spend significant amounts to defend the claim (even if we ultimately prevail), pay significant monetary damages, lose significant revenues, be prohibited from using the relevant systems, processes, technologies or other intellectual property (temporarily or permanently), cease offering certain products or services, or incur significant license, royalty or technology development expenses.

Moreover, it has become common in recent years for individuals and groups to purchase intellectual property assets for the sole purpose of making claims of infringement and attempting to extract settlements from companies such as ours. Even in instances where we believe that claims and allegations of intellectual property infringement against us are without merit, defending against such claims is time consuming and expensive and could result in the diversion of time and attention of our management and employees. In addition, although in some cases a third party may have agreed to indemnify us for such costs, such indemnifying party may refuse or be unable to uphold our contractual obligations. In other cases, insurance may not cover potential claims of this type adequately or at all, and we may be required to pay monetary damages, which may be significant.

Our risk management processes and procedures seek to appropriately balance risk and return and mitigate risks. We have established processes and procedures intended to identify, measure, monitor and control the types of risk to which we and automotive lenders are subject, including credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, strategic risk and operational risk. Credit risk is the risk of loss that arises when an obligor fails to meet the terms of an obligation. Market risk is the risk of loss due to changes in external market factors such as interest rates. Liquidity risk is the risk that financial conditions or overall safety and soundness are adversely affected by an inability, or perceived inability, to meet obligations and support business growth.

Strategic risk is the risk from changes in the business environment, improper implementation of decisions or inadequate responsiveness to changes in the business environment. Operational risk is the risk of loss arising from inadequate or failed processes, people or systems, external events (e.g., natural disasters), compliance, reputational or legal matters and includes those risks as they relate directly to us as well as to third parties with whom we contract or otherwise do business.

Management of our risks depends, in part, upon the use of analytical and forecasting models. If these models are ineffective at predicting future losses or are otherwise inadequate, we may incur unexpected losses or otherwise be adversely affected. In addition, the information we use in managing credit and other risks may be inaccurate or incomplete as a result of error or fraud, both of which may be difficult to detect and avoid. There also may be risks that exist, or that develop in the future, that

we have not appropriately anticipated, identified or mitigated, including when processes are changed or new products and services are introduced. If our risk management framework does not effectively identify and control risks, we could suffer unexpected losses or be adversely affected, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Aspects of our platform include software covered by open source licenses. The terms of various open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our platform. If portions of our proprietary software are determined to be subject to an open source license, we could be required to publicly release the affected portions of our source code, re-engineer all or a portion of our technologies or otherwise be limited in the licensing of technologies, each of which could reduce or eliminate the value of our technologies and loan products. In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software because open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on the origin of the software. Many of the risks associated with the use of open source software cannot be eliminated and could adversely affect our business.

We may in the future seek to grow our business by exploring potential acquisitions or other strategic investments or alliances. We may not be successful in identifying businesses or opportunities that meet our acquisition or expansion criteria. In addition, even if a potential acquisition target or other strategic investment is identified, we may not be successful in completing such acquisition or integrating such new business or other investment. We may face significant competition for acquisition and other strategic investment opportunities from other well-capitalized companies, many of which have greater financial resources and greater access to debt and equity capital to secure and complete acquisitions or other strategic investments, than us. As a result of such competition, we may be unable to acquire certain assets or businesses, or take advantage of other strategic investment opportunities that we deem attractive; the purchase price for a given strategic opportunity may be significantly elevated; or certain other terms or circumstances may be substantially more onerous. Any delay or failure on our part to identify, negotiate, finance on favorable terms, consummate and integrate any such acquisition, or other strategic investment opportunity could impede our growth.

There is no assurance that we will be able to manage expanding operations, including from acquisitions, investments or alliances, effectively or that we will be able to continue to grow, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and control our expenses. Furthermore, we may be responsible for any legacy liabilities of businesses we acquire or be subject to additional liability in connection with other strategic investments. The existence or amount of these liabilities may not be known at the time of acquisition, or other strategic investment, and may have a material adverse effect on our business.

In connection with administration of LPP, we must comply with various regulatory regimes, including those applicable to consumer credit transactions, various aspects of which are untested as applied to our business model. Insurance producing and

While we have developed policies and procedures designed to assist in compliance with these laws and regulations, no assurance is given that our compliance policies and procedures will be effective. Failure to comply with these laws and with regulatory requirements applicable to our business could subject us to damages, revocation of licenses, class action lawsuits, administrative enforcement actions, and civil and criminal liability, which may harm our business.

In connection with our administration of LPP, we are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and examination under U.S. federal and state laws and regulations. We are required to comply with numerous federal, state, and local laws and regulations that regulate, among other things, the manner in which we administer LPP, the terms of the loans that automotive lenders originate, the products of insurance carriers, production of those products, insurance claims administration, and the fees that we may charge. Any failure to comply with any of these laws or regulations could subject us to lawsuits or governmental actions and/or damage our reputation, which could materially and adversely affect our business. Regulators have broad discretion with respect to the interpretation, implementation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations, including through enforcement actions that could subject us to civil money penalties, customer remediation, increased compliance costs, and limits or prohibitions on our ability to offer certain products or services or to engage in certain activities. In addition, to the extent that we undertake actions requiring regulatory approval or non-objection, regulators may make their approval or non-objection subject to conditions or restrictions that could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, any competitors subject to different, or in some cases less restrictive, legislative or regulatory regimes may have or obtain a competitive advantage over us.

Additionally, federal, state, and local governments and regulatory agencies have proposed or enacted numerous new laws, regulations, and rules related to loans. Federal and state consumer credit and insurance regulators are also enforcing existing laws, regulations, and rules more aggressively and enhancing their supervisory expectations regarding the management of legal and regulatory compliance risks. Consumer finance and insurance regulation is constantly changing, and new laws or regulations, or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations, could have a material adverse impact on our ability to operate as currently intended.

These regulatory changes and uncertainties make our business planning more difficult and could result in changes to our business model and potentially adversely impact results of operations. New laws or regulations also require us to incur significant expenses to ensure compliance. As compared to our competitors, we could be subject to more stringent state or local regulations or could incur marginally greater compliance costs as a result of regulatory changes. In addition, our failure to comply (or to ensure that our agents and third-party service providers comply) with these laws or regulations may result in costly litigation or enforcement actions, the penalties for which could include: revocation of licenses; fines and other monetary penalties; civil and criminal liability; substantially reduced payments by borrowers; modification of the original terms of loans, permanent forgiveness of debt, or inability to, directly or indirectly, collect all or a part of the principal of or interest on loans; and increased purchases of receivables underlying loans originated by automotive lenders and indemnification claims.

Proposals to change the statutes affecting financial services companies are frequently introduced in Congress and state legislatures that, if enacted, may affect our operating environment in substantial and unpredictable ways. In addition, numerous federal and state regulators have the authority to promulgate or change regulations that could have a similar effect on our operating environment. We cannot determine with any degree of certainty whether any such legislative or regulatory proposals will be enacted and, if enacted, the ultimate impact that any such potential legislation or implementing regulations, or any such potential regulatory actions by federal or state regulators, would have upon our business.

With respect to state regulation, although we seek to comply with applicable state insurance, insurance brokering, insurance agency regulations, third-party administration company statutes and similar statutes in all U.S. jurisdictions, and with licensing and other requirements that we believe may be applicable to us, if we are found to not have complied with applicable laws, we could lose one or more licenses or authorizations or face other sanctions or penalties or be required to obtain a license in one or

more such jurisdictions, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to make LPP available to borrowers in particular states and, thus, adversely impact our business.

We are also subject to potential enforcement and other actions that may be brought by state attorneys general or other state enforcement authorities and other governmental agencies. Any such actions could subject us to civil money penalties and fines, customer remediation, and increased compliance costs, damage our reputation and brand and limit or prohibit our ability to offer certain products and services or engage in certain business practices.

New laws, regulations, policy or changes in enforcement of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business, or reexamination of current practices, could adversely impact our profitability, limit our ability to continue existing or pursue new business activities, require us to change certain of our business practices or alter our relationships with LPP customers, affect retention of key personnel, or expose us to additional costs (including increased compliance costs and/or customer remediation). These changes also may require us to invest significant resources, and devote significant management attention, to make any necessary changes and could adversely affect our business.

Automotive lenders and insurance carriers are subject to federal and/or state supervision and regulation. Federal regulation of the banking or insurance industries, along with tax and accounting laws, regulations, rules, and standards, may limit their operations significantly and control the methods by which they conduct business. In addition, compliance with laws and regulations can be difficult and costly, and changes to laws and regulations can impose additional compliance requirements. For example, the Dodd-Frank Act imposes significant regulatory and compliance obligations on financial institutions. Regulatory requirements affect automotive lenders’ lending and investment practices and insurance carriers’ offerings, among other aspects of their businesses, and restrict transactions between us and automotive lenders and insurance carriers. These requirements may constrain the operations of automotive lenders and insurance carriers, and the adoption of new laws and changes to, or repeal of, existing laws may have a further impact on our business.

In choosing whether and how to conduct business with us, current and prospective automotive lenders and insurance carriers can be expected to take into account the legal, regulatory, and supervisory regimes that apply to them, including potential changes in the application or interpretation of regulatory standards, licensing requirements, or supervisory expectations. Regulators may elect to alter standards or the interpretation of the standards used to measure regulatory compliance or to determine the adequacy of liquidity, certain risk management or other operational practices for financial services companies in a manner that impacts automotive lenders or insurance carriers. Furthermore, the regulatory agencies have extremely broad discretion in their interpretation of the regulations and laws and their interpretation of the quality of automotive lenders’ loan portfolios and other assets. If any regulatory agency’s assessment of the quality of automotive lenders’ assets, operations, lending practices, investment practices or other aspects of their business changes, or those with respect to insurance carriers, it may materially reduce automotive lenders’ or insurance carriers’ earnings, capital ratios and share price in such a way that affects our business.

Bank holding companies, credit unions, financial institutions, automobile lenders, and insurance carriers and producers are extensively regulated and currently face an uncertain regulatory environment. Applicable state and federal laws, regulations and interpretations, including licensing laws and regulations, and enforcement policies and accounting principles have been subject to significant changes in recent years, and may be subject to significant future changes. We cannot predict with any degree of certainty the substance or effect of pending or future legislation or regulation or the application of laws and regulations to automotive lenders and insurance carriers. Future changes may have a material adverse effect on automotive lenders or insurance carriers and, therefore, on us.

Federal and state agencies have broad enforcement powers over us, including powers to investigate our business practices and broad discretion to deem particular practices unfair, deceptive, abusive or otherwise not in accordance with the law. The continued focus of regulators on the consumer financial services industry has resulted, and could continue to result, in new enforcement actions that could, directly or indirectly, affect the manner in which we conduct our business and increase the costs of defending and settling any such matters, which could negatively impact our business. In some cases, regardless of fault, it may be less time-consuming or costly to settle these matters, which may require us to implement certain changes to our business practices, provide remediation to certain individuals or make a settlement payment to a given party or regulatory body. There is no assurance that any future settlements will not have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, the laws and regulations applicable to us are subject to administrative or judicial interpretation. Some of these laws and regulations have been enacted only recently and may not yet have been interpreted or may be interpreted infrequently. As a result of infrequent or sparse interpretations, ambiguities in these laws and regulations may create uncertainty with respect to what type of conduct is permitted or restricted under such laws and regulations. Any ambiguity under a law or regulation to which we are subject may lead to regulatory investigations, governmental enforcement actions and private causes of action, such as class action lawsuits, with respect to our compliance with such laws or regulations.

The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits UDAAP and authorizes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) to enforce that prohibition. The CFPB has filed a large number of UDAAP enforcement actions against consumer lenders for practices that do not appear to violate other consumer finance statutes. There is a risk that the CFPB could determine that certain features of automotive lender loans are unfair, deceptive or abusive, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to various privacy, information security and data protection laws, including requirements concerning security breach notification, and our business could be negatively impacted by them. For example, in connection with our administration of LPP, we are subject to the GLBA and implementing regulations and guidance. Among other things, the GLBA (i) imposes certain limitations on the ability to share consumers’ nonpublic personal information with non-affiliated third parties and (ii) requires certain disclosures to consumers about their information collection, sharing and security practices and their right to “opt out” of the institution’s disclosure of their personal financial information to non-affiliated third parties (with certain exceptions).

Furthermore, legislators and/or regulators are increasingly adopting or revising privacy, information security and data protection laws that could have a significant impact on our current and planned privacy, data protection and information security-related practices; our collection, use, sharing, retention and safeguarding of consumer and/or employee information; and some of our current or planned business activities. This also could increase our costs of compliance and business operations and could reduce income from certain business initiatives.

Compliance with current or future privacy, information security and data protection laws (including those regarding security breach notification) affecting customer and/or employee data to which we are subject could result in higher compliance and technology costs and could restrict our ability to provide certain products and services (such as products or services that involve sharing information with third parties or storing sensitive credit card information), which could materially and adversely affect our profitability. Additionally, regulators could attempt to assert authority over our business in the area of privacy, information security and data protection. If our vendors also become subject to laws and regulations in the more stringent and expansive jurisdictions, this could result in increasing costs on our business.

Privacy requirements, including notice and opt-out requirements, under the GLBA and FCRA are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and by the CFPB through UDAAP and are a standard component of CFPB examinations. State entities also may initiate actions for alleged violations of privacy or security requirements under state law. Our failure to comply with privacy, information security and data protection laws could result in potentially significant regulatory investigations and government actions, litigation, fines or sanctions; consumer, automotive lender or merchant actions; and damage to our reputation and brand, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Certain states have adopted laws regulating and requiring licensing by parties that engage in certain activity regarding consumer finance and insurance transactions, including facilitating and assisting such transactions in certain circumstances. Furthermore, certain states and localities have also adopted laws requiring licensing for consumer debt collection or servicing. While we believe we have obtained all necessary licenses, the application of some consumer finance or insurance producer and claims administration licensing laws to LPP is unclear. If we were found to be in violation of applicable state licensing requirements by a court or a state, federal, or local enforcement agency, we could be subject to fines, damages, injunctive relief (including required modification or discontinuation of our business in certain areas), criminal penalties and other penalties or consequences, and the loans originated through LPP could be rendered void or unenforceable in whole or in part, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

From time to time, in the normal course of our business, we may receive or be subject to, inquiries or investigations by state and federal regulatory agencies and bodies, such as the CFPB, state Attorneys General, state financial regulatory agencies, and other state or federal agencies or bodies regarding LPP, including the origination and servicing of consumer loans, practices by merchants or other third parties, production of insurance policies, administration of insurance claims and licensing, and registration requirements. For example, in the future, we may enter into regulatory agreements with state agencies regarding issues including automotive lender conduct and oversight and loan pricing. We also may receive inquiries from state regulatory agencies regarding requirements to obtain licenses from or register with those states, including in states where we have determined that we are not required to obtain such a license or be registered with the state. Any such inquiries or investigations could involve substantial time and expense to analyze and respond to, could divert management’s attention and other resources from running our business, and could lead to public enforcement actions or lawsuits and fines, penalties, injunctive relief, and the need to obtain additional licenses that we do not currently possess. Our involvement in any such matters, whether tangential or otherwise, even if the matters are ultimately determined in our favor, could also cause significant harm to our reputation, lead to additional investigations and enforcement actions from other agencies or litigants, and further divert management attention and resources from the operation of our business. As a result, the outcome of legal and regulatory actions arising out of any state or federal inquiries we receive could be material to our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage public company requirements, and the Company is and will continue to be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. Our management’s limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of the business.

As a public company, we have faced increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), including the requirements of Section 404, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements has increased costs and made certain activities more time-consuming. A number of those requirements require us to carry out activities we had not done as a private company. In addition, additional expenses associated with SEC reporting requirements have been incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if the auditors identify a material weakness or significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), we could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of it. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Risks associated with our status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the Board of Directors or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations have increased legal and financial compliance costs and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs have required us to divert a significant amount of money that could otherwise have been used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.

We may from time to time become subject to litigation claims in the operation of our business, including, but not limited to, with respect to employee matters and contract matters. From time to time, we may also face intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or invalidity/non-infringement claims from third parties, and some of these claims may lead to litigation. We may initiate claims to assert or defend our intellectual property against third parties. Any litigation may be expensive and time-consuming and could divert management’s attention from our business and negatively affect our operating results or financial condition. The outcome of any litigation cannot be guaranteed, and adverse outcomes affect us negatively.

Our executive officers and directors and certain affiliated stockholders own a significant portion of the outstanding voting stock of the Company as of the date of this report. Each share of our common stock initially entitles stockholders to one vote on all matters presented to stockholders generally. Accordingly, those owners, if voting in the same manner, could materially influence the election and removal of our directors and thereby determine corporate and management policies, including potential mergers or acquisitions, payment of dividends, asset sales, amendments of the certificate of incorporation and bylaws and other significant corporate transactions for so long as they retain significant ownership. This concentration of ownership may delay or deter possible changes in control of Open Lending, which may reduce the value of an investment in our common stock. So long as they continue to own a significant amount of the combined voting power, even if such amount is less than 50%, they will continue to be able to strongly influence decisions of the Company.

Pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any state law claim for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim of or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of ours to us or our stockholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, or the Delaware Forum Provision. The Delaware Forum Provision will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, or the Federal Forum Provision. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

We recognize that the Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated bylaws may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims, particularly if the stockholders do not reside in or near the State of Delaware or the State of Texas. Additionally, the forum selection clauses in our amended and restated bylaws may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage the filing of lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees, even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. In addition, while the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court were “facially valid” under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts will enforce our Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain an active trading market for our common stock on the Nasdaq or any other exchange in the future. If an active market for our common stock is not sustained, it may be difficult for stockholders to sell their shares of our common stock at an attractive price (or at all). The market price of our common stock may decline below our stockholders’ purchase price. An inactive trading market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares of capital stock, attract and motivate employees through equity incentive awards, and acquire other companies, products, or technologies by using shares of capital stock as consideration.

If the Nasdaq delists our shares of common stock from trading on its exchange for failure to meet the Nasdaq’s listing standards, we and our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences including the following:

The market price of our common stock has been volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in our common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market and political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our common stock despite our operating performance. In addition, our results of operations could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including the following:

These broad market and industry factors may decrease the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The stock market in general has, from time to time, experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

We expect to issue additional capital stock in the future that will result in dilution to all other stockholders. We expect to grant equity awards to employees, directors, and consultants under our stock incentive plans. We may also raise capital through equity financings in the future. As part of our business strategy, we may acquire or make investments in complementary

companies, products, or technologies and issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition or investment. Any such issuances of additional capital stock may cause stockholders to experience significant dilution of their ownership interests and the per share value of our common stock to decline.

As of December 31, 2022, a significant portion of the outstanding shares of our common stock is held by entities affiliated with us and our executive officers and directors. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales will occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and make it difficult for us to raise funds through securities offerings in the future.

In connection with the consummation of the Business Combination, Open Lending, LLC, Open Lending Corporation, Nebula, certain persons and entities holding membership units of Open Lending and certain persons and entities holding Founder Shares (collectively, the “Holders”) entered into the Investor Rights Agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the Investor Rights Agreement, we are obligated to file a registration statement to register the resale of certain of our securities held by the Holders. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Investor Rights Agreement and subject to certain requirements and customary conditions, including with regard to the number of demand rights that may be exercised, the Holders may demand at any time or from time to time that we file a registration statement on Form S-1, or any similar long-form registration statement, or if available, on Form S-3 to register the shares of our common stock held by the Holders. The Investor Rights Agreement also provides the Holders with “piggy-back” registration rights, subject to certain requirements and customary conditions. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and operating results, our available cash, current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiary to us and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant. In addition, the terms of our existing financing arrangements restrict or limit our ability to pay cash dividends. Accordingly, we may not pay any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

In the future, we may attempt to obtain financing or to further increase our capital resources by issuing additional shares of our common stock or offering debt or other equity securities, including commercial paper, medium-term notes, senior or subordinated notes, debt securities convertible into equity or shares of preferred stock. Future acquisitions could require substantial additional capital in excess of cash from operations. We would expect to obtain the capital required for acquisitions through a combination of additional issuances of equity, corporate indebtedness and/or cash from operations.

Issuing additional shares of our common stock or other equity securities or securities convertible into equity may dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our common stock or both. Upon liquidation, holders of such debt securities and preferred shares, if issued, and lenders with respect to other borrowings would receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our common stock. Debt securities convertible into equity could be subject to adjustments in the conversion ratio pursuant to which certain events may increase the number of equity securities issuable upon conversion. Preferred shares, if issued, could have a preference with respect to liquidating distributions or a preference with respect to dividend payments that could limit our ability to pay dividends to the holders of our common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, which may adversely affect the amount, timing and nature of our future offerings.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without the consent of our Board of Directors. Among other things, these provisions:

In addition, these provisions may make it difficult and expensive for a third party to pursue a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that is opposed by our management or our Board of Directors. Stockholders who might desire to participate in these types of transactions may not have an opportunity to do so, even if the transaction is favorable to them. These anti-takeover provisions could substantially impede stockholders’ ability to benefit from a change in control or change our management and board of directors and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and stockholders’ ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

The trading market for our common stock will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities and industry analysts publish about us and our business. If one or more of the securities or industry analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of the Company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

As of the date of this Annual Report, we are not a party to any material legal proceedings. In the future, we may become party to legal matters and claims arising in the ordinary course of business, the resolution of which we do not anticipate would have a material adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “LPRO.” As of February 27, 2023, there were 24 registered stockholders of record. The actual number of stockholders is significantly greater than this number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees.

We have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and operating results, our available cash, current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiary to us and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by covenants in our existing indebtedness and may be limited by the agreements governing other indebtedness that we incur in the future. Accordingly, we may not pay any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

The following table sets forth information with respect to our repurchases of shares of common stock during the three months ended December 31, 2022.

The graph below shows the cumulative total stockholder return of an investment of $100.00 at market close on the Closing Date of the Business Combination, in (i) our common stock, (ii) the S&P 500 Index, and (iii) common stock of a selected group of peer issuers (the “Peer Group”). The Peer Group has changed from the prior year to replace Equifax Inc., FleetCor Technologies, Inc., TransUnion, Verisk Analytics, Inc. and WEX Inc. with other more comparable peer companies in the same industry. The current Peer Group tracks the weighted average stock price performance of equity securities of nine companies in our industry, including Green Dot Corporation, Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., LendingClub Corporation, Pagaya Technologies Ltd., Paymentus Holdings, Inc., Q2 Holdings, Inc., Repay Holdings Corporation, SoFi Technologies, Inc. and Upstart Holdings, Inc. Data for the S&P 500 Index and the Peer Group assumes reinvestment of dividends. Our common stock had a closing stock price of $13.75 on the Closing Date, and the stock price performance shown in the graph below is based on historical data and is not indicative of, nor intended to forecast, future stock price performance of our stock.

We are a leading provider of lending enablement and risk analytics to credit unions, regional banks, finance companies and the captive finance companies of automakers. Our customers, collectively referred to herein as automotive lenders, make automotive consumer loans to underserved near-prime and non-prime borrowers by harnessing our risk-based interest rate pricing models, powered by our proprietary data and real-time underwriting of automotive loan default insurance coverage from insurers. Since our inception in 2000, we have facilitated over $18.3 billion in automotive loans, accumulated more than 20 years of proprietary data and developed over two million unique risk profiles. We currently serve 438 active lenders.

We specialize in risk-based pricing and modeling and provide automated decision-technology for automotive lenders throughout the U.S. We target the financing needs of near-prime and non-prime borrowers, or borrowers with a credit bureau score generally between 560 and 699, who are underserved in the automotive finance industry. Traditional lenders focus on prime borrowers, where an efficient market has developed with interest rate competition that benefits borrowers. Independent finance companies focus on sub-prime borrowers. Borrowers who must utilize the near-prime and non-prime automotive lending market have fewer lenders focused on loans with longer terms or higher advance rates. As a result, many near-prime and non-prime borrowers turn to sub-prime lenders, resulting in higher interest rate loan offerings than such borrower's credit profile often merits or warrants. We seek to make this market more competitive, resulting in more attractive loan terms.

Our flagship product, LPP, is a cloud-based automotive lending platform. LPP supports loans made to near-prime and non-prime borrowers and is designed to underwrite default insurance by linking automotive lenders to insurance companies. The platform uses risk-based pricing models which enable automotive lenders to assess the credit risk of a potential borrower using data driven analysis. Our proprietary risk models project loan performance, including expected losses and prepayments in arriving at the optimal rate. With five second decisioning, LPP generates a risk-based, all-inclusive interest rate for a loan that is customized to each automotive lender, reflecting cost of capital, loan servicing and acquisition costs, expected recovery rates and target return on assets. LPP risk models use a proprietary score in assessing and pricing risk on automotive loan applications. This score combines credit bureau data and FCRA compliant alternative consumer data to more effectively assess risk and determine the appropriate insurance premium for any given loan application.

LPP is powered by technology that delivers speed and scalability in providing interest rate decisioning to automotive lenders. It supports the full transaction lifecycle, including credit application, underwriting, real-time insurance approval, settlement, servicing, invoicing of insurance premiums and fees and advance data analytics of automotive lender’s portfolio under the program. Through electronic system integration, our software technology connects us to certain parties in our ecosystem.

A key element of LPP is the unique database that drives risk decisioning using data accumulated for more than 20 years. When a loan is insured at origination, all attributes of the transaction are stored in our database. Through the claims management process, we ultimately obtain loan life performance data on each insured loan. Having granular origination and performance data allows our data scientists and actuaries to constantly evolve and refine risk models, based on actual experience and third-party information sources.

We facilitate certified loans, as described below, and have achieved financial success by executing on our strategy of penetrating the near-prime and non-prime automotive loan market and refining our data analysis capabilities.

We facilitated 165,211 and 171,697 certified loans during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Total revenue was $179.6 million and $215.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Operating income was $97.6 million and $150.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Net income was $66.6 million and $146.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

The table below summarizes the total dollar-value of insured loans we facilitated and the number of new contracts we signed with automotive lenders for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

We review several key performance measures, discussed below, to evaluate business and results, measure performance, identify trends, formulate plans and make strategic decisions. We believe that the presentation of such metrics is useful to our investors and counterparties because such metrics are used to measure and model the performance of companies such as us, with recurring revenue streams.

We refer to “certified loans” as the number of loans facilitated through LPP during a given period. Additionally, we refer to loans with a one-time upfront program fee payment as “single-pay” loans. For certain loans, the program fee is paid to us over 12 monthly installments and we refer to these loans as “monthly-pay” loans.

We define “average program fee” as the total program fee revenue recognized for a period divided by the number of certified loans in that period.

We define “underwriting profit” as the total underwriting profit expected to be received by insurers over the expected life of the insured loans.

We define “earned premium” as the total insurance premium earned by insurers in a given period. Earned premiums were $294.0 million and $223.3 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

On May 2, 2022, we signed a program management agreement with Arch Specialty Insurance Company, a part of Arch Capital Group Ltd., who provides credit default insurance policies for LPP, from which we earn profit share revenue and claims administration fees.

On January 24, 2023, CNA, one of our insurance carriers, informed us of their intent not to renew their producer and claims service agreements with us when they expire on December 31, 2023. CNA will continue to provide auto loan default insurance policies for LPP certified loans until the terms of their producer and claims service agreements expire on December 31, 2023, unless mutual agreements with CNA are reached to transition new originations to our other insurance carriers prior to December 31, 2023. In addition, CNA will continue to service and provide claim funding for any of its existing default insurance policies for the remaining life of the loans associated with such policies. During the period until the expiration of these agreements, we expect to transition our customers that use CNA to our other insurance carriers.

Our future operating results and cash flows are dependent upon a number of opportunities, challenges and other factors, including the growth in the number of financial institutions and transaction volume, competition, profit share assumptions and industry trends and general economic conditions. Key factors affecting our operating results include the following:

The growth trend in active automotive lenders using LPP is a critical variable directly affecting revenue and financial results. It influences the number of loans funded on LPP and as such, the fees we earn and the cost of the services we provide. Growth in our active automotive lender relationships will depend on our ability to retain existing as well as add new automotive lenders.

We face competition to acquire and maintain automotive lenders as customers, as well as competition to facilitate the funding of near-prime and non-prime auto loans. LPP, which combines lending enablement, risk analytics, near-prime and non-prime auto loan performance data, real-time loan decisioning, risk-based pricing and auto loan default insurance, is a unique solution for which we have not identified any direct competitors. The emergence of direct competitors, providing risk, analytics and loss mitigation, which are core elements of our business, could materially impact our ability to acquire and maintain automotive lender customers. The near-prime and non-prime lending market is highly fragmented and competitive. We face competition from a diverse landscape of consumer lenders, including traditional banks and credit unions, as well as alternative technology-enabled lenders. The emergence of other insurers, in competition with our insurers, could materially impact our business.

Our results of operations may be impacted by the relative strength of the overall economy and its effect on unemployment, consumer spending and consumer demand for automotive products. As general economic conditions improve or deteriorate, the amount of disposable income consumers have tends to fluctuate, which in turn impacts consumer spending levels and the willingness of consumers to take out loans to finance purchases. Specific economic factors such as inflation, rising interest rate levels, changes in monetary and related policies, market volatility, supply chain disruptions, consumer confidence, the impact of the pandemic and, particularly, the unemployment rate also influence consumer spending and borrowing patterns.

On August 16, 2022, the U.S. government enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) which includes, among other provisions, changes to the U.S. corporate income tax system, including a 15% minimum tax based on “adjusted financial statement income” exceeding $1 billion and a 1% excise tax on net repurchases of stock after December 31, 2022. The IR Act may impact the cost efficiency of the Share Repurchase Program.

Our revenue is generated through three streams: (i) profit share paid to us by insurance partners, (ii) program fees paid to us by automotive lenders and (iii) claims administration service fees paid to us by insurance partners.

Profit share revenue decreased by $43.2 million, or 32%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we recorded $95.7 million in anticipated profit share associated with 165,211 certified loans for an average of $579 per loan, as compared to $102.3 million in anticipated profit share associated with 171,697 certified loans for an average of $596 per loan during the year ended December 31, 2021.

In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2022, we recorded a $5.7 million reduction in estimated future profit share revenues related to business in historic vintages primarily as a result of higher than anticipated prepayment rates, partially offset by lower loan default rates and severity of losses. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded a $30.9 million increase in estimated future profit share revenues on certified loans originated in historic vintages primarily due to lower than anticipated prepayment rates, loan default rates and severity of losses.

Program fees revenue increased $5.0 million, or 7%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase in program fees revenue was driven by an 11% increase in unit economics per certified loan, partially offset by a 4% decrease in certified loan volume, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.

Revenue from claims administration and other service fees, which primarily represents 3% of our insurance partners’ annual earned premium, increased $2.1 million, or 31%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, due to a 32% increase in total earned premiums.

Cost of services increased $1.3 million, or 7% during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to increased fees of $1.8 million paid to third party partners for lead-generation efforts and higher employee compensation and benefit costs of $1.0 million associated with the growth of our implementation and claims

administration operations, both partially offset by one-time costs associated with customer implementation efforts of $1.5 million incurred during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Gross profit decreased by $37.4 million, or 19%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily driven by a decrease in anticipated profit share on historic vintages partially offset by increases in both program fees and claims administration service fees, as discussed above.

Selling and marketing expenses increased by $5.9 million, or 49%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily driven by increases in employee compensation and benefit costs of $3.5 million, as well as increases in expenses related to travel, marketing and business development of $1.6 million associated with increased levels of business activity.

Research and development expenses increased by $3.9 million, or 89%, for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to increases in employee compensation and benefit costs and other services associated with our investment in research and development technology of $5.1 million.

Operating income for the year ended December 31, 2022, decreased by $52.7 million, or 35%, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily driven by decreased estimated profit share on historic vintages, as well as increases in operating expenses related to general and administrative, selling and marketing, and research and development, as discussed above.

Our principal liquidity requirements are to (i) meet working capital, tax and capital expenditure needs, (ii) service and repay our indebtedness and (iii) repurchase shares of our common stock.

We assess liquidity primarily in terms of our ability to generate cash to fund operating and investing activities. A significant portion of our cash from operating activities is derived from our profit share arrangements with our insurance partners, which are subject to judgments and assumptions and is, therefore, subject to variability. We believe that our existing cash resources and revolving credit facility will provide sufficient liquidity to fund our near-term working capital needs. We regularly evaluate alternatives for managing our capital structure and liquidity profile in consideration of expected cash flows, growth and

The following table provides a summary of cash flow data:

Our cash flows provided by operating activities reflect net income adjusted for certain non-cash items and changes in operating assets and liabilities.

Net cash provided by operating activities increased by $12.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to increased cash collections of $28.2 million related to profit share, program fees and claims administration service fee revenues and a $1.7 million reduction in interest payments. This increase was offset by increased cash payments related to cost of services and operating expenses of $8.3 million and income tax payments of $10.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2021.

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, net cash used in investing activities was $0.6 million and $2.0 million, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the investments primarily related to software developed for internal use.

Our cash flows used in financing activities primarily consist of proceeds from debt, payments of debt and deferred financing costs, and shares repurchased.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in financing activities was $17.8 million. The cash inflow of $150.0 million relates to proceeds from our New Term Loan due 2027, which paid off our existing debt as of that date, less $1.0 million in deferred financing costs associated with the loan. Debt principal payments were $123.6 million, primarily related to payment in full of the Term Loan due 2026. In addition, we paid off all amounts outstanding under the 2021 Revolving Credit

Facility (as defined hereinafter) totaling $25.0 million and repurchased 2,643,306 shares of our common stock held in treasury stock for a total of $18.0 million.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used in financing activities was $77.8 million. The cash used primarily consisted of $36.9 million in early termination and settlement of the TRA with our Predecessor and affiliates, $20.0 million related to our repurchase of 612,745 shares of our common stock held in treasury stock and debt principal payments of $169.2 million, primarily related to the payment in full of the Term Loan due 2027 in March 2021. In addition, we paid down the 2021 Revolving Credit Facility by $25.0 million. The cash inflow relates to $175.0 million in proceeds associated with the 2021 Credit Agreement (as defined hereinafter), which refinanced our existing debt as of that date, less $1.7 million in deferred financing costs associated with this facility.

As of December 31, 2022, we had no amounts outstanding under our New Revolving Credit Facility and $149.1 million outstanding under our New Term Loan due 2027.

On November 17, 2022, the Board of Directors authorized the Share Repurchase Program allowing the Company to repurchase up to $75.0 million of the Company’s outstanding common stock until November 17, 2023. Repurchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time on the open market. The Share Repurchase Program may be suspended, amended, or discontinued at any time. Pursuant to the Share Repurchase Program, the Company repurchased 2,643,306 shares at an average price of $6.80 for a total of $18.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, leaving $57.0 million available under our current Share Repurchase Program as of December 31, 2022. These shares were recorded to treasury stock at cost.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure used by management to evaluate its operating performance, generate future operating plans, and make strategic decisions, including those relating to operating expenses and the allocation of internal resources. Accordingly, we believe this measure provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and Board of Directors. This measure further provides useful analysis of period-to-period comparisons of our business, as it excludes the effect of certain non-cash items and certain variable charges. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as GAAP net income, excluding interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense of property and equipment, share-based compensation expense, gain on extinguishment of the TRA, and loss on extinguishment of debt. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA expressed as a percentage of total revenue.

In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we make assumptions, judgments and estimates that can have a significant impact on our revenue, income (loss) from operations and net income (loss), as well as on the value of certain assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets. We base our assumptions, judgments and estimates on historical experience and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. To prepare these financial statements, we make estimates, assumption, and judgments that affect what we report as our assets and liabilities, what we disclose as contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the periods presented.

The primary judgment relating to the recognition of revenue is the estimation of our profit share with our insurance partners. On a quarterly basis, we use a forecast model to project loan-level earned premiums and insurance claim payments. Our forecasts are driven by our projections of prepayment rate, loan default rate and severity of loss. These forecast assumptions are derived

from an analysis of the historical performance of the active loan portfolio, prevailing default and prepayment trends, and macroeconomic projections. To the extent these forecast assumptions change, our profit share revenue will be adjusted.

We continually assess the default and prepayment assumptions of our core forecast model against reported performance and lender delinquency data. We make updates to the forecast model to ensure that default and prepayment rate projections align with actual experience.

We evaluate our forecast assumptions for prepayment rate, loan default rate and default severity of loss by performing a sensitivity analysis calculating the impact on profit share revenue of a hypothetical 10% increase and decrease in each assumption. The below table summarizes the results of the sensitivity analysis as of December 31, 2022:

Prior to closing of the Business Combination, Open Lending, LLC, the sole owner of Lenders Protection and Open Lending Services, Inc., was treated as a partnership for income tax purposes. Therefore, no provision had historically been made for income tax purposes prior to the closing.

Subsequent to closing, Open Lending, LLC became a disregarded entity, wholly owned by us through its wholly owned subsidiaries. As of the close of the Business Combination, we are subject to income tax on a consolidated basis.

Our effective tax rate is based on income at statutory tax rates, adjusted for non-taxable and non-deductible items and tax credits. Management’s best estimate of future events and their impact is included in our effective tax rate. Certain changes or future events, such as changes in tax legislation, could have an impact on our estimates and effective tax rate. Audit periods remain open for review until the statute of limitations has passed.

The calculation of income taxes involves estimating the actual current tax liability together with assessing temporary differences in recognition of income (loss) for tax and accounting purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are included in our consolidated balance sheets. We record a valuation allowance when it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In assessing the need for a valuation allowance, we are required to develop estimates of the anticipated timing of the reversal of existing deferred tax liabilities, as well as estimates of future taxable income in some instances. Judgment is inherent in this process and differences between the estimated and actual amounts could result in a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We recognize liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on a two-step process. The first step requires us to determine whether the weight of available evidence indicates that the tax position has met the threshold for recognition. Therefore, we must evaluate whether it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. The second step requires us to measure the tax benefit of the tax position taken, or expected to be taken, in an income tax return as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement. This measurement step is inherently complex and requires subjective estimations of such amounts to determine the probability of various possible outcomes. We re-evaluate the uncertain tax positions each quarter based on factors including, but not limited to, changes in facts or circumstances, changes in tax law, expirations of statutes of limitation, effectively settled issues under audit, and new audit activity. Such a change in recognition or measurement would result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the tax provision in the period.

Our operations include activities in the U.S. These operations expose us to a variety of market risks, including the effects of changes in interest rates and changes in consumer attitudes toward vehicle ownership. We monitor and manage these financial exposures as an integral part of our overall risk management program.

In the normal course of business, we are exposed to market risk and have established policies designed to protect against the adverse effects of this exposure. We are exposed to risks associated with general economic conditions and the impact of the economic environment on the willingness of consumers to finance auto purchases. Consumer spending and borrowing patterns related to auto purchases are influenced by economic factors such as unemployment rates, inflation, interest rate levels, changes in monetary and related policies, market volatility, and overall consumer confidence. We also face risk from competition to acquire, maintain and develop new relationships with automotive lenders, as well as competition from a wide variety of automotive lenders who are (or are affiliated) with financial institutions and have capacity to hold loans on their balance sheets.

We rely on our three largest insurance partners for a significant portion of our profit share and claims administration service fees revenue. Termination or disruption of these relationships could materially and adversely impact our revenue.

Our earnings and cash flows are subject to fluctuations due to changes in interest rates on investment of available cash balances in money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities. Our New Term Loan due 2027 also exposes us to changes in short-term interest rates since interest rates on the underlying obligations are variable.

As of December 31, 2022, we had $149.1 million outstanding under the New Term Loan due 2027, which is scheduled to mature on September 9, 2027. There were no amounts outstanding under the New Revolving Credit Facility as of December 31, 2022. Borrowings under our 2022 Credit Agreement bear interest at a rate equal to the term Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) plus 0.10% (“Adjusted SOFR”) plus a spread that is based upon our total net leverage ratio. The spread ranges from 1.625% to 2.375% per annum for Adjusted SOFR loans. We are also charged an unused commitment fee that ranges from 0.15% to 0.225% per annum on the average daily unused portion of the New Revolving Credit Facility, which is paid quarterly in arrears and is based on our total net leverage ratio.

Our management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the our management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, regardless of how well they were designed and are operating, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive and principal financial and accounting officers and effected by our Board of Directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

Management, with the participation of our principal executive and principal financial and accounting officers, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) in its 2013 Internal Control — Integrated Framework. Based on this assessment, our management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting is effective based on those criteria.

Ernst & Young LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm who audited the Company’s consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report, has issued an attestation report on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, which is included herein.

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act during the period covered by this Annual Report, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.