Clearwater Analytics (CWAN) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

OR

Commission File Number 001-40838

Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (208) 433-1200

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ NO ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ NO ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

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). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ NO ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2022, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $692,919,109 (based on the closing sales price of the registrant’s common stock on that date). Shares of the registrant’s common stock held by each officer and director have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of February 24, 2023 was:

62,212,132 shares of Class A common stock.

1,439,251 shares of Class B common stock.

47,377,587 shares of Class C common stock.

130,083,755 shares of Class D common stock.

Table of Contents

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GLOSSARY

As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the terms identified below have the meanings specified below unless otherwise noted or the context indicates otherwise:

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the section captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Forward-looking statements include information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, technology developments, financing and investment plans, dividend policy, competitive position, industry and regulatory environment, potential growth opportunities and the effects of competition. Forward looking statements include statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from our expectations include, but are not limited to, the following:

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Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be relied upon as representing Clearwater expectations or beliefs as of any date subsequent to the time they are made. Clearwater does not undertake to and specifically declines any obligation to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of Clearwater.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Overview

Clearwater brings transparency to the opaque world of investment accounting and analytics with what we believe is the industry’s most trusted and innovative single instance, multi-tenant technology platform. Our cloud-native software allows clients to radically simplify their investment accounting operations, enabling them to focus on higher-value business functions such as asset allocation strategy and investment selection. Our platform provides comprehensive accounting, data and advanced analytics as well as highly-configurable reporting for global investment assets daily or on-demand, instead of weekly or monthly. We give our clients confidence that they are making the most informed decisions about investment performance, regulatory compliance and risk.

We provide investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics solutions for asset managers, insurance companies and large corporations. Every day, Clearwater’s powerful platform aggregates and normalizes data on over $6.4 trillion of global invested assets for over 1,200 clients. We bring modern software to an industry that has long been dominated by difficult-to-use, high cost legacy technologies and processes, which often lack data integrity and traceability, and often require significant manual intervention. The strength of our platform is demonstrated by our approximately 80% win rate for new clients over the prior five years in deals that reached the proposal stage.

The markets we serve are highly complex and changing rapidly. All asset owners and asset managers need timely, accurate and comprehensive information about their investment portfolios in order to effectively make capital allocation decisions, manage risk, measure performance, comply with regulations and communicate to various stakeholders internally and externally. This requires organizations to have a comprehensive, global view of their investment portfolio. A partial view of one asset class or one reporting regime is ineffective: delivering analysis on 95% of the portfolio is inadequate because, more often than not, the opaque final 5% of the portfolio creates disproportionate risk. A single client can invest in over 60 different asset classes, hold assets in over 40 different currencies, be governed by more than 10 accounting regimes and hold positions representing thousands of individual tax lots. These clients often have separate accounting, reporting, performance, compliance and risk management products for each asset class and each country. Furthermore, clients frequently require large teams of people to manually review, compare and enter data, correct errors and build custom reports across multiple disparate systems and spreadsheets. Our platform provides our clients with a single consolidated and transparent view of investment data and analytics.

We believe that client demand for Clearwater’s offering continues to grow not only in the United States, but also in financial centers around the world. Prior to 2008, institutions often invested in a narrower range of asset classes for which legacy solutions may have been able to provide adequate accounting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics. Over the past decade, however, clients’ needs have grown meaningfully as a result of industry-wide trends such as:

Clients no longer find it sufficient to review investment portfolios on a quarterly, monthly or even weekly basis. Their aged patchworks of on-premises software applications with multiple data warehouses and significant manual intervention expose them to time delays, a lack of data integrity and traceability, and a significant increase in errors, cost and ultimately risk. For many clients, this has become increasingly untenable.

We allow our clients to replace these legacy systems with modern cloud-native software. Our platform helps clients reduce cost, time, errors and risk and allows them to reallocate resources to other value-creating activities. Our software aggregates, reconciles and validates data from more than 2,800 daily data feeds and more than four million securities that have been modeled across multiple currencies, asset classes and countries. This cleansed and validated data runs through our proprietary accounting, performance, compliance and risk solutions to provide clients with powerful analytics and daily or on-demand configurable reporting. We offer multi-asset class, multi-basis, multi-currency accounting and analytics that provide clients with a comprehensive view of their holdings and related performance. This allows our clients to make better, more timely decisions about their investment portfolios.

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Clearwater benefits from powerful network effects. With our single instance, multi-tenant architecture, every client, whether new or existing, enriches our global data set by making it more complete and accurate. Our software continually sources, ingests, models, reconciles and validates the terms, conditions and features of every investment security held by all of our clients. This continuous process helps to create a single repository of comprehensive, accurate investment data (often referred to within the industry as a “Golden Copy” of data) that benefits all our clients to the extent they otherwise have rights to the data. Through this continuous process, we are able to identify and adjudicate data discrepancies that otherwise could introduce error and risk into our clients’ investment portfolios. We believe that a meaningful competitive advantage of this network effect is that we are increasingly seen as the best and most accurate source of investment accounting data and analytics in the industry.

Our team members are passionate about client success. We strive to be an extension of our clients’ own teams by providing responsive, consistent and effective support. Our clients have direct access to a dedicated client service team, a specialized group of experts devoted to ensuring data is as accurate and current as possible and resolving any challenges our clients may encounter utilizing our platform. We take pride in our extremely high client satisfaction rating with a NPS of 60+, in contrast with competitors who typically score much lower. Our gross revenue retention rate has remained approximately 98% over the past sixteen quarters, which we believe is a testament to the strength of our offering, our ability to deliver operational efficiency for our clients and our focus on providing exceptional client service. We are able to deliver this service to our clients by attracting, retaining and engaging an outstanding team.

We have a 100% recurring revenue model, excluding license related revenue from the JUMP acquisition. We charge our clients a fee that is primarily based on the amount of assets they manage on our platform, subject to contracted minimums. A majority of the assets on our platform are high-grade fixed income assets, leading to very low levels of volatility and highly predictable revenue streams. When applicable, we charge additional transaction fees for certain alternative asset classes (e.g., derivatives and other financial instruments). In 2022, we transitioned our contracting structure to a framework we describe as Base+ for all new clients. A Base+ contract framework includes a base fee for a prospective or existing client's book of business plus an incremental fee for increases in assets on the platform. This structure is designed to limit the downside volatility in our asset-based fees. We also began to amend contracts with our existing clients to either modify the structure of such contracts from a pure asset-based fee to this Base+ model or to increase the basis point price. Throughout 2022, 80% of our clients (based on percentage of annual recurring revenue) either modified their contracts to Base+ or agreed to price increases under their existing contracts. The Base+ model includes annual increases in the base fee and enables us to charge additional fees for supplemental services provided for certain alternative asset classes (e.g., LPx) or additional products (e.g. Prism, Performance Plus) should the client choose to utilize those services.

Our Industry

We operate in the investment accounting and analytics market, serving a range of clients that own or manage investment assets. Before the global financial crisis in 2008, the investment community generally invested in a relatively small number of asset classes that could be tracked with legacy software tools and processes. Over the ensuing years, the industry has faced several challenges that have strained and broken this fragmented and often manual approach to investment accounting operations. These new developments have included increasingly globalized holdings, growing regulatory complexities, the increasing prominence of complex alternative assets, and pressure to increase speed and accuracy while reducing cost. In light of these developments, asset owners and asset managers began to require a comprehensive, global view of their investment portfolios. These organizations initially reacted by buying dedicated products for each asset class, country and reporting regime, building proprietary data warehouses for different use cases, and increasing employee headcount in accounting and compliance functions. These practices resulted in investment accounting operations that were slow, expensive, inflexible and inconsistent, very often resulting in inaccurate data and reporting. We believe that our purpose-built single instance, multi-tenant technology platform provides clients with a vastly superior solution to their growing needs.

Increasingly Global Investment Portfolios

Investors today increasingly hold positions in globally diversified assets as they search for yield and diversification. As a result, they require a global platform that delivers a multi-asset class, multi-basis, multi-currency solution across different accounting, reporting and regulatory regimes.

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High Regulatory Complexity

Increased regulatory requirements within the financial services and investment industries continue to proliferate in jurisdictions around the world, forcing asset owners and asset managers to adapt and operate under a myriad of ever-changing rules. The spread of these new regulations (e.g., CECL, NAIC, Solvency II, IFRS 9 and 17, and others) has been accompanied by a nearly six-fold increase in global yearly regulatory alerts and SEC enforcement actions, from approximately 10,000 alerts and enforcement actions in 2008 to approximately 64,000 in 2021, according to SEC press releases and annual reports. Investors must be responsive to ensure they remain compliant across this vast range of regulations. Failure to do so could lead to investigations and sanctions. Asset owners and asset managers need a robust and dynamic solution to help them achieve and maintain compliance in this complex and ever-evolving environment.

Growing Importance of Alternative Assets

Investors are increasingly allocating capital to alternative assets and complex financial instruments as part of a search for higher investment returns and returns that are uncorrelated to equity and fixed income markets. According to a Preqin study from November 2020, investors expect to further increase their allocation to alternative assets over the coming years, particularly within private equity and debt. Alternative assets are typically traded less broadly and frequently than traditional investment assets (such as stocks, corporate bonds, treasury securities, currencies, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds) and often have less data readily available about them. This complicates reporting and risk management. Asset owners and asset managers need comprehensive, accurate and timely data regardless of the complexity of their investment holdings.

Rising Demand for Risk Management and Transparency

Investors are seeking the highest quality investment data and portfolio visibility in order to effectively make capital allocation decisions, manage risk and measure performance. Additionally, the rise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives in investing has increased the need for transparency in portfolio holdings as investors seek to measure compliance with ESG objectives. Asset owners and asset managers need a solution that provides on-demand transparency in order to optimize risk management and provide their stakeholders with the holdings-based visibility that they require.

Pressure to Increase Efficiency

The asset management industry is highly competitive and asset management firms must constantly improve operating efficiency to maintain profitability. Accounting teams at these firms are continually asked to meet growing regulatory and reporting challenges with fewer resources, an ultimately unsolvable problem with legacy products and processes. Additionally, the growing prominence of passive investment strategies (e.g., through the use of Exchange Traded Funds and Index strategies) has compressed fees for active asset managers and led to a greater focus on managing overall organizational costs to maintain profitability and operational efficiency. In order to effectively compete, asset owners and asset managers need modern automated solutions that reduce the need for greater headcount, and ultimately lower costs.

Digital Transformation from Legacy Technologies

Many of the challenges that plague asset owners and asset managers result from their reliance upon legacy software products and outdated manual processes. These products typically require on-premises deployments, feature poor system flexibility and data management capabilities, and result in higher total costs of ownership. Asset owners and asset managers are seeking cloud-based solutions that address the costly, manual and error-prone deficiencies of these legacy technologies.

Our Value Proposition

Clearwater’s purpose-built single instance, multi-tenant technology platform helps clients around the world radically simplify their investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics. Our solutions provide our clients with a comprehensive view and single source of truth for their investment portfolios and we believe our solutions deliver unmatched levels of speed, flexibility, traceability, repeatability and auditability, all with no manual labor required of our clients. Some key aspects of our value proposition include:

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Our Platform

Our purpose-built single instance, multi-tenant technology platform simplifies our clients’ investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics infrastructure and workflow. Our software automates data aggregation, data reconciliation and data validation of each security in our clients’ investment portfolios. This creates a fully reconciled “Golden Copy” of investment portfolio data, which can be trusted for accurate reporting and analytics. Our clients benefit from having a comprehensive “single pane of glass” view for daily visibility into all investment data and analytics. Our platform often allows clients to eliminate multiple legacy products and systems as well as significant manual labor. Approximately 91% of portfolios are automatically validated, reconciled and processed without further intervention. The remaining 9% of accounts are flagged for further analysis and reconciled by our reconciliation team.

In order to deliver these powerful solutions and benefits, we purpose-built our technology stack to efficiently process millions of daily transactions in a highly scalable and efficient manner. Our platform is built on a single code base and eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming patches and upgrades across multiple, disparate software instances. As new features are developed and deployed, they are made available to all clients. Our system leverages the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to ingest both structured and unstructured data that is transformed into a universal security model that enables network benefits for our clients.

Our clients access the platform through a web-based interface that is highly configurable and provides a set of tools that enable our clients to derive actionable insights on a daily basis. This allows our clients to view their portfolio data from anywhere with an internet connection. Our intuitive, easy-to-use website allows users to view high-level portfolio information and quickly drill into portfolio specifics down to the most granular security level. Our platform also creates automated feeds to other client systems—such as trade order management systems, data warehouses, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and others—eliminating the need for clients to manually enter data from Clearwater’s solution into other client systems.

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Our Solutions

Our solutions are offered through one unified Clearwater platform and are detailed below:

Our platform offers flexible configurations and outputs, customized general ledger entries for multiple accounting bases, and regulatory completeness. A suite of standardized reports automates relevant investment-related disclosures such as Fair Value Hierarchy and Level 3 Roll-forward and can be easily configured to provide the detailed accounting information investment accountants and internal stakeholders need. Our daily reconciliation, flexible reporting and general ledger capabilities ensure that period-end close processes are efficient and accurate.

Clearwater Prism

As asset managers and asset owners continue to digitize their operating model and drive towards a data-driven business model, they are faced with a myriad of legacy infrastructure and disparate data sources. Additionally, user demand for more seamless access to their data and deeper transparency, is creating an urgent need for aggregation and reporting that provides a comprehensive view of investment information in a single-pane-of-glass, incorporating third party investment-related information not tied to Clearwater performing accounting-related functions.

Our Clearwater Prism solution is a modular, SaaS-based data and reporting platform for investment data. Built on a cloud-native stack, it enables data ingestion, transformation, and reporting across all asset classes. These capabilities are delivered using a range of product modules namely Prism Reporting and Statements, Prism Connectors, Prism Data Ops and Prism Managed Services.

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The application of these modules extend into various use cases, including aggregating external data with accounting data generated by the Clearwater platform, enabling the efficient processing of private markets data using the Clearwater LPx and Clearwater LPx Clarity products to provide a deep and unparalleled level of transparency and connectivity with other data sets, such as ESG data.

JUMP

We acquired JUMP in November 2022 in furtherance of our growth strategy of expanding internationally and entering into adjacent markets, offering adjacent functionality for the “Full Investment Lifecycle” and evolving into a multi-product company. JUMP provides us with significant expansion in European markets and increases our capabilities through unit-linked funds functionality to serve European insurers which have assets in unit-linked funds. With JUMP, we have additional capabilities providing a modular front, middle and back office solution to investment managers, private banks, and insurers which we have grouped into the following offerings:

The enhanced capabilities acquired from JUMP are complemented by our add on modules for Alternative Assets, Clearwater Prism, Multi-GAAP and Self-Service. The acquisition expands our offerings globally for our existing clients and we believe it opens a new addressable market for our business.

Our Clients

Clearwater serves a broad universe of institutional clients across multiple end-markets. Today, our largest client end-markets are asset management, insurance and corporate treasury. We are also growing our client base in the public sector with numerous state and local governments. While these end-markets and their clients can be quite different from each other, ultimately all of our clients need timely, accurate and comprehensive information on their investments in order to effectively make capital allocation and portfolio decisions, manage risk, measure performance, comply with regulations and communicate to various stakeholders both internally and externally. Chief Financial Officers, treasurers, controllers and Chief Operating Officers select our platform to deliver a holistic solution consisting of data aggregation, accounting book of record (ABOR), multi-basis reporting, powerful analytical tools and other key features.

As of December 31, 2022, we had over 1,200 clients across 39 countries with over $6.4 trillion of global invested assets on our platform. In addition, as of December 31, 2022, we had 67 clients who contributed at least $1,000,000 in annualized recurring revenue. Our diversified, blue-chip client base of insurance companies, asset managers and large corporations have $3.1 trillion, $1.9 trillion and $1.0 trillion in assets on our platform, respectively, as of December 31, 2022. In addition, SLED (state, local and education) entities, and bank/ community foundations have $0.2 trillion and $0.2 trillion in assets on our platform, respectively as of December 31, 2022. No client accounted for more than 10% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, and our top 10 clients represented less than 30% of total revenue for each of the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Our Go-to-Market Strategy

We seek to deliver exceptional innovation and service to our clients every day. Client success is core to our go-to-market approach and contributes to both our ability to win new clients and retain existing clients.

We have earned an NPS of 60+ in an industry that typically scores much lower. Our high client satisfaction also translates into gross revenue retention rates of approximately 98% over the prior sixteen quarters. From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2022, client partners and client referrals, taken together, generated approximately one quarter of our closed deals on a total revenue basis.

As we continue to see significant demand for our offerings around the world, we have also grown our sales force to 135 team members globally as of December 31, 2022. We divide this sales force by geography, client end-market and target client size. Our North American sales team includes representatives focused on insurance companies, asset managers, corporations and growth markets. Our international sales team includes representatives focused on insurers and asset managers based in various regions of Europe and APAC. We plan to continue expanding our sales force and adding new target end-markets in the periods ahead.

Our sales force is supported by a global marketing team with 25 team members. We actively grow our sales pipeline through account-based marketing, investment in our digital presence, increased brand awareness and product marketing. We will continue to invest in and build out our global marketing function to drive future pipeline and growth.

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Our Growth Strategy

We intend to drive the growth of our business and expand our addressable market through the following strategies:

Deepen Our Relationships With Existing Clients

We believe we achieve our industry-leading NPS of 60+ by giving our clients an exceptional and differentiated solution and experience. We believe we are very effective in solving our clients’ challenges in managing investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics. Our gross revenue retention rate over the last sixteen quarters has averaged 98%, and our net revenue retention rate reached 106% in the quarter ending December 31, 2022. For a discussion of gross revenue retention rate and net revenue retention rate, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Operating Measures.”

We actively seek to strengthen and deepen our client relationships through our client engagement model, which is a set of best practices aimed at increasing client satisfaction, engagement and share of wallet. We conduct quarterly steering committee meetings with key client stakeholders and senior members of Clearwater management and have semi-annual on-site visits to review key client’s business needs, market feedback, our product roadmap and improvement opportunities. We believe that our relentless focus on client success and innovation will continue to result in strong client retention and allow us to grow as our clients grow.

Continue Expanding Within Our Core Client End-Markets

Our current core end-markets (asset management, insurance and corporations) remain significantly unpenetrated today. We continue to drive growth and market-share gains within these end-markets, which have to date been primarily served by legacy products and processes. We will continue to displace legacy products and add clients in these end-markets through our direct sales and marketing efforts and by helping our strategic asset manager clients win new clients, which in turn brings more assets onto our platform. With only approximately 4% market penetration for asset managers and approximately 31% for insurance companies in North America today, we believe that we have significant market opportunity for additional growth. Our competitive win rates for new clients remains approximately 80% over the prior five years in deals that reached the proposal stage, which gives us confidence that our approach works well.

Accelerate International Expansion

With new offices, leadership and sales teams now established in Europe and APAC (Asia-Pacific), we are poised to reach more new clients globally moving forward. We have substantial room to grow our international business as during the year ended December 31, 2022, revenues outside North America represented only 8% of our total revenues, despite these markets representing approximately 46% of our total addressable market. We have invested in these geographic markets recognizing that the challenges international clients experience are very similar to those experienced by our North American clients. We believe our solution is highly effective at addressing client needs regardless of geography.

Continue Expanding Within Adjacent Client End-Markets

We believe there is a significant opportunity for growth by continuing to target adjacent end-markets. There is a large opportunity to tailor the regulatory reporting and performance management capabilities of our existing solutions to better serve the needs of a range of additional asset owners, such as state and local governments, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and a variety of alternative asset managers. We believe our existing solutions are suitable to serve the needs of the clients in these end-markets and the acquisition of JUMP strengthens these capabilities. While we have onboarded our first clients in these end-markets and have built internal teams to service them, we do not currently derive a material amount of revenue from these end-markets.

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Innovate and Develop Adjacent Solutions

Clearwater has a long history of innovating and advancing our platform based on client feedback and evolving market needs. We will continue to invest heavily in expanding our functional breadth and depth, improving user experience, increasing automation and strengthening system performance. We intend to utilize emerging technologies including machine learning and robotic process automation to continue driving industry-leading capabilities and performance, keeping the platform at the very forefront of technology. Historically, we have sold our solutions as one unified offering. As clients have continued to find innovative uses for our platform in other business functions, we expect to sell and price those newer modules separately. Examples of our adjacent solutions that we have developed include Clearwater Prism and Clearwater LPx, which we believe help solve the investment reporting needs of our clients. Clearwater LPx is an investment data platform dedicated to streamlining the accounting process for limited partnerships. Clearwater clients leverage the automated solution to enable significant efficiency gains and solve the operational challenges associated with data aggregation, reconciliation, commitment tracking, document storage, accounting, and reporting. Clients are using Clearwater LPx to gain a full picture of all of their limited partnerships and to automate their NAIC reporting.

Pursue Strategic Partnerships and Acquisitions

We may selectively pursue partnerships and acquisitions that complement our solutions, provide us access to new markets or improve our competitive positioning within existing and new markets, or that otherwise accelerate one or more of our growth objectives. We completed the acquisition of JUMP in November 2022, which has expanded our capabilities in investment management and operations with a complete front-to-back end solution and provides significant expansion into European markets. We will continue to consider similar partnerships and acquisitions focused on improving our technology for alternative assets data and our performance and risk management offerings, as well as expansion in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Competition

The market for investment accounting and analytics is competitive and highly fragmented. The market is served by large-scale players with broad offerings as well as vendors with only point solutions that target local markets or specific client types, business functions or asset classes. We also face competition from systems developed and serviced internally by our potential clients’ IT departments. We believe that there are currently no competitors who offer a cloud-native platform like ours. We further believe that our solution is more comprehensive than our competitors’ in terms of asset class coverage and functionality. Our competitors primarily utilize legacy, on-premises systems and often employ large operational teams. While some of our competitors may take components or versions of their offerings into the cloud, their core platforms remain underpinned by legacy technologies, making it virtually impossible to ensure consistency, timeliness and auditability.

In each of our core client end-markets, we compete with a variety of firms depending on client size, type, location, computing environment and functional requirements. Our principal competitors include large providers of investment operations, accounting and analytics systems such as SS&C (with its Advent, Camra, Maximus, and Singularity products), State Street (with its PAM and outsourced service offerings), SAP, BNY Mellon’s Eagle product, Simcorp’s Dimension, BlackRock’s Aladdin, FIS’s iWorks and Northern Trust. We occasionally see smaller providers of specialized applications and services. We also compete with outsourcers, as well as the internal processing and IT departments of our prospective clients.

We believe the principal factors that drive competition in our market include:

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Product Development & Engineering

Our product development and engineering teams are focused on extending our market leadership by innovating on both our existing and new solutions. We believe we must pursue relentless and aggressive innovation to maintain our competitive advantage. To meet these goals, we use multidisciplinary teams of highly trained personnel and leverage their expertise across our solutions. We have invested heavily in our product development and engineering teams to ensure a high degree of product functionality and quality.

Our product and engineering management team focuses on near-term and long-term product strategy, identifying and implementing best practices, continual improvement in engineering throughput and quality, integration strategies across third-party products, and continued process automation.

Approximately 35% of our global employee base is dedicated to product development and engineering. Our personnel are organized into solution-specific teams and are based principally in Boise, Idaho, Seattle, Washington and Noida, India. We expect to continue our significant investment in product engineering and innovation as we extend our competitive strengths moving forward.

Intellectual Property and Proprietary Rights

We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright and trade secret protection laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as confidentiality procedures, technical measures and contractual restrictions, to protect our proprietary technology and our intellectual property. We seek to control access to and distribution of our proprietary information.

We enter into confidentiality agreements and/or license agreements with our employees, consultants, clients and vendors that generally provide that any confidential or proprietary information developed by us or on our behalf be kept confidential. In the normal course of business, we provide our intellectual property to third parties through licensing or restricted use agreements. We have proprietary know-how in our algorithms, business on-boarding functions and software applications. We have in the past and may in the future pursue patents covering our proprietary technology. We also pursue the registration of certain of our trademarks and service marks in the United States. We have registered the mark “Clearwater” with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, we have registered numerous Internet domain names related to our business. We have established a system of security measures to protect our computer systems from security breaches and computer viruses, including various technology and process-based methods, such as clustered and multi-level firewalls, intrusion detection mechanisms, vulnerability assessments, content filtering, antivirus software and access control mechanisms. We also use encryption techniques for data transmissions. We control and limit access to confidential and proprietary information on a “need to know” basis.

In October 2022, Clearwater was granted its first patent from the United States Patent Office (Patent No.: US 11,475,078 B2). The invention relates to identifying Application Programming Interface (“API”) endpoints and the information required to use the endpoints in a software environment. By “crawling” the environment, the invention can identify API functions and web services available in the environment. The invention also allows users to search for specific functionality, or the use of certain data or information, to find specific web services, and eliminate the need to manually search through each function in the API to find the “best” function for the situation.

Regulations

As with any company operating in our field, we are subject to a growing number of local, national and international laws and regulations. These laws are often complex, sometimes contradict other laws, and are frequently evolving. Laws may be interpreted and enforced in different ways in various locations around the world, posing a significant challenge to our global business. This ambiguity includes laws and regulations possibly affecting our business, such as those related to data protection. Changes to such laws and regulations could cause us to incur additional costs and change our practices in order to comply.

Data Protection and Privacy

Users of our solutions and services are located in the United States and around the world. As a result, we may collect and store the personal information of individuals who live in many different countries. Accordingly, we may be subject to those countries’ privacy laws and the jurisdiction of such regulators by collecting or storing the personal data of those countries’ residents, even if we have no physical or legal presence there. Our exposure to foreign countries’ privacy and data security laws may impact our ability to collect and use personal information, increase our legal compliance costs and expose us to liability.

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We have incurred, and will continue to incur, expenses to comply with privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations. Increased domestic or international regulation of data utilization and distribution practices could require us to modify our operations and incur significant additional expense, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Although we primarily process institutional financial information, we could face liability related to unauthorized access to, disclosure or theft of the personal information we store and process, and could consequently incur significant costs.

Anti-Corruption and Sanctions

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws imposed by governments around the world with jurisdiction over our operations, which may include, among others, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the USA PATRIOT Act and other applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

Our Human Capital Management and Culture

As of December 31, 2022, we had 1,728 employees, including approximately 609 in product development and engineering, 168 in sales and marketing, 829 in operations and 122 in executive, general administrative and corporate functions. Of these employees, 679 were located in Boise, Idaho, 35 were located in Seattle, Washington, 20 were located in New York, New York, 13 were located in McLean, Washington D.C. metropolitan area, 212 were located remotely within the United States, 157 were located in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 32 were located in London, United Kingdom, 108 were located in Paris, France (inclusive of JUMP employees), 4 were located in Frankfurt, Germany, 6 were located in Singapore, and 462 were located in Noida, India. None of our U.S. employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement. Employees in France are represented by local workers’ councils and/ or collective bargaining agreements, as required by local laws or customs. We have never experienced a work stoppage and believe our relationship with our employees to be good.

We have a team-oriented culture and encourage candor from our employees, which we believe helps us to succeed and drive operational excellence. We also seek to, and have a history of, promoting from within our organization as well as hiring top talent from outside of our company to expand our capabilities.

We aim to hire individuals who share our passion, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit. We are also committed to diversity and inclusion because we believe that diversity leads to better outcomes for our business and enables us to better meet the needs of our clients. We recognize the importance of diversity in leadership roles within our company.

We encourage our employees to operate by a common set of values, which includes being:

We believe that operating with purpose, passion and creativity benefits our clients, stockholders, employees and suppliers, as well as the communities where we operate, and the environment.

ESG

Clearwater is focused on ESG objectives to create long-term value and manage risks, as well as to seek to positively impact our community through both company and employee efforts. Clearwater has recently, with the aid of a well-known consulting firm, completed an ESG materiality assessment and identified the following ESG priorities:

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Clearwater has a number of on-going initiatives and has demonstrated progress in several of these areas, including offering employee benefits that promote responsible transportation, volunteerism and charitable contributions, transitioning to a cloud-based server provider, prioritizing board diversity with a Board of Directors that is 60% comprised of women, racial and ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ directors. Clearwater has also instituted leading information security practices to meet the high security expectations of its client base.

Clearwater is particularly proud of Clearwater Cares, our corporate social responsibility program, through which we have worked with our employees to identify three company-wide priorities: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (“STEM”) education, human services and sustainability. For example, in Boise, Idaho, employees volunteered at an Hour of Code event and Clearwater donated funds for classroom tools for robotics and game design. Clearwater has also donated to food drives in Boise, Idaho, Edinburgh, Scotland and Noida, India. We have partnered with the Salma Public School in Uttar Pradesh, India, where employees have participated in interactive learning sessions, sports days and other activities. Employees there also worked with a local non-governmental agency to donate winter essentials to the underprivileged. We offer our employees 16 hours of paid time off to perform volunteer services and have matched employee donations to company identified charities.

Organization

Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. was incorporated as a Delaware corporation on May 18, 2021. We are a holding company and our principal asset is our interest in CWAN Holdings. We completed an underwritten IPO of shares of our Class A common stock on September 23, 2021. Prior to the IPO, all business operations were conducted through Carbon Analytics Holdings, LLC, which changed its name to CWAN Holdings, LLC in connection with the IPO.

Available Information

Our website is located at https://www.clearwateranalytics.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, including their exhibits, proxy and information statements, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a), 14, and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available through the “Investors” portion of our website free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any of our other securities filings unless specifically incorporated herein or therein by reference. In addition, our filings with the SEC may be accessed through the SEC’s Interactive Data Electronic Applications system at http://www.sec.gov. All statements made in any of our securities filings, including all forward-looking statements or information, are made as of the date of the document in which the statement is included, and we do not assume or undertake any obligation to update any of those statements or documents unless we are required to do so by law.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

The Company’s business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition, as well as the price of the Company’s stock, can be affected by a number of factors, whether currently known or unknown, including those described below. When any one or more of these risks materialize from time to time, the Company’s business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition, as well as the price of the Company’s stock, can be materially and adversely affected.

Because of the following factors, as well as other factors affecting the Company’s results of operations and financial condition, past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods. This discussion of risk factors contains forward-looking statements.

This section should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Macroeconomic and Industry Risks

We operate in a highly competitive industry, with many companies competing for business from insurance companies, asset managers, corporations and government entities on the basis of a number of factors, including the quality and breadth of solutions and services provided, ability to innovate, reputation and the prices of services, and this competition could hurt our financial performance and cash flows.

The market for financial services software and services is competitive, rapidly evolving and highly sensitive to new product and service introductions, technological innovations and marketing efforts by industry participants. We and our competitors compete based on a variety of factors, including the range of offerings we provide, brand recognition, business reputation, financial strength, stability and continuity of client and other intermediary relationships, quality of service, and level of fees charged for our solutions and services. The market is also highly fragmented and served by numerous firms that target only local markets or specific client types. We compete with many different types of companies that vary in size and scope, including SS&C (Advent, Camera, Maximus, and Singularity), State Street (PAM), SAP, BNY Mellon (Eagle), Simcorp (Dimension), BlackRock (Aladdin), FIS (iWorks) and Northern Trust, and which are discussed in greater detail under “Business—Competition”. In addition, some of our clients, including financial services firms, have developed or may develop the in-house capability to provide the technology, investment reporting and accounting solutions, regulatory reporting solutions and investment risk management and performance analytics solutions and services they have engaged us to perform, obviating the need to hire us.

Some of our current and potential competitors also have significantly greater resources than we do. These resources may allow our competitors to respond more quickly to changes in demand for our solutions and services, and to devote greater resources to developing and promoting their services and to make more attractive offers to potential clients and strategic partners, which could hurt our financial performance. Our competitors may also enter into alliances with each other or other third parties, and through such alliances, acquire increased market share. Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced gross margins and loss of market share.

Our failure to successfully compete in any of the above-mentioned areas could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are dependent on fees based on the value of the assets on our platform for the vast majority of our revenues, and to the extent market volatility, a downturn in economic conditions or other factors cause negative trends or fluctuations in the value of the assets on our platform, our fee-based revenue and earnings may decline.

Substantially all of our revenue is derived from fees that are primarily based on the amount of assets on our platform. These fees are stated in basis points, or 1/100th of 1%. Though in substantially all cases we charge a minimum fee regardless of the assets that are loaded onto our platform, our results of operations and financial condition are highly dependent on the value of the assets that our clients maintain on our platform. In particular, we are dependent on the fee-based revenue from our insurance industry clients and asset manager clients, from whom we derived 51% and 34%, respectively, of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022.

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Because we provide a majority of our solutions to the financial services industry, we are vulnerable to U.S. and foreign economic conditions and general trends in business and finance, which are affected by many factors beyond our control, including interest rate changes, inflation, exchange rate changes, fiscal and monetary policy and general economic conditions, including those caused by national and international macroeconomic events, including instability caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions. For example, customers of our asset manager clients are generally free to change asset managers, and can even withdraw the funds they have invested with asset managers to avoid all securities markets-related risks. Because of significant fluctuations in securities prices or investment underperformance driven by an economic downturn, such an investor may choose to transfer assets to investments that are perceived to be more secure and that are not maintained or managed by our asset manager clients, such as bank deposits and Treasury securities, or to mutual funds. These actions by investors are outside of our control and could materially adversely affect the portfolio market value of the assets that our clients have loaded onto our platform, which could in turn materially adversely affect the portfolio-based fees we receive from our clients. Significant changes in investing patterns or large-scale withdrawal of investment funds could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Demand for our solutions and services could decline for other client-based reasons as well. Consolidation or limited growth in the industries we serve, including the insurance industry, could reduce the number of our clients and potential clients. Political or regulatory events or changes that adversely affect our clients’ businesses, rates of growth, costs of operations and regulatory compliance or the numbers of customers they serve, including decreased demand for our clients’ products and services or adverse conditions in our clients’ markets generally, could decrease demand for our solutions and services and thereby decrease our revenues. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Because some of our sales efforts are targeted at large financial institutions, corporations and government entities, we face prolonged sales cycles, substantial upfront sales costs and less predictability in completing some of our sales. If our sales cycle lengthens, or if our upfront sales investments do not result in sufficient revenue, our results of operations may be harmed.

We target a portion of our sales efforts at large financial institutions, corporations and government entities, which presents challenges that are different from those we encounter with smaller clients. Because our large clients are often making an enterprise-wide decision to deploy our solutions, we face longer sales cycles, complex client requirements, substantial upfront sales costs, significant contract negotiations and less predictability in completing some of our sales with these clients. Our sales cycle can often last several months or more with our largest clients, who often undertake an extended evaluation process, but this is variable and difficult to predict. We anticipate that we will experience even longer sales cycles, more complex client needs, higher upfront sales costs and less predictability in completing sales with clients located outside of the United States. If our sales cycle lengthens or our upfront sales investments do not generate sufficient revenue to justify our investments in our sales efforts, our results of operations may be harmed.

Business and Operational Risks

We have experienced considerable revenue growth over the past several years, which may be difficult to sustain, and we depend on attracting and retaining top talent to continue growing and operating our business, and if we are unable to hire, integrate, develop, motivate and retain our personnel, we may not be able to maintain or manage our growth, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022 grew 20% compared to the same period in 2021. Continued future growth could place additional demands on our resources and increase our expenses. Our success depends in large part on our ability to attract high-quality management and employees in sales, development, software engineering, operations and support functions. In addition to hiring new employees, we must continue to focus on retaining our best talent and preserving our culture, values and entrepreneurial environment. Competition for qualified employees is intense in our industry, and the loss of even a few qualified employees, or an inability to attract, retain and motivate additional highly skilled employees required for the ongoing expansion of our business, could harm our results of operations and impair our ability to grow. To attract and retain key personnel, we use various measures, including an equity incentive program for key executive officers and employees. We may need to invest significant amounts of cash and equity for new and existing employees and we may never realize returns on these investments. In addition, these measures may not be enough to attract and retain the personnel we require to operate our business effectively. In 2022, we observed an overall tightening and increased competitiveness in the U.S. labor market. Although we have not experienced any material labor shortage, a prolonged labor shortage or increased employee turnover caused by general macroeconomic or other factors could increase our labor costs and negatively impact our ability to serve our clients. If we are not able to effectively increase and retain our talent, our ability to achieve our strategic objectives will be adversely impacted, and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.

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Sustaining growth will also require us to commit additional sales, management, operational and financial resources and to maintain appropriate operational and financial systems. In addition, continued growth increases the challenges involved in:

We may not be able to manage our expanding operations effectively or maintain or accelerate our growth, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our clients may seek to negotiate a lower fee percentage or may cease using our services, which could limit the growth of, or decrease, our revenues.

Our revenues are derived from fees we charge our clients based on an agreed upon basis points rate applied against the average daily value of assets on the platform over a given month, subject to contracted minimums. The basis points are typically tiered based on the amount of assets on platform (e.g., a client would be charged a lower basis point rate on incremental assets after exceeding a certain threshold). In general, the price we charge our clients for our solutions is based on a number of factors including the expected amount of assets on the platform, asset mix (e.g., fixed income, structured products, equities, derivatives or private assets), transaction volume, number of data feeds, and other client-specific factors. Our clients may, for a number of reasons, seek to negotiate a lower basis points fee percentage. For example, an increase in the use of index-linked investment products by the customers of our asset manager clients may result in lower fees being paid to our clients, and our clients may in turn seek to negotiate lower basis points fee percentages for our services. Similarly, the total value of assets reported in our insurance clients’ regulatory filings may decrease, and as a result, such clients may seek a corresponding reduction in our related fees.

In addition, as competition among our clients increases, they may be required to lower the fees they charge to their customers, which could cause them to seek to decrease our fees accordingly. Any of these factors could result in fluctuation or a decline in our portfolio-based fees, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If our investment accounting and reporting solutions, regulatory reporting solutions or risk management or performance analytics solutions fail to perform properly due to undetected errors or similar problems, our business, financial condition, reputation or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Investment accounting and reporting solutions, regulatory reporting solutions and risk management and performance analytics solutions we develop or license may contain undetected errors or defects despite testing. Such errors can exist at any point in the life cycle of our solutions, but there is an increased risk that they will be found after new services, enhancements or data sources are incorporated into our existing solutions or services. We continually introduce new solutions and services and new versions of our solutions and services, including, for example, in response to new or modified regulations or reporting requirements. Despite internal testing and testing by current and potential clients, our current and future solutions and services may contain serious defects or malfunctions. If we detect any errors before release, we might be required to delay the release of the solution or service for an extended period of time while we address the problem. We might not discover errors that affect our new or current solutions, services or enhancements until after they are deployed or after they have, for example, resulted in incorrect reporting on which our clients are dependent, and we may need to provide new enhancements to correct such errors. Errors may occur that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and could result in harm to our reputation, lost sales, delays in commercial release, claims by affected clients, third-party claims, contractual disputes, contract terminations or renegotiations, or unexpected expenses and diversion of management and other resources to remedy errors. In addition, negative public perception and reputational damage caused by such claims would adversely affect our client relationships and our ability to enter into new contracts. Any of these problems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, reputation or results of operations.

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We could face liability or incur costs to remediate operational errors or to address possible client dissatisfaction.

Operational risk generally refers to the risk of loss resulting from our operations, including, but not limited to, improper or unauthorized execution and processing of transactions and financial and market data, deficiencies in our operating systems, faulty aggregation or incorrect reconciliation of data by our solutions and services, miscalculations of cash balances available for investment purposes, business disruptions and inadequacies or breaches in our internal control processes. We operate in diverse markets and are reliant on the ability of our employees, systems, solutions and services to process large volumes of transactions and financial and market data, often within short time frames. In the event of a breakdown or improper operation of our systems, errors in our solutions and services, human error or improper action by employees, we could suffer financial loss or damage to our reputation, including as a result of allegations (and associated claims for contractual or other remedies) by any client that operational errors on our part resulted in financial or other harm to their business.

In addition, there may be circumstances when our clients are dissatisfied with our solutions and services, even in the absence of an operational error. In such circumstances, we may elect to make payments or otherwise incur increased costs or lower revenues in order to maintain a strong client relationship. In any of the forgoing circumstances, our business, financial condition, reputation or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our business relies heavily on computer equipment, cloud-based services, electronic delivery systems, networks and telecommunications systems and infrastructure, the Internet and the information technology systems of third parties. Any failures or disruptions in any of the foregoing could result in reduced revenues, increased costs and the loss of clients and could harm our business, financial condition, reputation, and results of operations.

Our business relies heavily on our computer equipment (including our servers), cloud-based services, electronic delivery systems, networks and telecommunications systems and infrastructure, the Internet and the information technology systems of third party providers, and the foregoing may be vulnerable to disruptions, failures or slowdowns caused by fire, earthquake, extreme weather events, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorist attacks, wars, Internet failures, computer viruses, system errors and miscalculations and other events beyond our control. Furthermore, we rely on agreements with our suppliers, such as our current data hosting and service provider and financial market data providers, and on our clients’ agreements with certain third party data providers, to provide us with access to certain computer equipment, cloud-based services, electronic delivery systems, the Internet, market financial information and information regarding our clients’ assets. A future contractual dispute may arise with one of our suppliers or third party data providers that could cause a disruption or deterioration in our solutions and services, and we are unable to predict whether our agreements with our suppliers or our clients’ agreements with third party data providers can be obtained or renewed on acceptable terms, or at all. An unanticipated disruption, failure or slowdown affecting our key technologies or facilities may have significant ramifications, such as data loss, data corruption, damaged software code, inaccurate accounting of transactions, inaccurate regulatory reporting or inability to provide certain solutions and services to our clients. We maintain off-site back-up facilities for our electronic information and computer equipment, but these facilities could be subject to the same interruptions that may affect our primary facilities. Any significant termination of data access, or disruptions, failures, slowdowns, data loss or data corruption could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and result in the loss of clients.

If sources from which we obtain information limit our access to such information or institute or increase fees for accessing such information, our business could be materially and adversely harmed.

Our data aggregation solutions require certain data that we obtain from thousands of sources, including banks, financial institutions, data providers, custodians and other organizations, some of which are not our current clients or in direct contractual privity with us. Although we have a data feed with each of our clients, our access to much of the data we aggregate, reconcile and offer as part of our solutions is facilitated through and reliant upon agreements between our clients and providers of such data, such as asset managers and custodians, and we often do not have direct contractual relationships with such providers. If the sources from which we obtain information that is important to our solutions and services limit or restrict our ability to access or use such information, we may be unable to obtain similar data from other sources on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or we may be required to attempt to obtain such information by other means, such as end-user permissioned data scraping, that could be more costly and time-consuming, and less effective or efficient.

In order to serve our clients, we must have a reliable method from which to obtain client data. In the past, certain of our clients have requested we obtain this data through a web-based retrieval process, which we refer to as a web-based data feed. We sometimes encounter issues with our web-based data feeds, including as a result of our clients’ implementation of new security controls, changes to the layouts of web pages, or the use of software intended to block unauthorized scraping activities. If we are unable to re-institute the web-based data feed, or otherwise obtain the data from our clients through another reliable means, then we may be unable to continue to serve the affected clients. In any event, redesigning our web-based data feeds or being required to obtain data by other reliable means diverts time and resources and may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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In the past, a limited number of third parties have either blocked our access to their websites or requested that we cease employing data scraping of their websites to gather information, and we could receive similar, additional requests in the future. Any such limitation or restriction may also preclude us from providing our solutions and services on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, if in the future one or more third parties challenge our right to access information from these or other sources, we may be required to negotiate with such sources for access to their information, which may be more costly, or to discontinue certain of our solutions and services entirely. The legal environment surrounding data scraping and similar means of obtaining access to information contained on third-party websites is evolving, and one or more third parties could assert claims against us seeking damages or to prevent us from accessing information from third-party websites in that manner. In the event sources from which we obtain information begin to charge us fees for accessing such information, or block our access to this information entirely, we may be forced to increase the fees that we charge our clients or discontinue certain solutions and services, which could make our solutions and services less attractive, or our gross margins and other financial results could suffer.

If our reputation is harmed, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our reputation, which depends on earning and maintaining the trust and confidence of our clients, is critical to our business. Our reputation is vulnerable to many threats that can be difficult or impossible to control, and costly or impossible to remediate. Regulatory inquiries or investigations, lawsuits initiated by our clients or others, employee misconduct, perceptions of conflicts of interest and rumors, among other developments, could substantially damage our reputation, even if they are baseless or satisfactorily addressed. In addition, any perception that the quality of our solutions and services may not be the same or better than that of other providers can also damage our reputation. Any damage to our reputation could harm our ability to attract and retain clients, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Early termination of our client contracts could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our client contracts are generally terminable upon thirty days’ notice by our clients or prior to such time for cause, which may include breach of contract, bankruptcy, insolvency and other reasons. If a significant number of our clients were to terminate their contracts with us and we were unable to obtain a significant number of new clients, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We could face liability related to unauthorized access to, disclosure or theft of the personal information we store and process, and could consequently incur significant costs.

Although we primarily process institutional financial information, clients may maintain personal information, including personal investment, accounting and financial information, on our platform and we could be subject to liability if we were to inappropriately disclose any such client’s personal information, inadvertently or otherwise, or if third parties were able to obtain access to our network, circumvent our security, or otherwise gain access to any user’s name, address, portfolio holdings or other personal or financial information that we store or process. Any such event could subject us to claims and liability related to unauthorized access to or use of personal information, including claims by such users and by applicable regulatory authorities, which could cause us to incur significant costs and divert the attention of our management and technical personnel, or cause harm to our reputation, and could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our clients are located in the United States and around the world. As a result, we may also collect, process and store the personal information of individuals who live in many different countries. Privacy regulators in some of those countries have publicly stated that foreign entities (including entities based in the United States) may render themselves subject to those countries’ privacy laws and the jurisdiction of such regulators by collecting or storing the personal data of those countries’ residents, even if such entities have no physical or legal presence there. Consequently, we may be obligated to comply with the privacy and data security laws of certain foreign countries. Our potential exposure to foreign countries’ privacy and data security laws may impact our ability to collect and use personal information now and in the future, increase our legal compliance costs and may expose us to significant liability for non-compliance.

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We are also subject to various laws and regulations both in the United States, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, and in other countries where we currently operate, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation in the United Kingdom. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, expenses to comply with privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, industry standards or contractual obligations. Increased domestic or international regulation of data collection, processing, transfer and security could require us to modify our operations and incur significant additional expense, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, we are subject to the terms of our privacy policies and privacy-related obligations to third parties. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to clients or other third parties, or our legal obligations relating to privacy, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized access to, disclosure or misuse of personal information may result in governmental or regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, fines, litigation, or negative publicity and could cause clients to lose trust in us, all of which could be costly and have an adverse effect on our business.

If we or our third-party service providers suffer a cybersecurity event, our reputation may be harmed, we may lose clients and we may incur significant liabilities, any of which would harm our business and results of operations.

Cyberattacks, computer malware, viruses, social engineering (including phishing attacks), ransomware attacks and general hacking are becoming more prevalent generally and in our industry, and we may in the future become the target of third parties seeking unauthorized access to our confidential or sensitive information or that of our clients. In addition, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, contractors or users to disclose information, including usernames and passwords, to gain access to our clients’ data, our data or other confidential or sensitive information, and we may be the target of email scams that attempt to acquire personal information or company assets. While we have security measures in place designed to protect our and our clients’ confidential and sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access to data, these measures may not be effective to prevent a security breach, including as a result of employee error, theft, misuse or malfeasance, third-party actions, unintentional events, or deliberate attacks by individuals or criminal organizations, any of which may result in someone obtaining unauthorized access to our or our clients’ data, including to our trade secrets or other confidential and proprietary business information. Because techniques used to sabotage or obtain unauthorized access to systems change frequently and frequently are not recognized until successfully launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate all such techniques, or react in a timely manner or implement adequate preventative measures against such techniques. We devote significant financial and personnel resources to implement and maintain security measures; however, as cybersecurity threats develop, evolve and grow more complex over time, it may be necessary to make further investments to protect our data and infrastructure.

We use third parties to provide certain data processing services, including hosting services; however, our ability to monitor our third-party service providers’ data security is limited. Because we do not control our third-party service providers, or the processing of data by our third-party service providers, we cannot ensure the measures they take to protect and prevent the loss of our data or our clients’ data are sufficient.

A security breach suffered by us or our third-party service providers, an attack causing outages or unavailability of our solutions and services, or any unauthorized, accidental or unlawful access or loss of data, or the perception that any such event has occurred, could result in a disruption to our solutions and services, litigation, an obligation to notify regulators and affected individuals, the triggering of service availability, indemnification and other contractual obligations to our clients, regulatory investigations, government fines and penalties, reputational damage, loss of sales and clients, mitigation and remediation expenses and other significant costs and liabilities. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences of investigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent future actual or perceived security incidents, as well as the costs to comply with any notification or other obligations resulting from any security incidents. We also cannot be certain that our existing insurance coverage will be available in sufficient amounts to cover the potentially significant losses that may result from a security incident or breach, or will continue to be available on acceptable terms or at all, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, our clients and their service providers administer access to data and control the entry of such data on their systems. As a result, a client may suffer a cybersecurity event on its own systems, unrelated to our own systems, and a malicious actor could obtain access to the client’s information held on our system. Even if such a breach is unrelated to our own security programs or practices, or if the client failed to adequately protect their system, that breach could result in our incurring significant economic and operational costs in investigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices to further protect our clients from their own vulnerabilities, and could also result in reputational harm to us.

The reliability and security of our information technology systems is critical to our operations and the implementation of our growth initiatives. Any cybersecurity event or other material disruption in our information technology systems, or delays or difficulties in implementing or integrating new systems or enhancing current systems, could have an adverse effect on our business, and results of operations.

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Disruptions, capacity limitations or interference with our use of the data centers that host our solutions and services could result in delays or outages and harm our business.

We currently partially host and intend to increasingly host our cloud service from third-party data center facilities from several global locations operated by Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) or Google Cloud Computing Services. Any damage to, failure of or interference with our cloud service that is hosted by AWS or Google, or by third-party providers we currently utilize or may utilize in the future, whether as a result of our actions, actions by the third-party data centers, actions by other third parties, or acts of God, could result in interruptions in our cloud service and/or the loss of our or our clients’ data. While the third-party data centers host the server infrastructure, we manage the cloud services through our internal teams, and we need to support version control, changes in cloud software parameters and the evolution of our products, all in a multi-OS environment. As we utilize third-party data centers, we may move or transfer our data and our clients’ data from one region to another. Despite precautions taken during this process, any unsuccessful data transfers may impair the delivery of our solutions. Impairment of, or interruptions in, our cloud services may subject us to claims and litigation, cause our clients to terminate their agreements with us and adversely affect our ability to attract new clients. Our business will also be harmed if our clients and potential clients believe our services are unreliable. Additionally, any limitation of the capacity of our third-party data centers could impede our ability to scale, onboard new clients or expand the usage of existing clients, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We do not control, or in some cases have limited control over, the operation of the data center facilities we use to host our solutions and services, and these facilities may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They may also be subject to cyberattacks, break-ins, sabotage, intentional criminal acts, acts of vandalism and similar misconduct and to adverse events caused by operator error. Despite precautions taken at these facilities, the occurrence of a natural disaster, an act of terrorism, war or other act of malfeasance, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice to us, or other unanticipated problems at these facilities could result in lengthy interruptions in our solutions and services and the loss of client data and business, and related claims by our clients against us. We may also incur significant costs for using alternative equipment or facilities or taking other actions in preparation for, or in reaction to, any such events.

We may be unable to adapt to rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and regulatory requirements and new product and service introductions, which could result in a loss of market share.

Rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and regulatory requirements and new product and service introductions characterize the market for our solutions. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to enhance our existing offerings, including to localize them to differing local requirements, and to develop and introduce new solutions and services to keep pace with such changes and developments and to meet changing client needs. The process of developing our platform is extremely complex and is expected to become increasingly complex and expensive in the future due to the introduction of new platforms, operating systems and technologies. Our ability to keep up with technology and business and legal and regulatory changes is subject to a number of risks, including that:

Our failure to enhance our platform and to develop and introduce new solutions and services to promptly address the needs of the insurance industry and financial markets could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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Our failure to successfully integrate acquisitions, including the JUMP acquisition, could strain our resources. In addition, there are significant risks associated with growth through acquisitions, which may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We expect to grow our business by, among other things, making acquisitions. Acquisitions involve a number of risks. Financing an acquisition could result in dilution from issuing equity securities or a weaker balance sheet from using cash or incurring debt. To the extent we grow our business through acquisitions, any potential and completed acquisitions, including the JUMP acquisition, could present a number of other risks, including:

In addition, if we are unsuccessful in completing acquisitions of other businesses, operations or assets or if such opportunities for expansion do not arise, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We invest significantly in growth and research and development, and to the extent our research and development investments do not translate into new solutions and services or material enhancements to our current solutions and services, or if we do not use those investments efficiently, our business and results of operations would be harmed.

A key element of our strategy is to invest significantly in our growth and research and development efforts to develop new solutions and services and enhance our existing solutions and services to address additional applications and markets. For the year ended December 31, 2022, our research and development expense was approximately 31% of our revenue. If we do not spend our research and development budget efficiently or effectively on compelling innovation and technologies, our business may be harmed and we may not realize the expected benefits of our strategy. Moreover, research and development projects can be technically challenging and expensive. The nature of these research and development cycles may cause us to experience delays between the time we incur expenses associated with research and development and the time we are able to offer compelling solutions and services and generate revenue, if any, from such investment. Additionally, anticipated client demand for an offering we are developing could decrease after the development cycle has commenced, rendering us unable to recover substantial costs associated with the development of such offering. If we expend a significant amount of resources on research and development and our efforts do not lead to the successful introduction or improvement of solutions and services that are competitive in our current or future markets, it would harm our business and results of operations.

Financial Risks

Our revenue can fluctuate from period to period, which could cause our stock price to fluctuate.

Our revenue may fluctuate from period-to-period in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Factors relating to our business that may contribute to these fluctuations include the following events, as well as other factors described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

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As a result of these and other factors, our results of operations for any quarterly or annual period may differ materially from our results of operations for any prior or future quarterly or annual period and our historical results should not be relied upon as indications of our future performance.

Our results of operations may be harmed if we are required to collect sales or other related taxes for subscriptions to our solutions and services in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so.

States and some local taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing sales and use taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations that may change over time. The application of federal, state, local and international tax laws to services provided electronically is evolving. In particular, the applicability of sales taxes to our solutions and services in various jurisdictions is unclear. We collect and remit U.S. sales tax in a number of jurisdictions. It is possible, however, that we could face sales tax audits and that our liability for these taxes could exceed our estimates as state tax authorities could successfully assert that we are obligated to collect additional tax amounts from our paying clients and remit those taxes to those authorities. We could also be subject to audits in states and international jurisdictions for which we have not accrued tax liabilities. In each case, if states are successful in such audits, we may be liable for substantial amounts of past sales, use or similar taxes, interest and penalties. A successful assertion that we should be collecting additional sales or other taxes on our services in jurisdictions where we have not historically done so and do not accrue for sales taxes could result in substantial tax liabilities for past sales, discourage organizations from subscribing to our products and services, or otherwise harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income or other tax returns could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and foreign jurisdictions, and our domestic and foreign income tax liabilities will be subject to the allocation of expenses in differing jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including:

In the future, there may be changes to income, sales, use, or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations, or ordinances that may impact our business and results of operations. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed into law on August 16, 2022. This legislation made a number of changes to the Internal Revenue Code, including the addition of a 1% excise tax on repurchases of stock by publicly traded corporations. As a result, if our Board of Directors were to approve a share repurchase program, the imposition of this excise tax may increase the cost to us of making repurchases. In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income, sales and other transaction taxes by U.S. federal and state authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial flexibility and our competitive position.

As of December 31, 2022, there was $51.6 million of term loans outstanding under the New Credit Agreement. The term loan facility is intended to be used for working capital and other general corporate purposes (including acquisitions permitted under the New Credit Agreement).

A portion of our debt consists of variable-rate debt and fluctuations in interest rates could have a material effect on our business. Prior to 2022, interest rates in the U.S. had generally been at historic lows for several years. In 2022, the United States Federal Reserve raised interest rates several times in an attempt to combat historically high inflation. As a result, we may incur higher interest costs if interest rates continue to increase. There can be no assurance that the United States Federal Reserve will not raise rates in the future, and any such increase in interest costs could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and cash flows.

Our level of indebtedness increases the risk that we may be unable to generate cash sufficient to pay amounts due in respect of our indebtedness. Our indebtedness could have other important consequences to you and significant effects on our business. For example, it could:

The phase-out, replacement or unavailability of LIBOR and/or other interest rate benchmarks could adversely affect our indebtedness.

The interest rates applicable to the New Credit Agreement are based on, and the interest rates applicable to certain debt obligations we may incur in the future may be based on, a fluctuating rate of interest determined by reference to the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR. In response to concerns regarding the future of LIBOR, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York convened the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (the “ARRC”) to identify alternatives to LIBOR. The ARRC has recommended a benchmark replacement waterfall to assist issuers in continued capital market entry while safeguarding against LIBOR’s discontinuation. The initial steps in the ARRC’s recommended provision reference variations of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), calculated using short-term repurchase agreements backed by Treasury securities. At this time, it is not possible to predict whether SOFR will attain market traction as a LIBOR replacement. Additionally, it is uncertain if LIBOR will cease to exist after June 2023, or whether additional reforms to LIBOR may be enacted, or whether alternative reference rates will gain market acceptance as a replacement for LIBOR. In anticipation of LIBOR’s phase-out, the New Credit Agreement is expected to provide for alternative base rates, as well as a transition mechanism for selecting a benchmark replacement rate for LIBOR, with such benchmark replacement rate to be mutually agreed with the administrative agent and subject to the majority lenders not objecting to such benchmark replacement.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to reach any agreement on a replacement benchmark, and there can be no assurance that any agreement we reach will result in effective interest rates at least as favorable to us as our current effective interest rates. The failure to reach an agreement on a replacement benchmark, or the failure to reach an agreement that results in an effective interest rate at least as favorable to us as our current effective interest rates, could result in a significant increase in our debt service obligations, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the overall financing market may be disrupted as a result of the phase-out or replacement of LIBOR, which could have an adverse impact on our ability to refinance, reprice or amend the New Credit Agreement or incur additional indebtedness, on favorable terms or at all.

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Our indebtedness may restrict our current and future operations, which could adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business and to manage our operations.

The New Credit Agreement contains, and the agreements evidencing or governing any other future indebtedness may contain, financial restrictions on us and our restricted subsidiaries, including restrictions on our or our restricted subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:

In addition, we are required to maintain compliance with various financial ratios in the New Credit Agreement. A failure by us or our subsidiaries to comply with the covenants or to maintain the required financial ratios contained in the New Credit Agreement could result in an event of default under such indebtedness, which could adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business and manage our operations. Additionally, a default by us under the New Credit Agreement or an agreement governing any other future indebtedness may trigger cross-defaults under any other future agreements governing our indebtedness. Upon the occurrence of an event of default or cross-default under any of the present or future agreements governing our indebtedness, the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding to be due and payable and exercise other remedies as set forth in the agreements. If any of our indebtedness is accelerated, there can be no assurance that our assets will be sufficient to repay this indebtedness in full, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue to operate as a going concern.

We may not be able to raise additional capital to execute our current or future business strategies on favorable terms, if at all, or without dilution to our stockholders.

We expect that we may need to raise additional capital to execute our current or future business strategies. However, we do not know what forms of financing, if any, will be available to us. Some financing activities in which we may engage could cause your equity interest in the Company to be diluted, which could cause the value of our Class A common stock to decrease. If financing is not available on acceptable terms, if and when needed, our ability to fund our operations, expand our research and development and sales and marketing functions, develop and enhance our solutions and services, respond to unanticipated events, including unanticipated opportunities, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures would be significantly limited. In any such event, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed, and we may be unable to continue our operations.

Goodwill and other intangible assets represent a significant portion of our assets, and any impairment of these assets could negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition.

A significant portion of our assets consists of goodwill and other intangible assets, primarily recorded as the result of the JUMP acquisition. We may subsequently experience unforeseen events that could adversely affect the value of our goodwill or intangible assets. Our goodwill is subject to an impairment test annually and is also tested for impairment whenever facts and circumstances indicate that goodwill is impaired. In the event of an impairment, any excess of the carrying value of these assets over the fair value must be written off in the period of determination. Finite-lived intangible assets are generally amortized over the useful life of such assets. Future determinations of significant impairments of goodwill as a result of an impairment test or accelerated amortization of finite-lived intangible assets could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

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Legal and Regulatory Risks

We could face liability for certain information we provide, including information based on data we obtain from other parties.

We may be subject to claims for negligence, breach of contract or other claims relating to the information we provide. For example, individuals may take legal action against us if they rely on information we have provided and it contains an error. In addition, we could be subject to claims based upon the content that is accessible from our website through links to other websites. Moreover, we could face liability based on inaccurate information provided to us by others or based on information provided to us by others that have not obtained necessary consents to do so. Defending any such claims could be expensive and time-consuming, and any such claim could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may become subject to liability based on the use of our investment accounting and reporting solutions, regulatory reporting solutions and internal risk management and performance analytics solutions by our clients.

Our solutions and services support the investment, financial and regulatory reporting processes of our clients, many of whom have asset portfolios on our system aggregating to billions of dollars. Our clients similarly rely on our solutions to ensure compliance with complex regulatory requirements. Our client agreements have provisions designed to limit our exposure to potential liability claims brought by our clients or third parties based on the use of our solutions and services. However, these provisions have certain exceptions and could be invalidated by unfavorable judicial decisions or by federal, state, foreign or local laws. For instance, use of our solutions as part of the investment process creates the risk that asset manager clients, or the parties whose assets are managed by our clients, may pursue claims against us for very significant dollar amounts, and in a similar vein, our clients or their regulators may pursue claims or investigations against us in connection with regulatory reporting deficiencies associated with our services. Any such claim, lawsuit, investigation or other proceeding, even if the outcome were to be ultimately favorable to us, would involve a significant commitment of our management, personnel, financial and other resources and could have a negative impact on our reputation. Such proceedings could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Furthermore, our clients may use our solutions and services together with software, data or products from other companies. As a result, when problems occur, it might be difficult to identify the source of the problem. Even when our solutions and services do not cause these problems, the existence of these errors might cause us to incur significant costs and divert the attention of our management and technical personnel, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Changes to the laws or regulations applicable to us or to our asset manager or insurance industry clients could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may be adversely affected as a result of new or revised legislation or regulations imposed by the SEC or other U.S. federal or state or foreign governmental regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations that supervise the financial markets and insurance industries around the world. In addition, we may be adversely affected by changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules by these governmental authorities and self-regulatory organizations. It is impossible to determine the extent of the impact of any new laws, regulations or initiatives that may be proposed, or whether any current proposals will become law, and it is difficult to predict how any changes or potential changes could affect our business. Changes to laws or regulations could increase our potential liability in connection with the solutions and services that we provide. The introduction of any new laws or regulations could make our ability to comply with applicable laws and regulations more difficult and expensive. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If government regulation of the Internet or other areas of our business changes, or if attitudes toward use of the Internet change, we may need to change the manner in which we conduct our business or incur greater operating expenses.

The adoption, modification or interpretation of laws or regulations relating to the Internet or other areas of our business could adversely affect the manner in which we conduct our business. Such laws and regulations may cover sales practices, taxes, user privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts, consumer protection, broadband residential Internet access and the characteristics and quality of services. Moreover, it is not always clear how certain existing laws governing these matters apply to the Internet. If we are required to comply with new regulations or legislation or new interpretations of existing regulations or legislation, we may be required to incur additional expenses or alter our business model, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

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We are substantially dependent on our intellectual property rights, and a failure to protect these rights could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We have made substantial investments in software and other intellectual property on which our business is highly dependent. We rely on trade secret, trademark and copyright laws, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements and other contractual and technical security measures to protect our proprietary technology. Any loss of our intellectual property rights, or any significant claim of infringement or indemnity for violation of the intellectual property rights of others, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Only one of our technologies, solutions or services is covered by an issued patent. We are the owner of three copyright registrations, two registered trademarks in the United States and three international trademarks, and we claim common law rights in other trademarks that are not registered. We cannot guarantee that:

We are also a party to a number of third-party intellectual property license agreements. Some of these license agreements require us to make one-time payments or ongoing subscription payments. We cannot guarantee that the third-party intellectual property we license will not be licensed to our competitors or others in our industry. In the future, we may need to obtain additional licenses or renew existing license agreements. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements will be obtained or renewed on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Additionally, we use certain software covered by open source licenses. The terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that the licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to use such software, or that could require us to disclose certain portions of our proprietary source code or re-engineer all or a portion of our solutions and services, any of which could harm our business and result in significant costs.

Third parties may sue us for intellectual property infringement or misappropriation which, if successful, could require us to pay significant damages or make changes to the solutions or services that we offer.

We cannot be certain that our internally developed technology, solutions or services do not and will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, we license content, software and other intellectual property rights from third parties and may be subject to claims of infringement if such parties do not possess the necessary intellectual property rights to the products they license to us. We may not have sufficient contractual protection to cover all liability associated with such claims. In addition, we may face additional risk of infringement or misappropriation claims if we hire an employee who possesses third party proprietary information who decides to use such information in connection with our solutions, services or business processes without such third party’s authorization. We have in the past been and may in the future be subject to legal proceedings and claims that we have infringed or misappropriated the intellectual property rights of a third party. Claims may involve patent holding companies who have no relevant product revenues and against whom our own proprietary technology may therefore provide little or no deterrence. In addition, third parties may in the future assert intellectual property infringement claims against our clients, which, in certain circumstances, we have agreed to indemnify. Any intellectual property related infringement or misappropriation claims, whether or not meritorious, could result in costly litigation and could divert management resources and attention. Moreover, should we be found liable for infringement or misappropriation, we may be required to enter into licensing agreements, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all, pay substantial damages or make changes to the solutions and services that we offer. Any of the foregoing could prevent us from competing effectively, result in substantial costs to us, divert management’s attention and our resources away from our operations and otherwise harm our reputation.

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If our intellectual property and proprietary technology are not adequately protected to prevent use or appropriation by our competitors, our business and competitive position would suffer.

Our future success and competitive position depend in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property rights. The steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our proprietary technology. Others may develop or patent similar or superior technologies, solutions or services. Unauthorized copying or other misappropriation of our proprietary technologies could enable third parties to benefit from our intellectual property rights without paying us for doing so, which could harm our business. Policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology is difficult and expensive and our monitoring and policing activities may not be sufficient to identify any misappropriation and protect our proprietary technology. In addition, third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our trademarks and other intellectual property rights, and litigation may be necessary to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights. If litigation is necessary to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights, any such litigation could be very costly and could divert management attention and resources. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights or if third parties independently develop or gain access to our or similar technologies, solutions or services, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Confidentiality and non-compete agreements with employees, consultants and others may not adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information or prevent competition.

We have devoted substantial resources to the development of our proprietary technologies, solutions and services. In order to protect our proprietary rights, we enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and independent contractors. These agreements may not effectively prevent unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or unauthorized parties from copying aspects of our technologies, investment accounting offerings or obtaining and using information that we regard as proprietary. Moreover, these agreements may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of such unauthorized disclosures of confidential information and our rights under such agreements may not be enforceable. We have non-compete arrangements with certain employees that prevent these persons from competing with us both during and after the terms of their employment agreements. Enforceability of the non-compete agreements is not guaranteed, and such contractual restrictions could be breached without discovery or adequate remedies. In January 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a new rule that would preclude employers from imposing non-compete obligations on their employees and is currently seeking public comment on the proposed rule. While we cannot predict whether or when the FTC’s proposed ban on non-compete arrangements will be implemented, or the impact that such ban will have on our operations if implemented, there is now increased uncertainty regarding the long-term enforceability of our non-compete agreements with employees in the U.S. In addition, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information, and in such cases we could not assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could reduce any competitive advantage we have developed and cause us to lose clients or otherwise harm our business.

International Risks

As a global organization, our business is susceptible to risks associated with our international operations.

In addition to our U.S. operations, we currently maintain international operations in the United Kingdom and India, and have smaller sales-focused research and development-focused presences in France, Germany and Singapore, and have clients located around the globe. Managing a global organization outside of the United States is difficult and time-consuming and introduces risks that we may not face with our operations and sales in the United States. These risks include:

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Operating in international markets also requires significant management attention and financial resources. A component of our growth strategy involves the further expansion of our operations and the development of new client relationships in Europe. As we seek to expand internationally, including in Europe, we will need to develop relationships with additional partners and add internal capabilities to effectively manage the operational, financial, legal and regulatory requirements and risks associated with our international operations. The investments we make and additional resources we use to expand our operations, target new international clients, expand our presence globally within our existing clients and manage operational and sales growth in other countries may not produce desired levels of revenue or profitability, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Because our employees are geographically dispersed, we are required to comply with employment-related laws and regulations both in the United States and abroad.

The nature and geographic spread of our business requires that we comply with multiple employment-related legal and regulatory regimes both in the United States and outside the United States. We are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act, applicable foreign employment standards laws and similar state laws, which govern such matters as time keeping and payroll requirements, minimum wage, overtime, employee and worker classifications, our ability to terminate employees, and other working conditions. While we believe we are currently in compliance with all such regimes, we may be susceptible to various employment claims and proceedings. Any legal proceedings or claims, even if baseless, fully indemnified or insured, could negatively impact our reputation among our employees, clients and the public, and make it more difficult for us to compete effectively or obtain adequate insurance in the future.

If we are unable to effectively manage certain risks and challenges related to our India operations, our business could be harmed.

Our India operations are a key factor to our success. We believe that our significant presence in India provides certain important advantages for our business, such as direct access to a large pool of skilled professionals and assistance in growing our business internationally. However, it also creates certain risks that we must effectively manage. As of December 31, 2022, 454 of our total employees were based in India. Wage costs in India for skilled professionals are currently lower than in the United States for comparably skilled professionals. However, wages in India are increasing at a faster rate than in the United States, which could result in us incurring increased costs for technical professionals and reduced margins. There is intense competition in India for skilled technical professionals, and we expect such competition to increase. As a result, we may be unable to cost-effectively retain our current employee base in India or hire additional new talent. In addition, India has experienced significant inflation, low growth in gross domestic product and shortages of foreign exchange. India also has experienced civil unrest and terrorism and has been involved in conflicts with neighboring countries. The occurrence of any of these circumstances could result in disruptions to our India operations, which, if continued for an extended period of time, could have a material adverse effect on our business. If we are unable to effectively manage any of the foregoing risks related to our India operations, our development efforts could be impaired, our growth could be slowed and our results of operations could be negatively impacted.

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Organizational Structure Risks

We are a holding company and our principal asset is our interest in CWAN Holdings and, accordingly, we depend on distributions from CWAN Holdings to pay our taxes and expenses, including payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements. CWAN Holdings’ ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions.

We are a holding company and have no material assets other than the LLC Interests. As a holding company, we have no independent means of generating revenue or cash flow, and our ability to pay our taxes and operating expenses, including our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements, or declare and pay dividends, if any, in the future, will depend upon the results of operations and cash flows of CWAN Holdings and its consolidated subsidiaries and distributions we receive from CWAN Holdings. Our subsidiaries may not generate sufficient cash flow to distribute funds to us and applicable state law and contractual restrictions may not permit such distributions.

We anticipate that CWAN Holdings will continue to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, generally will not be subject to any entity-level U.S. federal income tax. Instead, taxable income of CWAN Holdings will be allocated to holders of the LLC Interests. Accordingly, we and our subsidiaries will be required to pay income taxes on our allocable share of any net taxable income of CWAN Holdings allocated to us under the terms of the LLC Agreement. Under the terms of the LLC Agreement, CWAN Holdings is required to make tax distributions to the holders of LLC Interests, including us, on a pro rata basis, unless certain exceptions apply. In addition to tax payments, we will incur expenses related to our operations, including obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements. The tax benefits we may realize as a result of our purchase of LLC Interests and any exchanges of LLC Interests and as a result of payments under the TRA Bonus Agreements, and the resulting amounts we are likely to pay out to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement depend on various factors and are difficult to quantify with any precision; however, we estimate that such payments may be substantial.

We intend to cause CWAN Holdings to make cash distributions to the owners of LLC Interests in amounts sufficient to (1) fund all or part of their tax obligations in respect of taxable income allocated to them and (2) cover our operating expenses, including payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. However, CWAN Holdings’ ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions, such as restrictions on distributions that would violate either any contract or agreement to which CWAN Holdings or its subsidiaries is then a party, including debt agreements, or any applicable law, or that would have the effect of rendering CWAN Holdings or its subsidiaries insolvent. If we do not have sufficient funds to pay tax or other liabilities or to fund our operations, we may have to borrow funds, which could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition and subject us to various restrictions imposed by any such lenders. To the extent that we are unable to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, such payments generally will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid. Nonpayment for a specified period, however, may constitute a breach of a material obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreement and therefore accelerate payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement, unless, generally, such nonpayment is due to a lack of sufficient funds. See Note 16 “Income Taxes” in our notes to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

Conflicts of interest could arise between our shareholders and the Continuing Equity Owners, which may impede business decisions that could benefit our shareholders.

The Continuing Equity Owners, who are the only holders of LLC Interests other than us, have the right to consent to certain amendments to the LLC Agreement, as well as to certain other matters. The Continuing Equity Owners may exercise these consent rights in a manner that conflicts with the interests of our other shareholders. Circumstances may arise in the future when the interests of the Continuing Equity Owners conflict with the interests of our other shareholders, particularly in the context of acquisitions. As we control CWAN Holdings, we have certain obligations to the Continuing Equity Owners as holders of LLC Interests that may conflict with fiduciary duties our officers and directors owe to our shareholders. These conflicts may result in decisions that are not in the best interests of our shareholders.

The Tax Receivable Agreement requires us to make cash payments to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders in respect of certain tax benefits to which we may realize, and we expect that the payments we will be required to make will be substantial.

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Pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, we are required to make cash payments to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders, collectively, equal to 85% (less payments made under the TRA Bonus Agreements) of the tax benefits, if any, that we actually realize, or, in some circumstances, are deemed to realize, as a result of the Tax Attributes. We expect that the payments we will be required to make under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be substantial. Assuming no material changes in relevant tax law and that we earn sufficient taxable income to realize all tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement, we expect that the tax savings associated with the Transactions or exchanges of LLC Interests as described above would aggregate to approximately $735 million. Under this scenario, we would be required to pay the other parties to the Tax Receivable Agreement and under the TRA Bonus Agreements approximately 85% of such amount, or $625 million. The actual amounts we will be required to pay may materially differ from these hypothetical amounts, because potential future tax savings that we will be deemed to realize, and the Tax Receivable Agreement payments and the TRA Bonus Agreement payments made by us, will be calculated based in part on the market value of our common stock at the time of each redemption or exchange of an LLC Interest for cash or a share of common stock and the prevailing applicable federal tax rate (plus the assumed combined state and local tax rate) applicable to us over the life of the Tax Receivable Agreement and will depend on our generating sufficient taxable income to realize the tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement. Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are not conditioned on our existing owners’ continued ownership of us after the IPO. Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement will be based on the tax reporting positions that we determine with the advice of our tax advisors. Any payments made by us to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders under the Tax Receivable Agreement or to the relevant executive officers under the terms of the TRA Bonus Agreements will generally reduce the amount of overall cash flow that might have otherwise been available to us. To the extent that we are unable to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements, such payments generally will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid. Nonpayment of amounts due under the Tax Receivable Agreement (but not the TRA Bonus Agreements) for a specified period, however, may constitute a breach of a material obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreement and therefore accelerate payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement, unless, generally, such nonpayment is due to a lack of sufficient funds. Furthermore, our future obligation to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements could make us a less attractive target for an acquisition, particularly in the case of an acquirer that cannot use some or all of the tax benefits that may be deemed realized under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are also not conditioned upon the Continuing Equity Owners or the Blocker Shareholders maintaining a continued ownership interest in CWAN Holdings. The actual amount and timing of any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges by the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders, the amount and timing of amounts paid under the TRA Bonus Agreements, the amount of gain recognized by the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders, the amount and timing of the taxable income we generate in the future and the income tax rates then applicable.

Finally, because we are a holding company with no operations of our own, our ability to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement is dependent on the ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions to us.

In certain circumstances, CWAN Holdings will be required to make distributions to us and the Continuing Equity Owners and the distributions may be substantial.

CWAN Holdings is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, is not subject to U.S. federal income tax. Instead, taxable income is allocated to its members, including us and the Continuing Equity Owners. We intend to cause CWAN Holdings to make tax distributions quarterly to the holders of LLC Interests (including us), in each case on a pro rata basis based on CWAN Holdings’ net taxable income, which tax distributions will be based on an assumed tax rate. Thus, CWAN Holdings will be required to make tax distributions that, in the aggregate, will likely exceed the amount of taxes that it would have paid if it were taxed on its net income at the tax rate applicable to a similarly situated corporate taxpayer. Funds used by CWAN Holdings to satisfy its tax distribution obligations will not be available for reinvestment in our business. Moreover, these tax distributions may be substantial, and will likely exceed (as a percentage of CWAN Holdings’ income) the overall effective tax rate applicable to a similarly situated corporate taxpayer. As a result, it is possible that we will receive distributions significantly in excess of our tax liabilities and obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. While our board may choose to distribute such cash balances as dividends on our Class A common stock, it will not be required to do so, and may in its sole discretion choose to use such excess cash for any purpose depending upon the facts and circumstances at the time of determination.

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The amounts that we may be required to pay to the Continuing Equity Owners and the Blocker Shareholders under the Tax Receivable Agreement and to the relevant executive officers under the TRA Bonus Agreements may be accelerated in certain circumstances and may also significantly exceed the actual tax benefits that we ultimately realize.

The Tax Receivable Agreement provides that if (1) certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combination or other changes of control were to occur, (2) we breach any of our material obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement or (3) at any time, we elect an early termination of the Tax Receivable Agreement, then the Tax Receivable Agreement will terminate and our obligations, or our successor’s obligations, to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements would accelerate and become immediately due and payable. The amount due and payable in that circumstance is based on certain assumptions, including an assumption that we would have sufficient taxable income to fully utilize all potential future tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement. We may need to incur debt to finance payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements to the extent our cash resources are insufficient to meet our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements as a result of timing discrepancies or otherwise.

As a result of a change of control, material breach or our election to terminate the Tax Receivable Agreement early, (1) we could be required to make cash payments to the Continuing Equity Owners, the Blocker Shareholders and certain executive officers that are greater than the specified percentage of the actual benefits we ultimately realize in respect of the tax benefits that are subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements and (2) we would be required to make an immediate cash payment equal to the anticipated future tax benefits that are the subject of the Tax Receivable Agreement discounted in accordance with the Tax Receivable Agreement, which payment may be made significantly in advance of the actual realization, if any, of such future tax benefits. In these situations, our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement could have a substantial negative impact on our liquidity and could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combination, or other changes of control. We may not be able to finance our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements.

We may not be able to realize all or a portion of the tax benefits that are currently expected to result from the Tax Attributes covered by the Tax Receivable Agreement and from payments made under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements.

Our ability to realize the tax benefits that we currently expect to be available as a result of the Tax Attributes, the payments made pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, the payments made under the TRA Bonus Agreements and the interest deductions imputed under the Tax Receivable Agreement all depend on a number of assumptions, including that we earn sufficient taxable income during the period which such Tax Attributes are available and that there are no adverse changes in applicable law or regulations. Additionally, if our actual taxable income were insufficient or there were additional adverse changes in applicable law or regulations, we may be unable to realize all or a portion of the expected tax benefits and our cash flows and shareholders’ equity could be negatively affected. See Note 16 “Income Taxes” in our notes to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

We will not be reimbursed for any payments made to the beneficiaries under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements if any purported tax benefits are subsequently disallowed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”).

If the IRS or a state or local taxing authority challenges the tax basis adjustments and/or deductions that give rise to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements and the tax basis adjustments and/or deductions are subsequently disallowed, the recipients of payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements will not reimburse us for any payments we previously made to them. Any such disallowance would be taken into account in determining future payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements, as applicable, and may, therefore, reduce the amount of any such future payments. Nevertheless, if the claimed tax benefits from the tax basis adjustments and/or deductions are disallowed, our payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement or the TRA Bonus Agreements could exceed our actual tax savings, and we may not be able to recoup payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and the TRA Bonus Agreements that were calculated on the assumption that the disallowed tax savings were available.

If we were deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), applicable restrictions could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Under Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, a company generally will be deemed to be an “investment company” for purposes of the 1940 Act if it (1) is, or holds itself out as being, engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities or (2) is engaged, or proposes to engage, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. We do not believe that we are an “investment company,” as such term is defined in either of those sections of the 1940 Act.

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As the sole managing member of CWAN Holdings, we control and manage CWAN Holdings. On that basis, we believe that our interest in CWAN Holdings is not an “investment security” under the 1940 Act. Therefore, we have less than 40% of the value of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) in “investment securities.” However, if we were to lose the right to manage and control CWAN Holdings, interests in CWAN Holdings could be deemed to be “investment securities” under the 1940 Act.

We intend to conduct our operations so that we will not be deemed to be an investment company. However, if we were deemed to be an investment company, restrictions imposed by the 1940 Act, including limitations on our capital structure and our ability to transact with affiliates, could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock

The Principal Equity Owners continue to have significant influence over us, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders, which could limit your ability to influence the outcome of matters submitted to stockholders for a vote.

We are currently controlled by the Principal Equity Owners who beneficially own 96.6% of the combined voting power of all of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2022. As long as the Principal Equity Owners collectively own or control at least a majority of our outstanding voting power, they will have the ability to exercise substantial control and significant influence over our management and affairs and all corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, irrespective of how our other stockholders may vote, including the election and removal of directors and the size of our board of directors, any amendment of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or the approval of any merger or other significant corporate transaction, including a sale of substantially all of our assets. The concentration of voting power limits your ability to influence corporate matters, and as a result, we may take actions that you do not view as beneficial. As a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

In addition, the Principal Equity Owners own 68.0% of the economic interest in CWAN Holdings as of December 31, 2022. Because they hold a substantial portion of their ownership interests in our business through CWAN Holdings, these existing holders of LLC Interests may have conflicting interests with holders of our Class A common stock. For example, they may have different tax positions from us which could influence their decisions regarding whether and when to dispose of assets, and whether and when to incur new or refinance existing indebtedness, especially in light of the existence of the Tax Receivable Agreement. In addition, the structuring of future transactions may take into consideration these existing unitholders’ tax considerations even where no similar benefit would accrue to us.

Certain of our stockholders will have the right to engage or invest in the same or similar businesses as us.

In the ordinary course of their business activities, the Principal Equity Owners and their respective affiliates may engage in activities where their interests conflict with our interests or those of our stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Principal Equity Owners or any of their respective officers, directors, agents, stockholders, members, partners, affiliates and subsidiaries will have no duty to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us or any of our subsidiaries, even if the opportunity is one that we might reasonably have pursued or had the ability or desire to pursue if granted the opportunity to do so. No such person will be liable to us for breach of any fiduciary or other duty, as a director or officer or otherwise, by reason of the fact that such person, acting in good faith, pursues or acquires any such business opportunity, directs any such business opportunity to another person or fails to present any such business opportunity, or information regarding any such business opportunity, to us unless, in the case of any such person who is our director or officer, any such business opportunity is expressly offered to such director or officer solely in his or her capacity as our director or officer.

We are classified as a “controlled company,” and as a result, we qualify for, and intend to rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.

The Principal Equity Owners control a majority of our voting power. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the applicable stock exchange corporate governance standards. Under the rules of NYSE, a company of which more than 50% of the outstanding voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain stock exchange corporate governance requirements, including:

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We utilize these exemptions. As a result, we may not have a majority of independent directors, and our nominating and corporate governance and compensation functions may not be decided solely by independent directors. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the stock exchange corporate governance requirements.

We cannot predict the effect our multiple class structure may have on the trading market for our Class A common stock.

We cannot predict whether our multiple class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple class share structures in certain of their indexes. S&P, Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have each announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500. These changes exclude companies with multiple classes of shares of common stock or ordinary shares from being added to these indices. Furthermore, other stock indices may take a similar approach to S&P, Dow Jones or FTSE Russell in the future. Exclusion from indices could make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors, and as a result, the market price of our Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

As an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), we may utilize certain modified disclosure requirements, and we cannot be certain if these reduced requirements will make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an emerging growth company, and for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies but not to “emerging growth companies,” including not being required to have our independent registered public accounting firm audit our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute compensation not previously approved. We have in this Annual Report on Form 10-K utilized, and we may in future filings with the SEC continue to utilize, the modified disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can utilize the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. Thus, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to not “opt out” of this exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards, and therefore, we are permitted to adopt new or revised accounting standards at the time private companies adopt the new or revised accounting standard and are permitted to do so until such time that we either (i) irrevocably elect to “opt out” of such extended transition period or (ii) no longer qualify as an emerging growth company.

We could remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.235 billion or more; (ii) December 31, 2026; (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt; and (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could depress the trading price of our Class A common stock by discouraging, delaying or preventing a change of control of our Company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our Company may believe advantageous. These include provisions that:

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Our certificate of incorporation also provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternate forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; or any action asserting an “internal corporate claim” as defined in Section 115 of the DGCL. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees.

Alternatively, if a court finds the choice of forum provision contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternate forum, the federal district court for the District of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. We note that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce the choice of forum provision with respect to claims under the federal securities laws, and that investors cannot waive compliance with the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

We do not intend to pay any cash distributions or dividends on our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future.

We currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Class A common stock for the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our available funds and earnings in the foreseeable future will be used to repay indebtedness, for working capital, to support our operations and to finance the growth and development of our business. Any future determination relating to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including restrictions in our and our subsidiaries’ current and future debt instruments, our future earnings, capital requirements, financial condition and prospects, and applicable Delaware law, which provides that dividends are only payable out of surplus or current net profits. Holders of our Class B common stock and Class C common stock are not entitled to participate in any dividends declared by our board of directors. Furthermore, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock depends on our receipt of cash distributions from CWAN Holdings and, through CWAN Holdings, cash distributions and dividends from our other direct and indirect subsidiaries.

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Future sales of our Class A common stock, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress our Class A common stock price.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress the market price of our Class A common stock. Issuing additional shares of our Class A 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 Class A common stock or both. Issuing additional shares of our Class B common stock and Class C common stock, as applicable, when issued with corresponding LLC Interests, may also dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our Class A common stock or both. Additionally, further issuances of our Class D common stock, which is convertible into shares of our Class A common stock, may also dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders.

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue up to 1,500,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and we have also reserved certain shares of Class A common stock for issuance upon the exchange of outstanding LLC Interests, together with an equal number of shares of Class B common stock or Class C common stock, as the case may be, and the conversion of outstanding shares of Class D common stock into shares of Class A common stock. Shares of our common stock held by our affiliates will continue to be subject to the volume and other restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

The holders of an aggregate of 177,461,343 shares of our Class A common stock (on an as-converted basis) or their transferees are entitled to rights with respect to the registration of their shares under the Securities Act. Following the IPO, we filed a registration statement registering under the Securities Act the shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance under the 2021 Plan. Sales of our Class A common stock pursuant to these registration rights or this registration statement may make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. These sales also could cause our stock price to fall and make it more difficult for you to sell shares of our Class A common stock.

An aggregate of approximately 33.3 million shares of our Class D common stock that are beneficially owned by affiliates of Warburg Pincus are pledged to secure obligations of affiliates of Warburg Pincus under a loan agreement. In the case of nonpayment at maturity or another event of default (including but not limited to the borrower’s inability to satisfy certain mandatory prepayments which are triggered off the value of such shares), the lender or its assignee may exercise its rights under the applicable loan agreements to foreclose on and sell shares pledged to cover the amount due under the loan. Any transfers or sales of such pledged shares may cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.

General Risks

We cannot assure you that the price of our Class A common stock will not decline or not be subject to significant volatility.

The market price of our Class A common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations. The price of our Class A common stock may change in response to fluctuations in our results of operations in future periods and also may change in response to other factors, including factors specific to companies in our industry, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, our stock price may experience significant volatility and may not necessarily reflect our performance. Among other factors that could affect our stock price are:

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Further, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In addition, the stock prices of many technology companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.

A credit ratings downgrade or other negative action by a credit rating organization could adversely affect the trading price of the shares of our Class A common stock.

Credit rating agencies continually revise their ratings for companies they follow. The condition of the financial and credit markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. In addition, developments in our business and operations could lead to a ratings downgrade for us or our subsidiaries. Any such fluctuation in our or our subsidiaries’ ratings may impact our ability to access debt markets in the future or increase our cost of future debt, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition, which in return may adversely affect the trading price of shares of our Class A common stock.

The price of our Class A common stock could decline if securities analysts do not publish research or if securities analysts or other third parties publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us.

The trading of our Class A common stock is likely to be influenced by the reports and research that industry or securities analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. If one or more securities or industry analysts downgrade our Class A common stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more securities or industry analysts ceases to cover the Company or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We are unable to predict the extent to which the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, or other outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, or public health crises may adversely impact our business operations, financial performance and results of operations.

For the past three years, the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to control its spread have significantly curtailed the movement of people, goods and services worldwide, including in the regions in which we sell our services and conduct our business operations. The pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to or in the future result in, a global slowdown of economic activity, including travel restrictions, prohibitions of non-essential activities in some cases, disruption and shutdown of businesses and greater uncertainty in global financial markets. Our operations have been affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control, including the various restrictions imposed by cities, counties, states and countries on our employees, customers, partners and suppliers designed to limit the spread of COVID-19. Although the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been assessed and mitigated, the ultimate extent of the impact of the pandemic, including as a result of possible subsequent outbreaks of COVID-19 or of new variants thereof and measures taken in response thereto, will depend on future developments, which remain highly uncertain and cannot currently be predicted.

Based on employee vaccination rates and public health guidance, most employees have returned to Clearwater’s offices, adhering to any government requirements in effect locally. We continue to monitor the situation, including cases within our workforce, and will take action to adjust office attendance policies as circumstances warrant in order to protect the health and safety of employees, contractors, and others who visit our sites. Vaccination requirements or other risk mitigation strategies for site entry and other activities remain in effect in many countries where it is legally permissible to implement such a requirement(s), though discretion to implement such policies has been returned to executive leadership.

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Outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics or public health crises may in the future adversely affect, among other things, demand for our services; our operations and sales, marketing efforts; our research and development capabilities; and other important business activities. Outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, or public health crises may also result in our restriction or suspension of international and/or domestic travel, labor shortages, prohibitions of non-essential activities in some cases, and limit our in-person activities within Clearwater and with customers. Such outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, or public health crises may also present operational challenges, such as unanticipated disruptions in services provided through our localized physical infrastructure, which can in turn curtail the functioning of critical components of our IT systems, and adversely affect our ability to fulfill orders, provide services, respond to customer requests and maintain our worldwide business operations.

The negative impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic or other outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics or public health crises on the broader global economy and related impacts on our or our customers’ business operations and demand for our products and services will depend on future developments and actions taken in response to such events, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. Additional impacts and risks that we are not currently aware of may arise. We are similarly unable to predict the full extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or other outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics or public health crises on our customers, partners and suppliers. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic or other outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, or public health crises adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and stock price, they may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

We have implemented disclosure controls and procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. As a result, because of these inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements or omissions due to error or fraud may occur and may not be detected, which could result in failures to file required reports in a timely manner and filing reports containing incorrect information. Any of these outcomes could result in SEC enforcement actions, monetary fines or other penalties, damage to our reputation, and harm to our financial condition.

Corporate responsibility, specifically related to environmental, social and governance matters, may impose additional costs and expose us to new risks.

Public ESG and sustainability reporting is becoming more broadly expected by investors, shareholders, clients and other third parties. Certain organizations that provide corporate governance and other corporate risk information to investors and shareholders have developed, and others may in the future develop, scores and ratings to evaluate companies and investment funds based upon ESG or “sustainability” metrics. Many investment funds focus on positive ESG business practices and sustainability scores when making investments and may consider a company’s ESG or sustainability scores as a reputational or other factor in making an investment decision. In addition, investors, particularly institutional investors, use these scores to benchmark companies against their peers and if a company is perceived as lagging, these investors may engage with such company to improve ESG disclosure or performance and may also make voting decisions, or take other actions, to hold these corporations and their boards of directors accountable. Additionally, credit rating agencies may use these scores, or their own scores and ratings, as a consideration in their evaluation of our credit risk. If our credit rating is downgraded on the basis of ESG or “sustainability” metrics, we may face increased costs of capital. Clients, particularly in Europe, sometimes seek ESG information to satisfy their ESG commitments. We may face reputational damage in the event our corporate responsibility initiatives or objectives, including with respect to diversity and inclusion, do not meet the standards set by our investors, shareholders, lawmakers, listing exchanges, clients, credit rating agencies or other constituencies, or if we are unable to achieve an acceptable ESG or sustainability rating from third-party rating services. A low ESG or sustainability rating by a third-party rating service could also result in the exclusion of our ordinary shares from consideration by certain investors who may elect to invest with our competition instead. Ongoing focus on corporate responsibility matters by investors and other parties as described above may impose additional costs or expose us to new risks.

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Our business and operations are subject to risks related to climate change.

The long-term effects of global climate change present both physical risks (such as extreme weather conditions or rising sea levels) and transition risks (such as regulatory or technology changes), which are expected to be widespread and unpredictable. These changes over time could affect, for example, the availability and cost of products, commodities and energy (including utilities), which in turn may impact our ability to procure goods or services required for the operation of our business at the quantities and levels we require. In addition, many of our operations and facilities around the world are in locations that may be impacted by the physical risks of climate change, and we face the risk of losses incurred as a result of physical damage to business interruption caused by such events. We also use gasoline and electricity in our operations, all of which could face increased regulation as a result of climate change or other environmental concerns. Regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions and energy inputs may also increase in coming years, which may increase our costs associated with compliance. These events and their impacts could otherwise disrupt and adversely affect our operations and could materially adversely affect our financial performance.

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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

Our corporate headquarters is located in Boise, Idaho and consists of 106,780 square feet under a lease agreement that expires on October 31, 2026. The lease agreement includes two optional 5-year renewal periods. We also lease office space in:

We lease all our facilities and do not own any real property. We believe that our office facilities are adequate for our immediate needs and that additional or substitute space is readily available if needed to accommodate the growth of our operations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

From time to time, we are subject to certain legal proceedings and claims that arise in the normal course of business. In the opinion of our management, we are not involved in any litigation or proceedings with third parties that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows or business.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information

Our Class A common stock is listed and traded on the NYSE under the trading symbol “CWAN.” There is no established public trading market for our Class B common stock, Class C common stock and our Class D common stock.

Holders of Record

As of March 1, 2023, there were 7 holders of record of our Class A common stock. The actual number of stockholders of Class A common stock is 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. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities. As of March 1, 2023, we also had 5 holders of record of our Class B common stock, 3 holders of record of our Class C stock and 8 holders of record of our Class D common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have no current plans to pay dividends on our Class A common stock or Class D common stock. Holders of our Class B common stock and Class C common stock do not have any right to receive dividends, or to receive a distribution upon a liquidation, dissolution, or winding up of Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc., with respect to their Class B common stock and Class C common stock. The declaration, amount, and payment of any future dividends on shares of Class A common stock or Class D common stock is at the sole discretion of our board of directors.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

Equity compensation plans’ information is incorporated by reference from Part III, Item 12, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters,” of this document, and should be considered an integral part of Item 5.

Stock Performance Graph

The following performance graph and related information shall not be deemed to be "soliciting material" or "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any filing of Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act, except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference in such filing.

In connection with the IPO, the Company issued 34,500,000 shares of Class A common stock at a public offering price of $18.00 per share. The graph set forth below compares the cumulative total return to stockholders on our Class A common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (the S&P 500) and Standard & Poor's Information Technology Sector Index. An investment of $100 is assumed to have been made in our Class A common stock and in each index on September 24, 2021, the date our Class A common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and its relative performance is tracked through December 31, 2022. The graph uses the closing market price on September 24, 2021 of $25.37 per share as the initial value of our Class A common stock. All values assume reinvestment of dividends.

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The comparisons are based on historical data and are not indicative of, nor intended to forecast, the future performance of our Class A common stock.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

None.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

None.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” include elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

Clearwater brings transparency to the opaque world of investment accounting and analytics with what we believe is the industry’s most trusted and innovative single instance, multi-tenant technology platform. Our cloud-native software allows clients to radically simplify their investment accounting operations, enabling them to focus on higher-value business functions such as asset allocation strategy and investment selection. Our platform provides comprehensive accounting, data and advanced analytics as well as highly-configurable reporting for global investment assets daily or on-demand, instead of weekly or monthly. We give our clients confidence that they are making the most informed decisions about investment performance, regulatory compliance and risk.

We provide investment accounting and reporting, performance measurement, compliance monitoring and risk analytics solutions for asset managers, insurance companies and large corporations. Every day, Clearwater’s powerful platform aggregates and normalizes data on over $6.4 trillion of global invested assets for over 1,200 clients. We bring modern software to an industry that has long been dominated by difficult-to-use, high cost legacy technologies and processes, which often lack data integrity and traceability, and often require significant manual intervention. The strength of our platform is demonstrated by our approximately 80% win rate for new clients over the prior four years in deals that reached the proposal stage.

We allow our clients to replace legacy systems with modern cloud-native software. Our platform helps clients reduce cost, time, errors and risk and allows them to reallocate resources to other value-creating activities. Our software aggregates, reconciles and validates data from more than 2,800 daily data feeds and more than four million securities that have been modeled across multiple currencies, asset classes and countries. This cleansed and validated data runs through our proprietary accounting, performance, compliance and risk solutions to provide clients with powerful analytics and daily or on-demand configurable reporting. We offer multi-asset class, multi-basis, multi-currency accounting and analytics that provide clients with a comprehensive view of their holdings and related performance. This allows our clients to make better, more timely decisions about their investment portfolios.

Clearwater benefits from powerful network effects. With our single instance, multi-tenant architecture, every client, whether new or existing, enriches our global data set by making it more complete and accurate. Our software continually sources, ingests, models, reconciles and validates the terms, conditions and features of every investment security held by all of our clients. This continuous process helps to create a single repository of comprehensive, accurate investment data (often referred to within the industry as a “Golden Copy” of data) that benefits all our clients to the extent they otherwise have rights to the data. Through this continuous process, we are able to identify and adjudicate data discrepancies that otherwise could introduce error and risk into our clients’ investment portfolios. We believe that a meaningful competitive advantage of this network effect is that we are increasingly seen as the best and most accurate source of investment accounting data and analytics in the industry.

We have a 100% recurring revenue model, excluding license related revenue from the JUMP acquisition. We charge our clients a fee that is primarily based on the amount of assets they manage on our platform, subject to contracted minimums. A majority of the assets on our platform are high-grade fixed income assets, leading to very low levels of volatility and highly predictable revenue streams. In 2022, we transitioned our contracting structure to a framework we describe as Base+ for all new clients. A Base+ contract framework includes a base fee for a prospective or existing client’s book of business plus an incremental fee for increases in assets on the platform. This structure is designed to limit the downside volatility in our asset-based fees. We also began to amend contracts with our existing clients to either modify the structure of such contracts from a pure asset-based fee to this Base+ model or to increase the basis point price. Throughout 2022, 80% of our clients (based on percentage of annual recurring revenue) either modified their contracts to Base+ or agreed to price increases under their existing contracts. The Base+ model includes annual increases in the base fee and enable us to charge additional fees for supplemental services provided for certain alternative asset classes (e.g., LPx) or additional products (e.g. Prism, Performance Plus) should the client choose to utilize those services.

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Recent Developments

Acquisition of JUMP Technology

On November 30, 2022, the Company completed its acquisition of JUMP Technology, a Paris, France-based provider of investment management software. With the addition of JUMP, Clearwater Analytics positions itself to become a provider of end-to-end solutions to investment management companies globally. JUMP is a leading provider of investment management software in France and several other countries in Europe. Covering the entire investment management value chain, JUMP’s solutions can be customized for investment management companies, private banks, family offices, insurers, and institutional investors.

The total purchase consideration for the acquisition of JUMP is €75 million cash. A total of €67.5 million cash was paid as purchase consideration upon completion of the acquisition. The Share Purchase Agreement includes an indemnification holdback which requires the remaining €7.5 million cash to be paid as purchase consideration over the subsequent two years subject to no indemnification claims being submitted. We expensed acquisition-related costs in the amount of $1.7 million in general and administrative expenses in 2022.

Initial Public Offering

On September 28, 2021, the Company completed the IPO, in which it sold 34,500,000 shares of Class A common stock (including shares issued pursuant to the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares) at a public offering price of $18.00 per share for net proceeds of $582.2 million, after deducting underwriting discounts of $38.8 million (but excluding other offering expenses of $5.3 million). The Company used proceeds from the IPO to (i) purchase 34,500,000 common units of CWAN Holdings, LLC (“LLC interests”); (ii) repay approximately $437.4 million of outstanding borrowings under the Previous Credit Agreement including prepayment premiums and accrued interest; and (iii) pay $5.3 million of expenses related to the IPO; with the remaining proceeds intended to be used for general corporate purposes.

Transactions

In connection with the IPO, the Company completed the following organizational transactions (the “Transactions”):

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New Credit Agreement

In connection with the closing of the IPO, Clearwater Analytics, LLC entered into a new credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. that included a $55 million New Term Loan and a $125 million Revolving Facility. The New Term Loan and Revolving Facility will be used for working capital and other general corporate purposes (including acquisitions permitted under the New Credit Agreement).

Previous Credit Agreement

On October 19, 2020, we entered into the Fifth Amendment to the Credit Agreement with Ares Capital Corporation and Golub Capital LLC. The agreement provided for a total term loan of $435 million and revolving line of credit of $30 million. Under the terms of the Fifth Amendment to the Credit Agreement, we were required to maintain certain customary affirmative and negative covenants, including covenants that limited our ability to, among other things, incur indebtedness, merge or consolidate, dispose of assets, make investments, make acquisitions, enter into transactions with affiliates, pay dividends or make distributions. We were also required to maintain compliance with a consolidated net leverage ratio. The line of credit and term note agreements also included customary events of default.

The outstanding borrowings under the Fifth Amendment to the Credit Agreement of $432.7 million were repaid in full in September 2021 in connection with the closing of the IPO. The repayment of the borrowings resulted in a loss on extinguishment of $10.3 million.

Recapitalization

On November 2, 2020, the Company completed a recapitalization transaction on behalf of existing unitholders of CWAN Holdings, LLC. The transaction allowed existing unitholders to sell their units to new investors. In addition, option holders were offered the opportunity to exercise and sell a portion of their vested options, which were accelerated in certain cases (See Note 14, Equity-Based Compensation – Modification of option awards). In total 132,658,542 units transferred ownership. After completion of the recapitalization transaction, entities ultimately controlled by WCAS maintained a majority interest in and control of the Company.

In connection with the transaction, selling unitholders contributed $49.0 million for bonuses paid to employees and related payroll taxes in 2020.

Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

The growth and future success of our business depends on many factors, including those described below.

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Key Components of Results of Operations

The following discussion describes certain line items in our consolidated statements of operations.

Revenue

We generate revenue from fees derived from providing clients with access to the solutions and services on our SaaS platform. Sales of our offering include a right to use our software in a hosted environment without taking possession of the software. Our contracts are generally cancellable with 30 days’ notice without penalty. We invoice clients monthly in arrears based on a percentage of the average daily value of assets within a client’s accounts on our platform during that month subject to a base minimum fee. Payment terms may vary by contract but generally include a requirement of payment within 30 days following the month in which services are provided. Fees invoiced in advance of the delivery of the Company’s performance obligations are deemed set-up activities and are deferred as a material right and recognized over time, typically 12 months.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue consists of expenses related to delivery of revenue-generating services, including expenses associated with client services, onboarding, reconciliation and agreements related to the purchase of data used in the provision of our services. Salary and benefits for certain personnel associated with supporting these functions, in addition to allocated overhead and depreciation for facilities, are also included in cost of revenue.

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Operating Expenses

Research and development expense consists primarily of salary and benefits for our development staff as well as contractors’ fees and other costs associated with the enhancement of our offering, ensuring operational stability and performance and development of new offerings.

Sales and marketing expense consists of the costs of personnel involved in the sales and marketing process, sales commissions, advertising and promotional materials, sales facilities expenses, and the cost of trade shows and seminars.

General and administrative expense consists primarily of personnel costs for information technology, finance, administration, human resources and general management, as well as expenses from legal, corporate technology and accounting service providers.

Interest (Income) Expense, Net

Interest expense reflects interest accrued on our outstanding term loans under the New Credit Agreement and Previous Credit Agreement during the course of the applicable period. The accrual of interest varies depending on the timing and amount of borrowings and repayments during the period as well as fluctuations in interest rates. Interest income relates to interest received on our cash and cash equivalents based on interest rates in the course of the applicable period.

Tax Receivable Agreement Expense

In connection with the IPO and related transactions, we entered into a TRA that provides for the payment by us of 85% of certain tax benefits that we realize as a result of increases in our tax basis of CWAN Holdings resulting from redemptions or exchanges of CWAN Holdings units. Tax receivable agreement expense relates to payments we anticipate making under the TRA.

Loss on Debt Extinguishment

Loss on debt extinguishment related to the early repayment of borrowings under the Previous Credit Agreement. The debt was extinguished on September 28, 2021 in connection with the closing of the IPO.

Other (Income) Expense, Net

Other (income) expense, net relates to foreign currency gains and losses.

Provision for Income Taxes

Provision for income taxes consists of income taxes related to federal, state, and foreign jurisdictions where we conduct our business, net of our valuation allowance. Our effective tax rate may increase in the future as our ownership in CWAN Holdings increases via exchanges from historical partners. In addition, our discrete items (e.g. changes in tax rates or laws, equity-based compensation deductions, or mix of income between tax jurisdictions) may not be consistent from year to year and could cause volatility in our effective tax rate.

Key Operating Measures

We consider certain operating measures, such as annualized recurring revenue, gross retention rates and net retention rates, in measuring the performance of our business.

Annualized Recurring Revenue

Annualized recurring revenue is calculated at the end of a period by dividing the recurring revenue in the last month of such period by the number of days in the month and multiplying by 365.

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The following table summarizes the Company’s annualized recurring revenue as of the dates presented:

Because a substantial majority of the assets on our platform are fixed income securities that typically have low levels of volatility with respect to their market value, the growth in annualized recurring revenue is generally not attributable to the fluctuating market value of the assets on our platform. Rather, the growth in annualized recurring revenue is due to an increase in the number of clients using our offering as well as from onboarding more assets of our existing clients onto our platform.

Annualized recurring revenue increased 14% from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022 on account of growth in our client base as we brought new clients onto our platform and also added additional assets onto our platform from existing clients. The increase in annualized recurring revenue was partially offset by the decreases in client’s assets on the platform from decreases in fixed income and equity security prices during 2022, which we estimate resulted in a 5% reduction in the growth of annualized recurring revenue.

Revenue Retention Rate

Gross revenue retention rate represents annual contract value (“ACV”) at the beginning of the 12-month period ended on the reporting date less client attrition over the prior 12-month period, divided by ACV at the beginning of the 12-month period, expressed as a percentage. ACV is comprised of annualized recurring revenue plus contracted-not-billed revenue, which represents the estimated annual contracted revenue for new and existing client opportunities prior to revenue recognition. In order to arrive at total ACV, we include contracted-not-billed revenue, as it is contracted revenue that has not been recognized but that we expect to produce recognized revenue in the future. Client attrition occurs when a client provides a contract termination notice. The amount of client attrition is calculated as the reduction in annualized revenue of the client at the time of the notice and is recorded in the month the final billing occurs. In the case of client attrition where contracted-not-billed revenue is still present for a client, both annualized recurring revenue and contracted-not-billed revenue associated with such client are deducted from ACV.

Net revenue retention rate is the percentage of recurring revenue retained from clients on the platform for 12 months and includes changes from the addition, removal or value of assets on our platform, contractual changes that have an impact to annualized recurring revenues and lost revenue from client attrition. We calculate net revenue retention rate as of a period end by starting with the annualized recurring revenue from clients as of the 12 months prior to such period end. We then calculate the annualized recurring revenue from these clients as of the current period end. We then divide the total current period end annualized recurring revenue by the 12-month prior period end annualized recurring revenue to arrive at the net revenue retention rate.

The following table summarizes our retention rates as of the dates presented:

Gross revenue retention rates have remained consistently at approximately 98% since 2019. We believe the extremely consistent and high gross revenue retention rate is a testament to the value proposition that our leading solution offers.

Net revenue retention rate as of December 31, 2022 was 106% which represents growth in clients on our platform of 6% year over year. Net revenue retention rate as of December 31, 2022 decreased compared to net revenue retention rate as of December 31, 2021 primarily due to decreases in the market value of assets which clients maintain on our platform.

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Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We also consider certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”), such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA Margin, in measuring the performance of our business. The non-GAAP measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. However, we believe that this non-GAAP information is useful as an additional means for investors to evaluate our operating performance, when reviewed in conjunction with our GAAP financial statements. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, and because these amounts are not determined in accordance with GAAP, they should not be used exclusively in evaluating our business and operations. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed upon non-GAAP or operating information because this information is neither standardized across companies nor subjected to the same control activities and audit procedures that produce our GAAP financial results.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are supplemental performance measures that our management uses to assess our operating performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net loss plus (i) interest (income) expense, net, (ii) loss on debt extinguishment, (iii) depreciation and amortization expense, (iv) equity-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes, (v) equity-based compensation expense related to JUMP acquisition, (vi) recapitalization compensation expenses, (vii) tax receivable agreement expense, and (viii) other expenses. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA (as defined above) divided by revenue.

The following table reconciles net loss to Adjusted EBITDA and includes amounts expressed as a percentage of revenue for the periods indicated.

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Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):

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The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data expressed as a percentage of revenue for the periods indicated:

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020

Revenue

Revenue increased $51.4 million, or 20%, 2022 compared to 2021. The increase was on account of growth in our client base as we brought new clients onto our platform, as well as changes to our existing clients’ assets on our platform. Average assets on our platform that were billed to new and existing clients increased 15% from 2021 to 2022 while average basis point rate billed to clients increased by 2.6% from 2021 to 2022. Revenue related to JUMP was $2.7 million in 2022.

Revenue increased $48.8 million, or 24%, 2021 compared to 2020. The increase was on account of growth in our client base as we brought new clients onto our platform and also added additional assets onto our platform from existing clients. Average assets on our platform that were billed to new and existing clients increased 20% from 2020 to 2021 while average basis point rate billed to clients increased by 1.8% from 2020 to 2021.

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Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue changed as follows (in thousands):

The increase in cost of revenue in 2022 was primarily due to increased payroll and related costs as a result of headcount growth of additional employees across our client services, onboarding and reconciliation teams to support a larger client base as well as increased equity-based compensation due to increased grant-date fair value of equity awards and higher headcount. Cost of revenue headcount grew at a faster rate than overall revenue growth as we continue to expand and increase our scale to support our expected continued international expansion. International revenue grew to 14% of revenues in 2022, compared to 9% in 2021. In addition, cost of revenue increased from a rise in depreciation and amortization due to the completion of internal IT projects, increased data costs to support a larger client base, increased travel and entertainment costs due to the relaxation of travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 compared to 2021, higher utilization of third-party contractors, technology and IT services on operational activities, and increased allocation of facility costs.

The increase in cost of revenue in 2021 was primarily due to increased payroll and related costs as a result of headcount growth of additional employees across our client services, onboarding and reconciliation teams to support a larger client base as well as increased equity-based compensation due to increased grant-date fair value of equity awards and higher headcount. In addition, higher utilization of third-party contractors, technology and IT services on operational activities, increased data costs to support a larger client base, and increased allocations of depreciation and facility costs increased cost of revenue.

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Operating Expenses

Research and Development