SEC Form 20-F filed by InMode Ltd.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certain Definitions

 

In this Annual Report on Form 20-F, unless the context otherwise requires:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward-Looking Statements

 

The sections entitled “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors” “Item 4. Information on the Company” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F contain forward-looking statements that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Unless otherwise indicated in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, the basis for any statements regarding our competitive position is based on our own assessment and knowledge of the market in which we operate

 

These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate and our management’s beliefs and assumptions, are not guarantees of future performance or development, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, particularly in the section entitled “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors,” which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Unless we are required to do so under U.S. federal securities laws or other applicable laws, we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are encouraged to consult the Company’s reports made on Form 6-K, which are periodically filed with or furnished to the SEC.

PART I

 

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

 

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

 

Not applicable.

 

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

 

 

 

Not applicable.

 

 

Not applicable.

 

 

Our business faces significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and in our other filings with the SEC, including the following risk factors that we face and that are faced by our industry. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may have similar adverse effects on us. This report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our results could materially differ from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, as a result of certain factors, including the risks described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F and our other SEC filings. See “Forward-Looking Statements” above.

 

Summary Risk Factors

 

Our business is subject to a number of risks of which you should be aware of before making an investment decision. These risks are discussed more fully in the “Risk Factors” section of this annual report. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

 

Our success depends upon market acceptance of our products.

 

We design, develop, manufacture and commercialize innovative, minimally invasive and non-invasive surgical/medical products. We have developed products that apply our minimally invasive technology in plastic surgery, dermatology, gynecology and ophthalmology. We were established in 2008 and have expanded our product offerings to include 12 product platforms: BodyTite, Optimas, Votiva, Contoura, Triton, EmbraceRF, EvolveX, Evoke, Morpheus8, EmpowerRF, Define and Envision. We introduced two additional product platforms in 2021, the EmpowerRF and EvolveX, which replaced our Evolve platform. In 2023 we introduced two new platforms, the Define and Envision. If we fail to significantly penetrate current or new markets with our products or fail to properly manage the manufacturing and distribution of multiple products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be negatively impacted. The success of our products depends on adoption and acceptance of our technology by user doctors. The rate of adoption and acceptance may be affected adversely by perceived issues relating to quality and safety, doctors’ reluctance to invest in new technologies, the cost of competitive treatments and widespread acceptance of other technologies. Our business strategy is based, in part, on our expectation that we will continue to make novel product introductions and upgrades that we can sell to new and existing users of our products and that we will be able to identify new markets for our existing technologies.

 

To increase our revenues, we must:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, the surgical aesthetic solutions market is highly competitive and dynamic and marked by rapid and substantial technological development and product innovations. Demand for our products could be diminished by equivalent or superior products and technologies offered by competitors.

 

If there is not sufficient demand for the procedures performed with our products, practitioner demand for our products could decline, resulting in unfavorable operating results.

 

Continued expansion of the global market for energy-based aesthetic procedures is a material assumption of our business strategy. Most procedures performed using our products are not reimbursable through government or private health insurance and are therefore elective procedures, the cost of which must be borne by the patient. The decision to utilize our products may therefore be influenced by a number of factors, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If, as a result of these factors, there is not sufficient demand for the procedures performed with our products, practitioner demand for our products could decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

The success and continued development of our products depends, in part, upon maintaining strong relationships with physicians and other healthcare professionals.

 

If we fail to maintain our working relationships with physicians and other ancillary healthcare professionals, our products may not be developed and marketed in line with the needs and expectations of the professionals who use and support our products. If we are unable to maintain these strong relationships or form new relationships with physicians and other healthcare professionals beyond our traditional customer base, the development and marketing of our products could suffer, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

We rely heavily on our sales professionals to market and sell our products worldwide. If we are unable to hire, effectively train, manage, improve the productivity of and retain our sales professionals, our business will be harmed, which would impair our future revenue and profitability.

 

Our success largely depends on our ability to hire, train, manage and improve the productivity levels of our sales professionals worldwide. We train our existing and recently recruited sales professionals to better understand our existing and new product technologies and how they can be positioned against our competitors’ products and increase the revenue of our customers. It may take time for the sales professionals to become productive, and there can be no assurance that recently recruited sales professionals will be adequately trained in a timely manner, that our direct sales productivity will improve or that we will not experience significant levels of attrition in the future.

 

Product liability suits could be brought against us due to defective material or design or misuse of our products and could result in expensive and time-consuming litigation, payment of substantial damages and an increase in our insurance rates.

 

Our systems are inherently complex in design and require ongoing scheduled maintenance. Our products may malfunction when used by our customers. Additionally, if our products are alleged to be defectively designed, manufactured or labeled, contain defective components, or are misused, we may become subject to substantial and costly litigation by our customers or their patients. Misusing our products or failing to adhere to operating guidelines could cause burns, scarring and tissue irregularities. In addition, if our operating guidelines are found to be inadequate, we may be subject to liability. Furthermore, our products are sold in jurisdictions that vary as to the specific qualifications or training required for purchasers or operators of the products. There is a risk that our products may be purchased or operated by physicians with varying levels of training and, in some cases, by practitioners, such as nurses, chiropractors and technicians, who may not be adequately trained. The purchase and use of our products by non-physicians or persons who lack adequate training may result in the misuse of our products, which could give rise to adverse treatment outcomes. If we are unable to prevent product malfunctions or misuse, or if we fail to do so in a timely manner, we could also experience, among other things, delays in the recognition of revenues or loss of revenues, particularly in the case of new products; legal actions by customers, patients and other third parties, which could result in substantial judgments against us or settlement costs; action by regulatory bodies; and diversion of development, engineering and management resources.

 

Product liability claims could divert management’s attention from our core business, be expensive to defend and result in sizable damage awards against us. In addition, such potential adverse effects may cause a significant increase in the premiums under our insurance policies. Further, the coverage limits of our product liability insurance policies may not be adequate to cover future claims. A successful claim brought against us in excess of, or outside of, our insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if unsuccessful, such a claim could nevertheless have an adverse impact on us, due to damage to our reputation and diversion of management resources.

 

We may have difficulty managing our growth, which could limit our ability to increase sales and cash flow.

 

We have experienced significant growth in our operations, and the number of our employees has significantly increased since inception. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, as well as our financial and operational resources. In order to achieve our business objectives, we will need to continue to grow our business. Continued growth would increase the challenges involved in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If our growth continues, it will require that we continue to develop and improve our operational, financial and other internal controls. If we cannot scale and manage our business appropriately, we will not realize our projected growth and our financial results will suffer.

 

The failure to attract and retain key personnel could adversely affect our business.

 

Our success also will depend in large part on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified and highly skilled personnel. Competition for highly skilled employees is intense. We may be unable to continue to attract and retain sufficient numbers of highly skilled employees. Our inability to attract and retain additional key employees or the loss of one or more of our current key employees could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our financial results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

 

We base our production, inventory and operating expenditure levels on anticipated orders. If orders are not received when expected in any given quarter, expenditure levels could be disproportionately high in relation to sales for that quarter. A number of additional factors, over which we have limited control, may contribute to fluctuations in our financial results, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rely on a limited number of suppliers, contract manufacturers, and logistics partners for our products. A loss of any of these partners or delays at transition points such as harbors, straights, and ports could negatively affect our business.

 

We rely on a limited number of contract manufacturers, suppliers and logistics providers to manufacture and transport our products. Our reliance on a limited number of contract manufacturers for our products increases our risks, since we do not currently have alternative or replacement contract manufacturers beyond these key parties. In the event of interruption from any of our contract manufacturers or suppliers, we may not be able to increase capacity from other sources or develop alternate or secondary sources without incurring material additional costs and substantial delays. Furthermore, our primary facilities are located in Israel. Thus, our business could be affected if one or more of our suppliers, manufacturers or logistics partners are impacted by a natural disaster, an epidemic, revived hostilities in Israel, the latest Israel-Hamas war, or other interruption at a particular location. Interruptions in the development, manufacturing, and shipment of our products, could adversely impact our revenue, gross margins, and operating results. Such interruptions may be due to, among other things, temporary closures of the facilities our contract manufacturers, and other vendors in our supply chain; restrictions or delays on transport or the import/export of goods and services from certain ports and harbors that we and our logistics partners use; and local quarantines or work stoppages.

 

Competition among providers of energy-based devices for the medical aesthetics market is characterized by rapid innovation. If we do not continue to develop and commercialize new products and identify new markets for our products and technologies and expand beyond our traditional customer base, we may not remain competitive, and our revenues and operating results could suffer.

 

The industry in which we operate is subject to continuous technological development and product innovation. If we do not continue to be innovative in the development of new products and applications, our competitive position will likely deteriorate as other companies successfully design and commercialize new products and applications. While we attempt to protect our products through patents and other intellectual property, there are few barriers to entry that would prevent new entrants or existing competitors from developing products that compete directly with ours. We expect that any competitive advantage we may enjoy from our current and future innovations may diminish over time, as companies successfully respond to our, or create their own, innovations. Accordingly, our success depends in part on developing new and innovative applications of laser and other energy-based technology and identifying new markets for and applications of existing products to new customers and technology. Our future growth also depends, in part, on our ability to expand beyond our traditional customer base to ENTs, ophthalmologists, general practitioners and aesthetic clinicians. If we are unable to develop and commercialize new products and identify and penetrate new markets for our products and technology, our products and technology could become obsolete and our revenues and operating results could be adversely affected.

 

Our long-term growth depends on our ability to enhance our products, expand our indications, and develop and commercialize additional products.

 

It is important to our business that we continue to enhance our products and develop and introduce new products. Developing products is expensive and time-consuming. The success of any new product offering or product enhancement to our current products will depend on several factors, including our ability to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we are not successful in expanding our indications and developing and commercializing new products and product enhancements, our ability to increase our revenue may be impaired, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our inability to compete effectively with our competitors may prevent us from achieving significant market penetration or improving our operating results.

 

Our products compete against products offered by public companies, including Allergan plc, Cutera, Inc., Apyx Medical Corporation, Venus Concept Inc., Sisram Medical Ltd and Viveve Medical, Inc., as well as by private companies, such as Cynosure LLC, Lumenis Ltd., BTL Aesthetics, Inc. and Candela Medical Inc. Competition with these companies could result in reduced prices and profit margins and loss of market share, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also face competition from medical aesthetic products, including Botox, hyaluronic acid injections and collagen injections, and aesthetic procedures, such as face lifts, liposuction, sclerotherapy, electrolysis, chemical peels and laser procedures, which may offer a broader range of medical and non-medical products and technologies that are more readily available to customers at a lower cost. Our ability to compete effectively depends upon our ability to distinguish the Company and our products from our competitors and their products and includes the following factors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, potential customers also may need to recoup the cost of expensive products that they already have purchased from our competitors and may decide not to purchase our products or to delay such purchases. If we are unable to achieve continued market penetration, we will be unable to compete effectively, and our business will be harmed.

 

The introduction of disruptive technological breakthroughs, whether pharmaceutical or other newer therapeutic solutions, may present an additional threat to our success in our target markets.

 

The medical technology industry is intensely competitive. Pharmaceutical alternative treatments compete vigorously with traditional laser and other energy-based procedures, such as those carried out with our products. Some pharmaceutical companies, academic and research institutions or others may develop new, non-invasive or minimally invasive therapies that are more effective, more convenient or less expensive than our current or future products. The introduction of new technologies, along with these potential new therapies, could result in increased competition or make our products obsolete. Moreover, we could expand our business to include new, non-invasive or minimally invasive therapies which may compete with our current product offerings. We may not be able to respond effectively to technological changes and emerging industry standards or to successfully identify, develop or support new technologies or enhancements to existing products in a timely and cost-effective manner. Any such developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our markets are characterized by evolving technological standards and changes in customer requirements, and we may not be able to react to such changes and introduce new products in a timely manner.

 

The aesthetics market is characterized by extensive research and development, technological change, frequent modifications and enhancements, innovations, new applications, evolving industry standards, and changes in customer requirements. Our future growth depends, in part, on our ability to introduce new products on a timely basis, as well as to introduce other product enhancements that address the evolving customer needs. This requires us to design, develop, manufacture, assemble, test, market and support these new products or product enhancements on a timely and cost-effective basis. It also requires continued substantial investment in research and development.

 

During each stage of the research and development process, we may encounter obstacles that could delay development and consequently increase our expenses. This may ultimately force us to abandon a potential product in which we have already invested substantial time and resources. Technologies in development could prove to be more complex than initially understood or not scientifically or commercially viable. Even if we develop new products and technologies ahead of our competitors, we will still need to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals for such products, including from public agencies, such as the FDA, before we can commercially distribute them. We cannot assure you that we will successfully identify new technological opportunities, develop and bring new or enhanced products to market, obtain sufficient patent or other intellectual property protection for such new or enhanced products, or obtain the necessary regulatory approvals in a timely and cost-effective manner, or, if such products are introduced, that those products will achieve market acceptance. Our failure to do so, or to address the technological changes and challenges in our markets, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

We rely on our own direct sales force to sell our products in certain territories, which may result in higher fixed costs than our competitors and may slow our ability to reduce costs in the face of a sudden decline in demand for our products.

 

We rely on our own direct sales force to market and sell our products in certain territories. Some of our competitors rely predominantly on independent sales agents and third-party distributors. A direct sales force may subject us to higher fixed costs than those of companies that market competing products through independent third parties, due to the costs that we will bear associated with employee benefits, and training and managing sales personnel. As a result, we could be at a competitive disadvantage. Additionally, these fixed costs may slow our ability to reduce costs in the face of a sudden decline in demand for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

To successfully market and sell our products internationally, we must address many issues with which we have little or no experience.

 

International (non-U.S.) sales accounted for approximately 37% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023. We believe that an increasing percentage of our future revenue will come from international sales as we continue to expand our operations and develop opportunities in additional international territories. We currently depend on third-party distributors and a direct sales team in certain regions to sell our products internationally. If these distributors or direct sales personnel underperform, we may be unable to increase or maintain our level of international revenue. We will need to attract additional distributors to grow our business and expand the territories in which we sell our products. Distributors may not commit the necessary resources to market and sell our products to the level of our expectations. If current or future distributors do not perform adequately, or we are unable to locate distributors in particular geographic areas, we may not realize expected international revenue growth. Additionally, we expect to expand our direct sales force in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. If we are unable to do so successfully, our revenue and revenue growth from international operations will be adversely affected.

 

International sales are subject to a number of risks, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If one or more of these risks were realized, it could require us to dedicate significant resources to remedy the situation, and if we are unsuccessful at finding a solution, our revenue may decline.

 

The impact of the latest Israel-Hamas war could impede our ability to operate and develop, manufacture and deliver products and components and harm our business and financial results.

 

In October of 2023, Israel’s security cabinet declared war against Hamas. The ongoing and revived hostilities, could prevent or delay shipments of our products, harm our operations and product development and cause our sales to decrease. In the event that the hostilities disrupt the ongoing operation of our and our Israeli subcontractors' facilities or the airports and seaports on which we depend to import and export our supplies and products, our operations may be materially adversely affected. The conflict could cause situations where applicable foreign regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, could not be able to visit our third-party manufacturing facilities in Israel in order to review, causing delays. The war could also result in parties with whom we have agreements involving performance in Israel claiming that they are not obligated to perform their commitments under those agreements pursuant to force majeure provisions in such agreements.

 

Further, there have been travel advisories imposed as related to travel to Israel, and restriction on travel, or delays and disruptions as related to imports and exports may be imposed in the future. An inability to receive supplies and materials, shortages of materials or difficulties in procuring our materials, among others, may adversely impact our ability to commercialize and manufacture our product candidates and products in a timely manner. This could cause a number of delays and/or issues for our operations, including delay of the review of our product candidates by regulatory agencies, which in turn would have a material adverse impact on our ability to commercialize our product candidates. Although the resulting sanctions and any related market disruptions are impossible to predict, they could be substantial, particularly if current or new sanctions continue for an extended period of time or if geopolitical tensions result in expanded military operations on a global scale.

 

We have limited business in Russia which pose some degree of sanctions risk that cannot be entirely eliminated.

 

We have a long-standing distribution contract with a Russian distributer which distributes our products in the country and other neighboring countries. Given the nature of our products and our end customers in Russia (typically physicians), our Russia-related business falls within a category of activities with respect to which the sanctions regimes have been historically more permissive and with respect to which there is a relatively lower incidence of sanctions exposure. Furthermore, we are committed, and take measures, to ensure compliance with any applicable Sanctions. However, the sanctions against Russia across various key jurisdictions, including the United States, are extremely dynamic and complex and usually apply on a strict liability basis and sometimes may expose non US parties to liability or imposition of market restrictions even in the absence of jurisdictional grounds or touchpoints with the country of the governmental authority imposing the sanctions. Accordingly, in the current environment, Russia-related dealings may entail some degree of exposure to sanctions risks that cannot be entirely eliminated.

 

We outsource almost all of the manufacturing of our products to a small number of manufacturing subcontractors. If our subcontractors’ operations are interrupted or if our orders exceed our subcontractors’ manufacturing capacity, we may not be able to deliver our products on time.

 

We outsource almost all of the manufacturing of our products to three subcontractors located in Israel, two of which we are substantially dependent on, while we manufacture our laser and intense pulsed light, or IPL, handpieces in-house in Israel. These subcontractors have limited manufacturing capacity that may be inadequate if our customers place orders for unexpectedly large quantities of our products. In addition, because our subcontractors are located in Israel, they on occasion may feel the impact of potential economic or political instability in the region, including the latest Israel-Hamas war. If the operations of one or more of our subcontractors were halted or limited, even temporarily, or if they were unable or unwilling to fulfill large orders, we could experience business interruption, increased costs, damage to our reputation and loss of our customers. In addition, finding new subcontractors that meet our manufacturing requirements, comply with regulatory requirements, and are ISO certified could take several months.

 

Components used in our products are complex in design, and defects may not be discovered prior to shipment to customers, which could result in warranty obligations, reducing our revenue and increasing our costs.

 

In manufacturing our products, we and our subcontractors depend upon third-party suppliers for various components. Many of these components require a significant degree of technical expertise to produce. If our suppliers fail to produce components to specification, or if the suppliers, our subcontractors, or we, use defective materials or workmanship in the manufacturing process, the reliability and performance of our products will be compromised.

 

If our products contain defects that cannot be repaired easily and inexpensively, we may experience:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The occurrence of any one or more of the foregoing could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

We and our manufacturing subcontractors depend upon third-party suppliers, making us vulnerable to supply shortages, price fluctuations or other degradations in performance of these suppliers, which could harm our business and financial condition.

 

Many of the components that comprise our products are currently manufactured by a limited number of suppliers. Although each of our components can be obtained from more than one supplier, we do not have the ability to manufacture the components we outsource. Additionally, our subcontractors rely on a limited number of suppliers, or in some cases, one supplier, for some of the materials and components used in our products. If our subcontractors were to lose such suppliers, there can be no assurance that they will be able to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely basis on acceptable terms, if at all, which could cause interruptions in their operations. If any of these third-party suppliers fails to adequately perform, our revenue and profitability could be adversely affected. A supply interruption or an increase in demand beyond current suppliers’ capabilities could harm our ability to manufacture our products until we identify and qualify a new source of supply, which could take several months.

 

There is a risk that our suppliers will not always act consistent with our best interests, and may not always supply goods that meet our requirements. Any interruption in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain substitute components or materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Transitioning to a new supplier could be time-consuming and expensive, may result in interruptions in our operations and product delivery, could affect the performance specifications of our products or could require that we modify the design of certain product systems. If a change in manufacturer results in a significant change to any product, a new 510(k) clearance from the FDA or similar international regulatory authorization may be necessary before we implement the change, which could cause substantial delays.

 

Disruptions or interruptions to our suppliers could occur for many reasons, including fire, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, droughts, tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, disease or other similar natural disasters, unplanned maintenance or other manufacturing problems, labor shortages, power outages or shortages, telecommunications failures, strikes, transportation interruption, government regulation, economic or political instability, terrorism or other extraordinary events, including epidemics and related travel restrictions. Such disruptions may continue over a sustained period and could cause direct injury or damage to our supplier’s employees and property with significant indirect consequences to us. Alternative facilities with sufficient capacity or capabilities may not be available, may cost substantially more or may take a significant time to start manufacturing, each of which could negatively affect our ability to fill customer orders and our business and financial performance.

 

There exists potential for misuse of our products, over which we have very little to no control, which could harm our reputation and our business.

 

In the United States, federal regulations allow us to sell our products to or on the order of “licensed practitioners”. The definition of “licensed practitioners” varies from state to state. As a result, depending on state law, our products may be purchased or operated by physicians or other licensed practitioners, including nurse practitioners, chiropractors and technicians. Outside the United States, many jurisdictions do not require specific qualifications or training for purchasers or operators of our products. Although we offer training on the use of our products, we do not supervise the treatments performed. Purchase and use of our products by non-physicians may result in product misuse. The potential misuse of our products by physicians and non-physicians may result in adverse treatment outcomes, which could harm our reputation and expose us to costly product liability litigation.

 

Our products include a limited time warranty which could result in substantial additional costs to us should we fail to monitor product quality effectively.

 

We generally provide a 12-month warranty on our products. After the warranty period, maintenance and support is provided on a service contract basis. If our products malfunction, warranty claims may become significant, which could cause a significant drain on our resources and materially adversely affect our results of operations.

 

We forecast sales to determine requirements for our products and if our forecasts are incorrect, we may experience either shipment delays or increased costs.

 

Our subcontractors keep limited materials and components on hand. To help them manage their manufacturing operations and minimize inventory costs, we forecast anticipated product orders to predict our inventory needs up to six months in advance and enter into purchase orders on the basis of these forecasts. If our business expands, our demand would increase and our suppliers may be unable to meet our demand. If we overestimate our requirements, our subcontractors will have excess inventory, and may transfer to us any increase in costs. If we underestimate our requirements, our subcontractors may have inadequate components and materials inventory, which could interrupt, delay or prevent delivery of our products to our customers. Any of these occurrences would negatively affect our financial performance and the level of satisfaction our customers have with our business.

 

Under applicable employment laws, we may not be able to enforce covenants not to compete and therefore may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of some of our former employees.

 

We generally enter into non-competition agreements with our professional employees, in most cases within the framework of their employment agreements. These agreements prohibit our employees, if they cease working for us, from competing directly with us or working for our competitors for a limited period. Under applicable employment laws, we may be unable to enforce these agreements, in whole or in part, and it may be difficult for us to restrict our competitors from gaining the expertise our former employees gained while working for us. For example, Israeli courts have required employers seeking to enforce non-compete undertakings of a former employee to demonstrate that the competitive activities of the former employee will harm one of a limited number of material interests of the employer which have been recognized by the courts, such as the secrecy of a company’s confidential commercial information or its intellectual property. If we cannot demonstrate that harm would be caused to us, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of our former employees, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and ability to capitalize on our proprietary information.

 

The expense and potential unavailability of insurance coverage for our customers and the Company could adversely affect our ability to sell our products and our financial condition.

 

Some of our customers and prospective customers are required to maintain liability insurance to cover their operations and use of our products. Medical malpractice carriers are withdrawing coverage in certain states or substantially increasing premiums. If this trend continues or worsens, our customers may discontinue using our products and, industry-wide, potential customers may opt against purchasing light, laser or radio frequency-based products due to the cost or inability to procure insurance coverage.

 

Outbreaks of contagious disease or similar public health threats could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Outbreaks of contagious disease or other adverse public health developments worldwide could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Outbreaks of contagious disease or other adverse public health developments could affect our business in a number of ways, including but not limited to

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global economic and social conditions may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Any negative conditions in the national and global economic environments may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Recently, such negative conditions materialized in the ongoing war in Ukraine and the rising interest rates worldwide. During uncertain economic times and in tight credit markets, many of our customers may experience financial difficulties or be unable or unwilling to borrow money to fund their operations, including obtaining credit lines for purchasing our products, and may delay or reduce purchases or reduce the extent of their operations. The market for aesthetic procedures and the market for our premium products can be particularly vulnerable to economic uncertainty, since the end-users of our products may decrease the demand for our products when they have less discretionary income or determine not to spend their discretionary income on aesthetic procedures. In addition, in many instances, the ability of our customers to purchase our products depends in part upon the availability of obtaining financing at acceptable interest rates.

 

These factors could result in reductions in revenues from sales of our products, longer sales cycles, difficulties in collection of accounts receivable, slower adoption of new technologies and increased price competition. Payment by our customers of our receivables is dependent upon the financial stability of the economies of certain countries. In light of the current economic state of many countries outside of the United States, we continue to monitor the creditworthiness of our customers because weakness in the end-user market could negatively affect the cash flows of our customers who could, in turn, delay paying their obligations to us. This would increase our credit risk exposure and cause delays in our recognition of revenues on current and future sales to these customers.

 

Exchange rate fluctuations may decrease our earnings if we are not able to hedge our currency exchange risks successfully.

 

A majority of our revenues and a substantial portion of our expenses are denominated in U.S. dollars. However, a portion of our revenues and a portion of our costs, including personnel and some marketing and facilities expenses, are incurred in NIS, Canadian dollars and Euros. Inflation in Israel or Europe may have the effect of increasing the U.S. dollar cost of our operations in that country. If the U.S. dollar declines in value in relation to one or more of these currencies, it will become more expensive for us to fund our operations in the countries that use those other currencies. To date, we have not found it necessary to hedge the risks associated with fluctuations in currency exchange rates. In the future, if we do not successfully engage in hedging transactions, our results of operations may be subject to losses from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.

 

Cyber-attacks as well as improper disclosure or control of personal information could result in liability and harm our reputation, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. We may face liability if we breach our obligations related to the protection, security, nondisclosure of confidential customer information or disclosure of sensitive data or fail or are perceived to fail to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations, or consumer protection laws, regulations and standards.

 

Our business is heavily dependent on the security of our IT networks. Internal or external attacks on any of those could disrupt the normal operations of our engagements and impede our ability to provide services to our customers, thereby subjecting us to liability under our contracts. Additionally, our business involves the use, storage and transmission of information about our employees, our customers and clients of our customers. Attacks upon information technology systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage, systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may also experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. While we take measures to protect the security of, and unauthorized access to, our systems, as well as the privacy of personal and proprietary information, it is possible that our security controls of our systems, as well as other security practices we follow or those systems of our customers which we rely upon, may not prevent the improper access to or disclosure of personally identifiable or proprietary information. Such disclosure could harm our reputation and subject us to liability under our contracts and laws that protect personal data, resulting in increased costs or loss of revenue.

 

Further, the global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and we are or may become subject to numerous state, federal and foreign laws, requirements and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and security of personal data, such as information that we may collect about individuals in the U.S. and abroad. Implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or perception of their requirements may have on our business. This evolution may create uncertainty in our business, affect our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions or to collect, store, transfer use and share personal information, necessitate the acceptance of more onerous obligations in our contracts, result in liability or impose additional costs on us. The cost of compliance with these laws, regulations and standards is high and is likely to increase in the future. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulation, our internal policies and procedures or our contracts governing our processing of personal information could result in negative publicity, government investigations and enforcement actions, claims by third parties and damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance and business.

 

As our operations and business grow, we may become subject to or affected by new or additional data protection laws and regulations and face increased scrutiny or attention from regulatory authorities. We are subject to U.S. federal and state laws regarding data privacy and security including Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, or FTC Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA and the California Privacy Rights Act, or the CPRA. Further, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended, and regulations implemented thereunder, or HIPAA, imposes, among other things, certain standards relating to the privacy, security, transmission and breach reporting of individually identifiable health information. Even when HIPAA does not apply, according to the FTC, failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure may constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The FTC expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business, and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. Federal and state consumer protection laws are increasingly being applied by the FTC, and states’ attorneys general to regulate the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal or personally identifiable information, through websites or otherwise, and to regulate the presentation of website content.

 

Certain states have also adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, some of which may be more stringent than HIPAA. In addition, the CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability, and many similar laws have been proposed at the federal level and in other states. Further, the CPRA, recently passed in California. The CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It will also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes may be required. In the event that we are subject to or affected by HIPAA, the CCPA, the CPRA or other domestic privacy and data protection laws, any liability from failure to comply with the requirements of these laws could adversely affect our financial condition.

 

We are also subject to foreign data privacy and security laws, including the Israeli Protection of Privacy Law of 1981 and the Privacy Protection Regulations (Data Security) 5777-2017 and the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. The GDPR went into effect in May 2018 and imposes strict requirements for processing the personal data of individuals within the European Economic Area, or the EEA. Companies that must comply with the GDPR face increased compliance obligations and risk, including more robust regulatory enforcement of data protection requirements and significant penalties for non-compliance, including potential fines for noncompliance of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenues of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater. Since January 1, 2021, we have been subject to the GDPR and also the United Kingdom GDPR, which, together with the amended United Kingdom Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, e.g., fines up to the greater of €20 million (£17.5 million) or 4% of global turnover. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how United Kingdom data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term, and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated in the long term. It is not clear whether (and when) an adequate decision may be granted by the European Commission enabling data transfers from European Union member states to the United Kingdom long term without additional measures. These changes will lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.

 

Legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA and the United Kingdom to the United States. On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union, or the CJEU, invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, or the Privacy Shield, under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to US entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contract approved by the European Commission as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism, and potential alternative to the Privacy Shield), it made clear that reliance on them alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the standard contractual clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular applicable surveillance laws and rights of individuals and additional measures and/or contractual provisions may need to be put in place, however, the nature of these additional measures is currently uncertain. The CJEU went on to state that if a competent supervisory authority believes that the standard contractual clauses cannot be complied with in the destination country and the required level of protection cannot be secured by other means, such supervisory authority is under an obligation to suspend or prohibit that transfer.

 

These recent developments may require us to review and amend the legal mechanisms by which we make and/or receive personal data transfers to/in the United States.  As supervisory authorities issue further guidance on personal data export mechanisms, including circumstances where the standard contractual clauses cannot be used, and/or start taking enforcement action, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines, and/or if we are otherwise unable to transfer personal data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, it could affect the manner in which we provide our services, the geographical location or segregation of our relevant systems and operations, and could adversely affect our financial results.

 

Our failure to adhere to or successfully implement processes in response to changing regulatory requirements in this area could result in legal liability or impairment to our reputation in the marketplace, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

In the course of providing services to our customers, we may have access to confidential customer information, including nonpublic personal data. We are bound by certain agreements to use and disclose this information in a manner consistent with the privacy standards under regulations applicable to our customers and are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign jurisdiction laws and regulations designed to protect this information, such as the GDPR and various U.S. federal and state laws governing the protection of health or other individually identifiable information. If any person, including a team member of ours, misappropriates customer confidential information, or if customer confidential information is inappropriately disclosed due to a security breach of our computer systems, system failures or otherwise, we may have substantial liabilities to our customers or our customers’ clients and may incur substantial liability and penalties in connection with any violation of applicable privacy laws and/or criminal prosecution. In addition, in the event of any breach or alleged breach of our confidentiality agreements with our customers, these customers may terminate their engagements with us or sue us for breach of contract, resulting in the associated loss of revenue and increased costs and damaged reputation. We may also be subject to civil or criminal liability if we are deemed to have violated applicable regulations. We cannot assure you that we will adequately address the risks created by the regulations to which we may be contractually obligated to abide.

 

Although we work to comply with applicable laws, regulations and standards, our contractual obligations and other legal obligations, these requirements are evolving and may be modified, interpreted and applied in an inconsistent manner from one jurisdiction to another, and may conflict with one another or other legal obligations with which we must comply. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our employees, representatives, contractors, consultants, collaborators, or other third parties to comply with such requirements or adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

We may become subject to numerous foreign, federal, and state healthcare statutes and regulations and our failure to comply could result in a material adverse effect to our business and operations.

 

Although none of our products or procedures using our products are currently covered by any state or federal government healthcare programs, or any private commercial payor, we may become subject to foreign, federal, and state laws intended to prevent healthcare fraud and abuse, including those that apply to all payors. These laws could include state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may extend to services reimbursable by any payor, as well as state consumer protection laws. Although we currently are not subject to transparency laws, we may become subject to such laws in the future. Such laws could include requirements to disclose payments to certain healthcare professionals and healthcare entities or disclosures related to sales and marketing, or that could require healthcare professionals to provide notice to their patients of ownership or financial arrangements with manufacturers.

 

Efforts to ensure that our internal operations and business arrangements with third parties comply with future applicable healthcare laws and regulations may involve substantial costs. These laws and regulations, among other things, could constrain our business, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements, including financing programs, we may have with physicians or other potential purchasers of our products. It is possible that governmental authorities may conclude that our business practices, including our arrangements with physicians, some of whom received stock options as compensation for services provided, as well as fees for marketing to other physicians, are subject to and do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable healthcare laws. If our current or future operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and pursue our strategy.

 

We are subject to anti-bribery, and corruption and anti-money laundering laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations. If we fail to comply with these laws, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, other remedial measures and legal expenses, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

As we continue to grow our international presence and global operations, we will be increasingly exposed to trade and economic sanctions and other restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union, the State of Israel and other governments and organizations. The U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, State and Treasury and other federal agencies and authorities have a broad range of civil and criminal penalties they may seek to impose against corporations and individuals for violations of economic sanctions laws, export control laws, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, and other federal statutes and regulations, including those established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. In addition, the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, or the Bribery Act, prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both private and public sectors. An organization that “fails to prevent bribery” by anyone associated with the organization can be charged under the Bribery Act unless the organization can establish the defense of having implemented “adequate procedures” to prevent bribery. Under these laws and regulations, as well as other anti-corruption laws, anti-money laundering laws, export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations, various government agencies may require export licenses, may seek to impose modifications to business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or with sanctioned persons or entities and modifications to compliance programs, which may increase compliance costs, and may subject us to fines, penalties and other sanctions. A violation of these laws or regulations would negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

We have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance by us and our directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants and agents with the FCPA, OFAC restrictions, the Bribery Act and other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism laws and regulations. We cannot assure you, however, that our policies and procedures are or will be sufficient or that directors, officers, employees, representatives, consultants and agents have not engaged and will not engage in conduct for which we may be held responsible, nor can we assure you that our business partners have not engaged and will not engage in conduct that could materially affect their ability to perform their contractual obligations to us or even result in our being held liable for such conduct. Violations of the FCPA, OFAC restrictions, the Bribery Act or other export control, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws or regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our operating costs and business operations could be adversely affected by climate-related events and increasing regulatory requirements and security.

 

The effects of climate change (such as drought, flooding, heat waves, wildfires, increased storm severity, and sea level rise, etc.) could affect our ability to continue our operations and cause delays in our product development, manufacturing and shipment, all of which could cause reputational harm or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business and operating results. In addition, the impacts of climate change on the global economy and our industry are rapidly evolving. Changing market dynamics, global policy developments and the increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather events on critical infrastructure across different countries could have the potential to disrupt our business, the business of our third-party suppliers and the business of our customers, and may cause us to experience higher attrition, losses and additional costs to maintain or resume operations. We also expect to face increasing regulatory requirements and regulatory scrutiny related to climate matters, resulting in higher associated compliance costs. Failure to uphold, meet or make timely forward progress against our public commitments and goals related to climate action could adversely affect our reputation with suppliers and customers, financial performance or the ability to recruit and retain talent.

 

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

 

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed. Our success and ability to compete depends in large part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology.

 

Our success and ability to compete depends in large part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology. We rely primarily upon a combination of patents and trademarks, as well as nondisclosure, confidentiality and other contractual agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our brands, products and other proprietary technologies.

 

We generally apply for patents only in those countries where we intend to make, have made, use, offer for sale, or sell products. To date, we have issued patents in the United States, which we consider to be our main target market, and one issued patent in South Korea. Most of our revenues for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 were derived from the United States where we have patent protection. We do not seek protection in all countries where we sell products and we may not accurately predict all the countries where patent protection would ultimately be desirable. At this time, the countries in which we have not sought patent protection, but intend to offer our products for sale, are not our main target markets. We acknowledge that competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories in which we do not have patent protection. Such activity may prevent us from protecting our proprietary technology, and thus, may harm our competitive position.

 

Our patent portfolio consists of 10 issued U.S. patents, one issued Korean patent and seven pending patent applications in the United States relating to our technology and products. Out of those applications, one was filed also under The Patent Cooperation Treaty and one in Europe. Our pending and future patent applications may not issue as patents or, even if issued, may not issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. Any issued patents may be challenged, invalidated or legally circumvented by third parties. We cannot be certain that our patents will be upheld as valid, proven enforceable or prevent the development of competitive products. Other companies may also design around technologies we have patented. Third parties may have blocking patents that could prevent us from marketing our products or practicing our own patented technology. In addition, competitors could purchase one of our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, design around our protected technology, or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If our intellectual property is not adequately protected against competitors’ products and methods, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business and financial results.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws of the United States are interpreted. Similarly, foreign courts have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws in their respective jurisdictions are interpreted. We cannot predict future changes in the interpretation of patent laws or changes to patent laws that might be enacted into law by U.S. and foreign legislative bodies.

 

We rely on a combination of patent and other intellectual property laws and confidentiality, non-disclosure and assignment of inventions agreements, as appropriate, with our employees and consultants, to protect and otherwise seek to control access to, and distribution of, our proprietary information. These measures may not be adequate to protect our technology from unauthorized disclosure, third-party infringement or misappropriation. Parties may breach these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. Also, the laws of certain countries in which we develop, manufacture or sell our products may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States or Israel.

 

The aesthetics industry is highly competitive and marked by frequent litigation. New patent applications may be pending or may be filed in the future by third parties covering technology that we currently use or may ultimately use. Third parties have claimed, and may in the future claim, that our current or future products infringe their patent or other intellectual property rights and may seek to prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, sell or import our products. Moreover, if such a claim were to be decided adversely to us or if we settled such a claim on adverse terms, we could be forced to pay substantial damages, to license the technology in question at high rates or to redesign or modify our products so as to avoid any infringement. Any of those results could adversely affect our sales, margins and results of operations.

 

If it appears necessary or desirable, we may try to obtain licenses for those patents or intellectual property rights that we are allegedly infringing, may infringe, or desire to use. Although holders of these types of intellectual property rights commonly offer these licenses, we cannot assure you that licenses will be offered or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable to us. Our failure to obtain a license for key intellectual property rights from a third party for technology used by us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to suspend the manufacturing and selling of products utilizing the technology.

 

Alternatively, we could be required to expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology. We cannot assure you that we would be successful in developing non-infringing technology.

 

Third parties have and may in the future commence litigation against us claiming that our products infringe upon their patents or other intellectual property rights.

 

From time to time, we may be party to, or threatened with, litigation or other proceedings with third parties, including non-practicing entities, who allege that our products, components of our products, services, and/or proprietary technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. The types of situations in which we may become a party to such litigation or proceedings include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These lawsuits and proceedings, regardless of merit, are time-consuming and expensive to initiate, maintain, defend or settle, and could divert the time and attention of managerial and technical personnel, which could materially adversely affect our business. Any such claim could also force us to do one or more of the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although we may try to resolve any potential future claims or actions, we may not be able to do so on reasonable terms, if at all. Infringement and other intellectual property claims, with or without merit, can be expensive and time-consuming to litigate, and could divert management’s attention from our core business. If we lose this kind of litigation, a court could require us to pay substantial damages and could prohibit us from using technologies essential to our products, either of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We may become involved in litigation to protect the trademark rights associated with the Company name or the names of our products. If we have to change the name of the Company or products, we may experience a loss in goodwill associated with our brand name, customer confusion and a reduction in sales.

 

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, intellectual property litigation, regardless of its outcome, may cause negative publicity, adversely impact prospective customers, cause product shipment delays, or prohibit us from manufacturing, marketing or otherwise commercializing our products, services and technology. Any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation, financial condition or cash flows.

 

In addition, we may indemnify our customers and distributors against claims relating to the infringement of intellectual property rights of third parties related to our products. Third parties may assert infringement claims against our customers or distributors. These claims may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of our customers or distributors, regardless of the merits of these claims. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of our customers, suppliers or distributors, or may be required to obtain licenses for the products or services they use. If we cannot obtain all necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our customers may be forced to stop using our products or services.

 

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, which could have a material adverse effect on the price of our ordinary shares. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our ordinary shares.

 

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

 

Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition with potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected.

 

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of their former employers or other third parties.

 

We do and may employ individuals who were previously employed at universities or other pharmaceutical or medical device companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, and we are not currently subject to any significant claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties, we may in the future be subject to such claims. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

 

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

 

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because even granted intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, provide a barrier to entry against our competitors or potential competitors or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. Moreover, if a third party has intellectual property rights that cover the practice of our technology, we may not be able to fully exercise or extract value from our intellectual property rights. The following examples are illustrative:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our business and results of operations.

 

Risks Related to Government Regulation

 

Our business is subject to extensive and continuing regulatory compliance obligations. If we fail to obtain and maintain necessary FDA clearances for our products, if clearances for future products and proposed indications are delayed or not issued, if we or any of our third-party suppliers or manufacturers fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, or if there are regulatory changes, our commercial operations could be harmed.

 

Our products are medical devices subject to extensive regulation by the applicable regulatory authorities where our products are or will be sold prior to their marketing for commercial use. In the United States, our products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA for developing, testing, manufacturing, labeling, sale, marketing, advertising, promotion, distribution, import, export, shipping, establishment registration and device listing, inspections and audits, record keeping, recalls and field safety corrective actions and post-market surveillance, including reporting of certain events.

 

Before a new medical device, or a new use of, or claim for, an existing product can be marketed in the United States, it must first receive marketing authorization from the FDA unless it is exempt. The FDA marketing authorizations include a 510(k) clearance or premarket approval. A relatively small number of devices may be exempt from 510(k) clearance or may receive marketing authorization through the de novo classification pathway. These processes can be expensive and lengthy. The FDA’s 510(k) clearance process usually takes from 3 to 12 months, but it can last longer. The process of obtaining premarket approval is much more costly and uncertain than the 510(k) clearance process and it generally takes from one to three years, or even longer, from the time the application is filed with the FDA. Our future products and enhancements or changes to products may require new 510(k) clearance or premarket approval from the FDA. All products that we currently market in the United States that require an FDA marketing authorization have received 510(k) clearance for the uses for which they are marketed.

 

Medical devices may be marketed only for the indications for which they are approved or cleared. We have obtained 510(k) clearance for the current treatments for which we offer our products. However, our clearances can be revoked under certain circumstances. If the FDA disagrees with us concerning the scope or applicability of a clearance or exemption with respect to a device, we may be required to change our promotional and/or labeling materials and/or stop marketing that device. Changes or modifications to an FDA-cleared device that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness or that constitute a major change or modification in its intended use would require a new 510(k) clearance or possibly premarket approval. We may not be able to obtain additional 510(k) clearances or premarket approvals for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, our existing products in a timely fashion, or at all. Delays in obtaining future clearances or approvals would adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn would harm our revenue and future profitability.

 

We have made modifications to our devices in the past and may make additional modifications in the future that we believe do not or will not require additional clearances or approvals. If the FDA disagrees, and requires new clearances or approvals for the modifications, we may be required to recall and to stop marketing the modified devices. We also are subject to the FDA’s Medical Device Reporting regulations, which require us to report to the FDA if our products cause or contribute to a death or serious injury, or malfunction in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury.

 

The FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory bodies can delay, limit or deny clearance or approval of a device for many reasons, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory bodies may change their clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions, which may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our future products under development or impact our ability to modify our currently cleared products on a timely basis. Such policy or regulatory changes could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain new clearances, increase the costs of compliance or restrict our ability to maintain our current clearances. For example, in November 2018, FDA officials announced forthcoming steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the premarket notification pathway under Section 510(k) of the FDCA. Among other things, the FDA announced that it plans to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) pathway toward the use of newer predicates. These proposals include possible plans to sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway, and to publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. The FDA also announced that it intends to finalize guidance to establish a premarket review pathway for “manufacturers of certain well-understood device types” as an alternative to the 510(k) clearance pathway and that such premarket review pathway would allow manufacturers to rely on objective safety and performance criteria recognized by the FDA to demonstrate substantial equivalence, obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process. These proposals have not yet been finalized or adopted, and the FDA announced that it would seek public feedback prior to publication of any such proposals, and may work with Congress to implement such proposals through legislation. Accordingly, it is unclear the extent to which any proposals, if adopted, could impose additional regulatory requirements on us that could delay our ability to obtain new 510(k) clearances, increase the costs of compliance, or restrict our ability to maintain our current clearances, or otherwise create competition that may negatively affect our business.

 

Additionally regulatory clearances or approvals to market a product can contain limitations on the indicated uses for such product. Product clearances and approvals can be withdrawn due to failure to comply with regulatory standards or the occurrence of unforeseen problems following initial clearance or approval. FDA regulations depend heavily on administrative interpretation, and there can be no assurance that future interpretations made by the FDA or other regulatory bodies will not adversely affect our operations. We and our manufacturers may be inspected by the FDA from time to time to determine whether we or our manufacturers are in compliance with applicable laws, including the cGMP regulations set forth in the FDA’s Quality System Regulation/Medical Device Current Good Manufacturing Practices, or QSR, including those relating to specifications, development, documentation, validation, testing, quality control and product labeling. A determination that we are in violation of FDA or other applicable foreign regulations or any of our product clearances or approvals could lead to imposition of civil penalties, including fines, product recalls or product seizures and, in certain cases, criminal sanctions.

 

The use, misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our reputation in the marketplace, result in injuries that lead to product liability suits or result in costly investigations, fines or sanctions by regulatory bodies if we are deemed to have engaged in the promotion of these uses, any of which could be costly to our business.

 

The use, misuse or off-label use of our products may harm our reputation or the image of our products in the marketplace, result in injuries that lead to product liability suits, which could be costly to our business, or result in legal sanctions if we are deemed or alleged to have engaged in off-label promotion.

 

A medical device may be authorized by the FDA for marketing through several regulatory mechanisms. The FDA classifies medical devices as Class I, Class II, or Class III, in increasing order of risk. Most of our products are Class I or Class II medical devices. As such, they are either exempt from premarketing authorization requirements or are subject to the 510(k) clearance process, and all are listed with the FDA pursuant to FDA’s medical device listing requirements.

 

Under FDA regulations, for each of our products we must only use labeling, including advertising and promotional materials, that is consistent with the specific indication(s) for use included in the FDA exemption regulation, clearance, or approval, that is applicable to the specific product. If the FDA or other authorities determine that our promotional or training materials constitute the unlawful promotion of an off-label use, they could request that we modify our training or promotional materials and/or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, civil money penalties, seizure, injunction or criminal fines and penalties. For example, on July 30, 2018, we received a letter, dated July 24, 2018, from the FDA seeking information as to the regulatory bases for marketing of our FormaV and FractoraV handpieces based on our promotion and labeling of these devices for use in certain women’s health conditions and procedures. We informed the FDA that the FormaV had received 510(k) clearance for the temporary relief of minor muscle aches and pain, temporary relief of muscle spasm, and temporary improvement of local blood circulation and that we had determined that the device also fell within a Class II premarketing exemption enabling marketing of the device for therapeutic use in the treatment of sexual dysfunction or as an adjunct to Kegel’s exercise (tightening of the muscles of the pelvic floor to increase muscle tone) without the need to obtain a 510(k) clearance. We also informed the FDA that the FractoraV has received 510(k) clearance for use in dermatologic and general surgical procedures for electrocoagulation and hemostasis. In addition, we advised the FDA that we have modified our promotional and labeling materials to remove statements using the terms “sexual dysfunction,” “vaginal rejuvenation” or “urinary stress incontinence,” which were the subject of the agency’s letter to us. The FDA responded in September 2018 by stating that the agency had reviewed our response letter and verified the changes in terminology made to our website. Moreover, the FDA further responded in November 2018 and confirmed we addressed all items raised by the agency in its letter, and that the FDA continued to expect us to conduct a review of our marketing and promotional materials to make appropriate changes and remove materials containing uncleared claims regarding this matter. We have received no further communications from the agency regarding this matter. We cannot be certain whether any further information may be requested by the FDA in the future and/or any further action may be required on our part, and we cannot guarantee that the FDA will continue to deem our response and actions to have addressed all items raised by the agency in this matter. If the FDA issues a further communication finding that some or all of our modifications to our marketing and labeling materials are insufficient, or otherwise takes the position that our products are being marketed for off-label uses, we could be subject to further discussions with and/or action by the agency, including the possibility of a warning letter or other enforcement activity. Other federal, state or foreign governmental authorities might also take action if they consider our promotion or training materials to constitute promotion of an uncleared or unapproved use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement, or exclusion from participation in federal health programs. In each event, our reputation could be damaged and the use of our products in the marketplace could be impaired, or our business could face significant hardship. While no third-party claims have been brought against us to date, it is possible that the FDA letter may lead to private litigation by third parties, potentially including purchasers of FormaV and FractoraV handpieces or patients who were treated using those handpieces.

 

In addition, there may be increased risk of injury if physicians or others attempt to use our products off-label. The FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s use of a medical product within the practice of medicine, and we cannot prevent a physician from using our products for an off-label use. The use of our products for indications other than those for which our products have been approved or cleared by the FDA may not effectively treat the conditions not referenced in product indications, which could harm our reputation in the marketplace among physicians and patients. Physicians may also misuse our products or use improper techniques if they are not adequately trained in the particular use, potentially leading to injury and an increased risk of product liability. Product liability claims are expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention from our primary business and result in substantial damage awards against us. Any of these events could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We are subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and a failure to comply with post-marketing regulatory requirements could subject us to enforcement actions, including substantial penalties, and might require us to recall or withdraw a product from the market.

 

Even after we have obtained the proper regulatory clearance or approval to market a product, we have ongoing responsibilities under FDA regulations and applicable foreign laws and regulations. The FDA, state and foreign regulatory authorities have broad enforcement powers. The regulations to which we are subject are complex and have become more stringent over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to continue or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs, or lower than anticipated sales.

 

Our products and/or their use are also subject to state regulations and additional regulations in other foreign jurisdictions outside of the United States, which may change at any time. We cannot predict the impact or effect of future legislation or regulations and any changes in regulations may impede sales.

 

Furthermore, the FDA and state authorities have broad enforcement powers. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The occurrence of any of these events could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

If we or our subcontractors fail to comply with federal and state regulation, including the FDA’s Quality System Regulation/Medical Device Good Manufacturing Practices and performance standards, our or our subcontractors’ manufacturing operations could be halted, and our business would suffer.

 

We and our subcontractors currently are required to demonstrate and maintain compliance with the QSR. The QSR is a complex regulatory scheme that covers the methods and documentation of the design, testing, control, manufacturing, labeling, quality assurance, packaging, storage and shipping of our products. Because our products use optical energy, including lasers, our products also are covered by a performance standard for lasers set forth in FDA regulations. The laser performance standard imposes specific record-keeping, reporting, product testing and product labeling requirements. These requirements include affixing warning labels to laser products, as well as incorporating certain safety features in the design of laser products. The FDA enforces the QSR and laser performance standards through periodic announced or unannounced inspections. We and our subcontractors are subject to such inspections. Although we place our own quality control employee at each of our subcontractor’s facilities, we do not have complete control over our subcontractor’s compliance with these standards.

 

Any failure by us or our subcontractors to take satisfactory corrective action in response to an adverse QSR inspection or to comply with applicable laser performance standards could result in enforcement actions against us or our subcontractors, including warning letters or untitled letters; fines, injunctions or civil penalties; suspension or withdrawal of approvals or clearances; seizures or recalls of our products; total or partial suspension of production or distribution; administrative or judicially imposed sanctions; the FDA’s refusal to grant pending or future clearances or approvals for our products; clinical holds; refusal to permit the import or export of our products; and criminal prosecution of us or our employees. Any of these actions could significantly and negatively impact the supply of our products, and could cause our sales and business to suffer. In addition, we are subject to standards imposed on our activities outside of the United States, such as obtaining CE mark certification in Europe (by our notified body DEKRA) and the Standards Institution of Israel (imposed on our activities in Israel), and failure to comply with such standards could adversely impact our business.

 

Our products may cause or contribute to adverse medical events or other undesirable side effects that we are required to report to the FDA, and if we fail to do so, we would be subject to sanctions that could harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. The discovery of serious safety issues with our products, or a recall of our products either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA or another governmental authority, could have a negative impact on us.

 

We are subject to the FDA’s medical device reporting regulations and similar foreign regulations, which require us to report to the FDA when we receive or become aware of information that reasonably suggests that one or more of our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that, if the malfunction were to recur, it could cause or contribute to a death or serious injury. The timing of our obligation to report is triggered by the date we become aware of the adverse event as well as the nature of the event. We may fail to report adverse events of which we become aware within the prescribed timeframe. We may also fail to recognize that we have become aware of a reportable adverse event, especially if it is not reported to us as an adverse event or if it is an adverse event that is unexpected or removed in time from the use of the product. If we fail to comply with our reporting obligations, the FDA could take action, including warning letters, untitled letters, administrative actions, criminal prosecution, imposition of civil monetary penalties, revocation of our device clearance, seizure of our products or delay in clearance of future products.

 

The FDA and foreign regulatory bodies have the authority to require the recall of commercialized products in the event of material deficiencies or defects in design or manufacture of a product or in the event that a product poses an unacceptable risk to health. We may also choose to voluntarily recall a product if any material deficiency is found. A government-mandated or voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of an unacceptable risk to health, component failures, malfunctions, manufacturing defects, labeling or design deficiencies, packaging defects or other deficiencies or failures to comply with applicable regulations. Product defects or other errors may occur in the future. Depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s deficiencies or defects, the FDA may require, or we may decide, that we will need to obtain new approvals or clearances for the product before we may market or distribute the corrected product. Seeking such approvals or clearances may delay our ability to replace the recalled products in a timely manner. Moreover, if we do not adequately address problems associated with our products, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action, including FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions, administrative penalties or civil or criminal fines.

 

Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls and corrections, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary withdrawals or corrections for our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, it could require us to report those actions as recalls and we may be subject to enforcement action. A future recall announcement could harm our reputation with customers, potentially lead to product liability claims against us and negatively affect our sales.

 

We may be unable to obtain or maintain international regulatory qualifications or approvals for our current or future products and indications, which could harm our business. Additionally, obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction does not mean we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approvals for our products in other jurisdictions.

 

Sales of our products outside the United States are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country, including some regulatory requirements that we may not be fully aware of, or that may change in ways that affect our ability to sell our products in those jurisdictions. Complying with international regulatory requirements can be an expensive and time-consuming process and approval is not certain. The regulatory process in foreign jurisdictions includes all the risks associated with obtaining FDA clearance, as well as additional risks not present in the FDA process. For example, the time required to obtain foreign clearance or approvals may be longer than that required for FDA clearance or approvals, and requirements for such clearances or approvals may significantly differ from FDA requirements, adding costs and variability. Foreign regulatory authorities may not approve our product for the same uses cleared by the FDA. Although we have obtained regulatory clearances to sell our products in the European Union and other countries outside the United States, we may be unable to maintain regulatory qualifications, clearances or approvals in these countries or to obtain approvals in other countries. We also may incur significant costs in attempting to obtain and in maintaining foreign regulatory approvals, clearances or qualifications.

 

If we experience delays in receiving necessary qualifications, clearances or approvals to market our products outside the United States, or if we fail to receive those qualifications, clearances or approvals, we may be unable to market some of our products or enhancements in certain international markets effectively, or at all. Since the enactment of the Israeli Medical Equipment Law, 2012, or the Medical Equipment Law, the manufacturing and marketing of medical and certain aesthetic devices, including our products, in Israel requires registration with the Israeli Ministry of Health. The Medical Equipment Law offers a fast-track registration process for devices that received approval from certain non-Israeli regulatory agencies, including FDA clearance or CE marks. We have taken advantage of such fast-track registration process in the past. If we are unable to obtain and maintain the necessary registration for any of our products in Israel, we may have to move the manufacturing of such unregistered products to a location outside of Israel and stop selling these products in Israel until the products are registered. We may also suffer harm to our reputation as a result.

 

Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner, which could negatively impact our business.

 

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

 

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new devices to be reviewed and/or cleared by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities.

 

New regulations may limit our ability to sell to non-physicians in the future.

 

Currently, we sell our products solely to physicians. However, where permitted under applicable laws, we intend to introduce certain of our products in the developing medical spa market, where aesthetic procedures are being performed at dedicated facilities by non-physicians under physician supervision. U.S., state and international regulations could change at any time, disallowing sales of our products to aestheticians, and/or limiting the ability of aestheticians and non-physicians to operate our products. We cannot predict the impact or effect of changes in U.S., state or international laws or regulations.

 

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

 

The price of our ordinary shares may be volatile, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

 

The price of our ordinary shares has fluctuated and is likely to continue to fluctuate. The market price for our ordinary shares could be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially as a result of a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, the stock prices of many newly public companies and companies in the medical device industry have experienced wide fluctuations that often have been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These fluctuations may be attributed, among other reasons, to the general global economic environment and the instability in markets. Prior to our initial public offering in August 2019, there was no public market for our ordinary shares and an active public trading market for our ordinary shares may not be sustained. An inactive market may impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other businesses, applications or technologies using our shares as consideration. These factors and price fluctuations may materially and adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares.

 

Future sales of our ordinary shares could reduce the price of our ordinary shares.

 

Sales by shareholders of substantial amounts of our ordinary shares, or the perception that these sales may occur in the future, could materially and adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities and our ability to acquire other companies by using our ordinary shares as consideration.

 

As of December 31, 2023, there are 83,982,462 ordinary shares outstanding (not including a total of 1,975,003 ordinary shares held at that date as treasury shares). Sales of these shares, or the perception that these sales may occur in the future, into the market could cause the market price of our ordinary shares to drop significantly. In addition, we have registered all ordinary shares that we may issue under our equity compensation plans, and, as such, these shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance.

 

We have not paid dividends in the past and may not pay dividends in the future, and any return on investment may be limited to the value of our ordinary shares.

 

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our ordinary shares and may not distribute cash or other dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. The distribution of dividends on our ordinary shares will depend on our earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors affecting us at such time as our board of directors may consider relevant. We may only distribute dividends out of  “profits,” as defined by the Companies Law and provided that the distribution is not reasonably expected to impair our ability to fulfill our outstanding and anticipated obligations as they become due. If we do not distribute dividends, our ordinary shares may be less valuable because a return on your investment will only occur if the price of our ordinary shares appreciates.

 

We incur significant costs operating as a public company in the United States, and our management is required to devote substantial time to compliance matters.

 

As a public company whose ordinary shares are listed in the United States, we are subject to an extensive regulatory regime, requiring us, among other things, to maintain various internal controls and facilities and to prepare and file periodic and current reports and statements. Complying with these requirements is costly and time consuming. In the event that we are unable to demonstrate ongoing compliance with our obligations as a public company, or are unable to produce timely or accurate financial statements, we may be subject to sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities and investors may lose confidence in our operating results, and the price of our ordinary shares could decline. In addition, we lost our emerging growth company status and are a “large accelerated filer” beginning from December 31, 2020. We have incurred significant management time and cost complying with the more stringent reporting requirements applicable to “accelerated filers,” including complying with auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention.

 

In the past, following periods of market volatility in the price of a company’s securities or the reporting of unfavorable news, security holders have often instituted class action litigation. If the market value of our securities experience adverse fluctuations and we become involved in this type of litigation, regardless of the outcome, we could incur substantial legal costs and our management’s attention could be diverted from the operation of our business, causing our business to suffer. Any adverse determination in litigation could also subject us to significant liabilities.

 

U.S. investors in the Company could suffer adverse tax consequences if we are characterized as a passive foreign investment company.

 

We believe that we were not a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for our taxable year ended December 31, 2023, and we do not expect to be classified as a PFIC for the current year ending December 31, 2024 or the foreseeable future. However, the determination of whether we are a PFIC is a factual determination made annually based on all the facts and circumstances and thus is subject to change. The relevant rules for determining whether or not we are a PFIC as applied to our business are not entirely clear and certain aspects of the relevant tests will be outside our control. Therefore, no assurance can be given that we will not be a PFIC for any taxable year.

 

If we are determined to be a PFIC at any time during which a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Item 10E. Additional Information-Taxation-Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations to U.S. Holders”) holds our shares, such U.S. Holder may be subject to materially adverse tax consequences, including additional U.S. federal income tax liability and tax filing obligations. See “Item 10E. Additional Information-Taxation-Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations to U.S. Holders-Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations.” U.S. Holders are strongly urged to consult their tax advisors as to whether or not we will be a PFIC.

 

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, shareholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our ordinary shares.

 

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports. As a “large accelerated filer” we are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls and procedures that will allow our management to report on, and our independent registered public accounting firm to attest to, our internal controls over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404. Although our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and our management is required to report on our internal controls over financial reporting under Section 404, any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us, as and when required, conducted in connection with Section 404 or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, as and when required, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our ordinary shares.

 

We are a “foreign private issuer” and have disclosure obligations that are different from those of U.S. domestic reporting companies.

 

We are a foreign private issuer and are not subject to the same requirements that are imposed upon U.S. domestic issuers by the SEC. Under the Exchange Act, we are subject to reporting obligations that, in certain respects, are less detailed and less frequent than those of U.S. domestic reporting companies. For example, we are not required to issue quarterly reports or proxy statements that comply with the requirements applicable to U.S. domestic reporting companies. Furthermore, although under regulations promulgated under the Companies Law, as an Israeli public company listed on the Nasdaq, we are required to disclose the compensation of our five most highly compensated officers on an individual basis, this disclosure will not be as extensive as that required of U.S. domestic reporting companies. We also have four months after the end of each fiscal year to file our annual report with the SEC and are not required to file current reports as frequently or promptly as U.S. domestic reporting companies. Furthermore, our officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the requirements to report transactions and short-swing profit recovery required by Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Also, as a “foreign private issuer,” we are not subject to the requirements of Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) promulgated under the Exchange Act. Even though we have voluntarily elected to comply with Regulation FD, these exemptions and leniencies reduce the frequency and scope of information and protections available to you in comparison to those applicable to a U.S. domestic reporting companies.

 

We would lose our foreign private issuer status if as of June 30 in any calendar year a majority of our outstanding shares are held of record by U.S. residents and a majority of our directors or executive officers are U.S. citizens or residents or we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to avoid loss of foreign private issuer status. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws as a U.S. domestic issuer may be significantly higher. If we lose our foreign private issuer status, we will be required to file periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms with the SEC, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. We may also be required to modify certain of our policies to comply with accepted governance practices associated with U.S. domestic issuers. Such conversion and modifications will involve additional costs. In addition, we would lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements on U.S. stock exchanges that are available to foreign private issuers.

 

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of otherwise applicable SEC and Nasdaq requirements, which may result in less protection than is accorded to investors under rules applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.

 

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of those otherwise required under the listing rules of Nasdaq for domestic U.S. issuers. For instance, we follow our home country law instead of the listing rules of Nasdaq that require that we obtain shareholder approval for certain dilutive events, such as the establishment or amendment of certain equity-based compensation plans, an issuance that will result in a change of control of us, certain transactions other than a public offering involving issuances of a 20% or greater interest in the Company, and certain acquisitions of the stock or assets of another company. Under the Companies Law as currently applicable to us, there is no requirement to receive shareholder approval for the issuance of securities for such dilutive events, and under our amended and restated articles of association our board of directors is authorized to issue securities, including ordinary shares, warrants and convertible notes. Additionally, under the Companies Law, unless the articles of association otherwise provide, the quorum required for an ordinary meeting of shareholders must consist of at least two shareholders who hold at least 25% of the voting rights (instead of the 33 and 1/3% required under Nasdaq rules), and we are not required to have a nominating committee consisting solely of independent directors for the nomination of directors. See “Item 16G. Corporate Governance” for details on the differences between Israeli corporate governance practices and comparable U.S. requirements and other home country practices we follow instead of the listing rules of Nasdaq. We may in the future elect to follow home country corporate governance practices in Israel with regard to other matters. Following our home country corporate governance practices as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to a U.S. company listed on Nasdaq may provide less protection to you than what is accorded to investors under the listing rules of Nasdaq applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.

 

Risks Related to Our Operations in Israel

 

The impact of political, economic and military conditions in Israel, including the latest Israel-Hamas war, and the surrounding region could directly affect our business.

 

Our principal executive offices and research and development facilities as well as our third-party manufacturers are located in Israel. In addition, all of our subcontractors are located in Israel. Accordingly, political, economic and military conditions in Israel and the surrounding region could directly affect our business. In recent years, there has been political instability in Israel, including five national elections since 2019. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have occurred between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Hamas (an Islamist militia and political group in the Gaza Strip) and Hezbollah (an Islamist militia and political group in Lebanon).

 

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel’s southern border from the Gaza Strip and conducted a series of attacks on civilian and military targets. Hamas also launched extensive rocket attacks on Israeli population and industrial centers located along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip and in other areas within the State of Israel. These attacks resulted in extensive deaths, injuries and kidnapping of civilians and soldiers. Following the attack, Israel’s security cabinet declared war against Hamas and a military campaign against these terrorist organizations. In connection with the Israeli security cabinet’s declaration of war against Hamas and possible hostilities with other organizations, several hundred thousand Israeli military reservists were drafted to perform immediate military service. Certain of our employees in Israel, in addition to employees of our subcontractors located in Israel, have been called, and additional employees may be called, for service in the current or future wars or other armed conflicts with Hamas and others, and such persons may be absent for an extended period of time. As a result, our operations may be disrupted by such absences, which disruption may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Additionally, the absence of employees of our Israeli subcontractors due to their military service in the current or future wars or other armed conflicts may disrupt their operations, which in turn may materially and adversely affect our ability to deliver or provide products and services to customers.

 

Following the attack by Hamas on Israel’s southern border, Hezbollah in Lebanon also launched missile, rocket and shooting attacks against Israeli military sites, troops and Israeli towns in northern Israel. In response to these attacked, the Israeli army has carried out a number of targeted strikes on sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. It is possible that other terrorist organizations, including Palestinian military organizations in the West Bank, as well as other hostile countries, such as Iran, will join the hostilities. Such hostilities may include terror and missile attacks. In the event that our facilities are damaged as a result of hostile actions, or hostilities otherwise disrupt our ongoing operations, our ability to deliver or provide products and services in a timely manner to meet our contractual obligations towards customers and vendors could be materially and adversely affected.

 

The intensity and duration of Israel’s current war against Hamas is difficult to predict, as are such war’s economic implications on our business and operations and on Israel’s economy in general. These events may be intertwined with wider macroeconomic indications of a deterioration of Israel’s economic and political standing, which may have a material adverse effect on us and our ability to effectively conduct our business and operations.

 

Moreover, political uprisings and conflicts in various countries in the Middle East are affecting the political stability of those countries. This instability has raised concerns regarding security in the region and the potential for armed conflict. In Syria, a country bordering Israel, a civil war is taking place. In addition, there are concerns that Iran, which has previously threatened to attack Israel, may step up its efforts to achieve nuclear capability. Iran is also believed to have a strong influence among extremist groups in the region, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has responded with attacks on Iranian military operations in Syria. The tension between Israel and Iran and/or these groups may escalate in the future and turn violent, which could affect the Israeli economy in general and us in particular. Any potential future conflict could also include missile strikes against parts of Israel, including our offices and facilities and the facilities of our Israeli suppliers and subcontractors. Such instability may lead to deterioration in the political and trade relationships that exist between the State of Israel and certain other countries. Any armed conflicts, terrorist activities or political instability in the region could adversely affect business conditions, could harm our results of operations and could make it more difficult for us to raise capital. Parties with whom we do business may be disinclined to travel to Israel during periods of heightened unrest or tension, forcing us to make alternative arrangements when necessary in order to meet our business partners face to face. In addition, the political and security situation in Israel may result in parties with whom we have agreements involving performance in Israel claiming that they are not obligated to perform their commitments under those agreements pursuant to force majeure provisions in such agreements.

 

In addition, the recent escalation of Israel-Hamas conflict could cause disruptions to our operations, and a delay in the development, production and shipment of our products and the heightened tension in our relations with various Middle Eastern countries could adversely affect our customer relationships as well as our sales and performance of existing or future contracts, which in turn could adversely affect our operating results, financial conditions and the expansion of our business.  Furthermore, the latest Israel-Hamas war and the resulting measures that have been taken, and could be taken in the future, by NATO, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Israel and its neighboring states and other countries have created global security concerns that could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies.  Although the length and impact of this ongoing conflict are highly unpredictable, they could lead to market disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices and supply chain disruptions.  For more information about the impact of the Israel-Hama war on our operations and financial results, please see “Item 3. Key Information – D. Risk Factors-Risks to Our Business and Industry”.

 

In addition, prior to the Hamas attack in October 2023, the Israeli government pursued extensive changes to Israel’s judicial system, which sparked extensive political debate and unrest. In response to such initiatives, many individuals, organizations and institutions, both within and outside of Israel, have voiced concerns that the proposed changes may negatively impact the business environment in Israel including due to reluctance of foreign investors to invest or transact business in Israel, as well as to increased currency fluctuations, downgrades in credit rating, increased interest rates, increased volatility in security markets, and other changes in macroeconomic conditions. The risk of such negative developments has increased in light of the recent Hamas attacks and the war against Hamas declared by Israel, regardless of the proposed changes to the judicial system and the related debate. To the extent that any of these negative developments do occur, they may have an adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our ability to raise additional funds, if deemed necessary by our management and board of directors.

 

Our commercial insurance may leave us subject to a risk of a loss if a terrorist attack or act of war occurs.

 

Our insurance does not cover losses that may occur as a result of an event associated with the security situation in the Middle East or events associated with war and terrorism, such as the latest Israel-Hamas war, or for any resulting disruption in our operations. Although the Israeli government has in the past covered the reinstatement value of direct damages that were caused by terrorist attacks or acts of war, we cannot be assured that this government coverage will be maintained or, if maintained, will be sufficient to compensate us fully for damages incurred and the government may cease providing such coverage or the coverage might not suffice to cover potential damages. Any losses or damages incurred by us could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any armed conflicts or political instability in the region would likely negatively affect business conditions generally and could harm our results of operations.

 

Boycotts and various Middle Eastern business restrictions in the region may adversely impact our ability to operate and sell our products.

 

Several countries, principally in the Middle East, restrict doing business with Israel and Israeli companies, and additional countries may impose restrictions on doing business with Israel and Israeli companies whether as a result of the ongoing and revived hostilities in the region, the latest Israel-Hamas war or otherwise. In addition, there have been increased efforts by activists to cause companies and consumers to boycott Israeli goods based on Israeli government policies. Although Israel had signed bilateral peace agreements with several Middle Eastern (including Arab) countries for forging new economic ties with them, the performance of such bilateral peace agreements could be adversely affected by the going and revived hostilities in Israel region, which has caused a substantial strain on Israel’s regional relations with a number of Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt and Jordan whose relations with Israel had long been cold but worsened since the outbreak of the war.  The restrictive laws and policies and the actions by boycott activists, if become more widespread and successful, and the fast-moving changes to Israel’s geopolitical relations as a result of the war, may seriously limit our ability to sell our products in these countries and may have an adverse impact on our operating results, financial conditions or the expansion of our business.

 

We may become subject to claims for remuneration or royalties for assigned service invention rights by our employees, which could result in litigation and adversely affect our business.

 

We have entered into assignment of invention agreements with our employees pursuant to which such individuals agree to assign to us all rights to any inventions created during their employment or engagement with us. A significant portion of our intellectual property has been developed by our employees in the course of their employment with us. Under the Israeli Patent Law, 5727-1967, or the Patent Law, inventions conceived by an employee during the scope of his or her employment with a company and as a result thereof are regarded as “service inventions,” which belong to the employer, absent a specific agreement between the employee and employer giving the employee service invention rights. The Patent Law also provides that if there is no agreement between an employer and an employee with respect to the employee’s right to receive compensation for such “service inventions,” and to what extent and under which conditions, the Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee, or the Committee, a body constituted under the Patent Law, shall determine whether the employee is entitled to remuneration for his or her service inventions and the scope and conditions for such remuneration. The Patent Law further provides criteria for assisting the Committee in making its decisions. Case law clarifies that the right to receive consideration for “service inventions” can be waived by the employee and that in certain circumstances, such waiver does not necessarily have to be explicit. The Committee will examine, on a case-by-case basis, the general contractual framework between the parties, applying interpretation rules of the general Israeli contract laws. Further, the Committee has not yet determined one specific formula for calculating this remuneration, nor the criteria or circumstances under which an employee’s waiver of his right to remuneration will be disregarded. Similarly, it remains unclear whether waivers by employees in their employment agreements of the alleged right to receive consideration for service inventions should be declared as void being a depriving provision in a standard contract. Although our employees have agreed to assign to us service invention rights and have specifically waived their right to receive any special remuneration for such service inventions beyond their regular salary and benefits, as a result of uncertainty under Israeli law with respect to the efficacy of waivers of service invention rights, we may face claims demanding remuneration in consideration for assigned inventions. As a consequence of such claims, we could be required to pay additional remuneration or royalties to our current and/or former employees, or be forced to litigate such claims, which could negatively affect our business.

 

Our operations may be affected by negative economic conditions or labor unrest in Israel.

 

General strikes or work stoppages, including at Israeli ports, have occurred periodically or have been threatened in the past by Israeli trade unions due to labor disputes. These general strikes or work stoppages may have an adverse effect on the Israeli economy and on our business, including our ability to deliver products to our customers and to receive raw materials from our suppliers in a timely manner and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

You may have difficulties enforcing a U.S. judgment against us, our executive officers and directors and Israeli experts named in this Annual Report on Form 20-F in Israel or the United States, asserting U.S. securities laws claims in Israel or serving process on our officers and directors and these experts in Israel.

 

We are incorporated in Israel and our corporate headquarters are located in Israel. Many of our executive officers and directors reside outside of the United States, and a significant portion of our assets and the assets of certain of our directors and executive officers are located outside the United States. Therefore, a judgment obtained against us or any of them in the United States, including one based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, may not be collectible in the United States and may not be enforced by an Israeli court. Further, if a foreign judgment is enforced by an Israeli court, it will be payable in Israeli currency. It also may be difficult for you to effect service of process on these persons in the United States or to assert U.S. securities law claims in original actions instituted in Israel. Additionally, it may be difficult for an investor, or any other person or entity, to initiate an action with respect to U.S. securities laws in Israel. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on an alleged violation of U.S. securities laws reasoning that Israel is not the most appropriate forum in which to bring such a claim. In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proven as a fact by expert witnesses, which can be a time consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel that addresses the matters described above. As a result of the difficulty associated with enforcing a judgment in Israel, you may not be able to collect any damages awarded by either a U.S. or foreign court.

 

Moreover, among other reasons, including but not limited to, fraud or absence of due process, or the existence of a judgment which is at variance with another judgment that was given in the same matter if a suit in the same matter between the same parties was pending before a court or tribunal in Israel, an Israeli court will not enforce a foreign judgment if it was given in a state whose laws do not provide for the enforcement of judgments of Israeli courts (subject to exceptional cases), or if its enforcement is likely to prejudice the sovereignty or security of the State of Israel.

 

Provisions of our amended and restated articles of association and Israeli law may delay, prevent or make difficult a merger with, or an acquisition of, the Company, which could prevent a change of control even when the terms of such transaction are favorable to us and our shareholders and, therefore, could depress the price of our ordinary shares.

 

As a company incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel, we are subject to Israeli corporate law. Israeli corporate law regulates mergers, requires tender offers for acquisitions of ordinary shares above specified thresholds, requires special approvals for transactions involving directors, officers or certain significant shareholders and regulates other matters that may be relevant to these types of transactions. In addition, our amended and restated articles of association contain provisions that may make it more difficult to acquire us, such as classified board provisions. Furthermore, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions unappealing to us or to some of our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel granting tax relief to such shareholders from Israeli tax obligations. With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of numerous conditions, including, in some cases, a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which certain sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are subject to certain restrictions. See “Item 10E. Additional Information-Taxation-Israeli Material Tax Considerations” for additional information.

 

In addition, as a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel, we are subject to the Israeli Economic Competition Law, 1988, and the regulations promulgated thereunder (formerly known as the Israeli Antitrust Law, 1988), under which we may be required in certain circumstances to obtain the approval of the Israel Competition Authority (formerly known as the Israel Antitrust Authority) in order to consummate a merger or a sale of all or substantially all of our assets.

 

These provisions of our amended and restated articles of association and Israeli law may delay, prevent or make difficult an acquisition of us, which could prevent a change of control and therefore depress the price of our ordinary shares.

 

Your rights and responsibilities as a holder of our ordinary shares will be governed by Israeli law, which differs in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. companies.

 

Since we are incorporated under Israeli law, the rights and responsibilities of the holders of our ordinary shares are governed by our articles of association and by Israeli law, including the Companies Law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders in typical U.S. corporations. In particular, pursuant to the Companies Law, a shareholder of an Israeli company has certain duties, including to act in good faith and fairness and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards the company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing its power in the company including, among other things, in voting at the general meeting of shareholders on certain matters, such as an amendment to the company’s articles of association, an increase of the company’s authorized share capital, a merger of the company, and approval of related party transactions that require shareholder approval. A shareholder also has a general duty to refrain from discriminating against other shareholders. In addition, a controlling shareholder or a shareholder who knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholders’ vote or to appoint or prevent the appointment of an officer of the company has a duty to act in fairness towards the company with regard to such vote or appointment. See “Item 6C. Directors, Senior Management and Employees-Board Practices-Approval of Related Party Transactions under Israeli Law” for additional information. There is limited case law available to assist in understanding the nature of these duties or the implications of these provisions. These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations on holders of our ordinary shares that are not typically imposed on shareholders of U.S. corporations.

 

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

 

A. History and Development of the Company

 

We were incorporated as a limited liability company in the State of Israel on January 2, 2008 and operate under its laws. In November 2017, our corporate name was changed from Invasix Ltd. to InMode Ltd. Our registered office is located at Tavor Building, Sha’ar Yokneam, P.O. Box 533, Yokneam 2069206, Israel. The phone number of our registered office is +972-4-9096313. Our wholly‑owned subsidiary, Invasix Inc., a Delaware corporation, acts as our agent for service of process in the United States and is located at 17 Hughes Irvine, California 92618. The phone number for Invasix Inc. is 949-387-5711.

 

In August 2019, we completed our initial public offering of 10,000,000 of our ordinary shares at an initial public offering price of $7.00 per ordinary share. The effective date of the registration statement on Form F-1 (File No. 333-232615) was August 7, 2019. Also, during August 2019, the underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option and purchased an additional 1,000,000 ordinary shares at the same price per share. Our ordinary shares commenced trading on Nasdaq on August 8, 2019, under the symbol “INMD”.

 

Our capital expenditures for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 amounted to approximately $0.8 million, $1.6 million and $0.9 million, respectively. Our capital expenditures consist principally of the purchase of molds for manufacturing. We anticipate our capital expenditures in 2024 to be up to $1 million and to be financed from our existing cash and cash equivalents.

 

The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including InMode, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that site is www.sec.gov. We maintain a corporate website at www.inmodemd.com. Our periodic filings are available, free of charge (other than an investor's own Internet access charges), on our website soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such material with the SEC. The information contained on our website or available through our website is not incorporated by reference into and should not be considered a part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F, and the reference to our website in this Annual Report on Form 20-F is an inactive textual reference only.

 

B. Business Overview

 

Overview

 

We are a leading global provider of innovative, energy-based, minimally invasive surgical medical treatment solutions. Within the global aesthetics market, our products and solutions are primarily designed to address three energy-based treatment categories comprised of: (i) face and body contouring; (ii) medical aesthetics; and (iii) women’s health. We have developed and commercialized products utilizing medically-accepted RF energy technology, which can penetrate deep into the subdermal fat, allowing adipose tissue remodeling. We believe our RF energy-based proprietary technologies—(i) Radio Frequency Assisted Lipolysis, or RFAL; (ii) Deep Subdermal Fractional RF; (iii) Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening; and (iv) Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling for skin and human natural openings -- represent a paradigm shift in the minimally invasive aesthetic solutions market. These technologies are used by physicians to remodel subdermal adipose, or fatty tissue in a variety of procedures including liposuction with simultaneous skin tightening, face and body contouring, ablative skin rejuvenation treatments and treatment of Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM). Our products, developed with our proprietary RF energy-based technologies, overcome many of the shortcomings of other surgical options by delivering surgical-grade results under local anesthetics while significantly minimizing risks of scarring, downtime, pain and other complications typically accompanying surgical procedures. In addition to our minimally invasive solutions, we design, develop, manufacture and market differentiated, non-invasive medical aesthetic products that target a wide array of procedures. These include simultaneous fat killing and skin tightening, permanent hair reduction through the use of our innovative dual wavelength technology and other treatments targeting skin appearance and texture through the use of our high power IPL technology. Our products, which we market and sell traditionally to plastic and facial surgeons, aesthetic surgeons, dermatologists and OB/GYNs may be used on a variety of body parts including the face, neck, abdomen, upper arms, thighs and intimate feminine regions.

 

In addition to the existing group of patients who currently undergo full surgical aesthetic procedures, we believe our minimally invasive solutions satisfy an unmet market demand in two incremental groups of patients: (i) those whose skin laxity or other physical attributes have previously precluded them from undergoing surgical aesthetic procedures and (ii) those who would entertain the idea of surgical or minimally invasive aesthetic procedures, but are averse to the associated costs, downtime and potential safety risks. We believe these patient populations will continue to represent a significant opportunity for our differentiated minimally invasive aesthetic solutions.

 

We believe our products have consistently been at the forefront of technological development in the aesthetic solutions market. Since 2010, we have launched 12 product platforms: BodyTite, Optimas, Votiva, Contoura, Triton, EmbraceRF, EvolveX, Evoke, Morpheus8, EmpowerRF, Define and Envision. In 2023, we launched two products: the Define and the Envision. Each product consists of the following components: a platform that incorporates multiple energy sources, one or more handpieces or hands-free applicators, our proprietary software and a simple user interface with touch screen. Our platforms have a small footprint and are lightweight compared to our competitors’ systems, which are typically larger and heavier. Our products can be upgraded easily by the user in order to perform additional treatments by adding handpieces, hands-free applicators and/or installing software in the existing platform. The ease of upgrades enables our customers to meet demand for aesthetic solutions through additional service offerings.

 

Our focus on innovation has resulted in a strong track record of sustained new and next-generation product development. We believe our ability to bring new products to market and continuously innovate is a distinct competitive advantage. We launched two new product platforms in 2021, which are based on our existing RF energy-based proprietary technology, with the goal of further penetrating the market for surgical and medical treatment solutions. The two platforms that were introduced in 2021 are the EmpowerRF which is for women’s health indications and EvolveX which replaced our Evolve platform.

 

We expect that the new product platforms will complement our existing portfolio of products, allowing us to increase our offerings to existing customers and attract new customers. We believe that introducing new product platforms is important in order to satisfy consumer demand and respond to evolving technological developments.

 

In response to customers’ desires to enhance and expand their offering of our aesthetic and wellness office-based procedures, we are developing additional RF energy-based platforms, handpieces and applicators targeted towards several medical specialties.

 

 

 

We are focused on establishing and using clinical evidence to support and broaden our marketing claims and drive customer awareness and acceptance of our products. Traditionally, the aesthetic solutions market has relied heavily on marketing efforts and “before-and-after” pictures in an attempt to distinguish products. We believe our focus on establishing clinical evidence for the efficacy of our products has been important for adoption by our surgically-trained customers, who are accustomed to seeing extensive clinical data in their non-aesthetic practices. To date,  85  third-party clinical studies have been completed and seven  third-party clinical studies are in the process of being conducted using our products. We also have a portfolio of 90  peer-reviewed publications. While we did not have any involvement in the clinical studies mentioned above, such studies provide qualitative results that we believe are meaningful. However, because these were third-party studies, we do not have access to any raw data to conduct any quantitative analyses.

 

To complement our surgical aesthetic and medical treatment solutions, we offer post-sales training and support services. We provide physicians with training focused on the most beneficial ways to utilize our products, including safety and instructional videos to expand procedural offerings and hands-on, personalized marketing support. We believe that we provide one of the most extensive training and ongoing support programs available to physicians throughout the aesthetic solutions market.

 

Our revenue increased to approximately $492.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, from approximately $454.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 and from $357.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we recorded a gross margin of approximately 84%, 84% and 85%, respectively, and net income of approximately $197.9 million, $161.5 million, and $165.1 million, respectively. Our principal market is in the U.S, where our revenue increased to approximately $307.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, from approximately $298.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 and from $237.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Outside of the U.S, our revenue increased to approximately $184.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, from approximately $155.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 and from $120.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

 

Regarding U.S. revenues for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we derived approximately $264.7 million, or 86%, $253.8 million, or 85%, and $168.5 million, or 71%, respectively, of our total U.S revenues from the sale of minimally invasive platforms. We derived approximately $33.9 million, or 11%, $35.8 million, or 12%, and $64.1 million, or 27.0%, respectively, of our total U.S revenues from the sale of hands-free platforms, and approximately $9.2 million, or 3%, $8.9 million, or 3%, and $4.7 million, or 2%, respectively, of our total U.S revenues from the sale of non-invasive platforms.

 

We have 31 FDA clearances and, in addition to the United States, where we have an installed base of approximately 10,250 product platforms, we are permitted to sell our products in most countries. As of December 31, 2023, we sell and market our products in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Irland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Australia and India through a direct sales force (include distributer sales managers) of approximately 263 representatives. We also sell and market our products through 59 distributors in 82 countries. As of December 31, 2023, we had a global installed base of approximately 22,900 product platforms capable of running various multi-use applicators and utilizing minimally invasive consumables.

 

Our Solution

 

Key benefits of our minimally invasive surgical aesthetic and medical treatment solutions include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leader in RF Energy

 

We believe we are the leader in using RF energy for both minimally invasive and subdermal ablative aesthetic purposes. RF energy is different from optical energy because it is not absorbed by the epidermis and is able to be targeted to penetrate deep into the tissue. The application of RF energy in medicine is a well-established practice. For example, RF energy is the basis of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, and surgical diathermy, used to cauterize blood vessels to prevent excessive bleeding, both commonplace applications administered regularly in medical practice. RF energy is also used in cardiology for ablative interventions and in oncology surgery for tumor/metastasis ablation.

 

RF energy can be delivered to the skin in a variety of ways, the most common being monopolar delivery, whereby RF energy is delivered through a single probe placed on the skin with a grounding pad distant to the probe site. Alternatively, in bipolar delivery, RF energy is delivered from a probe with two electrodes placed over the treatment area. Bipolar delivery has an important advantage over monopolar delivery: depth of penetration of the RF energy is not dependent on the tissue impedance, or electrical resistance, which varies from person to person, or the cross-sectional area of the probe. That is not the case with monopolar delivery. Instead, in bipolar delivery, depth of penetration of the RF energy depends on the distance between the two electrodes on the probe, with increasing distance resulting in increased depth of penetration. We believe we are the leader in the development, design and commercialization of bipolar RF energy devices for minimally invasive and subdermal ablative aesthetic purposes.

 

Radio-Frequency Assisted Lipolysis

 

Using our expertise in bipolar RF energy delivery, we developed what we believe is the next generation of lipolysis and adipose tissue remodeling technology, a new category that delivers a thermal response to the adipose tissue, skin and subdermal matrix. Our RFAL products deliver directional RF energy into the subcutaneous fat to coagulate, liquefy and remodel adipose tissue and heat the subcutaneous fibrous septa, or partitions, resulting in substantial collagen contraction of subdermal space. We believe we are the first company to utilize bipolar radio frequency in a minimally invasive manner. Our RFAL products generate a higher power and more efficient energy transfer than laser energy systems and allow the treatment of larger volumes of the subcutaneous tissue with optimal thermal profiles, facilitating the significant tightening of the tissue. The shrinkage of tissue is significant and can reach double-digit percentages of the heated tissue volume. The thermal energy is delivered by an innovative handpiece comprised of two electrodes: the internal electrode is inserted into the fat layer while the other larger electrode is applied externally to the skin surface above the cannula tip. The internal cannula is passed through the subcutaneous fat while the external electrode is moved above and over the skin’s surface. The small, conductive tip of the cannula delivers RF energy into the subcutaneous fat, liquefying it and simultaneously contracting fibrous septa. The liquefied fat can then be removed from the body through a suction cannula. Our RFAL products also apply gentle uniform heating of the dermis, thereby promoting skin tightening. Figure 1 below shows how the RF energy is delivered through the handpiece to simultaneously liquefy fat and tighten the skin.

 

Our BodyTite and EmbraceRF platforms and the BodyTite and FaceTite handpieces rely on our proprietary RFAL technology. To date, there have been more than 250,000 successful RFAL procedures conducted with positive clinical results using our BodyTite and EmbraceRF platforms and the BodyTite and FaceTite handpieces. We have demonstrated that RFAL has the potential to elicit three-dimensional soft tissue contraction reliably and predictably to both serve otherwise non-traditional liposuction candidates, as well as to improve outcomes in patients for whom liposuction is an option.

 

 

Figure 1: RFAL mechanism of action.

 

Deep Subdermal Fractional RF

 

Our Deep Subdermal Fractional RF delivers RF energy into the subdermal fat tissue to depths of up to four millimeters, or mm. Deep Subdermal Fractional RF provides skin tightening and adipose tissue remodeling directly under the dermal layer. Our Deep Subdermal Fractional RF products deliver RF energy under the dermis through an array of pins producing localized heat and small micro-lesion dots in the treatment area. The heat generated by the pins in the subdermal tissue promotes collagen restructuring and tissue reshaping. Physicians can offer a versatile fractional treatment creating a three-dimensional matrix of coagulation volumes inside the tissue. Deep Subdermal Fractional RF is used for wrinkle reduction, skin tightening and treatment of cellulite appearance. Our deep subdermal fractional RF can be applied to both face and body. Our Morpheus8, Morpheus8 Body and Morpheus8 V handpieces rely on our proprietary Deep Subdermal Fractional RF technology and are used in conjunction with our BodyTite, Embrace RF, Optimas, EmpowerRF, Envision and Define platforms. Figure 2 below shows how the RF energy is delivered through the coated pins on the handpiece to reshape tissue under the dermal layer.

 

 

 

Figure 2: Deep Subdermal Fractional RF mechanism of action.

 

Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening

 

Our Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening proprietary technology combines vacuum and bipolar RF energy with high and low amplitudes to both permanently kill adipose tissue and contract the skin. We believe our Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening technology is the first and only RF-based, non-invasive body contouring technology that permanently kills adipose tissue. Our BodyFX handpiece and MiniFX handpiece utilize our Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening technology to address problematic fatty tissue in larger body areas such as the abdomen, back and thighs.

 

Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling for Skin and Human Natural Openings

 

Our Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling propriety technology delivers heat in a uniform and volumetric form targeting deep into tissue while providing collagen remodeling with real-time control of the device’s temperature. The versatility of this technology allows the operator to provide a customized solution to address a variety of women’s wellness concerns that occur due to aging, hormonal stress or physical damage. Our Forma, FormaV, and Morpheus8V handpieces utilize Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling technology while harnessing continuous bipolar RF energy with real-time temperature measurement. RF energy generated heat is delivered uniformly to vaginal tissue through a consumable applicator to provide vaginal and labia contraction with patients often seeing effects of the procedure immediately.

 

Pulse/Continuous Bipolar RF

 

Continuous Bi-polar RF is electrical energy in the RF spectrum (1 MHz) that results from the flow of an electric charge between two electrodes. This conducted energy increases ion movement in the tissue and generates kinetic energy that is transformed to thermal energy (heating). In turn, this thermal energy causes controlled damage to the tissue and triggers a natural healing mechanism and tissue-renewal resulting in tissue tightening and remodeling. The distance between the electrodes allows for control of the depth of penetration of the bi-polar RF energy into the tissue. The distance between the electrodes is chosen based on the particular treatment and according to the tissue to be treated (generally varies between a few millimeters to 3-4 centimeters). Bi-polar RF can be delivered to the tissue in one of two modes: either pulse or continuous. In pulse mode, pulse duration is pre-determined and RF energy automatically stops. In continuous mode, the RF energy is delivered uninterrupted into the tissue for as long as the operator deems appropriate. As part of the design, continuous bi-polar RF energy allows real-time measurement of the patient’s skin temperature. This allows our products to provide real-time feedback to the operator throughout the treatment process and enhances overall safety and efficiency. All of our RF platforms (both existing and expected) and RF handpieces (both minimally and non-invasive) have both pulse bi-polar RF and continuous bi-polar RF capabilities. Our proprietary RFAL-based products (such as our BodyTite product platform and FaceTite handpiece) and Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling based products (such as our Forma handpiece) primarily utilize the continuous bipolar RF feature. Our proprietary Deep Subdermal Fractional RF based products (such as our Morpheus8 handpiece) and Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening products (such as our BodyFX handpiece) primarily utilize the pulse feature depending on the procedure and target result. Figure 3 below shows how RF energy is delivered through the handpiece by an electric charge between two electrodes continuously into the tissue.

 

 

 

Figure 3: Pulse/Continuous Bi-polar RF mechanism of action.

 

Non-invasive Medical Aesthetic Technologies

 

In addition to our proprietary minimally invasive solutions, we continue to develop innovative non-invasive medical aesthetic solutions, including:

 

 

 

 

 

Differentiated and Comprehensive Post-Sales Support

 

To complement our innovative aesthetic solutions, we offer post-sales support services focused on the most beneficial ways to utilize our products, including a disciplined focus on safety. Our post-sales and support program consists of three key components:

 

 

 

 

In addition, we offer ongoing livestream cases for customers where they can observe and interact in real-time with both our training staff and highly qualified physician instructors on a regular basis. Advanced training is also available for physicians who choose to expand their education on highly skilled procedures, including non-excisional breast lifting or brachioplasty. We are continuing to build a library of on-line instructional videos as both a reference tool and to expand physicians’ procedural offerings. We also provide support to help customers educate and engage patients about the new minimally invasive procedures available to them through our In-Practice program. This program provides hands-on, personalized marketing support for customers’ practices including signage, educational collateral, digital marketing and advertising assets. We believe that we provide one of the most extensive training and ongoing support programs available to physicians throughout the aesthetics industry.

 

Our Competitive Strengths

 

We attribute the growing commercial success of our various platforms and products to the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Growth Strategy

 

Our objective is to expand our technological leadership in the surgical solutions market and to leverage our RF proprietary technologies to expand into additional medical solutions markets. We intend to achieve this goal by implementing the following strategies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Products

 

We offer a broad portfolio of aesthetic and medical treatment solutions that consist of a variety of platforms providing minimally and non-invasive applications. The following tables provide information concerning our product platforms and their applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to the products described above, prior versions of our products continue to be used by customers. Outside of the United States, we also offer some alternative versions of our aesthetic treatment solutions, in some cases under different trademarks, which are tailored to the specific preferences and needs of certain countries and regions.

 

Components of Our Products

 

Each of our products consists of the following components:

 

•          platform;

 

•          one or more handpieces or hands-free applicators; and

 

•          our proprietary software.

 

Platforms

 

Our platforms are mostly electronic boxes, comprised of RF energy generators and modules supporting lasers and IPL, as applicable, a 110/220VAC input power supply, controller and a user interface with touch screen. The user interface allows the physician to select the handpiece and set treatment parameters to meet the requirements of a particular application and patient. Using the touch screen, the physician can independently adjust the energy level, pulse width and other parameters depending on application to optimize the treatment’s safety and effectiveness. The user interface on our multiple energy workstations also allows the user to change energy sources with the press of a button. The control system communicates the operator’s settings from the user interface to the system’s modules and manages system operation and performance.

 

Handpieces and Hands-Free Applicators

 

Our handpieces and hands-free applicators are used to apply the energy to the patient treatment area. The handpieces and hands-free applicators are designed for specific targeted body areas, type of energy to maximize treatment safety and efficacy for specific treatment. Certain of our handpieces and hands-free applicators have a contained thermal field that ensures a controlled and safe treatment through our Acquire, Control and Extend, or ACE, technology. Our ACE technology ensures that no areas are under- or over-treated using therapeutic temperatures safely and efficiently. Built-in safeguards, including real time measurements of skin temperature, impedance monitoring, power cut-off and audible feedback, help ensure patient safety throughout the procedure. A number of our handpieces and hands-free applicators are, or contain, one-time use applicators, or consumables, that must be replaced following each treatment.

 

Minimally Invasive

 

BodyTite – The minimally invasive, consumable BodyTite handpiece, introduced in 2010, utilizes directional RF energy for RFAL treatments using needle-size cannula and external electrodes to apply RF energy to the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The tissue is heated to 50°C to 70°C to destroy fat and contract connective tissue, simultaneously remodeling the dermis at external temperatures of up to 42°C. This handpiece allows tissue treatment using a 17cm cannula that provides treatment depth up to 50mm.

 

Facerite/NeckTite – The minimally invasive, consumable FaceTite and NeckTite handpieces, introduced in 2012, utilize directional RF energy for RFAL treatments using cannula with diameters of 1.8mm and 2.2mm and external electrodes to apply RF energy to the subcutaneous adipose tissue. The tissue is heated to 50°C to 70°C to destroy fat and contract connective tissue, simultaneously remodeling the dermis at external temperatures up to 42°C. This handpiece allows tissue treatment using a 10cm cannula that provides treatment depth up to 25mm.

 

AccuTite – The minimally invasive AccuTite handpiece, introduced in 2019, utilizes directional RF energy for RFAL treatments using sub-millimeter cannula with diameters of 0.9mm and external electrodes to apply RF energy to subcutaneous adipose tissue. The tissue is heated to 50°C to 70°C to destroy fat and contract connective tissue, simultaneously remodeling the dermis at external temperatures of up to 42°C. This handpiece allows tissue treatment using a 60mm cannula that provides treatment depth up to 25mm. Additionally, in 2019, we began marketing AccuTite for Aviva, a minimally invasive procedure that restores the function and appearance of the vulva by offering a non-excisional alternative to a labiaplasty. Aviva is powered by AccuTite to deliver safe and uniform heat to the entire soft tissue matrix of the labia minora, labia majora, clitoral hood, vaginal introitus and perineal body.

 

Fractora – The minimally invasive Fractora handpiece, introduced in 2011, uses customizable fractional energy and superficial fractional resurfacing for subdermal adipose tissue remodeling. The handpiece offers two treatment depths (skin surface and subdermal) and is safe on all skin types including type IV. The consumable applicator tip contains 24-coated pins with a length of up to 4mm.

 

Morpheus8/Morpehus8 Body/Morpheus8V – The minimally invasive Morpheus8 and Morpheus8 Body handpieces use RF energy for subdermal adipose tissue remodeling, which is programmable by the user according to treatment area. The handpieces offer treatment depth up to 7mm. The upper part of the needle and external electrodes are coated with a polymer to prevent skin surface thermal damage while delivering RF energy into the subdermal space.

 

Non-Invasive

 

BodyFX/MiniFX – The non-invasive BodyFX and MiniFX handpieces, introduced in 2013, combine vacuum and bipolar RF energy with high and low amplitudes to both permanently kill adipose tissue and contract the skin. The BodyFX handpiece, intended for use on various parts of the body, comprises a vacuum cavity with a size of 1.36in x 1.2in. The MiniFX handpiece, better suited to address problematic fatty tissue in smaller areas, comprises a vacuum cavity with a size of 1.24in x 0.87in.

 

DiolazeXL (810nm) – The non-invasive DiolazeXL (810nm) handpiece, introduced in 2017, is a high-speed, gold standard 810nm (diode) laser indicated for permanent hair reduction. DiolazeXL’s differentiated triple contact cooling technology (pre, parallel and post), or 3PC technology, provides for a safe and comfortable patient experience. The handpiece covers a spot size of 12mm x 26mm to allow for the removal of a variety of hair colors and thickness. This handpiece offers short and long pulse durations and repetition rates that enable treatment times up to 6cm²/second.

 

Triton Duo Light (755nm & 810nm) – The non-invasive Triton Duo Light handpiece, introduced in 2017, combines two wavelengths for optimal treatment of light skin patients. The handpiece utilizes a blend of 755nm (Alexandrite) and 810nm (diode) laser wavelengths that have been optimized for hair removal on patients with skin types I to IV. We believe the Triton platform is the only FDA-cleared device capable of firing two wavelengths in one pulse. The handpiece covers a spot size of 12mm x 26mm and provides two pulse durations and high repetition rates.

 

Triton Duo Dark (810nm & 1064nm) – The non-invasive Triton Duo Dark handpiece, introduced in 2017, combines two wavelengths for optimal treatment of dark skin patients. The handpiece utilizes a blend of 810nm (diode) and 1064nm (Nd:YAG) laser wavelengths that have been optimized for hair removal on patients with skin types Ito IV. We believe the Triton platform is the only FDA-cleared device capable of firing two wavelengths in one pulse. The handpiece covers a spot size of 12mm x 26mm and provides two pulse durations and high repetition rates.

 

Forma – The non-invasive Forma handpiece, introduced in 2013, uses our ACE technology to deliver auto-adjusting uniform RF energy-generated heat (up to 43°C) for collagen remodeling and skin contraction of the face and neck. We believe Forma is the first thermal face and neck skin tightening device to have both temperature monitoring and automatic, user programmable, RF on/off control. This handpiece has an RF energy output power of up to 65 watts and covers a spot size of 22mm x 20mm.

 

FormaV – The non-invasive FormaV handpiece, introduced in 2017, uses our ACE technology to deliver auto-adjusting uniform RF energy generated heat (up to 43°C) to vaginal tissue through a consumable applicator.

 

VTone – Intervaginal EMS device to treat SUI and pelvic floor muscle restorations.

 

Plus – The non-invasive Plus handpiece, introduced in 2013, uses our ACE technology to deliver auto-adjusting uniform RF generated heat (up to 43°C) for collagen remodeling and skin contraction of the body. We believe Plus is the first thermal body skin tightening device to have both temperature monitoring and automatic, user programmable, RF on/off control. This handpiece has an RF energy output of up to 65 watts and covers a spot size of 45mm x 45mm.

 

Lumecca – The non-invasive Lumecca handpiece, introduced in 2015, is an IPL handpiece optimized for both light and dark skin that uses a xenon flash lamp to deliver filtered optical energy in the 515nm to 1200nm range for light skin treatment and 580nm to 1200nm range for darker skin. Lumecca is intended for treatment of superficial vascular and pigmented lesions. The handpiece covers a spot size of 30mm x 10mm with a peak optical power of 10,000 watts.

 

Lumecca I – a version of Lumecca for treatment of dry eye.

 

Vasculaze – The non-invasive Vasculaze handpiece, introduced in 2018, is a 1064nm wavelength diode laser intended for use in the coagulation and hemostasis of benign vascular legions such as, but not limited to, reticular leg veins, spider veins, hemangiomas, port wine stains and venous lakes. Vasculaze is optimized with high peak power, strong contact cooling and an ergonomic head intended to maximize treatment efficiency. The handpiece covers a spot size of 3mm x 4mm and has pulse duration of 20 to 100 milliseconds, or msec.

 

Forma I – a non-invasive handpiece that is based on Bipolar RF for treatment of lower and upper lids in order to improve dry eye.

 

Hands-Free

 

Transform – The non-invasive Transform, introduced in 2021, is a set of six hands-free applicators for the EvolveX platform. The mechanism of action is a combination of Bipolar RF and EMS. The Transform is mounted on a belt and works automatically without the assistance of a physician or technician.

 

Tite – The non-invasive Tite, introduced in 2019, is a set of eight hands-free applicators for the EvolveX platform. The mechanism of action is similar to the Plus handpiece. The Tite is mounted on a belt for treatment of different body parts and areas without the assistance of a physician or technician.

 

Tone – The non-invasive Tone, introduced in 2019, is a set of four hands-free electro-muscle stimulation applicators. The Tone is designed to be used on the EvolveX platform for muscle stimulation and improving skin tone.

 

Cheek – The non-invasive Cheek, introduced in 2020, is a hands-free device containing eight applicators that is mounted on the face and designed to be used with the Evoke platform. The mechanism of action is similar to the Forma handpiece, but works automatically on both sides of the face without the assistance of a physician or technician.

 

Chin – The non-invasive Chin, introduced in 2020, is a hands-free device containing two applicators that is mounted on the chin and designed to be used with the Evoke platform. The mechanism of action is similar to the Forma handpiece, but works automatically on the chin without the assistance of a physician or technician.

 

Proprietary Software

 

Our software permits the user to define treatment parameters to be communicated to the electronic modules in the platform and deliver RF or optical energy through the handpiece or hands-free applicator to the patient. In addition, our software controls and manages proper system performance and automatic temperature control, system self-calibration, system setup and detection of any malfunction of the system. We believe our software’s automotive capabilities allow physicians to dedicate their attention and focus to patient treatment rather than system monitoring. Our users upgrade their products through the purchase of additional treatment applicators and corresponding software plugs. All of our software complies with applicable medical specifications and regulations.

 

Applications and Procedures

 

Our products provide our customers with a broad range of applications among both traditional procedures and emerging applications.

 

Face and Body Contouring

 

Minimally Invasive

 

Generally performed by a physician, RFAL delivers directional RF energy into a patient’s subcutaneous fat to coagulate and liquefy adipose tissue and heat the subcutaneous fibrous septa, resulting in substantial collagen contraction of the subdermal space. RF energy is delivered through an innovative handpiece comprised of two electrodes. The internal electrode is inserted into the fat layer, while the other larger electrode is applied externally to the skin surface above the cannula tip. The internal cannula passes through the subcutaneous fat, while the external electrode slides over the skin’s surface. The small conductive tip of the cannula concentrates RF energy in the subcutaneous fat, liquefying it and simultaneously contracting the fiber septa. This liquefied fat can then be removed from the body. Our RFAL technology can be administered on all regions of the body and typical treatments are approximately 30 to 90 minutes each under local anesthesia. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for our RFAL technology in 2016. Users conduct minimally invasive face and body contouring using RFAL technology with the BodyTite and Embrace platforms and BodyTite, FaceTite and AccuTite handpieces.

 

Generally performed by a physician, Deep Subdermal Fractional RF, delivers RF energy into the subcutaneous adipose tissue to depths of up to 4mm through an array of coated needles producing localized heat and matrix of small lesions in the subcutaneous fat. The heat generated by the pins in the subdermal tissue promotes connective tissue restructuring. As a result, physicians can offer a versatile fractional treatment creating a three-dimensional collagen contraction and subdermal fat coagulation. The deep fractional remodeling is used when fat layer is not thick enough to use RFAL technology or when patient wants only superficial result. Deep Subdermal Fractional RF can be used for wrinkle reduction, skin tightening and treatment of cellulite appearance. In addition to reshaping, Deep Subdermal Fractional RF provides long-term results for inflammatory acne by coagulating enlarged sebaceous glands. The most common areas of treatment are the face and neck. Patients generally receive between one to three treatments for approximately 30 minutes each. Treatments are typically spaced two to three weeks apart. We received two 510(k) FDA clearances for Fractora in 2011 and 2016, and 510(k) FDA clearance for the Morpheus8 in 2019. Customers use this technology with the BodyTite, Embrace, Votiva and Optimas platforms.

 

Non-Invasive

 

Handpieces: Administered by physicians and other aesthetic practitioners, our differentiated fat reduction solution is based on skin shaping using a vacuum and delivering both low amplitude bipolar RF energy for gentle deep tissue heating and high amplitude RF energy to simultaneously kill fat and tighten skin. The handpiece is placed over the desired area of the body and vacuum energy shapes the skin into the cavity for safe and effective RF energy delivery allowing greater volumes of fat to be treated (up to 2.5cm in depth). Subsequently, temperature-controlled RF energy is applied to preheat the tissue and fat uniformly to 42°C to 43°C. High amplitude RF energy delivered in ultra-short pulse duration is then administered via electrodes causing apoptosis of adipose tissue and resulting in simultaneous skin contraction. Our technology can be administered on all regions of the body. Patients generally receive six treatments for approximately 10 to 20 minutes each. Treatments are typically spaced one to two weeks apart. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for this technology in 2013. Users conduct non-invasive face and body contouring with the Contoura platform using the BodyFX or MiniFX handpieces.

 

Hands-Free

 

Hands-Free Applicators: Applied by physicians and other aesthetic practitioners, our differentiated skin tightening, fat reduction and muscle stimulation solution is based on bipolar RF and EMS technologies, delivered through a set of hands-free applicators mounted or placed over the body or face. The setup of the parameters is determined by a doctor. Subsequently, temperature-controlled RF energy is applied to preheat the tissue and fat uniformly to 42°C to 43°C. High amplitude RF energy delivered in ultra-short pulse duration is then administered via electrodes causing apoptosis of adipose tissue and resulting in simultaneous skin contraction. Our technology can be administered on all regions of the body and face. Patients generally receive three to six treatments for approximately 30 minutes each. Treatments are typically spaced one to two weeks apart. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for the Evoke and Evolve in 2019. In 2021 we received 510(k) FDA clearance for the EvolveX which replace the Evolve platform. Users conduct hands-free face and body contouring with the Evoke/Define and EvolveX platforms using the Transform, Tite and Tone hands-free applicators for the EvolveX, and Cheek and Chin hands-free applicators for the Evoke.

 

Medical Aesthetics

 

Skin Rejuvenation/Vascular & Pigmented Lesion Treatment

 

Generally performed by a physician or other aesthetic professional, different types of energy and treatments are provided depending on the handpiece. The application of JPL energy enables the improvement of photo damage, as well as other pigmented abnormalities and superficial vascular lesions. A 1064nm laser is used for the treatment of larger and deeper veins. Patients often see results after a single treatment but typically two to three treatments of approximately 15 minutes each are recommended. Treatments are typically spaced two to four weeks apart. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for superficial vascular and pigmented lesion treatments in 2013 and for hair removal and permanent hair reduction in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Users rejuvenate the skin with the Optimas platform using the Vasculaze and Lumecca handpieces.

 

Sub-Necrotic Thermal Tissue Remodeling

 

Administered by physicians and other aesthetic practitioners, the application is based on uniform and deep heating of the skin and subdermal layer using bipolar RF energy. The handpiece is moved over the desired area of the treatment area, while maintaining the designated temperature for the predetermined time for safe and effective collagen remodeling. Subsequently, temperature-controlled RF energy is applied automatically to heat tissue uniformly to 42°C to 43°C. The Forma handpiece is utilized to target fat and heats the tissue to depths of up to 4.5mm while the Plus handpiece is used for larger body areas and provides effect up to 6mm in depth. Patients generally receive six treatments for approximately 10 to 20 minutes each. Treatments are typically spaced one to two weeks apart. We received three 510(k) FDA clearances for this technology in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Users conduct facial treatment with the Optimas platform using the Forma handpiece and body contouring with the Contoura platform using the Plus handpiece.

 

Permanent Hair Reduction

 

Administered by a user, who is not necessarily a physician, our differentiated dual wavelength technology incorporated in the Triton platform fires two wavelengths in a single pulse destroying the hair follicles located in the dermis and subdermal layers. This procedure is continued over the target area and can last from a few minutes to 90 minutes depending on the size of the treatment area. In general, permanent hair reduction requires four to six treatments spaced four to eight weeks apart. More sessions may be required for stubborn hairs. Due to our unique dual wavelength technology, our Triton platform allows practitioners to address all skin types and tones. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for our Optimas and dual wavelength Triton platforms for permanent hair reduction treatments in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Users perform permanent hair reduction procedures with our Optimas and Triton platforms using the DiolazeXL and Triton Duo Light and Triton Duo Dark handpieces, respectively.

 

Women’s Health

 

We have two platforms for women’s health: the Votiva and the EmpowerRF. Procedures with these platforms are performed by a physician. Depending on the handpiece, the administration of bipolar RF energy or subdermal heating is applied to gently warm and massage the internal vaginal tissue (FormaV), the external vaginal tissue (Morpheus8V), or to deliver uniform heat to the entire soft tissue matrix of the labia minora, labia majora, clitoral hood, vaginal introitus and perineal body (Aviva procedure administered by the AccuTite handpiece), and pelvic floor muscle restoration (with VTone). Depending on the treatment type, patients typically receive between two to three treatments of approximately 15 minutes each. Treatments are typically spaced two to three weeks apart. We received 510(k) FDA clearance for FormaV for certain indications in 2017. In July 2018, we received a letter from the FDA seeking information as to the regulatory basis for marketing of our FormaV handpiece based on our promotion and labeling of this device for use in certain women’s health conditions and procedures. We timely responded to the FDA by immediately altering the wording of our promotional and labeling materials, and we submitted a response letter in August 2018 answering the FDA’s questions and advising the agency that we had modified our promotional and labeling materials to remove certain statements regarding uses of our products for conditions and procedures that were questioned by the FDA in the agency’s informational request letter. The FDA responded in September 2018 by stating that the agency had reviewed our response letter and verified the changes in terminology made to our website. Moreover, the FDA further responded in November 2018 and confirmed we addressed all items raised by the agency in its letter, and that the FDA continues to expect us to conduct a review of our marketing and promotional materials to make appropriate changes and remove materials containing uncleared claims. We have received no further communications from the agency regarding this matter.

 

Ophthalmology

 

In 2023, we introduced a new platform called Envision, which includes the Forma I handpiece and the Lumecca I handpiece for treatment of upper and lower lids and dry eye. This platform also includes the Moprheus8 handpiece for treatment of peri-orbital wrinkles.

 

Sales and Marketing

 

Our primary strategy to increase market penetration relies on selling directly to our traditional customer base of plastic and facial surgeons, aesthetic surgeons, dermatologists and OB/GYNs. We believe we are the only company commercializing minimally invasive aesthetic solutions specifically targeting the surgical community and believe our products represent a significant opportunity for these practitioners to deliver improved patient treatment results and significantly increase their ability to generate additional revenue. We are also targeting newer market opportunities consisting of OB/GYNs, ENTs, ophthalmologists, general practitioners and aesthetic clinicians as an incremental growth opportunity.

 

We target potential customers through office visits, trade shows, professional journals and various forms of paid and unpaid media. We also conduct clinical workshops featuring recognized expert panelists and key opinion leaders to promote existing and new treatment techniques using our products. We believe that these workshops enhance customer loyalty and provide us with new sales opportunities. We plan to continue to offer a large number of workshops spanning from single-day workshops to three-day workshops. We also use direct mail programs to target specific segments of the market that we seek to access, such as members of medical societies and attendees at meetings sponsored by medical societies or associations. In addition, we maintain an active public relations program that has resulted in treatments based on our products being featured in various televised and printed media outlets including InStyle, Shape, The Doctors and Harper’s Bazaar. In September 2022, international actress and producer, Eva Longoria, agreed to join us as our brand ambassador to share her positive experience with our EvolveX and Morpheus8 technologies, replacing our previous brand ambassador, international pop icon, Paula Abdul.

 

We currently sell and market our products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Australia and India, through a direct sales force of approximately 256 representatives. We also sell and market our products through 59 distributors in 82 countries. Our U.S. sales efforts are headquartered in Irvine, California. To support the continued roll-out of our products and further penetrate the market, we anticipate that our direct salesforce in the United States will continue to increase.

 

In international markets, to complement our direct sales force in Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Australia and India we sell our products through a network of distributors. Our Canadian sales efforts are headquartered in Toronto, Canada. As of December 31, 2023, we had an international sales management team of seven employees supporting 59  independent distributors. The percentage of our revenues from customers located outside of the United States for each of the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 37%, and 34%, respectively. We intend to continue to increase penetration of our customer base in international markets and expand into attractive new international markets, including within Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Australia and India, by identifying and training qualified distributors. In addition, we may opportunistically hire a direct sales force and expand our marketing campaigns in select international markets. We require our distributors to provide customer training, to invest in equipment and marketing, and to attend certain exhibitions and industry meetings.

 

Service and Support

 

We support our customers with a range of services including business and practice development consulting and product service and maintenance.

 

We service our products in three service centers: (1) the U.S. market is serviced through our facility in Irvine, California, (2) the Canadian market is serviced through our facility in Toronto, Canada, and (3) the rest of the world is serviced through our distributors and our facility in Yokneam, Israel. In the event of a technical malfunction, our customers first contact us (if in the United States or Canada) or our distributors (if outside of the United States or Canada) telephonically. If a product requires service or repair that cannot be addressed telephonically, we or our distributors ship a temporary “loaner” system to the customer as soon as possible, often overnight. This unique “loaner” system reduces any product downtime and associated lost revenues for the physician. We then arrange for shipment of the defective product to one of our service centers in the United States or Canada. Outside the United States or Canada, the product is sent to our distributors or our facility in Israel. Either we or our distributors quickly repair the faulty product and ship it back to the customer. We have designed our products in a light-weight, modular fashion to enable quick and efficient service and support. Specifically, we build our platforms to be less than 35 kilograms in weight to ensure acceptance by traditional, commercial third-party logistics providers for next-day delivery of replacement products without requiring specialized shipping procedures. We believe our depot service and support model provides for more efficient and less costly operations.

 

Our standard warranty term is 12 months, however, many of our products are sold with multi-year warranties. Our standard warranty covers parts, labor, participation in our loaner program and a white glove, door-to-door, shipping service for expedited repair service, and can be extended for an additional charge. We believe that we have a significant opportunity to increase our recurring customer revenue by increasing the number of our customers that enter into service contracts and extended warranties for our systems. All of our distributors have a service department and are required by us to maintain a full inventory of spare parts. All service staff is trained by our service department in Israel.

 

Manufacturing and Supply

 

We rely primarily on outsourced manufacturing to produce our devices while maintaining control over the production process. Outsourcing allows us to carry lower inventory levels and maintain fixed unit costs without incurring significant capital expenditures than would be in place if products were self-manufactured. We outsource almost all of the manufacturing of our products to three subcontractors located in Israel, two of which we are substantially dependent on as part of our business. Through our strategic arrangement with Flextronics (Israel) Ltd., or Flex, and (BY) Medimor Ltd., or Medimor, we maintain dedicated manufacturing lines supervised by us in Flex and Medimor’s medical-grade manufacturing facilities in Migdal Haemek and Poriya, Israel. Within the Flex and Medimor facilities, all proprietary manufacturing, testing and assembly equipment has been built and is owned by us. We also use a separate manufacturer in addition to Flex and Medimor to produce our handpieces and disposables.

 

We believe our outsourced manufacturers’ processes comply with all applicable U.S. and international quality and safety standards, such as ISO 13485:2016, CE and the FDA quality system regulations. We conduct in-house prototype development and present detailed manufacturing documents to our subcontractors, who then purchase most of the necessary components and manufacture the product. These manufacturing subcontractors provide us fully assembled, or “turn-key,” services. We control and monitor the quality of our products by having one of our quality control employees at each of our subcontractor’s facilities.

 

The contracts we have with our main manufacturing subcontractors (Flex and Medimor) do not have minimum purchase requirements and allow us to purchase end products entered into on a purchase order basis. Under these contracts, our manufacturing subcontractors provide manufacturing services pursuant to our written specifications. These manufacturing services include labor, materials, testing, packaging and delivery, as well as allocating production and storage space within their facilities for our products. Pricing under these contracts are reviewed between us and the manufacturing subcontractors every three months. These contracts typically have one-year terms that automatically renew for successive one-year terms unless either we or the manufacturing subcontractor provide three months written notice prior to the expiration of the term. To date, we have not experienced any significant manufacturing delays. These contracts can be terminated by either party, without cause, with four to six months prior written notice.

 

We manufacture all laser and IPL handpieces in our facility in Yokneam, Israel and procure other major components of our products on behalf of our third-party manufacturers from a limited number of suppliers. We have flexibility to adjust the number of lasers and other components that we either manufacture or procure as well as the delivery schedules. The forecasts that we use are based on historical demands and expected future plans. Lead times may vary significantly depending on the size of the order, time required to fabricate and test the components, specific supplier requirements and current market demand for the components. We intend to reduce any potential for delays of supply by maintaining relationships with multiple suppliers of major components. To date, we have not experienced significant delays in obtaining our major components.

 

As of December 31, 2023, we hold 14.79% ownership interest on an as-issued basis and 11.24% ownership interest on a fully diluted basis of Medimor.

 

Research and Development

 

Our research and development activities are conducted internally by a team of 36 research and development staff based mainly in Israel. Our research and development efforts are focused on the development of new products, as well as on the extension of our existing products to introduce new applications in the minimally and non-invasive and medical aesthetic markets. We expect to concentrate our research and development efforts in the coming years on developing procedures and platforms based on our proprietary technologies: (i) RFAL, (ii) Deep Subdermal Fractional RF, (iii) Simultaneous Fat Destruction and Skin Tightening, and (iv) Deep Heating Collagen Remodeling, and developing new technologies. We have a number of new projects and products under development, mainly focusing on additional minimally and non-invasive aesthetic and medical treatments.

 

Our research and development expenditures for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 were approximately $13.4 million and $12.4 million, respectively.

 

Seasonality

 

Our business is not significantly impacted by seasonality; however, our fourth quarter has historically generated slightly stronger operating results. We have historically experienced stronger sales in the fourth quarter in correlation with our customers’ spending patterns and budget cycles. Most physicians operate on an annual budget cycle with a fiscal year that begins on January 1. It is not uncommon to experience a higher level of purchasing activity from physicians in the final months and weeks of their fiscal year. Consequently, our fourth quarter revenues may be greater than other quarters. Our business is also impacted by general economic conditions, which may impact future seasonal variations.

 

Intellectual Property

 

We rely on a combination of patent, trademark and copyright laws to protect our intellectual property rights.

 

 

Patents and Patent Applications

 

As of February 13, 2024, we own ten issued U.S. patents and one issued Korean patent. As of February 13, 2024, we have filed seven patent applications that are pending in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Out of those applications, one was filed also under The Patent Cooperation Treaty and one in Europe. Our issued U.S. patents are projected to expire between 2027 and 2038 (assuming pending U.S. patent applications are approved). These patents and patent applications cover the technologies described herein, and contribute to the protection of our rights to our proprietary technology. Our patents relate to radio frequency (RF) based technology that may be used for minimally invasive aesthetic solutions, such as fat destruction, and fractional skin ablation relating to skin tightening and fat destruction, among others, and cover our existing products. Without these patents, we cannot guarantee that we can prevent others from manufacturing similar products that are covered by our patent rights. We also rely on our issued patents to make, use, sell, and distribute our products. The term of the patents depends on the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are granted. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is generally 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country. We also rely upon trademarks in various jurisdictions covering the InMode brand and our product lines, as well as upon U.S. copyright law for protection of the software programs associated with our products.

 

We cannot assure you that patents will issue from any of our pending applications or that, if patents issue, they will be of sufficient scope or strength to provide meaningful protection for our technology. Our policy is to obtain patents and to seek to operate without infringing on the intellectual property rights of third parties. Loss or invalidation of our patents, or a finding of unenforceability or limitation of scope of our patents, could have a material adverse effect on us. The patent position of many inventions in the areas related to our business is highly uncertain, involves many complex legal, factual and technical issues and has recently been the subject of litigation industry-wide. There is no certainty in predicting the breadth of allowable patent claims or the degree of protection afforded under any issued patents.

 

Notwithstanding the scope of the patent protection available to us, a competitor could develop treatment methods or devices that are not covered by our patents. Furthermore, numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and patent applications owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are developing products. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be applications unknown to us, which applications may later result in issued patents that our existing or future products or proprietary technologies may be alleged to infringe. Third parties may also obtain patents that we may need to license from them in order to conduct our business.

 

It is possible that patents issued to us will be successfully challenged or that patents issued to others may preclude us from commercializing our products under development. Litigation to establish or challenge the validity of patents, to defend against infringement, unenforceability or invalidity claims or to assert infringement, invalidity or unenforceability claims against others, if required, can be lengthy and expensive, and may result in determinations materially adverse to us. We cannot assure you that the products currently marketed or under development by us will not be found to infringe patents issued or licensed to others.

 

Patent Litigation

 

We have received, and we may in the future receive, allegations from third parties contending that we are infringing their patents. If such third parties were to commence infringement suits against us, and such third-party patents were found by a court to be valid, enforceable and infringed upon by us, then we could be required to pay damages and/or make royalty payments, and we could also be enjoined from continuing the infringing activity. Depending on the nature of the patent found to be infringed upon by us, a court order requiring us to cease such infringement could have a material adverse effect on us. We might be unable to design around such patents or continue offering the products or services found to be infringing, or we could suffer other adverse consequences.

 

On March 16, 2021 we filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”) alleging ILOODA’s fractional radio frequency (“RF”) microneedling system, distributed in the United States by Cutera, Inc., infringes on our U.S. Patent No. 10,799,285. Additionally, we requested that the ITC investigate ILOODA’s infringing imports and issue an exclusion order to bar importation of ILOODA’s microneedling system. On November 22, 2021 we reached a settlement agreement with ILOODA and, accordingly, filed an agreed motion to terminate the investigation.

 

On October 11, 2023 we filed a complaint of patent infringement against BTL Industries Ltd. (“BTL”) in the United States District Court, Central District of California, alleging that BTL infringed our U.S. patent no. 8961511. This litigation process is in the early stage and BTL has not yet submitted its response to this complaint. We expect the first BTL response to be submitted to the Court no later than February 2024.

 

Although we may try to resolve any potential future claims or actions, we may not be able to do so on reasonable terms, if at all. Infringement and other intellectual property claims, with or without merit, can be expensive and time-consuming to litigate, and could divert management’s attention from our core business. If we lose this kind of litigation, a court could require us to pay substantial damages and could prohibit us from using technologies essential to our products, either of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. See “Item 3. Key Information – D. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property – If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed. Our success and ability to compete depends in large part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology.”

 

Copyrights, Trademarks and Trade Secrets

 

The software programs associated with our products are protected by U.S. copyright law.

 

We also filed for protection available under trademark law. As of December 31, 2023, we own 14 registered trademarks in the United States and we own at least 38 registered trademarks in various jurisdictions outside the United States, including for the marks “InMode” and “RFAL” and certain key product names, in particular,  BodyTite, Contoura by InMode, FaceTite, InMode, Optimas by InMode, Triton by InMode, Votiva by InMode, Triton by InMode, AccuTite, Morpheus, BodyFX, Diolaze, Fractora and Lumecca. We also have at least nine pending foreign trademark applications. We also have six pending trademark applications in the United States.

 

We also rely upon know-how and continuing technological innovation, and may pursue licensing opportunities in the future, to develop and maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our proprietary rights through a variety of methods, including confidentiality agreements and proprietary information agreements with suppliers, employees, consultants and others who may have access to proprietary information, under which they are bound to assign to us inventions made during the term of their employment or term of service.

 

All professional employees and technical consultants are required to execute confidentiality agreements in connection with their employment and consulting relationships with us. We also require them to agree to disclose and assign to us all inventions conceived in connection with their services to us. However, there can be no assurance that these confidentiality and invention assignment agreements will be enforceable or that they will provide us with adequate protection.

 

Competition

 

Our industry is subject to intense competition, subject to rapid change and highly sensitive to the introduction of new products or other market activities of industry participants. We compete against products offered by public companies, including Allergan plc, Cutera, Inc., Apyx Medical Corporation, Venus Concept Inc., and Sisram Medical Ltd.., as well as by private companies, such as Cynosure LLC (formerly Cynosure Inc.), Lumenis Ltd., BTL Aesthetics, Inc. and Candela Medical Inc. In the past few years, several large pharmaceutical and medical device companies have also entered the aesthetic device market, including Bausch Health. and Merz Pharma Group. Our products compete against conventional medical products, including Botox, hyaluronic acid injections and collagen injections, and aesthetic procedures, such as face lifts, liposuction, sclerotherapy, electrolysis, chemical peels and microdermabrasion, that are unrelated to laser, light and RF-based technologies. Our products also compete against laser and other light and radio frequency-based products.

 

Competition among providers of laser and other light and radio frequency-based products for the aesthetic medical market is characterized by extensive research efforts and rapid technological progress. While we attempt to protect our products through patents and other intellectual property rights, there are few barriers to entry that would prevent new entrants or existing competitors from developing products that would compete directly with ours. There are many companies, both public and private, that are developing innovative devices that use laser and other energy-based and alternative technologies. Many of these competitors have significantly greater financial and human resources than we do and have established reputations, greater brand name recognition, broader product lines, and larger customer bases, as well as worldwide distribution channels that are more effective than ours. Additional competitors may enter the market, and we are likely to compete with new companies in the future. Any business combinations or mergers among our competitors that result in larger competitors with greater resources or distribution networks, or the acquisition of a competitor by a major medical or technology corporation seeking to enter this business, could further result in increased competition.

 

To compete effectively, we have to demonstrate that our products are attractive alternatives to other devices and treatments by differentiating our products on the basis of performance, brand name, reputation and price. We have encountered and expect to continue to encounter potential customers who, due to existing relationships with our competitors, are committed to, or prefer the products offered by, these competitors. We expect that competitive pressures may over time result in price reductions and reduced margins for our products.

 

Other medical companies, academic and research institutions, or others, may develop new technologies or therapies, including medical devices, surgical procedures or pharmacological treatments and obtain regulatory approval for products utilizing such techniques that are more effective in treating the conditions that we target or are less expensive than our current or future products. Our technologies and products could be rendered obsolete by such developments.

 

Government Regulation

 

Our products and operations are subject to extensive and rigorous regulation by the relevant governmental authorities in the countries where we market and sell or products. These governmental authorities include the FDA, which enforces, the FDCA as well as other similar laws, and regulatory bodies worldwide. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, regulates the advertising of our products in the United States. Further, we are subject to laws directed at preventing fraud and abuse, which subject our sales and marketing, training and other practices to government scrutiny.

 

In some jurisdictions, such as the United States, Canada, South Korea and Israel, we must complete an application process with the relevant regulator, which includes submitting the results of clinical trials for their review.

 

In addition to the requirements regarding product clearance, many countries also impose product standards, packaging requirements, environmental requirements, labeling requirements and import and export restrictions on our devices. Each country also has its own tariff regulations, duties and tax requirements. Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements may result in fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions, criminal prosecution, or other consequences.

 

In the United States, the FDCA and its implementing regulations govern the following activities that we perform and will continue to perform to help ensure that medical products distributed within the United States are safe and effective for their intended uses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of our currently marketed products has received 510(k) clearance for the uses for which they are being marketed.

 

 

FDA’s Premarket Clearance and Approval Requirements

 

Unless an exemption applies, each medical device we wish to commercially distribute in the United States requires 510(k) clearance or premarket approval. The FDA classifies medical devices into one of three classes -- Class I, Class II or Class III --depending on the degree of risk associated with each medical device and the extent of manufacturer and regulatory control needed to ensure safety and effectiveness. Class I includes devices with the lowest risk to the patient and are those for which safety and effectiveness can be assured by adherence to the FDA’s General Controls for medical devices, which include compliance with the applicable portions of the QSR, facility registration and product listing, reporting of adverse medical events, and truthful and non-misleading labeling, advertising, and promotional materials. Class II devices are subject to the FDA’s General Controls, and special controls as deemed necessary by the FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device. These special controls can include performance standards, post-market surveillance, patient registries and FDA guidance documents. While most Class I devices are exempt from the 510(k) premarket notification requirement, manufacturers of most Class II devices are required to submit to the FDA a premarket notification under Section 510(k) of the FDCA requesting permission to commercially distribute the device. The FDA’s permission to commercially distribute a device subject to a 510(k) premarket notification is generally known as 510(k) clearance. All of our current products are Class II devices subject to the 510(k) clearance requirements.

 

Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risks, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or some implantable devices, or devices that have a new intended use, or use advanced technology that is not substantially equivalent to that of a legally marketed device, are placed in Class III, requiring approval of a premarket approval application, or PMA. Some pre-amendment devices are unclassified, but are subject to the FDA’s premarket notification and clearance process in order to be commercially distributed.

 

510(k) Clearance Pathway

 

When a 510(k) clearance is required, we must submit a premarket notification demonstrating that our proposed device is “substantially equivalent,” as defined in the statute, to a previously cleared 510(k) device or a device that was in commercial distribution in the United States before May 28, 1976, the date upon which the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 were enacted, for which the FDA has not yet called for the submission of premarket approval applications.

 

After a 510(k) premarket notification is submitted, the FDA determines whether to accept it for substantive review. If it lacks necessary information for substantive review, the FDA will refuse to accept the 510(k) notification. If it is accepted for filing, the FDA begins a substantive review. By statute, the FDA is required to complete its review of a 510(k) notification within 90 days of receiving the 510(k) notification. As a practical matter, if the FDA requires additional information, clearance often takes far longer, and clearance is never assured. Although most 510(k) premarket notifications are cleared without clinical data, the FDA may require further information, including clinical data, to make a determination regarding substantial equivalence, which may significantly prolong the review process. If the FDA agrees that the device is substantially equivalent, it will grant clearance to commercially market the device.

 

If the FDA determines that the device is not “substantially equivalent” to a predicate device, or if the device is automatically classified into Class III, the device sponsor must then fulfill the much more rigorous premarketing requirements of the PMA approval process, or seek reclassification of the device through the de novo process. A manufacturer can also submit a petition for direct de novo review if the manufacturer is unable to identify an appropriate predicate device and the new device or new use of the device presents a moderate or low risk.

 

After a device receives 510(k) clearance, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a new or major change in its intended use, will require a new 510(k) clearance or, depending on the modification, could require a PMA application or de novo classification. The FDA requires each manufacturer to determine whether the proposed change requires submission of a 510(k) or a PMA in the first instance, but the FDA can review any such decision and disagree with a manufacturer’s determination. Many minor modifications are accomplished by a letter-to-file in which the manufacture documents the change in an internal letter-to-file. The letter-to-file is in lieu of submitting a new 510(k) to obtain clearance for such change. The FDA can always review these letters to file in an inspection. If the FDA disagrees with a manufacturer’s determination regarding whether a new premarket submission is required for the modification of an existing device, the FDA can require the manufacturer to cease marketing and/or recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance or approval of a PMA is obtained. In addition, in these circumstances, the FDA can impose significant regulatory fines or penalties for failure to submit the requisite PMA(s).

 

Over the last several years, the FDA has proposed reforms to its 510(k) clearance process, and such proposals could include increased requirements for clinical data and a longer review period, or could make it more difficult for manufacturers to utilize the 510(k) clearance process for their products. For example, in November 2018, FDA officials announced forthcoming steps that the FDA intends to take to modernize the premarket notification pathway under Section 510(k) of the FFDCA. Among other things, the FDA announced that it planned to develop proposals to drive manufacturers utilizing the 510(k) pathway toward the use of newer predicates. These proposals included plans to potentially sunset certain older devices that were used as predicates under the 510(k) clearance pathway and to potentially publish a list of devices that have been cleared on the basis of demonstrated substantial equivalence to predicate devices that are more than 10 years old. In May 2019, the FDA solicited public feedback on these proposals. These proposals have not yet been finalized or adopted, and the FDA may work with Congress to implement such proposals through legislation.

 

In September 2019, the FDA finalized guidance describing an optional “safety and performance based” premarket review pathway for manufacturers of “certain, well-understood device types” to demonstrate substantial equivalence under the 510(k) clearance pathway by showing that such device meets objective safety and performance criteria established by the FDA, thereby obviating the need for manufacturers to compare the safety and performance of their medical devices to specific predicate devices in the clearance process. The FDA maintains a list of device types appropriate for the “safety and performance based” pathway and will continue to develop product-specific guidance documents that identify the performance criteria for each such device type, as well as the testing methods recommended in the guidance documents, where feasible.

 

Laser devices used for aesthetic procedures, such as hair removal, have generally qualified for clearance under 510(k) procedures.

 

The table below presents the specific FDA 510(k) clearances, dates and summary of cleared indications for our BodyTite (Inmode RF), Optimas, Votiva, Contoura, Triton, EmbraceRF, Morpheus8, EvolveX, Evoke, platforms:

 

 

 

 

 

Premarket Approval Pathway

 

A PMA must be submitted to the FDA if the device cannot be cleared through the 510(k) process. A PMA must be supported by extensive data, including, but not limited to, technical, preclinical, clinical trials, manufacturing and labeling, to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device to the FDA’s satisfaction.

 

No device that we have developed has required premarket approval, nor do we currently expect that any future device or indication will require premarket approval.

 

Pervasive and Continuing Regulation

 

After the FDA permits a device to enter commercial distribution, numerous regulatory requirements apply. These include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We may be subject to similar foreign laws that may include applicable post-marketing requirements such as safety surveillance. Our manufacturing processes are required to comply with the applicable portions of the QSR, which cover the methods and the facilities and controls for the design, manufacture, testing, production, processes, controls, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, distribution, installation and servicing of finished devices intended for human use. The QSR also requires, among other things, maintenance of a device master file, device history file, and complaint files. As a manufacturer, our facilities, records and manufacturing processes are subject to periodic scheduled or unscheduled inspections by the FDA. Our failure to maintain compliance with the QSR or other applicable regulatory requirements could result in the shut-down of, or restrictions on, our manufacturing operations and the recall or seizure of our products. The discovery of previously unknown problems with any of our products, including unanticipated adverse events or adverse events of increasing severity or frequency, whether resulting from the use of the device within the scope of its clearance or off-label by a physician in the practice of medicine, could result in restrictions on the device, including the removal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory device recalls.

 

The FDA has broad post-market and regulatory enforcement powers. We are subject to unannounced inspections by the FDA to determine our compliance with the QSR and other regulations, and these inspections may include the facilities of our manufacturing subcontractors.

 

We also are regulated under the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act, which requires laser products to comply with performance standards, including design and operation requirements, and manufacturers to certify in product labeling and in reports to the FDA that their products comply with all such standards. The law also requires laser manufacturers to file new product and annual reports, maintain manufacturing, testing and sales records, and report product defects. Various warning labels must be affixed and certain protective devices installed, depending on the class of the product.

 

Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FDA also has the authority to require us to repair, replace or refund the cost of any medical device that we have manufactured or distributed. If any of these events were to occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

We are also subject to a wide range of federal, state and local laws and regulations, including those related to the environment, health and safety, land use, and quality assurance. We believe that we are in compliance with these laws and regulations as currently in effect, and our compliance with such laws will not have a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, earnings, and competitive and financial position.

 

Other Healthcare Laws

 

Although none of our products or procedures using our products are currently covered by any state or federal government healthcare programs, or any private commercial payor, we may be subject to a number of foreign, federal, and state laws and regulations that may restrict our business practices, including, without limitation, anti-kickback, false claims, physician payment transparency and data privacy and security laws. The government has interpreted these laws broadly as they apply to the marketing and sales activities of manufacturers and distributors. Companies targeted in such prosecutions and in civil litigation have paid substantial fines, penalties, and settlements in the hundreds of millions of dollars or more, have been forced to implement extensive corrective action plans, can be excluded from federal health care programs, and have often become subject to consent decrees, settlement agreements or corporate integrity agreements severely restricting the manner in which they conduct their business. Many U.S. states and countries outside the United States have similar fraud and abuse statutes or regulations that may be broader in scope than the U.S. federal laws, and may apply regardless of payor, in addition to items and services reimbursed under government programs.

 

International Regulations

 

International manufacturing and sales of medical devices are subject to foreign governmental regulations, which vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain clearance or approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and the requirements may be different.

 

The primary regulatory environment in Europe is that of the European Union or EU, which consists of 27 countries encompassing most of the major countries in Europe. The European Union has adopted numerous specific directives regulating the design, manufacture, clinical investigations, conformity assessment, labeling and adverse event reporting for medical devices.

 

Devices that comply with the essential requirements of the EU Medical Devices Directive (Directive 93/42/EEC) will be entitled to bear CE conformity marking, indicating that the device conforms with the essential requirements of the EU Medical Devices Directive and, accordingly, can be commercially distributed throughout the member states of the European Union, the member states of the European Economic Area, or EEA (which is comprised of the 27 EU countries, plus Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland), and countries that have entered into a Mutual Recognition Agreement. The method of assessing conformity varies depending on the type and (risk) class of the product but normally involves a combination of self-assessment by the manufacturer and a third-party assessment by a notified body, an independent organization designed by an EU country to conduct the conformity assessment. This third-party assessment may consist of an audit of the manufacturer’s quality system and specific testing of the manufacturer’s device. An assessment by a notified body in one member state of the European Union, the EEA or a country that has entered into a Mutual Recognition Agreement is required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute the product throughout these countries. European Standardization Committees and the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, have promulgated voluntary harmonized standards. Compliance with applicable standards establishes the presumption of conformity with the essential requirements for a CE Marking.

 

As a general rule, demonstration of conformity of medical devices and their manufacturers with the essential requirements must be based, among other things, on the evaluation of clinical data supporting the safety and performance of the products during normal conditions of use. Specifically, a manufacturer must demonstrate that the device achieves its intended performance during normal conditions of use, that the known and foreseeable risks, and any adverse events, are minimized and acceptable when weighed against the benefits of its intended performance, and that any claims made about the performance and safety of the device are supported by suitable evidence. All manufacturers placing medical devices into the market in the EEA must comply with the EU Medical Device Vigilance System. Under this system, incidents must be reported to the relevant authorities of the Member States of the EEA, and manufacturers are required to take Field Safety Corrective Actions, or FSCAs, to reduce a risk of death or serious deterioration in the state of health associated with the use of a medical device that is already placed on the market. An incident is defined as any malfunction or deterioration in the characteristics and/or performance of a device, as well as any inadequacy in the labeling or the instructions for use which, directly or indirectly, might lead to or might have led to the death of a patient or user or of other persons or to a serious deterioration in their state of health. An FSCA may include the recall, modification, exchange, destruction or retrofitting of the device. FSCAs must be communicated by the manufacturer or its legal representative to its customers and/or to the end users of the device through Field Safety Notices.

 

On May 25, 2017, the EU passed the Medical Devices Regulation (Regulation 2017/745) (“MDR”) entered into force, which repeals and replaces the EU Medical Devices Directive. Unlike directives, which must be implemented into the national laws of the EEA member states, regulations are directly applicable (i.e., without the need for adoption of EEA member state laws implementing them) in all EEA member states and are intended to eliminate current differences in the regulation of medical devices among EEA member states. The MDR, among other things, is intended to establish a uniform, transparent, predictable and sustainable regulatory framework across the EEA for medical devices and ensure a high level of safety and health while supporting innovation.

The MDR was however originally intended to become applicable three years after publication and, in April 2020, such transition period was extended by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Following the signing of a written agreement with the notify body, under MDR, by the date of MDD certificates expiry, The notify body confirms the extension of our MDD certificates until December 31, 2028,

These modifications may have an impact on the way we design and manufacture products and the way we conduct our business in the EEA.

 

Following the end of the “Brexit” Transition Period, since January 1, 2021, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has been responsible for the UK medical device market. The new regulations require medical devices to be registered with the MHRA (but manufacturers will be given a grace period of four to 12 months to comply with the new registration process). Manufacturers based outside the UK will need to appoint a UK Responsible Person to register devices with the MHRA in line with the grace periods. By July 1, 2023, in the UK (England, Scotland, and Wales), all medical devices will require a UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark but CE marks issued by EU notified bodies will remain valid until this time. However, UKCA marking alone will not be recognized in the EU. The rules for placing medical devices on the Northern Ireland market will differ from those in the UK. All of our platforms and applicators require UKCA marking.

 

Several member states of the EEA have voluntarily adopted laws and regulations that mirror those of the European Union with respect to medical devices. Other countries, such as Switzerland, have entered into Mutual Recognition Agreements and allow the marketing of medical devices that meet European Union requirements.

 

In Israel, the Medical Equipment Law generally governs the regulatory process and authorizations required for the manufacture, marketing and use of medical and certain aesthetic products in Israel. Under the Medical Equipment Law, we are required to register our products with the Israeli Ministry of Health. The Medical Equipment Law offers a fast-track approval process for devices that received approval from certain non-Israeli regulatory agencies, including FDA clearance or CE marks. The registration process under this fast-track process involves submitting an application to the Israeli Ministry of Health which includes, among other things, documentation confirming receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals, such as 510(k) clearance or CE mark certification. In addition, we must provide details regarding the approval, including the period for which the applicable device was authorized for marketing in the applicable country, registration terms, any limitations, and any instructions given with respect to the labeling and packaging of such device. If approved, the registration of the device in Israel will be valid for the same period that such device was authorized to be marketed in the applicable non-Israeli country (but in any event not more than five years from the date of registration in Israel), and the device will be subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the relevant non-Israeli regulatory agency, if any. We have taken advantage of such fast-track approval in the past. All of our products that we currently sell in Israel are registered with the Israeli Ministry of Health, with registrations that expired on January 31, 2021. We applied for extensions as required to maintain active registrations, and such registrations now expire on January 31, 2023.

 

Federal Communications Commission and other governmental agencies governing the use of radio frequency energy

 

Our products generate and use radio frequency energy and therefore may be subject to technical equipment authorization and other regulatory requirements in the countries and regions where they are marketed or distributed. In the United States, our products are subject to the Federal Communications Commission’s equipment verification procedures, under which the manufacturer is required to determine or verify that the equipment complies with the applicable technical standards and to keep a record of test measurements demonstrating compliance before the equipment can be marketed or sold in the United States. Any modifications to our products may require reverification before we are permitted to market and distribute the modified devices.

 

We obtain regulatory approvals in countries requiring advance clearance of our products before they are marketed or distributed in those countries. Our failure to comply with the technical, equipment authorization or other regulatory requirements of a specific country or region could impair our ability to commercially market and distribute our products in that country or region.

 

Data Protection

 

Our business involves the use, storage and transmission of information about our employees, our customers and, to a certain extent, clients of our customers. In the course of our operations, we may gain access to confidential customer information, including nonpublic personal data. We are bound by certain agreements to use and disclose this information in a manner consistent with the privacy standards under regulations applicable to our customers and are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign jurisdiction laws and regulations designed to protect this information. With the recent increase in publicity regarding data breaches resulting in improper dissemination of consumer information, many states have passed laws regulating the actions that a business must take if it experiences a data breach, such as prompt disclosure to affected customers, governmental entities, and the media. In addition to data breach notification laws, some states have enacted statutes and rules requiring businesses to protect certain types of personal information they hold or to otherwise comply with certain specified data security requirements for personal information. We intend to protect all personal information and to comply with all applicable laws regarding the protection of such information.

 

As an Israeli headquartered company, we are subject to the Israeli Protection of Privacy Law of 1981 and the Privacy Protection Regulations (Data Security) 5777-2017. Further, in the U.S., numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including data breach notification laws, health information privacy laws and consumer protection and advertising laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), that govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information could apply to our operations or the operations of our collaborators and third-party providers. For example, the CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. Further, the CPRA recently passed in California. The CPRA will impose additional data protection obligations on covered businesses, including additional consumer rights processes, limitations on data uses, new audit requirements for higher risk data, and opt outs for certain uses of sensitive data. It will also create a new California data protection agency authorized to issue substantive regulations and could result in increased privacy and information security enforcement. The majority of the provisions went into effect on January 1, 2023, and additional compliance investment and potential business process changes required.

 

In the European Union and the EEA, the GDPR imposes several stringent requirements for controllers and processors of personal data, including, for example, higher standards for obtaining consent from individuals to process their personal data, more robust disclosures to individuals and a strengthened individual data rights regime, shortened timelines for data breach notifications, limitations on retention and secondary use of information, increased requirements pertaining to health data and pseudonymised (i.e., key-coded) data and additional obligations when we contract third-party processors in connection with the processing of the personal data. The GDPR provides that EU and EEA member states may make their own further laws and regulations limiting the processing of genetic, biometric or health data, which could limit our ability to use and share personal data or could cause our costs to increase, and harm our business and financial condition. Failure to comply with the requirements of GDPR and the applicable national data protection laws of the EU and EEA member states may result in fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, and other administrative penalties. To comply with the new data protection rules imposed by GDPR, we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance. Further, since January 1, 2021, we are subject to the GDPR and also the UK GDPR, which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, e.g. fines up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of global turnover. The relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how UK data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term, and how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated in the long term. It is not clear whether (and when) an adequate decision may be granted by the European Commission enabling data transfers from European Union member states to the United Kingdom long-term without additional measures. These changes will lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.

 

Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA and the United Kingdom to the United States. Most recently, on July 16, 2020, the CJEU invalidated the Privacy Shield under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to US entities who had self-certified under the Privacy Shield scheme. While the CJEU upheld the adequacy of the standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contract approved by the European Commission as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism, and potential alternative to the Privacy Shield), it made clear that reliance on them alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances. Use of the standard contractual clauses must now be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular applicable surveillance laws and rights of individuals and additional measures and/or contractual provisions may need to be put in place, however, the nature of these additional measures is currently uncertain. The CJEU went on to state that if a competent supervisory authority believes that the standard contractual clauses cannot be complied with in the destination country and the required level of protection cannot be secured by other means, such supervisory authority is under an obligation to suspend or prohibit that transfer. We rely on a mixture of mechanisms to transfer personal data from the EEA to the United States, and could be impacted by these recent developments, which may require us to review and amend the legal mechanisms by which we make and/or receive personal data transfers to/in the U.S.

 

Corporate and Social Responsibility

 

Our management continues to participate in Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) Reporting on our website to respond to increased awareness of the importance of environmental and sustainability topics and non-material company activities towards the long-term success of the company. As a manufacturer of medical devices, we already adhere to strict quality and safety requirements dictated by regulatory bodies such as the FDA, CE, Health Canada, TGA (Australia), Brazil, Japan, Chinese NMPA (previously Chinese FDA), ISO, as well as international GMP standards. We successfully completed all audits conducted by the regulatory bodies in 2023, including a physical audit of our facilities and the facilities of our Tier 1 subcontractors-Medimor, Flex, and Resonetics. 

 

Our mission is to develop and produce innovative, life-changing technologies to enable patients to become their ‘best possible self’, in the safest and most effective manner. Our commitment to CSR topics complements InMode’s core values to provide the ultimate in customer care and support.

 

Management Discussion

 

In 2023, we completed reporting on all six topics defined by The SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) Sustainability Accounting Standard for Medical Equipment and Supplies. These topics were: Affordability & Pricing, Ethical Marketing, Product Design & Lifecycle Management, Business Ethics, Product Safety and Supply Chain Management.

 

MSCI Ratings

 

MSCI is one of the leading organizations to rank a company’s ESG compliance. MSCI has ranked InMode as “BB-Average rank”, based on a more in-depth review of the company’s ESG compliance activities. InMode’s ranking is above the industry’s average.

 

The CSR Reporting also highlights our impact on the local economies in government-designated development areas in the periphery where we work with contract suppliers and subcontractors (https://inmodemd.com/investors/corporate-social-responsibility/).

 

The CSR Reporting specifically focuses on our primary assembly and manufacturing facilities in Israel, the location of the Company’s headquarters. Further information on our corporate social responsibility efforts and SASB data reporting is available on our website. The information contained on our website or available through our website is not incorporated by reference into and should not be considered a part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F, and the reference to our website in this Annual Report on Form 20-F is an inactive textual reference only.

 

Environment

 

Carbon Emissions

 

Our products do not require any fossil fuels for manufacture, and we do not have any active carbon emissions from our headquarters. We are aware of the importance of reducing carbon emissions and have made a management decision to eliminate almost all air shipments to and from the United States and Canada, our largest markets. In addition we have forced a company policy for “slow boat” shipment for domestics shipments to reduce air shipments courier.

 

Industrial and Electronic Waste Disposal

 

We focused our efforts on setting baseline metrics for many of our activities. One of our priorities was to manage industrial and electronic waste disposal at our R&D facility. As a result, we entered into a new agreement with a government-approved industrial waste removal company. We designated an electronic waste depository in the warehouse and expected to manage the disposal every quarter. We assured that all our subcontractors full turnkey manufactures are fully meeting disposable local environmental regulations.

 

Printing

 

Annually, we sell hundreds of thousands of our consumables in boxes with colorful printed sleeves. We have established a technology to eliminate the sleeves and validate colorful boxes with no need for the colorful sleeves which will save printing and papers. This process has been started in 2023 and be implemented during on most products during 2024.

We have added manuals to a disk on key instead of printing where is applicable.

 

Social

 

As previously reported, we have started baseline metrics for many of our activities. This also holds true for many of our social and community involvement activities.

 

Employees

 

We continue to expand our staff around the world, by 101 employees, in 2023. We currently have a total of 581 employees of which 341 are male and 240 female.

 

We have 16 Vice Presidents in our Senior Management, of which four are female and 12 are male – representing a 33.3% ratio.

 

Training & Development

 

At InMode we carry out two types of training courses: Internal technical and sales training on all of InMode’s products, as well a professional development courses offered by third-party contractors. All new employees receive a full-day training in all of InModes platforms and handpieces. Additionally, with the introduction of each new product or technology, all clinical, marketing and sales personnel undergo product training. All team members employed in the production and testing lines receive advance technical training for manufacturing and maintenance of the new products.

 

Corporate Culture

 

InMode encourages an informal corporate culture, and the company organization encourages direct communication with managers and management, creating an atmosphere where every employee feels integral to the company's success. In 2023, this phenomenon manifested in many types of employee activities: company trips, Halloween celebrations, holiday festivities, summer picnics, spontaneous birthday parties, and more.

 

Community Involvement in the Periphery

 

Robotics Mentoring in Dimona

 

Since 2017, Moshe Mizrahy and InMode engineers have been involved with the FIRST Robotics Group at Amit Zinman High School in Dimona. Dimona is located in southern Israel and is an area in the lower rungs of the socioeconomic scale.

 

InMode supports the robotics team of Amit Zinman High School with more than just financial resources. Our engineers provide ongoing mentoring and opportunities to design electromechanical devices. One of the program's goals is to introduce STEM subjects into the community through projects and our outreach programs and activities for kindergartens and elementary schools. We continue to support the Robotics team with mentoring, resources, and funds and will continue in 2024.

 

Technology Project at ORT Maale Tiberias High School

 

InMode, together with Medimor, our Tier 1 supplier, has established a partnership with ORT Maale Tiberias school to create a sustainable technology project. We have earmarked one hundred thousand dollars to this educational project. Tiberias is in an economically depressed area of Israel and there have been few industry or business partnerships with Tiberias. We are proud to sponsor such an exciting and impactful project.

 

C. Organizational Structure

 

 

Name	Jurisdiction of Incorporation	Percentage Ownership
Invasix Inc.	Delaware, USA	100%
Invasix Corp.	Canada	100%
InMode M.D. Ltd.	Israel	100%
Invasix UK Ltd.	United Kingdom	100%
InMode Japan KK	Japan	100%
Invasix Iberia S.L.	Spain	100%
Guangzhou InMode Medical Technology Ltd.	China	100%
InMode Asia Limited.	Hong Kong	100%
InMode India Private Limited	India	100%
InMode Australia Pty Ltd	Australia	100%
IMD France EURL	France	100%
InMode Innovations Ltd.	Israel	100%
InMode Italy S.r.l	Italy	100%
InMode Germany GmbH	Germany	100%

 

D. Property, Plants and Equipment

 

We lease our main office, manufacturing and research and development facilities, located in the Industrial Zone in Yokneam, Israel, pursuant to a lease that expires in December 2027. The original agreement was signed in May 2018. In January 2019, February 2020, March 2021, March 2023 and May 2023, we signed supplemental lease agreements, further expanding our headquarters in Israel.

 

We currently lease approximately 35.6 thousand square feet in the Israeli facility. Our current monthly rent payment is approximately $64.5 thousand.

 

In August of 2020, our U.S. subsidiary, signed a new leasing agreement, for an approximately 24-thousand-square-foot facility located in Orange County, California, to support our expanding operations in the U.S. The new lease agreement is for seven years and four months and occupation of the new facility commenced in the middle of April of 2021. The current monthly rent payment is approximately $27 thousand.

 

Our Canadian subsidiary has signed a new lease agreement in April 2022 for an approximately 12-thousand-square-foot facility in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The new lease agreement is for three years which began in July 2022. The current monthly rent payment is approximately $17 thousand.

 

From time to time, we also lease small properties, mainly for offices for subsidiaries around the world which range for periods of up to three years.

 

We believe our current office space is sufficient to meet our anticipated needs for the foreseeable future and is suitable for the conduct of our business.

 

ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

 

None.

 

ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

 

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, which are included elsewhere in this 2023 Annual Report. A discussion of the year ended December 31, 2021 can be found in the Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on February 14, 2023.

 

Overview

 

We design, develop, manufacture and commercialize innovative, energy-based, non-invasive, minimally invasive surgical aesthetic and medical treatment solutions. Since 2010, we have launched 12 product platforms (BodyTite, Optimas, Votiva, Contoura, Triton, EmbraceRF, EvolveX, Evoke, Morpheus8, EmpowerRF, Define and Envision) that we market and sell traditionally to plastic and facial surgeons, aesthetic surgeons, medical spas, dermatologists and OB/GYNs.

 

As of December 31, 2023, we had a global installed base of approximately 22,900 product platforms capable of running various multi-use applicators and minimally invasive consumables.

 

We anticipate that our quarterly results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to several factors, including seasonality, unexpected delays in the introduction and market acceptance of our products, unexpected delays in our manufacturing operations, introduction of new and improved products by our competitors and the performance of our direct sales organization.

 

Components of Our Operating Results

 

Revenues

 

We generate our revenues primarily from the sale of energy-based medical aesthetic products, which consist of platforms and non-consumable handpieces and hands-free applicators. To a lesser extent, we generate revenue from the sale of consumables and from the sale of extended warranties. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we derived approximately 84% of our revenues from the sale of medical aesthetic products and approximately 16% of our revenues from the sale of consumables and extended warranties. We expect our revenues from the sale of consumables and extended warranties to increase over time as our installed base continues to grow. We have experienced growth in sales of consumables in the past six years. Recent revenue growth has been driven by, and we expect continued growth as a result of, increased patient and physician awareness of our medical aesthetic products and additional sales representatives. We have expanded our sales and marketing organization as well as our number of platforms, to help us drive and support revenue growth and intend to continue this expansion.

 

For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 we derived approximately $406.6 million, or 83% and $369.0 million, or 81%, respectively, of our total revenues from the sale of minimally invasive platforms, and we derived approximately $43.1 million, or 8% and $45.2 million, or 10%, respectively, of our total revenues from the sale of hands-free platforms and approximately $42.4 million, or 9% and $40.1 million, or 9%, respectively, of our total revenues from the sale of non-invasive platforms. This resulted in the year ended December 31, 2023 in growth of approximately $37.6 million, or 10% and $2.3 million, or 6% in revenues from the sale of minimally invasive platforms and non-invasive platforms respectively, and a decrease of approximately $2.1 million, or 5% in hands-free platforms. In the future, we expect that revenues from the sale of minimally invasive platforms and hands-free platforms will continue to be a major contributor to our revenues. Results for the year ended December 31, 2021 are provided in the consolidated financial statements and notes filed with this report on Form 20-F beginning on page [F-1].

 

We sell our products directly in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan Australia and India, and indirectly through third-party distributors in other countries.

 

The following table provides information regarding the breakdown of our revenue by geographic region for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022:

 

 

*Revenues are attributed to geographic areas based on the location of customer

 

We believe that there are opportunities for us to generate additional revenue from existing customers who are already familiar with our products. We intend to continue to invest in research and development activities, increase the number of sales representatives in our sales and marketing organization and introduce innovative next-generation pipeline products to our customers. As a result, we expect that certain existing customers will be candidates for technology upgrades to enhance the capabilities of their existing InMode products. In addition, as we continue to grow our support services program, we expect to increase the number of customers that enter into service contracts and extended warranties with us, which would result in additional recurring revenues. We also plan to expand our current product line in order to reach non-traditional customers, such as ENTs (ear, nose, and throat), ophthalmologists, general practitioners and aesthetic clinicians, and generate additional revenue.

 

Cost of Revenues

 

Our cost of revenues consists primarily of the expenses we incur to have our products manufactured and assembled by third parties and the direct costs we incur in order to obtain the materials, labor and overhead that are needed to manufacture and assemble our products.

 

Our cost of revenues also includes shipping, handling, service and warranty expenses, as well as salaries and personnel-related expenses, including share-based compensation expenses, for our operations management team, which is comprised of subcontractor supervisors and purchasing and quality control employees. We expect our cost of revenues to increase in absolute dollars primarily as, and to the extent, our revenue grows.

 

Our cost of revenues as a percentage of revenues has been, and we expect it to continue to be, affected by a variety of factors, including manufacturing costs, the average selling price of our products, the maturity of our existing products, promotional prices being offered to existing customers for our new products, and to a lesser extent the sales mix between the United States and the rest of the world as our average selling price in the United States tends to be higher than in the rest of the world. We expect our gross margin to be maintained at current levels over time to the extent we are successful in offsetting increased material and shipping costs with reducing manufacturing costs as our sales volume increases, as well as, maintaining our average selling prices. However, our gross margin may fluctuate from period to period.

 

Research and Development Expenses

 

Our research and development expenses consist of salaries and personnel-related expenses, including share-based compensation expenses, for our employees that are primarily engaged in research, development and engineering activities. Our research and development expenses also include regulatory-related costs and expenses, external engineering fees, materials used and other overhead expenses that are incurred in connection with the design and development of our products. For further details with respect to government regulations we are subject to, see “Item 4B. Information on the Company-Business Overview-Government Regulations.” We expense all of our research and development costs as incurred. While we do not track our research and development spending by technology, product or application, we do expect that our overall research and development costs will increase in absolute dollars in the future as we develop more products and technologies. We expect research and development expenses as a percentage of our total revenue to vary over time depending on the level and timing of initiating new product development efforts.

 

Sales and Marketing Expenses

 

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of salaries, commissions and personnel-related expenses, including share-based compensation expenses, for our employees that are engaged in sales and marketing activities, which include marketing and public support of our products, participation in trade shows and industry events, promotional and public relations activities, and administrative functions in support of sales and marketing. We expect sales and marketing expenses to continue to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to expand our marketing organization to both drive and support our planned growth in revenue.

 

General and Administrative Expenses

 

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and personnel-related expenses, including share-based compensation expenses, for executive, accounting and administrative personnel, professional fees and other general corporate expenses. We expect general and administrative expenses to grow at a steady state as our operations will continue to expand. However, general and administrative expenses may vary over time, due to increasing legal and insurance premium costs and involvement in IP related litigations.

 

Income Taxes

 

We are subject to income taxes in Israel, the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions.

 

Our facilities in Israel were previously granted the status of “Benefited Enterprise” which provided us with a ten-year corporate tax exemption for undistributed income from 2012 to 2021. From 2022, the corporate tax rate of the Company under the Encouragement of Capital Investments Regulations (Preferred Technology Income and Capital Profits for a Technological Enterprise 2017), and its Israeli subsidiary is expected to be approximately 7.5%.See “Item 10E. Additional Information-Taxation.”

 

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

For a description of our significant accounting policies, see Note 2b to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 18 of this annual report.

 

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions in certain circumstances that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, sales and expenses and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. On a periodic basis, we evaluate our estimates. Because of the uncertainty inherent in these matters, actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

The following are our critical accounting policies and estimates affecting the application of those policies in our consolidated financial statements.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

Product revenue, net

 

Revenues from product sales are recognized when the customer obtains control over our product, typically upon shipment to the customer. Taxes collected from customers relating to product sales and remitted to governmental authorities are excluded from revenues.

 

Variable consideration includes price concessions related to installment sales contracts. We estimate variable consideration using the most likely outcome amount. Amounts included in the transaction price are recognized only when it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenues will not occur.

 

We do not grant any right of return, refund, cancelation or termination. From time to time, we participate in our customers’ marketing activities and deduct costs related to such activities from revenue.

 

Service Revenue

 

We also generate revenues from long-term maintenance contracts, or Extended Warranties. Revenue from Extended Warranties is recognized ratably, on a straight-line basis, over the period of the applicable service contract. Revenue from repairs performed in the absence of Extended Warranties is recognized when the related services are performed.

 

More information regarding revenue recognition is discussed in Note 2q in our consolidated financial statements.

 

Income Taxes

 

Operating Results

 

The following table summarizes the results of our operations for the periods presented:

 

 

Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2023 to the Year Ended December 31, 2022

 

Revenues

 

Our revenues increased by approximately $37.8 million, or 8%, to approximately $492.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $454.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was attributable to an increase in sales of our minimal invasive platforms worldwide in the amount of $37.6 million and increase in sales of our non-invasive platforms worldwide in the amount of $2.3 million, offset by a decrease in the sales of our hand free platforms worldwide in the amount of $2.1 million.

 

Our revenues in the United States increased by approximately $9.2 million, or 3%, to approximately $307.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $$298.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in sales of our minimal invasive platforms in the U.S. in the amount of $10.9 million, additional sales representatives worldwide, the growth of consumable sales, offset by a decrease in the sales of hand free platforms in the U.S. in the amount of $2.0 million.

 

Our revenues outside of the United States increased by approximately $28.6, or 18%, to approximately $184.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $155.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in revenues in Europe of $13.2 million as result of an increase in sales representatives in this region and opening another subsidiary in the region, an increase of $5.9 million in Canada due to an increase in sales representatives in this region and an increase in patient and physicians awareness in the region, and an increase of $11.3 million in the Asia region as result of an increase in sales representatives in this region and opening another subsidiary in the region.

 

Our revenues from the sale of consumables and extended warranties for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased by approximately 33% compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily attributable to the growth in our installed platform base by 5,900 platforms, as well as patients and physicians becoming more familiar with our products.

 

Cost of revenues

 

Our cost of revenues increased by approximately $7.2 million, or 10%, to approximately $80.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $73.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily due to increased in sales and higher costs to purchase manufactured products to support the higher sales volume in the amount of $6.8 million. Our gross margin for the year ended December 31, 2023, and for the year ended December 31, 2022 was 84% without change.

 

Research and development expenses

 

Our research and development expenses increased to approximately $13.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $12.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in research and development team expenses in the amount of $0.9 million due to of the addition of R&D employees and increase in salaries.

 

Sales and marketing expenses

 

Our sales and marketing expenses increased by approximately $32.5 million, or 20%, to approximately $193.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $160.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase was primarily attributable to increase in salary and related expenses in the amount of $19.8 million and an increase in marketing expenses in the amount of $9.7 million relating to increase in volume of sales in 2023.

 

General and administrative expenses

 

Our general and administrative expenses decreased by approximately $0.7 million, or 7%, to approximately $9.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $9.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in salary and related expenses in the amount of $0.5 million.

 

Finance income, net

 

Our finance income, net was approximately $21.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase in finance income, net was primarily attributable to higher interest rate in 2023 compared to 2022 from our portfolio of investments in bonds and corporate debt securities and short-term bank deposits in the amount of $16.0 million and changes in exchange rate in the amount of $2.0.

 

Income taxes

 

Our income taxes decreased by approximately $20.6 million, or 52%, to approximately $19.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to approximately $39.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This decrease was primarily attributable to one-time payment in 2022 of the Company to the Israeli tax authority of approximately $12 million for undistributed exempt income for years 2012 until 2020, and an additional one-time payment of the Company to the Israeli tax authority of approximately $14.3 million for the tax year of 2021. The additional increase is due to an increase in income before tax and an increase in financial income which are subject to higher tax rates. See “Item 10E. Additional Information-Taxation”.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Historically, we have funded our operations primarily from cash flows from operations, from private placements of our ordinary shares, from our initial public offering in August 2019 and from exercise of options. Since inception in January 2008, we have not received any debt financing from banks or issued any preferred or debt securities. We have received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $107.2 million from issuances of our ordinary shares, including approximately $69.8 million from our initial public offering.

 

In September 2020, we approved a share repurchase program of up to 2 million ordinary shares, to be purchased out of our cash reserve and to be paid solely from our IPO proceeds. In February 2022, the board approved that the share repurchase program could also be funded from the proceeds of exercised options. In March 2022, we approved an additional repurchase program of up to one million ordinary shares, to be purchased out of our cash reserve and to be paid from our remaining IPO proceeds and from the proceeds of exercised options. As of December 31, 2023, we purchased 2,557,829 shares in the amount of $95.2 million under these repurchase programs.

 

As of December 31, 2023, we had working capital of approximately $781.2 million, and our primary source of liquidity was approximately $741.6  million in cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities and bank deposits. Our major cash requirements are obligations to support our ongoing operations which consist primarily of salary and commissions expenses for employees, and contractual obligations for our subcontractors and lease agreements. We expect our working capital to be sufficient for the Company’s present requirements.