There are significant civil and criminal penalties that may be imposed on a covered entity or business associate for violating HIPAA. A covered entity or business associate may also be liable for civil money penalties for a violation that is based on an act or omission of any of its agents, including a downstream business associate, as determined according to the federal common law of agency. Additionally, to the extent that we submit electronic healthcare claims and payment transactions that do not comply with the electronic data transmission standards established under HIPAA and HITECH, payments to us may be delayed or denied.

The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is an independent U.S. law enforcement agency charged with protecting consumers and enhancing competition across broad sectors of the economy. The FTC’s primary legal authority with respect to data privacy and security comes from Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the marketplace. The FTC has increasingly used this broad authority to police data privacy and security, using its powers to investigate and bring lawsuits. Where appropriate, the FTC can seek a variety of remedies, such as but not limited to requiring the implementation of comprehensive privacy and security programs, biennial assessments by independent experts, monetary redress to consumers, and provision of robust notice and choice mechanisms to consumers. In addition to its enforcement mechanisms, the FTC uses a variety of tools to protect consumers’ privacy and personal information, including pursuing enforcement actions to stop violations of law, conducting studies and issuing reports, hosting public workshops, developing educational materials, and testifying before the U.S. Congress on issues that affect consumer privacy.

In recent years, the FTC’s enforcement under Section 5 related to data security has included alleged violations of the “unfairness” prong. Many of these cases have alleged that companies were unfair to consumers because they failed to take reasonable and necessary measures to protect consumer data. The FTC has not provided bright line rules defining what constitutes “reasonable and necessary measures” for implementing a cybersecurity program, but it has provided guidance, tips and advice for companies. The FTC has also published past complaints and consent orders, which it urges companies use as examplesguidance to help avoid an FTC enforcement action, even if a data breach or loss occurs.

In addition to the FTC Act, most U.S. states have unfair and deceptive acts and practices statutes, orknown as UDAP statutes, that substantially mirror the FTC Act and have been applied in the privacy and data security context. These vary in substance and strength from state to state. Many have broad prohibitions against unfair and deceptive acts and practices, while New York’s UDAP statute, for instance, is limited to only deceptive acts and practice.practices. These statutes generally allow for private rights of action and are enforced by the states’ Attorneys General.

The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, is a comprehensive consumer privacy law that took effect on January 1, 2020, and regulates how certain for-profit businesses that meet one or more CCPA applicability thresholds collect, use, and disclose the personal information of consumers who reside in California. Among other things, the CCPA confers to California consumers the right to receive notice of the categories of personal information that will be collected by a business, how the business will use and share the personal information, and the third parties who will receive the personal information; the CCPA also confers rights to access, delete, or transfer personal information; and the right to receive equal service and pricing from a business after exercising a consumer right granted by the CCPA. In addition, every U.S. statethe CCPA allows California consumers the right to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information, which the CCPA defines broadly as any disclosure of personal information to a third party in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration. The CCPA also requires a business to implement reasonable security procedures to safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

The California Attorney General has had authority to enforce the CCPA and its implementing regulations against covered businesses since July 1, 2020. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as private right of action for data breaches that result from a business’ failure to implement and maintain reasonable data breach notification lawsecurity procedures.

On November 3, 2020, California passed the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) through a ballot initiative. The CPRA will create a new California Privacy Protection Agency, an “independent watchdog” whose mission is both to “vigorously enforce” the CPRA and “ensure that requires entitiesbusinesses and consumers are well‐informed about their rights and obligations.” Among other things, the CPRA will create a new category of “sensitive personal information” and offer consumers the right to report certainlimit processing of such information, impose purpose limitation, data minimization, data retention, and security incidentscompliance obligations on regulated businesses, and add or modify the rights available to affected consumers, including by providing a right to correct the information a business holds about them. The CPRA’s amendments to the CCPA will take effect on January 1, 2023, and state regulators.will generally apply to personal information collected by businesses on or after January 1, 2022. The California Attorney General will have authority to begin enforcing the CPRA’s amendments to the CCPA beginning on July 1, 2022.

There are a growing number of jurisdictions all overaround the worldglobe that have privacy and data protection laws.laws that may apply to Invitae as it enters or expands its business in jurisdictions outside of the United States. These laws are typically triggered by a company’s establishment or physical location in the jurisdiction, data processing activities that take place in the jurisdiction, and/or the processing of personal information about individuals located in that jurisdiction. Certain international privacy and data protection laws, such as those in the European Union can be(EU), are more restrictive and prescriptive than those in the U.S., while other jurisdictions canmay have laws less restrictive or prescriptive than those in the U.S. Enforcement of these laws varyvaries from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with a variety of consequences, including civil or criminal penalties.penalties, litigation, private rights of action or damage to our reputation.

The European Union’sEU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, took effect inon May 25, 2018. The GDPR applies to any business, regardless of its location,entity established in the EU as well as extraterritorially to any entity outside the EU that providesoffers goods or services to, residentsor monitors the behavior of, individuals who are located in the European Union.EU. The GDPR imposes strict requirements on controllers and processors of personal data, including specialenhanced protections for “sensitive information”“special categories” of personal data, which includes sensitive information such as health and genetic information of data subjects residing in the European Union.subjects. The GDPR also grants individuals various rights in relation to their personal data, including the right torights of access, rectification, objection to certain processing and deletion, anddeletion. The GDPR provides an individual with an express right to seek legal remedies if the individual believes his or her rights have been violated. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR andor the related national data protection laws of the member states of the European Union,EU, which may deviate slightly from or be more restrictive than the GDPR, may result in significant administrative fines issued by EU regulators. Maximum penalties for violations of the EU GDPR are capped at 20 million Euros or 4% of an organization's annual global revenue, whichever is greater.

Canada has several federal, provincial and territorial privacy statutes that govern the protection of personal information. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act 2000, or PIPEDA, applies to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information in the course of commercial activities in Canada. Although PIPEDA is silent with respect to its extraterritorial application, the Federal Court of Canada has concluded that PIPEDA applies to businesses established in other jurisdictions if there is a “real and substantial connection” between the organization’s activities and Canada. PIPEDA and provincial data protection laws require specific notices regarding openness and transparency and require regulated organizations to obtain consent in order to process such information. Canadian individuals enjoy rights or access and to correct inaccuracies. Violations of Canadian data protection laws can result in significant fines.

In the United States, there are various fraud and abuse laws with which we must comply, and we are potentially subject to regulation by various federal, state and local authorities, including CMS, other divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (e.g., the Office of Inspector General), the U.S. Department of Justice, and individual U.S. Attorney offices within the Department of Justice, and state and local governments. We also may be subject to foreign fraud and abuse laws.

In the United States, the federal Anti‑KickbackAnti-Kickback Statute prohibits knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce or in return for the referral of an individual for the furnishing of or arranging for the furnishing of any item or service for which payment may be made in whole or in part by a federal healthcare program, or the purchasing, leasing, ordering or arranging for or recommending purchasing, leasing or ordering of any good, facility, service or item for which payment may be made in whole or in part by a federal healthcare program. Many courts have held that the Anti‑KickbackAnti-Kickback Statute may be violated if any one purpose of the remuneration is to induce or reward patient referrals or other federal healthcare program business, regardless of whether there are other legitimate purposes for the arrangement. The definition of “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value, including gifts, discounts, credit arrangements, payments of cash, consulting fees, waivers of co‑payments,

There are also federal laws related to healthcare fraud and false statements, among others, that apply to healthcare matters. The healthcare fraud statute prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including private payers. A violation of this statute is a felony and may result in fines, imprisonment, or exclusion from governmental payer programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The false statements statute prohibits, among other things, knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact, or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items, or services. A violation of this statute is a felony and may result in fines, imprisonment, or exclusion from governmental payer programs.

Another development affecting the healthcare industry is the increased enforcement of the federal False Claims Act and, in particular, actions brought pursuant to the False Claims Act’s “whistleblower” or “qui tam” provisions. The False Claims Act imposes liability on any person or entity that, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment by a federal governmental payer program. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow a private individual to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging that the defendant has defrauded the federal government by presenting or causing to be presented a false claim to the federal government and permit such individuals to share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. When an entity is determined to have violated the False Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus civil penalties for each false claim. For penalties assessed after January 29, 2018,June 19, 2020, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015, the penalties range from $11,181$11,665 to $22,363$23,331 for each false claim. The minimum and maximum per claim penalty amounts are subject to annual increases for inflation.

In addition, various states have enacted false claim laws analogous to the federal False Claims Act, and some of these state laws apply where a claim is submitted to any third‑partythird-party payer and not only a governmental payer program.

Additionally, the civil monetary penalties statute imposes penalties against any person or entity that, among other things, is determined to have knowingly presented or caused to be presented a claim to a federal health program that the person knows or should know is for an item or service that was not provided as claimed or for a claim that is false or fraudulent. This law also prohibits the offering or transfer of remuneration to a Medicare or state healthcare program beneficiary if the person knows or should know it is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner, or supplier for items or services reimbursable by Medicare or a state healthcare program. There are several exceptions to the prohibition on beneficiary inducement.

A recently enacted law, theThe Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018, (“EKRA”),or EKRA, prohibits payments for referrals to recovery homes, clinical treatment facilities, and laboratories. EKRA’s reach extends beyond federal health care programs, to include private insurance (i.e., it is an “all payer” statute). For purposes of EKRA, the term “laboratory” is defined broadly and without reference to any connection to substance use disorder treatment. EKRA is a criminal statute and violations can result in fines of up to $200,000, up to 10 years in prison, or both, per violation. The law includes a limited number of exceptions, some of which closely align with corresponding federal Anti-Kickback Statute exceptions and safe harbors and others that materially differ.

We are also subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, which prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. In Europe various countries have adopted anti‑briberyanti-bribery laws providing for severe consequences, in the form of criminal penalties and/or significant fines, for individuals and/or companies committing a bribery offence. Violations of these anti‑briberyanti-bribery laws, or allegations of such violations, could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and reputation. For instance, in the United Kingdom, under the Bribery Act 2010, which went into effect in July 2011, a bribery occurs when a person offers, gives or promises to give a financial or other advantage to induce or reward another individual to improperly perform certain functions or activities, including any function of a public nature. Bribery of foreign public officials also falls within the scope of the Bribery

A federal law directed at “self‑referrals,“self-referrals,” commonly known as the “Stark Law,” prohibits a physician from referring a patient to an entity for certain Medicare-covered designated health services, including laboratory services, if the physician, or an immediate family member, has a financial relationship with the entity, unless an exception applies. The Stark Law also prohibits an entity from billing for services furnished pursuant to a prohibited referral. A physician or entity that engages in a scheme to circumvent the Stark Law’s referral prohibition may be fined up to $100,000$172,137 for each such arrangement or scheme. In addition, any person who presents or causes to be presented a claim to the Medicare program in violation of the Stark Law is subject to civil monetary penalties of up to $15,000$25,820 per service, an assessment of up to three times the amount claimed and possible exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs. Bills submitted in violation of the Stark Law may not be paid by Medicare, and any person collecting any amounts with respect to any such prohibited bill is obligated to refund such amounts. Many states have comparable laws that apply to services covered by other third-party payers. The Stark Law also prohibits state receipt of federal Medicaid matching funds for services furnished pursuant to a prohibited referral. This provision of the Stark Law has not been implemented by regulations, but some courts have held that the submission of claims to Medicaid that would be prohibited as self‑referralsself-referrals under the Stark Law for Medicare could implicate the False Claims Act.

Numerous states have enacted laws prohibiting business corporations, such as us, from practicing medicine and employing or engaging clinicians to practice medicine, generally referred to as the prohibition against the corporate practice of medicine. These laws are designed to prevent interference in the medical decision‑makingdecision-making process by anyone who is not a licensed physician. For example, California’s Medical Board has indicated that determining what diagnostic tests are appropriate for a particular condition and taking responsibility for the ultimate overall care of the patient, including providing treatment options available to the patient, would constitute the unlicensed practice of medicine if performed by an unlicensed person. Violation of these corporate practice of medicine laws may result in civil or criminal fines, as well as sanctions imposed against us and/or the professional through licensure proceedings.

Unlike patents directed to specific genes, we do rely upon, in part, patent protection to protect technology that is not gene‑specificgene-specific and that provides us with a potential competitive advantage as we focus on making comprehensive genetic information less expensive and more broadly available to our customers. In this regard, we have issued U.S. patents, pending U.S. patent applications and corresponding non-U.S. patents and patent applications directed to various aspects of our laboratory, analytic and business practices. We intend to pursue further patent protection where appropriate.

In addition to seeking patent protection for some of our laboratory, analytic and business practices, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know‑how,know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain and develop our competitive position. We have developed proprietary procedures for both the laboratory processing of patient samples and the analysis of the resulting data to generate clinical reports. For example, we have automated aspects of our processes for curating information about known variants, identifying variants in an individual’s sequence information, associating those variants with known information about their potential effects on disease, and presenting that information for review by personnel responsible for its interpretation and for the delivery of test reports to clinicians.clinicians and patients. We try to protect these trade secrets, in part, by taking reasonable steps to keep them confidential. This includes entering into nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees and certain third parties. We also enter into invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants that obligate them to assign to us any inventions developed in the course of their work for us. However, we may not enter into such agreements with all relevant parties, and these parties may not abide by the terms of their agreements. Despite measures taken to protect our intellectual property, unauthorized parties might copy or independently develop and commercially exploit aspects of our technology or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary.

We work hard to achieve a high level of quality in our operations and to provide our customers with a superior experience when interacting with us. As a consequence, our brand is very important to us, as it is a symbol of our reputation and representative of the goodwill we seek to generate with our customers. As a consequence, we have invested significant resources in protection of our trademarks.

Our operations require the use of hazardous materials (including biological materials) that subject us to a variety of federal, state and local environmental and safety laws and regulations. Some of these regulations provide for strict liability, holding a party potentially liable without regard to fault or negligence. We could be held liable for damages and fines as a result of our, or others’, business operations should contamination of the environment or individual exposure to hazardous substances occur. We cannot predict how changes in laws or new regulations will affect our business, operations or the cost of compliance.

We rely on a limited number of suppliers, or, in some cases, sole suppliers, including Agena Bioscience, Inc., Illumina, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Incorporated, Qiagen N.V., Roche Holdings Ltd., QIAGEN, Inc. and Twist Bioscience Corporation for certain laboratory reagents, as well as sequencers and other equipment and materials which we use in our laboratory operations. We are in active litigation with affiliates of QIAGEN, Inc. as described in Note 8, "Commitments and contingencies" in Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this report. We rely on Illumina as the sole supplier of next generation sequencers and associated reagents and as the sole provider of maintenance and repair services for these sequencers.sequencers and QIAGEN, Inc. to provide the enzymes that we use in our products. Our laboratory operations could be interrupted if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these reagents and enzymes, sequencers or other equipment or materials, and if we cannot obtain an acceptable substitute. Any such interruption could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation. We believe that there are only a few other manufacturers that are currently capable of supplying and servicing the equipment necessary for our laboratory operations, including sequencers and various associated reagents.reagents and enzymes. The use of equipment or materials provided by these replacement suppliers would require us to alter our laboratory operations. Transitioning to a new supplier would be time consuming and expensive, may result in interruptions in our laboratory operations, could affect the performance specifications of our laboratory operations or could require that we revalidate our tests. We cannot assure yoube certain that we wouldwill be able to secure alternative equipment, reagents and other materials, or bring such equipment, reagents and materials on line and revalidate them without experiencing interruptions in our workflow. If we encounter delays or difficulties in securing, reconfiguring or revalidating the equipment and reagents we require for our tests,materials, our business and reputation could be adversely affected.

We receive payment for our testsproducts and services from patients, biopharmaceutical partners, patients, institutional customersthird-party payers and third-party payers.other business-to-business customers. As of December 31, 2018, substantially all2020, our revenue has been primarily derived from test reports generated from our assays. A single payer accounted for 22%, 13%, and 11%See information regarding our customer concentration in Note 2, “Summary of significant accounting policies” in Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report.

We have historically experienced higher revenue in our fourth quarter compared to other quarters in our fiscal year due in part to seasonal demand of our tests from patients who have met their annual insurance deductible. However, changes in our product and payer mix might cause these historical seasonal patterns to be different than future patterns of revenue or financial performance.

The strength of our team and the culture in which we work is essential to our ability to achieve our broader mission. Attracting, developing and retaining exceptional employees is vitally important to us, but we also invest in creating a differentiated culture for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017,our team that enables continuous innovation at scale. We want Invitae to be a force for good, a team that is helping make genetics and 2016, respectively.

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on January 13, 2010 under the name Locus Development, Inc. and changed our name to Invitae Corporation in 2012. In February 2015 we completed an initial public offering of our common stock.

We make available free of charge on our website our annual reports on Form 10‑K,10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10‑Q,10-Q, current reports on Form 8‑K8-K and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. You may obtain a free copy of these reports in the Investor Relations section of our website, www.invitae.com. All reports that we file are also available at www.sec.gov.

We have incurred substantial losses since our inception. For the years ended December 31, 2018, 20172020, 2019 and 2016,2018, our net losses were $129.4$602.2 million, $123.4$242.0 million and $100.3$129.4 million, respectively. At December 31, 2018,2020, our accumulated deficit was $516.7 million.$1.4 billion. While our revenue has increased over time, we expect to continue to incur significant losses. In addition,losses as we invest in our business. We incurred research and development expenses of $240.6 million, $141.5 million and $63.5 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and selling and marketing expenses of $168.3 million, $122.2 million and $74.4 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. We expect these losses may increase as we focus on scaling our business and operations and expanding our testing capabilities, which may also increase our operating expenses.expenses, and we have experienced and may continue to experience decreases in test volume due to the impact of COVID-19. In addition, as a result of the integration of acquired businesses, we may be subject to unforeseen or additional expenditures, costs or liabilities.liabilities, including costs and potential liabilities associated with litigation. Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and willmay continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity, working capital and stock price. Our failure to achieve and sustain profitability in the future would negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

We began operations in January 2010 and commercially launched our initial assay in late November 2013; accordingly, we have a relatively limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. Our limited commercial history makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and makes predictions about our future results, prospects or viability subject to significant uncertainty. Our prospects must be considered in light of the risks and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stage of development, particularly companies in new and rapidly evolving markets such as ours. These risks include an evolving and unpredictable business model and the management of growth. To address these risks, we must, among other things, increase our customer base; continue to implement and successfully execute our business and marketing strategy; identify, acquire and successfully integrate companies, assets or technologies in areas that are complementary to our business strategy; successfully enter into other strategic collaborations or relationships; obtain access to capital on acceptable terms and effectively utilize that capital; identify, attract, hire, retain, motivate and successfully integrate additional employees; continue to expand, automate and upgrade our laboratory, technology and data systems; obtain, maintain and expand coverage and reimbursement by healthcare payers; provide rapid test turnaround times with accurate results at low prices; provide superior customer service; and respond to competitive developments; and attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.developments. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in addressing these risks, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We expect capital expenditures and operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we expand our infrastructure, commercial operations, research and development and selling and marketing activities and pursue and integrate acquisitions. We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2018,2020, including the net proceeds from our recent public offering and revenue from sales of our tests and available debt under our 2018 Note Purchase Agreement will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements for our currently-planned operations for the 12-month period following the filing date of this report.foreseeable future. We may needraise additional fundingcapital to finance operations prior to achieving profitability, or should we make additional acquisitions. We may seek to raise additional capital through equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations or licensing arrangements. Additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, the terms of our credit agreement restrict our ability to incur certain indebtedness and issue certain equity securities. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to our stockholders would result. Any equity securities issued also may provide for rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock. The terms of debt securities issued or borrowings, if available, could impose significant restrictions on our operations. Our obligations under our 2018 Note Purchase Agreement are subject to covenants, including quarterly covenants to achieve certain revenue levels as well as additional covenants, including limits on our ability to dispose of assets, undergo a change in control, merge with or acquire other entities, incur debt, incur liens, pay dividends or other distributions to holders of our capital stock, repurchase stock and make investments, in each case subject to certain exceptions. Our obligations under our 2018 Note Purchase Agreement are secured by a security interest on substantially all of our and certain of our subsidiaries' assets.

The incurrence of additional indebtedness or the issuance of certain equity securities could result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt or issue additional equity, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights, and other operating restrictions that could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business. In addition, the issuance of additional equity securities by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In the event that we enter into collaborations or licensing arrangements to raise capital, we may be required to accept unfavorable terms. These agreements may require that we relinquish or license to a third party on unfavorable terms our rights to tests we otherwise would seek to develop or commercialize ourselves, or reserve certain opportunities for future potential arrangements when we might be able to achieve more favorable terms. If we are not able to secure additional funding when needed, we may have to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more research and development programs, selling and marketing initiatives, or potential acquisitions. In addition, we may have to work with a partner on one or more aspects of our tests or market development programs, which could lower the economic value of those tests or programs to our company.

With the development of next generation sequencing, the clinical genetics market is becoming increasingly competitive, and we expect this competition to intensify in the future. We face competition from a variety of sources, including:

Hospitals, academic medical centers and eventually physician practice groups and individual clinicians may also seek to perform at their own facilities the type of genetic testing we would otherwise perform for them. In this regard, continued development of equipment, reagents, and other materials as well as databases and interpretation services may enable broader direct participation in genetic testing and analysis.

Participants in closely related markets such as clinical trial or companion diagnostic testing could converge on offerings that are competitive with the type of tests we perform. Instances where potential competitors are aligned with key suppliers or are themselves suppliers could provide such potential competitors with significant advantages.

In addition, the biotechnology and genetic testing fields are intensely competitive both in terms of service and price, and continue to undergo significant consolidation, permitting larger clinical laboratory service providers to increase cost efficiencies and service levels, resulting in more intense competition.

We also face competition as a result of our recently completed acquisition of ArcherDX. In particular, ArcherDX competes with numerous companies in the life sciences research, clinical diagnostics and drug development spaces, including, among others, Natera, QIAGEN N.V., Guardant Health, Inc., Thermo Fisher, Inc., Foundation Medicine, Caris Life Sciences, Inc., Tempus, Laboratory Corporation of America, Quest Diagnostics, Inc., NeoGenomics, Inc., BioReference Laboratories, Inc. and Illumina, Inc.

We believe the principal competitive factors in our market are:

Many of our competitors and potential competitors have longer operating histories, larger customer bases, greater brand recognition and market penetration, higher margins on their tests, substantially greater financial, technological and research and development resources, selling and marketing capabilities, lobbying efforts, and more experience dealing with third-party payers. As a result, they may be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer requirements, devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their tests than we do, sell their tests at prices designed to win significant levels of market share, or obtain reimbursement from more third-party payers and at higher prices than we do. We may not be able to compete effectively against these organizations. Increased competition and cost-saving initiatives on the part of governmental entities and other third-party payers are likely to result in pricing pressures, which could harm our sales, profitability or ability to gain market share. In addition, competitors may be acquired by, receive investments from or enter into other commercial relationships with larger, well-established and well-financed companies as use of next generation sequencing for clinical diagnosis and preventative care increases. Certain of our competitors may be able to secure key inputs from vendors on more favorable terms, devote greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote substantially more resources to website and systems development than we

Our expected future growth could create a strain on our organizational, administrative and operational infrastructure, including laboratory operations, quality control, customer service, marketing and sales, and management. We may not be able to maintain the quality of or expected turnaround times for our tests, or satisfy customer demand as it grows. We will likelymay need to continue expanding our sales force to facilitate our growth, and we may have difficulties locating, recruiting, training and retaining sales personnel. Our ability to manage our growth properlyeffectively will require us to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. As we grow, any failure of our controls or interruption of our production facilities or systems willcould have a largernegative impact on our business and financial operations. We plan to implement new enterprise software systems in a number of areas affecting a broad range of business processes and functional areas. The time and resources required to implement these new systems is uncertain, and failure to complete these activities in a timely and efficient manner could adversely affect our operations. Future growth in our business could also make it difficult for us to maintain our corporate culture. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, it may be difficult for us to execute our business strategy and our business could be harmed. Future growth in our business could also make it difficult for us to maintain our corporate culture.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including protected health information, or PHI, personally identifiable information, genetic information, credit card information, intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by ourselves or our customers, payers and other parties. We manage and maintain our applications and data utilizing a combination of on-site systems, managed data center systems and cloud-based data center systems. We also communicate PHI and other sensitive patient data through our Invitae Family History Tool, Patient Insights Network, or PIN,various customer tools and CancerGene Connect platform.platforms. In addition to storing and transmitting sensitive personal informationdata that is subject to myriadmultiple legal protections, these applications and data encompass a wide variety of business-critical information including research and development information, commercial information, and business and financial information. We face a number of risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure, inappropriate modification, and the risk of our being unable to adequately monitor and modify our controls over our critical information. Any technical problems that may arise in connection with our data and systems, including those that are hosted by third-party providers, could result in interruptions into our business and operations.operations or exposure to security vulnerabilities. These types of problems may be caused by a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, intentional or accidental human actions or omissions, software errors, malware, viruses, security attacks, fraud, spikes in customer usage and denial of service issues. From time to time, large third-party web hosting providers have experienced outages or other problems that have resulted in their systems being offline and inaccessible. Such outages could materially impact our business and operations.

The secure processing, storage, maintenance and transmission of this critical information are vital to our operations and business strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting such information. Although we take what we believe to be reasonable and appropriate measures, including a formal, dedicated enterprise security program, to protect sensitive information from various compromises (including unauthorized access, disclosure, or disclosure,modification or lack of availability), our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. For example, ArcherDX has been subject to phishing incidents and we may experience additional incidents in the future. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored theretherein could be accessed by unauthorized parties, altered, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under federal or state laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as but not limited to the Health Insurance Portability

Further, our various customer tools and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Heath Act, or HITECH, state data security and data breach notification laws, and related regulatory penalties. Although we have implemented security measures and a formal, dedicated enterprise security program to prevent unauthorized access to patient data, our Invitae Family History Tool, PIN and CancerGene Connect platformplatforms are currently accessible through our online portal and/or through our mobile

In addition to data security risks, we also face privacy risks. While we have policies that govern our privacy practices and procedures that aim to keep our practices consistent with such policies, such procedures are not invulnerable to human error. Should we inadvertently break theactually violate, or be perceived to have violated, any privacy promises we make to patients or consumers, we could receivebe subject to a complaint from an affected individual or interested privacy regulator, such as the FTC, or a state Attorney General.General, an EU Member State Data Protection Authority, or a data protection authority in another international jurisdiction. This risk is heightened given the sensitivity of the data we collect.

Any security compromise that causes an apparent privacy violation could also result in legal claims or proceedings; liability under federal, state, foreign, or multinational laws that regulate the privacy, security, or breach of personal information, such as but not limited to the HIPAA, HITECH, state data security and data breach notification laws, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, the UK Data Protection Act of 2018; and related regulatory penalties. Penalties for failure to comply with a requirement of HIPAA andor HITECH vary significantly, and, depending on the knowledge and culpability of the HIPAA-regulated entity, may include civil monetary penalties of up to $1.5 million per calendar year for each provision of HIPAA that is violated. A person who knowingly obtains or discloses individually identifiable health information in violation of HIPAA may face a criminal penalty of up to $50,000 and up to one-year imprisonment. The criminal penalties increase if the wrongful conduct involves false pretenses or the intent to sell, transfer or use identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm. Penalties for unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the FTC Act or state Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices, or UDAP, statutes may also vary significantly.

There has been unprecedented activity in the development of data protection regulation around the world. As a result, the interpretation and application of consumer, health-related and data protection laws in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are often uncertain, contradictory and in flux. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR took effect inon May 25, 2018. The GDPR applies to any business, regardless of its location,entity established in the EU as well as extraterritorially to any entity outside the EU that providesoffers goods or services to, residentsor monitors the behavior of, individuals who are located in the European Union.EU. The GDPR imposes strict requirements on controllers and processors of personal data, including specialenhanced protections for “sensitive information”“special categories” of personal data, which includes sensitive information such as health and genetic information of data subjects residing in the European Union.subjects. The GDPR also grants individuals various rights in relation to their personal data, including the right torights of access, rectification, objection to certain processing and deletion, anddeletion. The GDPR provides an individual with an express right to seek legal remedies if the individual believes his or her rights have been violated. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR andor the related national data protection laws of the member states of the European Union,EU, which may deviate slightly from or be more restrictive than the GDPR, may result in significant fines.administrative fines issued by EU regulators. Maximum penalties for violations of the GDPR are capped at 20M euros or 4% of an organization’s annual global revenue, whichever is greater.

Additionally, the implementation of GDPR has led other jurisdictions to either amend or propose legislation to amend their existing data privacy and cybersecurity laws to resemble the requirements of GDPR. For example, on June 28, 2018, California adopted the CCPA. The CCPA regulates how certain for-profit businesses that meet one or more CCPA applicability thresholds collect, use, and disclose the personal information of consumers who reside in California. Among other things, the CCPA confers to California Consumer Privacy Actconsumers the right to receive notice of 2018,the categories of personal information that will be collected by a business, how the business will use and share the personal information, and the third parties who will receive the personal information; the CCPA also confers rights to access, delete, or transfer personal information; and the right to receive equal service and pricing from a business after exercising a consumer right granted by the CCPA. In addition, the CCPA andallows California consumers the right to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information, which the CCPA defines broadly as any disclosure of personal information to a third party in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration. The CCPA also requires a business to implement reasonable security procedures to safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. California amended the law in September 2018 to exempt all protected health information (PHI)PHI collected by certain parties subject to HIPAA.HIPAA, and further amended the law in September 2020 to clarify that de-identified data as defined under HIPAA will also be exempt from the CCPA. The effective date ofCalifornia Attorney General’s final regulations implementing the CCPA is January 1, 2020; however, legislators have stated that they intend to propose amendments to the CCPA before it goes into effect. The CCPA 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.took effect on August 14, 2020. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches resulting from a business’s failure to implement and maintain reasonable data security procedures that is expected to increase data breach litigation.

It is possible the GDPR, CCPA and other emerging United States and international data protection laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. If so, this could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, these privacy laws and regulations may differ from country to country and state to state, and mayour obligations under these laws and regulations vary based on whether testing is performedthe nature of our activities in the United States orparticular jurisdiction, such as whether we collect samples from individuals in the local country.jurisdiction, perform testing in the local jurisdiction, or process personal information regarding employees or other individuals in the local jurisdiction. Complying with these various laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business. We can provide no assurance that we are or will remain in compliance with diverse privacy and data security requirements in all of the jurisdictions in which we do business. Failure to comply with privacy and data security requirements could result in a variety of consequences, including civil or criminal penalties, litigation, or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our performance, including our research and development programs and laboratory operations, largely depend on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization, including software developers, geneticists, biostatisticians, certified laboratory scientists and other

Our success depends in large part on our ability to extend our market position, to provide customers with high qualityhigh-quality test reports quickly and at a lower price than our competitors, and to achieve sufficient test volume to realize economies of scale. In order to execute our business model, we intend to continue to invest heavily in order to significantly scale our infrastructure, including our testing capacity and information systems, expand our commercial operations, customer service, billing and systems processes and enhance our internal quality assurance program. We expect that much of this growth will be in advance of demand for our tests. Our current and future expense levels are to a large extent fixed and are largely based on our investment plans and our estimates of future revenue. Because the timing and amount of revenue from our tests is difficult to forecast, when revenue does not meet our expectations, we may not be able to adjust our spending promptly or reduce our spending to levels commensurate with our revenue. Even if we are able to successfully scale our infrastructure and operations, we cannot assure you that demand for our tests will increase at levels consistent with the growth of our infrastructure. If we fail to generate demand commensurate with this growth or if we fail to scale our infrastructure sufficiently in advance of demand to successfully meet such demand, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our business model assumes that we will be able to generate significant test volume, and we may not succeed in continuing to drive clinical adoption of our testtests to achieve sufficient volumes. Inasmuch as detailed genetic data from broad-based testing panels such as our tests have only recently become available at relatively affordable prices, the continued pace and degree of clinical acceptance of the utility of such testing is uncertain. Specifically, it is uncertain how much genetic data will be accepted as necessary or useful, as well as how detailed that data should be, particularly since medical practitioners may have become accustomed to genetic testing that is specific to one or a few genes. Given the substantial amount of additional information available from a broad-based testing panel such as ours, there may be distrust as to the reliability of such information when compared with more limited and focused genetic tests. To generate further demand for our tests, we will need to continue to make clinicians aware of the benefits of our tests, including the price, the breadth of our testing options, and the benefits of having additional genetic data available from which to make treatment decisions. Because broad-based testing panels are relatively new, it may be more difficult or take more time for us to expand clinical adoption of our assay beyond our current customer base. In addition, clinicians in other areas of medicine may not adopt genetic testing for hereditary disease as readily as it has been adopted in hereditary cancer and our efforts to sell our tests to clinicians outside of oncology may not be successful. A lack of or delay in clinical acceptance of broad-based panels such as our tests would negatively impact sales and market acceptance of our tests and limit our revenue growth and potential profitability. Genetic testing is expensive and many potential customers may be sensitive to pricing. In addition, potential customers may not adopt our tests if adequate reimbursement is not available, or if we are not able to maintain low prices relative to our competitors. Also, we plan to introduce patient-initiated testing in 2019, in which we will facilitate the ordering of our genetic tests through an online network of physicians. Since we have limited experience directly marketing to patients, we may not be successful in increasing demand for our tests through this new channel. Patient-initiated testing may also be perceived negatively by our existing customer base of clinicians and genetic counselors,direct channel, in which casewe facilitate the ordering of our core business could be harmed.

If we are not able to generate demand for our tests at sufficient volume, or if it takes significantly more time to generate this demand than we anticipate, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.

Our success depends on our ability to provide reliable, high-quality tests that incorporate rapidly evolving information about the role of genes and gene variants in disease and clinically relevant outcomes associated with those variants. Errors, such as failure to detect genomic variants with high accuracy, or mistakes, such as failure to identify, or incompletely or incorrectly identifying, gene variants or their significance, could have a significant adverse impact on our business.

Hundreds of genes can be implicated in some disorders, and overlapping networks of genes and symptoms can be implicated in multiple conditions. As a result, a substantial amount of judgment is required in order to interpret testing results for an individual patient and to develop an appropriate patient report. We classify variants in accordance with published guidelines as benign, likely benign, variants of uncertain significance, likely pathogenic or pathogenic, and these guidelines are subject to change. In addition, it is our practice to offer support to clinicians and geneticists ordering our tests regarding which genes or panels to order as well as interpretation of genetic variants. We also rely on clinicians to interpret what we report and to incorporate specific information about an individual patient into the physician’s treatment decision.

The marketing, sale and use of our genetic tests could subject us to liability for errors in, misunderstandings of, or inappropriate reliance on, information we provide to clinicians, geneticists or geneticists,patients, and lead to claims against us if someone were to allege that a test failed to perform as it was designed, if we failed to correctly interpret the test results, if we failed to update the test results due to a reclassification of the variants according to new published guidelines, or if the ordering physician were to misinterpret test results or improperly rely on them when making a clinical decision. In addition, our entry into the reproductive health and pharmacogenetic testing market exposesmarkets expose us to increased liability. A product liability or professional liability claim could result in substantial damages and be costly and time-consuming for us to defend. Although we maintain liability insurance, including for errors and omissions, we cannot assure you that such insurance would fully protect us from the financial impact of defending against these types of claims or any judgments, fines or settlement costs arising out of any such claims. Any liability claim, including an errors and omissions liability claim, brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our insurance rates or prevent us from securing insurance coverage in the future. Additionally, any liability lawsuit could cause injury to our reputation or cause us to suspend sales of our tests. The occurrence of any of these events could have an adverse effect on our reputation and results of operations.

In recent years, there have been numerous advances in methods used to analyze very large amounts of genomic information and the role of genetics and gene variants in disease and treatment therapies. Our industry has and will continue to be characterized by rapid technological change, increasingly larger amounts of data, frequent new testing service introductions and evolving industry standards, all of which could make our tests obsolete. Our future success will also depend on our ability to keep pace with the evolving needs of our customers on a timely and cost-effective basis and to pursue new market opportunities that develop as a result of technological and scientific advances. Our tests could become obsolete and our business adversely affected unless we continually update our offerings to reflect new scientific knowledge about genes and genetic variations and their role in diseases and treatment therapies.

We may not be able to market or sell our current tests and any future tests we may develop or acquire effectively enough to drive demand sufficient to support our planned growth. We currently sell our tests primarily through our internal sales force. Historically, our sales efforts have been focused primarily on hereditary cancer and more recently on reproductive health. Our efforts to sell our tests to clinicians and patients outside of oncology may not be successful, or may be difficult to do successfully without significant additional selling and marketing efforts and expense. We significantlyIn addition, following the acquisition of ArcherDX, our sales efforts have expanded to include distributed products sold to laboratories. In the past, we have increased our sales force each year in order to drive our growth, and in October 2020, we increased our sales force through the sizeacquisition of ArcherDX. In addition to the efforts of our sales force, in 2017, 2018, and early 2019. Our future sales will also depend in large part on our ability to develop and substantially expand awareness of our company and our tests through alternative strategies including through education of key opinion leaders, through social media-related and online outreach, education and marketing efforts, and through focused channel partner strategies designed to drive

Outside the United States weWe also use a limited number of distributors to assist internationally with sales, logistics, education and customer support. Sales practices utilized by our distributors that are locally acceptable may not comply with sales practices standards required under U.S. laws that apply to us, which could create additional compliance risk. If our sales and marketing efforts are not successful outside the United States, we may not achieve significant market acceptance for our tests outside the United States, which could adversely impact our business.

We record goodwill and intangible assets at fair value upon the acquisition of a business. Goodwill represents the excess of amounts paid for acquiring businesses over the fair value of the net assets acquired. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are evaluated for impairment annually, or more frequently if conditions warrant, by comparing the carrying value of a reporting unit to its estimated fair value. Intangible assets with definite lives are reviewed for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. Declines in operating results, divestitures, sustained market declines and other factors that impact the fair value of a reporting unit could result in an impairment of goodwill or intangible assets and, in turn, a charge to net income. Any such charges could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

We rely on a limited number of suppliers, or, in some cases, sole suppliers, including Illumina, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Incorporated, Qiagen N.V., Roche Holdings Ltd. and Twist Bioscience Corporation for certain laboratory substances used in the chemical reactions incorporated into our processes, which we refer to as reagents, as well as sequencers and other equipment and materials which we use in our laboratory operations. We do not have short- or long-term agreements with most of our suppliers, and our suppliers could cease supplying these materials and equipment at any time, or fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of materials or materials that meet our specifications. Our laboratory operations could be interrupted if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these reagents, sequencers or other equipment or materials, and if we cannot obtain an acceptable substitute. Any such interruption could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation. We rely on Illumina as the sole supplier of next generation sequencers and associated reagents and as the sole provider of maintenance and repair services for these sequencers. Any disruption in Illumina’s operations could impact our supply chain and laboratory operations as well as our ability to conduct our tests, and it could take a substantial amount of time to integrate replacement equipment into our laboratory operations. We also rely on a subsidiary of Illumina, Verinata Health, Inc., to perform non-invasive prenatal screening, or NIPS, testing on our behalf. In the event of any disruption or termination of these services by Verinata, it may be difficult to find a replacement NIPS offering, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operation and reputation.

We believe that there are only a few other manufacturers that are currently capable of supplying and servicing the equipment necessary for our laboratory operations, including sequencers and various associated reagents. The use of equipment or materials provided by these replacement suppliers would require us to alter our laboratory operations. Transitioning to a new supplier would be time consuming and expensive, may result in interruptions in our laboratory operations, could affect the performance specifications of our laboratory operations or could require that we revalidate our tests. We cannot assure you that we will be able to secure alternative equipment, reagents and other materials, and bring such equipment, reagents and materials on line and revalidate them without experiencing interruptions in our workflow. In the case of an alternative supplier for Illumina, we cannot assure you that replacement sequencers and associated reagents will be available or will meet our quality control and performance requirements for our laboratory operations. If we encounter delays or difficulties in securing, reconfiguring or revalidating the equipment and reagents we require for our tests, our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation could be adversely affected.

We perform all of our tests at our production facilities in San Francisco and Irvine, California.California, in Golden, Colorado and in Seattle, Washington. Our laboratories and the equipment we use to perform our tests would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to replace and qualify for use. Our laboratories may be harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters, including earthquakes, flooding, fire and power outages, or by health epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to perform our tests for some period of time. This risk of natural disaster is especially high for us since we perform the substantial majority of our tests at our San Francisco laboratory, which is located in an active seismic region, and we do not have a redundant facility to perform the same tests in the event our San Francisco laboratory is inoperable. The inability to perform our tests or the backlog that could develop if our laboratories are inoperable for even a short period of time may result in the loss of customers or harm our reputation. Although we maintain insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all.

Our success depends in large part upon the skills, experience and performance of members of our executive management team and others in key leadership positions. The efforts of these persons will be critical to us as we continue to develop our technologies and test processes and focus on scaling our business. If we were to lose one or more key executives, we may experience difficulties in competing effectively, developing our technologies and implementing our business strategy. All of our executives and employees are at-will, which means that either we or the executive or employee may terminate their employment at any time. We do not carry key manperson insurance for any of our executives or employees. In addition, we do not have a long-term retention agreement in place with our president and chief executive officer.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to develop and commercialize new tests on a timely basis. Before we can commercialize any new tests, we will need to expend significant funds in order to:

Our testing service development process involves risk, and development efforts may fail for many reasons, including:

As we develop tests, we will have to make significant investments in development, marketing and selling resources. In addition, competitors may develop and commercialize competing tests faster than we are able to do so.

Under standard clinical practice, tumor biopsies removed from patients are preserved and stored in financial accounting standards may cause adverseformalin-fixed paraffin embedded, or FFPE, format, and unexpected revenue fluctuationsliquid biopsies are taken with a blood draw and affectstored in blood collection tubes. In order to add additional indications to our reported results of operations.

We depend on information technology and telecommunications systems for significant elements of our operations, including our laboratory information management system, our bioinformatics analytical software systems, our database of information relating to genetic variations and their role in disease process and drug metabolism, our clinical report optimization systems, our customer-facing web-based software, our customer reporting, and our Invitae Family History Tool, PIN,various customer tools and CancerGene Connect platform.platforms. We have installed, and expect to expand, a number of enterprise software systems that affect a broad range of business processes and functional areas, including for example, systems handling human resources, financial controls and reporting, customer relationship management, regulatory compliance and other infrastructure operations. In addition, we intend to extend the capabilities of both our preventative and detective security controls by augmenting the monitoring and alerting functions, the network design, and the automatic countermeasure operations of our technical systems. These information technology and telecommunications systems support a variety of functions, including laboratory operations, test validation, sample tracking, quality control, customer service support, billing and reimbursement, research and development activities, scientific and medical curation, and general administrative activities, including financial reporting.

Information technology and telecommunications systems are vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including telecommunications or network failures, malicious human acts and natural disasters. Moreover, despite network security and back-up measures, some of our servers are potentially vulnerable to physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses and similar disruptive problems. Despite the precautionary measures we have taken to prevent unanticipated problems that could affect our information technology and telecommunications systems, failures or significant downtime of our information technology or telecommunications systems or those used by our third-party service providers could prevent us from conducting tests, preparing and providing reports to clinicians, billing payers, processing reimbursement appeals, handling physician or patient inquiries, conducting research and development activities, and managing the administrative and financial aspects of our business. Any disruption or loss of information technology or telecommunications systems on which critical aspects of our operations depend could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Any technicalTechnical problems thathave arisen, and may arise in the future, in connection with our data and systems, including those that are hosted by third-party providers, couldwhich have in the past and may in the future result in interruptions in our business and operations. These types of problems may be caused by a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, viruses, security attacks, fraud, spikes in customer usage and denial of service issues. From time to time, large third-party web hosting providers have experienced outages or other problems that have resulted in their systems being offline and inaccessible. Such outages could materially impact our business and operations.

Genetic testing has raised ethical, legal and social issues regarding privacy rights and the appropriate uses of the resulting information. Governmental authorities could, for social or other purposes, limit or regulate the use of genetic information or genetic testing or prohibit testing for genetic predisposition to certain conditions, particularly for those that have no known cure. Similarly, these concerns may lead patients to refuse to use, or clinicians to be reluctant to order, genomic tests even if permissible. These and other ethical, legal and social concerns may limit market acceptance of our tests or reduce the potential markets for our tests, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We currently have a limited number of distribution arrangements in several countries outside of the United States. Doing business internationally involves a number of risks, including:

Any of these factors could significantly harm our international operations and, consequently, our revenue and results of operations.

In addition, applicable export or import laws and regulations such as prohibitions on the export of samples imposed by countries outside of the United States, or international privacy or data restrictions that are different or more stringent than those of the United States, may require that we build additional laboratories or engage in joint ventures or other business partnerships in order to offer our tests internationally in the future. Any such restrictions would impair our ability to offer our tests in such countries and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

At December 31, 2020, our total gross deferred tax assets were $418.9 million. Due to our lack of earnings history and uncertainties surrounding our ability to generate future taxable income, our net deferred tax assets have been fully offset by a valuation allowance. The deferred tax assets are primarily comprised of federal and state tax net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards. Furthermore, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Internal Revenue Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its future taxable income may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” occurs if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5% shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Some of our prior acquisitions have resulted in an ownership change, and we may experience ownership changes in the future. Our existing NOLs and tax credit carryovers may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo one or more ownership changes in connection with completed acquisitions, or other future transactions in our stock, our ability to utilize NOLs and tax credit carryovers could be further limited by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards to offset U.S. federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax laws could adversely impactliability to us.

We provide many of our tests as laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs. CMS and certain state agencies regulate the performance of LDTs (as authorized by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, or CLIA, and state law, respectively).

Historically, the FDA has exercised enforcement discretion with respect to most LDTs and has not required laboratories that furnish LDTs to comply with the agency’s requirements for medical devices (e.g., establishment registration, device listing, quality systems regulations, premarket clearance or premarket approval, and post-market controls). In recent years, however, the FDA has stated it intends to end its policy of general enforcement discretion and regulate certain LDTs as medical devices. To this end, on October 3, 2014, the FDA issued two draft guidance documents, entitled “Framework for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs)” and “FDA Notification and Medical Device Reporting for Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs),”, respectively, that set forth

In December 2018,March 2020, a draft bill titled the “Verifying Accurate Leading-edge IVCT Development Act of 2018”,2020,” or VALID Act, was released for discussion.officially introduced in Congress. The draft bill proposes a risk-based approach to regulate LDTs and creates a new in vitro clinical test, or IVCT, category of regulated products, which includes LDTs, and a regulatory structure under the FDA. As proposed, the draft bill grandfathers many existing tests from the proposed premarket approval, quality systems, and labeling requirements, respectively, but would require such tests to comply with other regulatory requirements (e.g., registration and notification,listing, adverse event reporting). Later that month, Senator Paul introduced the Verified Innovative Testing in American Laboratories Act of 2020, or VITAL Act, which proposes that all aspects of “laboratory-developed testing procedures” be subject to regulation under CLIA, and that no aspects of such procedures be subject to regulation by the FDA. We cannot predict if this draft billeither of these bills will be enacted in itstheir current (or any other) form and cannot quantify the effect of this draft billthese bills on our business.

Legislative proposals addressing the FDA’s oversight of LDTs have been introduced in previous Congresses, and we expect that new legislative proposals willmay be introduced from time-to-time. The likelihood that Congress will pass such legislation and the extent to which such legislation may affect the FDA’s plans to regulate certain LDTs as medical devices is difficult to predict at this time.

In April 2020, we completed our acquisition of Genelex Solutions, LLC, which offers certain pharmacogenetic, or PGx, tests as LDTs. Recently the FDA has taken a more active role in the oversight of PGx tests offered as LDTs. In 2019, the FDA contacted several clinical laboratories, including Genelex, to demand changes to PGx test reports and marketing materials. In February 2020, the FDA issued a statement indicating that it continues to have concerns about the claims that certain clinical laboratories make with respect to their PGx tests, and published tables that list PGx associations for which FDA has determined that the data support therapeutic management recommendations, a potential impact on safety or response, or a potential impact on pharmacokinetic properties only, respectively. To date, however, the FDA has not provided any general guidance on the type(s) of claims or other characteristics that will cause a PGx test to fall outside FDA’s enforcement discretion. As such, the extent to which the FDA will allow any laboratory, including Genelex or Invitae, to offer PGx tests in their current form without meeting FDA regulatory requirements for medical devices is unclear at this time.

If the FDA ultimately regulates certain LDTs (either as medical devices or as part of a new stand-alone regulatory category for IVCTs), whether via individualized enforcement action, or more generally, as outlined in final guidance or final regulation, or as instructed by Congress, our tests may be subject to certain additional regulatory requirements. Complying with the FDA’s requirements can be expensive, time-consuming and subject us to significant or unanticipated delays. Insofar as we may be required to obtain premarket clearance or approval to perform or continue performing an LDT, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain such authorization. Even if we obtain regulatory clearance or approval where required, such authorization may not be for the intended uses that we believe are commercially attractive or are critical to the commercial success of our tests. As a result, the application of the FDA’s requirements to our tests could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to comply with applicable FDA regulatory requirements may trigger a range of enforcement actions by the FDA including warning letters, civil monetary penalties, injunctions, criminal prosecution, recall or seizure, operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of operations, and denial of or challenges to applications for clearance or approval, as well as significant adverse publicity.

In addition, in November 2013, the FDA issued final guidance regarding the distribution of products labeled for research use only. Certain of the reagents and other products we use in our tests are labeled as research use only products. Certain of our suppliers may cease selling research use only products to us and any failure to obtain an acceptable substitute could significantly and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to CLIA, a federal law that regulates clinical laboratories that perform testing on specimens derived from humans for the purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of disease. CLIA regulations establish specific standards with respect to personnel qualifications, facility administration, proficiency testing, quality control, quality assurance and inspections. CLIA certification is also required in order for us to be eligible to bill state and federal healthcare programs, as well as many private third-party payers, for our tests. We have current CLIA certifications to conduct our tests at our laboratories in San Francisco and Irvine, California.California, Golden, Colorado, and Seattle, Washington. To renew these certifications, we are subject to survey and inspection every two years. Moreover, CLIA inspectors may make random inspections of our clinical reference laboratories.

We are also required to maintain in-state licenses to conduct testing in California. California and Washington. California and Washington laws establish standards for day-to-day operation of our clinical reference laboratories in San Francisco and Irvine, includingand in Seattle, respectively, which include the training and skills required of personnel and quality control. We also(Our Colorado laboratory is not required to maintain out-of-statea state clinical laboratory license.)

Several states require the licensure of out‑of‑state laboratories that accept specimens from those states. Our California laboratories hold the required out‑of‑state laboratory licenses to conduct testing on specimens fromfor Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Our Washington laboratory holds the required out-of-state laboratory licenses in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island (but not California). Our laboratory in Colorado holds the required out‑of‑state laboratory licenses for California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island (but not New York).

In addition to having laboratory licenses in New York, our clinical reference laboratories are approved on test-specific bases for the tests they run as LDTs by the New York State Department of Health, or NYDOH.NYDOH, for tests offered to patients in New York. Other states may adopt similar licensure requirements in the future, which may require us to modify, delay or stop our operations in such jurisdictions. We may also be subject to regulation in foreign jurisdictions as we seek to expand international utilization of our tests or such jurisdictions adopt new licensure requirements, which may require review of our tests in order to offer them or may have other limitations such as restrictions on the transport of samples necessary for us to perform our tests that may limit our ability to make our tests available outside of the United States. Complying with licensure requirements in new jurisdictions may be expensive, time-consuming, and subject us to significant and unanticipated delays.

Failure to comply with applicable clinical laboratory licensure requirements may result in a range of enforcement actions, including license suspension, limitation, or revocation, directed plan of action, onsite monitoring, civil monetary penalties, criminal sanctions, and cancellation of the laboratory’s approval to receive Medicare and Medicaid payment for its services, as well as significant adverse publicity. Any sanction imposed under CLIA, its implementing regulations, or state or foreign laws or regulations governing clinical laboratory licensure, or our failure to renew our CLIA certificate,certifications, a state or foreign license, or accreditation, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we were able to bring our laboratory back into compliance, we could incur significant expenses and potentially lose revenue in doing so.

The College of American Pathologists, or CAP, maintains a clinical laboratory accreditation program. CAP asserts that its program is “designed to go well beyond regulatory compliance” and helps laboratories achieve the highest standards of excellence to positively impact patient care. While not required to operate a CLIA-certified laboratory, many private insurers require CAP accreditation as a condition to contracting with clinical laboratories to cover their tests. In addition, some countries outside the United States require CAP accreditation as a condition to permitting clinical laboratories to test samples taken from their citizens. We have CAP accreditations for our laboratories. Failure to maintain CAP accreditation could have a material adverse effect on the sales of our tests and the results of our operations.

Our operations are subject to other extensive federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations, all of which are subject to change. These laws and regulations currently include, among others:

We have adopted policies and procedures designed to comply with these laws and regulations. In the ordinary course of our business, we conduct internal reviews of our compliance with these laws. Our compliance may also be subject to governmental review. The growth of our business and our expansion outside of the United States may increase the potential of violating these laws or our internal policies and procedures. The risk of our being found in violation of these or other laws and regulations is further increased by the fact that many have not been fully interpreted by the regulatory authorities or the courts, and their provisions are open to a variety of interpretations. Any action brought against us for violation of these or other laws or regulations, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws and regulations, we may be subject to any applicable penalty associated with the violation, including significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, individual imprisonment, exclusion from participation in Federal healthcare programs, refunding of payments received by us, and curtailment or cessation of our operations. Any of the foregoing consequences could seriously harm our business and our financial results.

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the Affordable Care Act, was enacted in the United States, which made a number of substantial changes in the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Among other things,Policy changes or implementation of new health care legislation could result in significant changes to health care systems. In the United States, this could include potential modification or repeal of all or parts of the Affordable Care Act requires each medical device manufacturer to pay a sales tax equal to 2.3% of the price for which such manufacturer sells its medical devices, and applied to sales of taxable medical devices from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015. The medical device tax has been suspended for 2016 through 2019, but is scheduled to return beginning in 2020. It is unclear at this time when, or if, the provision of our LDTs will trigger the medical device tax if the FDA ends its policy of general enforcement discretion and regulates certain LDTs as medical devices. It is possible, however, that this tax will apply to some or all of our tests or tests that are in development.

In April 2014, Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, or PAMA, which included substantial changes to the way in which clinical laboratory services are paid under Medicare. Under PAMA (as amended by the final rule that implements PAMA, which was promulgated by CMS in June 2016,Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, respectively) and its implementing regulations, clinical laboratories must report to CMS private payer rates beginning in 2017, and then in 2022 and every three years thereafter for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests that are not advanced diagnostic laboratory tests and every year for advanced diagnostic laboratory tests.

We do not believe that our tests meet the definition of advanced diagnostic laboratory tests, but in the event that we seek designation for one or more of our tests as an advanced diagnostic laboratory test and the tests are determined by CMS to meet these criteria or new criteria developed by CMS, we would be required to report private payer data for those tests annually. Otherwise, we will be required to report private payer rates for our tests on an every three years basis.basis starting in 2022. Laboratories that fail to timely report the required payment information may be subject to substantial civil money penalties.

As set forth in the PAMA final rule, for tests furnished on or after January 1, 2018, Medicare payments for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests are paid based upon these reported private payer rates. For clinical diagnostic laboratory tests that are assigned a new or substantially revised code, initial payment rates for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests that are not advanced diagnostic laboratory tests will be assigned by the cross-walk or gap-fill methodology, similar to prior law.methodology. Initial payment rates for new advanced diagnostic laboratory tests will be based on the actual list charge for the laboratory test. The payment rates calculated under PAMA went into effect starting January 1, 2018. Where applicable, reductions to payment rates resulting from the new methodology are limited to 10% per test per year in each of the years 2018 through 2020. Rates will be held at 2020 levels during 2021, and then, where applicable based upon median private payer rates reported in 2017 or 2022, reduced by up to 15% per test per year in each of 20212022 through 2023 (following2024 (with a second round of private payer rate reporting in 20202022 to establish rates for 20212023 through 2023)2025).

PAMA also authorized the adoption of new, temporary billing codes and/or unique test identifiers for FDA-cleared or approved tests as well as advanced diagnostic laboratory tests. The CPT® Editorial Panel approved a proposal to create a new section of billing codes to facilitate implementation of this section of PAMA, but it is unclear how these codes would apply to our tests.tests only if we apply for such codes.

In March 2018, CMS published a final national coverage determination, or NCD, for next generation sequencing, or NGS tests for patients with advanced cancer. The finalsomatic (acquired) cancer testing. CMS subsequently updated this NCD in January 2020 to address coverage for NGS tests for germline (inherited) cancer testing and to clarify certain aspects of Medicare’s coverage of NGS for somatic cancer testing. For somatic cancer testing, the updated NCD establishes full coverage for FDA-approved or FDA-cleared NGS-based companion diagnostic assays that report results using report templates that specify treatment options when offered for their FDA-approved or FDA-cleared use(s), ordered by the patient’s treating physician for Medicare beneficiaries with advanced cancer (recurrent, relapsed, refractory, metastatic, or advanced stage III or IV cancer) who have not have previously been tested with the same test using NGS for the same primary diagnosis of cancer or are seeking repeat testing for a new primary cancer diagnosis,genetic content, and have decided to seek further cancer treatment.treatment (e.g., therapeutic chemotherapy). The final NCD also gives MACs the authority to establish local coverage for NGS-based somatic cancer assays that are not FDA-approved or FDA-cleared companion diagnostics when offered to patients meeting the above-referenced criteria. It is unclear, however, whether MACs retain the authority to establish local coverage forappears that NGS-based somatic cancer tests provided for patients with cancer that do not meet the above-referenced criteria, - e.g., patients with earlier stage cancers, or patients with a personal history of cancer - or if such tests are currently nationally non-covered under the NCD. If CMS interprets

Effective January 27, 2020, the final NCD to excludealso established full coverage for FDA-approved or FDA-cleared NGS-based germline tests that report results using report templates that specify treatment options when ordered by the patient’s treating physician for patients with earlier stage cancersovarian or personal historybreast cancer, a clinical indication for germline testing for hereditary breast or ovarian cancer, and a risk factor for germline breast or ovarian cancer, provided the patient has not previously been tested with the same germline test using NGS for the same germline genetic content. The NCD also gives MACs the authority to establish local coverage for NGS-based germline tests for ovarian or breast cancer that are not FDA-approved or FDA-cleared, as well as for NGS-based tests for any other cancer diagnosis (regardless of cancer, MACs will no longer have discretion to cover our current teststhe test’s FDA regulatory status) when offered to such patients notwithstanding historical Medicaremeeting the above-referenced criteria for germline testing. Since we already have local coverage for such tests. An interpretation ofour germline tests for ovarian and breast cancer, we believe that the NCD that results in Medicare non-coverage for our current and future assays wouldwill not have significant negativea material impact on which of our business, financial condition and results of operations.tests will be reimbursable by CMS for Medicare patients.

We cannot predict whether future healthcare initiatives will be implemented at the federal or state level, or how any future legislation or regulation may affect us. For instance, the payment reductions imposed by the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of the federal and state governments’ role in the U.S. healthcare industry as well as changes to the reimbursement amounts paid by payers for our tests and future tests or our medical procedure volumes may reduce our profits and have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Notably, Congress enacted legislation in 2017 that eliminateseliminated the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” beginning in 2019, which may significantly impact the number of covered lives participating in exchange plans. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, although it is unclear when a decision will be made. Moreover, Congress has proposed on several occasions to impose a 20% coinsurance on patients for clinical laboratory tests reimbursed under the clinical laboratory fee schedule, which would increase our billing and collecting costs and decrease our revenue.

Our activities currently require the use of hazardous chemicals and biological material. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury to employees or third parties from the use, storage, handling or disposal of these materials. In the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources or any applicable insurance coverage we may have. In 2018, we decommissioned our laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts; however, we could be held liable for any damages resulting from our prior use of hazardous chemicals and biological materials at this facility. Additionally, we are subject on an ongoing basis to federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products. The cost of compliance with these laws and regulations may become significant, and our failure to comply may result in substantial fines or other consequences, and either could negatively affect our operating results.

We are subject to the FCPA, which prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. We are increasing our direct sales and operations personnel outside the United States, in which we have limited experience. We use a limited number of independent distributors to sell our tests internationally, which requires a high degree of vigilance in maintaining our policy against participation in corrupt activity, because these distributors could be deemed to be our agents, and we could be held responsible for their actions. Other U.S. companies in the medical device and pharmaceutical fields have faced criminal penalties under the FCPA for allowing their agents to deviate from appropriate practices in doing business with these individuals. We are also subject to similar anti-bribery laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act of 2010, which also prohibits commercial bribery and makes it a crime for companies to fail to prevent bribery. These laws are complex and far-reaching in nature, and, as a result, we cannot assure you that we would not be required in the future to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws or any changes in these laws or the interpretation thereof. Any violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our operations, involve significant management distraction, involve significant costs and expenses, including legal fees, and could result in a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations. We could also incur severe penalties, including criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other remedial measures.

Our commercial success will depend in part on our avoiding infringement of patents and proprietary rights of third parties, including for example the intellectual property rights of competitors. As we continue to commercialize our tests in their current or an updated form, launch different and expanded tests, and enter new markets, competitors might claim that our tests infringe or misappropriate their intellectual property rights as part of business strategies designed to impede our successful commercialization and entry into new markets. Our activities may be subject to claims that we infringe or otherwise violate patents or other intellectual property rights owned or controlled by third parties. For example, as discussed in the preceding risk factor, we are currently engaged in litigation with a competitor of ArcherDX alleging infringement. We cannot assure you that our operations do not, or will not in the future, infringe existing or future patents. We may be unaware of patents that a third party, including for example a competitor in the genetic testing market, might assert are infringed by our business. There may also be patent applications that, if issued as patents, could be asserted against us. Third parties making claims against us for infringement or misappropriation of their intellectual property rights may seek and obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to perform our tests. Further, if a patent infringement suit were brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay our development or sales of any tests or other activities that are the subject of such suit. Defense of these claims, regardless of merit, could cause us to incur substantial expenses and be a substantial diversion of our employee resources. Any adverse ruling or perception of an adverse ruling in defending ourselves could have a material adverse impact on our business and stock price. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us by a third party, we may have to (1) pay substantial damages, possibly including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed patents; (2) obtain one or more licenses, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms (if at all); (3) pay royalties; and/or (4) redesign any infringing tests or other activities, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our cash position and business and financial condition.

If licenses to third-party intellectual property rights are or become required for us to engage in our business, we may be unable to obtain them at a reasonable cost, if at all. Even if such licenses are available, we could incur

Although we view current U.S. Supreme Court precedent to be aligned with our belief that naturally occurring DNA sequences and detection of natural correlations between observed facts (such as patient genetic data) and an understanding of that fact’s implications (such as a patient’s risk of disease associated with certain genetic variations) should not be patentable, it is possible that subsequent determinations by the U.S. Supreme Court or other federal courts could limit, alter or potentially overrule current law. Moreover, from time to time the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, the United StatesU.S. Congress or the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, may change the standards of patentability, and any such changes could run contrary to, or otherwise be inconsistent with, our belief that naturally occurring DNA sequences and detection of natural correlations between observed facts and an understanding of that fact’s implications should not be patentable, which could result in third parties newly claiming that our business practices infringe patents drawn from categories of patents which we currently view to be invalid as directed to unpatentable subject matter. For example, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held hearings in 2019 regarding a legislative proposal that would overrule current U.S. Supreme Court precedent concerning the scope of patentable subject matter. Our President and Chief Executive Officer, Sean George, appeared before this subcommittee. If such proposal were to be formulated as a bill and enacted into law, there could be an increase in third-party claims to patent rights over correlations between patient genetic data and its interpretation and such third parties may assert that our business practices infringe some of those resulting patent rights.

We currently rely upon trade secret protection and copyright, as well as non-disclosure agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants and third-parties,third parties, and to a limited extent patent protection, to protect our confidential and proprietary information. Although our competitors have utilized and are expected to continue utilizing similar methods and have aggregated and are expected to continue to aggregate similar databases of genetic testing information, our success will depend upon our ability to develop proprietary methods and databases and to defend any advantages afforded to us by such methods and databases relative to our competitors. If we do not protect our intellectual property adequately, competitors may be able to use our methods and databases and thereby erode any competitive advantages we may have.

We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary technologies are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. In this regard, we have applied, and we intend to continue applying, for patents covering such aspects of our technologies as we deem appropriate. However, we expect that potential patent coverage we may obtain will not be sufficient to prevent substantial competition. In this regard, we believe it is probable that others will independently develop similar or alternative technologies or design around those technologies for which we may obtain patent protection. In addition, any patent applications we file may be challenged and may not result in issued patents or may be invalidated or narrowed in scope after they are issued. Questions as to inventorship or ownership may also arise. Any finding that our patents or applications are unenforceable could harm our ability to prevent others from practicing the related technology, and a finding that others have inventorship or ownership rights to our patents and applications could require us to obtain certain rights to practice related technologies, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all. If we initiate lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, or litigate against third partythird-party claims, which would be expensive, and, if we lose, we may lose some of our intellectual property rights. Furthermore, these lawsuits may divert the attention of our management and technical personnel.

We expect to rely primarily upon trade secrets and proprietary know-how protection for our confidential and proprietary information, and we have taken security measures to protect this information. These measures, however, may not provide adequate protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information. Among other things, we seek to protect our trade secrets and confidential information by entering into confidentiality agreements with employees and consultants. There can be no assurance that any confidentiality agreements that we have with our employees and consultants will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets and confidential information or will provide adequate remedies in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information. Accordingly, there also can be no assurance that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or be independently developed by competitors. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, trade secrets may be independently developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse by us. If any of our confidential or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position could be harmed.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and many companies have encountered significant challenges in establishing and enforcing their proprietary rights outside of the United States. These challenges can be caused by the absence of rules and methods for the establishment and enforcement of intellectual property rights outside of the United States. In addition, the legal systems of some countries, particularly developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, especially those relating to healthcare. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents, if obtained, or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against third parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. Patent protection must ultimately be sought on a country-by-country basis, which is an expensive and time-consuming process with uncertain outcomes. Accordingly, we may choose not to seek patent protection in certain countries, and we will not have the benefit of patent protection in such countries. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technology and the enforcement of intellectual property.

We employ individuals who were previously employed at universities or genetic testing, diagnostic or other healthcare companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees or consultants have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of a former employer or other third parties. Further, we may be subject to ownership disputes in the future arising, for example, from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our intellectual property. 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.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses, , including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, impose a number of requirements on public companies, including with respect to corporate governance practices. The SEC and other regulators have continued to adopt new rules and regulations and make additional changes to existing regulations that require our compliance. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, includes significant corporate governance and executive-compensation-related provisions. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance and disclosure obligations. If these requirements divert the attention of our management and personnel from other aspects of our business concerns, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, these rules and regulations applicable to public companies substantially increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, require that we hire additional personnel and make some activities more time-consumingtime consuming and costly. It may also be more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance.

We are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal controls. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and provide a management report on our internal control over financial reporting. If we have a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not

During the evaluation and testing process, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal controls, our management will be unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. Moreover, when we are no longer an emerging growth company, as described below, ourOur independent registered public accounting firm will beis required to issue an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.reporting every fiscal year. Even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm may conclude that there are material weaknesses with respect to our internal controls or the level at which our internal controls are documented, designed, implemented or reviewed.

If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or when we are no longer an emerging growth company, if our auditors were to express an adverse opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting because we had one or more material weaknesses, investors could lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial disclosures, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline. Internal control deficiencies could also result in the restatement of our financial results in the future.

The credit agreement restricts our ability to pursue certain mergers, acquisitions, amalgamations or consolidations, other than permitted acquisitions, that we may believe to be in our best interest. In addition, the credit agreement contains financial covenants that require us to maintain a minimum cash balance and minimum quarterly revenue levels. If we default under the credit agreement, the lender will be able to declare all obligations immediately due and payable, including prepayment fees and other obligations. The lender could declare an event of default under the credit agreement upon the occurrence of any event that it interprets as a material adverse change or material adverse effect, each as defined under the credit agreement. Any declaration by the lender of an event of default could significantly harm our business and prospects and could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

The trading price of our common stock is volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include:

In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for stock of life sciences companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors, including COVID-19, may seriously affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control these analysts or the content and opinions included in their reports. Securities analysts may elect not to provide research coverage of our company and such lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. The price of our common stock could also decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrade our common stock, change their price targets, issue other unfavorable commentary or cease publishing reports about us or our business. If one or more equity research analysts cease coverage of our company, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

We have never paid dividends on any of our capital stock and currently intend to retain any future earnings to fund the growth of our business. In addition, the terms of our 2018 Note Purchase Agreement limitscredit agreement restrict our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.dividends. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions that:

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law regulating corporate takeovers. Section 203 generally prohibits us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder subject to certain exceptions.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for:

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the provisions of our certificate of incorporation described above. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

None.

Our headquarters and main production facility is located in San Francisco, California, where we currently lease and occupy approximately 103,000 square feet of laboratory and office space. The lease for this facility expires in July 2026 and we may renew the lease for an additional ten years.

Our subsidiary Good Start leasesWe also lease approximately 67,000330,000 square feet of additional office and laboratory space domestically in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and office spaceWashington, and internationally in Massachusetts,Australia and our subsidiary CombiMatrix leases approximately 12,000 square feet of laboratory and office space in Irvine, California. We also lease additional facilities in Palo Alto and Oakland, California.Israel.

We believe that our facilities are adequate for our current needs and that additional space will be available on commercially reasonable terms if required.

For a partydiscussion of legal matters as of December 31, 2020, see Note 8, “Commitments and contingencies” in Notes to any material legal proceedings on the dateConsolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this report. We may from time to time become involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business, and the resolution of any such claims could be material.report, which is incorporated into this item by reference.

Not applicable.