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DATA SECURITY AND PRIVACY​

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

OR

OR

OR

Commission file number: 001-40210

Tuya Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

10/F, Building A, Huace Center

Xihu District, Hangzhou City

Zhejiang, 310012

People’s Republic of China

(Address of principal executive offices)

Yao (Jessie) Liu

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +86 0571-86915981

E-mail: ir@tuya.com

10/F, Building A, Huace Center, Xihu District, Hangzhou City

Zhejiang, 310012, People’s Republic of China

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

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

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

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If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐     No ☒

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

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

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

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

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ☐ Item 17 ☐ Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

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INTRODUCTION

Except where the context otherwise requires and for the purpose of this annual report only:

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provision under Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this annual report can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “likely to,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “should” and“should,” “will” or other similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this annual report and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to, those identified under the section entitled “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors” in this annual report. These risks and uncertainties include factors relating to:

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update them in light of new information or future developments or to release publicly any revisions to these statements in order to reflect later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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PART I

ITEM 1.IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2.OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3.KEY INFORMATION

Our CoporateHolding Company Structure

Tuya Inc. is a Cayman Islands holding company, and the Group operates in China mainly through its PRC subsidiaries. ItThe Group also conducts business internationally with local offices in the U.S.,United States, Europe, India Germany, and Japan, among other locations.

Due It is important to PRC restrictions on foreign ownership of telecommunication businesses, we currently conduct a de minimis portion ofnote that investors in our business throughADSs and Class A ordinary shares do not hold equity securities issued by our subsidiaries or the VIE incorporated in China. China, but instead hold equity securities of Tuya Inc. As used in this annual report, “we,” “us,” “our company,” “our” or “Tuya” refers to Tuya Inc. and its subsidiaries, and “the Group” refers to Tuya Inc., its subsidiaries and the VIE.

The VIE has historically accounted for an immaterial portionoperations of our total revenues and assets. The revenues generated by the VIE contributed less than 0.1%do not constitute a material aspect of our total revenues in eachthe Group’s operations, based on the following:

In China, providing online transaction platform services fall within the categories of 2019the value-added telecommunication service, which is subject to foreign investment restrictions and 2020. The revenue contribution fromlicense requirements under the PRC laws and regulations. Therefore, Hangzhou Tuya Technology, or the VIE, was nilestablished to hold the requisite license and for the purpose of providing investors with exposure to foreign investment in 2021. China-based companies where direct foreign investments in operating entities are not viable.

As advised by Jia Yuan Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, based on consultations with competent government authorities, the offering of December 31, 2020IoT PaaS, Industry PaaS, cloud-based value-added services and other types of smart device distribution are not subject to foreign ownership restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. In the event the VIE structure is disallowed, the Group does not expect to experience a material disruption in its operations.

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As of the date of this annual report, “we,” “us,” “our company,” “our,” or “Tuya” refers to Tuya Inc. and its subsidiaries, and, in the context of describing our consolidated financial information, business operations and operating data, our consolidated VIE, “Tuya Information” refers to Hangzhou Tuya Information Technology Co., Ltd., and “Hangzhou Tuya Technology” refers to Hangzhou Tuya Technology Co., Ltd. We refer to Tuya Information as the PRC subsidiary in the context of describing of its activities. We refer to Hangzhou Tuya Technology as the VIE in the context of describing its activities and contractual arrangements with us.

Our corporate structure involves unique risks to investors in the ADSs. Our contractual arrangements with the VIE have not been tested in court.a court of law in the PRC. If the PRC government deems that our contractual arrangements with the VIE do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations or otherwise significantly change our corporate structure. We and our investors face significant uncertainty about potential future actions by the PRC government that could affect the legality and enforceability of the contractual arrangements with the VIE and, consequently, negatively affect our ability to consolidate the financial results of the VIE and the financial performance of our company as a whole. Our ADSssecurities may decline in value or become worthless if we are unable to effectively enforce our contractual control rights over the assets and operations of the VIE. SeeFor a detailed discussion of the risks associated with the VIE structure, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factor—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” for a detailed discussion of the risks as a result of our VIE structure.

For a detailed discussion of our organizational structure and how funds and other assets are transferred through our organization, see ““Item 4. Information on the Company—4.C. Organizational Structure.”

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The table above has been prepared under the assumption that all profits of the VIE will be distributed as fees to Tuya Information under tax neutral contractual arrangements. If in the future, the accumulated earnings of the VIE exceed the fees paid to Tuya Information, or if the current and contemplated fee structure between the intercompany entities is determined to be non-substantive and disallowed by Chinese tax authorities, we have other tax-planning strategies that can be deployed on a tax neutral basis. Should all tax planning strategies fail, the VIE could, as a matter of last resort, make a non-deductible transfer to our PRC subsidiary for the amounts of the stranded cash in the VIE. This would result in the double taxation of earnings: one at the VIE level (for non-deductible expenses) and one at Tuya Information level (for presumptive earnings on the transfer). Such a transfer and the related tax burdens would reduce our after-tax income to approximately 50.6% of the pre-tax income. Our management believes that there is only a remote possibility that this scenario would happen.

For PRC and United States federal income tax consideration of an investment in the ADSs, see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E. Taxation.”

Restrictions on Foreign Exchange and the Ability to Transfer Cash between Entities, Across Borders and to U.S. Investors

To the extent cash or assets in the business are in the PRC, including Hong Kong, or a PRC (including Hong Kong) entity, the funds or assets may not be available to fund operations or for other use outside of the PRC, including Hong Kong, due to interventions in or the impositions of restrictions and limitations on the availability of Tuya Inc., its subsidiaries or the VIE by the PRC government to transfer cash or assets. There is no assurance that the PRC government will not intervene in or impose restrictions on the ability of Tuya Inc., its subsidiaries or the VIE to transfer cash or assets.

In the future, if and when we become profitable, Tuya Inc.’s ability to pay dividends, if any, to its shareholders and ADS holders and to service any debt it may incur will depend upon dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries. Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries are subject to certain restrictions with respect to paying dividends or otherwise transferring any of their net assets offshore to Tuya Inc. In particular, under the current effective PRC laws and regulations, dividends may be paid only out of distributable profits. Distributable profits are the net profit as determined under PRC GAAP, less any recovery of accumulated losses and appropriations to statutory and other reserves required to be made. Each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, after making up previous years’ accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such a fund reaches 50% of its registered capital. As a result, our PRC subsidiaries may not have sufficient distributable profits to pay dividends to us in the near future.

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Furthermore, if certain procedural requirements are satisfied, the payment of current account items, including profit distributions and trade- and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE or its local branches. However, where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses, such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies, approval from or registration with competent government authorities or their authorized banks is required. The PRC government may take measures at its discretion from time to time to restrict access to foreign currencies for current account or capital account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our offshore intermediary holding companies or ultimate parent company, and therefore, our shareholders or investors in our ADSs. Further, we cannot assure you that new regulations or policies will not be promulgated in the future, which may further restrict the remittance of RMB into or out of the PRC. We cannot assure you, in light of the restrictions in place, or any amendment to be made from time to time, that our current or future PRC subsidiaries will be able to satisfy their respective payment obligations that are denominated in foreign currencies, including the remittance of dividends outside of the PRC. If any of our subsidiaries incurs debt on its own behalf in the future, the instruments governing such debt may restrict its ability to pay dividends to Tuya Inc. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are required to make appropriations to certain statutory reserve funds, which are not distributable as cash dividends except in the event of a solvent liquidation of the companies.

Recent PRC Regulatory Developments

Cybersecurity Review

On December 28, 2021, the CAC and several other administrations jointly promulgated the Measures for Cybersecurity Review, (the “Cybersecurityor the Cybersecurity Review Measures”),Measures, which became effective on February 15, 2022. The Cybersecurity Review Measures provide that (i) a “network platform operator” holding over one million users’ personal information shall apply for a cybersecurity review when listing their securities “inin a foreign country”,country, (ii) a critical“critical information infrastructure operatoroperator” (the “CIIO”) that intends to purchase internet products and services that affect or may affect national security shall apply for a cybersecurity review and (iii) a “network platform operator” carrying out data processing activities that affect or may affect national security shall apply for a cybersecurity review. Since the Cybersecurity Review Measures are relatively new, significant uncertainties exist in relation to their interpretation and implementation. Additionally, the Cybersecurity Review Measures do not provide the exact scope of “network platform operator” or the circumstances that would “affect or may affect national security.”

As of the date of this annual report, we have not been required to go through a result,cybersecurity review by the CAC. However, there can be no assurance that we will not be required to apply for a cybersecurity review pursuant to the Cybersecurity Review Measures.Measures in the future. To the extent any cybersecurity review is required, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete it in a timely manner, or at all. Any failure to complete the required cybersecurity review may result in administrative penalties, including fines, a shut-down of our business, revocation of requisite licenses, as well as reputational damage or legal proceedings or actions against us, which may have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Compliance with the rapidly evolving landscape of global data privacy and data security laws may be challenging, and any failure or perceived failure to comply with such laws, or other concerns about our practices or policies with respect to the processing of personal information, could damage our reputation and deter current and potential customers and end users from using our platform and products and services or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

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Potential CSRC Approval Required for Issuance and Listing of Securities Overseas

On December 24, 2021,February 17, 2023, the CSRC publishedreleased the draft Regulations of the State Council on the AdministrationTrial Administrative Measures of Overseas IssuanceSecurities Offering and Listing of Securities by Domestic Companies, (Draftor the Trial Measures, and relevant supporting guidelines, collectively, the New Overseas Listing Rules, setting out new filing procedures for Comments))(China-based companies seeking direct or indirect listings and offerings in overseas markets, which came into force since March 31, 2023. The New Overseas Listing Rules are applicable to PRC domestic companies that seek to offer and list securities in overseas markets, either through direct or indirect means. If an issuer meets both of the “Administrative Provisions”)following criteria, the overseas securities offering and listing conducted by such issuer shall be deemed as an indirect overseas offering subject to the draft Measuresfiling procedures set forth under the New Overseas Listing Rules: (i) 50% or more of the issuer’s operating revenue, total profit, total assets or net assets as documented in its audited consolidated financial statements for the Record-Filingmost recent fiscal year are derived from PRC domestic companies; and (ii) the issuer’s business activities are substantially conducted in mainland China, or its principal place(s) of Overseas Issuancebusiness are located in mainland China, or the senior managers in charge of its business operations and Listing of Securities by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) (the “Filing Measures”) for public comments.management are mostly Chinese citizens or domiciled in mainland China. Pursuant to these drafts, “PRC domestic companies”the New Overseas Listing Rules, an issuer listed in an overseas market that directly or indirectly issue or list theirintends to conduct any follow-on offering in the same overseas market where it has previously offered and listed securities overseas shallshould, through its major operating entity incorporated in the PRC, file required materials with the CSRC certain required documents within three business days after submitting the application documentscompletion of such follow-on offering.

Furthermore, according to the New Overseas Listing Rules, after an issuer has completed its offering and listed its securities on an overseas stock exchange, it shall submit required reports to the CSRC within three business days after the occurrence and public disclosure of any material events, including (i) a change of control, (ii) investigations of or sanctions imposed on the issuer by overseas securities regulatory agencies or other relevant competent authorities, (iii) changes of listing status or transfers of the listing segment, (iv) a voluntary or mandatory delisting and (v) a material change in its main business operation, as a result of which that issuer is no longer subject to the filing requirements under the New Overseas Listing Rules.

The New Overseas Listing Rules provide that in the event of any breach, including any failure to fulfill the filing procedure, or any offering and listing of securities in an overseas market in violation of the measures, the CSRC will order such domestic company to rectify, issue warnings to such domestic company, and impose a fine between RMB1 million and RMB10 million. Fines and warnings will be imposed on the persons-in-charge and other persons who are directly liable. In addition, fines will also be imposed on the controlling shareholders and actual controllers of the domestic company who initiate or cause the aforesaid non-compliance activities.

See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—The filing, approval or other administration requirements of the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC government authorities may be required to maintain our listing status or conduct future offshore securities offerings.”

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PRC Licenses, Permissions and Approvals

In the view of Jia Yuan Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, we had complied with the relevant applicable PRC laws relating to the required licenses, permissions and approvals to business operations in China in all material respects. Our PRC legal counsel has also advised us that, to the best of their knowledge, there should be no material legal impediment for us to renew these licenses, permissions and approvals as long as we comply with the issuancerelevant legal requirements and we take all necessary steps and submit the relevant applications in accordance with the requirements and schedules prescribed by the applicable PRC laws and regulations. For details of these licenses and permissions, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Licenses, Permissions and Approvals.” For the consequences to us and investors if we do not receive or listingmaintain requisite licenses, permissions and approvals necessary to conduct operations in China, or if applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and we are required to obtain additional permissions or approvals in the future, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risk Related to Our Business and Industry—Any failure to maintain necessary permits and licenses to operate our business operations under applicable laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

As described above, the PRC government has recently tightened the regulation of cybersecurity, and indicated an intent to exert more oversight and control over securities offerings and other capital markets activities that are conducted overseas and “PRC domestic companies” are defined to include both (i) PRCforeign investment in China-based companies limited by shares, and (ii) offshore-incorporated companies whose main business operations are in China that seek issuance of shares and listing overseas based on their onshore equity, assets or similar interests.like us. As of the date of this annual report, it remains uncertain when the final Administrative Provision and Filing Measures will be adopted and whether they will be adopted in the current draft form. If the Administrative Provisions and Filing Measures are adopted in the current form, we may behave not been required to filego through a cybersecurity review by the CAC, or required documentsto obtain any permission from, or complete any filing with, the CSRC regardingin connection with our future securitiesprior public offerings which could take upor maintaining the listing status on applicable stock exchanges. Nor have we received any formal inquiry, notice, warning, sanction, or any regulatory objection in relation to 20 business days forcybersecurity review from the CSRC, the CAC or any other PRC regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over our operations. Since the legislative and regulatory actions in this regard, including the release of New Overseas Listing Rules, are relatively new, it is highly uncertain how soon legislative or administrative regulation-making bodies will respond and what existing or new laws or regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations will be modified or promulgated, if any, and the potential impact such modified or new laws and regulations will have on our business operations, our ability to reviewaccept foreign investments and approve after submitting all required documents. Seeconduct follow-on offerings, and listing or continuing listing on applicable stock exchanges. For details of related risks, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—The filing, approval or other administration requirements of the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC government authorities may be required to maintain our listing status or conduct future offshore securities offerings.”

3.A.[Reserved]

3.B.Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

3.C.Reason for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

3.D.Risk Factors

Below please find a summary of the principal risks we face, organized under relevant headings.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Risks and uncertainties related to our business and industry include, but are not limited to, the following:

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Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Having the majority of our operations in China poses risks to investors.

We face risks arising from the legal system in China, including risks and uncertainties regarding the enforcement of rapidly changing laws, rules and regulations in China:

We face risks that the Chinese government may intervene or influence your operations at any time, or may exert more control over offerings conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could result in a material change in our operations, significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors, and cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or be worthless:

In addition, we are also subject to other risks and uncertainties related to doing business in China include, but are not limited to risks related to the enforcement of legal procedures, restrictions and limitations on the ability to distribute earnings, tax consequences, and regulatory developments in relation to PCAOB inspection:

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Risks Related to Our ADSs and Class A Ordinary Shares

In addition to the risks described above, we are subject to risks related to our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares, including, but are not limited to, the following:

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Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We operate in an emerging and evolving market, which may develop differently from or more slowly than we expect. If our market does not grow as we expect, or if we cannot expand our products and services to meet the demands of this market, our revenue may decline, or fail to grow, and we may continue to incur operating losses.

The IoT PaaS and IoT SaaS markets are at an early stage of development. There is considerable uncertainty over the size and rate at which these markets will grow, as well as whether our products and services will be widely adopted. Moreover, the IoT cloud industry, including the IoT PaaS market and the IoT SaaS market, is subject to rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, changing regulations, as well as changing customer needs, requirements and preferences. The success of our business will depend, in part, on our ability to adapt and respond effectively to these changes on a timely basis. If we are unable to develop and launch new products and services or provide enhancements and new features to keep pace with rapid technological and industry changes, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. If new technologies emerge that are able to deliver competitive products and services at lower prices or more efficiently or securely, such technologies could adversely impact our ability to compete effectively.

Our products, services and platform must also integrate with a variety of network, hardware, software and technologies, and we need to continuously modify and enhance our products, services and platform to adapt to changes and innovation. For example, if customers adopt new software, we may be required to develop new versions of our products and services to be compatible with such new software. This development effort may require significant resources, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any failure of our products and services to operate effectively with evolving or new software and technologies could reduce the demand for our products and services. If we are unable to respond to these changes in a cost-effective manner, our products and services may become less marketable and less competitive or obsolete, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our business has scaled rapidly during 2019 to 2021 by leveraging our strong software and robust platform-based delivery capabilities. Our revenues were US$105.8 million, US$179.9 million and US$302.1 million, respectively, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, representing an average CAGR growth of approximately 69%. In the second half of 2021, the global consumer electronics sector started to experience a significant and growing supply-demand mismatch, a situation where the supply of the products available exceeds the demand, resulting in a high level of inventory of manufacturers and distributors. Several factors contributed to this mismatch, including rising shipping costs, supply chain disruptions and rising global inflation, among others, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, our customers, who are mostly consumer electronics brands and OEMs, were negatively impacted, as were our own business operations. The ongoing inflationary pressures and global events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the energy shortage in 2022 have further aggravated these issues. These developments have caused a decline in revenue, the first since our inception, in 2022.For more information, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—5.A. Operating Results—Discussion of Results of Operations.”

We have a limited operating history, making it difficult to forecast our future results of operations.

We commenced our operations in 2014. Our relatively limited operating history makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and prospects, and to plan for our anticipated future growth. As a result of our limited operating history, our ability to accurately forecast our future results of operations is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model future growth. Our historical revenue growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance.

Further, in future periods, our revenue growth could slow down or our revenue could decline for a number of reasons, including slowing demand for our offerings, increased competition, changes to technology, a decrease in the growth of our overall market, or our failure, for any reason, to continue to take advantage of growth opportunities. We have also encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties and our future revenue growth are incorrect, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations, and our business could suffer.

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Our recent growth may not be indicative of our future growth, and we may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate in the future.

We have experienced rapid growth since the inception of our operations. However, you should not rely on the revenue growth of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance. We cannot assure you that we will be able to manage our growth at the same rate as we did in the past, or avoid any decline in the future. To maintain our growth, we need to attract more customers, hire more qualified research and development (“R&D”) staff and other staff, scale up our business and strengthen our technology infrastructure, among others. Moreover, our current and planned staffing, systems, policies, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support our future operations. To effectively manage the expected growth of our operations and personnel, we will also be required to refine our operational, financial and management controls and reporting systems and procedures. If we fail to efficiently manage the expansion of our business, our costs and expenses may increase faster than we planned and we may not successfully attract a sufficient number of customers and end users in a cost-effective manner, respond timely to competitive challenges, or otherwise execute our business strategies. Our growth requires significant financial resources and will continue to place significant demands on our management. There is no guarantee that we will be able to effectively manage any future growth in an efficient, cost-effective and timely manner, or at all. Our growth in a relatively short period of time is not necessarily indicative of results that we may achieve in the future. If we fail to effectively manage the growth of our business and operations, our reputation, results of operations and overall business and prospects could be negatively impacted.

The markets in which we operate are competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

The IoT PaaS and IoT SaaS markets are competitive and rapidly evolving. The principal competitive factors in these markets include the ability to support multiple use cases on a single platform, ease of deployment, implementation and use, platform performance, scalability and reliability, global reach, brand awareness and reputation, the strength of sales and marketing efforts, as well as the ability to ensure data security and privacy.

Some of our existing and potential competitors might have substantial competitive advantages, including larger scale, longer operating history, greater brand recognition, more established relationships with customers, suppliers, manufacturers and other business partners, and greater financial, research and development, marketing and other resources. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. In addition, some competitors may offer products or services that address one or a limited number of functions at lower prices, with greater depth than our products and services or in different geographies. Our existing and potential competitors may develop and market new products and services with comparable functionality to ours, and this could force us to offer our products and services at lower prices in order to remain competitive.

Some of our competitors are able to offer products and services at lower prices than ours, which may be attractive to certain customers even if those products and services offer different or fewer functionalities. If we are unable to maintain our current pricing due to the competitive pressures, our margins will be reduced and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected. In addition, pricing pressures and increased competition could result in reduced revenue, reduced margins, increased losses or the failure of our products and services to achieve or maintain widespread market acceptance, any of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

With the introduction of new products and services and new market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. In addition, some of our customers may choose to use our products and services and our competitors’ products and services at the same time, or choose to switch to other IoT platforms. As we expand the scope of our platform, products and services, we may face additional competition. If one or more of our competitors were to merge or partner with another of our competitors, the change in the competitive landscape could also adversely affect our ability to compete effectively.

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The success of our business is dependent upon our ability to maintain and expand our customer base and our ability to convince our customers to increase the use of our products and services. If we are unable to expand our customer base, or if the use of our products and services by our customers declines, our business may be harmed.

Our ability to expand and generate revenue depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and expand our relationships with customers and convince them to increase their use of our products and services. We grew our total number of customers from approximately 5,000 in 2020 to approximately 8,400 in 2021, and to approximately 7,600 customers in 2022. The total number of our IoT PaaS customers increased from approximately 3,300 in 2020 to approximately 5,500 in 2021, and to approximately 5,100 in 2022. If our customers do not increase their use of our products and services, our revenue may not grow and our results of operations may be harmed. It is difficult to predict the end users’ usage levels of smart devices accurately and the loss of customers or reductions in the end users’ usage levels may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our customers may cease, or reduce their usage of our products and services due to a variety of reasons or factors, such as progress in technology that makes our products and services obsolete, a decrease in the quality of our products and services, unfounded allegations and rumors relating to the health effect of technologies such as 5G, or national security or other concerns caused by our products and services, rising raw material prices, and shortage of semiconductor components, which are outside our or our customers’ control. If a significant number of our customers cease using, or reduce their usage of, our products and services, or if the brands who place orders through our OEM customers cease to place orders from them, we may be required to spend significantly more on sales and marketing than we currently plan to spend in order to maintain or increase revenues. These additional expenditures could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to estimate customer demand properly, our financial results could be harmed.

Our business involves estimates of customers’ future demand. There may be a significant mismatch between supply and demand, giving rise to product shortages or excess inventory, and make our demand forecast more uncertain. Demand for our products and services is based on many factors, including our product introductions, competitor announcements, competing technologies, and power or raw material supply, among other things, many of which are beyond our or our customers’ control. For example, the demand and use of the chips as part of the modules where the edge capabilities of IoT PaaS are embedded have fluctuated in the past and is likely to continue to fluctuate in the future. In periods with limited supply of chips, our customers may place inventory orders significantly in advance of their normal order cycle, which could increase fluctuations in our sales and revenue between periods and make it more difficult for us to estimate future customer demands. These challenges may be more pronounced in the future if the demand and prices of chips continue to fluctuate. In addition, to the extent our customers experience material changes in the sale of their smart devices or a high level of backlogs in inventories, they may reduce or delay purchases of our products and services, causing our estimate of customer demand to be inaccurate. In estimating demand, we make multiple assumptions, any of which may prove to be incorrect. Furthermore, to the extent we build inventory anticipating growth in customer demand, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be negatively affected if such growth does not materialize as expected.

Our use of third-party suppliers involves certain risks that may result in, among others, increased costs, disruption of supply or shortage of raw materials, quality or compliance issues, or failure by our suppliers to timely manufacture the modules and finished smart devices, any of which could materially harm our business.

We use third-party suppliers to manufacture the modules where edge capabilities of IoT PaaS are embedded, and in some circumstances, finished smart devices. We do not manufacture these modules or smart devices and do not own or operate any manufacturing facility. Instead, we are dependent on third-party suppliers to manufacture the modules and smart devices using their equipment and technology. Our use of such third-party module suppliers involves a number of risks, including:

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If any of our suppliers is not able to perform its manufacturing obligations in the manner, timing and quality as agreed, we may not be able to, on a timely basis, find a suitable alternative on commercially acceptable terms. Disruptions of our relationships with such suppliers could negatively impact our business operations for an extended period of time. Any inability to acquire sufficient quantities of the modules and finished smart devices in a timely manner from these third-party suppliers could have a material negative impact on our business.

Components of IoT modules and other raw materials used in our operations are periodically subject to supply shortages, and our business is subject to the risk of price increases and periodic delays in delivery. For example, since early 2021, there have been continued global supply chain disruptions, and the supply of chips that are essential components of IoT modules has been subject to a global shortage. While we believe such chip shortage has not had a material negative impact on our business operations to date, there is no assurance that we will be able to continue to secure adequate chip supply at commercially reasonable cost for our operations. If we fail to secure sufficient chip supply, we may have to secure alternative suppliers or find alternative supplies or technologies, which could be costly, time consuming, and may not be successful. To the extent the chip shortage deteriorates or becomes longer-term in nature, we may experience significant delays in our delivery to customers and our business operations and prospects may be negatively impacted.

If we are not able to introduce new features or products successfully or to make enhancements to our existing products and services, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.

To attract new customers and end users and keep our existing ones engaged, we must introduce new products and services and upgrade our existing offerings to meet their evolving preferences. It is difficult to predict the preferences of a particular customer or a specific group of customers. Changes and upgrades to our existing products may not be well received by our customers and end users, and newly introduced products or services may not achieve success as expected. For example, we may introduce new industry SaaS products for new industry verticals, with which we have little or no prior experience. Such efforts may require us to contribute a substantial amount of additional human capital and financial resources. We cannot assure you that any of such new products will achieve market acceptance or generate sufficient revenue to adequately compensate the costs and expenses incurred in relation to our development and promotion efforts. Enhancements and new products and services that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain errors or defects, may have interoperability difficulties with our platform or other products and services or may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenue. If we fail to improve our existing products and introduce new ones in a timely or cost-effective manner, our ability to attract and retain customers and end users may be impaired, and our financial performance and prospects may be adversely affected.

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We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our platform. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We currently serve our customers and end users from data centers in China, the United States, Europe and India. We also use various third-party cloud-hosting providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Tencent Cloud to provide cloud infrastructure for our platform. Our IoT PaaS and Industry SaaS products and value-added services rely on the operations of this infrastructure. We do not control, or in some cases have limited control over, the operation of the data center facilities we use. Customers expect to access our platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance, and we provide a few customers with service-level commitments with respect to uptime. Any limitation on the capacity of our data centers or cloud infrastructure could impede our ability to onboard new customers or expand the usage of our existing customers, host our products or serve our customers, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any incident affecting our data centers or cloud infrastructure that may be caused by cyberattacks, natural disasters, fire, flood, severe storm, earthquake, power loss, outbreaks of contagious diseases, telecommunications failures, terrorist or other attacks, or other events beyond our control could negatively affect the cloud-based portion of our platform. A prolonged service disruption affecting our data centers or cloud-based services for any of the foregoing reasons would negatively impact our ability to serve our customers and could damage our reputation with current and potential customers, expose us to liability, cause us to lose customers or otherwise harm our business. We may also incur significant costs for using alternative providers or taking other actions in preparation for, or in response to, events that damage the third-party hosting services we use.

In the event that our service agreements relating to our data centers or cloud infrastructure are terminated, or there is a lapse of service, elimination of services or features that we utilize, interruption of internet service provider connectivity or damage to such facilities, we could experience interruptions in access to our platform, as well as significant delays and additional expense in arranging or creating new facilities and services or rebuilding our platform for deployment on a different data center provider or cloud infrastructure service provider, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We benefit from integration of our products and services with those of our business partners. If these business partners choose not to partner with us in the future, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

We benefit from integration of our products and services with those of our business partners, such as the providers of cloud services used to support our platform. If entities who serve as our business partners change their cooperation model with us, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected. We may also face competition from our business partners in a number of areas, including innovations in our businesses. Such competition may adversely affect our competitive position, business prospects and our relationship with our business partners. It may be necessary in the future to renegotiate agreements relating to various aspects of these collaborations or business partnerships. In addition, if our business partners choose not to partner with us, or choose to form collaborations with our competitors’ platforms, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

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Compliance with the rapidly evolving landscape of global data privacy and data security laws may be challenging, and any failure or perceived failure to comply with such laws, or other concerns about our practices or policies with respect to the processing of personal information, could damage our reputation and deter current and potential customers and end users from using our platform and products and services or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to comply with the increasing number of data protection laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use, storage, retention, transfer, disclosure and other processing of personal information, the security of personal information, the use of biometric information or other privacy-related matters, such as cybersecurity breaches, misuse of personal information and data sharing without necessary safeguards, including concerns from our customers, employees and third parties with whom we conduct business, even if unfounded, could damage our reputation and operating results. As we seek to expand our business, we are, and may increasingly become, subject to various laws, regulations and standards, as well as contractual obligations, relating to data privacy and security in the jurisdictions in which we operate. The regulatory and legal frameworks regarding data privacy and security issues in many jurisdictions are constantly evolving and developing and can be subject to significant changes from time to time, including in ways that may result in conflicting requirements among various jurisdictions. Interpretation and implementation standards and enforcement practices are similarly in a state of flux and are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. As a result, we may not be able to comprehensively assess the scope and extent of our compliance responsibility at a global level, and may fail to fully comply with the applicable data privacy and security laws, regulations and standards. Moreover, these laws, regulations and standards may be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is possible that they will be interpreted and applied in ways that may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

PRC

In recent years, the PRC government has increasingly tightened the regulation of cybersecurity and the storage, sharing, use, disclosure and protection of data and personal information. The Cybersecurity Law of the PRC, or the Cybersecurity Law, promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (the “SCNPC”) has come into force on June 1, 2017. In addition, the Data Security Law of PRC, or the Data Security Law, was promulgated by the SCNPC on June 10, 2021 and took effect on September 1, 2021.

Numerous laws, regulations, guidelines and other measures have been or are expected to be adopted pursuant to the guidelines of, or in addition to, the Cybersecurity Law and Data Security Law. These include, for example, the draft Measures on Security Assessment of Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Information and Important Data released in April 2017, the draft Measures on Security Assessment of Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Information released in June 2019, and the Personal Information Protection Law, or the Personal Information Protection Law, which was released on August 20, 2021 and became effective on November 1, 2021. Specifically, on October 29, 2021, the CAC released the consultation draft of the Cross-border Transfer of Data, which is applicable to cross-border transfers of personal information and important data collected and generated in China under certain circumstances. While we do not believe our current business involves any transmission, use and exchange of information that comes under the definition of “cross-border transfers of personal information and important data” under the foregoing laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not take a view contrary to ours, thus requiring us to comply with applicable data localization, security assessment and other requirements under these proposed laws and regulations. As our business continues to grow, there may arise circumstances where we engage in such cross-border transfers of personal information and important data, including in order to satisfy the legal and regulatory requirements, in which case we may need to comply with the foregoing requirements as well as any other limitations under PRC laws then applicable. Complying with these laws and requirements could cause us to incur substantial expenses or require us to alter or change our practices in ways that could harm our business. Additionally, to the extent we are found to be not in compliance with these laws and requirements, we may be subject to fines, regulatory orders to suspend our operations or other regulatory and disciplinary sanctions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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On July 30, 2021, the State Council of the PRC promulgated the Provisions on Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure, or the CII Protection Regulations, which became effective on September 1, 2021. Pursuant to the CII Protection Regulations, “critical information infrastructures” (“CIIs”) refer to any important network facilities or information systems of the important industry or field such as public communication and information service, energy, communications, water conservation, finance, public services, e-government affairs and national defense science, which may endanger national security, people’s livelihood and public interest in case of damage, function loss or data leakage. In addition, relevant administration departments of each critical industry and sector shall be responsible for formulating eligibility criteria and identifying the CIIOs in the respective industry or sector, and the CIIOs shall be responsible for protecting the CIIs’ security by performing certain prescribed obligations. As of the date of this annual report, we have not been informed by CAC or any other PRC government authorities that we are identified or will be deemed as a CIIO. However, since the criteria for determining CIIOs remain uncertain, we cannot assure you that we will not be identified as a CIIO by any competent regulatory authority in the future.

On December 28, 2021, the CAC and several other administrations jointly promulgated the Measures for Cybersecurity Review, or the Cybersecurity Review Measures, which became effective on February 15, 2022. The Cybersecurity Review Measures provide that (i) a “network platform operator” holding over one million users’ personal information shall apply for a cybersecurity review when listing their securities in a foreign country, (ii) a CIIO that intends to purchase internet products and services that affect or may affect national security shall apply for a cybersecurity review and (iii) a “network platform operator” carrying out data processing activities that affect or may affect national security shall apply for a cybersecurity review. Since the Cybersecurity Review Measures are relatively new, significant uncertainties exist in relation to their interpretation and implementation. Additionally, the Cybersecurity Review Measures do not provide the exact scope of “network platform operator” or the circumstances that would “affect or may affect national security.” There can be no assurance that we will not be required to apply for a cybersecurity review pursuant to the Cybersecurity Review Measures. To the extent any cybersecurity review is required, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete it in a timely manner, or at all. Any failure to complete the required cybersecurity review may result in regulatory sanctions including, among others, government enforcement actions and investigations, fines, penalties, and suspension of our non-compliant operations, as well as reputational damage or legal proceedings or actions against us, any of which may have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, on November 14, 2021, the CAC released the Regulations on the Administration of Cyber Data Security (Draft for Comments) (the “Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation”), which has not been officially enacted as of the date of this annual report. According to the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation, data processors shall apply for a cybersecurity review when carrying out the following activities: (i) the merger, reorganization or division of internet platform operators that have acquired a large number of data resources related to national security, economic development or public interests, which affect or may affect national security; (ii) data processors that handle personal information of more than one million people contemplating to list its securities on a “foreign” stock exchange; (iii) data processors contemplating to list its securities on a stock exchange in Hong Kong, which affects or may affect national security; and (iv) other data processing activities that affect or may affect national security. According to the PRC National Security Law, “national security” refers to a status in which the regime, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, welfare of the people, sustainable economic and social development, and other vital interests of the state are relatively not in danger and not threatened internally or externally and the ability to maintain a sustained security status. However, as of the date of this annual report, the criteria for determining the circumstances that “affect or may affect national security” for the purpose of the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation remain unclear and are subject to further clarification by the CAC. It also remains uncertain when the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation will be adopted and become effective and whether it will be adopted in its current draft form. It remains uncertain whether future regulatory changes would impose additional restrictions on us. We cannot predict the impact of the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation, if any, at this stage, and we will closely monitor and assess any development in the rulemaking process. If the enacted version of the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation mandates clearance of a cybersecurity review and other specific actions to be completed by China-based companies listed on a foreign stock exchange like us, we face uncertainties as to whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all.

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EU and U.K.

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), which applies to the collection, use, storage, retention, transfer, disclosure and other processing of personal data obtained from individuals located in the European Union (the “EU”) or by businesses operating within the EU, became effective on May 25, 2018 and has resulted, and will continue to result, in significantly greater compliance burdens and costs for companies with customers, end users, or operations in the EU. The GDPR places stringent obligations and operational requirements on us as both a processor and controller of personal data and could make it more difficult or more costly for us to use and share personal data. Under the GDPR, data protection supervisory authorities are given various enforcement powers, including levying fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of an organization’s annual worldwide turnover, whichever is greater, for the preceding financial year, for non-compliance. Data subjects also have the right to be compensated for damages suffered as a result of a controller or processor’s non-compliance with the GDPR. While the GDPR provides a more harmonized approach to data protection regulation across the EU member states, it also gives EU member states certain areas of discretion and therefore laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities may differ on a member state by member state basis, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. In addition to the GDPR, the EU also has released a proposed Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications, or the ePrivacy Regulation, to replace the EU’s current Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive, or the ePrivacy Directive, to, among other things, better align EU member states and the rules governing online tracking technologies and electronic communications, such as unsolicited marketing and cookies, with the requirements of the GDPR. While the ePrivacy Regulation was originally intended to be adopted on May 25, 2018 (alongside the GDPR), it is currently going through the European legislative process, and timing for adoption remains unclear. The current draft of the ePrivacy Regulation significantly increases fining powers to the same levels as GDPR and may require us to change our operational model and incur additional compliance expenses. The regulation is currently in the final stages of negotiation, and the details of this regulation remain in flux. Additional time and effort may need to be spent addressing the new requirements in the potential ePrivacy Regulation as compared to the GDPR.

Under the GDPR, restrictions are placed on transfers of personal data outside of the European Economic Area to countries which have not been deemed “adequate” by the European Commission (including the United States and the PRC). As a global business, with customers and end users worldwide, we are susceptible to any changes in legal requirements affecting international data flows. The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) issued a decision on July 16, 2020, invaliding the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which provided one mechanism for lawful cross-border transfers of personal data between the EU and the United States. While the decision did not invalidate the use of standard contractual clauses, another mechanism for making lawful cross-border transfers, the decision has called the validity of standard contractual clauses into question under certain circumstances, and has made the legality of transferring personal data from the EU to the United States or various other jurisdictions outside of the EU more uncertain. Specifically, the CJEU stated that companies must now assess the validity of standard contractual clauses on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration whether the standard contractual clauses provide sufficient protection in light of any access by the public authorities of the third country to where the personal data is transferred, and the relevant aspects of the legal system of such third country. Additionally, in October 2022, President Biden signed an executive order to implement the EU-U.S. Data privacy Framework, which would serve as a replacement to the EU-US Privacy Shield. The European Commission initiated the process to adopt an adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework in December 2022, however the European Data Protection Board has been critical of the framework and it is unclear if and when the framework will be finalized or adopted. While the European Commission published new standard contractual clauses for transferring personal data from the EU to third countries, and the European Data Protection Board issued certain recommendations relating to measures that supplement transfer tools to ensure compliance with the EU level of protection of personal data, the CJEU’s decision has increased uncertainty surrounding data transfers from the EU to third countries that may not offer the same level of protection for data subjects’ rights as the EU. Due to these recent regulatory changes and guidance, we may need to invest in additional technical, legal and organization safeguards in the future to avoid disruptions to data flows within our business and to and from our customers and service providers. Furthermore, this uncertainty, and its eventual resolution, may increase our costs of compliance, impede our ability to transfer data and conduct our business, and harm our business or results of operations.

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Additionally, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) from the EU (commonly known as “Brexit”) has created uncertainty with regard to the regulation of privacy and data protection in the U.K. Since January 1, 2021, when the transitional period following Brexit expired, the so-called U.K. GDPR (combining the GDPR and the U.K.’s Data Protection Act of 2018) has been in effect in the U.K. Although the U.K. GDPR currently imposes substantially the same obligations as the GDPR, and currently authorizes similar fines, the U.K. GDPR will not automatically incorporate changes to the GDPR going forward (which would need to be specifically incorporated by the U.K. government). Moreover, the U.K. government has publicly announced plans to reform the U.K. GDPR in ways that, if formalized, are likely to deviate from the GDPR. While the European Commission has issued an “adequacy” decision to the U.K., which facilitates the sharing of personal data between the EU and the U.K. for the time being, such adequacy decision will sunset in June 2025 unless extended and it may be revoked in the future by the European Commission if the U.K. data protection regime is reformed in ways that deviate substantially from the level of protection currently in place. Adding further complexity for international data flows, in March 2022, the U.K. adopted its own International Data Transfer Agreement for transfers of personal data out of the U.K. to so-called third countries, as well as an international data transfer addendum that can be used with GDPR’s standard contractual clauses for the same purpose. All of this creates a risk of divergent parallel regimes and related uncertainty, along with the potential for increased compliance costs and risks for affected businesses based on differing, and potentially inconsistent or conflicting, obligations or interpretation and enforcement by regulators and authorities.

United States

In the United States, various federal regulators, including governmental agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, and states and state regulators, including in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, lowa, New York, Virginia and Utah have adopted, or are considering adopting, laws and regulations concerning personal data and data security, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, of 2018 (“CCPA”), the California Internet of Things Security Law, the Colorado Privacy Act, the Connecticut Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring Act, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Iowa Consumer Data Protection Act, the New York SHIELD Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act and the Utah Consumer Privacy Act. This patchwork of legislation and regulation may give rise to conflicts or differing views of personal privacy rights. For example, certain state laws may be more stringent or broader in scope, or offer greater individual rights, with respect to personal data than federal, international or other state laws, and such laws may differ from each other, all of which may complicate compliance efforts. One such comprehensive privacy law in the United States is the CCPA, which came into effect on January 1, 2020 and was significantly amended as of January 1, 2023 by the California Privacy Rights Act. Among other things, the CCPA requires companies that process personal information of California residents to make new detailed disclosures to consumers about such companies’ data collection, use and sharing practices, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information and to opt out of certain personal information sharing with (and sales of personal information to) third parties. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal data. This private right of action is expected to increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. Amendments have been made to the CCPA, and it is possible that further amendments will be enacted, but even in its current form it remains unclear how various provisions of the CCPA will be interpreted and enforced. Additionally, the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”) was approved by California voters in the election of November 3, 2020, and took effect in most material respects on January 1, 2023. The CPRA modifies the CCPA significantly, including by expanding consumers’ rights with respect to certain sensitive personal information, further restricting the use of cross-context behavioral advertising and creating a new state agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency, to oversee implementation and enforcement efforts, potentially resulting in further uncertainty and requiring us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Other state laws are changing rapidly and there have been ongoing discussions and proposals in the U.S. Congress with respect to new federal data privacy and security laws to which we would become subject if enacted. All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs that are likely to increase over time, may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, divert resources from other initiatives and projects, and could restrict the way products and services involving data are offered, all of which may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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In addition to government regulation, privacy advocates and industry groups have and may in the future propose self-regulatory standards from time to time. These and other industry standards may legally or contractually apply to us, or we may elect to comply with such standards. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws and regulations concerning data privacy and security, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our business. New laws, amendments to or reinterpretations of existing laws, regulations, standards and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations. For example, there is an increasing trend of jurisdictions requiring data localization, which may prohibit companies from storing data relating to resident individuals in data centers outside the relevant jurisdiction or, at a minimum, require a complete set of the data to be stored in data centers within the relevant jurisdiction. Because the interpretation and application of laws, regulations, standards and other obligations relating to data privacy and security are still uncertain, it is possible that these laws, regulations, standards and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data processing practices and policies or the features of our products and services. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, complaints, inquiries, allegations, regulatory investigations, public censure, other claims and penalties, and significant costs for remediation and damage to our reputation, we could be materially and adversely affected if legislation or regulations are expanded to require changes in our data processing practices and policies or if governing jurisdictions interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, the developing requirements relating to clear and prominent privacy notices (including in the context of obtaining informed and specific consents to the collection and processing of personal information, where applicable) may potentially deter end users from consenting to certain uses of their personal information.

In general, negative publicity of us or our industry regarding actual or perceived violations of our end users’ privacy-related rights, including fines and enforcement actions against us or other similarly placed businesses, also may impair users’ trust in our privacy practices and make them reluctant to give their consent to share their data with us. Any inability to adequately address data privacy or security-related concerns, complaints, inquiries or allegations when they arise, even if unfounded, or to comply with applicable laws, regulations, standards and other obligations relating to data privacy and security, could result in additional cost and liability to us, harm our reputation and brand, damage our relationships with consumers and have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, due to data privacy or data security concerns, our ability to retain or increase our user base and user engagement may be materially and adversely affected, we may not be able to maintain or grow our revenues as anticipated and our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

With regard to our commercial arrangements, we and our counterparties, including business partners and external service providers, might be subject to contractual obligations regarding the processing of personal information. While we believe our and our counterparties’ conduct under these agreements is in material compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, standards, certifications and orders relating to data privacy or security, we or our counterparties may fail, or be alleged to have failed, to be in full compliance. In the event that our acts or omissions result in alleged or actual failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations, standards, certifications and orders relating to data privacy or security, we may incur liability. While we endeavor to include indemnification provisions or other protections in such agreements to mitigate liability and losses stemming from our counterparties’ acts or omissions, we may not always be able to negotiate for such protections and, even where we can, there is no guarantee that our counterparties will honor such provisions or that such protections will cover the full scope of our liabilities and losses.

While we strive to comply with our internal data privacy guidelines as well as all applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations and contractual obligations in respect of personal information, there is no assurance that we are able to comply with these laws, regulations and contractual obligations in all respects. Any failure or perceived failure by us, external service providers or business partners to comply may result in proceedings or actions against us, including fines and penalties or enforcement orders (including orders to cease processing activities) being levied on us by government agencies or proceedings or actions against us by our business partners, customers or end users, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, and could damage our reputation and discourage current and future users from using our products and services, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, compliance with applicable laws on data privacy requires substantial expenditure and resources, including to continually evaluate our policies and processes and adapt to new requirements that are or become applicable to us on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, which would impose significant burdens and costs on our operations or may require us to alter our business practices. Concerns about the security of personal information also could lead to a decline in general internet usage, which could result in a decrease in demand for our products and services and have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, if the local government authorities in our target markets require real-name registration for users of our platform, the growth of our customer and end-user bases may slow down and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

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The expansion of our international operations exposes us to significant regulatory, economic and political risks.

Expansion of our operations and customer base worldwide is essential to our growth strategy. We operate internationally with local offices in the United States, Europe, India, China and Japan, among other locations.

We expect that our international activities will continue to grow over the foreseeable future as we continue to pursue opportunities in existing and new markets, which will require significant management attention and financial resources worldwide. In connection with such expansion, we may face difficulties including costs associated with varying seasonality patterns, potential adverse movement of currency exchange rates, longer payment cycle, difficulties in collecting accounts receivable in some countries, tariffs and trade barriers, a variety of regulatory or contractual limitations on our ability to operate, adverse tax events, reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some countries, political risks and a geographically and culturally diverse workforce and customer base. Failure to overcome any of these difficulties could harm our business.

In addition, we will face risks in doing business internationally that could adversely affect our business, including:

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Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations, and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In some cases, compliance with the laws and regulations of one country could violate the laws and regulations of another country. As our global operations evolve, we cannot assure you that we are able to fully comply with the legal requirements of each jurisdiction and successfully adapt our business models to local market conditions. Due to the complexity involved in our international business expansion, we cannot assure you that we are or will be in compliance with all local laws.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our and our business partners’ operations and it, or any future health epidemic or other adverse public health developments, may continue to do so.

The COVID-19 pandemic, including the emergence of the Omicron variant, has in the past caused temporary disruption to our operations and those of our customers, suppliers and other business partners. For example, the pandemic has caused significant logistical challenges to the global supply chains, resulting in disrupted shipping lanes, labor and material shortages and weakened consumer demand for smart devices, all of which have negatively impacted our business and results of operations. Travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines imposed by governments globally have also reduced international travels and in-person meetings, which in turn have limited our ability to engage in in-person marketing with brands, particularly those brands based in the United States and Europe.

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided; however, the potential impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and our business in particular may be difficult to assess or predict, and it remains highly uncertain how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as other possible health epidemics and outbreaks could continue to have a material adverse impact on our or our business partners’ business operations. In particular, the economic downturn due to COVID-19 has adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect our customers’ ability to pay and customer demand for and end user usage of our products and services, which would adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected, and may continue to affect, our customers’ ability to pay us for past or future purchases, which could negatively affect our liquidity.

If we fail to manage the operation of our platform and infrastructure, our customers and end users may experience service outages and delays in the deployment of our products and services.

We have experienced significant growth in the number of customers and end users and the amounts of data that our cloud platform supports. We seek to maintain sufficient excess capacity on our cloud platform to meet the needs of all of our customers and end users. We also seek to maintain excess capacity to facilitate the rapid provision of new customer deployments and the expansion of existing customer deployments. In addition, we need to properly manage our technological operations infrastructure and cloud platform, and to respond to security threats, cyberattacks and performance and reliability problems that may arise from time to time, in order to support version control, changes in hardware and software parameters and the evolution of our products and services. However, the provision of new hosting infrastructure requires adequate lead time. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, system disruptions, outages and other performance problems. 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 and end user usage and denial of service issues. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time.

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Further, if our contractual and other business relationships with our cloud infrastructure providers are terminated, suspended, or suffer a material change to which we are unable to adapt, such as the elimination of services or features on which we depend, we could be unable to provide our platform and could experience significant delays and incur additional expense in transitioning customers to a different cloud infrastructure provider. Any difficulties these providers face, including the potential of certain network traffic receiving priority over other traffic (i.e., lack of net neutrality), may adversely affect our business, and we exercise little control over these providers, which increases our vulnerability to problems with the services they provide. Any disruptions, outages, defects, and other performance and quality problems with our platform or with our products and services and internet infrastructure on which they rely, or any material change in our contractual and other business relationships with our cloud infrastructure providers, could result in reduced use of our platform, increased expenses, including service credit obligations, and harm to our brand and reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Defects, errors or any other problems associated with our products and services could diminish demand for our products or services, harm our business and results of operations and subject us to liability.

Our customers may use our products and services for important aspects of their businesses, and any errors, defects or disruptions to our products and services and any other performance problems with our products and services could damage our customers’ businesses and, in turn, hurt our brand and reputation. We provide regular updates to our products and services, which have in the past contained, and may in the future contain, undetected errors, failures, vulnerabilities and bugs when first introduced or released. Real or perceived errors, failures, bugs or security vulnerabilities in our products could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our platform, loss of competitive position, lower customer retention or claims by customers for losses sustained by them. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources in order to help correct the problem. As a result, our reputation and our brand could be harmed, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected. Moreover, the edge capabilities of IoT PaaS are embedded in modules manufactured by certain third-party suppliers; we also use third-party suppliers to manufacture the finished smart devices for our smart device distribution customers. Such modules and finished smart devices may contain defects, errors or other product issues, which may negatively impact the performance of our platform, our products and services, and Tuya-powered smart devices, damage our reputation, harm our ability to attract new and existing customers, and incur significant support, repair or replacement costs even if we can be reimbursed from the third-party suppliers.

We generate a significant portion of our revenue from a limited number of major customers and any loss of business from these customers could have a negative impact on our revenues and harm our business.

We derive a significant portion of our revenue from a limited number of major customers. Our five largest customers in the aggregate accounted for approximately 20.7%, 17.2% and 11.7% of our total revenue in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. Our ability to maintain close relationships with major customers is essential to the success of our business.

However, the purchase orders placed by specific customers may vary from period to period, and we typically do not have long-term purchase commitments from customers not enrolled in our membership program. As a result, most of our customers could reduce or cease their use of our products and services at any time without any penalty or termination charges. A major customer may not contribute the same level of our revenue in one year as in any previous years. In addition, reliance on any individual customer that contributes a significant portion of our revenue may increase such customer’s pricing leverage when negotiating relevant terms or contracts of our products or services.

Many factors not within our control could cause the loss of, or reduction in, business or revenue from any customer, and these factors are not predictable. These factors include, among others, pricing pressure from competitors, a change in a customer’s business strategy, rising raw material prices, or failure of a module supplier to develop competitive products. Our customers may choose to pursue alternative technologies and develop alternative products in addition to, or in lieu of, our products, either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors. The loss of any major customer, or a significant decrease in the volume of customer demand or the price at which we sell our products to customers, could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

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We have a history of net loss and net cash operating outflow and may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.

We have experienced net loss in each year since inception. We generated net losses of US$66.9 million, US$175.4 million and US$146.2 million in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. We expect to continue to devote significant resources to research and development activities. We also expect to continue to incur substantial sales and marketing expenses in acquiring and retaining customers and enhancing our brand awareness, and incur substantial general and administrative expenses including those associated with operating as a public company. We may not be able to increase our revenue enough to offset the increase in operating expenses resulting from these investments. If we are unable to achieve and sustain profitability, or if we are unable to achieve the revenue growth that we expect from these investments, the value of our business and stock may decrease.

Additionally, we recorded net cash operating outflow of US$49.2 million, US$126.1 million and US$70.7 million in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. If we continue to experience net cash operating outflow in the future, our business, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. There is no assurance that we will always generate sufficient net income or operating cash flows to meet our working capital requirements and repay our liabilities as they become due, due to a variety of factors. For actions we intend to take to finance our future working capital requirements and capital expenditures, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—5.B. Liquidity and Capital Resources.” There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully take any of these actions in a timely manner, including prudently managing our working capital, or raising additional equity or debt financing on terms that are acceptable to us. Our failure to take these actions as and when necessary could materially adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and ability to operate.

We cannot guarantee that our future monetization strategies will be successfully implemented or generate sustainable revenues and profit.

We have developed a diversified revenue model and plan to explore additional opportunities to monetize our customer base and technology by, for example, promoting additional value-added services to end users to generate more subscription fees. If these efforts fail to achieve our anticipated results, we may not be able to increase or maintain our revenue growth. Specifically, in order to increase the number of our customers and end users and their levels of spending, we will need to address a number of challenges, including providing consistent quality products and services; continuing to innovate and stay ahead of our competitors; and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our sales and marketing efforts. If we fail to address any of these challenges, we may not be successful in increasing the number of our customers and end users and their expenditures with us, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our results may fluctuate from period to period, and if we fail to meet securities analysts’ and investors’ expectations, the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares and the value of your investment could decline substantially.

Our operating results have fluctuated from period to period and may continue to fluctuate in the future as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control and are unpredictable. For example, our business model is based in large part on our ability to accurately estimate customer demands, which may constrain our ability to forecast our revenue. If operating results for any particular period fall below securities analysts’ and investors’ expectations, then the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares could decline substantially. Some factors that may cause our operating results to fluctuate from period to period include:

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The occurrence of one or more of the foregoing and other factors may cause our operating results to vary significantly. As such, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. If we fail to meet or exceed the expectations of investors or securities analysts, then the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares could fall substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.

Any failure to effectively develop and expand our marketing and sales capabilities could harm our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products and services.

Historically, we have relied on the adoption of our products and services by developers through our self-service portal as well as more targeted sales efforts. Our ability to further increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our platform will significantly depend on our ability to expand our marketing and sales operations. We plan to maintain a sufficient number of sales people both domestically and internationally. We also plan to dedicate sufficient resources to sales and marketing programs. All of these efforts will require us to invest significant financial and other resources and if they fail to attract additional customers and end users our business will be harmed.

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We believe that there is significant competition for sales personnel, including sales representatives, sales managers and sales engineers, with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve significant revenue growth will depend, in large part, on our success in recruiting, training and retaining sufficient numbers of sales personnel to support our growth. New hires require significant training and may take significant time before they achieve full productivity. Our new hires may not become productive as quickly as we expect, if at all, and we may be unable to hire or retain sufficient numbers of qualified individuals in the markets where we do business or plan to do business. In addition, particularly if we continue to grow rapidly, new members of our sales force will have relatively little experience working with us, our products and platform, and our business model. If we are unable to hire and train sufficient numbers of effective sales personnel, our sales personnel do not reach significant levels of productivity in a timely manner, or our sales personnel are not successful in acquiring new customers and end users or expanding usage by existing customers and end users, our business will be harmed.

We believe that continued growth in our business is also dependent upon identifying, developing and maintaining strategic relationships with additional retail channels that can drive substantial revenue growth. If we fail to identify additional channel partners in a timely and cost-effective manner, or at all, or are unable to assist our current and future channel partners in independently selling and deploying our products and services, then our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Any failure to offer high-quality developer and customer support may adversely affect our relationships with our developers and customers.

High quality, ongoing developer and customer support are critical to the successful marketing, sale and adoption of our products and services. Many of our customers depend on our customer support team to assist them in deploying our products and services effectively, help them resolve post-deployment issues quickly and provide ongoing support. As we grow our developer and customer base, we will need to further invest in and expand our developer and customer support teams, which could strain our resources and reduce profit margins. If we do not devote sufficient resources or otherwise do not help our developers and customers adopt our products and services, quickly resolve any post-implementation matters, and provide effective ongoing developer and customer support and training, our ability to expand sales to existing and future developers and customers and our reputation would be adversely affected. Our support teams will face additional challenges associated with our international operations, including those associated with delivering support and documentation in multiple languages. We might also face additional difficulties associated with providing customer support and warranties to our smart device distribution customers as we may not be able to control customer service terms of third-party suppliers. Increased demand for developer and customer support, without corresponding revenues, could increase costs and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Any failure to maintain high-quality developer and customer support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality developer and customer support, could adversely affect our reputation, business, operating results and financial condition.

We may be sanctioned or otherwise restricted from engaging in certain businesses due to heightened regulatory and public scrutiny, including in connection with our data processing practices and policies.

The level of regulatory and political scrutiny on technology companies in general, and companies whose businesses involve the processing of personal information in particular, has increased significantly recently and may continue to increase globally. Legislators have enacted, and may continue to enact, new laws or regulatory agencies may promulgate new rules or regulations that are adverse to our business, or they may view matters or interpret or enforce laws and regulations differently than they have in the past or in a manner adverse to our business. Such legislative or regulatory scrutiny or action may create or enhance different or conflicting obligations on us from one jurisdiction to another. Additionally, we have been in the past and may in the future be the subject of scrutiny and press attention. Any related claims, allegations and investigations, even if without merit, may be very expensive to defend or respond to, involve negative publicity, and substantial diversion of management time and effort. These events could also result in reputational harm, significant judgments, fines and remedial actions against us, or require us to change our business practices, make product or operational changes, or delay or preclude planned transactions, product launches or improvements, any of which could harm our business, reputation, financial condition and operating results. For risks associated with our compliance with data privacy and data security laws in general, see “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Compliance with the rapidly evolving landscape of global data privacy and data security laws may be challenging, and any failure or perceived failure to comply with such laws, or other concerns about our practices or policies with respect to the processing of personal information, could damage our reputation and deter current and potential customers and end users from using our platform and products and services or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

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Our business depends on our strong reputation and the value of “Tuya” brand. If we are unable to maintain and enhance our Tuya brand and increase market awareness of Tuya and its products and services, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We must maintain and enhance the “Tuya” brand identity and increase market awareness of Tuya-powered smart devices generally and our products and services. The successful promotion of our brand will depend on our efforts to achieve widespread acceptance of our platform and products and services, attract and retain customers and our ability to maintain our current market leadership and successfully differentiate our products and services from competitors. These efforts require substantial expenditures, and we anticipate that they will increase as our market becomes more competitive and as we expand into new markets. These investments in brand promotion and thought leadership may not yield increased revenue. To the extent they do, the resulting revenue still may not be enough to offset the increased expenses we incur. In addition, independent industry analysts often provide reviews of our products and competing products and services, which may significantly influence the perception of our products and services. If these reviews are negative or not as strong as reviews of our competitors’ products and services, our brand may be harmed. Adverse publicity (whether or not justified) relating to events or activities attributed to us, members of our workforce, agents, or third parties we rely on, may tarnish our reputation and reduce the value of our brand. Our brand value also depends on our ability to provide secure and trustworthy products and services as well as our ability to protect and use end users’ data in a manner that meets their expectations. In addition, any security incident, including one that results in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data, could cause material reputational harm. Damage to our reputation and loss of brand equity may reduce demand for our products and services and thus have an adverse effect on our future financial results, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation and restore the value of the brands and could also reduce the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares.

We could incur substantial costs in protecting or defending our intellectual property rights, and any failure to protect our intellectual property could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect our brand, trade secrets, trademarks, patents, domain names, copyrights and proprietary methods and technologies, whether registered or not, that we develop under patent and other intellectual property laws of China, the United States and other jurisdictions, so that we can prevent others from using our inventions and proprietary information. We currently rely on patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secret law to protect our intellectual property rights. However, we cannot assure you that any of our intellectual property rights will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or that our intellectual property will be sufficient to provide us with competitive advantages. In addition, we may be subject to allegation of infringement of other parties’ proprietary rights, and other parties may misappropriate our intellectual property rights, which would cause us to suffer economic or reputational damages. Because of the rapid pace of technological change, we cannot assure you that all of our proprietary technologies and similar intellectual property rights can be patented in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all.

We maintain and facilitate certain technical measures and access control mechanisms internally to ensure secure access to our proprietary information by our employees and consultants. We also maintain internal policies requiring our employees and consultants to enter into confidentiality agreements to control access to our proprietary information. However, if our employees and consultants do not fully comply with these internal policies, such policies may not effectively prevent disclosure of our confidential information, and it may be possible for unauthorized parties to copy our software or other proprietary technology or information, or to develop similar software independently without our having an adequate remedy for unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information.

In addition, the laws of some countries do not protect intellectual property and other proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory interpretation. Confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying, transfer and use of our proprietary technology or information may increase.

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Preventing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly and the steps we take may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our intellectual property. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, determine the validity and scope of our proprietary rights or those of others, or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management, result in a diversion of significant resources, the narrowing or invalidation of portions of our intellectual property and have an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights or alleging that we infringe the counterclaimant’s own intellectual property. Any of our patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights could be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation. In addition, our proprietary methods and technologies that are regarded as trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors and in these cases we would not be able to assert any trade secret rights against those parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position. To the extent that our employees or consultants use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related know-how and inventions.

There can be no assurance that our particular ways and means of protecting our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including business decisions about when to file patent applications and trademark applications, will be adequate to protect our business or that our competitors will not independently develop similar technology. We could be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. If we fail to protect and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights adequately, our competitors might gain access to our technology and our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Unauthorized or improper disclosures of personal information, cyberattacks or other security incidents or data breaches that affect our networks or systems, or those of our cloud service providers or our customers, whether inadvertent or purposeful, could degrade our ability to conduct our business, compromise the integrity of our products and services, platform and data, result in significant data losses and the theft of our intellectual property, damage our reputation, expose us to liability to third parties and require us to incur significant additional costs to maintain the security of our networks and data which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend significantly on our technology infrastructure, IT systems, data and other equipment and systems to conduct virtually all of our business operations, ranging from our internal operations and research and development activities to our marketing and sales efforts and communications with our customers, end users, suppliers and business partners. In addition, our products and services collect and store data of customers and end users, some of which may involve sensitive information, including personal information, trade secrets and other proprietary information. Internal or external individuals or entities may attempt to penetrate our network security, or that of our platform, and to disrupt or cause harm to our business operations, including by sabotaging or misappropriating our personal or proprietary information or that of our customers, end users, employees, suppliers and business partners or to cause interruptions of our products and services and platform. Because the vulnerabilities and techniques used by such individuals or entities to access, disrupt or sabotage devices, systems and networks change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques, and we may not become aware in a timely manner of such a security breach, which could exacerbate any damage we experience.

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While we take reasonable measures to protect the security of, and against unauthorized access to, our systems, as well as the security of personal information and proprietary information, it is possible that our security controls and other security practices we follow may not prevent the improper access to or disclosure of personal information or proprietary information. We also rely on systems provided by third parties, including our clients, which may also suffer security breaches or unauthorized access to or disclosure of personal information or proprietary information. Additionally, we depend on our employees and contractors to appropriately handle confidential and sensitive data, including customer data, and to deploy our IT resources in a safe and secure manner that does not expose our network systems to security breaches or the loss of data. Any data security incidents, including internal malfeasance by our employees, unauthorized access or usage, virus or similar breach or disruption of us or our service providers could result in loss of confidential or proprietary information or personal information, damage to our reputation, loss of customers and end users, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties and other liabilities. Accordingly, if our cybersecurity measures or those of our customers fail to protect against unauthorized access, attacks (which may include sophisticated cyberattacks), the compromise or mishandling of data, or other misconduct or malfeasance, including by computer hackers, employees, contractors, vendors, customers and business partners, as well as software bugs, human error or technical malfunctions, then our reputation, business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. Cyberattacks and other security incidents aimed at our products could lead to third-party claims that our product failures have caused damages to our customers or end users.

We experience cyberattacks of varying degrees and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to our systems from time to time, which may include by way of malware, phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, denial of service attacks, brute-force attacks or other means, any of which may result in disclosure of confidential information and intellectual property, defective products, production downtimes or compromised data, including personal information. Such cybersecurity threats and attacks that we may be subject to may take a variety of forms ranging from individuals or groups of hackers to sophisticated organizations, including state-sponsored actors and may even culminate in “mega breaches” targeted against cloud services and other hosted software. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these attacks or to implement adequate preventative measures. We anticipate that increase in the frequency and sophistication of cyber and other security threats, particularly with respect to breaches of IoT devices, and our customers’ increasing demands for cyber and other security protections and standards in our products, may cause us to incur additional costs to comply with such demands.

Any unauthorized access, acquisition, use or destruction of information we collect, store, transmit or otherwise process, the unavailability of such information or other disruptions of our ability to provide solutions to our clients or end users, regardless of whether it originates or occurs on our systems or those of third party service providers or clients, could expose us to significant liability under our contracts, regulatory actions, litigation, investigations, remediation obligations, damage to our reputation and brand, theft of intellectual property, supplemental disclosure obligations, loss of customer, consumer and partner confidence in the security of our applications, destruction of information, indemnity obligations, impairment to our business, and resulting fees, costs, expenses, loss of revenues and other potential liabilities and harms to our business. In addition, if a high profile security breach occurs within our industry, our customers and potential customers may lose trust in the security of our systems and information even if we are not directly affected.

Many statutory requirements, in China, the United States and the EU, as well as in other jurisdictions in which we operate, include obligations for companies to notify data protection authorities and individuals of security breaches involving certain personal information, which could result from breaches experienced by us or our external service providers. These laws are not consistent, and compliance in the event of a widespread data breach is difficult and may be costly. In addition, such mandatory disclosures could lead to negative publicity and may cause our current and prospective customers or end users to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. See “—Compliance with the rapidly evolving landscape of global data privacy and data security laws may be challenging, and any failure or perceived failure to comply with such laws, or other concerns about our practices or policies with respect to the processing of personal information, could damage our reputation and deter current and potential customers and end users from using our platform and products and services or subject us to significant compliance costs or penalties, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

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Any failure to maintain necessary permits and licenses to operate our business operations under applicable laws and regulations could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

In accordance with the laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, we are required to maintain various approvals, licenses, permits and certifications in order to operate our business. Complying with such laws and regulations may require substantial expense, and any non-compliance may expose us to liability. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain all requisite approvals, licenses, permits and certifications. Regulatory authorities who have extensive authority to supervise and regulate the industry we operate in may not interpret relevant laws and regulations the way we do. In addition, as the regulatory regime for the IoT and related industries in China and other jurisdictions in which we operate continues to evolve, new laws, regulations and regulatory requirements are promulgated and implemented from time to time, and the interpretation and application of existing laws, regulations and regulatory requirements are subject to changes. We may be required to obtain approvals, licenses, permits and certifications that we do not currently have for our existing business or new scope of business that we may expand into in the future. In the event of non-compliance, we may have to incur significant expenses and divert substantial management time to rectify the incidents. In the future, if we fail to obtain all the necessary approvals, licenses, permits and certifications required by relevant laws and regulations or if we are deemed to have conducted business operations requesting certain approvals, licenses, permits and certifications without having one, we may be subject to fines or the suspension of operations of the relevant business segments or facilities that do not have all the requisite approvals, licenses, permits and certifications, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. We may also experience adverse publicity arising from non-compliance with government regulations, which would negatively impact our reputation.

Furthermore, in the event that we are required to renew our existing licenses or permits or acquire new ones, whether as a result of the promulgation of new laws and regulations or otherwise, we cannot assure you that we will be able to meet the requisite conditions and requirements, or that the relevant government authorities will always, if ever, exercise their discretion in our favor. There may also be delays on the part of government authorities in reviewing our applications and granting approvals, whether due to the lack of human resources or the imposition of new rules, regulations, government policies or their implementation, interpretation and enforcement. If we are unable to obtain, or experience material delays in obtaining, necessary government approvals, our operations may be substantially disrupted, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be involved in legal proceedings, litigations and disputes relating to alleged infringement of intellectual property rights, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

There is considerable patent and other intellectual property development activity in our industry. Our future success depends, in part, on not infringing the intellectual property rights of others. Our competitors or other third parties may in the future claim that our products and services or platform and underlying technology infringe on their intellectual property rights, and we may be found to be infringing on such rights. We may be unaware of the intellectual property rights of others that may cover some or all of our technology. Any claims or litigation could cause us to incur significant expenses and, if successfully asserted against us, could require that we pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty payments, prevent us from offering our products and services, require us to develop alternative non-infringing technology or require that we comply with other unfavorable terms, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. We may also be obligated to indemnify our customers or business partners in connection with any such litigation and to obtain licenses or modify our products and services or platform, which could further exhaust our resources. Even if we were to prevail in the event of claims or litigation against us, any claim or litigation regarding intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and other employees from our business. Patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property claims and proceedings brought against us, whether successful or not, could harm our brand, business, operating results and financial condition.

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If we are unable to hire, retain and motivate qualified personnel, our business will suffer.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel. We believe that there is, and will continue to be, intense competition for highly skilled management, technical, sales and other personnel with experience in the industries in which we operate. We must provide competitive compensation packages and a high-quality work environment to hire, retain and motivate employees. If we are unable to retain and motivate our existing employees and attract qualified personnel to fill important positions, we may be unable to manage our business effectively, including the development, marketing and sale of our products and services, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. To the extent we hire personnel from competitors, we also may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or divulged proprietary or other confidential information.

We may acquire or invest in business, technologies, services, products and other assets, which may divert our management’s attention and result in the incurrence of debt or dilution to our shareholders. We may be unable to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions.

We may evaluate and consider potential strategic transactions, including acquisitions of, or investments in, businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets in the future. We also may enter into relationships with other businesses to expand our products and services, which could involve preferred or exclusive licenses, additional channels of distribution, discount pricing or investments in other companies.

Any acquisition, investment or business relationship may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. In particular, we may encounter difficulties assimilating or integrating the businesses, technologies, products, personnel or operations of the acquired companies, particularly if the key personnel of the acquired company choose not to work for us, their products or services are not easily adapted to work with our platform, or we have difficulty retaining the customers of any acquired business due to changes in ownership, management or otherwise. Acquisitions also may disrupt our business, divert our resources or require significant management attention that would otherwise be available for development of our existing business. Moreover, the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, investment or business relationship may not be realized or we may be exposed to unknown risks or liabilities.

Negotiating these transactions can be time consuming, difficult and expensive, and our ability to complete these transactions may often be subject to approvals that are beyond our control. Consequently, these transactions, even if announced, may not be completed. For one or more of those transactions, we may: (i) issue additional equity securities that would dilute our existing shareholders; (ii) use cash that we may need in the future to operate our business; (iii) incur large charges or substantial liabilities; (iv) incur debt on terms unfavorable to us or that we are unable to repay; (v) encounter difficulties retaining key employees of the acquired company or integrating diverse offerings or business cultures; or (vi) become subject to adverse tax consequences, substantial depreciation or deferred compensation charges. The occurrence of any of these foregoing could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Negative publicity about us, our products and services, operations and our directors, management and business partners may adversely affect our reputation and business.

We may, from time to time, receive negative publicity, including negative internet and blog postings, ratings or comments on social media platforms or through traditional media about our company, our business, our directors and management, our brands, our products and services, our suppliers or other business partners. Negative publicity about us, such as alleged misconduct by our employees, unauthorized use, misuse or release of personal information or other sensitive information, unethical business practices, or rumors relating to our business, management, employees, or our shareholders and affiliates, or negative publicity about other companies that use similar brand names as ours, can harm our reputation, business and results of operations. Any such allegations, even if not supported by facts or based on isolated incidents, may lead to inquiries, regulatory investigations or legal actions against us. Such actions could substantially damage our reputation and cause us to incur significant costs to defend ourselves. Certain of such negative publicity may be the result of malicious harassment or unfair competition by third parties. We may even be subject to government or regulatory investigation as a result of such third-party conduct and may be required to spend significant time and incur substantial costs to defend ourselves against such third-party conduct, and we may not be able to conclusively refute each of the allegations within a reasonable period of time, or at all.

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We may receive complaints from our customers and end users on our products and services, pricing and customer support. If we do not handle customer complaints effectively, our brand and reputation may suffer, our customers and end users may lose confidence in us and they may reduce or cease their use of our products and services. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to generate positive customer feedback and minimize negative feedback on social media channels where existing and potential customers and end users seek and share information. If actions we take or changes we make to our products and services or platform upset these customers and end users, their online commentary could negatively affect our brand and reputation. Complaints or negative publicity about us, our products and services or platform could materially and adversely impact our ability to attract and retain customers and end users, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our sales and operating results.

We have in the past experienced, and expect in the future to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in our revenues and sales from time to time as a result of the holiday season and customers’ buying patterns. We have experienced lower growth in revenues in the first quarter as a result the reduced capacity of OEM customers located in China due to the Lunar New Year. The rapid growth in our business has offset this seasonal trend to some extent; however, we expect the historical seasonality trends to continue to impact our results of operations and financial condition. As a result, our results of operations and the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares may fluctuate from time to time due to seasonality.

We face certain risks relating to the real properties that we lease.

We lease office spaces from third parties for our operations in China, the United States, Europe, Australia, India, Japan and Colombia. Any limitations on the leased properties, or lessors’ title to such properties, may impact our use of the offices, or in extreme cases, result in relocation, which may in turn adversely affect our business operations. In addition, certain lease agreements of our leased properties in China have not been registered with the relevant PRC government authorities as required by PRC law. Therefore, we may be exposed to potential fines if we fail to rectify within the prescribed time period after receiving notices from the relevant PRC government authorities. Furthermore, certain lessors of our leased properties have not provided us with valid property ownership certificates or any other documentation proving their right to lease those properties to us. As of December 31, 2022, with respect to seven leased properties in China with a gross floor area of approximately 1,729.8 square meters, we have not registered the respective lease agreements with the relevant PRC government authorities. With respect to six leased properties in China with a gross floor area of approximately 1,959.1 square meters, the lessors have not provided us with valid property ownership certificates. The foregoing properties represent only a small portion of the total gross floor area of our leased properties. As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any material actions or claims raised by any third parties challenging our use of these properties we currently lease, nor have we received any notices from the PRC government authorities. If our lessors are not the owners of the properties or they have not obtained consents from the owners or their lessors or permits from the relevant government authorities, our leases could be invalidated. If leases are invalid, we may face the risk of moving out of the leased property.

Changes in laws and regulations related to the internet or changes in the internet infrastructure itself may diminish the demand for our products and services, and could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

The future success of our business depends on the continued use of the internet as well as continued demand for smart devices and our products and services. The PRC and foreign governments have in the past adopted, and may in the future adopt, laws or regulations affecting the use of the internet as a commercial medium.

Almost all access to the internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (the “MIIT”). In addition, the national networks in China are connected to the internet through state-owned international gateways, which are the only channels through which a domestic user can connect to the internet outside China. We may face similar or other limitations in other countries in which we operate. We may not have access to alternative networks in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with the internet infrastructure in China or elsewhere. In addition, the internet infrastructure in the countries in which we operate may not support the demands associated with continued growth in internet usage.

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Changes in these laws or regulations could require us to modify our products and services in order to comply with these changes. In addition, government agencies or private organizations have imposed and may impose additional taxes, fees or other charges for accessing the internet or commerce conducted via the internet. These laws or charges could limit the growth of internet-related commerce or communications generally, or result in reductions in the demand for internet-based products and services such as our products and platform. In addition, the use of the internet as a business tool could be adversely affected due to delays in the development or adoption of new standards and protocols to handle increased demands of internet activity, security, reliability, cost, ease-of-use, accessibility and quality of service. The performance of the internet and its acceptance as a business tool has been adversely affected by “viruses,” “worms” and similar malicious programs. If the use of the internet is reduced as a result of these or other issues, then demand for our products and services could decline, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may have insufficient computing resources, transmission bandwidth and storage space, which could result in disruptions and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our operations are dependent in part upon transmission bandwidth provided by third-party telecommunications network providers, access to data centers to house our servers and other computing resources. There can be no assurance that we are adequately prepared for unexpected increases in bandwidth and data center demands by our customers and end users. The bandwidth and data centers we use may become unavailable for a variety of reasons, including service outages, payment disputes, network providers going out of business, natural disasters, networks imposing traffic limits, or governments’ adopting regulations that impact network operations. These bandwidth providers may become unwilling to sell us adequate transmission bandwidth at fair market prices, if at all. This risk is heightened where market power is concentrated with one or a few major networks. We also may be unable to move quickly enough to augment capacity to reflect growing traffic or security demands. Failure to put in place the capacity we require could result in a reduction in, or disruption of, service to our customers and ultimately a loss of those customers. Such a failure could result in our inability to acquire new customers demanding capacity not available on our platform. See “We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our platform. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.”

Our products and services rely on the stable performance of servers, networks, IT infrastructure and data processing systems, and any disruption to such servers, networks, assets or systems due to internal or external factors could diminish demand for our products and services, harm our business, our reputation and results of operations and subject us to liability.

We rely in part upon the stable performance of our servers, networks, IT infrastructure and data processing systems for provision of our products and services. Disruptions to such servers, networks, assets or systems may occur due to internal or external factors, such as inappropriate maintenance, defects in the servers, cyberattacks or other malicious attacks or hacks targeted at us, occurrence of catastrophic events or human errors. Such disruptions could result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products and services, loss of competitive position, lower customer retention or claims by customers for losses sustained by them, or loss, destruction or unauthorized use of, or access to, data (including personal information for which we may incur liability under applicable data protection laws). In such an event, we may need to expend additional resources to bring the incident to an end, mitigate the liability associated with the fallout of such incident, make notifications to regulators and individuals affected, replace damaged systems or assets, defend ourselves in legal proceedings and compensate customers or end users. In addition, we may not carry insurance to compensate us for any losses that may result from claims arising from disruption in servers. As a result, our reputation and our brand could be harmed, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

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We may, from time to time, rely on intellectual properties that we license from third parties, including product designs that are integrated with our internally developed products.

We may, from time to time, rely on intellectual properties that we license from third parties, including third-party product design, which is used with certain of our products. We cannot be certain that our licensors are not infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties or that our licensors have sufficient rights to the licensed intellectual property in all jurisdictions in which we may sell our products. Some of our agreements with our licensors may be terminated for convenience by them. If we are unable to continue to license any of these intellectual properties on commercially reasonable terms, we will face delays in releases of certain products or we will be required to redesign our products until equivalent, non-infringing design can be licensed or developed and integrated into our current products. This effort could take significant time (during which we would be unable to continue to offer our affected products) and expense and may ultimately not be successful. In addition, our inability to obtain certain licenses or other rights might require us to engage in litigation regarding these matters, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, prospects and financial condition.

We and certain of our current and former directors and officers have been named as defendants in a shareholder class action lawsuit, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and reputation.

We will have to defend against the class action lawsuit described in “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Administrative Proceedings,” including any appeals should our initial defense be unsuccessful. We are currently unable to estimate the potential loss, if any, associated with the resolution of such lawsuit. We cannot guarantee that we will not be a target for lawsuits in the future, including putative class action lawsuits brought by shareholders. There can be no assurance that we will be able to prevail in our defense or reverse any unfavorable judgment on appeal, and we may decide to settle lawsuits on unfavorable terms. Any adverse outcome of these cases, including any plaintiffs’ appeal of the judgment in these cases, could result in payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or changes to our business practices, and thus have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation, cash flows and reputation. In addition, we cannot assure you that our insurance carriers will cover all or part of the defense costs, or any liabilities that may arise from these matters in the future. The litigation process may utilize a significant portion of our cash resources and divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operations of our company, all of which could harm our business. We are also subject to claims for indemnification related to these matters, and we cannot predict the impact that indemnification claims may have on our business or financial results.

We may be subject to legal proceedings in the ordinary course of our business. If the outcomes of these proceedings are adverse to us, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

As of the date of this annual report, except for the shareholder class action lawsuit described in “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Administrative Proceedings,” we are not a party to any other material legal or administrative proceedings. However, we or our directors, management, employees and shareholders have been, and may from time to time in the future be, subject to or involved in various claims, controversies, lawsuits, other legal and administrative proceedings and fines. Lawsuits and other administrative or legal proceedings can involve substantial costs, including the costs associated with investigation, litigation and possible settlement, judgment, penalty or fine. In addition, lawsuits and other legal and administrative proceedings may be costly and time consuming and may require a commitment of management and personnel resources that will be diverted from our normal business operations. There may also be negative publicity associated with litigation that could decrease customer acceptance of our product offerings, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. We may be involved in class action lawsuits in the United States in the future. Such lawsuits could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the lawsuits. For example, following the publication of our earnings release for the second quarter of 2021 in August 2021, a number of U.S. law firms have published similar investor alerts (“Investor Alerts”) regarding their investigations into potential claims against us on behalf of investors concerning whether we have “violated U.S. federal securities laws.” The Investor Alerts referred to our falling share price after our earnings release published on August 18, 2021. As of the date of this annual report, we are subject to a proceeding brought against us based on the foregoing allegations. We believe that the allegations made in the Investor Alerts are without merit and, to our best knowledge, we have complied with our obligations under U.S. securities laws at all time. However, the mere threat of such claims and the costs associated with defending them could have a material adverse effect on business, results of operations and reputation. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

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Our directors or senior management members, have been, and may, from time to time, be the subject of shareholder class action lawsuits that could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and reputation.

As of the date of this annual report, we and certain of our current and former directors and officers have been named as defendants in a shareholder class action lawsuit, described in “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Administrative Proceedings.” We anticipate that we or certain of our directors or officers may, from time to time, be a target for lawsuits in the future, including putative class action lawsuits brought by shareholders and lawsuits against our directors and officers as a result of their position in other public companies. We cannot assure you that our directors or officers and we will be able to prevail in their defense or reverse any unfavorable judgment on appeal, and our directors or officers and we may decide to settle lawsuits on unfavorable terms. Any adverse outcome of these cases, including any plaintiffs’ appeal of the judgment in these cases, could result in payments of substantial monetary damages or fines, or changes to our business practices, and thus materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and reputation. In addition, we cannot assure you that our insurance carriers will cover all or part of the defense costs, or any liabilities that may arise from these matters. The litigation process may utilize a significant portion of our cash resources and divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operations of our company, all of which could harm our business. We also may be subject to claims for indemnification related to these matters, and we cannot predict the impact that indemnification claims may have on our business or financial performance.

We face inventory obsolescence, shortage or excess risks. Our results of operations could be materially harmed if we are unable to optimally manage our inventories to meet our operational needs.

Our inventories consist mainly of (i) modules and chips relating to our IoT PaaS business, and (ii) finished smart devices purchased from manufacturers as part of our smart device distribution business. As of December 31, 2021 and 2022, we had inventories, net, of US$62.6 million and US$45.4 million, respectively. Maintaining an optimal level of inventory is important for the success of our business. However, we are exposed to inventory obsolescence and inventory shortage risks as a result of a variety of factors beyond our control, including changes of customer needs and the inherent uncertainty of the success of product launches. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we recorded inventory write-downs of US$0.5 million, US$1.8 million and US$4.1 million, respectively. We regularly track our inventory to keep it at a level sufficient to fulfill customers’ orders. We also proactively assess changes in market conditions and pre-store strategic raw materials in anticipation of potential supply shortage. However, we cannot assure you that we can accurately predict these trends and events and avoid under-stocking or overstocking inventory, or that our inventory management measures will be implemented effectively so that we will not have significant levels of inventory obsolescence, shortage or excess. As a result of unforeseen or sudden events, we may experience slow movement of our inventories, fail to utilize or sell our inventories swiftly, or face the risk of inventory obsolescence, and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects may be adversely affected.

We may require additional capital to support our business and response to business opportunities, and this capital might not be available on favorable terms, if at all.

We intend to continue to make investments to the long-term operating and development of our business and may require additional funds. In particular, we may seek additional funds to develop new products and enhance our platform and existing products, expand our operations, including our sales and marketing efforts and our presence outside China, improve our infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses, technologies, services, products and other assets. Accordingly, we may need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our shareholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to holders of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth, scale our infrastructure, develop product enhancements and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

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We are subject to the uncertainties associated with the tightening regulations on listing and securities offerings conducted overseas by China-based companies proposed and/or enacted in China and the United States.

The PRC government authorities have been tightening their oversight and control over listings and offerings conducted overseas by Chinese companies and investment in overseas-listed China-based companies. For example, on December 28, 2021, the CAC and several other administrations jointly promulgated the Cybersecurity Review Measures, which provide, among other things, that a “network platform operator” holding over one million users’ personal information shall apply for a cybersecurity review when listing its securities “in a foreign country.” In November 2021, the CAC promulgated the Draft Cyber Data Security Regulation, which states that a cybersecurity review will be required for a listing in foreign countries contemplated by a data processor who processes the personal information of at least one million users or the listing of a data processor in Hong Kong which affects or may affect the national security. Furthermore, on February 17, 2023, the CSRC released the Trial Administrative Measures of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (the “Trial Measures,” and together with relevant supporting guidelines promulgated by the CSRC, the “New Overseas Listing Rules”). The New Overseas Listing Rules set out new filing procedures for China-based companies seeking direct or indirect listings and offerings in overseas markets and came into force since March 31, 2023. For details, see “Item 3. Key Information—Recent PRC Regulatory Developments—CSRC Approval for Issuance and Listing of Securities Overseas” and “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulation Relating to M&A and Overseas Listing.”

To the extent we are required to obtain any approvals, complete any filings and/or other administrative procedures or satisfy any other regulatory requirements under the above-mentioned proposed laws and regulations or any new regulatory requirements in the PRC in order to maintain the listing status of the ADSs or conduct listing or offering of our securities overseas, we cannot assure you that we will be able to meet these requirements in a timely manner, or at all. The PRC regulatory agencies may also take further actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, not to proceed with such securities offering or maintain the listing status of the ADSs. If we proceed with any future listing or offering of our securities without obtaining the required approval, completing the necessary filings or other administrative procedures, or satisfying other regulatory requirements, we may face fines and other regulatory actions imposed by competent PRC regulatory agencies, and our ability to raise capital could be significantly limited or completely hindered, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations or cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or be worthless. See also “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—The filing, approval or other administration requirements of the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC government authorities may be required to maintain our listing status or conduct future offshore securities offerings under PRC law” and “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—The uncertainties in the PRC legal system could materially and adversely affect us.”

In addition, as part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law in some jurisdictions, such as those in China, the U.S. Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCAA”) was enacted on December 18, 2020. Trading in our securities on U.S. markets, including the NYSE, will be prohibited under the HFCAA if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, including our auditor as an independent registered public accounting firm, for two consecutive years. If this is to happen, our liquidity and ability to raise additional capital will be materially and adversely affected. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Trading in our securities will be prohibited under the HFCAA if the PCAOB determines that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, including our auditor as an independent registered public accounting firm, and as a result, U.S. national securities exchanges, such as the NYSE, may determine to delist our securities.”

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We face exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, and such fluctuations could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

As we continue to expand our international operations, we will become increasingly exposed to the effects of fluctuations in currency exchange rates. The majority of our cash generated from revenue is denominated in Renminbi, and our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies of the jurisdictions in which we conduct our operations. Because we conduct business in currencies other than U.S. dollars but report our operating results in U.S. dollars, we also face translation exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could hinder our ability to predict our future results and earnings and could impact our operating results. We recorded other comprehensive income from foreign currency translation of US$2.9 million and US$1.5 million in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and other comprehensive loss from foreign currency translation of US$14.9 million in 2022.

The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies has in the past fluctuated significantly, and may in the future continue to do so, affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions and the foreign exchange policy adopted by the PRC government. With the development of the foreign exchange market and progress towards interest rate liberalization and Renminbi internationalization, the PRC government may in the future announce further changes to the exchange rate system, and we cannot assure you that the Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Tuya Inc. is a holding company and we rely on dividends paid by our wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China for our cash needs. Any significant fluctuation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition, and the value of any dividends payable in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the Renminbi amount we would receive. Conversely, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares and the ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount.

The fair value measurements of certain financial assets and liabilities inherently involve a certain degree of uncertainty, and any adverse movements in their fair value may directly affect our results of operations.

Some of our financial assets and liabilities are measured at fair value, such as the short-term investments and long-term investments measured at fair value. As of December 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022, the fair value of short-term investments was US$21.0 million, US$102.1 million and US$821.1 million, and the fair value of long-term investments was US$0.6 million, US$26.1 million and US$18.0 million, respectively. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, our fair value change on short-term and long-term investments was nil, in gain of US$0.8 million and in loss of US$7.4 million, respectively. For financial reporting purposes, fair value measurements of these financial assets and liabilities are categorized into level 1, 2 or 3, based on, among other things, the observability and significance of the inputs used in the valuation technique. The fair value of financial assets and liabilities classified in levels 1 and 2 is determined based on observable inputs, while the determination of the fair value of level 3 financial assets and liabilities is based on valuation techniques and various assumptions of inputs that are unobservable and which inherently involve a certain degree of uncertainty.

A range of factors, many of which are beyond our control, may influence and cause adverse changes to the estimates we use and thereby affect the fair value of these assets and liabilities. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, changes in market interest rates and stability of the capital markets. Any of these factors, as well as others, could cause our estimates to vary from actual results and cause the fair value of our financial assets and liabilities to fluctuate substantially, which may in turn have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations. The fair value of our short-term investments and long-term investments measured at fair value is subject to changes beyond our control, and any adverse movements in their fair value may directly affect our results of operations. If the fair value of our short-term investments and long-term investments measured at fair value were to fluctuate, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

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We are subject to credit risk related to defaults of customers, and any significant default on our accounts receivable could materially and adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

We are exposed to credit risk related to defaults of our various customers. As of December 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022, our accounts receivable, net were US$12.3 million, US$32.7 million and US$12.2 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable turnover days were 19, 29 and 42 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. We may not be able to collect all such accounts receivable due to a variety of factors that are outside of our control. If the relationship between us and any of our customers is terminated or deteriorated, or if any of our customers experience financial difficulties to the extent it affects their ability to make timely payments, our corresponding accounts receivable might be adversely affected in terms of recoverability. Our accounts receivable balance may continue to grow alongside our business expansion, which may increase our risks for uncollectible receivable. If we are unable to timely collect our accounts receivable from our customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately or timely report our results of operations, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud, and investor confidence and the market price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares may be materially and adversely affected.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, requires that we maintain internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. An effective internal control environment is necessary to enable us to produce reliable financial reports and is an important component of our efforts to prevent and detect financial reporting errors and fraud. We are a public company subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 requires that we include a report from management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with this annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

In the course of preparing and auditing our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our company’s annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness identified relates to our lack of sufficient and competent financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate knowledge and experience to address complex U.S. GAAP accounting issues and to prepare and review financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting requirements.

Following the identification of the material weakness, we have taken measures to remedy the material weakness. Our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2022 after the remediation. For details on these measures, please see “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Internal Control over Financial Reporting.”

However, in the future, our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us.

Furthermore, as we are now a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404.

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If we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares. Moreover, we may need to incur additional costs and use additional management and other resources as our business and operations further expand or in an effort to remediate any significant control deficiencies that may be identified in the future. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements for prior periods.

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, floods, pandemics and other natural catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made problems such as power disruptions or terrorism.

A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire, flood or pandemic, occurring at our headquarters, at one of our local offices and facilities or where a business partner is located could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Further, if a natural disaster or man-made problem were to affect our service providers, this could adversely affect the ability of our customers and end users to use our products and services. In addition, natural disasters and acts of terrorism could cause disruptions in our or our customers’ businesses, national economies or the world economy as a whole, as is the case currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also rely on our network and third-party infrastructure and enterprise applications and internal technology systems for our engineering, sales and marketing, and operations activities. In the event of a major disruption caused by a natural disaster or man-made problem, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in our development activities, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security and loss of critical data, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

In addition, computer malware, viruses and computer hacking, fraudulent use attempts and phishing attacks have become more prevalent in our industry, have occurred on our platform and have impacted some of our customers in the past and may occur on our platform in the future. Any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security, integrity and availability of our products and services and technical infrastructure, including third-party infrastructure and services upon which we rely, may expose us to significant consequences, including legal and financial exposure and loss of customers and end users, and give rise to litigation, consumer protection actions, or harm to our reputation, and as a result, may hinder our ability to retain existing customers and end users and attract new customers and end users.

We have limited business insurance coverage, which could expose us to significant costs and business disruption.

Insurance products available in the PRC and many other markets in which we operate currently are not as extensive as those offered in more developed regions. Consistent with customary industry practice in the markets in which we operate, our business insurance is limited, and we do not carry key-man life insurance. Any uninsured damage to our facilities or technology infrastructures or disruption of our business operations could require us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For more information, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview—Insurance.”

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We have granted, and may continue to grant, share-based awards, which may increase our share-based compensation and may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

In December 2014, we adopted the 2015 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2015 Plan”), which was amended in July 2020, February 2021 and June 2022. We account for compensation costs for all share-based awards using a fair-value-based method and recognize expenses in our consolidated statements of comprehensive loss in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For details of the 2015 Plan, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—6.B. Compensation—Share Incentive Plan.” In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we recorded share-based compensation expenses of US$9.4 million, US$66.1 million and US$69.0 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, there were US$127.9 million of unrecognized share-based compensation expenses related to share options granted by our company, which were expected to be recognized over a weighted-average vesting period of 1.05 years. As of December 31, 2022, there were US$33.2 million of unrecognized share-based compensation expenses related to RSUs granted by us, which were expected to be recognized over a weighted-average vesting period of 3.40 years. We believe that the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based awards in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, any ordinary shares that we issue under our 2015 Plan would dilute the percentage ownership held by public investors.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating some of our operations in China do not comply with PRC regulations relating to the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.the VIE.

Foreign ownership of telecommunication businesses is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. For example, foreign investors are generally not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in an information service provider or other value-added telecommunication service provider (other than operating e-commerce, domestic multi-partymultiparty communication, storage and forwarding and call center) and the major foreign investor in a value-added telecommunication service provider in China must have experience in providing value-added telecommunicationstelecommunication services overseas and maintain a good track record in accordance with the Encouraged Industries Catalog for Foreign Investment (2020(2022 version), the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List (2021)) (the “Negative, or the Negative List (2021)”), and other applicable laws and regulations. We are

Tuya Inc. is a Cayman Islands company and we currently conduct substantially all of our business operations in the PRC through our PRC subsidiaries, including Tuya Information, our wholly-ownedwholly owned subsidiary incorporated in the PRC. We are classified as a foreign enterprise under the PRC laws and regulations, and Tuya Information, our wholly foreign-owned enterpriseowned subsidiary in the PRC, is a foreign-invested enterprise. GivenIn light of the above-mentioned restrictions described above, we have determined that it was not viable for us to hold Hangzhou Tuya Technology, or the VIE, directly through equity ownership. Therefore, we may only conduct the business operations currently conducted by the VIE through a series of contractual arrangements between our PRC subsidiary on one hand, and the VIE and its registered shareholders on the other hand, to comply with PRC laws and regulations. These contractual arrangements have enabled us to (i) exercise effective control over the VIE, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of the VIE, (iii) have the pledge right over the equity interests in the VIE as the pledgee and (iv) have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in the VIE when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we have control over and are the primary beneficiary of the VIE for accounting purposes and hence consolidate theirits financial results under U.S. GAAP.

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In the opinion of Jia Yuan Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, Jia Yuan Law Offices, (i) the ownership structures of our wholly foreign-owned enterprise and the VIE in China are not in violation of provisions of applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect; and (ii) the contractual arrangements between our wholly foreign-owned enterprise, the VIE and its shareholders governed by PRC law are not in violation of provisions of applicable PRC laws or regulations currently in effect, and valid and binding upon each party to such arrangements and, save as disclosed in “Item 4. Information on the Company—Contractual Arrangements with the VIE and the VIE’s Registered Shareholders,” enforceable against each party thereto in accordance with their terms and applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect. However, we have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules. Thus, the PRC government authorities may take a view contrary to the opinion of our PRC legal counsel. It is uncertain whether any new PRC laws or regulations relating to variable interest entity structure will be adopted or if adopted, what they would provide. If we or the VIE is found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals to operate our business, the relevant PRC government authorities would have broad discretion to take action in dealing with such violations or failures, including:

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Any failure by the VIE or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have an adverse effect on part of our business.

If the VIE or its shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and contractual remedies, which we cannot assure you will be sufficient or effective under PRC law. For example, if the registered shareholders were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in the VIE to us or our designee when we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations.

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Contractual arrangements we have entered into with the VIE may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities. A finding that we owe additional taxes could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.

Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements in relation to the VIE were not entered into on an arm’s-length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, and adjust income of the VIE in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by the VIE for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase their tax liabilities without reducing our PRC subsidiaries’ tax expenses. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other administrative sanctions on the VIE for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if the VIE’s tax liabilities increase or if they areit is required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

We may lose the ability to use and benefit from assets held by the VIE that could be material orare supplementary to the operation of our business if the VIE goes bankrupt or becomes subject to dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

As part of our contractual arrangements with the VIE, such entity may in the future hold certain assets that are material or supplementary to the operation of our business. If the VIE goes bankrupt and all or part of its assets become subject to liens or rights of creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities we currently conduct through the contractual arrangement,arrangements, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Under the contractual arrangements, the VIE may not, in any manner, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of theirits assets or legal or beneficial interests in the business without our prior consent. If the VIE undergoes voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate part of our business, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the newly enacted Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and operations.

The value-added telecommunicationstelecommunication services that we conduct through the VIE are subject to foreign investment restrictions set forth in the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List(2021)) (the “NegativeNegative List (2021)”), which was issued by the MOFCOMMinistry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) and the NDRC,National Development and Reform Commission (the “NDRC”) and became effective on January 1, 2022.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress promulgated the Foreign Investment Law, which became effective on January 1, 2020, and replaced the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign- OwnedForeign-Owned Enterprise Law to becomeand became the legal foundation for foreign investment in the PRC. Since it is relatively new,As of the date of this annual report, there remain uncertainties still exist in relation to its interpretation and implementation. For instance, under the Foreign Investment Law, “foreign investment” refers to the investment activities directly or indirectly conducted by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in China. Though it does not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangements would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities in the future. In addition, the definition of foreign investment contains a catch-allcatchall provision whichthat includes investments made by foreign investors through means stipulated in laws, administrative regulations or provisions of the State Council. Therefore, it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the State Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment. In any of these cases, it will be uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market access requirements for foreign investment under the PRC laws and regulations. If further actions shall be taken under future laws, administrative regulations or provisions of the State Council, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions. Failure to do so could materially and adversely affect our current corporate structure, corporate governance and operations.

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Risks Related to Doing Business in China

A severe or prolonged downturn in the PRC or global economy could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The global macroeconomic environment is facing challenges, includingchallenges. For example, following the economic slowdown in the Eurozone, potential impactoutbreak of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU on January 31, 2020, and the extreme volatility on the global economies and financial markets in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments’ responses thereto. Theremost countries have encountered rising inflation, resulting in weakened customers’ spending on smart devices. Furthermore, there is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. There have been concerns over unrest and terrorist threats in the Middle East, Europe and Africa and over the conflicts involving Ukraine, Syria and North Korea. There have also been concerns on the relationship among China and other Asian countries, which may result in or intensify potential conflicts in relation to territorial disputes, and the trade disputes between the United States and China. The ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China may have tremendous negative impact on the economies of not merely the two countries concerned, but the global economy as a whole. It is unclear whether these challenges and uncertainties will be contained or resolved, and what effects they may have on the global political and economic conditions in the long term.

Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, changes in domestic economic and political policies, and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. While the economy in China has grown significantly over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy, and the rate of growth has been slowing in recent years. There is a possibility that China’s economic growth may materially decline in the near future. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or PRC economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Substantially all of our assets and operations are located in China. Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally. The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the level of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets, and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The growth may not continue, as evidenced by the slowing of the growth of the Chinese economy since 2012. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the Chinese government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and results of operations, lead to a reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. In addition, in the past the Chinese government has implemented certain measures, including interest rate adjustment, to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity in China, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

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We are exposed to risks associated with international relations and geopolitical risks.

We are exposed to risks associated with international relations. Any unfavorable government policies, including those on investment restrictions or international trade, such as capital controls or tariffs or internal payment and settlement system, or geopolitical confrontation and conflicts, may affect the demand for our products, impact the competitive position of our products, or prevent us from selling products in certain countries, or even our participation in international capital markets or the international payment and settlement system, any of which would materially and adversely affect our international operations, results of operations and financial condition. The cost of importing and/or exporting products to or from any major markets in which our customers operate will increase as a result of the implementation of any major tariffs, legislation and/or regulations or regional conflicts or instability, or if existing trade agreements are renegotiated or, in particular, if any foreign government takes retaliatory trade actions due to trade tension between such government and China, and such changeschange could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, any political or trade controversies between any major global economy and China, whether or not directly related to our business, could have a material adverse effect on our business operations, results of operations and growth prospects. In September 2021, three United States senators and other commentators expressed concern about our alleged failure to protect U.S. consumers’ data, and some have urged the U.S. government to take actions against us, including adding us to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Company List, or the NS-CMIC List. We are not aware of any investigation, proceeding or other regulatory action by any U.S. government activity against us in this respect as of the date of this annual report, and we believe that the allegations against us are unfounded and without merit. However, if we were to be added to the NS-CMIC List, U.S. persons would be prohibited from purchasing or otherwise dealing in our publicly traded securities. This could affect the liquidity of our securities and could result in the delisting of the ADSs from U.S. markets. These various types of actions or government policies may cause investors to be unwilling to hold or buy our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares and consequently cause the trading price of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares to decline.

The uncertainties inUncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system, including uncertainties regarding the enforcement of laws, and sudden or unexpected changes in laws and regulations in China could materially and adversely affect us and limit the legal protections available to you and us.

The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions under the civil law system may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value.

The past decades have seen the progressive legislation by the PRC government designed to enhance the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system, and recentlyin recent years enacted laws and regulations that may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China. In particular, the PRC legal system is based on written statutes and prior court decisions have limited value as precedents. Since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules may not be uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties. These uncertainties may affect our judgment on the relevance of legal requirements and our ability to enforce our contractual rights or tort claims. In addition, the regulatory uncertainties may be exploited through unmerited or frivolous legal actions or threats in attempts to extract payments or benefits from us.

Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all and may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

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Furthermore, the PRC government has also recently indicated an intent to exert more oversight and control over securities offerings and other capital markets activities that are conducted overseas and foreign investment in China-based companies like us. See “—We are subjectus, including the release of New Overseas Listing Rules. Any legislative and regulatory actions in this regard could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to the uncertainties associated with the tightening regulations on listingoffer or continue to offer securities to investors and securities offerings conducted overseas by China-based companies proposed and/or enacted in China and the U.S.” In addition, implementation of industry-wide regulations directly targeting our operations could cause the value of oursuch securities to significantly decline. Therefore, investors of our company and our business face potential uncertainty from actions taken by the PRC government affecting our business.decline or, in extreme cases, become worthless.

You may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing foreign judgments or bringing actions in mainland China and Hong Kong against us or our management based on foreign laws.

We conductTuya Inc. is an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. The Group conducts substantially all of ourits operations in mainland China, and substantially all of ourits assets are located in China.outside the United States. In addition, we do not have any material operations in Hong Kong. Furthermore, some of our seniordirectors and executive officers reside within mainland China or Hong Kong for a significant portion of the time and are PRC nationals. As a result, it may not be difficult or impossible for our shareholderspossible to effect service of process within the United States or elsewhere outside China upon us, our directors and executive officers, including with respect to matters arising under U.S. federal securities laws or these persons inside China. In addition,applicable state securities laws.

Even if you obtain a judgment against us, our directors or executive officers or the expert named in this annual report in a U.S. court or other court outside China, doesyou may not havebe able to enforce such judgment against us or them in mainland China or Hong Kong. Neither mainland China nor Hong Kong has treaties providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts with the Cayman Islands and many other countries and regions.regions, such as the United States. However, subject to certain conditions, including but not limited to when the judgment is for a liquidated amount in a civil matter and not in respect of taxes, fines, penalties or similar charges, the judgment is final and conclusive and has not been stayed or satisfied in full, the proceedings in which the judgment was obtained were not contrary to natural justice and the enforcement of the judgment is not contrary to public policy of Hong Kong, Hong Kong courts may accept such judgment obtained from a United States court as a debt due under the rules of common law enforcement. Nevertheless, a separate legal action for debt must be commenced in Hong Kong in order to recover such debt from the judgment debtor, and there can be no assurance that such legal action in Hong Kong would be resolved in favor of the judgment debtor. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in mainland China or Hong Kong of judgments of a court in any of these non-PRCforeign jurisdictions in relation to any matter not subject to a binding arbitration provision may be difficult or impossible.

On July 14, 2006, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC and Hong Kong entered into the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Pursuant to Choice of Court Agreements between Parties Concerned (the “2006 Arrangement”). Under the 2006 Arrangement, where any designated PRC court or any designated Hong Kong court has made an enforceable final judgment requiring payment of money in a civil or commercial case under a choice of court agreement in writing, any party concerned may apply to the relevant PRC court or Hong Kong court for recognition and enforcement of the judgment. On January 18, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court and Hong Kong entered into the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the “2019 Arrangement”), which seeks to establish a mechanism with greater clarity and certainty for recognition and enforcement of judgments in a wider range of civil and commercial matters between Hong Kong and the PRC. The 2019 Arrangement discontinued the requirement for a choice of court agreement for bilateral recognition and enforcement. However, the 2019 Arrangement will only take effect after the promulgation of a judicial interpretation by the Supreme People’s Court and the completion of the relevant legislative procedures in Hong Kong. The 2019 Arrangement will, upon its effectiveness, supersede the 2006 Arrangement. Therefore, before the 2019 Arrangement becomes effective, it may be difficult or impossible to enforce a judgment rendered by a Hong Kong court in China if the parties in the dispute do not agree to enter into a choice of court agreement in writing.

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Moreover, you may not be able to bring original actions in China based on the U.S. or other foreign laws against us, our directors or executive officers or the expert named in this annual report. In particular, shareholder claims that are common in the United States, including securities law class actions and fraud claims, generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to obtaining information needed for shareholder investigations or litigation outside China or otherwise with respect to foreign entities. In the absence of a mutual and practical cooperation mechanism, there has not been efficient regulatory cooperation between the local authorities in China and the securities regulatory authorities in the United States to implement cross-border supervision and administration so far. Although the local authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such regulatory cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the UnitiesUnited States have not been efficient in the absence of a mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. Accordingly, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities, no organization or individual may provide the documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties. See also “—Risks Related to Our ADSs—You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. or Hong Kong courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law” for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.law.”

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In addition, the Enterprise Income Tax Law (the “EIT Law”) and its implementation rules provide that a withholding tax at a rate of 10% will be applicable to dividends payable by Chinese companies to non-PRC-resident enterprises unless reduced under treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions where the non-PRC resident enterprises are tax residents. Pursuant to the tax agreement between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the withholding tax rate in respect to the payment of dividends by a PRC enterprise to a Hong Kong enterprise may be reduced to 5% from a standard rate of 10% if the Hong Kong enterprise (i) directly holds at least 25% of the PRC enterprise, (ii) is a tax resident in Hong Kong and (iii) could be recognized as a beneficial owner of the dividend from a PRC tax perspective. Under administrative guidance, a Hong Kong resident enterprise must meet the following conditions, among others, in order to apply the reduced withholding tax rate: (i) it must be a company; (ii) it must directly own the required percentage of equity interests and voting rights in the PRC resident enterprise; and (iii) it must have directly owned such required percentage in the PRC resident enterprise throughout the 12 months prior to receiving the dividends. Nonresident enterprises are not required to obtain pre-approval from the relevant tax authority in order to enjoy the reduced withholding tax. Instead, nonresident enterprises and their withholding agents may, by self- assessmentself-assessment and on confirmation that the prescribed criteria to enjoy the tax treaty benefits are met, directly apply the reduced withholding tax rate, and file necessary forms and supporting documents when performing tax filings, which will be subject to post-tax filing examinations by the relevant tax authorities. Accordingly, our Hong Kong subsidiary may be able to benefit from the 5% withholding tax rate for the dividends it receives from our PRC subsidiaries, if it satisfies the conditions prescribed under the State Administration of Taxation on the Issues Concerning the Application of the Dividend Clauses of Tax Agreements (the “Guoshuihan [2009] 81”), and other relevant tax rules and regulations. However, if the relevant tax authorities consider the transactions or arrangements we have areto be for the primary purpose of enjoying a favorable tax treatment, the relevant tax authorities may adjust the favorable withholding tax in the future. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the reduced 5% withholding tax rate will apply to dividends received by our Hong Kong subsidiary from our PRC subsidiaries. This withholding tax will reduce the amount of dividends we may receive from our PRC subsidiaries.

The custodians or authorized users of our controlling non-tangible assets, including chops and seals, may fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets.

Under the PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions, including agreements and contracts, are executed using the chop or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with relevant PRC market regulation authorities.

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PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or delay us from using the proceeds of our offshore securities offerings to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries and making loans to the VIE or its subsidiaries, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

We areTuya Inc. is an offshore holding company conductingand we conduct our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries and the VIE. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries and the VIE, subject to the approval from government authorities and limitation of amount, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries in China.

Any loans to our PRC subsidiaries in China, which are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under PRC law, are subject to PRC regulations and foreign exchange loan registrations. For example, loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries in China to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of SAFE. In addition, a foreign investedforeign-invested enterprise shall use its capital pursuant to the principle of authenticity and for self-use within its business scope. The capital of a foreign invested enterprise shall not be used for the following purposes: (i) directly or indirectly used for payment beyond the business scope of the enterprises or the payment prohibited by relevant laws and regulations; (ii) directly or indirectly used for investment in securities investments other than banks’ principal-secured products unless otherwise provided by relevant laws and regulations; (iii) the granting of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business license; and (iv) paying the expenses related to the purchase of real estate that is not for self-use (except for the foreign-invested real estate enterprises).

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Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenuesrevenue effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our revenuesrevenue in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our Cayman Islands holding company primarily relies on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements weit may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval of SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Specifically, under the existing exchange restrictions, without prior approval of SAFE, cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiaries in China may be used to pay dividends to our company. However, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. As a result, we need to obtain SAFE approval to use cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiaries and the VIE to pay off their respective debt in a currency other than Renminbi owed to entities outside China, or to make other capital expenditure payments outside China in a currency other than Renminbi. The PRC government may at its discretion restrict access to foreign currencies for current account transactions in the future. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.ADSs and Class A ordinary shares.

The filing, approval or other administration requirements of the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC government authorities may be required to maintain our listing status or conduct future offshore securities offerings.

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies including the MOFCOM, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the SAT, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the CSRC, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, jointly adopted the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, (the “Mor the M&A Rules”),Rules, which came into effect on September 8, 2006 and were amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rules include, among other things, provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle (the “SPV”) that is controlled by PRC domestic companies or individuals and that has been formed for the purpose of an overseas listing of securities through acquisitions of PRC domestic companies or assets to obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’sSPV’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published on its official website procedures regarding its approval of overseas listings by special purpose vehicles.SPVs. However, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the scope and applicability of the M&A Rules to offshore special purpose vehicles.SPVs.

While the application of the M&A Rules remains unclear, we believe, based on the advice of Jia Yuan Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, Jia Yuan Law Offices, that the CSRC approval abovementionedmentioned above is not required in our context because (1)(i) our wholly foreign-owned PRC subsidiary was not established through mergers or acquisitions of equity interest or assets of a PRC domestic company owned by PRC companies or individuals as defined under the M&A Rules that are the beneficial owners of our Company;company; and (2)(ii) no provision in the M&A Rules clearly classifies contractual arrangements as a type of transaction subject to the M&A Rules. ThereHowever, there can be no assurance that the relevant PRC government agencies, including the CSRC, would reach the same conclusion as our PRC legal counsel. Furthermore, the PRC government authorities may strengthen oversight over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in overseas-listed China-based issuers like us. Such actions taken by the PRC government authorities may intervene our operations, at any time, whichand are beyond our control. For instance, on July 6, 2021, the relevant PRC governments promulgated the Opinions on Strictly Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities (the “Opinions”), which among which, it is mentionedothers provide that the administration and supervision of overseas-listed China-based companies will be strengthened, and the special provisions of the State Council on overseas issuance and listing of shares by such companies will be revised, clarifying the responsibilities of domestic industry competent authorities and regulatory authorities. However, the Opinions were only issued recently, leavingthere remain uncertainties regarding the interpretation and implementation of these opinions.the Opinions. There is no assurance that any new rules or regulations promulgated in the future will impose additional requirements on us.

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On December 24, 2021,February 17, 2023, the CSRC publishedreleased the draft Regulations of the State Council on the AdministrationTrial Administrative Measures of Overseas IssuanceSecurities Offering and Listing of Securities by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) (the “Administrative Provisions”“Trial Measures”) and relevant supporting guidelines, collectively, the draft MeasuresNew Overseas Listing Rules, setting out new filing procedures for China-based companies seeking direct or indirect listings and offerings in overseas markets, which came into force on March 31, 2023. The New Overseas Listing Rules are applicable to PRC domestic companies that seek to offer and list securities in overseas markets, either through direct or indirect means. If an issuer meets both of the following criteria, the overseas securities offering and listing conducted by such issuer shall be deemed as an indirect overseas offering subject to the filing procedures set forth under the New Overseas Listing Rules: (i) 50% or more of the issuer’s operating revenue, total profit, total assets or net assets as documented in its audited consolidated financial statements for the Record-Filingmost recent fiscal year are derived from PRC domestic companies; and (ii) the issuer’s business activities are substantially conducted in mainland China, or its principal place(s) of Overseas Issuancebusiness are located in mainland China, or the senior managers in charge of its business operations and Listing of Securities by Domestic Companies (Draft for Comments) (the “Filing Measures”) for public comments.management are mostly Chinese citizens or domiciled in mainland China. Pursuant to these drafts, “PRC domestic companies” that directly or indirectly issue or list their securities overseas shall file with CSRC certain required documents. More specifically, a “PRC domestic company” that seeksthe New Overseas Listing Rules, an initial public offering overseas, or a “PRC domestic company” alreadyissuer listed overseas who seeks to list its securities in anotheran overseas market shallthat contemplates any follow-on offering in the same overseas market where it has previously offered and listed securities should, through its major operating entity incorporated in the PRC, file the required documentsmaterials with the CSRC within three business days after submitting the application documents forcompletion of such follow-on offering. Furthermore, according to the foregoing transactions. “PRC domestic companies” are definedNew Overseas Listing Rules, after an issuer has completed its offering and listed its securities on an overseas stock exchange, the issuer shall submit a report to include both (i) PRC companies limited by shares, and (ii) offshore-incorporated companies whose main business operations are in China that seek issuance of shares and listing overseas based on their onshore equity, assets or similar interests. As of the date of this annual report, it remains uncertain when the final Administrative Provisions and Filing Measures will be adopted and whether they will be adopted in the current draft form. If the Administrative Provisions and Filing Measures are adopted in the current form, we may be required to file the relevant documents with the CSRC within three business days after submitting theirthe occurrence and public disclosure of certain material events, including (i) a change of control, (ii) investigations of or sanctions imposed on the issuer by overseas securities regulatory agencies or other relevant competent authorities, (iii) changes of listing application documentsstatus or transfers of the listing segment, (iv) a voluntary or mandatory delisting and (v) a material change in its main business operation, as a result of which that issuer is no longer subject to the relevant regulatorfiling requirements under the New Overseas Listing Rules. The New Overseas Listing Rules provide that in the placeevent of intended listing. Failureany breach, including any failure to completefulfill the filing underprocedure, or any offering and listing of securities in an overseas market in violation of the Administrative Provisions and Filing Measures may subject a PRCmeasures, the CSRC will order such domestic company to a warning orrectify, issue warnings to such domestic company, and impose a fine ofbetween RMB1 million toand RMB10 million. Fines and warnings will be imposed on persons-in-charge and other persons who are directly liable. In the event of a serious violationaddition, fines will also be imposed on controlling shareholders and actual controllers of the Administrative Provisions, the PRC domestic company who initiate or cause the aforesaid non-compliance activities. As these measures and rules are relatively new, it remains uncertain as to their implementation. We may not be ordered to discontinue the related business or suspend its operations for rectification, and its permits or business licenses may be revoked.

As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any formal inquiry, notice, warning, sanction, or any regulatory objection from the CSRC, the CAC, or any other PRC regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over our operations. If the CSRC, the CAC, or other PRC regulatory authorities subsequently determines that we needable to obtain their approval or complete the required filing for any future offshore securities offering, or if such government authorities promulgate any interpretation or implement rules that would require us to obtain approvals from the CSRC, the CAC or other regulatory authorities or complete required filing for any future offshore securities offering,and it is uncertain whether we can or how long it will take us to obtain such approval or complete such filing, or if we can obtain any waiver of aforesaid requirements if and when procedures are established to obtain such waiver. Any failure to obtain or delay in obtaining such approval or completing such filing for any future offshore securities offering, or a rescission of any such approval obtained by us, could subject us to sanctions by the CSRC, the CAC or other PRC regulatory agencies for failure to seek approval or other governmental authorization or complete the necessary filing for any future offshore securities offering. In any such event, these regulatory authorities may also impose fines and penalties on our operations in China, limit our operating privileges in China, delay or restrict the repatriation of the proceeds from any future offshore securities offering into the PRC or take other actions that could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition, as well as our ability to complete any future offshore securities offering. The CSRC, the CAC or any other PRC government authorities may also take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt any future offshore securities offering. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to settlement and delivery, you do so at the risk that such settlement and delivery may not occur. Any uncertainties or negative publicity regarding such approval requirements could materially and adversely affect the trading price of our ADSs.ADSs and Class A ordinary shares.

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Certain PRC regulations may make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions.

Among other things, the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006 and amended in 2009, established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex. Such regulation requires, among other things, that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change of control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that have or may have an impact on the national economic security, or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. Moreover, the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the NPC which became effective in 2008 and was amended in 2022 requires that transactions which are deemed concentrations and involve parties with specified turnover thresholds must be cleared by the relevant anti-monopoly authority before they can be completed. In addition, PRC national security review rules which became effective in September 2011 require acquisitions by foreign investors of PRC companies engaged in military relatedmilitary-related or certain other industries that are crucial to national security be subject to security review before consummation of any such acquisition. We may pursue potential strategic acquisitions that are complementary to our business and operations. Complying with the requirements of these regulations to complete such transactions could be time-consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval or clearance from the competent government authority, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans as required by PRC regulations may subject us to penalties.

We are required under PRC laws and regulations to participate in various government sponsoredgovernment-sponsored employee benefit plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of our employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where we operate our businesses. The requirement of employee benefit plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations, and we cannot assure you that we are able to make adequate contribution for each employee in a timely and appropriate manner at all time. If we fail to make adequate employee benefit payments, we may be subject to fines, late fees and legal sanctions, and our business, financial conditionscondition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

PRC regulations relating to the establishment of offshore special purpose companies by PRC residents may subject our PRC resident beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiaries to liability or penalties, limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiaries, limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us, or may otherwise adversely affect us.

In July 2014, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Offshore Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment Through Special Purpose Vehicles (the “SAFE Circular No. 37”), to replace the Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Residents’ Financing and Roundtrip Investment Through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles or SAFE(the “SAFE Circular 75,75”), which ceased to be effective upon the promulgation of SAFE Circular No. 37. SAFE Circular No. 37 requires PRC residents (including PRC individuals and PRC corporate entities) to register with SAFE or its local branches in connection with their direct or indirect offshore investment activities. SAFE Circular No. 37 is applicable to our shareholders who are PRC residents and may be applicable to any offshore acquisitions that we make in the future.

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These regulations described above may have a significant impact on our present and future structuring and investment. We intend to structure and execute our future offshore acquisitions in a manner consistent with these regulations and any other relevant legislation. However, because it is presently uncertain how thethese SAFE regulations and any future legislation concerning offshore or cross-border transactions will be interpreted and implemented by the relevant government authorities in connection with our future offshore financings or acquisitions, we cannot provide any assurances that we will be able to comply with, qualify under or obtain any approvals required by the regulations or other legislation. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that any PRC shareholders of our company or any PRC company into which we invest will be able to comply with those requirements. Any failure or inability by such individuals or entities to comply with SAFE regulations may subject us to fines or legal sanctions, such as restrictions on our cross-border investment activities or our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to, or obtain foreign exchange-denominated loans from, our company or prevent us from making distributions or paying dividends. As a result, our business operations and our ability to make distributions to you could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, as these foreign exchange regulations are still relatively new and their interpretation and implementation has been constantly evolving, it is unclear how these regulations, and any future regulation concerning offshore or cross-border transactions, will be interpreted, amended and implemented by the relevant government authorities. For example, we may be subject to a more stringent review and approval process with respect to our foreign exchange activities, such as remittance of dividends and foreign-currency-denominatedforeign currency-denominated borrowings, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we decide to acquire a PRC domestic company, we cannot assure you that we or the owners of such company, as the case may be, will be able to obtain the necessary approvals or complete the necessary filings and registrations required by the foreign exchange regulations. This may restrict our ability to implement our acquisition strategy and could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, replacing earlier rules promulgated in 2007. Pursuant to these rules, PRC citizens and non-PRC citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the PRC subsidiaries of such overseas-listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, an overseas-entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. In addition, SAFE Circular 37 stipulates that PRC residents who participate in a share incentive plan of an overseas non-publicly-listednon-publicly listed special purpose company may register with SAFE or its local branches before they obtain the incentive shares or exercise the share options. We and our executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been or will be granted incentive shares or options are or will be subject to these regulations. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions, and there may be additional restrictions on thetheir ability of them to exercise their stockshare options or remit proceeds gained from sale of their stockshares into the PRC. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law.

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According to the SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China, and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.

We believe our company is not a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” If the PRC tax authorities determine that our company or any of our offshore subsidiaries is a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, our company or the relevant offshore subsidiaries will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its worldwide income at thea rate of 25%. Furthermore, if we are treated as a PRC tax resident enterprise, we will be required to withhold a 10% tax from dividends we pay to our shareholders that are non-resident enterprises, including the holders of the ADSs.our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares. In addition, non-resident enterprise shareholders (including holders of our ADSs)ADSs and Class A ordinary shares) may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 10% on gains realized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs,ADSs/Class A ordinary shares, if such gain is treated as derived from a PRC source. Furthermore, if we are deemed a PRC resident enterprise, dividends paid to our non-PRC individual shareholders (including the holders of the ADSs)our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares) and any gain realized on the transfer of the ADSs and/or Class A ordinary shares by such shareholders may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 20% (which, in the case of dividends, may be withheld at source by us). These rates may be reduced by an applicable tax treaty, but it is unclear whether our non-PRC shareholders would, in practice, be able to obtain the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in our ADSs.ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC resident companies.

On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued the Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Tax Resident Enterprises or SAT(the “SAT Bulletin 7,7”), which came into effect on February 3, 2015,the same day, but will also apply to cases where their PRC tax treatments are not yet concluded. The SAT Bulletin 7 redefinesextends its tax jurisdiction to transactions involving the applicable scope to expand the subjecttransfer of the indirect share transfers to China taxable assets which includes equity investments in PRC resident enterprises, assetsthrough offshore transfer of Chinese establishment and immoveable properties in China.a foreign intermediate holding company. In addition, the SAT Bulletin 7 has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity securities through a public securities market. The SAT Bulletin 7 also brings challenges to both foreign transferor and transferee (or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer) of taxable assets.

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We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries and investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxed if our company is a transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is transferee in such transactions, under the SAT Bulletin 7 and/or SAT Bulletin 37. For transfer of shares in our company that do not qualify for the public securities market safe harbor by investors who are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiaries may be requested to assist in the filing under the SAT Bulletin 7 and/or SAT Bulletin 37. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with the SAT Bulletin 7 and/or SAT Bulletin 37 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our business and reputation and subject us to liability for information displayed on our website.

China has enacted laws and regulations governing Internetinternet access and the distribution of products, services, news, information, audio-video programs and other content through the Internet.internet. In the past, the PRC government has prohibited the distribution of information through the internet that it deems to be in violation of PRC laws and regulations. If any of the information offered on our platform waswere deemed by the PRC government to violate any content restrictions, we would not be able to continue to display such content and could become subject to penalties, including confiscation of income, fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

TheTrading in our securities will be prohibited under the HFCAA if the PCAOB determines that it is currently unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, including our auditor in relationas an independent registered public accounting firm, and as a result, U.S. national securities exchanges, such as the NYSE, may determine to their audit work performed fordelist our financial statements and the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections over our auditor deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections.securities.

Our external auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject torequired by the laws inof the United States pursuant to whichundergo regular inspections by the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicablelaws of the United States and professional standards. Since our externalOur auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has beenwas historically unable to conduct inspections and investigations completely, without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our external auditor is not currently inspected by the PCAOB.

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However, the America COMPETES Act includes a broader range of legislation not related to the HFCAA in response to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act passed by the U.S. Senate in 2021. The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate will need to agree on amendments to these respective bills to align the legislation and pass their amended bills before the U.S. President can sign into law. It is unclear when the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives will resolve the differences in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and the America COMPETES Act of 2022 bills currently passed, or when the U.S. President will sign on the bill to make the amendment into law, or at all. If the bill amending the HFCAA is enacted into law and the number of consecutive non-inspection years required for triggering the prohibitions under the HFCAA is reduced from three years to two, then our shares and ADSs could be prohibited from trading in the United States in 2023.

The HFCAA or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, and the market price of the ADSs could be adversely affected. Additionally, whether the PCAOB will be ablecontinue to conduct inspections and investigations completely to its satisfaction of our external auditor before the issuance of our financial statements on Form 20-F for the year ending December 31, 2023 which is due by April 30, 2024, or at all,PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong is subject to substantial uncertainty and depends on a number of factors out of our, and our external auditor’s, control. control, including positions taken by authorities of the PRC. The PCAOB is expected to continue to demand complete access to inspections and investigations against accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in the future and states that it has already made plans to resume regular inspections in early 2023 and beyond. The PCAOB is required under the HFCAA to make its determination on an annual basis in regard to its ability to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong. The possibility of being a “Commission-Identified Issuer” and risk of delisting could continue to adversely affect the trading price of our securities.

If the PCAOB determines in the future that it no longer has full access to inspect and investigate accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and we continue to use such accounting firm to conduct audit work, we would be identified as a “Commission-Identified Issuer” under the HFCAA following the filing of the annual report for the relevant fiscal year. If the PCAOB determines in the future that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, including our shares and ADSs are prohibited fromauditor as an independent registered public accounting firm, for two consecutive years, trading in the United States, there is no certainty that weour securities on U.S. markets will be able to list on a non-U.S. exchange or that a market for our sharesprohibited. This will develop outside of the United States. Such a prohibition would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase ourthe ADSs when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ADSs. Also,so. Furthermore, such atrading prohibition wouldwill significantly affect our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all, which wouldwill have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

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Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares will trade. Furthermore, the stock exchanges on which our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares are traded in general experience price and volume fluctuations that are often unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of companies like us. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs.ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could

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Holders of the ADSs may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our Class A Ordinary Sharesordinary shares and may not be able to exercise their right to direct how our Class A Ordinary Sharesordinary shares represented by the ADSs are voted.

Holders of the ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. Holders of the ADSs will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings and will only be able to exercise the voting rights that are carried by the underlying Class A Ordinary Sharesordinary shares represented by the ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, holders of the ADSs may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary. If we instruct the depositary to ask holders of the ADSs for their instructions, then upon receipt of voting instructions from holders of the ADSs, the depositary will try, as far as practicable, to vote the underlying Class A Ordinary Sharesordinary shares represented by the ADSs in accordance with the instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask holders of the ADSs for their instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions give,given, but it is not required to do so. Holders of the ADSs will not be able to directly exercise their right to vote with respect to the Class A Ordinary Sharesordinary shares represented by the ADSs unless holders of the ADSs withdraw the shares and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under the Articles, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders for convening a general meeting is seven business days.

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If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our securities, the market price and trading volume for our ADSs and trading volumeClass A ordinary shares could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares to decline.

Substantial future sales or perceived sales of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares could materially and adversely affect their market price.

Sales of our ADSs and Class A ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our securities to decline. Shares held by our existing shareholders may be available for sale subject to the volume and other restrictions as applicable provided in Rules 144 and 701 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the applicable lock-up agreements. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of our ADSs.ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

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Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on a price appreciation of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares for a return on your investment.

We do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares as a source for any future dividend income. Our Boardboard of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends. Even if our Boardboard of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions (if any) received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board.board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of such securities. There is no guarantee that our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which you purchased them. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and you may even lose your entire investment.

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Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law or Article 177,(the “Article 177”), which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests.

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Holders of the ADSs may experience dilution of their holdings due to the inability to participate in rights offerings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. However, we cannot make such rights available to holders of the ADSs in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of the ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of the ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of the ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.

Holders of the ADSs may be subject to limitations on the transfer of the ADSs.

The ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems it expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of the ADSs generally when our share register or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for so long as we remain an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

Our Articles give us power to take certain actions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us, which could limit your opportunity to sell your Shares,shares, including ADSs, at a premium.

Our Articles contain provisionsgive us power to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our Company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisionstake certain actions that could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our Companycompany in a tender offer or similar transaction. Our BoardSubject to the Articles, compliance with the Hong Kong Listing Rules (and only to such extent permitted thereby), the Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and any applicable rules and regulations of authorities of places where the securities of our company are listed, and on the conditions that (i) no new class of shares with voting rights superior to those of Class A ordinary shares will be created and (ii) any variation in the relative rights as between the different classes will not result in creating a new class of shares with voting rights superior to those of Class A ordinary shares, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our Class A Ordinary Shares, including Class A Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs.preferences. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our Company or make removal of management more difficult. If our Board decides to issue preferred shares, the price of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares may be materially and adversely affected. However, our exercise of any such power that may limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions under the Articles is subject to our overriding obligations to comply with all applicable Hong Kong laws and regulations, the Hong Kong Listing Rules, and the Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Buy-backs.

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We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the NYSE. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer, which may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

We will incur increased costs as a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined under as the JOBS Act of the United States.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and NYSE, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, as a public company, we have increased the number of independent directors and adoptadopted policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we have incurred, and will continue to incur, additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

As a company with less than US$1.071.235 billion in revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting and permission to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. After we are no longer an “emerging growth company”,company,” we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC.

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As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. These practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

As a Cayman Islands exempted company listed on the NYSE, we are subject to corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE. However, NYSE rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

We have followed Cayman Islands corporate governance practices in lieu of thecertain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE that listed companies must have:have (i) a majority of independent directors; (ii) the establishment of a nominating/nominating / corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors; (iii)and (ii) a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors;directors. As we have chosen, and (iv) an audit committee composed of at least three members. To the extent that wemay from time to time choose, to follow home country practice, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would enjoy under NYSE corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

Although believe weWe were notlikely a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”(a “PFIC”) for 2021, due to our ADSs’ price fluctuations2022 and there is a significant risk that we will be a PFIC for 2022 or any future2023 and possibly subsequent taxable year,years, in which could result incase U.S. investors will generally be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors in the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.consequences.

In general, a non-U.S. corporation is a PFIC for any taxable year in which (i) 75% or more of its gross income consists of passive income or (ii) 50% or more of the average value of its assets (generally determined on a quarterly basis) consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income. For purposes of the above calculations, a non-U.S. corporation that owns (or is treated as owning for U.S. federal income tax purposes), directly or indirectly, at least 25% by value of the shares of another corporation is treated as if it held its proportionate share of the assets of the other corporation and received directly its proportionate share of the income of the other corporation. Passive income generally includes dividends, interest, rents, royalties and certain gains. Cash is generally a passive asset for these purposes. The value of a company’s goodwill is an active asset under the PFIC rules to the extent attributable to activities that produce active income.

Based on the composition of our income and assets and the estimated value of our assets, including goodwill, which is based on the average price of the ADSs during 2021, we believe that we were not a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2021. However, our PFIC status for any taxable year is an annual factual determination that can be made only after the end of that year and depends on the composition of our income and assets and the value of our assets from time to time. We hold a substantial amount of cash and financial investments, and while that continues to be the case our PFIC status for any taxable year willmay depend primarily on the average value of our goodwill. TheWe have not obtained any valuation of our goodwill or other assets. However, the value of our goodwill for any taxable year may be determined, in large part, by reference to our market capitalization. Because ouraverage market capitalization, which has declined substantially since our initial public offering, ifoffering. If the value of our goodwill for 2022 is determined by reference to our average market capitalization and thefor 2022, then we were likely a PFIC for our 2022 taxable year. In light of our declining market price of the ADSs does not increase sufficiently,capitalization, there is a significant risk that we will also be a PFIC for our taxable year 2022,2023, and possibly future taxable years.years, if the value of our assets were to be determined by reference to our market capitalization. Moreover, it is not entirely clear how the contractual arrangements between us and the VIE will be treated for purposes of the PFIC rules, and we may be or become a PFIC for any taxable year if the VIE is not treated as owned by us for these purposes. Our PFIC status for any taxable year is an annual factual determination that can be made only after the end of that year and will depend on the composition of our income and assets and the value of our assets from time to time. For these reasons, there can be no assurance that we will not be acannot express an expectation as to our PFIC status for our current2023 or any future taxable year.

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Your investment in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares may be impacted if we are encouraged to issue CDRs in the future.

PRC government authorities have issued new rules that allow PRC technology companies listed outside China to list on the mainland stock market through the creation of Chinese Depositary Receipts or CDRs.(“CDRs”). However, as the CDR mechanism is newly established, there are substantial uncertainties in the interpretation and implementation of these rules. We might consider and be encouraged by the evolving PRC governmental policies to issue CDRs and allow investors to trade our CDRs on PRC stock exchanges in the future. However, there are uncertainties as to whether a pursuit of CDRs in China would bring positive or negative impact on your investment in our ADSs.ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

ITEM 4.INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

4.A.History and Development of the Company

We commenced our operations in June 2014 through Hangzhou Tuya Technology Co., Ltd., or Hangzhou Tuya Technology.

In August 2014, Tuya, Inc., our current ultimate holding company, was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

In September 2014, Tuya (HK) Limited, currently a wholly-ownedwholly owned subsidiary of Tuya Inc., was incorporated under the laws of Hong Kong.

In December 2014, Hangzhou Tuya Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Hangzhou Aixiangji Technology Co., Ltd.), or (“Tuya Information,Information”) was incorporated in the PRC. Tuya Information is currently a wholly-ownedwholly owned subsidiary of Tuya (HK) Limited.

In June 2018, we effected a 10-for-1 share subdivision, following which each of our issued and unissued ordinary shares and preferred shares was subdivided into ten10 ordinary shares and preferred shares, respectively.

In March 2021, our ADSs commenced trading on the NYSE under the symbol “TUYA.” We raised, from our initial public offering and from the underwriters’ exercise of option to purchase additional ADSs, approximately US$904.7 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting commissions and the offering expenses paid by us.

On July 5, 2022, Hong Kong time, our Class A ordinary shares commenced trading on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code “2391.” We raised from our global offering in connection with the listing in Hong Kong approximately HK$70.0 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting commissions, fees and the offering expenses.

4.B.Business Overview

OVERVIEW

We established the world’s firsthave pioneered a purpose-built IoT cloud development platform according to China Insights Consultancythat delivers a full suite of offerings, including Platform-as-a-Service (“CIC”PaaS”). and Software-as-a-Service. Through our IoT cloud development platform, we deliver a variety of offerings. Our IoT PaaS offering enables businesses, including original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) and brands, OEMs, and developers to develop, launch, manage and monetize software-enabled smart devices and services. Our Industry SaaS offering enables businesses to deploy, connect, and manage large numbers and different types of smart devices. We also offer businesses, developers and end users a diverse range of cloud-based value-added services to improve their ability to develop and manage IoT experiences.

Through our IoT cloud development platform, we have enabled developers to activate ana vibrant IoT ecosystem of brands, OEMs, partners and end users to engage and communicate through a broad range of smart devices.

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Our offerings enable customers across a broad range of industry verticals, such as smart home, smart business, healthcare, education, agriculture, outdoors and sport, and entertainment. We have cultivated a large and diversified customer base, primarily including brands, OEMs, industry operators and system integrators. Starting from the end of 2021, we have been strategically optimizing our customer base to focus more on key account enterprises. In 2022, we served approximately 7,600 customers and our IoT platform empowered approximately 3,900 brands to develop their smart devices, including leading brands and enterprises such as Calex, Philips, Schneider Electric, Danfoss, Sharp, Telkom Indonesia and Honeywell. Our IoT PaaS currently enables businesses and developers across over 200 countries and regions globally to develop smart devices in approximately 2,700 categories.

We are the largest IoT PaaS provider in the global market of IoT PaaS in terms of the volume of smart devices powered in 2021, according to CIC. According to the same source, we ranked the first with a market share in the global market of IoT PaaS for smart home and smart business in terms of revenue in 2021. We have established a large and active community of approximately 708,000 registered IoT device and software developers as of December 31, 2022.

We were able to scale our business rapidly during 2019 to 2021 by leveraging our strong software and robust platform-based delivery capabilities. Our revenues were US$105.8 million, US$179.9 million and US$302.1 million, respectively, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, representing an average CAGR growth of approximately 69%. However, we experienced a decrease in our revenue in 2022, primarily due to the persistent supply-demand mismatch in the global consumer electronics sector which is, in turn, due to a combination of multiple factors, including rising shipping costs, supply chain disruptions, rising global inflation and foreign exchange rate fluctuation, among others. Despite these challenges, we have made significant improvements in management and operational efficiency, as evidenced by our reduced net losses. Our net loss in 2022 was US$146.2 million, a decrease of 16.7% from US$175.4 million in 2021, and our non-GAAP adjusted loss in 2022 was US$77.2 million, a decrease of 29.4% from US$109.3 million in 2021. For further information on non-GAAP financial measures we use in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes, see “—Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Non-GAAP Measures.”

Challenges in the IoT Era

By transforming the way people interact with the physical world, IoT is also changing how brands and OEMs develop products. With favorable technology drivers, consumers are increasingly demanding a software-like experience—in addition to the Tuya Solution – An IoT Cloud Development Platformtraditional physical interfaces—when interacting with devices. As a result, brands and OEMs are seeking to build software capabilities in order to offer IoT-enabled smart devices.

ForHowever, for brands and OEMs, building software capabilities from scratch is both costly and time-consuming, causing many of their IoT ventures to be unsuccessful. While very few leading brands have built their own IoT solutions, these solutions often are only limited to their own products, or products of their selected business partners, and the vast majority of brands and OEMs globally simply do not have the capital and technology expertise necessary to develop and deploy software across millions of devices.devices, according to CIC. Brands, OEMs and developers face a number of challenges in delivering software-enabled IoT offerings, such as (i) lack of development talent and capabilities, (ii) high cost of developing IoT ventures,and complexity to develop platforms, tools and applications, (iii) long development cycles, (iv) lack of standardized, easy-to-use software infrastructure and tools for developers and (v) inconsistent user experience caused by the complexityfragmented market due to the variety of providingIoT device categories and products across the brands and regions. According to a unifiedrecent comprehensive analysis of the data from Euromonitor, CIC, BCG and other well-known research institutions, the current average penetration rate of IoT-enabled devices is at a relative low level. These significant challenges can affect the end user experience.experience, and create the need for a third-party IoT platform that takes care of the complexities of developing, launching, supporting and growing IoT software and unifying the IoT standards among fragmentation, so businesses and developers can leverage full-stack infrastructure and tools to develop devices and software applications with ease.

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Our Industry SaaS is built to be brand-agnostic and is compatible with Tuya-powered devices across brands and categories. We believe this is the key reason our customers choose us over other IoT SaaS providers, especially those that only support certain brands exclusively, because our brand-agnostic Industry SaaS enables customers to manage their diverse business needs and smart device products across different brands and categories. Industry SaaS customers have the flexibility in sourcing smart devices by themselves, from OEMs recommended by us or via other channels based on their own preferences.

We offer Industry SaaS to select verticals with the potential of monetizing our IoT capabilities. We are also able to deliver the infrastructure and core capabilities of Industry SaaS as a vertical-agnostic solution that they can use to create industry-specific applications and use cases.

Set out below are a few examples of our Industry SaaS and the use cases they enable:

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As we gain more insights about customer demands through their feedback, we will continue to roll out additional value-added services for end users, aiming to provide an engaging and continuously improved customer experience.

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Our IoT technologies consistsconsist mainly of a Things Technology Platform (TTP)(“TTP”) and an Application Enabling Platform (AEP)(“AEP”). TTP and AEP together serve as the bedrock of our IoT cloud development platform and product offerings. We also have Business Technology Platform (BTP)(“BTP”), which is the competency center that provides the technology foundation to the upper layer of our Tuya IoT Cloud infrastructure. With these technologies, developers can quickly and cost-efficiently develop, manage, and upgrade smart devices and customize IoT capabilities for their specific user cases. We believe that these technological features enable us to build a growing and dynamic network of developers and partners, and drive our long-term revenue growth.

Our TTP consists of the following components:

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We have deployed six data centers hosted worldwide, including in China, the United States, Europe and India.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Our leadership is built by our creative and dedicated teams who are passionate about IoT. As of December 31, 2021,2022, we had 2,5611,313 research and development employees, representing approximately 73.8%71.6% of total employees. Our research and development team primarily consists of technology and platform development engineers responsible for (i) developing and iterating proprietary IoT technologies (e.g., TTP and AEP) and implementing enhancements and upgrades ofto our IoT cloud development platform; (ii) developing and upgrading our products, including IoT PaaS, Cube and Industry SaaS software solutions; and (iii) optimizing our internal operational systems and technologies. A majority of ourOur research and development team members have approximately 6.1on average 8.8 years of experience across a significant number of different subject areas such as IoT, industry design, cloud computing, AI and machine learning.

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We are proud to serve brands across the globe. The following is a representative sampling of the brands we serve:

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Substantially all of the brands we serve relate to our IoT PaaS business. We typically do not enter into agreements in relation to IoT PaaS business directly with the brands and instead enter into agreements with their contracted OEMs. In these circumstances, we consider such OEMs to be our customers. In limited circumstances, we also enter into agreements directly with brands in relation to certain value-added services, in which case we also consider such brands to be our customers.

CASE STUDIES

The following case studies illustrate how our customers and brands we serve use and benefit from our products and services. We believe that these case studies demonstrate the wide adoption of our products and services across geographies, verticals and customer sizes.

Goodyear

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire manufacturing companies with operations around the world. Since the 20th century, Goodyear has begun to diversify its businesses. Miralbueno Products S.L., a Spanish company licensed by Goodyear to develop and sell mechanical products, has expanded its business and started to explore opportunities in categories including smart outdoor products and indoor air quality products.

After conducting a comprehensive evaluation of our products and services, Miralbueno- Goodyear found that we could not only able to empower customers to rapidly develop smart devices but also connect them with OEMs and provide them with one-stop solutions. In a very short period of time, we recommended over ten OEMs to Miralbueno-Goodyear and helped it successfully upgrade its products to smart products, including the launch of the Goodyear scooters. Moreover, we helped Miralbueno-Goodyear rapidly develop and successfully launch various smart devices including smart air purifiers and smart air quality testing devices.