D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) Risk Factors

Our estimates of market opportunity included in this Form 10-K may prove to be inaccurate and may not be indicative of our future growth or performance. Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. While our estimate of the TAM included in this Form 10-K is made in good faith and is based on assumptions and estimates we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, this estimate may not prove to be accurate. Further, even if the estimate of our market opportunity does prove to be accurate, we could fail to capture significant portions, or any portion, of the available markets. Alternatives to our quantum computing products may present themselves and if they do, could substantially reduce the market for our computing services. Advances in classical computing may prove more robust for longer than currently anticipated and could adversely affect the timing of any quantum advantage being achieved, if at all. Any expansions in our markets depend on a number of factors, including the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our products and services. In making such forecasts, we rely on data provided by industry sources and customers, among other things, that we have not independently verified and such data may not be accurate, and any inaccuracy will affect the accuracy of our forecasts. The accuracy of our forecasts may also be affected by human error in the interpretation of such data.

We have incurred net losses since inception and experienced negative cash flows from operations. To date, our primary sources of capital have been through private placements of convertible preferred shares, revenue from the sale of our products and services, government assistance and the Venture Loan and Security Agreement, dated as of March 3, 2022, between D-Wave, D-Wave US Inc., D-Wave Government Inc., D-Wave Commercial Inc., D-Wave International Inc., D-Wave Quantum Solutions Inc. and Omni Circuit Boards Ltd., as borrower, and PSPIB Unitas Investments II Inc., as lender. During the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 we incurred net losses of $82.8 million and $53.7 million, respectively. We expect to incur additional losses and higher operating expenses for the foreseeable future as we operate as a public company and continue to invest in research and development and go-to-market programs. We have determined that additional financing will be required to fund our operations for the next 12 months and our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon obtaining additional capital and financing. Due to the large number of DPCM stockholders that exercised their redemption rights in connection with the Transaction, only approximately $9 million of cash from the DPCM Trust Account became available to D-Wave Quantum as of the closing of the Transaction, out of approximately $300 million that had been available, which significantly reduced the potential enhancement to our liquidity and capital resources that was sought to be achieved through the Transaction. If D-Wave is unable to obtain additional financing, operations will be scaled back or discontinued. These conditions give rise to material uncertainties that cast substantial doubt on the ability of D-Wave to continue as a going concern. In addition, in connection with the Transaction, the board of directors of DPCM considered, among other things, internal financial forecasts prepared by, or at the direction of, the management of D-Wave Quantum (the "Transaction Forecasts"). None of these projections or forecasts were prepared with a view towards public disclosure or compliance with the published guidelines of the SEC, U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") or the guidelines established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for preparation and presentation of financial forecasts. Neither DPCM's independent registered public accounting firm nor D-Wave Quantum's independent registered public accounting firm have audited, reviewed, examined, compiled nor applied agreed-upon procedures with respect to the unaudited prospective financial information, and accordingly, they do not express an opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto. Any projections and forecasts were inherently based on various estimates and assumptions that were subject to the judgment of those preparing them. Projections and forecasts were also subject to significant economic, competitive, industry and other uncertainties and contingencies, all of which were difficult or impossible to predict and many of which were beyond the control of D-Wave Quantum. With respect to certain key metrics, including revenue, we do not anticipate meeting the Transaction Forecasts due primarily to delays in our fund raising activities such as the significant redemptions of DPCM stockholders and inability to raise funds due to the Floor Price Limitation under the Purchase Agreement described below, which have adversely affected our liquidity position and ability to pursue certain growth opportunities, and which will require us to seek alternative sources of financing as described below. Our primary uses of cash are to fund our operations as we continue to grow our business. We will require a significant amount of cash for expenditures as we invest in our growth strategy and ongoing research and development and business operations. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our QCaaS offering and our professional services, we expect to finance our cash needs through public and/or private equity (including sales pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, assuming we are able to make such sales) and/or debt financings or other capital sources, including strategic partnerships. However, we may be unable to raise sufficient funds or enter into such other arrangements, when needed, on favorable terms or at all. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be, or could be, diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our shareholders. Debt financing and equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Following the Transaction, we had 18,000,000 Warrants outstanding (17,916,560 Warrants as of December 31, 2022), each Warrant being exercisable for 1.4541326 Common Shares at an exercise price of $11.50. Whether warrantholders will exercise their Warrants, and therefore the amount of cash proceeds we would receive upon exercise, is dependent upon the trading price of the Common Shares. Therefore, if and when the trading price of the Common Shares is less than approximately $7.91, the effective exercise price of the Warrants per one Common Share, we expect that warrantholders would not exercise their Warrants. We could receive up to an aggregate of approximately $207 million if all of the Warrants are exercised for cash, but we would only receive such proceeds if and when the warrantholders exercise the Warrants. The Warrants may not be or remain in the money during the period they are exercisable and prior to their expiration, and the Warrants may not be exercised prior to their maturity on August 5, 2027, even if they are in the money, and as such, the Warrants may expire worthless and we may receive minimal proceeds, if any, from the exercise of Warrants. To the extent that any of the Warrants are exercised on a "cashless basis," we will not receive any proceeds upon such exercise. As a result, we do not expect to rely on the cash exercise of Warrants to fund our operations. Instead, we intend to rely on other sources of cash discussed below to continue to fund our operations. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, or substantially reduce our quantum computing development and go-to-market efforts. We have not yet achieved profitability on an annual or quarterly basis and we do not know if we will be able to achieve or sustain, if achieved, profitability. We plan to continue to invest in our research and development, sales, marketing and professional services efforts, and we anticipate that our operating expenses will continue to increase as we scale our business and expand our operations. Our general and administrative expenses have increased and are expected to continue to increase as a result of our growth and operating as a public company. We have determined that additional financing will be required to fund our operations for the next 12 months and our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon obtaining additional capital and financing. Our expenses may be greater than we anticipate, and our investments intended to reach our technical targets and scale our business and make our technical infrastructure more efficient may not be successful. Our ability to achieve and sustain profitability is based on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. We may never be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve or sustain profitability. On June 16, 2022, D-Wave Quantum, D-Wave Systems and DPCM entered into the Purchase Agreement pursuant to which Lincoln Park agreed to purchase from D-Wave Quantum, at the option of D-Wave Quantum, up to $150,000,000 of Common Shares from time to time over a 36-month period following the Commencement Date. However, the use of the Purchase Agreement to fund operations is subject to significant limitations, including but not limited to, the Floor Price Limitation and the Beneficial Ownership Limitation. We are aware that such use of the Purchase Agreement, if available, may cause significant dilution, depress our share price, and make it more difficult to achieve required financing. In addition, on April 13, 2023, the Company entered into the Term Loan, with PSPIB as the lender (the "Term Loan"), as amended on June 16, 2023, July 13, 2023, July 20, 2023, October 6, 2023 and February 7, 2024. The Term Loan contains certain restrictions and conditions, some of which affect the Company's use of the Purchase Agreement. Principally, if the Company issues Common Shares, including under the Purchase Agreement, then the Company must promptly prepay the loans in an aggregate amount equal to the proceeds thereof, with such prepayment being subject to an additional premium equal to 10% of the amount then prepaid to PSPIB. We may make decisions that would reduce our short-term operating results if we believe those decisions will improve the experiences of our customers or if we believe such decisions will improve our operating results over the long-term. These decisions may not be consistent with the expectations of investors and may not produce the long-term benefits we expect, in which case our business may be materially and adversely affected. See ["Liquidity and going concern"] in the notes to the audited consolidated financial statements of the Company as of the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources."

Near term, our ability to generate revenue will largely be dependent on our ability to continue to develop and produce annealing quantum computers and hybrid quantum-classical solvers that are able to solve customer business problems at scale. Longer term, our ability to generate revenue will also be dependent on our ability to develop, produce and commercialize gate-model quantum computers. We have commercialized annealing quantum computers, but we have not yet commercialized a gate-model quantum computer. Our product roadmap may not be realized as quickly as hoped, or at all. Our ability to scale our business is dependent upon building referenceable quantum-hybrid applications. Additionally, we must accelerate sales cycles to meet revenue projections and our business depends on our ability to successfully upsell customers through our on-board process and move them into production applications. The development of our scalable business model will require the incurrence of a substantially higher level of costs than incurred to date, while our revenues may not substantially increase until more powerful products are produced, which requires a number of technological advancements which may not occur on the currently anticipated timetable or at all. As a result, our historical results should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Further, in future periods, our growth could slow or decline for any number of reasons, including but not limited to failing to achieve targeted demand for our services, increased competition, changes to technology, inability to scale up our technology, a decrease in the growth of the 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 growth are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results and our funding needs could differ materially from our expectations, and our business could suffer. Our success as a business ultimately relies upon fundamental research and development breakthroughs in the coming years and decade. There is no certainty these research and development milestones will be achieved for the costs we have forecast or as quickly as hoped, or at all.

Factors outside of D-Wave's control may, at any time, arise. As a result of these factors, D-Wave may be forced to write-down or write-off assets, restructure its operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in D-Wave reporting losses, as other companies that have recently consummated business combinations with special purpose acquisition companies have been required to do. Even if certain risks were identified in the past, unexpected risks may arise, and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with prior expectation. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and therefore not have an immediate impact on D-Wave's liquidity, the fact that D-Wave reports charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about D-Wave or its securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause D-Wave to be unable to obtain future financing on favorable terms or at all.

As described in the Company's recently filed amendment to its FY2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, the Company reached a determination to restate its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures as of and for the Affected Periods attributable to the accounting treatment for certain government assistance arrangements with SIF and TPC that originated prior to 2021 in the form of conditionally repayable loans with below-market interest rates. As a result, the Company has incurred unanticipated costs for accounting and legal fees in connection with the restatement and has become subject to a number of additional risks and uncertainties, which may affect investor confidence in the accuracy of the Company's financial disclosures and may raise reputational issues for the Company's business.

As a result of the classification error and related material weakness described in Part II, Item 9A. Controls and Procedures, we face the potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, and contractual or other claims arising from the restatement, material weakness, and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute arising due to the restatement or material weakness. However, we can provide no assurance that any litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In connection with the preparation and audit of D-Wave's financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, material weaknesses were identified in our internal control over financial reporting. 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 annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, a material weakness was identified in D-Wave design and operation of controls related to its financial statement close process: D-Wave lacks sufficient accounting and financial reporting personnel with requisite knowledge and experience in the application of complex areas of GAAP and SEC rules to facilitate accurate and timely financial reporting and to perform sufficient review over certain areas including non-routine revenue transactions, equity, government assistance, taxes, deferred revenue, accounts receivable, stock-based compensation, prepaid expenses, lease accounting, financial statement disclosures, and classification within the consolidated statements of cash flow. This material weakness resulted in errors in the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the quarterly and year to date periods ended September 30, 2023, June 30, 2023, and March 31 2023 and the consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 2022, 2021, and 2020. These periods were restated on Forms 10-Q/A and 10-K/A, as applicable, filed with the SEC on March 15, 2024. Separately, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 were previously restated on Form 10-Q/A filed with the SEC on April 17, 2023 (collectively, the "Restatements"). Additionally, this material weakness could result in misstatements of the related accounts or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected. We are implementing measures designed to improve our internal control over financial reporting to remediate this material weakness including adding additional qualified accounting personnel with experience with complex GAAP and SEC rules, engaging consultants to assist with the financial statement close process, and segregating duties among accounting personnel to enable adequate review controls. The primary costs associated with such measures are corresponding recruiting and additional salary and consulting costs, which are difficult to estimate at this time but which may be significant. These additional resources and procedures are intended to enable us to broaden the scope and quality of our internal review of underlying information related to financial reporting and to formalize and enhance our internal control procedures. The material weakness will not be considered remediated until our remediation plan has been fully implemented, the applicable controls operate for a sufficient period of time, and we have concluded, through testing, that the newly implemented and enhanced controls are operating effectively. We are continuing to work on the implementation of our remediation plan, following which we will continue to test such controls over time. We cannot predict the success of such efforts or the outcome of its assessment of the remediation efforts. Our efforts may not remediate this material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or additional material weaknesses may be identified in the future. A failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our consolidated financial statements that could result in a restatement of our financial statements, and could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations, any of which could diminish investor confidence in us and cause a decline in the price of our common stock. Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an "emerging growth company," as defined in the JOBS Act. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating.

We have incurred operating losses since our inception and management expects operating losses and negative cash flows to continue for the foreseeable future and, as a result, we will require additional capital to fund our operations and execute our business plan. Management has determined that the Company's liquidity condition raises substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern, which is considered to be for a period of one year from the issuance of these financial statements. The analysis used to determine the Company's ability to continue as a going concern does not include cash sources outside of the Company's direct control that management expects to be available within the next twelve months. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to obtain sufficient funding through additional debt or equity financing and to manage operating and overhead costs. There can be no assurance that we will be able to raise sufficient capital on acceptable or favorable terms to the Company, or at all.

We depend on, and anticipate that we will continue to depend on, various third-party suppliers in order to sustain and grow our business. Failure of any of these suppliers to continue to provide products and services to maintain, support or secure their technology platforms or our integrations, or errors or defects in their technologies, products or services, could adversely affect our relationships with our customers, damage our brand and reputation and result in delays or difficulties in our ability to provide our platform. Our ability to produce and scale our annealing and gate model quantum computers is dependent also upon components we must source from the electronics and semiconductor industries. Shortages or supply interruptions in any of these components will adversely impact our financial performance. Our platform and products depend on the ability to access and integrate with third-party cloud providers. In particular, we have developed our platform and products to integrate with certain third-party cloud providers and the third-party applications of other parties. If we choose or are required to change cloud providers, we will incur costs to port our platform and products to a new service and may experience service interruptions during a change of cloud provider. Generally, third-party cloud providers and the data we receive from the third-party cloud providers are written and controlled by the application provider. Any changes or modifications to the third-party cloud providers or the data provided could negatively impact the functionality of, or require us to make changes to, our platform and products, which would need to occur quickly to avoid interruptions in service for our customers. See "Our products and services are dependent upon our relationship with third-party providers and any disruption of or interference with our use of such third-party providers would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition." Scaling our business is heavily dependent on our ability to build and maintain relationships with consulting and service partners and assist them in establishing or expanding their business by developing solutions that utilize our products and services. Solutions that utilize our products and services may compete with other quantum or classical-computing based solutions developed and/or marketed by other suppliers and our solutions may lose favor with our partners. Our current distribution partners may cease or reduce marketing our solutions with limited or no notice and with little or no penalty. Our distribution partners will generally have no obligation to maintain or renew their contractual arrangements with us and generally may terminate such arrangements with limited notice and/or transition periods. New distribution partners require extensive training and could take extended periods to achieve productivity. If any of our current or potential partners elect to not utilize our products or services, or reduce their current or potential use of our technology in favor of competing products, we may have to change our product strategies, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage D-Wave Quantum's transition to a public company that is subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of the post-combination company. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal control over financial reporting required of public companies in the United States. This could impact our ability or prevent us from timely reporting our operating results, timely filing required reports with the SEC and complying with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act"). The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for us to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the United States may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that we will be required to expand our employee base and hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company, which will increase our operating costs in future periods.

We may in the future make acquisitions, divestitures or certain investments. Any transactions that we enter into could be material to our financial condition and results of operations. The process of acquiring and integrating another company or technology could create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. Acquisitions and investments involve a number of risks, such as: - use of resources that are needed in other areas of our business;- in the case of an acquisition, implementation or remediation of controls, procedures and policies of the acquired company;- in the case of an acquisition, difficulty integrating the accounting systems and operations of the acquired company, including potential risks to our corporate culture;- in the case of an acquisition, coordination of product, engineering and selling and marketing functions, including difficulties and additional expenses associated with supporting legacy services and products and hosting infrastructure of the acquired company, as applicable, difficulties associated with supporting new products or services, difficulty converting the customers of the acquired company onto our platform and difficulties associated with contract terms, including disparities in the revenues, licensing, support or professional services model of the acquired company;- in the case of an acquisition, retention and integration of employees from the acquired company;- in the case of an acquisition, past intellectual property infringement or data security issues arising from the acquired company;- unforeseen costs or liabilities;- adverse effects on our existing business relationships with customers as a result of the acquisition or investment;- the possibility of adverse tax consequences;- litigation or other claims arising in connection with the acquired company or investment; and - in the case of foreign acquisitions, the need to integrate operations across different cultures and languages and to address the particular economic, currency, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries. In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations. Acquisitions and investments may also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities, which could adversely affect our share price, or result in issuances of securities with superior rights and preferences to our common shares or the incurrence of debt with restrictive covenants that limit our future uses of capital in pursuit of business opportunities. We may not be able to identify acquisition or investment opportunities that meet our strategic objectives, or to the extent such opportunities are identified, we may not be able to negotiate terms with respect to the acquisition or investment that are acceptable to us. At this time, we have made no commitments or agreements with respect to any such material transactions.