Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Company Overview
AvePoint provides a cloud-native data management software platform that organizations rely on to manage and protect critical data, optimize IT operations, achieve meaningful cost savings, and efficiently secure the digital workplace. Companies around the world have now fully adopted a hybrid work model, and they are now tasked with delivering a seamless and secure workplace experience for knowledge workers, centered around an extensive portfolio of Software-as-a-Service (“ SaaS ”) solutions and productivity applications.
The adoption of this portfolio of solutions is a substantial and ongoing challenge for most organizations, which for decades had used only a small number of multi-purpose on-premises applications to drive business outcomes. However, to deliver an efficient digital workplace today, companies must manage this range of applications – and the associated explosive growth and sprawl of critical data – with a platform offering that is well governed, fit for purpose, easy to use and built on automation.
In addition, many organizations are beginning to realize the potential of generative artificial intelligence (“ AI ”) to drive competitive advantage and value creation, including (1) extracting greater value from complex datasets, (2) making more informed business decisions, (3) reducing employee workloads, and (4) improving the overall customer experience. While these data-driven improvements are expected to lead to stronger revenue growth and operational efficiency, successfully leveraging this new technology is in turn dependent on first addressing data management challenges that all organizations face. Specifically, for AI-driven projects to succeed, companies must apply robust strategies across the data estate to manage the information lifecycle, properly govern and secure their data, and ensure its compliance. These are the core business problems that AvePoint has been solving for more than two decades, and why we believe AvePoint is well positioned to be a key enabler of generative AI adoption within enterprises in the coming years.
AvePoint’s Confidence Platform empowers organizations – of all sizes, in all regions, and across all industries – to optimize and secure the solutions that most commonly establish and underpin the digital workplace. As our customers seek to rapidly reduce costs, improve productivity and make more informed business decisions, they depend on our platform for data-driven insights, critical business intelligence and ongoing operational value through automation.
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Platform Overview
The AvePoint Confidence Platform delivers a comprehensive set of SaaS solutions, empowering users in a variety of technology roles – including IT operations, development operations and cybersecurity – to monitor and secure the digital workplace.
Built on top of Platform-as-a-Service (“ PaaS ”) architecture, the AvePoint Confidence Platform offers modularity and combines cloud services architecture with tailored, industry-specific functionality to address critical operational challenges and the ongoing management of data, as organizations leverage a variety of third-party cloud vendors, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, AWS, Box, DropBox and others. To drive modernization efforts, the platform also provides extensions to the functionality of existing cloud services as well as new applications, all while leveraging the common underlying SaaS services for data, process, user experience and integration.
The AvePoint Confidence Platform, and the applications that it powers, is organized into three interconnected suites of functionality—each targeting a core set of business drivers and customer needs. Those suites are:
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The Control Suite. Focused on the governance and management of the digital workplace, the Control Suite provides a ready-made framework for automated governance and policy enforcement. This allows infrastructure and operations teams to protect business-critical information across collaborative workspaces.
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The Resilience Suite. Focused on security and enhanced data protection, the Resilience Suite enables organizations to efficiently and effectively comply with data protection regulations, preserve critical records, and ensure business continuity. This provides regulatory, audit, and risk management teams with the assurance that the organization is meeting its compliance obligations.
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The Modernization Suite. Focused on employee productivity and experience, the Modernization Suite transforms legacy data to allow it use by modern SaaS platforms and transforms legacy business processes into modern end-user business applications. It empowers modernization and change management teams to drive digital transformation with AI ready solutions across the organization, and to measure and accelerate the impact of this transformation on employee experience and engagement.
Built with security and scale in mind, AvePoint’s cloud-native platform is available across 14 global data centers. Our multi-tenant architecture is designed to immediately provide customers the latest enhancements and upgrades, and the platform is ISO 27001:2013, ISO 27017:2015 and ISO 27701:2019 certified, has achieved compliance with HITRUST CSF v11.0.1, and has received systems and organization controls (“ SOC ”) 2 Type II accreditation and FedRAMP (Moderate) Authorization.
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Within each suite are a number of products addressing critical customer needs. Our products are typically licensed according to the number of users, while some include a consumption-based component. Lastly, because our platform is built upon a common data engine and common data layer, the purchase of products from multiple suites provides an incremental benefit to customers in the form of more intelligent and relevant data insights and automation.
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The Control Suite contains products which offer the following capabilities:
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Operationalize collaborative workspaces : centralize the management of SaaS solutions and productivity applications, with the flexibility to configure and delegate control for different end-users;
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Regulatory compliance automation : Implement, enforce, and prove that access and configuration policies across collaborative workspaces comply with internal or regulatory requirements;
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Access and risk management : gain insight into who has access to critical data and where the company is at risk; and
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Cost optimization : maximize the return on SaaS subscription investments through real-time management and allocation of entitlements;
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The Resilience Suite contains products which offer the following capabilities:
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Backup-as-a-Service : support workloads in cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service and PaaS, including protection against ransomware, accidental deletions and user error in a variety of SaaS applications, as well as support for a range of on-premises workloads;
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Data classification : automate data tagging, classification and protection to prevent loss;
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Storage optimization : archive stale content from active systems to reduce costs and improve workspace quality and user experience; and
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Information lifecycle management : manage information and ensure compliance, optimize cloud storage, streamline processes, and unlock data driven insights.
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The Modernization Suite contains products which offer the following capabilities:
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Data modernization and restructuring: seamlessly move and transform legacy data to allow its use by modern SaaS platforms, and ensure that unstructured data can be easily restructured to reflect ongoing changes in the business;
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Process modernization: transform manual processes with built-in data insights and process automation for Line of Business and role-based applications; and
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Workforce transformation measurement: enable employees to thrive in the digital workplace by ensuring organizational leaders understand employee engagement and sentiment.
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Our Growth Strategy
Our aggressive pursuit of the large market opportunity we see includes the following growth strategies:
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Expand the AvePoint Confidence Platform Offerings. We have built a differentiated platform that enables organizations to integrate modern applications, and our goal is to continually invest in technologies that improve the digital workplace experience. We plan to introduce new and adjacent products to extend our current operational and data management story and to improve the functionality of existing products and features, with a particular focus on AI ready solutions that transform and enrich data. We will also continue investing to support Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, AWS, Box, DropBox and other ecosystems for our customers, many of whom leverage multiple cloud vendors.
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Expand o ur Market Presence. The market we are targeting is rapidly growing and largely unpenetrated. We sell to organizations of all sizes, in all regions of the world, and across a broad array of industries. While historically we primarily focused on larger, more highly regulated enterprises, the offering of our platform as a SaaS solution makes it more accessible to and in demand from small and medium-sized organizations. We intend to drive new customer growth by leveraging our global partner ecosystem and through the expansion of our direct sales force both in regions where we have an established presence and in new markets where cloud adoption is growing.
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Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Customer Success . We constantly seek to increase customer satisfaction, decrease time to value, reduce customer churn and set up successful land and expand opportunities. To do so, we have made significant investments in our customer success program and in technology which provides additional telemetry to enhance our understanding of how customers use our solutions, which we believe will deepen our relationships with existing customers.
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Grow and Cultivate our Partner and Channel Network . We believe that building and cultivating strategic relationships with partners will enable us to penetrate those markets in which we previously lacked presence and those in which we have a presence that can be expanded. Our partner and channel network today touches all aspects of our business, but we believe there is a particular opportunity with our small and mid-sized customers and prospects. We expect that the continued scaling of this ecosystem will be a critical component of our ability to drive profitable growth going forward.
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Opportunistically Pursue Strategic Acquisitions and Investments . While the large majority of our current offerings were built organically, we expect that acquisitions and investments will be an important growth driver for our business. We completed four acquisitions in 2022, and we expect to continue acquiring and investing in businesses and technologies or entering into joint ventures and strategic alliances as part of our long-term business strategy. This may include acquiring or investing in complementary products, technologies, and/or businesses that incorporate enhanced functionality into and complement our existing product offerings, reduce the time or costs required to develop new technologies, augment our engineering workforce, improve our internal business and operating systems, and enhance our technological capabilities.
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Sales, Marketing and Customers
Sales
Our global go-to-market strategy allows us to efficiently sell to and serve the needs of organizations across market segments and geographies. This strategy, which combines the expertise of our highly-trained direct sales force with the leverage of valuable indirect routes to the market, including our strong partner ecosystem, has created a powerful and differentiated go-to-market approach. In addition, our increased investments in our customer success program positions us to continue expanding within our existing customer base, which we believe remains a significant growth opportunity.
Our direct sales force is organized by geography and customer size.
In addition, we employ a number of indirect routes to market, which include the following:
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Channel Ecosystem . We leverage the resources of our partner and channel community across customers of all segments. We expect that partner sourced revenue will account for a growing portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future.
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Partner Marketplaces . Our solutions are available in more than 100 marketplaces around the world through our distribution and marketplace partners. We leverage marketplaces to create operational efficiencies with automation in procurement and provisioning, and to grow and scale our acquisition of the small business market, primarily through managed service providers (“ MSPs ”).
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Microsoft Partnership . We are a top global partner of Microsoft with a holistic alliance that incorporates technology, sales, and marketing initiatives to ensure that we enable organizations worldwide to maximize their Microsoft Cloud investments.
These collective efforts are supported by our customer success team, which employs a proactive relationship-focused approach designed to ensure that our valued customers get the care they need to rapidly deploy, and receive value from, their technology investment in the AvePoint Confidence Platform.
Marketing
Our global marketing organization focuses on enhancing the AvePoint brand, establishing trust and capturing mindshare, and building awareness and demand generation through multi-platform campaigns that leverage our expertise, content, technical resources and customer stories. These campaigns are tailored to ensure that they reach customers at any stage of their buying journey, from a prospect assessing market trends and seeking broader strategic insights, to an existing customer with whom we can build incremental loyalty and to whom we can sell a more comprehensive set of solutions. We rely on multiple marketing and sales automation tools, as well as product and industry specific criteria, to efficiently identify and market to the correct individuals at companies in each customer segment, and constantly seek to refine and optimize our approach through the review of multiple performance metrics and ongoing feedback from our sales teams.
Customers
We sell to organizations of all sizes, in all regions of the world, and across a broad array of industries. Our customers are located in more than 100 countries and, as of December 31, 2023, numbered more than 21,000.
We classify our customer base by size and geography:
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Small Business ( “ SMB ” ) segment . Companies with fewer than 500 user seats.
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Mid- Market segment . Companies with greater than 500 but fewer than 5,000 user seats.
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Enterprise segment . Companies with greater than 5,000 user seats.
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Geography . Classification is based on the customer’s billing address and is divided into (1) North America; (2) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (“ EMEA ”); and (3) Asia-Pacific (“ APAC ”).
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Research And Development
We constantly seek to develop new offerings, drive improvements to our existing offerings, and enhance support of our existing customer deployments. We leverage agile development methodologies and work with the latest technologies, resulting in a dynamic, state of the art, automated software development process that has allowed us to quickly deliver high-quality products and services and adapt to market changes and new requirements. We believe delivering and expanding product functionality is critical to enhancing the success of new and existing customers while new product development further reinforces our breadth of solutions.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks to establish and protect our intellectual property rights. We also rely on contractual protections, such as license, assignment, and confidentiality agreements, and technical measures. We pursue the registration of domain names, trademarks, and service marks in the United States and in various jurisdictions outside the United States. We control access to and use of our proprietary technology and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, contractors, customers, and partners, and our software is protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws. We require our employees, consultants, and other third parties to enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements and control access to software, documentation, and other proprietary information. Our policy is to require employees and independent contractors to sign agreements assigning to us any inventions, trade secrets, works of authorship, developments, and other processes generated by them on our behalf and agreeing to protect our confidential information. In addition, we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our vendors and customers.
Competition
While certain companies offer products with features similar to those embedded in our individual solutions and with which we compete in certain tactical use cases, we do not believe that any company offers the same breadth of functionalities that we offer in a single integrated platform. Unlike traditional vendors primarily focused on data management, data governance, or migration, we provide a spectrum of SaaS solutions and productivity applications for the digital workplace.
The competition we see is primarily standalone point solutions that aim to replicate the value provided by our suites or one of the products contained therein. We believe our platform offering provides a meaningful competitive advantage, due to breadth of functionality, ease of use, scalability, rigor of security protocols, integration with third-party applications and data sources, time to value and total cost of ownership.
Seasonality
Our quarterly revenue can fluctuate and does not necessarily grow sequentially when measuring any one fiscal quarter’s revenue against another. Historically, our third and fourth quarters have been our highest revenue quarters, however those results are not necessarily indicative of future quarterly revenue or full year results. Additionally, the timing of new product and service introductions can significantly impact revenue. Lastly, the mix of revenues in any given quarter can cause fluctuations in our reported results, due to differing revenue recognition principles, as discussed further below. Our operating expenses have historically increased in connection with the expansion of our business, which we expect will continue.
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Human Capital Resources
The success of our people is the success of our Company, making our talent strategy a core focus of our operations. We received accolades designating us as a “best place to work” in 2023. Our key human capital objectives in managing our business includes attracting and developing top talent, engaging our team in an environment where they thrive, and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into our core operating practices.
Our values are long-held beliefs that guide the behaviors of our global teams and are foundational to our present and future success. These are not ‘statements on a wall’ but a true representation of how we act as a team:
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Agility: We value quick, informed decision-making to meet and exceed customer expectations. We subscribe to a growth mindset, which contributes to our entrepreneurial and learning spirit.
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Passion: Drive and energy are contagious here; we are not just going through the motions. We do things that are impactful and, as a result, amplify our customers’ success.
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Teamwork: We are invested in the success of our colleagues, partners, customers, and communities. We do this by promoting global collaboration and taking pride in helping, sharing, mentoring, and coaching each other.
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Team
As of December 31, 2023, we had 2,543 employees globally. A large percentage of our employees have technical and professional backgrounds and undergraduate and/or advanced degrees. Our professional staff includes programmers, data and computer scientists, electrical and mechanical engineers, software and hardware specialists, project managers, sales and marketing professionals, attorneys, and CPAs. None of our employees are represented by a labor union with respect to their employment. We are not aware of any employment circumstances that are likely to disrupt our work efforts. See the section titled “ Risk Factors ” (Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report) for a discussion of the risks related to the loss of key personnel or our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel.
Recruitment and Internal Mobility
We want to attract a pool of diverse and exceptional candidates and support their career growth once they join our team. We seek to hire based on talent, providing opportunities for capable workers from various backgrounds to learn valuable skills in critical operations such as business development, sales, customer support, and customer service. In our evaluation and career development efforts, we emphasize internal mobility opportunities as a core strategy to drive professional development. Our goal is a long-term, upward-bound career for every colleague, which also drives our retention efforts. Our talent acquisition team directly recruits highly skilled and talented people, and we encourage and incentivize employee referrals for open positions.
Rewards
We strive to provide globally a competitive suite of pay, comprehensive benefits, and services. We incentivize performance through a combination of competitive base pay, performance-based cash incentives and long-term incentives in the form of equity. We believe this combination fosters a strong sense of ownership, aligns the interests of employees with our stockholders, and increases stockholder value and our overall success.
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Environmental, Social and Governance Matters
We recognize the importance of environmental, social and governance (“ ESG ”) matters and how they impact our customers, employees, community partners, and stockholders. We believe appropriately prioritizing ESG issues is an important component of corporate social responsibility and comprehensive fiscal management. In addition, we believe that strong ESG programs and practices are critical to attracting the best talent, executing on our corporate strategies, maintaining a robust supplier and channel partner base, and innovating to meet our consumers’ evolving expectations.
In 2023, our internal ESG Committee, chartered by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of AvePoint’s Board of Directors (the “ Board ”), began meeting to address ESG priorities. The ESG Committee was divided into sub-committees to address each element of ESG matters and each subcommittee set forth goals for 2023. The disclosure below describes the goals of our ESG program to allow our stakeholders to be informed about our progress and future direction.
1. Environmental
Across our twenty-five offices, we strive to reduce our environmental footprint, operate more efficiently, and engage our personnel in social initiatives that directly impact their lives. To fulfill our aim of integrating environmental sustainability into everything we do, we have implemented numerous projects across our operations to limit our environmental impact, such as implementing paperless campaigns, the encouragement of recycling and elimination of paper products, the sourcing of office resources from sustainable sources, and the recycling of physical IT assets. In addition, we also strive to make operational decisions with attention to environmental impact and have LEED certified offices in the United States and maintain other energy certifications and maximization projects in our offices abroad.
As a software company, we were an early mover to transition from traditional on-premises software solutions to software-as-a-service and hybrid deployments. Not only does cloud computing help meet the needs of our customers, but it also has tremendous benefits to the environment, including greater energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions, and reduced carbon footprints. In furtherance of our goals to reduce unnecessary use, we review the data on the environmental impact of physical server providers and only use server providers who publish such data.
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2. Social
As a global company, we have a tremendous opportunity – and responsibility – to do good. We strive to exemplify our core values of agility, passion and teamwork every day to ensure the success of our colleagues, customers, partners, and stakeholders as well as make a positive impact in the communities where we live and work. To do this, we are committed to creating and empowering access to a variety of opportunities:
Philanthropy
As a global organization, we strive to create pathways to success for individuals and communities through education. At the heart of our work—volunteering, partnerships, donations, and advocacy—is the vision of a world where everyone, no matter where they live, which resources they have, or what challenging circumstances they face, has a path to self-reliance and resilience. We empower our people to volunteer as individuals and as teams in support of community not-for-profit groups around the world. Our partners range from organizations that advance education for underrepresented minorities across our industry, to those that champion public policies aimed at fostering innovation and growth. In 2023, we continued our partnership with Girls Who Code, an organization that is committed to building the largest pipeline of future female engineers and has engaged over 500,000 girls, women, and nonbinary individuals through in-person programming. We also continued to work with Voices for Innovation, which enables us to champion policies that enable technology to address societal challenges, including protecting data privacy, strengthening cyber defenses, and ensuring people have affordable and accessible high speed internet.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Allyship
Our organization is proud to employ talent from many different backgrounds, experiences, and identities. Diversity and inclusion drive our success and is at the core of how we hire, communicate and collaborate to deliver value and excellence. We are committed to fostering an environment where people can bring their whole selves to work and feel a sense of belonging. Through our employee resource groups, internal mobility opportunities across the countries in which we operate, and external partnerships with underrepresented minority networks, we continue to work toward creating a workforce that represents the diversity of our customers and communities. In 2023, through our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Allyship) Committee, we continued to support the growth and impact our employee resource groups have in driving greater awareness and understanding within our company as well as make a positive impact in our local communities. We furthered our commitment to inclusion through initiatives such as providing a scholarship for an underrepresented student to pursue higher education at Virginia Commonwealth University, a minority-serving institution, leading philanthropic efforts to aid the National Center for Children and Families, and expanding our Women in Technology employee resource group globally to open new chapters in our EMEA and APAC offices.
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Supporting Agents of Change: Our Talent
We are committed to investing in our people and nurturing a growth mindset across our organization. Our talent development philosophy builds upon the idea that business growth and success come from a culture of collaboration and creativity, and that our people should feel empowered to craft their careers, make an impact, and own their futures. Our portfolio of learning and development programs equips our leaders and managers with the skills and confidence to lead high-performing teams, and supports our individual contributors with the tools and resources to contribute impactfully in their roles from the moment they join AvePoint.
Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence
At AvePoint, we recognize that AI continues to rapidly transform the business landscape. As such, we are committed to the safe, ethical, and responsible use of AI both within our company and for the broader technology industry. We have implemented robust training, policies, and procedures to ensure our employees are educated on the responsible use of AI. Further demonstrating our commitment, AvePoint is a founding member of the AI Trust Foundation, a non-profit membership organization designed to be the leading voice for promoting beneficial AI through education and outreach at all levels of society. Through internal governance and external collaboration, we aim to set the standard for acceptable and responsible use of AI.
3. Corporate Governance
Social Responsibility Support from the Top
At AvePoint, our corporate governance practices support our core values of agility, passion, and teamwork. These practices provide a framework for the proper operation of our company, consistent with our stockholders’ best interests and the requirements of law.
We are committed to managing our affairs consistent with the highest principles of business ethics and with the corporate governance requirements of both Nasdaq and applicable law. In keeping with these principles:
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A majority of our Board members are independent of AvePoint and its management;
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All members of our three Board committees—the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Nominating and Governance Committee—are independent of AvePoint and its management;
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We have a transparent and publicly available Code of Ethics and Business Conduct that outlines our corporate policies to which all employees, officers and directors must adhere;
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We have a corporate compliance training program which requires and monitors trainings given on an annual basis; and
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The charters of our Board committees clearly establish their respective roles and responsibilities.
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Management of Corporate Governance Resources
In 2023, we took significant steps to reinforce our commitment to corporate governance and ethical practices, aligning with our strategic priorities. We first undertook a comprehensive review of our corporate governance policies, ensuring they were in line with current industry standards and regulatory requirements. This thorough examination laid the groundwork for subsequent enhancements and developments.
One notable outcome of this review was the complete overhaul of our corporate governance site, a crucial resource for stakeholders seeking insight into the company’s policies and procedures. By making our extensive list of policies publicly available at a designated web address, https://ir.avepoint.com/governance/governance-documents/default.aspx, we demonstrated transparency and accountability, fostering trust and confidence among investors, customers, and the broader community.
In addition, we introduced several new policies aimed at addressing emerging issues and reflecting our values. These included a Gifting Policy, Global Human Rights Policy, Supplier Diversity Policy, Environmental Policy Statement, and a Compensation Recovery Policy. Each of these policies underscored our commitment to responsible business practices, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship.
In tandem with these policy developments, we updated our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct to incorporate additional key policies and mechanisms for reporting violations. This ensures that employees and other stakeholders are equipped with clear guidelines and avenues for addressing ethical concerns, thereby promoting integrity and accountability throughout the organization.
Recognizing the importance of ongoing education and awareness, we introduced a new training program focused on the giving and receiving of gifts and business courtesies. By providing employees with guidance on navigating potentially sensitive situations, the company aimed to mitigate risks and uphold its ethical standards in all business dealings. In addition, we prioritized accessibility and relevance in our corporate compliance trainings, revising and simplifying the content to make it more applicable to employees at all levels and the compliance issues they may encounter. This approach aimed to empower all employees to understand and adhere to company policies, furthering our goal of fostering a culture of compliance and ethical conduct across the organization.
Our initiatives in 2023 underscored our commitment to robust corporate governance, ethical business practices, and employee empowerment. By proactively reviewing, updating, and communicating its policies, the company demonstrated its dedication to transparency, accountability, and responsible stewardship in pursuit of its strategic objectives.
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Earning the World ’ s Trust
As a global company which is responsible to employees, stockholders and customers, our vision for AvePoint is to build an environment in which we earn trust and confidence every day through enabling collaboration and innovation through our commitment to privacy, security, and transparency.
Commitment to powering proactive data security programs
We understand the importance of security and operational risk management and are committed to providing organizations with relevant metrics which help them make decisions that are proactive rather than reactive. When done in conjunction with policies, education and measurement, organizations can balance collaboration and transparency with data protection and privacy. We seek to earn trust not just with robust security and privacy practices, but with the way we operate and organize our business.
Aligning to clear privacy principles
We have a policy of transparency regarding our data collection, use, retention and sharing practices. It is our commitment to implement appropriate technical security measures to protect all AvePoint stakeholders and manage third party risk. We use this foundation and discipline to develop market-leading privacy and security products and deliver world class customer service. Our software, processes and services have obtained industry-leading security and privacy certifications.
We have obtained three ISO certifications that attest to our compliance with the highest standards of information security and privacy. These certifications are based on the ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27701 standards, which cover the requirements for an information security management system (ISMS), cloud security, and privacy information management system (PIMS), respectively. Further attestations include SOC 2 Type II, compliance with HITRUST CSF v11.0.1., Information Security Registered Assessors (IRAP) Program, FedRAMP, and more.
Our achievement of these certifications and attestations showcases our dedication to protecting personal data and complying with privacy regulations. This certification solidifies our position as a trusted partner for organizations seeking robust privacy information management systems. By adopting ISO standards, we empower businesses to navigate privacy requirements across jurisdictions effectively, ensuring the security of sensitive information and fostering trust in the digital realm.
We also seek to align our supply chain to similar standards of privacy and security. To that end, we have implemented a rigorous program to assess the privacy and security policies and procedures of our own vendors and suppliers so that our stakeholders receive a consistent approach to privacy and security matters.
Advancing cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a central challenge for companies around the world as they continue on the digital transformation. Ransomware attacks have become one of the top security threats for organizations, especially as increased collaboration can lead to more vulnerabilities. The cost to recover stolen data can be millions of dollars, in addition to substantial reputational damage. AvePoint Ransomware Detection, and its Ransomware Warranty for MSPs, which primarily serves small business clients, gives assurance that companies will be protected.
Strengthening our offerings by first strengthening ourselves
We have built a resilient, scalable and secure IT environment by investing in complementary industry leading technology and security solutions, in addition to utilizing our own software platform. In addition, we have built a corporate culture in which privacy and security are enablers of productivity, collaboration and trust; we balance the free flow of information with the risk of inappropriate access and/or disclosure; and we implement a risk-based approach to privacy and security that will allow us to maintain not only legal and regulatory compliance in the jurisdictions in which we operate, but also to facilitate business and innovation at AvePoint.
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Compliance with Material Government Regulations
We are subject to many U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations that involve matters central to our business, including laws and regulations that involve data privacy and data protection, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, health and safety, competition, consumer protection, taxation, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and corruption, economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions, environmental protection regulations, and securities law compliance. Our business may also be affected by the adoption of any new or existing laws or regulations or changes in laws or regulations that adversely affect our business. Many relevant laws and regulations are still evolving and may be interpreted, applied, created or amended in a manner that could harm our business, and new laws and regulations may be enacted, including in connection with the restriction or prohibition of certain content or business activities.
We are subject to certain U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations regarding data privacy and the collection, storage, sharing, use, processing, disclosure and protection of personal information and other data from users, employees or business partners, including the GDPR, CCPA, and VCDPA. These laws expand the rights of individuals to control how their personal data is processed, collected, used and shared, create new regulatory and operational requirements for processing personal data, increase requirements for security and confidentiality and provide for significant penalties for non-compliance. There are also a number of legislative proposals recently enacted or pending before the U.S. Congress, various state legislatures and foreign governments concerning content regulation and data protection that could affect us. These and other laws and regulations that may be enacted, or new interpretation of existing laws and regulations, may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs in order to comply.
In addition, we are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “ FCPA ”). The FCPA prohibits corporations and individuals from engaging in improper activities to obtain or retain business or to influence a person working in an official capacity. It prohibits, among other things, providing, directly or indirectly, anything of value to any foreign government official, or any political party or official thereof, or candidate for political influence to improperly influence such person. Similar laws exist in other countries, such as the UK, that restrict improper payments to persons in the public or private sector. Many countries have laws prohibiting these types of payments within the respective country. Historically, technology companies have been the target of FCPA and other anti-corruption investigations and penalties. We are further subject to U.S. and foreign laws and regulations that restrict our activities in certain countries and with certain persons. These include the economic sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the export control laws administered by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry.
The foregoing description does not include an exhaustive list of the laws and regulations governing or impacting our business. See the discussion contained in the “ Risk Factors ” section (Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report) for information regarding how actions by regulatory authorities or changes in legislation and regulation in the jurisdictions in which we operate may have a material adverse effect on our business.
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Information About Our Executive Officers
Name
Age
Position
Xunkai Gong
61
Executive Chairman and Director
Tianyi Jiang
49
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Brian Michael Brown
51
Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Secretary, and Director
James Caci
59
Chief Financial Officer
Xunkai Gong was appointed as our Executive Chairman and a director in July of 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Gong had served as our predecessor company’s Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Dr. Jiang from 2008 to 2021, Chief Executive Officer from 2001 to 2008 and director from 2001 to 2021. Mr. Gong holds a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a master’s degree in computer science from Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College at Baton Rouge, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Dalian University of Technology.
Tianyi Jiang was appointed as our Chief Executive Officer and a director in July of 2021. Prior to that, Dr. Jiang served as our predecessor company’s Co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Mr. Gong from 2008 to 2021 and director from 2005 to 2021. Dr. Jiang holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in Data Mining from New York University, in addition to a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University.
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Brian Michael Brown was appointed as our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Secretary of the Board and a director in July of 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Brown served as our predecessor company’s General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer from 2004 to 2021 and director from 2008 to 2021. Mr. Brown holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from Michigan State University.
James Caci was appointed as our Chief Financial Officer in August of 2021 and previously served as our predecessor company’s Chief Financial Officer from 2010 to 2013. From April 2020 to August of 2021, Mr. Caci held the position of Chief Financial Officer at Brand Value Accelerator, LLC, an industry leading digital commerce services firm. From March 2016 to April 2020, Mr. Caci served as the Chief Financial Officer of Nicopure Labs. Mr. Caci brings more than 25 years of experience leading the strategic finance operations at both public and privately held SaaS and IT service companies. Mr. Caci holds a bachelor’s degree from Montclair State University and is a certified public accountant.
Additional information regarding our Executive Officers is set forth in the Proxy Statement to be filed in connection with our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.
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Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at 525 Washington Blvd, Suite 1400, Jersey City, NJ 07310, and our telephone number is (201) 793-1111. Our principal operating offices are located at Riverfront Plaza, West Tower, 901 E Byrd St, Suite 900, Richmond, VA 23219 and our telephone number for that office is (804) 372-8080. All correspondence should be directed to our principal operating offices in Richmond, Virginia.
“AvePoint,” the “A” logo, the “Pyramid” logo, “DocAve,” “MaivenPoint,” and all other names, logos, and icons identifying AvePoint and/or AvePoint’s products and services and our other registered and common law trade names, trademarks, and service marks are property of AvePoint, Inc. This Annual Report contains additional trade names, trademarks, and service marks of others, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this Annual Report may appear without the ® or ™ symbols but those references are not intended to indicate that AvePoint will not assert, to the fullest extent under the applicable law, our rights to these trademarks, service marks, and trade names.
Available Information
Our Internet address is https://www.avepoint.com/. At our Investor Relations website, https://ir.avepoint.com/, we make available free of charge a variety of information for investors. Our goal is to maintain the Investor Relations website as a portal through which investors can easily find or navigate to pertinent information about us, including, but not limited to:
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Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file that material with or furnish it to the SEC at www.sec.gov.
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Announcements of investor conferences, speeches, presentations, and events at which our executives discuss our products, services, competitive strategies, and other aspects of our business.
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Press releases on quarterly results, product and service announcements, legal developments, and national and international news.
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Corporate governance information including our articles of incorporation, bylaws, governance guidelines, committee charters, code of ethics and business conduct, whistleblower “open door” policy for reporting accounting and legal allegations, global corporate social responsibility initiatives, and other governance-related policies.
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Other news and announcements that we may post from time to time that investors might find useful or interesting, including news with respect to our business strategies, financial results, and metrics for investors.
In addition to these channels, we use social media to communicate to the public. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material to investors. We encourage investors, the media, and others interested in AvePoint to review the information we post on the social media channels listed on our Investor Relations website.
The information found on our main website or our Investor Relations website is not part of this or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC, for the purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing, and you should not consider any information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website as part of this Annual Report or in deciding whether to purchase our common stock.
2021 Consummation of the Apex Business Combination
AvePoint, Inc., incorporated as a New Jersey corporation on July 24, 2001 (“ Legacy AvePoint ”), was redomiciled as a Delaware corporation in 2006, and changed its name to “AvePoint Operations, Inc.” in June 2021. On July 1, 2021, Legacy AvePoint and certain members of Apex Technology Acquisition Corporation (“ Apex ”) consummated the transactions contemplated by a business combination agreement (the “ Apex Business Combination ”) and a number of qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors consummated their respective purchases of shares as contemplated by related subscription agreements, with Apex being renamed “AvePoint, Inc.” On July 2, 2021, shares of common stock were officially listed under the ticker “AVPT” on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Subsequent to the consummation of the Apex Business Combination, on July 26, 2021, Legacy AvePoint’s successor by merger AvePoint US LLC merged with and into AvePoint, Inc. with AvePoint surviving.
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