Form S-1

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 18, 2022

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM

S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)


Delaware	5961	88-2840659
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)	(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

1301 Sansome Street

San Francisco, California 94111

(800)

231-8527

(Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices)

Delida Costin

Chief Legal & People Officer

1301 Sansome Street

San Francisco, California 94111

(800)

231-8527

(Name, Address, Including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)

Copies to:

Martin A. Wellington

Joshua G. DuClos

Sara Garcia Duran

Sidley Austin LLP

1001 Page Mill Road Building 1

Palo Alto, California 94304

Tel: (650)

565-7100

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:

From time to time after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, please check the following box. ☒

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a

non-accelerated

filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule

12b-2

under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:

If an emerging growth company, 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 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.

☐

Table of Contents

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. Neither we nor the selling securityholders may sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION—DATED JULY 18, 2022

101,635,900 Shares of Class A Common Stock

Up to 14,750,000 Shares of Class A Common Stock Issuable Upon Exercise of the Warrants

Up to 6,700,000 Warrants

This prospectus relates to the offer and sale from time to time by the selling securityholders named in this prospectus (the “Selling Holders”) of (i) up to: (i) 8,607,500 shares of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class A Common Stock”) issued in connection with the PIPE Investment (as defined below) (the “PIPE Shares”); (ii) 4,421,524 shares of Class A Common Stock issued in connection with the Backstop Subscription Agreement, dated March 31, 2022, between the Company, Grove Collaborative, Inc. and Corvina Holdings Limited (the “Backstop Subscription Agreement”) (the “Backstop Shares”); (iii) 3,875,028 shares of Class A Common Stock that may be obtained upon the exercise of warrants to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock originally issued in connection with the Backstop Subscription Agreement (the “Backstop Warrants”); (iv) 10,062,500 shares of Class A Common Stock held by VG Acquisition Sponsor II LLC (the “Founder Shares”); (v) 756,370 shares of Class A Common Stock held by certain Selling Holders; (vi) 67,212,978 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion (on a

one-for-one

basis) of shares of our Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class B Common Stock”) held by certain Selling Holders (including shares of Class A Common Stock that may be obtained upon the exercise of warrants to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock and subsequent conversion of those shares); (vii) 6,700,000 warrants to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock originally issued in a private placement (the “Private Placement Warrants”) in connection with our initial public offering; and (viii) 6,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock that may be obtained by Selling Holders upon the exercise of Private Placement Warrants.

We are registering the securities for resale pursuant to the Selling Holders’ registration rights under certain agreements between us and the Selling Holders. Our registration of the securities covered by this prospectus does not mean that the Selling Holders will offer or sell any of the shares of Class A Common Stock or Private Placement Warrants. The Selling Holders may offer, sell or distribute all or a portion of their shares of Class A Common Stock or Private Placement Warrants publicly or through private transactions at prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of Class A Common Stock or Private Placement Warrants by the Selling Holders pursuant to this prospectus. We provide more information about how the Selling Holders may sell the shares or Private Placement Warrants in the section entitled “

Plan of Distribution

.”

In addition, this prospectus relates to the issuance by us of up to an aggregate of 14,750,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, which consists of (i) 8,050,000 shares of Class A Common Stock that are issuable upon the exercise of a like number of warrants (the “Public Warrants” and, together with the Private Placement Warrants, the “Warrants”) originally issued in our initial public offering and (ii) 6,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock that are issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants following their public resale by the Selling Holders. We will receive the proceeds from any exercise of any Warrants for cash.

Our shares of Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants are listed on The New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbols “GROV” and “GROV.WS,” respectively. On July 15, 2022, the closing sale price of our Class A Common Stock was $4.92 per share and the closing price for our Public Warrants was $0.33.

We are an “emerging growth company” under federal securities laws and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our Class A Common Stock involves a high degree of risk. See the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 9 of this prospectus to read about factors you should consider before buying our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is , 2022.

Table of Contents

You should rely only on the information provided in this prospectus or any amendment or supplement to this prospectus. Neither we nor the Selling Holders have authorized anyone to provide you with different information. Neither we nor the Selling Holders are making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted. The information in this prospectus or any amendment or supplement to this prospectus is accurate only as of its date, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any amendment or supplement to this prospectus, as applicable, or any sale of the securities offered by this prospectus. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects may have changed since that date.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, references in this prospectus to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and similar terms refer to Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc., a Delaware public benefit corporation formerly known as Virgin Group Acquisition Corp. II, and its consolidated subsidiaries. References to “Virgin Group Acquisition Corp. II” or “VGAC II” refer to the Company prior to the consummation of the Domestication and the Merger (as defined herein). “Grove Collaborative, Inc.” refers to Grove Collaborative, Inc. prior to the Business Combination.

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form

S-1

that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) using the “shelf” registration process. Under the shelf registration process, the Selling Holders may, from time to time, sell the securities offered by them described in this prospectus through any means described in the section titled “Plan of Distribution”. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale by such Selling Holders of the securities offered by them described in this prospectus. This prospectus also relates to the issuance by us of the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of any Warrants. We will receive proceeds from any exercise of the Warrants for cash.

Neither we nor the Selling Holders have authorized anyone to provide you with any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or any free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. Neither we nor the Selling Holders take responsibility for and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. Neither we nor the Selling Holders will make an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

We may also provide a prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus. Any statement contained in this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in such prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified will be deemed to constitute a part of this prospectus only as so modified, and any statement so superseded will not be deemed to constitute a part of this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement together with the additional information to which we refer you in the section of this prospectus titled “

Where You Can Find More Information

.”

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management. Although the Company believes that its plans, intentions, and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or realize these plans, intentions, or expectations. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Generally, statements that are not historical facts, including statements concerning the Company’s possible or assumed future actions, business strategies, events, or results of operations, are forward-looking statements. In some instances, these statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “plans,” “scheduled,” “anticipates” or “intends” or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. You should not put undue reliance on these statements which speak only as of the date hereof. You should understand that the following important factors, among others, could affect the Company’s future results and could cause those results or other outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the Company’s forward-looking statements:

•

the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Merger (as defined herein), which may be affected by, among other things, competition and the ability of the combined business to grow and manage growth profitably;

•

expansion plans and opportunities, including future acquisitions or additional business combinations;

•

costs related to the Merger;

•

litigation, complaints, and/or adverse publicity;

•

the impact of changes in consumer spending patterns, consumer preferences, local, regional and national economic conditions, crime, weather, demographic trends, and employee availability;

•

privacy and data protection laws, privacy or data breaches, or the loss of data;

•

our financial and business performance following the Merger, including financial projections and business metrics;

•

changes in the market for the Company’s products, and expansion plans and opportunities;

•

anticipated customer retention by the Company;

•

the extent to which the Company is able to protect its intellectual property rights and not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others;

•

new or adverse regulatory developments relating to automatic renewal laws; and

•

the effect of

COVID-19

on the foregoing, including its effect on the business and financial conditions of the Company.

These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements in this prospectus are more fully described in the “

Risk Factors

” section. The risks described in the “

Risk Factors

” section are not exhaustive. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all such risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all such risk factors on its business or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. The Company undertakes no obligations to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

iii

SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. Because it is a summary, it may not contain all of the information that may be important to you. To understand this offering fully, you should read this entire document carefully, including the information set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” and our financial statements.

Overview of the Company

The Company is a digital-first, sustainability-oriented consumer products innovator specializing in the development and sale of household, personal care, beauty and other consumer products with an environmental focus. In the United States, the Company sells its products through two channels: a

direct-to-consumer

platform at www.grove.co and its mobile applications, where it sells products from Grove-owned brands and third parties, and the retail channel into which it sells products from Grove-owned brands at wholesale. The Company develops and sells natural products that are free from the harmful chemicals identified in its “anti-ingredient” list and it designs form factors and product packaging that reduces plastic waste and improves the environmental impact of the categories in which it operates. The Company also purchases environmental offsets that have made it the first plastic neutral retailer in the world, and it plans to become 100% plastic-free by 2025.

For more information about the Company, see “

Business

” and “

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

.”

Background

VGAC II was a blank check company incorporated on January 13, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. On March 25, 2021, VGAC II consummated an initial public offering of 35,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, and a private placement with VG Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Sponsor”) of 6,000,000 Private Placement Warrants at an offering price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant. Each unit sold in the initial public offering and private placement consists of one Class A ordinary share and

one-fifth

of one redeemable warrant. On April 9, 2021, the underwriters of the initial public offering notified VGAC II of their intent to fully exercise their over-allotment option. As such, on April 13, 2021, VGAC II sold an additional 5,250,000 units, at a price of $10.00 per unit, and sold an additional 700,000 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor, at $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant. Following the closing of the initial public offering and overallotment sale, an amount equal to $402,500,000 of the net proceeds from the initial public offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in the trust account.

On June 16, 2022 (the “Closing Date”), VGAC II consummated its initial business combination (the “Merger” and the closing of the Merger, the “Closing”) pursuant to that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated December 7, 2021, as amended and restated on March 31, 2022, by and among VGAC II, Treehouse Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned direct subsidiary of VGAC II (“Merger Sub I”), Treehouse Merger Sub II, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned direct subsidiary of VGAC II (“Merger Sub II”), and Grove Collaborative, Inc., a Delaware public benefit corporation (the “Merger Agreement”). Grove Collaborative, Inc. is considered the Company’s accounting predecessor.

Pursuant to the Closing, VGAC II filed a notice of deregistration with the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies, together with the necessary accompanying documents, and filed a Charter and a certificate of corporate domestication with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware, under which VGAC II was domesticated and continued as a Delaware corporation, changing its name to “Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.” (the “Domestication”).

As a result of and upon the effective time of the Domestication, among other things, (1) each of the then issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of VGAC II (the “VGAC II Class A ordinary shares”), and Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of VGAC II (the “VGAC II Class B ordinary shares”), automatically converted, on a

one-for-one

basis, into shares of Class A Common Stock; (2) each then issued and outstanding whole warrant of VGAC II (the “VGAC II warrants”) automatically converted into a Warrant to acquire one share of Class A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share; and (3) each of the then issued and outstanding units of VGAC II that had not been previously separated into the underlying VGAC II Class A ordinary shares and underlying VGAC II warrants upon the request of the holder thereof, were canceled and entitled the holder thereof to one share of Class A Common Stock and

one-fifth

of one Warrant.

On the Closing Date, as contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the Company consummated the merger transaction, whereby (i) Merger Sub I merged with and into Grove Collaborative, Inc. (the “Initial Merger,” and the time at which the Initial Merger became effective, the “Initial Effective Time”), the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub I ceased, and Grove Collaborative, Inc. continued as the surviving corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Initial Surviving Corporation”), and (ii) immediately following the Initial Merger, and as part of the same overall transaction as the Initial Merger, the Initial Surviving Corporation merged with and into Merger Sub II, the separate corporate existence of the Initial Surviving Corporation ceased, and Merger Sub II continued as the surviving company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Final Merger” and, together with the Initial Merger and the Domestication, the “Business Combination”).

As a result of the Closing, at the Initial Effective Time, among other things, except as described in the next sentence (i) each share of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of Grove Collaborative, Inc. (“Grove Common Stock”) (other than the Backstop Tranche 1 Shares (as defined below)) and preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of Grove Collaborative, Inc. (“Grove Preferred Stock”) (on an

as-converted

to common stock basis) (other than dissenting shares) was canceled and converted into the right to receive (a) a number of shares of Class B Common Stock, as determined pursuant to an exchange ratio set forth in the Merger Agreement and described below (the “Exchange Ratio”) and (b) a number of restricted shares of Class B Common Stock that will vest upon the achievement of certain earnout thresholds prior to the tenth anniversary of Closing (the “Earnout Shares”), (ii) each outstanding option to purchase Grove Common Stock (whether vested or unvested) was assumed by the Company and converted into (a) comparable options that are exercisable for shares of Class B Common Stock, with a value determined in accordance with the Exchange Ratio (and, with regard to options that are intended to qualify as “incentive stock options” under Section 422 of the Code, in a manner compliant with Section 424(a) of the Code) and (b) the right to receive a number of Earnout Shares, (iii) each award of restricted stock units to acquire Grove Common Stock (whether vested or unvested) (collectively, “Grove RSUs”) were assumed by the Company and converted into (a) a comparable award of restricted stock units to acquire shares of Class B Common Stock and (b) the right to receive a number of Earnout Shares, (iv) each warrant to acquire shares of Grove Common Stock or Grove Preferred Stock was assumed by the Company and converted into (a) a comparable warrant to acquire shares of Class B Common Stock (the “Legacy Grove Warrants”) and (b) the right to receive a number of Earnout Shares, and (v) each of the Backstop Tranche 1 Shares (as defined below) issued to the Backstop Investor (as defined below) prior to the Initial Effective Time pursuant to the Backstop Subscription Agreement (as defined below) were canceled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Class B Common Stock equal to the Exchange Ratio (which were immediately exchanged on a

one-for-one

basis for shares of Class A Common Stock). Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to elections made shortly before the Closing, certain holders of Grove Common Stock and Grove Preferred Stock elected to receive, and at the Closing were issued, an aggregate of 5,711,098 shares of Class A Common Stock on a

share-for-share

basis in lieu of the Class B Common Stock they would have otherwise been entitled to receive (the

“Pre-Closing

Conversion Elections”). The “Exchange Ratio” was equal to approximately 1.17604.

Holders of 39,672,045 VGAC II Class A ordinary shares elected to have their shares redeemed in connection with the Business Combination. The foregoing description of the Business Combination does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the full texts of the Merger Agreement, as amended and restated, which are attached hereto as Exhibits 2.1 and 2.2, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference.

At the Closing, certain investors (collectively, the “PIPE Investors”) pursuant to, and on the terms and subject to the conditions of, those certain subscription agreements (the “Subscription Agreements”) dated December 7, 2021, collectively subscribed for 8,607,500 shares of Class A Common Stock at $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $86,075,000 (the “PIPE Financing”). One of the PIPE Investors is an affiliate of the Sponsor that subscribed for 5,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock. In addition, the other PIPE Investors include previous equity holders of Grove Collaborative, Inc. that subscribed for 3,707,500 shares of Class A Common Stock in the aggregate.

On March 31, 2022, VGAC II entered into a Subscription Agreement (the “Backstop Subscription Agreement”) with Corvina Holdings Limited, an affiliate of the Sponsor (the “Backstop Investor”) and Grove Collaborative, Inc., pursuant to which, among other things, (i) the Backstop Investor subscribed for and purchased, on the date of the Backstop Subscription Agreement, as readjusted prior to the Closing pursuant to the terms of the Backstop Subscription Agreement, 2,338,352 shares of Grove Common Stock (the “Backstop Tranche 1 Shares”) for aggregate proceeds of $27,500,000 (which were subsequently exchanged and converted as described above), (ii) the Backstop Investor subscribed for and purchased, on the Closing Date, 1,671,524 shares of Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share (the “Backstop Tranche 2 Shares”) for aggregate proceeds of $16,715,240, and (iii) the Company issued to the Backstop Investor, as of immediately following the Closing, warrants to purchase 3,875,028 shares of Class A Common Stock (each warrant exercisable to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock for $0.01) (the “Backstop Warrants”) (such transactions, collectively, the “Backstop Financing”). The Backstop Warrants are exercisable by the Backstop Investor at any time on or before June 16, 2027, and are on terms customary for warrants of such nature.

Immediately after giving effect to the Business Combination (including the

Pre-Closing

Conversion Elections), the PIPE Financing and the Backstop Financing, there were 29,380,577 shares of Class A Common Stock, 133,390,456 shares of Class B Common Stock, 14,750,000 Warrants, 923,857 Legacy Grove Warrants and 3,875,028 Backstop Warrants outstanding. Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants trade on the NYSE under the symbols “GROV” and “GROV.WS,” respectively.

The rights of holders of Class A Common Stock are governed by our Certificate of Incorporation (the “Charter”), our amended and restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”) and the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”). The rights of holders of Warrants are governed by the Warrant Agreement dated as of March 22, 2021, duly executed and delivered by the Company to Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York corporation, as warrant agent. See the section entitled “

Description of Securities

.”

Summary Risk Factors

An investment in our common stock involves substantial risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section entitled “

Risk Factors

,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Important factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

•

Risks Related to Our Business

•

Our significant growth may not be indicative of our future growth and, if we continue to grow rapidly, we may not be able to effectively manage our growth or evaluate our future prospects. If we fail to effectively manage our future growth, our business could be adversely affected.

•

We have incurred significant losses since inception, we expect to incur losses in the future, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and maintain profitability.

•

Grove’s independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about Grove’s ability to continue as a going concern, and if we are unable to generate significant revenue or secure additional financing, we may be unable to implement our business plan and grow our business.

•

We will require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed could force us to delay, limit, reduce our investments in advertising and other strategic initiatives planned for future growth.

•

Competition in the natural and sustainable consumer products market presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.

•

We must find sustainable solutions that support our brand and long-term growth.

•

If we fail to cost-effectively acquire new consumers or retain our existing consumers, our business could be adversely affected.

•

Our brand and reputation may be diminished due to real or perceived quality, safety, efficacy or environmental impact issues with our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

•

Failure to introduce new products that meet the expectations of our customers may adversely affect our ability to continue to grow.

•

We pursue acquisitions to expand our business, and if any of those acquisitions are unsuccessful, our business may be harmed.

•

We are dependent on our management team, and the loss of one or more key employees or groups could harm our business and prevent us from implementing our business plan in a timely manner.

•

If we cannot successfully manage the unique challenges presented by international markets, we may not be successful in expanding our operations outside of the United States.

•

Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, infrastructure and logistics to third-party providers, and the loss of any of our key suppliers or logistical service providers could negatively impact our business.

•

If we or our distribution partners do not successfully optimize, operate and manage the expansion of the capacity of our warehouse fulfillment centers, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

•

Risks associated with the outsourcing of our fulfillment process and other technology-related functions could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

•

We have only recently expanded to offer our own branded products in retail stores and our inability to secure, maintain and increase our presence in retail stores could adversely impact our revenue.

•

We may be unable to adequately obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce our intellectual property rights.

•

We rely on trademark, copyright, and patent law, trade secret protection, and confidentiality and/or license agreements with our employees, customers, and others to protect our proprietary rights.

•

Indemnity provisions in various agreements to which we are party potentially expose us to substantial liability for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights.

•

If we (or our vendors) are unable to protect against or adequately respond to mitigate the impacts of a service interruption, data corruption, or cybersecurity attack, our operations could be disrupted, our reputation may be harmed and we could face significant costs to remediate the incident and defend against claims by business partners, customers, or regulators. Such security breaches or other cybersecurity incidents may harm our reputation and expose us to loss of consumers and business.

•

The actual or perceived failure by us or our vendors to comply with applicable privacy and data protection laws, regulations or industry standards could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

•

Advertising inaccuracies or product mislabeling may have an adverse effect on our business by exposing us to lawsuits, product recalls or regulatory enforcement actions, increasing our operating costs and reducing demand for our product offerings.

•

We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our reputation, financial condition, and liquidity if Grove is not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.

•

Risks Relating to Ownership of Company Securities

•

The price of Class A Common Stock and our warrants may be volatile.

•

Warrants will become exercisable for Class A Common Stock, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.

•

The Public Warrants may never be in the money, and they may expire worthless and the terms of the warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment.

•

We may redeem your unexpired Public Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your Public Warrants worthless.

•

Our dual-class structure may impact the stock price of Class A Common Stock.

Additional Information

The Company’s principal executive offices are located at 1301 Sansome Street, San Francisco, California 94111, and the Company’s phone number is (800)

231-8527.

Our website address is

www.grove.co

. Information contained on our website or connected thereto does not constitute part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this prospectus or the registration statement of which it is a part.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) was enacted in April 2012 with the intention of encouraging capital formation in the United States and reducing the regulatory burden on newly public companies that qualify as emerging growth companies. We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the JOBS Act. We may take advantage of certain exemptions from various public reporting requirements, including the requirement that we provide more than two years of audited financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations, and that our internal control over financial reporting be audited by our independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to Section 404 of the

Sarbanes-Oxley

Act of 2002 (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). In addition, the JOBS Act provides

that an “emerging growth company” can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until those standards apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. We have elected to use the extended transition period to enable us to comply with new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until the earlier of the date we (1) are no longer an emerging growth company and (2) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

We will cease to be an emerging growth company upon the earliest of (1) December 31, 2026, (2) the last date of our fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (3) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC with at least $700.0 million of outstanding securities held by non-affiliates or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the previous three years. See the section titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Ownership of Company Securities—We are an ‘emerging growth company,’ and any decision on our part to comply only with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our common stock less attractive to investors.”

THE OFFERING

Issuer

Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.

Shares of Class A Common Stock offered by the Selling Holders

Up to 101,635,900 shares of Class A Common Stock, consisting of 6,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the Private Placement Warrants, 8,607,500 shares of Class A Common Stock issued in connection with the PIPE Investment, 4,421,524 shares of Class A Common Stock issued in connection with the Backstop Subscription Agreement, 3,875,028 shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the Backstop Warrants, 10,062,500 shares of Class A Common Stock held by the Sponsor, 756,370 shares of Class A common stock held by certain Selling Holders, and 67,212,978 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion (on a

one-for-one

basis) of shares of Class B Common Stock held by certain Selling Holders (including shares of Class A Common Stock that may be obtained upon the exercise of warrants to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock and subsequent conversion of those shares).

Warrants Offered by the Selling Holders

Up to 6,700,000 Private Placement Warrants.

Shares of Class A Common Stock offered by the Company

14,750,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, consisting of 8,050,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and 6,700,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants following their public resale by the Selling Holders.

Shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding prior to exercise of all Warrants

45,570,178 shares of Class A Common Stock (as of July 14, 2022). 13,999,960 of these shares of Class A Common Stock constitute

Earn-Out

Shares, which will no longer be subject to

lock-up

restrictions upon the achievement of certain stock price thresholds or, if earlier, certain liquidation events.

Shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding assuming exercise of all Warrants

60,320,178 (based on total shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding as of July 14, 2022).

Use of Proceeds

We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of Class A Common Stock by the Selling Holders. We will receive up to an aggregate of approximately $169,625,000.00 from the exercise of the Warrants, assuming the exercise in full of all of the Warrants for cash. We expect to use the net proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants for general corporate purposes. See “

Use of Proceeds

.”

Redemption

The Warrants are redeemable in certain circumstances. See “

Description of Securities – Redeemable Warrants

” for further discussion.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus or any amendment or supplement to this prospectus are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have experienced significant growth since our launch in 2012. For example, our revenue grew from approximately $7 million in 2016 to $384 million in the year ended December 31, 2021. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, financial, operational, technological and other resources. The anticipated growth and expansion of our business depends on a number of factors, including our ability to increase awareness of our brand and successfully compete with other companies; price our products effectively so that we are able to attract new consumers and expand sales to our existing consumers; expand distribution to new retail partners; continue to innovate and introduce new products; maintain and improve our technology platform supporting our

e-commerce

business; expand our supplier and fulfillment capacities; expand internationally; and maintain quality control over our product offerings.

Such growth and expansion of our business places significant demands on our management and operations teams and requires significant additional resources, financial and otherwise, to meet our needs, which may not be available in a cost-effective manner, or at all. We expect to continue to expend substantial resources on marketing efforts to increase brand awareness; product innovation and development; technology platform maintenance and improvements to support sales; and general administration, including increased finance, legal, and accounting expenses associated with being a public company.

These investments may not result in the growth of our business. Even if these investments do result in the growth of our business, if we do not effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to execute on our business plan, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy consumer requirements or maintain high-quality product offerings, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. You should not rely on our historical rate of revenue growth as an indication of our future performance or the rate of growth which we may experience in any new category or from international expansion.

In addition, to support continued growth, we must effectively integrate, develop and motivate a large number of new employees while maintaining our corporate culture. We face significant competition for personnel. To attract top talent, we must offer competitive compensation and benefits packages before we can validate the productivity of new employees. We may also need to increase our employee compensation levels to remain competitive in attracting and retaining talented employees. Additionally, we may not be able to hire new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. The risks associated with a rapidly growing workforce will be particularly acute to the extent we expand into new product categories and markets outside of the United States. If we fail to effectively manage our hiring needs or successfully integrate new hires, our efficiency, ability to meet forecasts and employee morale, productivity and retention could suffer, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are also required to manage numerous relationships with vendors and other third parties. Further growth of our operations, vendor base, fulfillment centers, information technology systems or internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations. If we are unable to manage the growth of our organization effectively, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.

Our quarterly operating results fluctuate, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our quarterly operating results fluctuate for a variety of reasons, many of which are beyond our control. Our revenue has fluctuated for a variety of reasons, including as a result of adverse market conditions due to the

COVID-19

pandemic and the associated imposition and easing of restrictions on retail and travel opportunities; the seasonality of market transactions; our success in attracting new and maintaining relationships with existing retail and ecommerce partners; our success in executing on our strategy and the impact of any changes in our strategy; the timing and success of product launches, including new products that we may introduce; the success of our marketing efforts; general market conditions; disruptions or defects in our technology platform, such as privacy or data security breaches, errors in our software or other incidents that impact the availability, reliability, or performance of our platform; the impact of competitive developments and our response to those developments; supply chain issues; and our ability to recruit and retain employees. Historically, we have realized a higher portion of our net revenues in the first quarter when customers are focused on improving their lifestyle and quality of living, which we believe makes our products and marketing messages particularly appealing, and a lower portion of our net revenues in the fourth quarter when many customers are focused on holiday shopping. In addition, our operating expenses fluctuate from period to period, in part in anticipation of their seasonality.

Fluctuations in our quarterly operating results may cause those results to fall below our financial guidance or other projections, or the expectations of analysts or investors, which could cause the price of our common stock to decline. Fluctuations in our results could also cause other problems, including, for example, analysts or investors changing their models for valuing our common stock, particularly post-pandemic. We could experience short-term liquidity issues, our ability to retain or attract key personnel may diminish, and other unanticipated issues may arise.

We believe that our quarterly operating results may vary in the future and that

period-to-period

comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. For example, our overall historical growth rate and the impacts of the

COVID-19

pandemic may have overshadowed the effect of seasonal variations on our recent historical operating results. Any seasonal effects may change or become more pronounced over time, which could also cause our operating results to fluctuate. You should not rely on the results of any given quarter as an indication of future performance.

We have incurred significant losses since inception, we expect to incur losses in the future, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and maintain profitability.

Grove has incurred significant losses since its inception. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Grove incurred net losses of $136 million and $72 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022, Grove had an accumulated deficit of $538 million.

We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we broaden our customer base, develop our

brick-and-mortar

retail distribution platform and expand our sales to third-party ecommerce channels, enhance our existing online

direct-to-consumer

website and mobile application, continue to expand research and development efforts grow the product assortment offered by our Grove-owned brands, acquire or create additional Grove-owned brands, and hire additional employees to support our growth. Historically, Grove has devoted most of its financial and other resources on sales and marketing, including a significant expansion of our marketing team and budget; continued expansion of our business; research and development related to our products; and general administration expenses, including legal, accounting and other

expenses. We may not succeed in increasing our revenues, which historically have been reliant on our online

direct-to-consumer

website and mobile application, in a manner that will be sufficient to offset these higher expenses. Any failure to increase our revenues as we implement initiatives to grow our business could prevent us from achieving profitability. We cannot be certain that we will be able to achieve profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. If we are unable to address these risks and difficulties as we encounter them, our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.

Grove’s independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about Grove’s ability to continue as a going concern, as set forth in in its report on our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021. The substantial doubts about Grove’s ability to continue as a going concern relate primarily to Grove’s forecasted working capital deficit. Since the date of their opinion, we have completed the Business Combination and PIPE Investment on June 16, 2022, pursuant to which we received total gross proceeds of $97.1 million. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our planned operations for at least the next 12 months from the date of this registration statement. However, if we are unable to generate significant revenue or secure additional financing, our liquidity could be further adversely impacted.

We are actively pursuing expanding our business and increasing our revenue opportunities. We may not be successful in these efforts, in which case, we will need to seek to raise additional capital from the sale of equity securities or the incurrence of indebtedness to allow us to invest in growth opportunities. There can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, if we continue to issue additional equity securities to raise funds, whether to existing investors or others, the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be reduced. New investors may demand rights, preferences, or privileges senior to those of existing holders of common stock.

We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we broaden our customer base, develop our

brick-and-mortar

retail distribution platform and expand our sales to third-party ecommerce channels, enhance our existing online

direct-to-consumer

website and mobile application, continue to expand research and development efforts grow the product assortment offered by our Grove Brands, acquire or create additional Grove Brands, and hire additional employees to support our growth.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our planned operations for at least the next 12 months from the date of this registration statement. However, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors, and we may need additional funds sooner than planned.

In July 2022, we entered into a Standby Equity Purchase Agreement (the “Equity Purchase Agreement”) with YA II PN, Ltd. (“Yorkville”), whereby we have the right, but not the obligation, to sell to Yorkville up to $100.0 million of its shares of common stock at the Company’s request during the 36 months following the execution of the Equity Purchase Agreement, subject to certain conditions. We expect to continue to opportunistically seek access to additional funds by utilizing the Equity Purchase Agreement, through additional public or private equity offerings or debt financings, through partnering or other strategic arrangements, or a combination of the foregoing, additional funds may not be available when we need them on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. To the extent that we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. Debt financing arrangements may require us to pledge certain assets or enter into covenants that could restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends or other

distributions on our common stock or incur further indebtedness. Our ability to raise additional capital may be adversely impacted by potential worsening global economic conditions and the recent disruptions to and volatility in the credit and financial markets in the United States and worldwide, including the trading price of common stock. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce our investments in advertising and other strategic initiatives planned for future growth, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.

We may not be able to compete successfully.

The markets in which we compete are evolving rapidly and intensely competitive, and we face a broad array of competitors from many different industry sectors.

Our business includes a variety of product types and delivery channels. Our current and potential competitors include: (1) companies that sell household and personal care products online and in physical stores; (2) physical,

e-commerce,

and omnichannel retailers, vendors, distributors, and manufacturers of the products we offer and sell to consumers; and (3) web search engines, comparison shopping websites, social networks, and other online and

app-based

means of discovering, using, or acquiring goods, either directly or in collaboration with other retailers. We compete based on various product attributes, including sustainability, price, and quality.

We compete with producers of household and personal care products and

e-commerce

and traditional sales outlets for these products. Some of our competitors, like Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyers, are also our partners and we distribute their products. In addition, there is a risk that our emerging retail distribution partnerships will erode the success of our DTC

e-commerce

business. Some of our current and potential competitors have longer histories, larger fulfillment infrastructures, better established wholesale and retail distribution networks, faster shipping times, lower-cost shipping, lower operating costs, larger consumer bases, and greater control over inputs critical to our business such as financial, marketing, institutional and other resources, and larger consumer bases than we do. They may secure better terms from suppliers, adopt more aggressive pricing, pursue restrictive distribution agreements that restrict our access to supply, direct consumers to their own offerings instead of ours, and devote more resources to research and development, technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing and develop products or services that are similar to ours or that achieve greater market acceptance. The Internet facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping, which enhances the ability of new, smaller, or lesser-known businesses to compete against us. Our businesses is subject to rapid change and the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors. Other companies also may enter into business combinations or alliances that strengthen their competitive positions.

Competition in the natural and sustainable consumer products market presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.

The number of companies entering the natural and sustainable consumer products market with offerings similar to ours continues to increase. We believe that our ability to compete depends upon many factors both within and beyond our control, including the size of our customer base; the timing and market acceptance of products, including the developments and enhancements to those products and services that we or our competitors offer; customer service and support efforts, selling and marketing efforts, ease of use, performance, price and reliability of the products and services that we and our competitors develop, and our brand strength relative to our competitors. Some of our current and potential competitors have longer operating histories and greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do. These factors may allow our competitors to respond more quickly or efficiently than we can to new or emerging technologies. These competitors may engage in more extensive research and development efforts, undertake more

far-reaching

marketing campaigns and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, which may allow them to build larger customer bases than ours or greater market acceptance than us.

We must find sustainable solutions that support our brand and long-term growth.

Our vision to grow our business will require us to innovate and develop more sustainable ways of doing business. In a world where resources are scarce and demand for them continues to increase, it is critical that we succeed in reducing our resource consumption and converting to sustainably sourced supplies. In doing this, we are dependent on the efforts of partners and various certification bodies. There can be no assurance that we will be successful developing sustainable business solutions and our failure to do so could limit our growth and profit potential and damage our corporate reputation.

Today, Grove is completely plastic neutral, which means that for every ounce of plastic that we ship to our customers, we, through our partner rePurpose Global, collect and retire the same amount of nature bound plastic pollution. To quantify the amount of plastic we ship to our customers, we weigh and record the amount of plastic in every Grove Brand product we sell, and receive data on plastic weight from the makers of third-party products sold on our platform. Using these numbers, we calculate how much plastic we send in each order. Furthermore, Grove has a stated goal of our products being plastic-free by 2025. If Grove is unable to remain plastic neutral or unable to meet our goal of our products being plastic-free by 2025, our brand reputation may suffer. Not only is there a risk around finding appropriate replacement materials, but due to high demand the cost of alternative packaging materials could significantly increase in the foreseeable future and this could impact our business performance. Similarly, the cost associated with collecting and recycling nature bound plastic could significantly increase in the foreseeable future and this could impact our business performance.

If we fail to cost-effectively acquire new consumers or retain our existing consumers, our business could be adversely affected.

Our success depends on our ability to attract new customers and engage existing customers cost-effectively. To acquire and engage customers, we must, among other things, promote and sustain our platform, provide high-quality products, user experiences, and customer service. If customers do not perceive our

e-commerce

service or products to be reliable, sustainable and of high quality, if we fail to introduce new and improved products and services, or if we introduce new products or services that are not favorably received by the market, we may not be able to attract or retain customers.

We have historically acquired a significant number of our customers through digital advertising on social media channels owned by Facebook that may, along with other social media platforms we may engage in the future, terminate their agreements with us at any time or introduce factors beyond our control, such as such as adjustments to algorithms that may decrease user engagement or negatively affect our ability to reach a broad audience; increases in pricing; and changes in policies that may delay or prevent our advertising through these channels, all of which could impact our ability to attract new customers.

We have recently introduced marketing initiatives designed to acquire customers through increased search engine optimization, streaming digital video services, and linear television. These new acquisition channels may not perform as well as our historical social media advertising channels. Our efforts to diversify customer acquisition channels may not be effective, which could negatively affect our results of operations.

Customer acquisition costs may fluctuate and rise on the channels that have been successful for us historically and on new channels that we are introducing. Rising costs may limit our ability to expand or maintain or acquisition efforts which could negatively affect our results of operations.

Changes to our DTC business designed to attract new customers and retain existing customers, including, but not limited to expanded shopping personalization,

non-subscription

options, and user generated and editorial content may not perform as well as our historical DTC platform which could negatively impact our results of operations.

Other factors may reduce our ability to acquire, maintain and further engage with customers, including the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and other expenditures we make to continue to acquire new customers and

maintain and increase engagement with existing customers; system updates to app stores and advertising platforms; changes in search algorithms by search engines; the development of new search engines or social media sites that reduce traffic on existing search engines and social media sites; and consumer behavior changes as a result of the

COVID-19

pandemic, or otherwise.

In addition, we believe that many of our new customers originate from

word-of-mouth

and other

non-paid

referrals from existing customers, including referral discounts and gift giving, so we must ensure that our existing customers remain loyal and continue to derive value from our products and services in order to continue receiving those referrals. Consequently, if our efforts to satisfy our existing customers are not successful, we may not be able to attract new customers.

Moreover, consumer preferences may change, and customers may not purchase through our marketplace as frequently or spend as much with us as historically has been the case. As a result of these potential changes, the revenue generated from customer transactions may not be as high as revenue generated from transactions historically.

We must expend resources to maintain consumer awareness of our brand, build brand loyalty and generate interest in our products. Our marketing strategies and channels will evolve and our efforts may or may not be successful.

To remain competitive and expand and keep market share for our products across our various channels, we need to increase our marketing and advertising spending. Substantial advertising and promotional expenditures may be required to maintain or improve our brand’s market position or to introduce new products to the market, and we are increasingly engaging with more traditional media, such as television and

web-based

streaming services, which may not prove successful. An increase in our marketing and advertising efforts may not maintain our current reputation, lead to increased brand awareness, or attract new customers. If we are unable to maintain and promote a favorable perception of our brand and products on a cost-effective basis, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

We believe our consumers rely on us to provide them with clean, sustainable, well-designed, and effective products. Any loss of confidence on the part of consumers in our products or the ingredients used in our products, whether related to actual or perceived product contamination or product safety or quality failures, environmental impacts, or inclusion of prohibited ingredients, or ingredients that are perceived to be “toxic”, could tarnish the image of our brand and could cause consumers to choose other products. Allegations of contamination or other adverse effects on product safety or efficacy or suitability for use by a particular consumer or on the environment, even if untrue, may require us to expend significant time and resources responding to such allegations and could, from time to time, result in a recall of a product from any or all of the markets in which the affected product was distributed. Any such issues or recalls could negatively affect our ability to achieve or maintain profitability and brand image.

If our products are found to be, or perceived to be, defective or unsafe, or if they otherwise fail to meet our consumers’ expectations, our relationships with consumers could suffer, the appeal of our brand could be diminished, we may need to recall some of our products and/or become subject to regulatory action, and we could lose sales or market share or become subject to boycotts or liability claims. In addition, safety or other defects in our competitors’ products or products using the Grove name in other consumer categories, could reduce consumer confidence in or demand for our own products if consumers view them to be similar. Any such adverse effect could be exacerbated by our market positioning as a purveyor of clean, sustainable, well-designed, and effective products and may significantly reduce our brand value. Issues regarding the safety, efficacy, quality

or environmental impact of any of our products, regardless of the cause, may have an adverse effect on our brand, reputation and operating results.

Further, our customers may engage with us online through social media platforms by providing feedback and public commentary about all aspects of our business. Information concerning us, whether accurate or not, may be posted on social media platforms at any time and may have a disproportionately adverse impact on our brand, reputation, or business. The harm may be immediate without affording us an opportunity for redress or correction and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects.

Failure to introduce new products that meet the expectations of our customers may adversely affect our ability to continue to grow.

We have a limited history introducing new products and services to our customers. New potential products and services may fail at any stage of development or commercialization, including after launch, and if we determine that any of our current or future products are unlikely to succeed, we may abandon them without any return on our investment. In addition, any unsuccessful effort may adversely affect our brand and reputation. If our efforts to attract new customers and engage existing customers with new and enhanced products are unsuccessful or if such efforts are more costly than we expect, our business may be harmed and our potential for growth may be impaired.

The

COVID-19

global pandemic and related government, private sector and individual consumer responsive actions may adversely affect our business operations, employee availability, financial performance, liquidity and cash flow for an unknown period of time.

The outbreak of

COVID-19

has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and continues to spread in the U.S., Canada, and in many other countries globally. Related government and private sector responsive actions have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, our business operations. It is impossible to predict the effect and ultimate impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic, as the situation continues to evolve and variant strains of the virus have led to increased uncertainty. The

COVID-19

pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain and may cause disruptions to our operations if a significant number of employees are ill, quarantined or if they are otherwise limited in their ability to work at our locations or travel. Any worsening of the

COVID-19

pandemic, including the unknown potential impact of variant strains, and any future actions in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic by federal, state or local authorities, including those that order the shutdown of

non-essential

businesses or limit the ability of our employees to travel to work, could impact our ability to take or fulfill our customers’ orders and operate our business. If surges related to the

COVID-19

pandemic or any future pandemics outpace our capacity or occur at unexpected times, we may be unable to fully meet our customers’ demands for our products.

As a result of the

COVID-19

pandemic, many of our personnel are working remotely and it is possible that this could have a negative impact on the execution of our business plans and operations. If a natural disaster, power outage, connectivity issue, or other event occurred that impacted our employees’ ability to work remotely, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible, for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The increase in remote working may also result in consumer privacy, IT security and fraud concerns, increase our exposure to potential wage and hour issues, and decrease the cohesiveness of our teams and our ability to maintain our corporate culture. We may experience increased costs as we prepare our facilities for a safe return to work environment and experiment with hybrid work models.

Plans to open new fulfillment centers or to expand the capacity of our existing fulfillment centers over the next few years may also be delayed or made more costly by the continuing spread of

COVID-19

and variant strains. Disruptions to the operations of our fulfillment centers and delays or increased costs in the expansion of our fulfillment center capacity may negatively impact our financial performance and slow our future growth.

Quantifying the adverse impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic is difficult given the pervasive disruptions and changes to society that it has caused. At the onset of the pandemic, we incurred approximately $600,000 in costs associated with additional cleaning and sanitization measures such as sanitation stations, supplies, and installation of disinfecting lights. In early 2020, we also reduced our marketing spending because of the economic uncertainty associated with the pandemic, which potentially reduced our new customer acquisition, which is primarily driven by our marketing activities. As the pandemic has continued, its disruption has spread to our shipping, supply chain and labor, along with inflation resulting from the pandemic. For example, since the start of the pandemic we have experienced an increase of approximately 10% in wages for employees at our fulfillment centers due to labor shortages and macroeconomic trends in labor markets, and increased inbound shipping rates that reduced margins on our Grove-owned brands by approximately 200 basis points. As a result of supply chain disruptions and increased shipping costs, we are also placing orders with our suppliers further in advance, which negatively impacts our cash flow. While we believe some of these upward cost trends have stabilized, others may continue to increase in the future which may result in further adverse financial impacts.

At the same time, the

COVID-19

pandemic has driven a surge of demand for

direct-to-consumer

businesses such as ours. Early in the pandemic, we saw substantial growth in our customer base and orders, particularly for certain cleaning products, as consumers have opted for ecommerce solutions rather than in person shopping, but the pandemic also caused many customers to over-purchase and cancel their subscriptions. As the

COVID-19

pandemic and restrictions related thereto wind down, we have begun to experience a softening of demand compared to the

COVID-19

pandemic surge as consumers retain to “normal” shopping activities.

The uncertainty around the duration of business disruptions and the extent of the spread of the virus in the U.S. and to other areas of the world will likely continue to adversely impact the national or global economy and negatively impact consumer spending. Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, operating results and ability to execute and capitalize on our strategies. The full extent of the

COVID-19

pandemic’s impact on our operations and financial performance depends on future developments that are uncertain and unpredictable, including the duration and spread of the pandemic, its impact on capital and financial markets and any new information that may emerge concerning the severity of the virus, its spread to other regions as well as the actions taken to contain it, among others. The

COVID-19

pandemic has adversely affected our business operations, costs of doing business, availability of labor, access to inventory, supply chain operations and financial results for a period of time that is currently unknown.

We pursue acquisitions to expand our business, and if any of those acquisitions are unsuccessful, our business may be harmed.

Our strategy includes the expansion of our business through the acquisition of other businesses, products or technologies, or through strategic alliances. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including the possibility that we will pay more than the value we derive from the acquisitions which could result in future

non-cash

impairment charges, and incremental operating losses; difficulties in integration of the operations, technologies and products of the acquired companies, which may require significant attention of our management that otherwise would be available for the ongoing development of our business; the assumption of certain known and unknown liabilities of the acquired companies; difficulties in retaining key relationships with employees, customers, collaborators, vendors and suppliers of the acquired company; and in the case of acquisitions outside of the jurisdictions where we currently operates, the need to address the particular economic, currency, political, and regulatory risks associated with specific countries, particularly those related to our collection of sensitive data, regulatory approvals, and tax management, which may result in significant additional costs or management overhead for our business. Failure to successfully address any of these or other unforeseen challengers would adversely affect our business.

We may experience damage or destruction to our distribution centers, which may harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our distribution centers, as well as our headquarters, are located in areas that have a history of natural disasters, including severe weather events, rendering our distribution centers vulnerable to damage. Any large-scale damage to or catastrophic loss of products stored in our distribution centers, due to natural disasters or

man-made

disasters such as arson, theft, power disruptions, computer viruses, data security breaches or terrorism, could result in the reduction in value of our inventory and a significant disruption in our business. Further, natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods and other adverse weather and climate conditions; unforeseen health crisis, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorist attacks, war and other political instability (including, for example, cyberattacks or other attacks carried out by Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022); or other catastrophic events, could disrupt our operations in any of our offices, our remote workforce and distribution centers. For example, in March 2020, due to the progression of

COVID-19,

we temporarily closed our corporate offices to slow the spread of

COVID-19

and protect our employees. Such closures have slowed and may in the future slow or temporarily halt our operations and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are dependent on our management team, and the loss of one or more key employees or groups could harm our business and prevent us from implementing our business plan in a timely manner.

Our success depends substantially upon the continued services of our executive officers and other key members of management, particularly our Chief Executive Officer. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives. Such changes in our executive management team may be disruptive our business. We do not have employment agreements with any our executive officers or key management personnel and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain key person life insurance policies on any of our employee. The loss of one or more of our key employees or groups could seriously harm our business.

Labor-related matters, including labor disputes, may adversely affect our operations.

None of our employees are currently represented by a union. If our employees decide to form or affiliate with a union, we cannot predict the negative effects such future organizational activities will have on our business and operations. If we were to become subject to work stoppages, we could experience disruption in our operations, including delays in merchandising operations and shipping, and increases in our labor costs, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we cannot successfully manage the unique challenges presented by international markets, we may not be successful in expanding our operations outside of the United States.

We offer our products and services in the contiguous United States. Although international expansion is part of our strategy, we may never pursue international expansion and may not be successful if we do so. We would be subject to a variety of risks inherent in doing business internationally, including political, social and/or economic instability; risks related to governmental regulations in foreign jurisdictions and unexpected changes in regulatory requirements and enforcement; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; higher levels of credit risk and payment fraud; enhanced difficulties of integrating any foreign acquisitions; burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws; lesser protection for intellectual property rights in some countries; difficulties in staffing and managing global operations and the increased travel, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with operation from international locations and subsidiaries; different regulations and practices with respect to employee/employer relationships, existence of workers’ councils and labor unions, and other challenges caused by distance, language, and cultural differences, making it harder to do business in certain international jurisdictions; compliance with statutory equity requirements; and management of tax consequences and compliance.

All of the products we offer are supplied or manufactured by a limited number of third-party suppliers and manufacturers, and as a result we may be subject to price fluctuations or supply disruptions. Our operating results would be negatively impacted by increases in the costs of our products, and we have no guarantees that costs will not rise. In addition, as we expand into new categories and product types, we expect that we may not have strong purchasing power in these new areas, which could lead to higher costs than we have historically seen in our current categories. We may not be able to pass increased costs on to consumers, which could adversely affect our operating results. Moreover, in the event of a significant disruption in the supply of the materials used in the manufacture of the products we offer, we and the vendors that we work with might not be able to locate alternative suppliers of materials of comparable quality at an acceptable price. Furthermore, our reliance on suppliers and manufacturers outside of the United States, the number of third parties with whom we transact and the number of jurisdictions to which we sell complicates our efforts to comply with customs duties and excise taxes; any failure to comply could adversely affect our business.

In addition, products and merchandise we receive from manufacturers and suppliers may not be of sufficient quality or free from damage, or such products may be damaged during shipping, while stored in our warehouse fulfillment centers or with third-party ecommerce or retail customers or when returned by consumers. We may incur additional expenses and our reputation could be harmed if consumers and potential consumers believe that our products do not meet their expectations, are not properly labeled or are damaged. Quality control problems could also result in regulatory action, such as FDA Warning Letters, restrictions on importation, product liability litigation, product seizures, products of inferior quality or product stock outages or shortages, harming our sales and creating inventory write-downs for unusable products.

We purchase significant amounts of product from a limited number of suppliers with limited supply capabilities. There can be no assurance that our current suppliers will be able to accommodate our anticipated growth or continue to supply current quantities at preferential prices. In the past, we have experienced supply shortage of certain goods that has resulted in lost sales. We generally do not maintain long-term supply contracts with any of our suppliers and any of our suppliers could discontinue selling to us at any time. An inability of our existing suppliers to provide materials in a timely or cost-effective manner could impair our growth and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely or may rely on SaaS technologies from third parties in order to operate critical functions of our business, including financial management services, payment processing, customer relationship management services, website platform services, ecommerce services, email services, supply chain services and data storage services. If these services become unavailable due to extended outages or interruptions or because they are no longer available on commercially reasonable terms or prices or for any other reason, or if we fail to migrate successfully to new services, our expenses could increase, our ability to manage our finances could be interrupted, our processes for managing sales of our offerings and supporting our consumers could be impaired, our ability to communicate with our suppliers could be weakened and our ability to access or save data stored to the cloud may be impaired until equivalent services, if available, are identified, obtained and implemented, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We utilize cloud services from third-party data center facilities operated by AWS. Any damage to, failure of or interference with our cloud service that is hosted by us, AWS or by third-party providers we may utilize in the future, whether as a result of our actions, actions by the third-party data centers, actions by other third parties, or acts of God, could result in interruptions in our cloud service and/or the loss of our or our customers’ data, including personal information. Impairment of, or interruptions in, our cloud services may subject us to claims and litigation and adversely affect our ability to attract new customers. Our business will also be harmed if our customers and potential customers believe our services are unreliable. Additionally, any limitation of the capacity

of our data centers could impede our ability to scale, onboard new customers or expand the usage of existing customers, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we have some disaster recovery arrangements in place, our preparations may not be adequate to account for disasters or similar events that may occur in the future and may not effectively permit us to continue operating in the event of any problems with respect to our systems or those of our third-party data centers or any other third-party facilities. Our disaster recovery and data redundancy measures may be inadequate, and our business interruption insurance may not be sufficient to compensate us for the losses that could occur.

If any of our key suppliers becomes insolvent, ceases or significantly reduces its operations or experiences financial distress or if any environmental, economic or other outside factors impact their operations, our operations could be substantially disrupted. If we are unable to identify or enter into distribution relationships with new suppliers or to replace the loss of any of our existing suppliers, we may experience a competitive disadvantage, our business may be disrupted and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

If our third-party suppliers and manufacturers do not comply with ethical business practices or with applicable laws and regulations, our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.

We continually seek to expand our base of suppliers, especially as we identify new products that necessitate new or additional materials. We also require our new and existing suppliers to meet our ethical and business partner standards. Suppliers may also have to meet governmental and industry standards and any relevant standards required by our consumers, which may require additional investment and time on behalf of suppliers and us.

Our reputation and our consumers’ willingness to purchase our products depend in part on our suppliers’, manufacturers’, and retail partners’ compliance with ethical employment practices, such as with respect to child labor, wages and benefits, forced labor, discrimination, safe and healthy working conditions, and with all legal and regulatory requirements relating to the conduct of their businesses. We do not exercise control over our suppliers, manufacturers, and retail partners and cannot guarantee their compliance with ethical and lawful business practices. If our suppliers, manufacturers, or retail partners fail to comply with applicable laws, regulations, safety codes, employment practices, human rights standards, quality standards, environmental standards, production practices, or other obligations, norms, or ethical standards, our reputation and brand image could be harmed, and we could be exposed to litigation, investigations, enforcement actions, monetary liability, and additional costs that would harm our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We operate warehouse fulfillment centers located in Reno, Nevada, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and St. Peters, Missouri. If we do not optimize and operate our warehouse fulfillment centers successfully and efficiently, it could result in excess or insufficient fulfillment capacity, an increase in costs or impairment charges or harm our business in other ways. In addition, if we do not have sufficient fulfillment capacity or experience a problem fulfilling orders in a timely manner, our consumers may experience delays in receiving their purchases, which could harm our reputation and our relationship with our consumers.

We have designed and established our own fulfillment center infrastructure, including customizing inventory and package handling software systems, which is tailored to meet the specific needs of our business. If we continue to add fulfillment and warehouse capabilities, add new businesses or categories with different fulfillment requirements or change the mix in products that we sell, our fulfillment network will become

increasingly complex and operating it will become more challenging. Failure to successfully address such challenges in a cost-effective and timely manner could impair our ability to timely deliver purchases to our consumers and merchandise inventory to our retail and ecommerce partners, and could have an adverse effect on our reputation and ultimately, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we grow faster than we anticipate, we may exceed our fulfillment center capacity sooner than we anticipate, we may experience problems fulfilling orders in a timely manner or our consumers may experience delays in receiving their purchases, which could harm our reputation and our relationships with our consumers. In such event, we would need to increase our capital expenditures more than anticipated and in a shorter time frame than we currently anticipate. Our ability to expand our fulfillment center capacity, including our ability to secure suitable facilities and recruit qualified employees, have been and may in the future be adversely affected by the

COVID-19

pandemic and related governmental orders. Many of the expenses and investments with respect to our fulfillment centers are fixed, and any expansion of such fulfillment centers will require additional investment of capital. We expect to incur higher capital expenditures in the future for our fulfillment center operations as our business continues to grow.

Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in our shipping arrangements or any interruptions in shipping could adversely affect our operating results.

We rely on several vendors for our shipping requirements. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable pricing and other terms with these vendors or if they experience performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and our consumer experience. Rising shipping costs and the imposition of surcharges from time to time could negatively impact our operating results. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory and ship products to consumers and retailers may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, labor disputes, acts of war or terrorism, trade embargoes, customs and tax requirements and similar factors. For example, the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 could increase disruptions in shipping or our supply chain. We are also subject to risks of damage or loss during delivery by our shipping vendors. If our products are not delivered in a timely fashion or are damaged or lost during delivery, our consumers could become dissatisfied and cease shopping on our site or retailer or third-party ecommerce sites that carry our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.

We have also outsourced portions of our fulfillment process, as well as certain technology-related functions, to third-party service providers. Specifically, we rely on third parties in a number of foreign countries and territories, we are dependent on third-party vendors for credit card processing, and we use third-party hosting and networking providers to host our sites. The failure of one or more of these entities to provide the expected services on a timely basis, or at all, or at the prices we expect, or the costs and disruption incurred in changing these outsourced functions to being performed under our management and direct control or that of a third party, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We are not party to long-term contracts with some of our retail and ecommerce partners, and upon expiration of these existing agreements, we may not be able to renegotiate the terms on a commercially reasonable basis, or at all.

We are subject to risks related to online payment methods, including third-party payment processing-related risks.

We currently accept payments using a variety of methods, including credit card, debit card, and gift cards. As we offer new payment options to consumers, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements, fraud and other risks. We also rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, and for certain payment methods, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our

operating costs and affect our ability to achieve or maintain profitability. We are also subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or

PCI-DSS,

and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we (or a third party processing payment card transactions on our behalf) suffer a security breach affecting payment card information, we may have to pay onerous and significant fines, penalties and assessments arising out of the major card brands’ rules and regulations, contractual indemnifications or liability contained in merchant agreements and similar contracts, and we may lose our ability to accept payment cards for payment for our goods and services, which could materially impact our operations and financial performance.

Furthermore, as our business changes, we may be subject to different rules under existing standards, which may require new assessments that involve costs above what we currently pay for compliance. As we offer new payment options to consumers, including by way of integrating emerging mobile and other payment methods, we may be subject to additional regulations, compliance requirements and fraud. If we fail to comply with the rules or requirements of any provider of a payment method we accept, if the volume of fraud in our transactions limits or terminates our rights to use payment methods we currently accept, or if a data breach occurs relating to our payment systems, we may, among other things, be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose, or face restrictions placed upon, our ability to accept credit card payments from consumers or facilitate other types of online payments. In addition, our customers could lose confidence in certain payment types, which may result in a shift to other payment types or potential changes to our payment systems that may result in higher costs.

We also occasionally receive orders placed with fraudulent data and we may ultimately be held liable for the unauthorized use of a cardholder’s card number in an illegal activity and be required by card issuers to pay charge-back fees. Charge-backs result not only in our loss of fees earned with respect to the payment, but also leave us liable for the underlying money transfer amount. If our charge-back rate becomes excessive, card associations also may require us to pay fines or refuse to process our transactions. In addition, we may be subject to additional fraud risk if third-party service providers or our employees fraudulently use consumer information for their own gain or facilitate the fraudulent use of such information. Overall, we may have little recourse if we process a criminally fraudulent transaction. If we fail to adequately control fraudulent credit card transactions, we may face civil liability, diminished public perception of our security measures, and significantly higher credit card-related costs, each of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have only recently expanded to offer our own branded products in retail stores and our inability to secure, maintain and increase our presence in retail stores could adversely impact our revenue.

Our omnichannel strategy includes selling our products through third-party ecommerce and retail partners (including their websites). Our retail operations were established in 2021 and include sales to retail stores and their related websites. The success of our business is largely dependent on our continuing development of strong relationships with major retail chains. Prior to our recently announced partnerships with Kohl’s, Meijer and Giant Eagle, our only retail partnership has been with Target, and our experience operating through the retail channel is extremely limited. Factors that could affect our ability to maintain or expand our sales our current or any future retail distribution partners include: (a) failure to accurately identify the needs of our customers; (b) a lack of customer acceptance of new products or product expansions; (c) unwillingness of our retail distribution partners and customers to attribute premium value to our new or existing products or product expansions relative to competing products; (d) failure to obtain floor space from retail distribution partners; (e) new, well-received product introductions by competitors; (f) damage to our relationships with our retail distribution partners due to brand or reputational harm; (g) delays or defaults on our retail distribution partners’ payment obligations to us; and (h) store closures, decreased foot traffic, recession or other adverse effects resulting from public health crises such as the current

COVID-19

pandemic (or other future pandemics or epidemics).

The loss of our relationship with Target or other current or future large retail partner could have a significant impact on our revenue. In addition, we may be unable to secure adequate shelf space in new markets, or any shelf

space at all, until we develop relationships with the retailers that operate in such markets. We may not be successful in developing those relationships. Consequently, growth opportunities through our retail operations may be limited and our revenue, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected if we are unable to successfully establish relationships with other retailers in new or current markets. To date, our retail sales have not comprised a significant percentage of our total revenue.

We also face competition to display our products on store shelves and obtain optimal presence on those shelves. Due to the intense competition for limited shelf space, retailers are in a position to negotiate favorable terms of sale, including price discounts, allowances and product return policies. To the extent we increase discounts or allowances in an effort to secure shelf space, our operating results could be adversely affected. We may not be able to increase or sustain our volume of retail shelf space or offer retailers price discounts sufficient to overcome competition. As a result our retail distribution channels may not continue to grow and may shrink and our sales and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing, management and other resources than we do and may have greater name recognition, a more established distribution network and a larger base of wholesale customers and distributors. Furthermore, our retail sales, to the extent successful, may compete with and erode our DTC business. If we are unable to address these challenges, our business may be adversely affected.

We may be unable to adequately obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce our intellectual property rights.

Our ability to compete effectively is dependent in part upon our ability to obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, including our proprietary technology. We establish and protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including our proprietary information and technology, through a combination of confidentiality procedures and other contractual provisions, as well as through patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property laws in the United States and similar laws in certain other jurisdictions. However, the steps we take to obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights may be inadequate. There can be no assurance that these protections will be available in all cases or will be adequate to prevent our competitors or other third parties from copying, reverse engineering, accessing or otherwise obtaining and using our technology, intellectual property or proprietary rights or solutions without our permission.

We pursue the registration of certain aspects of our intellectual property in the U.S. and other countries. We are seeking to protect certain aspects of our intellectual property in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and time-consuming and may not be successful or which we may not pursue in every jurisdiction in which we conduct business. As we apply to register our unregistered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries, our applications may not be allowed for registration in a timely fashion or at all, and our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. In addition, third parties may oppose our trademark and service mark applications or trademark registrations, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks and service marks. In certain countries outside of the U.S., trademark registration is required to enforce trademark rights. If we do not secure registrations for our trademarks, we may encounter more difficulty in enforcing them against third parties than we otherwise would. We also may not be able to acquire or maintain appropriate domain names in all countries in which we do business. Furthermore, regulations governing domain names may not protect our trademarks and similar proprietary rights. We may be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring domain names that are similar to, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our intellectual property.

We have six registered patents worldwide, 13 patent applications filed and two patent applications pending through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. We cannot offer any assurances about which, if any, patents will issue from our applications, the breadth of any such patents, or whether any issued patents will be found invalid and unenforceable or will be threatened by third parties. Any successful opposition to these patents or any other patents owned by or, if applicable in the future, licensed to us could deprive us of rights necessary for the successful commercialization of products that we may develop. Since patent applications in the United States and

most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing, we cannot be certain that we were the first to file on the technologies covered in several of the patent applications related to our technologies or products. Furthermore, a derivation proceeding can be provoked by a third party, or instituted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), to determine who was the first to invent any of the subject matter covered by the patent claims of our applications.

Enforcement of our intellectual property rights may be difficult and may require considerable resources. We are not always able to discover or determine the extent of any unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Moreover, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property do not always adequately protect our rights or prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our proprietary rights. We also cannot be certain that others will not independently develop or otherwise acquire equivalent or superior technology or other intellectual property rights. In addition, any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged or circumvented by others or invalidated or held unenforceable through administrative process or litigation in the U.S. or in foreign jurisdictions.

In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same level of protection as the laws of the U.S., and we may encounter difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. To the extent we expand our international activities, our exposure to unauthorized copying and use of our intellectual property and proprietary information may increase. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing on our intellectual property in all countries outside the U.S., or from selling or importing products made using our intellectual property in and into the U.S. or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and may also export infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement of patents and other intellectual protection is not as strong as that in the U.S. These products may compete with our products and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

As we move into new markets and expand our products or services offerings, incumbent participants in such markets may assert their intellectual property and other proprietary rights against us as a means of slowing our entry into such markets or as a means to extract substantial license and royalty payments from us. In addition, our agreements with some of our customers, suppliers or other entities with whom we do business requires us to defend or indemnify these parties to the extent they become involved in infringement claims, including the types of claims described above. As a result, we could incur significant costs and expenses that could adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition.

Third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our intellectual property and proprietary rights, third parties may challenge our intellectual property and proprietary rights, pending and future patent, copyright, trademark and other applications may not be approved and we may not be able to prevent infringement without incurring substantial expense. If the protection of our proprietary rights is inadequate to prevent use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished and competitors may be able to more effectively mimic our service and methods of operations. With respect to any intellectual property rights claim, we may have to seek a license to continue practices found to be in violation of a third parties rights, which may not be available on reasonable terms and may significantly increase our operating expenses. A license to continue such practices may not be available to us at all.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, may be time-consuming and could incur substantial costs and expenses, substantial liability for damages, or could require us to stop our development and commercialization efforts for our products and services. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights might be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, and if such defenses, counterclaims or countersuits are successful, we could lose valuable

intellectual property and proprietary rights. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors may be in a position to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property and proprietary rights than us. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our intellectual property and proprietary rights. Additionally, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.

Moreover, the outcome of any such litigation might not be favorable to us, even when our rights have been infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated. If we do not prevail, we may be required to pay significant money damages, suffer losses of significant revenues, be prohibited from using the relevant systems, processes, technologies or other intellectual property (temporarily or permanently), be required to cease offering certain products or services, incur significant license, royalty or technology development expenses, or be required to comply with other unfavorable terms. Even if we were to prevail, such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition. We may also be required to enter into license agreements that may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, although in some cases a third party may have agreed to indemnify us for such costs, such an indemnifying party may refuse or be unable to uphold its contractual obligations. In other cases, insurance may not cover potential claims of this type adequately or at all, and we may be required to pay monetary damages, which may be significant.

We rely on trademark, copyright, and patent law, trade secret protection, and confidentiality and/or license agreements with our employees, customers, and others to protect our proprietary rights.

We rely and expect to continue to rely on a combination of confidentiality, invention assignment and other agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties with whom we have relationships and who may have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, as well as trademark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection laws, to protect our proprietary rights. However, any of these parties may breach their agreements with us and disclose information improperly. In addition, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that has or may have had access to our proprietary information,

know-how

and trade secrets or each party that has developed intellectual property on our behalf. Moreover, no assurance can be given that these agreements will be effective in controlling access to, distribution, use, misuse, misappropriation, reverse engineering or disclosure of our proprietary information,

know-how

and trade secrets, platform or confidential information. Further, these agreements may not prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our offerings. These agreements may be insufficient or breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. Additionally, such agreements may not effectively prevent unauthorized access to or unauthorized use, disclosure, misappropriation or reverse engineering of, our confidential information, intellectual property, or technology. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret or

know-how

is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, trade secrets and

know-how

can be difficult to protect and some courts inside and outside the U.S. are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets and

know-how.

If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us, and our competitive position would be materially and adversely harmed.

Additionally, individuals not subject to invention assignment agreements may make adverse ownership claims to our current and future intellectual property. For example, we may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our owned or

in-licensed

patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property as an inventor or

co-inventor.

Ownership disputes may arise, for example, from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our future products and services.

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

We employ, and expect to employ in the future, individuals who were previously employed at universities or other companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers or other third parties, or to claims that we have improperly used or obtained such trade secrets. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. In defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or key personnel, which could adversely impact our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

Indemnity provisions in various agreements to which we are party potentially expose us to substantial liability for infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights.

Our agreements with our customers and other third parties may include indemnification provisions under which we agree to indemnify or otherwise be liable to them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violation of intellectual property rights or other liabilities relating to or arising from our products, our acts or omissions under such agreements or other contractual obligations. Some of these indemnity agreements provide for uncapped liability and some indemnity provisions survive termination or expiration of the applicable agreement. As we continue to grow, the possibility of infringement claims and other intellectual property rights claims against us may increase. For any intellectual property rights indemnification claim against us or our customers, we will incur significant legal expenses and may have to pay damages, settlement fees, license fees or stop using products or technology found to be in violation of the third party’s rights. Large indemnity payments could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we attempt to contractually limit our liability with respect to such indemnity obligations, we are not always successful and we may still incur substantial liability related to them. We may be required to cease use of certain functions of our platform or cease selling certain products as a result of any such claims. Any dispute with a customer or other third party with respect to such indemnification obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with such customer or other third party and other existing or current and prospective customers, subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation, expensive remediation and licenses, divert management attention and financial resources, reduce demand for our products and adversely affect our brand, reputation, business, financial conditions and results of operations. In addition, although we carry general liability insurance, our insurance may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed or otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages with respect to claims alleging compromises of customer data, and any such coverage may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all.

We must successfully maintain, scale and upgrade our information technology systems, and our failure to do so could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have identified the need to significantly expand, scale and improve our information technology systems and personnel to support recent and expected future growth. As such, we are in the process of implementing, and will continue to invest in and implement, significant modifications and upgrades to our information technology systems and procedures, including replacing legacy systems with successor systems, making changes to legacy systems or acquiring new systems with new functionality, hiring employees with information technology expertise and building new policies, procedures, training programs and monitoring tools. There are inherent costs and risks associated with replacing and changing these systems, including impairment of our ability to fulfill customer orders, potential disruption of our internal control structure, substantial capital expenditures, additional administration and operating expenses, the need to acquire and retain sufficiently skilled personnel to implement

and operate the new systems, demands on management time, the introduction of errors or vulnerabilities and other risks and costs of delays or difficulties in transitioning to or integrating new systems into our current systems. These implementations, modifications and upgrades may not result in productivity improvements at a level that outweighs the costs of implementation, or at all. Additionally, difficulties with implementing new technology systems, delays in our timeline for planned improvements, significant system failures, or our inability to successfully modify our information systems to respond to changes in our business needs may cause disruptions in our business operations and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on information technology networks and systems and data processing (some of which are managed by third-party service providers) to market, sell and deliver our products and services, to fulfill orders, to collect, receive, store, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, share and otherwise process personal information, confidential or proprietary information, financial information and other information, to manage a variety of business processes and activities, for financial reporting purposes, to operate our business, process orders and to comply with regulatory, legal and tax requirements. These information technology networks and systems, and the processing they perform, may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns, software or hardware vulnerabilities, security incidents, ransomware attacks, unauthorized activity and access, malicious code (such as malware, viruses and worms), acts of vandalism, employee or contractor theft, misplaced or lost data, fraud, misconduct or misuse, social engineering attacks and denial of service attacks, supply-side attacks, phishing and spear phishing attacks, organized cyberattacks, programming or human errors, failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software, databases or components, power outages, fires, natural disasters, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors or catastrophic events, any of which could result in the loss or disclosure of confidential customer information or our own proprietary information, software, methodologies and business information.

In addition, due to the

COVID-19

pandemic, our personnel are often working remotely and relying on their own computers, routers and other equipment, which may pose additional data security risks to networks, systems and data. Any material disruption of our networks, systems or data processing activities, or those of our third-party service providers, could disrupt our ability to undertake, and cause a material adverse impact to our business, reputation and financial condition. If our information technology networks and systems or data processing (or of our third-party service providers) suffers damage, security breaches, vulnerabilities, disruption or shutdown (including, for example, cyberattacks or other attacks on global networking infrastructure carried out by Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022), and we do not effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, they could cause a material adverse impact to our business, reputation and financial condition. Our DTC and ecommerce operations are critical to our business and our financial performance. Our website serves as an effective extension of our marketing strategies by exposing potential new consumers to our brand, product offerings and enhanced content. Due to the importance of our website and DTC operations, any material disruption of our networks, systems or data processing activities related to our websites and DTC operations could reduce DTC sales and financial performance, damage our brand’s reputation and materially adversely impact our business.

The recovery systems, security protocols, network protection mechanisms and other security measures that we have integrated into our systems, networks and physical facilities, which are designed to protect against, detect and minimize security breaches, may not be adequate to prevent or detect service interruption, system failure data loss or theft, or other material adverse consequences. We and our third-party service providers regularly defend against and respond to cybersecurity incidents. No security solution, strategy, or measures can

address all possible security threats or block all methods of penetrating a network or otherwise perpetrating a security incident, and our incident response procedures may be inadequate to fully contain, mitigate, or remediate a data security incident. Moreover, notwithstanding any contractual rights or remedies we may have, because we do not control our third-party service providers, including their security measures and their processing of data, we cannot ensure the integrity or security of measures they take to protect customer information and prevent data loss.

The risk of unauthorized circumvention of our security measures or those of our third-party providers, has been heightened by the increased use of the Internet and telecommunications technologies (including mobile and other connected devices) to conduct financial and other business transactions, advances in computer and software capabilities and the increasing sophistication of hackers who employ complex techniques, including without limitation, the theft or misuse of personal and financial information, counterfeiting, “phishing” or social engineering incidents, ransomware, extortion, publicly announcing security breaches, account takeover attacks, denial or degradation of service attacks, malware, fraudulent payment and identity theft. Because the techniques used by hackers change frequently, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventive measures. Our applications, systems, networks, software and physical facilities could have material vulnerabilities, be breached or personal or confidential information could be otherwise compromised due to employee error or malfeasance, such as where third parties fraudulently induce our personnel or our consumers to disclose information or user names and/or passwords, or otherwise compromise the security of our networks, systems and/or physical facilities. Third-party criminals regularly attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in, or obtain unauthorized access to, platforms, software, applications, systems, networks, sensitive information, and/or physical facilities utilized by us or our vendors. Improper access to our systems or databases could result in the theft, publication, deletion or modification of personal information, confidential or proprietary information, financial information and other information. An actual or perceived breach of our security systems or those of our third-party service providers may require notification under applicable data privacy regulations or contractual obligations, or for consumer relations or publicity purposes, which could result in reputational harm, costly litigation (including class action litigation), material contract breaches, liability, settlement costs, loss of sales, regulatory scrutiny, actions or investigations, a loss of confidence in our business, systems and processing, a diversion of management’s time and attention, and significant fines, penalties, assessments, fees and expenses.

As is common in the digital world we operate in, we and our third-party service providers have experienced occasional security incidents involving unauthorized access to our account credentials, however, all such incidents have been remediated and we are not aware of any of significant impact resulting from such incidents. While we regularly defend against and respond to cybersecurity threats and attacks, our efforts to contain, mitigate and remediate a data security incident may not be successful, resulting in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service, negative publicity, and other harm to our business and our competitive position. The costs to respond to a significant security breach or security vulnerability, including to provide breach notification where required, can be substantial. We may have to notify stakeholders of security breaches, which may harm our reputation and expose us to loss of consumers and business. Breach notification can lead to negative publicity, may cause our consumers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, and could require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach. A security breach could lead to claims by our consumers or ecommerce or retail customers, or other relevant stakeholders that we have failed to comply with our legal or contractual obligations. As a result, we could be subject to legal action or our consumers or ecommerce or retail customers could end their relationships with us. There can be no assurance that any limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices in response to a security breach or related regulatory actions or litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. We may not have, or in the future be able to obtain, adequate insurance coverage for security incidents or breaches, including fines, judgments, settlements, penalties, costs, attorney fees and other impacts that arise out of incidents or breaches. Any incidents may result in loss of, or increased costs of, our cybersecurity insurance. We also cannot ensure that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient

amounts to cover one or more large claims related to a security incident or breach, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. If the impact of a security incident or breach or the successful assertion of one or more large claims against us exceeds our available insurance coverage or results in changes to our insurance policies (including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or

co-insurance

requirements), it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, reputation and results of operations.

We use open source software in our platform, which may subject us to additional risks and harm our intellectual property.

We use open source software in our platform and expect to continue to use open source software in the future. There are risks and uncertainties regarding the proper interpretation of and compliance with open source software licenses. Some open source software licenses require those who distribute open source software as part of their own software product to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to such software product or to make available any derivative works of the open source code on unfavorable terms or at no cost, and we may be subject to such terms. Consequently, there is a risk that the owners of the copyrights in such open source software may claim that the open source licenses governing their use impose certain conditions or restrictions on our ability to use the software that we did not anticipate. Such owners may seek to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license, including by demanding release of the source code for the open source software, derivative works of such software, or, in some cases, our proprietary source code that uses or was developed using such open source software. These claims could also result in litigation, subject us to significant damages, require us to purchase costly third-party licenses, require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our products or discontinue the sale of our proprietary products, any of which could result in reputational harm and would be disruptive to our business. In addition, if the license terms for the open source software we utilize change, we may be forced to

re-engineer

our platform or incur additional costs to comply with the changed license terms or to replace the affected open source software. Furthermore, if we were to combine our proprietary platform with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain of the open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary platform to the public or offer our platform to users at no cost. This could allow our competitors to create similar platforms with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of sales for us.

In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or assurance of title or controls on origin of the software. There is typically no support available for open source software, and we cannot ensure that the authors of such open source software will implement or push updates to address security risks or will not abandon further development and maintenance.

Although we have implemented policies and tools to regulate the use and incorporation of open source software into our platform, we cannot be certain that we have not incorporated open source software in our platform in a manner that is inconsistent with such policies. Therefore, we may inadvertently use open source in a manner that we do not intend or that could expose us to claims for breach of contract or intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, prospects and results of operations.

We collect, store, share, use, retain, safeguard, transfer, analyze and otherwise process, and our vendors process on our behalf, personal information, confidential information and other information necessary to provide and deliver our products through our

e-commerce

channel to operate our business, for legal and marketing purposes, and for other business-related purposes. Collection and use of this information might raise privacy and

data protection concerns, which could negatively impact our business. Data privacy and information security has become a significant issue in the United States, countries in Europe, and in many other countries. The legal and regulatory framework for privacy and security issues is rapidly evolving and is expected to increase our compliance costs and exposure to liability. There are numerous federal, state, local, and international laws, orders, codes, rules, regulations and regulatory guidance regarding privacy, information security and processing (which we collectively refer to as “Data Protection Laws”), the number and scope of which is changing, subject to differing applications and interpretations, and which may be inconsistent among jurisdictions, or in conflict with other rules, laws or obligations (which we collectively refer to as “Data Protection Obligations”). Therefore, the regulatory framework for privacy and data protection worldwide is, and is likely to remain, uncertain and complex for the foreseeable future, and our actual or perceived failure to address or comply with applicable Data Protection Laws and Data Protection Obligations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We also expect that there will continue to be new Data Protection Laws and Data Protection Obligations, and we cannot yet determine the impact such future Data Protection Laws and Data Protection Obligations may have on our business. Any significant change to Data Protection Laws and Data Protection Obligations, including without limitation, regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of consumers for processing is obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our operations, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete and may limit our ability to store and process consumer data and operate our business.

We are or may also be subject to the terms of our external and internal privacy and security policies, codes, representations, certifications, industry standards, publications and frameworks (which we collectively refer to as “Privacy Policies”) and contractual obligations to third parties related to privacy, information security and processing, including contractual obligations to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of

non-compliance

with Data Protection Laws or Data Protection Obligations.

We may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees, partners or vendors do not comply with applicable Data Protection Laws, Privacy Policies and Data Protection Obligations. If we or our vendors fail (or are perceived to have failed) to comply with applicable Data Protection Laws, Privacy Policies and Data Protection Obligations, or if our Privacy Policies are, in whole or part, found to be inaccurate, incomplete, deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

In the United States, our obligations include rules and regulations promulgated under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) and other state and federal laws relating to privacy and data security. The CCPA, which took effect on January 1, 2020, requires companies that process information of California residents to make new disclosures to consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices, allows consumers to opt out of the sale of personal information with third parties and prohibits covered businesses from discriminating against California residents (for example, charging more for services) for exercising any of their rights under the CCPA. The law also provides a private right of action and statutory damages for certain data breaches that result in the loss of personal information. This private right of action is expected to increase the likelihood of, and risks associated with, data breach litigation. However, it remains unclear how various provisions of the CCPA will be interpreted and enforced. Therefore, the CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability.

In addition, California voters recently approved the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (the “CPRA”) that goes into effect on January 1, 2023. The CPRA will significantly modify the CCPA, and will impose additional data protection obligations on companies doing business in California, potentially resulting in further complexity. The law will, among other things, give California residents the ability to limit the use of their sensitive information, provide for penalties for CPRA violations concerning California residents under the age of 16, and establish a new California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the law. The effects of this legislation are potentially far-reaching and may impact our business. Some observers have noted that the

CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Other jurisdictions in the United States have already passed or are considering laws similar to the CCPA, with potentially greater penalties and more rigorous compliance requirements relevant to our business. Many state legislatures have already adopted legislation that regulates how businesses operate online, including measures relating to privacy, data security, data breaches and the protection of sensitive and personal information. For example, on March 2, 2021, Virginia enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (the “CDPA”), a comprehensive privacy statute that shares similarities with the CCPA, CPRA, and legislation proposed in other states. The CDPA will require us to incur additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply with it before it becomes effective on January 1, 2023. June 2021, Colorado also enacted a similar law, the Colorado Privacy Act (the “CPA”), which becomes effective on July 1, 2023. Many other states are currently considering proposed comprehensive data privacy legislation and all 50 states have passed at least some form of data privacy legislation (for example, all 50 states have enacted laws requiring disclosure of certain personal data breaches). At the federal level, the United States Congress is also considering various proposals for comprehensive federal data privacy legislation and, while no comprehensive federal data privacy law currently exists, we are subject to applicable existing federal laws and regulations, such as the rules and regulations promulgated under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including with respect to data privacy and security. These state statutes, and other similar state or federal laws, may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and incur substantial compliance-related costs and expenses.

We rely on a variety of marketing techniques and practices, including email and social media marketing, online targeted advertising, cookie-based processing, and postal mail to sell our products and services and to attract new consumers, and we, and our vendors, are subject to various current and future Data Protection Laws and Data Protection Obligations that govern marketing and advertising practices. Governmental authorities continue to evaluate the privacy implications inherent in the use of third-party “cookies” and other methods of online tracking for behavioral advertising and other purposes, such as by regulating the level of consumer notice and consent required before a company can employ cookies or other electronic tracking tools or the use of data gathered with such tools. Additionally, some providers of consumer devices, web browsers and application stores have implemented, or announced plans to implement, means to make it easier for Internet users to prevent the placement of cookies or to block other tracking technologies, require additional consents, or limit the ability to track user activity, which could if widely adopted result in the use of third-party cookies and other methods of online tracking becoming significantly less effective. Laws and regulations regarding the use of these cookies and other current online tracking and advertising practices or a loss in our ability to make effective use of services that employ such technologies could increase our costs of operations and limit our ability to acquire new consumers on cost-effective terms, which, in turn, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Government regulation of the Internet and ecommerce is evolving, and unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply with these regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet and ecommerce, including consumer protection regulations that regulate retailers and govern the promotion and sale of merchandise. Existing and future regulations and laws could impede the growth of the Internet, ecommerce or mobile commerce, which could in turn adversely affect our growth. These regulations and laws may involve taxes, tariffs, privacy and data security, anti-spam, content protection, electronic contracts and communications, consumer protection, sales practices, subscription programs and Internet neutrality. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes and consumer privacy apply to the Internet as the vast majority of these laws were adopted prior to the

advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues raised by the Internet or ecommerce. It is possible that general business regulations and laws, or those specifically governing the Internet or ecommerce, may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. We cannot be sure that our practices have complied, comply or will comply fully with all such laws and regulations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in damage to our reputation, a loss in business and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, customers, suppliers or others. Any such proceeding or action could hurt our reputation, force us to spend significant amounts in defense of these proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, decrease the use of our website and mobile applications by customers and suppliers and may result in the imposition of monetary liabilities and burdensome injunctions that could, for example, require changes to our business practices. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of noncompliance with any such laws or regulations. As a result, adverse developments with respect to these laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Many products that we sell are labeled and advertised with claims as to their origin, ingredients or health, wellness, environmental or other benefits, including, by way of example, the use of the term “natural”, “organic”, “clean conscious”, or “sustainable”, or similar synonyms or implied statements relating to such benefits. Grove’s brand as a whole is marketed using similar environmental language. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guides For The Use Of Environmental Marketing Claims, or the “Green Guides,” or “Green Guides,” provide guidance on how to use environmental marketing claims, provide specific guidance for certain terms (e.g. “recyclable”), and recommend against using unqualified statements about environmental benefits such as

“eco-friendly”.

Although the FDA and the USDA each have issued statements regarding the appropriate use of the word “natural,” there is no single, U.S. government regulated definition of the term “natural” for use in the consumer and personal care industry. This is also true for many other claims common in the clean conscious product industry.

Consumer class actions, actions from industry groups such as the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau, and public enforcement actions have been brought against numerous companies that market “natural,” “sustainable,” or other ecologically conscious products or ingredients, asserting false, misleading and deceptive advertising and labeling claims.

These suits often identify ingredients or components of a product for which certain marketing claims may not be fully accurate, and claim that their presence in the product renders the statements false and deceptive. For example, some actions concerning “natural” claims have focused on the presence of genetically modified and/or synthetic ingredients or components in products, including synthetic forms of otherwise natural ingredients.

Many of our products are subject to regulatory enforcement:

•

The FDA regulates product labels and other product claims for the consumer products subject to its jurisdiction and has the authority to challenge product labels and claims that it believes are

non-compliant

or false or misleading, through the use of a variety of enforcement tools (e.g., Warning Letters, untitled letters, and seizure actions). In limited circumstances, the FDA has taken regulatory action against products labeled “natural” but that nonetheless contain synthetic ingredients or components.

•

The FTC has the authority to challenge claims made in product advertising and requires that such claims are adequately substantiated prior to use. The FTC similarly has enforcement tools that it uses to challenge advertising claims that it deems

non-compliant

with the law.

•

The USDA enforces federal standards for organic production and use of the term “organic” on product labeling. These laws prohibit a company from selling or labeling products as organic unless they are produced and handled in accordance with the applicable federal law. Failure to comply with these requirements may subject us to liability or regulatory enforcement. Consumers may also pursue state law claims challenging use of the organic label as being intentionally mislabeled or misleading or deceptive to consumers.

•

In addition, certain products, including the disinfectant products, we sell may require approval from and registration with the EPA and state regulatory agencies prior to sale. Products that expressly or impliedly claim to control microorganisms that pose a threat to human health may be subject by additional regulatory scrutiny and need to be supported by additional efficacy data. Should we advertise or market these regulated products with claims that are not permitted by the terms of their registration or are otherwise false or misleading, the EPA and states may be authorized to take enforcement action to prevent the sale or distribution of disinfectant products.

State and local enforcers also have the authority to prosecute false advertising cases, including relating to environmental marketing claims. Current and potential competitors may make similar claims, which may result in litigation and inquiries from state and federal regulators and governments.

Should we become subject to actions regarding our branding or product marketing, consumers may avoid purchasing products from us or seek alternatives, even if the basis for the claim is unfounded. Moreover, any regulatory or government enforcement actions may trigger class action lawsuits under state consumer protection laws.

Adverse publicity about these matters may discourage consumers from buying our products. The cost of defending against any such claims could be significant and we may incur substantial costs remediating product claims in labeling and advertising if we are unsuccessful in defending such actions. Any loss of confidence on the part of consumers in the truthfulness of our labeling, advertising or ingredient claims would be difficult and costly to overcome and may significantly reduce our brand value. Any of these events could adversely affect our reputation and brand and decrease our sales, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

False or misleading marketing claims concerning a product’s registration or its efficacy may also create the risk for challenges under federal or state law.

We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our reputation, financial condition, and liquidity if Grove is not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.

Selling consumer product goods and personal care products involves inherent legal and other risks, and there is increasing governmental scrutiny of and public awareness regarding product safety. Such products are highly regulated by numerous government agencies.

Some of the products we sell or manufacture expose us to product liability claims relating to personal injury or illness, death, or environmental or property damage, and can require product recalls or other actions. Third parties who sell products using our services also expose us to product liability claims. Although we maintain liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all. In addition, some of our agreements with our vendors and sellers do not indemnify us from product liability.

Adverse reactions, including illnesses, injury or death related to ingredients, allergens, or foreign material contamination in our products or other product safety incidents or efficacy failures with our products, or involving our suppliers, could result in the disruption or discontinuance of sales of these products or our relationships with such suppliers, or otherwise result in increased operating costs, regulatory enforcement actions (e.g., seizure), and harm to our reputation.

Shipment of adulterated, misbranded or expired products, even if inadvertent or the fault of a third-party supplier, can result in criminal or civil liability. Such incidents could also expose us to product liability, negligence or other lawsuits, including consumer class action lawsuits. Any claims brought against us may exceed or be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits. Any judgment against us that is more than our policy limits or not covered by our policies or not subject to insurance would have to be paid from our cash reserves, which would reduce our capital resources.

The occurrence of adverse reactions, ineffectiveness or other safety incidents associated with our products could also adversely affect the price and availability of affected ingredients or products, resulting in higher costs, disruptions in supply and a reduction in our sales. Furthermore, any safety, contamination, defects, or regulatory noncompliance issues, whether or not caused by our actions, could compel us, our suppliers, our retail or ecommerce customers, or our consumers, depending on the circumstances, to conduct a recall in accordance with requests from the FDA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, the USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, or other federal, state or local authorities. Product recalls could result in significant losses due to their costs, the destruction of product inventory, lost sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time and potential loss of existing retail or ecommerce partners or consumers, negative publicity and a potential negative impact on our ability to attract new consumers due to negative consumer experiences or because of an adverse impact on our brand and reputation. The costs of a recall could be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits.

Companies that sell consumer and personal care products have also been subject to targeted, large-scale tampering as well as to opportunistic, individual product tampering, and we, like any such company, could be a target for product tampering. Forms of tampering could include the introduction of foreign material, chemical contaminants and pathological organisms into products, as well as product substitution. Governmental regulations require companies like us to analyze, prepare and implement mitigation strategies specifically to address tampering designed to inflict widespread public health harm. If we do not adequately address the possibility, or any actual instance, of product tampering, we could face possible seizure or recall of our products and the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to a number of other laws and regulations, which could impact our business.

We are subject to a broad range of federal, state, local, and foreign laws and regulations intended to protect public and worker health and safety, natural resources, the environment and consumers. Our operations are subject to regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, the FDA, the CPSC, the USDA, the FTC, EPA, and by various other federal, state, local and foreign authorities regarding the manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, sale, order fulfillment, advertising, labeling, import and export of our products. In addition, we and our manufacturing partners are subject to additional regulatory requirements, including environmental, health and safety laws and regulations administered by the EPA, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety legislative and regulatory authorities and the National Labor Relations Board, covering such areas as discharges and emissions to air and water, the use, management, disposal and remediation of, and human exposure to, hazardous materials and wastes, and public and worker health and safety, and Current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements, or GMPs, enforced by the FDA.

In addition, as the provider of products with a subscription-based element, a variety of laws and regulations govern the ability of users to cancel subscriptions and auto-payment renewals. California’s automatic renewal law in particular has been the basis for both consumer class actions and government enforcement.

Violations of or liability under any of these laws and regulations may result in administrative, civil or criminal fines, penalties or sanctions against us, revocation or modification of applicable permits, licenses or authorizations, environmental, health and safety investigations or remedial activities, voluntary or involuntary product recalls, warning or untitled letters or cease and desist orders against operations that are not in

compliance, among other things. Such laws and regulations generally have become more stringent over time and may become more so in the future, and we may incur (directly, or indirectly through our manufacturing partners) material costs to comply with current or future laws and regulations or in any required product recalls. For example, in just the last year or so, California, New York, Illinois, Delaware, and Colorado all enacted more robust requirements for subscription programs.

Liabilities under, and/or costs of compliance, and the impacts on us of any

non-compliance,

with or investigations under any such laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. For example, the Consumer Protection Division of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with other county and city prosecutors, is currently investigating our automatic renewal practices, and the Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating our billing and automatic renewal practices. We may be subject to future claims under auto-payment renewal laws and regulations that could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, changes in the laws and regulations to which we are subject, or in the prevailing interpretations of such laws and regulations by courts and enforcement authorities, could impose significant limitations and require changes to our business, which may increase our compliance expenses, make our business more costly and less efficient to conduct, and compromise our growth strategy, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our products are also subject to state laws and regulations, such as California’s Proposition 65, or Prop 65, which requires a specific warning on any product that causes an exposure to a substance listed by the State of California as known to cause cancer or birth defects, unless the exposure is below the warning level. We have in the past been subject to lawsuits brought under Prop 65, and if we fail to comply with Prop 65 in the future, it may result in lawsuits and regulatory enforcement that could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Further, the inclusion of warnings on our products to comply with Prop 65 could also reduce overall consumption of our products or leave consumers with the perception (whether or not valid) that our products do not meet their health and wellness needs, all of which could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

These developments, depending on the outcome, could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes in existing laws or regulations or related official guidance, or the adoption of new laws or regulations or guidance, may increase our costs and otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The regulatory environment in which we operate has changed in the past and could change significantly and adversely in the future. For example, in December 2009, the FTC substantially revised its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, or “Endorsement Guides,” to eliminate a safe harbor principle that formerly recognized that advertisers could publish consumer testimonials that conveyed truthful but extraordinary results from using the advertiser’s product as long as the advertiser clearly and conspicuously disclosed that the endorser’s results were not typical. Similarly, in 2012, the FTC announced revisions to its Green Guides discussed above, which assist advertisers in avoiding the dissemination of false or deceptive environmental claims for their products. The Green Guides revisions introduced new and proscriptive guidance regarding advertisers’ use of product certifications and seals of approval, “recyclable” claims, “renewable materials” claims, “carbon offset” claims and other environmental benefit claims. In October 2021, California passed a new environmental marketing law banning recyclability claims unless a product and/or its packaging meets specifically enumerated benchmarks focused on the practical realities of the recycling process; the benchmarks, which have not yet been enumerated, may be more stringent than those currently imposed by the FTC’s Green Guides.

Although we strive to adapt our marketing efforts to evolving legal and regulatory requirements and related guidance, we may not always anticipate or timely identify changes in regulation or official guidance that could

impact our business, with the result that we could be subjected to litigation and enforcement actions that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Future changes in laws, regulations, and related official agency guidance, such as the Endorsement Guides and Green Guides (or state automatic renewal laws, discussed above), could also introduce new restrictions that impair our ability to market our products effectively and place us at a competitive disadvantage with competitors who, for example, depend less than we do on environmental marketing claims and social media influencer relationships.

Moreover, any change in laws, regulations or guidance relating to manufacturing, advertising, labeling or packaging for our products may lead to an increase in costs or interruptions in production, either of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. New or revised government laws, regulations or guidelines could result in additional compliance costs and, in the event of

non-compliance,

civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, withdrawals, recalls or seizures and confiscations, as well as potential criminal sanctions, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Failure by our network of retail and ecommerce partners, suppliers or manufacturers to comply with product safety, environmental or other laws and regulations, or with the specifications and requirements of our products, may disrupt our supply of products and adversely affect our business.

If our network of retail and ecommerce partners, suppliers or manufacturers fail to comply with environmental, health and safety or other laws and regulations, or face allegations of

non-compliance,

their operations may be disrupted and our reputation could be harmed. Additionally, our retail and ecommerce partners, suppliers and manufacturers are required to maintain the quality of our products and to comply with our standards and specifications. In the event of actual or alleged

non-compliance,

we might be forced to find alternative retail or ecommerce partners, suppliers or manufacturers and we may be subject to lawsuits and/or regulatory enforcement actions related to such

non-compliance

by the suppliers and manufacturers. As a result, our supply of products could be disrupted or our costs could increase, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The failure of any partner or manufacturer to produce products that conform to our standards could adversely affect our reputation in the marketplace and result in product recalls, product liability claims, government or third-party actions and economic loss. For example, a manufacturer’s failure to meet GMPs, could result in the delivery of a product that is subject to a product recall, product liability litigation, or government investigations and enforcement. Additionally, actions we may take to mitigate the impact of any disruption or potential disruption in our supply of materials or finished inventory, including increasing inventory in anticipation of a potential supply or production interruption, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our status as a public benefit corporation and a Certified B Corporation may not result in the benefits that we anticipate.

We are a public benefit corporation incorporated under Delaware law. As a public benefit corporation we are required to balance the financial interests of our stockholders with the best interests of those stakeholders materially affected by our conduct, including particularly those affected by the specific benefit purposes set forth in our Charter. In addition, there is no assurance that the expected positive impact from being a public benefit corporation will be realized. Accordingly, being a public benefit corporation and complying with our related obligations could negatively impact our ability to provide the highest possible return to our stockholders.

As a public benefit corporation, we are required to disclose to stockholders a report at least biennially on our overall public benefit performance and on our assessment of our success in achieving our specific public benefit purpose. If we are not timely or are unable to provide this report, or if the report is not viewed favorably by parties doing business with us or regulators or others reviewing our credentials, our reputation and status as a public benefit corporation may be harmed.

While not required by Delaware law or the terms of our Charter, we have elected to have our social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency assessed against the proprietary criteria established by an independent

non-profit

organization. As a result of this assessment, we have been designated as a “Certified B Corporation,” which refers to companies that are certified as meeting certain levels of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The standards for Certified B Corporation certification are set by an independent organization and may change over time. Currently, we are required to recertify as a Certified B Corporation once every three years, with our next certification required by October 20, 2023. Our reputation could be harmed if we lose our status as a Certified B Corporation, whether by our choice or by our failure to continue to meet the certification requirements, if that failure or change were to create a perception that we are more focused on financial performance and are no longer as committed to the values shared by Certified B Corporations. Likewise, our reputation could be harmed if our publicly reported Certified B Corporation score declines.

As a public benefit corporation, our duty to balance a variety of interests may result in actions that do not maximize stockholder value.

As a public benefit corporation, our board of directors has a duty to balance (i) the pecuniary interest of our stockholders, (ii) the best interests of those materially affected by our conduct and (iii) specific public benefits identified in our charter documents. In balancing these interests our board of directors may take actions that do not maximize stockholder value. Any benefits to stockholders resulting from our public benefit purposes may not materialize within the timeframe we expect or at all and may have negative effects. For example: we may choose to revise our policies in ways that we believe will be beneficial to our stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, employees and local communities, even though the changes may be costly; we may be influenced to pursue programs and services to demonstrate our commitment to the communities to which we serve and bringing ethically produced food to the table even though there is no immediate return to our stockholders; or in responding to a possible proposal to acquire the company, our board of directors may be influenced by the interests of our stakeholders, including farmers, suppliers, crew members and local communities, whose interests may be different from the interests of our stockholders.

We may be unable or slow to realize the benefits we expect from actions taken to benefit our stakeholders, including farmers, suppliers, crew members and local communities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

As a public benefit corporation, we may be subject to increased derivative litigation concerning our duty to balance stockholder and public benefit interests, the occurrence of which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

As a Delaware public benefit corporation, our stockholders (if they, individually or collectively, own at least 2% of our outstanding capital stock or shares having at least $2 million in market value (whichever is less)) are entitled to file a derivative lawsuit claiming that our directors failed to balance stockholder and public benefit interests. This potential liability does not exist for traditional corporations. Therefore, we may be subject to the possibility of increased derivative litigation, which would require the attention of management and, as a result, may adversely impact management’s ability to effectively execute our strategy. Any such derivative litigation may be costly and have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

We and our directors and executive officers may be subject to litigation for a variety of claims, which could harm our reputation and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In the ordinary course of business, we may face allegations, lawsuits, and regulatory inquiries, audits, and investigations regarding labor and employment, wage and hour, consumer protection, commercial, antitrust, alleged securities law violations or other investor claims, claims that our employees or independent contractors have wrongfully disclosed or we have wrongfully used proprietary information of our employees’ or independent

contractors’ former employers and other matters, data privacy, security, consumer protection, and intellectual property infringement, acquisitions, or business practices. The number and significance of these potential claims and disputes may increase as our business expands. Further, our general liability insurance may not cover all potential claims made against us or be sufficient to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. Any claim against us, regardless of its merit, could be costly, divert management’s attention and operational resources, and harm our reputation.

Our directors and executive officers may also be subject to litigation. The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions that are included in our amended and restated Charter, our amended and restated bylaws and indemnification agreements that we entered into with our directors and executive officers provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law and may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and executive officers for breach of their fiduciary duties. Such provisions may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and executive officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and other stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be harmed to the extent that we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our directors and executive officers as required by these indemnification provisions. We have obtained insurance policies under which, subject to the limitations of the policies, coverage is provided to our directors and executive officers against loss arising from claims made by reason of breach of fiduciary duty or other wrongful acts as a director or executive officer, including claims relating to public securities matters, and to us with respect to payments that may be made by us to these directors and executive officers pursuant to our indemnification obligations or otherwise as a matter of law. These insurance policies may not cover all potential claims made against our directors and executive officers, may not be available to us in the future at a reasonable rate and may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. As litigation is inherently unpredictable, we cannot assure you that any potential claims or disputes will not harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The results of regulatory proceedings, litigation, claims, and audits cannot be predicted with certainty, and determining reserves for pending litigation and other legal, regulatory and audit matters requires significant judgment. Regardless of the outcome of any litigation, the litigation itself can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.

Risks Relating to Ownership of Company Securities

The price of our Class A Common Stock and our warrants may be volatile.

The price of our Class A Common Stock and our warrants may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including:

•

changes in the industries in which we and our customers operate;

•

variations in our operating performance and the performance of our competitors in general;

•

material and adverse impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic on the markets and the broader global economy;

•

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly or annual results of operation;

•

publication of research reports by securities analysts about us or our competitors or our industry;

•

the public’s reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements, and our filings with the SEC;

•

our failure or the failure of our competitors to meet analysts’ projections or guidance that we or our competitors may give to the market;

•

additions and departures of key personnel;

•

changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;

•

commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;

•

changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;

•

the volume of shares of Class A Common Stock available for public sale;

•

sales of shares of Class A Common Stock by the PIPE Investors; and

•

general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices and general inflationary pressures, foreign currency fluctuations, international tariffs, social, political, and economic risks, and acts of war or terrorism.

These market and industry factors may materially reduce the market price of Class A Common Stock and our warrants regardless of our operating performance.

Warrants are or may become exercisable for shares of our common stock, and additional shares of our common stock may become issuable, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.

Outstanding Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 14,750,000 shares of Class A Common Stock may become exercisable in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement governing those securities with an exercise price of $11.50 per share. However, there is no guarantee that the Public Warrants or the Private Placement Warrants will ever be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants may expire worthless. See below risk factor, “

The Public Warrants may never be in the money, and they may expire worthless and the terms of the Public Warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment.

”

Outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of 923,857 shares of Class B Common Stock may become exercisable in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreements governing those securities, the forms of which have been filed as Exhibit 4.5 through Exhibit 4.12 of the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 23, 2022. The exercise prices of the Legacy Grove Warrants are set forth in such warrant agreements, as subsequently adjusted pursuant to the Business Combination.

Outstanding Backstop Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 3,875,028 shares of Class A Common Stock are exercisable in accordance with the terms of the Backstop Subscription Agreement governing those securities with an exercise price of $0.01 per share.

Pursuant to the Backstop Subscription Agreement, we may be required to issue additional shares of Class A Common Stock to the Backstop Investor if the volume weighted average price of our Class A Common Stock is less than $10.00 during the 10 trading days commencing on the first trading day after our first quarterly earnings call for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2022 (the “Additional Shares”).

To the extent any of the Public Warrants, Private Placement Warrants, Legacy Grove Warrants or Backstop Warrants are exercised, and/or the Additional Shares are issued, additional shares of Class A Common Stock will be issued or become issuable, as applicable, which will or could result in dilution to the holders of Class A Common Stock and an increase in the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such warrants may be exercised or shares be issued, as applicable, could adversely affect the prevailing market prices of Class A Common Stock.

The Public Warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the

Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision or correct any mistake, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of Public Warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Public Warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the Warrants, convert the Warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period, or decrease the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant.

We may redeem your unexpired Public Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your Public Warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations, and the like) for any 20 trading days within a

30-trading-day

period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding Public Warrants could force you to: (i) exercise your Public Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (ii) sell your Public Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Public Warrants; or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Public Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your Public Warrants.

In addition, we may redeem your Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that holders will be able to exercise their Public Warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A Common Stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of Class A Common Stock. The value received upon exercise of the Public Warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their Public Warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the Public Warrants. None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us, subject to certain circumstances, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.

Our dual-class structure may impact the stock price of Class A Common Stock.

We cannot predict whether our dual-class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of Class A Common Stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indices. In July 2017, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones announced that they would cease to allow most newly-public companies utilizing dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Beginning in 2017, MSCI, a leading stock index provider, opened public consultations on their treatment of

no-vote

and multi-class structures and temporarily barred new multi-class listings from certain of its indices; however, in October 2018, MSCI announced its decision to include equity securities “with unequal voting structures” in its indices and to launch a new index that specifically includes voting rights in its eligibility criteria. Under the announced policies, our dual-class capital structure makes us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices, and as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track those indices will not invest in Class A Common Stock. These policies are still fairly new and it is unclear what effect, if any, they will have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included. Because of our dual-class structure, we will likely be excluded from certain of these indices and we cannot assure

you that other stock indices will not take similar actions. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indices, exclusion from stock indices would likely preclude investment by many of these funds and could make shares of Class A Common Stock less attractive to other investors. As a result, the market price of shares of Class A Common Stock could be adversely affected.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We will remain an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act until the earliest of (a) December 31, 2026, (b) the last date of our fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (c) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC with at least $700.0 million of outstanding securities held by

non-affiliates

or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in

non-convertible

debt securities during the previous three years. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to

non-emerging

growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

We may incur debt or assume contingent or other liabilities or dilute our stockholders in connection with acquisitions or strategic alliances.

We may issue equity securities to pay for future acquisitions or strategic alliances, which could be dilutive to existing stockholders. We may also incur debt or assume contingent or other liabilities in connection with acquisitions and strategic alliances, which could impose restrictions on our business operations and harm our operating results. Further, any additional equity financing, debt financing, or credit facility used for such acquisitions may not be on favorable terms, and any such financing or facility may place restrictions on our business. In addition, to the extent that the economic benefits associated with any of our acquisitions diminish in the future, we may incur incremental operating losses, and we may be required to record additional write downs of goodwill, intangible assets or other assets associated with such acquisitions, which would adversely affect our operating results.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for Class A Common Stock to decline.

The sale of shares of Class A Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of Class A Common Stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

As any restrictions on resale end, the market price of the Class A Common Stock could drop significantly if the holders of these shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of Class A Common Stock or other securities.

In addition, Class A Common Stock reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans will become eligible for sale in the public market once those shares are issued, subject to provisions relating to various vesting agreements,

lock-up

provisions, and, in some cases, limitations on volume and manner of sale applicable to affiliates under Rule 144, as applicable. The aggregate number of shares of Class A Common Stock reserved for future issuance under our Incentive Equity Plan is 24,555,528. The Compensation Committee of the Board may determine the exact number of shares to be reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans at its discretion. We will file one or more registration statements on Form

S-8

under the Securities Act to register shares of Class A Common Stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Class A Common Stock issued pursuant to our Equity Incentive Plan. Any such Form

S-8

registration statements will automatically become effective upon filing. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statements will be available for sale in the open market.

The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Currently, Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants are publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbols GROV and GROV.WS, respectively. We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NYSE. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum number of holders of our securities (400 public holders). If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an

over-the-counter

market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

•

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

•

reduced liquidity for our securities;

•

a determination that our Class A Common Stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A Common Stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

•

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

•

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Since Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants are listed on the NYSE, they are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. If we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

Because there are no current plans to pay cash dividends on Class A Common Stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell your Class A Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We intend to retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and there are no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on shares of the Class A Common Stock will be at the sole discretion of our Board. Our Board may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax, and regulatory restrictions, implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us and such other factors as our Board may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is limited by covenants of our existing and outstanding indebtedness and may be limited by covenants of any future indebtedness we incur. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in Class A Common Stock unless you sell the Class A Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock or our sector, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for Class A Common Stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about the us or our business. We will not control these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We will incur significant increased expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.

Following the consummation of the Business Combination, the Company now faces increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company that Grove did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including the requirements of Section 404, to the extent applicable to the Company, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the PCAOB and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements may increase costs and make certain activities more time consuming. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance.

Delaware law and our governing documents contain certain provisions, including anti-takeover provisions, that limit the ability of stockholders to take certain actions and could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.

Our governing documents and the DGCL contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by the Board and therefore depress the trading price of Class A Common Stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the current members of the Board or taking other corporate actions. Among other things, our governing documents include provisions regarding:

•

a classified board of directors;

•

the dual-class structure that provides for Class B Common Stock being entitled to ten votes per share;

•

the ability of the Board to issue shares of preferred stock, including “blank check” preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;

•

the limitation of the liability of, and the indemnification of, our directors and officers;

•

the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may only be called by a majority of the entire Board, the Chairman of the Board, or our Chief Executive Officer, which could delay the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;

•

controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of Board and stockholder meetings;

•

the ability of the Board to amend the Bylaws, which may allow the Board to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend the Bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and

•

advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to the Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, which could preclude stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders and delay changes in the Board, and also may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in the Board or management, that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests.

Our Charter designates a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, stockholders, employees, or agents.

Our Charter provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer, employee, or agent of the Company to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Charter or Bylaws (as either may be amended from time to time), or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The forgoing provisions do not apply to any claims arising under the Securities Act and, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States will be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any action asserting a claim arising under the Securities Act.

These choice of forum provisions in our Charter may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our Charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

MARKET INFORMATION FOR COMMON STOCK AND DIVIDEND POLICY

Market Information

Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants are currently listed on the NYSE under the symbols “GROV” and “GROV.WS,” respectively. Prior to the consummation of the Merger, VGAC II Class A ordinary shares and VGAC II warrants were listed on the NYSE under the symbols “VGIIU,” “VGII,” and “VGIIWS,” respectively. As of July 14, 2022, there were 457 holders of record of Class A Common Stock and 2 holders of record of our Public Warrants.

Dividend Policy

We have not paid any cash dividends on Class A Common Stock or the Warrants to date. The Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) may from time to time consider whether or not to institute a dividend policy. It is our present intention to retain any earnings for use in our business operations and accordingly, we do not anticipate the Board declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition. The payment of any cash dividends will be within the discretion of our Board. Further, our ability to declare dividends will also be limited by restrictive covenants contained in our debt agreements.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Incentive Equity Plan and ESPP

On June 14, 2022, at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of VGAC II (the “Shareholder Meeting”), the shareholders of VGAC II considered and approved the Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc. 2022 Equity and Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Equity Plan”) and the Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc. Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”). The Incentive Equity Plan and the ESPP became effective on the Closing Date.

The Incentive Equity Plan reserves for issuance 24,555,528 shares of Class A Common Stock. Additionally, the Incentive Equity Plan contains a provision, pursuant to which, commencing with the first day of each calendar year beginning in 2023, the aggregate number of shares of Class A Common Stock available under the Incentive Equity Plan shall be increased annually until (and including) the calendar year ending December 31, 2032, by a number equal to the lesser of (x) 5% of the number of shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding on December 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year and (y) an amount determined by the Board.

The ESPP reserves for issuance 3,274,070 shares of Class A Common Stock. The ESPP provides that the number of shares reserved and available for sale thereunder will automatically increase on the first day of each fiscal year, beginning immediately following the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023, and continuing until (and including) the fiscal year ending December 31, 2032, with such annual increase equal to the lesser of (i) 3,274,070 shares, (ii) 1% of the number of shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding on December 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year, and (iii) an amount determined by the Board.

UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Introduction

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation

S-X

as amended by the final rule, Release

33-10786

“Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses” and presents the combination of the historical financial statements of Virgin Group Acquisition Corp. II (“

VGAC II”

) and Grove Collaborative, Inc. (“

Grove”

), adjusted to give effect to the Mergers and other related events contemplated by the Merger Agreement. VGAC II and Grove shall collectively be referred to herein as the “Companies.” The Companies, after giving effect to the Mergers, shall be referred to herein as “New Grove.”

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of March 31, 2022 combines the historical unaudited condensed balance sheet of VGAC II as of March 31, 2022 with the historical unaudited condensed balance sheet of Grove as of March 31, 2022 on a pro forma basis as if the Mergers and the other events contemplated by the Merger Agreement, summarized below, had been consummated on March 31, 2022.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 combines the historical unaudited condensed statement of operations of VGAC II for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the historical unaudited condensed statement of operations of Grove for the three months ended March 31, 2022 on a pro forma basis as if the Merger and other events contemplated by the Merger Agreement, summarized below, had been consummated on January 1, 2021.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 combines the historical audited statement of operations of VGAC II for the period from January 13, 2021 (date of inception) through December 31, 2021 and the historical audited statement of operations of Grove for the year ended December 31, 2021 on a pro forma basis as if the Mergers and other events contemplated by the Merger Agreement, summarized below, had been consummated on January 1, 2021.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was derived from and should be read in conjunction with the following historical financial statements and the accompanying notes:

•

the (a) historical audited condensed financial statements of VGAC II as of December 31, 2021 and for the period from January 13, 2021 (inception) to December 31, 2021, included in this registration statement and (b) historical unaudited condensed financial statements of VGAC II as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2022 included in this registration statement;

•

the (a) historical audited financial statements of Grove as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2020 and 2021 included in this registration statement, and (b) historical unaudited condensed financial statements of Grove as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2022 included in this registration statement; and

•

other information relating to Grove and VGAC II included in this registration statement.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements have been presented for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily reflect what New Grove’s financial condition or results of operations would have been had the Mergers occurred on the dates indicated. Further, the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information also may not be useful in predicting the future financial condition and results of operations of New Grove. The actual financial position and results of operations may differ significantly from the pro forma amounts reflected herein due to a variety of factors. The unaudited pro forma adjustments represent management’s estimates based on information available as of the date of these unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements and are subject to change as additional information becomes available and analyses are performed.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information should also be read together with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and other financial information included elsewhere in this registration statement.

Description of the Transactions

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement (as entered into on December 7, 2021 and amended and restated on March 31, 2022), the following transactions occurred:

(i) On June 15, 2022, one day prior to the Closing Date, VGAC II became a Delaware public benefit corporation (the “

Domestication”

) and, in connection with the Domestication,

(A)

VGAC II’s name was changed to “Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc.” (“

New Grove”

(B)

each then-issued and outstanding Class A ordinary share of VGAC II converted automatically into one share of Class A common stock of New Grove (the “

New Grove Class

A Common Stock”

(C)

each then-issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share of VGAC II converted automatically into one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock,

(D)

each then-issued and outstanding warrant to purchase Class A ordinary shares of VGAC II (“

Public Warrant”

) converted automatically into one warrant to purchase one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock, and

(E)

each then-issued and outstanding units that had not previously separated into the underlying Class A ordinary shares and underlying Public Warrants were canceled and entitled the holder thereof to one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock and

one-fifth

of one warrant to purchase one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock.

(ii) On the Closing Date, VGAC II Merger Sub I merged with and into Grove (the “

Initial Merger”

), with Grove as the surviving company in the merger and, after giving effect to such merger, continuing as a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Grove (the “

Initial Surviving Corporation”

), and immediately following the Initial Merger, and as part of the same overall transaction as the Initial Merger, the Initial Surviving Corporation merged with and into VGAC II Merger Sub II (the “

Final Merger”

and, together with the Initial Merger, the “

Mergers”

), with VGAC II Merger Sub II as the surviving company in the Final Merger and, after giving effect to the Final Merger, continuing as a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Grove. The Mergers and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement other than the Domestication are hereinafter referred to as the “Business Combination.”

(iii) Upon the consummation of the Business Combination, Grove equity holders received or have the right to receive shares of class B common stock of New Grove (the “

New Grove Class

B Common Stock”

), as set forth below, at a deemed value of $10.00 per share after giving effect to the exchange ratio as determined pursuant to the Merger Agreement (“

Exchange Ratio”

). Accordingly, based on the Exchange Ratio of approximately 1.18, 133,390,456 shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock were immediately issued and outstanding (excluding those shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock that certain holders elected to be converted to New Grove Class A Common Stock at the time of issuance), 31,332,454 shares were reserved for the potential future issuance of New Grove Class B Common Stock upon the exercise of New Grove stock options, the vesting of New Grove restricted stock units, and the exercise of New Grove warrants, based on the following transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement:

(A)

the conversion of each issued and outstanding share of Grove’s common stock (other than the Backstop Tranche 1 Shares) and Grove’s preferred stock (on an

as-converted

to Grove common stock basis) (other than dissenting shares) into (i) a number of shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock as determined pursuant to the Exchange Ratio and (ii) a number of restricted shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock that will vest upon the achievement of certain earnout thresholds prior to the tenth anniversary of Closing (as further described below, the “

Earnout Shares”

);

(B)

the conversion of all outstanding Grove warrants, excluding 275,631 warrants to purchase Grove common stock that were net settled prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, into (i) warrants exercisable for shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock with the same terms except for the number of shares exercisable and the exercise price, each of which was adjusted using the Exchange Ratio, and (ii) a number of Earnout Shares;

(C)

the conversion of all outstanding vested and unvested Grove stock options into (i) New Grove stock options exercisable for shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock with the same terms except for the number of shares exercisable and the exercise price, each of which was adjusted using the Exchange Ratio, and (ii) a number of Earnout Shares;

(D)

the conversion of all outstanding Grove restricted stock units into (i) New Grove restricted stock units with the same terms that each represent the right to receive the number of shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock adjusted using the Exchange Ratio and (ii) a number of Earnout Shares; and

(E)

the conversion of each issued and outstanding Backstop Tranche 1 Share (as defined below) into the right to receive a number of shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock equal to the Exchange Ratio (which were immediately exchanged on a

one-for-one

basis for shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock).

Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to elections made shortly before the Closing, certain holders of Grove common stock and Grove preferred stock elected to receive, and at the Closing were issued, an aggregate of 5,711,098 shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock on a

share-for-share

basis in lieu of the New Grove Class B Common Stock they would have otherwise been entitled to receive.

The holders of New Grove Class A Common Stock have one vote per share and the holders of New Grove Class B Common Stock have ten votes per share. The New Grove Class B Common Stock is subject to automatic conversion to New Grove Class A Common Stock upon any transfers (except for certain permitted transfers).

Other Related Events in Connection with the Business Combination

Other related events that took place in connection with the Business Combination are summarized below:

Backstop Subscription Agreement

On March 31, 2022, VGAC II entered into a subscription agreement (the “Backstop Subscription Agreement”) with Corvina Holdings Limited, an affiliate of the Sponsor (the “Backstop Investor”) and Grove, pursuant to which, among other things:

(i)

The Backstop Investor purchased, and Grove sold to the Backstop Investor, on the date of the Subscription Agreement, a number of shares of Grove common stock equal to the quotient of $27,500,000 and $11.70, for an aggregate purchase price of $27,500,000 (such shares of Grove common stock, together with any other shares of Grove common stock issued to the Backstop Investor prior to the closing of the Business Combination, the “Backstop Tranche 1 Shares”).

(ii)	The Backstop Investor subscribed for and purchased, on the Closing Date, 1,671,524 shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share (the “Backstop Tranche 2 Shares”), for aggregate gross proceeds of $16,715,240.

As further described in this registration statement, the Backstop Subscription Agreement also provides:

(i)	Immediately following the closing of the Business Combination:

(A)

each share of New Grove Class B Common Stock issued to the Backstop Investor pursuant to the Merger Agreement as consideration for the Backstop Tranche 1 Shares was exchanged for one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock (the “Backstop Share Exchange”), and

(B)

New Grove issued to the Backstop Investor warrants to purchase 3,875,028 shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock (each warrant exercisable to purchase one share of New Grove Class A Common Stock for $0.01) (such warrants, the “Backstop Warrants”). Such warrants shall be exercisable by Subscriber at any time for a period of five years from the date of issuance.

(ii)

For additional shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock to be issued to the Backstop Investor if the volume weighted average price of New Grove Class A Common Stock is less than $10.00 during the 10 trading days commencing on the first trading day after New Grove’s first quarterly earnings call for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2022 (“Additional Shares”). The Backstop Investor shall be entitled to receive additional VGAC Class A Common Shares equal to the lesser of (i) the product of (x) the sum of (1) the VGAC Class B Common Shares issued to Subscriber at the Business Combination Closing pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement as consideration for the Tranche 1 Shares and (2) the Tranche 2 Shares, if any, multiplied by (y) a fraction, (A) the numerator of which is $10.00 (as adjusted for any stock split, reverse stock split or similar adjustment following the Business Combination Closing) minus the Measurement Period VWAP, and (B) the denominator of which is the Measurement Period VWAP and (ii) the number of Post-Combination VGAC Shares outstanding as of immediately following the Business Combination Closing.

On June 16, 2022, New Grove exchanged or issued the following:

•

2,338,352 shares of Backstop Tranche 1 shares were exchanged for 2,750,000 shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock, which was immediately exchanged on a

one-for-one

basis for shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock.

•

Backstop Investor purchased 1,671,524 shares of Backstop Tranche 2 Shares for aggregate gross proceeds in an amount equal to $16,715,524; and

•

Backstop Investor received 3,875,028 Backstop Warrants.

PIPE Subscription Agreements

On December 7, 2021, VGAC II entered into the Subscription Agreements with respect to the PIPE Financing. Pursuant to the Subscription Agreements, certain accredited and strategic investors have purchased 8,707,500 shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock (“PIPE Shares”), for a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate purchase price of $87,075,000, of which only 8,607,500 shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock have been issued for aggregate proceeds of $86,075,000. The Company expects to issue the balance of these shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock and collect the remaining proceeds of the PIPE Financing on a subsequent date.

Grove Earnout Shares

At the closing of the Merger, Grove shareholders (including Grove stock option, restricted stock unit, and warrant holders) (other than the Backstop Investor) were issued 13,999,960 shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock (“

Grove Earnout Shares”

). Such shares are subject to vesting and forfeitures based upon certain triggering events that can occur during a period of ten years following the closing of the Business Combination (the “

Earnout Period”

). The triggering events that will result in the vesting of the Grove Earnout Shares during the Earnout Period are the following:

•

7,000,173 shares earned if the share price of New Grove Class A Common Stock is greater than or equal to $12.50 over any 20 trading days within any consecutive 30 trading day period during the Earnout Period;

•

6,999,787 shares earned, including the shares subject to the $12.50 threshold if not previously vested, if the share price of New Grove Class A Common Stock is greater than or equal to $15.00 over any 20 trading days within any 30 consecutive trading day period during the Earnout Period; and

•

If, during the Earnout Period, there is a Change of Control Transaction (as defined in the Merger Agreement), then all remaining triggering events that have not previously occurred and the related vesting conditions shall be deemed to have occurred.

If, at any time prior to the expiration of the Earnout Period, any holder of Grove Earnout Shares forfeits all or any portion of such holder’s converted Grove options and restricted stock units, all unvested Grove Earnout Shares issued to such holder with respect to any such awards shall be automatically forfeited to New Grove and distributed to the other holders of Grove securities as of immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination on a pro rata basis.

Grove Class A Share Issuance

Immediately after the Closing, New Grove issued an aggregate of 32,300 shares (“

Employee Stock Grants”

) of New Grove Class A Common Stock, net of taxes, to certain of its employees of the Company’s fulfillment centers, none of which are officers or directors of New Grove or any of its predecessors.

Accounting Treatment of the Business Combination

The Merger will be accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with GAAP. Under this method of accounting, VGAC II will be treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the financial statements of New Grove will represent a continuation of the financial statements of Grove with the Business Combination treated as the equivalent of Grove issuing stock for the net assets of VGAC II, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of VGAC II will be stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded. Operations prior to the Business Combination will be those of Grove in future reports of New Grove.

Grove has been determined to be the accounting acquirer based on evaluation of the following facts and circumstances:

•

Current Grove stockholders will have a relative majority of the voting power of New Grove;

•

The New Grove Board will have nine members (such members currently consisting of eight members and one vacant board seat) of whom one individual shall be designated by VGAC II and of whom eight individuals shall be designated by Grove;

•

Grove’s senior management will comprise the senior management roles of New Grove and be responsible for the

day-to-day

operations;

•

New Grove will assume the Grove name; and

•

The intended strategy and operations of New Grove will continue Grove’s current strategy.

Grove is in process of finalizing the accounting related to the Business Combination and the treatment related to the:

•

Grove Earnout Shares—The Grove Earnout Shares, excluding those allocated to the unvested Grove options and restricted stock units, are expected to be accounted for as a long-term liability classified as equity-linked contracts that are earned upon achieving the triggering events, which include events that are not indexed to the common stock of New Grove. The Company has concluded that liability classification for the Grove Earnout Shares is appropriate and as such, the liability will be recognized at fair value upon the Merger closing and remeasured in future reporting periods through the statement of operations. The preliminary fair value of the Grove Earnout Shares was determined using the most reliable information currently available. The Grove Earnout Shares attributed to the unvested Grove options and restricted stock units are expected to be accounted for as stock-based compensation due to the continued service requirement and will be equity- classified. Any compensation expense related to such Grove Earnout Shares will be recognized over the respective service periods in future reporting periods and has not been reflected in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations.

•

Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants—The Company has concluded that liability classification for the Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants is appropriate and as such, the liability will be recognized at fair value upon the Merger closing and remeasured in future reporting periods through the statement of operations.

•

Direct and Incremental Transaction Costs—Estimates are necessary to finalize the allocation of direct and incremental transaction costs between instruments issued or assumed in the Business Combination. The Company has preliminarily allocated such costs on a relative fair value basis between the VGAC II ordinary shares, PIPE Shares, Public Warrants, Private Placement Warrants, Grove Earnout Shares, Downside Protection feature and Backstop Warrants based on estimates that are available. Direct and incremental transaction costs allocated to equity-classified instruments have been preliminarily recorded within equity in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements. Direct and incremental transaction costs allocated to liability-classified equity instruments were expensed in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements.

•

Backstop Subscription Agreement—The Company has determined there is a freestanding instrument related to the Downside Protection feature under the Backstop Subscription Agreement. Such feature is required to be bifurcated and classified as a liability. A separate valuation has not yet been completed and therefore the fair value of this freestanding instrument has not been reflected in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements. The Company has preliminarily classified the entire proceeds from the Tranche 1 financing within the equity section of the pro forma balance sheet as of March 31, 2022.

The final accounting related to the Business Combination, including the Grove Earnout Shares, Public Warrants, Private Placement Warrants, Backstop Subscription Agreement shares, Backstop Warrants and transaction costs will be finalized by New Grove and reported in the Company’s financial statement as of and for the six months ended June 30, 2022.

Basis of Pro Forma Presentation

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation

S-X.

The adjustments in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information have been identified and presented to provide relevant information in accordance with GAAP necessary for an illustrative understanding of New Grove upon consummation of the Business Combination. Assumptions and estimates underlying the unaudited pro forma adjustments set forth in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information are described in the accompanying notes.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been presented for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the operating results and financial position that would have been achieved had the Business Combination occurred on the dates indicated, and does not reflect adjustments for any anticipated synergies, operating efficiencies, tax savings, or cost savings. The cash proceeds remaining after the consummation of the Business Combination and the other related events contemplated by the Merger Agreement are expected to be used for general corporate purposes. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information does not purport to project the future operating results or financial position of New Grove following the completion of the Business Combination. The unaudited pro forma adjustments represent management’s estimates based on information available as of the date of these unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information and are subject to change as additional information becomes available and analyses are performed. VGAC II and Grove have not had any historical relationship prior to the Business Combination. Accordingly, no pro forma adjustments were required to eliminate activities between the companies.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information contained herein reflects VGAC II stockholders’ approval of the Merger on June 14, 2022, and that VGAC II Class A ordinary shareholders holding 39,672,045 shares elected to redeem their shares prior to the Closing and the purchase of 1,671,524 shares of

Backstop Tranche 2 Shares by the Backstop Investor. At the closing of the Merger, there were 29,412,877 outstanding shares of New Grove Class A Common Stock and 133,390,456 outstanding shares of New Grove Class B Common Stock, after giving effect to the Employee Stock Grants and certain employees’ elections to receive New Grove Class A Common Stock in lieu of New Grove Class B Common Stock.

The following summarizes the New Grove Class A Common Stock and New Grove Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately after the Merger (after giving effect to the Employee Stock Grants):


	Number of Shares		% Ownership
Former VGAC II shareholders (1)(2)		667,955		0.4	%
Sponsor		9,972,500		6.1	%
PIPE Investors		8,607,500		5.3	%
Grove Shareholders (3)		127,851,594		78.6	%
Employee Stock Grants		32,300		—	%
Tranche 2 Backstop Shares		1,671,524		1.0	%
Grove Earnout		13,999,960		8.6	%

Total shares of New Grove Common Stock outstanding at closing of the Merger		162,803,333		100.0	%

(1)	The Exchange Ratio is calculated as of the close of the Merger. The number of shares outstanding for both VGAC II and Grove are calculated as of the close of the Merger.

(2)	Includes 90,000 of Class B ordinary shares which were transferred from the Sponsor to three independent directors, each receiving 30,000 Class B ordinary shares.

(3)	Includes Backstop Tranche 1 Shares issued in accordance with the Backstop Agreement.

The following summarizes the New Grove Class A Common Stock and the New Grove Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately after the Business Combination, inclusive of the dilutive effects of the Grove Earnout, Public and Private Placement Warrants, Backstop Warrants, and the rollover of Grove equity awards, after giving effect to the Exchange Ratio (after giving effect to the Employee Stock Grants):


	Number of Shares		% Ownership
Former VGAC II shareholders (1)(2)		667,955		0.3	%
Sponsor		9,972,500		4.7	%
PIPE Investors		8,607,500		4.0	%
Grove Shareholders (3)		127,851,594		60.2	%
Employee Stock Grants		32,300		—	%
Tranche 2 Backstop Shares		1,671,524		0.8	%
Grove Earnout		13,999,960		6.6	%
Private Placement Warrants		6,700,000		3.1	%
Public Warrants		8,050,000		3.8	%
Grove equity holders (options)		24,691,735		11.6	%
Grove equity holders (RSUs)		5,716,862		2.7	%
Grove equity holders (warrants)		923,857		0.4	%
Backstop Warrants		3,875,028		1.8	%

Pro forma shares outstanding, diluted		212,760,815		100.0	%

(1)	The Exchange Ratio is calculated as of the close of the Mergers. The number of shares outstanding for both VGAC II and Grove are calculated as of the close of the Mergers.


ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS			ii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			iii
SUMMARY			1
RISK FACTORS			9
USE OF PROCEEDS			44
DETERMINATION OF OFFERING PRICE			45
MARKET INFORMATION FOR COMMON STOCK AND DIVIDEND POLICY			46
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION			47
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS			67
BUSINESS			92
MANAGEMENT			115
EXECUTIVE AND DIRECTOR COMPENSATION			120
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS			125
PRINCIPAL SECURITYHOLDERS			130
SELLING HOLDERS			135
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES			143
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			157
SECURITIES ACT RESTRICTIONS ON RESALE OF SECURITIES			160
MATERIAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS FOR HOLDERS			161
LEGAL MATTERS			166
EXPERTS			167
CHANGE IN INDEPENDENT AUDITOR			168
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION			169


	Virgin Group II (Historical)		Grove (Historical)		Transaction Accounting Adjustments (Note 3)			Notes	Pro Forma Combined
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	80	$	74,428					$	147,664
						402,566		A
						86,075		B
						(14,088	)	C
						(21,392	)	D
						16,715		M
						(396,720	)	F
Inventory, net		—		50,559