SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” or “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions.
We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, factors and assumptions described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, regarding, among other things:
These risks are not exhaustive. Other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K may include additional factors that could harm our business and financial performance. We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment where new risk factors may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements.
You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and operating results. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this annual report. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments.
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In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. While we believe that information provides a reasonable basis for these statements, that information may be limited or incomplete. Our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely on these statements.
Unless the context indicates otherwise, as used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the terms “Company,” “Cytek,” “Registrant,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Cytek Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
“Cytek,” “SpectroFlo,” “Tonbo Biosciences,” “RedFluor,” “VioletFluor,” “Ghost Dye,” “Ready-Set-Flow!,” and “DxP Athena” are registered trademarks in the United States. “SpectroFlo” is also a registered trademark in Australia, the European Union, China and Canada. “ESP,” “Enhanced Small Particle,” “cFluor,” “FSP,” “Full Spectrum Profiling,” “Viadye,” “Spectrolearn,” Spectrosort,” and “Northern Lights” have pending trademark applications in the United States. All other service marks, trademarks and tradenames appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other companies. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and tradenames referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and tradenames.
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We are a leading cell analysis solutions company advancing the next generation of cell analysis tools by leveraging novel technical approaches. Our goal is to become the premier cell analysis company through continued innovation that facilitates scientific advances in biomedical research and clinical applications. We believe our core instruments, the Aurora and Northern Lights systems, are the first full spectrum flow cytometers able to deliver high-resolution, high-content and high-sensitivity cell analysis by utilizing the full spectrum of fluorescence signatures from multiple lasers to distinguish fluorescent tags on single cells (“Full Spectrum Profiling” or “FSP”). Our novel approach harnesses the power of information within the entire spectrum of a fluorescent signal to achieve a higher level of multiplexing with exquisite sensitivity. Our patented FSP technology optimizes sensitivity and accuracy through its novel optical and electronic designs that utilize an innovative method of light detection and distribution. Our FSP platform includes instruments, reagents, software and services to provide a comprehensive and integrated suite of solutions for our customers. Since our first U.S. commercial launch in mid-2017 through December 31, 2021, we have sold and deployed over 1,000 instruments— primarily comprised of our Aurora and Northern Lights systems—to customers around the world, including the largest pharmaceutical companies, over 150 biopharma companies, leading academic research centers, and clinical research organizations (“CROs”). In June 2021, we commercially launched the Aurora cell sorter (“Aurora CS”), which leverages our FSP technology to further broaden our potential applications across cell analysis.
Biological systems are highly complex, and scientists are challenged by the multitude of questions that remain unanswered. Analysis at the single-cell level is essential to understand these complex systems. Identifying the correct cell in the context of a given biological question can have profound implications for drug development and health care decisions. It is essential to correlate information derived from multiple cell analysis approaches and to translate what is known at the gene level to the actual cell function. There is growing demand for deep content through high dimensional cell analysis and for solutions that can provide a complete picture of cellular biological processes and interactions. To achieve this, scientists need to phenotype and isolate rare events or unique populations down to the single-cell through highly resolvable multi-dimensional cell analysis. While flow cytometry is a widely used tool for single-cell analysis, conventional flow cytometry, mass cytometry and early approaches to spectral flow cytometry technologies have historically been challenged due to limited dimensionality, sub-optimal resolution, low throughput, high cost for performance and/or significant technical expertise required to operate systems.
Our FSP platform addresses the inherent limitations of other technologies by providing a higher density of information with greater sensitivity, more flexibility and increased efficiency, all at a lower cost for performance. Our patented FSP technology is designed to optimize sensitivity and accuracy through its novel optical and electronic designs that utilize an innovative method of light detection and distribution to a specifically selected number and type of detectors. This patented optics design enables researchers to effectively collect the full range of light emissions in an extremely compact space, resulting in higher resolution. Our platform also provides higher content by enabling development of highly complex assays with more than 40 different colors (individual fluorochromes) and thus supporting more than 40 biomarkers, all accessible within just a single tube.
Our solutions have enabled researchers to make significant scientific advances in key areas of medical discovery (such as oncology, immunology and infectious diseases) in addition to empowering improved downstream cell analysis with complementary cell analysis technologies (such as next-generation sequencing (“NGS”)). We believe that our innovative FSP and targeted cell isolation technology has the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and have a profound impact on the understanding of cell biology, immunotherapy, and targeted therapeutic approaches (personalized medicine). Further, there has been a meaningful acceleration in the rate of publications generated to showcase our technology, with over 385 peer-reviewed articles published, including many prominent journals, across a wide range of applications including oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, immunotherapy and immuno-oncology.