Business description of Corsair-Gaming-Inc from last 10-k form

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

For the transition period from                      to                     

Commission File Number 001-39533

Corsair Gaming, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

47100 Bayside Pkwy

Fremont, CA 94538

(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)

(510) 657-8747

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code

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

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act.  Yes ☐ No ☒

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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 of the Exchange Act.

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 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes ☐ No ☒

The registrant was not a public company as of the last business day of its most recently completed second fiscal quarter and therefore, cannot calculate the aggregate market value of its voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of such date.

As of February 26, 2021, 91.9 million shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, were issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, or the Proxy Statement, to be filed within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, are incorporated by reference in Part III hereof. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Proxy Statement is not deemed to be filed as part hereof.

NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) that reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are included throughout this Annual Report and relate to matters such as our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources and other financial and operating information. We have used the words “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “foreseeable,” “future,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “will” and similar terms and phrases to identify the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global, regional or local economic, business, competitive, market, regulatory and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that these factors include but are not limited to those described under Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities laws.

Item 1. Business.

Overview

Corsair Gaming, Inc. (also referred to in this document as “Corsair,” “we,” the “company,” or the “registrant”) is a leading global provider and innovator of high-performance gear for gamers and content creators. Our industry-leading gaming gear helps digital athletes, from casual gamers to committed professionals, perform at their peak across PC or console platforms, and our streaming gear enables creators to produce studio-quality content to share with friends or to broadcast to millions of fans. We design and sell high-performance gaming and streaming peripherals, components and systems to enthusiasts globally.

We have served the market for over two decades and many of our products maintain a number one U.S. market share position, according to data from NPD Group and internal estimates. We have built a passionate base of loyal customers due to our brand authenticity and reputation as a provider of innovative and finely engineered products that deliver an uncompromising level of performance.

Our solution is the most complete suite of gear among our major competitors and addresses the most critical components for both game performance and streaming. Our product offering is enhanced by our two proprietary software platforms: iCUE for gamers and Elgato’s streaming suite for content creators. These software platforms provide unified, intuitive performance, and aesthetic control and customization across their respective product families. We group our products into two categories (segments):

We believe our brand, scale and global reach provide significant competitive advantages and will allow us to continue to capture a growing share of the rapidly expanding gaming and streaming market, estimated at over $36 billion in 2019 by Jon Peddie Research. We intend to continue to grow by offering market-leading gear to gamers and content creators, expanding the breadth of our product suite to meet the needs of our customers, growing our worldwide market share, continuing to invest in marketing, product innovation and sales, and selectively pursuing accretive acquisitions.

We leverage our scale and operational expertise to acquire and integrate complementary brands and businesses into our portfolio, completing six acquisitions since 2018. The 2018 acquisition of Elgato allowed us to enter the streaming gear market, the 2019 acquisition of Origin PC allowed us to offer custom-built gaming PCs, and the 2019 acquisition of SCUF Gaming allowed us to enter the console gear market with a leading brand of controllers. In 2020, we acquired EpocCam to enhance the Elgato streaming camera software offering, and Gamer Sensei to offer gaming coaching services to the wide audience of gamers looking to improve their skills. In February 2021, we acquired Visuals by Impulse to provide creative services to streamers looking to professionalize the look of their broadcast.

Our Industry

Since traditional arcade games of the 1970s, gaming has evolved into the mainstream and taken a central place in the global entertainment landscape. There were an estimated 2.8 billion gamers worldwide across all devices spending more than $174 billion on games in 2020, an amount which has grown at a 12.2% compound annual growth rate over the last two years, according to Newzoo. According to Activate Research, gaming today represents approximately 11% of all American consumer internet and media activity, surpassing activities such as social media and messaging.

There are a number of drivers we believe will continue to fuel the gaming market’s expansion. Technology continues to improve game quality. There is increasing availability and variety of high quality, interactive game content as game publishers use cutting-edge game development engines to rapidly create graphically sophisticated and engaging virtual worlds, many of which can support massive multiplayer experiences. Audiences are progressively engaging more with gaming content across platforms, with 71% of millennial gamers in the United States watching gaming video content on platforms like YouTube and Twitch for an average of almost six hours per week, according to a 2019 survey by Nielsen. Finally, there are decreasing barriers to gaming, where according to Newzoo, in 2020, there were 2.6 billion gamers using mobile devices, and the console and PC platforms represent a natural upgrade path for those seeking a more immersive or competitive gaming environment.

In parallel, digital content creation today has democratized, with content sharing, video-first communication and voice-chat being the norm among creators, viewers and gamers. Gaming content creation and streaming is now ubiquitous, with over 40 million active gaming channels on YouTube in 2020 and over 27 billion live streaming hours watched across Twitch, Mixer, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming in 2020. The proliferation of gaming content is attracting new gamers and increasing the performance focus of existing gamers. Beyond success in gaming, applications for streaming gear are proliferating across use cases including podcasting, video blogging, interactive fitness, remote learning, and work-from-home, among others. While emerging, these applications represent a promising avenue for continued expansion of the streaming gear market opportunity.

We believe that the growth in gaming and streaming has enhanced demand for our gear by inspiring gamers and creators to reach for the next level of performance and content quality. Competitive gaming rewards speed, precision and reliability. As in other sports, specialized high-performance gear such as gaming mice, keyboards, headsets and performance controllers allow digital athletes to perform at their best. Modern games also require significant processing power to render high-resolution graphics, and reward the speed and precision of user inputs, driving demand for powerful gaming components and systems. Further, in a world where the ability to create content is democratized and competition for viewer engagement is greater than ever, content creators, particularly streamers, are increasingly seeking ways to maximize the quality of their video capture and broadcasting, which requires specialized high-performance gear.

Competitive gamer performance needs are being met with specialized gear, such as ultra-precise optical sensors in gaming mice, very low actuation distances in gaming keyboard switches, customizable rear paddles on performance controllers, liquid cooling solutions for high-performance processors and overclocked DRAM modules to process graphically complex games. Similarly, the broadcast quality expected of streamers has increased significantly and a traditional webcam does not produce the professional quality audiences expect of content. Dedicated capture cards are required to record and broadcast video at high resolution, high fidelity microphones are required to ensure clear sound quality, studio lighting and green screens improve production quality, and dedicated software is required to integrate gear and optimize the streaming experience, preventing lag and fidelity loss. Further, gamers striving for peak performance have heightened requirements for ergonomics and durability, and gamers and streamers often wish to express their personal style or brand with their choice of gear, including a range of appealing design options and opportunities for customization. Finally, gear integration has become an important feature, where gamers and streamers need all of their gear to

integrate harmoniously and need the ability to fine-tune that gear, which we believe is an experience best delivered with a software platform that seamlessly integrates and unifies control across devices. Our two proprietary software ecosystems cover the broadest range of gaming peripherals, components and streaming gear and are unmatched by anything else in the market.