As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 27, 2021

Registration No. 333-        

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Sterling Check Corp.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1 State Street Plaza

24^th Floor

New York, New York 10004

1 (800) 853-3228

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Joshua Peirez

Chief Executive Officer

1 State Street Plaza

24^th Floor

New York, New York 10004

1 (800) 853-3228

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

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, 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 of the Exchange Act. (Check One):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has not elected 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.  ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell, and it is not soliciting an offer to buy, these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Subject to Completion. Dated August 27, 2021.

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

             Shares

Sterling Check Corp.

Common Stock

This is the initial public offering of Sterling Check Corp. We are selling              shares of our common stock and the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are offering              shares of our common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares of common stock by the selling stockholders.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $     and $     per share of our common stock. We have applied to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “STER.”

The underwriters have an option for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to a maximum of          additional shares of common stock from        .

Following this offering, our Sponsor (as defined herein) will own        % of the voting power in the company (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of common stock from         ). As a result, we expect to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and, as such, may elect to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company.”

Investing in our common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 21 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

Delivery of the shares of common stock is expected to be made on or about                 , 2021.

The date of this prospectus is                 , 2021.

Sterling provides the foundation of trust and safety our clients need to create great environments for their most essential resource, people. We believe everyone has the right to feel safe.    

Comprehensive Suite of Tech-Enabled Services Criminal Record Checks Civil Court Records Motor Vehicle Records Executive Investigations Credit Reports Social Media Screens Liens, Judgments, &Bankruptcies Education Verifications Employment Verifications License Verifications Reference Checks Sanctions, Risk&Compliance Identity-asa- Service Fingerprinting Drug&Health Screening Random&Post Accident Drug Testing Testing NewHire Forms & Onboarding Form I-9 &E-Verify Workforce Monitoring Medical License Monitoring Driver Monitoring ContingentWorkforce Solution Sex O.ender Registries Covid-19

Robust Platform Integrations Over 75 integrations with leading providers in the HCM and ATS ecosystem 50+% of revenue is integrated Highly Automated Fulfillment Process 90% of U.S. criminal screens automated 70% of criminal screens completed within the 1st hour and 90% within the 1st day Over 95% of Revenue in the Cloud 99.9% platform availability Localized services Rapid product launches Scalable Seamless User Experience Mobile-friendly, intuitive, easy-to-use client and candidate interfaces Actionable, real-time, data-driven insights Proprietary and Cloud-Based Technology Platform

A Market Leader with Significant Scale and Breadth 40K+ Clients2 75M+ Screens annually1 240+ Countries and territories where Sterling has screening capabilities 50%+ Of the Fortune 100 45% of the Fortune 5002 9 Years Average tenure for top 100 clients2 57 Average client NPS in 20203 1For the last twelve months ended June 30, 2021 2As of June 30, 2021 3NPS refers to net promoter score, which we use to measure our clients’ brand loyalty and satisfaction with our products and services. For additional information, see “Market and Industry Data.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Neither we, the selling stockholders, nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide you with any information other than that included in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us. We do not take any responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any information that others may give you. Offers to sell, and solicitations of offers to buy, shares of our common stock are being made only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since such date.

No action is being taken in any jurisdiction outside the United States to permit a public offering of our common stock. Persons who come into possession of this prospectus in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restriction as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus applicable to those jurisdictions. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest).”

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

This prospectus includes estimates regarding market and industry data. Unless otherwise indicated, information concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations, market position, market opportunity and market size, are based on our management’s knowledge and experience in the markets in which we operate, together with currently available information obtained from various sources, including publicly available information, industry reports (including a report by Acclaro Growth Partners, Inc. (“Acclaro Growth Partners”) that we commissioned in July 2021) and publications, surveys, our clients, trade and business organizations and other contacts in the markets in which we operate. In particular, in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, we conducted a survey of our approximately 5,000 employees located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Australia, to which we received over 2,700 responses. We designed this survey in accordance with what we believe are best practices for conducting a survey. In particular, we asked six questions and provided a scale of four responses from Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, to Strongly Disagree. This survey was voluntary and responses were kept confidential to lower the risk of untruthful answers. We believe that we made reasonable assumptions in designing our surveys.

In presenting this information, we have made certain assumptions that we believe to be reasonable based on such data and other similar sources and on our knowledge of, and our experience to date in, the markets in which we operate. While we believe the estimated market and industry data included in this prospectus are generally reliable, such information, which is derived in part from management’s estimates and beliefs, is inherently uncertain and imprecise. Market and industry data are subject to change and may be limited by the availability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other limitations inherent in any statistical survey of such data. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of the future performance of the markets in which we operate and our future performance are necessarily subject to uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by third parties and by us. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such market share data or any other such estimates.

This prospectus also includes references to our client net promoter score (“NPS”), which we use to measure our clients’ brand loyalty and satisfaction with our products and services, and which can range from -100 to +100 based on the question “How likely are you to recommend Sterling to a friend or colleague?” Responses were solicited on a scale ranging from 0, Not Likely, to 10, Very Likely. Our

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NPS is based on over 1,200 respondents from approximately 700 clients who responded to the survey question, between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. Our NPS was calculated by using the standard methodology of subtracting the percentage of clients who responded that they are not likely to recommend Sterling (6 or lower) from the percentage of clients who responded that they are very likely to recommend Sterling (9 or 10). The NPS gives no weight to respondents who declined to answer the survey question. This method is substantially consistent with how we believe businesses across our industry and other industries typically calculate their NPS.

While we believe such information is reliable, neither we nor the underwriters can guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information, and neither we nor the underwriters have independently verified any third-party information and data from our internal research has not been verified by any independent source.

CERTAIN TRADEMARKS, TRADE NAMES AND SERVICE MARKS

This prospectus includes trademarks and service marks owned by us. This prospectus also contains trademarks, trade names and service marks of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks, trade names and service marks referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ^®, ^TM or ^SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

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BASIS OF PRESENTATION

As used in this prospectus, unless the context otherwise requires, references to “Sterling,” “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” and similar references refer to Sterling Check Corp. (formerly Sterling Ultimate Parent Corp.).

This prospectus includes references to our “gross retention rate.” Gross retention rate is a percentage, where the numerator is prior year revenues less the revenue impact from accounts considered lost, and the denominator is prior year revenues. The revenue impact is calculated as revenue decline of lost accounts in the current year from the prior year for the months after which they were considered lost. Therefore, the attrition impact of clients lost in the current year may be partially captured in both the current and the following years’ retention rates depending on the point during the year at which they are lost. This calculation excludes our Asia Pacific revenues, which account for less than approximately 6% of annual revenues in each of the periods presented. Our gross retention rate does not factor in revenue impact, whether growth or decline, attributable to existing clients or the incremental revenue impact of new clients.

Numerical figures included in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in various tables may not be arithmetic aggregations of the figures that precede them. In addition, we round certain percentages presented in this prospectus to the nearest whole number. As a result, figures expressed as percentages in the text may not total 100% or, when aggregated, may not be the arithmetic aggregation of the percentages that precede them.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

This prospectus contains “non-GAAP financial measures,” which are financial measures that are not calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”).

Specifically, we make use of the non-GAAP financial measures “Adjusted EBITDA,” “Adjusted EBITDA Margin,” “Adjusted Net Income,” and “Adjusted Earnings Per Share” in evaluating our past results and future prospects. For the definitions of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income and a reconciliation to net income, their most directly comparable financial measure presented in accordance with GAAP, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Non-GAAP Financial Measures.” Adjusted EBITDA Margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue for the applicable period. Adjusted Earnings Per Share is defined as Adjusted Net Income divided by diluted weighted average shares for the applicable period.

We present Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin because we believe they assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. Management and our board of directors use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to evaluate the factors and trends affecting our business to assess our financial performance and the effectiveness of our business strategies, in preparing and approving our annual budget and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures, and believe they are helpful in highlighting trends in our core operating performance. Further, our executive incentive compensation is based in part on components of Adjusted EBITDA.

We present Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share because we believe they assist investors and analysts in comparing our operating performance across reporting periods on a

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consistent basis by excluding certain material non-cash items and unusual items that we do not expect to continue at the same level in the future, including the amortization of assets resulting from purchase accounting and normalizing our tax rate. Management and our board of directors use Adjusted Net Income to evaluate the factors and trends affecting our business to assess our financial performance and in preparing and approving our annual budget and believe it is helpful in highlighting trends in our core operating performance.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider such measures either in isolation or as substitutes for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations include the following:

We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share only as supplemental information.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties, together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. In addition to the risks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic that are specifically described below, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may also have the effect of significantly heightening many of the other risks associated with our business and an investment in our common stock, including the other risks described in this prospectus. The occurrence of any of the following risks, or additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

Regulatory and Legal Risks

We could face liability based on the nature of our services and the information we report or fail to report in our background screening, which may not be covered or fully covered by insurance.

We face potential liability from individuals, classes of individuals, clients or regulatory bodies for claims based on the nature, content or accuracy of our services and the information we use and report and depending on our compliance with the FCRA, U.S. state consumer reporting agency laws or regulations, foreign regulations and applicable employment laws. Our potential exposure to lawsuits or government investigations may increase depending in part on our clients’ compliance with these laws and regulations and applicable employment laws in their procurement and use of our screening reports as part of their hiring process, which is generally outside of our control. Our potential liability includes claims of non-compliance with the FCRA and other laws and regulations governing our services, as well as other claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright, patent or trademark infringement. In some cases we may be subject to strict liability.

We also face potential liability from our clients, and possibly third parties, in the event we fail to report information, particularly criminal records or other potentially negative information. For example, should we fail to identify and report an available and reportable criminal felony record which our client hired us to report, or should we fail to correctly report such information to our client, then we may face potential liability in the event that the employer hires such candidate, later discovers such record, terminates such employee and is in turn sued by such employee. We may also face liability in the event the employer hires such candidate and that employee then causes personal or monetary injury or damage to the employer, its other employees or other third parties. From time to time, we have been subject to claims and lawsuits by current and potential employees of our clients, alleging that we provided to our clients inaccurate or improper information that negatively affected the clients’ hiring decisions. Although the resolutions of these lawsuits have not had a material adverse effect on us to date, the costs of such claims, including settlement amounts or punitive damages, could be material in the future, could cause adverse publicity and reputational damage, could divert the attention of our management, could subject us to equitable remedies relating to the operation of our business and provision of services and result in significant legal expenses, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and adverse publicity, and could result in the loss of existing clients and make it difficult to attract new clients. Insurance may not be adequate to cover us for all risks to which we are exposed or may not be available to cover these claims at all. Any imposition of liability, particularly liability that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of our insurance coverage, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial

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condition or results of operations. Additionally, we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage, including any applicable deductibles, copays and other policy limits, will continue to be available to us at a reasonable cost or will be adequate to cover any claims or lawsuits we may face in the future or that we will be able to renew our insurance policies on favorable terms, or at all.

We are subject to significant governmental regulation, and changes in law or regulation, or a failure to correctly identify, interpret, comply with and reconcile the laws and regulations to which we are subject, could result in substantial liability or materially adversely affect our product and service offerings, revenue or profitability.

Because we are a consumer reporting agency relating to many of our services and we deal primarily in searching and reporting public and non-public consumer information and records, including criminal records, employment and education history, credit history, driving records and drug screening results, we are subject to extensive, evolving and often complex governmental laws and regulations, such as the FCRA, the Drivers’ Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”), state consumer reporting agency laws as well as state licensing and registration requirements, including as a consumer reporting agency and a private investigator, and various other foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations, including the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agency Act and case law relating to the FCRA and such other law and regulations. The restrictions and process requirements largely relate to what may be reported about an individual, when, to whom, and for what purposes, and how the subjects of consumer reports are to be treated. Compliance with these laws and regulations requires significant expense and resources, which could increase significantly as these laws and regulations evolve. Additionally, our identity verification business could also be adversely impacted if we fail to comply with the rules and regulations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”). Our failure to comply with FBI regulations could result in loss of our status as an FBI channeler, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or growth strategy.

Further, as discussed below under “Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Data Privacy—Failure to comply with privacy, data protection and cybersecurity laws and regulations could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations or financial condition, or have other material adverse consequences,” we are subject to laws that restrict access to, use and disclosure of certain types of personal information and regulate the protection, storage and disposal of such information. We are also subject to similar laws and regulations in other jurisdictions. Identifying, interpreting and complying with foreign laws and regulations is particularly difficult due to the broad range of such foreign laws and regulations, as well as uncertainties with respect to the applicability and interpretation of such laws and regulations. Failure to comply with these domestic and foreign laws and regulations, to the extent applicable, may harm our reputation and result in the imposition of civil and criminal penalties and fines, private litigation, restrictions on our operations, and breach of contract or indemnification claims by our clients and vendors including data suppliers, which may not be covered by insurance. Further, laws and regulations governing investment migration programs are subject to regulatory interpretation. Should it be determined that these programs violate any laws or regulations, our Sterling Diligence business, specifically with respect to our Citizenship-by-Investment diligence solutions, could be adversely impacted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

In addition to the challenges of identifying, interpreting and complying with such laws and regulations, and changes to such laws and regulations over time, we face the challenge of reconciling the many potential conflicts between such laws and regulations among the various domestic and international jurisdictions that may be involved in the provision of our services. These challenges may require us to incur additional compliance costs, and could also increase our exposure to potential lawsuits, fines and penalties. A failure to correctly identify, interpret, comply with and reconcile the laws and regulations to which we are subject could result in substantial liability and could have a material

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adverse effect on us. The expansion of our business into areas other than employment screening may require compliance with additional laws and regulations.

Changes to law, regulation, or administrative enforcement and interpretations or other prohibitions could materially adversely affect our offerings, revenue, or profitability. For example, numerous states have implemented “ban the box” and “fair chance” hiring laws that prohibit employers from inquiring or using a candidate’s criminal history to make employment decisions. Many states have in recent years amended their “ban the box” and “fair chance” laws to increase the restrictions on the use of such information. If the U.S. federal government, a foreign government or additional states were to pass regulations precluding or limiting the use of pre-employment screening in hiring decisions, our ability to conduct our current business in the applicable jurisdiction could be materially reduced or eliminated.

Our international operations subject us to a broad range of laws and regulations that may be difficult to manage and could expose us to numerous risks that, individually or together, could materially and adversely affect our business.

In 2020, we performed screening services in over 240 countries and territories worldwide. We expect to continue to provide screening services in a large number of countries and territories worldwide and we intend to expand our international operations. Privacy and other laws and regulations governing our operations in these jurisdictions may not be fully developed, may vary significantly, are subject to change from time to time, and may sometimes conflict or be subject to multiple interpretations. Identifying, interpreting and complying with these laws and regulations is difficult, and we cannot be certain we have done so or will correctly do so. As a result, we rely on outside counsel or business personnel in interpreting or applying local laws and regulations, which generally is limited, or on our clients’ or local vendors’ knowledge of such laws and regulations. In addition, a significant portion of our operations, including screening fulfillment, are conducted through subsidiaries in Mumbai, India and Manila, the Philippines.

Our international operations, including our screening fulfillment operations in India and the Philippines, may subject us to additional risks and challenges, particularly with respect to:

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Operating and expanding our business internationally could require us to incur additional compliance costs, which may be significant, or could subject us to substantial liability, including civil and criminal penalties and fines, restrictions on our operations, and breach of contract or indemnification claims by our clients and data suppliers, for failure to adequately comply in any or all of these jurisdictions. Any such cost or liability could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to comply with economic sanctions, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and similar laws associated primarily with our activities outside of the United States could subject us to penalties and other material adverse consequences.

We are subject to various trade restrictions, including economic sanctions and export controls, imposed by governments around the world with jurisdiction over our operations. Such trade controls prohibit or restrict transactions involving certain persons and certain designated countries or territories, including Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea and the Crimea Region of Ukraine. We maintain policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions and export controls, including those imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Her Majesty’s Treasury and the EU or EU member states. As part of our business, we engage in limited interactions involving certain countries that are targets of economic sanctions, including obtaining or verifying information that is located in such countries. We believe that such interactions are conducted in compliance with applicable trade controls in accordance with relevant legal exemptions and authorizations. However, our employees, contractors, and agents, and companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, may take actions in violation of laws and regulations and our policies for which we may be ultimately responsible and our policies and procedures may not be adequate in protecting us from liability. Any such violation could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, client relationships, business, results of operations and prospects.

We operate a global business and may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We are subject to anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we operate, including the U.S.

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Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act and the U.K. Bribery Act. These laws generally prohibit companies and their employees and third-party intermediaries from corruptly promising, authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments of anything of value to foreign government officials, political parties and private-sector recipients for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, directing business to any person, or securing any improper advantage. Many anti-corruption laws also prohibit commercial bribery (i.e., bribery involving private parties) and soliciting and receiving bribes. In addition, U.S. public companies are required to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly represent their transactions and to have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. In many foreign countries, including countries in which we may conduct business, it may be a local custom that businesses engage in practices that are prohibited by the FCPA or other applicable laws and regulations. We face significant risks if we or any of our directors, officers, employees, agents or other partners or representatives fail to comply with these laws, and governmental authorities in the United States and elsewhere could seek to impose substantial civil or criminal fines and penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

We have implemented an anti-corruption compliance program and policies, procedures and training designed to foster compliance with these laws. However, our employees, contractors, and agents, and companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, may take actions in violation of our policies or applicable law. Such actions could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and prospects.

Violation of applicable trade controls, anti-corruption laws, or anti-money laundering laws could result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, loss of export privileges, severe criminal or civil sanctions, disgorgement of profits, injunctions, suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracts and other remedial measures, any of which could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, responding to any enforcement action may result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. Further, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements, including changes that may affect existing regulatory exceptions, and we cannot predict the manner in which existing laws and regulations might be administered or interpreted.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Security and Data Privacy

We collect, host, store, transfer, disclose, use, secure and retain and dispose of personal information. Security breaches may result in the disclosure of confidential information and improper use of information may negatively affect our business and harm our reputation.

Our products and services involve the collection and transmission of confidential and sensitive information of our clients and their existing and potential employees, including personal information such as: social security numbers and their foreign equivalents, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, addresses, identity verification information (such as government issued identification or passport numbers) and other sensitive personal and business information, which subjects us to potential liability from clients, consumers, data subjects, third parties and government authorities relating to claims of legal or regulatory non-compliance, defamation, invasion of privacy, false light, negligence, intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation and/or other related causes of action. A security breach in our facilities, platforms, computer networks, systems or databases (or those of our third-party service providers) or employee error or misconduct could expose us to a risk of loss of, or unauthorized access to and misappropriation or compromise of, this personal information, which could result in adverse publicity and harm our business and reputation and result in a loss of clients, system

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interruptions or the imposition of fines or other penalties by governmental agencies and claims by our clients and their candidates and employees. Further, the global security environment grows increasingly challenging as attacks on information technology systems continue to grow in frequency, complexity and sophistication and our systems may be targeted and vulnerable to physical break-ins, computer viruses, ransomware, loss or destruction of data, other malicious code, or unauthorized access or attacks by hackers, employee malfeasance and similar intrusions. Outside parties may also attempt to fraudulently induce employees to take actions, including the release of proprietary business or personal information or to make fraudulent payments through illegal electronic spamming, phishing, spear phishing or other tactics. Certain of these malicious parties may be state-sponsored and supported by significant financial and technological resources. Although this is a global problem, it may affect us more than other businesses because malevolent parties may focus on the amount and type of personal and business information that we collect, host, store, transfer, process, disclose, use, secure, retain and dispose of. If unauthorized parties gain access to our products or services or our platforms, computer networks, systems or databases, or if authorized parties utilize our products or services for non-permissible purposes, they may be able to steal, publish, delete or modify the confidential and third-party personal information in our control. Any inability to protect the security, integrity and privacy of our data and electronic transactions, or any misuse of our information services by our clients, employees or hackers, could cause significant harm to our business and reputation and result in significant liability. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased risk that we may experience cybersecurity related incidents as a result of our employees, service providers and third parties working remotely on less secure systems. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently, are increasingly complex and sophisticated and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time and generally are not discovered until after they have been launched against or infiltrated a target. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

An actual or perceived breach of our security could have one or more of the following material and adverse effects:

We rely on a variety of security measures, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for our processing, transmission and storage of personal information and other confidential information. We also rely on third-party service providers to process some of our data and any failure by such third parties to prevent or mitigate security breaches or improper access to, or disclosure of, such information could have adverse consequences for us similar to an incident directly on our systems. Although none of the data or cybersecurity incidents that we have encountered to date have materially affected us, we cannot assure that we or our third-party service providers will not experience any future

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security breaches, cyber-attacks or unauthorized disclosures, particularly given the continuously evolving nature of tools and methods used by hackers and cyber criminals. Our information technology systems may be vulnerable to computer viruses or physical or electronic intrusions that our security measures may not detect.

Furthermore, federal and state regulators and many federal and state laws and regulations require notice of certain data security breaches that involve personal information, which, if applicable, could lead to widespread negative publicity, which may cause our clients to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences in connection with investigating, mitigating, remediating, eliminating, and putting in place additional measures designed to prevent future actual or perceived security incidents, as well as in connection with complying with any notification or other obligations resulting from any security incidents. These costs may include, but are not limited to, retaining the services of cybersecurity vendors and service providers, compliance costs arising out of existing and future cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations and costs related to maintaining redundant networks, data backups and other damage-mitigation measures. While we maintain insurance coverage that, subject to policy terms and conditions, is designed to cover losses or claims that may arise in connection with certain aspects of data and cyber risks, such insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover all losses or all types of claims that may arise. Furthermore, we cannot be certain that insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or at all, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim.

If we are unable to fully protect the security and privacy of our data and electronic transactions, including through updates to our products and applications, or if we or our third-party service providers are unable to prevent any data security breach, incident, unauthorized access, and/or misuse of our information by our clients, employees, vendors, or hackers, it could result in significant liability (including litigation and regulatory actions and fines), cause lasting harm to our brand and reputation and cause us to lose existing clients and fail to win new clients.

Failure to comply with privacy, data protection and cybersecurity laws and regulations could have a materially adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations or financial condition, or have other material adverse consequences.

The collection, storage, hosting, transfer, processing, disclosure, use, security and retention and destruction of personal information required to provide our products and services is subject to federal, state and foreign privacy, data and consumer protection and cybersecurity laws. These laws, which are not uniform, generally do one or more of the following: regulate the collection, storage, hosting, transfer (including in some cases, the transfer outside the country of collection), processing, disclosure, use, security and retention and destruction of personal information; require notice to individuals of privacy practices; and give individuals certain rights with respect to their personal information. A growing trend of laws and regulations in this area is to provide for mandatory consumer notification to affected individuals, clients, data protection authorities and/or other regulators in the event of a data breach, and further expansion of requirements is possible. Further, if our practices or products are perceived to constitute an invasion of privacy, we may be subject to increased scrutiny and public criticism, litigation, and reputational harm, which could disrupt our business and expose us to liability. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information among us and our subsidiaries. The GDPR, the U.K. data protection regime (“U.K. GDPR”) consisting primarily of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, effective as of January 1, 2021, and the UK Data Protection Act 2018, as amended on January 1, 2021, which supplements the UK General Data Protection Regulation, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in the United States (“HIPAA”), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) are among some of the more comprehensive of these laws.

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The scope and interpretation of data privacy and cybersecurity regulations continues to evolve, and we believe that the adoption of increasingly restrictive regulations in this area is likely in the near future internationally and within the U.S. at both state and federal levels. For example, the CCPA, which came into effect on January 1, 2020, requires companies that collect personal information about California residents to make new disclosures to those residents about their data collection, use and sharing practices, allows residents to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties, and provides a new cause of action for data breaches. Additionally, although not effective until January 1, 2023, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which expands upon the CCPA, was passed on November 3, 2020. The CCPA requires (and the CPRA will require) covered companies to, among other things, provide new disclosures to California consumers, and affords such consumers new privacy rights such as the ability to opt-out of certain sales of personal information and expanded rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is collected, used and shared. The CCPA exempts much of the data that is covered by FCRA and DPPA and, therefore, much of our data is not subject to the CCPA. However, information we hold about individual residents of California that is not subject to FCRA and DPPA would be subject to the CCPA. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for security breaches that may increase security breach litigation. Further, Virginia enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“CDPA”), another comprehensive state privacy law, which will also be effective January 1, 2023. The CCPA, CPRA, and CDPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability, particularly in the event of a data breach, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, including how we use personal information, our financial condition, and the results of our operations or prospects. There are also laws and regulations governing the collection and use of biometric information, such as fingerprints and face prints. For example, Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) applies to the collection and use of “biometric identifiers” and “biometric information” which include finger and face prints. A business required to comply with BIPA is not permitted to sell, lease, trade or otherwise profit from biometric identifiers or biometric information it collects, and is also under obligations to have a written policy with respect to the retention and destruction of all biometric identifiers and biometric information; ensure that it informs the subject of the collection and the purpose of the collection and obtains consent for such collection; and obtain consent for any disclosure of biometric identifiers or biometric information. Individuals are afforded a private right of action under BIPA and may recover statutory damages equal to the greater of $1,000 or actual damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. Several class action lawsuits have been brought under BIPA, as the statute is broad and still being interpreted by the courts. Additionally, a number of other proposals exist for new federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed, could increase our potential liability, increase our compliance costs and materially adversely affect our business. To the extent that regulation of data privacy and cybersecurity continues to increase, we may incur additional compliance costs and may be exposed to increased noncompliance risk.

Both the GDPR and the U.K. GDPR impose stringent operational requirements for entities processing personal information including requirements to provide detailed disclosures about how personal information is processed, demonstrate an appropriate legal basis and grant significant rights for data subjects. The GDPR, national implementing legislation in European Economic Area (“EEA”) member states, and the UK GDPR impose a strict data protection compliance regime including: providing detailed disclosures about how personal data is collected and processed (in a concise, intelligible and easily accessible form); demonstrating that an appropriate legal basis is in place or otherwise exists to justify data processing activities; granting rights for data subjects in regard to their personal data (including the right to access, to be “forgotten” and the right to data portability), imposing an obligation to notify data protection regulators or supervisory authorities (and in certain cases, affected individuals) of significant data breaches; maintaining a record of data processing; and complying with the principle of accountability and the obligation to demonstrate compliance through policies, procedures, training and audit. In addition, both regimes impose significant penalties for

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non-compliance. In particular, under the GDPR/U.K. GDPR, fines of up to 20 million euros / £17.5 million or up to 4% of the annual global revenue of the noncompliant company, whichever is greater, could be imposed for violations of certain of the GDPR/U.K. GDPR requirements. Such penalties are in addition to any civil litigation claims by data subjects (which may result in significant compensation or damages liabilities), potential regulatory investigations, reputational damage, consent orders, orders to cease/change the way we process or transfer personal information, enforcement notices, compulsory audits, resolution agreements, requirements to take particular actions with respect to training, policies or other activities.

Complying with these laws and requirements, including the enhanced obligations imposed by the GDPR/U.K. GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA and BIPA may result in significant costs to our business and require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, cease offering certain products and services, and incur substantial costs and potential liability in an effort to comply with such laws and regulation. While the GDPR applies uniformly across the EU, each EU member state is permitted to issue nation-specific data protection legislation, which has created inconsistencies on a country-by-country basis. Moreover, Brexit (as defined below) has created further uncertainty and could result in the application of new data privacy and protection laws and standards to our operations in the United Kingdom, our handling of personal data of users located in the United Kingdom, and transfers of personal data between the EU and the United Kingdom. Today, U.K. GDPR largely mirrors the GDPR. Reflecting this, on June 28, 2021, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision which provides for the free transfer of personal data from the EU to the United Kingdom. In its decision, the European Commission included a sunset clause, which provides that it will automatically expire four years from its entry into force subject to renewal only if the United Kingdom continues to ensure an adequate level of data protection. In announcing the decision, it was further noted that there will be close monitoring of the United Kingdom system as it evolves and that the European Commission may intervene at any time if the level of data protection in the United Kingdom deviates from the level of protection in place at the time of the decision. If the United Kingdom does not retain its positive adequacy decision from the EU, we may be required to implement new processes and put new agreements in place, such as standard contractual clauses, to govern any transfers of personal data from the EU to the United Kingdom. In addition, Brexit and the subsequent implementation of the U.K. GDPR will expose us to two parallel data protection regimes, each of which potentially authorizes similar significant fines and other potentially divergent enforcement actions for certain violations. On July 16, 2020, the European Court of Justice invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, a mechanism under which personal data could be transferred from the EEA to U.S. entities that had self-certified under the Privacy Shield Framework. The court also called into question the Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”), another lawful mechanism for cross-border transfers of personal data, noting adequate safeguards must be met for SCCs to be valid. Any unauthorized disclosure of personal information could also be expensive to defend, damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, enforcement actions and investigations by regulatory authorities related to data security incidents and privacy violations continue to increase. The future enactment of more restrictive laws, rules or regulations and/or future enforcement actions or investigations could have a materially adverse impact on us through increased costs or restrictions on our businesses and noncompliance could result in significant regulatory penalties and legal liability and damage our reputation. Due to the substantial number of state, local and international jurisdictions in which we operate, there also is a risk that we may be unable to adequately monitor actual or proposed changes in, or the interpretation of, the laws or governmental regulations of such U.S. states and localities. Although we make reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, our interpretations and such measures may have been or may prove to be insufficient or incorrect, and any delay in our compliance with changes in such laws or governmental regulations could result in potential fines, penalties, or other sanctions for non-compliance. In addition, data security events and concerns about privacy abuses by other companies are changing consumer and social expectations for enhanced privacy and data protection. Any failure or perceived failure by us or

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any other third parties with whom we do business to comply with these laws, rules, regulations, and standards, or with other obligations (including contractual obligations) to which we or they may be or may become subject, may result in actions against us or them by governmental entities, private claims and litigations, fines, penalties, or other liabilities or result in orders or consent decrees forcing us or them to modify our or their business practices. Additionally, changes in these laws and requirements, including limitations on information permitted to be used in employment-related screenings, could limit our clients’ uses of personal information and could result in reduced demand for our products and services.

If a third party asserts that we are infringing its intellectual property, whether successful or not, it could subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation or expensive licenses, and our business may be harmed.

Third parties may assert patent and other intellectual property infringement claims against us in the form of lawsuits, letters or other forms of communication. If a third party successfully asserts a claim that we are infringing its proprietary rights, then royalty or licensing agreements might not be available on terms we find acceptable or at all. As currently pending patent applications are not publicly available, we cannot anticipate all such claims or know with certainty whether our technology infringes the intellectual property rights of third parties. These claims, whether or not successful, could require significant management time and attention; result in costly and time-consuming litigation and the payment of substantial damages; require us to expend additional development resources to redesign our products and services to avoid infringement or discontinue the sale of our products and services; create negative publicity that adversely affects our reputation and brand and the demand for our products and services; or require us to indemnify our clients. Even if we have not infringed any third parties’ intellectual property rights, we cannot be sure our legal defenses will be successful, and even if we are successful in defending against such claims, our legal defense could require significant financial resources and management’s time, which could adversely affect our business.

If our trademarks, trade names, and confidential information are not adequately protected, we may lose our competitive advantage in our target markets.

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, we may not be able to build name recognition in our target markets and our business may be adversely affected. At times, competitors may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity, possibly leading to market confusion and potentially leading us to pursue legal action. In addition, there could be trade name or trademark infringement allegations brought by owners of other trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our unregistered trademarks or trade names. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We currently rely upon trade secret protection, as well as non-disclosure agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties, to protect our confidential and proprietary information. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful in maintaining, protecting, or enforcing the confidentiality of our trade secrets or that our non-disclosure agreements will provide sufficient protection of our trade secrets, know-how, or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation, or other disclosure. Further, we cannot provide any assurances that our employees, consultants and third parties will not breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets. Additionally, we rely upon invention assignment agreements with our employees and certain of our consultants and other third parties. If we do not protect our intellectual property adequately, competitors may be able to use our methods and databases and thereby erode any competitive advantages we may have.

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We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary methods and technologies are effectively maintained as trade secrets, and we have taken necessary security measures to protect this information. These measures alone, however, may not provide adequate protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information. If any of our confidential or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position could be harmed. Additionally, enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. It is also possible that our trade secrets will become known by some other mechanism or independently developed by our competitors, and we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us.

Risks Generally Related to Our Business

Our growth depends on the success of our strategic relationships with third parties as well as our ability to successfully integrate our applications with a variety of third-party technologies.

We depend on relationships with third parties and are also dependent on third parties for the license of certain software and development tools that are incorporated into or used with our applications. If the operations of these third parties are disrupted or any of these third parties are unwilling or unable to continue to provide a critical product or service, and we are unable to make alternative arrangements for the supply of such product or service on commercially reasonable terms or a timely basis, or at all, our own operations may suffer, which could materially adversely affect our operating results. In addition, we rely upon licensed third-party software to help improve our internal systems, processes, and controls. Identifying partners, and negotiating and documenting relationships with them, requires significant time and resources. The priorities and objectives of these third-party service providers may differ from ours and we may be at a disadvantage if our competitors are effective in providing incentives to third parties to favor their products or services or to prevent or reduce use of our services, or in negotiating better rates or terms with such third parties. Acquisitions of our partners by our competitors could end our strategic relationship with the acquired partner and result in a decrease in the number of our current and potential clients, or the support services available for third-party technology may be negatively affected by mergers and consolidation in the software industry. In addition, like us, third parties are vulnerable to operational and technological disruptions, and we may have limited remedies against these third parties in the event of product or service disruptions. If we are unsuccessful in establishing or maintaining our relationships with these third parties, or in monitoring the quality of their products and services or performance, our ability to compete in the marketplace or to grow our revenues could be impaired and our operating results may suffer.

To the extent that our applications depend upon the successful integration and operation of third-party software in conjunction with our software, any current or future undetected errors, failures, bugs or defects in our applications or this third-party software, especially when updates or new products or software are released, as well as cybersecurity threats or attacks related to such software, could prevent the deployment or impair the functionality of our applications, delay new application introductions, result in a failure of our applications, result in increased costs, including claims from clients, and injure our reputation. Our applications and third-party software are used in IT environments with different operating systems, system management software, devices, databases, servers, storage, middleware, custom, and third-party applications and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors, failures, bugs, or defects in the IT environment into which such software and technology are deployed. This diversity increases the likelihood of errors, failures, bugs, or defects in those IT environments. Any real or perceived errors, failures, bugs or defects in our products could

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result in negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products and harm to our brand, weakening of our competitive position, claims by clients for losses sustained by them or failure to meet the stated service level commitments in our client agreements as well as impair our ability to attract new clients or retain existing clients. Furthermore, software may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. Although we believe that there are commercially reasonable alternatives to the third-party software we currently license, this may not always be the case, or it may be difficult or costly to replace. Integration of new software into our applications may require significant work and require substantial investment of our time and resources.

We also need to continuously modify and enhance our applications to keep pace with changes in third-party technologies, and other third-party software, communication, browser and database technologies. We must also appropriately balance the application capability demands of our current clients with the capabilities required to serve the broader market. Furthermore, uncertainties about the timing and nature of new network platforms or technologies, or modifications to existing platforms or technologies, could increase our product development expenses. Any failure of our applications to operate effectively with future network platforms and other third-party technologies could reduce the demand for our applications, result in client and end user dissatisfaction, and materially adversely affect our business and operating results. We may experience difficulties in managing improvements to our systems, processes and controls or in connection with third-party software, which could materially impair our ability to provide products and services to our clients in a timely manner, cause us to lose clients, limit us to smaller deployments of our products and services, or increase our technical support costs.

The success of our business depends in part on our relationships with our partners and vendors.

From time to time we enter into relationships with certain partners and vendors, some of which offer highly specialized services. If any of these partners or vendors were to cease providing their services, elect to not renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms or at all, breach their agreements with us or fail to satisfy our expectations, whether due to exclusivity arrangements with our competitors, acquisition by one of our competitors, vendor consolidation, regulation or otherwise, we may not be able to find a suitable replacement on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If a vendor raises the costs for its services, we may not be able to pass through such cost increases to our clients. If a partner or vendor updates its products without providing sufficient notice to us, there could be disruptions, which could result in errors, delays, and interruptions.

We have developed a comprehensive integration platform by partnering with leading HCM and ATS platforms to integrate our front-end client interface into our clients’ systems. However, if any of these HCM or ATS platforms were to enter into an exclusivity arrangement with one of our competitors or we were to otherwise lose the partnership, we could lose not only the partnership with the HCM or ATS platform but the clients using the platform as well. Further, if any of these platforms were to be disrupted, our ability to deliver our products and services would be adversely affected.

Losses of our partner or vendor relationships as described above, disruptions of our partner platforms, or changes to partners’ or vendors’ capabilities or the terms or our relationships could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A failure, disruption or change to the cost of the computing services that we utilize could have a materially adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our technology infrastructure is critical to the performance of our front-end client interface as well as our fulfillment and operating systems. Substantially all of our technology platform and company

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systems run on a complex distributed system, commonly referred to as cloud computing. There can be no assurance that our transition to cloud computing will be without operational interruptions or other disruptions. We own, operate and maintain elements of this system, but significant elements of this system are operated by third parties that we do not control and which would require significant time and expense to replace. We rely on these third parties to host our applications and to provide continuous power, cooling, internet connectivity and physical and technological security for our servers, and our operations depend in part on their ability to protect their systems and facilities against any damage or interruption from natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, power or telecommunication failures, human error, usage spikes, fires, floods and other catastrophic events, terrorist attacks, malicious attacks, vandalism, sabotage and similar events. The occurrence of such an event or other damage to, failure of, or unanticipated problem at a facility, or a decision to close a facility without adequate notice, could result in lengthy interruptions to our cloud-based technology platform. The third parties that we rely on to host our technology infrastructure may not have redundancy for all of their systems, and even with current and planned disaster recovery arrangements, any failure or interruption in the services provided by these third parties could disrupt our business, including by preventing clients from accessing our products and services, and we could suffer financial loss, liability to clients, loss of clients, regulatory intervention or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, we cannot guarantee that our current or future third-party cloud providers will keep up with our increasing capacity needs or client demand. In addition, our users depend on internet service providers, online service providers, and other website operators for access to our systems. These providers could experience outages, delays, and other difficulties due to system failures unrelated to our systems, events which are beyond our control, or mitigation. Also, in the event of such a failure or interruption, insurance may not be adequate to cover us for all risks to which we are exposed or may not be available to cover any losses that we may incur.

We incur significant costs with our third-party data hosting services. If the costs for such services increase due to vendor consolidation, regulation, contract renegotiation, or otherwise, we may not be able to pass through such fee increases to our clients. In addition, if any of these third-party vendors cease providing services, elect to not renew their agreements with us on commercially reasonable terms or at all, breach their agreements with us or fail to satisfy our expectations, our operations could be disrupted and we could be required to incur significant costs, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, any inability of these third parties to keep up with our needs for capacity could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any changes in these third parties’ service levels, or any errors, defects, disruptions, or other performance problems with our applications or the infrastructure on which they run, could materially adversely affect our reputation and may damage our clients’ or other users’ stored files or result in lengthy interruptions in our products and services. Interruptions in our products or services might materially adversely affect our reputation and operating results, cause us to issue refunds or service credits to clients, subject us to potential liabilities, or result in contract terminations or loss of clients.

Systems failures, interruptions or delays in service, including due to natural disasters or other catastrophic events, could delay and disrupt our services, which could materially harm our business and reputation.

Our business depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our systems, networks and infrastructure. We cannot assure you that we, or our third-party service providers, will not experience systems failures or business interruptions. Our systems, networks, infrastructure and other operations are vulnerable to impact or interruption from a wide variety of causes, including: power, internet or telecommunications failures; hardware failures or software errors; human error, acts of vandalism or

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sabotage; catastrophic events, such as natural disasters, extreme weather events or acts of war or terrorism; malicious cyber-attacks or cyber incidents, such as unauthorized access, ransomware, loss or destruction of data, computer viruses or other malicious code; and the loss or failure of systems over which we have no control, such as loss of support services from critical third-party service providers. In addition, we may also face significant increases in our use of power and data storage and may experience a shortage of capacity or increased costs associated with such usage.

Any failure of, or significant interruption, delay or disruption to, or security breaches affecting, our platforms, systems, networks or infrastructure could result in disruption to our operations, including disruptions in service to our clients; cause us to incur significant expense to repair, replace or remediate systems, networks or infrastructure; harm our brand and reputation; divert our employees’ attention; reduce our revenue; subject us to liability; cause us to breach service level contract obligations or cause us to issue credits or lose clients, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We internally support and maintain many of our systems and networks, including those underlying our products and services; however, we may not have sufficient personnel to properly respond to all system, network or infrastructure problems. Our failure to monitor or maintain our systems, networks and infrastructure, including those maintained or supported by our third-party service providers, or to find a replacement for defective or obsolete components within our systems, networks and infrastructure in a timely and cost-effective manner when necessary, would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. While we generally have disaster recovery and business continuity plans for much of our business, including redundant systems, networks, computer software and hardware and data centers to mitigate interruption to our normal course of business, our systems, networks and infrastructure may not always be fully redundant and our disaster recovery and business continuity plans may not always be sufficient, effective or implemented properly. Similarly, although some contracts with our third-party service providers require adequate disaster recovery or business continuity capabilities, we cannot be certain that these will be adequate or implemented properly. Our disaster recovery and business continuity plans are heavily reliant on the availability of the internet and mobile phone technology, so any disruption of those systems would likely affect our ability to recover promptly from a crisis situation. If we are unable to execute our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, or if our plans prove insufficient for a particular situation or take longer than expected to implement in a crisis situation, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and our business interruption insurance may not adequately compensate us for losses that may occur.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by unfavorable conditions in the general economy.

The substantial majority of our revenues are derived from pre-employment screening services. Unfavorable conditions in the general economy, such as the downturn experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could result in reduced demand for our products and services, as our revenues are dependent upon general economic and hiring conditions and upon conditions in the industries we serve. To the extent that the economy in general or labor market conditions in particular deteriorate, our existing and potential clients may slow or defer hiring, and may be reluctant to increase expenditures on employee screening. In addition, individuals may choose to change employment less frequently during an economic downturn. This could interfere with our growth strategy of increasing the number of background screens performed by, and average revenue per order of, our client base, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the U.S. and global economies and put an unprecedented strain on businesses around the world. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many

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companies temporarily closed their offices and instituted hiring freezes. These measures had a negative effect on our revenue growth rates and other financial metrics from mid-March through October 2020. We have experienced and may continue to experience increased delays in hiring activity from existing and prospective clients and a reduction in client demand, particularly in the industries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We may also experience a reduction in client spend and delayed payments, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

It is not possible for us to estimate the duration or magnitude of the adverse results of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on our business, financial condition or results of operations at this time. Any future economic downturn may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to significant competition, and if we fail to compete successfully, our sales could decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

The market for global background screening and identity verification services is highly fragmented and competitive. We compete for business based on numerous factors, including service speed, accuracy and results, ease-of-use, breadth of offering, fulfillment reliability, reputation, client service, platform quality, and price. We compete with a diverse group of screening companies, including global full-suite players characterized by their global scale and enterprise offerings; mid-tier players that tend to focus on a particular geographic region, industry or product line; and small independent background screening players that typically serve small- to medium-sized businesses. New entrants to the market have in the past emerged, both as start-ups as well as participants in adjacent sectors such as applicant tracking systems and payroll processing companies that seek to integrate background screening into their onboarding products and solutions, and may emerge in the future, which would further increase competition. Additionally, our clients may also decide to insource work that has been traditionally outsourced to us. Some of our competitors are larger than us, have more resources than we do, have more expertise in certain industries than we do, are better financed than we are, or provide more specialized or diversified services than we do. Due in part to their size and resources, certain competitors may be in a better position to reallocate resources and anticipate and respond to existing and changing client preferences and requirements, emerging technologies and market trends. Also, our status as a public company will give our competitors access to information about us and our business, while we may not have access to similar information about them. Our competitors have imitated or attempted to imitate, and will likely continue to imitate or attempt to imitate, our services and branding, which could harm our business and results of operations. We cannot guarantee that others will not independently develop technology and products with the same or similar function to any proprietary technology we rely on to conduct our business and differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Further, the intellectual property used in our business generally is not patented, and we therefore rely primarily on other forms of protection, including trade and service marks, trade dress and the strength of our brand. It is also possible that new competitors or alliances or consolidation among competitors may emerge and significantly increase competition. In addition, we face difficulties in competing for clients who already have long-standing relationships with other screening service providers, especially if the products and services provided by such competitors are already integrated into the client’s technology platform or hiring processes, which often creates a barrier to switching providers and increases switching costs for the potential client. Continuing strong competition could result in pricing pressure, increased sales and marketing expenses, loss of clients, and greater investments in research and development. If we fail to successfully compete, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

While a majority of our U.S. enterprise client contracts are exclusive to us or require Sterling to be used as the primary provider for the duration of their contract, we still rely on our clients’ continuing

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demand for our products and solutions, our technology, our value proposition, and our brand and reputation to compete. The loss of a significant client or any reduced demand for our products and services by our clients, especially our large clients, would have a negative impact on our business. We cannot guarantee that we will maintain relationships with any of our clients on acceptable terms or at all or retain, renew or expand upon our existing agreements. The failure to do so could negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may also face increased competition in the identity verification market, including both our online identity-as-a-service suite and our fingerprinting services. Our competitors may develop identity verification services that compete with ours, including biometrics technology that directly competes with or is superior to our own. Additionally, if we are unable to develop new hardware and software or enhance our existing technology in a timely manner in response to technological changes, we will be unable to compete in our chosen markets. Any of these factors as well as any security breaches that affect our identity verification business may make it difficult for us to retain existing clients or attract new clients and may cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to be harmed.

A significant portion of our fulfillment operations, and certain of our technology development operations, subject us to particular risks inherent in operating overseas.

A significant portion of our fulfillment operations and certain of our technology development operations, are conducted, through subsidiaries, in Mumbai, India and Manila, the Philippines, which subjects us to particular risks and challenges inherent in operating overseas. In particular, these operations are subject to local political, security and economic instability, regional conflicts and local risks with respect to the spread of COVID-19 and the responses of local governments, institutions and healthcare providers thereto. If our operations at these sites are disrupted, even for a brief period of time, whether due to malevolent acts, defects, computer viruses, climate change, natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, hurricanes or floods, power telecommunications failures, or other external events beyond our control, it could result in interruptions in service to our clients, damage to our reputation, harm our client relationships, and reduced revenues and profitability. We may not have sufficient protection or recovery plans in certain circumstances, such as a significant natural disaster, and our business interruption insurance may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that occur. In the case of such an event, client could elect to terminate our relationship, delay or withhold payment to us, or even make claims against us. Such events could have negative impacts on client relationships. Further, misconduct by our overseas employees could result in infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property, which may be exacerbated by potentially weaker protection for intellectual property and other legal rights than in the United States as well as practical difficulties in enforcing intellectual property and other rights. In addition, currency fluctuations that could increase the cost of labor at our India and Philippines subsidiaries. These risks could prevent us from achieving cost savings or efficiencies from our international operations, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to upgrade, enhance and expand our technology and services to meet client needs and preferences, or fail to successfully manage the transition to new products and services, the demand for our products and services may materially diminish.

We operate in an industry that is subject to rapid technological advances and changing client needs and preferences. In order to remain competitive and responsive to client demands, we continually upgrade, enhance, and expand our technology, products and services. Our competitors may introduce new products and services that might offer better combinations of price and performance or better address our clients’ needs as compared to our current or future products and services. If we fail to respond successfully to technology challenges and client needs and preferences, the demand for our products and services may diminish. In addition, investment in product

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development often involves a long return on investment cycle. We have made and expect to continue to make significant investments in product development. We must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our development efforts before knowing to what extent our investments will result in products the market will accept and we cannot assure you that any such products that we develop or offer will be produced economically. The expenses or losses associated with unsuccessful product development, or a lack of market acceptance of new products, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation. For example, the final phase of Project Ignite may not be successful and we may not be able to unify our clients onto a single global platform. In addition, our business could be adversely affected in periods surrounding our new product introductions if clients delay purchasing decisions to evaluate the new product offerings. Furthermore, we may not execute successfully on our product development strategy, including because of challenges with regard to product planning and timing and technical hurdles that we fail to overcome in a timely fashion.

Additionally, unexpected delays and difficulties can occur as clients implement and test our products and services. Implementation typically involves integration with our clients’ and third-party systems and internal processes, as well as adding client and third-party data to our platform. This can be complex and time-consuming for our clients and can result in delays. We provide our clients with upfront estimates regarding the duration and resources associated with the implementation of our products and solutions. However, delays may occur due to discoveries made during the implementation process, such as unique or unusual client requirements or our internal limitations. If we are unable to resolve these issues and we fail to meet the upfront estimates and the expectations of our clients, it could result in client dissatisfaction, loss of clients, delays in generating revenues, or negative brand perception about us and our products and services. Our implementation cycles could also be disrupted by factors outside of our control, such as deficiencies in the platform of our clients or third-party ATS or HCM systems, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have incurred operating losses in the past, may incur operating losses in the future, and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

We have incurred operating losses in recent years, including net losses of $46.7 million and $52.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively, and may continue to incur net losses in the future. We expect our operating expenses to increase in the future as we continue our growth initiatives by focusing on expanding into new geographies, developing new products and services and investing in our technology, focusing on new partnerships and as a result of legal, accounting, and other expenses related to operating as a public company. These initiatives and additional expenses may be more costly than we expect, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to increase our revenue to offset our operating expenses. Our revenue growth may slow or our revenue may decline for a number of other reasons, including reduced demand for our products and services, increased competition, a decrease in the growth or reduction in size of our overall market, the impacts to our business from the COVID-19 pandemic or if we cannot capitalize on growth opportunities. If our revenue does not grow at a greater rate than our operating expenses, we will not be able to achieve and maintain profitability.

Our recent growth rates may not be sustainable or indicative of future growth.

We have experienced significant growth in several recent periods. Revenue increased from $460.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $497.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. While revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $454.1 million, reflecting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 increased 5.8% compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2019, and revenue for the six months

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ended June 30, 2021 increased 43.6% compared to the six months ended June 30, 2020. These historical rates of growth may not be sustainable or indicative of our future rate of growth. We have also recently experienced increased demand for our products and services as hiring demand increased in the fourth quarter of 2020 as a result of reduced shelter-in-place orders, quarantine restrictions and other preventative measures that were instituted to slow the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot predict the extent to which such increased hiring trends will continue. Furthermore, any future outbreaks or resurgences may result in additional preventative measures, which may cause business slowdowns or shutdowns in affected areas and significant economic disruption both globally and in the United States.

Our ability to grow our business will depend, in large part, on our ability to further penetrate our existing markets, attract new clients and identify and effectively invest in growing Verticals. We believe that our continued revenue growth, as well as our ability to improve or maintain margins and profitability, will depend upon, among other factors, our ability to respond to the challenges, risks and difficulties described elsewhere in this prospectus and the extent to which use of our various products and services grows and contributes to our results of operations. Additionally, growing our existing business or executing our business strategy may place significant demands on and strain our personnel and organizational structure, including our management, staff and information systems. To successfully manage our growth, we will also need to maintain appropriate staffing levels and update our operating, financial and other systems, procedures, and controls accordingly and we cannot provide assurance that we will be able to successfully manage any such challenges or risks to our future growth. Our growth could be limited if we fail to innovate or adapt to market trends and product innovations adequately. Any new products and services we develop or acquire may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner and may not achieve the market acceptance necessary to generate significant revenues, and any new markets in which we attempt to sell our products and services, including new countries or regions, may not be receptive or implementation may be delayed. Our future growth will be adversely affected if we do not identify and invest in faster-growing Verticals. In addition, our number of clients and markets may not continue to grow or may decline due to a variety of possible risks, including increased competition. Any of these factors could cause our revenue growth to decline and may materially adversely affect our margins and profitability. Failure to continue our revenue growth or improve margins could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. You should not rely on our historical rate of revenue growth as an indication of our future performance.

Our growth depends, in part, on increasing our presence in the markets that we currently serve, and we may not be successful in doing so.

We believe that our future growth depends not only on continuing to reach our current core market, but also continuing to broaden our client base in the United States; EMEA; APAC and Canada. In these markets, we have faced and may continue to face challenges that are different from those we encounter elsewhere, including competitive, hiring, legal, regulatory, economic, political and other difficulties, such as understanding and accurately predicting the needs and preferences of clients in these markets. We may also encounter difficulties in attracting clients due to a lack of familiarity with or acceptance of our brand. We continue to evaluate marketing efforts and other strategies to expand our client base. In addition, although we are investing in marketing activities to increase market penetration, we cannot assure you that we will be successful. If we are not successful, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

We acquire information from a variety of sources to conduct our business, and if some of these sources are not available to us in the future, or if the fees charged by such sources

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significantly increase, our business may be materially and adversely affected and our profit margins may decline.

We rely extensively upon information derived from a wide variety of sources. We rely on automated technology, our employees and third parties to search public and private sources and obtain data from information companies. We generally do not have long-term agreements with our data suppliers. Some data suppliers, as well as some service suppliers, such as the drug testing laboratories we use, are also owned, or may in the future be acquired, by our competitors, which may make us vulnerable to unpredictable price increases or delays and refusals to renew agreements. Because our contracts with our clients often contain restrictions on the amounts or types of costs that may be passed through to our clients, we may not be able to recover certain of the costs charged to us by our data and service suppliers. Further, our data and service suppliers could increase their fees in the future and we may not be able to pass through such fee increases to our clients. If our data and service suppliers or data sources are no longer able or are unwilling to provide us with certain data or services, including as a result of our noncompliance with laws, regulations or our contractual agreements with them, we will need to find alternative data and service suppliers with comparable breadth and accuracy, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. If we are unable to identify and contract with suitable alternative data and service suppliers and integrate them into our service offerings, we could experience service disruptions, increased costs and reduced quality of our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to payment-related risks that may result in higher operating costs or the inability to process payments, either of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We accept a variety of payment methods, including bank checks, electronic funds transfers and electronic payment systems. Accordingly, we are, and will continue to be, subject to significant and evolving regulations and compliance requirements, including obligations to implement enhanced authentication processes that could result in increased costs and liability, and reduce the ease of use of certain payment methods. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, as well as electronic payment systems, we pay certain fees that we currently pass through to our clients. However, these fees may increase over time and we may not be able to pass through such fee increases to our clients. We rely on independent service providers for payment processing, including credit and debit cards. If these independent service providers become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us, or if the cost of using these providers increases, our business could be harmed. We and our payment processing providers are also subject to payment card association operating rules and agreements, including data security rules and agreements, certification requirements, and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we fail to comply with these rules, agreements or requirements, or if our data security systems are breached or compromised, we may be liable for losses incurred by card issuing banks or clients, subject to fines and higher transaction fees, lose our ability to accept credit or debit card payments from our clients, or process electronic fund transfers or facilitate other types of payments. Any failure to comply could significantly harm our brand, reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Additionally, clients may dispute their invoices or otherwise fail to pay for our products and services on a timely basis or at all. In the past, certain clients have sought to slow their payments to us or have filed for bankruptcy protection, resulting in delay or cancelation of their payments to us. If we are unable to collect clients’ fees on a timely basis or at all, bad debt may exceed reserves for such contingencies, and our bad debt exposure may increase over time. Write-offs for bad debt could have a materially negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, we

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incur costs for any products and services delivered; to the extent that we are not paid timely or at all, our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely impacted.

Sales to government entities and higher-tier contractors to governmental clients involve unique competitive, procurement, budget, administrative and contractual risks, any of which could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We derive a portion of our revenues, and intend to derive an increasing portion of our revenues in the future, from sales to U.S. federal, state and local governmental and education clients and higher-tier contractors to governmental clients. Doing business with government entities and their higher-tier contractors presents a variety of risks in addition to those involved in sales to other clients. The procurement process for governments and their agencies is highly competitive, can be time-consuming, requires us to incur significant up-front time and expense, and subjects us to additional compliance risks and costs, without any assurance that we will win a contract. In certain jurisdictions, our ability to win business may be constrained by political and other factors unrelated to our competitive position in the market. Demand for our products and services may be affected by public sector budgetary cycles and changes in funding, including reduced, delayed, or unavailable funding or changed spending priorities in any given fiscal cycle, and extended federal government shutdowns, any of which could materially adversely affect demand for our products and services and could impact our ongoing government contracts if government funding for such projects is reduced or eliminated.

We must comply with laws and regulations relating to government contracts, which affect how we do business with our clients and may result in additional costs to our business. Any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including as a result of misconduct by employees, subcontractors, agents, suppliers, business partners and others working on our behalf, could result in contract termination, damage to our reputation, price or fee reductions or suspension or debarment from contracting with the government, each of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Significant laws and regulations that affect sales to government entities and higher-tier contractors to governmental clients include:

Further, entities providing services to governments are required to comply with a variety of complex laws, regulations and contractual provisions relating to the formation, administration, or performance of government contracts that give public sector clients substantial rights and remedies, many of which are not typically found in commercial contracts. These may include rights with respect to price protection, the accuracy of information provided to the government, contractor compliance with supplier equal opportunity, socio-economic and affirmative action policies and reporting requirements and other terms that are particular to government contracts. Federal, state and local governments routinely investigate and audit contractors for compliance with these requirements, and the qui tam provisions of the federal Civil False Claims Act (and similar state and local false claims acts) authorize a private person to file civil actions on behalf of the federal and state governments and retain a share of any recovery, which can include treble damages and civil penalties. If it is determined that we have failed to comply with these requirements, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties and

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administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, costs associated with the triggering of price reduction clauses, fines and suspension or debarment from future government business, and we may suffer reputational damage. Further, the negative publicity that could arise from any such penalties, sanctions or findings could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and reduce our ability to compete for new contracts with both government and commercial clients.

In addition, governmental clients and higher-tier contractors may have contractual, statutory or regulatory rights to modify without our consent or terminate current contracts with us for convenience (for any reason or no reason) or due to a default. If a contract is terminated for convenience, we may only be able to collect fees for products or services delivered prior to termination and settlement expenses. If a contract is terminated due to a default, we may be liable for excess costs incurred by the client for procuring alternative products or services or be precluded from doing further business with government entities. Governmental clients and higher-tier contractors may also have broad intellectual property rights in products and data developed under our contracts. Compliance with complex regulations and contracting provisions in a variety of jurisdictions can be expensive and consume significant management resources. In addition, government entities may revise existing contract rules and regulations or adopt new contract rules and regulations at any time. Any of these changes could impair our ability to obtain new contracts or renew contracts under which we currently perform when those contracts are eligible for re-competition.

We may incur impairment charges for our goodwill which would negatively affect our operating results.

As of December 31, 2020, we had goodwill of $831.8 million. The carrying value of goodwill represents the fair value of an acquired business in excess of identifiable assets and liabilities as of the date the business was acquired. Our goodwill is predominantly a result of the acquisition of Sterling by our Sponsor on June 19, 2015 (the “Sponsor Acquisition”). Determining the fair value of certain assets acquired and liabilities assumed is judgmental in nature and requires management to use significant estimates and assumptions, including assumptions with respect to future cash flows, discount rates, growth rates and asset lives. We do not amortize goodwill that we expect to contribute indefinitely to our cash flows, but instead we evaluate these assets for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if changes in circumstances indicate that a potential impairment could exist. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, inability to effectively integrate acquired businesses, unexpected significant changes or planned changes in use of the acquired assets, divestitures and market capitalization declines may impair our goodwill. Any charges relating to such impairment could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The economic, health and business disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Since being reported in December 2019, COVID-19 has spread globally and has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The COVID-19 pandemic and actions by public health and governmental authorities, businesses, other organizations and individuals to respond to the outbreak, including travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place, stay at home or total lock-down orders and business limitations and shutdowns have resulted in an economic slowdown and an unprecedented disruption to our business and the businesses of our clients. We cannot predict or control these disruptions, and any such disruptions may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The impacts include, but are not limited to:

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Our financial performance in 2020 was impacted by the general economic downturn experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our clients froze headcount, furloughed and terminated employees, deferred hiring and partially or completely shut down their business operations and as a result, we experienced reduced demand for our products and services in industries impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic such as brick-and-mortar retail, entertainment, and hospitality. We also incurred incremental costs in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporarily transitioning our fulfillment teams to a virtual operating model. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Additionally, new laws and programs have been enacted, and may continue to be enacted, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the economy. For example, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) were signed into law in March 2020 and additional relief bills were passed into law in December 2020 and March 2021, each creating numerous new programs, including a paycheck protection program (“PPP”), mandatory employee leave requirements, payroll tax deferral and tax credit programs and other employment- and employment tax-related incentives. We believe that these programs have caused individuals to change employment less frequently and as a result, reduced the demand for our products and services.

Any of these COVID-19 pandemic-related risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will affect our business remains uncertain and will depend on a variety of changing factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, such as the duration and scope of the pandemic, the potential for a resurgence of cases, the impact of variants, the disruption of the national and global economy, the duration of the economic downturn, the laws, programs and actions that governments will enact or take, including the continuing rollout of vaccines and the availability of vaccine doses to the general public, the extent to which our clients’ businesses contract or fail, the extent to which our own operations are affected by office closures, remote work or infections, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. Any of these factors could exacerbate the risks and uncertainties identified above.

To the extent our clients reduce their operations, downsize their screening programs, or otherwise demand fewer of our products and solutions, our business could be materially adversely impacted.

Demand for our products and services is subject to our clients’ continual evaluation of their need for our products and services and is impacted by several factors, including their budget availability, hiring, and workforce needs, and a changing regulatory landscape. Demand for our offerings is also dependent on the size of our clients’ operations. Our clients could reduce their operations for a variety of reasons, including general economic slowdown, divestitures and spin-offs, business model disruption, poor financial performance, or as a result of increasing workforce automation. Demand for drug screenings may decline as a result of evolving U.S. drug laws. For example, the legalization of cannabis in several U.S. states has led to a decrease in orders for marijuana screenings. Our revenues may be significantly reduced should our clients decide to downsize their screening programs or take such programs in-house.

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We are subject to risks relating to public opinion, which may be magnified by incidents or adverse publicity concerning our industry or operations.

We operate in an industry that involves the risk of negative publicity, especially relating to cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection, and adverse developments with respect to our industry may also, by association, negatively impact our reputation. For example, when information services companies are involved in high-profile events involving data theft, these events could result in increased legal and regulatory scrutiny, adverse publicity, and potential litigation concerning the commercial use of such information for our industry in general. If there is a perception that the practices of our business or our industry constitute an invasion of privacy, our business and results of operations may be negatively impacted. There have been and may continue to be perception issues, social stigmas and negative media attention regarding the collection, use, accuracy, correction and sharing of personal data, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Seasonality may cause our operating results to fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

Demand for our products and services, and our revenue, is affected seasonally by macroeconomic hiring trends. Typically, revenue acceleration begins towards the end of the first quarter, peaking in the third quarter as hiring accelerates across Verticals. The fourth quarter, ending December 31, is typically our lowest revenue quarter due to a general market trend of lower hiring during the latter half of December due to the holidays. Certain clients across various industries also historically ramp up their hiring throughout the first half of the year as winter concludes, commercial activity tied to outdoor activities increases, and the school year ends, giving rise to student and graduate hiring.

In addition, clients may elect to complete post-onboarding screening such as workforce re-screens and other products at different periods and intervals during any given year. It is not always possible to accurately forecast the timing and magnitude of these projects.

Further, digital transformation, growth in e-commerce, and other economic shifts can impact seasonality trends, making it difficult for us to predict how our seasonality may evolve in the future. As a result, it may be difficult to forecast our results of operations accurately, and there can be no assurance that the results of any particular quarter or other period will serve as an indication of our future performance.

Risks Related to our Capital Structure, Indebtedness and Capital Requirements

Our Sponsor controls us and their interests may conflict with ours or yours in the future.

Immediately following this offering, our Sponsor will control approximately             % of the voting power of our common stock (or             %, if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of common stock). For so long as our Sponsor continues to own a significant percentage of our common stock, our Sponsor will still be able to significantly influence the composition of our board of directors and the approval of actions requiring stockholder approval through its voting power, including potential mergers or acquisitions, payment of dividends, asset sales, amendment of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws and other significant corporate transactions. Accordingly, for such period of time as our Sponsor holds a controlling interest in us, our Sponsor will have significant influence with respect to our management, business plans and policies. In particular, our Sponsor will be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our board of directors and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of our company. The concentration of voting power could deprive

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you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your shares of common stock as part of a sale of our company and ultimately might affect the market price of our common stock.

Our Sponsor and its affiliates engage in a broad spectrum of activities. In the ordinary course of their business activities, our Sponsor and its affiliates may engage in activities where their interests conflict with our interests or those of our stockholders. Following this offering, four of our ten directors will be affiliated with our Sponsor. These persons will have fiduciary duties both to us and to our Sponsor. As a result, they may have real or apparent conflicts of interest on matters affecting both us and our Sponsor, which in some circumstances may have interests adverse to ours. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will generally permit our Sponsor, its affiliates, our non-employee directors and their affiliates to engage, directly or indirectly, in the same lines of business in which we operate or otherwise to compete with us. Our Sponsor and its affiliates may also pursue acquisition opportunities that would be complementary to our business, and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. In addition, our Sponsor and its affiliates may have an interest in us pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you.

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition and limit our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations.

We have a substantial amount of indebtedness. As of June 30, 2021, we had total indebtedness of $613.6 million remaining on our original principal amount of term loan (the “Term loan”) of $655.0 million. Additionally, we have $0.9 million of letters of credit outstanding under our $85.0 million Revolving Credit Facility, with $84.1 million in additional borrowing capacity thereunder and upon the consummation of this offering, our Revolving Credit Facility will automatically increase to $140.0 million.

Our high level of indebtedness could have important consequences to us, including:

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Any one of these limitations could have a material effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, prospects and our ability to satisfy our obligations in respect of our outstanding debt. In addition, the Credit Agreement governing our Term loan and Revolving Credit Facility contains, and the agreements governing future indebtedness may contain, restrictive covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interests. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default that, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our indebtedness.

Despite our current debt levels, we may incur substantially more indebtedness, which could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial leverage.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional indebtedness in the future, which may be secured. While our Credit Agreement limits our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to incur additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions and thus, notwithstanding these restrictions, we may still be able to incur substantially more debt and the indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. Also, these restrictions do not prohibit us from incurring obligations that do not constitute indebtedness as defined therein. To the extent that we incur additional indebtedness, the risks that we now face related to our substantial indebtedness could increase. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facility.”

To service our indebtedness, we require a significant amount of cash, which depends on many factors beyond our control.

We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or that future borrowings will be available to us under our Credit Agreement in amounts sufficient to enable us to fund our liquidity needs. Additionally, our operations are conducted entirely through our subsidiaries and our ability to generate cash to meet our debt service obligations is highly dependent on the earnings and the receipt of funds from our subsidiaries via dividends or intercompany loans.

If we do not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to satisfy our debt obligations, we may have to undertake alternative financing plans, such as:

We cannot assure you that we would be able to enter into these alternative financing plans on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Our ability to restructure or refinance our indebtedness will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, any failure to make scheduled payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Any alternative financing plans that we may be required to undertake would still not guarantee that we would be able to meet our debt obligations. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, or to obtain alternative financing, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

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We will need to repay or refinance borrowings under our Credit Agreement.

The Term loan and borrowings under our Credit Agreement are scheduled to mature in June 2024, and the Revolving Credit Facility is scheduled to expire in June 2022, subject to certain extensions as described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facility.” We will need to repay, refinance, replace or otherwise extend the maturity of our Credit Agreement. Our ability to repay, refinance, replace or extend these facilities by their maturity date will be dependent on, among other things, business conditions, our financial performance and the general condition of the financial markets. If a financial disruption were to occur at the time that we are required to repay indebtedness outstanding under our Credit Agreement, we could be forced to undertake alternate financings, including a sale of additional common stock, negotiate for an extension of the maturity of our Credit Agreement or sell assets or delay capital expenditures and other investments in our business in order to generate proceeds that could be used to repay indebtedness under our Credit Agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to consummate any such transaction on terms that are commercially reasonable, on terms acceptable to us or at all.

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under our Credit Agreement are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. Interest rates are still near historically low levels and are projected to rise in the future. We are party to two interest rate swaps to hedge the future cash flows on approximately 50% of the outstanding principal balance of the aggregate amounts due under the Term loan. The terms of the swaps allow us to effectively set London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) to 2.0266% through June 30, 2021, and to 2.9235% through June 30, 2022. If interest rates rise, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness will increase even though the amount borrowed may remain the same, and our net income and cash flows will correspondingly decrease. Based on the $613.6 million outstanding under the Term loan as of June 30, 2021 until LIBOR is at 1.0%, our total interest expense on the Term loan would remain unchanged. If LIBOR exceeds 1.0%, our total interest expense on the Term loan would increase by $0.6 million for every 10 basis points increase in LIBOR. The interest expense on the fully drawn revolver increases by $0.1 million for every 10 basis points increase in LIBOR. The interest expense on the swap would decrease by $0.3 million for each 10 basis points increase in LIBOR.

In various pronouncements since July 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced it intends to stop compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of certain tenors of LIBOR after 2021 and with the cessation of all available tenors of LIBOR in 2023. It is unclear if LIBOR will cease to exist at that time, if a new method of calculating LIBOR will be established, or if an alternative reference rate will be established. The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York organized the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, which identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its preferred alternative to U.S. dollar LIBOR in derivatives and other financial contracts. We are not able to predict when LIBOR will cease to be available or if SOFR, or another alternative reference rate, attains market traction as a LIBOR replacement. LIBOR is used as the reference rate for Eurocurrency borrowings under our credit facilities. If LIBOR ceases to exist, we and the administration agent for our credit facilities may seek to amend our Credit Agreement to replace LIBOR with a different benchmark index that is expected to mirror what is happening in the rest of the debt markets at the time and make certain other conforming changes to our Credit Agreement. We may also propose to amend the Credit Agreement in advance of the cessation of LIBOR being available to hardwire methodologies so as to make the transition smoother than it would otherwise be. As such, the interest rate on Eurocurrency borrowings under our credit facilities may change. The new rate may not be as favorable as those in effect prior to any LIBOR phase-out. Furthermore, the

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transition process may result in delays in funding, higher interest expense, additional expenses, and increased volatility in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, all of which could negatively impact our interest expense, results of operations, and cash flow.

The covenants in our Credit Agreement impose restrictions that may limit our operating and financial flexibility.

Our Credit Agreement contains a number of significant operating and financial restrictions and covenants that limit our ability, among other things, to:

In addition, the Credit Agreement contains a financial covenant requiring us to maintain a specified leverage ratio of 6.75:1.00 whenever the aggregate amount of revolving loans and letters of credit outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility exceeds 35% of the total commitments thereunder. This financial covenant is solely for the benefit of the lenders under our Revolving Credit Facility and is tested as of the last day of the quarter. Further, any decrease in revenue or earnings could cause our leverage ratio to increase, which could require us to make a partial mandatory prepayment of our outstanding Term loan.

These covenants could materially adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs. Furthermore, they may restrict our ability to expand and pursue our business strategies and otherwise conduct our business. Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by circumstances and events beyond our control, such as prevailing economic conditions and changes in regulations, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with such covenants. These restrictions also limit our ability to obtain future financings or to withstand a future downturn in our business or the economy in general. In addition, complying with these covenants may also cause us to take actions that may make it more difficult for us to successfully execute our business strategy and compete against companies that are not subject to such restrictions.

A breach of any covenant in our Credit Agreement or the agreements and indentures governing any other indebtedness that we may have outstanding from time to time would result in a default under that agreement or indenture after any applicable grace periods. A default, if not waived, could result in acceleration of the debt outstanding under the agreement or indenture and in a default with respect to, and an acceleration of, the debt outstanding under other debt agreements. If that occurs, we may not

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be able to make all of the required payments or borrow sufficient funds to refinance such debt. Even if new financing were available at that time, it may not be on terms that are acceptable to us or terms as favorable as our current agreements. If our debt is in default for any reason, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Changes in our effective tax rate or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could adversely affect our financial results.

Taxation and tax policy changes, tax rate changes, new tax laws, revised tax law interpretations, and changes in accounting standards and guidance related to tax matters may cause fluctuations in our effective tax rate. For example, the Biden administration has proposed to increase the U.S. corporate income tax rate to 28% from 21%, increase the U.S. taxation of international business operations and impose a 15% minimum tax on worldwide book income. Our effective tax rate may also be affected by changes in the geographic mix of our earnings.

Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to offset future income taxes may be subject to limitation.

As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $107.0 million of U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”), a portion of which will begin to expire in 2027. Utilization of our NOLs depends on many factors, including our future income, which cannot be assured. In addition, Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), generally imposes an annual limitation on the amount of NOLs that may be used to offset taxable income by a corporation that has undergone an “ownership change” (as determined under Section 382). An ownership change generally occurs if one or more stockholders (or groups of stockholders) that are each deemed to own at least 5% of our stock increase their ownership percentage by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage during a rolling three-year period.

We have experienced an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code in the past. Thus, our ability to utilize NOLs existing at the time of this offering may be subject to limitation under Section 382 of the Code. The application of such limitation may cause U.S. federal income taxes to be paid by us earlier than they otherwise would be paid if such limitation was not in effect and could cause such NOLs to expire unused, in each case reducing or eliminating the benefit of such NOLs. To the extent we are not able to offset our future taxable income with our NOLs, this would adversely affect our operating results and cash flows if we have taxable income in the future. In addition to the aforementioned federal income tax implications pursuant to Section 382 of the Code, most U.S. states follow the general provisions of Section 382 of the Code, either explicitly or implicitly resulting in separate state net operating loss limitations. We have recorded a valuation allowance of $11.3 million related to our NOLs as of December 31, 2020.

Risks Relating to This Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

There is no existing market for our common stock, and we do not know if one will develop to provide you with adequate liquidity to sell our common stock at prices equal to or greater than the price you paid in this offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in us will lead to the development of a trading market on                  or otherwise or how active and liquid that market may come to be. Although we have applied to list our common stock on Nasdaq, if an active trading market for our common stock does not develop following this offering, you may not be able to sell your shares quickly or at or above the initial public offering price. The initial public offering price for our shares was determined by negotiations between us, our

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Sponsor and the representatives of the underwriters, and this price may not be indicative of prices that will prevail in the open market following this offering. Consequently, you may not be able to sell our common stock at prices equal to or greater than the price you paid in this offering.

The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the public offering price, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

The trading price of our common stock could be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. The following factors, in addition to other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section, may have a significant effect on the market price of our common stock:

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In addition, broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance, and factors beyond our control may cause our stock price to decline rapidly and unexpectedly.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq and, as a result, will qualify for, and may rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of other companies that are subject to such requirements.

Following this offering, our Sponsor will continue to own a majority of the voting power in the Company. As a result, we expect to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq. A company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, a group or another company is a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of Nasdaq and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq, including:

Following this offering, we intend to rely on all of the exemptions listed above. As a result, we will not have a majority of independent directors and our nominating/corporate governance and compensation committees do not consist entirely of independent directors. As a result, our board of directors and those committees will have more directors who do not meet Nasdaq independence standards than they would if those standards were to apply. The independence standards are intended to ensure that directors who meet those standards are free of any conflicting interest that could influence their actions as directors. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of         .

You will experience an immediate and substantial dilution of the net tangible book value of the shares of common stock you purchase in this offering, and will be subject to further dilution.

The assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per share of common stock immediately after this offering. Therefore, if you purchase our common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate dilution of $             in the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share from the price you paid assuming that stock price. In addition, following this offering, purchasers who bought shares from us in this offering will have contributed

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        % of the total consideration paid to us by our stockholders to purchase              shares of common stock to be sold by us in this offering, in exchange for acquiring approximately         % of our total outstanding shares as of            , 2021 after giving effect to this offering.

Further, we may need to raise additional funds in the future to finance our operations or acquire complementary businesses. If we obtain capital in future offerings on a per-share basis that is less than the initial public offering price per share, the value of the price per share of your common stock will likely be reduced. In addition, if we issue additional equity securities in a future offering and you do not participate in such offering, there will effectively be dilution in your percentage ownership interest in us.

We will in the future grant stock options and other awards to certain of our current or future officers, directors, employees, and consultants under additional plans or individual agreements. The grant, exercise, vesting, and/or settlement of these awards, as applicable, will have the effect of diluting your ownership interests in us. We also may issue additional equity securities in connection with other types of transactions, including as part of the purchase price for acquisitions of assets or other companies from time to time or in connection with strategic partnerships or joint ventures, or as incentives to management or other providers of resources to us. Such additional issuances are likely to have a dilutive effect.

Our management team will have immediate and broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds to us from this offering and may not use them effectively.

We intend to use a portion of the net proceeds to us from this offering for general corporate purposes. However, our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds. Our stockholders may not agree with the manner in which our management chooses to allocate the net proceeds from this offering and will not have the opportunity as part of their investment decision to assess whether the net proceeds are being used appropriately. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds to us from this offering in a manner that does not produce value. The decisions made by our management may not result in positive returns on your investment and you will not have an opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial or other information upon which our management bases its decisions.

Sales, or the potential for sales, of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to drop significantly.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur, including sales by our Sponsor, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. Of the         outstanding shares, the        shares sold in this offering (or        shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except that any shares held by our affiliates, as that term is defined under Rule 144 of the Securities Act, or Rule 144, including our directors, executive officers and other affiliates (including our Sponsor), may be sold only in compliance with the limitations described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.” The holders of substantially all of our outstanding common stock prior to this offering are subject to lock-up agreements with the underwriters of this offering that restrict the stockholders’ ability to transfer shares of our common stock for at least 180 days from the date of this prospectus, subject to waiver by                                                               and certain other exceptions. The lock-up agreements limit the number of shares of common stock that may be sold immediately following the public offering. Upon the closing of this offering, we will have          outstanding shares of common stock. Subject to certain contractual, volume and Securities Act restrictions (and except to the extent earlier sold pursuant to a waiver or exception), approximately

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         shares will become eligible for sale upon expiration of the lock-up period, as calculated and described in more detail under “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.” In addition, shares of common stock issued or issuable upon exercise of options as of the expiration of the lock-up period will be eligible for sale at that time. Sales of stock by these stockholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

Moreover, after this offering, we intend to file one or more registration statements on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register all shares of common stock issued or issuable under our equity incentive plans. 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 following the expiration of the applicable lock-up period. We expect that the initial registration statement on Form S-8 will cover approximately          shares of our common stock. Further, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to become effective immediately prior to the consummation of this offering will authorize us to issue shares of common stock and options relating to common stock for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise. Any common stock that we issue, including under the Stock Option Plan or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future, would dilute the percentage ownership held by the investors who purchase common stock in this offering. In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you.

Additionally, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of         shares of our common stock will have rights, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in the shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act, except for shares held by our affiliates as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Any sales of securities by these stockholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions— Related Party Transactions Entered Into in Connection With This Offering—Stockholders’ Agreement.”

As restrictions on resale end, or if the existing stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of our shares of common stock could drop significantly if the holders of these restricted 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 our shares of common stock or other securities.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our markets, or if they adversely change their recommendations or publish negative reports regarding our business or our common stock, our stock price and trading volume could materially decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our markets or our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts and we cannot provide any assurance that analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. If one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, or if we fail to meet their expectations for our financial results, the price of our stock could materially decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of our

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company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to materially decline.

We do not currently expect to pay any cash dividends.

We do not currently expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Instead, we intend to retain future earnings, if any, for the future operation and expansion of our business. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable laws, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. Because we are a holding company and all of our business is conducted through our subsidiaries, dividends, distributions and other payments from, and cash generated by, our subsidiaries will be our principal sources of cash to fund operations and pay dividends. Accordingly, our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders is dependent on the earnings and distributions of funds from our subsidiaries. Under our Credit Agreement, we and our subsidiaries are limited in our ability to pay cash dividends. Our ability to pay dividends may also be similarly restricted by the terms of any future credit agreement or any future debt or preferred equity securities we or our subsidiaries may issue. Accordingly, if you purchase shares in this offering, realization of a gain on your investment will depend on the appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur. Investors seeking dividend income should not purchase our common stock.

We may issue preferred stock the terms of which could adversely affect the voting power or value of our common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock having such designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights, including preferences over our common stock respecting dividends and distributions, as our board of directors may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred stock could adversely impact the voting power or value of our common stock. For example, we might grant holders of preferred stock the right to elect some number of our directors in all events or on the happening of specified events or the right to veto specified transactions. Similarly, the repurchase or redemption rights or liquidation preferences we might assign to holders of preferred stock could affect the residual value of the common stock.

Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws will become effective immediately prior to the consummation of this offering and will contain provisions that may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt, or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders, and may make changes in our management more difficult without the approval of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:

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In addition, while we have opted out of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our Sponsor and its affiliates, and any of their respective direct or indirect transferees and any group as to which such persons are a party, do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision. Further, as a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, which may impair a takeover attempt that our stockholders may find beneficial. These anti-takeover provisions and other provisions under Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company, including actions that our stockholders may deem advantageous, or negatively affect the trading price of our common stock. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire. See “Description of Capital Stock.”

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or the federal district courts of the United States as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain what such stockholders believe to be a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we otherwise consent in writing, (A) (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer, other employee or stockholder of us to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws (as either may be amended or restated) or as to which the DGCL confers exclusive jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the law of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be exclusively brought in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, the federal district court of the State of Delaware; and (B) the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act; however, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provision, and investors cannot waive compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exclusive forum provision shall not apply to claims seeking to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction. The choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

Taking advantage of the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to “emerging growth companies” may make our common stock less attractive to investors.

The JOBS Act provides that, so long as a company qualifies as an “emerging growth company,” it will, among other things:

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We currently intend to take advantage of each of the exemptions described above. In addition, the JOBS Act permits an emerging growth company like us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies, meaning that the company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period and, as a result, our financial statements may not be comparable with similarly situated public companies.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of the year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the closing of this offering; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive if we elect to rely on these exemptions, or if taking advantage of these exemptions would result in less active trading or more volatility in the price of our common stock.

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If this material weakness is not remediated, or if we experience additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail in the future to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting or effective disclosure controls and procedures, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may materially adversely affect investor confidence in us and, as a result, the price of our common stock.

We are not currently required to comply with the rules of the SEC implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Upon becoming a public company, we will be required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other federal regulations implementing Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will require management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. In addition, we will be required to evaluate the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures in our quarterly and annual reports. If we are unable to establish or maintain appropriate internal control over financial reporting or effective disclosure controls and procedures, it could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations on a timely basis or result in material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. Although we will be required to disclose changes made in our internal control over financial reporting on a quarterly basis, we will not be required to make our first annual assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. However, as an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the later of the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC or the date we are no longer an emerging growth company. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating.

During the course of preparing for this offering, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

We lacked a sufficient number of tax professionals with an appropriate level of accounting knowledge, training and experience to appropriately analyze, record and disclose tax accounting

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matters timely and accurately. This material weakness contributed to us not being able to design and maintain appropriate accounting policies, procedures and controls over income and other taxes, including controls over the completeness and accuracy of deferred income taxes, sales tax liabilities, and the global income tax provision, and maintain appropriate segregation of duties within the tax process.

This material weakness resulted in immaterial adjustments to deferred income taxes, accrued expenses, income tax benefit, selling, general and administrative expense and goodwill as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 and for the years then ended. Additionally, this material weakness could result in a misstatement of the aforementioned account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected.

We are implementing measures designed to improve our internal control over financial reporting to remediate this material weakness, primarily through a search for tax personnel with the appropriate knowledge, training and experience to appropriately analyze, record and disclose tax accounting matters timely and accurately, and to design and maintain appropriate accounting policies, procedures and controls over income and other taxes, commensurate with our financial reporting requirements. Additionally, we are currently supplementing our resources through the use of a third-party tax advisor and intend to continue utilizing the third-party tax advisor until we have hired sufficient tax personnel. We cannot at this time estimate how long it will take to complete our remediation efforts and we cannot assure you that these measures will be sufficient to remediate the material weakness we have identified or avoid potential future material weaknesses.

To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we have undertaken various actions, and will take additional actions, such as remediating the material weakness described above, implementing additional internal controls and procedures and hiring additional accounting or internal audit staff or consultants. Testing and maintaining internal controls can divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to the operation of our business. Additionally, when evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we may identify additional material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. If we identify any additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting or are unable to remediate the material weakness described above and comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting once we are no longer an emerging growth company, or if we are unable to conclude in our quarterly and annual reports that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources. In addition, if we fail to remediate any material weakness, including the material weakness described above, our financial statements could be inaccurate and we could face restricted access to capital markets.

The requirements of being a public company, including compliance with the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Nasdaq, may strain our resources, increase our costs and divert management’s attention, and we may be unable to comply with these requirements in a timely or cost-effective manner.

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, regulatory, finance, accounting, investor relations and other expenses that we have not incurred as a private company, including costs

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associated with public company reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and the corporate governance standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Nasdaq. These requirements will place a strain on our management, systems and resources and we will incur significant legal, accounting, insurance and other expenses that we have not incurred as a private company. The Exchange Act will require us to file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition within specified time periods and to prepare a proxy statement with respect to our annual meeting of stockholders. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act will require that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting. Nasdaq will require that we comply with various corporate governance requirements. To maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting and comply with the Exchange Act and Nasdaq requirements, significant resources and management oversight will be required. This may divert management’s attention from other business concerns and lead to significant costs associated with compliance, which could have a material adverse effect on us and the price of our common stock.

The expenses incurred by public companies generally for reporting and corporate governance purposes have been increasing. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, although we are currently unable to estimate these costs with any degree of certainty. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or its committees or as our executive officers. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt even more changes in governance and reporting requirements. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of these costs. Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our common stock, fines, sanctions and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.

General Risks

We may undertake acquisitions or divestitures, which may not be successful, and which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we may consider acquisitions, which may not be completed or, if completed, may not be ultimately beneficial to us. We also may consider potential divestitures of businesses from time to time. We routinely evaluate potential acquisition and divestiture candidates and engage in discussions and negotiations regarding potential acquisitions and divestitures on an ongoing basis; however, even if we execute a definitive agreement, there can be no assurance that we will consummate the transaction within the anticipated closing timeframe, or at all. Moreover, there is significant competition for acquisition and expansion opportunities in our industry.

Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including: (i) failing to properly identify appropriate acquisition targets and to negotiate acceptable terms; (ii) incurring the time and expense associated with identifying and evaluating potential acquisition targets and negotiating potential transactions; (iii) diverting management’s attention from the operation of our existing business; (iv) using inaccurate estimates and judgments to evaluate credit, operations, funding, liquidity, business, management and market risks with respect to the acquisition target or assets; (v) litigation relating to an acquisition, particularly in the context of a publicly held acquisition target, that could require us to incur significant expenses, result in or delay or enjoin the transaction; (vi) failing to properly identify an acquisition target’s significant problems, liabilities or risks; (vii) not receiving required regulatory approvals on the terms expected or such approvals being delayed or restrictively conditional; and (viii) failing to obtain

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financing on favorable terms, or at all. In addition, in connection with any acquisitions, we must comply with various antitrust requirements. In addition, it is possible that perceived or actual violations of these requirements could give rise to litigation or regulatory enforcement action or result in us not receiving the necessary approvals to complete a desired acquisition.

Furthermore, even if we complete an acquisition, the anticipated benefits from such acquisition may not be achieved unless the operations of the acquired business are integrated in an efficient, cost-effective and timely manner. The integration of any acquired business includes numerous risks, including an acquired business not performing to our expectations, our not integrating it appropriately and failing to realize anticipated synergies and cost savings as a result, and difficulties, inefficiencies or cost overruns in integrating and assimilating the organizational cultures, operations, technologies, products and services of the acquired business with ours and maintaining uniform standards, policies, and procedures across multiple platforms and locations, including for those located outside the United States. This may result in a greater than anticipated increase in the transaction, remediation, and integration costs and could discourage us from entering into acquisitions where the potential for such costs outweigh the perceived benefit. Further, although we conduct due diligence with respect to the business and operations of each of the companies we acquire, we may not have identified all material facts concerning these companies, which could result in unanticipated events or liabilities. The integration of our acquisitions will require substantial attention from management and operating personnel to ensure that the acquisition does not disrupt any existing operations, or affect our reputation or our clients’ opinions and perceptions of our products and services. We may spend time and resources on acquisitions that do not ultimately increase our profitability or that cause loss of, or harm to, relationships with employees and clients. We cannot guarantee that any acquisitions we seek to enter into will be carried out on favorable terms or that the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, investment, or business relationship will materialize as intended or that no unanticipated liabilities will arise.

Divestitures also involve numerous risks, including: (i) failing to properly identify appropriate assets or businesses for divestiture and buyers; (ii) inability to negotiate favorable terms for the divestiture of such assets or businesses; (iii) incurring the time and expense associated with identifying and evaluating potential divestitures and negotiating potential transactions; (iv) management’s attention being diverted from the operation of our existing business, including to provide on-going services to the divested business; (v) encountering difficulties in the separation of operations, products, services or personnel; (vi) retaining future liabilities as a result of contractual indemnity obligations; and (vii) loss of, or damage to our relationships with, any of our key employees, clients, suppliers or other business partners.

We cannot readily predict the timing or size of any future acquisition or divestiture, and there can be no assurance that we will realize any anticipated benefits from any such acquisition or divestiture. If we do not realize any such anticipated benefits, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

If we enter into strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures, we may not realize the anticipated strategic goals for any such transactions.

From time to time, we may enter into strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures as a means to accelerate our entry into new markets, provide new products or services or enhance our existing capabilities. Entering into strategic alliances, partnerships and joint ventures entails risks, including: (i) difficulties in developing or expanding the business of newly formed alliances, partnerships and joint ventures; (ii) exercising influence over the activities of joint ventures in which we do not have a controlling interest; (iii) potential conflicts with or among our partners; (iv) the possibility that our partners could take action without our approval or prevent us from taking action; and (v) the

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possibility that our partners become bankrupt or otherwise lack the financial resources to meet their obligations.

In addition, there may be a long negotiation period before we enter into a strategic alliance, partnership or joint venture or a long preparation period before we commence providing products or services or begin earning revenues pursuant to such arrangement. We typically incur significant business development expenses, and management’s attention may be diverted from the operation of our existing business, during the discussion and negotiation period with no guarantee of consummation of the proposed transaction. Even if we succeed in developing a strategic alliance, partnership or joint venture with a new partner, we may not be successful in maintaining the relationship, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to enter into strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures on terms that are favorable to us, or at all, or that any strategic alliance, partnership or strategic alliance we have entered into or may enter into will be successful. In particular, these arrangements may not generate the expected number of new clients or engagements or other benefits we seek. Unsuccessful strategic alliances, partnerships or joint ventures could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are exposed to litigation risk.

We are from time to time involved in various litigation matters and claims, including lawsuits regarding employment matters, breach of contract matters, alleged violations of the FCRA and other business and commercial matters. See “Business—Legal Proceedings.” Many aspects of our business, and the businesses of our clients, involve substantial risks of liability. These risks include, among others, claims that we provided to our clients inaccurate or improper information or that we failed to correctly report information to a client. These are typically claims by private plaintiffs, including subjects of our background reports and third parties with which we do business, but can also include regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings. Many of these matters arise in the United States under the FCRA and other laws of U.S. states focused on privacy and the conduct and content of background reports, and relate to actual or alleged process errors, inclusion of erroneous or impermissible information, or failure to include appropriate information in background reports that we prepare. Since the introduction of the GDPR and the UK GDPR, the market has also witnessed an increase in collective privacy actions in other jurisdictions across Europe and the U.K. Investigations, enforcement actions, claims or proceedings may also arise under other laws addressing privacy and the use of background information such as criminal and credit histories around the world.

Although we carry insurance that may limit our risk of damages in some matters, we may still sustain uncovered losses or losses in excess of available insurance, and we could incur significant legal expenses defending claims, even those without merit. For example, in September 2020 we settled a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the FCRA for $15.0 million, which was covered by our insurers after we met our retention. Additionally, in November 2019, we settled a matter with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”). The CFPB’s allegations generally related to the period from December 2012 to July 2016 and we neither admitted nor denied any of the allegations as part of the settlement. As part of the settlement, we paid redress of $6.0 million to pay certain consumers and paid the CFPB $2.5 million in civil money penalty, neither of which were covered by our insurers. Due to the uncertain nature of the litigation process, it is not possible to predict with certainty the outcome of any particular litigation matter or claim, and we could in the future incur judgments or enter into settlements that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The ultimate outcome of lawsuits against us may require us to change or cease certain operations and may result in higher operating costs. An adverse resolution of

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any litigation matter or claim could cause damage to our reputation and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

Our share price may be volatile and, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Litigation of this type could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any adverse determination in litigation could also subject us to significant liabilities.

Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may materially adversely affect our financial results.

We operate in several different countries outside the United States, most notably the United Kingdom and Canada, and historically, approximately 15–20% of our revenue has been denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Portions of our expenses, assets and liabilities are denominated in non-U.S. dollar currencies as well. Because our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate non-U.S. dollar denominated revenues, income and expenses, as well as assets and liabilities, into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect during or at the end of each reporting period. Accordingly, increases or decreases in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. As we increase the extent of our international operations, such foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations could make it more difficult to detect underlying trends in our business and results of operations, such as our margins and cash flows. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations may also adversely impact third-party vendors we rely on for services, which may be passed along to us in the form of price increases. In recent years, external events, such as Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty regarding actual and potential shifts in U.S. and foreign trade, economic and other policies and the passage of U.S. tax reform legislation, have caused significant volatility in currency exchange rates, especially among the U.S. dollar, the pound sterling and the euro, and these or other external events may continue to cause such volatility.

While we engage in hedging activity to attempt to mitigate currency exchange rate risk with respect to our expenses denominated in the Indian rupee, our hedging activities may not be effective, particularly in the event of inaccurate forecasts of the levels of our Indian rupee-denominated assets and liabilities. Accordingly, if there are adverse movements in the U.S. dollar-Indian rupee exchange

rate, we may suffer significant losses, which would materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The United Kingdom’s exit from the EU could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the EU (“Brexit”), entering into a transition period that ended on December 31, 2020. This process is unprecedented in EU history and the effects of Brexit remain uncertain. Although the United Kingdom entered into a trade and cooperation agreement with the EU on December 24, 2020 that provides for, among other things, the free movement of goods between the United Kingdom and the EU, continued legal uncertainty and potentially divergent national laws and regulations in relation to financial laws and regulations, tax and free trade agreements, immigration laws and employment laws may adversely affect economic or market conditions in the United Kingdom, Europe or globally, which could contribute to instability in

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global financial and foreign exchange markets, including volatility in the value of the British pound, or the euro, which could negatively affect our revenues and the broader economic environment on which our business and industry depend.

The United Kingdom’s departure from the EU and the terms of the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU could significantly impact the business environment in which we and our clients operate, increase the costs of conducting business in both the United Kingdom and the EU, impair or prohibit access to EU clients, create challenges in attracting or retaining non-British EU employees and introduce significant new uncertainties with respect to the legal and regulatory requirements to which we and our clients are subject. In particular, Brexit is expected to significantly affect the regulatory landscape in both the United Kingdom and the EU, and may have a material impact on their respective economies, which could have a materially adverse impact on us despite our international client base.

Failure to retain our existing senior management team or the inability to attract and retain qualified personnel could materially adversely affect our ability to operate or grow our business.

The success of our business depends upon the skills, experience and efforts of our executive officers, particularly Joshua Peirez, our Chief Executive Officer and Director, Lou Paglia, our President and Chief Operating Officer and Peter Walker, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. There is a risk that any of Messrs. Peirez, Paglia or Walker could leave the Company at any time, subject to certain notice requirements, although each is subject to post-termination restrictive covenants including non-compete covenants, as further described under “Executive Compensation—Summary Compensation Table—Narrative Disclosure to Summary Compensation Table—Employment Agreements.” Although we have invested in succession planning, the loss of key members of our senior management team could nevertheless have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Should we lose the services of any member of our senior management team, we would have to conduct a search for a qualified replacement. This search may be prolonged, and we may not be able to locate and hire a qualified replacement.

Our business also depends on our ability to continue to attract, motivate and retain a large number of highly qualified personnel in order to support our clients and achieve business results. There is a limited pool of employees who have the requisite skills, training and education. Identifying, recruiting, training, integrating and retaining qualified personnel requires significant time, expense and attention, and the market for qualified personnel, particularly those with experience in background screening, has become increasingly competitive as an increasing number of companies seek to enhance their positions in the markets we serve. Our inability to attract, retain and motivate personnel with the requisite skills could impair our ability to develop new products and services, enhance our existing products and services, grow our client base, enter into new markets or manage our business effectively.

Increases in labor costs, potential labor disputes and work stoppages or an inability to hire skilled personnel could materially adversely affect our business.

An increase in labor costs, work stoppages or disruptions at our officers or those of our service providers, or other labor disruptions, could decrease our revenue and increase our expenses. In addition, although our employees are not represented by a union, our labor force may become subject to labor union organizing efforts, which could cause us to incur additional labor costs and increase the related risks that we now face. It is also possible that a union seeking to organize one subset of our employee population could also mount a corporate campaign, resulting in negative publicity or other actions that require attention by our management team and our employees. Negative publicity, work

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stoppages, or strikes by unions could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.

The competition for skilled sales and other personnel can be intense in the regions in which our offices are located. A significant increase in the salaries and wages paid in these regions or by competing employers could result in a reduction of our labor force, increases in the salaries and wages that we must pay or both. If we are unable to hire skilled manufacturing, sales and other personnel or retain our existing personnel, our ability to execute our business plan, and our results of operations, would suffer.

Our ability to conduct our business may be materially adversely affected by unforeseen or catastrophic events. In addition, our U.S. and European operations are heavily concentrated in particular areas and may be adversely affected by events in those areas.

We may incur losses as a result of unforeseen or catastrophic events, including fire, natural disasters, extreme weather events, power loss, telecommunications failure, software or hardware malfunctions, theft, cyber-attacks, war or terrorist attacks. In addition, employee misconduct or error could expose us to significant liability, losses, regulatory sanctions and reputational harm. Misconduct or error by employees could include engaging in improperly using confidential information or engaging in improper or unauthorized activities or transactions. These unforeseen or catastrophic events could adversely affect our clients’ levels of business activity and precipitate sudden significant changes in regional and global economic conditions and cycles. Certain of these events also pose significant risks to our employees and our physical facilities and operations around the world, whether the facilities are ours or those of our third-party service providers or clients. If our systems were to fail or be negatively affected as a result of an unforeseen or catastrophic event, our business functions could be interrupted, our ability to make our products and services available to our clients could be impaired and we could lose critical data. If we are unable to develop adequate plans to ensure that our business functions continue to operate during and after an unforeseen or catastrophic event, and successfully execute on those plans should such an event occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation could be materially harmed.

In addition, although we believe our virtual-first policy has reduced our geographic concentration while it has broadened our exposure to multiple geographies, our U.S. operations are heavily concentrated in the New York metropolitan area and our European operations are heavily concentrated in London, England, Swansea, Wales and Wroclaw, Poland. Any event that affects these geographic areas could particularly affect our ability to operate our business.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect or change significantly, our results of operations could be harmed.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity and the amount of sales and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our results of operations may be harmed if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors and could result in a decline in our stock price.

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements. You can generally identify forward-looking statements by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “projection,” “seek,” “should,” “will” or “would,” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. In particular, statements about the markets in which we operate, including our expectations about market trends, our market opportunity and the growth of our various markets, our expansion into new markets, the size of our total addressable market, market trends, and our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects, assumptions, or future events or performance contained in this prospectus under the headings “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business” are forward-looking statements.

We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed in this prospectus under the headings “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, or could affect our share price. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include:

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Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are not guarantees of future performance and our actual results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity, and events in the industry in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, they may not be predictive of results or developments in future periods.

Any forward-looking statement that we make in this prospectus speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this prospectus.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $             million, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $              per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $            , assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares sold in this offering by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $             , assuming an initial public offering price of $              per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The information discussed above is illustrative only and will adjust based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

We intend to use all of the net proceeds to us from this offering to prepay amounts outstanding under our Term loan, with the remainder to be used for general corporate purposes.

As of June 30, 2021 we had $613.6 million outstanding under the Term loan. We intend to use approximately $          of the proceeds of this offering to prepay amounts outstanding under the Term loan. Amounts outstanding under the Term loan bear interest under either of the following two rates, elected in advance quarterly by the borrower for periods of either one month, two months, three months or six months: (1) an applicable rate of 2.5% plus a base rate (equal to the greater of (a) the prime rate (b) the federal funds rate plus 1/2 of 1% or (c) the one-month LIBOR plus 1%, subject to a 2% floor); or (2) an applicable rate of 3.5% plus one-month LIBOR which is subject to a 1% floor. Interest on LIBOR borrowings is payable on the last business day of the interest period selected except in the case of a six-month election, in which case it is payable on the last day of the third and sixth month. The interest rate in effect for the Term loan as of June 30, 2021 was 4.5%. For additional information about our Term loan, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facility.” Certain of the underwriters and/or their respective affiliates are lenders of the Term loan and, as a result, will receive approximately $             million, which represents a portion of the net proceeds from this offering that we intend to allocate to the repayment of such borrowings, on a pro rata basis across all applicable lenders thereunder. See “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest).”

We will have broad discretion in the application and specific allocations of the net proceeds to us of this offering. Pending application of proceeds to general corporate purposes, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering to us in short- and intermediate-term, interest- bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments or other securities.

We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock by the selling stockholders in this offering. The selling stockholders will bear the underwriting discount, if any, attributable to their sale of our common stock. See “Principal and Selling Stockholders.”

Some of the Sponsor entities are affiliates of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, an underwriter of this offering, beneficially own         % of our outstanding capital stock prior to the consummation of this offering and will be selling stockholders in this offering and, as such, will receive in excess of 5% of the net proceeds of this offering. Therefore, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” under FINRA Rule 5121. Accordingly, this offering is being conducted in compliance with the

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applicable provisions of FINRA Rule 5121. FINRA Rule 5121 prohibits Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC from making sales to discretionary accounts without the prior written approval of the account holder and requires that a “qualified independent underwriter,” as defined in FINRA Rule 5121, participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise its usual standards of due diligence with respect thereto. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is assuming the responsibilities of acting as the “qualified independent underwriter” in this offering and is undertaking the legal responsibilities and liabilities of an underwriter under the Securities Act, which specifically include those inherent in Section 11 of the Securities Act.

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We do not currently expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Instead, we intend to retain future earnings, if any, for the future operation and expansion of our business. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable laws and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Because our business is conducted through our subsidiaries, dividends, distributions and other payments from, and cash generated by, our subsidiaries will be our principal sources of cash to fund operations and pay dividends. Accordingly, our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders is dependent on the earnings and distributions of funds from our subsidiaries. Our ability to pay dividends may also be restricted by the terms of our Credit Agreement and any future credit agreement or any future debt or preferred equity securities of Sterling Check Corp. or its subsidiaries. Accordingly, you may need to sell your shares of our common stock to realize a return on your investment and you may not be able to sell your shares at or above the price you paid for them. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to This Offering and Ownership of our Common Stock—We do not currently expect to pay any cash dividends.”

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth the cash and cash equivalents and the total capitalization as of June 30, 2021.

The information below is illustrative only, and our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization following the consummation of this offering (including the use of proceeds therefrom) are subject to change based on the actual initial public offering price and the other terms of this offering determined at pricing. You should read this information in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Description of Capital Stock” and other financial information contained in this prospectus.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the as adjusted amount of each of additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization, as well as decrease (increase) the amount of long-term indebtedness, in each case by $                 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares sold in this offering by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the as adjusted amount of each of additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization, as well as decrease (increase) the amount of long-term indebtedness, in each case by $                 million, assuming an initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

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The number of shares of common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on             shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2021, and excludes             shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding under the Stock Option Plan,             shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the Stock Option Plan and              and             shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Equity Plan and ESPP, respectively, both of which we intend to adopt in connection with this offering.

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DILUTION

If you purchase any of the shares offered by this prospectus, you will experience dilution to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value (deficit) per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value as of             , 2021 was $            , or $                per share. Historical net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our total tangible assets less our total liabilities by the number of shares of our common stock. After giving effect to our sale of shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and the application of the net proceeds from this offering as described in “Use of Proceeds,” our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of                 , 2021 would have been $                 million, or $                 per share. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $                 per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $                 per share to new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value by $                , or $                 per share, and the dilution per share of common stock to new investors in this offering by $                 per share, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share by $                 and decrease the dilution per share to new investors by $                 , assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A decrease of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares of common stock offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would decrease the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share by $                 and increase the dilution per share to new investors by $                 , assuming an initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

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The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis, as of                 , 2021, the differences between the number of shares of common stock purchased or to be purchased from us, the total consideration paid or to be paid to us and the average price per share paid by existing stockholders or to be paid by new investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Sales by the selling stockholders in this offering will reduce the number of shares held by existing stockholders to                , or approximately     % of the total shares of common stock outstanding after this offering, which will increase the number of shares held by new investors to                , or approximately     % of the total shares of common stock outstanding after this offering.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $                 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) total consideration paid by new investors by $                 million and total consideration paid by all stockholders by $                 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase (decrease) of 1.0 million shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) total consideration paid by new investors by $                 million and total consideration paid by all stockholders by $                 million, assuming the assumed initial public offering price remains the same, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The dilution information discussed above is illustrative only and may change based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering. In addition, to the extent we issue any additional stock options or any outstanding stock options are exercised, or if we issue any other securities or convertible debt in the future, investors will experience further dilution.

The number of shares of common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on                 shares of our common stock outstanding as of                 , 2021, and excludes                 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding under the Stock Option Plan,                  shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the Stock Option Plan and                 and                 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Equity Plan and ESPP, respectively, both of which we intend to adopt in connection with this offering.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the sections titled “Basis of Presentation” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes and other information included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to those differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those discussed in the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

We are a leading global provider of technology-enabled background and identity verification services. We provide the foundation of trust and safety our clients need to create great environments for their most essential resource—people. We offer a comprehensive hiring and risk management solution that begins with identity verification, followed by criminal background screening, credential verification, drug and health screening, processing of employee documentation required for onboarding and ongoing risk monitoring. Our services are delivered through our purpose-built, proprietary, cloud-based technology platform that empowers organizations with real-time and data-driven insights to conduct and manage their employment screening programs efficiently and effectively. Our interfaces are supported by our powerful artificial intelligence (“AI”)-driven fulfillment platform, which leverages more than 3,300 automation integrations, including Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”) and Robotic Process Automation (“RPA”) bots. This enables 90% of U.S. criminal searches to be automated and allows us to complete 70% of U.S. criminal searches within the first hour and 90% within the first day. As of December 31, 2020, 95% of our revenue is processed through platforms hosted in the cloud, which allows us to consistently maintain 99.9% platform availability while being prepared to scale into the future.

Our client-centric approach underpins everything we do. We serve a diverse and global client base in a wide range of industries, such as healthcare, gig economy, financial and business services, industrials, retail, contingent, technology, media and entertainment, transportation and logistics, hospitality, education and government. To serve these differing needs, our sales and support delivery model is organized around industry-specific teams (“Verticals”) and geographic markets (“Regions”). Our clients face a dynamic and rapidly evolving global labor market with increasing complexity and regulatory requirements. As a result, we believe our solutions are mission-critical to their core human resources, risk management and compliance functions. During the twelve months ended June 30, 2021, we completed over 75 million searches for over 40,000 clients, including over 50% of the Fortune 100 and over 45% of the Fortune 500. We believe the combination of our deep market expertise from our sales and support combined with the flexibility of our proprietary technology platform enable us to deliver industry-relevant, highly specialized solutions to our clients in a scalable manner, driving growth and differentiating us from our competitors.

Trends and Other Factors Affecting Our Performance

Macroeconomic and Job Environment

Our business is impacted by the overall economic environment and our clients’ hiring volumes. Despite fluctuations in the macroeconomic environment, we have benefited recently from a number of key demand drivers, many of which increase the need for more flexible, comprehensive screening and hiring solutions.

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The American gig economy and contingent workforce accounts for a large and growing proportion of the U.S. workforce. As the gig economy caters to clients in a very direct and personal way (e.g., rideshare, goods delivery, household services), safe and effective background screening capabilities have become critical. In addition, generational and structural shifts in the workforce have led to increasing voluntary employee churn, particularly with younger workers. The ongoing structural shift from in-office to remote work further reduces the historical geographic matching challenge employers and employees faced, further reducing switching costs for employees and expanding talent pools for employers. Further, the proliferation of personal data has exposed many identities to risk of exposure and theft, driving the need for identity verification. Verifying identity is a powerful tool that employers can use to help ensure that their candidates and workers are who they claim to be, and that fraudulent data is not used during the hiring and onboarding process. As false claims within job applications are an area of growing concern for employers, our clients use our background and identification verification services to mitigate reputational risks.

Background screening is also gaining broader adoption outside the U.S. Globally, companies are consistently competing for the best talent, regardless of location, and are therefore putting greater emphasis on reducing time-to-hire in a compliant manner as well as creating a positive onboarding experience for the candidate. Additionally, the international expansion of U.S.-based global companies and their desire to offer centralized and comparable hiring practices has introduced the benefits of background screening to foreign markets. Our ability to navigate the complexities of international background checks and verifying foreign credentials drives demand for our products and services.

Our clients are increasingly utilizing ongoing post-hire screening. This allows for greater mobility and safety for remote, onsite and contingent jobs and also ensures prompt risk warnings on any changes to an employee’s profile, including any criminal activity, drug use or health changes and compliance with on-going certification and licensing requirements, amongst others. This has further accelerated demand for our screening products and services.

New Product and Service Development

Our success depends on our ability to develop new products and services and introduce technological enhancements for our current products and services that meet the demands of existing and new clients. We have a robust new product roadmap focused on enhancing our ability to address the constantly evolving needs of our clients and their candidates.

As part of our continued evolution, in early 2019, we launched Project Ignite, a three-phase strategic investment initiative to create an enterprise-class global platform. We are already benefiting from the delivery of our new client and candidate interfaces, scalable cloud-based infrastructure for our global and local production platforms and an improved security environment through new business wins, improved client retention and the ability to launch products rapidly to meet immediate client needs, as we did with our full suite of novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) testing products in 2020. The remaining investment, which we expect to complete in 2022, will migrate our corporate technological infrastructure to the cloud and unify our clients onto a single global production platform. Over the long term, we expect these investments to further enhance our margins, improve time to market as we build once and deploy globally and allow us to increase innovation. We intend to continue to invest in developing industry-first solutions, further innovating in our existing Verticals as well as pursuing adjacent market opportunities that leverage our existing technology platform. We plan to pursue new and underpenetrated adjacent market opportunities, including talent assessment, reference checking, onboarding and investigative due diligence.

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Clients

Our results of operations depend on our ability to retain existing clients, offer new products and services to existing clients, attract new clients and maintain a diverse client base. We serve the background and identity verification services needs of more than 40,000 clients. Our client base is diversified in size of client and industry and includes over 50% of the Fortune 100, over 45% of the Fortune 500 and numerous small- and mid-sized business (“SMB”) clients across the world. We have minimal client concentration with no client accounting for more than 5% of revenue, and our top 25 clients accounting for less than 30% of revenue. We serve the healthcare, gig, financial and business services, industrials, retail, contingent, technology, media and entertainment, transportation and logistics, hospitality, education and government industries. We employ an operating model organized by Vertical and Region that produces differentiated end-market insights and allows us to tailor solutions to meet the needs of each industry we serve.

A majority of our U.S. enterprise client contracts are exclusive to Sterling or require Sterling to be used as the primary provider. Additionally, they are typically multi-year agreements with automatic renewal terms, no termination for convenience clauses and set pricing with Sterling’s right to increase prices upon notice. Our success is driven by a competitive service offering of fast, reliable, and accurate screening information delivered on a cost-effective basis. Additionally, our offerings are tightly integrated with our clients’ applicant tracking systems (“ATS”) and human capital management (“HCM”) systems, further cementing our services into our clients’ daily HR workflows. Taken together, these factors have yielded strong client relationships with an average tenure of nine years across our top 100 clients based on 2019 and 2020 total revenue.

Our ability to retain our existing clients and attract new clients will depend on our ability to continue to deliver superior client service and on the quality of the products and services that we provide, including the accuracy and speed of the background checks that we perform and the protection of the data we collect. Our gross retention rate in 2018, 2019 and 2020 was 88%, 91% and 94%, respectively. Our gross retention rate in 2018 and 2019 reflected the loss of two of our top five clients in 2018, prior to the formation of our new management team, investment in our cloud-based technology platform, and verticalization of the business. For the six months ended June 30, 2021, our gross retention rate was 96% as compared to 93% for the six months ended June 30, 2020, reflecting the positive impact of our strategic initiatives.

Regulatory Environment

Our business is subject to extensive regulations in the U.S. and internationally, which may expose us to significant regulatory risk and cause additional legal costs to ensure compliance. See “Business—Regulation.” We are subject to a number of laws and regulations regarding protection of the security and privacy of certain healthcare and personal information. While the overarching principles of security and privacy laws and regulations are similar across geographies, the specific laws within each region are not uniform and are often evolving, placing increasingly complicated operational requirements on our business.

However, under certain circumstances, regulation may increase demand for our products and services, and we believe we are well positioned to benefit from any potential increased screenings due to regulatory changes as clients seek products and services that meet regulatory requirements and solutions that help them comply with their regulatory obligations. A growing number of laws and regulations has led to greater complexities and potential legal liabilities related to hiring and workforce management policies that are increasingly difficult to navigate for employers. In response, our clients are increasing their focus on compliance functions to ensure they are meeting these changing legal and regulatory demands.

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Competitive Environment

The market for global background and identity verification services is highly fragmented and competitive. To our knowledge, no single private or public firm possesses a market share of greater than 10%. We compete with a diverse group of screening companies, including global full-suite players characterized by their global scale and enterprise offerings; mid-tier players that tend to focus on a particular geographic region, industry or product line; and small and independently-owned background screening players that typically serve SMBs. It is also possible that new competitors or alliances or consolidation among competitors may emerge and significantly increase competition. We expect our market to remain highly competitive.

We believe that reporting accurate information and maintaining security of sensitive information are two fundamental requirements to compete successfully as a reputable background screening provider. We also compete on the basis of a number of factors, including: the technology-enabled, ease-of-use, level of functionality and end-to-end efficiency of our solution; our ability to integrate with client systems and major software applications; the breadth and geographical reach of our service offerings; the speed of our screening results; pricing and return on investment for our clients; and our successful track record and reference base with similarly situated companies. See “Business—Competition” for more detail on our competitors.

Technology and Cybersecurity Environment

We operate in industries that are subject to rapid technological advances and changing client needs and preferences. In order to remain competitive and responsive to client demands, we continually upgrade, enhance, and expand our security, technology, products and services. If we experience cyber-threats and attempted security breaches or fail to respond successfully to technology challenges and client needs and preferences, the demand for our products and services may diminish.

Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Environment

We earn revenues, pay expenses, hold assets and incur liabilities in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Accordingly, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates can affect our results of operations from period to period. In particular, fluctuations in exchange rates for non-U.S. dollar currencies may reduce the U.S. dollar value of revenues, earnings and cash flows we receive from non-U.S. markets, increase our operating expenses (as measured in U.S. dollars) in those markets, negatively impact our competitiveness in those markets or otherwise adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition. Key currencies affecting our results of operations at this time are the Canadian dollar (CAD), Euro (EUR), British pound (GBP), Australian dollar (AUD), Indian rupee (INR) and Philippine peso (PHP). As we expand into other markets, other currencies may become relevant. Future fluctuations of foreign currency exchange rates and their impact on our results of operations and financial condition are inherently uncertain. As we continue to pursue growth of our global operations, these fluctuations may be material. See “—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk—Foreign Currency and Derivative Risk.”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been focused on keeping our employees safe and maintaining our clients’ uninterrupted access to our services. We have implemented a series of measures to protect the health and safety of our employees. The global impact of the outbreak has continued to evolve rapidly. Many countries reacted by instituting quarantines and restrictions on travel and limiting operations of non-essential businesses. Such actions created disruption in global supply chains, increased rates of unemployment and adversely impacted many industries. While some governmentally and institutionally mandated restrictions and limitations have been relaxed as local populations have been vaccinated or the outbreak has locally subsided, the outbreak has continued to

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spread globally and the COVID-19 virus has mutated into new strains. The COVID-19 pandemic could have a continued adverse impact on economic and market conditions, and the full extent of the impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic will depend on future developments, including, among other factors, spread of the outbreak and the success of vaccination programs, along with related travel advisories, quarantines and restrictions, the recovery times of disrupted supply chains and industries, the impact of labor market interruptions, the impact of government interventions, and uncertainty with respect to the duration of the global economic slowdown.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the risks described in “Risk Factors” of this prospectus, including, but not limited to, those relating to changes in economic, political, social and market conditions; systems failures, interruptions, delays in services, cybersecurity incidents, unforeseen or catastrophic events and any resulting interruptions; our international operations; and our dependence on our senior management team and other qualified personnel.

Operational Enablement

In February 2020, we set up a COVID-19 Business Continuity Planning and Crisis Management Task force led by our Chief Risk Officer. By mid-March 2020, we had successfully executed a virtual operating model and nearly all of our employees around the globe were working remotely. We have continued to be successful in executing a virtual-first strategy, as a result of which most of our employees have continued to work remotely. Operating in a virtual model has required us to hire employees remotely, train them virtually and expand our network capabilities.

Revenue and Sales Generation

Our financial performance in 2020 was impacted by the general economic downturn experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our clients froze headcount, furloughed and terminated employees, deferred hiring and partially or completely shut down their business operations and as a result, we experienced reduced demand for our products and services, particularly in industries impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic such as brick-and-mortar retail, entertainment, and hospitality. However, we saw increased demand for our products and services in industries such as healthcare and gig, both in the U.S. and internationally, which we believe is attributable to changing consumer behavior. Our lack of industry concentration with a highly diversified client base provided a natural hedge against industry-specific effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, due to our increased investment in automation, we were able to fulfill searches in at least 98% of U.S. jurisdictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while certain competitors struggled to operate. Beginning in the third quarter of 2020, as shelter-in-place policies were relaxed, businesses began to reopen and general economic conditions began to improve, we experienced an increase in the demand for our products and services. This increase in demand continued through the end of 2020 with the business moving into year over year revenue growth for November and December. In June 2020, we expanded our services to include COVID-19 testing and are pursuing new opportunities in vaccination tracking and antibody testing for our clients, which has resulted in an increase in demand for our services.

Cost Optimization and Cash Management

Beginning in March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented robust cost reduction measures across the organization, reducing selling, general and administrative expenses. We recognized this as an opportunity to implement strategic structural changes to improve operating leverage and accelerate the modernization of our technological infrastructure. We moved to a virtual-first strategy, closed or reduced the size of eight offices globally, began reducing our data center

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footprint to prioritize moving our revenue to platforms hosted in the cloud, and streamlined our sales and operations organization for greater operational efficiency. We derived additional cost savings from reducing variable spending, such as bonus expense, lower commissions, and lower marketing, travel, and entertainment expenses due to business performance being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the three months ended June 30, 2020, we incurred $2.7 million in incremental costs as we were unable to right-size our fulfillment organization due to a mandate by the Maharashtra state government that prohibited employers from terminating any local employees until July 2020. Additional costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic included expenses related to temporarily transitioning our fulfillment teams to a virtual operating model.

On March 27, 2020, the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act, among other things, permits the deferral of employer taxes. We chose to avail ourselves of this provision, resulting in the deferral of $2.7 million of employer taxes from 2020, payable in 2021 and 2022. We did not participate in any other benefits of the CARES Act or in any other government programs globally related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2020, we drew down $83.8 million from our revolving line of credit as a liquidity precaution due to the uncertainty of a credit crisis in the macroeconomic environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we repaid this amount in full in May 2020, once we had sufficiently established there was no macroeconomic ongoing credit concern.

Components of our Results of Operations

The following discussion summarizes the key components of our consolidated statements of operations. We have one operating and reporting segment.

Revenues

We generate revenue by providing background and identity verification services to our clients. We have an attractive business model underpinned by stable and highly recurring transactional revenues, significant operating leverage and low capital requirements that contribute to strong cash flow generation. We recognize revenue under Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) Topic 606 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASC 606”). Under ASC 606, we recognize revenue when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to clients, generally at a point in time, in an amount that reflects the consideration that we are entitled to for those goods or services. A majority of our U.S. enterprise client contracts are exclusive to Sterling or require Sterling to be used as the primary provider. Additionally, they are typically multi-year agreements with automatic renewal terms, no termination for convenience clauses and set pricing with Sterling’s right to increase prices upon notice. The strength of our contracts combined with our high levels of client retention results in a high degree of revenue visibility.

Our revenue drivers are acquiring new clients (which we measure by new client growth, calculated as discussed in the following paragraph), retaining existing clients (which we measure by gross retention rate, calculated as discussed in the following paragraph), and growing our existing client relationships through upselling, cross-selling, and organic and inorganic growth in our client’s operations that lead to an increase in hiring (which we measure by base growth, calculated as discussed in the following paragraph).

New client growth for the relevant period is calculated as revenues from clients that are in the first twelve months of billing with Sterling divided by total revenues from the prior period, expressed as a percentage. Base growth is defined as growth in revenues in the current period, from clients that have

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been billing with us for longer than twelve calendar months divided by total revenues from the prior period, expressed as a percentage. Gross retention rate is a percentage, the numerator of which is prior period revenues less the revenue impact from accounts considered lost and the denominator is prior period revenues. The revenue impact is calculated as revenue decline of lost accounts in the relevant period from the prior period for the months after they were considered lost. Therefore, the attrition impact of clients lost in the current year may be partially captured in both the current and following period’s retention rates depending on what point during the period they are lost. Our gross retention rate does not factor in revenue impact, whether growth or decline, attributable to existing clients or the incremental revenue impact of new clients. The calculations of our growth drivers exclude our APAC revenues which account for less than 6% of annual revenues in the periods presented.

In addition to organic growth through the drivers mentioned above, we may from time to time consider acquisitions that drive growth in our business. In those instances, inorganic growth will refer to the revenue from acquisitions for the twelve months following an acquisition. Any incremental revenue generation thereafter will be considered organic growth.

Our revenues come from the following services which are sold as a bundle or individually, with revenue recognized at the time of delivery of background screening reports.

Operating Expenses

Our cost structure is flexible and provides us with operational leverage to be able to effectively adapt to changing client needs and broader economic events. Additionally, in 2020, we implemented strategic structural changes in our business to improve operating leverage and accelerate modernizing our technological infrastructure including leveraging robotics process automation. We moved to a virtual-first strategy and closed or reduced the size of eight offices globally and began reducing our data center footprint as we executed moving our revenue to the cloud, and streamlined our sales and operations organization for greater operational efficiency. In any given period, operating expenses are driven by the amount of revenue, mix of clients and products, and impact of automation, productivity, and procurement initiatives. While we expect operating expenses to increase in absolute dollars to support our continued growth, we believe that operating expenses will decline gradually as a percentage of total revenues in the future as our business grows and our operating scale continues to improve.

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Operating expenses include the following costs:

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues includes costs related to delivery of services and includes third-party vendor costs associated with acquisition of data and to a lesser extent, costs related to our onshore and offshore fulfillment teams and facilities. Our ability to grow profitably depends on our ability to manage our cost structure. Our costs are affected by third-party costs including government fees and data vendor costs, as these third parties have discretion to adjust pricing.

Third-party data costs include amounts paid to third parties for access to government records, other third-party data and services, as well as costs related to our court runner network. Third-party cost of services are largely variable in nature. Where applicable, these are typically invoiced to our clients as direct pass-through costs. Additional vendor costs are third-party costs for robotics process automation related to fulfillment, and third-party costs related to hosting our fulfillment platforms in the cloud. Cost of services also includes salaries and benefits expense for personnel involved in the processing and fulfilment of our screening products and solutions, as well as our client care organization, and facilities costs for our onshore and offshore fulfillment centers. We do not allocate depreciation and amortization to cost of services.

Product and Technology expense

Approximately half of the expenses in Product and technology consists of non-capitalizable costs to develop and maintain our production systems and approximately half of the costs relate to maintaining our corporate information technology infrastructure.

Production system costs consist of non-capitalizable personnel costs including contractor costs incurred in connection with the development and maintenance of our technology platform to facilitate the launch of new screening products, improvements to the technology that supports our existing screening products or to increase the functionality of our platform and enhance the ease of use for our cloud applications. Certain personnel costs related to new products and features are capitalized and amortization of these capitalized costs is included in the depreciation and amortization cost line item.

Corporate information technology expenses consist of personnel costs supporting internal operations such as information technology support and the maintenance of our information security and business continuity functions. Also included are third-party costs including cloud computing costs that support our internal systems, software licensing and maintenance, telecommunications and other technology infrastructure costs.

Included within Product and technology expense are non-capitalizable production system and corporate information technology expenses related to Project Ignite, a three-phase strategic investment initiative. Phase one of Project Ignite modernized client and candidate experiences and is complete. Phase two of Project Ignite focused on decommissioning our on-premises data centers and migrating our production systems and corporate information technological infrastructure to a managed service provider in the cloud. As of June 30, 2021, we have completed phase two related to the migration of our production and fulfillment systems to the cloud, and as a result, 95% of our revenue is processed through platforms hosted in the cloud. The remaining expense to complete phase two is the decommissioning of our on-premises data centers for our internal corporate technology infrastructure and migration to the cloud. This final component will be completed over the next twelve months. Phase three of Project Ignite is decommissioning of platforms purchased over the prior ten years and the migration of the clients to one global platform. This third and final phase, which we expect to complete in 2022, will unify our clients onto a single global platform. The future costs related to completing these initiatives will be included in our Product and technology expense.

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Selling, General and Administrative

Selling expenses consist of personnel costs, travel expenses, and other expenses for our client success, sales and marketing teams. Additionally, selling expenses include the cost of marketing and promotional events, corporate communications, and other brand-building activities. General and administrative expenses consist of personnel and related expenses for human resources, legal and compliance, finance, global shared services, and executives. Additional costs include professional fees, stock-based compensation, insurance premiums, and other corporate expenses. We expect our selling, general, and administrative expenses to increase in the future, primarily as a result of additional public company related reporting and compliance costs. In the near term, as a result of performance-based and time-based options that will vest in connection with this offering and the forgiveness of promissory notes exchanged for common stock, we expect to incur approximately $                  of stock-based compensation expense in the third quarter of 2021. Over the long term, we expect our selling, general, and administrative expenses to decrease as a percentage of our revenue as we leverage our past investments.

Depreciation and Amortization

Definite-lived intangible assets consist of intangibles acquired through acquisition and the costs of developing internal-use software. They are amortized using a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives except for client lists which use an accelerated method of amortization. The costs of developing internal-use software are capitalized during the application development stage. Amortization commences when the software is placed into service and is computed using the straight-line method over the useful life of the underlying software of three years.

Depreciation is computed on the straight-line basis over the estimated useful life of our property and equipment assets, generally three to five years or, for leasehold improvements, the shorter of seven years or the term of the lease.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

Long-lived assets, such as property, equipment and capitalized internal use software subject to amortization, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable, such as (i) a significant adverse change in the extent or manner in which it is being used or in its physical condition, (ii) a significant adverse change in legal factors or in business climate that could affect its value, or (iii) a current-period operation or cash flow loss combined with a history of operating or cash flow losses or a projection or forecast that demonstrates continuing losses associated with its use. An asset is considered impaired if the carrying amount exceeds the undiscounted future net cash flows the asset is expected to generate. An impairment charge is recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds its fair value. The adjusted carrying amount of the asset becomes its new cost basis. For a depreciable long-lived asset, the new cost basis will be depreciated or amortized over the remaining useful life of that asset. Assets held for sale are reported at the lower of the carrying amount or fair value, less selling costs.

Interest Expense, Net

Interest expense consists of interest and the amortization discount on the Term loan (as defined under “—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facility.”

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Loss on Interest Rate Swap

Loss on interest rate swap consists of realized and unrealized gains and losses on our interest rate swaps, which we entered into to reduce our exposure to variability in expected future cash flows on the Term loan, which bears interest at a variable rate. Unrealized gains and losses result from changes in the fair value of the swaps and realized gains and losses reflect the amounts payable or receivable between the fixed rate on the swap and LIBOR. Our interest rate swaps expire in June 2022, and do not qualify for hedge accounting treatment.

Income Tax (Benefit) Expense

Income tax (benefit) expense consists of domestic and foreign corporate income taxes related to earning from our sale of services, with statutory tax rates that differ by jurisdiction. We expect the income earned by our international entities to grow over time as a percentage of total income, which may impact our effective income tax rate. However, our effective tax rate will be affected by many other factors including changes in tax laws, regulations or rates, new interpretations of existing laws or regulations, shifts in the allocation of income earned throughout the world, and changes in overall levels of income before tax. The computation of the provision for or benefit from income taxes for interim periods is determined by applying the estimated annual effective tax rate to year-to-date (loss) income before tax and adjusting for discrete tax items recorded in the period, if any.

Results of Operations

Year Ended December 31, 2019 compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2020

The following table sets forth certain historical consolidated financial information for the year ended December 31, 2019 and compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.

Revenues

Revenues decreased by 8.7%, or $43.1 million, from $497.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $454.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. This was driven by a decline in demand beginning mid-March 2020, due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic as

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some industry Verticals such as brick-and-mortar retail, travel, entertainment and hospitality, financial services, manufacturing and industrials were particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this decline was partially offset by higher demand in the U.S. healthcare and U.S. and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) gig businesses. Changing consumer behavior, consumer demand for healthcare services as well as increased at-home delivery of goods led to an increase in hiring in these sectors, particularly in the second half of 2020. In 2020 we experienced approximately 7% new client growth and an approximately 9% decline in base growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our gross retention rate for the year ended December 31, 2019 was 91% compared to 94% for the year ended December 31, 2020. Pricing was relatively stable across the periods and not meaningful to the changes in revenues.

We started 2020 with 12.6% year over year revenue growth in the first two months and began experiencing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the latter half of March 2020. Overall, revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was 8.0% higher than revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019. We experienced the most significant negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the second quarter of 2020 with revenue approximately 33.1% lower than the corresponding period in 2019. As the local shelter-in-place orders began lifting, the business began experiencing some recovery in the third quarter of 2020 where revenue was approximately 11.4% lower than the corresponding period in 2019. The business moved into year over year revenue growth of approximately 5.8% for the fourth quarter of 2020 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, driven by a strong December 2020.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues decreased by 1.8%, or $4.0 million, from $221.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $217.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. This was driven by a $19.2 million reduction due to lower volume, partially offset by $12.5 million due to a change in the mix of business and $2.7 million in COVID-19 pandemic related costs, as we were temporarily unable to right-size our fulfillment team in India due to a mandate by the Maharashtra state government which prohibited termination of employees. The change in mix of business was driven by a temporary decrease in revenue from some of our higher-margin industry Verticals that were most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cost of revenues as a percentage of revenues increased by 333 basis points from 44.5% for the year ended December 31, 2019 to 47.9% for the year ended December 31, 2020 due to a change in mix of business as some of our higher-margin industry Verticals were unfavorably impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as increased hosting costs for cloud-based infrastructure for our platforms, including improvements to the security environment.

Product and Technology Expense

Product and technology expenses decreased by 1.4%, or $0.6 million, from $44.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $44.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was due primarily to reduced personnel-related costs. These expenses include non-capitalizable costs related to Project Ignite. We incurred $7.2 million related to phase one, $3.1 million related to phase two and $4.6 million related to phase three in the year ended December 31, 2019, and $3.2 million related to phase one, $4.1 million related to phase two and $4.9 million related to phase three in the year ended December 31, 2020. For detailed disclosure on Project Ignite, including information related to the anticipated completion and treatment of non-capitalizable expenses in future periods, please see “—Components of our Results of Operations—Operating Expenses—Product and Technology expense.”

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Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by 16.7%, or $24.6 million, from $147.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $122.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily as a result of savings actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in March 2020, we implemented robust cost reduction measures across the organization to reduce selling, general and administrative expenses. This was accomplished through structural changes like moving to a virtual-first strategy by reducing office space globally, streamlining our sales and operations organization, and variable spend reduction, such as lower bonus expense, lower commissions, and lower marketing, travel, and entertainment expenses due to business performance being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 2019 also included a one-time settlement of approximately $8.5 million with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as discussed in “Risk Factors—General Risks—We are exposed to litigation risk.”

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization decreased by 2.8%, or $2.6 million, from $93.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $91.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Depreciation of property and equipment decreased from $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $7.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was due to the write-down of the leasehold improvements and furniture and fixtures of closed office locations, partially offset by depreciation of computers and electronic equipment purchased in support of the company-wide virtual-first work from home policy. Amortization of intangible assets decreased from $85.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $84.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Definite-lived intangible assets consist of intangible assets acquired through acquisition and the costs of developing internal-use software. These assets are amortized using a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives except for client lists which use an accelerated method of amortization. The decrease in amortization on these assets can be attributed to the reducing amortization rate of the client lists.

Impairments of Long-Lived Assets

Impairment of property and equipment and capitalized software decreased from $3.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. In 2020, impairment costs were mainly driven by the write down of fixed assets in our exited offices in Roseville, California and Marietta, Georgia. There was no impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets.

Interest Expense, Net

Interest expense decreased by 16.2%, or $6.4 million, from $39.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $32.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. In 2019, interest expense on the Term loan was $36.2 million compared to $30.4 million in 2020. The reduction in 2020 was driven by the reduction in interest rate following the fall in LIBOR. Amortization expense of the loan discount was $2.4 million in 2019 and 2020.

Loss on Interest Rate Swap

Loss on interest rate swap consists of realized and unrealized gains and losses on our interest rate swaps, which we entered into to reduce our exposure to variability in expected future cash flows on our Term loan, which bears interest at a variable rate. Unrealized gains and losses result from changes in the fair value of the swaps and realized gains and losses reflect the amounts payable or receivable between the fixed rate on the swap and LIBOR. Loss on interest rate swap changed from a loss of $7.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to a loss of $9.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 was driven by the change in the mark to market (“MTM”) valuation of our interest rate swaps, which depends on LIBOR.

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Income Tax Benefit

Benefit from income taxes decreased by 2.0%, or $0.2 million, from $(11.8) million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $(11.6) million for the year ended December 31, 2020. This was primarily due to a decrease in the U.S. state and international deferred income tax provision.

Net Income/(Loss) and Net Loss Margin

Net loss increased by 12.0%, or $5.6 million, from $(46.7) million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $(52.3) million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Net Loss Margin changed from (9.4)% to (11.5)% primarily driven by an 8.7% decrease in revenues due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by a 6.5% decrease in total operating expenses as a result of structural changes and cost savings initiatives implemented.

Net Loss Per Share

Net Loss Per Share increased by 11.8%, or $74.72, from $(634.40) for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $(709.12) for the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily driven by changes in net loss.

Six Months Ended June 30, 2020 compared to the Six Months Ended June 30, 2021

The following table sets forth certain historical consolidated financial performance for the six months ended June 30, 2020 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Revenues

Revenues increased by 43.6%, or $90.8 million, from $207.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $298.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The growth was driven by approximately 13% new customer growth, approximately 31% base growth, and approximately 3% growth from APAC. Our gross retention rate for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was 96% compared to 93% for the six months ended June 30, 2020. Pricing was relatively stable across the periods and not meaningful to the change in revenues.

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In our U.S. business, our healthcare, financial and business services, and technology and media industry Verticals experienced greater than 50% growth, as the U.S. economy continued its recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our international business grew by approximately 80%, as our international gig business continued a high growth trajectory, primarily driven by our large market share of the U.K. food delivery industry, as well as growth in our U.K. government business.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues increased by 45.6%, or $44.8 million, from $98.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $143.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. 97% of the cost increase, or $43.5 million, was due to increased volume, and $1.3 million was due to change in business mix and increased cloud expenses. Cost of revenues as a percentage of revenue was 47.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2020, and 47.9% for the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Product and Technology Expense

Product and technology expenses decreased by 7.8%, or $1.7 million, from $22.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $20.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, due primarily to lower personnel-related costs. These expenses include non-capitalizable costs related to Project Ignite. We incurred $1.5 million related to phase one, $1.9 million related to phase two and $2.3 million related to phase three in the six months ended June 30, 2020, and $0.9 million related to phase one, $3.2 million related to phase two and $2.8 million related to phase 3 in the six months ended June 30, 2021. For detailed disclosure on Project Ignite, including information related to the anticipated completion and treatment of non-capitalizable expenses in future periods, please see “—Components of our Results of Operations—Operating Expenses—Product and Technology expense.”

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by 11.0%, or $6.8 million, from $61.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $68.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The year-over-year increase was driven by approximately $5.0 million of higher professional fees, primarily in connection with our proposed initial public offering, as well as approximately $8.5 million of higher bonus expense, as bonuses were reduced in the prior year period due to the expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial performance. These increases were partially offset by an approximately $4.0 million reduction in severance expense, an approximately $2.0 million reduction in rent and facilities expenses, and reduced marketing, travel and entertainment, and bad debt expenses. The severance expense incurred in the six months ended June 30, 2020, was primarily related to the executive team restructuring program that spanned 2019 to 2020. The lower rent and facilities expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2021 relate to our real estate consolidation efforts, including a credit from the release of deferred rent for our exited office in Bellevue, Washington.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense decreased by 10.4%, or $4.7 million, from $45.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $40.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, due primarily to $3.2 million lower intangible asset amortization, as new intangible assets were added at a lower rate compared to those which became fully depreciated in the interim period. Fixed asset depreciation decreased by approximately $1.5 million, primarily as a result of fixed asset impairments associated with exited office locations.

Impairments of Long-Lived Assets

Impairments of long-lived assets increased by $2.9 million from $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $2.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, due primarily to the write-off of fixed assets in our exited office in Bellevue, Washington.

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Interest Expense, Net

Interest expense decreased by 12.3%, or $2.1 million, from $17.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $15.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 due to the reduction in the interest rate on our Term loan resulting from the reduction in LIBOR. Amortization of the loan discount was $1.2 million for each of the six months ended June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

Loss on Interest Rate Swap

Loss on interest rate swap consists of realized and unrealized gains and losses on our interest rate swaps, which we entered into to reduce our exposure to variability in expected future cash flows on our Term loan, which bears interest at a variable rate. Unrealized gains and losses result from changes in the fair value of the swaps and realized gains and losses reflect the amounts payable or receivable between the fixed rate on the swap and LIBOR. Loss on interest rate swap decreased by $9.6 million from $9.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The reduction in LIBOR during the six months ended June 30, 2020 resulted in a mark to market (“MTM”) loss recorded in that period. As LIBOR was relatively stable for the six months ended June 30, 2021, the MTM loss and resulting expense was significantly lower than the prior year period.

Income Tax (Benefit) Expense

Income tax (benefit) expense changed from a benefit of $5.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to an expense of $4.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, due primarily to the increase in income before income taxes and an unfavorable change in the jurisdictional mix of earnings as a result of fluctuations in operations, and certain non-deductible transaction costs. (Loss) income before income taxes increased from a loss of $45.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to income of $8.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, driven primarily by increased revenue.

Net (Loss) Income and Net (Loss) Income Margin

Net (loss) income increased from a loss of $40.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to income of $4.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Net (Loss) Income Margin increased from (19.6)% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to 1.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase in both net income and net income margin resulted from improved operating leverage, as revenues increased by 43.6% while operating expenses grew by only 21.1%.

Net (Loss) Income Per Share

Net (loss) income per share—basic increased from a loss of $554.05 for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to income of $54.12 for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Net (loss) income per share—diluted increased from a loss of $554.05 for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to income of $54.07 for the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase in net income per share—basic and income per share—diluted was primarily driven by the increase in net income.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to assess the performance of our business. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income adjusted for provision for income taxes, interest expense, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, transaction costs, costs related to restructuring, technology transformation costs, costs related to settlements impacting comparability,

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(gains) losses on interest rate swaps, foreign currency (gains) losses, and other costs affecting comparability. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. These measures are not recognized under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and do not purport to be alternatives to net income/(loss) as a measure of our performance. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for our results as reported under GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA excludes items that can have a significant effect on our profit or loss and should, therefore, be considered only in conjunction with net income/(loss) for the period. Our management uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin to supplement GAAP results to evaluate the factors and trends affecting the business to assess our financial performance and the effectiveness of our business strategy, in preparing and approving our annual budget and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures, and believe they are helpful in highlighting trends in our core operating performance. Further, our executive incentive compensation is based in part on components of Adjusted EBITDA. Because not all companies use identical calculations, these measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies.

Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 14.9%, or $17.7 million, from $119.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $101.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Adjusted EBITDA Margin decreased by 160 basis points year over year from 23.9% in 2019 to 22.3% in 2020. This was due to the decline in revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by cost savings from structural changes implemented in 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 98.2%, or $41.8 million, from $42.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $84.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021. Adjusted EBITDA Margin increased by 770 basis points from 20.5% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 to 28.2% in the corresponding period in 2021. This improvement resulted from increased operational efficiency due to automation and robust cost management initiatives implemented in 2020.

The following table reconciles net income/(loss), the most directly comparable GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020 and for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2021.

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