UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended February 29, 2024

For the Transition Period from to .

Commission File Number 001-39272

E2open Parent Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of Act: None

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

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

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

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

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

As of August 31, 2023, the aggregate market value of the registrant's Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $770.8 million based on the closing sale price of $4.83 as reported on The New York Stock Exchange.

As of April 24, 2024, E2open Parent Holdings, Inc. had 306,526,294 shares of Class A common stock outstanding.

Table of Contents

Glossary of Terms

Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (2024 Form 10-K) contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities law. These forward-looking statements give E2open Parent Holdings, Inc.'s (we, our, us, Company or E2open) current expectations and include projections of results of operations or financial condition or forecasts of future events. Words such as “may,” “can,” “should,” “will,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target” and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the forgoing, forward-looking statements contained in this document include our expectations regarding our future growth, operational and financial performance and business prospects and opportunities.

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this 2024 Form 10-K and management's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside our control and our directors, officers and affiliates. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, add or to otherwise correct any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events, inaccuracies that become apparent after the date hereof or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, our results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include:

For a further discussion of these and other factors that could impact our future results and performance, see Part I, Item 1A., Risk Factors.

PART I

Item 1. Business

Company Overview

We are a world-class provider of cloud-based, end-to-end SCM and orchestration software. Our connected supply chain software platform enables the largest companies to transform the way they make, move and sell goods and services. With the broadest cloud-native global SaaS platform purpose-built for modern supply chains, we connect more than 480,000 manufacturing, logistics, channel and distribution partners across our multi-enterprise network processing approximately 16 billion transactions annually. Our SaaS platform spans many key strategic and operational areas including omni-channel, demand sensing, supply planning, global trade management, transportation and logistics and manufacturing and supply management. We primarily generate revenue from the sale of software subscriptions and professional services. Our software combines networks, data and applications to provide a deeply embedded, mission-critical platform that allows clients to optimize their channel and supply chains and accelerate their growth, reduce costs, increase visibility and improve resiliency. Given the mission-critical nature of our solutions, we maintain long-term relationships with our clients, which is reflected by our long client tenure. We serve approximately 5,800 clients in all major countries in the world across a wide range of end-markets, including consumer goods, food and beverage, manufacturing, retail, industrial and automotive, aerospace and defense, technology and transportation, among others.

We operate in what we believe is an attractive industry with strong secular tailwinds and a TAM which includes significant whitespace within our current client base. This upsell opportunity within our existing client base is largely driven by their current technology landscape which is often a combination of legacy point solutions and home-grown applications along with a combination of manual processes and spreadsheets. As the process of bringing goods and services to market continues to evolve, supply chains have grown more complex and the need for modern cloud-based solutions has continued to increase. Our SaaS platform has the ability to anticipate disruptions and opportunities in order to help companies improve efficiency, reduce waste and operate sustainably. We believe our cloud-based, end-to-end supply chain software platform offers a differentiated and more connected solution for clients to run a fully integrated supply chain solution providing not just visibility, but the ability to orchestrate their extended supply chain.

Our Platform

Our SaaS platform brings together networks, data, applications and a collaborative user experience to facilitate end-to-end supply chain visibility across omni-channels, planning, execution and procurement and delivers a strong value proposition.

Network

Our network consists of four distinct, but connected, ecosystems: Demand, Supply, Logistics and Global Trade.

Our Demand ecosystem represents the global cohort of partners that brands rely on our network to sell their products. Retailers, distributors, re-sellers and those who sell goods primarily through online channels are grouped under this ecosystem.

Our Supply ecosystem is comprised of partners for the production of goods that brands rely on to manufacture their products, including components, materials and manufacturing capacity. Contract manufacturers, co-packers, component and raw material suppliers across multiple tiers of the manufacturing process are grouped under this ecosystem.

Our Logistics ecosystem includes global logistics services that transport components, raw materials and finished goods across all modes.

Our Global Trade ecosystem allows participants to automate the global movement of goods and facilitate cross-border transactions for businesses, which we believe is increasingly important given the velocity with which import and export laws change on a global scale.

Our network connects participants across all of these ecosystems, enabling clients to analyze data, identify problems proactively and optimize asset efficiency. We are a leading provider with a unique network of ecosystems, and do not rely on third party providers for network information.

Data

Our proprietary algorithms capture, cleanse, normalize and harmonize the data within our network ecosystems that feed our solutions to deliver compelling value to our clients. Additionally, our clients can combine internal and external vendor data with our network to drive informed decision-making based on real-time information. Our ability to capture and harmonize data from our clients and their trading partners in any native format demonstrates the strong capabilities of our software architecture and integrated data model. The combination of network ecosystems, data and applications provides end-to-end supply chain visibility in a way that is unique to our platform and provides cost savings measures for our clients.

Applications

Our end-to-end applications provide advanced algorithms including artificial intelligence and machine learning-based advanced analytics to help clients gain insights for enhanced decision-making across channel, supply chain planning, execution and procurement functions. Our applications are organized into five product families: Channel, Planning, Global Trade, Logistics and Supply.

Channel: Complete 360-degree view of retail, distribution and online activity with the decision-grade partner data to empower clients to manage incentive programs and retail execution, access and optimize partner performance and measure the return on channel investments.

Planning: Create accurate plans that align demand, supply and inventory across the entire value chain, send changes using real-time data, assess the business impact of deviations, evaluate corrective actions and collaborate with sub-tier partners to put plans into actions.

Global Trade: Manage every aspect of trade on a single platform from import and export duties to free trade agreements, bonded warehouses, custom filings and compliance with government regulations backed by the most comprehensive, up-to-date trade content available.

Logistics: Plan and execute the movement of goods anywhere in the world across any mode of transportation with the agility and resiliency to respond rapidly to changes or disruptions.

Supply: Gain agility and resiliency with multi-tier visibility into supply, including materials and capacity, enable complex direct sourcing and procurement efficiencies and achieve consistent quality and control for both internal and external manufacturing.

Competitive Strengths

World Class End-to-End Mission Critical Software

We are focused on providing a world class cloud-based, end-to-end SCM and orchestration software that will provide the full supply chain visibility and solutions needed by our clients.

Strong Network Effects Enhanced by a Flexible and Integrated Data Model

Our core offerings are underpinned by an integrated data model that facilitates the flow and processing of data for participants across several ecosystems and applications. This model facilitates low latency, “many-to-one-to-many” data exchange across trading partner ecosystems. The combination of our integrated and flexible data model along with our connected ecosystems powers our clients' solutions allowing them to efficiently orchestrate their end-to-end supply chains. This architecture is designed to ensure that each participant and data source within these ecosystems enhances our applications, which in turn improves the network and the value we deliver to our clients and participants. Additionally, we believe utilizing our software to efficiently orchestrate our clients' end-to-end supply chains enables our clients to realize significant value and return on investment.

Our software architecture and ability to normalize and harmonize data creates a scalable software platform that can efficiently integrate acquisitions and new product applications seamlessly into a consolidated and holistic SaaS solution. Our software architecture and this ability have been driving forces behind our robust track-record of successful acquisition integrations.

Importantly, we believe there is incremental value we can create by utilizing the data flowing through our network to develop insights that can further help our clients as well as other target markets. We plan to develop a comprehensive strategy to capture this market opportunity and deepen our relationships with clients, which has the potential to meaningfully accelerate revenue growth.

Long-Term Relationships with Diversified, Fortune 1000 Client Base

We deliver solutions for some of the largest global brand owners and manufacturers. Our diverse client base of large enterprise clients spans a broad spectrum of industries including consumer goods, food and beverage, manufacturing, retail, technology and transportation, among others.

Our software is critical to the operations of companies with complex supply chain needs. It not only provides operational efficiencies, but also contributes a financial impact through cost reductions and enabling new revenue opportunities. Our clients utilize our highly differentiated solutions to orchestrate their supply chains, which enables them to realize significant value and return on investment, especially in volatile environments.

Clients' focus and satisfaction are the bedrock of our mission. The success of our clients is the cornerstone of our successful growth. As such, we are refocusing our culture and operations around our client-centric approach.

Growth Strategies

We intend to profitably grow our business and create shareholder value through the following strategic initiatives:

Expand Within Existing Clients

We believe there is a significant opportunity to drive growth through expansion of our existing client relationships. Cross-selling represents a strong growth area for us given that we have substantial whitespace within our current client base. Our products and network provide a unique opportunity to facilitate end-to-end SCM. This provides us a significant opportunity to cross-sell additional products to our clients, accelerating growth and strengthening relationships with our installed client base.

Win New Clients

As part of our growth strategy, another key growth lever is winning new clients. We have invested in strategic system integrator partnership initiatives to reach clients we could not previously reach. We are building collaborative go-to-market partnerships with key strategic system integrator partners. Our joint goal is to identify strategic integrator partners' clients carrying out broad digital transformation projects who have supply chain software needs that match well with our vertical market expertise and product value proposition. Additionally, we plan to continue pursuing strategic partnerships and leverage the networks of our board of directors, advisory board and others to elevate conversations with C-level executives at key targets in our pipeline. We also intend to utilize these relationships and networks as well as our own channel reseller and partner network to accelerate growth through the onboarding of new clients.

Strategic Acquisitions

From time to time, we evaluate opportunities to acquire companies that will broaden our product offerings and expand our technology capabilities. Our key strategic acquisition criteria include mission-critical solutions in core markets; complementary cloud applications with minimal product overlap; new client relationships in vertical or geographic markets; and TAM, proprietary data and/or network expansion. We will continue to use this strategic lever as the opportunities arise.

Intellectual Property

We consider the protection of our intellectual property and proprietary information to be an important facet of our business. We own a number of trademarks, patents, copyrights and domain names registered in the United States and abroad that, together, are meaningful to our business, including the e2open, BluJay, Logistyx, Amber Road and INTTRA marks, among others. From time to time, we have pursued enforcement of our intellectual property rights against third parties and expect to do so in the future. In addition, we enter into customary confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with employees and contractors involved in the development of our intellectual property.

Government Regulation and Compliance

We are subject to various laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions, including the European Union, by supranational, national and local government authorities, including with respect to sanctions compliance, privacy laws, labor and employment laws and other laws. In the United States, our global sanctions compliance is monitored by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (OFAC), and certain of our subsidiaries have received a license from OFAC permitting certain business, transactions or other activities involving sanctioned countries. We monitor these regulatory requirements, including the requirements for retaining our OFAC license and our compliance on a regular basis.

Organizational Structure

Our organizational structure is what is commonly referred to as an umbrella partnership C corporation (or Up-C) structure. This organizational structure allows certain owners of E2open Holdings to retain their equity ownership in E2open Holdings, an entity that is classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in the form of Common Units and Series 2 RCUs. Each continuing owner of E2open Holdings also holds a number of shares of Class V common stock equal to the number of Common Units held by such owner, which has no economic value, but which entitles the holder to one vote per share at any meeting of our shareholders. Those investors who, prior to the Business Combination, held Class A ordinary shares or Class B ordinary shares of CCNB1 and certain other investors and vested option holders, by contrast, hold their equity ownership in the Company, a Delaware corporation that is a domestic corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Risk Management

Management conducts quarterly enterprise risk assessments, which are reviewed with the Risk Committee of the board of directors, and then summarized for the board of directors quarterly. Annual enterprise risk assessments include an evaluation of the impact, likelihood, and velocity of risks, which determines the level of oversight provided by management and the board of directors. Quarterly updates include consultations with management, updates to quantitative and qualitative ranking of risks and the use of outside advisors and experts as needed. A management comprised Executive Risk Committee responsible for reviewing and responding to risks also participates in the Disclosure Committee and provides input on relevant disclosure areas. The board of directors has assigned certain risks to board committees, e.g., ESG to Nominating, Sustainability and Governance Committee and Enterprise Risk Management to the Risk Committee of the board of directors.

Human Capital

We believe our success in delivering cloud-based, end-to-end SCM software relies on our culture, values, and the creativity and commitment of our people. Each member of our global team performs an integral role within the organization that helps us to successfully manage our operations and serve our clients. We operate in 24 offices across North America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

As of February 29, 2024, we had 3,916 full-time employees with 1,182 in North and South America, 484 in Europe and 2,250 in Asia-Pacific. Employee diversity and inclusive business practices are central to our corporate identity and ingrained in everything we do.

The following tables depict our diversity by gender for all employees as of February 29, 2024:

The following tables depicts our U.S. employee diversity by race as of February 29, 2024:

Embracing diversity worldwide is integral to finding the best people, not a box to check or standard to meet. This perspective is adopted throughout the Company and reinforced in the U.S. through our annual training on diversity and inclusion and preventing harassment and discrimination.

As a company, we strive to attract, retain, motivate and reward the best possible people. To accomplish this, we offer benefits consistent with best practices in the areas where we operate. For example, in the U.S., our competitive Total Rewards and Health Benefits Program includes the following:

We invest in our people and strive to maintain a healthy, safe and secure work environment where our employees are treated with respect and dignity. We endeavor to create an inclusive and diverse community that inspires collaboration, integrity, engagement and innovation while offering the opportunity for personal and professional growth. Our culture is built upon our operating principles: be prepared, build relationships on trust and respect, be direct and transparent, learn and operate with intensity, make and meet commitments reliably, always add values and own the results.

We recognize and value the important role of employee training in our long-term growth. We strive to be the best in the industry, which demands the best from each employee. Training starts on day one to help streamline the transition employee onboarding. We created e2immersion, a several hour comprehensive introduction to e2open and how to navigate as a new hire. E2immersion includes new hire material on everything from our applications to compliance procedures. To ensure our employees' ongoing personal and professional growth, we developed e2open University where employees can participate in various online training classes. These training classes are continually updated and new classes are added, so that our employees have a full range of classes available on relevant topics. Each year, our employees receive role-specific training which includes product overviews, anti-harassment, insider trading, cybersecurity awareness, compliance with our Code of Business Conduct and other compliance and industry-specific subjects. E2open University also has courses on leadership and management skills, as well as business planning and application deployments, to name just a few.

We use a framework called e2review to drive our performance review and engagement process. E2review encourages continual open and interactive communication between employees and their managers allowing individual needs to be recognized and met, as well as company goals to be supported. This allows the employee and their manager to establish a professional development plan that facilitates personal employee growth while advancing our strategy.

E2WIN is the e2open Women’s Inclusion Network. It is a global group that is open to employees of any gender identity. E2WIN’s mission is to create a gender equal community at e2open that enables talent of all backgrounds to inspire and empower one another and to build a more equal and inclusive workplace. The objectives of the program are to provide unparalleled support to propel professional development at e2open; allow more opportunities for our employees to connect with each other to grow their support network; and increase attraction, retention and promotion of women at e2open. E2WIN achieves these objectives through several initiatives including a mentoring program, regional and global group meetings, guest speakers, community service and training.

We also foster innovation through the annual e2opennovation contest where individuals or teams develop innovative, useful, cost-saving and cutting-edge solutions that benefit clients, us and/or fellow team members. The competition includes two categories: (1) move the needle where innovation advances our three-year strategic goals and (2) hidden gems where innovation showcases work over the past year that elevates us and our clients.

We have global culture and events committees which serve to embrace and share our global culture while generating programs and social activities throughout the year with the goal of helping to unify the team and give back to our communities. We also launched a way for our remote employees to connect and engage through an employee resource group called e2unite. The goal of e2unite is to provide resources for our remote team members to stay connected through technologies, fostering social interactions, aligning team members with our goals, values and operating principles while enhancing the sense of well-being.

We work to keep our employees updated on our developments, achievements and new product offerings through regular All Hands meetings with our senior leadership team. We consistently work to improve the employee experience by addressing feedback collected through our global employee survey as well as various targeted surveys we conduct with managers, new hires and employees leaving the Company. We use Viva Engage as an internal communications tool, enabling employees to connect by posting pictures of holiday and team celebrations, using it to share news about new hires and work anniversaries and otherwise connect in a more personal way.

Financial Information About Industry Segments

We have one reportable segment consisting of cloud-based, end-to-end SCM software. All of our activities are interrelated, and we evaluate our performance in total as one segment. Accordingly, we do not report segment information.

Available Information

Our website address is www.e2open.com. Electronic copies of our SEC filings are available through the Investor Relations tab as soon as practicable after the reports are filed with the SEC. Additionally, our Code of Ethics, Corporate Governance Guidelines, Whistleblower Policy and the charters of our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Nominating, Sustainability and Governance Committee, and Risk Committee are located under the Governance tab of the Investor Relations section of our website.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this 2024 Form 10-K and other public statements we make are described below. Based on the information currently known to us, we believe that the matters discussed below identify the material risk factors affecting our business. However, the risks and uncertainties we face are not limited to those described below. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial, but that could later become material, may also adversely affect our business.

Summary of Risk Factors

The following summarizes risks and uncertainties that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and stock price. You should read this summary together with the detailed description of each risk factor contained below.

Risks Related to Strategic Alternatives Process

Risks Related to Macroeconomic and Market Competition

Risks Related to our Indebtedness

Risks Related to our Business Model and the Markets in Which We Compete

Risks Related to International Operations

Risks Related to Key Third-Party Relationships

Risks Related to Being a Public Company and Ownership of Our Securities

Risks Related to the Holding Company Structure and Tax Receivable Agreement

Risks Related to Acquisitions

Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory

General Risks

Risks Related to Strategic Review Process

We cannot assure you that our strategic review will result in any particular outcome, and the strategic review process or its conclusion will not adversely affect our business and our stockholders.

In March 2024, the Company's management and board of directors announced that they are engaged in a strategic review to maximize value for our stockholders. We are actively working with financial advisors and legal counsel in this review process.

No assurance can be given as to the timeline or outcome of the process, including whether the process will result in a transaction or that any transaction that is agreed to will be completed. Entry into or completion of any potential transaction or other strategic alternatives would be dependent on a number of factors that may be beyond our control, including, among other things, market conditions, industry trends, regulatory approvals and the availability of financing for a potential transaction on reasonable terms. Even if a transaction is entered into, there can be no assurance that it will be successful or have a positive effect on stockholder value. Our board of directors may also determine that no transaction is in the best interest of our stockholders.

We expect to incur substantial expenses associated with identifying, evaluating, and negotiating potential strategic alternatives. The process of reviewing potential strategic alternatives may be time consuming, distracting and disruptive to our business operations. We may also incur additional unanticipated expenses in connection with this process. In addition, we may be subject to costly and time-consuming litigation related to the process. Further, the process may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and have a negative effect on the market price and volatility of our common stock, as well as our ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel.

In addition, speculation regarding any developments related to the strategic review and perceived uncertainties related to the future of the Company could cause our stock price to fluctuate significantly.

Risks Related to Macroeconomic and Market Competition

Changes in the global economic environment, inflation, elevated interest rates, recessions or prolonged periods of slow economic growth, and economic instability and actual and threatened geopolitical conflict, could have an adverse effect on our industry and business, as well as those of our customers and suppliers.

Continuing concerns over economic and business prospects in the United States and throughout the world, including impacts related to inflationary pressures and geopolitical disruptions have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the global economy. As a global company, we are subject to the risks arising from adverse changes in the domestic and global economies. In addition, uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and associated global economic conditions have resulted in volatility in credit, equity and foreign currency markets. In fiscal 2024 and 2023, our revenues were subject to increased foreign currency exchange volatility, resulting in a positive impact of approximately $2.2 million and a negative impact of approximately $11.2 million from foreign currency exchange rates year-over-year, respectively. These macroeconomic conditions have and are likely to continue to affect the buying patterns of our customers and prospective customers, including the length of sales cycles, our overall pipeline and pipeline conversion rates and our revenue growth expectations. In addition, we have experienced, and could experience in the future, delays in payments from our customers experiencing weakness in their business as a result of the macroeconomic environment and associated global economic conditions, which could increase our credit risk exposure or adversely impact our cash flows and harm our financial condition. For example, in fiscal 2024, we experienced lengthening sales cycles, a decrease in pipeline conversion rates and slower revenue growth. If macroeconomic or geopolitical conditions continue to deteriorate or if the recovery is delayed, slows or is uneven, our overall results of operations could be adversely affected; we may not be able to grow at the rates we have experienced in the past and we could fail to meet the expectations of investors.

The full extent of the impact of current macroeconomic factors, including those related to inflationary pressures, foreign exchange rates and geopolitical disruptions, on our operational and financial performance remains uncertain and will depend on many factors outside our control. To the extent these factors adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, this may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this section.

Adverse or weakened general economic and market conditions may reduce spending on supply chain technology and information, which could harm our revenue, results of operations and cash flows.

Our revenue, results of operations and cash flows depend on the overall demand for and use of technology and information for global SCM, which depends in part on the amount of spending allocated by our clients or potential clients on supply chain technology and information. This spending depends on worldwide economic and geopolitical conditions. The U.S. and other key international economies have experienced cyclical downturns from time to time in which economic activity was impacted by falling demand for a variety of goods and services; poor liquidity; reduced corporate profitability; volatility in credit, equity and foreign exchange markets; bankruptcies; pandemics such as COVID-19; and overall economic uncertainty. These economic conditions can arise suddenly, and the full impact of such conditions often remains uncertain. In addition, geopolitical developments can increase levels of political and economic unpredictability globally and increase the volatility of global financial markets.

Concerns about the systemic impact of a global recession, increasing energy costs, geopolitical issues or the availability and cost of credit could lead to increased market volatility, decreased consumer confidence and diminished growth expectations in the U.S. economy and abroad, which in turn could affect the rate of information technology spending and adversely affect our clients' ability or willingness to purchase our services, delay prospective clients' purchasing decisions, reduce the value or duration of their subscription contracts or affect attrition rates, all of which could adversely affect our future sales and operating results. Prolonged economic slowdowns may result in requests to renegotiate existing contracts on less advantageous terms to us than those currently in place, payment defaults on existing contracts or non-renewal at the end of a contract term.

We face intense competition, and our failure to compete successfully would make it difficult for us to add and retain clients and would impede the growth of our business.

The SCM market is fragmented, competitive and rapidly evolving. We compete with other cloud-based SCM vendors, traditional enterprise resource planning vendors such as SAP and Oracle and other service providers as well as with solutions developed internally by enterprises seeking to manage their global supply chains and global trade. Some of our actual and potential competitors may enjoy competitive advantages over us, such as greater name recognition, more varied offerings and larger marketing budgets as well as greater financial, technical and other resources. Furthermore, some competitors may have best-of-breed solutions to problems created by the unique trading requirements of particular countries, industries and/or business processes. Some key competitors are private companies with lower overhead and no exposure to the public markets, which allow them to price deals in an unprofitable manner or otherwise compete in ways that we cannot compete as a public company. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or client requirements or devote greater resources to the promotion and sale of their products and services than we can.

The intensity of competition in the SCM market has resulted in pricing pressure as the market has developed, and our competitors frequently offer substantial price discounts for their products. We expect the intensity of competition to increase in the future as existing competitors develop their capabilities and as new companies, which could include one or more large software or trade content providers, enter the market. Increased competition could result in additional pricing pressure, reduced sales, shorter term lengths for client contracts, lower margins or the failure of our solutions to achieve or maintain broad market acceptance. If we are unable to compete effectively, it will be difficult for us to maintain our pricing rates and add or retain clients, and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.

Risks Related to our Indebtedness

Our substantial level of indebtedness and significant leverage may materially adversely affect our ability to fund our operations and limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry.

We have a substantial amount of indebtedness and are significantly leveraged. As of February 29, 2024, we had outstanding indebtedness in the principal amount of $1,067.2 million. Our 2021 Revolving Credit Facility has a borrowing capacity of $155.0 million with no outstanding borrowings as of February 29, 2024. Our substantial level of indebtedness increases the possibility that we may be unable to generate sufficient cash to pay the principal, interest or other amounts due in respect of our indebtedness. Our substantial indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, may have a material adverse impact on us and our business. For example, it could:

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which, along with the phase-out of LIBOR and transition to SOFR, could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

All of the borrowings under the credit agreement (Credit Agreement), including the senior secured term loan due in 2028 and revolving credit facility due in 2026, bear interest at variable rates and are subject to the risk of changes in interest rates. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates substantially during fiscal 2023 and 2024, and as a result the interest we pay on our debt has increased significantly and has adversely impacted our results of operations and cash flows. This adverse impact may continue or worsen during fiscal 2025 if the Federal Reserve maintains interest rates at their current higher levels or elects to raise interest rates further.

In March and April 2023, we entered into interest rate collar agreements on a portion of our variable rate term loan debt in order to reduce our exposure to further increases in interest rates. We have not entered into interest rate derivative or hedging agreements related to our revolving credit facility, which is currently undrawn. In the future, we may enter into additional derivative or hedging agreements to further reduce our exposure to variable interest rates. However, we may not hedge all of our indebtedness, and any hedges that we may have, or will put in place, may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.

In July 2023, we transitioned our variable interest rate based on LIBOR to SOFR for all borrowings under our Credit Agreement, including the term loan and revolver borrowings. SOFR is a relatively new reference rate and is administered and calculated differently than LIBOR. These and other factors could give rise to uncertainty regarding SOFR's suitability as a LIBOR replacement and make future SOFR rate movements more volatile.

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The senior secured credit facilities contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions, including, among other things:

In addition, under the senior secured credit facilities, we are required to satisfy specified financial ratios, including a first-lien secured debt leverage ratio. Our ability to meet those financial ratios can be affected by events beyond our control, and we may not be able to meet those ratios and tests.

A breach of the covenants under our Credit Agreement could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt. In addition, an event of default under the Credit Agreement would permit the lenders to terminate all commitments to further extend credit under that agreement. Furthermore, if we were unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the Credit Agreement, those lenders could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure such indebtedness. A significant portion of our indebtedness could become immediately due and payable. We cannot be certain whether we would have, or would be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments. If any such indebtedness is accelerated, our assets may not be sufficient to repay in full such indebtedness and our other indebtedness.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness, and we may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which in turn are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We may not be able to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness. Recent changes in market interest rates, including the recent significant increases in market interest rates experienced in fiscal 2023 and 2024, may continue to increase, causing additional cash requirements to meet increasing interest payments, Between February 2022 and February 2024, the 2021 Term Loan saw its variable interest rate rise from 4.00% to 8.95%. The rising interest expenses may further hinder our ability to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt 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. The terms of existing or future debt instruments may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In addition, any failure to make interest and principal payments on our outstanding indebtedness on a timely basis would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness. In the absence of such cash flows and resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. Our credit facilities restrict E2open Holdings' and our restricted subsidiaries' ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from the disposition. We may not be able to complete those dispositions or obtain the proceeds that we could realize from them and these proceeds may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations.

A lowering or withdrawal of the ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating agencies may increase our future borrowing costs and reduce our access to capital.

Our debt currently has a non-investment grade rating, and any rating assigned could be lowered or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency if, in that rating agency's judgment, future circumstances relating to the basis of the rating, such as adverse changes in our performance under assorted financial metrics and other measures of financial strength, our business and financial risk, our industry or other factors determined by such rating agency, so warrant. There can be no assurances that our credit ratings or outlook will not be lowered in the future in response to adverse changes in these metrics and factors caused by our operating results or by actions that we take, that reduce our profitability, or that require us to incur additional indebtedness for items such as substantial acquisitions, significant increases in costs and capital spending in security and IT systems, significant costs related to settlements of litigation or regulatory requirements or by returning excess cash to shareholders through dividends. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit rating will generally affect the market value of our indebtedness. Additionally, credit ratings may not reflect the potential effect of risks relating to the structure of our indebtedness. Any future lowering of our ratings likely would make it more difficult or more expensive for us to obtain additional debt financing and may reduce our profitability.

Risks Related to our Business Model and the Markets in Which We Compete

Our business depends on clients renewing their subscription agreements. Any decline in renewal or net retention rates could harm our future operating results.

Approximately 80% of our revenue is recurring and consists of subscriptions revenue. Our subscription products generally have recurring annual subscription periods. While many of our subscriptions provide for automatic renewal, our clients may opt-out of automatic renewals and clients have no obligation to renew a subscription after the expiration of the term. Our clients may or may not renew their subscriptions as a result of a number of factors, including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our products and services, our pricing or pricing structure, the pricing or capabilities of the products and services offered by our competitors, the effects of economic conditions or reductions in our clients' spending levels or ability to pay for our offerings and services. In addition, our clients may renew for fewer subscriptions, renew for shorter contract lengths if they were previously on multi-year contracts or switch to lower cost offerings of our products and services. If our clients do not renew their subscription arrangements, maintenance or other services agreements or if they renew them on less favorable terms, our revenue may decline. A substantial portion of our quarterly subscription revenue is attributable to agreements entered into during previous quarters. As a result, if there is a decline in renewed subscription agreements in any one quarter, only a small portion of the decline will be reflected in our revenue recognized in that quarter and the rest will be reflected in our revenue recognized in the following four quarters or more.

Our largest revenue clients have substantial negotiating leverage, which may require that we agree to terms and conditions that result in increased cost of sales, decreased revenue and lower average selling prices and gross margins, all of which could harm our results of operations.

Some of our clients have significant bargaining power when negotiating new licenses or subscriptions or renewals of existing agreements; they have the ability to buy similar products from other vendors or develop systems internally. These clients have and may continue to seek advantageous pricing and other commercial and performance terms that may require us to develop additional features in the products we sell to them or add complexity to our client agreements. Currently, as clients become larger, our pricing model recognizes various factors such as the number of products purchased and the penetration of those products within a client's operations. As such, when a client buys more products, their average cost per product can decline even though the total revenue from them increases. To date, we have generally seen sales to clients increase in proportion to or in excess of any reductions in the cost per product. However, there can be no guarantee that these results will continue in the future. If we are unable to negotiate renewals with our largest clients on favorable terms, our results of operations could be harmed.

Given many of our key clients are large enterprise clients, our sales cycle is longer and more expensive, and we may encounter pricing pressure and implementation and configuration challenges.

Many of our clients are large enterprise clients, which means longer sales cycles relative to non-enterprise clients, greater competition, more complex client due diligence, less favorable contractual terms and less predictability in completing some of our sales. Consequently, a target client's decision to use our services may be an enterprise-wide decision and, if so, these types of sales require us to provide greater levels of education regarding the use and benefits of our products and services as well as education regarding privacy and data protection laws and regulations to prospective clients. In addition, larger enterprise clients may demand more configuration, integration services and features. As a result of these factors, these sales opportunities may require us to devote greater sales support and professional services resources to individual clients, driving up costs and time required to complete sales, while potentially requiring us to delay revenue recognition on some of these transactions until the technical or implementation requirements have been met.

If we are unable to sell products to new clients or to sell additional products or upgrades to our existing clients, it will adversely affect our revenue growth and operating results.

To increase our revenue, we must add new clients (whether through sales or acquisitions) or sell additional products or upgrades to existing clients. Even if we capture a significant volume of leads from our digital marketing activities, we must be able to convert those leads into sales of our products to new or existing clients in order to achieve revenue growth.

We primarily rely on our direct sales force to sell our products to new and existing clients and convert qualified leads into sales. Accordingly, our ability to achieve significant growth in revenue in the future will depend on our ability to recruit, train and retain a sufficient number of sales personnel, and on the productivity of those personnel. Our recent and planned personnel additions may not become as productive as we would like or in a timely manner, and we may be unable to hire or retain a sufficient number of qualified individuals in the future in the markets where we do or plan to do business. The market for sales personnel in the software space is highly competitive and it is increasingly difficult to compete and retain top talent. If we are unable to sell products to new clients and additional products or upgrades to our existing clients through our direct sales force, we may be unable to grow our revenue and our operating results could be adversely affected.

Our ability to grow our business is dependent in part on the strategic relationships we develop and maintain with third parties.

We believe that our ability to increase our sales depends in part on maintaining and strengthening relationships with parties such as channel partners, OEM partners, integration partners and other strategic technology companies. Once a relationship is established, we likely will dedicate significant time and resources to it in an effort to advance our business interests, and there is no assurance that any strategic relationship will achieve our business purposes or that the resources we use to develop the relationship will be cost-effective. Parties with whom we establish strategic relationships also work with companies that compete with us. We have limited, if any, control as to whether these parties devote adequate resources to our strategic relationships. Further, companies with whom we maintain strategic relationships may de-emphasize their dealings with us or become competitors in the future. We also have limited, if any, control as to other business activities of these parties and we could experience reputational harm because of our association with such parties if they fail to execute on business initiatives, are accused of breaking the law or suffer reputational harm for other reasons. All of these factors could materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations.

Our ability to develop our brand is critical for our continued success.

We have been successful to date despite not having strong brand name recognition with those for whom we compete for business. Our ability to develop our brand is critical in expanding our base of clients, partners and employees. Our brand will depend largely on our ability to remain a technology leader and continue to provide high-quality innovative products, services and features. If we fail to develop our brand, or if our investments in digital advertising, events and other branding programming are unsuccessful, our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Delays in implementing our products could adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Due to the size and complexity of most of our software implementations, our implementation cycle can be lengthy and may result in delays. Our products may require modification or customization and must integrate with our customers' existing systems. This can be time-consuming and expensive for customers and can result in implementation and deployment delays of our products. Additional delays could result if we fail to attract, train and retain services personnel. These delays and resulting customer dissatisfaction could limit our future sales opportunities, harm our reputation and adversely impact results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Because we generally recognize revenue from subscriptions for our services over the term of the subscription, downturns or upturns in new business may not be immediately reflected in our operating results.

We generally recognize revenue from clients ratably over the terms of their subscription and support agreements, which typically have a term of one to five years. Our enterprise client contracts have an average term of approximately three years. As a result, most of the revenue we report in each quarter is the result of subscription and support agreements entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in new or renewed subscriptions in any one quarter may not be reflected in our revenue results for that quarter. However, any such decline will negatively impact our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in sales and market acceptance of our services and potential changes in our attrition rate, may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. Our subscription model also makes it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue through additional sales in any period, as revenue from new clients must be recognized over the applicable subscription and support term.

We have experienced rapid growth in historic periods that may not be indicative of our future growth.

We have experienced organic and acquisition-driven growth in historic periods, and revenue growth in future periods may not be consistent with our history. We believe our revenue growth depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to: