As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 24, 2020

This draft registration statement has not been publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

OR

OR

OR

Commission File Number:

Cognyte Software Ltd.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Israel

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

33 Maskit

Herzliya Pituach

4673333, Israel

(Address of principal executive office)

David Abadi

33 Maskit

Herzliya Pituach

4673333, Israel

+972-9-962-2300

(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Copies to:

Randi C. Lesnick, Esq.

Bradley C. Brasser, Esq.

Jones Day

250 Vesey Street

New York, New York 10281

(212) 326-3452

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

Not applicable

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

    Yes  ☐    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

    Yes  ☐    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

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

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended 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 which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

    Item 17  ☐    Item 18  ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

    Yes  ☐    No  ☐

                    , 2021

Dear Verint Shareholders:

In December 2019, Verint announced its intention to separate its customer engagement and security businesses to create two independent public companies. I am pleased to report that we expect to distribute shares in the new security company, Cognyte Software Ltd., shortly after our fiscal year end, and that the shares will trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “                .”

As a result of the separation, Verint will become a pure-play customer engagement business and Cognyte will focus on the security analytics software market. Both companies are leaders in their respective markets and represent exciting investment opportunities in the public market.

We believe that the separation will enhance strategic, management, and board focus, and will improve investors’ ability to value the two businesses based on their distinct characteristics.

Leading security organizations around the world select Cognyte to help them find the needles in the haystacks because of its differentiated analytics software, focus on addressing complex security challenges, and successful track record in real world deployments.

Cognyte has an excellent starting point as an independent public company. Cognyte is a market leader in security analytics software serving over 1,000 organizations in more than 100 countries. Demand for security analytics software is being fueled by evolving security challenges and the need to quickly identify and mitigate security threats. Cognyte has assembled a strong management team with a proven track record and a clear strategy to accelerate growth.

Following the separation, Verint will be 100% focused on its customer engagement business, helping leading organizations around the world deliver significant value and elevate their customer experience.

We invite you to learn more about Cognyte by reviewing the enclosed registration statement.

                    , 2021

Dear Cognyte Shareholders:

I am excited to welcome you as a future shareholder of Cognyte Software Ltd. Cognyte is a global leader in security analytics software that empowers governments and enterprises with Actionable Intelligence for a safer world. Our entire team is excited to begin our journey as an independent public company and we look forward to delivering long-term value for our shareholders.

Our customers face a broad range of security challenges, including from well-organized and well-funded entities. Security threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to detect as perpetrators take advantage of the latest technologies to avoid detection and mitigation.

The stakes are high. An inability to conduct successful and timely security investigations can result in attacks that cost lives and cause significant damage and disruption to the public.

We provide our customers with a powerful analytics platform with a rich set of analytics engines, artificial intelligence and machine learning models, workflows, data governance, and visualization tools, to accelerate the investigative process and to identify, neutralize, and prevent terror, crime and cyber threats.

Behind our market leading security analytics platform is our track record of technology innovation and over two decades of relentless focus on responding to our customers’ evolving needs. Our company is filled with immensely talented people who care deeply about our mission to make our world a safer place.

Looking forward, we believe we are incredibly well-positioned to continue helping our customers to keep pace with evolving security challenges and be one step ahead of the curve. As an independent public company, we look forward to accelerating our agility and deepening our commitment to our security analytics market leadership.

We appreciate your support and look forward to having you as our shareholder.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

(continued)

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INTRODUCTION AND USE OF CERTAIN TERMS

We have prepared this registration statement on Form 20-F (this “Form 20-F”) using a number of conventions, which you should consider when reading the information contained herein. In this Form 20-F, “we,” “us,” “our” and “Cognyte” shall refer to Cognyte Software Ltd., or Cognyte Software Ltd. and the Cognyte Business collectively, as the context may require.

We publish combined financial statements expressed in U.S. dollars. Our combined financial statements responsive to Item 17 of this Form 20-F are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”).

We have prepared this Form 20-F to register our ordinary shares, no par value (our “shares”), under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) in connection with the trading of our shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (“NASDAQ”). Cognyte Software Ltd. was formed in Israel in the second quarter of 2020 to serve as the holding company of businesses to be contributed to Cognyte by our parent, Verint Systems Inc. (“Verint”), in connection with a spin-off of Verint’s Cyber Intelligence Solutions^™ business (referred to herein as the “Cognyte Business”):

Additionally, this Form 20-F uses the following conventions:

Cognyte Software Ltd. will have no significant assets or operations prior to the completion of the Internal Transactions to occur in connection with the spin-off.

Unless otherwise indicated or required by the context, in this Form 20-F, our disclosure assumes that the consummation of the spin-off has occurred. Although we will not acquire our businesses until such time as the distribution occurs, the operating and other statistical information with respect to each of our businesses is presented as of July 31, 2020, unless otherwise indicated, as if we owned such businesses as of such date.

MARKET INFORMATION

This Form 20-F contains industry and market data, including market sizing estimates, growth and other projections and information regarding our competitive position, prepared by our management on the basis of such industry sources and our management’s knowledge of and experience in the industry and markets in which we operate (including management’s estimates and assumptions relating to such industry and markets based on that knowledge). Our management has developed its knowledge of such industry and markets through its experience and participation in these markets.

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SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Form 20-F contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements include financial projections, statements of plans and objectives for future operations, statements of future economic performance, and statements of assumptions relating thereto. Forward-looking statements may appear throughout this report, including without limitation, in “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—5.A. Operating Results,” and are often identified by future or conditional words such as “will,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” or “anticipates,” or by variations of such words or by similar expressions. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will be achieved. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors that could cause our actual results or conditions to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that could cause our actual results or conditions to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include, among others:

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Some of these factors are discussed in more detail in this Form 20-F, including under “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors,” “Item 4. Information on the Company” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this Form 20-F as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. We provide the information in this Form 20-F as of the date of its filing. We do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update any information or forward-looking statements set out in this Form 20-F as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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PART I

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

1.A. DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT

For information regarding our directors and senior management, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—6.A. Directors and Senior Management.”

1.B. ADVISERS

Our Israeli legal counsel is Meitar Law Offices, 16 Abba Hillel Rd., Ramat Gan 5250608, Israel. Our U.S. legal counsel is Jones Day, 250 Vesey Street, New York, New York 10281.

1.C. AUDITORS

Deloitte & Touche LLP is acting as our independent registered public accounting firm. The address for Deloitte & Touche LLP is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York 10112. Deloitte  & Touche LLP is registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not Applicable.

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ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

3.A. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected financial data should be read together with our combined financial statements and related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” appearing elsewhere in this Form 20-F. We derived the selected statement of operations data for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019 and the selected balance sheet data as of January 31, 2020 and 2019 from our combined financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Form 20-F.

The selected financial data in this section is not intended to replace our combined financial statements and the related notes. Our historical results could differ from those that would have resulted if we operated autonomously or as an entity independent of Verint in the periods for which historical financial data is presented below, and such results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future.

For additional details regarding the preparation of our combined financial statements, please see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—5.A. Operating Results—Basis of Presentation” and “Note 1. Organization, Operations, and Basis of Presentation” to our combined financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Form 20-F.

We prepare our combined financial statements in accordance with GAAP.

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3.B. CAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS

The following table sets forth our combined capitalization and indebtedness as of January 31, 2020.

We are providing the capitalization table below for informational purposes only. It should not be construed to be indicative of our capitalization or financial condition had the separation been completed on the date assumed. The capitalization table below may not reflect the capitalization or financial condition that would have resulted had we operated as a stand-alone public company at that date and is not necessarily indicative of our future capitalization or financial position.

3.C. REASONS FOR THE OFFER AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Not applicable.

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3.D. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in this Form 20-F, in evaluating us and our shares. The following risk factors could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and the price of our shares.

Risks Related to Our Business and Operations

Macroeconomic Risks

Our business is impacted by changes in macroeconomic and/or global conditions as well as the resulting impact on information technology spending and government budgets.

Our business is subject to risks arising from adverse changes in domestic and global macroeconomic and other conditions. Slowdowns, recessions, economic instability, political unrest, armed conflicts, natural disasters, or outbreaks of disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, around the world may cause companies and governments to delay, reduce, or even cancel planned spending or projects and may impact our business and operations. Limited or reduced government budgets and declines in information technology spending have affected the markets for our solutions in the past and may affect them again based on current and future macroeconomic and/or global conditions.

During the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2020, concerns related to the spread of COVID-19 began to create global business disruptions as well as disruptions in our operations and to create potential negative impacts on our revenues and other financial results. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The extent to which COVID-19 will impact our financial condition or results of operations is currently uncertain and depends on various factors, including the impact on our customers, partners, and vendors and on the operation of the global markets in general.

We generate a majority of our revenue from contracts with various governments around the world, including national, regional, and local government agencies. We expect that government contracts will continue to be a significant source of our revenue for the foreseeable future. Macroeconomic changes, such as the COVID-19 threat, rising interest rates, tightening credit markets, significant changes in commodity prices such as oil, actual or threatened trade wars, may also impact demand for our solutions.

Customers or partners who are facing business challenges, reduced budgets, liquidity issues, or other impacts from such macroeconomic or other global changes are also more likely to defer purchase decisions or projects or cancel or reduce orders, as well as to delay or default on payments. If customers or partners significantly reduce their spending with us, significantly delay projects, or significantly delay or fail to make payments to us, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be materially adversely affected.

The full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will adversely affect our business and results of operations cannot be predicted at this time.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. The outbreak has reached all of the regions in which we do business, and governmental authorities around the world have implemented numerous measures attempting to contain and mitigate the effects of the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, border closings, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, shutdowns, limitations or closures of non-essential businesses, and social distancing requirements. Companies around the world, including us, our customers, partners, and vendors, have implemented actions in response, including among others, office closings, site restrictions, and employee travel restrictions. Notwithstanding the loosening of these restrictions in some countries and for some companies in recent months, the global spread of COVID-19 and actions taken in response have negatively affected us, our customers, partners, and vendors and caused significant economic and

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business disruption the extent and duration of which is not currently known. We are continuously monitoring and assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including recommendations and orders issued by government and public health authorities in countries where we operate.

During the six months ended July 31, 2020, our revenue was negatively impacted by delays and reduced spending attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers’ operational priorities and as a result of cost containment measures they have implemented. Due to the pandemic, we have seen a reduction or delay in large customer contracts, particularly on-premises arrangements, and in many cases, we have been unable to conduct face-to-face meetings with existing or prospective customers and partners, present in-person demonstrations of our solutions, or host or attend in-person trade shows and conferences. Limitations on access to the facilities of our customers have also impacted our ability to deliver some of our products, complete certain implementations, and provide in-person consulting and training services, negatively impacting our ability to recognize revenue. We cannot predict how the pandemic will impact our results in future periods, including to the extent that customers delay or miss payments, customers defer, reduce, or refrain from placing orders or renewing subscriptions or support arrangements, or travel restrictions and site access restrictions remain necessary.

In light of the adverse impact of COVID-19 on global economic conditions and our revenue, along with the uncertainty associated with the extent and timing of a potential recovery, we have implemented several cost-reduction actions of varying durations. Such actions have included, but are not limited to, reducing our discretionary spending, substantially decreasing capital expenditures, considering the optimal uses of our cash and other capital resources, and reducing workforce-related costs. These actions may have an adverse impact on us, particularly if they remain in place for an extended period. We continue to evaluate and may decide to implement further cost control strategies to help us mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the operational alterations we have made in response on our business, financial condition, liquidity and financial results cannot be predicted at this time.

Market and Strategy Risks

The industry in which we operate is characterized by rapid technological changes, evolving industry standards and challenges, and changing market potential, and if we cannot anticipate and react to such changes our results may suffer.

The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology and evolving industry standards and challenges. The introduction of products embodying new technology, new delivery platforms, the commoditization of older technologies, and the emergence of new industry standards and technological hurdles can exert pricing pressure on existing products and services and/or render them unmarketable or obsolete. For example, the increasing complexity and sophistication of security threats, the exponential growth in data and prevalence of encrypted communications have created significantly greater challenges for our customers and for our solutions to address. Moreover, the market potential and growth rates of the markets we serve are not uniform and are evolving. It is critical to our success that we are able to anticipate and respond to changes in technology and industry standards and new customer challenges by consistently developing new, innovative, high-quality products and services that meet or exceed the changing challenges and needs of our customers. We must also successfully identify, enter, and appropriately prioritize areas of growing market potential, including by launching, successfully executing, and driving demand for new and enhanced solutions and services, while simultaneously preserving our legacy businesses and migrating away from areas of commoditization. We must also develop and maintain the expertise of our employees as the needs of the market and our solutions evolve. If we are unable to execute on these strategic priorities, we may lose market share or experience slower growth, and our profitability and other results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

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Intense competition in our markets and competitors with greater resources than us may limit our market share, profitability, and growth.

We face aggressive competition from numerous and varied competitors in all of our markets, making it difficult to maintain market share, remain profitable, invest, and grow. We are also encountering new competitors as we expand into new markets or as new competitors expand into ours. Our competitors may be able to more quickly develop or adapt to new or emerging technologies, better respond to changes in customer needs or preferences, better identify and enter into new areas of growth, or devote greater resources to the development, promotion, and sale of their products. Some of our competitors have, in relation to us, longer operating histories, larger customer bases, longer standing relationships with customers, superior brand recognition, superior margins, and significantly greater financial or other resources, especially in new markets we may enter. Consolidation among our competitors may also improve their competitive position. We also face competition from solutions developed internally by our customers or partners. To the extent that we cannot compete effectively, our market share and results of operations, would be materially adversely affected.

Because price and related terms are key considerations for many of our customers, we may have to accept less-favorable payment terms, lower the prices of our products and services, and/or reduce our cost structure, including reducing headcount or investment in research and development, in order to remain competitive. If we are forced to take these kinds of actions to remain competitive in the short-term, such actions may adversely impact our ability to execute and compete in the long-term.

Our future success depends on our ability to properly manage investments in our business and operations, execute on growth or strategic initiatives, and enhance our existing operations and infrastructure.

A key element of our long-term strategy is to continue to invest in and grow our business and operations, both organically and through acquisitions. Investments in, among other things, new markets, new products, solutions, and technologies, research and development, infrastructure and systems, geographic expansion, and headcount are critical components for achieving this strategy. In particular, we believe that we must continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources to our research and development efforts to maintain our competitive position. However, such investments and efforts present challenges and risks and may not be successful (financially or otherwise), especially in new areas or new markets in which we have little or no experience, and even if successful, may negatively impact our profitability in the short-term. To be successful in such efforts, we must be able to properly allocate limited investment funds and other resources, prioritize among opportunities, projects, and implementations, balance the extent and timing of investments with the associated impact on profitability, balance our focus between new areas or new markets and the operation and servicing of our legacy businesses and customers, capture efficiencies and economies of scale, and compete in the new areas or new markets, or with the new solutions, in which we have invested.

Our success also depends on our ability to execute on other growth or strategic initiatives we are pursuing, including our software model transition. For example, in addition to the other factors described in this section, our profitability objectives are highly dependent on our ability to continue to shift our product mix towards software and away from professional services and hardware resales and to continue to progress towards a more productized proprietary software offering.

Our success also depends on our ability to effectively and efficiently enhance our existing operations. Our existing infrastructure, systems, security, processes, and personnel may not be adequate for our current or future needs. System upgrades or new implementations can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive and we cannot assure you that we will not experience problems during or following such implementations, including among others, potential disruptions in our operations or financial reporting.

If we are unable to properly manage our investments, execute on growth initiatives, and enhance our existing operations and infrastructure, our results of operations and market share may be materially adversely affected.

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We may not be able to identify suitable targets for acquisition or investment, or complete acquisitions or investments on terms acceptable to us, which could negatively impact our ability to implement our growth strategy.

As part of our long-term growth strategy, we have made a number of acquisitions and investments and expect to continue to make acquisitions and investments in the future. In some of the areas we operate in, we have seen the market for acquisitions become more competitive and valuations increase. Our competitors also continue to make acquisitions in or adjacent to our markets and may have greater resources than we do, enabling them to pay higher prices. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to identify suitable acquisition or investment targets or to consummate acquisitions or investments once identified on acceptable terms or at all. If we are not able to execute on our acquisition strategy, we may not be able to achieve our long-term growth strategy, may lose market share, or may lose our leadership position in one or more of our markets.

Our acquisition and investment activity presents certain risks to our business, operations, and financial position.

Acquisitions and investments are an important part of our growth strategy. Acquisitions and investments present significant challenges and risks to a buyer, including with respect to the transaction process, the integration of the acquired company or assets, and the post-closing operation of the acquired company or assets. If we are unable to successfully address these challenges and risks, we may experience both a loss on the investment and damage to our existing business, operations, financial results, and valuation.

The potential challenges and risks associated with acquisitions and investments include, among others:

Acquisitions and/or investments may also result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities, the expenditure of available cash, and amortization expenses or write-downs related to intangible assets such as goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial condition. Investments in immature businesses with unproven track records and technologies have an especially high degree of risk, with the possibility that we may lose our entire investment or

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incur unexpected liabilities. Transactions that are not immediately accretive to earnings may make it more difficult for us to maintain satisfactory profitability levels. Large or costly acquisitions or investments may also diminish our capital resources and liquidity or limit our ability to engage in additional transactions for a period of time.

The foregoing risks may be magnified as the cost, size, or complexity of an acquisition or acquired company increases, where the acquired company’s products, market, or business are materially different from ours, or where more than one transaction or integration is occurring simultaneously or within a concentrated period of time. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in making additional acquisitions in the future or in integrating or executing on our business plan for existing or future acquisitions.

Sales processes for sophisticated solutions and a broad solution portfolio like ours present significant challenges.

We offer our customers a broad solution portfolio and many of our solutions are sophisticated and may represent a significant investment for our customers. As a result, our sales cycles can range in duration from a few months to well over a year. As the length or complexity of a sales process increases, so does the risk of successfully closing the sale. Larger sales are often made by competitive bid, which also increases the time and uncertainty associated with such opportunities. Customers may also require education on the value and functionality of our solutions as part of the sales process, further extending the time frame and uncertainty of the process.

Longer sales cycles, competitive bid processes, and the need to educate customers means that:

Larger solution sales also require greater expertise in sales execution and transaction implementation than more basic product sales, including in establishing and maintaining appropriate contacts and relationships with customers and partners, product development, project management and implementation, staffing, integration, services, and support. Our ability to develop, sell, implement, and support larger solutions and a broad solution portfolio is a competitive differentiator for us, which provides for solution diversification and more opportunities for growth, but also requires greater investment for us and presents challenges, including, among others, challenges associated with competition for limited internal resources, complex customer requirements, and project deadlines. After the completion of a sale, our customers or partners may need assistance from us in making full use of the functionality of our solutions, in realizing their benefits, or in implementation generally. If we are unable to assist our customers and partners in realizing the benefits they expect from our solutions and products, demand for our solutions and products may decline and our operating results may suffer. Any failure to develop high-quality solutions and to provide high-quality services and support could adversely affect our reputation, our ability to sell our service offerings to existing and prospective customers, and our operating results.

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Large orders, customer concentration, and other factors may significantly impact our results from period to period.

It is customary for us to receive large orders from time to time. We also have long-standing relationships with certain customers that have historically accounted for a significant amount of our annual revenue. A single order from a customer may represent a substantial portion of our revenue in a given period. A significant order during one period may not be followed by further orders from the same customer in subsequent periods, nor by similarly sized orders from other customers. Moreover, the deferral or loss of one or more significant orders, a delay in a large implementation, or a deterioration in our relationship with a key customer, could materially adversely affect our operating results. As a result, our revenue and operating results are subject to substantial periodic variations, especially from quarter to quarter.

For the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019, we had two customers that collectively represented approximately 29%, and 27%, respectively, of our total revenue. Our agreements with these customers were made in the ordinary course of our business and may be terminated with or without cause by either party with advance notice. While we believe that the loss of either of these customers would not have a long-term material adverse effect on our financial results, it would negatively impact our results in the shorter term, and we cannot assure you that alternative customers could replace the lost revenue over time.

Since our quarterly performance may vary significantly, our results of operations for any quarter or fiscal year are not necessarily indicative of the results that we might achieve for any subsequent period. Accordingly, quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. In addition, we have an order backlog that is generally composed of orders that are fulfilled within a period of three to twelve months after receipt, which makes revenue in any quarter substantially dependent upon orders received in prior quarters. The extended time frame and uncertainty associated with many of our sales opportunities also makes it difficult for us to accurately forecast our revenues (and attendant budgeting and guidance decisions) and increases the volatility of our operating results from period to period. Our ability to forecast and the volatility of our operating results is also impacted by the fact that pricing, margins, and other deal terms may vary substantially from transaction to transaction, especially across product lines and regions. The terms of our transactions, including with respect to pricing, future deliverables, and termination clauses, also impact the timing of our ability to recognize revenue. Because these transaction-specific factors are difficult to predict in advance, this also complicates the forecasting of revenue and creates challenges in managing our revenue mix.

As with other software-focused companies, a large amount of our quarterly business tends to come in the last few weeks, or even the last few days, of each quarter. This trend has also complicated the process of accurately predicting revenue and other operating results, particularly on a quarterly basis. Finally, our business is subject to seasonal factors that may also cause our results to fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

A significant portion of our business comes from government contracts, which exposes us to additional risks inherent in the government procurement process and limitations on investor visibility due to classification or contractual restrictions.

We provide products and services, directly and indirectly, to a variety of government entities around the world, including pursuant to contracts awarded to us, including under defense and homeland security-related programs. A majority of our revenue comes from sales to such governmental agencies, governmental authorities and government-owned companies.

Risks associated with licensing and selling products and services to government entities include more extended sales and collection cycles, varying governmental budgeting processes, adherence to complex procurement regulations, and other government-specific contractual requirements, including possible renegotiation or termination at the election of the government customer including due to geo-political events and macro-economic conditions that are beyond our control. We are also subject to offset requirements in our contracts with

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government entities that require us to spend money that we receive under the sale transaction, or to retain services that are needed in connection with our systems and products, in the country of the purchaser. This could reduce the economic value of the sales of our systems and products from our perspective. We may also be subject to audits and investigations relating to our government contracts and any violations could result in various civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, payment of fines, and suspension or debarment from future government business, as well as harm to our reputation and financial results.

Our revenue from governmental entities are directly affected by their budgetary constraints and the priority given in their budgets to the procurement of our products. This risk is heightened during periods of global economic slowdown. Accordingly, governmental purchases of our systems, products, and services may decline in the future if governmental purchasing agencies terminate, reduce, or modify contracts.

A significant portion of our government business is subject to security restrictions, either as a result of governmental classification requirements or contractual requirements, which, among other things, preclude us from disclosing certain information about these transactions, customarily including the identity of the customer or the solutions we are providing to the customer. As a result, our investors will have less visibility into this portion of our business than into the businesses of companies not subject to such restrictions.

Reputational and political factors related to our business or operations may adversely affect us.

We may experience negative publicity, reputational harm, or other adverse impacts on our business as a result of offering certain types of solutions or if we sell our solutions to countries or customers that are considered disfavored by the media or by certain political or privacy organizations, even where such activities or transactions are permissible under applicable laws. The risk of these adverse impacts may also result in lost business opportunities that impact our results of operations. These risks may grow as we grow our business and our brand following the spin-off.

We and some of our subsidiaries maintain security clearances in Israel and other countries in connection with the development, marketing, sale, and/or support of our solutions. These clearances are reviewed from time to time by these countries and could be deactivated, including for reasons that are beyond our control. If we lose our security clearances in a particular country, we may be unable to sell our solutions for secure projects in that country and might also experience greater challenges in selling such solutions even for non-secure projects in that country. Even if we are able to obtain and maintain applicable security clearances, government customers may decline to purchase our solutions if they were not developed or manufactured in that country or if they were developed or manufactured in other countries that are considered disfavored by such country.

If we are unable to establish and maintain our relationships with third parties that market and sell our products, our business and ability to grow could be materially adversely affected.

Approximately half of our sales are made through partners, including distributors, resellers, sales representatives and systems integrators. To remain successful, we must maintain our existing relationships as well as identify and establish new relationships with such parties. We must often compete with other suppliers for these relationships and our competitors often seek to establish exclusive relationships with these sales channels or to otherwise restrict others in partnering with them. Our ability to establish and maintain these relationships is based on, among other things, factors that are similar to those on which we compete for end customers, including features, functionality, ease of use, installation and maintenance, and price. Even if we are able to secure such relationships on terms we find acceptable, there is no assurance that we will be able to realize the benefits we anticipate. Some of our partners may also compete with us or have affiliates that compete with us, or may also partner with our competitors or offer our products and those of our competitors as alternatives when presenting proposals to end customers. Our ability to achieve our revenue goals and growth depends to a significant extent on maintaining, enabling, and adding to these sales channels, and if we are unable to do so, our business and ability to grow could be materially adversely affected.

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For certain products, components, or services, we rely on third-party suppliers, manufacturers, and partners, which may create significant exposure for us.

Although we generally use standard parts and components in our products, we do rely on non-affiliated suppliers and OEM partners for certain non-standard products or components which may be critical to our products, including both hardware and software, and on manufacturers of assemblies that are incorporated into our products. We also purchase technology, license intellectual property rights, and oversee third-party development and localization of certain products or components, in some cases, by or from companies that may compete with us or work with our competitors. While we endeavor to use larger, more established suppliers, manufacturers, and partners wherever possible, in some cases, these providers may be smaller, less established companies, particularly in the case of new or unique technologies that we have not developed internally.

If any of these suppliers, manufacturers, or partners experience financial, operational, manufacturing, or quality assurance difficulties, cease production or sale, or there is any other disruption in our supply, including as a result of the acquisition of a supplier or partner by a competitor, we will be required to locate alternative sources of supply or manufacturing, to internally develop the applicable technologies, to redesign our products, and/or to remove certain features from our products, any of which would be likely to increase expenses, create delivery delays, and negatively impact our sales. Although we endeavor to establish contractual protections with key providers, including source code escrows (where needed), warranties, and indemnities, we may not be successful in obtaining adequate protections, these agreements may be short-term in duration, and the counterparties may be unwilling or unable to stand behind such protections. Moreover, these types of contractual protections offer limited practical benefits to us in the event our relationship with a key provider is interrupted.

We also rely on third parties to provide certain services to us or to our customers, including hosting partners and providers of other cloud-based services. We make contractual commitments to customers on the basis of these relationships and, in some cases, also entrust these providers with both our own sensitive data as well as the sensitive data of our customers. If these third-party providers do not perform as expected or encounter service disruptions, cyber-attacks, data breaches, or other difficulties, we or our customers may be materially and adversely affected, including, among other things, by facing increased costs, potential liability to customers, end customers, or other third parties, regulatory issues, and reputational harm. If it is necessary to migrate these services to other providers as a result of poor performance, security issues or considerations, or other financial or operational factors, it could result in service disruptions to our customers and significant time, expense, or exposure to us, any of which could materially adversely affect our business.

If we cannot retain and recruit qualified personnel, our ability to operate and grow our business may be impaired.

We depend on the continued services of our management and employees to run and grow our business. To remain successful and to grow, we need to retain existing employees and attract new qualified employees, including in new markets and growth areas we may enter. Retention is an industry issue given the competitive technology labor market and as the millennial workforce continues to value multiple company experience over long tenure. As we grow, we must also enhance and expand our management team to execute on new and larger agendas and challenges. The market for qualified personnel is competitive in the geographies in which we operate and may be limited especially in areas of emerging technology. We may be at a disadvantage to larger companies with greater brand recognition or financial resources or to start-ups or other emerging companies in trending market sectors. Efforts we engage in to establish operations in new geographies where additional talent may be available, potentially at a lower cost, may be unsuccessful or fail to result in the desired cost savings. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel when and where they are needed, our ability to operate and grow our business could be impaired. Moreover, if we are not able to properly balance investment in personnel with sales, our profitability may be adversely affected.

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Risks Associated with the Global Nature of Our Operations

Because we have significant operations and business around the world, we are subject to geopolitical and other risks that could materially adversely affect our results.

We have significant operations and business around the world, including sales, research and development, manufacturing, customer services and support, and administrative services. The countries in which we have our most significant operations include Israel, Cyprus, Brazil, Romania, Bulgaria and the United States. We also generate significant revenue from more than a dozen other countries, and smaller amounts of revenue from many more, including a number of emerging markets. We intend to continue to grow our business internationally.

Our global operations are, and any future growth will be, subject to a variety of risks, many of which are beyond our control, including risks associated with:

Any or all of these factors could materially adversely affect our business or results of operations.

Conditions in and our relationship to Israel may materially adversely affect our operations and personnel and may limit our ability to produce and sell our products or engage in certain transactions.

We are headquartered in and have significant operations in Israel, including research and development, manufacturing, sales and support. Conflicts and political, economic and/or military conditions in Israel and the Middle East region have affected and may in the future affect our operations in Israel. Violence within Israel or the outbreak of violent conflicts between Israel and its neighbors, including the Palestinians and Iran, may impede our ability to manufacture, sell and support our products or engage in research and development, or otherwise adversely affect our business or operations. Some of our employees in Israel are required to perform annual compulsory military service and are subject to being called to active duty at any time. Hostilities involving Israel may also result in the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners or a significant downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel and could materially adversely affect our results of operations.

Our commercial insurance does not cover losses that may occur as a result of an event associated with the security situation in the Middle East. Although the Israeli government is currently committed to covering the reinstatement value of direct damages that are caused by terrorist attacks or acts of war, we cannot assure you that this government coverage will be maintained, or if maintained, will be sufficient to compensate us fully for damages incurred. Any losses or damages incurred by our Israeli operations could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any armed conflicts or political instability in the region would likely negatively affect business conditions generally and could harm our results of operations.

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Restrictive laws, policies, or practices in certain countries directed toward Israel, Israeli goods, or companies having operations in Israel may also limit our ability to sell some of our products in certain countries.

Regulatory, Privacy and Information Security Risks

We are subject to complex, evolving regulatory requirements that may be difficult and expensive to comply with and that could negatively impact our business.

Our business and operations are subject to a variety of regulatory requirements in the countries in which we operate or offer our solutions, including, among other things, with respect to trade compliance, anti-corruption, information security, data privacy and protection, tax, labor and government contracts. Compliance with these regulatory requirements may be onerous, time-consuming, and expensive, especially where these requirements are inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or where the jurisdictional reach of certain requirements is not clearly defined or seeks to reach across national borders. Regulatory requirements in one jurisdiction may make it difficult or impossible to do business in another jurisdiction. We may also be unsuccessful in obtaining permits, licenses, or other authorizations required to operate our business, such as for the marketing or sale or import or export of our products and services.

While we endeavor to implement policies, procedures, and systems designed to achieve compliance with these regulatory requirements, we cannot assure you that these policies, procedures, or systems will be adequate or that we or our personnel will not violate these policies and procedures or applicable laws and regulations. Violations of these laws or regulations may harm our reputation and deter government agencies and other existing or potential customers or partners from purchasing our solutions. Furthermore, non-compliance with applicable laws or regulations could result in fines, damages, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, restrictions on the conduct of our business, and damage to our reputation.

We develop technologies that are regulated, and we also depend on governmental approval of our exports and marketing.

Some of the technologies that we develop, and that we rely upon in our products, are regulated. That places greater limitations on our freedom to market certain aspects of what we develop. Due to the nature of our products, we are also subject to classification of certain information under relevant legislation and regulations, and we may therefore be limited from time to time as to the information that we may disclose to the public. Furthermore, due to the regulations to which we are subject, our international sales, as well as our international procurement of skilled human resources, technology and components, depend largely on export and marketing license approvals from the governments of Israel and other countries. If we fail to obtain material approvals in the future, or if material approvals previously obtained are revoked or expire and are not renewed due to factors such as changes in political conditions, government policies or imposition of sanctions, or if existing or future approvals are conditioned on requirements or conditions that we are unable to meet or fulfill, then our ability to sell our products and services to customers outside the country in which they are developed and our ability to obtain goods and services essential to our business could be interrupted, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, assets, liabilities and results of operations.

Regulatory requirements, such as laws requiring telecommunications providers to facilitate the monitoring of communications by law enforcement or governing the purchase and use of security solutions like ours, may also influence market demand for some of our products and/or customer requirements for specific functionality and performance or technical standards. The domestic and international regulatory environment is subject to constant change, often based on factors beyond our control or anticipation, including political climate, budgets, and current events, which could reduce demand for our products or require us to change or redesign products to maintain compliance or competitiveness.

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Increasing regulatory focus on data privacy issues and expanding laws in these areas may result in increased compliance costs, impact our business models, and expose us to increased liability.

As a global company, we are subject to global privacy and data security laws, and regulations. These laws and regulations may be inconsistent across jurisdictions and are subject to evolving and differing (sometimes conflicting) interpretations. Government regulators, privacy advocates and class action attorneys are increasingly scrutinizing how companies collect, process, use, store, share and transmit personal data. This increased scrutiny may result in additional compliance obligations or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations. Globally, laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, state laws in the United States on privacy, data and related technologies, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as industry self-regulatory codes create new compliance obligations and expand the scope of potential liability, either jointly or severally with our customers and suppliers. While we have invested in readiness to comply with applicable requirements, these new and emerging laws, regulations and codes may affect our ability to reach current and prospective customers, to respond to both enterprise and individual customer requests under the laws (such as individual rights of access, correction, and deletion of their personal information), and to implement our business models effectively. These new laws may also impact our products and services as well as our innovation in new and emerging technologies. These requirements, among others, may impact demand for our offerings and force us to bear the burden of more onerous obligations in our contracts or otherwise increase our exposure to customers, regulators, or other third parties.

Transferring personal information across international borders is becoming increasingly complex. For example, European data transfers outside the European Economic Area are highly regulated. The mechanisms that we and many other companies rely upon for data transfers may be contested or invalidated. If the mechanisms for transferring personal information from certain countries or areas, including Europe, should be found invalid or if other countries implement more restrictive regulations for cross-border data transfers (or not permit data to leave the country of origin), such developments could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The mishandling or the perceived mishandling of sensitive information could harm our business.

Some of our products are used by customers to compile and analyze highly sensitive or confidential information and data, including information or data used in intelligence gathering or law enforcement activities as well as personally identifiable information. While our customers’ use of our products does not provide us access to the customer’s sensitive or confidential information or data (or the information or data our customers may collect), we or our partners may receive or come into contact with such information or data, including personally identifiable information, when we are asked to perform services or support for our customers. We or our partners may also receive or come into contact with such information or data in connection with our software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) or other hosted or managed services offerings. Customers are also increasingly focused on the security of our products and services and we continuously work to address these concerns, including through the use of encryption, access rights, and other customary security features, which vary based on the solution in question and customer requirements. We have implemented policies and procedures, and use information technology systems, to help ensure the proper handling of such information and data, including background screening of certain services personnel, non-disclosure agreements with employees and partners, access rules, and controls on our information technology systems. We also evaluate the information security of potential partners and vendors as part of our selection process and attempt to negotiate adequate protections from such third parties in our contracts. However, these policies, procedures, systems, and measures are designed to mitigate the risks associated with handling or processing sensitive data and cannot safeguard against all risks at all times.

There is a potential risk that we may be named as a defendant in claims made by companies in the social media sphere or by providers of communication services alleging any one of a number of claims, due to our products having been misused to obtain valuable information from users of, or participants in, those services. There is a related risk of regulatory enforcement against us due to complaints of that kind. There have also been recent claims against companies in our field of operations for supposed damages caused by government collection of information through the use of products similar to ours.

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The improper handling of sensitive data, or even the perception of such mishandling (whether or not valid), or other security lapses or breaches affecting us, our partners, or our products or services, could reduce demand for our products or services or otherwise expose us to financial or reputational harm or legal liability.

Our solutions may contain defects or may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, which could expose us to both financial and non-financial damages.

Our solutions may contain defects or may develop operational problems. This risk is amplified for our more sophisticated solutions. New products and new product versions, service models such as hosting, SaaS, and managed services, and the incorporation of third-party products or services into our solutions, also give rise to the risk of defects, errors or vulnerabilities. These defects, errors or vulnerabilities may relate to the operation or the security of our products or services, including third-party components or services. If we do not discover and remedy such defects, errors, vulnerabilities or other operational or security problems until after a product has been released to customers or partners, we may incur significant costs to correct such problems and/or become liable for substantial damages for product liability claims or other liabilities.

Our solutions, including our SaaS offerings, may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks even if they do not contain defects. If there is a successful cyber-attack on one of our products or services, even absent a defect or error, it may also result in questions regarding the integrity of our products or services generally, which could cause adverse publicity and impair their market acceptance and could have a material adverse effect on our results or financial condition.

We may be subject to information technology system breaches, failures, or disruptions that could harm our operations, financial condition, or reputation.

We rely extensively on information technology systems to operate and manage our business and to process, maintain, and safeguard information, including information related to our customers, partners, and personnel. This information may be processed and maintained on our internal information technology systems or in some cases on systems hosted by third-party service providers. These systems, whether internal or external, may be subject to breaches, failures, or disruptions as a result of, among other things, cyber-attacks, computer viruses, physical security breaches, natural disasters, accidents, power disruptions, telecommunications failures, new system implementations, or acts of terrorism or war. We have experienced cyber-attacks in the past and expect to continue to experience them in the future, potentially with greater frequency. While we are continually working to maintain secure and reliable systems, our security, redundancy, and business continuity efforts may be ineffective or inadequate. We must continuously improve our design and coordination of security controls across our business groups and geographies. Despite our efforts, it is possible that our security systems, controls, and other procedures that we follow or those employed by our third-party service providers, may not prevent breaches, failures, or disruptions. Such breaches, failures, or disruptions have in the past and could in the future subject us to the loss, compromise, destruction, or disclosure of sensitive or confidential information, including personally identifiable information, or intellectual property, either of our own information or intellectual property or that of our customers (including end customers) or other third parties that may have been in our custody or in the custody of our third-party service providers, financial costs or losses from remedial actions, litigation, regulatory issues, liabilities to customers or other third parties, damage to our reputation, delays in our ability to process orders, delays in our ability to provide products and services to customers, including SaaS or other hosted or managed services offerings, research and development or production downtimes, or delays or errors in financial reporting. Information system breaches or failures at one of our partners, including hosting providers or those who support other cloud-based offerings, may also result in similar adverse consequences. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position, result in a loss of customer confidence, and materially and adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

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Intellectual Property Risks

Our intellectual property may not be adequately protected.

While much of our intellectual property is protected by patents or patent applications, we have not and cannot protect all of our intellectual property with patents or other registrations. There can be no assurance that patents we have applied for will be issued on the basis of our patent applications or that, if such patents are issued, they will be, or that our existing patents are, sufficiently broad enough to protect our technologies, products, or services. Our intellectual property rights may not be successfully asserted in the future or may be invalidated, designed around, or challenged.

In order to safeguard our unpatented proprietary know-how, source code, trade secrets, and technology, we rely primarily upon trade secret protection and non-disclosure provisions in agreements with employees and other third parties having access to our confidential information. There can be no assurance that these measures will adequately protect us from improper disclosure or misappropriation of our proprietary information.

Preventing unauthorized use or infringement of our intellectual property rights is difficult even in jurisdictions with well-established legal protections for intellectual property. It may be even more difficult to protect our intellectual property in other jurisdictions where legal protections for intellectual property rights are less established. If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property against unauthorized third-party use or infringement, our competitive position could be adversely affected.

Our products or other IP may infringe or may be alleged to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, which could lead to costly disputes or disruptions for us and may require us to indemnify our customers and resellers for any damages they suffer.

The technology industry is characterized by frequent allegations of intellectual property infringement. In the past, third parties have asserted that certain of our products or other IP have infringed on their intellectual property rights and similar claims may be made in the future. Any allegation of infringement against us could be time consuming and expensive to defend or resolve, result in substantial diversion of management resources, cause product shipment delays, or force us to enter into royalty or license agreements. If patent holders or other holders of intellectual property initiate legal proceedings against us, either with respect to our own intellectual property or intellectual property we license from third parties, we may be forced into protracted and costly litigation, regardless of the merits of these claims. We may not be successful in defending such litigation, in part due to the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation, and may not be able to procure any required royalty or license agreements on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Competitors and other companies could adopt trademarks that are similar to ours or try to prevent us from using our trademarks, consequently impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to customer confusion. Third parties may also assert infringement claims against our customers or partners. Subject to certain limitations, we generally indemnify our customers and partners with respect to infringement by our products on the proprietary rights of third parties, which, in some cases, may not be limited to a specified maximum amount and for which we may not have sufficient insurance coverage or adequate indemnification in the case of intellectual property licensed from a third party. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages, be required to obtain licenses for the products our customers or partners use or sell, or incur significant expenses in developing non-infringing alternatives. If we cannot obtain necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our customers may be forced to stop using or, in the case of resellers and other partners, stop selling our products.

Use of free or open source software could expose our products to unintended restrictions and could materially adversely affect our business.

Some of our products contain free or open source software (together, “open source software”) and we anticipate making use of open source software in the future. Open source software is generally covered by license agreements that permit the user to use, copy, modify, and distribute the software without cost, provided that the

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users and modifiers abide by certain licensing requirements. The original developers of the open source software generally provide no warranties on such software or protections in the event the open source software infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights. Although we endeavor to monitor the use of open source software in our product development, we cannot assure you that past, present, or future products, including products inherited in acquisitions, will not contain open source software elements that impose unfavorable licensing restrictions or other requirements on our products, including the need to seek licenses from third parties, to re-engineer affected products, to discontinue sales of affected products, or to release all or portions of the source code of affected products. Any of these developments could materially adversely affect our business.

Certain Israeli governmental grants that we received for certain of our research and development activities in Israel may restrict our ability to transfer manufacturing operations or technology outside of Israel without obtaining a pre-approval from the relevant authorities and, in certain circumstances, payment of significant amounts to the authorities.

Our Israeli-based research and development efforts have been financed in part through grants that we have received from the National Technological Innovation Authority (the “Innovation Authority”), which formerly operated as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy of the State of Israel.

We must comply with the requirements of the Israeli Encouragement of Research, Development and Technological Innovation Law, 5744-1984 (the “Innovation Law”), which is formerly known as the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development Law, 5744-1984 (the “Research Law”), and related regulations, with respect to those grants.

When a company develops know-how, technology or products using grants provided by the Innovation Authority, the terms of these grants and the Innovation Law restrict the transfer of such know-how, and the transfer of manufacturing or manufacturing rights of such products, technologies or know-how outside of Israel, including:

Therefore, if aspects of our technologies are deemed to have been developed with Innovation Authority funding, the discretionary approval of an Innovation Authority committee would be required for any transfer to third parties outside of Israel of know-how or manufacturing or manufacturing rights related to those aspects of such technologies. We may not receive those approvals. Furthermore, the Innovation Authority may impose certain conditions on any arrangement under which it permits us to transfer technology or development out of Israel.

The transfer of Innovation Authority-supported technology or know-how outside of Israel may involve the payment of significant amounts, depending upon the value of the transferred technology or know-how, the amount of Innovation Authority support, the time of completion of the Innovation Authority-supported research project and other factors. Furthermore, the consideration available to our shareholders in a transaction involving the transfer outside of Israel of technology or know-how developed with Innovation Authority funding (such as a merger or similar transaction) may be reduced by any amounts that we are required to pay to the Innovation Authority.

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Under an extensive amendment to the Research Law that came into effect as of January 1, 2016, the Innovation Authority is provided with a power to modify the terms of existing grants. Such changes, if introduced by the Innovation Authority in the future, may impact the terms governing our grants.

Risks Related to Our Finances and Capital Structure

We expect to incur indebtedness in connection with the spin-off, which will expose us to leverage risks and subject us to covenants which may adversely affect our operations. In addition, financing sources may not be available to us.

In connection with the spin-off, we expect to enter into a revolving credit facility under which we will have the ability to borrow up to $            . To the extent we draw down all or a significant portion of this facility, this level of debt could have material consequences on our future operations, including:

Our ability to meet payment and other obligations under such debt instruments will depend on our ability to generate significant cash flows, which, to some extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative and regulatory factors as well as other factors that are beyond our control. We cannot assure you that our business will generate cash flows from operations, or that future borrowings will be available to us under such facility or any future credit facilities or otherwise, in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet our payment obligations under such a debt facility and to fund other liquidity needs. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows to service any such debt obligations or if we experience liquidity or working capital issues generally, we may need to refinance or restructure such debt or seek to raise additional capital. There can be no assurance that we would be successful in any such refinancing or restructuring effort or that financing sources would be available to us on reasonable terms or at all.

Our financial results may be significantly impacted by changes in our tax position.

We are subject to taxes in Israel, the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in valuation allowance on deferred tax assets (including our non-U.S. NOL carryforwards), changes in unrecognized tax benefits, or changes in tax laws or their interpretation. Any of these changes could have a material adverse effect on our profitability. In addition, the tax authorities in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including but not limited to the United States and Israel, may from time to time review the pricing arrangements between us and our foreign subsidiaries or among our foreign subsidiaries. An adverse determination by one or more tax authorities in this regard may have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

We have significant deferred tax assets which can provide us with significant future cash tax savings if we are able to use them, including significant non-U.S. NOLs. However, the extent to which we will be able to use these NOLs may be impacted, restricted, or eliminated by a number of factors, including changes in tax rates, laws or

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regulations, whether we generate sufficient future taxable income, and possible adjustments to our tax attributes. To the extent that we are unable to utilize our NOLs or other losses, our results of operations, liquidity, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. When we cease to have NOLs available to us in a particular tax jurisdiction, either through their expiration, disallowance, or utilization, our cash tax liability will generally increase in that jurisdiction. Disallowance of any NOL previously utilized by the Verint group to offset the Cognyte Business income in a particular tax jurisdiction could result in a tax payment obligation.

In addition, on December 22, 2017, the 2017 Tax Act was enacted in the United States. The 2017 Tax Act significantly revised the Code and it includes fundamental changes to taxation of U.S. multinational corporations. Compliance with the 2017 Tax Act requires significant complex computations not previously required by U.S. tax law.

The key provisions of the 2017 Tax Act, which may significantly impact our current and future effective tax rates, include new limitations on the tax deductions for interest expense and executive compensation and new rules related to uses and limitations of NOL carryforwards. New international provisions add a new category of deemed income from our foreign operations, eliminate U.S. tax on foreign dividends (subject to certain restrictions), and add a minimum tax on certain payments made to foreign related parties.

Calculating our income tax rate is complex and subject to uncertainty. We currently receive Israeli government tax benefits in respect of our Israeli operations. If we do not meet several conditions for receipt of those benefits, or if the Israeli government otherwise decides to eliminate those benefits, they may be terminated or reduced, which would impact our income tax rate and increase our costs.

The computation of income taxes is complex because it is based on the laws of numerous taxing jurisdictions and requires significant judgment on the application of complicated rules governing accounting for tax provisions under GAAP. Income taxes for interim quarters are based on a forecast of our effective tax rate for the year, which includes forward-looking financial projections. Such financial projections are based on numerous assumptions, including the expectations of profit and loss by jurisdiction. It is difficult to accurately forecast various items that make up the projections, and such items may be treated as discrete accounting. Examples of items that could cause variability in our income tax rate include our mix of income by jurisdiction, changes in our uncertain tax positions, the application of transfer pricing rules and tax audits. Future events, such as changes in our business and the tax law in the jurisdictions where we do business, could also affect our rate.

One important assumption that goes into calculation of our tax rate is the tax benefit that we receive in respect of some of our operations in Israel, referred to as “Beneficial Enterprise,” under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 5719-1959 (the “Investment Law”). Based on an evaluation of the relevant factors under the Investment Law, including the level of foreign (that is, non-Israeli) investment in our company, we have estimated that our effective tax rate to be paid with respect to all Israeli operations under these benefit programs is 10% to 23%, based on our activities at our Israeli facilities and the available level of benefits under the law. If we do not meet the requirements for maintaining these benefits, they may be reduced or cancelled and the relevant operations would be subject to the Israeli ordinary corporate tax at the standard rate, which for 2018 and onwards is set at 23%. In addition to being subject to the standard corporate tax rate, we would be required to refund any tax benefits that we have already received as adjusted by the Israeli consumer price index, plus interest or other monetary penalties. Even if we continue to meet the relevant requirements, the tax benefits that our current Beneficial Enterprise receive may not be continued in the future at their current levels or at all. If these tax benefits were reduced or eliminated, the amount of taxes that we pay would likely increase, as all of our operations would consequently be subject to corporate tax at the standard rate, which may cause our effective tax rate to be materially different than our estimates and could adversely affect our results of operations. Additionally, if we increase our activities outside of Israel, for example, via acquisitions, our increased activities may not be eligible for inclusion in Israeli tax benefit programs, and that could also adversely affect our effective tax rate and our results of operations.

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The Investment Law was significantly amended several times, most recently as part of the Economic Efficiency Law on December 29, 2016 effective as of January 1, 2017 (the “2017 Amendment”). The 2017 Amendment provides new tax benefits for “Technology Enterprises,” as described below, and is in addition to the other existing tax beneficial programs under the Investment Law.

The 2017 Amendment provides, inter alia, that a technology company satisfying certain conditions will qualify as a “Preferred Technology Enterprise” and will thereby enjoy a reduced corporate tax rate of 12% on income that qualifies as “Preferred Technology Income,” as defined in the Investment Law. In addition, a Preferred Technology Enterprise will enjoy a reduced corporate tax rate of 12% on capital gain derived from the sale of certain “Benefitted Intangible Assets” (as defined in the Investment Law) to a related foreign company if the Benefitted Intangible Assets were acquired from a foreign company on or after January 1, 2017 for at least NIS 200 million, and the sale receives prior approval from the National Authority for Technological Innovation, or NATI.

Dividends distributed by a Preferred Technology Enterprise, paid out of Preferred Technology Income, are generally subject to withholding tax at source at the rate of 20% or such lower rate as may be provided in an applicable tax treaty (subject to the receipt in advance of a valid certificate from the Israel Tax Authority allowing for a reduced tax rate). However, if such dividends are paid to an Israeli company, no tax is required to be withheld. If such divided are distributed to a foreign company and other conditions are met, the withholding tax rate will be 4%.

We have examined the impact of the 2017 Amendment and the degree to which we will qualify as a Preferred Technology Enterprise and have elected to adopt it as of fiscal year end 2021 onwards in which case we will enjoy reduced corporate tax rate of 12% on income that qualifies as “Preferred Technology Income.

The Israeli government may furthermore independently determine to reduce, phase out or eliminate entirely the benefit programs under the Investment Law, regardless of whether we then qualify for benefits under those programs at the time, which would also adversely affect our effective tax rate and our results of operations.

In addition, there is growing pressure in many jurisdictions and from multinational organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the “OECD”) and the European Union to amend existing international taxation rules in order to align the tax regimes with current global business practices. Specifically, in October 2015, the OECD published its final package of measures for reform of the international tax rules as a product of its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “BEPS”) initiative, which was endorsed by the G20 finance ministers. Many of the initiatives in the BEPS package required and resulted in specific amendments to the domestic tax legislation of various jurisdictions and to existing tax treaties. Although many of the BEPS measures have already been implemented or are currently being implemented globally (including, in certain cases, through adoption of the OECD’s ‘multilateral convention’ to effect changes to tax treaties which entered into force on July 1, 2018 and through the European Union’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives), it is still difficult in some cases to assess to what extent these changes would impact our tax liabilities in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business or to what extent they may impact the way in which we conduct our business or our effective tax rate due to the unpredictability and interdependency of these potential changes. In the wake of the BEPS project, it is generally expected that tax authorities in various jurisdictions in which we operate might increase their audit activity and might seek to challenge some of the tax positions we have adopted. It is difficult to assess if and to what extent such challenges, if raised, might impact our effective tax rate.

Our internal controls over financial reporting may not prevent misstatements and material weaknesses or deficiencies could arise in the future which could lead to restatements or filing delays.

Our system of internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Because of its inherent limitations, our system of internal

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control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect every misstatement. An evaluation of effectiveness is subject to the risk that the controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, because the degree of compliance with policies or procedures decreases over time, or because of unanticipated circumstances or other factors. As a result, we cannot assure you that our internal controls will prevent or detect every misstatement, that material weaknesses or other deficiencies will not occur or be identified in the future, that this or future financial reports will not contain material misstatements or omissions, that future restatements will not be required, or that we will be able to timely comply with our reporting obligations in the future.

If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, our financial condition and results of operations could be negatively affected.

Because we have periodically executed business combinations, goodwill and other intangible assets represent a material portion of our assets. Goodwill and other intangible assets totaled approximately $166.0 million, or approximately 20.6% of our total assets, as of January 31, 2020. We test our goodwill for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if an event occurs indicating the potential for impairment, and we assess on an as-needed basis whether there have been impairments in our other intangible assets. We make assumptions and estimates in this assessment which are complex and often subjective. These assumptions and estimates can be affected by a variety of factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy or our internal forecasts. To the extent that the factors described above change, we could be required to record additional non-cash impairment charges in the future, which could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the New Israeli Shekel and other non-U.S. currencies may negatively affect the earnings of our operations.

We report our financial results and most of our revenues are recorded in U.S. dollars. However, substantially all of the research and development expenses of our Israeli operations, as well as a portion of the cost of revenues, selling and marketing, and general and administrative expenses of our Israeli operations, are incurred in New Israeli Shekels. As a result, we are exposed to exchange rate risks that may adversely affect our financial results. If the New Israeli Shekel appreciates against the U.S. dollar or if the value of the New Israeli Shekel declines against the U.S. dollar at a time when the rate of inflation in the cost of Israeli goods and services exceeds the rate of decline in the relative value of the New Israeli Shekel, then the U.S. dollar cost of our operations in Israel would increase and our results of operations would be adversely affected Our Israeli operations also could be adversely affected if we are unable to effectively hedge against currency fluctuations in the future. We cannot predict any future trends in the rate of inflation or deflation in Israel or the rate of appreciation or devaluation of the New Israeli Shekel against the U.S. dollar. The Israeli annual rate of inflation (deflation) amounted to 0.6%, 0.8% and 0.3% for the calendar years 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The annual appreciation (devaluation) of the New Israeli Shekel in relation to the U.S. dollar amounted to 7.8%, (8.1%), and 9.8% for the calendar years 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

We also have substantial revenues and expenses that are denominated in non-US currencies other than the New Israeli Shekel, particularly the Euro and the Singapore Dollar. Therefore, our operating results and cash flows are also subject to fluctuations due to changes in the relative values of the U.S. dollar and those foreign currencies. These fluctuations could negatively affect our operating results and could cause our revenues and net income or loss to vary from quarter to quarter. Furthermore, where our sales are denominated in U.S. dollars, a strengthening of the dollar against other currencies could make our products less competitive in those foreign markets and collection of receivables more difficult.

From time to time we engage in currency hedging activities. These measures, however, may not adequately protect us from material adverse effects due to the impact of inflation in Israel or from fluctuations in the relative values of the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies in which we transact business, and may result in a financial loss.

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Risks Related to the Separation from Verint and Ownership of Cognyte Shares

Risks Associated with the Spin-Off

The spin-off may not be successful and as an independent, publicly traded company, we will not enjoy the same benefits that we did as a subsidiary of Verint.

Upon completion of the spin-off, we will be a stand-alone public company. The process of becoming a stand-alone public company may distract our management from focusing on our business and strategic priorities. Further, we may not be able to issue debt or equity on terms acceptable to us or at all and we may not be able to attract and retain employees as desired. We also may not fully realize the anticipated benefits of the separation and of being a stand-alone public company, or the realization of such benefits may be delayed, if any of the risks identified in this “Risk Factors” section, or other events, were to occur.

As a separate public company, we will be a smaller and less diversified company than Verint, and we may not have access to financial and other resources comparable to those available to Verint prior to the spin-off or enjoy certain other benefits that we did as a subsidiary of Verint. We cannot predict the effect that the spin-off will have on our relationship with partners or employees or our relationship with government regulators. We may also be unable to obtain goods, technology and services at prices and on terms as favorable as those available to us prior to the spin-off. Furthermore, as a less diversified company, we may be more likely to be negatively impacted by changes in global market conditions, regulatory reforms and other industry factors, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not achieve some or all of the expected benefits of the spin-off, and the spin-off may adversely affect our business.

We may not be able to achieve some or all of the strategic, financial, operational, marketing or other benefits expected to result from the spin-off, or such benefits may be delayed or not occur at all. The spin-off is expected to provide the following benefits, among others:

We may not achieve these and other anticipated benefits for a variety of reasons, including, among others:

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We cannot predict with certainty when the benefits expected from the spin-off will occur or the extent to which they will be achieved. If we fail to achieve some or all of the benefits expected to result from the spin-off, or if such benefits are delayed, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our historical financial information is not necessarily representative of the results we would have achieved as a stand-alone public company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

Our historical financial statements have been derived (carved out) from the Verint consolidated financial statements and accounting records. This derived information does not necessarily reflect the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows we would have achieved as a stand-alone public company during the period presented, or those that we will achieve in the future.

This is primarily because of the following factors:

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Therefore, our historical financial information may not necessarily be indicative of our future financial position, results of operations or cash flows, and the occurrence of any of the risks discussed in this “Risk Factors” section, or any other event, could cause our future financial position, results of operations or cash flows to materially differ from our historical financial information.

Our ability to operate our business effectively may suffer if we do not, quickly and cost effectively, establish our own administrative and support functions necessary to operate as a stand-alone public company.

Although Verint will provide us with certain continuing services during the transitional period under the Transition Services Agreement, in connection with our separation from Verint, we are creating our own financial, administrative, corporate governance, and listed company compliance and other support systems, including for the services Verint had historically provided to us, or expect to contract with third parties to replace the Verint systems that we are not establishing internally. In addition, we are also establishing or expanding our own tax, treasury, internal audit, investor relations, corporate governance, and listed company compliance and other corporate functions. We expect this process to be complex, time consuming and costly. Any failure or significant downtime in our own financial, administrative or other support systems or in the Verint financial, administrative or other support systems during the transitional period in which Verint provides us with support could negatively impact our results of operations or our ability to perform administrative or other services on a timely basis.

Further, as a stand-alone public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as part of Verint. The provisions of SOX, as well as rules subsequently adopted by the SEC and NASDAQ, have imposed various requirements on public companies, including changes in corporate governance practices. For example, SOX requires, among other things, that we maintain and periodically evaluate our internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. In particular, we will, after a transitional period, have to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of SOX.

Although we currently test our internal controls over financial reporting on a regular basis, we have done so in accordance with the financial reporting practices and policies of Verint, not as a stand-alone entity. Doing so for ourselves will require our management and other personnel to devote a substantial amount of time to comply with these requirements and will also increase our legal and financial compliance costs. We cannot be certain at this time that all of our controls will be considered effective and our internal control over financial reporting may not satisfy the regulatory requirements when they become applicable to us.

Furthermore, the listing of our shares on NASDAQ will require us to comply with the listing, reporting and other regulations.

We cannot assure you that the transitional services Verint has agreed to provide us will be sufficient for our needs. In addition, we or Verint may fail to perform under various transaction agreements that will be executed as part of the spin-off, we may fail to have necessary systems and services in place when certain of the transaction agreements expire, or we may be obligated to satisfy certain indemnification obligations under such agreements.

In connection with the spin-off, we and Verint intend to enter into a Separation and Distribution Agreement and will enter into various other agreements, including the Tax Matters Agreement, Employee Matters Agreement, Transition Services Agreement, Intellectual Property Cross License Agreement and Trademark Cross License Agreement and other separation-related agreements. See “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—7.B. Related Party Transactions—Agreements Between Verint and Us.” Certain of these agreements will provide for the performance of key business services by Verint for our benefit for a period of time after the spin-off. These services may not be sufficient to meet our needs and the terms of such services may not be equal to or better than the terms we may have received from unaffiliated third parties.

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We will rely on Verint to satisfy its performance and payment obligations under these agreements. If Verint is unable to satisfy its obligations under these agreements, including its indemnification obligations, we could incur operational difficulties or losses. If we do not have in place our own systems and services, or if we do not have agreements with other providers of these services once certain transitional agreements expire, we may not be able to operate our business effectively and this may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, after our agreements with Verint expire, we may not be able to obtain these services at as favorable prices or on as favorable terms.

The parties will have certain indemnification obligations to one another under the Separation and Distribution Agreement, including an obligation on us to share in certain contingent liabilities Verint may become subject to as a result of its February 2013 acquisition of its former parent company, Comverse Technology, Inc. (“CTI”).

The spin-off could result in significant tax liability to Verint and us, and in certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify Verint for material taxes pursuant to indemnification obligations under the Tax Matters Agreement. In addition, we will agree to certain restrictions designed to preserve the tax treatment of the spin-off that may reduce our strategic and operating flexibility. Finally, in certain circumstances, Verint could determine not to proceed with the spin-off.

Verint expects to obtain the U.S. Tax Ruling from the IRS that certain of the requirements for tax-free treatment under Section 355 of the Code will be satisfied and that Cognyte will be treated as a domestic corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Section 7874 of the Code. Verint also expects to obtain a written opinion of Jones Day (the “Tax Opinion”) to the effect that the distribution will qualify as tax-free to Verint and to Verint shareholders under Section 355 of the Code.

The U.S. Tax Ruling may not be relied on if the facts or representations made by Verint about Verint’s and our business and other matters are incorrect or not otherwise satisfied. Although the U.S. Tax Ruling will be generally binding on the IRS, the continuing validity of the U.S. Tax Ruling is subject to the continuing validity of the facts and representations made in the ruling request.

The Tax Opinion will be based on certain representations as to factual matters from, and certain covenants by, Verint and us. The Tax Opinion may not be relied on if any of the assumptions, representations or covenants are incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate or are violated in any material respect. Further, the Tax Opinion will not be binding on the IRS or in any court, and there can be no assurance that the relevant tax authorities will not take, or any court will not affirm, a contrary position.

If the distribution were determined not to qualify for the treatment described in the U.S. Tax Ruling, Israeli Tax Ruling or Tax Opinion, or if any conditions in the U.S. Tax Ruling, Israeli Tax Ruling or Tax Opinion are not observed, then Verint and its shareholders could suffer adverse tax consequences and, under certain circumstances, we could have an indemnification obligation to Verint with respect to some or all of the resulting tax to Verint under the Tax Matters Agreement we intend to enter into with Verint, as described in “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—7.B. Related Party Transactions—Agreements Between Verint and Us—Tax Matters Agreement.”

In addition, under the Tax Matters Agreement, we will agree to certain restrictions designed to preserve the tax-free nature of the distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes. These restrictions may limit our ability to pursue strategic transactions or engage in new businesses or other transactions that might be beneficial and could discourage or delay strategic transactions that our shareholders may consider favorable.

Furthermore, we will agree to additional conditions and restrictions set forth in the Israeli Tax Ordinance and the Israeli Tax Ruling issued by the ITA. These restrictions may also limit our ability to engage in new businesses or other transactions, and the ability of certain shareholders of Verint and Cognyte to sell or otherwise transfer their shares for a period of two years following the date the Israeli Tax Ruling is issued.

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Our share price may be volatile, including as a result of sales of our shares in connection with the spin-off.

Verint shareholders receiving our shares in the spin-off generally may sell those shares immediately in the public market. It is possible that some Verint shareholders, including some of its larger shareholders, will sell their Cognyte shares received in the spin-off if, for reasons such as our business profile or market capitalization as a stand-alone company, we do not fit their investment objectives, or they consider holding our shares to be impractical or difficult due to listing, tax or other considerations. The sales of significant amounts of our shares, or the perception in the market that this will occur, may decrease the market price of our shares.

Our share price may also be volatile for other reasons, including:

A significant drop in the price of our shares could also expose us to the risk of securities class action lawsuits, which could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business.

The combined post-spin-off value of our shares and the Verint shares may not equal or exceed the aggregate pre-spin-off value of the Verint shares and our shares.

After the spin-off, the Verint shares will continue to be listed and traded on NASDAQ. Our shares will be traded under the symbol “            ” on NASDAQ. We have no current plans to apply for listing on any additional stock exchanges. As a result of the spin-off, Verint expects the trading prices of Verint shares in the “regular-way” market at market open on                     , 2021 to be lower than the trading prices in the “regular-way” at market close on                    , 2021, because the trading prices will no longer reflect the value of the Cognyte Business. There can be no assurance that the aggregate market value of the Verint shares and our shares following the spin-off will be higher than or equal to the market value of the Verint shares if the spin-off did not occur. This means, for example, that the combined trading prices of one Verint share and one Cognyte share after market open on                    , 2021 may be equal to, greater than or less than the trading price of one Verint share before                    , 2021. In addition, your Verint shares sold in the “ex-distribution” market (as opposed to the “regular-way” market) will reflect an ownership interest solely in Verint and will not include the right to receive any of our shares in the spin-off, but may not yet accurately reflect the value of such Verint shares excluding the Cognyte Business.

Risks Associated with Your Ownership of Cognyte Shares

Your percentage ownership in Cognyte may be diluted in the future.

In the future, your percentage ownership in us may be diluted because of equity issuances from acquisitions, capital markets transactions or otherwise, including equity awards that we will be granting to our directors, officers and employees. Our employees will have rights to purchase or receive our shares after the distribution as a result of the conversion of their Verint equity awards into Cognyte equity awards and the grant of Cognyte equity awards, including restricted share units and performance share units, in each case, in order to preserve the

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aggregate value of the equity awards held by our employees immediately prior to the spin-off. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—6.B. Compensation” for further detail on the awards that are expected to be granted in connection with the spin-off. As of the date of this Form 20-F, the exact number of our shares that will be subject to the converted and granted Cognyte awards is not determinable, and, therefore, it is not possible to determine the extent to which your percentage ownership in us could be diluted as a result. It is anticipated that the Compensation Committee of the Cognyte Board will grant additional equity awards to our employees and directors after the spin-off, from time to time, under our employee benefits plans. These additional awards will have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of our shares.

As of the date of the spin-off, we will be an FPI and, as a result, we will be subject to reporting obligations and corporate governance practices that, to some extent, are more lenient than those of a U.S. domestic public company whose shares are listed on NASDAQ.

Upon consummation of the spin-off, we will report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with FPI status. Because we qualify as an FPI under the Exchange Act and although we intend to furnish quarterly financial information to the SEC and are required to report material developments in reports furnished on Form 6-K with the SEC, we are nevertheless exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including (i) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act, (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their share ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time and (iii) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, or current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. In addition, FPIs are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until four months after the end of each financial year, while U.S. domestic issuers that are large accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year. FPIs are also exempt from Regulation FD, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of the above, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are not FPIs.

As an FPI whose shares will be listed on NASDAQ, we are also permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of certain requirements of the NASDAQ rules. For example, as permitted under the Companies Law, our articles of association (“Articles of Association”) provide that the quorum for any meeting of shareholders is 25% of the issued and outstanding share capital, which is less than the 33.33% minimum required under NASDAQ rules. In addition, we have informed NASDAQ that we follow home country practices in Israel in lieu of compliance with the NASDAQ requirements for shareholder approval of certain significant issuances of shares pursuant to a private placement or merger/acquisition, which apply to a domestic U.S. issuer.

Following our home country governance practices as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to a U.S. company listed on NASDAQ may provide less protection than is accorded to investors of domestic issuers.

If at any time we cease to qualify as an FPI, we may incur significant additional legal, accounting, and other expenses in order to comply with U.S. domestic issuer requirements.

We are an emerging growth company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make the Cognyte shares less attractive to investors.

We are an emerging growth company and have the option to utilize certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of SOX,

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reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in any required periodic reports and proxy statements, and election to defer the adoption of recently issued accounting standards. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period for complying with certain new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an emerging growth company or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our consolidated financial statements may or may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public companies’ effective dates. Further, we may take advantage of some of the other reduced regulatory and reporting requirements that will be available to us so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company.

Among other things, this means that our independent registered public accounting firm will generally not be required to provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company, which may increase the risk that weaknesses or deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting go undetected. Likewise, so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company, we may elect not to provide you with certain information, including certain financial information and certain information regarding compensation of our executive officers, that we might otherwise have been required to provide in filings we make with the SEC, which may make it more difficult for investors and securities analysts to evaluate our company. As a result, investor confidence in our company and the trading price of the Cognyte shares may be adversely affected. Further, we cannot predict if investors will find Cognyte shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find Cognyte shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Cognyte shares and their trading price may be more volatile.

Your rights and responsibilities as a shareholder are governed by Israeli law, which differs in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. corporations.

The rights and responsibilities of the holders of our shares are governed by our Articles of Association and by Israeli law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some material respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders in U.S.-based corporations. In particular, a shareholder of an Israeli company has a duty to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards the company and other shareholders, and to refrain from abusing its power in the company, including, among other things, in voting at a general meeting of shareholders on matters such as amendments to a company’s articles of association, increases in a company’s authorized share capital, mergers and acquisitions and related party transactions requiring shareholder approval. In addition, a shareholder who is aware that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholder vote or to appoint or prevent the appointment of a director or executive officer in the company has a duty of fairness toward the company. There is limited case law available to assist us in understanding the nature of these duties or the implications of these provisions. These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations and liabilities on holders of our shares that are not typically imposed on shareholders of U.S. corporations.

Provisions of Israeli law and our Articles of Association may delay, prevent or otherwise impede a merger with, or an acquisition of, our company, which could prevent a change of control, even when the terms of such a transaction are favorable to us and our shareholders.

Israeli corporate law regulates mergers, requires tender offers for acquisitions of shares above specified thresholds, requires special approvals for transactions involving directors, officers or significant shareholders and regulates other matters that may be relevant to such types of transactions, in each case, in ways that are different from and may be considered more burdensome than corresponding U.S. law.

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Furthermore, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions unappealing to us or to our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel exempting such shareholders from Israeli tax. For example, Israeli tax law does not recognize tax-free share exchanges to the same extent as U.S. tax law. With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of a number of conditions, including, in some cases, a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are subject to certain restrictions.

Moreover, with respect to certain share swap transactions, the tax deferral is limited in time, and when such time expires, the tax becomes payable even if no disposition of the shares has occurred.

Our Articles of Association also contain provisions that could delay or prevent changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of the Cognyte Board. These provisions include the following:

Actions of activist shareholders may cause us to incur substantial costs, disrupt our operations, divert management’s attention, or have other material adverse effects on us.

From time to time, activist investors may take a position in our shares. These activist investors may disagree with decisions we have made or may believe that alternative strategies or personnel, either at a management level or at a board level, would produce higher returns. Such activists may or may not be aligned with the views of our other shareholders, may be focused on short-term outcomes, or may be focused on building their reputation in the market. These activists may not have a full understanding of our business and markets and the alternative personnel they may propose may also not have the qualifications or experience necessary to lead the company.

Responding to advances or actions by activist investors may be costly and time-consuming, may disrupt our operations, and may divert the attention of the Cognyte Board, management team, and employees from running our business and maximizing performance. Such activist activities could also interfere with our ability to execute our strategic plan, disrupt the functioning of the Cognyte Board, or negatively impact our ability to attract and retain qualified executive leadership or board members, who may be unwilling to serve with activist personnel. Uncertainty as to the impact of activist activities may also affect the market price and volatility of our shares.

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ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

4.A. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANY

General Corporate Information

We are incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel as a company limited by shares. We are registered under the Companies Law as Cognyte Software Ltd., and our registration number with the Israeli Registrar of Companies is 516196425. We were formed by Verint in connection with our separation from Verint, for an unlimited duration, effective as of the date of our incorporation on May 21, 2020.

We are domiciled in Israel and our registered office is currently located at 33 Maskit, Herzliya Pituach, 4673333, Israel, which also currently serves as our principal executive offices, and our telephone number is +972-9-962-2300.

General Development of Business

Our business has grown significantly over more than two decades through a combination of organic growth and small acquisitions, primarily technology tuck-ins. As we have grown, we have expanded our solution portfolio from an initial focus on products for lawful communications interception to a provider of security analytics software that empowers government agencies and enterprises with Actionable Intelligence to accelerate investigations and identify, neutralize, and prevent terror, crime and cyber threats. We have also expanded our geographical footprint, which is now global. In 2016, Verint also reorganized from three operating segments into two, allocating the situational intelligence and incident response portions of its previous Video Intelligence operating segment to us.

Principal Capital Expenditures

Our capital expenditures amounted to $21.3 million and $12.6 million during the fiscal years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, primarily consisting of expenditures related to capitalized software development costs, internal-use software and development costs and lab equipment. In addition, we expect separation-related capital expenditures of approximately $9.3 million during the fiscal year ending January 31, 2021.

Acquisitions, Dispositions and other Events

On March 31, 2014, Verint completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of UTX Technologies Limited (“UTX”), a provider of certain mobile device tracking solutions for security applications, from UTX Limited. UTX Limited was the supplier of these products to the Cognyte Business prior to the acquisition. The purchase price consisted of $82.9 million of cash paid at closing, and up to $1.5 million of potential future contingent consideration payments to UTX Limited, the acquisition date fair value of which was estimated to be $1.3 million. UTX is based in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) region. For year ended January 31, 2015, Verint recorded a charge of $0.2 million within selling, general and administrative expenses to increase the fair value of the UTX contingent consideration obligation to $1.5 million, in consideration of UTX achieving certain performance targets. This amount was paid to UTX Limited prior to January 31, 2015.

On December 18, 2019, Verint completed the acquisition of two software companies under common control, WebintPro Ltd. and Deep Analytics Ltd. (collectively “WebintPro”), focused on multi source intelligence and fusion analytics that constitute a part of the Cognyte Business. The purchase price of $23.4 million consisted of $18.8 million of cash paid at closing, and up to $7.3 million of potential future contingent consideration payments to WebintPro, the acquisition date fair value of which was estimated to be $7.0 million, offset by $2.4 million of other purchase price adjustments. Refer to Note 6, “Business Combinations” to our combined financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 20-F for more detail on the acquisition of WebintPro.

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The Spin-Off

Background

On December 4, 2019, Verint announced plans to separate into two independent companies: Cognyte Software Ltd., which will consist of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business, and Verint Systems Inc., which will consist of its Customer Engagement Business. To implement the separation, pursuant to the Separation and Distribution Agreement that Verint will enter into with us prior to the spin-off and as part of the Internal Transactions, Verint will first transfer the Canadian portion of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us and will enter into a binding agreement to transfer the remainder of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us, will subsequently distribute all of our shares held by Verint to Verint shareholders, pro rata to their respective holdings, and immediately thereafter Verint will transfer the remainder of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us pursuant to the binding commitment. The distribution is intended to qualify as tax-free to Verint shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes and tax-free for each of Verint, Cognyte and Verint shareholders for Israeli tax purposes.

In connection with the spin-off and concurrently with the distribution, we and Verint will also enter into Ancillary Agreements that will govern relationships between us and Verint following the distribution.

Reasons for the Spin-Off

We and Verint believe that the two independent, publicly traded companies will both benefit from the spin-off and be well-positioned to pursue their own strategies, drive opportunities to accelerate growth and extend their market leadership. The separation will make it easier for investors to evaluate and make independent investment decisions in each business. We believe that both our businesses are leaders in their respective markets and the separation will enable them to achieve better performance over the long term as a result of several factors, including having:

Neither we nor Verint can assure you that, following the spin-off, any of the benefits described above or otherwise in this Form 20-F will be realized to the extent or at the time anticipated or at all. See also “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors.”

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Verint and the Verint Board also considered a number of potentially negative factors in their evaluation of the potential spin-off, including the following:

Verint and the Verint Board believe that the potential benefits of the spin-off outweigh these potentially negative factors. The completion of the spin-off remains subject to the satisfaction, or waiver by the Verint Board, of a number of conditions. See “—Conditions to the Spin-Off” below for additional detail.

When and How You Will Receive Cognyte Shares

Verint will distribute to holders of Verint shares, as a pro rata dividend, one Cognyte share for each Verint share such shareholders hold or have acquired and do not sell or otherwise dispose of prior to the close of business on                    , 2021, the record date for the spin-off. The actual number of our shares that will be distributed will depend on the total number of issued Verint shares (excluding treasury shares held by Verint and its subsidiaries) as of the record date.

An application will be made to list our shares on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “            .” Subject to official notice of issuance, our shares will trade and settle under ISIN code                  and CUSIP code                 .

Broadridge, as the Verint share registrar and transfer agent, will arrange for the distribution of our shares to holders of Verint shares. For purposes of and following the spin-off, Broadridge will act as our share registrar and transfer agent.

If Verint shareholders own Verint shares as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the record date, the Cognyte shares that Verint shareholders are entitled to receive in the distribution will be issued electronically on the distribution date to Verint shareholders in direct registration form or to Verint shareholders’ bank or brokerage firm on Verint shareholders’ behalf. If a Verint shareholder is a registered holder of Verint shares, Broadridge will mail the Verint shareholder a direct registration account statement that reflects the Verint shareholder’s Cognyte shares. If Verint shareholders hold their Verint shares through a bank or brokerage firm, their bank or brokerage firm will credit their account for their Cognyte shares. Direct registration form refers to a method of recording securities ownership when no physical certificates are issued, as is the case in the distribution. If Verint shareholders sell Verint shares in the “regular-way” market (as opposed to the “ex-distribution” market) up to and including the distribution date, Verint shareholders will be selling their right to receive Cognyte shares in the distribution. Investors acquiring or selling Verint shares on or around the record date in over-the-counter or other transactions not effected on NASDAQ should ensure such transactions take into account the treatment of our shares to be distributed in respect of such Verint shares in the spin-off. Please contact your bank or broker for further information if you intend to engage in any such transaction.

We will become a stand-alone public company, independent of Verint, on                    , 2021, the “distribution date” for the spin-off, and our shares will commence trading on a stand-alone basis on NASDAQ at market open on                     , 2021 (9:30 a.m., New York City, time on NASDAQ).

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Depending on your bank or broker and whether you hold Verint shares, it is expected that your Cognyte shares will be credited to your applicable securities account either on or shortly after the distribution date and that you will be able to commence trading your Cognyte shares on NASDAQ on                    , 2021, the distribution date. See also “—Listing and Trading of Cognyte Shares” below.

In the event there are any changes to the record date or the distribution date, or new material information relating to the distribution of our shares becomes available, Verint will publish any such changes or updates in a press release that will also be furnished with the SEC by Verint on a Form 8-K and by us on a Form 6-K. In addition, Verint will give at least 10 calendar days’ notice of any changes to the record date to NASDAQ in accordance with NASDAQ’s requirements.

We are not asking Verint shareholders to take any further action in connection with the spin-off. We are not asking you for a proxy and we request that you not send us a proxy. We are also not asking you to make any payment or surrender or exchange any of your Verint shares for Cognyte shares. Please see “—If You Hold Verint Shares—Holders of Verint Physical Share Certificates” below. The number of outstanding Verint shares will not change as a result of the spin-off.

If you hold or have acquired and do not sell or otherwise dispose of your Verint shares prior to the close of business on                    , 2021, the record date, the Cognyte shares that you are entitled to receive in the spin-off are expected to be distributed to you as described below.

Holders of Verint shares held in book-entry form with a bank or broker. Most Verint shareholders hold their Verint shares through a bank or brokerage firm. In such cases, the bank or brokerage firm would be said to hold the shares in “street name” and ownership would be recorded on the bank’s or brokerage firm’s books. If a Verint shareholder holds their Verint shares through a bank or brokerage firm, their bank or brokerage firm will credit their account for the Cognyte shares that they are entitled to receive in the distribution. If Verint shareholders have any questions concerning the mechanics of having shares held in “street name,” they should contact their bank or brokerage firm.

Holders of Verint physical share certificates. In connection with the spin-off, all registered Verint shareholders holding physical share certificates will be issued Cognyte shares in book-entry form only, which means that no physical share certificates will be issued. For questions relating to the transfer or mechanics of the distribution, please contact Verint Share Registry by telephone at 1-                 (in the United States) or 1-                 (outside the United States) or by online inquiry at https://www.                     .com. See also “Summary—The Spin-Off—Questions and Answers about the Spin-Off—Where can I get more information?”

Trading Between the Record Date and the Distribution Date

We expect that, beginning on or shortly before the record date and continuing up to and including the distribution date, there will be two markets in Verint shares on NASDAQ: a “regular-way” market and an “ex-distribution” market. Verint shares that trade in the “regular-way” market will trade with an entitlement to Cognyte shares distributed pursuant to the distribution. Verint shares that trade in the “ex-distribution” market will trade without an entitlement to Cognyte shares distributed pursuant to the distribution. Therefore, if Verint shareholders sell Verint shares in the “regular-way” market up to and including the distribution date, they will be selling their right to receive shares of our shares in the distribution.

If Verint shareholders own Verint shares at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the record date and sell those shares on the “ex-distribution” market up to and including the distribution date, they will receive Cognyte shares that they are entitled to receive pursuant to their ownership as of the record date of the Verint shares.

Furthermore, we expect that, beginning approximately two trading days before the record date and continuing up to the distribution date, there will be a “when-issued” market in our shares. “When-issued” trading refers to a sale

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or purchase made conditionally because the security has been authorized but not yet issued. The “when-issued” trading market will be a market for our shares that will be distributed to Verint shareholders on the distribution date. If Verint shareholders owned Verint shares at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the record date, they would be entitled to Cognyte shares distributed pursuant to the distribution. Verint shareholders may trade this entitlement to our shares, without Verint shares they own, on the “when-issued” market. On the first trading day following the distribution date, “when-issued” trading with respect to Cognyte shares is expected to end, and “regular-way” trading is expected to begin. If  “when-issued” trading occurs, the listing for Cognyte shares is expected to be under the trading symbol “                V.” If the distribution does not occur, all “when-issued” trading will be null and void.

Number of Cognyte Shares You Will Receive

You will receive one Cognyte share for each Verint share you hold or have acquired and do not sell or otherwise dispose of prior to the close of business on the record date.

Results of the Spin-Off

After the spin-off, we will be a stand-alone publicly traded company. Immediately following the spin-off, we expect to have approximately                 Cognyte shares outstanding based on the number of issued Verint shares (excluding treasury shares held by Verint and its subsidiaries) as of                     , 2021. The actual number of our shares that Verint will distribute in the spin-off will depend on the actual number of issued Verint shares, excluding treasury shares held by Verint and its subsidiaries, on the record date. The spin-off will not affect the number of outstanding Verint shares or any rights of holders of any outstanding Verint shares, although we expect the trading price of Verint shares immediately following the spin-off to be lower than immediately prior to the spin-off because the trading price of Verint shares will no longer reflect the value of the Cognyte Business. In addition, your Verint shares sold in the “ex-distribution” market (as opposed to the “regular-way” market) will trade without the entitlement to receive the distribution of our shares in the spin-off and will reflect an ownership interest solely in Verint, but may not yet accurately reflect the value of such Verint shares excluding the Cognyte Business.

Before our separation from Verint, we intend to enter into a Separation and Distribution Agreement and several other agreements with Verint related to the spin-off. These agreements will govern the relationship between us and Verint up to and after completion of the spin-off and allocate between us and Verint various assets, liabilities, rights and obligations, including employee benefits, intellectual property, supply of designated products and tax-related assets and liabilities. We describe these arrangements in greater detail under “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—7.B. Related Party Transactions—Agreements Between Verint and Us.”

Listing and Trading of Cognyte Shares

As of the date of this Form 20-F, we are a wholly owned subsidiary of Verint. Accordingly, no public market for our shares currently exists. We intend to list our shares on NASDAQ under the symbol “                .” We will use a specialist firm to make a market in our shares on NASDAQ to facilitate sufficient liquidity and maintain an orderly market in our shares throughout normal NASDAQ trading hours. We anticipate that trading in our shares will begin on a “when-issued” basis approximately two trading days before the record date and will continue up to and through the distribution date and that “regular-way” trading in our shares will begin on the first trading day following the distribution date. If trading begins on a “when-issued” basis, you may purchase or sell our shares up to and through the distribution date, but your transaction will not settle until after the distribution date. We cannot predict the trading prices for our shares before, on or after the distribution date.

Broadridge will act as our share registrar and transfer agent.

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We currently expect that our issued shares will be held in the following forms:

Neither we nor Verint can assure you as to the trading price of Verint shares or of Cognyte shares after the spin-off, or as to whether the combined trading prices of our shares and the Verint shares after the spin-off will be less than, equal to or greater than the trading prices of Verint shares prior to the spin-off. As a result of the spin-off, Verint expects the trading prices of Verint shares at market open on                    , 2021 to be lower than the trading prices at market close on                    , 2021, because the trading prices will no longer reflect the value of the Cognyte Business. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to the Separation from Verint and Ownership of Cognyte Shares” for more detail.

Subject to any restrictions on the registration of shareholdings in our share register that may be included in our Articles of Association, the Cognyte shares distributed to Verint shareholders will be freely transferable, except for shares received by individuals who are our affiliates. Individuals who may be considered our affiliates after the spin-off include individuals who control, are controlled by or are under common control with us, as those terms generally are interpreted for federal securities law purposes. These individuals may include some or all of our directors and executive officers. Individuals who are our affiliates will be permitted to sell their Cognyte shares only pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, such as those afforded by Section 4(a)(1) of the Securities Act or Rule 144 thereunder.

Conditions to the Spin-Off

We expect that the spin-off will be effective on the distribution date, provided that the following conditions shall have been satisfied or waived by Verint:

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We are not aware of any material federal, foreign or state regulatory requirements with which we must comply, other than SEC rules and regulations, or any material approvals that we must obtain, other than the approval for listing of our shares and the SEC’s declaration of the effectiveness of this Form 20-F, in connection with the spin-off.

Verint may waive one or more of these conditions, at the direction of the Verint Board in its sole and absolute discretion, and the determination by the Verint Board regarding the satisfaction of these conditions will be conclusive. The fulfillment of these conditions will not create any obligation on Verint’s part to effect the distribution and complete the spin-off, and Verint has reserved the right to amend, modify or abandon any and all terms of the spin-off and the related transactions at any time prior to the distribution date, at the direction of the Verint Board. Verint does not intend to notify its shareholders of any modifications to the terms or the conditions to the spin-off that, in the judgment of the Verint Board, are not material. To the extent that the Verint Board determines that any such modifications materially change the terms and conditions of the spin-off, Verint will notify its shareholders in a manner reasonably calculated to inform them of such modifications with a press release, current report on Form 8-K or other similar means.

Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Spin-Off

The following is a general summary of the United States federal income tax consequences of receipt of our shares and is based upon laws, regulations, decrees, rulings, income tax conventions (treaties), administrative practice and judicial decisions in effect at the date of this Form 20-F. This summary does not purport to be a legal opinion or to address all tax aspects that may be relevant to a holder of our shares. Each prospective holder is urged to consult its own tax adviser as to the particular tax consequences to such holder of the ownership and disposition of our shares, including the applicability and effect of any other tax laws or tax treaties, of pending or proposed changes in applicable tax laws as of the date of this Form 20-F, and of any actual changes in applicable tax laws after such date.

The consummation of the spin-off is conditioned upon the receipt by Verint of (1) a private letter ruling from the IRS that certain of the requirements for tax-free treatment under Section 355 of the Code will be satisfied and that Cognyte will be treated as a domestic corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Section 7874 of the Code, and (2) and a written opinion of Jones Day to the effect that the distribution will qualify as tax-free to Verint and to Verint shareholders under Section 355 of the Code. Assuming that the distribution so qualifies and Cognyte is so treated, Verint and its shareholders will not recognize any taxable income, gain or loss as a result of the distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

There is no assurance that the IRS private letter ruling will be obtained. If obtained, the IRS private letter ruling may contain such provisions, terms and conditions as the IRS may prescribe, which may be different from those

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detailed below. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the IRS will not challenge the conclusions described in this discussion or that a court would not sustain such a challenge, and no assurance can be given that the tax treatment described herein will be actually be applied.

For a more detailed description of the U.S. federal income tax consequences, please see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E. Taxation—Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”

Material Israeli Tax Consequences of the Spin-Off

The following is a general discussion of certain Israeli tax consequences of the spin-off, and, specifically, the distribution, to our shareholders. This discussion is included for general informational purposes only, does not purport to be complete, and does not constitute and is not a tax opinion or tax advice to any particular shareholder. The following discussion is based on the Israeli Tax Ordinance, regulations promulgated under the Israeli Tax Ordinance, and interpretations of such authorities by the Israeli courts and the ITA, all as they exist as of the date of this Form 20-F and all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. Any such change could affect the accuracy of the statements and conclusions set forth in this discussion. Further, this discussion does not purport to consider all aspects of Israeli income taxation that may be relevant to our shareholders in light of their particular circumstances, nor does it apply to shareholders subject to special treatment under the Israeli income tax laws or specific rulings obtained from the ITA. Verint applied for the Israeli Tax Ruling from the ITA as to the Israeli income tax consequences of the spin-off, including the distribution.

There is no assurance that the Israeli Tax Ruling will be obtained. If obtained, the Israeli Tax Ruling may contain such provisions, terms and conditions as the ITA may prescribe, which may be different from those detailed below. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the ITA will not challenge the conclusions described in this discussion or that a court would not sustain such a challenge, and no assurance can be given that the tax treatment described herein will actually be applied.

Treatment of the Spin-Off for Israeli Tax Purposes

As a consequence of the spin-off, under the Israeli Tax Ordinance and the Israeli Tax Ruling, certain registered shareholders may be subject to restriction on their ability to sell their Verint and Cognyte shares for a period of two years following the separation. This limitation is not applicable to shareholders whose shares are held through financial institutions, nor to holders of less than 5% of Verint and Cognyte issued capital. If this restriction is breached, certain transactions consummated in connection with the spin-off and as part of the separation may become taxable under Israeli law and could result in detrimental tax consequences for Verint and companies involved in the separation.

Under the Israeli Tax Ordinance and the Israeli Tax Ruling, the distribution shall not be taxable to Verint under the exemption on capital gains specified in section 97(b3) of the Israeli Tax Ordinance, so that the pro rata distribution of our shares to the shareholders of Verint will not be subject to Israeli tax on capital gains and will not violate any of the conditions set forth by the ITA for the spin-off being tax-free under Israeli laws.

Shareholders of Verint will be treated under Israeli tax laws as having received a distribution, which, depending on Verint’s distributable profits as determined under Israeli law, will be classified as a dividend or return of capital, and will receive capital gains treatment to the extent the value of our shares at distribution exceeds the original price at which the shareholder purchased a Verint share. Dividends distributed by a non-Israeli company are taxable under Israeli law only if received by an Israeli resident. Capital gain is subject to tax in Israel (i) for an Israeli resident regardless of the residency of the distributing company; and (ii) for a non-Israeli shareholder if the shares are of an Israeli company or a non-Israeli company which is mostly, directly or indirectly, the holder of the rights to assets situated in Israel. However, such a non-Israeli shareholder may be exempt from tax if the shares in the distributing company were purchased after January 1, 2009, the gain is not attributed to a permanent

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establishment in Israel, the shares were not purchased from a “relative” or were purchased as part of a tax-free reorganization and if some other conditions stipulated under law are fulfilled. A non-Israeli corporation will not be entitled to the foregoing exemption from capital gains tax if Israeli residents (i) have a controlling interest of more than 25% in such non-Israeli corporation, or (ii) are the beneficiaries of or are entitled to 25% or more of the revenues or profits of such non-Israeli corporation, whether directly or indirectly. In addition, non-Israeli shareholders may be exempt from tax in Israel based on the double tax treaty between Israel and their country of residence, subject to the provisions of that treaty.

For the treatment of capital gains under Israeli tax law, please see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E Taxation—Material Israeli Tax Considerations.”

Reasons for Furnishing this Form 20-F

We are furnishing this Form 20-F solely to provide information to Verint shareholders who will receive our shares in the spin-off. You should not construe this Form 20-F as an inducement or encouragement to buy, hold or sell any of our securities or any securities of Verint. We believe that the information contained in this Form 20-F is accurate as of the date set forth on the cover. Changes to the information contained in this Form 20-F may occur after that date, and neither we nor Verint undertakes any obligation to update the information except in the normal course of our respective public disclosure obligations and practices.

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4.B. BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Overview

Cognyte is a global leader in security analytics software that empowers governments and enterprises with Actionable Intelligence for a safer world. Our open software fuses, analyzes and visualizes disparate data sets at scale to help security organizations find the needles in the haystacks. Over 1,000 government and enterprise customers in more than 100 countries rely on Cognyte’s solutions to accelerate security investigations and connect the dots to successfully identify, neutralize, and prevent national security, personal safety, business continuity and cyber threats.

Market Trends

We believe that the following trends are driving demand for our security analytics software:

Our Strategy

We believe our technology and domain expertise position us to capitalize on the demand for security analytics software and our strategy is to:

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Our Solutions

Governments and enterprise customers are responsible for addressing a broad range of security challenges such as crime, terror, cyber-attacks, financial crime and other threats. They seek security analytics software to transform their security operations and drive more strategic outcomes.

Our broad security analytics software portfolio is designed to help customers find the needles in the haystacks, accelerate the investigative process, and successfully identify, neutralize, and prevent terror, crime and cyber threats.

End-users for our solutions include data analysts, investigation managers, SOC operators and field unit teams. Our solutions provide them with a rich set of analytics engines, AI models, workflows, and visualization tools to address specific security challenges.

Our solutions span across three categories. Each category addresses specific security challenges with common characteristics, as follows:

Investigative Analytics

Security investigations can vary in length from several days to several years. Some investigations end without resolution due to lack of sufficient insight. More complex security investigations can also be very expensive and labor intensive as they involve data collection from many different sources and a challenging process of connecting the dots to reach quick conclusions and prevent security threats.

The stakes are high. An inability to conduct effective and timely security investigations can result in attacks that cost lives and cause significant damage and disruption to the public. Therefore, case officers, security analysts and investigative teams are constantly looking for solutions that help them shorten the investigative cycle and drive a higher percentage of conclusive outcomes.

The Cognyte investigative analytics solutions are designed to empower investigative teams with Actionable Intelligence by providing:

Operational Intelligence Analytics

Field security units are responsible for carrying out operational security missions and it is vital for them to receive real-time or ‘near real-time’ insights to ensure successful completion of missions. Events on the ground can change rapidly during operation and the field team’s ability to quickly adapt and respond is mission critical.

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The Cognyte operational intelligence analytics solutions are designed to empower field security teams with Actionable Intelligence by providing:

Threat Intelligence Analytics

SOCs are used by government and enterprise organizations to detect security threats and effectively manage responses. SOC personnel are responsible for a variety of security tasks including cyber-attacks mitigation, employee safety and operations continuity.

The Cognyte threat intelligence analytics solutions are designed to empower SOC teams with Actionable Intelligence by providing:

Our Technology

The Cognyte analytics platform is designed around an open, modular and scalable architecture to enable customers to address a broad range of security threats with fast detection and quick mitigation.

The platform is designed to support security users, including data analysts, investigation managers, SOC operators, as well as operational field teams. Visualization and workflows enable non-technical users to easily operate within our platform. It also enables skilled security analysts and data scientists to perform advanced data investigation by developing and implementing their own algorithms and data models for specific analytical tasks.

The Cognyte analytics platform is comprised of five key components:

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Our Customers

We sell our security analytics software to both government and enterprise customers around the world across more than 100 countries.

Our government customers are addressing a broad range of security challenges in their country and utilize the full breadth of our portfolio to accelerate investigations and identify, neutralize and prevent national security threats.

We typically serve multiple organizations within a country and currently serve more than 400 government customers around the world.

Our enterprise customers primarily utilize our Threat Intelligence Analytics to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their security operations. We have more than 600 enterprise customers around the world.

For the year ended January 31, 2020, approximately 83% of our business was generated from contracts with government customers and 17% with various enterprises customers. Our customers typically do not allow us and other vendors to disclose our relationship with them and to discuss publicly the nature of the solutions they purchased. In the security market, confidentiality is critical and as a trusted partner we make it a priority to comply with our customers’ confidentiality requirements.

Sales

We sell globally and organize our sales force in regional teams across territories. Each regional team is responsible for both direct sales and the partner network in that territory, including sales to existing customers and adding new customers. In the years ended January 31, 2020 and January 31, 2019, respectively, we derived approximately 21%, 45%, and 34% and 25%, 37%, and 38% of our revenue from sales to end users located in the Americas, EMEA and in the Asia-Pacific (“APAC”) regions, respectively.    

Winning large contracts often requires a longer, high-touch sales process that may include responding to a Request for Proposal and/or delivering a Proof of Concept. We believe that our ability to demonstrate to customers the value that can be created with our differentiated solutions is critical to winning large contracts.

The majority of our orders are generated from existing customers expanding their usage of Cognyte solutions they have already deployed or the purchase of new solutions from our portfolio to be deployed in other areas of their security operations. Our sales force provides customers with regular updates on new solutions and assists them in evaluating the benefits of such solutions to address security challenges. In many cases, a new order from an existing customer will include both an expansion as well as the addition of new solutions.    

Typically, initial orders from new customers are smaller, and over time, as the customer develops trust in our partnership, they expand with larger follow-on orders.

Due to the unique nature of the terms and conditions associated with government contracts generally, our government contracts may be subject to renegotiation or termination at the discretion of a government customer under certain conditions. Some of our government customers require us to have security credentials or engage an integrator or other customer approved legal entity. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations” for a more detailed discussion of certain sales and distribution risks that we face.

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Services

Our services include customer support, professional services and integration services.

Customer Support

Our solutions are generally sold with a customer support plan to help customers ensure the on-going, successful use of our mission-critical solutions in their environment. We offer a broad range of customer support plans with varying prices. We also offer support plans to partners where they are responsible for providing support to end users.

Professional Services

Our solutions can be implemented by our professional service organizations, by our certified partners, or by a customer’s own personnel who have been trained on our solutions.

Our professional services also include user training programs to enable customers to use our solutions effectively and to maximize their value. Customer and partner training are provided at the customer site, at our training centers around the world, and/or remotely online.

Integration Services

In some cases, we deliver system integration services to integrate our solution with the customer’s environment, software customization, and the purchase and deployment of third-party hardware components.

We also certify system integrator partners to enable them to sell or deliver system integration services. This provides customers with more choices and is consistent with our open solution strategy.

Seasonality

Our quarterly operating results have been, and are likely to continue to be, influenced by seasonal fluctuations due to certain purchasing patterns of some of our customers. In most years, our revenue and operating income are typically highest in the fourth quarter. Moreover, revenue and operating income in the first quarter of a new year may be lower than in the fourth quarter of the preceding year, in some years, potentially by a significant margin. In addition, we generally receive a higher volume of orders in the last month of a quarter, with orders concentrated in the latter part of that month. While seasonal factors such as these are common in the software industry, this pattern should not be considered a reliable indicator of our future revenue or financial performance. Many other factors, including general economic conditions, also have an impact on our business and financial results. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors” for a more detailed discussion of factors which may affect our business and financial results.

Research and Development

To support our innovation, we make significant investments in R&D every year. We allocate our R&D resources in response to rapidly evolving technological and customer requirements. We believe our broad base of longstanding customers relationships provide us with valuable insights into our customers’ need and allow us to focus our R&D efforts accordingly.

Our development team includes highly qualified software engineers, product managers, data scientists, and architects. In the year ended January 31, 2020 we employed approximately 1,100 people in product and R&D roles globally, primarily in Israel, Cyprus, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Our approach to R&D focuses on technological breakthroughs, as well as incrementally enhancing the functionality of our existing solutions and providing customers with frequent software updates.

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The majority of our products are developed internally. In some cases, we also acquire or license technologies, products, and applications from third parties based on timing and cost considerations. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations.”

We have derived benefits from participation in certain government-sponsored programs, including those of the Innovation Authority, formerly the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy of the State of Israel, and in other jurisdictions for the support of R&D activities conducted in those locations. The Israeli law under which our Innovation Authority grants are made limits our ability to manufacture products, or transfer technologies, developed using these grants outside of Israel without permission from the Innovation Authority.

Key Corporate Functions

In connection with the spin-off, we will create stand-alone corporate and support functions for our business and operations. Key corporate functions are expected to include tax, treasury, accounting, internal audit, investor relations, human resources, communications, legal and corporate governance, information technology, facilities, and administrative support services.

For a period of twelve months beginning on the date of the distribution (with an option to extend for up to an additional twelve months by mutual written agreement of the parties), Verint will continue to provide and/or make available various administrative services and assets to us pursuant to the Transition Services Agreement. Services to be provided by Verint to us will include services related to finance, accounting, business technology, human resources information systems, human resources, legal, corporate governance, facilities, document management and record retention, relationship management and technical and quality support. We will also provide certain services in these areas to Verint under the Transition Services Agreement. Fees payable by the parties under the agreement are intended to reimburse the service provider for its direct and indirect costs incurred in providing the services, plus a customary markup.

Intellectual Property Rights

General

Our success depends to a significant degree on the legal protection of our software and other proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark laws, and confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with employees and third parties to establish and protect our proprietary rights.

Patents

As of July 31, 2020, we had over              patents and patent applications worldwide. We regularly review new areas of technology related to our businesses to determine whether they can and should be patented.

Licenses

Our customer and partner license agreements prohibit the unauthorized use, copying, and disclosure of our software technology and contain customer restrictions and confidentiality terms. These agreements generally warrant that the software and proprietary hardware will materially comply with written documentation and assert that we own or have sufficient rights in the software we distribute and have not violated the intellectual property rights of others.

We license our products in a format that does not permit users to change the software code. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations” for more detail.

Trademarks and Service Marks

We use registrations to protect many of the trademarks used in our business. We also claim common law protections for other marks we use in our business. Competitors and other companies could adopt similar marks

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or try to prevent us from using our marks, consequently impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to customer confusion.

See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations” in this Form 20-F for a more detailed discussion regarding the risks associated with the protection of our intellectual property.

Competition

There are many data analytics software vendors that offer horizontal solutions and tools across many industries, including in the security analytics market. We also face competition from many point solutions vendors addressing only one or few specific security challenges. In addition, our competition includes system integrators that assemble technology components from multiple vendors, as well as the internal IT departments of our customer organizations developing special purpose solutions.

We believe that our deep security domain expertise and our ability to effectively address a broad range of complex security challenges differentiates us from horizontal analytics vendors, such as Palantir and IBM Watson, and from point solution vendors such as FireEye.

When facing competition from our customers’ own IT departments, we differentiate our solutions based on deep domain expertise, successful track record in operational deployments and our significant R&D investment over many years. In some cases, customers are looking for specific customizations and the open and modular nature of our solutions enables the customer (or their system integrator of choice) to add such customizations to our solutions.

Over the years we have established a unique security analytics expertise and a strong brand reputation which has enabled us to expand within our existing customer base and win competitive deals with new customers.

In addition, consolidation is common in our markets and has in the past and may in the future improve the position of our competitors. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations” for a more detailed discussion of the competitive risks we face.

Government Regulations

Export Regulations

We and our subsidiaries are subject to applicable export control regulations in countries from which we export goods and services. These controls may apply by virtue of the country in which the products are located or by virtue of the origin of the content contained in the products. If the controls of a particular country apply, the level of control generally depends on the nature of the goods and services in question. Where controls apply, the export of our products generally requires an export license or authorization or that the transaction qualify for a license exception or the equivalent, and may also be subject to corresponding reporting requirements.

Israel’s defense export policy regulates the sale of many of the systems and products that we develop in Israel. Current Israeli policy encourages exports to approved customers of defense systems and products such as ours, as long as the export is consistent with Israeli government policy. Subject to certain exemptions, a license is required to initiate marketing activities for such systems and products. We also must receive a specific export license for defense related hardware, software, services and know-how exported from Israel. Israeli law also regulates export of “dual use” items (items that are typically sold in the commercial market but that also may be used in the defense market), typically to a lesser extent than defense-related items.

Israeli Security-Related Regulations and Requirements

The Israeli Defense Entities Law (Protection of Defense Interests)—2006 provides for certain restrictions on the operations of, investments in, or transfers of control of any entity that is determined to be an Israeli “defense

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entity” under the terms of the law. Designation as a “defense entity” may potentially occur through an order that may be issued jointly by the Israeli Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Economy Minister. No such order has been issued for Cognyte nor are we aware that any is planned, however, based on the nature of our business, such an order could be issued in the future.

An order relating to a defense entity may, among other matters: (1) impose restrictions on the ability of non-Israelis to hold “means of control” or to be able to “substantially influence” defense entities; (2) require that senior officers of defense entities have appropriate Israeli security clearances; (3) require that a defense entity’s headquarters be located in Israel; and/or (4) require that a defense entity’s entry into international joint ventures and transfer of certain technology receive the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In the case of a publicly traded company like us, such an order may also include a requirement that Israeli government approval will be required for acquisition by any person of a certain level of ownership of the voting securities that provide a “means of control” of the company.

On October 30, 2019, the Israeli cabinet decided to establish a committee that will oversee foreign investments in Israel. At this stage there is no indication whether this committee will impose any restrictions or conditions and/or the nature of any such restrictions or conditions on Cognyte.

In light of the nature of our solutions and customers (some of which are security government agencies), there are also various other Israeli security classification and data protection measures that are applicable to us and our global operations under relevant legislation or contractual obligations.

Israeli Tax Considerations and Government Programs

Tax regulations also have a material impact on our business and results of operations, particularly in Israel where we are organized and have our headquarters. The following is a summary of certain aspects of the current tax structure applicable to companies in Israel, with special reference to its effect on us (and our operations, in particular). The following also contains a discussion of the Israeli government programs benefiting us. To the extent that the discussion is based on new tax legislation that has not been subject to judicial or administrative interpretation, we cannot assure you that the tax authorities or the courts will accept the views expressed in this discussion. This discussion does not address all of the Israeli tax provisions that may be relevant to our company. For a discussion of the Israeli tax consequences related to the ownership of our capital stock, please see “Item 10. Additional Information—10.E. Taxation—Material Israeli Tax Considerations.

Corporate Tax in Israel—General

Israeli resident companies are generally subject to corporate tax on their taxable income at the rate of 23%. However, the effective tax rate payable by a company that derives income from a Preferred Enterprise, Beneficial Enterprise or a Preferred Technology Enterprise (as discussed below) may be considerably lower. Capital gains derived by an Israeli resident company are subject to tax at the ordinary corporate tax rate.

A company’s income that is attributed to its Beneficial Enterprise is subject to a lower tax rate. These tax benefits are available to us provided that we meet various conditions. These tax benefits may be terminated or reduced in the future, which could increase our costs and taxes. In 2018, Verint obtained a ruling from the ITA providing that the Cognyte Business, subject to certain conditions, shall continue benefiting from the tax benefits applicable to the Beneficial Enterprise.

Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxes), 1969

The Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxes), 1969 (the “Industry Encouragement Law”), provides certain tax benefits for an “Industrial Company.” The Industry Encouragement Law defines an “Industrial Company” as an Israeli resident company incorporated in Israel, of which 90% or more of its income in any tax

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year, other than income from certain government loans, is derived from an “Industrial Enterprise” owned by it and located in Israel or in the “Area,” in accordance with the definition in the Section 3a of the Israeli Tax Ordinance. An “Industrial Enterprise” is defined as an enterprise which is held by an Industrial Company whose principal activity in any given tax year is industrial production.

Some of tax benefits available to Industrial Companies include:

Tax Benefits under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959

The Investment Law provides certain incentives for capital investments in production facilities (or other eligible assets). Pursuant to the 2005 Amendment, tax benefits granted in accordance with the provisions of the Investment Law prior to its revision by the 2005 Amendment remain in force, but any benefits granted subsequently are subject to the provisions of the amended Investment Law. Similarly, the 2011 Amendment introduced new benefits to replace those granted in accordance with the provisions of the Investment Law in effect prior to the 2011 Amendment. However, companies entitled to benefits under the Investment Law as in effect prior to January 1, 2011 were entitled to choose to continue to enjoy such benefits, provided that certain conditions are met, or elect instead, irrevocably, to forego such benefits and have the benefits of the 2011 Amendment apply. The 2017 Amendment introduced new benefits for Technological Enterprises (as defined in the 2017 Amendment), alongside the existing tax benefits.

Tax Benefits Subsequent to the 2005 Amendment

The 2005 Amendment applies to new investment programs and investment programs commencing after 2004. We do not have investment programs preceding the 2005 Amendment. In order to receive the tax benefits, the 2005 Amendment states that a company must make an investment which meets all of the conditions, including exceeding a minimum investment amount specified in the Investment Law. Such investment allows a company to receive “Beneficial Enterprise” status, and may be made over a period of no more than three years from the end of the year in which the company requested to have the tax benefits apply to its Beneficial Enterprise. Where the company requests to apply the tax benefits to an expansion of existing facilities, only the expansion will be considered to be a Beneficial Enterprise and the company’s effective tax rate will be the weighted average of the applicable rates. In that case, the minimum investment required in order to qualify as a Beneficial Enterprise is required to exceed a certain percentage of the value of the company’s production assets before the expansion.

The extent of the tax benefits available under the 2005 Amendment to qualifying income of a Beneficial Enterprise depend on, among other things, the geographic location in Israel of the Beneficial Enterprise. The location will also determine the period for which tax benefits are available. Such tax benefits include an exemption from corporate tax on income that is not distributed to the shareholders as a dividend for a period of between two to ten years, depending on the geographic location of the Beneficial Enterprise in Israel, and a reduced corporate tax rate of between 10% to 25% for the remainder of the benefits period, depending on the percentage of non-Israeli ownership and investment in the company each year. A company qualifying for tax benefits under the 2005 Amendment that pays a dividend out of income derived by its Beneficial Enterprise during the tax exemption period will be subject to corporate tax in respect of the gross amount of the dividend at

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the otherwise applicable rate of 25%, or a lower rate depending of the percentage of non-Israeli shareholding. Dividends paid out of income attributed to a Beneficial Enterprise are generally subject to withholding tax at source at the rate of 15% or such lower rate as may be provided in an applicable tax treaty (subject to the receipt in advance of a valid certificate from the ITA allowing for a reduced tax rate).

The benefits available to a Beneficial Enterprise are subject to the fulfillment of conditions stipulated in the Investment Law and its regulations. If a company does not meet those conditions, it may be required to refund the amount of tax benefits, as adjusted by the Israeli consumer price index, and interest, or other monetary penalties.

The benefit period begins in the year in which taxable income is first earned, limited to 12 years from the “Year of Election.”

Tax Benefits under the 2011 Amendment

The 2011 Amendment introduced new tax benefits for income generated by a “Preferred Company” through its “Preferred Enterprise” (as such terms are defined in the Investment Law) as of January 1, 2011. The definition of a Preferred Company includes a company incorporated in Israel that is not fully owned by a governmental entity, and that has, among other things, Preferred Enterprise status and is controlled and managed from Israel.

A Preferred Company is entitled to a reduced corporate tax rate with respect to the income attributed to the Preferred Enterprise, at the following rates:

The classification of income generated from the provision of usage rights in know-how or software that was developed in the Preferred Enterprise, as well as royalty income received with respect to such usage, as Preferred Enterprise income is subject to the issuance of a pre-ruling from the ITA that stipulates that such income is associated with the productive activity of the Preferred Enterprise in Israel.

Dividends distributed from income which is attributed to a “Preferred Enterprise” will be subject to withholding tax at source at the following rates: (i) Israeli resident corporations will be subject to a rate of 0%, (although, if such dividends are subsequently distributed to individuals or a non-Israeli company, withholding tax at a rate of 20% or such lower rate as may be provided in an applicable tax treaty will apply (subject to the receipt in advance of a valid certificate from the ITA allowing for a reduced tax rate)); (ii) Israeli resident individuals will be subject to a rate of 20%; and (iii) non-Israeli residents (individuals and corporations) will be subject to a rate of 20%, subject to a reduced tax rate under the provisions of an applicable double tax treaty (subject to the receipt in advance of a valid certificate from the ITA allowing for a reduced tax rate).

New Tax Benefits under the 2017 Amendment that Became Effective on January 1, 2017

The 2017 Amendment provides, inter alia, new tax benefits for “Technology Enterprises,” as described below, and is in addition to the other existing tax beneficial programs under the Investment Law.

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The 2017 Amendment provides that a technology company satisfying certain conditions will qualify as a “Preferred Technology Enterprise” and will thereby enjoy a reduced corporate tax rate of 12% on income that qualifies as “Preferred Technology Income,” as defined in the Investment Law. In addition, a Preferred Technology Company will enjoy a reduced corporate tax rate of 12% on capital gain derived from the sale of certain “Benefitted Intangible Assets” (as defined in the Investment Law) to a related foreign company if the Benefitted Intangible Assets were acquired from a foreign company on or after January 1, 2017 for at least NIS 200 million, and the sale receives prior approval from the Innovation Authority.

Dividends distributed by a Preferred Technology Enterprise, paid out of Preferred Technology Income, are subject to withholding tax at source at the rate of 20%, and if non-Israeli ownership is at least 90% then the withholding tax rate on dividends distributed to a foreign company will be 4%. These rates also apply under certain circumstances in case Cognyte distributes dividends sourced to the Preferred Technological Income of a subsidiary of its which is a Preferred Technological Enterprise.

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4.C. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Organizational Structure

We are currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Verint. Following the spin-off, we will be a separate, stand-alone company independent of Verint. Verint will not retain any ownership interest in us. See “—4.B. Business Overview” for additional information.

Significant Subsidiaries

Below is a list of subsidiaries that will have total assets exceeding 10% of our combined assets, or sales and operating revenues in excess of 10% of our combined sales, immediately following the spin-off:

4.D. PROPERTY, PLANTS AND EQUIPMENT

Our corporate headquarters is located in Israel. The principal office for our international operations, which is also our registered office, is located in Israel.

We believe that our current manufacturing and production facilities have adequate capacity for our medium-term needs. To ensure that we have sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet future production needs, we regularly review the capacity and utilization of our manufacturing facilities.

Major Facilities

The following table sets forth our most significant facilities:

We believe that we have satisfactory title to our plants and facilities in accordance with standards generally accepted in our industry. We believe that all of our production facilities are in good operating condition. As of January 31, 2020, the combined net book value of our property, plant and equipment was $41.6 million.

4.E. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

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ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

5.A. OPERATING RESULTS

This operating and financial review should be read together with the section captioned “Selected Financial Data,” “Item 4, Information on the Company—4.B. Business Overview” and the combined financial statements of the Cognyte Business and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Form 20-F. Among other things, those financial statements include more detailed information regarding the basis of preparation for the following information. The combined financial statements of the Cognyte Business have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Form 20-F, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Please see “Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements” in this Form 20-F.

Proposed Separation from Verint

On December 4, 2019, Verint announced plans to separate into two independent companies: Cognyte Software Ltd., which will consist of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business, and Verint Systems Inc., which will consist of its Customer Engagement Business. To implement the separation, pursuant to the Separation and Distribution Agreement that Verint will enter into with us prior to the spin-off and as part of the Internal Transactions, Verint will first transfer the Canadian portion of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us and will enter into a binding agreement to transfer the remainder of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us, will subsequently distribute all of our shares held by Verint to Verint shareholders, pro rata to their respective holdings, and immediately thereafter Verint will transfer the remainder of its Cyber Intelligence Solutions business to us pursuant to the binding commitment. The distribution is intended to be tax-free to Verint shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes and tax-free for each of Cognyte and Verint shareholders for Israeli tax purposes.

In connection with the spin-off and concurrently with the distribution, we and Verint will also enter into the Ancillary Agreements that will govern relationships between us and Verint following the distribution.

We believe the two independent, publicly traded companies will both benefit from the separation and be well-positioned to pursue their own strategies, drive opportunities to accelerate growth and extend their market leadership. The separation will make it easier for investors to evaluate and make independent investment decisions in each business. We believe that both our businesses are leaders in their respective markets and the separation will enable them to achieve better performance over the long term as a result of several factors, including having:

The process of completing the proposed separation has been and is expected to continue to be time-consuming and involves significant costs and expenses. Due to the scale of our respective businesses and our respective global footprints (among other factors), the separation process is extremely complex and requires effort and attention from employees throughout our and Verint’s organizations. For example, shared service functions and related systems, such as finance, human resources, operation, legal, and IT, must be separated or established, and

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in many places, employees must be assigned to new legal entities and new payrolls and benefit plans put in place. Outside the organization, Verint must notify and establish separation readiness among customers, business partners and suppliers so that business relationships all over the world may continue seamlessly following the completion of the separation. For more information on the risks involved in the separation process, see “Item 3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to the Separation from Verint and Ownership of Cognyte Shares.”

Verint expects to incur future separation costs of approximately $35.0 million during fiscal year ending January 31, 2021. These costs include developing stand-alone information systems and related IT costs, third-party advisory, consulting, legal and professional services, as well as other items that are incremental and one-time in nature that are related to the spin-off. Verint also expects separation-related capital expenditures of approximately $9.3 million during the fiscal year ending January 31, 2021. We currently expect to complete the spin-off shortly after the end of this fiscal year ending January 31, 2021, though this timeline may be impacted by the current business environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, following the spin-off, we must maintain independent corporate overhead. Due to the loss of economies of scale and the necessity of establishing independent functions for each company, the separation from Verint into two independent companies is expected to result in total dis-synergies of approximately $10.0 million to Cognyte annually, which costs are primarily associated with corporate functions such as finance, legal, information technology and human resources.

Basis of Presentation

Stand-alone financial statements have not been historically prepared for our business. Our combined financial statements have been derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of Verint as if it operated on its own during the periods presented and were prepared in accordance with GAAP. The primary basis for presenting consolidated financial statements is when one entity has a controlling financial interest in another entity. As there is no controlling financial interest present between or among the entities that comprise our business, we are preparing our financial statements on a combined basis. Verint’s investment in our business is shown in lieu of equity attributable to Cognyte as there is no consolidated entity for which Verint holds an equity interest in. Verint’s investment represents its interest in the recorded net assets of Cognyte.

Our combined statements of operations include all revenue and costs directly attributable to Cognyte, including costs for facilities, functions and services used by Cognyte. The combined statements of operations also reflect allocations of general corporate expenses from Verint including, but not limited to, executive management, finance, legal, information technology, employee benefits administration, treasury, risk management, procurement, and other shared services. These allocations were made on a direct usage basis when identifiable, with the remainder allocated on the basis of revenue as a relevant measure. Management of Cognyte and Verint consider these allocations to be a reasonable reflection of the utilization of services by, or the benefits provided to, Cognyte. The allocations may not, however, reflect the expense we would have incurred as a stand-alone company for the period presented. Actual costs that may have been incurred if we had been a stand-alone company would depend on a number of factors, including the chosen organizational structure, what functions were outsourced or performed by employees and strategic decisions made in areas such as information technology and infrastructure.

For further information on the basis of presentation of the combined financial statements see “Note 1. Organization, Operations and Basis of Presentation” to our combined financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 20-F.

Items You Should Consider When Evaluating Our Combined Financial Statements and Assessing Our Future Prospects

Our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows could differ from those that would have resulted if we operated autonomously or as an entity independent of Verint in the periods for which combined financial

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statements are included in this Form 20-F, and such information may not be indicative of our future operating results or financial performance. As a result, you should consider the following facts when evaluating our historical results of operations and assessing our future prospects:

Recent Developments

COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. The outbreak has reached all of the regions in which we do business, and governmental authorities around the world have implemented numerous measures attempting to contain and mitigate the effects of the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, border closings, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, shutdowns, limitations or closures of non-essential businesses, and social distancing requirements. Companies around the world, including us, our customers, partners, and vendors, have implemented actions in response, including among others, office closings, site restrictions, and employee travel restrictions. Notwithstanding the loosening of these restrictions in some countries and for some companies, the global spread of COVID-19 and actions taken in response have negatively affected us, our customers, partners, and vendors and caused significant economic and business disruption the extent and duration of which is not currently known. In response to these challenges, we quickly adjusted our operations to work from home and we believe our business continuity plan is working well. We are monitoring and assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic daily, including recommendations and orders issued by government and public health authorities. We continue to work to help our customers meet their business continuity needs and help keep the world safe during this difficult time and are managing our operations with a view to resuming normal business activity as soon as possible.

During the six months ended July 31, 2020, our revenue was negatively impacted by delays and reduced spending attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers’ operational priorities and as a result of cost containment measures they have implemented. Due to the pandemic, we have seen a reduction or delay in large customer contracts, and we have been unable to conduct face-to-face meetings with existing or prospective customers and partners, present in-person demonstrations of our solutions, or host or attend in-person trade shows and conferences. Limitations on access to the facilities of our customers have also impacted our ability to deliver some of our products, complete certain implementations, and provide in-person consulting and training services, negatively impacting our ability to recognize revenue. We cannot predict how the pandemic will impact our results in future periods, including to the extent that customers delay or miss payments, customers defer, reduce, or refrain from placing orders or renewing subscriptions or support arrangements, or travel restrictions and site access restrictions remain necessary.

In light of the adverse impact of COVID-19 on global economic conditions and our revenue, along with the uncertainty associated with the extent and timing of a potential recovery, we have implemented several cost-reduction actions of varying durations. Such actions have included but are not limited to, reducing our discretionary spending, substantially decreasing capital expenditures, extending days payable outstanding, considering the optimal uses of our cash and other capital resources, and reducing workforce-related costs. These actions may have an adverse impact on us, particularly if they remain in place for an extended period. We continue to evaluate and may decide to implement further cost control strategies to help us mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the operational alterations we have made in response on our business, financial condition, liquidity and financial results cannot be predicted at this time.

Market Trends

In addition to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic discussed above, we see the following business trends and factors which may impact our performance:

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Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Estimates

An appreciation of our critical accounting policies is necessary to understand our financial results. The accounting policies outlined below are considered to be critical because they can materially affect our operating results and financial condition, as these policies may require us to make difficult and subjective judgments regarding uncertainties. The accuracy of these estimates and the likelihood of future changes depend on a range of possible outcomes and a number of underlying variables, many of which are beyond our control, and there can be no assurance that our estimates are accurate.

Revenue Recognition

We derive and report our revenue in three categories: (a) software revenue, including the sale of subscription (i.e., term-based) or perpetual licenses, and appliances that include software that is essential to the product’s functionality, (b) software service revenue, including support revenue and revenue from cloud-based SaaS subscriptions, and (c) professional service and other revenue, including revenue from installation and integration services, customer specific development work, the resale of third-party hardware, and consulting and training services.

We account for revenue in accordance with Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).” Our revenue recognition policies require us to make significant judgments and estimates. In applying our revenue recognition policy, we must determine which portions of our revenue are recognized at a point in time (generally software revenue, and the resale of third-party hardware) and which portions must be deferred and recognized over time (generally software service revenue and professional service revenue). We analyze various factors including, but not limited to, the selling price of undelivered services when sold on a stand-alone basis, our pricing policies, the creditworthiness of our customers, and contractual terms and conditions in helping us to make such judgments about revenue recognition. Changes in judgment on any of these factors could materially impact the timing and amount of revenue recognized in a given period.

Our contracts with customers often include promises to transfer multiple products and services to a customer. In contracts with multiple performance obligations, we identify each performance obligation and evaluate whether the promised goods or services are distinct within the context of the contract at contract inception. Promised goods or services that are not distinct at contract inception are combined. Contracts that include software customization and development services may result in the combination of the customization and development

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services with the software license as one distinct performance obligation. The transaction price is generally in the form of a fixed fee at contract inception, and excludes taxes assessed by a governmental authority that are both imposed on and concurrent with a specific revenue-producing transaction, that are collected by us from a customer.

We allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation based on the estimated stand-alone selling price (“SSP”) for each performance obligation. Judgment is required to determine the SSP for each distinct performance obligation. In instances where SSP is not directly observable, such as when we do not sell the product or service separately, we estimate the SSP of each performance obligation based on either an adjusted market assessment approach or a cost-plus margin approach. We may have more than one SSP for individual products and services due to the stratification of those products and services by customers and circumstances. In these instances, we may use information such as the size of the customer and geographic region in determining the SSP.

We then look to how control transfers to the customer in order to determine the timing of revenue recognition. Software revenue is typically recognized when the software is delivered and/or made available for download as this is the point the user of the software can direct the use of, and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits from the functional intellectual property. We do not recognize software revenue related to the renewal of software licenses earlier than the beginning of the renewal period. Subscription license revenue is recognized when the software is delivered to the customer over the term of the subscription period. In contracts that include customer substantive acceptance, we recognize revenue when we have delivered the software and received customer acceptance. We recognize support revenue, which includes software updates on a when-and-if-available basis, telephone support, and bug fixes or patches, over the term of the customer support agreement, which is typically between one to three years. Revenue related to professional services is typically recognized over time as the services are performed. Revenue related to the resale of third-party hardware is typically recognized at the point in time control transfers to the customer, generally upon shipment or delivery.

Some of our customer contracts require specific customer development work to meet the particular requirements of the customer. The contract pricing is stated as a fixed amount and generally results in the transfer of control of the applicable performance obligation over time. We recognize revenue based on the proportion of labor hours expended to the total hours expected to complete the performance obligation. The determination of the total labor hours expected to complete the performance obligation on fixed fee contracts involves significant judgment. We incorporate revisions to hour and cost estimates when the causal facts become known. We measure our estimate of completion on fixed-price contracts, which in turn determines the amount of revenue we recognize, based primarily on actual hours incurred to date and our estimate of remaining hours necessary to complete the contract.

Our products are generally not sold with a right of return and credits have been minimal in both amount and frequency. Shipping and handling activities that are bundled in the total sell price billed to customers and occur after control over a product has transferred to a customer are accounted for as fulfillment costs and are included in cost of revenue. Historically, these expenses have not been material.

Accounting for Business Combinations

We allocate the purchase price of acquired companies to the tangible and intangible assets acquired, including in-process research and development assets, and liabilities assumed, based upon their estimated fair values at the acquisition date. These fair values are typically estimated with assistance from independent valuation specialists. The purchase price allocation process requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions, especially at the acquisition date with respect to intangible assets, contractual support obligations assumed, contingent consideration arrangements, and pre-acquisition contingencies.

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Although we believe the assumptions and estimates we have made in the past have been reasonable and appropriate, they are based in part on historical experience and information obtained from the management of the acquired companies and are inherently uncertain.

Examples of critical estimates in valuing certain of the intangible assets we have acquired or may acquire in the future include but are not limited to:

In connection with the purchase price allocations for applicable acquisitions, we estimate the fair value of the contractual support obligations we are assuming from the acquired business. The estimated fair value of the support obligations is determined utilizing a cost build-up approach, which determines fair value by estimating the costs related to fulfilling the obligations plus a reasonable profit margin. The estimated costs to fulfill the support obligations are based on the historical direct costs related to providing the support services. The sum of these costs and operating profit represents an approximation of the amount that we would be required to pay a third party to assume the support obligations.

Goodwill and Other Acquired Intangible Assets

Goodwill is the excess of the aggregate purchase price paid over the fair value of the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired. Goodwill is not amortized and is tested for impairment at least annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. We have determined that we operate as one reporting unit and have selected November 1 as the date to perform our annual impairment test. In the valuation of our goodwill, we must make assumptions regarding estimated future cash flows to be derived from our business. If these estimates or their related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record impairment for these assets.

In testing for goodwill impairment, we may elect to utilize a qualitative assessment to evaluate whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of our reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If we elect to bypass a qualitative assessment, or if our qualitative assessment indicates that goodwill impairment is more likely than not, we perform quantitative impairment testing. If our quantitative testing determines that the carrying value of our reporting unit exceeds its fair value, goodwill impairment is recognized in an amount equal to that excess, limited to the total goodwill allocated to the reporting unit. There was no impairment of goodwill recorded for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019.

For all of our goodwill impairment reviews, the assumptions and estimates used in the process are complex and often subjective. They can be affected by a variety of factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy or our internal forecasts. Although we believe the assumptions, judgments, and estimates we have used in our assessments are reasonable and appropriate, a material change in any of our assumptions or external factors could lead to future goodwill or other intangible asset impairment charges.

Acquired identifiable intangible assets include identifiable acquired technologies, customer relationships, trade names, distribution networks, and non-competition agreements. We amortize the cost of finite-lived identifiable

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intangible assets over their estimated useful lives, which are periods of ten years or less. Amortization is based on the pattern in which the economic benefits of the intangible asset are expected to be realized, which typically is on a straight-line basis. The fair values assigned to identifiable intangible assets acquired in business combinations are determined primarily by using the income approach, which discounts expected future cash flows attributable to these assets to present value using estimates and assumptions determined by management. The acquired identifiable finite-lived intangible assets are being amortized primarily on a straight-line basis, which we believe approximates the pattern in which the assets are utilized, over their estimated useful lives.

Income Taxes

The tax provision is presented on a separate company basis as if we were a separate filer. A portion of our operations have historically been included in the tax returns filed by certain Verint entities for which our business is a part of. The effects of tax adjustments and settlements from taxing authorities are presented in our combined financial statements in the period to which they relate as if we were a separate filer. Our current obligations for taxes are settled with our parent on an estimated basis and adjusted in later periods as appropriate. All income taxes due to or due from our parent that have not been settled or recovered by the end of the period are reflected in net parent investment within the combined financial statements. The tax provision has been calculated as if the business was operating on a stand-alone basis and filed separate tax returns in the jurisdictions in which it operates. Therefore, cash tax payments and items of current and deferred taxes may not be reflective of the actual tax balances had the business been a stand-alone company during the periods presented.

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method which includes the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in our combined financial statements. Under this approach, deferred taxes are recorded for the future tax consequences expected to occur when the reported amounts of assets and liabilities are recovered or paid. The provision for income taxes represents income taxes paid or payable for the current year plus deferred taxes. Deferred taxes result from differences between the financial statement and tax bases of our assets and liabilities, and are adjusted for changes in tax rates and tax laws when changes are enacted. The effects of future changes in income tax laws or rates are not anticipated.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States, Israel and numerous foreign jurisdictions. The calculation of our income tax provision involves the application of complex tax laws and requires significant judgment and estimates. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets for each jurisdiction in which we operate at each reporting date, and establish valuation allowances when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of our deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income of the same character and in the same jurisdiction. We consider all available positive and negative evidence in making this assessment, including, but not limited to, the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, and tax planning strategies. In circumstances where there is sufficient negative evidence indicating that our deferred tax assets are not more-likely-than-not realizable, we establish a valuation allowance.

We use a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return by assessing whether they are more-likely-than-not sustainable, based solely on their technical merits, upon examination and including resolution of any related appeals or litigation process. The second step is to measure the associated tax benefit of each position as the largest amount that we believe is more-likely-than-not realizable. Differences between the amount of tax benefits taken or expected to be taken in our income tax returns and the amount of tax benefits recognized in our financial statements represent our unrecognized income tax benefits, which we either record as a liability or as a reduction of deferred tax assets. Our policy is to include interest (expense and/or income) and penalties related to unrecognized income tax benefits as a component of the provision for income taxes.

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Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation

Certain employees participate in stock-based compensation plans sponsored by Verint. Awards granted under the plans are based on Verint’s common shares and, as such, are included in net parent investment. We recognize the cost of employee services received in exchange for awards of equity instruments based on the grant-date fair value of the award. We recognize the fair value of the award as compensation expense over the period during which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the award.

During the two-year period ended January 31, 2020, restricted stock units, including performance-based restricted stock units, were the predominant stock-based payment award. The fair value of these awards is equivalent to the market value of Verint’s common stock on the grant date.

Changes in assumptions can materially affect the estimate of fair value of stock-based compensation and, consequently, the related expense recognized. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of stock-based payment awards represent best estimates, which involve inherent uncertainties and the application of judgment. As a result, if factors change and different assumptions are used, stock-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future.

Loss Contingencies

We are subject to the possibility of various loss contingencies arising in the ordinary course of business. We consider the likelihood of loss or impairment of an asset, or the incurrence of a liability, as well as our ability to reasonably estimate the amount of loss, in determining loss contingencies. An estimated loss contingency is accrued when it is probable that an asset has been impaired, or a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. If we determine that a loss is possible, and the range of the loss can be reasonably determined, then we disclose the range of the possible loss. We regularly evaluate current information available to us to determine whether an accrual is required, an accrual should be adjusted, or a range of possible loss should be disclosed.

Concentration of Credit Risk and Significant Customers

We grant credit terms to our customers in the ordinary course of business. Concentrations of credit risk with respect to trade accounts receivable and contract assets are generally limited due to the large number of customers comprising our customer base and their dispersion across different industries and geographic areas. We have both direct and indirect contracts with two governments outside the United States, that combined accounted for $51.7 million and $84.3 million of our aggregated accounts receivable and contract assets, at January 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We believe our contracts with these governments present insignificant credit risk.

For the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019, we had two significant customers that together represented 29%, and 27%, respectively, of our total revenue. Our agreements with each customer were made in the ordinary course of our business and may be terminated with or without cause by the customers with advance notice. We believe such termination would not have a long-term material adverse effect on our financial results and that we may identify alternative existing customers, resellers and distributors who would be able to deliver few of our products to our end-customers, if necessary. In making this determination of significant customers, we define a customer as an organization from which we have recognized revenue in a reporting period. Revenues from large government organizations, where a single institution has multiple divisions, units, or subsidiaries, each such division, unit, or subsidiary that enters into a separate contract with us and is invoiced as a separate entity is treated as a separate customer.

Functional Currency and Financial Statements in U.S. Dollars

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, which is also the functional currency for most of our combined operations. A majority of our revenue occurs outside of Israel in non-Israeli currencies, mainly U.S. dollars,

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euros, and Singapore dollars. A majority of our purchases of materials and components are denominated in U.S. dollars. A significant portion of our expenses, mainly labor costs, are in New Israeli Shekels. Some of our subsidiaries have functional currencies in, Brazilian reals, Singapore dollars and other currencies. Transactions and balances originally denominated in U.S. dollars are presented in their original amounts. Transactions and balances in currencies other than U.S. dollars are remeasured in U.S. dollars according to the principles set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 830, “Foreign Currency Matters.” Exchange gains and losses arising from remeasurement are reflected in other income (expense), net, in the combined statements of operations.

Components of Results of Operations

Impact of Inflation and Currency Fluctuations on Results of Operations, Liabilities and Assets

Our financial results, which are reported in U.S. dollar, are affected by changes in foreign currency. Most of our revenue and expenses, primarily labor expenses, are denominated in U.S. dollars, euros, New Israeli Shekels, and Singapore dollars. Additionally, certain assets, especially cash, trade receivables and other accounts receivables, as well as part of our liabilities are denominated in U.S. dollars, New Israeli Shekels, euros, and Singapore dollars. As a result, fluctuations in rates of exchange between the U.S. dollar and non-U.S. dollar currencies may affect our operating results and financial condition. The U.S. dollar cost of our operations in Israel may be adversely affected by the appreciation of the New Israeli Shekel against the U.S. dollar. In addition, the value of our non-U.S. dollar revenue could be adversely affected by the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against such currencies.

Conditions in Israel

We are incorporated under the laws of, and our principal executive offices and manufacturing and research and development facilities are located in, the State of Israel. See “Item 3. Key Information—3.D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Operations” for a description of governmental, economic, fiscal, monetary and political policies or factors that have materially affected or could materially affect our operations.

Results of Operations

Overview of Operating Results

The following table sets forth a summary of certain key financial information for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Our revenue increased approximately $23.6 million, or 5%, from $433.5 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $457.1 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. The increase consisted of a $13.7 million increase in software service revenue, and a $10.4 million increase in software revenue, partially offset by a $0.5 million decrease in professional service and other revenue. For additional details on our revenue, see “—Software Revenue, Software Service Revenue, and Professional Service and Other Revenue.” Revenue from end users located in the Americas, EMEA and APAC represented approximately 21%, 45% and 34% of our total revenue, respectively, in the year ended January 31, 2020, compared to approximately 25%, 37% and 38% respectively, in the year ended January 31, 2019.

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Operating income was $27.3 million in the year ended January 31, 2020 compared to $18.7 million in the year ended January 31, 2019. This increase in operating income was primarily due to a $36.4 million increase in gross profit, offset by a $27.8 million increase in operating expenses, which primarily consisted of a $16.6 million increase in selling, general and administrative expenses and an $11.3 million increase in net research and development expenses, offset by a $0.1 million decrease in amortization of acquired technology intangible assets.

Net income attributable to the Cognyte Business was $20.2 million, in the year ended January 31, 2020, compared to net income attributable to the Cognyte Business of $8.7 million, in the year ended January 31, 2019. The increase in net income attributable to the Cognyte Business in the year ended January 31, 2020 was primarily due to an $8.6 million increase in operating income, as described above, a $5.1 million decrease in our provision for income taxes, and a $1.3 million increase in total other income, net, partially offset by a $3.6 million increase in net income attributable to our noncontrolling interests.

A portion of our business is conducted in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, and therefore our revenue and operating expenses are affected by fluctuations in applicable foreign currency exchange rates. When comparing average exchange rates for the year ended January 31, 2020 to average exchange rates for the year ended January 31, 2019, the U.S. dollar strengthened relative to the euro, Brazilian real, and Singapore dollar resulting in an overall decrease in our revenue, cost of revenue, and operating expenses on a U.S. dollar-denominated basis. For the year ended January 31, 2020, had foreign exchange rates remained unchanged from rates in effect for the year ended January 31, 2019, our revenue would have been approximately $4.4 million higher and our cost of revenue and operating expenses on a combined basis would have been approximately $2.1 million higher, which would have resulted in a $2.3 million increase in operating income.

As of January 31, 2020, we employed approximately 2,100 professionals, including part-time employees and certain contractors, compared to approximately 2,000 at January 31, 2019.

Revenue

Volume and Price

We sell products in multiple configurations, and the price of any particular product varies depending on the configuration of the product sold. Due to the variety of customized configurations for each product we sell, we are unable to quantify the amount of any revenue changes attributable to a change in the price of any particular product and/or a change in the number of products sold.

Software Revenue, Software Service Revenue, and Professional Service and Other Revenue

We derive and report our revenue in three categories: (a) software revenue, including the sale of subscription (i.e., term-based) or perpetual licenses, and appliances that include software that is essential to the product’s functionality, (b) software service revenue, including support revenue and revenue from cloud-based SaaS subscriptions, and (c) professional service and other revenue, including revenue from installation and integration services, customer specific development work, the resale of third-party hardware, and consulting and training services.

The following table sets forth revenue for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

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Software Revenue

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Software revenue increased approximately $10.4 million, or 5%, from $191.1 million for the year ended January 31, 2019 to $201.5 million for the year ended January 31, 2020 resulting from an increase in demand for our products, including subscription licenses.

Software Service Revenue

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Software service revenue increased approximately $13.8 million, or 9%, from $158.1 million for the year ended January 31, 2019 to $171.9 million for the year ended January 31, 2020 resulting primarily from an increase in support revenue due to an increase in our customer installed base.

Professional Service and Other Revenue

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Professional service and other revenue decreased approximately $0.5 million, or 1%, from $84.3 million for the year ended January 31, 2019 to $83.8 million for the year ended January 31, 2020 resulting from a decrease in third-party hardware reselling activity as we continue our software model transition, partially offset by an increase in professional services revenue.

Cost of Revenue

The following table sets forth cost of revenue by software, software service and professional service and other, as well as amortization of acquired technology for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

Cost of Software Revenue

Cost of software revenue primarily consists of costs related to the essential appliance and royalties due to third parties for software components that are embedded in our solutions. Cost of software revenue also includes amortization of capitalized software development costs and personnel related expenses for resources dedicated to product delivery. In addition, our cost of software revenue includes stock-based compensation expenses and overhead allocations, such as facility costs, IT cost, and other overhead expenses. In accordance with GAAP and our accounting policy, the cost of software revenue related to materials and royalties is generally expensed upon shipment and cost of software revenue related to personnel and related expenses is generally expensed as incurred in the period in which the personnel related services are performed.

Some of our software products require essential appliances, which tend to have lower gross margins than our pure software offerings, and therefore the mix of products we sell in a particular period can have a significant impact on our gross margins in that period.

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Cost of software revenue increased approximately $2.0 million, or 6%, from $34.1 million for the year ended January 31, 2019 to $36.1 million for

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the year ended January 31, 2020, primarily due to a corresponding increase in our software revenue. Software revenue gross margins remained unchanged at 82% in the years ended January 31, 2019 and January 31, 2020.

Cost of Software Service Revenue

Cost of software service revenue primarily consists of personnel costs and related expenses and travel expenses relating to provision of support and maintenance services. Cost of software service revenue also includes costs and royalties paid to third-party SaaS providers. In addition, our cost of software service revenue includes stock-based compensation expenses and overhead allocations, such as facility costs, IT cost, and other overhead expenses. In accordance with GAAP and our accounting policy, the cost of software service revenue is generally expensed as incurred in the period in which the services are performed.

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Cost of software service revenue decreased approximately $6.2 million, or 12%, from $51.2 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $45.0 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in personnel costs and related expenses. Our software service gross margins increased from 68% in the year ended January 31, 2019 to 74% in the year ended January 31, 2020 primarily due to an increase in support revenue and a more effective cost structure.

Cost of Professional Service and Other Revenue

Cost of professional service and other revenue consists of personnel costs and related expenses, travel expenses associated with provision of installation, training, consulting and development services resources dedicated to project management and hardware material costs of third-party resale hardware revenue. Cost of professional service and other revenue also includes stock-based compensation expenses and allocation of overhead costs, such as facility, IT, operations costs, and other overhead expenses. In accordance with GAAP and our accounting policy, the cost of professional service revenue is generally expensed as incurred in the period in which the services are performed. Costs related to third-party hardware are expensed at the point in time that control is transferred to the customer.

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Cost of professional service and other revenue decreased approximately $3.5 million, or 4%, from $84.0 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $80.5 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in third-party hardware reselling, partially offset by a slight increase in professional service implementation expenses. Our professional service and other gross margins increased from 0% in the year ended January 31, 2019 to 4% in the year ended January 31, 2020, primarily due to a decrease in hardware and personnel costs.

Amortization of Acquired Technology

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Amortization of acquired technology decreased approximately $5.0 million, or 68%, from $7.4 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $2.4 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. The decrease was attributable to acquired technology intangible assets from historical business combinations becoming fully amortized during the year ended January 31, 2020, partially offset by amortization expense of acquired technology-based intangible assets associated with recent business combinations.

Further discussion regarding our business combinations appears in Note 6, “Business Combinations” to our combined financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 20-F.

Research and Development, Net

Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs and related expenses, facility costs, and other allocated overhead, net of certain software development costs that are capitalized, as well as

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reimbursements under government programs. Software development costs are capitalized upon the establishment of technological feasibility and continue to be capitalized through the general release of the related software product.

The following table sets forth research and development, net for the year ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Research and development, net increased approximately $11.3 million, or 11%, from $100.0 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $111.3 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to a $6.5 million increase in personnel costs and related expenses and a $6.0 million increase in R&D subcontractor costs, which were to support our investments to further productize our portfolio, a $1.4 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses under Verint’s stock plans, as a result of a change in R&D employee bonus payment structure, and a $0.8 million increase in software subscription costs related to internal-use software, partially offset by a $4.4 million increase in capitalized software development costs in the year ended January 31, 2020 compared to the year ended January 31, 2019.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs and related expenses, professional fees, changes in the fair values of our obligations under contingent consideration arrangements, sales and marketing expenses, including travel costs, sales commissions and sales referral fees, facility costs, communication expenses, and other administrative expenses.

The following table sets forth selling, general and administrative expenses for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased approximately $16.6 million, or 12%, from $137.3 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $153.9 million in the year ended January 31, 2020. This increase was primarily attributable to a $7.4 million increase in employee compensation expenses due to increased headcount and sales commissions, a $3.4 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses under Verint’s stock plans, primarily due to an increase in year-over-year Verint stock price, a $2.3 million increase in the use of contractors for corporate support activities, a $1.2 million increase in depreciation expenses on fixed assets used for general administration purposes, a $1.2 million increase in agent commission expenses and an increase in various other costs to a lower extent. These increases were partially offset by a $1.2 million decrease due to the change in the fair value of our obligations under contingent consideration arrangements from a net benefit of $4.2 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to a net benefit of $5.4 million during the year ended January 31, 2020, as a result of revised outlooks for achieving the performance targets under several unrelated contingent consideration arrangements.

The impact of contingent consideration arrangements on our operating results can vary over time as we revise our outlook for achieving the performance targets underlying the arrangements. This impact on our operating results may be more significant in some periods than in others, depending on a number of factors, including the

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magnitude of the change in the outlook for each arrangement separately as well as the number of contingent consideration arrangements in place, the liabilities requiring adjustment in that period, and the net effect of those adjustments.

Amortization of Other Acquired Intangible Assets

Amortization of other acquired intangible assets consists of amortization of certain intangible assets acquired in connection with business combinations, including customer relationships, distribution networks, trade names and non-compete agreements.

The following table sets forth amortization of other acquired intangible assets for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019:

Year Ended January 31, 2020 compared to Year Ended January 31, 2019. Amortization of other acquired intangible assets decreased approximately $0.1 million, or 9%, from $0.7 million in the year ended January 31, 2019 to $0.6 million in the year ended January 31, 2020 as a result of acquired customer-related intangible assets from historical business combinations becoming fully amortized during the year ended January 31, 2020, partially offset by an increase in amortization expense from acquired intangible assets from recent business combinations.

Further discussion regarding our business combinations appears in Note 6, “Business Combinations” to our combined financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 20-F.

Other Income, Net

The following table sets forth total other income, net for the years ended January 31, 2020 and 2019: