Cytek Biosciences, Inc. (CTKB)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025 and the related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, both of which are contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 26, 2026. Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Cytek Biosciences, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this discussion contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the Securities Act) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects and plans and objectives of management. The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements that we make. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risks set forth in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date on which they are made, and we do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Overview

We are a leading cell analysis solutions company advancing the next generation of research and clinical tools with our novel technical approach of leveraging the full spectrum of fluorescence signatures from multiple lasers to distinguish fluorescent tags on single cells (“Full Spectrum Profiling” or “FSP” technology). Our goal is to become the premier cell analysis company through continued innovation that facilitates scientific advances in biomedical research and clinical applications. Our platform includes instruments, accessories, reagents, software and services to provide a comprehensive and integrated suite of cell analysis solutions for our customers.

We manufacture our instruments in our facilities in Fremont, California; Wuxi, China; and Singapore. We have designed our operating model to be capital efficient and to scale efficiently as our product volumes grow.

Total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 was $48.1 million and $92.3 million, respectively, representing a 6% increase in revenue for both the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 of $45.6 million and $87.1 million, respectively.

To date, we have adopted a direct sales model in North America, Europe, China, and several other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and sell our products through third-party distributors in certain countries in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Revenue from direct sales represented 69% and 69% of total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and 73% and 73% of total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively. Revenue from distributors represented 31% and 31% of total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and 27% and 27% of total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively.

We focus a substantial portion of our resources on developing new products and solutions to meet our customers’ needs. Our research and development efforts focus on developing new and complementary instruments, reagents and reagent kits, and continued operating software development. We incurred research and development expenses of $9.7 million and $19.3 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and $8.8 million and $18.6 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively. We intend to continue to make significant investments in research and development in the future.

We expect to continue to invest in our commercial infrastructure through hiring additional employees with strong scientific and technical backgrounds to support growth in our instrument sales as well as our planned expansion of reagents offerings and panel design capabilities. We also plan to continue to invest in sales, marketing and business development across the globe to drive commercialization of our products. We incurred sales and marketing expenses of $13.2 million

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and $24.8 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and $12.1 million and $24.6 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively.

Since our inception in 2014, we have financed our operations primarily through sales of our securities and revenue from the sale of our products and services.

Our net loss was $12.2 million and $31.0 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and $5.6 million and $17.0 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively. The change for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, resulted primarily from an increase in revenues and gross profit as well as an increase in operating expenses.

We expect our expenses will increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, as we:

•attract, hire and retain qualified personnel;

•invest in processes, commercial infrastructure and supporting functions to scale our business and introduce new products and services;

•support our research and development efforts;

•continue to expand geographically;

•protect and defend our intellectual property; and

•make strategic investments in complementary businesses, services, products or technologies.

Key factors affecting our results of operations and future performance

We believe that our financial performance has been, and in the foreseeable future will continue to be, primarily driven by multiple factors as described below, each of which presents growth opportunities for our business. These factors also pose important challenges that we must successfully address to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address these challenges is subject to various risk and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Global customer adoption

Our financial performance has largely been driven by our ability to increase the adoption of our FSP platform, a key factor on which our future success depends. We plan to drive global customer adoption through business development efforts, direct sales and marketing and third-party distributions. We are investing in our direct sales organization and commercial support functions and developing third-party distributor relationships to support global expansion and drive revenue growth. We intend to continue increasing our workforce to support our growth.

Recurring revenues

We believe our expanding installed base of instruments to new and existing customers will provide us with greater leverage to drive pull-through for reagent and service revenue, which are recurring by nature. Furthermore, as we develop and identify new applications and products, we expect to further increase pull-through across our installed base. We expect recurring revenue on an absolute basis to increase and become an increasingly important contributor to our revenue as our installed base expands.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is primarily derived from sales of our instruments and services with our instruments recognizing higher revenue and gross profit than our services. Although we expect sales of our instruments to continue to represent the largest percentage of our revenue in the future, we expect service revenue to increase as a percentage of our total revenue and our gross margins to experience a corresponding improvement as we grow our installed base and increase our focus on leveraging our fixed manufacturing and service overhead costs. Our sales in certain regions, particularly outside of the United States, are largely realized through third-party distribution partners that typically receive discounted prices, thus resulting in lower gross margins than those recognized by our direct sales organization. Furthermore, our instrument selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate in the future due to the impact of competing products entering the market and fluctuating foreign exchange rates and as we continue to introduce new products and reduce our production costs.

In the near term, we expect the continued leveraging of fixed manufacturing and service overhead costs, optimization of our manufacturing processes, and material cost fluctuations to have the greatest impact on our gross margin.

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Expansion into new markets

We focus our research and development efforts on the greatest value-additive products to meet the growing and unmet needs of the research and clinical markets. We work closely with researchers, clinicians and scientists to optimize and implement new panels and applications to meet their specific needs. We also gain valuable insight on potential new products, new applications and enhancements to existing products, as well as biomarker combinations that would be beneficial in different fields, through collaborations with our customers, academic laboratories, KOLs and industry partners. We plan to continue to invest in new product development and enhancements to support our expansion into new markets.

Our Northern Lights-CLC system received CE Marking under the European Union In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive in September 2020 and was registered in the European Union in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2017/746 on In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices in November 2023. The Northern Lights-CLC system was also registered as a Class II In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device in China. These registrations enable the Northern Lights-CLC system to be marketed for clinical use in China, the European Union and in other countries around the world that accept the Certification of Free Sale issued from an EU Competent Authority.

Key business metrics

We regularly review the following key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe that the following metrics are representative of our current business; however, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” at the beginning of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our actual results could differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Cytek Biosciences, Inc.

The following is a discussion and year-to-year comparisons of our financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024. For a discussion of the results of operations and financial condition for the years ended December 31, 2024 and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023, please refer to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 28, 2025.

Overview

We are a leading cell analysis solutions company advancing the next generation of research and clinical tools with our novel technical approach of leveraging the full spectrum of fluorescence signatures from multiple lasers to distinguish fluorescent tags on single cells (“Full Spectrum Profiling” or “FSP” technology). Our goal is to become the premier cell analysis company through continued innovation that facilitates scientific advances in biomedical research and clinical applications. Our FSP platform includes instruments, accessories, reagents, software and services to provide a comprehensive and integrated suite of solutions for our customers.

Our FSP cell analyzers, the Cytek Aurora, Northern Lights and Cytek Aurora Evo systems, deliver high-resolution, high-content and high-sensitivity cell analysis and addresses the inherent limitations of other technologies by providing a higher level of multiplexing with exquisite sensitivity, more flexibility and increased efficiency, all at a lower cost for performance. Additionally, our Cytek Aurora cell sorter (“Aurora CS system”) leverages our FSP technology to further broaden our potential applications across cell analysis. Each system is supported by our highly intuitive, proprietary embedded SpectroFlo software, our reagents, and our service offerings to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end platform of solutions for our customers. Since our first U.S. commercial launch in mid-2017, we have sold and deployed our instruments to customers around the world, including pharmaceutical companies, biopharma companies, academic research centers, and contract research organizations (“CROs”).

In addition to our FSP product portfolio, pursuant to an acquisition in February 2023, we offer conventional flow and image-based flow cytometry instrumentation and related products and services under the Amnis® and Guava® brands, which provide insights into all facets of cellular phenotypes and morphology. Amnis instruments and applications are important tools in the investigation of cell morphology, intracellular translocation and cell-cell interaction in a variety of research areas, including immunology, neurobiology, stem cell research and cell biology. Guava flow cytometers expand our core instrument offerings, adding cost-effective, entry-level and personal instrument options with microcapillary-based fluidics for cell analysis. The Guava microcapillary-based flow cytometers are mainly adopted by entry to mid-range flow cytometry users who are looking for easy-to-use and cost-effective solutions for applications, such as cell counting, cell biology and lower-plex immunophenotyping.

We manufacture our instruments in our facilities in Fremont, California; Wuxi, China; and Singapore. We have designed our operating model to be capital efficient and to scale efficiently as our product volumes grow.

Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $201.5 million, representing a 1% increase compared to revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 of $200.5 million.

To date, we have adopted a direct sales model in North America, Europe, China, and several other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and sell our products through third-party distributors in certain countries in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Revenue from direct sales represented 73%, 75% and 76% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, and revenue from distributors represented 27%, 25% and 24% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

We focus a substantial portion of our resources on developing new products and solutions to meet our customers’ needs. Our research and development efforts focus on developing new and complementary instruments, reagents and reagent kits, and continued operating software development. We incurred research and development expenses of $36.5 million, $39.4 million and $44.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We intend to continue to make significant investments in research and development in the future.

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We expect to continue to invest in our commercial infrastructure through hiring additional employees with strong scientific and technical backgrounds to support growth in our instrument sales as well as our planned expansion of reagents offerings and panel design capabilities. We also plan to continue to invest in sales, marketing and business development across the globe to drive commercialization of our products. We incurred sales and marketing expenses of $49.4 million, $49.1 million and $49.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Since our inception in 2014, we have financed our operations primarily through sales of our securities and revenue from the sale of our products and services.

Our net loss was $66.5 million, $6.0 million and $12.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The change for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to the year ended December 31, 2024, was primarily driven by the recording of a $33.1 million valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in 2025. In addition, lower gross profit, increased operating expenses, and an operating and interest expense reduction related to a change in estimate of a license and royalty settlement liability in 2024, contributed to the overall year-over-year change.

We expect our expenses will increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, as we:

•attract, hire and retain qualified personnel;

•invest in processes, commercial infrastructure and supporting functions to scale our business and introduce new products and services;

•support our research and development efforts;

•continue to expand geographically;

•protect and defend our intellectual property; and

•make strategic investments in complementary businesses, services, products or technologies.

Key factors affecting our results of operations and future performance

We believe that our financial performance has been, and in the foreseeable future will continue to be, primarily driven by multiple factors as described below, each of which presents growth opportunities for our business. These factors also pose important challenges that we must successfully address to sustain our growth and improve our results of operations. Our ability to successfully address these challenges is subject to various risk and uncertainties, including those described under the heading “Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Global customer adoption

Our financial performance has largely been driven by our ability to increase the adoption of our FSP platform, a key factor on which our future success depends. We plan to drive global customer adoption through business development efforts, direct sales and marketing and third-party distributions. We are investing in our direct sales organization and commercial support functions and developing third-party distributor relationships to support global expansion and drive revenue growth.

Recurring revenues

We believe our expanding installed base of instruments to new and existing customers will provide us with greater leverage to drive pull-through for reagent and service revenue, which are recurring by nature. Furthermore, as we develop and identify new applications and products, we expect to further increase pull-through across our installed base. We expect recurring revenue on an absolute basis to increase and become an increasingly important contributor to our revenue as our installed base expands.

Revenue mix and gross margin

Our revenue is primarily derived from sales of our instruments and services. Although we expect sales of our instruments to continue to represent the largest percentage of our revenue in the future, we expect service revenue to increase as a percentage of our total revenue and our gross margins to experience a corresponding improvement as we grow our installed base and increase our focus on leveraging our fixed manufacturing and service overhead costs. Our sales in certain regions, particularly outside of the United States, are largely realized through third-party distribution partners that typically receive discounted prices, thus resulting in lower gross margins than those recognized by our direct sales organization. Furthermore, our instrument selling prices and gross margins may fluctuate in the future due to the impact of competing products entering the market and fluctuating foreign exchange rates and as we continue to introduce new products and reduce our production costs.

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In the near term, we expect the continued leveraging of fixed manufacturing and service overhead costs, optimization of our manufacturing processes, and material cost fluctuations to have the greatest impact on our gross margin.

Expansion into new markets

We focus our research and development efforts on the greatest value-additive products to meet the growing and unmet needs of the research and clinical markets. We work closely with researchers, clinicians and scientists to optimize and implement new panels and applications to meet their specific needs. We also gain valuable insight on potential new products, new applications and enhancements to existing products, as well as biomarker combinations that would be beneficial in different fields, through collaborations with our customers, academic laboratories, KOLs and industry partners. We plan to continue to invest in new product development and enhancements to support our expansion into new markets.

Our Northern Lights-CLC system received CE Marking under the European Union In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive in September 2020 and was registered in the European Union in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2017/746 on In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices in November 2023. The Northern Lights-CLC system was also registered as a Class II In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device in China. These registrations enable the Northern Lights-CLC system to be marketed for clinical use in China, the European Union and in other countries around the world that accept the Certification of Free Sale issued from an EU Competent Authority.

Key business metrics

We regularly review the following key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial proj

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