UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K ☒ ANNUAL REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 OR ☐ TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from _________ to __________ Commission File Number 333-207889 GROWGENERATION CORP. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Colorado 46-5008129 (State or Other Jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer Incorporation or Organization) Identification No.) 930 W 7th Ave, Suite A Denver, Colorado 80204 (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code) (800) 935-8420 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading symbol Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share GRWG The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Title of class Not Applicable Not Applicable (Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report) Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the past 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 Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐ Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☒ Emerging Growth Company ☒ If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒ State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of June 30, 2020: $236,600,250. As of March 26, the Company had 58,459,742 shares of its common stock issued and outstanding, par value $0.001 per share. Document Incorporated by Reference Portions of a definitive proxy relating to the registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the close of the fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K, are incorporated into Part III of this Form 10-K. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I Item 1. Business 1 Item 1A. Risk Factors 9 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 13 Item 2. Properties 13 Item 3. Legal Proceedings 13 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 13 PART II Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 14 Item 6. Selected Financial Data 15 Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 16 Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 28 Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data F-1 Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 29 Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 29 Item 9B. Other Information 30 PART III Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 31 Item 11. Executive Compensation 33 Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 33 Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 33 Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 33 PART IV Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 34 Signatures 38 i PART I Forward-Looking Information This Annual Report of GrowGeneration Corp. on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements, particularly those identified with the words, “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “objectives,” and similar expressions. These statements reflect management’s best judgment based on factors known at the time of such statements. The reader may find discussions containing such forward-looking statements in the material set forth under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Plan of Operations,” generally, and specifically therein under the captions “Liquidity and Capital Resources” as well as elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed herein. The forward-looking statements specified in the following information have been compiled by our management on the basis of assumptions made by management and considered by management to be reasonable. Our future operating results, however, are impossible to predict and no representation, guaranty, or warranty is to be inferred from those forward-looking statements. The assumptions used for purposes of the forward-looking statements specified in the following information represent estimates of future events and are subject to uncertainty as to possible changes in economic, legislative, industry, and other circumstances. As a result, the identification and interpretation of data and other information and their use in developing and selecting assumptions from and among reasonable alternatives require the exercise of judgment. To the extent that the assumed events do not occur, the outcome may vary substantially from anticipated or projected results, and, accordingly, no opinion is expressed on the achievability of those forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that any of the assumptions relating to the forward-looking statements specified in the following information are accurate, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “we”, “our”, “ours” “us” and “GrowGeneration”, refer to GrowGeneration Corp. and its subsidiaries, including GrowGeneration Pueblo Corp, GrowGeneration California Corp., Grow Generation Nevada Corp., GrowGeneration Washington Corp., GrowGeneration Rhode Island Corp., GrowGeneration Michigan Corp, GrowGeneration Oklahoma Corp, GrowGeneration New England Corp, GrowGeneration Canada Corp, GrowGeneration HG Corp, GrowGeneration Hemp Corp, GGen Distribution Corp., GrowGeneration Management Corp., GrowGeneration Florida Corp., and Charcoir, Inc. on a combined basis. ITEM 1. BUSINESS Background GrowGeneration Corp. (together with all of its wholly owned subsidiaries, collectively “GrowGeneration” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Colorado in 2014 and is the largest chain of hydroponic garden centers in North America and is a leading marketer and distributor of nutrients, growing media, advanced indoor and greenhouse lighting, environmental control systems and accessories for hydroponic gardening. Currently, the Company owns and operates a chain of fifty two (52) retail hydroponic/gardening stores across 12 states, with eighteen (18) in the state of California, six (6) in the state of Michigan, eight (8) located in the state of Colorado, five (5) in the State of Oklahoma, five (5) in Maine, two (2) in the state of Nevada, two (2) in the state of Washington, two (2) in the state of Oregon, one (1) in the state of Rhode Island, one (1) in the state of Florida, one (1) in the state of Arizona, one (1) in the state of Massachusetts, one (1) in the state of Arizona, an online e-commerce store, GrowGeneration.com and a commercial e- commerce platform, Agron.io. We recently announced the signing of two leases in Los Angeles and Rancho Dominguez, CA, which are our 53rd and 54th locations. Proprietary brands owned by the Company include Canopy Crop Management Corp, CharCoir Inc, and the Company introduced several private-label brands across multiple product categories from LED lighting to nutrients and additives and other products for indoor cultivation. Our plan is to continue to acquire, open and operate hydroponic/gardening stores and related businesses throughout North America. 1 Markets GrowGeneration sell thousands of products, including nutrients, growing media, advanced indoor and greenhouse lighting, environmental control systems, vertical benching and accessories for hydroponic gardening, as well as other indoor and outdoor growing products, that are designed and intended for growing a wide range of plants. Hydroponics is a specialized method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent, as opposed to soil. This method is typically used for indoor cultivation to give growers the ability to better regulate and control nutrient delivery, light, air, water, humidity, pests, and temperature. Hydroponic growers benefit from these techniques by producing crops faster and with higher crop yields per acre as compared to traditional soil- based growers.