We believe founders make the best early-stage investment decisions. At this stage, there is little data, and intuition from a lifetime of experience is the guide.

Experienced founders often see the best upcoming founders first, well before venture capitalists do, and are typically on the cutting edge of what is new.

Our funds follow-on when those founders make personal investments. Further, most often these foudners are making a personal time commitment to help these startups succeed. We believe matching the wisdom of a group of experienced and well-connected founders will lead to better returns.

For a longer answer, there's a four-part blog article explaining why we created funds, and how we see them as different.

If the Fund has greater than 250 investors, it is regulated as a full-fledged mutual fund, which would dramatically increase costs and make the fund impractical as an investment vehicle.

We place priority on investors who invest high amounts early, but make exceptions for those who can help the portfolio that the Fund invests in.

In order for the Fund to make an investment, partners must personally invest. It can be any single partner with conviction (we believe investing by committees leads to poorer decisions) or any combination of partners.

One fund manager must then approve the deal.

Wefunder Advisors then approves the Fund Investment after conducting compliance and anti-fraud checks.

When investing in earlier stage companies, partners will negotiate valuations based on their experience in the industry.

When investing in later-stage companies, they will often match the valuation and terms set by larger seed funds and venture capitalists.

Equity investments in startups have a very long term horizon. It typically takes 3-10 years for a successful company to have a liquidity event, when it either gets acquired or has an IPO.

Some Funds may invest in main street businesses with annual dividends or revenue share repayments. If this is the case, it will be noted in the investment target description.

For equity deals, we disperse funds to investors when any company has a liquidity event, once per year on May 30th.

If the fund invests in businesses that offer a dividend or share of revenue, those funds will be dispersed once per year on May 30th.

The Fund charges 20% carried interest and a 2% management fee. This is the standard fee for venture capital and private equity funds.

After you invest in the fund, there will be no further capital calls.

Yes, for 5 days.

No. This is not a mutual fund. All capital will be invested in private companies in long-term, illiquid investments.

Each fund is expected to make at least 10 investments. Most will make 20-50.

No. You can't opt out of any individual investment that the fund makes.

In many cases, yes. We expect most startups will want to raise more money than the fund provides. When this happens, we will give inside access to limited partners.

Fund investors sign:

• Subscription Agreement
• Operating Agreement
• Disclosure Statement

Most often between $10,000 and $25,000. We may invest up to $100,000.

When investments are made, you'll be notified of the selection via e-mail.

Companies on Wefunder that go on to do a Regulation Crowdfunding Campaign are required by law to release an annual report (typically on April 30th) that discloses important items like full GAAP financial statements and a cap table. Here's a actual annual report of one company.

Once a year by May 30th, we will update the estimated unrealized IRR of your portfolio.

Why are pro-rata rights important?

We have pro-rata rights in almost all portfolio companies. This means that when a seed investment receives additional investment from a venture capitalist, we have the right to invest more to maintain our percentage ownership on the same terms. Since startup investments obey the power law, it's very important to double down on the winners to turbo-charge returns.

When a pro-rata opportunity exists, we will spin up a special-purpose-fund and give limited partners in the fund the opportunity to invest. We give first priority to those limited partners who invest $50,000 or more.

Here's a concrete example: in 2014, we invested $100,000 in Checkr's seed round. In 2015, Checkr raised $9M from Accel in a Series A. We gave an opportunity to limited partners to invest on those terms. Recently, Checkr raised $100,000 million Series C at a substantially higher valuation. To date, Checkr has a 34X cash on cash unrealized return.

Funds marked as an Opportunity Fund qualify for special tax advantages - if held for the long-term, capital gains taxes can be as little as $0. Learn more.

We're not allowed to offer tax advice. You'll receive a single K-1 from each Fund each year. Your accountant can offer more specific advice.

Yes, if legal in your country. You should check with your lawyer and accountant.

Yes. We can accept investments in a Fund only from those who are an accredited investor. Unfortuantely, it is still illegal for unaccredited investors to invest in venture capital funds.

Yes.

Yes. You can check out our FAQ for more information on risks, returns, different securities, and how startup financing works.