An accredited investor is a legal label for someone the SEC says can join certain private deals. You're generally accredited if one of these is true: you made $200k+ last year and the year before (or $300k joint with spouse) and expect the same this year; you have $1M+ net worth not counting your home; or you hold certain finance licenses (like Series 7, 65, or 82). Some entities can also qualify (e.g., a trust or LLC with enough assets or all owners accredited).

Venture Vault offers private deals that, by law, can only include accredited investors - people who meet certain rules (like making $200k a year, $300k with a partner, or having $1M in assets not counting your home) or who've passed certain exams. It's not our choice; it's how these deals are allowed to exist. If that's not you, you can still invest on Wefunder in offerings open to everyone. If you want to qualify, one path is taking the Series 65 exam.

For Vault (Reg D) deals, only accredited investors can invest right now — that's federal law. But Wefunder is actively lobbying for better rules, including a modern, skills-based accreditation test that anyone can take— much simpler than forcing people through the Series 65. Until regulations change, anyone can still invest on Wefunder via Reg CF (and some Reg A+) offerings, and we'll open Vault more broadly the moment the law allows.

You're buying membership units in a specific Series of a Series LLC. Your units give you an economic stake in that Series only: a share of profits/losses and any distributions from its assets, plus any voting/info rights in the Operating Agreement/Series Designation. Some Series are single-asset (one startup or fund position); others are venture multi-asset funds that hold a portfolio of startups.

For each startup, we shop the whole market to lock in the best price and terms available. By pooling the buying power of all Wefunder investors, we can often get a better deal than a solo $5K check could get on its own.

Sometimes we raise money in advance of having the final terms and share price. This lets us move faster and lock in the best price when a good deal becomes available. Your funds will be held in escrow and are refundable at any time. You'll also recieve a final confirmation of the terms and share price before the deal closes and can opt out.

Yes, but expect it to be hard. There's no public market for these deals, so most investors should plan to hold until an exit. From time to time, if we see strong buyer interest, Wefunder (as the fund manager) may set up a sale window and invite investors to decide whether to sell some or all of their units. Participation is completely up to you for a single-asset fund.

Equity investments in startups have a long-term horizon, it typically takesover a decade for a successful company to exit, when it either gets acquired or has an IPO.

Yes, you may recieve a full refund anytime while the deal is still open.

Wefunder's fully-owned subsidiaries, Wefunder Advisors & Capitalize Advisors LLC, manages the fund on your behalf. Both are exempt-reporting investment advisors registered with the SEC.

Yes, we partner with Self Directed IRA custodians to help you to invest in our deals.

Typically funds charge a carried interest fee ('carry') and a management fee. Most of our funds charge a 2% annual management fee and 20% carry. These are standard fees for venture capital and private equity funds.