FAQs for Investors

We worked hard to make it as simple as possible to commit to an invesment. Simply create an account, verify your accreditation status, select an investment that works for you, signing legal documents and funding the investment. When an investment is made, the money is held in escrow until the deal closes. Once the investment target is met, the money is transferred to the project company for the sole purpose of the specific property being invested in.

Yes, unless you are an accredited investor. Non-accredited investors can only invest a certain amount in Regulation Crowdfunding offerings in any 12-month period. The cap is set by law to protect investors. Wunderfund does not choose it.

No. The limit covers all Regulation Crowdfunding investments you make in a 12-month period, on any funding portal or broker-dealer platform. When you invest through Wunderfund, you must tell us how much you have invested in other Regulation Crowdfunding offerings in the past 12 months.

No. Since March 15, 2021, accredited investors (as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D) have no investment limit in Regulation Crowdfunding offerings.

No. The limits apply only to individuals (natural persons). Entities are not subject to them.

Every time you make an investment commitment, Wunderfund must have a reasonable basis to believe you are within your limit. We may rely on what you tell us about your income, net worth, and other Regulation Crowdfunding investments, unless we have reason to doubt that information. Wunderfund may reject any investment commitment that we believe would put you over your limit. It is your responsibility to give accurate information.

Yes. The SEC must review and adjust the dollar amounts for inflation at least once every five years. The SEC may also change the rules. Wunderfund will update this page when they change.

Not necessarily. Your limit is the most you are allowed to invest. It is not a recommendation. Regulation Crowdfunding investments are speculative and illiquid, and you could lose your entire investment. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Think about whether the investment fits your overall finances, and speak with a financial, tax, or legal professional if you're unsure.

If the company chooses to do so, they will accept oversubscriptions for the fundraising amount, usually setting a limit of how much they can accept. If they choose to do so, the campaign will close either when the date hits, or they hit their oversubscription limit. If it hits the limit, your investment will go through.

All the signatures are handled electronically. once a contract is signed by both parties, a PDF copy of the executed forms will be emailed to all parties for their record keeping. A copy of your contract will also be available on Wunderfund.co in your profile.

In order for an issuer's campaign can be listed publically on our platform, we conduct a full review of the the issuer's application. The appication includes a business plan, the financials, articles of organization, and other important documents. We then conduct a background & credit check on the issuer's founding team members & sponsors. Importantly, these measures don't take away the risks in the investment and Wunderfund.co cannot gaurantee results. You, as an investor, have the full authority and discretion to choose which opportunity is right for you and how much you want to invest.

Yes, you can issue equity even after you've done so on another crowdfunding site, however you are prevented by law from running multiple campaigns on different platforms at the same time. That would be in violation of guidelines set by the SEC.

The timeframe depends on the investment type. Equity based investments can range as long as 5-10 years. Revenue sharing models and debt-based investments can pay back in shorter time frames. You'll be able to see what the expected period of investment is before you commit to an investment.

Yes, you can join Wunderfund.co for free. You can also browse any of the investments on the site to see what's currently available to invest in. However, if you want access to an issuer's secured documents, growth plans, and other important information that will inform you before you invest, all required information are provided in their respective campaign pages and, for additional information about the company not required for disclosure, create an account and sign in.

Investors who back startups do so for different reasons. For us, we believe in founders who have great vision, purpose, and a great idea that has a possibility for a return. You should know that investing in a startup means you're willing to take that risk of losing it all if the startup fails.

Equity investments are high risk/high return investments. They are inherently risky and there's a risk you could lose every dollar you invest in a startup. You also have to wait over 5+ years for a return in some cases. Equity investments are definitely not like the stock market where you can buy and sell your shares. Startup companies will either fail or succeed. Success happens if or when they are acquired or go public with an IPO. So, you must believe in the companies and their success before putting any money into them.

Debt is less risky and also carry less of a potential return compared to equity investments. Importanlty, there's a still a risk that debt may not get paid back, so as with any investment on the Wunderfund platform, you should only invest what you can afford to lose.

It's best to expect you cannot resell your investment. Regulation Crowdfunding law restricts the resale of securities for at least one year, and after that, it can only be sold back to a restricted group of individuals (i.e. the issuer, an accredited investor, a family member, or trust). Plus, there is no open stock market exchange where you can buy or sell your equity. Lastly, all the equity based securities on Wunderfund.co are prohibited for resale based on the terms & conditions set by the issuer to protect the number of shareholders on their cap table.

Yes, that's what the industry calls dilution and can be quite normal. For instance, if a startup is successful and is growing fast, it may need additional rounds of financing to support the growth. Provided the company's value increases, during the subsequent round of financing, additional shares of stock is issued to new investors to help fuel their growth.

Startup investing is very risky and much different from stock market investing. The stock market allows you to buy and trade shares in an open exchange at anytime. Startup investing does not operate in the same way. When you invest in a startup, you will tie up your money for an extended period and the result is binary. The desired result is for the startup to get acquired or goes public, which would liquidate the investment and pay out to investors. But startups have a high risk of failure, and if they do, you could lose all the money you invested.

Diversifying your portfolio is certainly important so you don't have all your investment eggs in one basket. Some investors like to back startups on a product or service they would actually use. While other investors like to back startups that operate in an industry they have experience in. Regardless of how you diversify, always do your homework so you can make an informed decision.

If you want to cancel an investment, you have up to 48 hours of the end of the campaign deadline to get a full refund. After those last 48 hours, you can no longer cancel your investment.

It's possible, but will likely not happen often. The startups have cancellation rights in their legal terms and could cancel for any reason. A likely scenario is that they discover that a competitor is trying to invest in the company to gain information. That only seems fair for them to be able to cancel, right? Only when the fundraising round is closed, and the funds have been transferred from the escrow account, will you be sure that your investment cannot be canceled.

A fundraising round will close at their offering deadline. However, if a campaign is not taking over-subscription, the round will close when the funding target has been met. If the company decides to extend their fundraising deadline, you will be notified via email and you have 48 hours to reconfirm your investment.

If a campaign does not reach its funding goal, you will be notified via email and receieve a full refund of that specific investment.

We'll initiate a refund as fast as possible but it can take up to 7 days since we use a third party payment method.

Anyone can view the status of a campaign in progress from the browse page, which will show all active offerings. You can see how much has been raised to date, and how many days are left before the offering closes. If you want to review your previous investments, you can track that on your investor profile page. There you can see which campaigns you've commited to as well as the history of the ones you've already invested in the past.

The founders are required to issue an annual update at least once a year at a minimum, but we do encourage founders to provide quarterly updates via email or newsletter (though it's not a requirement).

Every company is different where some are more engaged with investors who tend to be it's most loyal customers too. These additional rights are typically spelled out in the investor agreement documents.

Some of the best help you can give is by becoming an advocate for the startup. Introduce them to potential partnerships, sales opportunities, and other relevant people in your network.

For all Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, the issuing company will provide an annual report with all their financial statements and a state of the business. This is required to be sent 3 months after the end of the fiscal year (which can be different from calendar year). There are situations where they are not obligated to provide an annual report. For instance, if the company is acquired, issues an IPO, your investment is repurchased. Other instances are if they have <300 shareholders after year 1, go bankrupt, or have less than $10M in assets after 3 years. On rare occassions, a startup may decide not to file an annual report, because they do not plan to do another Regulation crowdfunding campagn and find that venture capitalists are throwing money at them. In that rare case, you won't have the current financial information.

Most Regulation Crowdfunding investments do not pay regular returns, and there is no guarantee that you will ever receive a payment. If an issuer does make a payment to investors, such as a distribution or proceeds from a sale of the company, Wunderfund.co collects it through a third party servicing company and remits it to investors, net any processing fees. Any payment terms and schedule are specific to each offering and are described on the offering page for that campaign.

Startups are valued based on the market demand determined by the professional investors looking to invest in them. The valuation can flluctuate over time based on the age & stage of the company as it grows and matures. Generally, early stage companies are worth less than later stage companies that have raised several rounds of financing.