Frequently Asked Questions

Investors

• Having trouble? Try these solutions:

  1. Why does the system show my investment limit as $0?
  Your investment limit is calculated automatically by the system using SEC Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) rules. These rules are designed to protect investors by capping how much can put into all equity crowdfunded investments combined over a 12-month period. A $0 limit almost always comes from one of these easy-to-fix issues:
  

  • Include previously invested amounts in Equity St. Portal Only
  • Total Invested outside of Equity St (Only other Equity Funding Portals)
  • Income: (Should be a number Greater than 0)
  • Net Worth: (Should be number Greater than 0)
  Double-check your entries for typos or missing info, small corrections often update your limit right away and let you proceed. For small amounts like $100, these rules rarely prevent participation once everything is entered correctly. If it still shows $0 after reviewing, reach out to support, we're happy to walk you through it without needing you to reshare sensitive details.
  
  2. Why do I need to provide my Social Security Number (SSN) and other personal information like income and net worth?
  Providing your SSN, annual income, and net worth is a federal requirement under SEC Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) rules. This isn't optional per federal regulations, it's mandated to:
  
  • Verify your identity and confirm you're eligible to invest (e.g., a U.S. person over 18, preventing fraud or money laundering).
  • Calculate your personal investment limit based on SEC formulas (to protect you from over-investing in early-stage opportunities).
  • Ensure proper tax reporting (we'll issue IRS Form 1099 if applicable, just like any brokerage).
  Your data is encrypted, securely stored, and used only for compliance purposes, never sold or shared beyond legal requirements. This is standard for any regulated securities investment, similar to opening an account at a traditional brokerage.
  
  3. What does “Investments outside of Equity St.” mean, and why is it asked?
  This field asks only about your prior or current investments ONLY in other crowdfunding securities offerings (e.g., Reg CF, Reg A equity/debt raises on other portals or platforms). It does not refer to traditional investments like stocks in your brokerage account, mutual funds, bonds, retirement accounts (IRA/401(k)), real estate, or bank holdings. This is required to calculate your overall Reg CF exposure across all platforms, per SEC rules that cap total investments in these types of offerings in a 12-month period. Entering $0 here is appropriate if you have no such investments, it won't affect your ability to proceed.
  
  4. Do I need to create a login/profile before investing?
  Yes, a verified profile/login is required before you can invest. This is an SEC guideline for all Reg CF offerings. It enables secure identity verification, limit calculations, and compliance tracking through our registered funding portal intermediary. Creating a profile is quick and free. If you forget your password, use the "Forgot Password" link to reset it instantly via email, no support ticket needed.
  
  5. When is my investment actually completed?
  Submitting payment or indicating interest does not complete or bind your investment. The transaction only finalizes after you receive and electronically sign (via DocuSign) the formal investment contract emailed to you. This critical step includes:
  
  • A final review of all disclosures and terms.
  • Your explicit agreement to proceed.
  • Funds are held in escrow until the campaign meets its closing date (with cancellation options per SEC rules, e.g., up to 48 hours before deadline in many cases).
  You get a clear chance to review everything and back out before anything is committed. This protects you and ensures full compliance.

• Who can invest?

  Different types of offerings allow for different investors. Some types of offerings require that you be an accredited investor, while others allow everyone the opportunity to invest. Some offerings may even require that you live within a certain area to invest. Knowing what kind of investor you are will help you understand in which offerings you may invest. If you are over 18, you can invest with us! (If you are younger, then you will need a parent to set up a trust, or something equivalent, so that they can invest in your name.) Our Tittle III Reg CF offerings allow accredited AND unaccredited investors to participate. The https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ib_crowdfunding-.html SEC Investor Bulletin link will give you some additional information about how much money you can or should invest using platforms like Equity St. Because of the risks involved, there are some limitations in place contingent on your annual income and net worth.

• Can I invest if I’m not a U.S. citizen?

  We generally accept all investments, though you may be restricted from investing in certain circumstances depending on the jurisdiction in which you live in and its local laws.

• Are there investing limits?

  The amount of funding you can invest depends on your status as an investor, the governing regulation and limits the issuer has chosen to place. When you begin your investment, you will be shown both the maximum and minimum investment limits. Title III limits how much you can invest each year – not only in any one company, or through any Funding Portal, but in all companies through all Funding Portals. These limits apply only to your investments in Reg CF Offerings. The Equity St. portal will calculate your annual investment limit based on your net worth and income. Investment limits are calculated on a rolling 12-month interval, and every investment in a Regulation Crowdfunding offering on any portal will count toward your annual limit. For non-accredited investors, the maximum amount you can invest in all Title III offerings during a 12-month period is: If your annual income or net worth is less than $124,000, you may invest the greater of: $2,500; or 5% of the greater of your annual income or net worth. If your annual income and net worth are both at least $124,000, you can invest the lesser of: $124,000; or 10% of the greater of your annual income or net worth. There are no investment limits for accredited investors. Once you are verified as an accredited investor, you are free to invest without limits. You and your spouse may choose to combine your incomes and assets to invest, in which case you will both be treated as a single investor when determining how much you can invest.

• What is my net worth?

  To calculate your net worth, add up all of your assets and subtract all liabilities. For purposes of Title III Investing Portals, the value of your primary residence is not included in your net worth calculation.

• How do I start investing?

  First, create and verify an account on the Equity St. Portal. You can then browse listings and think about which offering to choose for your investment. We strongly suggest you consider consulting a lawyer or a professional investment advisor prior to investing to understand and assess any and all risks that come with a particular offering. You can then choose to invest in your selected offer(s) and pledge a dollar amount to the offer(s). By choosing to invest in an offer, you acknowledge the risks that come with investing and particularly using an Investment Portal such as Equity St. and you understand the possibility of and you can afford losing your entire investment should the issuing company file for bankruptcy.

• How do I contact the company for diligence or to determine credit ratings?

  To learn more about a company or project, you can review the offering materials on the campaign page and visit their website. All questions regarding the offering should be posted in Investor Q and A section of the offering page so that all investors can see the response from the issuer. A third-party credit rating is not required for issuers on the Equity St. Investment Portal. However, you are strongly advised to conduct in-depth due diligence prior to making an investment commitment and consult with a professional advisor to fully understand and assess all the risks associated with making any particular investments.

• Will I pay a fee for investing?

  No, you are not assessed any fees for your investment in any investment round. The fees associated with running the project, accrediting you as a qualified investor, placing the funds received into escrow and so on are paid by the issuer.

• How do I verify my accredited status?

  During the investment process, you may be required to affirm that you are an accredited investor. Different offerings may require different levels of proof, and may have different methods to provide that proof. Review instructions carefully while you go through the investment process.

• How are contracts signed?

  During the investment process, you will receive specific instructions about how you are to sign any documents. Each offering may use it's own method of signing, so review instructions carefully during the investment process.

• How do I pay?

  During the investment process, you will receive specific instructions for that offerings method of payment. The method of payment is specific to each project, so carefully review each step of the investment process.

Offerors

• Why raise funds via Equity St. Portal, LLC?

  Equity St. Portal, LLC offers a fast, agile platform that empowers your business investment opportunity and company to efficiently and cost effectively seek new capital investment using a direct peer-to-peer approach.

• How can I raise capital on Equity St. Portal LLC?

  Company founding members are required to create a personal account on Equity St. Portal LLC. Once you are signed up and logged in, you can apply to raise from our network of investors. If your company is a fit, a member of our team will reach out to initiate our due diligence process.

• How does Equity St. Portal, LLC make money?

  Issuers pay Equity St. Portal, LLC an up front fee to use the Equity St. Portal, LLC This fee is to be paid as a flat fee. Equity St. Portal, LLC also gains revenue from the amount of money issuers raise, in Reg CF Offerings. Issuers may also pay additional fees for specified services Equity St. Portal, LLC provides, including reimbursement of any expenses Equity St. Portal, LLC incurs on their behalf. Equity St. Portal, LLC discloses its compensation for each offering. If an issuer pays Equity St. Portal, LLC in whole or in part with its own issuing securities, these securities will always be the same class offered to investors on the Equity St. Portal LLC.

• How do I receive payment?

  During the creation of your project, you will be required to provide information to the portal for escrow. Carefully review all instructions to ensure that you provide sufficient information. In order to protect investors, companies are required to reach a minimum funding target to have a successful fundraise. Therefore, investments are not finalized until the company raises enough money to meet its funding target and completes all other closing conditions (together, the “closing conditions”). When investments are initiated through the Equity St. Portal, LLC platform, the subscription proceeds are held securely in an independent escrow account. Once all the closing conditions and minimum raise objectives have been met, the money is released to the company and investors will receive the applicable securities. If all the closing conditions are not met, subscription amounts are returned to investors by the escrow agent.

• What happens once I submit my offering?

  Once your offering has been created, we do a thorough check to see if your offering meets all of our requirements, then we validate you and your information. We work closely with you until your investment meets our criteria. When it has met the criteria for an offering on our site, we’ll approve the project and it will automatically go live on the start date you’ve selected.

• What happens if my round is oversubscribed?

  In the event that investor commitments meet or exceed the Equity St. allocation in the round, other investors will still be able to commit capital to your round. However, you have discretion whether to allow oversubscriptions.

• May I cancel an investment on my offering?

  Yes, as long as the investment are still in escrow, or haven’t yet been received, you may cancel any investment. Once the funding round has closed, investments cannot be canceled.

• Can I extend an offering?

  Yes, as long as your offering has not already closed. If you wish to extend an offering, please contact our support team.

• Can Equity St. Portal, LLC cancel an offering?

  Regulation Crowdfunding Rule 301(c)(2) requires an intermediary such as an Investment Portal to cancel an offer if it has a reasonable basis to believe that the issuer or the offering presents a potential for fraud or otherwise raises concerns about investor protection. In general, we reserve the right to cancel an offering at any time, for any reason, regardless of the status of the offering.

• What happens if an offering doesn't reach its funding goal?

  If an offering hasn’t reached it’s funding goal by the end of a funding round, the offering will close, and committed funds will be refunded. If you have directly received any funds, you should issue refunds within 10 business days.

• What are the communication channels?

  After issuers have prepared and filed Form C with the SEC, the Form C document and other issuer offering documents will be publicly available on the Equity St. Portal, LLC. The Portal also provides publicly viewable communications channels, where investors can ask questions to offering companies executives with each other as well as investor relations representatives of the issuers listed on our Portal. While Equity St. Portal, LLC will generally not participate in these channels, Equity St. Portal, LLC reserves the right to establish guidelines and moderate the channels to remove potentially abusive, hateful, fraudulent, or otherwise inappropriate content.

• Will my companies information remain confidential?

  Information on your company overview pages is available to the public. By design, we encourage social and public consumption of your company’s public content. However, as former investors and entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand the importance of securing sensitive information, so we provide companies with a secure, permission-based, access-controlled system to securely share sensitive content with potential investors for companies raising capital either under 506(b) or 506(c) of Regulation D.

• What is the Equity St. Portal, LLC relationship with offerors?

  Equity St. Portal, LLC provides a platform for issuers to find and communicate with potential investors. In exchange, issuers pay a service fee. Issuers may also pay for specified services and reimburse expenses Equity St. Portal, LLC incurs on their behalf. In certain Regulation CF offerings, Equity St. Portal, LLC may accept securities paid by issuers as compensation, but they will always be the same class of securities offered to investors. Issuers may or may not have an ongoing relationship with Equity St. Portal, LLC after an offering is complete. Issuers may or may not continue using the Portal to raise money or use services provided by and pay compensation to entities affiliated with Equity St. Portal, LLC.

• Does my company have to be incorporated in a specific state or with a particular structure?

  We work with companies of multiple structures (C-corporations and LLCs.) and they can be organized in any state. However, we only work with companies organized in the U.S.A.

• How do my investors receive signature documents?

  During the creation of your project, you will receive instructions to upload the signing instructions. Different types of offerings have different types of signature requirements, so it is important that you carefully review all instructions during the project creation process. If you are not given an opportunity to provide signature instructions during the project creation process, you will be contacted by our customer support to ensure that the signature documents are correctly associated with your offering.