A: If you have previously set up a “self-directed” individual retirement account (IRA), then you will be able to store alternative assets within your tax-deferred plan, including private placements in venture capital. As with any IRA investment, a self-directed account has built-in, tax-deferred growth– meaning that you would not pay capital gains taxes on the growth of an investment until you are of retirement age and begin to withdraw the funds, presumably at a lower effective tax rate.

A: For individual investors, the SEC tells that an accredited investor is a natural person (as opposed to an organizational entity that may be considered a “legal person”): (1) who owns an individual net worth, or joint net worth with the person’s spouse, that is more than $1 million at the time of investment, excluding the value of the primary residence of such person; OR (2) whose income is more than $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or whose joint income (a spouse included) exceeds $300,000 for those years and has a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year.

A: If your primary residence for tax purposes is anywhere but the US, your country determines the minimum income or asset requirement that allows you to participate in venture capital investments. The sign-up process for our investment options is, therefore, country-specific; you check off the requirements that are satisfied and, when necessary, specify the reason that you meet each requirement.