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Investor FAQ
- Who can invest?
- Generally, anyone 18 years or older can invest.
Each issuer on Republic decides what other requirements there are to invest in each unique campaign; please refer to the offering page for details on who can invest.
Please note, there are limits to how much you can invest based on your income, net worth, and any other investments you've made in Title III/Regulated Crowdfunding offerings.
Certain deals not facilitated under Regulation Crowdfunding may only be accessed by accredited investors.
At the Ontario Securities Commission’s request, investors who reside within their jurisdiction are currently prohibited from participating in all investment opportunities on Republic. Similar limitations exist for investors in British Columbia due to the Money Services Businesses Act. This Bill requires all Money Services Businesses (MSBs) to register with the BCFSA, which Republic is currently not. To learn more about this Bill, you can review it here.
- Can I invest using an entity?
Aside from investing as an individual, Republic supports the ability to invest via your Self-Directed IRA, LLC, Corporation, Partnership or Trust.
While going through the investment process, you can select your entity on the invest page of the offering you're interested in by clicking the dropdown in the top right of your screen. See below.
If you've already created an investment commitment and it is not final, please visit your Portfolio and select "View Investment." Then select "Change payment method" and you can change your entity either via the dropdown in the top right of the investment page or at the very bottom of that page.
- How much can I invest?
- Can I accept international investment? From which countries?
- Generally, international investors are able to invest on the platform, but investors are responsible for determining if this type of investment is legal in their jurisdiction. It’s worth noting that investments from Ontario, Canada are prohibited by the Ontario Securities Commission. Finally, our platform does bar any transactions from OFAC-banned and government sanctioned countries.
For international investors that do choose to invest, keep in mind that they will only be able to fund their investment via credit card or wire. ACH is not available for international investors.
Please see here for more detail on international investors.
- I am a Canadian investor, can I participate?
Each company on Republic decides which jurisdictions to accept investors from and is responsible for ensuring they are compliant in that jurisdiction.
When an offering is open to international investors, Canadian investors are welcome to participate in offerings on Republic.
Canadian investors may be subject to additional holding requirements that exceed those that apply to US investors.
At the Ontario Securities Commission’s request, investors who reside within their jurisdiction are currently prohibited from participating in all investment opportunities on Republic.
Similar limitations exist for investors in British Columbia due to the Money Services Businesses Act. This Bill requires all Money Services Businesses (MSBs) to register with the BCFSA, which Republic is currently not. To learn more about this Bill, you can review it here.
If the investor lives outside the United States, it is the investor’s responsibility to fully observe the laws of any relevant territory or jurisdiction outside the United States in connection with any purchase of the securities, including obtaining required governmental or other consents or observing any other required legal or other formalities.
Each company on Republic reserves the right to deny the purchase of the securities by any foreign purchaser.
Canadian investors should consult with their local regulators and each company's Form C before investing.
Campaign Page
- Can I add/modify perks once the Form C is filed?
- Yes, you can modify your perks once the Form C is filed. However, please keep in mind that we do not recommend removing any perks as that can be confusing for investors. Any changes to perks should be additive (ex. adding a new perk level or adding a feature to a pre-existing perk). If any of your perks have an investor limit, you can increase the number of available perks, but you cannot decrease it.
- What are the guidelines when posting an update? What can/can’t I say in these updates?
All campaign updates are reviewed by our team prior to being published. Campaign updates should focus on business milestones. The rules for what can and cannot be said in an update are not always black and white, but our team does the best we can to flag potential compliance issues for you.
Some topics that may require additional compliance review include:
New executive hires
Promissory language regarding investment returns
Raising additional funding
Finally, new revenue figures cannot be used in campaign updates as these numbers were not included in the financials included in your Form C. However, you can discuss operational numbers (ex. 10,000 widgets last month).
Let us know if you have any questions! Here to help you find the best way to promote your campaign compliantly.
- Can we remove a post from the discussion board?
As the intermediary platform, we are not allowed to mediate in the discussion section. Investors are allowed to ask pressing questions related to competitors, questions they may have about information in the Form C, and more. Take these questions as an opportunity to show how strong your business really is. Investors find it encouraging to see a founder who can confidently address the tough questions.
In most cases we are not able to remove posts from the discussion board unless the comments are discriminatory or they are clearly spam.
- Can I delete an update?
- You aren’t able to delete updates yourself, but our team can assist with this. Let us know which update you’d like to delete and we can take care of that for you.
- Why has my update been pending for so long?
- Our team aims to approve campaign updates within 1 business day. In some cases, our compliance team needs to do additional review and this can delay approval. Your campaign manager will let you know if the delay will be significant. As a reminder, our team does not publish campaign updates on weekends.
- What do investors focus on while on the campaign page?
That’s a great question and the true answer is that this will vary from investor to investor. That said, here’s what we’ve noticed:
The problem you are trying to solve needs to be extremely clear. This is especially important for companies that operate in niche markets. Not everyone is going to be an expert in your industry, but if you can explain it to them simply, they just might be your next investor! Keep your elevator pitch simple and to the point.
Outline any recent traction. Revenue is the most common way for companies to discuss traction but depending on your business model, it may not be the best way for you to demonstrate how the business has grown. If you are pre-revenue or early-stage, think about how you can show investors that you are ready to win the market. Partnerships, patents/new technological innovations and new customers in the pipeline are all good things to highlight on the deal page.
If you have prominent backers (VCs/Angels), be sure to highlight them.
Investors tend to stop reading if your campaign page is too long. We know it can be tempting to talk about everything you know about your business, but imagine that you only had 3 minutes to pitch a top VC. What are the things you’d tell them? That’s what needs to be in your deal page.
Be thoughtful about how you address your competition. Highlight your company’s strengths and make sure that you communicate why you are in a position to win the market. Investors will sometime ask about this in the discussion section as well. Charts and comparison tables can be a great visual aid in the competition section.
Finally, make sure your vision is clear. Where is this company going and how do you plan to get there?
- What is the process for building my Republic deal page?
Our design team will craft the first draft using the pitch deck you provided during the diligence process. This is typically completed 3~5 business days after your kickoff call with a campaign manager. If you have an updated pitch deck or new assets you’d prefer us to use, please let your campaign manager know during the kickoff call.
Your campaign manager will send you the deal page draft once it’s ready, along with notes and guidelines for editing the page.
You and your team will have full access to edit the page as you see fit.
Once you’ve finished making all edits, follow the “Submit for Review” prompt at the top of your deal page to complete the compliance attestation form.
All edits should be completed and the deal page finalized before our legal team reviews the Form C draft.
- What are the recommended specs for images on the deal page?
- For the main pitch sections
Recommended image size is 1390px wide
Image files should be JPEG or PNG, and below 500kb
72 dpi recommended
For the header imagesLogo: The logo should be a square PNG image, 400x400px, and under 200kb in size
- Header: This is the video thumbnail image that goes front and center on the page. Image size should be 1632x920px.
- Card image: This is the campaign preview tile that appears on the Republic Companies page. Image size should be 696x510px and under 500kb. Below are additional image guidelines for optimal display. Please send the card image to your campaign manager, as they will need to upload it for you.
- No text preferred, since the logo and elevator pitch will automatically appear under the card
- If there's text, please keep it to fewer than 25 characters in a large font (min. letter height of 20px)
- Keep the edges clear of context-sensitive content (like text). When displayed on the app, about 40 pixels will be cropped on both left & right sides, and 20 pixels cropped on the top.
- Can Republic help change the page structure or create new assets?
- For the main pitch sections
Deal page structure: Our deal page structure is based on investor feedback and information they are most interested in learning about your company. All deal pages thus follow the same structure, so that Republic investors can more easily navigate across campaigns and find the company details they’re looking for. While you must conform to our deal page template, you are not required to fill in each pitch section. Keep in mind that the section headers are standard and cannot be changed. The sections are meant to guide you in understanding what investors are most likely to look for when determining whether or not to invest.
Creating new deal page assets: Our team may be able to help with small image formatting issues, but we do not create graphics for deal pages. Some of our marketing partners offer assistance with creating deal page graphics and videos. If you’re interested in working with a marketing agency for marketing support, please reach out to your campaign manager.
- Can I edit my deal page after my campaign is live?
- All edits should be completed prior to your campaign going live, regardless of whether you launch first as a Reservation campaign or Investment campaign. You will not be able to edit the page directly after your campaign is live. However, your campaign manager can help make minor edits if necessary, such as correcting typos or adjusting graphics. Keep in mind that once your Form C is filed—and throughout the duration of the campaign—certain edits may require filing an amendment to the Form C. If the Form C amendment is material, then investors will be required to reconfirm their investment commitments within 5 business days of the Form C amendment filing.
- Does my page have to include a video?
- Videos are not required, and we have not yet seen any notable difference in campaign performance between those who have a campaign video and those who do not. Some companies will choose to include videos to further highlight details about their company. You can think of this as an additional medium to communicate your message to potential investors.
For example, companies will feature one video in the main media carousel at the top of the page. This may be a product demo or a video of the founder(s) talking about why they founded the company and their mission/vision. If your product/service is more technical or niche, it may be helpful to include a video in either the main media carousel or the Product section introducing your product/service. Remember, a simple product demo video is a better, more engaging visual than a long block of text describing your product.
You can check out videos on live campaign pages here. Below are also a few campaigns with strong videos:
AKUA
LEXI
Lunar Hard Seltzer
Maybe Finance
OhmniLabs
Snack tbh
- What are the recommended specs for videos on the deal page?
- You can add as many videos as you like to your deal page. To add a video in the main media carousel at the top of the deal page, click on the “+” icon on the upper right corner of the carousel. You can add a YouTube URL or directly upload a video file. Video files should be in mp4 format, 1280x720px resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, and under 100Mb.
To embed a video into a page section, click on the “Insert video” icon to add a video URL (eg. YouTube, Vimeo) or upload a video file. Video files should be in mp4 format, 1280x720px resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, and under 100Mb.
- Do I need to offer perks?
- Perks are not required; but many companies will offer several perk tiers to incentivize investors. While the perks alone will not drive an investor’s investment decision, it may motivate them to increase their investment amount if they see an attractive perk they like.
Companies will typically offer anywhere from 4 to 7 perk tiers across a vast range of investment sizes. This allows you to customize your perk offerings such that fulfilling the perks will not create a burden on your team. Your campaign manager can provide more guidance and perk recommendations best suited to your campaign.
- Can I embed GIFs in my deal page?
- GIF file sizes can be too large and result in slow page loading times, especially on mobile. Instead, upload mp4 videos for your animated content – videos can behave just like GIFs. Once you’ve uploaded an mp4 video in a page section, click on the video to see the below toolbar. Select “Autoplay & Loop'' for the video to automatically play in a continuous loop. Please note that any video set to “Autoplay & Loop” will not have sound.
- Do I need to fill in the FAQ section on my Republic deal page?
- You are not required to add questions to the FAQ section. However, if you receive the same questions from investors multiple times when your campaign is live, it’s a great place to document these answers for other investors to reference. You can also then easily redirect investors to your FAQ section, as you will be able to add questions to your FAQs throughout the duration of your campaign.
Investor Statistics & Promotion
- How am I doing compared to other campaigns?
- Campaign success varies from issuer to issuer, but generally a strong start in the very beginning of the campaign is a good indicator of how things will go for the remainder of the offering. Use $25K as your first benchmark — you should generally aim to hit this within the first week. The strongest campaigns will reach $25K on the first day and reach anywhere between $100K and $150K in the first two weeks of the campaign.
Because Republic marketing is triggered by investment volume, the faster you are able to hit your targets, the more we will be able to promote your campaign. Further, our marketing is more successful when there is more volume in the campaign. Although your launch email is scheduled once you reach $25K, the more volume you have in the campaign when the email is sent, the more traction you can expect.
- How much do Republic investors care about what tags I have?
- Tags can help investors identify companies that align with their interests, but they won’t make or break your campaign. Choose the tags that describe your company best and if our team knows of any other applicable tags, I’ll be sure to flag them for you.
Republic Email Marketing
- Who does the launch email go out to?
- Your email is sent to a custom segment of 250,000 - 500,000 subscribed, active, users and investors on the Republic platform. Republic segments our list by level of activity, number of investments, user interests, subscription status, email validity, and other similar characteristics to maximize the performance of each email by ensuring it reaches the audience most likely to invest in your campaign. Every custom segment includes a “VIP active investor” list, made of Republic’s high value investors, to ensure we’re getting the right eyeballs on your offering.
On the day your email is scheduled, you may or may not receive your campaign email based on the segmentation described above. Rest assured, it is going out to as many interested users and investors we can send it to.
- When will my launch email get featured?
Once you reach the $25K threshold, you will be slotted in for marketing. Our marketing calendar is first come- first served based on when issuers hit their milestones. We are not able to change your marketing email feature date as it may impact other issuers. We understand why this may be frustrating, but this strategy allows us to ensure that all issuers get visibility with our users.
On Mondays, our team sends notices to all founders who will be receiving a marketing feature that week.
- Can I see what the post will look like and edit it before you send it?
- Our marketing content runs on a strict schedule and we are not able to share marketing content before it is published and we also do not give founders the opportunity to edit marketing features. All content used in our marketing is drawn from your deal page and used to craft an email that will attract attention from our investor base.
While we understand that your business is constantly growing, for compliance reasons we have to stick to the content that’s been locked on the deal page and what’s already disclosed in the Form C.
Closing
- When do I get my funds? When do I get my second disbursement? How much will be disbursed each time?
- The first tranche of funds will be disbursed 3-5 business days after your campaign closes. This will contain 80% of what is available in escrow. Then, our team will reconcile the offering and resolve any outstanding investment issues. This process includes waiting for funds to clear, reconciling any remaining payment issues (tracking down wires, failed payments, etc), and clearing any KYC issues.
Finally, our team will send over the e-sign for your securities so that we can issue securities and finalize the offering. The second and final disbursement will be sent once this process is complete. Finalizing campaigns generally takes 4-6 weeks for campaigns that were under $1M. For campaigns that raised over $1M, you should expect a closing time of 8-10 weeks.
Check out our Closing guide.
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