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Republic Venture Opportunities for accredited investors
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Growth capital solutions
Capital fundraising Raise on Republic Tokenized assets Design, launch, manage tokenized assets
Sharedrops Gift equity as a reward
Web3 services
Advisory Access veteran web3 advisors Infrastructure Stake your digital assets Tokenization Deploy your assets on-chain Asset management Explore digital asset funds
Institutional services
Republic Capital In-house Venture Capital fund
Broker dealer Regulated capital services
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Startups

How to research startups

Until ten years ago, startup equity was out of reach for most Americans. That all changed in 2016, when Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) took effect and opened up new possibilities for smaller investors.

Today, there are hundreds of startup deals available to investors through proven platforms like Republic. More and more issuers are entering the Regulation Crowdfunding space due to the increased raise limit— issuers can raise up to $5 million per 12 month period. 

Startup investing, and private investing in general, is finally going mainstream. If you’re new to startup investing, new to Republic, or just curious, we want to help you to be prepared to invest. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to research and evaluate startup deals.

Start with the deal page

To invest in a startup, you’ll need to use a licensed platform like Republic. We choose companies that meet our standards, provide a clean, intuitive interface, and handle payments and other details. We also provide information on the deal page to help you streamline your research process.

Each deal page is designed to help you learn about a company, their product, and the investment terms (such as the minimum investment amount). Here are some important features to look for when you’re exploring Republic’s deal pages:

  • A summary and highlights

  • The problem the company is solving

  • How their product addresses the problem

  • Their proven success, also called traction

  • A business model overview

  • Relevant market/industry context, as well as their competition

  • Company founders and vision

As a potential investor, you can use all of this information to make an informed decision and to inspire further research. For more suggestions on how to evaluate deal fundamentals, see our article: Evaluating traction, team, and product.

Don’t overlook the Discussion section when exploring a deal page, where investors can ask the founders questions and read their responses. This is a valuable opportunity to get to know the founders, see how they interact with potential investors, and ask any questions you might have.

Under Documents you’ll find the company’s Form C, which contains financial information such as revenue and cash on hand. It’s important to know that the information found in Form C may not be fully up-to-date: it’s only a snapshot of the company’s finances at the time of filing. If something changes materially, companies are required to update their Form C and provide notice to investors.

This section also contains a link to the company’s security instrument (in this case, a Crowd SAFE), which contains all the details of the investment terms. Since it’s a legal document it’s not exactly light reading; so, there is a summary of the terms on the deal page to act as a guide for potential investors.

Republic’s deal pages are an invaluable tool for investment research, where we strive to provide the information you need to make an informed decision. Now that you have a general idea of how deal pages work, the best way to get to know them better is to explore our catalog of current deals.

Additional online research

Investment research starts at the deal page, but it doesn’t have to end there. If you have unanswered questions and want to find out more about the company, these online tools can help you find what you’re looking for.

First, use Google to search for reviews or discussions of the company’s product. You can also find helpful information on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, which often have informal discussions of new and up-and-coming products. In the same way, you can easily see what the company’s competitors are up to.

It’s also worth looking at a company’s social media accounts, which can say a great deal about their image and how they interact with customers. However, it’s not unusual for an early-stage company to be a little light in their social media presence. If there isn’t much going on there yet, that’s not necessarily a bad sign.

If the deal is in an industry that you’re not familiar with, consider brushing up on your knowledge with some online research. After getting some background from the deal page, you can search Google News to find out what else is happening in the market.

Lastly, don’t underestimate the value of friends or acquaintances who are knowledgeable about the industry. Ask them what they think of the deal. They might bring a long-term perspective with personal insights that you can’t find online.

Browse our current offerings

The startup investment landscape has changed, and millions of investors are taking advantage of unprecedented access. If you want to join them, you can now invest in carefully vetted deals on Republic starting from $100. We’ll handle the details, and provide you with the tools and information you need to make an informed investment.

Whether or not you’re ready to start investing, Republic is here to help. Take your time exploring our deal pages, and find answers to your questions in our FAQ. The more deals you evaluate, the more you’ll understand how it all works.

When you’re ready, it’s never been this easy or affordable to get started.

Browse our current startup deals

Still have questions? Ask us directly

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Republic Core LLC (“Core”) provides technology and support services to OpenDeal Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, the “Republic Ecosystem”). Republic Note holders and as well as users of the site and services maintained by the Republic Ecosystem, regardless of and their activities on or relating to the Republic Ecosystem, are subject to the applicable terms of service, in their entirety.

Core is currently conducting an offering of Republic Notes under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) to persons who are accredited investors, as that term is defined in Rule 501. Only accredited investors are eligible to participate in the Rule 506(c) offering. Accredited investors who wish to participate in the Rule 506(c) offering should receive and review carefully the Private Placement Memorandum pertaining to that offering, as it contains important information for potential investors to consider prior to making an investment decision. Accredited investors who wish to participate in the Rule 506(c) offering will be required to (i) complete a subscription agreement, (ii) acknowledge that they have received and read the Private Placement Memorandum, and (iii) provide information verifying their status as accredited investors.

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Core may choose to make an offering to some, but not all, of the people who indicate an interest in investing, and that offering may or may not be made under Regulation A. For example, Core may choose to proceed with its offering under Rule 506(c) without ever conducting a Regulation A offering, in which case only accredited investors within the meaning of Rule 501 will be able to buy Republic Notes.

If and when Core conducts an offering under Regulation A of the Act, it will do so only once (i) it has filed an offering statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), (ii) the SEC has qualified such offering statement and (iii) investors have subscribed to the offering in the manner provided for in the offering statement. The information in the offering statement will be more complete than any test-the-waters materials and could differ in important ways. Prospective investors who are interested in participating in the Regulation A offering must read the offering statement filed with the SEC, when that offering statement becomes publicly available.

No money or other consideration is being solicited at this time in connection with any potential Regulation A offering and, if tendered, will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities in a Regulation A offering can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until an offering statement is qualified with the SEC. Any offer to buy securities may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance is given after the qualification date. Any indication of interest in Core’s offering involves no obligation or commitment of any kind.

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