Getting Started with Private Market Investing: Part I - Investments page + Indicating interest

So you've just joined EquityZen and gained unparalleled access to private market investment opportunities such as: 

• Single company funds and direct investments
• Diversified multi-company funds
• Tools for researching and comparing private companies 
• The potential to unlock better risk-adjusted returns for your investment portfolio

There’s a lot of new information at your fingertips to help you make informed decisions regarding investment opportunities.  One of the main pages Accredited Investors need to know to optimize their EquityZen private market investing experience: the investments page.

EquityZen's Investments page is where you’ll find curated private company investment opportunities. New single-company fund offerings launch here every Tuesday and Thursday. You can search or filter for companies that meet specific investment criteria (e.g. industries and industry groups, total funding, latest valuation, relative discount/premium, etc.) via our custom search page. For direct investment opportunities, you can view available blocks here. You can also view the full list of available multi-company funds for diversified exposure here.

Investment opportunities overview

Single company funds, otherwise known as "Standard Deals", allow you to gain access to shares of an individual private tech company. Under the "Single Company Funds" banner, you'll see a list of companies including those currently available to invest (Availability: Live), those with Waitlists (Availability: Waitlist) and others in Preview (Availability: Preview). Here's what this means:

• “Live” offerings are companies that are currently available for investment. Investors reserve access on a first-come-first-serve basis until the indicated deadline or until the total fund size has been fully allocated. Standard Deals usually close in 8-12 weeks. The minimum amount to invest is $10,000, though it can be higher in certain circumstances. 

Pro tip: new investment offerings generally launch every Tuesday and Thursday at 12pm ET. Some of our power users come to the EquityZen platform and reserve their investment right at the launch time to ensure they receive an allocation.

• “Waitlist” offerings signify that the allocation for this particular investment offering has been reserved by other investors. However, you can still add yourself to the waitlist for the deal, which will give you a priority opportunity to invest if additional shares are sourced, or a prior investment reservation gets canceled. To do this, click on the company, then click "View" under Standard Deals and then click “Join Waitlist” from the Offering Document. If an allocation becomes available we’ll alert you via email and you'll have 24 hours to decide if you wish to invest. If no new shares become available for the current offering, we’ll do our best to provide early access to our next investment offering in this company. 

• “Preview” offerings indicate that we may be working on a new investment opportunity and we're gauging investor demand. If enough potential investors express interest in the company, EquityZen will work to source shares and create a new investment offering. 

Indicating interest: how and why

Accredited investors who are interested in private companies can indicate investment interest by clicking on a company from the listings page and then clicking "Add to Watchlist" on the company page. We recommend including the approximate size of the investment you’re considering, along with a price and valuation, if you have one in mind. Indicating interest allows investors to be notified via email when a particular investment opportunity becomes available. 

Indicating interest with an investment size directly signals to our team which opportunities are in the highest demand and allows us to prioritize the offerings we work on and launch. Investors can submit Indications of Interest for all companies, not just those in “Preview” by searching the company name and clicking “Add to Watchlist” on the company page. These companies will now appear on the watchlist, allowing investors to manage and monitor their targets.

For more information about all of our investment offerings, check out our Help Center. More questions? Feel free to reach out to us at support@equityzen.com. 

Interested in learning more? Check out Part II, which gives an overview of the different investment products available on EquityZen’s marketplace.