Raising from the Public

We keep talking about raising money from the crowd, from the public, from your network – but what do we actually mean?  With equity crowdfunding, anyone who is over 18, a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident and living in Canada can invest.  

With our minimum investment of CAD $100, we try to make it as open as possible, so everyone feels welcome and able to participate.  

Campaign-Style Raising

In Canada, equity crowdfunding is done in ‘Campaign-style’.  That means your company runs a time limited campaign on Equivesto’s website.  During that campaign, which can last up to 90 days, investors can buy shares of your company for a pre-set price (see below).  You can run multiple campaigns per year, but your yearly total raise amount is limited to CAD $1,500,000.  There are a variety of different requirements depending on how much you raise, which we will discuss later in this document.  

For the duration of the campaign, investors visit your company’s campaign page on Equivesto and can choose to invest.  They invest via electronic funds transfer and sign all the documentation digitally inside our platform.  You as a company must countersign their documents, and this allows you to choose who can and cannot invest in your business.  

As part of equity crowdfunding legislation, the government gives investors a backout window.  All investors have 48 hours after their investment to change their mind and ask for a refund, free of charge.  

Equivesto does not accept credit cards for investment.  This protects investors from spending money they don’t have, and this ensures that your company gets the money without any credit card companies involved.  

When investors invest, their money is automatically moved from their bank account to Equivesto’s segregated account.  The funds are held there for the duration of the campaign.  After the campaign closes successfully, the funds will be directly transferred to your company’s account.  

Minimum and Maximum Goals

Campaigns have both a minimum and maximum raise goal.  The maximum goal is the most money you are interested in raising.  The minimum goal is the lowest amount you are willing to raise.  If you do not reach your minimum goal, the money is refunded to investors free of charge.  

Valuation and Share Price

Earlier we mentioned a pre-set share price.  Equivesto works with you directly prior to your campaign to set your company valuation.  This valuation, when combined with the number of shares in existence for your company (see below for information on shares) determines the price per share.  This price is set before the campaign begins and does not change during the campaign.  

Protecting Investors & Companies

Equivesto is required to determine if both companies and investors are suitable for equity crowdfunding before they can proceed.  Learn more about the information we collect from you here and information from investors here.

We run identity verification, watchlist/criminal checks, and Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorist Financing checks for every company, every investor, and every transaction.  

Make sure you check out other articles in our Learning Centre to understand more about all of this.