As an investor, do I have to pay to get started?

Investors never pay a fee to get started.

As an investor, do I pay any other fees for making an investment?

Apart from paying for your investment, investors do not pay a commission or any brokerage or transaction fees to participate in any investment.

You don’t do this for free, so who pays?

Equivesto gets paid by fees that we charge the company. The company pays a percentage fee of the total amount raised on the platform, called a brokerage or success fee. The company does not get 100% of the amount they raise through the platform, as a portion of that goes to Equivesto to pay the fees.

How do I pay for my investment?

Transactions are made through the Equivesto portal via an Electronic Funds Transfer. It’s one of the most secure way to move funds. Make sure to have your Bank Account Number, Transit Number, and Institution Number ready when making an investment. These 3 numbers are the same numbers found on a blank cheque, and your online banking should have a quick link to look them up.

Equivesto does not store this information, and it is collected directly by our partner Versapay, who has Bank level online security.

Need help finding this information? Click below to see information provided by the 5 largest Banks in Canada on how to grab these numbers from your online banking.

Scotiabank

Royal Bank of Canada

TD Bank

CIBC

Bank of Montreal

Can I pay Equivesto directly through my own Bank?

Unfortunately, no. Versapay is the single point of contact we use to reach all the Canadian funding institutions. For security reasons, we have only one funding application that accesses our system.

What is Versapay?

A preferred vendor that Equivesto uses to collect funds from your funding institution and transfer it to a segregated account which we have.

Is my personal information safe with Versapay?

Yes! All vendors that Equivesto works with meet our privacy or online privacy criteria.

Is the money I paid for my purchase removed from my bank account right away?

Yes, your money will be collected by Versapay and transferred to a segregated account. If the campaign is an equity crowdfunding campaign, your money will be held until the campaign closes, and will then be transferred to the issuer (the company you are investing in).

When are my funds moved to the issuer?

Depending on the type of prospectus exemption the issuer (the company) used there are different time frames as to when your funds are moved to the issuer. For Equity Crowdfunding it’s after the campaign closes, for Offering Memorandum (OM) it’s after a 2-day recession period, and for Accredited Investor (AI) it’s immediate.