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Types of deals on EquityZen

Updated today

Exploring deal types on EquityZen

EquityZen offers single, multi-company, and direct share acquisition investment opportunities that are structured as follows:

Single company:

Investors get exposure to a single company through an EquityZen investment vehicle (e.g. EquityZen Growth Technology Fund - Series 123). This is our most popular, standard deal type. Investors become limited partners in a vehicle that will own the shares of a specific private company at a designated price per share.

By aggregating investors into one fund vehicle, our Single Company fund acquires shares directly and acts as a single entrant on each private company’s capitalization table.

In some cases, an EquityZen fund will acquire an interest in a third-party fund that holds shares of a single company. This type of structure may be called a “dual-layer” or “multiple-layer” special purpose vehicle (SPV). On our site, these deals are identified with the share class denoted as “third-party interest.”

For select deals, EquityZen will collect investor commitments prior to acquiring shares of a given company. This approach can make it easier to acquire shares of hard to source private company shares. These deals will clearly state “This deal is different from other standard single-company funds on EquityZen, which already have a committed shareholder prior to collecting investor commitments.” in the Offering Document as well as show “Pending Acquisition" as the Security Type.

Express Deals:

An Express Deal is a single company fund offering in which the seller in the deal acquired their position by investing in an EquityZen fund. In other words, someone who invested through our platform is now selling the fund interest they purchased.

Please note there is no guarantee that any fund investment will be eligible for an Express Deal in the future. Likewise, there can be no guarantee that a buyer can be found.

For more information on Express Deals, click here.

Multi-company:

Investors get exposure to multiple companies with one investment in an EquityZen investment vehicle (e.g. EquityZen Growth Opportunity Fund X). Investors become limited partners in a vehicle that purchases shares of multiple companies. These investments are selected by the fund’s Investment Committee. Typically the fund life is 5 to 7 years. You can find out more about multi-company funds here.

Direct Share Acquisition:

Investors get direct share ownership and cap table access via an EquityZen brokered transaction. These investment opportunities require a higher transaction minimum and, once completed, require the investor to manage ongoing interactions with the company.

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