A to Z of equity crowdfunding
Throughout the Equitise platform, we mention quite a few industry-specific terms that you might be wondering about. For a full breakdown of the a to z of equity crowdfunding, check out our glossary here.
One of the most important terms you’ll come across is accredited investor. There are a few different names for accredited investors which vary from country to country including wholesale, sophisticated, eligible and qualified. The criteria that need to be satisfied for each also differ so it's important you understand what the requirements are in your country - for some it's based on wealth, others more on knowledge and experience.
Being an accredited investor on our platform has several benefits:
1. Access to exclusive wholesale offers
2. If you're an Australian resident, you can invest more than $10,000 in an Australian equity crowdfunding offer. Retail investors are capped at $10,000
3. You are able to invest in offers from other countries
Australia criteria
In Australia, an accredited investor is called Sophisticated or Wholesale. These types of investors are legally defined as follows:
- The investor has earned over $250,000 in gross income per annum for each of the last two financial years, or;
- The investor owns over $2.5 million in net assets.
There are a few other potential considerations for these definitions. For example, a company or trust controlled by a person meeting the above requirements qualifies sophisticated, as does a sufficiently experienced investor with a statement from an AFSL.
New Zealand criteria
The definition is similar but slightly different for Qualifying (Eligible or Wholesale) Investors for our friends over in New Zealand:
- Wholesale: The investor’s net assets, combined with the assets of the entities they control, exceeded $5 million for the two most recent financial years, or;
- Wholesale: The investor’s total turnover, combined with the turnover of the entities they control, exceeded $5 million for the two most recent financial years.
- Wholesale: Your business is an investment business (fund manager, advisor, insurer etc.)
- Eligible: You have experience in investing and/or you have invested in financial products greater than $1m
Again, there are some alternative wholesale qualifications.
Without getting into the nitty-gritty of these accreditations, the main thing is that if you are unsure whether you qualify as a wholesale or eligible investor, simply have a chat with your accountant.
Not from Australia or New Zealand?
If you're interested in investing in an offer on our platform we recommend that you first understand whether you meet your country's criteria for an accredited investor. Once this has been satisfied, please get in contact with us at [email protected] or on live chat for more.
I meet the requirements for Australia or New Zealand, how do I become accredited?
To be approved through the Equitise platform, you’ll need to submit an s708 certificate (Australian) or equivalent, which essentially declares your income or asset levels are above the required threshold.
1. Create an account on Equitise
2. Verify your identity
3. Head to your dashboard within your account and update your investor status
4. If you don't already have a recent investor document, you can download a copy of the certificate from your dashboard for your accountant to complete. You can then upload the completed certificate to the same place. We'll then let you know when it's all approved.
You can also view this step-by-step video on how to verify your accredited investor status, watch here.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us or your accountant.
Why does this matter?
Unfortunately, in order to invest over $10,000 in Australian equity crowdfunding offers, and to access other investment opportunities such as our exclusive wholesale offers, or alternative financial instruments, you legally must be an accredited investor, and the legislation requires us to verify this.
Any information provided is kept secure and confidential and is only used for accreditation processes. If you have any questions or trouble, please contact us here.
And if you don’t meet the above requirements but there are plenty of other offers on our platform that retail investors can participate in including IPOs and equity crowdfund and you can invest up to $10,000 in each which is a great way to diversify your portfolio.