How Trading Works

Between your funding rounds on StartEngine, you can let your investors access potential liquidity and trade.

Trading on
StartEngine Secondary

Not only can you raise capital on StartEngine’s platform, but you can also let your shareholders sell or purchase shares on StartEngine Secondary. Here’s what you should know about our trading platform.

A Marketplace for Startups

We’re one of the first public marketplaces in the US for private companies.

StartEngine Secondary is one of the first marketplaces of its kind that enables companies that have raised capital via Regulation A+ and Regulation Crowdfunding to give their investors potential access to liquidity.

 

We worked towards the launch of this marketplace for 3 years, and we launched our trading platform in the fall of 2020. We are proud to be a platform that can not only support your funding rounds, but also provide potential access to liquidity for your shareholders as well.

Make Your Offering More Attractive to Investors

You may be able to raise more money by letting your investors trade.

If you are raising capital via Regulation A+, you can file an amendment to your Form 1-A stating your intentions to launch on StartEngine Secondary, and you can then integrate messaging about your intentions to launch on Secondary as part of your marketing campaign while you are still raising funding.

 

We believe that investors will be more interested in your offering if they know that there may be an opportunity to access liquidity in the short term. This means that by offering potential access to liquidity, you may be able to raise more capital.

A company which intends to be quoted on the marketplace will be subject to certain requirements which the company may or may not be able to satisfy in a timely manner. Even if a company is qualified to quote its securities on the market, there is no guarantee an active trading market for the securities will ever develop, or if developed, be maintained. You should assume that you may not be able to liquidate your investment for some time or be able to pledge these shares as collateral.

Offer a Trading Market Between Funding Rounds

After the close of your funding round on StartEngine, you can offer a marketplace for your shareholders to trade through StartEngine Secondary.

Regulation
Crowdfunding

Shares are subject to a one year lock up period before they can be traded

Regulation
A+

Shares are immediately tradable.
You cannot conduct a Reg CF or a Reg A+ offering at the same time as your shares are quoted on StartEngine Secondary, but you can let your shareholders trade after that offering closes — and in the case of Regulation Crowdfunding, you will need to wait one year before the shares issued in that offering are eligible to trade.

The StartEngine Process

Avoid the Burdens of Public-Reporting

Trading on Secondary does not make you a public-reporting company.

You can allow your investors to trade on Secondary and still avoid the costs and regulatory burden of becoming a public-reporting company. On StartEngine, you can offer potential access to liquidity and remain a private company.

Have other questions?

Check out our FAQ for more information on everything from how trading works to what the requirements are to launch on Secondary.

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