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What is StartEngine Secure?

StartEngine Secure LLC is StartEngine's SEC-registered transfer agent. It keeps the official record of who owns a company's shares, records transfers when shares change hands, and helps companies manage their investors after a raise closes.

StartEngine Secure is an affiliate of StartEngine Capital LLC (our funding portal) and StartEngine Primary LLC (our broker-dealer).

What does a transfer agent do?

When a company sells shares to the public, someone needs to keep track of who owns them. A transfer agent:

  • Maintains the company's shareholder records and cap table

  • Records new share issuances

  • Records transfers when an investor sells or gifts shares

  • Helps the company communicate with shareholders, including for votes

For more background, see What is a Transfer Agent?

What StartEngine Secure offers companies

  • Support for Reg CF, Reg A+, and Reg D offerings: One place to manage shareholders from all your raises

  • Cap table management: Investor records and contact information housed on a secure platform

  • Direct investor support: StartEngine Secure works directly with your investors on issuances and transfers, so you don't have to

  • Investor communication: Keep your crowdfunding investors updated after your campaign ends through campaign updates

  • Convertible security management: Help tracking and converting instruments such as convertible notes and SAFEs

  • Annual reporting assistance: Help with your annual Form C-AR filing

  • Proxy voting: Notifying shareholders, collecting votes, and reporting results

  • Pricing: A one-time fee model, with no charge per issuance

Why it matters for crowdfunded companies

Companies with a large number of shareholders can be required to register with the SEC and file public reports. Regulation Crowdfunding offers an exemption from that requirement for shareholders who invested through Reg CF, as long as the company meets certain conditions. One of those conditions is using an SEC-registered transfer agent. Regulation A+ has a similar condition.

Engaging StartEngine Secure helps you meet that requirement, so you can have many investors on your cap table without becoming a public reporting company. Talk with your legal counsel about the other conditions that apply to your company.

What StartEngine Secure means for investors

If a company you've invested in uses StartEngine Secure, StartEngine Secure keeps the official record of your shares. Through the StartEngine Secure platform, you can view your equity ownership in the company, exercise vested stock options and warrants, and request share transfers.

Securities bought through Reg CF generally can't be resold for one year after purchase, with limited exceptions. After that, transfers are recorded by the company's transfer agent. Not every company on StartEngine uses StartEngine Secure — if a company uses a different transfer agent, contact the company directly for help with your shares.

Questions? Email secure@startengine.com