To give retail investors access to private companies, we use a structure called Special Purpose Vehicles, or SPVs.

Here is how it works.

When an investment opportunity comes up in a private company, we create an SPV specifically for that deal. An SPV is a legal entity, structured as a Delaware Series LLC, created for the sole purpose of holding shares in that one company. 

Think of it as a dedicated legal container built to hold one specific investment.

Multiple investors pool their money into this SPV. The SPV then uses that capital to buy shares in the private company. You do not directly own shares of the company. You own units of the SPV. The SPV owns the shares. 

Your exposure to the company’s performance flows through that structure.

Two things make this the right way to do this.

First, private companies do not want hundreds of individual retail investors showing up on their shareholder register. Managing a large number of small investors creates administrative complexity and legal complications that private companies actively avoid. 

An SPV appears as a single shareholder from the company’s perspective, even though it represents many investors behind it.

Second, each SPV is bankruptcy-remote. It is legally segregated from our own balance sheet. If we were to face financial difficulties, your investment in the SPV is protected. The investors in that specific SPV retain ownership of the entity regardless of what happens to us as a company.