Platform Overview

Play Money is an angel investment platform that connects accredited investors with startup investment opportunities. The platform handles everything from deal discovery through to capital collection and settlement, giving investors a streamlined way to back startups and giving the operations team the tools to manage the entire process.

Who Uses the Platform

There are three groups of people who interact with Play Money:

Investors

Investors browse deals, complete onboarding (identity verification, investment profile setup, and bank account linking), and commit capital to deals they want to back. They can invest as individuals or through entities like LLCs, trusts, or IRAs.

Founders

Founders (or their representatives) work with the Play Money team to list their fundraising round on the platform. Deals include company information, videos, pitch decks, and other materials to help investors make informed decisions.

The Operations Team (You)

The ops team manages the entire lifecycle of deals and investments through the admin panel. This includes:

• Creating and publishing deals so investors can discover them

• Managing SPVs -- the legal vehicles that pool investor capital

• Monitoring investments as they progress from commitment through funding

• Handling payment issues -- failed ACH transfers, missing wires, short payments

• Running funding closes -- batch-settling funded investments

• Reviewing compliance -- identity and entity verification status

• Disbursing capital -- sending collected funds to portfolio companies

How Money Flows

At a high level, money moves through the platform like this:

1. An investor commits to a deal and chooses how to pay (bank transfer or wire)

2. The platform collects the funds into an SPV's dedicated bank account

3. Once enough investors are funded, the ops team settles a funding close

4. The collected capital is disbursed (wired) to the startup

The platform handles the complexity in between -- identity verification, payment processing, retry logic for failed payments, fee calculation, and audit logging.

What This Documentation Covers

This guide explains how the platform works from the operations team's perspective. It covers:

• Key Concepts & Glossary -- Definitions of the core terms you'll encounter

• How It All Connects -- A visual map of how the pieces fit together

• The Investor Journey -- What investors experience from signup to funded investment

• Deals and SPVs -- Managing investment opportunities and their legal structures

• Investments -- The lifecycle of an individual investment

• Payments -- How money actually moves (ACH, wire, disbursements)

• Funding Closes -- Batch settlement of funded investments

• Compliance -- Identity and entity verification

• Notifications -- What emails go out and when

• Admin Playbook -- Step-by-step guides for common scenarios