Key Concepts & Glossary

This page defines the core terms used throughout the platform. If you encounter an unfamiliar term elsewhere in this guide, you can look it up here.

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The Basics

Deal

An investment opportunity in a startup company listed on the platform. A deal contains the company's name, funding round (e.g. Seed, Series A), pitch materials, videos, and documents. Each deal has at least one SPV through which investors can participate.

See: What is a Deal?

SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle)

A legal entity created specifically to pool investor capital for a single deal. Think of it as a shared bank account with a legal wrapper -- investors put money into the SPV, and the SPV invests in the startup as a single entity on the cap table. A deal can have multiple SPVs.

See: What is an SPV?

Investment

An individual investor's commitment to put money into an SPV. An investment tracks the amount, the payment status, the investor's profile, and the fee terms. An investment progresses through several statuses as it moves from commitment to full funding.

See: What is an Investment?

Platform Eras (Sydecar, V1, V2)

The platform has evolved through three distinct eras. Every SPV and investment belongs to one era, which determines what features and payment methods are available.

You will see era badges (Sydecar / V1 / V2) on SPV and investment pages in the admin panel. The era determines which admin actions are available and how payment information is displayed.

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Payments & Money Movement

Payment Order

The central record for any movement of money on the platform. Every time money moves -- whether the platform is pulling funds from an investor's bank account, receiving a wire, or sending a disbursement to a startup -- a Payment Order tracks it. An investment can have multiple Payment Orders (for example, an initial payment plus a supplemental payment if the investor increases their commitment).

See: How Payments Work

ACH (Automated Clearing House)

An electronic bank-to-bank transfer system. When an investor links their bank account and invests, the platform initiates an ACH debit (pull) from their account. ACH transfers typically take 1-3 business days to complete. This is the default payment method for investors who link a bank account.

See: ACH Payments

Wire Transfer

A manual bank transfer initiated by the investor through their own bank. The platform provides the investor with wire instructions (routing number, account number, and a reference code), and the investor tells their bank to send the money. Wires are typically used for larger investments or by international investors.

See: Wire Transfers

Expected Payment

A record created when the platform is waiting for a wire transfer to arrive. It tracks the expected amount, the investor, and an expiry date. When a wire comes in, the system tries to match it to an Expected Payment automatically.

See: Wire Transfers

Virtual Account

A bank account managed by the payment provider, assigned to a specific SPV. Each SPV gets its own Virtual Account with real routing and account numbers. Investor wires are sent to this account, and disbursements to portfolio companies are sent from it.

See: Virtual Accounts

Disbursement

An outbound payment from an SPV's Virtual Account to the portfolio company (the startup). This is how collected investor capital is delivered to the company after a funding close is settled.

See: Disbursements

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Settlement

Funding Close

A batch settlement of funded investments within an SPV. Rather than waiting for every single investor to fund before settling, the platform supports "rolling closes" -- settling groups of funded investments in batches while the SPV continues accepting new investors. Each close is numbered (Close #1, Close #2, etc.).

See: What is a Funding Close?

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Investor Setup

Identity

The investor's personal information used for identity verification (KYC). This includes their name, date of birth, government ID number (SSN for US investors, passport for international), and address. An identity is submitted to a compliance provider for verification before the investor can make ACH-funded investments.

See: Identity Verification

Investment Profile

The legal entity through which an investor participates in deals. An investor can have multiple profiles. Profile types include:

See: Investment Profiles

Bank Account

An investor's external bank account, linked either through Plaid (automated) or entered manually. Used as the source for ACH payments. A bank account must be registered with the payment provider before it can be used for payments.

See: Funding Sources

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Compliance & Verification

KYC (Know Your Customer)

Identity verification for individual investors, processed by Plaid. Required by regulation before the platform can process ACH payments. The investor's personal information is checked against government databases and watchlists. Investors using wire transfers or external funding sources can bypass KYC.

See: KYC Verification

KYB (Know Your Business)

Entity verification for investment profiles that are not individuals (LLCs, Corporations, Partnerships, Trusts). Processed by a separate compliance provider from KYC. Verifies the legal entity and its control person. Required before ACH payments can be processed for entity investments.

See: KYB Verification

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Fees

Fee Schedule

Each investment has a fee schedule that records the exact fees for that investment. The three fee components are:

Fees can be set at the SPV level (defaults for all investments) or overridden for individual investments.

See: Investment Fees

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System Records

Audit Entry

An immutable record of a significant action taken on the platform. Every important event -- investment created, amount adjusted, payment failed, close settled -- is recorded as an Audit Entry. Audit entries capture what happened, who did it, when, and any relevant details. They can never be edited or deleted.

See: Understanding the Audit Trail

Provider Event

A raw record of a webhook (notification) received from an external payment or compliance provider. Provider Events are stored for troubleshooting and audit purposes. Each event is processed exactly once to prevent duplicate actions.

Domain Event

An internal signal that something important happened on the platform (e.g. "an investment was fully funded" or "a payment failed"). Domain events trigger automated actions like sending emails, retrying payments, or updating investment statuses. You won't see these directly in the admin panel, but they drive the automated behavior described throughout this guide.

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Accounting & Ledger

Ledger Account

A named bucket in the platform's financial record book. Every SPV has a set of ledger accounts that track cash, investor commitments, fees, and more. Think of ledger accounts like categories in a bookkeeping system -- each one holds a running total of money flowing in and out. For example, every SPV has a "Cash" account (how much money is in the SPV's bank account) and each investor has a "Commitment Receivable" account (how much they still owe).

Journal Entry

A record of a financial event -- like a payment received, a refund issued, or a fee charged. Every journal entry has balanced debit and credit lines (the total going in always equals the total going out). This is the foundation of double-entry bookkeeping and ensures the platform's financial records are always provably correct.

Chart of Accounts

The full set of ledger accounts for an SPV. When an SPV is created, the system automatically sets up its chart of accounts with all the standard categories (cash, investor commitments, fee income, etc.). Each investor who commits to the SPV gets their own sub-accounts within the chart.

See: What is the Ledger?