Making an Investment

This is where everything comes together. The investor has registered, provided their identity, set up a profile, and chosen a funding source. Now they are ready to commit capital to a deal.

What the Investor Does

From the investor's perspective, this is straightforward:

1. They browse to a deal page on the platform
2. They enter the amount they want to invest (minimum is set per deal, typically $500)
3. They confirm the investment details (amount, profile, payment method)
4. They click "Invest"
5. They see a confirmation that their investment has been created

That's it from the investor's side. Everything else happens automatically.

What the System Does Behind the Scenes

When the investor clicks "Invest," a lot happens in a very short time. The system creates the investment, fires background KYC, and immediately evaluates what needs to happen next.

Step 1: Create the Investment

The system creates an Investment record with:

• Status: Committed -- capital has been pledged but no money has moved yet
• The investor's chosen amount
• The selected SPV (determined by the deal)
• The investor's profile and bank account (resolved from the profile defaults if not explicitly chosen)
• The funding source (bank pull, wire, managed wallet, or external)
• A profile snapshot -- a point-in-time copy of the investor's profile data at the time of commitment

Step 2: Background KYC

Immediately after creating the investment, the system fires background KYC (when COMPLIANCE_KYC_ENABLED=true). This submits the investor's identity to the compliance provider for verification. Background KYC:

• Fires for all investors (individuals and entities), regardless of funding source
• Never blocks the investment or payment flow
• Is invisible to the investor
• Skips if the investor's identity is already pending or approved (idempotent)

Step 3: Evaluate Readiness

The system runs a "readiness evaluation" -- a decision engine that figures out the next action. The compliance policy controls whether verification is part of this evaluation. It checks several things in order:

Step 4: Dispatch the Action

Based on the readiness evaluation, the system takes one of these actions:

Step 5: Automatic Progression

The key thing to understand is that the system is event-driven. When a blocking condition is resolved -- verification passes, bank registration completes, the SPV opens -- the system automatically re-evaluates the investment and dispatches the next action. The investor does not need to do anything.

Typical ACH investment flow (Skip mode -- current default):

1. Investment created (Committed)
2. Background KYC fires (non-blocking)
3. System checks bank registration -- already registered
4. System initiates ACH debit (investment moves to Pending)
5. ACH completes (automatic) -- investment moves to Funded

Typical ACH investment flow (blocking mode):

1. Investment created (Committed)
2. System submits KYC (investment moves to Pending)
3. KYC approved (automatic) -- system checks bank registration
4. Bank already registered -- system initiates ACH debit
5. ACH completes (automatic) -- investment moves to Funded

The investor only performs the initial "Invest" click. Everything else is automatic.

What the Investor Sees

After clicking "Invest," the investor sees their investment in their portfolio with a status. From their perspective:

When the verification blocking mode is Skip (the current default), investors will not see verification-related statuses. The progress tracker shows three steps: Committed, Payment, Funded.

They may also receive emails along the way:

• Wire instructions link -- if they chose wire, they get an email with a link to view banking details in the portal
• Custodian action required -- if they are an IRA investor, they see a banner prompting them to download the custodian documentation packet and send it to their IRA custodian. Transfers typically take 2-5 business days after the custodian receives the documents.
• Payment failed -- if their ACH payment fails (e.g. insufficient funds), they are notified and the system retries
• Settlement confirmation -- when their investment is included in a settled funding close

What Admins Should Know

• "Committed" does not mean stuck -- the system may be waiting for bank registration or SPV opening. In Skip mode, verification is never a blocker. Check the audit trail to see what the system is waiting for.
• Wire investors need to take action -- unlike ACH investors, wire investors must manually send the wire through their bank. If a wire investment is stuck in "pending" for days, the investor may not have initiated the wire yet.
• SPV must be open -- if the SPV is still in draft, all investments will be held. Opening the SPV triggers automatic processing of all held investments.
• Verification failures need attention only when blocking is on -- when verification blocking is active and an investment is blocked due to a rejected KYC/KYB, the investor may need help. See Verification Issues. In Skip mode, verification issues are handled by the admin team via the Background KYC Monitoring playbook.
• Every action is logged -- the audit trail shows exactly what the system did, when, and why. This is the first place to look when investigating any investment issue.

For a complete breakdown of investment statuses and transitions, see Investment Lifecycle. For details on what happens when payments fail, see Failed Payments & Retries.