Issuing Shares to Investors on Eqvista

Here is a step by step guide on how to issue shares to investors through Eqvista

Step 1: Before you can issue new shares, you would have to create the equity class on the Eqvista application for your company. For this, click on the option “Securities” from the left side panel on the dashboard. From the drop-down menu, select the option “Equity”. By clicking “Equity”, you would be directed to the following page where you can easily begin the process of issuing shares.

But as mentioned before, you might have to first create an equity class in case you haven’t created one yet. This is mostly if you have just started your company and have just issued shares to the founders.

If you have already raised a funding round in your company, you might have a class of equity for it – such as an equity class – Series A. In this case, you would still have to create a new class for the next capital round, and name the equity class as Series B, and so on.

Assuming that the first round is already raised, we would create a share class with common and preferred shares and name it Series B. For this, we need to click on “Create New Class”.

Step 2: By doing this, you would be directed to the following page:

Here, you will have to choose the kind of shares that the class would hold. You have two options to choose from – common shares or preferred shares. Select the one that is most suitable as per the deal.

In this case, we selected common stock.

Step 3: After selecting the option “Common” in the drop-down list of the Equity Type, an additional field appears where you need to provide a name to the equity class you are creating.

Once you give a name to the class, click on “Submit”.

Step 4: With this, the class is created and you are taken to the next page where you can now begin the process of issuing the shares to the investor.

The first step to issue the shares to the investor is to select the equity class name.

Step 5: As soon as you select the equity class name, a button shows up below it that says, “Add new grant”.

Click on this.

Step 6: This would take you to the next page where you now have to find the shareholder (investor) to whom you want to issue the shares.

Note: There are two ways to add a shareholder here before you can issue shares to them. If you have already added the shareholder profile in the cap table, you can just type in the name in the search box and the name would appear on the side of it. Click on “Select” and begin the process of issuing the shares to this investor.

To learn how to add a new shareholder, check out the support article here!

The second way is by adding a new shareholder profile while issuing shares; this is when you have not already added the shareholder profile in the cap table. In this case, we have not added the shareholder. So, we will click on the option that says, “Add new Shareholder”.

When you do this, you will get a new panel where you can now add in the details of the shareholder. First, select if this investor you are adding is an individual or a company. For a company, you will need to add their name and their role. For an individual, it is the same with two fields for the first name and the last name, and the person’s role.

Here, we selected “individual” and added in the details. Once done, click on “Submit new shareholder”.

Step 7: Doing this would bring up another panel as shown below.

Add in the details including the number of shares issued, price per share, date of issuance, share name (share certificate number), and select if there is a vesting schedule or not. Once done, click on “Submit”.

Note: You can add another grant using the “Add new grant” button. This is if you want to issue shares from the same equity class to more than one shareholder. All you need to do is click on “Add new grant” and then select the shareholder profile or add a new shareholder and fill in the issuance details. All this can be done without losing any of the first grant details. And when you have completed all the grants you want to create from the same equity class using these steps, you can click on “Submit” and it will be done.

Step 8: By clicking on “Submit”, the shares would be issued to the investor and you will be redirected back to the following page where you can see the equity class and the details.

SITUATION 2

There is another way where you can issue shares to an investor. Let us take an example where you need to issue additional shares to Robby Ray as he made another deal just after 4 months of the last one. In this case, the deal is still considered to be in the Series B round. So, keeping this in mind, we can issue more shares to him using another method on Eqvista.

Step 9: Go to the dashboard of the company profile. Under the Ownership panel, click on “Detail Overview”.

New window with ownership overview chart will open then click on “Issue” then “from Equity Class”.

Step 10: When you do this, you will reach the page where you now have to select the equity class from which you want to issue shares.

When you select the class, the “Add new grant” button appears. Click on that.

Step 11: Now, since you have already added “Robby Ray” as the shareholder in the cap table, all you need to do is search for him before you can issue the shares to him. So, type in the name in the field available.

Click on “Select” beside the same on the right-hand side of the page.

Step 12: When you do this, a new panel will appear where you can add in the share issuance details.

Add in the information and then click on “Submit”.

Step 13: You will be redirected to the page where you can now see both the share issuances under Series B equity class done to an investor.

And just like this, you can easily issue shares to an investor on Eqvista.

If you have any doubts or want to know more, check out the other support articles here or contact us!