At Dorm Room Fund, we invest with unlimited SAFEs at no discounts, but with an MFN clause. This means that when converted into equity, founders end up having more of the business than if there was a cap or discount. If new investors buy shares for $1.00, it`s also Dorm Room Fund. Apart from Y Combinator, SAFE is tested and used by startups in the crowdfunding markets. In 2020, the number of non-convertible notes (for example. B SAFE and kiss notes) used by pre-financing companies is just as widespread (58%) The number of convertible bonds issued. If companies become more well known to SAFE from the beginning, this rather young security may have found its ideal niche in the offers of Title III, also known as crowdinvesting for all investors. Y Combinator, a well-known technology accelerator, created the SAFE rating in 2013 (simple agreement on future capital) and uses it to finance most start-ups participating in three-month development meetings. Since 2005, Y Combinator has funded more than 1,000 startups, including Dropbox, Reddit, WePay, Airbnb and Instacart.

The exact conditions of a SAFE vary. However, the basic mechanics[1] are that the investor makes available to the company a certain amount of financing at the time of signing. In return, the investor will later receive shares in the company in connection with specific contractual liquidity events. The main trigger is usually the sale of preferred shares by the company, usually as part of a future fundraising cycle. Unlike direct equity acquisition, shares are not valued at the time of SAFE signing. Instead, investors and the company negotiate the mechanism with which future shares will be issued and defer actual valuation. These conditions generally include an entity valuation cap and/or a discount on the valuation of the shares at the time of triggering. In this way, the SAFE investor participates above the company between the signing of safe (and the financing provided) and the triggering event. The start-up (or another company) and the investor enter into an agreement. They negotiate things like: SAFE agreements have a lot to offer.

But what benefits the startup, such as the lack of standardization, can also hurt the startup if the contract is not developed and negotiated in a professional and strategic manner. If you are a start-up and looking for alternative and creative ways to find investors, contact Mohsen Parsa today. Another new function of the safe concerns a “prorgula” right. The original safe required the company to allow holders of safes to participate in the financing round after the financing round in which the safe was converted (for example. B if the safe is converted into series group preferred actuators, a secure holder – now holder of a Series A preferred share subseries – is allowed to acquire a proportionate portion of the Series B preferred share). While this concept is consistent with the original concept of safe, it made no sense in a world where safes were becoming independent funding cycles.