When an investment entity on AngelList Venture invests for the first time, we require them to be KYC (Know Your Customer) or KYB (Know Your Business) verified.* Until this verification is complete, their investment will not complete. LPs who are still pending full identity verification will have a yellow "Pending KYC" badge next to their name in the Signed column. The information we require to KYC verify the investing entity depends on what type of entity it is. Below are the most common entity structures we verify and the required information for each.
- Individual:
- Personal Identifying Information (Legal name, DOB, Address, SSN if applicable, and in some cases an ID)
- Trust:
- Personal Identifying Information of the Trustee. If the trust uses a corporate trustee, Personal Identifying Information of an individual who serves as a control person for the corporate trustee.
- Company:
- Evidence of entity registration
- Personal Identifying Information for all Beneficial (25%+) Owners
- Personal Identifying Information of a Control Person
If you notice an investor is pending KYC, don't worry– our team regularly follows up with all investors that haven't completed this process. LPs who have outstanding KYC items receive automatic email reminders to complete KYC at 24, 48, and 72 hours after creating an investment entity. These emails go to the primary email tied to the LP’s AngelList account.
The standard timeline for processing KYC verification on AngelList is as follows:
- Individual: 3 business days after all required information is submitted.
- Company/trust: 3 business days after all required entity and individual information is submitted.
- Trust/company owned by another entity: 5 business days after all required entity and individual information is submitted.
Our team follows up manually if an LP has not submitted the necessary information prompted by our reminders. Items that may cause a delay in processing are:
- Complicated ownership structures (e.g. company is owned by a trust)
- Submitting documents that do not correspond to the investing entity being verified
- Submitting documents as proof of entity registration that do not satisfy the requirements
- Entering inaccurate personal identification information during the LP investment flow (e.g. typos in DOB or SSN)
- Selection of wrong investment entity (LP has two companies and signs the investment with the wrong one)
- Selection of wrong entity type during LP investment flow (e.g. investing entity is company and LP selects “Trust” as the entity type”)
If you notice an investor that's in the pending KYC status for more than a week, or if your deal is closing soon and KYC is still pending, feel free to reach out to your account manager to get an update.
*The US PATRIOT Act and the Bank Secrecy Act require financial institutions to have anti-money laundering compliance programs. Consistent with these requirements and industry best practices, AngelList requires beneficial ownership information and identity verification for all individuals, beneficial owners, companies, and trusts seeking to invest through AngelList as part of our KYC/KYB verification process.