Ask HN: As an EU citizen how can I put my money into innovative tech? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: As an EU citizen how can I put my money into innovative tech?

21 pointsarisAlexis9 comments

I have some money and I want to invest in things like crispr, 3d printing and artificial meat. How can I do it without being an accredited investor in the states? Most of the companies are there.

If you have suggestions about specific companies outside of US please share.

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I'm wondering why you don't want to invest in the EU? Both London and Paris have very active tech startup scenes, and both are very active in the biotech and 3D-printing space.

I'm sure you have your reasons, but I'd be interested in knowing what they are.

I think i miscommunicated my message I'd also like to invest in EU i just thought that US is a bit more advanced in this

EU citizens can qualify as a US accredited investor. SEC and startups won't care about your citizenship. Money is money and they're happy to accept as much of it as possible.

[0] https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/35166/how-does-a-n...

[1] https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/49838/is-us-citize...

Invest in the EU, US startup scene is loaded with pump and dump scams and you will have a hard time filtering if you're not on the ground. In fact Hampton Creek has been an all around scam, with Target removing their products as of today.

The accredited investor requirement is to protect you. If you are bypassing it then I'd use extra caution. Invest in companies closer to you so it's easier to complete due diligence.

INAL; My understanding is that you can invest in startups without being an accredited investor if it's part of crowdfunding as per "Regulation Crowdfunding" https://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/secg/rccomplianceguide-051... .

Also, remember that the accreditation is not some strict formal process. You simply must be able to show you fall under one of the criteria. If your net worth is over 1M$ - you already ARE an accredited investor.

Would be nice for someone to chime in if there's some specifics regarding citizenship status. But I'd suspect there aren't.

As someone living in Colombia, I will give you a perspective:

You have around a lot of untapped talent, probably badly paid, that will benefit more & give better returns than go to the obvious place.

--- In a semi-related note, look how bad is the working conditions of animators in Japan:

https://kotaku.com/an-insider-s-look-at-working-in-the-anime...

This mean, among other things, that anyone with half-a-brain and money can get top-talent easily, just paying a fair rate.

Consider if some industry around you is like this...

I've been investing in those areas quite a lot.

The best way is to invest in small venture funds, second best is AngelList Syndicates, and then EU- based equity Crowdfunding.

Platforms like Ustart could also work depending on check size.

The main constraint is to understand how much money. 20k is way different than 200k and 2M.

Feel free to reach out via email / twitter and I'll be happy to suggest a few venture firms that could work depending on your check size.

If you want to make it especially easy on yourself, you can check your EU investment account for US tech based funds.

You won't be able to pick & choose the technology you invest in, but you'll get to ride the general wave for zero effort.

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