So, you’ve joined the Investor DAO and want to make your first investment? Then you’ve come to the right place! Read on for a step-by-step guide on how to start investing in real-world assets with Investor DAO, all the way from making your first investment, to drawing down your principal and interest once your first deal has matured.
🌏 Investor DAO connects everyday investors, like you, to global capital markets, letting you earn up to 20% APR investing in real-world assets through FinTech startups that help drive financial inclusion around the globe. Luckily, getting involved is pretty simple.
⚠️ If you haven’t joined the Investor DAO yet, make sure you head on over to our Signup and KYC Guide before reading this.
Otherwise, just follow the steps below and you’ll be earning great returns on your investments in no time. We recommend you take appropriate legal, financial, and/or tax advice before proceeding.
💳 Investment Guide
Step 1 — Get some USDC & ETH ready
First, you’ll need to make sure you have some USDC ready in your Gluwa Wallet. Investor DAO currently only accepts deposits in USDC on Ethereum, so make sure you deposit enough to carry out any planned investments. That means you’ll also need to add some ETH to your wallet to cover any gas fees.
You can top-up your wallet with USDC or ETH directly from any other Verify VASP approved wallet or exchange.
Step 2 — Navigate to the ‘Invest’ page
Once you’ve got some funds ready in your wallet, it’s time to head to the Invest page, select Investor DAO, and then navigate to any one of active investment opportunities which interests you. You can see these steps highlighted below.
Step 3 — Pick an Investment Opportunity that suits your risk tolerance and appetite
Once you click on an Investment Opportunity, you’ll be presented with a screen detailing all the relevant deal information, such as tenor, interest rate, fundraising period and more. Most importantly, head over to the “Heads of Terms” at the top of the page to view detailed investment terms, timeline, overview of borrower (fintech company), and their loan portfolio performance metrics, including loan origination, default rates and more. Take some time to do your own research (DYOR) and make sure you understand the various deal terms before you invest.
As mentioned above, the offeror of investment opportunities, Gluwa Capital also provides DAO members with confidential access to borrower’s loan portfolio performance metrics, all to help you make an informed investment decision. Please note that the “Heads of Terms” are highly confidential, and cannot be shared publicly. Doing so may result in legal action.
Once you’re happy with your choice, proceed to Step 4.
Step 4 — Submit your Approval transaction
Now that you’ve picked your chosen Investment Opportunity, it’s time to approve your investment. Hit ‘I accept Heads of Terms and Approve’. On the next screen enter the amount of USDC you’d like to invest and press ‘Approve’ to proceed. This approval transaction is used by the smart contract to identify your deposit.
You’ll need to pay a gas fee in ETH to complete this transaction, so please make sure you enter the correct amount of USDC, otherwise you’ll need to submit a new approval transaction if you want to deposit a different amount later.
For security reasons, you’ll need to enter your password or biometric login before we can submit your approval transaction. Once that’s done, your approval transaction will be submitted to the Ethereum Network.
Step 5 — Wait for Approval Confirmation
Please be patient, it can take a few minutes for your approval transaction to get confirmed on the blockchain. This can also vary depending on Ethereum network congestion. Once your transaction’s been confirmed, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
If there’s a problem, just head to your transaction history page for more information.
Step 6 — Make your Deposit
Now that your deposit has been approved by the smart contract, you’re ready to make your deposit. Just make sure you deposit your USDC before the fundraising period ends.
To make your deposit, head to your chosen Investment Opportunity, press deposit, and then enter the amount you wish to deposit (this should be the same number you approved in step 5). Press the ‘Deposit’ button to proceed.
Once again, you’ll need to enter your password or biometric login to confirm your deposit. Once that’s done, your deposit transaction will be submitted to the Ethereum Network.
✅ Step 7 — All done!
Congratulations, once your investment transaction is confirmed on the network, you’ve successfully made your investment.
If the investment opportunity successfully reaches its minimum investment threshold by the fundraising deadline, your investment will officially begin! Just sit back, relax, and come back when your investment matures.
If your chosen investment opportunity does not hit its minimum investment threshold by the fundraising deadline (i.e. rejected by the DAO), or is otherwise canceled, you can draw down your funds early as described in the next section.
💱 Drawing Down Your Investment
It’s time for the fun bit, getting your juicy interest payment!
Once your investment matures, you’ll be able to draw down your funds, plus any interest earned. If the investment opportunity you participated in was rejected or canceled, you’ll be able to draw down your principal (i.e. committed capital) only. This process is very simple, but we’ve outlined all the steps below just to make everything crystal clear in case you have any problems.
If your investment has just matured, you’ll have to wait a few business days until the repayment date before you can actually draw down your funds. This time is used to send the funds and interest from the borrower back into the smart contract for repayment.
You’ll also need some ETH in your wallet to cover the gas fee for your withdrawal transaction.
Step 1 — Head to the Investment Opportunity
So, the repayment date has come, and you’re looking to draw down your funds, plus any interest earned.
Simply head to the ‘My’ investment tab in the Investor DAO page, select the investment opportunity which is ready for drawdown, and then press the ‘drawdown’ button to proceed.
Step 2 — Press Drawdown and complete your security verification
Once you’re on the Investment Opportunity page, simply review the information and press ‘Drawdown’ to proceed. You’ll automatically draw down all your funds plus any interest earned.
You’ll need to enter your password or biometric login to confirm the drawdown transaction. Once that’s done, your deposit transaction will be submitted to the Ethereum Network.
✅ Step 3 — Drawdown Complete!
That’s all it takes. Please be patient whilst your drawdown transaction is confirmed on the Ethereum Network. This may take a few minutes.
Once the confirmation goes through, your funds will appear in your Gluwa Wallet. Congratulations on your first successful OpenFi investment via Investor DAO!
Website|Twitter|Medium|Youtube|Instagram|Discord|Github|Opensea
About Gluwa
Gluwa is an Open Finance platform, connecting capital from developed markets to emerging market lending opportunities using blockchain technology. Investors can use the Gluwa Invest platform to partake in debt-financing deals with emerging market fintech lenders, earning up to 20% APR on their USDC.
