I have been with Start Engine now for over three years. I have invested in about ten companies. I was excited about the opportunity to invest in small start-ups. Just last week, I received an email stating:
"Based on information obtained during a standard review, we have determined it is necessary to close your StartEngine account. This decision will stand for the foreseeable future, and cannot be appealed. All pending investments within the account have been canceled, and any refund that is due will be processed.
Please find attached the ownership documents for your finalized investments. These documents are all you require in order to verify your ownership of these investments.
Thank you for using StartEngine.
Best,
Steve Bennett
The StartEngine Team"
When pushed for an answer on a second and third email, here is what I received:
"Please contact each of the companies you invested in. No further information will be provided at this time.
Thank you.
Best,
Luca Roth
The StartEngine Team"
So my investments are still good, but I cannot reinvest, cash out, or interact with these companies. I will try to reach out to each of them individually, but I think if you cancel my account, you should provide the reasoning for the decision.
If you are looking to invest, find another company that is more reputable.
Mike
In June of 2022, I invested in the Rentberry offering, verified my profile, linked my bank and funded, no issues. Then the other day I wanted to invest in Boxable but for some reason they made me verify everything again and link my bank to get approved for investing.
I invested $1K and called it a day. Then I get an email that says "Deposit Funds" so I thought I had to do so for the investment and I did, another $1000. When I check my Boxable investment the "Funds Received" tab is NOT checked so where is my money? The $1K is gone from my bank. I reached out to customer support (*******@startengine.com) and... crickets.
Will they take another $1K for the actual investment? No, because I'm canceling the 2nd one and filing a complaint with the better business bureau to get my $1K back. And also may file with the FTC since it seems they're driving up their value by taking and holding our funds for no reason.
I invested in 2 seperate companies on Startengine and cannot find info on either one anywhere. It's like they took the free money and disappeared.
SCAM!
It was easy to register and setup up account. Did initial small investment. I was able to invest in a small company which is not easy to do with other platforms
Great investment platform for investors willing to take some risk for huge returns. I have approximately 20 investments and have 300pct gain in 1 year
While they claim to help start ups with offerings and going public. There are no representatives for you to talk to unless you are investing. If you are seeking investing, it is 100% radio silence except for spam. Soliciting you to buy into other peoples businesses. They tell you to show up places to meet the man, they tell you schedule appointments, all in spam. You respond and eagerly wait for their responses for nothing. There is no customer service, they refuse to delete accounts even on request. Who is to say who all they sell your information to, they claim they have to retain the information for 5 years. If you are seeking investing, you sign up for an investors account. So even if you have no business with them and you find out they are a sham. They still get to keep your information which depicts you as a client/investor. WHICH IS A LIE AND MANIPULATION! They can use this information to receive lending, deceive investors, and deceive the public about their real intentions. Which I believe in not to help you... It is the same old corporate scam of self service. 100% If you are seeking investments... these people will not help you unless they know you. So be prepared to have to go to their events and make sure you get noticed. If you don't... They have no time for you unless you are giving them money.
I had accounts created with different email addresses. Investor Experience support was promptly able to help me. Thank you, Stella Lane.
StartEngine is an awesome way to invest in pre-IPO businesses that hopefully one day will go public and make you money. Everyone starts somewhere... businesses start at startengine.com
THIS IS WHAT START ENGINE HAS POSTED AS OF OCT 2021. "Investments in startups are long term (5-10+ years), high risk, and illiquid as there is not an established market for private securities, so there is no guarantee you will receive a return on your investments or that the company you invested in will IPO, merge, or be acquired." IF I KNEW THIS WHEN I FIRST PURCHASED I WOULDN'T HAVE INVESTED.
Hi George,
This information is all correct, and we disclose this information in many places throughout the investment process so investors can understand this before submitting their first investment. We include this in our educational materials that investors confirm they have read when opening an account, as well as in our FAQ's on the checkout page when submitting an investment. We appreciate your feedback as we strive to make investing in startups more clear and simple for our community.
As of 3/11/22 I now own 117 shares at a value of $3.66 ea. Total $428.22. I'm still unable to sell my shares as the company Start Engine is not allowing their shares to be sold on the companies ATS system (Alternative Trading System). The companies that do participate in this bogus system only operate between 1 and 3 pm. I will try to keep you updated but as I said before "BUYER BEWARE".
After 15 months of owning 39 shares of Start Engine at a cost of $507.00 I'm still unable to sell my shares. Also, I have no idea as to the valuation of shares, also web site is difficult to navigate if your trying to sell. If you want to buy, everything works great. Buyer beware, very illiquid, consider strictly as a long term investment and be willing to lose all of your investment. I was fooled by having Mr. Wonderful (who's not so wonderful) Kevin O'Leary involved. He's damaging his credibility in my opinion. Hope this review helps.
The issue previously reported on October 2021, that my $3000 fund sent to them was not viewable on their webpage, was finally resolved on June 2022, that they send back my money.
I sent money of $3,000 dollars to them as a fund for investment, and I could not see it on my account page for many months, even now.
Overview
StartEngine has a rating of 2.7 stars from 182 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with StartEngine most frequently mention customer service, phone number and email address. StartEngine ranks 2nd among Crowd Funding sites.
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- Sitejabber’s sole mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
- Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
- Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Hi David! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Stella! We're pleased to hear that our Investor Experience support team was able to promptly assist you with your accounts. If you ever need further assistance or have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. We appreciate your support!