AN OFFERING STATEMENT PURSUANT TO REGULATION A RELATING TO THESE SECURITIES HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRELIMINARY OFFERING CIRCULAR IS SUBJECT TO COMPLETION OR AMENDMENT. THESE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE SOLD NOR MAY OFFERS TO BUY BE ACCEPTED BEFORE THE OFFERING STATEMENT FILED WITH THE COMMISSION IS QUALIFIED. THIS PRELIMINARY OFFERING CIRCULAR SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY NOR MAY THERE BE ANY SALES OF THESE SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL BEFORE REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE LAWS OF SUCH STATE. THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO SATISFY ITS OBLIGATION TO DELIVER A FINAL OFFERING CIRCULAR BY SENDING YOU A NOTICE WITHIN TWO BUSINESS DAYS AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE COMPANY’S SALE TO YOU THAT CONTAINS THE URL WHERE THE FINAL OFFERING CIRCULAR OR THE OFFERING STATEMENT IN WHICH SUCH FINAL OFFERING CIRCULAR WAS FILED MAY BE OBTAINED.

PRELIMINARY OFFERING CIRCULAR DATED AUGUST 29, 2025

STARTENGINE CROWDFUNDING, INC.

4100 WEST ALAMEDA AVENUE, 3^RD FLOOR

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA 91505

800-317-2200

UP TO 27,600,000 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK OFFERED BY THE ISSUER (INCLUDING UP TO 4,600,000 BONUS SHARES)
UP TO 6,900,000 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK OFFERED BY SELLING STOCKHOLDERS
(INCLUDING UP TO 1,150,000 BONUS SHARES)

The minimum investment in this offering is 313 shares of Common Stock, or $500.80

The price per share of the Common Stock has been arbitrarily determined by the Company.

SEE “SECURITIES BEING OFFERED” AT PAGE 60

(1)         On a “best efforts” basis, the Company is offering up to 27,600,000 shares of Common Stock including up to 4,600,000 shares of Common Stock eligible to be issued as Bonus Shares (as defined in this Offering Circular) to investors based upon certain criteria, including investment level. The selling stockholders are offering up to 6,900,000 shares of Common Stock, including up to 1,150,000 shares of Common Stock eligible to be issued as Bonus Shares. See “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders.”

(2)         The Company will not use commissioned sales agents or underwriters.

(3)         Does not include expenses of the offering or reflect the issuance of Bonus Shares; see “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders.”

(4)         The proceeds represent amounts to be paid to the selling stockholders listed in this Offering Circular. See “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders.”

(5)         Does not include the effective discount that would result from the issuance of Bonus Shares. For details of the effective discount, see “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders.”

(6)         While neither the Company nor the selling stockholders will receive any additional consideration for the Bonus Shares issued as part of this Offering, pursuant to Rule 251(a) the total value of the Offering, as reflected here and in Part I of the Offering Statement of which this Offering Circular is part, is $55,200,000 composed of $46,000,000 is actual gross proceeds from investors, and the value of the Bonus Shares of $9,200,000. This full amount of $55,2000,000 is the total amount the Company is offering towards its annual $75 million offering cap under Rule 251(a)(2).

The minimum investment amount for Common Stock is $500.80.

The Company is seeking to raise up to $46,000,000 from the sale of Common Stock. All investors will be required to purchase securities pursuant to a subscription agreement which appears as an Exhibit to the Offering Statement of which this Offering Circular forms a part, and which is irrevocable. This contains exclusive forum and jury waiver provisions which are similarly irrevocable; see “Risk Factors,” “Securities Being Offered – Common Stock – Forum Selection Provision,” and “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders – Jury Trial Waiver.”

This offering (the “Offering”) will terminate at the earlier of the date at which the maximum offering amount has been sold or the date at which the offering is earlier terminated by the Company at its sole discretion. At least every 12 months after this offering has been qualified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”), the Company will file a post-qualification amendment to include the Company’s recent financial statements. The Offering covers an amount of securities that we reasonably expect to offer and sell within two years, although the offering statement of which this offering circular forms a part may be used for up to three years and 180 days under certain conditions. The Company has engaged Bryn Mawr Trust Company as agent to hold any funds that are tendered by investors. The offering is being conducted on a best-efforts basis without any minimum target. Provided that an investor purchases shares in the amount of the minimum investment, $500.80 (313 shares), there is no minimum number of shares that needs to be sold in order for funds to be released to the Company and for this Offering to close, which may mean that the Company does not receive sufficient funds to cover the cost of this Offering. The Company may undertake one or more closings on a rolling basis. After each closing, funds tendered by investors will be made available to the Company. After the initial closing of this offering, we expect to hold closings on at least a monthly basis.

Each holder of Common Stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, except for certain matters for which only the holders of Preferred Stock vote and/or for which they are also entitled to vote as a single class. For matters where holders of Common Stock vote, they will vote together with the holders of Preferred Stock as a single class on all matters (including the election of directors) submitted to vote or for the consent of the stockholders of the Company. See “Securities Being Offered”.

Certain holders of the Company’s Common Stock and Preferred Stock will continue to hold a majority of the voting power of all of the Company’s equity stock at the conclusion of this Offering and therefore control the board.

THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION DOES NOT PASS UPON THE MERITS OR GIVE ITS APPROVAL OF ANY SECURITIES OFFERED OR THE TERMS OF THE OFFERING, NOR DOES IT PASS UPON THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY OFFERING CIRCULAR OR OTHER SOLICITATION MATERIALS. THESE SECURITIES ARE OFFERED PURSUANT TO AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION WITH THE SEC; HOWEVER THE SEC HAS NOT MADE AN INDEPENDENT DETERMINATION THAT THE SECURITIES OFFERED ARE EXEMPT FROM REGISTRATION

GENERALLY NO SALE MAY BE MADE TO YOU IN THIS OFFERING IF THE AGGREGATE PURCHASE PRICE YOU PAY IS MORE THAN 10% OF THE GREATER OF YOUR ANNUAL INCOME OR NET WORTH. DIFFERENT RULES APPLY TO ACCREDITED INVESTORS AND NON-NATURAL PERSONS. BEFORE MAKING ANY REPRESENTATION THAT YOUR INVESTMENT DOES NOT EXCEED APPLICABLE THRESHOLDS, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO REVIEW RULE 251(d)(2)(i)(C) OF REGULATION A. FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ON INVESTING, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO REFER TO www.investor.gov.

This offering is inherently risky. See “Risk Factors” on page 7.

Sales of these securities will commence on approximately [date].

The Company is following the “Offering Circular” format of disclosure under Regulation A.

We are an “emerging growth Company” and a “smaller reporting company” as such terms are defined under federal securities laws, and, as such have elected to take advantage of certain reduced public company reporting requirements for our prior filings and may elect to do so in future filings.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

In this Offering Circular, the term “StartEngine”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or “the Company” refers to StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. and our subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. The terms “StartEngine Capital” or “our funding portal” refers to StartEngine Capital LLC, the terms “StartEngine Secure” or “our transfer agent” refer to StartEngine Secure LLC, the terms “StartEngine Primary” or “our broker-dealer” refer to StartEngine Primary LLC, the term “StartEngine Private” refers to StartEngine Private LLC, the term “StartEngine Private Manager” refers to StartEngine Private Manager LLC, the term “StartEngine Adviser” refers to StartEngine Adviser LLC and the term “StartEngine Assets” refers to StartEngine Assets LLC.

THIS OFFERING CIRCULAR MAY CONTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE COMPANY, ITS BUSINESS PLAN AND STRATEGY, AND ITS INDUSTRY. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON THE BELIEFS OF, ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY, AND INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO THE COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT. WHEN USED IN THE OFFERING MATERIALS, THE WORDS “ESTIMATE,” “PROJECT,” “BELIEVE,” “ANTICIPATE,” “INTEND,” “EXPECT” AND SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS ARE INTENDED TO IDENTIFY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH CONSTITUTE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE STATEMENTS REFLECT MANAGEMENT’S CURRENT VIEWS WITH RESPECT TO FUTURE EVENTS AND ARE SUBJECT TO RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES THAT COULD CAUSE THE COMPANY’S ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE CONTAINED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. INVESTORS ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE ON THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH SPEAK ONLY AS OF THE DATE ON WHICH THEY ARE MADE. THE COMPANY DOES NOT UNDERTAKE ANY OBLIGATION TO REVISE OR UPDATE THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS TO REFLECT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER SUCH DATE OR TO REFLECT THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS.

SUMMARY

The Company’s mission is to help entrepreneurs and investors to achieve their dreams. The Company aims to revolutionize the startup financing model by helping both accredited and non-accredited investors invest in private companies on a public platform. StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc. has wholly-owned subsidiaries, StartEngine Capital LLC, StartEngine Secure LLC, StartEngine Private Manager LLC, StartEngine Adviser LLC, StartEngine Assets LLC and StartEngine Primary LLC. StartEngine Capital LLC is a funding portal registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), StartEngine Secure LLC is a transfer agent registered with the SEC. StartEngine Assets LLC was formed in 2020 to buy, hold and manage assets in various asset classes such as real estate, automobiles, luxury goods and royalty-producing intangible assets. StartEngine Primary LLC was formed in October 2017 and received approval to operate as a registered broker-dealer in July 2019. On April 16, 2020, StartEngine Primary LLC received approval to operate as an alternative trading system. Since 2023, the Company has been providing accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds (“SE Funds”) which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies via its StartEngine Private product offering. The SE Funds are managed by StartEngine Private Manager LLC and advised by StartEngine Adviser LLC, an exempt reporting adviser.

The Offering

The offering is for Common Stock of StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. The rights of the Common Stock are described more fully in “Securities Being Offered.”

(1)  Does not include shares issuable upon the exercise of options issued under our equity incentive plans or shares into which our Preferred Shares may convert.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company

As an issuer with ongoing reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) with less than $1.235 billion in total annual gross revenues during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As an emerging growth company we can advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements and are relieved of certain other significant requirements that are otherwise generally applicable to public companies. In particular, as an emerging growth company we:

We are taking and intend to take advantage of all of these reduced reporting requirements and exemptions, including the longer phase-in periods for the adoption of new or revised financial accounting standards under Section 107 of the JOBS Act. Our election to use the phase-in periods may make it difficult to compare our financial statements to those of non-emerging growth companies and other emerging growth companies that have opted out of the phase-in periods under Section 107 of the JOBS Act.

Under the JOBS Act, we may take advantage of the above-described reduced reporting requirements and exemptions for up to five years after our registration statement declared was effective under the Securities Act, which occurred in June 2022, or such earlier time that we no longer meet the definition of an emerging growth company. Note that this offering, while a public offering, is not a sale of common equity pursuant to a registration statement, since the offering is conducted pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements. In this regard, the JOBS Act provides that we would cease to be an “emerging growth company” if we have more than $1.235 billion in annual revenues, have more than $700 million in market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates, or issue more than $1 billion in principal amount of non-convertible debt over a three-year period.

Certain of these reduced reporting requirements and exemptions are also available to us due to the fact that we may qualify as a “smaller reporting company” under the SEC’s rules. For instance, smaller reporting companies are not required to obtain an auditor attestation on their assessment of internal control over financial reporting; are not required to provide a compensation discussion and analysis; are not required to provide a pay-for-performance graph or CEO pay ratio disclosure; and may present only two years of audited financial statements and related MD&A disclosure.

RISK FACTORS

The SEC requires the Company to identify risks that are specific to its business and its financial condition. The Company is still subject to all the same risks that all companies in its business, and all companies in the economy, are exposed to. These include risks relating to economic downturns, political and economic events and technological developments (such as hacking and the ability to prevent hacking). Additionally, early-stage companies are inherently more risky than more developed companies. You should consider general risks as well as specific risks when deciding whether to invest.

Risk Factors Related to the Company and its Business.

We are still evolving aspects of business model, including modifying our revenue models, adding additional products (e.g., StartEngine Secondary, StartEngine Private), and modifying our current offerings in light of regulatory changes and/or interactions with regulators (see, “The Company’s Business – Regulation). For instance, over the past year, our StartEngine Private has surpassed our previous products in terms of revenue generation. Accordingly, the Company’s operating history may not be indicative of future prospects. Our current and proposed operations are subject to all the business risks associated businesses in industries that are developing and rapidly changing. These include likely fluctuations in operating results as the Company reacts to developments in its market, manages its growth, and develops new services as well as the entry of competitors into the market. These include likely fluctuations in operating results as the Company reacts to developments in its market, manages its growth, and develops new services as well as the entry of competitors into the market. We will only be able to pay dividends on any shares once our directors determine that we are financially able to do so. Since inception, StartEngine has not generated sufficient revenues on an annual basis to cover operational expenses. There is no assurance that we will be consistently profitable in the next three years or generate sufficient annual revenues to pay dividends to the holders of our shares.

We are engaged in an industry that continues to develop and rapidly change, which requires our Company to be flexible in executing its business plans. We have not yet generated yearly profits, and may not do so in the near future. The regulatory framework for online securities transactions, including capital formation or crowdfunding, is relatively new. There are constant discussions among legislators and regulators with respect to changing the regulatory environment. New laws and regulations could be adopted in the United States and abroad. Further, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would impact our operations, including how we communicate and work with investors and the companies that use our platform’s services and the types of securities that our clients can offer and sell on our platform. For instance, in prior years, there have been several attempts to modify the current regulatory regime. Some of those suggested reforms could make it easier for anyone to sell securities (without using our services). Any such changes would have a negative impact on our business.

We operate in a regulatory environment that is evolving and uncertain. The regulatory framework for online capital formation or crowdfunding is relatively new. The regulations that govern our operations have been in existence for a limited period. Further, there are constant discussions among legislators and regulators with respect to changing the regulatory environment. New laws and regulations could be adopted in the United States and abroad. Further, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would impact our operations, including how we communicate and work with investors and the companies that use our platform’s services and the types of securities that our clients can offer and sell on our platform. For instance, in prior years, there have been several attempts to modify the current regulatory regime. Some of those suggested reforms could make it easier for anyone to sell securities (without using our services). Any such changes would have a negative impact on our business.

We have an evolving business model. Our business model is one of innovation, including continuously working to expand our product lines and services to our clients, such as our recent expansion into the StartEngine Private business and moving our Crowdfunding services into our broker-dealer. It is unclear whether these changes will be successful in the long term. Further, we continuously try to offer additional types of services, and we cannot offer any assurance that any of them will be successful. From time to time we may also modify aspects of our business model relating to our service offerings. We cannot offer any assurance that these or any other modifications will be successful or will not result in harm to the business. We may not be able to manage this evolution effectively, which could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.

We operate in a highly regulated industry. We are subject to extensive regulation and failure to comply with such regulation could have an adverse effect on our business. Further, our subsidiary StartEngine Capital LLC is registered as a funding portal; our subsidiary StartEngine Secure LLC is registered as a transfer agent; our subsidiary StartEngine Adviser LLC is registered as an Exempt Reporting Adviser; and our subsidiary StartEngine Primary LLC is registered as a broker-dealer and operates an alternative trading system under the brand “StartEngine Secondary”. As a funding portal and broker-dealer, we have to comply with stringent regulations, and the operation of our funding portal, broker-dealer and alternative trading system services exposes us to a significant amount of liability. Furthermore, new lines of business may subject us to other regulatory regimes, such those regulating investment advisers, including the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, if we fail to remain in compliance with certain exemptions. Further we have seen increased regulations in this industry from regulators (both federal and state) and FINRA. In light of this, we expect increased compliance costs as well as potential subjecting us to additional liabilities. See “Item 1. Business – Regulation.” In addition, some of the restrictions and rules applicable to our subsidiaries could adversely affect and limit some of our business plans of other parts of our business.

We were approved as a broker-dealer in 2019, launched our alternative trading system in 2020, became a “carrying” broker-dealer in 2021, became an exempt reporting adviser in 2024, and are still in the process of adapting our business model and pricing structure. As a broker-dealer, we not only are subjected to federal and state requirements but also have need to comply with the requirements of FINRA, the self-regulatory organization, that apply to broker-dealers and the regulations that apply to the operation of alternative trading systems. In addition, we have expanded the scope of our operation including launching our alternative trading system in May 2020, and became a “carrying” broker-dealer at the end of September 2021, which increased our net capital requirements. In 2023, we launched StartEngine Private, which required us to file as an exempt reporting adviser in early 2024 and may require us to become a registered investment adviser in the future. We are still in the process of adapting to these changes, but there have been and will be increased costs, including the need to hire personnel with specific qualifications and pay them in accordance with their experience. We are subjected to periodic examinations and we will be required to change aspects of our business processes and communications in response to the findings of those examinations. Becoming a broker-dealer and/or reporting adviser has and will continue to lead to increases in our compliance costs as well as increases in our exposure to liabilities, including subjecting us to liability for misstatements made by issuers utilizing our services; see “The Company’s Business – Regulation.”

We may be liable for misstatements made by issuers. Under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, issuers making offerings through our funding portal may be liable for including untrue statements of material facts or for omitting information that could make the statements misleading. This liability may also extend in Regulation Crowdfunding offerings to funding portals, such as our subsidiary. Further, as a broker-dealer, we may be liable for statements by issuers utilizing our services in connection with Regulation A and Regulation D offerings. See “The Company’s Business – Regulation”. Even though due diligence defenses may be available; there can be no assurance that if we were sued, we would prevail. Further, even if we do succeed, lawsuits are time consuming and expensive, and being a party to such actions may cause us reputational harm that would negatively impact our business. Moreover, even if we are not liable or a party to a lawsuit or enforcement action, some of our clients have been and will be subject to such proceedings. Any involvement we may have, including responding to document production requests, may be time-consuming and expensive as well.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could impair the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could harm our business, impair investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and our access to the capital markets and cause the price of our common stock to decline and subject us to regulatory penalties. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we maintain internal control over financial reporting that meets applicable standards. We may err in the design or operation of our controls, and all internal control systems, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Because there are inherent limitations in all control systems, there can be no assurance that all control issues have been or will be detected. If we are unable, or are perceived as unable, to produce reliable financial reports due to internal control deficiencies, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information and operating results, which could result in a negative market reaction and a decrease in our stock price. In the past we have had to restate our financial statements, and during preparation for financial reporting related to the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company discovered certain errors in the preparation of the financial statements. The Company’s management conducted an investigation with the Company’s independent auditors. As a result of this investigation, the Company determined that several accounts required correction to be in accordance with US GAAP. Accordingly, the Company made certain corrections to the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023. In addition, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, as defined by Sections 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act, was not effective as of December 31, 2024, including due to the following identified material weaknesses:

Management has included a report on its assessment of internal control over financial reporting, including a description of identified material weaknesses, remediation efforts resulting in changes to internal control over financial reporting, and plans for further remediation in Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures” of our Form 10-K.

If we identify new material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, if we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, we may be late with the filing of our periodic reports, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected. As a result of such failures, we could also become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, and become subject to litigation from investors and stockholders, which could harm our reputation, financial condition or divert financial and management resources from our core business, and would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our compliance is focused on U.S. laws and we have not analyzed foreign laws regarding the participation of non-U.S. residents. Some of the investment opportunities posted on our platform are open to non-U.S. residents. We have not researched all the applicable foreign laws and regulations, and we have not set up our structure to be compliant with foreign laws. It is possible that we may be deemed in violation of those laws, which could result in fines or penalties as well as reputational harm. This may limit our ability in the future to assist companies in accessing money from those investors, and compliance with those laws and regulations may limit our business operations and plans for future expansion.

StartEngine’s product offerings are relatively new in an industry that is still quickly evolving. The principal securities regulations that we work with, Rule 506(c), Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding, have only been in effect in their current form since 2013, 2015 and 2016, respectively. StartEngine’s ability to continue to penetrate the market remains uncertain as potential issuer companies may choose to use different platforms or providers (including, in the case of Rule 506(c) and Regulation A, using their own online platform), or determine alternative methods of financing. Investors may decide to invest their money elsewhere. Further, our potential market may not be as large, or our industry may not grow as rapidly, as anticipated, for instance, according to the SEC, the size for the Regulation A market retracted in 2023. With a smaller market than expected, we may have fewer customers. Success will likely be a factor of investing in the development and implementation of marketing campaigns, subsequent adoption by issuer companies as well as investors, and favorable changes in the regulatory environment.

As we grow our business, we may not be able to manage our growth successfully. If we are able to increase the scope of our business offerings, our customer base, the volume of our transactions and grow our business, we will face business risks commonly associated with rapidly growing companies, including the risk that existing management, information systems and financial and internal controls may be inadequate to support our growth. We cannot predict whether we will be able to respond on a timely basis, or at all, to the changing demands that our growth may impose on our existing management and infrastructure. For example, increasing demands on our infrastructure and management could cause any of the following to occur or increase:

This risk is illustrated by the fact that, during preparation for financial reporting related to the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and based on review from the auditors, the Company discovered certain errors (specifically for stock impairment, stock-based comp, as well as a significant deficiency relating revenue allocation between entities) in its previously reported quarterly financial statements for 2024. The Company’s management has concluded that, in light of these errors, the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024 was not effective. To address these material weaknesses, management has devoted, and plans to continue to devote, significant effort and resources to the remediation and improvement of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. While the Company has processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, management has enhanced these processes in the past year by enhancing the process by which the Company reviews and presents financial statements, and has also invested in additional accounting software to ensure more accurate reporting. Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting, a description of the material weaknesses identified, resulting changes to internal control over financial reporting, and continued plans for remediation can be found in Item 9A “Controls and Procedures.” See also the above risk factor, “We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could impair the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could harm our business, impair investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and our access to the capital markets and cause the price of our common stock to decline and subject us to regulatory penalties.” If we continue to have issues and/or fail to adapt our management, information systems and financial and internal controls to our growth, or if we encounter other unexpected difficulties, our business, financial condition and operating results will suffer.

We are primarily reliant on one main type of service. Most of current services are variants on one type of service — providing a platform for online capital formation and ancillary services.  Further our recent performance has been linked to purchasing and selling interests in StartEngine Private issuances. Our revenues are therefore dependent upon the market for online capital formation, and specifically, as of late to the sale of interest in the StartEngine Private issuances.

We depend on key personnel and face challenges recruiting needed personnel. Our future success depends on the efforts of a small number of key personnel, including our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Howard Marks, and our compliance, engineering and marketing teams. Expanding our compliance team in response to the growth in our business and the regulatory issues we have faced to date, is essential to our success, and recruiting and training compliance personnel will place demands on financial and management resources. Our software engineer team, as well as our marketing team led by Johanna Cronin, are critical to continually innovate and improve our products while operating in a highly regulated industry. In addition, due the specialized expertise required, we may not be able to recruit the individuals needed for our business needs. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in attracting and retaining the personnel we require to operate and be innovative.

StartEngine and its providers are vulnerable to hackers and cyber-attacks. As an internet-based business, we may be vulnerable to hackers who may access the data of our investors and the issuer companies that utilize our platform. Further, any significant disruption in service on the StartEngine platform or in its computer systems could reduce the attractiveness of the StartEngine platform and result in a loss of investors and companies interested in using our platform. Further, we rely on a third-party technology provider to provide some of our back-up technology as well as act as our escrow agent. Any disruptions of services or cyber-attacks either on our technology provider or on StartEngine could harm our reputation and materially negatively impact our financial condition and business.

StartEngine currently relies on two vendors for escrow services. We currently rely on Bryn Mawr Trust Company and Kingdom Trust to provide escrow services. Any change in these relationships will require us to find another escrow agent and escrow bank. This may cause us delays as well as additional costs in transitioning our technology.

We are dependent on general economic conditions. Our business model is dependent on investors investing in the companies presented on our platforms. Investment dollars are disposable income. Our business model is thus dependent on national and international economic conditions. Adverse national and international economic conditions may reduce the future availability of investment dollars, which would negatively impact our revenues and possibly our ability to continue operations. It is not possible to accurately predict the potential adverse impacts on the Company, if any, of current economic conditions on its financial condition, operating results and cash flow.

We face significant market competition. We facilitate online capital formation. Though this is a relatively new market, we compete against a variety of entrants in the market as well likely new entrants into the market. Some of these follow a regulatory model that is different from ours and might provide them competitive advantages. New entrants could include those that may already have a foothold in the securities industry, including some established broker-dealers. Further, online capital formation is not the only way to address helping start-ups raise capital, and the Company has to compete with a number of other approaches, including traditional venture capital investments, loans and other traditional methods of raising funds and companies conducting crowdfunding raises on their own websites. The Company anticipates competition in the market for accredited investors to purchase membership interests in funds which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies. Additionally, some competitors and future competitors may be better capitalized than us, which would give them a significant advantage in marketing and operations.

Finally, the Company faces increasing competition via StartEngine Private which is the Company’s new venture in which the Company provides accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds (“SE Funds”) which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies via its StartEngine Private product offering. As new competitors enter the market, acquisition of shares will become more difficult.

We may not be able to protect all of our intellectual property. Our profitability may depend in part on our ability to effectively protect our proprietary rights, including obtaining trademarks for our brand names, protecting our products and websites, maintaining the secrecy of our internal workings and preserving our trade secrets, as well as our ability to operate without inadvertently infringing on the proprietary rights of others. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain future protections for our intellectual property or defend our current trademarks and future trademarks and patents. Further, policing and protecting our intellectual property against unauthorized use by third parties is time-consuming and expensive, and certain countries may not even recognize our intellectual property rights. There can also be no assurance that a third party will not assert infringement claims with respect to our products or technologies. Any litigation for both protecting our intellectual property or defending our use of certain technologies could have material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition, regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

Our revenues and profits (if any) are subject to fluctuation. It is difficult to accurately forecast our revenues and operating results, and these could fluctuate in the future due to a number of factors. These factors may include adverse changes in: number of investors and amount of investors’ dollars, the success of world securities markets, general economic conditions, our ability to market our platform to companies and investors, headcount and other operating costs, and general industry and regulatory conditions and requirements. The Company’s operating results may fluctuate from year to year due to the factors listed above and others not listed. At times, these fluctuations may be significant and could impact our ability to operate our business.

Natural disasters and other events beyond our control could materially adversely affect us. Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, pandemics and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers and could decrease demand for our services.

Risk Factors Related to the Common Stock

There is uncertainty as to the amount of time it will take for us to deliver securities to investors under this offering. The process for issuance of Common Stock is set out in “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders.” There may be a delay between the time you execute your subscription agreement and tender funds and the time securities are delivered to you, while we and the Escrow Agent complete our subscription and due diligence process and we submit a disbursement request to the Escrow Agent. Although, based on our experience in our prior offering, investors who provide the information required by the subscription agreement and give accurate instructions for the payment of the subscription price should receive their securities in no more than six months, we cannot guarantee that you will receive your securities by a specific date or within a specific timeframe.

There is no minimum amount set as a condition to closing this offering. Because this is a “best efforts” offering with no minimum, we will have access to any funds tendered. This might mean that any investment made could be the only investment in this offering, leaving the Company without adequate capital to pursue its business plan or even to cover the expenses of this offering.

We are offering Bonus Shares, which is effectively a discount on our stock price, to some investors who purchase the Common Stock in this Offering. Certain investors who purchase Common Stock in this Offering are entitled to receive additional shares of Common Stock (the “Bonus Shares”) that effectively provide a discount on price based on the amount invested. The number of Bonus Shares will be determined by the amount of money they invest in this Offering, having made an indication of interest prior to the commencement of this Offering, or as an investor eligible to receive the StartEngine Venture Club Bonus. An investor in our offering may be able to receive a maximum of 20% Bonus Shares. Bonus Shares will effectively act as a discount to the price at which the Company is offering its stock. For more details, including all of the Bonus Shares being offered, see “Plan of Distribution and Selling Stockholders”. Therefore, the value of shares of investors who pay the full price in this offering will be immediately diluted by investments made by investors entitled to the discount, who will pay less for the same stake in the Company.

The exclusive forum provision in the subscription agreements may have the effect of limiting an investor’s ability to bring legal action against us and could limit an investor’s ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes. Section 6 in the subscription agreement for this offering includes a forum selection provision that requires any claims against the Company based on the subscription agreement be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the State of New York; see “Securities Being Offered – Common Stock – Forum Selection Provision”. The forum selection provision will not be applicable to lawsuits arising from the federal securities laws. The provision may have the effect of limiting the ability of investors to bring a legal claim against us due to geographic limitations. There is also the possibility that the exclusive forum provision may discourage stockholder lawsuits with respect to matters arising under laws other than the federal securities laws, or limit stockholders’ ability to bring such claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us and our officers and directors. Alternatively, if a court were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Investors in this offering may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the subscription agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any action under the agreement. Investors in this offering will be bound by the subscription agreement, which includes a provision under which investors waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against the Company arising out of or relating to the subscription agreement, including any claims made under the federal securities laws.

If we opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, a court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by a federal court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which governs the subscription agreement, in a court of competent jurisdiction in the State of California. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether the visibility of the jury trial waiver provision within the agreement is sufficiently prominent such that a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the subscription agreement. You should consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the subscription agreement.

If you bring a claim against the Company in connection with matters arising under the subscription agreement, including claims under federal securities laws, you may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to those claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against the Company. If a lawsuit is brought against the Company under the subscription agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in such an action.

Nevertheless, if the jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the subscription agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the subscription agreement serves as a waiver by any holder of Common Stock or by us of compliance with any provision of the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated under those laws.

In addition, when our Common Stock is transferred, the transferee is required to agree to all the same conditions, obligations and restrictions applicable to those securities or to the transferor with regard to ownership of those securities, that were in effect immediately prior to the transfer of the Common Stock, including but not limited to the subscription agreement. Therefore, purchasers in secondary transactions will be subject to this provision.

Voting control is in the hands of a few large stockholders. Voting control is concentrated in the hands of a small number of stockholders. Our CEO and Chairman currently hold approximately 26% of our voting shares in aggregate, including shares of our Common Stock and (on an as-converted basis) shares of our Series Seed Preferred Stock, Series A Preferred Stock and Series Seed Preferred Stock; and two other shareholders, SE Agoura Investment LLC and The Lee Miller Trust UA 09/05/2020, own approximately 16% and 7%, respectively, of our voting shares in aggregate. None of SE Agoura Investments LLC, The Lee Miller Trust UA 09/05/2020 or their beneficial owners serve on our Board or are employees of our Company. The trust, held on behalf of Mr. Marks’ family, which he does not control or beneficially own, owns approximately 2%. Those five shareholders in aggregate control approximately 51% of our voting shares and approximately 52% of our preferred stock. Holders of our Common Stock are generally not be able to influence our policies or any other corporate matter, including the election of directors, changes to our Company’s governance documents, expanding the employee option pool, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major action requiring stockholder approval. Some of the larger stockholders include, or have the right to designate, executive officers and directors of our Board. These few people and entities make all major decisions regarding the Company.

Future fundraising may affect the rights of investors. In order to expand, the Company is likely to raise funds again in the future, either by offerings of securities or through borrowing from banks or other sources. The terms of future capital raising, such as loan agreements, may include covenants that give creditors greater rights over the financial resources of the Company.

Holders of our Preferred Stock are entitled to potentially significant liquidation preferences over holders of our Common Stock if we are liquidated, including upon a sale of our Company. Holders of our outstanding Preferred Stock have liquidation preferences over holders of Common Stock. This liquidation preference is paid if the amount a holder of Preferred Stock would receive under the liquidation preference is greater than the amount such holder would have received if such holder’s shares of Preferred Stock had been converted to Common Stock immediately prior to the liquidation event. Holders of Series A Preferred Stock and Series T Preferred Stock are entitled to liquidation preferences superior to Series Seed Preferred Stock. If a liquidation event, including a sale of our Company, were to occur that resulted in a distribution of less than approximately $8 million, the holders of our Preferred Stock could be entitled to all proceeds of cash distributions.

There is a limited current market for our Common Stock. Currently, the only marketplace for our Common Stock is and will be our alternative trading system or “ATS” branded as “StartEngine Secondary.” To date, we only have limited experience selling our shares on StartEngine Secondary; and trading of our securities will only be available on StartEngine Secondary during limited periods, including periods where we do not have an open offering. To date, there has not been frequent enough trading to establish a market price. The limited volume of trading means that investors should assume that they may not be able to liquidate their investment for some time or to liquidate at their desired price. Further, it is unlikely that they will be able to pledge their shares as collateral.

Investors will need to keep records of their investment for tax purposes. As with all investments in securities, investors who sell the Common Stock will probably need to pay tax on the long- or short-term capital gains that you realize if sold at a profit or set any loss against other income. If investors do not have a regular brokerage account, or their regular broker will not hold the Common Stock for them (and many brokers refuse to hold Regulation A securities for their customers) there will be nobody keeping records for investors for tax purposes and they will have to keep their own records, and calculate the gain on any sales of any securities they sell.

The price for our Common Stock may be volatile. To date, there has not been enough trading of our shares to establish a market price. The market price of our Common Stock may be highly volatile, if and when any trading begins again in the future and there is sufficient volume of trading to establish a market price, is likely to continue to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our securities. As a result, investors may be unable to resell your securities at a desired price.

Using a credit card to purchase shares may impact the return on your investment as well as subject you to other risks inherent in this form of payment. Investors in this offering have the option of paying for their investment with a credit card, which is not usual in the traditional investment markets. Transaction fees charged by your credit card company (which can reach 5% of transaction value if considered a cash advance) and interest charged on unpaid card balances (which can reach almost 25% in some states) add to the effective purchase price of the shares you buy. See “Plan of Distribution and Selling Securityholders.” The cost of using a credit card may also increase if you do not make the minimum monthly card payments and incur late fees. Using a credit card is a relatively new form of payment for securities and will subject you to other risks inherent in this form of payment, including that, if you fail to make credit card payments (e.g. minimum monthly payments), you risk damaging your credit score and payment by credit card may be more susceptible to abuse than other forms of payment. Moreover, where a third-party payment processor is used, as in this offering, your recovery options in the case of disputes may be limited. The increased costs due to transaction fees and interest may reduce the return on your investment.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert dated February 14, 2018 entitled “Credit Cards and Investments – A Risky Combination,” which explains these and other risks you may want to consider before using a credit card to pay for your investment.

DILUTION

Dilution means a reduction in value, control or earnings of the shares the investor owns.

Immediate dilution

An early-stage company typically sells its shares (or grants options exercisable for its shares) to its founders and early employees at a very low cash cost because they are, in effect, putting their “sweat equity” into the company. When the company seeks cash investments from outside investors, like you, the new investors typically pay a much larger sum for their shares than the founders or earlier investors, which means that the cash value of your stake is diluted because all the shares are worth the same amount, and you paid more than earlier investors for your shares.

The following table demonstrates the price that new investors are paying for their shares and the immediate dilution under various total investment scenarios. The dilution is based on the Company’s net asset value at December 31, 2024 after giving effect to the stock split. We believe this method gives investors a better picture of what they will pay for their investment compared to previous investors and Company insiders than simply listing such transactions for the last 12 months.

(1) Certain investor receive bonus shares of either 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%. Based on prior experience on average investors receive 10% bonus shares.  If that occurs again, and the Company sells $46,000,000 in this offering, the dilution to new investors will be $1.55 per share.

(2) Assumes all options with an exercise price of less $1.60 are exercised.  There are xx options at a weighted average exercise price of approximately $0.54 per share.

Future dilution

Another important way of looking at dilution is the dilution that happens due to future actions by the Company. The investor’s stake in a Company could be diluted due to the Company issuing additional shares. In other words, when the Company issues more shares, the percentage of the Company that you own will go down, even though the value of the Company may go up. You will own a smaller piece of that Company. This increase in number of shares outstanding could result from a stock offering (such as an initial public offering, another crowdfunding round, a venture capital round, or angel investment), employees exercising stock options, or by conversion of certain instruments (e.g., convertible bonds, preferred shares or warrants) into stock.

If the Company decides to issue more shares, an investor could experience value dilution, with each share being worth less than before, and control dilution, with the total percentage an investor owns being less than before. There may also be earnings dilution, with a reduction in the amount earned per share (though this typically occurs only if the Company offers dividends, and most companies until they are mature are unlikely to offer dividends, preferring to invest any earnings into the Company).

The type of dilution that hurts early-stage investors most occurs when the Company sells more shares in a “down round,” meaning at a lower valuation than in earlier offerings. An example of how this might occur is as follows (numbers are for illustrative purposes only):

This type of dilution might also happen upon conversion of convertible notes into shares. Typically, the terms of convertible notes issued by early-stage companies provide that in the event of another round of financing, the holders of the convertible notes get to convert their notes into equity at a “discount” to the price paid by the new investors (i.e., they get more shares than the new investors would for the same price). Additionally, convertible notes may have a “price cap” on the conversion price, which effectively acts as a share price ceiling. Either way, the holders of the convertible notes get more shares for their money than new investors. In the event that the financing is a “down round”, the holders of the convertible notes will dilute existing equity holders, even more than the new investors do, because they get more shares for their money. Investors should pay careful attention to the amount of convertible notes that the company has issued (and may issue in the future), and the terms of those notes.

If you are making an investment expecting to own a certain percentage of the Company or expecting each share to hold a certain amount of value, it’s important to realize how the value of those shares can decrease by actions taken by the Company. Dilution can make drastic changes to the value of each share, ownership percentage, voting control, and earnings per share.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION AND SELLING STOCKHOLDERS

Plan of Distribution

StartEngine and the selling stockholders are seeking to raise up to $46,000,000 in total through the sale of Common Stock, which represents the value of securities available to be offered as of the date of this Offering Circular.  Under Regulation A, the Company may only offer $75 million in securities during a rolling 12-month period. From time to time, we may seek to qualify additional shares.

On a “best efforts” basis, the Company is offering up to 27,600,000 shares of Common Stock, which includes a maximum of 4,600,000 shares of Common Stock eligible to be issued as Bonus Shares. On a “best efforts” basis, the selling stockholders are offering up to 6,9000,000 shares of Common Stock, which includes up to a maximum of 1,1,50,000 shares of Common Stock eligible to be issued as Bonus Shares.

The minimum investment is $500.80 for the Common Stock.

The Company will use its existing website, www.startengine.com, to provide information with respect to the offering.

The Company’s Offering Circular will be furnished to prospective investors in this offering via download 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on its startengine.com website. StartEngine is not currently selling the shares through commissioned sales agents or underwriters.

Bonus Shares; Discounted Price for Certain Investors

“Bonus Shares” are additional shares of Common Stock that are issued to investors purchasing shares in this offering for no additional monetary compensation, therefore those investors are effectively receiving a discount on the shares of Common Stock they purchase. Bonus Shares have identical rights, privileges and preferences to the shares of Common Stock purchased.

All investors in this offering are eligible to receive Bonus Shares equal to 10% of the shares they purchase if they:

Investors may also receive Bonus Shares based on the amount they invest**:

Bonus Shares based on the amount of investment will be based on a single transaction and are not cumulative of multiple purchases. If an investor who is a member of our Venture Club or reserved shares during our Test the Waters period also qualifies for Bonus Shares based on the amount they invest, then the Bonus Shares are stackable; however, the maximum amount of Bonus Shares that an investor can receive in this offering is 20%.  For example, anyone who indicated interest in this offering on our website will receive a total of 110 shares for every 100 shares they purchase in the offering; further, if that investor invested at least $5,000 in this offering, that individual will receive a total of 120 shares for every 100 shares they purchase in the offering. Fractional shares will not be distributed and share bonuses will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.

To the extent any Bonus Shares are issued, it will reduce the proceeds that the Company and selling stockholders receive. Of the 5,750,000 Bonus Shares available in this offering, 4,600,000 are being offered by the Company and 1,150,000 are being offered by the selling stockholders.

*The general public can become members of the StartEngine Venture Club on StartEngine's website for $275 per year. Membership will auto renew every year. A member of the program can cancel their renewal at any time. Once the individual cancels, their membership will expire on the next anniversary of their membership. With the StartEngine Venture Club Bonus, the investor will earn 10% bonus shares on all investments they make in participating campaigns on StartEngine. StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. will determine whether an investor qualifies as a StartEngine Venture Club member.

** Must be done in a single transaction.

Process of Subscribing

Prospective investors who submitted non-binding indications of interest during the “test the waters” period, will receive an automated message from us indicating that the offering is open for investment. You will be required to complete a subscription agreement in order to invest. Investors in Common Stock can only complete the subscription agreement on our website.

The subscription agreement must be delivered to us and funds for the subscribed amount must be delivered in accordance with the instructions stated in the subscription agreement. Investors will specify whether they will purchase shares via credit card, wire transfer, ACH transfer, through a StartEngine Primary LLC Brokerage Account, or by any combination of such methods. The Company estimates that processing fees for credit card subscriptions will be approximately 2.5% of total funds invested per transaction, although credit card processing fees may fluctuate. The Company estimates that approximately 70% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering will be paid via credit card. This assumption was used in estimating the payment processing fees included in the total offering expenses set forth in “Use of Proceeds.”

The subscription agreement includes a representation by the investor to the effect that, if you are not an “accredited investor” as defined under securities law, you are investing an amount that does not exceed the greater of 10% of your annual income or 10% of your net worth (excluding your principal residence).

The Company has entered into an Escrow Services Agreement with Bryn Mawr Trust Company (“Bryn Mawr” or the “Escrow Agent”). Bryn Mawr is a Delaware registered trust company that offers escrow services as well as an integrated technology platform for processing investment transactions. The Company has agreed to pay Bryn Mawr an escrow administration fee of $500 per year escrow account fee. The first year is non-refundable.

Investor funds will be held by the Escrow Agent pending closing or termination of the offering.  All subscribers will be instructed by the Company or its agents to transfer funds by wire or ACH transfer, credit card, through a StartEngine Primary LLC Brokerage Account, or by any combination of such methods to the escrow account established for this offering. The Company may terminate the offering at any time for any reason at its sole discretion. Investors should understand that acceptance of their funds into escrow does not necessarily result in their receiving shares; escrowed funds may be returned.

Bryn Mawr is not participating as an underwriter or placement agent or sales agent of this offering and will not solicit any investment in the Company, recommend the Company’s securities or provide investment advice to any prospective investor, and no communication through any medium, including any website, should be construed as such, or distribute this Offering Circular or other offering materials to investors. The use of Bryn Mawr’s technology should not be interpreted and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation by it of the Company or this offering. All inquiries regarding this offering or escrow should be made directly to the Company.

In the event that the Company terminates the offering while investor funds are held in escrow, those funds will promptly be refunded to each investor without deduction or interest and in accordance with Rule 10b-9 under the Exchange Act.

Issuance of Shares

Information regarding the ownership of the Common Stock will be recorded with StartEngine Secure LLC, our stock transfer agent.

Forum Selection Provision

Section 6 of our Common Stock subscription agreement (which appears as an exhibit to the offering statement of which this Offering Circular forms a part) provides that any court of competent jurisdiction in the State of New York is the exclusive forum for all actions or proceedings relating to the subscription agreement. However, this exclusive forum provision does not apply to actions arising under the federal securities laws.

Jury Trial Waiver

Section 6 of our Common Stock subscription agreement (which appears as an exhibit to the offering statement of which this Offering Circular forms a part) provides that subscribers waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us arising out of or relating to the subscription agreement, including any claim under federal securities laws. If we opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, a court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable given the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with applicable case law.

Selling Stockholders

Certain stockholders of the Company intend to sell up to 5,750,000 shares of Common Stock in this offering, plus up to 1,150,000 Bonus Shares or up to $9,200,000 in gross proceeds. The gross proceeds raised in this offering will be split as follows: 20% to the selling stockholders (on a pro-rata basis) and 80% to the Company. Selling stockholders will participate on a pro rata basis, which means that at each closing in which selling stockholders are participating, a stockholder will be able to sell its pro rata portion of the shares that the stockholder is offering (as set forth in the table below) of the number of securities being issued to investors. For example, if the Company holds a closing for $1 million in gross proceeds, the Company will issue shares and receive gross proceeds of $800,000 while each of the selling stockholders will receive their Pro Rata Portion of the remaining $200,000 in gross proceeds and will transfer their shares to investors in this offering. Selling stockholders will not offer fractional shares and the shares represented by a stockholder’s pro rata portion will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.

Prior to the qualification of the Offering Statement, the selling stockholders will enter into an irrevocable power of attorney (“POA”) with the Company and two employees of the Company as attorneys-in-fact, in which they direct the Company and either attorney-in-fact to take the actions necessary in connection with the offering and sale of their shares. A form of the POA is filed as an exhibit to the Offering Statement of which this Offering Circular forms a part.

(1) Assumes maximum number of shares are sold in this offering and maximum number of Bonus Shares are issued. The maximum number of Bonus Shares available is 20%. Reflects shares outstanding as of August 29, 2025 on an as converted basis and shares issuable from options. Prior to the qualification of the Offering Statement, all selling stockholders will own sufficient shares of Common Stock to cover all shares offered as well as Bonus Shares.

(2) Includes shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of vested options as of August 29, 2025.

(3) Includes shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of Series Seed Preferred Shares on a 1-for-1 basis.

(4) Includes shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of Series A Preferred Shares on a 1-for-1 basis.

(5) Includes shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of Series T Preferred Shares on a 1-for-1 basis.

(6) Shares beneficially owned by Howard Marks.

(7) Shares beneficially owned by Ronald Miller.

(8) “Pro Rata Portion” represents that portion that a stockholder may sell in the offering expressed as a percentage where the numerator is the amount offered by the stockholder divided by the total number of shares offered by all selling stockholders.

(9) The total number of shares owned by the selling stockholders prior to this offering represents 78.7%  of the Company’s capital stock, on a fully diluted basis, assuming all options are exercised, shares of Preferred Stock are converted to Common Stock.

USE OF PROCEEDS TO ISSUER

The Company estimates that if it sells the maximum amount of $46,000,000 from the sale of Common Stock, which represents the value of shares available to be offered as of the date of this Offering Circular out of the rolling 12-month maximum offering amount of $75 million, the net proceeds to the issuer in this offering will be approximately $36,205,000, after deducting the estimated offering expenses of approximately $9,795,000 (including payment to the escrow agent the broker-dealer, marketing, legal and accounting professional fees and other expenses) and sales by selling stockholders.

The table below shows the net proceeds the Company would receive from this offering assuming an offering size of $10 million, $20 million, $30 million and $46 million (the remaining amount to be sold in this offering), and the intended use of those proceeds. There is no guarantee that we will be successful in selling any of the shares we are offering.

Marketing is our largest expected expenditure. Our marketing will use a lead-generation program designed to reach companies who are likely to want to raise capital and to offer them the ability to register on StartEngine to build crowdfunding offerings. Our marketing costs consist mainly of internal salaries for brand managers, lead generation associates, inside sales people and third party companies specialized in incoming lead conversion through telephone and emails. Also included are advertising costs on several types of media, including television, radio, podcasts and internet services such as Facebook and Google. These costs include engaging vendors such as advertising agencies and consultants.

Compliance operations expenditures are expected to grow significantly in the next twelve months. This mostly includes salaries for the internal compliance team. We expect to hire additional corporate counsel and compliance associates. These compliance personnel will assist with improving our existing compliance procedures as well as assist in the developing compliance procedures for our planned new services.

Product development is our third largest expected expenditure. This mostly includes salaries for the internal technology development team. We expect to hire additional software engineers, user experience specialists, user interface specialists and quality assurance engineers. These engineers will assist with improving our existing services as well as developing our planned new services.

The Company reserves the right to change the above use of proceeds if management believes it is in the best interest of the Company.

The allocation of the net proceeds of the offering set forth above represents the Company’s estimates based upon its current plans, assumptions it has made regarding the industry and general economic conditions and its future revenues (if any) and expenditures.

Investors are cautioned that expenditures may vary substantially from the estimates above. Investors will be relying on the judgment of the Company’s management, who will have broad discretion regarding the application of the proceeds from this offering. The amounts and timing of the Company’s actual expenditures will depend upon numerous factors, including market conditions, cash generated by the Company’s operations (if any), business developments and the rate of the Company’s growth. The Company may find it necessary or advisable to use portions of the proceeds from this offering for other purposes.

In the event that the Company does not raise the entire amount it is seeking, then the Company may attempt to raise additional funds through private offerings of its securities or by borrowing funds. The Company does not have any committed sources of financing.

THE COMPANY’S BUSINESS

Business

StartEngine Crowdsourcing Inc. was incorporated in the State of Delaware on March 19, 2014. On May 8, 2014, the Company changed its name to StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc.

StartEngine aims to revolutionize the startup financing model by helping both accredited and non-accredited investors invest in private companies on a public platform. In 2015, StartEngine Crowdfunding began operating under Title IV of the JOBS Act, allowing private companies to advertise the sale of their stock to both accredited and non-accredited investors under Regulation A, and under Title II of the JOBS Act, which permits offerings to accredited investors to be advertised under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D. StartEngine continues to expand the breadth of its offerings in order to better serve its mission. Operations expanded in 2016, as Regulation Crowdfunding, adopted in response to Title III of the JOBS Act, went into effect and we offered services to companies raising money under Regulation Crowdfunding. Beginning in December 2017, StartEngine began offering transfer agent services through one of its subsidiaries. In June 2019, StartEngine Primary LLC was approved for membership as a broker-dealer with FINRA and offers broker-dealer services to companies selling securities in Regulation A and Regulation D offerings and operates our alternative trading system.

StartEngine’s most recent addition to its family of services is StartEngine Private. StartEngine Private provides accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds (“SE Funds”) which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies.

StartEngine offers its services through its website as well through its iOS application which launched in 2021.

StartEngine Crowdfunding performs much of its work through its subsidiaries, including the following six wholly owned direct operating subsidiaries:

Principal Products and Services

Offerings: Through our broker-dealer we facilitate the following types of offerings that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act:

StartEngine Private: The Company provides accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds (“SE Funds”) which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies (the “underlying securities”) via its StartEngine Private product offering. The SE Funds are managed by StartEngine Private Manager LLC and advised by StartEngine Adviser LLC. StartEngine Adviser LLC is an exempt reporting adviser under Rule 203(m)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SE Funds sell their membership interests in offerings that are exempt from registration under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and specifically Regulation D promulgated thereunder. Such offerings are marketed to accredited investors by the Company’s FINRA-member and SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, StartEngine Primary LLC. The Company generates revenue to the extent it is able to sell underlying securities to an SE Fund. The Company treats the amount it receives for selling underlying securities as revenues, and the acquisition cost related such underlying securities as cost of revenues.  There are several factors that are used in pricing the securities of an SE Fund, including but not limited to:  the price (including transaction costs) the securities were purchased by the SE Fund’s affiliate, the time spent and costs involved by the SE Fund’s management team including those related to identifying, verifying, acquiring, and managing the investments, sales of the underlying securities  on the secondary market, as well as considerations are given for the illiquidity of private investments compared to publicly traded securities and investor interest in the SE Fund’s securities. The Company also believes that there is value added by allowing investors to have an economic interest in these companies with less hassle and smaller denominations than available in secondary markets.  Additionally, consideration is also given to broader economic and market conditions that might impact the valuation of private companies, such as industry trends, regulatory changes, and economic cycles.

StartEngine Venture Club (formerly OWNers Bonus): The general public can become members of the StartEngine Venture Club program on StartEngine’s website for $275 per year. The Venture Club entitles members to 10% bonus shares on all investments they make in offerings on StartEngine where the issuer chooses to participate in the program. Issuers using our broker-dealer and funding portal services can choose to participate in our Venture Club program with respect to the offerings they are making under Regulation A or Regulation CF. Those issuers will grant bonus shares in their offerings to members of the StartEngine Venture Club program. The bonus shares are included in the offering statements filed with the SEC, and therefore offered and sold in reliance on Regulation A or Regulation CF, respectively.

StartEngine Secure: Through our wholly owned subsidiary, StartEngine Secure, we offer transfer agent services. These services include tracking each investor’s account information and the amount of securities purchased and date purchased. Our goal is to provide a seamless service to our client companies. Our intent is for our transfer agent to have agreements with our various entities to allow it to collect information on investors and their investments through an API (application programming interface). Therefore, when a company raises money on StartEngine, our transfer agent will be notified and sent the investor information and the investment details. The transfer agent will then capture this information into its redundant and secure database hosted in the cloud and encrypt for security purposes.

StartEngine Premium: For our Regulation Crowdfunding campaigns, we offer marketing services branded under the name “StartEngine Premium”. For an additional fee, our team will support companies with the design of their campaign pages, provide a designated account consultant to guide a company throughout the campaign creation process, and assist a company in developing a marketing strategy based on best practices and analytics from previous successful campaigns.

StartEngine Primary: By adding broker-dealer services to the mix of our offerings, we are able to take a more active role in the promotion and sale of securities in Regulation A, Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation D offerings hosted on our platforms. Further, we are able to facilitate the secondary trades on StartEngine Secondary, see (”StartEngine Secondary” below). StartEngine Primary received approval for a range of business lines to allow us to act as the broker-dealer for the private placements of securities (which includes securities sold under Regulation D), to effect transfers and sales on StartEngine Secondary, and to be able to receive referral fees and commissions for sales of securities. Further, to expend our services that we can offer our clients, we filed a continuing membership application with FINRA (“CMA”) to be a clearing or “carrying” broker-dealer so in addition to handling a client’s orders to buy and sell securities we can also maintain custody of a client’s securities and other assets (e.g. cash in their account). Our broker-dealer registration became effective in June 2019, and our CMA for become a carrying broker-dealer was accepted at the end of September 2021.

StartEngine Secondary: The goal of the StartEngine Secondary platform is to increase liquidity for shares sold in Regulation A, Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation D offerings. We facilitate the transfer and sale of these shares by creating an alternative trading system (“ATS”) to allow for secondary trades. Sales of shares sold under Regulation A on the StartEngine platform are permitted to be quoted immediately, while holders of shares sold under Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation D will need to wait one year in order to comply with the applicable transfer restrictions to participate on the platform. After receiving the requisite FINRA approval to operate as an ATS, StartEngine Primary launched its ATS, branded as “StartEngine Secondary” on May 18, 2020.

StartEngine Secondary has a limited operating history, and even though over 400 issuers have signed to be quoted on this platform, only twenty-five companies have been quoted on this platform to date, including the Company itself. Currently, for StartEngine Secondary, we generate revenues by charging trade commissions to the sellers of the shares and we intend to generate revenues by charging initial and annual quotation fees.

StartEngine Assets: The goal of StartEngine Assets is to provide retails investors the opportunity to invest in various asset classes - including real estate, wine, fine art, trading cards, watches, and comics. StartEngine Collectibles Fund I LLC is geared at securitizing collectible assets and selling shares to the public. As such, we previously sold securities under StartEngine Collectibles Fund I LLC , including shares in series for wine, fine art, trading cards, watches and comics, and as of September 6, 2023 is no longer selling securities. StartEngine Assets LLC had also purchased assets to securitize but does not intend to purchase anything further.

Support Services

Our Company is focused on our core competencies and therefore we surround ourselves with third party companies who help us accomplish our non-core tasks.

We rely on the following companies for outsourced services:

Market

Regulation A

Amended Regulation A became effective June 19, 2015. According to the SEC, the size of the Regulation A market remained at approximately $1.5 billion for the periods from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 and July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.

As of July 31, 2025, we have hosted 63 Regulation A offerings, which have raised a total of approximately $314 million on our platforms, not including 6 offerings for StartEngine itself and 40 offerings of series of companies managed by StartEngine Assets, LLC. We believe the market for Regulation A will continue to grow as more companies become aware of the ability to raise capital through crowdfunding platforms. Because it permits a maximum raise of $75 million each 12 months, we believe this rule is well suited for small and midsize businesses. We have seen the demand increase significantly between 2020 and 2022, while contracting in 2023 and 2024. Excluding offerings for StartEngine itself and its affiliates, we have hosted 13 offerings in 2020, 17 offerings in 2021, 22 offerings in 2022, 13 offerings in 2023, 7 offerings in 2024 and 4 offerings in 2025. The number of offerings hosted is based on the year launched and do not include offerings for StartEngine itself and the offerings of series for StartEngine Collectibles Fund I LLC.

Regulation Crowdfunding

Since its launch on May 16, 2016, we estimate that as of July 31, 2025, 1,371 offerings have raised over $585 million on StartEngine through Regulation Crowdfunding. According to the SEC, the size of the Regulation Crowdfunding market was decreased to approximately $249 million for the period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, compared with $352 million for the period from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

We believe Regulation Crowdfunding will grow year over year after a small contraction in the previous year as more startup companies become aware of this funding method and view Regulation Crowdfunding as a viable fundraising option and market conditions improve. We have seen the demand decrease between 2022 and 2023. We did see an increase in demand between 2023 and 2024 despite the Company adding fewer issuers to the platform at the beginning of 2024, however this strategy was reverted in mid 2024. Regulation Crowdfunding makes it relatively inexpensive to make an offering of securities: legal, compliance and accounting costs can be less than $10,000, and offering costs can be even cheaper for companies who prepare the documentation internally. With a current maximum raise of $5 million per year, we believe that this funding method is perfect for early-stage companies.

We are working to increase awareness of the benefits of Regulation Crowdfunding through a lead generation program that includes advertising on social media, email marketing and other marketing support. We mainly focus on start-ups; however, our outreach will also include some companies further along in their development. We have and plan to continue to educate the market through the content we write and publish on our blog as well as being guest authors on other popular blogs.

Regulation D Offerings

Offerings under Regulation D include those under Rule 506(b), Rule 506(c), and Rule 504. Our investor base is generally the retail investors, and according to the SEC, the size of the Rule 506(b) market (excluding pooled funds) was approximately $170 billion, the Rule 506(c) market (excluding pooled funds) was approximately $12 billion and the Rule 504 market (excluding pooled funds) was approximately $246 million for the period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. The vast majority of Regulation D sales were through Rule 506(b), which does not allow for general solicitation and allows for some non-accredited investors as well as less stringent requirements for verifying accredited status. Based on this information, we believe there is large potential market for online sales under Rule 506(c).

Rule 506(c) offerings are an inexpensive way to raise capital from accredited investors with a low cost of entry. Further, recent expansion of the definition of an “accredited investor” may widen the pool of potential investors. We estimate it can cost under $10,000 to prepare an offering under Rule 506(c). There is no limitation on the amount raised, which makes this rule attractive to companies who just completed a Regulation Crowdfunding offering or are planning a Regulation A campaign in the near future. This exemption can be used together with Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding. For Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, this exemption provides companies an opportunity to extend an offering beyond Regulation Crowdfunding once the maximum $5 million has been reached. For Regulation A offerings, this exemption can be used as a fundraising option prior to the launch of the offering, because of the time it takes to get a Regulation A offering qualified. While this currently represents only a small part of our overall business for issuers that we do not control; the offerings of the membership interests in the SE Funds for StartEngine Private utilizes this exemption.

StartEngine Private

The Company provides accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds that own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies (the “underlying securities”) via its StartEngine Private product offering. The offerings are made in reliance on Rule 506(c) of Regulation D. The Company does not currently have a value on the potential market size for our membership interests; but in its 2024 Annual Report from the SEC Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, the SEC estimated that approximately 19% households in the United States qualify as accredited. Additionally, we believe that the private equity and alternative investment markets are expected to grow significantly over the next several years.  The Company believes that there is interest from accredited investors to have an economic interest in the underlying securities where they do not have an interest in investing directly themselves (e.g., they do not want to invest the high minimum amount often required for companies at this stage) and/or do not have the time, financial, legal, and/or technical expertise to source these investments themselves.

Transfer Agent

The exemptions provided by Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding include conditional exemptions from the registration requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. One of the conditions is that should the number of a Company’s security holders and/or the value of a Company’s assets exceed a certain threshold, a Company needs to use a registered transfer agent to avoid the requirement that the Company become a fully-registered Company with the SEC - an expensive proposition for many of these small companies. Therefore, the market for our transfer agent services includes all companies that have previously raised funds through Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding offerings. Currently, we mainly market our services to our current clients.

StartEngine Secondary

We believe that a portion of the owners of securities purchased under Regulation A, Regulation D and Regulation Crowdfunding will be interested in selling their securities to prospective buyers. There is no viable marketplace today for these securityholders to sell their securities unless the Company seeks a quotation on an over-the-counter marketplace. Companies who use Tier 1 of Regulation A or Regulation Crowdfunding do not qualify for quotation on the leading over-the-counter marketplace. Further even if a Company qualifies for that market, which would include issuers using Tier 2 of Regulation A, the quotation requirements are expensive. We believe StartEngine Secondary has the potential for success because there are limited trading forums for these securities.

Registered User Base

As of July 31, 2025, we have approximately 1,671,996 registered users. Of these, approximately 413,000 have made investments on our platform. We determine registered users by tracking unique email addresses from investor profiles that have not deactivated their profiles. As an individual could have multiple email addresses across multiple profiles, or may no longer be active, even if they have not deactivated their profile, registered users are an approximate gauge and could overstate the actual number of unique registered users. There is no fee associated with becoming a registered user. Of the users who have made investments the average number of investments is approximately 2.28  and the amount per investment is approximately $1,044. We are seeing week-over-week growth in registered users and expect to register more users as we add more companies to our platform.

Competition

With respect to offerings made under Regulation Crowdfunding, we compete with other intermediaries, including brokers and funding portals such as WeFunder, Republic and MicroVentures.

With respect to offerings under Regulation A, we compete with other platforms, hosting services and broker-dealers. Some of our competitors include Dalmore, Dealmaker, Republic and Wefunder.

With respect to offerings under Rule 506(c), or online offerings made under Regulation D (which includes non-solicited offerings), we compete with platforms such as AngelList, EquityNet, FundersClub and Fundable.

With respect to our transfer agent, we compete with transfer agents such as Computershare and VStock Transfer.

With respect to StartEngine Private, we compete with other companies such as Forge, EquityZen and MicroVentures.

Strategy

Our Mission: Help entrepreneurs and investors achieve their dreams.

Our Strategy: We provide technology to allow the general public to invest in entrepreneurs.

Our Advantages

We believe that StartEngine is one of the leaders in the global crowdfunding nation. We aim to facilitate financial ignition of innovative companies led by determined, intelligent entrepreneurs who have the energy and talent to start and grow successful companies.

We harness the power and wisdom of “The Crowd” through the internet to release entrepreneurial creativity, thereby creating jobs, economic efficiency and ultimately economic growth. We believe we not only help entrepreneurs raise capital to start and grow their businesses, but we also help them build armies of committed, long-term brand ambassadors who, as investors, promote their companies to their friends, families and colleagues.

As one of the first movers in the equity crowdfunding industry, we are active in crowdfunding legal and regulatory affairs. Our position allows us to collaborate to establish industry-wide best practices and to improve the quality of listings. We believe our backend operating systems are highly efficient. Each function operates through documented procedures to ensure consistent, quality results. Knowing what it takes to successfully grow a Company, we try to keep operating expenses to a minimum.

We believe that StartEngine’s key asset is its team members. We are a group of talented people who have come together to democratize finance and investment in startup and growth companies. The hallmark of the Company is talented, respectful, enthusiastic and entrepreneurial people who understand and operate on the principles of dignity and respect.

Our mission is to help entrepreneurs and investors achieve their dreams.

Research and Development

StartEngine invested approximately $7,796,521 for the year ended December 31, 2024 and $5,779,920 for the year ended December 31, 2023 in research and development, product development, and maintenance.

Employees

As of July 31, 2025, we had 63 employees. We also work with a large number of contractors for user-experience design, security controls, and testing, services and marketing.

Regulation

Having platforms that host Regulation A, Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation D offerings, we are required to comply with a variety of state and federal securities laws as well as the requirements of FINRA, a national securities association of which our funding portal subsidiary and our broker-dealer are members. Further, as a registered transfer agent, we are required to comply with a variety of state and federal securities laws and laws that govern transfer agents, as well as laws aimed at preventing fraud, tax evasion and money laundering

Our Broker-Dealer

Broker-Dealer Regulations

Our subsidiary, StartEngine Primary, is registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC and a member of FINRA. The registration process not only includes registering with the SEC, but also requires membership in a self-regulatory organization (in our case, we are a member of FINRA) and in the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”), compliance with state requirements and making sure that our associate persons satisfy all applicable qualification requirements.

SEC Requirements

Since StartEngine Primary became a broker-dealer, it has been required to comply with extensive SEC regulations with respect to its conduct and the processing of transactions. These include requirements related to conduct, financial responsibility, and other requirements such as those that relate to communications, anti-money laundering (AML) and ongoing internal controls and governance. In addition, StartEngine Primary has been approved to operate an alternative trading system for secondary trading of securities. StartEngine also need to comply with extensive SEC regulations with respect to its conduct and its execution and clearance of transactions.

FINRA Requirements

Since StartEngine Primary became a of FINRA as a broker-dealer, it has been subject to FINRA’s supervisory authority and is required to comply with FINRA’s rules and regulations. These rules and regulations include many similar requirements to those of the SEC, and in many cases are broader in scope and provide more specificity. FINRA also has rules regarding conduct, compliance and codes of procedure. For instance, FINRA members must comply with NASD’s Rules of Fair Practice, which broadly speaking requires broker-dealers to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade in conducting their business. There are also rules that relate to use of manipulative, deceptive or other fraudulent devices, suitability, payments to unregistered persons, know your customer, supervision of our employees and responsibilities related to associated persons, financial soundness, recordkeeping, maintaining procedures, arbitration for customer disputes, AML and submitting to ongoing supervision. We are also required to undertake due diligence investigations with respect to Regulation A and Regulation D offerings.

Conduct Requirements

In general, many of the rules that govern broker-dealers stem from antifraud provisions; these requirements are broad in scope and prohibit misstatements or misleading omissions of material facts, and fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices, in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. Specifically, the following rules apply:

Antifraud specific requirements include those related to:

Finally, broker-dealers are governed by requirements regulating employees and individuals associated with the broker-dealer.

Financial Responsibility Requirements

Financial responsibility and operations requirements include: net capital requirements, margin requirements, customer protection requirements (e.g., reserve account and segregation of customer assets), risk assessment requirements, financial reporting (including an independent audit), and recordkeeping requirements. The minimum net capital requirement for StartEngine Primary is $250,000. As a self-clearing broker-dealer StartEngine Primary is specifically obligated under net capital requirements to maintain a sufficient level of net capital to cover any open trades that fail to settle.

Anti-Money Laundering

The Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 (the “BSA/USA PATRIOT Act”), requires broker-dealers to develop anti-money laundering (“AML”) programs to assist in the prevention and detection of money laundering and combating terrorism. Broker-dealers are also are subject to U.S. sanctions laws administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and are expected to have policies and procedures in place to comply with these laws.

Other Requirements

Broker-dealers are subject to a host of other rules and requirements including: mandatory arbitration, submitting for SEC and FINRA examinations, maintaining and reporting information on the broker-dealers affiliates (in our case, this includes the parent organization as well as the other subsidiaries), following electronic media and communication guidelines as well as maintaining an AML program.

Liability

Under our arrangements that do not use the services of our broker-dealer subsidiary, Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act, which applies to Regulation A, imposes liability for misleading statements not only on the issuers of securities but also on “sellers,” which includes brokers involved in soliciting an offering. Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act generally imposes liability on persons who “make” or disseminate misleading statements. Currently, the information presented on our platform is driven by the issuers. Additional liability may arise from as-yet untested provisions such as Section 9(a)(4) of the Exchange Act, discussed above.

Broker-dealers are subject to heightened standards of liability. Not only do broker-dealers have potential liability under Section 12(a)(2) but we also are subject to liability under Rule 10b-5. Broker-dealers may also be subject to liability for failure to comply with SEC and FINRA requirements, including claims that we can be held liable for the behavior of our agents (control person liability), claims regarding unsuitable recommendations, violations of margin rules, breach of contract, common law claims of fraud and various claims under state laws.

Our Funding Portal

To act as an intermediary under Regulation Crowdfunding, an entity may utilize either a funding portal or a broker-dealer. While we have traditionally relied on our subsidiary, registered with the SEC as a funding portal and a member of FINRA, to serve in this capacity, we have transitioned the majority of our Regulation Crowdfunding offerings to our broker-dealer. In addition to compliance with SEC and FINRA requirements, we may also be subject to rules issued by other regulators, including proposed anti-money laundering regulations from FinCEN.

We no longer utilize our funding portal for new Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, as all such offerings are now hosted through our broker-dealer.

Regulation S

Regulation S provides that the registration requirements of the Securities Act do not apply to offers and sales of securities that occur outside the United States. Regulation S is a safe harbor that specifies the conditions under which transactions will be deemed to occur outside the United States, including the imposition of “distribution compliance periods” during which securities may not be resold or transferred to “US persons”. The distribution compliance periods vary accordingly to whether the issuer of securities is a domestic or foreign company and whether or not the issuer’s securities are registered under the Exchange Act and subject to ongoing reporting obligations thereunder. The securities that we are most likely to host on our platform in Regulation S offerings are those of non-reporting US issuers, whose equity securities are subject to a one-year distribution compliance period, and whose non-equity securities are subject to a 40-day distribution compliance period. During the distribution compliance period, purchasers of the securities are required to certify that they are not US persons and agree to resell only to non-US persons. Securities professionals are required to deliver confirmations to buyers of securities stating that these resale restrictions apply to the buyers. Disclosure of these restrictions are also required to be made in selling materials and on the securities themselves. “US persons,” are defined in Regulation S, which includes natural persons resident in the United States, partnerships and companies organized under US law, estates and trusts of which administrators, executors or trustees are US persons, discretionary accounts held by a US fiduciary for US persons, non-discretionary accounts held for the benefit of US persons, and certain foreign partnerships and companies created by US persons. These conditions may require limiting access to campaign pages to non-U.S. based internet addresses.

Issuers that rely on Regulation S are still required to comply with the requirements of the jurisdiction in which their securities are sold.

Operation of ATS

The ATS must be operated by a broker-dealer. Our broker-dealer, StartEngine Primary, is governed by the rules regulating broker-dealer trading systems. Regulation ATS includes provisions that govern the operations an ATS such as those that relate to fees charged, fair access to the trading system, system requirements (capacity, integrity and security), display of orders and capacity to execute those orders, recordkeeping and reporting, and establishing procedures including related to confidentiality of trading information, among other things.

Operating an ATS, means that we also need to ensure compliance with relevant state laws, referred to as blue sky requirements. While states are preempted from regulating many facets of initial offerings (e.g., in Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding), secondary offerings, the type that will occur on our ATS, are not pre-empted under state laws. Therefore, even though a security may be freely tradeable under federal laws, our ATS and issuers will need to comply with the blue sky requirements as well.

Transfer Agent Regulations

As a registered transfer agent, we are required to comply with all applicable SEC rules, which predominantly includes the rules under Section 17A(c) of the Exchange Act. The requirements for transfer agents include:

In addition, we must comply with various state corporate and securities laws as well as provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, Office of Foreign Assets Regulations (OFAC) and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Exempt Reporting Adviser

An exempt reporting adviser is an exemption from full registration with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and specifically, we are the private fund adviser exemption, which is generally available to advisers that only manage private funds and have less than $150 million in assets under management.  As an ERA, our subsidiary not only has to make and initial and ongoing public filing Form ADV Part 1, but also has compliance requirements including, record keeping requirements, requirements with respect to material nonpublic information and compliance with the Advisers Act’s anti-fraud provisions. Currently, StartEngine Adviser LLC is the adviser for all the SE Funds.

Intellectual Property

We have a trademark for “StartEngine” in the United States. We do not own any patents; however, we have our own proprietary source code that we use in operating our platform. We also have a patent pending covering peer to peer trading.

Litigation

From time to time we may be involved in various disputes and litigation matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. Except as described below, the Company is not currently involved in any material litigation or threatened litigation. The Company was recently involved in an arbitration suit with an issuer whose offering was being conducted on the Company platform, StartEngine Capital. In 2021, the Company terminated the issuer’s offering and refunded investors for the amount previously raised prior to the termination. The issuer brought a claim against the Company for improperly relying on a recent SEC enforcement against a different crowdfunding portal in determining their course of action against the issuer. The Company and the issuer entered arbitration proceedings in July 2023. The matter was resolved on January 19, 2024 and payment of the settlement was resolved in March 2024. The settlement amount totaled $2.1 million of which the Company paid $200,000 with the remaining $1,900,000 covered by the Company’s liability insurance policy. The matter is now considered closed.  The Company recuperated the $200,000 payment in February 2025 as part of an insurance settlement regarding the case.

Available Information and Reports to Security Holders

We are currently required to file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC, as well as proxy statements, information statements, and other information with the SEC. Our SEC filings will also be available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

Our website address is http://www.startengine.com. Information contained on the website does not constitute part of this Registration Statement. We have included our website address in this Offering Statement solely as an inactive textual reference. We make available, through a link to the SEC’s website, electronic copies of the materials we file with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, the Section 16 reports filed by our executive officers, directors and 10% stockholders and amendments to those reports.

THE COMPANY’S PROPERTY

We do not own any significant property. We are currently working remotely. We a have a service agreement for our office space at 4100 W Alameda Ave., Suite 300, Burbank, CA 91505. It is a month-to-month agreement.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited financial statements and related notes for the periods ended June 30, 2025 and June 30, 2024 and our audited financial statements and related notes for the fiscal years ending December 31, 2024 and 2023, included in this Offering Circular. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors. We discuss certain factors that we believe could cause or contribute to these differences below and elsewhere in this Offering Circular.

Our Company

StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. was incorporated on March 19, 2014 in the State of Delaware. The Company was originally incorporated as StartEngine Crowdsourcing, Inc., but changed to the current name on May 8, 2014. The Company’s revenue-producing activities commenced in 2015 with the effectiveness of the amendments to Regulation A under the Securities Act adopted in response to Title IV of the JOBS Act. Operations expanded in 2016, as Regulation Crowdfunding, adopted in response to Title III of the JOBS Act, went into effect. On June 10, 2019, our subsidiary, StartEngine Primary LLC, was approved for membership as a broker-dealer with FINRA. The Company’s subsidiary, StartEngine Adviser LLC filed as an exempt reporting advisor with the SEC on January 8, 2024.

Business and Trends

For Regulation A offerings, our broker-dealer subsidiary is permitted to charge commissions to the companies that raise funds on our platform. Regulation A offerings are subject to a commission ranging between 4% and 7% and usually include warrants to purchase shares of the Company or the securities that are the subject of the offering. The amount of commission is based on the risks and other factors associated with the offering. Through StartEngine Primary, we can also charge commissions on Regulation D offerings hosted on our platform. During the periods covered in these financial statements we did not receive any Regulation D commissions. In Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, our funding portal subsidiary is permitted to charge commissions to the companies that raise funds on our platform. We typically charge 6% to 10% for Regulation Crowdfunding offerings on our platform. We also generate revenue from services, which include a consulting package for Regulation Crowdfunding issuers called StartEngine Premium priced at $15,000-$20,000 to help companies who raise capital with Regulation Crowdfunding, as well as transfer agent services marketed as StartEngine Secure. In Q2 2024, the Company shifted the Secure billing from annual invoices at $10 per user to tiered service annual contract for $250 or $350 per month. We additionally charge a $1,000 fee for certain amendments we file on behalf of companies raising capital under Regulation Crowdfunding as well as fees to run the required bad actor checks for companies utilizing our services. The Company also receives revenues from other programs such as the StartEngine Venture club (formerly OWNers bonus) program and StartEngine Secondary. Our annual memberships for the StartEngine Venture Club bonus program are $275 per year. We launched StartEngine Secondary on May 18, 2020 and generate revenues by charging trade commissions to the sellers of the shares. Through December 31, 2024, the Company itself as well as twenty-four additional companies have been quoted on this platform. Currently, for StartEngine Secondary, we generate revenues by charging trade commissions to the sellers of the shares and we intend to generate revenues by charging a 5% commission to the seller. In Q3 2023 the Company began providing accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in funds (“SE Funds”) which own shares of venture capital backed, late-stage private companies via its StartEngine Private product offering. The SE Funds are managed by StartEngine Private Manager LLC and advised by StartEngine Adviser LLC, an exempt reporting adviser.

Trend Information

We are operating in a relatively new industry and there is a level of uncertainty about how fast the volume of activity will increase and how future regulatory requirements may change the landscape. We continue to innovate and introduce new products to include in our current mix as well as continuing to improve our current services such as providing liquidity for our investors and issuers. For instance, StartEngine Private which was a new product launched in the Q3 2023, has become our largest revenue generator in 2025.

As we are a financial services company, our business, results of operations, and reputation are directly affected by elements beyond our control, such as economic and political conditions including unemployment rates, inflation and tax and interest rates, financial market volatility (including related to tariffs), broad trends in business and finance, and changes in the markets in which such transactions occur (such as the bear markets that developed for equities in the second and third quarter of 2022), we might be disproportionately affected by declines in investor confidence caused by adverse economic conditions.

On August 6, 2023, the Company launched “StartEngine Private”, a venture to provide accredited investors the opportunity to purchase membership interests in series which own shares of VC backed, and generally late-stage private companies (the “underlying securities”). The Company treats the amount it receives for selling underlying securities as revenues, and the acquisition cost related to such underlying securities as cost of revenues. To date, StartEngine Private has become our largest source of revenue. While StartEngine Private offerings have been successful in the first six months of 2025 and the Company expects that it will continue as its largest revenue source in foreseeable future, the Company may experience a slowdown in revenue from this line of business due to limited availability of stock for purchase as well as the potential of reduced demand for the product and limited purchase slots available for each offering. The Company continues to invest in this line of business and anticipate that expenses related to the purchases and sales of StartEngine Private securities will increase in tandem with the revenue generated. Currently, the Company has brought in 4 sales associates dedicated to selling investments in StartEngine Private offerings and will continue to evaluate necessary headcount as StartEngine Private grows.

As a Company, we are always reevaluating processes and procedures as it pertains to the success of the business. As such, the Company remains agile on changes in the market as well as the demand for services provided by the Crowdfunding industry. At the end of 2024, the Company determined that a reduction in workforce was required as the market for regulation A and Crowdfunding stagnated. This decision to reduce headcount by 25% was made in an effort to remain nimble in a competitive market and help reduce costs as the Company aims for profitability in 2025. Going forward, the Company will continually evaluate personnel needs to determine if additional headcount may be required as we scale.

In 2024, the Company began hosting its new Regulation Crowdfunding issuances with the broker-dealer entity for regulatory and compliance reasons. As the legacy Regulation Crowdfunding raises complete their issuance, the remaining revenue from them will be booked to the current StartEngine Capital entity, which is not a broker-dealer. We expect that this transition to all Regulation A and Crowdfunding raises will be complete by the end of 2025.

Operating Results

Three Months Ended June 30, 2025 Compared with the Three Months Ended June 30, 2024

The following table summarizes the results of our operations for the three months ended June 30, 2025 (“Q2 2025”) as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2024 (“Q2 2024”)  and includes Adjusted EBITDA. For discussion of Adjusted EBITDA and reconciliation to the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, see “Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Our revenues during the three months ended were $39,810,718 which represented an increase of $27,944,107 or 235%, from revenues in the same period in 2024. The following are the major components of our revenues during the three months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024:

The increase in total revenues in three months ended June 30, 2025 as compared to the same period in 2024 is primarily due to StartEngine Private. The $34,104,729 represents closings on 26 StartEngine Private offerings as compared to 20 closings in the same period in 2024, and the Company plans to continue focusing on this revenue source in the future, though growth of this revenue stream may be bound by factors such as lack of availability of stock to purchase, limited purchase slots available for each offering and decreased demand for the product. Though this is a significant increase in revenues we note this is a lower margin product, see “Cost of Revenue” below.

Specifically, for the three months ended June 30, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, the Company observed the following revenue trends across its other product lines:

In addition, revenue was also impacted by the following:

*Offerings can span multiple periods and the amount raised during the period is based on the amounts closed on during that period.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues consists of internal employees, hosting fees, processing fees, certain software subscription fees that are required to provide services to our issuers, and for StartEngine Private acquisition costs related to underlying securities that it has sold to an SE Fund. Specifically, cost of revenues for StartEngine Private were $23,960,117 and $4,371,367 for three months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Our total cost of revenues during the three months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 was $27,564,695 and $6,143,731, respectively. The increase was primarily due to the addition of cost of revenue related to StartEngine Private based on its increased sales as well as it being a lower margin product.

Operating Expenses

Our total operating expenses during the three months ended June 30, 2025 amounted to $8,982,150, which represented an increase of $281,578, or 3%, from the expenses in the same period in 2024. The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to the following:

Other Expense (Income), net

Our other income, net during the three months ended June 30, 2025 amounted to $53,198, which represented cashback earned from our credit cards during the period as well as interest earned in the Company’s money-market accounts. During the same period in 2024 our other income, net was $13,897.

Net Loss (Income)

The Company has a net income of $3,277,901 for the three months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $6,300,045 compared to the net loss of $3,022,144 recognized during the three months ended June 30, 2024.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA totaled $6,692,855 for the three months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $6,142,519 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $550,336 in Adjusted EBITDA during the three months ended June 30, 2024.

Six months Ended June 30, 2025 Compared with the six months Ended June 30, 2024

The following table summarizes the results of our operations for the six months ended June 30, 2025 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2024. For discussion of Adjusted EBITDA and reconciliation to the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, see “Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Revenues

Our revenues during the six months ended were $70,175,075 which represented an increase of $48,550,867 or 225%, from revenues in the same period in 2024. The following are the major components of our revenues during six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024:

The increase in total revenues during the six months ended June 30, 2025 as compared to the same period in 2024 is primarily due to StartEngine Private. The $58,725,538 represents closings on 40 StartEngine Private offerings as compared to 22 closings in the same period in 2024, and the Company plans to continue focusing on this revenue source in the future, though growth of this revenue stream may be bound by factors such as lack of availability of stock to purchase, limited purchase slots available for each offering and decreased demand for the product. Though this is a significant increase in revenues we note this is a lower margin product, see “Cost of Revenue” below.

The Company experienced varied financial performance across its other product streams in the first half of 2025.

While there was a decline in Regulation CF commissions and other related revenues this downturn was offset by continued growth in platform fees associated with Regulation A offerings.

Specifically, for the six months ended June 30, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, the Company observed the following revenue trends across its other product lines:

In addition, revenue was also impacted by the following:

*Offerings can span multiple periods and the amount raised during the period is based on the amounts closed on during that period.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues consists of internal employees, hosting fees, processing fees, certain software subscription fees that are required to provide services to our issuers, and for StartEngine Private acquisition costs related to underlying securities that it has sold to an SE Fund. Specifically, cost of revenues for StartEngine Private were $41,464,354 and $7,653,779 for six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Our total cost of revenues during the six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 was $47,864,119 and $10,941,182, respectively. The increase was primarily due to the addition of cost of revenue related to StartEngine Private based on its increased sales as well as it being a lower margin product.

Operating Expenses

Our total operating expenses during six months ended June 30, 2025 amounted to $17,346,872, which represented a decrease of $319,550, or 2%, from the expenses in the same period in 2024. The decrease in operating expenses is primarily due to the following:

Other Expense (Income), net

Our other income, net during six months ended June 30, 2025 amounted to $78,778, which represented cashback earned from our credit cards during the period as well as interest earned in the Company’s money-market accounts. During the same period in 2024 our other income, net was $22,584 which was also related to cashback earned. The increase in cashback received is in line with the increase in advertising loans granted which were paid via credit card and generated the majority of the cashback for the Company.

Net Loss (Income)

The Company has a net income of $4,995,352 for the six months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $12,038,082 compared to the net loss attributable to shareholders of $7,042,730 recognized during the six months ended June 30, 2024.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA totaled $11,931,645 for the six months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of $11,896,951 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $79,865 in Adjusted EBITDA during the six months ended June 30, 2024.

Year Ended December 31, 2024 Compared with the Year Ended December 31, 2023

The following table summarizes the results of our operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

Revenues

Our revenues during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 were $48,625,508, compared to $23,385,998 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, which represented an increase of $25,239,510, or 108%. The table below represents the major components of our revenues during the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:

The increase in total revenues in year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to the same period in 2023 is primarily due to StartEngine Private, which began generating revenue in Q4 2023. The $27,883,143 represents closings on 41 StartEngine Private offerings, and the Company plans to continue growing this revenue source in the future. Though this is a significant increase in revenues we note this is a lower margin product, see “Cost of Revenue” below.

The Company experienced varied financial performance across its other product streams in 2024. While there was a decline in Regulation CF commissions and other related revenues - partly due to the closure of StartEngine Assets - this downturn was offset by continued growth in platform fees associated with Regulation A offerings.

Specifically, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, the Company observed the following revenue trends across its other product lines:

Although the strategy was implemented at the beginning of 2024, its effect on revenue did not become apparent until the end of Q2 and continued through Q3 2024. In response, the Company amended its strategy to support a broader base of issuers going forward with an aim to maximize revenue for future periods.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, approximately $79 million was raised from 203 issuers, compared to $110 million raised from 277 issuers in the same period of 2023.*

*Offerings can span multiple periods and the amount raised during a period is based on the amounts closed on during that period.

Cost of Revenues

Our cost of revenues during the three months ended December 31, 2024 was $25,873,241, which represented an increase of $17,169,347, or 197%, from the amounts during the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to the addition of cost of revenue related to StartEngine Private, which began sales in the last quarter of 2023 and totaled $17,281,432 for 2024. For StartEngine Private, cost of revenues includes the costs of purchasing the stock as well as the cost of the dedicated sales staff (including commission for sales of the issuance). Our gross margin for this product in 2024 was 37%. Our gross margin for the year ended December 31, 2024 decreased to 47% compared to 63% during the same period in 2023.

Operating Expenses

The Company’s total operating expenses during the year ended December 31, 2024 amounted to $38,888,870, which represented an increase of $7,754,110 or 25%, from the expenses in the same period in 2023. The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to the following:

These increases were partially offset by a decrease in write down of shares received for fees by $1,397,278 as the Company had fewer write down of share expense in 2024 due to increase price per share of return issuers and less write down of historically held stock.

Other Expense (Income), net

Our other expense, net during the year ended December 31, 2024 amounted to $400,055, which included loss from the sale of the membership in the apartment building of $432,148. During the same period in 2023 our other income, net was $144,290 which primarily represented cashback earned from our credit cards as well as dividends earn by the Company’s Vanguard account holdings and interest earned through the Company’s money market accounts during that period.

Net Loss

Net loss totaled $16,536,658 for the year ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $161,180 compared to a net loss of $16,375,478 recognized during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Critical Accounting Policies

See Note 2 in the accompanying financial statements.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and the reported amount of expenses during the reporting periods. Significant estimates include the value of marketable securities, the value of stock and warrants received as compensation and collectability of accounts receivable. Actual results could materially differ from these estimates. It is reasonably possible that changes in estimates will occur in the near term.

A significant portion of the Company’s assets relate to investments in stock and warrants received as compensation from issuer companies undertaking Regulation Crowdfunding or Regulation A offerings. As described in Note 2, in the accompanying financial statements, stock and warrants require significant unobservable inputs, primarily related to the underlying stock price of the security received which may include marketability discounts. Warrants have further unobservable inputs related to the estimated life. In all cases, there were sales of the stock to the public through Regulation Crowdfunding or Regulation A funding mechanism, but such sales are often not to the level that an active market existed or exists. Once the funding round is concluded it is difficult to ascertain the fair value of the issuer shares or the status of the issuer’s financial health, unless additional rounds of financing are undertaken in a public setting, or the issuer reports reliable and regular information publicly. Any change in the underlying shares would impact on the valuation of the related investments. Shares held are generally illiquid. Valuations require significant management judgment related to these unobservable inputs.

As many of the companies that undertaking Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation A are considered emerging growth companies, require significant capital to maintain or commence operations, and often contain warnings regarding substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, it is reasonable to conclude that through the passage of time, a significant portion of the stock and warrants held by the Company will ultimately be deemed worthless, decline in value, or in the case of warrants, expire without exercise. Similar to traditional venture capital results, it is reasonable to conclude that only a small portion of each investment may ever increase in value.

Investments – Warrant Assets

In connection with negotiated platform fee agreements, we may obtain warrants giving us the right to acquire stock in companies undergoing Regulation A offerings. We hold these assets for prospective investment gains. We do not use them to hedge any economic risks nor do we use other derivative instruments to hedge economic risks stemming from these warrants.

We account for warrants in certain private and public (or publicly traded under the provisions of Regulation A) client companies as derivatives when they contain net settlement terms and other qualifying criteria under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging. In general, the warrants entitle us to buy a specific number of shares of stock at a specific price within a specific time period. Certain warrants contain contingent provisions, which adjust the underlying number of shares or purchase price upon the occurrence of certain future events. Our warrant agreements typically contain net share settlement provisions, which permit us to receive at exercise a share count equal to the intrinsic value of the warrant divided by the share price (otherwise known as a “cashless” exercise). These warrants are recorded at fair value and are classified as Investments - warrants on our consolidated balance sheet at the time they are obtained, and remeasured each reporting period.

The grant date fair values of warrants received in connection with services performed are deemed to be revenue and recognized upon receipt.

Any changes in fair value from the grant date fair value of warrants will be recognized as increases or decreases to investments on our consolidated balance sheets and as a component of operating expenses on our consolidated statements of operations.

In the event of an exercise for shares, the basis or value in the securities is reclassified from Investment - warrants to marketable securities or non-marketable securities, as described below, on the consolidated balance sheet on the latter of the exercise date or corporate action date. The shares in public companies, or companies that trade over-the-counter as allowed by Regulation A, are classified as marketable securities (provided they do not have a significant restriction from sale). The shares in private companies without an active trading market are classified as non-marketable securities.

The fair value of the warrants portfolio is a critical accounting estimate and is reviewed each reporting period. We value our warrants using a modified Black-Scholes option pricing model, which incorporates the following significant inputs, in addition to certain adjustments for general lack of liquidity:

Investments - Stock

In connection with negotiated platform fee agreements, the Company obtains shares of stock in its customers. Our accounting for investment our customers stock depends on several factors, including the level of ownership, and power to control. We base our accounting for such securities on: (i) whether the issuer have made an offering in the current year, (ii) if so, the valuation of the stock in the offering, and (iii) if not, the Company will write down the stock value at a flat 33% rate. As the stock received from customers have no readily determinable fair values and generally represent small amounts of ownership in our customers, the Company accounts for this stock received using the cost method, plus adjustments for gross up, less write downs in accordance with ASC 321-10-35-2. During the six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, the Company received stock with a cost of $1,188,213 and $1,316,054, respectively, as payment for fees. During the six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, write down expense related to shares received amounted to $1,055,631 and $658,462, respectively.

Collectibles and Real Estate

The Company records collectibles and real estate at cost in accordance with the Company’s policy. These long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. In general, we believe that we purchase these assets in arms-length transactions at fair value and such transactions are evidence of fair market value in the near term. For collectibles, over time, and as trends change and economic factors affect various markets for which we hold assets, the estimation of certain assets that do not trade in a regular market may be difficult to assess for fair value. Certain assets may be subject to market manipulation or overproduction that could affect the underlying value of like or similar items. The quality of authentication bodies may affect future valuation. If there are limited data points to assess fair value, especially for one-of-a-kind collectibles, we may not identify impairments in a timely manner. Many of the collectibles have value that is in the eye of the beholder. Accordingly, there is significant uncertainty to what these assets would be valued at in subsequent arms-length transactions. For real estate assets, there tend to be more relevant data points, including comparable sales in close proximity to held real estate assets. The Company can also assess trend information in the overall economy and local economy where such assets may be held. However, sharp changes in economic conditions may make it difficult to estimate fair value and therefore potential impairment.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Statement of Cash Flows

The following table summarizes, for the periods indicated, selected items in our condensed Statements of Cash Flows:

Cash provided by operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2025 was $11,048,278 as compared to a cash outlay of $2,007,980 for the same period in 2024. For the six month period ended June 30, 2025 , we had net income attributable to stockholders of $4,995,352 compared with a net loss of $7,042,703 during the six month period ended June 30, 2024. In addition to the net income increase, the Company had an increase in Deferred Revenue of $1,484,534 from cash collection relating to Venture Club and Secure purchases. For the deferred revenue, cash has been received by the Company, but a triggering revenue recognition event has not yet occurred.

Cash received by investing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2025 was $1,472,074, as compared to cash used in investing activities of $26,973 in the same period in 2024. This cash inflow in 2025 is related to the net proceeds of selling the Company’s stake in an apartment complex it owned until March 2025 when its membership interests were sold.

Cash provided by financing activities was $2,952,435 and $215,441 for the six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The biggest driver of change of for financing activities is the proceeds received from the sale of common stock via the StartEngine Regulation A raise hosted on the Company’s platform. While the Company did not have an active raise in 2024, there were investments that cleared and were disbursed on within the period.

Balance Sheet

The following table summarizes our assets and liabilities as of June 30, 2025 as compared as of December 31, 2024:

The Company’s current assets increased by $13,565,134 from December 31, 2024 to June 30, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by an increase in cash in the amount of $15,472,787 driven by the performance of the StartEngine Private product, which has improved the overall performance of the Company, and the Company’s Regulation A raise which ended on June 26, 2025. This was offset by a decrease in customer receivables Accounts Receivable of $2,213,134.

The Company’s long-term assets increased by $2,801,048 from December 31, 2024 to June 30, 2025. This was driven primarily by a $5,874,194 increase in StartEngine Private investments for future offerings. This was offset by a decrease in Real Estate of $1,497,780 due to the sale of the building held by StartEngine as well as amortization of the SeedInvest intangible asset of $1,714,285.

Current liabilities increased by $3,240,877 which is primarily due to an increase in accrued liabilities by $1,607,454 due to performance bonus accruals and investor deposit increases. Additionally, deferred revenue increased 843,405 from purchases of annual services and Accounts Payable increased $790,018.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We do not currently have any significant loans or available credit facilities. As of June 30, 2025, the Company’s current assets were $28,291,099. To date, our activities have been funded from our revenues, investments from our founders, the previous sale of Series Seed Preferred Shares, Series A Preferred Shares, Series T Preferred Shares, and our Common Stock in our Regulation A and Regulation CF offerings. The Company hosted a Regulation A raise for itself from November 1, 2024 and ended on June 26, 2025.

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements, including arrangements that would affect the liquidity, capital resources, market risk support, and credit risk support or other benefits.

The Company currently has no material commitments for capital expenditures.

We believe we have the cash, marketable securities through future equity offerings, other current assets available, revenues, and access to funding that will be sufficient to fund operations until the Company starts generating positive cash flows from normal operations.

Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures

We are presenting a non-GAAP financial measure “Adjusted EBITDA”, which is a measure adjusted for the impact of specified items and are not in accordance with GAAP.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) calculated in accordance with GAAP adjusted to exclude interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization, and stock based compensation. We present Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management team to evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans and make strategic decisions. We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors regarding our operational performance and our ability to generate cash flows. Non-GAAP information should be considered as supplemental in nature and is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, our non-GAAP financial measures may not be the same as or comparable to similar non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies.

The following table reconciles net income (loss), the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented:

DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND SIGNIFICANT EMPLOYEES

As of August 29, 2025, our directors, executive officers and significant employees were as follows:

Howard Marks, Co-founder, CEO and Director

Howard Marks is one of our co-founders and has served as our CEO since January 1, 2017. From our founding in March 2014 until December 2016, Howard served as our Executive Chairman. Howard founded StartEngine, an unrelated entity, in November 2011 as a startup accelerator with the mission to help make Los Angeles a top tech entrepreneurial city. In March 2014, Howard and Ron Miller founded the Company as an equity crowdfunding platform. Howard was the founder and CEO of Acclaim Games, a publisher of online games now part of The Walt Disney company. Before Acclaim, Howard was the Chairman of Activision Studios from 1991 until 1997. As a former Board Member and Executive Vice-President of video-game giant Activision, he and a partner took control in 1991 and turned the ailing company into the $20 billion market cap video game industry leader. As a games industry expert, Howard built one of the largest and most successful games studios in the industry, selling millions of games. Howard is the 2015 “Treasure of Los Angeles” recipient, awarded for his work to transform Los Angeles into a leading technology city. Howard is a member of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s technology council. Howard has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is bilingual and is a triple national of the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

Ronald Miller, Co-founder and Executive Chairman

Ron Miller is the executive chairman and cofounder of StartEngine. Ron served as our CEO and a director since our founding in March 2014 until December 2016. On January 1, 2017, Ron became our executive chairman. He is also currently the founder of the Disability Group Inc., and has served as its CEO since 2004. When Howard and Ron initially met in the fall of 2013, they recognized that the JOBS Act represented the greatest advancement for entrepreneurship in a generation. From direct experience as entrepreneurs, they recognized that the key to bringing new technologies and innovations to market required capital that is not readily available. As a serial start-up entrepreneur, Ron immediately went into action to advocate for SEC rulemaking to give life to the JOBS Act, raise the initial capital and built a leadership team to drive the sales and market plan to help StartEngine establish a leadership place in the market.

Prior to StartEngine, Ron founded built and sold five companies through management buyouts, private equity, private investors, and public markets. He was also nominated as a four-time Inc.500/5000 award recipient and was Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year award finalist. As the executive chairman, Ron brings his deep experience as a leader and strategist to the Company.

Hunter Strassman, Chief Financial Officer

Hunter Strassman is the Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Office since May 2025. Prior to this role, from April 2021 to May 2025 he served as VP of Finance and was responsible for the finance and operations of StartEngine. Prior to joining StartEngine in April 2021, Hunter worked as the Director of Finance at AlphaFlow, a real estate asset management platform (November 2018 to April 2021). From July 2017 to November 2018, Hunter was the Senior Controller at Karbone Inc., a leading renewable energy brokerage. From January 2017 to July 2017, Hunter was the assistant controller at ACT Commodities. Hunter began his career at the public accounting firm Grant Thornton in their New York office, where he focused on hedge funds, private equity and fund of funds.

Hunter received his bachelor’s in accounting from Bentley University, and a master’s in taxation from Baruch College. Hunter is a licensed CPA in the State of New York, is a member of the AICPA, and holds the Series 7, 63, 24 and 27 certifications from FINRA. He has also passed the CISA and CRISC exams administered by ISACA.

Johanna Cronin, Chief Marketing Officer

Johanna Cronin is the Chief Marketing Officer at StartEngine and is the sole manager of our subsidiary StartEngine Assets LLC. She was the first employee and began working for StartEngine in 2014. Prior to that she served as an SEM analyst, managing paid media budgets and purchasing media placements for small businesses, for Dex Media, Inc. from March 2012 until March 2014. Johanna received her Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, where she was a psychology major with a Spanish minor.

Jonathan Reyes, Chief Compliance Officer

Jonathan Reyes has served as the Chief Compliance Officer at StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc., StartEngine Capital, LLC, and StartEngine Primary LLC since December 2020. Before becoming Chief Compliance Officer, Jonathan was the first in-house attorney to work for StartEngine, serving in various roles on the compliance team dating back to May 2017. Jonathan received his Juris Doctorate and master’s in business administration from Pepperdine University, and received a fellowship certificate from Pepperdine’s Geoffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship & the Law. Before that, Jonathan received his Bachelor of Science from Boston College where he was a triple major in Management and Leadership, Marketing, and Human Resource Management.

Joshua Amster, VP, Fundraising

Josh Amster is Vice President of Fundraising at StartEngine. He joined StartEngine in February of 2016. Before joining StartEngine, he worked alongside Allen Jebsen in business development and sales operations at AEG. He graduated from Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He holds his Series 7, 63, 79, and 24 certifications from FINRA.

Joseph Mathews, VP, Engineering

Joe Mathews is Vice President of Engineering at StartEngine, and has been leading Engineering and Product teams. Joe started his engineering career with NIIT Technologies, followed by Microsoft Inc, after which he worked for a number of startups, including co-founding one. In May 2017, Joe worked as Director of Platform Engineering at Science37, and since July of 2018, he’s been enjoying his work at StartEngine.

COMPENSATION OF DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

The following discussion and analysis of compensation arrangements should be read with the compensation tables and related disclosures set forth below. This discussion contains forward looking statements that are based on our current plans and expectations regarding future compensation programs. The actual compensation programs that we adopt may differ materially from the programs summarized in this discussion.

This section describes the material elements of the compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to our Chief Executive Officer, Howard Marks, and our three most highly compensated executive officers (other than our Chief Executive Officer), Johanna Cronin, Chief Marketing Officer, Joshua Amster, VP, Fundraising, and Allen Jebsen, SVP, Fundraising, for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.

Principal Elements of Compensation

The compensation of the Company’s executive officers comprises of the following major elements: (a) base salary; (b) an annual, discretionary cash bonus; and (c) long-term equity incentives, consisting of stock options, restricted stock awards, performance compensation awards and/or other applicable awards granted under the Company’s equity incentive plan (the “Equity Incentive Plan”) and any other equity plan that may be approved by the Board from time to time. These principal elements of compensation are described below.

Base Salaries

Base salary is provided as a fixed source of compensation for our executive officers. Adjustments to base salaries will be reviewed annually and as warranted throughout the year to reflect promotions or other changes in the scope of breadth of an executive officer’s role or responsibilities, as well as to maintain market competitiveness.

Annual Bonuses

Annual bonuses may be awarded based on qualitative and quantitative performance standards and will reward performance of our executive officers individually. The determination of an executive officer’s performance may vary from year to year depending on economic conditions and conditions in the cannabis industry and may be based on measures such as stock price performance, the meeting of financial targets against budget, the meeting of acquisition objectives and balance sheet performance.

Equity Incentive Plan

The Equity Incentive Plan provides continual motivation for our officers, employees, consultants and directors to achieve our business and financial objectives and align their interests with the long-term interests of our stockholders. The purpose of our Equity Incentive Plan is to promote greater alignment of interests between employees and stockholders, and to support the achievement of our longer-term performance objectives, while providing a long term retention element.

Amended and Restated 2015 Equity Incentive Plan

In May 2015, the Company established the 2015 Equity Incentive Plan which was approved by the Company’s Board and by stockholders in June 2015. The 2015 Equity Incentive Plan authorized the issuance of 600,000,000 shares of common stock. In December 2015, the 2015 Plan was amended to increase the number of shares authorized for issuance under the Plan from 20,000,000 to 40,600,000, further amended in September 2020 to increase the number of shares from 40,600,000 to 50,600,000, and then further amended in July 2021 to increase the number of shares under the plan on a post- split basis to 151,800,000 shares. The Company amended and restated the Plan in 2023 to increase the number of shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance by 80,000,000. As of March 18, 2023, there are 231,800,000 shares available under the plan. The Amended and Restated 2015 Equity Incentive Plan permits us to provide equity-based compensation in the form of stock options, restricted stock units, unrestricted stock and other stock bonus awards and performance compensation awards.

The Amended and Restated 2015 Equity Incentive Plan is administered by our Board of Directors, or a committee appointed by the Board of Directors, which determines recipients and the number of shares subject to the awards, the exercise price and the vesting schedule. The term of stock options granted under the Amended and Restated 2015 Equity Incentive Plan cannot exceed ten years. As of December 31, 2024, the Plan had 30,375,940 shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance.

The 2025 Equity Incentive Plan

The 2025 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2025 Plan”) was adopted by the Board April 15, 2025. The 2025 Plan provides for the grant of awards to eligible employees, directors, consultants, independent contractors, and advisors in the form of Stock Options, Stock Appreciation Rights (“SARs”), Stock Awards, Restricted Stock and Stock Units, and stock or cash-based bonuses, (each, an “award” and collectively, “awards”). The number of shares authorized for issuance under the 2025 Plan is Eighty Million (80,000,000).

The principal terms of the 2025 Plan are summarized below. This summary is not a complete description of the 2025 Plan, and it is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the 2025 Plan. The 2025 Plan is filed as Exhibit 6.4 to this Offering Statement of which this Offering Circular forms a part.

Employment Agreements with Key Executives

We entered into an employment agreement Mr. Marks, our CEO, with an effective date of January 1, 2024. The agreement is for two years, and will automatically renew for an additional one year period, unless either party gives notice more than sixty days prior to the initial term date of the agreement or each renewal period. The agreement provides that Mr. Marks’ base salary will be $745,000. Mr. Marks is eligible to participate in all employee bonus plans of Company, if any. Mr. Marks is also entitled receive bonuses (a) in an amount up to 100% of his base salary if the Company achieves its revenue goals of $30 million. The bonus goal for 2025 fiscal year will pay Mr. Marks an amount up to 100% of his base salary if the Company achieves its EBITDA goal of $10 million. In 2024, Mr. Marks received 2,000,000 stock options exercisable at $1.38 per share and vesting over four (4) years. At this time, 12,150,000 options have been granted in 2025.

Compensation and Insider Participation

During 2024, the Company did not have a compensation committee or any other committee performing equivalent functions of a compensation committee. Howard Marks, our Chief Executive Officer, in his capacity as a director, participated in deliberations of the Board concerning executive officer compensation and was employed by the Company.

Director Compensation

There is currently no agreement or arrangement to pay any of our directors for their services as directors.

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End