Use cases · Venture capital
Electronic signatures for venture capital and startup funding
Close SAFE rounds, term sheets and board consents without chasing signature pages. Founders, investors and directors sign from an email link on any device, and every signed document is sealed and timestamped, ready for the next round's due diligence. Start from the free SAFE and SAFT templates if you don't have a form yet.
3 documents a month free. No credit card.
Documents founders and investors send for signature
SAFEs
Post-money SAFEs with each investor's purchase amount, valuation cap and any discount filled in, signed by the investor and countersigned by the company.
Term sheets
The headline terms of a priced round, signed by the lead investor and the company before the full documents are drafted.
Side letters
Pro rata, information or most-favored-nation rights granted to one investor alongside its SAFE or stock purchase.
Board and stockholder consents
Written consents approving a financing, an option pool or a grant, collected from every director or the stockholders whose approval is needed.
SAFTs and token warrants
Rights to future tokens for crypto projects, sold alongside equity or on their own to eligible purchasers.
NDAs before diligence
Confidentiality agreements signed before an investor gets access to the data room.
Free templates to start from
SAFE agreement template
An investor pays now and gets shares at the next priced round, at a price set by a post-money valuation cap.
SAFT agreement template
A purchaser pays a crypto project now and receives tokens when the network launches, on a set release schedule.
Mutual NDA template
Both sides agree to protect what the other shares while they explore working together.
Each has a plain-language note on every section, downloads as Word or PDF, and can be sent for signature from SignThis. See all free templates.
How a SAFE gets signed
Step 1: Prepare the SAFE
Start from your lawyer's form, Y Combinator's or the free SAFE template here, fill in the investor's amount and cap, and save it as a PDF.
Step 2: Set who signs
Add the investor as the first signer and the CEO as the countersigner, and add your lawyer as a copy recipient.
Step 3: Send one per investor
Each investor gets their own document, so every SAFE has its own sealed record. Reminders follow up until it's signed.
Step 4: File the sealed copy
Both sides receive the sealed PDF and audit certificate. Keep them with your cap table: the timestamp shows when each SAFE was signed.
What founders and funds use most
Sealed, timestamped records
In due diligence, investors' lawyers check the signed copies. Each sealed PDF carries its own digital signature and RFC 3161 timestamp, and anyone can check it on the verify page.
Signing order and copy recipients
The investor signs, then the company countersigns, with counsel copied so they know the moment a document is complete.
Your own templates
Keep your SAFE, side letter and board consent ready with their fields in place, and send each new investor a fresh copy.
Saving your own templates is included from Standard, and on every business plan.
API and webhooks
For funds and platforms: create and send documents from your own systems, and receive a signed webhook when a document is complete.
The API, webhooks and MCP are included from Professional, and on every business plan.
Good to know before you send
- SignThis doesn't check whether an investor is accredited, and doesn't run identity or anti-money-laundering checks. Do those before you accept the money.
- Selling a SAFE or a SAFT is a sale of securities. Check the filings that apply, such as a Form D notice, with your lawyer.
- Corporate law in Delaware and many other states lets directors and stockholders consent electronically, but your charter or bylaws may add conditions.
- SignThis isn't a cap-table or data-room tool. Keep the sealed copies with your cap-table records.
This is general information, not legal advice, and the rules differ between countries and states. For everything SignThis doesn't do, see what SignThis does not have.
Common questions
Can investors sign a SAFE electronically?
Yes. In the US, the ESIGN Act and state UETA laws generally allow contracts such as SAFEs to be signed electronically, and e-signing them is common practice. The investor signs from the email link on any device, with no account.
Is there a free SAFE template?
Yes. SignThis has a free post-money SAFE template with a valuation cap and an optional discount, and a SAFT template for token rounds, each with a plain-language note on every section. Y Combinator also publishes its own SAFE forms for free.
Can the whole board sign a written consent?
Yes. Add each director as a signer, all at once or in order, and the company secretary or counsel as a copy recipient. Reminders follow up with anyone who hasn't signed.
Can I send SAFEs to many investors at once?
Send each investor their own SAFE, since the amounts differ, so each has a separate sealed record. For an identical document, such as a notice to all stockholders, bulk send reaches up to 25 people at a time. Bulk send is included from Professional, and from Business Standard for teams.
How much does SignThis cost?
The free plan sends up to 3 documents a month, with no payment card and no end date. For more, plans start at $8 a month, billed monthly with no annual commitment. Signing is free for the people you send to. See every plan and its limits.