Investing in startups

[Candystore]

Has any of you ever invested in startups. I am keen to do this, but have no clue how to go about it.

How do I find them, how do I research their potential, etc?

Thanks

 

[newby_investor]

There are some financial service companies which offer so-called Section J12 investments, they invest in interesting kinds of businesses, I'm not sure if that's specifically what you're looking for. There are even some tax breaks for investing in these. They're not common though, and you'd need to do your homework.

The caveats are, you need to be willing to let your money be tied up for at least 5 years, AFAIK it's not easy to cash out earlier than that.