Deeds of Adherence need to be signed by a witness - here's how
Most documents on SeedLegals are just signed by the parties to that agreement, easy. The exception is the Deed of Adherence. These are the Instant Investment Agreement which is used to complete an Instant Investment top-up to a funding round; and Instant Conversion Agreements, which are used when you convert SeedFASTs in an Instant Conversion; deeds need to be signed by both the signatory and a witness.
We've made this as easy as we could, here's how:
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Sign the Deed/Instant Investment Agreement
First thing is to sign the Deed of Adherence/Instant Investment Agreement yourself, as a signatory. -
Fill out the "Invite your witness" form
After signing, a dialog appears, allowing you to set your witness's full name, occupation, and residential address. Submit the form, and a link appears.
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Share the link with your witness
- If your witness is in the same room, simply click the "Open in new tab" button.
- If your witness watched you sign during a video conference, click on the "Copy to clipboard" button, and paste the link in your video call chat box.
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Your witness signs
Opening the link displays a form to your witness. It is similar to the one you previously filled, allowing your witness to fill any missing data or fix any typo in their details. They may then sign in the appropriate field. Done! -
Share the document with the investor
If you are a Company Admin, remember to share the deed/agreement with your investor (hit the Share or Invite to View & Sign button). They will perform the same steps as you: signing and sharing a link with their witness to sign.
Alternatively, you can of course just get it all done the old way - i.e. download the document as a PDF, sign it, have someone stand next to you and witness for you, and post the document to the other party to do the same. But e-signing is definitely the faster and better way to go.
Finding a suitable witness
The next thing to know is who can be a witness?
Legally, the witness is meant to:
a) physically see the signatory sign the document
b) not be an 'interested party' to the transaction themselves
Not being an interested party means the witness should not benefit themselves one way or the other from the outcome of the agreement.
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For example, an employee of your company should not be a witness for the other party, because if there's a dispute later the other party could look to exploit the fact that the witness was connected to your company and not independent.
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For the same reason ideally, a family member shouldn't be the witness for your signature, since they're an interested party by family ties.
Basically, just find any random person near you - I usually use the concierge in our building - and, after signing the document on your phone in front of them, click the Invite Witness button, then hand them your phone to enter their details and sign. Easy.