Accepting and Viewing Stock Certificates

Introduction

This article explains how you can accept and view stock certificates for each company you’ve invested in. Once issued, your electronic stock certificates are stored in your Data Room.

Accepting stock certificates

When a company issues you equity, you may receive an email notifying you that a new document is ready for your review. The steps required depend on the type of equity being issued and your role in the company. In most cases, stockholders are asked to review, sign, and accept a purchase agreement, grant agreement, or similar legal document associated with the equity issuance. After any required documentation has been completed, the related stock certificate may be issued and reflected in your account.

Stock certificates themselves generally do not require a separate acceptance. For example, founder grants and Restricted Stock Awards (RSAs) are typically accepted through the associated agreement rather than through the stock certificate. Additionally, if you already have a Fidelity Private Shares account, you may not receive an email notification or be prompted to take action when a new stock certificate is added to your holdings. If you were already a stockholder before the company joined Fidelity Private Shares, some of the steps described below may not apply.

The following example illustrates the process for accepting a founder stock issuance by reviewing and signing the related stock subscription letter and stock restriction agreement. Once the required documents have been completed, the stock certificate is issued and recorded in the founder's holdings. See this article for information on accepting equity awards in Fidelity Private Shares.

1. In the email, click Create Account if you’re a new user, or Log In if you already have an account. See this article for help in creating a new account.
   
2. Confirm your information and click Continue.
   
3. Review the documents and then click to Sign Documents electronically. If there are multiple documents to sign you may see a Sign All Documents button.
   
4. If applicable, upload your proof of stock purchase check to confirm the company is in receipt of your payment. 
   
5. Once all documents have been signed, you will see a confirmation with links to the executed documents located in the Data Room. 

Viewing stock certificates

Your stock certificates, as well as other documents, are available for view from the Data Room. When you log into the platform, on your Workspace click on My Documents.

In My Documents, use the search bar or open the Stock folder to find your stock certificate. Click the file name to preview the document.

From the document preview, you can download a copy of your stock certificate or view any referenced documents. See these articles for more information about viewing your equity, using My Workspace, and viewing your documents. 

Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only.

Fidelity Private Shares LLC provides cap table management and/or other administrative services to private companies and their equity compensation plans, and to investors in the private
markets.

Fidelity Private Shares LLC

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