information rights

Intermediate 🚀 Startup / VC

Definition

Contractual provisions granting investors access to a startup's financial statements, board minutes, and other operational data. Essentially, the legal right to know how badly founders are spending their money.

Example Usage

As part of the Series A term sheet, the lead investor demanded quarterly information rights to monitor our cash burn.

Origin

Standard private equity practice adapted to venture capital in the 1980s

Fun Fact

Major VCs often don't exercise their information rights until something smells fishy, treating them as a safety net rather than a surveillance system.

Source: Venture Capital and Private Equity legal frameworks

Related Terms

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See “information rights” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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