How Your Money Is Protected: Escrow and Platform Safeguards

What is escrow and why does it matter?

When you invest in a campaign on Ardent CrowdFund, your money does not go directly to the business. It is held in a dedicated escrow account at our regulated custodian bank — separate from Ardent's operating funds and completely ring-fenced from your money and other investors' money. Ardent Africa Technologies Ltd never holds your investment funds directly.

How the custodian bank arrangement works

SEC Ghana Crowdfunding Guidelines 2024 require crowdfunding intermediaries to appoint a licensed custodian bank. The bank holds separate trust accounts for each campaign. The escrow balance is visible in real-time in the platform's systems. Funds are only released to the issuer when the campaign successfully closes above its minimum threshold.

What happens when a campaign fails

If a campaign closes without reaching its minimum funding threshold, the platform triggers a full refund process. Every investor in that campaign receives their full committed amount back, including any payment processing fees charged on the original transaction. Refunds are processed to your original payment method within 5 business days. No platform fees are charged on failed campaigns.

The 48-hour cooling-off period

After your payment is confirmed, you have 48 hours to change your mind and cancel your investment without penalty. During this window, you can visit your portfolio and cancel any commitment. After the cooling-off period expires, your investment is binding (unless the campaign fails). If the issuer makes a material change to the campaign after your investment, your cooling-off window re-opens for a fresh 48 hours.

Material change protection

If something significant changes in the business or campaign terms after you have invested, the issuer is required to notify all investors immediately. Your right to cancel is automatically reinstated for 48 hours from the notification. This protects you from investing based on information that later changes materially.