Safety & disclaimer

Arrangements made through Seed Round involve large amounts of money, a child, and decades of consequences. Both sides should slow down. The risky part isn't conception; it's everything after.

For women

• Make sure your sponsor is real. Verify they are who they say they are and that the wealth they describe exists: public records, employment, a real lawyer on their side. Money that only ever looks "liquid off-platform" can vanish after the first attempt.
• Get the money first, in writing. Whatever the structure (lump sum, installments, a trust for the child), have a lawyer draw up the documents and set up escrow or the trust before conception, not after. Once you're pregnant, your leverage drops to zero.
• Understand what you're signing. A contract that gives a donor no parental rights can also leave them no ongoing obligation. States and countries differ wildly. Get a family lawyer where you live.
• Check fertility and health honestly. A recent semen analysis, family medical history, and an STI panel if insemination will be natural.
• Personal safety first. Video call before meeting. Meet in public the first time. Tell someone where you are. Anyone pressuring or rushing you is the wrong sponsor.

For sponsors

• Verify she's who she says she is. Reverse-image search her photos, check her social link, talk on video. Sob-story fundraising scams are the predictable abuse of a directory like this; treat a listing as unproven until it's proven. A Verified badge means we confirmed identity, not intentions.
• Don't send money outside a structured agreement. If anyone, including someone you've come to trust, asks for funds before a lawyer-drafted contract exists, stop there.
• Understand your legal exposure. In several US states and countries, a known donor who has contact with the child can be held legally responsible as a parent, even with a signed donor agreement, and a court's child-support order can override what you agreed in private. Talk to a family lawyer in her jurisdiction, not just yours.
• Understand the time horizon. Whatever you commit to, you commit to for the life of a child. Choose a structure you can sustain.

Legal terrain

• Parentage, child support and parental-rights law varies by state and country. A donor agreement that's airtight in one place can be unenforceable in another.
• If a clinic is involved (IVF or insemination), its own rules on known donors may add constraints.
• If you're serious, talk to a family lawyer before conception, not after.

Scams and bad actors

• Seed Round never asks you to send money to another member, and never holds or moves money between members. The only payment we take is the access fee, on our own checkout. Anyone claiming to collect money on our behalf is lying.
• Sponsors: be skeptical of urgent timelines, sob stories, requests for money before contracts, and anyone who won't get on video.
• Women: be skeptical of sponsors who flash wealth they won't verify, who push for natural insemination after agreeing otherwise, or who want to "skip the lawyers, we trust each other."
• Report bad actors to hello@seedround.mom and we'll remove them.

The disclaimer

Seed Round is a listing service. We are not lawyers, doctors, fertility counselors, financial advisers, escrow agents or a sperm bank. Apart from the Verified badge, listings aren't verified or endorsed. You take on all the risk of any arrangement you make with another member. The full version is in the terms.