International investing

Your home market only contains so many businesses. By looking at overseas markets, you can access a far bigger pool of potential partners, suppliers and buyers.

A key advantage is that you can reach markets with a reputation as vibrant hubs for particular sectors — technology in the US, industrial manufacturing in Germany, agriculture and commodities in Brazil, trade and logistics across the Gulf and Asia.

Another main benefit is exposure to economies that may be moving at a different pace to one another. When your home market is slowing, another may be booming. A blend of operations across regions can help smooth out your results — when one deal is lagging, another might be doing well.

IGT is international by design: projects are published with their country, category and requirements up front, and members join from many different jurisdictions.

You explore the marketplace, filter by country and category, and each project lists its requirements before you commit to anything. When something fits, you send a request to join and the owner reviews it.

Once matched, the whole deal lives in one workspace: a roadmap with milestones, direct messaging, document sharing and invoicing. Every agreement that matters goes into an electronic contract signed with a full audit trail.

An assigned coordinator oversees the partnership, and mediation and dispute tools are there if something goes wrong.

Remember that your counterparty may be many time zones away. Because messages, documents and milestones all live on the platform, the deal keeps moving even when your working days barely overlap.

IGT's own fees are the same wherever your counterparty is: the subscription, a partnership fee when a contract is signed, the RWA fee and a success fee if the deal completes — with everything in between credited against the success fee. The full breakdown is on our charges page.

When a transaction is settled in another currency, foreign-exchange costs apply. Conversion happens through your own bank, at your bank's rates — IGT does not convert money.

Cross-border deals can also carry third-party costs that no platform controls: taxes and duties, intermediary bank charges, professional services and escrow. Price them into the deal before you sign.

On IGT itself the paperwork is light: complete your personal, business and banking profile, verify your bank account with a $1 transfer, and sign each deal's contract electronically.

The paperwork that does vary is the cross-border kind. Depending on the jurisdictions involved, withholding taxes, tax-treaty forms, customs declarations or licences may apply to your deal. IGT does not file these for you — treat them as part of your due diligence and involve a licensed adviser where needed.

Banks also apply compliance and sanctions screening to international transfers, which can add days to settlement. Build that time into your roadmap rather than being surprised by it.