North America Common Law
Silicon Valley VC backed startups, California, USA
California is home to roughly half of US venture capital deployment, with Sand Hill Road, Mission Bay, and SoMa anchoring the world's deepest startup ecosystem. Inc. under the California Corporations Code is comfortable for VCs that prefer in state companies, though Delaware C Corp remains the VC default. Strong fit if your team, customers, and investors are physically in California.
Silicon Valley VCInc. under CA Corp CodeLargest US tech market
Start setup {placement} 4 min · no card required
Corp tax
21%
Fastest setup
5-15 days
Tax treaties
68
Region
North America
What you'll need
- No resident director required
- Remote-friendly, no local office
- No substance requirement
- Minimum capital: No minimum capital
- Administrative language: English
- Legal system: Common law
Tax and treaty profile
- Corporate tax 21%
- Effective rate ~28%
- Tax treaties 68
- VAT rate 7.25%
- Withholding on dividends 30%
Key treaty partners
UKCanadaGermanyFranceJapanAustralia
Banking and payments
- Banking is straightforward
- Stripe supported
- Mercury supported
- Wise supported
- Crypto banking available
- EMI license framework available
Considerations
If you want to minimise US state tax
California has one of the highest state tax burdens in the US: 8.84% CIT (10.84% for banks), $800/year minimum franchise tax even on $0 revenue LLCs, plus LLC gross receipts tax above $250K. For zero or low state tax US bases:
$800/year minimum franchise tax8.84% CITLLC gross receipts tax