Records showing funds leaving the investor’s control and being spent by the enterprise: transfers, signed leases, equipment invoices paid, payroll started and insurance bound.
Spent money is the clearest evidence
The requirement is that the capital is irrevocably committed and exposed to loss, so the persuasive documents are the ones showing money that cannot be retrieved. A signed commercial lease with payments made, purchase invoices for trucks, trailers and equipment matched to bank debits, deposits with suppliers, business insurance in force, payroll registrations and initial wages paid all qualify. Contrast that with a bank statement showing a balance, a letter of intent, or an escrow the buyer can still unwind for reasons of their own; an escrow whose only outstanding condition is issuance of the visa is treated in official guidance as a solid commitment rather than a weakness. Alongside the expenditure, keep the lawful source and path of the funds documented from the beginning — sale proceeds, business earnings, a loan properly secured against personal assets rather than the enterprise itself — because the two questions are asked together.
Hypothetical example: a commercial-laundry buyer sends money from a personal account to a seller but keeps no signed asset schedule. Build a document trail in transaction order: source of funds, transfer record, purchase agreement, proof of payment, inventory, lease, permits and evidence that operations can begin. The first review should mark each assertion that lacks a primary record and ask the seller or bank for it while the transaction is current. Also document the ownership and operational control that let the applicant develop and direct the company. A business plan can explain the records; it cannot replace proof that money was committed and exposed to business risk.