How can intellectual property be valued to be considered as investment required by E2 visa?

I respectfully disagree with the others answers stating that your startup's IP cannot count towards the investment for E2 purposes. We (myself and my cofounder, both Canadians) used this strategy successfully. First, we both signed agreements irrevocably assigning our intellectual property to the startup. (This is a standard agreement in most startup formations anyway.) So the IP was at risk. Secondly, because we had been accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator, our IP had an implicit value. The accelerator invested $X for Y% of the company. Therefore, we argued that the value of our IP was X/Y * (1-Y) We emailed the US consulate (Toronto in our case) in advance to ask if we were doing this right and they responded favorably. We then applied for an received E2 visas valid for a 5 year period. (On a related note, I'm aware of unfunded startups who hired independent third party valuation specialists to value their IP and were successful in their E2 petitions based on that.)

This is an interesting questions.  Clearly all IP has some value, it's just a question of the legal formality and construct in which you'd use or receive funding for the IP. I think George's answer and approach is compelling and with a proper third party-valuation this approach could work.  That being said, it would be best to discuss this with a US immigration lawyer regarding the intricacies of this strategy.

E-2 investment must be a combination of capital fund and the intellectual property. The intellectual property itself cannot be considered as an investment because E-2 requires already committed and irrevocable investment.   To evaluate the intellectual property, usually signed contracts between the intellectual property owner and the buyer are used. The contract amounts reflect the value of the intellectual property. If you do not have this, then you need to get an expert opinion letter from someone who is a recognized expert in that field to support your application. If you require further help with your visa, you could use a consultancy such as http://www.globalvisas.com to help you ensure that your application is complete and you maximize your chances of success.