Articles of incorporation is the foundational legal document filed with a state's Secretary of State to formally create a corporation. Called a "certificate of incorporation" in Delaware and some other states (abbreviated COI or AOI), it brings the corporation into legal existence and gets amended every time the company's authorized share structure changes (typically at each financing round). The document establishes the entity's name, registered agent and address, business purpose (often deliberately broad: "any lawful business"), authorized share count, par value, basic capital structure, incorporator, and registered office.
The required and common contents of articles of incorporation: corporate name (must be un...