Yes. No rule requires every owner to contribute cash. What must hold up is treaty nationality across at least 50% of ownership, your own substantial and at-risk capital, your genuine role developing and directing the enterprise, and a real operating business that is not marginal.
Check the nationality of the equity, not the form of the contribution
Calculate the grant's effect using the partner's actual citizenship and rights acquired. U.S. residence does not determine treaty nationality, and promised shares are not necessarily already issued. Review vesting, voting, and dilution terms before changes and update calculations when they occur, without assuming a universal fully diluted method.
Add up only the percentages held by nationals of the treaty country, excluding any of them who hold United States permanent residence, and see whether the total reaches half. The investor also needs treaty-country nationality, qualifying enterprise nationality, and the ability to develop and direct, ordinarily shown by owning at least half or holding operational control. At least fifty per cent must be in treaty-national hands, and a co-owner who has become a U.S. lawful permanent resident no longer counts toward that half.
Compare the amount invested with the real cost of establishing the particular business to assess substantiality.