Usually the funds are committed before the application, because capital that has not left the investor's control is not at risk. The common solution is an escrow released on approval, which satisfies the commitment requirement while returning the money if the case fails.
Commit the money, but choose the mechanism
Hypothetical example: Ottoline is buying an American equipment-rental yard through her East Ferris company and wants to apply before paying anything, which is the natural commercial instinct and the wrong sequence here. An E-2 case is assessed on an investment that exists. Funds still sitting in her account, or held on terms she alone can reverse, are neither committed nor at risk.
An irrevocable escrow, released to the seller on approval and returned to her on refusal, is the conventional answer and should be drafted before the deposit is paid rather than after. Two further timing points matter. Pre-approval spending on premises, equipment and licences is ordinarily part of the investment and should be documented as it happens.
And because E-2 offers no direct path to permanent residence, a household intending to settle should begin that separate analysis now, while the business is being structured, rather than at the first renewal.