On November 2, 2020, the SEC adopted significant rule amendments to simplify, 
harmonize and improve the exempt offering framework to facilitate capital formation and investment opportunities in startups and emerging companies. The rule amendments were initially proposed in March 2020, and first conceived in a concept release in June 2019. The reforms simplify the integration
Finders play a vital role in introducing startups to potential investors. Yet the general requirement that persons soliciting investors must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission as broker-dealers and be subject to the SEC’s broker-dealer regulatory regime has been a source of much uncertainty for finders and companies alike and has posed a serious
Non-accredited investors are estimated to constitute approximately 92% of the U.S. population. Yet 
restrictive rules governing exempt offerings have significantly limited their freedom to invest in private offerings and prevented or discouraged issuers from selling them privately offered securities. But in a recently issued concept release, the Securities and Exchange Commission has signaled a
Real estate developers should seriously consider equity crowdfunding to fund development projects for two
major reasons, one of which has little or nothing to do with money. The first reason is that new securities offering legislation enacted in 2012 creates new legal capital raising pathways which allow developers for the first time to use the
On June 8, 2017, the House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 on a vote of 233-186. Congress loves acronyms, and here “CHOICE” stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and 
Entrepreneurs. Although the thrust of the bill is focused on repeal or modification of significant portions of the Dodd-Frank
August 6, 2015 was a productive day for the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance on the issue of the prohibition on general solicitation in the context of online private offerings under Rule 506(b). My last blog post, entitled “It’s Complicated”: Establishing “Preexisting Relationships” with Prospective Investors, analyzed the
In my last post, I blogged about online funding platforms. In that post, I described the typical model of indirect investing through a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”) with the platform sponsor taking a carried interest in the SPV’s profits from the portfolio company and no 
transaction fee, as a means of avoiding broker-dealer regulation.