The market for venture backed IPOs in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015 was the weakest in two years, both in terms of number of deals and aggregate proceeds, according to pre-IPO institutional research firm Renaissance Capital, as well as a separate exit poll report by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture
New Regulation A+ Published in Federal Register — Will Become Effective June 19
The Regulation A amendments adopted by the Securities Exchange Commission on March 25 are 
being published tomorrow, April 20, in the Federal Register. That means the final rules and form amendments will officially become effective on June 19, 2015 (by rule, 60 days after such publication).
The new Regulation A, referred to widely as
SEC Adopts Final Reg A+ Rules for Mini Public Offerings of up to $50 Million without Registration
The SEC yesterday issued its highly anticipated final rules amending Regulation A to allow issuers 
to raise up to $50 million in any 12 month period through public offering techniques but without registration with the SEC or state blue sky authorities. The 453 page rules release features a scaled disclosure regime to provide issuers with
To Improve Small Company Liquidity, SEC Chairman Announces Tick-Size Pilot
SEC Chairman Mary Jo White gave her state of the Commission speech on Friday at the “SEC Speaks 2014” conference in Washington, D.C. But if you were distracted for a moment by the sight of hoodie-clad Mark Cuban live-tweeting at the conference, you may have missed this one paragraph in the speech:
“In 2014
SEC Provides Guidance on General Solicitation Private Offerings
The Securities and Exchange Commission released helpful guidance on some of the practical aspects of the new Rule 506(c) exemption for private offerings using general solicitation and advertising. The guidance comes in the form of Questions 260.05 – 260.13 in its Questions and Answers of General Applicability and include the following:
- Exemption is available to
General Solicitation Ban Lifted from Rule 506 Private Offerings, But Issuers Must Verify all Purchasers are Accredited
The SEC on July 10 finally lifted its 80-year old ban on general solicitation and general advertising in Rule 506 offerings, as Congress directed it to do last year in the JOBS Act. When the new rules go into effect in September, issuers will be able to use social media, the internet, blogs, email and
SEC Report on Small Business Capital Reform
Last month, the SEC released its Final Report on the 2012 SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, the SEC’s annual forum to address perceived unnecessary impediments to small business capital formation. Participants typically include small business executives, VCs, government officials, trade association representatives, lawyers, accountants, academics and small business advocates. The Report contains
Startups’ Guide to JOBS Act
In perhaps the only successful bipartisanship effort in 2012 to remove barriers to economic growth, Congress passed and the President signed on April 5, 2012 the most comprehensive set of laws to facilitate small company capital raising since the Federal securities laws were first enacted in the 1930s. In a nutshell, the JOBS Act (acronym for the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act) creates an on-ramp for small company IPOs, removes the prohibition on general solicitation and advertising from the most commonly used private offering, creates a new equity crowdfunding exemption, sharply raises the cap for the small company offering exemption under Regulation A from $5 million to $50 million in any 12-month period and significantly raises the shareholder number trigger for Exchange Act registration. Some provisions are immediately effective, but others require SEC rulemaking.
Continue Reading Startups’ Guide to JOBS Act
Risks In Using Unregistered Finders To Find Capital
Using finders, instead of investment bankers that are registered broker-dealers, involves significant risks that could threaten a company’s ability to successfully raise capital now and in the future.
The biggest risk is that if the finder is deemed to be an unregistered broker-dealer, under federal and some state securities laws an investor may have the