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Regulation Crowdfunding – SEC assists smaller, non-public U.S. companies with raising capital

Posted on Nov 12th, 2015

Ryan S. Carroll

On October 30, 2015, the SEC voted to adopt Regulation Crowdfunding, the final rules allowing private companies to raise capital through crowdfunding and providing additional protection to investors in crowdfunding investments.  This post provides some background on crowdfunding, a summary of Regulation Crowdfunding’s rules and forms and how we can assist in helping you in your next crowdfunding financing.  While we are lawyers, this blog is not intended to be legal advice and should not be relied on as such.  If you would like legal advice on any of the information contained in this post, please contact us.

Background on “Crowdfunding”

Crowdfunding is a new and evolving financing method that can be used to raise relatively small amounts of capital from a large number of investors at a low cost using the Internet as a means to market the offering.  Regulation Crowdfunding are the new rules which will be applicable to crowdfunding offerings relying on Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”).  This Section was added by Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (“JOBS Act”) which allows private companies to raise capital through new “crowdfunding” exemptions.  We last wrote on the topic of crowdfunding in this post.

Many provisions of the JOBS Act require rulemaking by the SEC.  Regulation Crowdfunding and its forms will be effective 180 days after they are published in the Federal Register (tentatively, May 2016). This will complete the SEC’s major rulemaking requirement as mandated under the JOBS Act.

The final rules can be found here.

Summary of the Rules:

The recommended rules would, among other things:

1)      Permit issuers to offer the sale of and for investors to purchase securities in crowdfunding offerings, subject to limitations.

  • Such limitations on crowdfunding include:
    • the maximum aggregate amount of financing an issuer can raise through crowdfunding in a 12-month period is $1 million;
    • across all crowdfunding offerings, an individual investor, over a 12-month period may only invest, in the aggregate:\
      • the greater of $2,000 or 5% of the lesser of their annual income or net worth (if their annual income or net worth is less than $100,000); or
      • 10% of the lesser of their annual income or net worth, not to exceed $100,000 in value (if both the investor’s annual income and net worth are equal to or more than $100,000); and
    • an issuer will only be able to make an offering through a registered broker-dealer or through a funding portal and can only use one intermediary for an offering made pursuant to the exemption.

2)      Require issuers raising capital through crowdfunding to disclose certain information regarding their business and the securities being offered through Form C and other requirements.

  • The initial disclosure an issuer must file about the offering is a Form C, which must be provided to the SEC, investors and the intermediary facilitating the offering.
  • Information that must be disclosed on a Form C includes:
    • the price of the securities offered to the public or the method for determining the price, the target offering amount, the deadline to reach the target offering amount and whether the issuer will accept investments in excess of the target offering amount;
    • a discussion of the issuer’s financial condition, a description of the business and how the issuer plans on using the proceeds from the offering, information about the officers and directors of the issuer, information about owners of 20% or more of the issuer and certain related-party transactions; and
    • financial statements of the issuer that are accompanied by information from the issuer’s tax returns, reviewed by an independent public accountant, or audited by an independent auditor.

3)      Create a regulatory framework for intermediaries facilitating the crowdfunding transaction.

  • An issuer must use a registered broker dealer or a funding portal.
  • A funding portal is required to register with the SEC on new Form Funding Portal and become a member of a national securities association (currently, FINRA).
  • Regulation Crowdfunding requires the registered funding portals to:
    • provide investors with educational materials that explain the process for investing on the platform, the types of securities being offered and information an issuer must provide to investors, resale restrictions and investment limits;
    • take certain measures to reduce risk of fraud by having reasonable basis for believing issuers on the platform comply with the Regulation Crowdfunding and that such issuers have a way of keeping accurate records of security holders;
    • make information that an issuer is required to disclose available to the public on its platform for a minimum of 21 days before any security may be sold and throughout the entire offering of such security; and
    • provide channels of communication for discussions about the offerings on the platform, provide disclosure to investors about compensation to the intermediary, only accept an investment commitment after such investor has opened an account, has a reasonable basis for believing an investor complies with investment limitations, provide investors notices once they made investment commitments and confirmations at or before completion of the transaction, comply with maintenance and transmission of funds requirements and comply with completion, cancellation and reconfirmation of offerings requirements.
  • Regulations prohibit intermediaries to engage in certain activities, such as:
    • providing access to their platforms to issuers that they have reasonable basis for believing there is a potential for fraud or other investor protection concerns;
    • having a financial interest in an issuer where it is offering or selling securities on its platform, unless the intermediary is receiving such interest in the issuer as compensation for its services, subject to certain conditions;
    • compensating any person for providing the intermediary with personally identifiable information of any investor; and
    • offering investment advice or making recommendations, soliciting purchase, sales or offers to buy securities, compensating promoters and other solicitors, and holding possessing or handling investor funds or securities.

4)      Require issuers raising capital through crowdfunding to be subjected to ongoing reporting requirements, such as annual reports, to be filed with the SEC and provide such annual reports to investors through the intermediary.

  • If an issuer is raising $100,000 or less, the following are required to be reported (among other things):
    • amount of total income, taxable income, total tax as reported on federal tax forms (if any) and financial statements of the issuer certified by the principal executive officer of the issuer.
  • If an issuer is raising more than $100,000 and less than $500,000, the following are required to be reported (among other things):
    • financial statements of the issuer reviewed by an independent public accountant.
  • If an issuer is raising more than $500,000, the following are required to be reported (among other things):
    • financial statements of the issuer audited by an independent public accountant.

This post is only a summary of selected sections of Regulation Crowdfunding.  Crowdfunding is a very new and nuanced form of raising capital and we recommend you contact your attorney before pursuing any such transaction.  If you have any questions concerning the information in this post, please do not hesitate to contact me at ryan.carroll@hermanlawllc.com.  


SEC Proposes New Rules under JOBS Act to Facilitate Investment in Private Companies

Posted on Jan 16th, 2014

Pursuant to the Title IV of the JOBS Act, in December 2013  the SEC proposed new rules to facilitate start ups and smaller companies to raise capital.  Title IV of the JOBS Act created a new exemption under section 3(b)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (Securities Act), for smaller offerings. As directed by section 3(b)(2), the proposed rules would amend  the existing Regulation A, an exemption for unregistered public offerings of securities up to $5 million.

These proposed rules could be significant. The amended Regulation A, commonly referred to as “Regulation A+,” is intended to facilitate capital formation for small companies by addressing certain issues in the current Regulation A that have deterred companies from using Regulation A to raise funds, including the low maximum offering amount and the high costs of state blue-sky compliance requirements.  The proposed rules would create two tiers of Regulation A offerings: Tier 1 for offerings of up to $5 million in a 12-month period and Tier 2 for offerings up to $50 million in a 12-month period.  Both tiers would be subject to certain basic eligibility, disclosure, and procedural requirements that are derived from the existing Reg A framework, with certain updates to conform to current practices for registered offerings. Tier 2 offerings would be subject to additional requirements, including the provision of audited financial statements, ongoing reporting obligations, and certain investment limitations.  Tier 2 offerings would provide federal law preemption and thus be exempt from having to comply with state blue-sky requirements.

The proposed rules are subject to a 60-day public comment period after publication in the Federal Register. If adopted, Regulation A+ has the potential to provide start-ups and private companies with a viable alternative for raising capital quickly and inexpensively, while improving the liquidity of their securities in secondary markets.  We will continue to monitor these developments and will post updates as they become available.

 


New SEC Investor Bulletins on General Solicitation and Accredited Investors

Posted on Oct 6th, 2013

In September the SEC issued two new alerts via its Office of Investor Education and Advocacy for investors. These alerts concerned the SEC’s new general solicitation rules and the details on the new definition of “accredited investor.” These alerts are available here on the SEC’s website at the following links:

New General Solicitation Rules

Accredited Investor Definitions

The alert concerning the general solicitation rules reminds investors of the variety of risks inherent to private placements. For example, there are differences between the relevant offering documents of private placements and registered offerings; private placement documents do not generally present the investor with as much information concerning the issuer and the offering. Furthermore, the failure of an issuer to verify accredited investor status might well be a red flag about the overall health of the offering.

In tandem with this, the SEC’s “accredited investor” alert is designed to assist investors in knowing whether they are accredited investors. It details several examples of the “net worth” test in practice using factual examples.

The alerts are the latest of the SEC’s ongoing attempts to curb inappropriate use of the general solicitation rules, and to ensure that the risks of investments are clear to private placement investors.

If you have any questions about this topic, please feel free to email us.


SEC Approves Crowdfunding Venture Capital Model

Posted on Apr 9th, 2013

On March 28th, FundersClub became the first online venture capital business to be approved by the SEC. The online investment platform received a no-action letter from the SEC essentially giving the company a thumbs up, legally speaking. This is significant across the board as players throughout the venture capital industry and companies searching for funds seek out creative fundraising sources to help bootstrap and fill a capital gap for smaller investments.

FundersClub resists the term “crowdsourcing,” but it does share some crowdsourcing traits. The platform allows investors who are accredited by the company to select companies for investment from a broad range of choices. The companies themselves are early-stage startups with business plans researched by FundersClub. In other words, the platform vets, curates and connects high quality investors and companies in need of funding, and does so while appearing as a single entity.

The issue of legality arose because FundersClub is not a registered broker-dealer. FundersClub simply responded that it was merely moving offline venture capital advising work into the online space. The SEC agreed with them, at least for now.

Also of significance here is the success of FundersClub despite the traditional need for relationships and networking in the venture capital arena. When it comes to doling out large sums of money, vetting matters. Investors have historically been reluctant or unwilling to make investments without personal interactions and referrals.

The victory of FundersClub highlights the ways that the VC landscape is shifting. Few investors today have the ability to maintain a truly diverse portfolio using personal connections. As outsourcing becomes more common investors feel more comfortable trusting vetting and other homework to specialists like FundersClub, and early-stage companies benefit from the exposure they get from the arrangement.

At this point FundersClub looks like it is here to stay. The National Venture Capital Association has accepted FundersClub this year as its first online member, and as of this writing FundersClub has helped its startups raise approximately $26 million. Whether other companies will jump onto the bandwagon and copy the FundersClub model remains to be seen, but we would expect this model to quickly grow and adapt as the market develops.

If you have any questions about this topic, please feel free to email us.