SEC’s Title III Equity Crowdfunding Rules for Non-Accredited Investors Go into Effect May 16, 2016

The new SEC rules and proposed amendments are designed to assist smaller companies with capital formation and provide investors with the necessary protections

Chairman Mary Jo White Keeps Her Promise to Crowdfunding Industry

By Robert Hoskins

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the final Title III rules to permit companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.  The Commission also voted to propose amendments to existing Securities Act rules to facilitate intrastate and regional securities offerings.  The new rules and proposed amendments are designed to assist smaller companies with capital formation and provide investors with additional protections.

Crowdfunding is an evolving method of raising capital that has been used to raise funds through the Internet for a variety of projects.  Title III of the JOBS Act created a federal exemption under the securities laws so that this type of funding method can be used to offer and sell securities.

“There is a great deal of enthusiasm in the marketplace for crowdfunding, and I believe these rules and proposed amendments provide smaller companies with innovative ways to raise capital and give investors the protections they need,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “With these rules, the Commission has completed all of the major rulemaking mandated under the JOBS Act.”

The final rules, Regulation Crowdfunding, permit individuals to invest in securities-based crowdfunding transactions subject to certain investment limits.  The rules also limit the amount of money an issuer can raise using the crowdfunding exemption, impose disclosure requirements on issuers for certain information about their business and securities offering, and create a regulatory framework for the broker-dealers and funding portals that facilitate the crowdfunding transactions.

The new crowdfunding rules and forms will be effective 180 days after they are published in the Federal Register. The forms enabling funding portals to register with the Commission will be effective Jan. 29, 2016. Final rules become effective May 16, 2016.

The Commission also proposed amendments to existing Securities Act Rule 147 to modernize the rule for intrastate offerings to further facilitate capital formation, including through intrastate crowdfunding provisions.  The proposal also would amend Securities Act Rule 504 to increase the aggregate amount of money that may be offered and sold pursuant to the rule from $1 million to $5 million and apply bad actor disqualifications to Rule 504 offerings to provide additional investor protection.

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CrowdVenture.com Teams Up with Equipoise Capital Partners to Offer Real Estate Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities to Accredited Investors Nationwide

The equity crowdfunding investment management team only selects projects in which it is willing to make the investment itself so that investors can be assured that the investment opportunities have been through an extensive due diligence and underwriting process

By Robert Hoskins

Newport Beach, California – Leveraging their extensive experience, deal flow and operational capabilities, the Equipoise team will locate, originate and project manage each of the real estate backed debt opportunities that will be offered to accredited investors through the Crowdventure.com real estate equity crowdfunding platform. The investment opportunities offered will include residential and commercial real estate across the United States, providing asset class and geographical diversity for investors.

@TheCrowdventure Teams Up with Equipoise Capital Partners to Offer Real Estate Equity Crowdfunding Investment Opportunities to Accredited Investors Nationwide

Projects offered on the Crowdventure.com platform will be pre-funded by Crowdventure.com and its partners. As the management team only selects projects in which it is willing to make the investment itself, investors can be assured that the investment opportunities that are on offer have been through an extensive due diligence and underwriting process and are project managed by an experienced team. Investors get the added benefit that they start earning interest on their investment as soon as the project funding round closes escrow.

For real estate developers who want to raise funds for their own real estate projects, Crowdventure.com provides access to new sources of capital quickly and efficiently, using a nationwide network of accredited investors. The loan underwriting processes employed are swift and definitive, giving borrower/developers the money they need when they need it. The Crowdventure platform differs from other crowdfunding lenders, private money lenders and hard money lenders because its goal is to fund as much of the capital stack as possible. This can include the purchase price, rehab price, interest reserves, points and closing costs.

Matthew Sullivan, Crowdventure.com’s CEO, said “This important joint venture with Equipoise Capital Partners gives our investors access to real estate expertise and creative capital structures that previously were only available to ultra-high net worth individuals and hedge funds, delivering a winning combination of low minimum investment, above market returns, and wide geographical and asset class diversification.”

Tom Braegelmann, Equipoise’s CEO, said “We are delighted to partner with Crowdventure and to be able to give the benefit of our real estate experience, creativity, deal selection and project management expertise to a wider investor audience, and to play our part in the democratization of real estate investing that crowdfunding offers.”

Accredited investors can participate in Crowdventure’s investment opportunities with as little as $5,000. The entire investment process is intuitive, quick and frictionless and can be completed online in minutes, enabling investment decisions at a time suitable to the investor. After completing the process, Crowdventure keeps its investors updated with the progress of their investments, showing how much interest has been earned while delivering the monthly interest distributions to their respective accounts.

CrowdVenture’s mission is to make real estate investing a collaborative, intuitive procedure. Its aim is to give accredited investors the opportunity to participate in high quality, innovative real estate investments across the United States. And its objective is to deliver a range of investments that previously would only be available to ultra-high net worth individuals and hedge funds, which deliver above-market returns while contributing to social betterment.

CrowdVenture empowers its investors to participate in real estate investment opportunities directly, cutting out the middlemen, reducing fees and enabling increased potential returns. The Crowdventure.com platform is simple, intuitive and secure. It gives investors the tools and information they need to confidently make transactions and monitor their investments online.

Equipoise Capital Partners is a diverse group of real estate experts carefully combined to bring ultimate gains across the board. The Equipoise management team includes experienced real estate developers, lenders, and loan and fund servicers and they are able to make and manage investments in premier real estate projects around the country. Equipoise manages numerous funds that bring advantages to lenders and borrowers alike and through their established relationships they have the benefit of access to significant deal flow across the United States.

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(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Hoskins adamantly believes that the crowdfunding industry will empower everyone in the United States to rediscover the possibility of living the American dream with a little hard work, a great business idea and the dedication to researching, planning and launching a well-thought-out crowdfunding campaign. Heconsults on a regular basis with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

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MicroVentures Opens “500 Startups Fund III” Equity Investment Opportunity to Fund 4-Month Startup Accelerator Programs

Equity Crowdfunding Site Now Seeking Investors to Invest up to $10,000 in Multiple e-commerce, cloud services, mobile, education, digital health, payments and Internet startup companies

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – MicroVentures, an online equity crowdfunding portal based in Mountain View, California and offices in Austin, Mexico City and San Francisco, announced the launch of a new equity crowdfunding investment fund called “500 Startups Fund III,” which is seeking to sign up accredited equity investors to invest a minimum of $10,000 or more in early stage capital investments. The 500 Startups Fund III makes investments across multiple industry verticals, including e-commerce, cloud services, mobile, education, digital health, payments and Internet among others.

MicroVentures Equity Investment Network Has Invested   $125 Million in Approximately 900 Startup Companies

Founded by Bill Clark in 2009, MicroVentures recruited Tim Sullivan, Garrett Paul and Jaclyn Strife from SharesPost in 2012, which is renowned for taking Facebook through its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and went on to found Oceanic Partners. The firm runs something commonly referred to an investment syndicate, where accredited investors who are new to the Angel and Venture Capital investment process follow seasoned, experienced lead investors.

“Over the years, MicroVentures has built a platform that gives investors the ability to diversify investments in early to late stage opportunities. Our level of due diligence and customer support are unique resources angel investors previously did not have access to,” stated Bill Clark, Founder and CEO of MicroVentures. “Investors are increasingly seeking diversification and international exposure. MicroVentures through the 500 Startups Fund III provides both, while reinforcing its long-standing commitment of supporting investor demand for diversified opportunities.”

Using this growth strategy MicroVentures had amassed more than 4,000 investors by the end of 2012 and over the past three years it has grown 625% to a very large pool of more than 25,000 global investors who have invested approximately $125 million in 900 companies.

Unlike typical broker dealers, which only solicit investments ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 and up, the MicroVenture site allows accredited as well as non-accredited investors to invest in a wide variety of funds that range from investments of $1,000, $3,000, and $10,000 and up. This allows investors to diversify their portfolio and spread their eggs across multiple startup baskets, which reduces risk and increases the chance of being able to discover and participate in the next Facebook, Oculus, or Pebble Time Watch at a very early stage.

The 500 Startups runs a four-month Accelerator Program for Startups that culminates in a private, invite-only Demo Day where each startup presents to a group of select investors in an effort to attract additional seed funding. About 30 companies participate in each four-month program offered at its various locations.  Batch 12 began January 2015 in San Francisco.

In addition to investing through its accelerator program, 500 Startups invests globally in early-stage companies through various seed-stage investment funds.

Across numerous funds, 500 Startups has committed approximately $125 million to over 900 portfolio companies.

The inaugural investment fund, Fund I, was formed in July 2010 and achieved an ultimate fund size of $29 million. As of September 30, 2014, the internal rate of return for Fund I stood at 18% with investment exits worth approximately $13 million.

Fund II was formed in April 2012 raising almost $45 million. Fund II has achieved $2 million in exits and a net internal rate of return of 27% as of September 30, 2014.

While Fund I and Fund II are closed to new investments, the 500 Startups is the fundraising process for four other funds: Fund III, Annex Fund, 500 Luchadores and 500 Durians.

Under its status as a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, MicroVentures offers both primary and secondary investment opportunities through their user-friendly, online equity crowdfunding platform. Series 7 licensed brokers develop personal relationships with Accredited and Sophisticated Investors to provide high-touch customer service, and support investment in startups with confidence.

The crowdfunding portal provides access to a flow of curated, vetted startup investment opportunities and allows novice investors to review due diligence, disclosures and speak with experienced licensed financial professionals prior to making an investment.

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Licensed Broker-Dealer Signs Deal with Due-Diligence Services Provider to Provide CUSIP Identifiers for Private Placement Offerings

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings

 By Robert Hoskins

New York, NY – CUSIP Global Services (CGS) and WealthForge announced acollaborationin the registrationofCUSIP identifiers for private placement offerings.   Meant to serve the rapidly growing market for online capital formation colloquially known as “crowdfunding,” this joint initiative will bring the precision and reliabilityofCUSIP identifiers to a new sector of the market.

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings

Useful primarily for trade communication as well as clearing and settlement activities, CUSIPs for Crowdfunding will function like CUSIPs for other types of securities, and will feature the same 6-character issuer and 9-character issue format upon which so many market participants have come to rely.  CUSIPs for Crowdfunding are available upon request for most offerings with valid support documentation.

“Making CUSIPs available to private placements adds credibility and legitimacy to this emerging asset class, making crowdfunding more like existing markets,” said Mat Dellorso, CEO of WealthForge. “Just as publicly traded securities are easy to find and easy to track through a CUSIP, we believe the same should be true of these new online securities. This partnership will make that possible.”

In addition to the functionality available through WealthForge’s portals, CUSIPs for Crowdfunding are available via a jointly promoted website, .

“We are pleased to enter this new market with WealthForge as a partner,” said Jim Taylor, Managing Director and Head of CGS. “With the support of our industry-appointed Board of Trustees, it is CGS’ mandate to bring the efficiency and reliability of CUSIP identifiers and descriptive data to new markets – Crowdfunding is a natural extension of that philosophy.”

WealthForge will be the first broker-dealer to offer CUSIP identifiers for private offerings.

Added Dellorso, “In the near term, we are focused on enabling our partners to better communicate and promote their offerings to potential investors. In the long-term, our vision is to create increased liquidity opportunities for private securities – a CUSIP on each one is an important step toward achieving that goal.”

WealthForge Holdings, Inc. is a firm that enables online private investments – investments made in companies, particularly small businesses and startups, that are not on a public exchange. WealthForge provides the technology and oversight needed to complete these private investment transactions within SEC regulations through its wholly-owned licensed broker-dealer subsidiary.

Some of WealthForge’s services include compliance, investor verification, transaction processing, shareholder services and access to larger pools of capital. WealthForge’s broker-dealer subsidiary has been operating as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) since 2009.

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DealScene.com Takes Advantage of New General Solicitation Laws to Market Private Placement Offerings to Accredited Investors

 In the first six months since adoption, operating companies have filed to raise $6 billion using general solicitation

By Robert Hoskins

Rye, New Hampshire – Investor Access LLC announced today that it launched DealScene.com to connect investors with private companies raising capital.  The inaugural group of offerings can be viewed at www.dealscene.com.

DealScene.com Takes Advantage of New General Solicitation Laws to Market Private Placement Offerings to Accredited Investors

Through adoption of the new Rule 506(c) exemption, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently lifted the decades-old ban on general solicitation to allow private companies raising capital to appeal directly to potential investors who are not part of their existing network of friends and family.  In the first six months since adoption, operating companies filed to raise $6 billion using general solicitation.  And the substantial majority of these companies are taking a “do it yourself” approach to capital raising.

Against this backdrop, Investor Access developed DealScene to provide a turnkey presentation and deal processing platform in a customizable online environment where companies offer their securities directly to accredited investors. DealScene gives companies investor screening tools, creates a secure environment for companies to share their stories with investors, establishes a second layer of access control to company documents, and provides a back-end process to support efficient closings. Investors receive due diligence information, review investment documents, and participate in discussion forums with managements and each other.

“With the introduction of general solicitation and the appeal of the internet to create connections to investors, more companies need online tools to handle their securities offerings,” said Brad McGee, cofounder of Investor Access, “DealScene is a robust and secure environment that can save companies time and development costs that would be necessary to recreate the capabilities and interactive experience DealScene offers.  This leaves companies free to focus on developing connections to investors.”

“The benefits of DealScene aren’t limited to companies.  Until now, access to investments in private companies relied on exclusive connections and private communications. But recent changes in the securities laws now permit open communications between investors and companies raising capital, creating a transparency previously absent in small company investing.  DealScene affords accredited investors an engaging experience where they can access private placements online and interact with each other and company managements,” Mr. McGee added.

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Las Vegas to host 2nd Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp

By Robert Hoskins

Crowdfundingroadmap and NowStreet Media have teamed up to host the 2nd Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp that will be held on October 14-16 at the M Resort and SPA in Las Vegas, NV.  Sign up before February 2, 2013 and receive a $200 early bird discount.

Because conventional forms of financing, such as venture capital and small business loans, are no longer viable options for earlier stage companies, many have been desperately seeking alternative capital raising methods, such as Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has already matured into nearly a $3 billion  industry, and with the implementation of the Jobs Act, it is forecasted to grow exponentially as more and more entrepreneurs, investors and members of the financial community propagate the marketplace. Comprised of the largest gathering of industry professionals, this year’s convention is designed to provide participants with an unparalleled informational and networking experience.

This is the must-attend event for entrepreneurs and small business owners, investors, crowdfunding professionals and enthusiasts, funding portals, investment bankers, financial advisers, venture capitalist, angel investors, incubators, business coaches, mentors, secondary stock specialists, equity analysts, journalists as well as tax, legal and regulatory experts. Attendees can expect to be immersed in the best in education that will include personalized hands-on access to renowned industry leaders.

Highlights of this year’s conference will feature a very special keynote by the legendary entrepreneurial mentor/advisor, Jay Abraham – founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc. Jay has been acknowledged as a unique and distinctive authority in the field of business performance enhancement – and the maximizing and multiplying of revenue and business assets.

The 3-day event will also feature a one of a kind “Funding Portal Pavilion”™ as well as a new “Crowdfunding Expo Showcase” and “Crowdfunding Expo Marketplace” – where the best in the industry come together to exhibit game-changing platforms, products and new funding solutions. Also being introduced is a diverse series of workshops for Entrepreneurs, Investors, Financial Advisers, Funding Portals, Broker Dealers, The International Community as well as Legal and Tax Professionals. All workshops will be spearheaded by an impressive list of prominent speakers from around the world.