Crowdfunding intermediaries- Hurry Up and Wait

On April 5, 2012 President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law. Part of the JOBS Act is the Crowdfunding Act, the full title of which is the “Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act of 2012”.  I think the acronym came first, but applaud the creativity.

I have been blogging extensively on the JOBS Act and Crowdfunding Act.  My last blog addressed Herculean effort the SEC must undertake to write the laws and rules which will bring the Crowdfunding Act to fruition by early 2013.  In addition to fashioning the exemption that will allow companies to raise funds using the Crowdfunding Act, the SEC must also fashion rules to govern the funding portals that companies will be required to use in the process.

Funding Portals are popping up everywhere, at least in name and concept.  All of these portals are busy putting together systems internally, but all of those systems are subject to the SEC

SEC Grapples With Crowdfunding Rulemaking

On April 5, 2012 President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law.

 

The SEC’s Rulemaking Duty

Some of the rules went into effect immediately; others are in the drafting process.   Within 90 days of the signing of the Act (i.e. mid July), the SEC is required to issue enabling rules as to other portions of the Act, including rules related to general solicitation and advertising of accredited investors under Rule 506 of Regulation D. For the SEC that is the easy part.

Finally, the SEC has up to 270 days (beginning of 2013) to release rules relating to the new crowdfunding exemption and crowdfunding platform portal regulations. That will be difficult part.  As a matter of background, the biggest opponents of the crowdfunding bill were the SEC and FINRA.  It is easy to see why, the SEC’s mission, direct from their website is:

“The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly,

SEC Issues Guidance on Title 1 of the JOBS Act

On April 5, 2012 President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law.  Some of the rules went into effect immediately; others are busily in the drafting process.   The SEC has begun issuing guidance and it is expected will continue to do so often.

On April 16, 2012, the SEC issued guidance on Title 1 of the JOBS Act.  The full text of this guidance is available on the SEC website.  Title 1 of the JOBS Act provides scaled- down business disclosure for Emerging Growth Companies (EGC’s) effectively treating them as small business issuers.  In particular, EGC’s need only provide two years of audited financials (instead of 3) for a registration of an IPO; are treated as small businesses for the reporting of executive compensation; have no Sarbanes-Oxley Act 404(b) auditor attestation requirements and are able to test the waters with communications to QIB’s and institutional accredited investors prior to an offering.

 

Determining When and If a Company Qualifies As

Crowdfunding Timing and Investor Protections

On April 5, 2012 President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law.

Some of the rules went into effect immediately, such as the ability of an Emerging Growth Company to file a registration statement and seek confidential treatment during the review process.  For this process the EGC would avail itself of the new Securities Act Section 6(e).  The SEC issued, albeit limited, guidance on this process for EGC’s yesterday, April 10, 2012.

Within 90 days of the signing of the Act (i.e. mid July), the SEC is required to issue enabling rules as to other portions of the Act, including rules related to general solicitation and advertising under Regulation D.  Finally, the SEC has up to 270 days (beginning of 2013) to release rules relating to the new crowdfunding exemption and crowdfunding platform portal regulations.

 

Crowdfunding Has Been Around For Several Years

It seems to many that the JOBS Act appeared, was enacted into law and is zooming forward