Posts
December 11 2012
What is the five-letter word sure to strike fear into the hearts of investors everywhere? Fraud. But what I can't understand is why this particular f-word keeps being associated with equity crowdfunding. Sure, the involvement of large crowds statistically does increase the probability of a fraud in any industry. The…
December 10 2012
RocketHub’s Crowdfunding Whitepaper may prove a little tedious for the typical entrepreneur, but if you’re looking for a deep understanding of crowdfunding’s status in the US it is required reading. COO Jed Cohen and CFO Alon Hillel-Tuch were armed with their enthusiasm and this document at the recent SEC Forum on Small Business Capital Formation.
December 05 2012
Indiegogo, the crowdfunding platform used to raise millions of dollars for thousands of campaigns around the world, announced several international expansions on Wednesday. The expansions, which include new currencies, languages and localized homepages, aim to provide more customized and efficient experiences for international users.
November 27 2012
You'd think a vacancy at the top at the Securities and Exchange Commission would cause further delays in new regulations implementing crowdfunding and other provisions of the JOBS Act. But that may not be the case, according to Karen Kerrigan, who heads the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and helped lead the push on Capitol Hill for the JOBS Act.
November 27 2012
Despite news that the chair of the SEC will step down next month, CFIRA members remain optimistic that the SEC will formulate rules to govern equity crowdfunding under the JOBS Act by the end of 2013. Board members of the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) made the comments during a webinar sponsored today on BrightTalk entitled “What You Need to Know Regarding Jobs Act Implementation.”
November 14 2012
When my co-founder and I launched CircleUp, an equity-based crowdfunding site, earlier this year, we knew we needed to accomplish two critical tasks (well, a lot more than two, but these two stood out): 1) nail our business model and 2) raise capital., The best way to ensure a good business fails is to undercapitalize it. While we had the option to try to raise debt or equity capital, we knew debt capital was incredibly…
November 06 2012
In the spring of 2012, President Obama passed an act that will drastically alter the landscape of crowdfunding platforms. Until April 5, 2012, a small pool of existing crowdfunding sites were only permitted to operate on a reward or donation basis, essentially offering a product, discount, or enticement in exchange for monetary funding. With the launch of the JOBS Act, short for Jumpstart Our Business Startups, the ability for the general public to receive company equity in exchange for funding is now a possibility.
October 25 2012
To probe the legal intricacies revolving around the JOBS Act and how these new laws impact the crowdfunding scene in the next months leading to and right after its much-anticipated full implementation, Equities.com spoke with Douglas Ellenoff of Ellenoff, Grossman & Scholle LLP. Ellenoff has represented public companies in connection with their initial public offerings, secondary public offerings, regulatory compliance as well as general corporate governance matters. During his career, he has represented numerous broker-dealers, venture capital investor groups and many corporations involved in the capital formation process.