Crowdcheck Blog
Insights and information for online capital formation
With the recent SEC proposal that would permit all companies, as opposed to just “emerging growth companies,” to talk to institutional investors prior to filing an offering with the SEC, we are heading towards more confusion with respect to what companies raising funds can say when.
The confusion stems from the fact that the Securities Act of 1933 regulates both “offers” and sales of securities, and the term “offer” is very broadly defined.* When I used to teach securities law to new lawyers I used to joke that the mere statement “This is not an offer of securities” is in fact an offer of securities. The US is somewhat unique in its regulation of offers, in…
This entry is filed under Capital Raising, Disclosure, Disclosure, Federal Law, Regulation, SEC, Securities Law
The ongoing government shutdown is hurting startups. Regulation A was amended in 2015 to give early-stage companies a way to raise funds from the general public, including online.
While Reg A offerings are often referred to as “mini IPOs,” they really aren’t, for a number of reasons. IPOs are held when a company is ready to become a fully-registered company. They typically involve a cast of thousands, a long timeline, an extensive price discovery process and they generally aren’t held when the company is in desperate need of money. Reg A offerings, in contrast, are more usually used as an alternative to an angel or VC funding for startups, especially for…
This entry is filed under Regulation, Regulation A, SEC, Blog
Deviating from its standard rulemaking procedures, the SEC issued final rules on December 19, 2018 to expand the eligibility requirements under Regulation A to include Exchange Act Reporting companies. This action was required by Congress as part of the “Economic Growth Act” that became law in May 2018. The SEC determined that it had little discretion when amending Regulation A in response to the Congressional directive, and went ahead and issued a final rule rather than a proposed rule for comment.
This change could prove to be significant for small, Exchange Act reporting companies that may not be eligible to register an offering on Form S-3. Additionally,…
This entry is filed under Regulation A, SEC
I wrote this and posted it on my personal blog at the time of the Christmas 2012 Shutdown. Unfortunately, it seems just as relevant today. I am particularly struck by the reference to the Dow performance.
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it.
Sara
[Date: many years in the future]
Many memories have faded now. But the clearest memories I have are of the events one Christmas that nobody quite agrees about. All of us who were there know that something happened, but when we try to describe it, the facts and details slide through our minds and become insubstantial, inchoate. Like things you see from the corner of your eye; when you turn, they aren’t…
This entry is filed under Educational
On December 7, 2018, FINRA released its 2018 Report on Examination Findings. This is the second annual report FINRA has released, and it provides a wealth of information for compliance officers. FINRA notes that it is not an exhaustive review of deficiencies exhibited by broker-dealers, but it does highlight those deficiencies that were significant and frequent. While the report focuses on broker-dealer operations, funding portals should take note as well, as FINRA has imputed certain broker-dealer supervisory and issuer review practices to funding portals under FINRA Funding Portal Rule 200.
The leading issue identified by FINRA was broker-dealers having…
This entry is filed under Bad Actor, Crowdfunding, Due Diligence Process, Regulation, Regulation A, Rule 506(c)
Confucius had some thoughts on precision of language:
Tsze-lu said, “The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done?”
The Master replied, “What is necessary is to rectify names.” “So! Indeed!” said Tsze-lu. “You are wide of the mark! Why must there be such rectification?”
The Master said, “How uncultivated you are, Yu! A superior man, in regard to what he does not know, shows a cautious reserve.
“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to…
This entry is filed under ICO, Types of Securities, Blog
We’ve noticed something interesting recently: Regulation A filings by companies that used to be SEC-reporting companies with quotes on the OTC Pink market, who have ceased to file reports with the SEC and whose trading activity on OTC has flatlined. Why would such companies file for a Reg A offering? Especially since so many of them are complete losers with weird agglomerations of business lines resulting from multiple reverse mergers (“We are a holding company operating in the mattress, muffin and blockchain businesses”)?
Because someone can make money, and it’s not the issuer and it’s not investors.
Here’s how. You start with an existing OTC-quoted shell…
This entry is filed under Fraud, Regulation, Regulation A, Securities Law
Part of the whole point of crowdfunding is that you leverage the “wisdom of the crowd.” That is, a start-up company presents the relevant information about its idea, its team, and its financials to the crowd, and the crowd weighs in with questions and commentary. The crowd may ask about the company’s competitors, challenge the valuation, ask for further information about the company’s plans and draw the company’s attention to issues management hadn’t thought about.
Crowd comments have the ability to improve disclosure and increase the knowledge of potential investors. This is why the regulators insist on crowd communication channels being clear, and examine…
This entry is filed under Crowdfunding, SEC, Blog
Well, actually nothing of the sort, but did I get your attention? The SEC is continuing to bring suit against ICO scammers. This one got my attention because (a) the scammers stuck the SEC seal on their website and tried to make out that they were a regulated entity and (b) said they could sell under Regulation A, when they hadn’t filed a Form 1-A with the SEC.
Two things here: First, these are dumb criminals. If you can’t work out that the SEC really likes its seal and takes it terribly personally when people who are not the SEC plaster it all over their offerings, or that it takes two seconds for folks to work out whether or not an offering has been qualified…
This entry is filed under Fraud, Regulation A, SEC
We love crowdfunding here at CrowdCheck, and we really believe it is a great opportunity to invest in some interesting, novel and amazing companies. And you may have sorted through the companies to discover what you believe will be the next Facebook or Google. And you may be right and may have found your pink unicorn with rainbows, sparkles and all things shiny. But then you read what you have purchased, only to discover that the security that you think you have purchased doesn’t hold the windfall that you are expecting. There may be provisions and/or terms in the security or in the subscription agreement that you sign to purchase that security that detract…
This entry is filed under Crowdfunding, Disclosure, Offering materials