Expert Q&A on Equity Crowdfunding with Sara Hanks will appear in the October 2015 edition of Thomson Rueters Practical Law
Articles
Sara Hanks and Andrew Stephenson of CrowdCheck offer their view and insights on the SEC's revised Regulation A exemption.
Published in Bloomberg BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report.
Crowdfunding is commonly defined as raising small amounts of capital from a large number of people over the Internet. To avoid the expense of securities regulation, companies often crowdfund by giving away rewards (such as a free t-shirt) instead of selling stock or other securities. In April 2012, Title III of the JOBS Act sought to change this status quo by directing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to facilitate securities-based crowdfunding through websites like Kickstarter.
European Company Law
Madness of Crowds or Regulatory Preconception?: The weak Foundation of financial Crowdfunding Regulation in the US and Italy
*A link will be available when the article is posted*
Intermediary liability in the crowdfunding industry.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2460000
This article focuses on disclosure regulation in a specific context: securities crowdfunding (also known as crowdfund investing or investment crowdfunding).
Bloomberg BNA: Securities Regulation and Law Report - An Overlooked Class of Private Offerings: Independent Rule 506(c) Raises
The JOBS Act opened a new frontier in start-up financing, for the first time allowing small companies to sell stock the way Kickstarter and RocketHub have raised donations: on the web, without registration. President Obama promised this novel form of crowdfunding would generate jobs from small businesses while simultaneously opening up exciting new investment opportunities to the middle class.
The economic impetus for easing the burden on small- and medium-sized companies raising small amounts of capital from numerous investors, or crowdfunding, that led to the JOBS Act in the USA is similar to that in the European Union. Technology offers a way to connect sources and users of funding that was not previously available. In both the USA and European Union, the offer and sale of securities is heavily regulated, burdening issuers and intermediaries with legal obligations. The JOBS Act eased some of the burdens on small crowdfunding offerings so long as the issuer