Crowdcheck Blog

The SEC today decided to make a statement against companies considering using Regulation CF for fraudulent offerings, and funding portals that facilitate the fraud. A copy of the complaint can be found here, https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-182. On September 20, 2021, the SEC filed in federal court a complaint against sponsors of a marijuana real estate venture, and the TruCrowd funding portal, and its owner. The complaint alleges the sponsors of the issuer hid the existence of a person who acted in the role of an officer throughout the offering process because that person had a criminal record. The complaint also alleges that funds were used in a…

The amendments to Reg CF, Reg A, and other rules relating to capital formation utilizing exempt offerings have finally been published in the Federal Register, with an effective date of March 15, 2021. See, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/14/2020-24749/facilit….

In its recent rulemaking, the SEC added new Rule 3a-9 under the Investment Company Act to allow for the use of “crowdfunding vehicles” for Reg CF investments. It is important to recognize that crowdfunding vehicles are quite limited, and not at all similar to the special purpose vehicles (“SPVs”) used to aggregate accredited investors in angel or venture capital funding rounds. In that type of SPV, there is often a lead investor or manager who may act on behalf of the investors in the SPV. Those persons could be exempt reporting advisers under the Investment Advisers Act, or even fully registered investment advisers. In this way, SPVs create real separation…

While the costs of preparing an offering under Reg CF are significantly lower than other types of securities offerings, they can still be expensive in terms of professional and marketing fees prior to having any sense of whether the offering will be successful. The SEC heard the complaints from issuers on this point and have adopted a testing the waters provision that is substantially similar to that used in Reg A. Under new Rule 206, issuers contemplating an offering under Reg CF may make written or oral offers to test the waters (“TTW”) prior to filing a Form C. Once the Form C is filed, the offering is live and no more TTW can be done. There is no…

Big news out of the SEC yesterday with the adoption of its amended rules covering various types of offerings exempt from registration under the Securities Act.[1] These rule changes impact the way in which issuers will be able to use Reg CF, Reg A, Reg D, and their ability to communicate about funding requirements without having to rely on an exemption at all until they are ready to raise funds. There is a lot to unpack in these rules, and we will put down our thoughts in a series of blog posts. This first blog post covers a change that is a bit of a no change. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SEC has recognized the increased funding needs of…

After undertaking an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding or Tier 2 of Regulation A, issuers are required to file ongoing reports with the SEC. Regulation Crowdfunding requires an annual report, while Tier 2 of Regulation A requires an annual report and semi-annual report. Regulation Crowdfunding also requires companies to make the annual report available on its own website. The annual report for Regulation Crowdfunding requires financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP and certified by management. For Tier 2 of Regulation A, the annual report requires audited financial statements, and the semi-annual report requires management certified financial…

Following our update in March of this year, the Nebraska legislature has taken action to provide an exception to the requirement for a company to register as an issuer-dealer in the state when making offers and sales of securities under Tier 2 of Regulation A so long as no commission or other remuneration is paid for soliciting investors. We have also included a new section regarding state review of notice filings and the content of the Regulation A offering statement under their anti-fraud authority. As a reminder, while states are preempted from requiring qualification or registration of offerings of securities under Tier 2 of Regulation A, states may require…

Regulation A is an exemption from registration of securities under the Securities Act of 1933. At the same time, it is a public offering of securities. This puts Reg A in an odd place when it comes to SEC review. For the most part, the operating companies utilizing Reg A are early stage companies. This is not entirely what the SEC envisioned when adopting its amended Reg A Rules. In that release, the SEC believed most use would come from companies opting for Reg A rather than a traditional IPO. Other observers took the view that Reg A would act as a later stage, pre-IPO round, allowing an exit opportunity for some venture investors. Instead, Reg A offerings by…

Since our last update in September 2017, we have learned a lot about the process for companies to register as issuer-dealers in certain states when making offers and sales under Regulation A without a broker-dealer. As a reminder, while states are preempted from requiring qualification or registration of offerings of securities under Tier 2 of Regulation A, states may require registration of the persons who will be selling those securities. Most states do not have such requirements, but some do. Our memo summarizes the requirements and includes important considerations for companies, especially those based in Florida, or that are selling into Florida or Arizona…

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,…