Initially, crowdfunding was developed as a means for the small business person/entrepreneur to be able to reach a large number of individuals to request assistance in the funding of an idea. As most are already aware, in March 2015 the SEC decided to get involved in the regulation of what had been a great way for the small business person to have access to funding and operating capital. According to Mary Jo White, ““These new rules provide an effective, workable path to raising capital that also provides strong investor protections,”. I disagree, but that is another topic for another venue. As most in the industry know, whatever the SEC does, the states are soon to follow. On June 16, 2016 the Texas State Securities Board issued an email stating Section 44 (Texas Crowdfunding Portal) had been added to the Texas Securities Act. A link to the new Statute can be found here. Google has created a “CrowdFunding Laws by State” spreadsheet, which can be found here. And for those of you who do not want to try and decipher the SEC Regulation A and A+, here is a link to an article that lays out an easy (easier) to read fact sheet.
About Red Oak Compliance Solutions
Red Oak Compliance Solutions is the global advertising review software of choice in the financial services industry. It is a comprehensive suite of SEC 17A-4 compliant features that are 100% books and records compliant and provides clients with 35% faster approvals and 70% fewer touches or better. We also offer Smart Review(SM), which solves for the storage and maintenance of disclosures, helping firms reduce risk, decrease review times, and increase the speed of distribution of marketing materials. Smart Registration(SM) automates the licensing and registration management process to help reduce regulatory risk and time spent on manual processes. Overall, Red Oak allows firms to minimize risk, reduce costs, and increase compliance review process effectiveness and efficiencies.