Danae Ringelmann released an article via CNBC yesterday that lauds equity crowdfunding as a solution that could help in “making fundraising more efficient and fair.”
The piece is a deep dive into the functional effects of the proposed SEC rules surrounding Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act, which allows crowdfunding via non-accredited investors. In particular, Ringelmann praises what the SEC didn’t do thus far…
So I’m glad that in many aspects of their rule-making, the SEC defined what to do without dictating how to do it. This allows platforms like Indiegogo to perform controlled experiments with real-world user data to determine what methodologies will work best for investors and businesses raising funds.
Indiegogo is widely believed to be readying a move into the equity space. Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin corroborated that feeling in a recent interview with Crowdfund Insider.
RELATED | Indiegogo CEO Rubin: Equity Has “Chance To Be Major Part Of Our Business”
Ringelmann points out discrepencies between how due diligence was performed in the 1930’s and how it is performed today, arguing that the laws should change with the times…
Most of us cannot invest in small companies, because of federal securities laws written in the 1930s, when there was no way for an ordinary citizen to vet a smooth voice on the phone, fancy letterhead, and a New York City postmark. These regulations made sense at the time, but they also created a two-tier system that has locked Main Street businesses out of traditional finance—including my parents, who ran a local moving company for 33 years—as well as lock Main Street investors, or what most refer to as “the 99 percent,” out of angel and venture investing.