It’s tough to navigate the competitive landscape of U.S. investment crowdfunding as new platforms come online each day. Looking to capitalize on the digitization of our private capital markets, they’re positioning across geographies, industry verticals, investor classes and/or motivations, and security types. Who’s who? What markets are they positioning for? And how to partition accredited vs. non-accredited crowdfunding?
I use a categorical framework to make sense of it all. It’s far from perfect so I’d love your feedback. But first, at a very high level, let’s break out accredited vs. non-accredited crowdfunding. An oversimplification, but for the sake of brevity:
Accredited Investment Crowdfunding
- Crowdfunding from accredited investors
- Selected platforms operating today under various exemptions;
- Most waiting for implementation of Title II of the JOBS Act to begin funding (consensus is Q2 2013).
Democratized Investment Crowdfunding
- Crowdfunding from anyone;
- Selected platforms operating today under various exemptions