Crowd Capital Services has launched their platform that facilitates the process of investor compliance for crowdfunding companies. The platform was launched to aid companies raising capital and their investors comply with regulations recently issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Crowd Capital Services, the trade name for Investor Review, Inc., plans to assist companies raising capital in private placements under Regulation D and in the public market under the soon-to-be-permitted crowd funding rules in determining whether their prospective investors should be considered to be “accredited” and/or not “bad actors” as such terms are defined by the rules.
Many high net worth individuals who would like to invest in a business do not want to share their intimate personal financial and/or background information with the company. Entrepreneurs want to run their businesses, not fact-check their stockholders. Crowd Capital Services bridges this gap by serving both sides of the deal at a reasonable price point. Investor privacy is protected since no personal information is provided to the Issuer or is maintained on the internet.
The SEC recently amended Regulation D to permit Issuers to advertise their private offerings and will soon permit companies to crowd fund equity offerings. If advertising is used under Regulation D, Issuers must “take reasonable steps to verify” that all purchasers of the Issuer’s securities sold in any offering under new Rule 506(c) are “accredited investors.” In addition, SEC regulations now require that Issuers and/or their funding portals conduct background checks on “insiders” (including directors, officers and 20% or greater beneficial owners) and other covered persons to ensure that they have not engaged in “disqualifying acts,” i.e., they are not “bad actors.” The SEC has stated that investors and issuers may use third parties to confirm these facts.
Investors can “pre-qualify” and companies can be in a position to prove that they have performed their diligence by using this service. Crowd Capital Services is not a “black box” software program. It is self described as a high touch, personalized process requires that the investor fill out a questionnaire, provide documentation and submit to a credit and/or background check. Crowd Capital Services will review all of that data and, if it is satisfactory, Crowd Capital Services will issue a letter indicating that the investor checks out. Ordering is done quickly and easily via PayPal and Crowd Capital Services establishes direct communication with the client.
Clients of the Maryland based company are expected to include angel investors and syndicates, hedge funds, private equity funds, startups as well as businesses in any industry seeking an alternative path to raise capital.