The Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted a rule change that will slightly increase the amount of money that can be committed to a “qualifying venture capital fund” for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (Act). The increase would raise the cap from $10 million to $12 million.
Currently, qualifying VC funds are excluded from the Act’s definition of an “investment company.” The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 requires the Commission to index the dollar figure for this threshold to inflation once every five years rounded to the nearest $1 million. The Act was signed into law by former President Donald Trump.
The 20% increase reflects the elevated rate of inflation and the SEC said both the PCE Index and CPI-U yielded similar results.
The proposed rule would also require that the PCE Index be used going forward.
Legislation has been submitted to Congress that proposes are more significant increase – to $150 million while also increasing the number of beneficial owners.
Once the rule change is published in the Federal Register, comments will be accepted for 30 days.