Rule 506 Archives

When the JOBS Act was passed, a lot of people hoped that it would de-regulate startup finance, resulting in a boom of new startups being funded.  Through repealing the ban on general solicitation, allowing online angel investment platforms, creating the new “Regulation A+,” and allowing equity crowdfunding, the JOBS Act was supposed to make funding startups considerably easier.  But there have been some significant bumps in the road.  First, in my view, the equity crowdfunding exemption that was included in the bill was unworkable from the beginning. That continues to be true under the crowdfunding regulations proposed by the SEC and of course the SEC has yet to adopt final equity crowdfunding regulations (which means that equity crowdfunding is still largely prohibited for non-accredited investors). While the SEC finally did implement the lifting of the ban on general solicitation by creating the new Rule 506(c), it also has proposed new onerous rules governing its use (as well as the use of the existing Rule 506(b)). The SEC has proposed implementing regulations for Regulation A+, but has not adopted final regulations, which means that the exemption still cannot be used. In addition, the SEC is getting pushback from state securities regulators on the proposed Regulation A+ on the issue of preempting state registration requirements, which may result in the removal of preemption from the final regulations (which would make the exemption considerably less useful).  Furthermore, since Regulation A+ investors would be counted as shareholders for purposes of triggering reporting under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), as the proposed rules are currently written, any use of the exemption would also likely trigger expensive Exchange Act reporting requirements. [Read more…]