As private companies grew and sought to raise funds in the capital markets, they faced significant challenges from the constraints administered by the SEC. If a company grew beyond a certain size, it would find itself subject to reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) without having made the conscious decision to go public. With the recession causing businesses to tighten spending and causing many small businesses to fail, the JOBS Act was passed to address challenges that stifle business growth and help companies go public, raise capital privately and remain private longer. In particular, the JOBS Act creates new private placement exemptions permitting ÂcrowdfundingÂ.
The new crowdfunding rules enable companies to engage in limited fundraising from small investors over the Internet. While the JOBS Act imposes conditions on how much individual investors may invest and how the offering must be conducted, and requires some limited disclosure to the SEC, there are no restrictions or qualifications on who can invest in a crowdfunding investment. Small, growing companies can therefore look beyond their (or their financial adviserÂs) Rolodex of Âaccredited investors, marking a significant change to the former rules, which carried far greater conditions to any offering size.
Key takeaways and/or learning objectives of the webcast will address:
 A primer on crowdfunding's start
 The advantages of crowdfunding and the critics of the exemption
 The challenges to creating and implementing the crowdfunding rules and process
 Where we are today with crowdfunding
If you intend to take a course for CLE credit, please make sure your state is listed in the "Accreditation" section to the upper right of the program description. Accreditation displayed is unique to the purchased program format (live conference, live webcast, on demand, podcast). Credit totals listed for live conferences are the maximum credits available. Credits issued will be based upon actual time in attendance. Credit totals for other formats are for complete programs. Partial credit is not available for any online or downloadable format.
West LegalEdcenter will not provide accreditation for states not listed.
This product is intended for individual use by the named purchaser. Group viewings for online programs may be arranged for five or more attorneys within the same organization prior to viewing by emailing west.wlec-sales@thomson.com.