General Solicitation

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Victory! With lots of work by ACA and many leaders, the House passed the HALOS Act, which would ensure companies presenting in demo days would not have tripped the general solicitation trigger and therefore be required to take extra measures to verify all of their investors are accredited.  This is something the entire startup ecosystem – investors, entrepreneurs, accelerators, incubators, universities and more - cares about.  We will now concentrate our efforts on the Senate to make the bill a reality. The bill was approved by a 325-89 vote, meaning it was relatively bi-partisan.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Many angels, startups, VCs and the startup ecosystem have asked for more clarity about demo days for a couple years now.  These events seem to meet the definition of “general solicitation” and most investors don’t want to invest in companies that publicly advertise, but they have seen demo days as an important part of our world for decades.  The confusion may get clarity because of the work of a bi-partisan group of Members of Congress.

The Angel Capital Association supports HR 4498, the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups Act (HALOS Act) and want to thank Reps. Chabot, Sinema, Hurt and Takai for introducing this bi-partisan bill last week.  We believe the HALOS Act helps more job-creating startup companies raise the funding they need because it removes a barrier to funding.  There has already been discussed in a hearing of the House Financial Services and could be on a positive track.  A similar bill is also in the Senate, with bi-partisan sponsors as well.)

By Daniel DeWolf, Chair, Technology Practice Group and Co-Chair, Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.  He is also a member of the ACA Public Policy Advisory Council. 

This article originally appeared in VC Experts.

The SEC has finally provided clarity as to how an issuer of securities can conduct a private placement in a password protected web page under Rule 506(b), without it being deemed a “general solicitation” and thereby being subject to the additional requirements imposed by the new Rule 506(c). The guidance has been provided by the issuance of the Citizen VC No Action Letter (the “CVC Letter”), which request was authored by Mintz Levin.

By: William Carleton, Counselor @ Law, and volunteer chair of ACA Public Policy Advisory Council

The following is adapted from remarks prepared for the Angel Capital Association's 2015 Angel Insights Exchange, held in New Orleans the week of November 9. Bill is the volunteer chair of an advisory council to the ACA, but the views he expresses below are personal to him, and not a reflection of ACA views or policy.  This post originally appeared on Counselor @ Law.

As we all know, Dodd-Frank (2010) and the JOBS Act (2012) brought big changes to the rules that govern what’s okay and what’s not okay in the world of federal exemptions from securities registration requirements.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

The Securities and Exchange Commission has recently provided three written statements that provide clarification and/or insight into their thinking on different aspects of general solicitation in Regulation D offerings.  I encourage angel investors and entrepreneurs alike to read these SEC materials and discuss them with your legal counsel.

Two of the writings are “Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations” (kind of FAQs) published on August 6 and the other is a “no action letter” written on August 3.  Let’s take a look at each, with my quick interpretation and then the actual language from the SEC:

ACA is pleased to join small business advocacy associations in supporting the new Small Business Tax Compliance Relief Act, sponsored by US Senator David Vitter, of Louisiana.  Sen. Vitter, who chairs the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, aims to promote a fairer tax code for American small businesses and entrepreneurs and promoting US job growth.  The act includes 17 different tax and regulatory benefits for small businesses, covering health insurance, IRS regulations, and 409A deferred compensation packages, among other things.

Sometimes new regulations create the need for market leaders to adjust, so that efficiencies for all can continue.  One such example is a set of rules set by the Securities and Exchange Commission for “generally solicited” offerings.  The rules – or really the market interpretation of the rules – have created so much confusion that the Angel Capital Association decided to develop a certification program for part of the angel market, angels who invest through angel groups, so that angels and entrepreneurs can actually do generally solicited deals.

When Congress passed the JOBS Act in 2012 they allowed for the very first time the ability for entrepreneurs to raise equity capital by advertising rather than through existing relationships in private.  Fearing fraud, Congress also required that companies take “reasonable steps to verify” that investors in these deals are accredited investors and asked the SEC to set the detailed rules.  The SEC’s rules said that copies of income or wealth documents or certifications by accountants and lawyers would work, as would a complicated set of methods that look at the facts and circumstances of the deal.

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