 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Crowdfunding |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, UT , |
Key people | Judd Hollas, Founder |
| Website | www.EquityNet.com |
EquityNet is a crowdfunding platform that helps privately-held companies raise capital from accredited investors. Founded in 2005, the company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT. [1]
EquityNet has operated one of the largest business crowdfunding platforms since 2005. The multi-patented EquityNet platform is used by thousands of individual entrepreneurs and investors, incubators, government entities, and other members of the entrepreneurial community to plan, analyze, and capitalize privately held businesses. EquityNet provides access to thousands of investors and has helped entrepreneurs across North America raise more than $500 million in equity, debt, and royalty-based capital. [2] [3] The company is not a registered broker-dealer and thus is not involved in the transfer of funds. [4] Upon the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to lift the ban on general solicitation on September 23, 2013, [5] EquityNet allowed businesses on its platform to use the new SEC rule and publicly advertise their need for funding. [6]
As of 2020, EquityNet is majority owned by C9 Capital, a private equity firm based in Cedar Rapids, IA, and was primarily based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
EquityNet owns a portfolio of five granted patents that describe and claim various crowdfunding technologies, all of which are based on its priority patent application in 2005 before the word “crowdfunding” was first used. EquityNet’s patents include U.S. Patent 7,698,188 titled “Electronic Enterprise Capital Marketplace and Monitoring Apparatus and Method”; [7] U.S. Patent 7,908,194 titled “Electronic Enterprise Analysis Apparatus”; [8] U.S. Patent 8,484,110 titled “Electronic Enterprise Monitoring Apparatus”; [9] U.S. Patent 8,793,170 titled “Electronic Enterprise Capital Marketplace Apparatus and Method”; [10] and U.S. Patent 8,793,171 titled “Electronic System for Analyzing the Risk of an Enterprise.” [11] EquityNet’s five patents describe a range of inventions within the private business domain for crowdfunding marketplaces, enterprise analysis, enterprise risk quantification, and enterprise monitoring.[ citation needed ]
In April 2012, Forbes Magazine named EquityNet as one of "10 Companies Poised to Profit from the JOBS Act." [12] In August 2012, Worth Magazine named EquityNet as one of its Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites. [13] In January 2013, Crowdfunding Website Reviews included EquityNet in its "5 Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Watch in 2013." [14]
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to go public, startups are new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo-founder. During the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them do go on to become successful and influential.
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc.. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are often from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Legatum is a partnership that uses its own funds to invest globally. The firm also invests in activities to promote entrepreneurship and free enterprise as well as anti-slavery, health and education initiatives.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of small businesses in the United States by easing many of the country's securities regulations. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 5, 2012. Title III, also known as the CROWDFUND Act, has drawn the most public attention because it creates a way for companies to use crowdfunding to issue securities, something that was not previously permitted. Title II went into effect on September 23, 2013. On October 30, 2015, the SEC adopted final rules allowing Title III equity crowdfunding. These rules went into effect on May 16, 2016; this section of the law is known as Regulation CF. Other titles of the Act had previously become effective in the years since the Act's passage.
Crowdfunding is a process in which individuals or groups pool money and other resources to fund projects initiated by other people or organizations "without standard financial intermediaries." Crowdfunded projects may include creative works, products, nonprofit organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, businesses, or donations for a specific purpose. Crowdfunding usually takes place via an online portal that handles the financial transactions involved and may also provide services such as media hosting, social networking, and facilitating contact with contributors. It has increased since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.
CircleUp is a financial technology company based in San Francisco that focuses on consumer goods startups. Since its official launch in April 2012, CircleUp has helped several consumer companies raise equity, including Back to the Roots, Halo Top Creamery, Little Duck Organics, Rhythm Superfoods and others. General Mills has an investment fund that is partnered with CircleUp to invest in companies listed on the platform.
MicroVentures is an equity crowdfunding website that offers investments in early stage companies. It connects accredited investors with startups, businesses and services looking to raise funds or participate in select secondary market opportunities.
Crowdcube is a British investment crowdfunding platform, established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang in 2011.
Symbid is an online funding platform providing access to traditional and alternative finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. Headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Symbid was founded in April 2011 by Dutch entrepreneurs Robin Slakhorst and Korstiaan Zandvliet as one of the first equity crowdfunding platforms worldwide. Since 2017, Symbid operated under the license of Ilfa Group, that bought Symbid early 2019.
Confidentcrowd was an equity crowdfunding portal based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company was associated with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and was identified as one of the earliest Crowdfunding portals launched in the United States after the JOBS Act made crowdfunding for equity permissible under US law. The company is also noted for its unusual crowdfunding approach which requires investment seekers to undergo screening by FINRA-licensed Broker-Dealers before they can access potential funding.
Angels Den is the Europe's first and largest online investment platform that connects businesses with angel investors. It was founded in 2008 and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Return on Change (RoC) is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects investors with innovative and socially conscious startups. Return on Change works with startups that operate in five sectors, each of which touches on sustainability in some way: cleantech, edtech, life sciences, social enterprises, and technology. An online equity crowdsourcing platform, RoC helps socially conscious ventures raise capital.
SeedInvest is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects startups with investors online. The company was founded in 2012 and launched in 2013. SeedInvest has focused on building liquidity in the platform by attracting high-net-worth individuals, family offices and venture capital firms. SeedInvest screens and vets deals before allowing them to take advantage of the JOBS Act exemption permitting General Solicitation. In September 2014 the company launched a partnership with Angel Investing website Gust. In October 2018, SeedInvest was acquired by peer-to-peer payment company Circle Internet Financial Ltd.
Equity crowdfunding is the online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets. Because equity crowdfunding involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it is often subject to securities and financial regulation. Equity crowdfunding is also referred to as crowdinvesting, investment crowdfunding, or crowd equity.
Eureeca is a global investment platform with a presence in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia that allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to raise capital from a group of investors, who range from individual investors to institutional firms, in exchange for equity. Eureeca serves as an alternative financing option to more traditional financing sources such as banks and venture capital firms.
In the United States under the Securities Act of 1933, any offer to sell securities must either be registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or meet certain qualifications to exempt it from such registration. Regulation A contains rules providing exemptions from the registration requirements, allowing some companies to use equity crowdfunding to offer and sell their securities without having to register the securities with the SEC. Regulation A offerings are intended to make access to capital possible for small and medium-sized companies that could not otherwise bear the costs of a normal SEC registration and to allow nonaccredited investors to participate in the offering. The regulation is found under Title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations, chapter 2, part 230. The legal citation is 17 C.F.R. §230.251 et seq.
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over US$34 billion was raised worldwide by crowdfunding.
A simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) is an agreement between an investor and a company that provides rights to the investor for future equity in the company similar to a warrant, except without determining a specific price per share at the time of the initial investment. The SAFE investor receives the future shares when a priced round of investment or liquidity event occurs. SAFEs are intended to provide a simpler mechanism for startups to seek initial funding other than convertible notes.
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