Rojin Nair, Advisor
June 1st, 2021
At Incyub8 Inc, Rojin is focusing on nurturing and guiding various national and international start-[...]
Category Archives: Equity Crowdfunding
Alberta and Saskatchewan securities regulators adopt new small business financing prospectus exemption
Calgary – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) and the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) today adopted a new prospectus exemption designed to facilitate greater access to capital for Alberta and Saskatchewan businesses.
“This exemption joins the self-certified investor prospectus exemption adopted in March 2021, and is the next step in our broader efforts to support innovation and diversification in our provinces,” said Stan Magidson, Chair and CEO of the ASC. “This initiative is intended to address challenges faced by small and early stage businesses in accessing capital, while still addressing investor protection,” added Roger Sobotkiewicz, Chair and CEO of the FCAA.
The new small business financing prospectus exemption allows Alberta and Saskatchewan businesses to raise up to $5 million from the public using a simple, streamlined offering document. The exemption has tiered offering limits depending on whether financial statements are provided to investors.
See: Canadian securities regulators adopt new nationally harmonized start-up crowdfunding rules
To mitigate the risks to investors, investments are limited, with higher limits possible if financial statements are provided or if the investor either has a certain minimum income or has received investment advice from a registered dealer. The investment limits do not apply to investors who qualify to invest under certain other common prospectus exemptions.
The exemption is being implemented on a three-year pilot basis. Details of the new exemption are set out in CSA Multilateral Notice of Implementation 45-539 Small Business Financing available on the websites of the ASC and the FCAA.
The CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, co-ordinates and harmonizes regulation for the Canadian capital markets.
View the original release --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Crowdcube partners with Seccl to shake up IPO market
Seccl | Dan Marsh | Jun 24, 2021
It’s official: Crowdcube, the leading equity crowdfunding platform, has chosen Seccl to provide customers with seamless, API-based access to public markets, as it sets its sights on launching a Community IPO product later this year.
Having facilitated over £1 billion in crowdfunding investment campaigns since it launched ten years ago, Crowdcube is no stranger to democratising investments. Its Community IPO product is the next step in that journey, promising everyday retail investors an opportunity to get a piece of the IPO action.
As a result, the leading fintech will now be able to offer retail investors the most diverse set of equity investments anywhere in Europe, enabling investors to back businesses from start-up to IPO alongside VCs and institutions.
See: UK Equity Crowdfunding platforms Crowdcube and Seedrs to merge
It’s a super exciting development, and we’re delighted our technology will help make possible. By integrating with our custody, trading and settlement APIs, Crowdcube will be able to build on its existing secondary marketplace – Cubex – to create a seamless all-in-one experience to power retail participation on a mass scale.
Why Seccl?
Despite all the hard work innovative fintechs like Crowdcube are doing to democratise investments, everyday retail investors are still getting left out when it comes to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).. Now, Crowdcube want to change that – and we’re completely onboard.
As Sam Lawson, Crowdcube’s VP of Capital Markets, puts it: “We have real alignment with Seccl on our vision to disrupt public markets, at first allowing retail investors fair access to IPOs. Together we have the right technology to include retail investors in a seamless and customisable way.
FFCON21 Video: European Crowdfunding Leaders - Lessons & Outlook from the First €1 Billion Raised
“The quality of Seccl’s team and solution is exactly what we need as we embark on our next step to democratise primary investment in the public markets, and double down on our mission of supporting entrepreneurs, from inception to IPO.”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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European Government Funds May Get Distributed by European Crowdfunding Platforms
Crowdfund Insider | | Jul 26, 2021
Recently, a report was published regarding the European Commission distributing European (ESIF) funds through European crowdfunding platforms. Obviously, if this occurs it will be a boon for both platforms and issuers.
The report was written by Karsten Wenzlaff, Ana Odorovic and Ronald Kleverlaan, along with consulting firm PwC. The authors are well known in the European Fintech and crowdfunding sectors.
Crowdfund Insider connected with the authors of the report. Wenzlaff told CI:
“The Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are the main instrument for the European Union to create long-term growth and cohesion and achieve the policy objectives – it is a huge budget which has increased again for the next budget period 2021-2027. The way it works is that each country gets a certain amount and then the so-called Managing Authorities (MAs) are in charge of distributing the funds according to guidelines by the European Commission. These Managing Authorities are often Ministries for Infrastructure or Development Agency. The vast amount of funds is distributed through grants.”
Wenzlaff explained that the breakthrough of this report is because, for the first time, the European Commission has created templates for the collaboration between the MAs and the crowdfunding platforms. But it has much more relevance beyond that because other public authorities on the regional and the national level can use these templates to collaborate with crowdfunding platforms.
See: GOOD NEWS: Canadian securities regulators adopt new nationally harmonized start-up crowdfunding rules
Wenzlaff said they also consider financial instruments, including equity investments and loans. Since usually grants are given to companies, this is also a huge step, because the introduction of financial instruments in public support means that the private investors can be paired with public money, the public authorities can support the private investor directly through credit risk guarantees or indirectly through co-investing.
The report provides an overview of the current status of the crowdfunding industry in Europe and the potential to use crowdfunding platforms by public authorities to realize the ambitions of the Cohesion Policy and provide funding to projects through crowdfunding platforms. A recent blog post by Kleverlaan outlines the relatively new European Crowdfunding Regulation (ECSP) stating that it should boost the development of crowdfunding across the EU. The ECSP allows platforms to operate across the EU based on a single set of rules, under the supervision of the financial regulator in each Member State. The new rules are expected to become actionable in November of 2021.
The European Cohesion Policy is described as one of the key instruments of the European Union with a substantial budget of €373 billion. The report touts the opportunity for ESIF Managing Authorities (MAs) to take advantage of crowdfunding platforms to channel resources towards segments of the market that may be underserved yet important to the European economy.
See: Recent Decision by UK Financial Ombudsman Service Challenges Investment Crowdfunding Model
Kleverlaan explained that the new ECSP regulation is a catalyst for enabling the European Commission and the Managing Authorities to develop models to work together with crowdfunding platforms, due to the harmonized legal framework.
“We have identified several case studies in which public authorities already implemented a procurement process to select a crowdfunding platform for a project of several years in which match funding instruments were implemented.”
When asked if a managing authority (the government) investing funds in a private firm is the best use of public money, Kleverlaan said they have identified four different blueprint models of how MAs can start working with crowdfunding platforms, each with advantages and disadvantages.
- Providing grants outside a crowdfunding campaign
- Investing through a lending-based crowdfunding platform
- Providing guarantees to investors
- Operating a crowdfunding platform
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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FrontFundr secures another round of funding on its own equity crowdfunding platform
Betakit |
FrontFundr has secured $1.78 million CAD, through its own equity crowdfunding platform, as it looks to scale and bring more awareness to the crowdfunding model.
The funding came from 411 investors and brings FrontFundr’s total funding to date to $5.48 million, with the startup having raised all its capital through its own platform.
FrontFundr is using the financing to build on what it calls positive business momentum, as regulators have recently made it easier for startups to raise equity crowdfunding capital.
See: NCFA Response to the Modernizing Ontario’s Capital Markets Consultation Taskforce
Securities regulation in Canada, which equity crowdfunding falls under, is regulated on a provincial and territorial level, with no federal securities body. This has led to a patchwork of rules that change region to region.
Recently, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the council of all the securities regulators that coordinates and harmonizes regulation, has released new rules making it easier for companies across the country to raise equity crowdfunding capital.
“[There was a] patchwork of different rules, and they weren’t harmonized,” said Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, the founder and CEO of Silver Maple Ventures, the parent company of FrontFundr.
“That certainly has helped to create confusion in the market and definitely has been a challenge to growing the market,” he added. “Now, that’s out of the way.”
FrontFundr was founded in 2013, shortly before crowdfunding investment was legalized federally in Canada in 2015. The startup’s stated mission is to democratize the private sector investment model by offering companies an alternative to venture and private equity investing. To that end, Van Hoeken says FrontFundr has had to spend much of its time marketing the idea of equity crowdfunding to Canadian companies and investors, in addition to fighting for more harmonized regulations.
“We’re missionaries to spread the word around equity crowdfunding, in general,” said Van Hoeken. “We’re the leading platform in Canada, which is great, but that means that you also have to do most of the heavy lifting.”
See: FFCON21 On-Demand Video: European Crowdfunding Leaders - Lessons & Outlook from the First €1 Billion Raised
“Creating all that awareness has been a huge job for our company in the last five years,” the CEO said. “Not even awareness around FrontFundr, but more like the awareness that, ‘hey, this is an alternative way for you as a company to raise capital, and, as investors, you think you can only invest by Wealthsimple and public stocks, you can also invest in early stage companies from the very beginning.”
“We have seen the immense value and impact that harmonized crowdfunding rules have had in the US and the UK, and so we are really excited to work with Canadian companies and investors to help create the same sort of environment over here,” he said.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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FFCON21 ON-DEMAND VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE!Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
GOOD NEWS: Canadian securities regulators adopt new nationally harmonized start-up crowdfunding rules
CSA | Jun 23, 2021
Vancouver – The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today adopted harmonized rules for securities crowdfunding.
National Instrument 45-110 Start-up Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions introduces a single, uniform set of rules that replaces and enhances the requirements currently in effect in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec and Saskatchewan.
“These rules expand the ability of small businesses and start-ups to use securities crowdfunding to gain access to capital,” said Louis Morisset, Chair of the CSA and President and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers.
Following stakeholder consultation, the CSA made targeted amendments to improve the effectiveness of start-up crowdfunding as a capital-raising tool, including:
- Increasing the maximum total amount that an issuer can raise under the crowdfunding prospectus exemption in a 12-month period to $1.5 million (from the current $500,000).
- Increasing the maximum investment a purchaser can make in an offering to $2,500 (from the current $1,500), with a higher limit of $10,000 if a registered dealer advises that the investment is suitable for the purchaser.
- Removing barriers preventing federal and provincial co-operatives or associations from using the start-up crowdfunding prospectus exemption.
- Requiring funding portals relying on the registration exemption to certify on a semi-annual basis that they have sufficient financial resources to continue operations for the following six months.
- Requiring issuers to have operations other than the acquisition of an unspecified business before using the start-up crowdfunding prospectus exemption.
See: NCFA Response to CSA on NI 45-110 Harmonized Securities Crowdfunding Rules
National Instrument 45-110 Start-up Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions can be found on the websites of the above noted CSA members.
Since 2015, about 110 distributions of securities have taken place under the existing start-up crowdfunding prospectus exemptions, with an average investment of $576 from each investor.
The CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, co-ordinates and harmonizes regulation for the Canadian capital markets.
View the original release --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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FFCON21 ON-DEMAND VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE!Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
Doug Ellenoff on US Reg CF Increasing Issuer Caps to $5 million: Investment Crowdfunding Will Challenge Traditional Venture Capital
Crowdfund Insider | | Jun 15, 2021
The US investment crowdfunding industry received a boost this year as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adjusted the securities exemptions that platforms and issuers utilize to raise growth capital online. Along with other improvements, key changes include the adjustment of Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) to allow for the funding of up to $5 million – from a previously anemic $1.07 million, and a boost to Reg A+ to up to $75 million from $50 million.
Many, if not most securities crowdfunding platforms, utilize the three main crowdfunding exemptions – Reg CF, Reg A+, and Reg D 506c. Reg D, currently available only to accredited investors, remains the most popular securities exemption in the US powering a $1 trillion private capital market.
Recently, Crowdfund Insider connected with Doug Ellenoff, Managing Partner of Ellenoff, Grossman, and Schole – a top legal firm engaged with the Fintech sector, as well as a leading SPAC advisor, for his thoughts on the future of online capital formation. Ellenoff has been engaged with securities crowdfunding since before the JOBS Act of 2012 emerged as the legislative path to legalize raising capital on a digital platform. Counsel to the Association of Online Investment Platforms, and a regular suspect within the halls of Congress and financial regulatory agencies, Ellenoff has long been an advocate for the emerging industry. CI asked Ellenoff for his expectations for the industry in the coming years.
Reg CF received a material boost from the SEC in March by increasing the funding cap to $5M. Beyond more money, how will this impact the ecosystem? More quality firms? What else?
Doug Ellenoff: Limiting Reg CF to a million served several regulatory functions, it contained the severity of any problems that may have arisen with investors had the program had inherent issues, it marginalized its utility to issuers and as a result stigmatized it as being “rink dink”. This caused large law firms, accounting firms, and investment firms to explain it away as something without much use and more of an amusing fad. The miscalculation though in my judgment was that entrepreneurs aren’t dissuaded by passive-aggressive roadblocks, they are emboldened, and used the 5 last years to demonstrate that the stated concerns for fraud were without statistical merit.
See: NCFA Response to CSA on NI 45-110 Harmonized Securities Crowdfunding Rules
If regulators and investor protection advocates were self-reflective, they’d go back and remind themselves of their standard narratives in 2012 and learn how misguided they were in frustrating the landmark legislation. The peddling of concerns of fraud were never legitimate for Reg CF and merely a tactic. Raising the $1mm threshold amount to $5mm is a simple and clear statement that the industry from the platform operators to the entrepreneurs have conducted themselves admirably because if they hadn’t, the program wouldn’t be poised for continued and expansive growth.
The $5mm cap will attract bigger and more interesting dealflow, addressing larger addressable markets, and likely but certainly no guarantee, quicker and larger exits.
Besides more entrants to becoming platforms, I’d expect more established capital markets professionals and firms to tiptoe in as well. At $1mm, you are competing directly with “friends and family” funding rounds, at $5mm you are becoming more competitive with smaller venture firms and family offices. It’s exciting and validating and the trajectory couldn’t be more clear.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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With $1.6mm Seed Raise, CAARY Appoints Senior Fintech Investment Strategist John MacKinlay as CEO to Lead U.S./Canada Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns
Caary Capital | May 25, 2021
Fintech startup CAARY has unveiled a corporate credit card for SMEs which is the first of its kind in the Canadian finance industry, allowing businesses to qualify based on funding and revenue as opposed to credit history.
TORONTO, May 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CAARY CAPITAL LTD. (“CAARY” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that after raising a total of CAD $1,600,000 from accredited investors in Canada in an equity seed round, the Company has launched equity crowdfunding campaigns for Canadian and U.S. investors on FrontFundr and Fundable. In January 2021, senior fintech investment strategist John MacKinlay was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company to drive development of the product, its market, and partners, as well as to lead investment rounds and oversee early-stage commercialization of CAARY to build market share in the Canadian SME payments category, in which over CAD $40 billion is transacted annually. CAARY’s minimum viable product (“MVP”) is set to launch in July 2021, and has been developed to help Canada’s more than 1.2 million small and medium-sized businesses (“SMEs”) overcome common hurdles in business credit, expense management, and payments.
See: Fintech start-up Hardbacon secures $1.1 million thanks to equity crowdfunding
Mr. MacKinlay has over 25 years of experience in the banking sector, acting as a strategic advisor, senior executive, investor, and entrepreneur. After several years as a banker and Strategy Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”), Mr. MacKinlay led the Banking Strategy Practice for IBM after they acquired PwC Consulting in 2002. Subsequently, he joined National Australia Bank (“NAB”) to lead Strategy & Corporate Development in the Americas. Subsequently, Mr. MacKinlay returned to PwC where he led and developed its Canadian Financial Services Advisory practice. In 2016, Mr. MacKinlay joined OMERS Platform Investments (“OPI”, the innovation arm of the OMERS pension fund) where he created the investment strategy for OPI’s Financial Services division and led their investments.
An overview of the CAARY solution (set to fully launch in September 2021) and its value proposition to Canadian SMEs is provided below.
Innovative Application Process: Canadian SMEs are often discouraged by the “black box” business credit card application process, which can take weeks to complete and generally requires a personal guarantee. CAARY primarily considers a SME’s cashflow and assets and never requires a personal guarantee, but can deliver same-day approval.
CAARY Mastercard®: Upon approval, virtual CAARY cards can be issued near-instantly for immediate use with unlimited supplementary cards. Physical cards are also available upon request.
Self-Serve Administration: SMEs will have the option to add/lock/remove cards at any time of day through an online dashboard. Permissions can also be adjusted for individual cards to include card-specific spending limits and merchant restrictions (e.g., by category or named merchants).
AI/ML-Driven Expense Management: Obviating the need to retain receipts and reconcile expenses each month, cardholders receive a notification via SMS, email, or the CAARY app each time a transaction is posted to their card. By responding to this notification with a picture of the receipt or invoice for that charge, CAARY uses an artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning (“ML”) system which extracts the data and can transmit it to accounting platforms such as QuickBooks and Xero.
See: Understanding the Differences Between Crowdfunding Investing & Traditional Canadian Investments
Near-Instant Money Transfers up to USD $50,000: As an alternative to cheques and wire transfers, CAARY will offer SMEs the option to make near-instant transfers of up to USD $50,000 (~CAD $60,000) to business or consumer recipients through a linked bank account, even outside of Canada.
Continue to the original release --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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FFCON21 ON-DEMAND VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE!Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
