SEC Clears Way for Entrepreneurs to Tweet, Blog About Unregistered Shares
Get a kernel of Quinn!
Entrepreneur Coulter Lewis will soon be able to legally Tweet such a message as a way to raise cash for his Woburn, Mass., firm, Quinn Popcorn LLC.
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission lifted a decades-old ban on publicizing any share offerings that aren’t registered with the SEC and are limited to accredited investors, typically wealthy individuals who can afford the financial risk of investing in a new business venture.
The agency’s move satisfies a central provision in last year’s Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which aims to make it easier for smaller companies such as Quinn Popcorn to raise cash from dozens of wealthy investors who might put in, say, just $20,000 apiece in exchange for a small equity stake in the startup.