Since the general solicitation ban had been lifted and additional requirements had been added in The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act or JOBS Act, The Wall Street Journal revealed that over 320 small businesses had informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission that they would seize the opportunities of the new marketing freedoms provided in the statute. The projection by The Journal was deduced via an analysis of securities filings conducted by the news agency. Of the lot, a handful of them were able to raise capital via the new marketing freedoms, said The Journal.
Online storage tool MyYearLook.com Julie Doran said the new marketing freedom allowed her to raise a backup fund to keep her business growing. Doran added that since the company is small and is still at an early stage, her company is not a candidate for an IPO or venture capital. Six investors on LinkedIn, a professional networking site had raised USD250,000 for the year-old company. Although MyYearLook.com is in test mode, Doran said her site had attracted 30,000 in users.
SecondMarket Holdings Inc Barry Silbert, whose company is sponsoring a fund to invest in virtual currency called Bitcoin Investment Trust said he had 20 discussions with reporters prior to the launch, which was considered illegal prior to the JOBS Act amendment. With the help of Twitter, LinkedIn and a 15-page investor presentation, Bitcoin Investment Trust now manages USD18 million in assets due to its online visibility, said Silbert.
Although critics worry that the new marketing freedoms in the JOBS Act would not prevent unsophisticated investors or that the process would not educate investors on researching beyond what the company has provided online, Silbert believes that it would still be the fund's ultimate responsibility, for one, to ensure that these scenarios would not happen.
Silbert said, "(The Bitcoin fund) is only open to sophisticated and individual investors. (The fund's) investor presentation includes a highlight of risk factors."
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