Fayetteville, AR (August 20, 2012) – EquityNet (www.equitynet.com) announced today that its entrepreneur users have raised more than $104 million in funding, making the 7-year old company the leading equity crowdfunding platform.
Access to private equity investments (i.e., crowdfunding) for non-accredited investors became law in March of 2012 when Congress passed the U.S. JOBS Act. Prior to this financial deregulation, EquityNet pioneered and patented equity crowdfunding in 2005 and launched in 2007 an equity funding platform for accredited investors that now provides access to over 12,000 individual investors.
Judd Hollas, founder and CEO of EquityNet, stated, “EquityNet offers more than just large numbers of entrepreneurs and investors. Our crowdfunding platform is specifically designed to make the funding process more efficient for entrepreneurs and the investment decision process more effective for investors. EquityNet combines patented analytics, business benchmarking, and standardization to achieve a superior experience for investors and a higher funding success rate for entrepreneurs.”
Crowdfunding will improve the most limiting factor in modern capitalism – the capitalization of young businesses – and could unleash innovation and job creation as never before. Crowdfunding is expected to increase the number of potential investors from 2 million to over 50 million and raise the amount of potentially available capital from $1 trillion to over $5 trillion while adding 1.5 million jobs in the next 5 years. Crowdfunding platforms like EquityNet will be among the most significant financial innovations in decades.
The JOBS Act requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to write rules for equity crowdfunding that both facilitate capital formation and promote investor protection. The SEC is mid-way through the 270 days allocated by the JOBS Act to set rules, with completion expected around January 2013.
While the SEC is completing its rule making, EquityNet is quickly adding additional capabilities needed to fully enable equity crowdfunding for non-accredited investors. With its advanced capabilities for business analytics, benchmarking, and standardization, EquityNet is widely expected to continue its lead in the equity crowdfunding market.
About EquityNet
EquityNet was launched in 2005 and is the original and only patented equity crowdfunding platform. It is used by thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, government entities, business incubators, and other members of the entrepreneurial community to plan, analyze, and capitalize privately-held businesses. EquityNet features over 12,000 individual investors who have already provided $104 million in capital to entrepreneurs across North America. For more information, please visit www.equitynet.com.
