Lynn Johannson, Advisor, Sustainability and ESG
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Lynn Johannson, President of E2 Management Corporation and Catalyst for THE Collaboration
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Fintech Fridays EP57: 10 Years of Investment Crowdfunding: Past, Present & Future Since the JOBS Act
About NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | Apr 11, 2022
Apr 8, 2022: NCFA's Fintech Fridays podcast episode 57
10 Years of Investment Crowdfunding: Past, Present & Future Since the JOBS Act
Host:
Craig Asano, Founder and CEO, NCFA Canada
Craig brings over 20 years of experience as a marketing strategist, software technologist and start-up entrepreneur in technology, finance, manufacturing and real estate sectors. He founded the National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA Canada), a nationally organized non-profit that is Canada’s dynamic and inclusive advocate for the advancement of fintech, open finance, capital markets innovation, digital assets and currencies, P2P, crowdfinance and emerging technologies such Blockchain and AI that are transforming the future of financial services. Craig advocated for and is a key contributor to the birth of disruptive online financing marketplaces, and the P2P Fintech economy in Canada. Learn more about NCFA.
Featured Guests:
Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, Founder and CEO, FrontFundr
After a successful career in international banking, he immigrated to Canada in 2010 and chose the entrepreneurial path in finance and investing. He embarked on a mission to create the New Capital Market – Democratizing funding and investing in private companies. In 2013, Peter-Paul founded FrontFundr to address the challenge that young companies face in generating capital and to unlock investing in private companies to the wider community, the public. FrontFundr is now Canada’s leading online funding and investment platform in the private capital markets. For more info please visit the website.
Alan Wunsche, CEO and Chief Token Office, Tokenfunder
Alan started his career as a software developer/scientist and identified Ethereum early as a game-changer, and envisioned a decentralized future powered by blockchain. He’s implemented enterprise technology-driven business transformations, and was a capital markets and credit risk systems executive at a global bank. Alan founded Token Funder Inc., a Canadian leader in exempt market digital securities investing and trading, and is business building this venture. He launched Canada's first regulatory-compliant security token on Ethereum public blockchain; 1st security token as an EMD (@TokenGX); 1st secondary market security token trading platform for private markets (FreedomX). For more info please visit the website.
Alixe Cormick, President, Venture Law Corporation
Securities Lawyer and Advisor, Founder of Venture Law Corporation who works with privately-held and public companies, mergers and acquisitions, private placement investments, financial transactions, reverse mergers, initial public offerings and licensing matters, as well as general corporate matters. For more info please visit the website.
Sherwood Neiss, Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
Sherwood Neiss, is a Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors and a Partner at Crowd Capital Ventures. He’s a serial entrepreneur and investor and was instrumental in helping the JOBS Act get passed. He created the first database that aggregates all online investment offerings under the JOBS Act including research and analysis of securities-based crowdfunding (used by the SEC and policy makers) and works to support local economies right across the United States. For more info please visit the website.
Andrew Dix, Founder and CEO, Crowded Media Group LLC
Crowdfund Insider is the leading news and information web site covering the emerging global industry of disruptive finance including crowdfunding and peer-to-peer / marketplace lending. Recognizing the overlapping aspects of the new forms of finance, Crowdfund Insider’s coverage includes both rewards and investment based segments of crowdfunding. The site provides extensive coverage, and industry leading perspective, from a team of staff writers and leading industry expert contributors from around the world. For more info please visit the website.
Kim Wales, Founder and CEO, CrowdBureau Corp
Kim Wales is a securities-based crowdfunding, P2P online lending, and digital banking pioneer. She brings a deep and broad background in corporate governance, risk management, and banking regulation. Ms. Wales is an author, adjunct professor, and business owner. Since 2017, Ms. Wales is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CrowdBureau Corporation, which provides rules-based stock indices for financial products such as ETFs and managed account platforms. The Company also provides research, data analytics, and risk management tools for the peer-to-peer lending and digital banking industry. Kim has been cited over 100 times in U.S. Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, 2012 final rules for Titles III (Regulation Crowdfunding) and IV (Regulation A+). Kim is also an author and adjuct professor and sits on several boards. For more info please visit the website.
About this episode:
10 years ago in 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) was signed into law in the U.S. (and eventually a similar exemption was approved in Canada) to encourage more capital to flow to startups, support innovation, and, create jobs. It's significance cannot be understated as the rule change allowed private companies to raise capital by selling securities digitally for the first time via registered online platforms and dealer-brokers. Regulation crowdfunding also democratized previously excluded retail investors (non-accredited) by allowing them to invest directly in startup ventures empowering a new era of digital finance.
See: Crowdfunding is Now a Serious Way for Private Ventures to Raise Capital
A tremendous amount of advocacy and regulatory change efforts took place to make this happen, and since then the original JOBS Act rules have been improved for investment crowdfunding in the U.S., such as increasing the fundraising cap from US$1 million to US$5 million (not in Canada though, we've asked for years ahem).
But there are still many challenges and myths to be debunked. While venture financings are at an all time high in sectors like fintech, it does not mean that startups are awash with capital. While there is growing interest among retail investors to participate directly in these offerings, and take control of their investment future, education and awareness still remains a top priority if industry is to grow in the right ways. Having said that, in the United States, RegCF recently surpassed $1billion raised. Canadian figures are more modest with at least $100 million in equity financings raised on a leading platform.
Today there's also a JOBS Act 2022 proposal on the table but will these changes be sufficient to support evolving technologies and their capabilities while also protecting investors? Regulatory change is slow and regulators should support innovation and competition. All stakeholders need to continue to support efforts to make capital markets whole, so EVERYONE can benefit from the advancements in technology or the wealth gap will continue to widen.
This is a not to be missed episode for anyone interested in the past or future of digital finance and capital markets. Join investment crowdfunding pioneers in both Canada and the U.S. who discuss the 10 year journey from a wide variety of perspectives including the evolution of first generation marketing platforms to the arrival of second generation decentralized finance models powered by blockchain technologies.
Duration: 92mins
Timestamps:
00:00:00 NCFA Fintech Fridays Intro
00:00:17 Craig Asano, NCFA Canada
00:02:06 Andrew Dix, Crowded Media Group
00:02:49 Sherwood 'Woodie' Neiss, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
00:03:32 Kim Wales, CrowdBureau Corp
00:04:23 Alixe Cormick, Venture Law Corporation
00:04:13 Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, FrontFundr
00:05:48 Alan Wunsche, Tokenfunder
00:08:21 RegCF advocacy (SEC, Congress, White House)
00:10:47 Designing the framework
00:11:58 Purpose of the JOBS Act
00:15:10 Road to Equity Crowdfunding in Canada: Change is hard (and long)
00:26:22 Blockchain finance: education and regulatory challenges
00:33:38 Crowdfunding’s Impact and opportunity: first US$1 billion
00:38:39 RegCF to digital finance
00:41:57 Evolution of digital finance Gen1 to Gen2
00:49:23 Digitalizing private capital markets
00:55:03 Ontario’s exemption 45-108 setup to fail
00:59:46 JOBS Act 2022 bill proposed to improve rules in the U.S.
01:00:10 Canada harmonizes equity crowdfunding rules Sep 2021
01:04:00 Educating regulators
01:06:00 Regulators need to support innovation and competition
01:09:00 Financial inclusion
01:11:00 Canadian ECF $100 million and beyond
01:17:00 Decentralized Finance is the future
01:19:00 Convergence and reducing wealth gaps
01:23:00 Regulatory culture change and sandbox
01:25:00 Capital markets need to work for everyone
01:30:00 Closing remarks
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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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