Entrepreneurs want to follow the crowd.
On Thursday, the Senate approved the Jump-start Our Business Startups (or JOBS) Act, which allows entrepreneurs to use online “crowdfunding” sites to attract small chunks of investment capital from a large number of people. The law lets companies raise money for five years without meeting the disclosure requirements of a formal IPO.
Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become popular means for independent artists and business startups to solicit for money on the Internet, but, until now, they’ve only been able to compensate donors with gifts, not stakes in businesses.
“It’s good for NYC tech. Especially as the cost to start a company online gets cheaper, it seems like a natural extension. It makes sense to me,” said Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of reddit.com and the New York guru for Ycombinator, a Silicon Valley venture-capitalist consortium.
Senate approves 'crowdfunding' bill. Should be some interesting stuff ahead.