Funding Portals - Welcome to the League!

Welcome to the League!

April 12, 2021

Hello Portal Owners,

We’re all busy people and so I’ll skip the pleasantries and focus on why this year you need to join the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA), the group that helped usher in the age of Crowdfunding and for nine years has advocated for you and your business each and every day whether you knew it or not.

Invest 3 minutes of your time now into helping secure your portal’s future. Let’s start.

Scale for Free. You’re busy running a crowdfunding portal and don’t have the time to personally advocate for the policy and regulatory changes that make operating your business easier, more profitable and sustainable.
Expertise. You know that there is a regulatory, bureaucratic, and administrative process to getting policies and legislation drafted, introduced, championed, debated and ultimately passed. But again, you don’t have the time to make industry advocacy yet another full time job.
Strength in Numbers. In March 2020 there were approximately 43 FINRA approved funding portals. As of March 2021 there are 64 licensed platforms, with over a dozen more pursuing their license. The CfPA estimates that by March 2022 there will be over 100 funding portals. Together, we can better shape the policy and regulatory landscape that makes the most sense for all funding portals, investors and issuers.
Location. Location. Location. And Relationships. The CfPA is an influential presence in DC. In addition to providing policy and regulatory expertise, we also develop, nurture and mature the relationships that place your concerns in the best positions to be heard and acted on; by regulators in legislative, policy and regulatory processes.
Cooperation improves your bottom lines. The CfPA is your voice at the regulatory and policy table, ensuring your needs and concerns are heard (e.g.: review time for RegA+ offerings, portal insurance requirements, brighter lines for testing the water, blue sky compliance, deferred cap gains for stock market reinvestments through portals, etc…), and to make running your business easier and less burdened by regs = more profitable and sustainable.

The CfPA successfully advocated for the recent rule changes that went into effect on March 15, 2021. Additionally, the industry estimates that:

$450M+ will be raised in the investment crowdfunding industry in 2021 alone.
2022 will be a $1B dollar year for the investment crowdfunding industry.
There will be over 200 FINRA-approved funding portals by 2023.
By 2024, the crowdfunding industry will have twelve portals that do over $200M in deal flow annual each.
The regulatory landscape will continue to evolve and portal owners need their voices heard in that process.

As a portal operator, joining the CfPA secures not only your seat at the table but positions you to be an architect at the next table -- the CfPA can only advocate for the issues and concerns we know about, and those concerns come directly from you. To this end, we need to hear your concerns so that our efforts serve your interests and harmonize with those of all our constituents. Our intention is always to position the industry and the pioneers driving it in the best possible light.

Join us and help build a better future in Alternative Finance.

Thank you for taking the time to read this--we hope to have conveyed how joining the CfPA is a minimal investment helping anchor your platform’s success. While you, as portal owners, have the hardest job, the CfPA is here to block, tackle and lessen the regulatory burdens we all face. It is my pleasure to welcome you, and we look forward to helping you, our industry, and countless entrepreneurs and investors prosper.

Samson Williams

President, Crowdfunding Professional Association

Investor: BRITE.us and GoingPublic.com funding portals

President@CfPA.org

Washington DC | Fort Lauderdale

P.S.

On Monday, May 17, 2021, the CfPA is hosting a virtual summit. The summit will cover a litany of subjects, including a 60-day retrospective look at the industry since March 15, 2021; when the new rules went into effect, and what Founders, Issuers, Platforms and Investors can expect going forward.

Through the hard work of CfPA Board member Sara Hanks, we will be joined for a fireside chat and Q&A with the Securities & Exchange Commission's Martha Legg Miller and Jennifer Zepralka.

Martha Miller was named the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s first Director of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation. As the Advocate for Small Business, Martha Miller oversees the office dedicated to advancing the interests of small businesses, their investors at the SEC, and in the capital markets.

Jennifer Zepralka is the Chief of the Office of Small Business Policy in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance. The office assists companies seeking to raise capital through exempt or smaller registered offerings. And, participates in and reviews SEC rulemaking and other actions that may affect small businesses.

If you have time, please join us for the conference and share with us your perspective -pain points to-) on the “State of the Industry”, and changes you’d like to see, so we can engage the SEC; not just for this event, but also going forward, as we position the crowdfunding industry to lead the Roaring 20s.