Small Business

Equity Crowdfunding – The Future of Investing?

While nearly everyone has heard of crowdfunding, the concept of equity crowdfunding is not as well known. For those Chicago business owners that are new to this developing area, prior to May 2016, crowdfunding was available only to accredited investors or those with an annual income of at least $200,000 or a net worth of more than 1 million, not including the value of a primary residence. Although the 2012 federal Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act^[1] (JOBS) provided for non-accredited investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not authorize equity crowdfunding to begin until May 2016.

Since that time, Article III of the JOBS Act has seen 49 successful offerings with 11.5 million dollars committed according to a November 17, 2016, Forbes report^[2] on the state of equity crowdfunding. While the report suggests that the large majority of startups are not yet using non-accredited crowdfunding under Title III, it is anticipated that equity investment platforms will see tremendous growth moving forward.

The Democratic National Committee is not the only victim of computer hacking^[1]. In June of 2016, Bloomberg^[2] reported on black market access to 70,000 hacked corporate and business servers. Even LinkedIn was victimized by computer hackers^[3] who obtained 117 million passwords.

To further complicate things, these types of cyber attacks oftentimes have a global connection. On September 28, 2016, one of the FBI’s former most wanted hackers^[4] pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive extortion proceeds and illegally accessing computers. Peter Romar, who had been arrested in Germany and extradited to the United States, was a member of a hacking group known as the Syrian Electronic Army. The group hacked into the computer systems of The Washington Post, CNN, the Associated Press, Harvard University and many others, then threatened to cause damage or sell data unless the business paid a ransom.

Types of Ransomware

Articles Posted in Small Business

Cyberfunding

Ransomware: Small Business Owners Beware!