A New Concept to Revolutionise SME Businesses!
Issue 026
Every so often, a new concept comes along that completely revolutionises the way we do things in small/medium enterprise businesses.
This... is one of those times.
As of now, Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising for Small Proprietary Companies (group turnover under $25 million per annum, group gross asset value under $25 million, not listed on a stock exchange anywhere in the world) is legal in Australia.
Crowd Sourced Funding is an entirely new way for small/medium business operators to raise capital from the public.
Capital... from which directors can pay out loans and free themselves and their friends or relatives from the obligations of bank guarantees.
Capital... to grow their businesses to the next stage.
Or...
Capital... so shareholders can cash out at retirement, while the successful business they’ve built trades on.
Does that sound like something that would interest you?
If you are keen to find out more – to understand how your company might be able to consider whether you wish to be part of the Crowd Sourced Funding journey and to identify what needs to be done to get your company into an "investment ready" status, please read on.
To assist you to get started we have developed a Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising Product Package for small/medium enterprises which will give you the opportunity to evaluate what is involved and then to decide whether you wish to commit to the time and expense of achieving a Crowd Sourced Funding equity raising event.
We have grouped our product into seven individual packages to assist you to progressively read through the material so that you have a complete understanding of what is involved, if you elect to proceed down the path to become a Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising Company:
SMEs Introduction to Crowd Sourced Funding
Contains some free articles to assist you with your understanding of the Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising process. Please access our website and download these free articles. (Click here)
Understanding the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document Process
Seven articles are included to give you a general overview of the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Process.
Overview of the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document
The Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document is the “rough” equivalent to a prospectus that has to be issued by a public company when it is seeking funds from the market. This section contains an overview of what is required to be reviewed as part of the process of getting ready to be able to prepare a Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document.
Preparing the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document
This is the “engine” of the Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising process. The Corporations Act amendments requires a series of documents relating to directors, senior managers, the company itself and consent agreements from anyone who has supplied any article or statement that is to be included in the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document.
The material includes a step-by-step process of what has to be included in the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document to comply with the law. The completed document is what has to then be presented to the Crowd Sourced Funding Intermediary for review to ensure that the document complies with the Corporations Act requirements.
Introducing the Crowd Sourced Funding Intermediary
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has appointed seven businesses with Australian Financial Services Industry Licenses as the Intermediaries (“Gatekeepers”) to review the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document and, when they are satisfied, to place the Crowd Sourced Funding Offer Document onto their website for a maximum of 3 months where potential investors will be able to read the documentation about your company, communicate with the company directors if they wish via the intermediary's communication facility and, if they decide to do so, to proceed with a subscription to the company. Under the law, the Intermediary must enforce a 5 business day cooling off period for a retail investor. The maximum investment for a retail investor is $10,000 per company, every 12 months.
Investors and Crowd Sourced Funding Equity Raising
Obviously, investors are very important for the Crowd Sourced Funding process. The introduction of Crowd Sourced Funding gives small investors an opportunity that most people previously did not have and that is to invest directly into companies which are wishing to expand their business operations. This section contains some articles directed at investors to give them a better understanding of the Crowd Sourced Funding process.
Post Crowd Sourced Funding Capital Raising
Once the company has raised the capital, the fun commences! First of all the share certificates for the new investors have to be prepared and issued to the new shareholders, a return summarising the Crowd Sourced Funding shareholders has to be lodged with ASIC and the company has to get on with running its business operations.
Crowd Sourced Funding is available to almost every small business, irrespective of industry type and age of the business.
If you would like to explore the possibilities and find out if your company is eligible, visit the ESS Small Business website…… www.esssmallbusiness.com.au and invest 90 seconds watching our Crowd Sourced Funding video or 15 minutes to view our full briefing video to obtain even more detailed information.
Crowd Sourced Funding is a new opportunity for small/medium enterprises in Australia. Shouldn’t you, at least, check out the benefits it could offer you and your company?
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send me an email:
Telephone me on 1800 232 088
Have a great day!
