http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120503/BUSINESS08/120502042/Vermont-made-technology-ushers-end-open-surgery?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

SBIR Phase (0) (due May 1, 2012): Awards up to $15,000 each.
Use of Facilities for Private Sector (due May 8, 2012): Awards up to $5,000 each.

Please check each individual RFP for full requirements and more detailed information.
Electronic Submission forms are available on the web at the above links.
Questions? Contact Lillian Gamache at epscor@uvm.edu

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
12:00pm – 2:00pm
@ vtSDA Event Space

Crowd Funding – A New Source of Funding for Small Businesses

Earlier this month, President Obama signed the popular and bi-partisan Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS”) Act which makes significant changes to securities regulation with the objective of facilitating access to capital.

The Act allow small businesses to advertise their offering to accredited investors. Title III of the Act – Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act of 2012 (the “Crowdfund Act”) permits companies to use crowdfunding to obtain capital to grow their businesses. Crowdfunding is a way for entrepreneurs to raise money for theircompany over the Internet from investors who are not accredited.

Companies can raise up to $1 million a year by working through a registered on-line, crowdfunding intermediary, subject to certain additional restrictions. You can think of this as a Kickstarter for businesses rather than just art projects.

Now that the JOBS Act has been signed in to law, the SEC has 90 days to modify its rules and regulations related to accredited investors and 270 days for the crowdfunding provision.

Please join the vtSDA at their April Lunch & Learn lead by Ken Merritt. Ken will review the history and rationale behind the changes, explain how it differs from the current regulatory structure, discuss the expected process for utilizing crowdfunding, and recommend steps that you can take to prepare your company for crowdfunding when it becomes available.

Ken is an attorney with and a founding partner of Merritt & Merritt & Moulton, a Burlington based law firm that specializes in business law. Ken’s emphasis is on venture capital and growth companies. He is deeply involved in the entrepreneurial community and founded the Vermont Venture Network back in 1989. Each month, the VVN brings together entrepreneurs and investors over breakfast for an informative discussion.

The Investors’ Circle Spring Venture Fair is coming up quickly on April 22-24th in San Francisco, CA.  There have been 15 top enterprises to present.   Lisa Hall, President & CEO of the Calvert Foundation will be the Keynote Speaker.  Angel investors, fund managers, wealth advisers and venture capitalists should consider attending.  For more information – check out the Investors’ Circle website.

The bill covers multiple issues:

Allows equity-based crowdfunding – New businesses will be able raise up to $1 million in equity capital from unaccredited investors. The bill creates a number of restrictions, aimed at protecting investors. Among those restrictions are limiting individual investments to the greater of $2,000 or 5 percent of the net worth of investors if either the annual income or net worth is less than $100,000 and 10 percent of the annual income or net worth, as applicable, not to exceed $100,000, if either the annual income or net worth of the investor is equal to or greater than $100,000. and registration by intermediary platforms and issuers with the SEC. Federal law would preempt state regulations, meaning that issuers could raise funds from across the United States. The SEC has 270 days after the bill’s enactment to publish rules for crowdfunding.

Removes prohibitions on general solicitation of Regulation D offerings – Allows for advertising of Reg D 506 offerings, as long as advertisements are focused on accredited investors. Angel and incubator platforms that do not charge a fee connected to the purchase or sale of securities are exempt from broker-dealer registration. This is helpful for Web platforms such as AngelList or Gust and venture forums aimed at accredited investors. The SEC has 90 days after the bill’s enactment to published new regulations to implement this provision of the Act.

Creates an IPO “on ramp” – Reduces the cost of going public for “emerging growth companies” – those with annual revenues of less than $1 billion and after the IPO, less than $700 million in publicly traded shares. These companies receive a 5 year exemption from costly Sarbanes-Oxley 404(b) requirements such as hiring outside auditors, while still requiring some quarterly and annual SEC disclosures.

Increases threshold for Regulation A “mini public offerings” – Regulation A currently allows companies to go public and be exempted from SEC registration for offerings up to $5 million. The JOBS Act increases the offering threshold for this little used exemption to $50 million, perhaps making it a more useful option for more angel-backed companies.

Raises cap on private shareholders from 500 to 2,000 – Many private companies are forced by regulations to file as a public company once they exceed 500 shareholders and $10 million in assets. The bill increases the shareholder limit to 2,000 accredited investors or 500 unaccredited investors. The updated cap provides flexibility to companies in staying private or going public, and could also benefit secondary market platforms that can offer a more robust market for the shares of private companies. The SEC has one year to promulgate regulations on this provision of the Act.

For more information contact H. Kenneth Merritt, Jr. at 802-658-7830 or kmerritt@merritt-merritt.com.

Will Raap is a legend in both the world  of entrepreneurship, and the world of environmental conservation, social responsibility and stewardship.

Will founded Gardener’s Supply Company with a clear and compelling social mission, and built that company into a leading marketer of gardening equipment, supplies and know-how, while never losing sight and commitment to that mission.  Will was a pioneer whose trend setting thinking on community, business social responsibility, land use and sustainability have been put to use in so many creative ways by people everywhere.

Today, Will  works to create and nurture local food, waste recycling and land restoration enterprises that support a more sustainable economy and future.  with projects in both the Burlington community and in Costa Rica.  Among other things, he is Chairman of the New Economics Institute, an organization of creative thinkers working to develop a fair, sustainable new economy that functions within ecological limits and considers the world’s diverse people and cultures

Don’t miss this informative and inspiring event.