JUNE 2014 BCBusiness 23 JErEmy brUNEEl
intel
T
he cosy world of crowdfunding,
where neighbours pitch in to
support a family in need, or
an aspiring filmmaker raises
a few thousand dollars to take
his documentary to
SXSW, is about
to enter a whole new era. With the
prospect of equity crowdfunding,
appeals to support the local soccer
team or feed hungry school kids may
soon appear alongside offers to get in
on the ground floor of the next Google
or Facebook.
Last March B.C. joined six other
provinces in publishing proposals that
would allow companies to raise cash
by selling equity directly to investors
through online portals. The B.C.
proposal would relieve companies
from such hassles as registering with
the B.C. Securities Commission,
publishing a detailed prospectus
and regularly issuing audited financial
statements. The company would
simply fill out a four-page form
explaining what it does and why it
needs the money, post the form online
and wait for investors to click their
pledges in return for a stake in the
company. The lack of safeguards for
investors would be offset by a limit
on how much they could lose: in B.C.
individual investments would be
capped at $1,500, and fundraising
campaigns at $150,000. If all goes
smoothly, the rule could be enacted
as soon as the end of this year.
Startup fundraising has always had
its place in the crowdfunding universe,
typically in the form of presales: a
manufacturer raises cash to take an
idea from concept to production by
promising future delivery in exchange
for cash now. That's exactly what Liz
Dickenson did before bringing her Mio
Global heart-rate monitor to market in
2013. Having gone through a couple
of rounds of angel funding and one
VC investment, she ran out of cash
on the eve of bringing her product to
market. She overcame the final hurdle
by launching B.C.'s most successful
Kickstarter campaign to date, raising
$321,000 in 33 days.
Having lived through 14 gruelling
years of building her company from
concept to market success, Dickenson
cautions entrepreneurs that equity
crowdfunding may not be the easy
funding solution they're looking for.
I T ' s y o u r
b u s I n e s s
Crowded
Funding
Equity crowdfunding may
spark a gold rush of penny
investors, but that doesn't
mean it's the funding
solution startups are
looking for
by David Jordan
f i n a n c e
06/14
y
24 v i s u a l l e a r n i n g
2 5 a s i a
2 7 c a l e n d a r
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p22-27-Intel_june.indd 23 2014-05-01 1:18 PM
