Introducing REX equity crowdfunding investment platform, Launchmoney
For all you innovators, read to the end to find out how you can raise the financing you need now to take your great idea to the next level!
How often have you marveled at a great new product or technology and said to yourself, “I wish I could have invested in that at an early stage”. For most of us, the dream of early investing in promising technologies has been just that, a pipe-dream.
In its heavy-handed attempts to “protect” us, The US Government has long limited the ability of most investors who weren’t multi-millionaires to make venture capital investments in any organized fund. Venture capital funds were almost exclusively the domain of endowments, foundations, institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
As successful venture funds raised ever-larger new pools of capital, they logically focused on situations where they could invest larger sums in companies building corporate infrastructure, rather than making “seed” or “first money in” investments in promising technologies. As a result, very early stage investing has become almost completely left to angel investor groups, “friends, family and fools”, and incubator funds. An unfortunate by-product of these changes in the venture financing industry is what we, at The Research Exchange, refer to as the “Valley of Death”.
Great new potential products or companies that might be built from new scientific research at universities, research institutes, federal labs, or companies never get off the ground because the capital necessary to allow entrepreneurs to convert science to products just isn’t available.
Fortunately for investors willing to back entrepreneur teams at a very early stage, and for entrepreneurs with the skill to turn science into great new products, there have been recent changes in US laws and regulations that should increase the flow of vital early-stage capital.
In 2012, the US Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, known as the JOBS Act, that, in Title III of the Act, provides the opportunity for non-multi-millionaire public investors to invest in promising new companies at an early stage through what has become known as “crowd funding”.
The crowd funding method of fund raising involves an on-line offering that is generally open to all investors, with certain limits.
You are probably aware of “Kickstarter” offerings online to fund a wide variety of projects. But the crowd funding permitted under the JOBS Act is completely different from Kickstarter. Under the JOBS Act, investors who participate in an on-line offering actually become partial owners of the enterprise. This is finally the chance for regular investors to become venture capitalists!
How does this new opportunity for venture investing work?
Entrepreneurs and investors meet through a “Funding Portal” regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). These Portals are created by financial entrepreneurs interested in establishing on-line marketplaces for venture capital. Operators of these Portals must go through a rigorous registration process and follow very stringent rules established by the regulatory bodies. The rules are set so that both entrepreneurs and investors can be comfortable that they are protected from fraud and theft, and only face the business risks associated with early stage venture funding. Because of the relatively recent advent of Crowd Funding, and the rigorous registration process, very few Funding Portals are in operation today. Unfortunately, most of the Portals in operation today are focused primarily on restaurants, micro-breweries, marijuana production, and drones. But that will change very shortly when The Research Exchange gains clearance for its Funding Portal, REX Launch MoneyTM.
When REX Launch MoneyTM debuts,
regular, non-multimillionaire investors will be able to make investments as small as $100 in promising technology based projects, or raise as much as $1,000,000 from investors to develop a product or company.
Of course, multi-millionaire so-called “accredited investors” will be welcome as well, with the only difference being these investors will be able to invest significantly higher amounts in each deal. As an investor, you will actually be a part owner of the project or company. REX will provide all the information you need to make well-researched decisions, including a direct on-line link to the entrepreneurs offering the projects for investments so that you can ask specific questions in your due diligence research. While in REX you can do the intellectual property research necessary to invest intelligently and choose from a variety of projects, all with one thing in common: they will be built on the best available intellectual property in the United States, brought to market by technically capable entrepreneurs.
At some point in the near future, a second Portal, REX Select VenturesTM, will be debuted by REX. This Portal will, unfortunately, be limited to accredited individuals and institutional investors, but will have the ability to raise much larger investment amounts for promising ventures. Like the Launch MoneyTM Portal, Select VenturesTM will be a simple, on-line tool to facilitate the flow of venture capital to promising ventures without many of the procedural and legalistic roadblocks currently limiting the flow of investment capital. You will be able to build a portfolio of promising ventures that YOU select and monitor, all without the 2.5% per year of capital invested, plus 25% to 30% of the profits fees typically charged by traditional venture fund vehicles (if you could get into these funds at all).
With the Launch MoneyTM and Select VenturesTM Portals in place, The Research Exchange, through REX, will help alleviate one of the most vexing problems of technology commercialization, the “Valley of Death” problem.
Solving this problem should set off a virtuous cycle of entrepreneurs, investors and consumers benefiting from US Government funding for research, which in turn, should lead to increased research funding and more great intellectual property for future products, businesses and jobs.
Find out more about all of this at www.gotorex.com.
P.S. While the GetFunded portal is currently under construction, we are actively reviewing project submissions for the REXcelerator Fund! Join today and submit your proposal!