What is equity crowdfunding?

The equity crowdfunding rules are contained in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and corresponding regulations. The regulations allow for each company to raise up to $2m from retail investors in any 12 month period. The key change in the regulations was to remove the requirement for a regulated “product disclosure statement” when offering shares to retail investors. This change drastically reduced the cost of making a public offer, and therefore opened up the wider equity capital market to cash-hungry early stage growth companies.