On June 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Comptroller of the Currency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a final rule that will allow banks to invest in private funds including hedge funds, qualified opportunity zone funds (QOFs), and other private equity funds. Indeed, the…

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 established the Investor Advisory Committee (the “IAC”) to advise the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace.  The IAC has held three sessions on the topic of environmental, social, and governance…

On March 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued proposed amendments (the “Proposals”) in Release No. 33-10763, “Facilitating Capital Formation and Expanding Investment Opportunities by Improving Access to Capital in Private Markets ” (the “Release”) affecting certain exempt offering rules to reduce impediments to fundraising under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 (“Securities…

In late 2013, seed accelerator YCombinator introduced the SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) – a convertible instrument designed to make seed stage investing quicker and less expensive. The SAFEs quickly became a popular structure for seed investing.  Early this fall, YCombinator introduced several changes to the SAFE, most significant among them is a change…