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The SEC has announced that it will host the 44th Annual Small Business Forum on April 10, 2025 in-person at SEC Headquarters in Washington D.C., with the option of virtual participation. The announcements notes:

Organized by the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation, the Forum brings together members of the public and private sectors—including entrepreneurs, small business leaders, investors, and those that support them across the small business ecosystem—to discuss and provide suggestions to improve securities policy affecting how companies raise capital from investors.

This event is planned for 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm Eastern, with an optional networking reception to follow. A full agenda will be provided as the date draws closer.

As John noted in the blog back in November, all signs point toward the SEC being more interested in promoting small business capital formation. For example, in the area of capital formation, the agenda published by Project 2025 calls for the SEC to take, among others, the following actions:

– Simplify and streamline Regulation A (the small issues exemption) and Regulation CF (crowdfunding) and preempt blue sky registration and qualification requirements for all primary and secondary Regulation A offerings.
– Either democratize access to private offerings by broadening the definition of accredited investor for purposes of Regulation D or eliminate the accredited investor restriction altogether.
– Allow traditional self-certification of accredited investor status for all Regulation D Rule 506 offerings.
– Exempt small micro-offerings from registration requirements.
– Exempt small and intermittent finders from broker–dealer registration requirements and provide a simplified registration process for private placement brokers.

It remains to be seen what regulatory efforts will ultimately be pursued, but it is encouraging that during the first Trump Administration we saw the SEC adopt the comprehensive exempt offering harmonization rule changes, which have proven to be beneficial for small business capital formation (including my favorite part, the adoption of Marty Dunn’s integration manifesto in Rule 152).

– Dave Lynn