Crowdfunding, from your smartphone

Crowdfunding is poised to be bigger than ever in 2013, with fundraising successes such as the Pebble watch and the Ouya game console both getting ready to launch to sell their long-awaited projects. But crowdfunding is more than just bringing neat products to market. At next month’s Launch startup festival, MicroVentures — a company that vets investors and gives them access to funding deals — will work with the conference and other partners to let startups do some live equity crowdfunding as they present on stage.Tim Sullivan, chief executive of MicroVentures, said that making a mobile app allows investors to have a lot of flexibility when it comes to making decisions about backing new startups. It’s also helpful for the companies, Sullivan said, since anyone in the company can see the investments in real time. The company worked on the app, Sullivan said, because there was previously “no way through mobile devices that you can adequately see what’s out there in terms of companies that you might want to invest in.” MicroVentures only deals with accredited investors, who are currently the only ones allowed to participate in equity crowdfunding. A handful of European countries allow non-accredited investors to pick up equity in crowdfunding drives, but that practice is on ice in the U.S. pending some new regulations from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Congress passed legislation allowing more investors to take part in equity crowdfunding last year as part of the JOBS Act, but the SEC has been taking its time in crafting regulations about what information companies must provide to their investors. The agency was supposed to have the rules completed by the end of 2012. Sullivan said that he doesn’t expect to see much movement on the matter any time soon. Opening up equity crowdfunding to everyone, he said, raises a lot of concerns about how to make sure that any investor gets the information he or she needs to assess the risks involved in backing a startup. “It’s going to take a while for the JOBS Act legislation to work itself out,” he said.