On March 30, 2026, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposed amendments to its rules imposing restrictions on the purchase and sale of equity securities offered in initial public offerings (IPOs) (Rule 5130) and new issue allocations and distributions (Rule 5131) to exempt specified collective trust funds (CTFs) from the rules’ prohibitions.
CTFs (also known…
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As mature private companies grow larger and more complex, a sophisticated investor relations strategy becomes essential. Clear, differentiated communications, paired with strong media visibility, can help strengthen reputational capital and even influence market valuation as companies move toward a liquidity event.…
A rulemaking petition filed recently highlights the need to address the communications safe harbors. The Securities and Exchange Commission has not reviewed the rules and regulations relating to social media under the securities laws since 2000. The last comprehensive review of the rules relating to offering related communications and safe harbors was Securities Offering Reform…
As we noted in our prior post, the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation recently issued its Staff Report for fiscal year 2025, which provides information on the Office’s activities. We discussed the Report’s findings with respect to reliance on exempt offerings as well as…
On this blog, we have commented quite a number of times regarding a number of trends affecting our capital markets—many of which have been a factor since the early 2000s and which have become more pronounced since the adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related reforms. For example, we have noted the decline in the…
On December 8, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved proposed rule changes submitted by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) that exempt certain over-the-counter (“OTC”)-traded SPACs from the reverse merger rule and minimum average daily trading volume requirements. Citing a recent increase in the number of SPACs that were listed at the time…
Today, the US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan capital formation bill, H.R. 3383 or the Incentivizing New Ventures and Economic Strength Through Capital Formation (“INVEST”) Act of 2025, 302 to 123. Announced by the US House Committee on Financial Services (the “Financial Services Committee”) on December 2, 2025, the INVEST Act includes more than…
Earlier this week, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Atkins gave remarks that provided a perspective on measures intended to promote capital formation. Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, of course, he noted the now all too familiar statistics regarding the decline in the number of public companies in the United States—from over 7,000 in…
Nasdaq Private Market’s State of the Private Market: 2025 report shows private company valuations beginning to recover, liquidity programs surging, and private company performance stabilizing relative to public benchmarks following two years of turbulence.
In 2024, total proceeds raised through secondary tender offers surpassed venture-backed IPO volume. Over that same period, the number of private…
PitchBook’s recently published Q3 2025 Analyst Note shows how the market has shifted since the 2021 IPO boom. Through June 30, 2025, only 18 US companies completed IPOs, pacing the year for the lowest total in a decade. Within that small group, 10 unicorns went public, including seven tech companies. Median IPO valuations this year…
