![]() I’ve personally been paying close attention to a number of the equity-based portals in the crowdfunding arena and I’ve yet to see something that truly could meet the needs of divesting businesses when it comes to equity-based crowdfunding. The vibrant growth ideas and sexy businesses where venture capitalists froth at the mouth are really the only areas where crowdfunding and investors have meshed well. Perhaps this is due—in part—to the fact that VC-backed firms promise outlandish returns above traditional private equity deals. While not immediately obvious, there remains an untapped market in crowdfunding for mergers and acquisitions. Here are a few of my reasons why.crowdfunding advertising The Potential for Crowdfunding a Business SaleFirst, there exists a large swath of baby-boomer-owned companies that will need to be sold in the next two decades. Roughly 25% of the United State’s population will be retiring in the next 19 years—10,000 a day to be precise. It’s estimated that roughly 7% of said individuals own private businesses. With the expected girth is supply of companies on the market for sale and the opportunity for small private investors to get into purchasing smaller portions and shares of smaller companieskickstarter marketing Second, crowdfunding can be an easy way to take some chips off the table, much like an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). The owner may not want to sell-out completely, but can—per the JOBS Act regs—sell up to $1M unscrutinized to investors in a partial sellout of equity each year. So, if you have a $5M business, it may not be out of the question to consider selling it off over a five year period a piece at a time through a crowdfund campaign. Third, it provides flexibility on the structure of the deal. While crowdfunding the sale of one's business may not work for everyone, it may be a viable option for a good number of retirees or even small business owners who may want to sell a portion, raise some capital for growth and hire new management to help run the company. If nothing else, it greatly broadens the options available to the business seller.indiegogo marketing The DownsidesA number of key downsides come to mind when we discuss crowdfunding with M&A—which is probably why no one has really delved into it heavily yet. A true Title III crowdfund for a share divestiture of a legacy business, the number of shareholders could make a small deal very wonky and top-heavy, something very few managers would like to deal with, even if the investment was a separate LP/GP relationship. The number and sophistication differences of various shareholders could create a very unfortunate dynamic among both shareholders and managers alike.kickstarter project Additionally, the massive growth potential usually isn’t there. One of the biggest lures for crowdfunding for many small time investors is to get in very early in a business that could grow massively and have a big payout. Steady returns are not even in the realm of most private equity groups, let alone the venture capitalists. Ultimately, the cash-on-cash returns may not be as good. It would look more like a mutual fund than a risk-diversified VC fund with one deal that eventually makes up for all the other losses.CrowdFunding advertizing Finally, the returns may not make pooling worth the risk. Private deals, regardless of where they are in the growth stage, rely heavily on the pooling strategies found in diversification. If a number of your private crowdfunding M&A deals falter and if that percentage is somewhere near what would be had venture capital, than the returns of the remaining holdings within the portfolio would fail to deliver anything above a normal public stock or mutual fund portfolio. In fact, they would likely be worse if we’re talking about legacy middle-market or lower middle-market companies. That is, unless of course you’re a superb manager and want to get hands-on with your investment. But then we get back to the number of investors and the size of the investment amounts issue. In all, it’s a tough playground to play in.CrowdFunding marketing Next Steps for Crowdfunding a Merger or AcquisitionWe’re still early. Before the true kinks can be worked out, a few things will—of absolute necessity—need to occur:
Many of us love the idea of crowdfunding. Perhaps the greatest part about crowdfunding is that we’re just seeing the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As new and creative methods for using crowdfunding as an option for alternative financing emerge, it will be fascinating to see how they’re effectively implemented, especially in the realm of M&A. Posted from : http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/how-crowdfunding-may-impact-mergers-and-acquisitions-61912.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nuwireinvestor%2Fusnews+(NuWire+Investor%3A+U.S.+News) |