With the financial reform bill set to eliminate the 15 client rule exemption for registration under the Investment Advisers Act, the only remaining exemption for fund companies with over $150 million in assets under management will be for venture capital. The Congressional conference decided to not include the Senate’s exemption for private equity.
The bill would leave it up to the Securities and Exchange Commission to define “venture capital.” So what do you think that definition will be?
Wikipedia provides a nice overview, but lacks much in the way of a definition for regulators.
Venture capital is provided as seed funding to early-stage, high-potential, growth companies and more often after the seed funding round as growth funding round in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company. Venture capital investments are generally made in cash in exchange for shares in the invested company.
Next I turned to a trade group’s definition of venture capital. So I went to the website for the National Venture Capital Association. I had a hard time finding a comprehensive definition. Although I’m sure that they are working on some proposals for the SEC. Here are some tidbits:
Venture capitalists invest mostly in young, private companies that have great potential for innovation and growth.
Venture capitalists are long-term investors who take a very active role in their portfolio companies. When a venture capitalist makes an investment he/she does not expect a return on that investment for 7-10 years, on average.
Venture capital is a subset of the larger private equity asset class. The private equity asset class includes venture capital, buyouts, and mezzanine investment activity. Venture capital focuses on investing in private, young, fast growing companies. Buyout and mezzanine investing focuses on investing in more mature companies. Venture capitalists also invest cash for equity. Other private equity investors tend to use debt as part of their transactions.
Venture capital is more like a different business model for investing than a legally definable industry. Since the SEC is going to come up with a definition, that means that there will be a legal definition.
That also means that the SEC definition will most likely affect the types of investments by venture capital firms, the nature of their capital investment, and the exit strategy from their investments.
Here are some guesses:
- Prohibition or limitation on holding debt
- Limitation on holding preferred shares
- Restricted to holding common shares in operating companies
- Prohibitions or limitations on holding publicly-traded securities
- Limitations on holding shares in companies that have debt obligations
- Restrictions on the type of operating companies they can invest in
They are just guesses. But the industry should be very worried about the eventual definition. The SEC has expressed a desire to regulate all private investment funds so I would expect their eventual definition to be very narrow.
I’m sure that the venture capital industry views the exemption as a victory. But the exemption could end up being a heavy weight around their necks. They may need to change their operating approach and investing style to stay within the boundaries of the definition and the exemption.
In the end, it may just be easier to register and regain the flexibility for a wider variety of investment approaches.
Sources:
- Frequently Asked Questions About Venture Capital from the National Venture Capital Association
- Regulation of Advisers to Private Funds -prior post
You can get the “Trust Me, I’m a Venture Capitalist” hat at Cafe Press.
