In crowdfunding, the data already shows it. 64% of funded Reg CF capital now goes to companies outside California, New York, and Massachusetts, up from 47% in 2016. The top five states' share fell from 74% to 52%. California alone went from 44% to 26%.

And the per-resident leaders aren't who you'd guess: Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado. Take away the gatekeepers and the map of where innovation gets funded looks nothing like the venture map.

A real question: is capital actually decentralizing, or is crowdfunding just reaching the places venture was never going to fund anyway? Curious which way people see it.

Comment "CCLEAR" and I'll send you the full brief. 

When Regulation Crowdfunding (Title III of the JOBS Act) launched in 2016, the industry's first challenge was simple: prove that ordinary investors could participate responsibly in private-company investing and that startups could successfully raise capital from their communities.

To do that, the market relied on familiar securities. Common stock, convertible notes, and later SAFEs had already been developed for venture-backed startups pursuing rapid growth and eventual exits.

That made sense.

Today, however, Regulated Investment Crowdfunding (the umbrella term CfPA has adopted as a Recommended Best Practice for the SEC- and FINRA-regulated exemptions created by the JOBS Act, of which Regulation Crowdfunding is one) serves a much broader market. Established operating businesses, consumer brands, technology startups, local enterprises, real estate ventures, and mission-driven organizations all raise capital under these exemptions. These businesses have very different capital needs and v...more

More than $1 billion has gone to women- and minority-led companies through Regulation Crowdfunding. That's 37% of all the capital raised.

For comparison: all-women teams get about 2% of traditional venture capital.

When you let the crowd decide, the capital distributes very differently. Women- and minority-led founders' share has climbed from 24% in 2016 to nearly 39% today, across 52 states and territories.

This is what democratized access to capital actually looks like in the data.

A question for the room: is the crowd better at backing founders that institutions overlook, or is venture capital simply optimizing for something else? Curious where people land.

Comment "CCLEAR" and I'll send you the full brief.

We read 6,800 funded RegCF pitches. The words that raise the most money aren't the ones you'd expect.

The gap between a top-quartile raise and a bottom-quartile one is 24x. So we ran the language through NLP to see what separates them.

It isn't hype. "Revolutionary" and "disrupt" don't move the needle. Sentiment, length, and buzzwords like "traction" show no advantage at all.

What the big raises actually talk about: FDA approvals, clinical pipelines, recurring revenue, clean energy, real assets. The language mirrors the business — substance beats spin.

Comment "CCLEAR" and I'll send you the full brief. #Startups #NLP #Fundraising #RegCF #DataScience

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 27, 2026

The Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) announced that its public comment letter to the U.S. Department of Labor is now available on Regulations.gov, responding to the Department’s proposed rule, “Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives” (RIN 1210-AC38).

The proposed rule would clarify how ERISA’s duty of prudence applies when plan fiduciaries select designated investment alternatives for participant-directed retirement plans, including asset allocation funds that may include alternative assets.

CfPA commended the Department for advancing a process-based, asset-neutral framework that preserves fiduciary discretion while recognizing the evolving role of private-market investment opportunities. At the same time, CfPA urged the Department to make the proposed safe harbor more practical by adding objective criteria and documentation thresholds that fiduciaries can apply consistently.

“Expanding access to private markets shou...more

Not every company that needs capital is a good candidate for crowdfunding.

That is the first thing founders and executives should understand. Crowdfunding is not simply a financing transaction moved online. It is a public capital-raising campaign that requires a company to explain its business clearly, activate an audience, support investor diligence, comply with securities rules, and market the offering over a period of weeks or months.

The best candidates are not merely companies that want money. They are companies with leadership teams that can turn a financing need into a credible public campaign.

A strong crowdfunding candidate usually has five things: a clear story, a reachable audience or serious marketing plan, a concrete reason to raise now, the budget to run the campaign properly, and the discipline to manage ongoing compliance after the raise.

A clear and compelling story

A company does not need to be simple, but its public-facing story does need to be understandable.

Prospe...more