LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. (https://www.startengine.com/) announced that it has closed its Regulation A offering with nearly $5M raised through the sale of common stock. The offering was filed in September 2017 and closed just hundreds of dollars short of the $5M maximum with commitments from over 3,400 investors. StartEngine is a crowdfunding and securities offering platform (including securities tokens) that helps companies raise capital utilizing exemptions from registration under the Securities Act of 1933. To date, the StartEngine platform has been used by more than 160 companies to raise capital.

Following the close of its $5M round, StartEngine announced the start of its own initial coin offering (ICO). The ICO is currently in “testing the waters” under Regulation A, allowing investors to indicate interest in investing in shares. StartEngine will seek to raise $10M through its ICO, which it is hosting on its own platform. The ICO will be a security token offering, with each token representing shares of the company’s common stock. The new ICO will be a tokenized equity sale up to $10M, utilizing Regulation A to offer the securities to both accredited and non-accredited investors.

“ We are launching the StartEngine ICO to help build out our secondary trading platform, which we hope will be operational later this year. We anticipate using this $10M to offer a broader range of services as a modern financial firm that assists both initial capital raises by companies and secondary trading by those companies’ investors,” said Howard Marks, co-founder and CEO of StartEngine.

StartEngine’s ICO coincides with the public announcement of its future roadmap for StartEngine Secondary, its security token trading marketplace. StartEngine Secondary will utilize a blockchain technology called LDGR, a patent-pending decentralized application on the Ethereum blockchain with the purpose of helping companies to offer liquidity to investors. LDGR creates a security token for every company using StartEngine Secondary, thereby enabling investors to trade their holdings on an open, transparent marketplace. As part of its secondary marketplace, StartEngine will also utilize StartEngine Secure, an SEC-registered transfer agent, to verify and handle security token trading. StartEngine plans to launch Secondary, assuming SEC and FINRA approval of StartEngine as a broker-dealer and ATS.

“ I have been an entrepreneur for the last 35 years on a journey that allowed me to tackle one of the most important problems that exists in our economy: access to capital,” said Marks. “ I built StartEngine because I saw the need for a new way for entrepreneurs to access capital without barriers. StartEngine is a catalyst for the American Dream.”

For more information on StartEngine visit: https://www.startengine.com.

About StartEngine

StartEngine is the leading equity crowdfunding platform in the U.S., connecting everyday investors with tomorrow’s progressive companies. Utilizing its expertise in regulated exempt offerings under the Securities Act, StartEngine has helped more than 160 companies raise capital and has over 150,000 registered investors. Based in Los Angeles, the company was created in 2014 by Howard Marks, co-founder of Activision, and Ron Miller. StartEngine is committed to revolutionizing the ways companies raise capital and to helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. StartEngine Crowdfunding is a not a broker-dealer, funding portal or investment adviser. StartEngine Capital, LLC is a funding portal registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

NO MONEY OR OTHER CONSIDERATION IS BEING SOLICITED, AND IF SENT IN RESPONSE, WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. NO OFFER TO BUY THE SECURITIES CAN BE ACCEPTED AND NO PART OF THE PURCHASE PRICE CAN BE RECEIVED UNTIL THE OFFERING STATEMENT FILED BY THE COMPANY WITH THE SEC HAS BEEN QUALIFIED BY THE SEC. ANY SUCH OFFER MAY BE WITHDRAWN OR REVOKED, WITHOUT OBLIGATION OR COMMITMENT OF ANY KIND, AT ANY TIME BEFORE NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE GIVEN AFTER THE DATE OF QUALIFICATION. AN INDICATION OF INTEREST INVOLVES NO OBLIGATION OR COMMITMENT OF ANY KIND.

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