U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission publishes new market data on Regulation A and crowdfunding activity and private fund beneficial ownership concentration

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis released three reports providing statistics on capital formation through Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding and on beneficial ownership concentration and outcomes for qualifying hedge funds and their advisers. Across the periods reviewed, the Regulation A and crowdfunding markets raised more than USD 10 billion. The Regulation A report covers 2015–2024 and finds more than 1,400 offerings seeking over USD 28 billion in aggregate, with about USD 9.4 billion in reported proceeds from more than 800 issuers; a typical issuer was relatively small and young, and most had not established profitability. The crowdfunding report covers May 16, 2016 to December 31, 2024 and identifies more than 8,400 offerings by over 7,100 issuers (excluding withdrawn offerings), with approximately USD 560 million sought based on minimum targets and approximately USD 8.4 billion sought in aggregate based on maximum amounts; issuers reported around USD 1.3 billion in proceeds across more than 3,800 offerings. The qualifying hedge fund report covers 2013–2023 and links higher beneficial ownership concentration to faster fund growth, relatively more liquid portfolios and investor liquidity versus unconcentrated funds, and lower average gross returns (by 1.2 percentage points) while net returns are only 0.1 percentage points higher for unconcentrated funds, reflecting higher margins.