Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2024 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ · WVTX
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Exploring Ways To Connect Entrepreneurs With Investors

In the post-recession era, it’s become more difficult for start-ups and companies without a track record to secure traditional bank loans, so businesses have had to turn elsewhere. 

“What has happened in Vermont is there has been an appetite to seek raising money directly from investors,“ says Commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation Susan Donegan.

In response to the trend, the state last month rewrote rules for a program called the Vermont Small Business Offering Exemption.

"What has happened in Vermont is there has been an appetite to seek raising money directly from investors." - Susan Donegan, commissioner of financial regulation

It allows businesses to raise money from individual Vermont investors.

The new rules raise the cap on the amount companies can raise under the program and increase the limit for investments. The changes also simplify the process for companies using the program.  

Donegan says response in the first month has been encouraging.

“We’ve had serious interest from about six to eight companies in Vermont: Small businesses, specialty foods, electronics and alternative energy,” she says.

Donegan’s department is also studying the feasibility of crafting state regulations for equity crowd-funding. 

Crowd-funding typically involves soliciting online donations. Equity crowd-funding would allow people to invest, rather than donate, in hopes of realizing a return on their money. 

For the past two years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been in the process of writing federal rules for equity crowd-funding. In the meantime, some states have forged ahead with their own regulations.

Donegan says her department is preparing a study of equity crowd-funding that it will present to the legislature in January.

There’s another study underway that may open up another option for start-ups and small businesses.

Donegan says the department is looking at whether licensed lender regulations should be more flexible. That could allow more non-banking finance companies that make business investments to offer loans in Vermont.

Cairn Cross, who heads a venture capital fund in Shelburne, has long advocated for a revamp of the law.  

“Why is it that we continue to talk about access to capital on a whole variety of levels, yet for 18 or 19 years we’ve had this licensed lender law in place?” says Cross.

Donegan says the state has to make sure the regulations protect businesses and weed out dishonest finance companies.

Her department’s review of the state’s licensed lender law will be completed in January.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
Latest Stories