OPINION: The Oculus-Facebook Buyout: The Best Ad For Equity Crowdfunding Ever

Monday, April 14, 2014

I have written about the misconception by some members of the general public that equity crowdfunding and rewards-based crowdfunding are the same thing. Many people are misinformed and do not understand that Title III of the JOBS Act has nothing to do with rewards-based crowdfunding. If you don’t believe me, read some of the comments to the SEC where comment writers were unnecessarily worried that equity crowdfunding would kill Kickstarter and its ilk.

… if Title III had been available to Oculus to use “equity crowdfunding” two years ago, it is interesting to think about what could have happened.

The public outcry over this non-issue reached a fever pitch recently when Facebook paid $2 billion to buy Oculus, a technology company into virtual reality video gaming. A couple of years ago, Oculus used Kickstarter to crowdfund the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. On Kickstarter, Oculus crowdfunded almost $2.5 million from nearly 10,000 donors, making the campaign one of the most successful in rewards-based crowdfunding history. The donors to this campaign received items like posters, T-shirts and, for larger donations, a developer kit that for game developers. Nobody thought they were buying stock in Oculus when they contributed to this crowdfunding campaign, and if Oculus had tried to sell stock, they would have been breaking the law because Title III equity crowdfunding is not yet legal.

Source: Crowdfund Insider (link opens in a new window)

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