Information for online funding portals
To assist businesses with crowdfunding, a funding portal may be a registered dealer or be eligible for a registration exemption. Dealers are firms and people who are registered to buy or sell securities on behalf of clients and give advice to clients about the purchase or sale of securities.
Registered Investment Dealers and Exempt Market Dealers are permitted to operate crowdfunding portals subject to the requirements in NI 45-110 being met. Exempt market dealers (EMDs) are dealers registered to sell private company securities.
Also, NI 45-110 provides an exemption from the dealer registration requirement for crowdfunding portals or websites that seek to facilitate securities crowdfunding offerings and that meet the requirements of NI 45-110. Firms relying on the crowdfunding exemption may only facilitate crowdfunding distributions and not distributions under any other prospectus exemption.
Non-registered entities seeking this exemption must submit a registration application to registration@asc.ca at least 30 days before engaging in any crowdfunding distributions or activities. The application must include a completed Form 45-110F3 and Form 45-110F4 available on the NI 45-110 page. Form 45-110F5 must be filed semi-annually by firms relying on the crowdfunding exemption. Please refer to NI 45-110 for additional requirements required under the exemption from dealer registration.
For more information and check out this Guide for Funding Portals.