Hedge funds and other companies seeking private investments would be freed to advertise publicly for funding under a rule set for a vote tomorrow by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The rule is the first of those required by last year’s Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act to be approved by the SEC, the vote coming more than a year after a deadline set by Congress. The rule would lift an 80-year-old regulatory practice that has restricted advertising outside of a public offering in an effort to protect small investors from inappropriate risks. Under the new rule, startups and other small companies would also be able to use advertising to raise unlimited amounts of money.
