Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation
About the Office
The Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation is an independent office that was established in January 2019 pursuant to the bipartisan SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 to advance the interests of small businesses and their investors at the SEC and in the capital markets, from early-stage startups raising initial capital, to later-stage private companies whose founders and investors are seeking liquidity, all the way to smaller public companies. The Office proactively works to identify and address unique challenges faced by minority-owned, women-owned, rural, and natural disaster area small businesses and their investors. The Office approaches its advocacy mission by:
- Working with small businesses and their investors to understand their capital formation issues through education and outreach;
- Analyzing the potential impact of proposed SEC and self-regulatory organizations (SROs) rules and regulations likely to significantly affect small businesses and their investors; and
- Helping small businesses and their investors resolve issues with the SEC and SROs by recommending policy changes to Congress and the Commission.
Annual Report to Congress
In December 2022, our Office delivered its 2022 annual report to Congress and the Commission. The report details how entrepreneurs and investors are building companies together, from startups to small public companies.
The report is a comprehensive resource on the dynamics of capital raising in communities across the country, including:
- Highlights of our Office’s advocacy work from fiscal year 2022
- Data on small business capital formation, broken down by:
- Small and emerging businesses
- Mature and later-stage businesses
- Small public companies
- Women business owners and investors
- Minority business owners and investors
- Natural disaster areas
- Rural communities
- Policy recommendations from the Office
- Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee’s FY2022 summary of activities
Our Office’s prior annual reports are available on our Reports page.
SEC’s 42nd Annual Small Business Forum
The Office is charged by Congress with leading the SEC’s annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, where members of the public and private sectors gather to provide feedback to improve capital raising policy. The 2023 Forum took place over four virtual sessions April 24-27, featuring speakers with in-depth knowledge of the issues facing small businesses across the country, highlighting the following topics:
- Mon., Apr. 24: Exploring the Early-Stage Landscape: Trends and Strategies in Capital Raising
- Tue., Apr. 25: Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Laying the Groundwork to Support Small Businesses and Their Investors
- Wed., Apr. 26: Investing in Small Business: Successes and Challenges Facing Smaller Funds
- Thu. Apr. 27: Accessing the Public Markets: Becoming and Staying a Public Reporting Company
At the end of each day's session, participants prioritized capital-raising policy recommendations submitted by participants related to each day’s topic. Please stay tuned for the 2023 Forum report, which will include the Commission’s responses to these recommendations
Reports and materials from prior Forums are also available.
Strategic Plan 2021-2025
The Strategic Plan is a roadmap to guide our Office’s decisions and align actions with mission execution. The plan outlines four key goals, with strategies and initiatives underpinning each:
- Goal 1: Engage with small businesses and their investors to solicit views on relevant capital raising issues.
- Goal 2: Educate small businesses and their investors about capital raising rules to reduce barriers to entry and increase compliance.
- Goal 3: Collaborate on pragmatic policy solutions to address capital raising challenges faced by small businesses and their investors.
- Goal 4: Empower a mission-driven team to leverage varied perspectives to solve the complex problems of an evolving and increasingly diverse capital market.
View more of our Office’s reports and other publications on our Reports page.
Modified: Aug. 2, 2023