The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act is bipartisan US legislation signed into law in April 2012 that liberalized US securities regulations for smaller companies. It had three major impacts on startup fundraising: (1) creating the framework for equity crowdfunding under Regulation CF (operationalized 2016), (2) expanding Regulation A from a rarely-used $5M cap into Reg A+ with a $50M cap (later raised to $75M), and (3) creating the Emerging Growth Company (EGC) category that simplified IPO disclosure requirements for companies under $1.235 billion (2024 threshold) in revenue. It is the most significant securities-law reform affecting startup capital access in decades.
The three major changes: