In accordance with newly eased investment regulations brought forth by the United States’ JOBS Act, Virtuix is “testing the waters” for crowdfunded equity investment.
The Virtuix Omni VR treadmill began as a Kickstarter success after raising more than $1 million through the crowdfunding platform back in July. Kickstarter allows companies to gather funds from supporters in exchange for products or services, but actually buying equity through the platform has been restricted due to financial regulations.
In total, Virtuix has raised more than $9 million through additional investment rounds, but only a select few could legally participate in those follow-on equity investments due to investing regulations in the U.S. which have just recently been eased thanks to the ‘JOBS Act’.
“Historically, the general public was required to be accredited with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to invest in private companies. These conditions were based on income and net worth and denied all but the wealthiest 2% of Americans an opportunity to invest. With the new regulation under Title IV of the JOBS Act, the opportunity to invest in private tech startups is now extended to everyone,” Virtuix writes in a press release.
“Each week we receive requests from supporters who want to participate in the financial future of our company and, because of regulation, we’ve had to turn them away. It felt counter to our company’s culture,” says Jan Goetgeluk, Founder and CEO of Virtuix. “Now, with Regulation A [of the JOBS Act], our customers and supporters may have a chance to buy shares in Virtuix alongside Silicon Valley venture capitalists and global institutional investors.”
Virtuix is taking to SeedInvest, an equity crowdfunding platform taking advantage of the newly eased investment regulations. Virtuix is in what SeedInvest calls a “testing-the-waters” phase, which allows potential investors to indicate non-binding interest in investing in the company. Should that prove fruitful, the VR treadmill company will open the doors to raising a ‘Mini IPO’ through the platform.
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Virtuix says they have 31 employees and have sold 4,000 Omnis to date, with the unit currently retailing at $699. The first Omni was delivered at the end of 2015 and more units will ship from the Kickstarter and beyond in 2016.