The private markets are about to become significantly more accessible. New regulation on both sides of the Atlantic is widening the pool of eligible investors.
In the UK, the FCA has been steadily revising the boundary between retail and sophisticated investor classifications. In the US, the SEC's definition of an accredited investor has been expanded.
Broader eligibility is necessary but not sufficient. Three things have to be true simultaneously: companies need to be able to get in front of the right investors at scale, the information needs to be presented clearly and honestly, and the regulatory framework needs to protect new entrants without excluding them.
The networks that maintain rigour while scaling access will be the ones worth being on - for investors, for the companies raising and for the Affiliate Partners distributing deals.