The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) is lending support to an initiative designed to expand the public companies landscape.
The NVCA has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations to release a report providing public policy recommendations encouraging more public companies.
Officials said the recommendations include enhancements to the reforms put in place by the JOBS Act, proposals to encourage more research of emerging growth companies (EGCs), improvements to corporate governance, disclosure, financial reporting and regulatory requirements. Taken together, they provide a blueprint for policymakers to address the challenges to both launching IPOs and remaining a public company.
“Six years after the passage of the JOBS Act, we now have a good understanding of what further reforms are needed to make it easier for venture-backed companies to enter the public markets and succeed once there,” Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of NVCA, said. “Our goal is for this report to build off the success of the JOBS Act. Reversing the decline in the number of U.S. public companies is a top priority and this report is a significant step for our efforts. We look forward to working with Congress, the SEC and other stakeholders to make these reforms a reality.”
Franklin said the reforms proposed in this report would help reverse the trend of there being less than half of the number of publicly traded companies than there were 20 years ago and reinvigorate the public company model.