SeyfarthLean Consulting Unveils Disclosure Dragon Software to “Jumpstart” Crowdfunding Offerings

Contact:
Brian Kiefer, Director of Public Relations
(312) 460-6401, bkiefer@seyfarth.com

NEW YORK (February 25, 2014) – SeyfarthLean Consulting LLC, a subsidiary of law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, announced today its Disclosure Dragon software, designed specifically for the crowdfunding industry. Disclosure Dragon is the first advanced document automation solution that helps companies and online portals efficiently and effectively prepare the necessary legal and financial disclosure to conduct crowdfunding offerings.

For small businesses and early stage companies, Disclosure Dragon automates, expedites and standardizes the development of a private placement memorandum (PPM) (or other required disclosure documents depending on the type of offering) and supporting exhibits required to satisfy the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission’s regulations pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. Traditionally handled by lawyers, consultants and other advisers, PPM development is typically an expensive and arduous process that proves insurmountable for many small companies.

With its advanced user-populated engine, Disclosure Dragon’s interactive and adaptive framework auto-generates a draft PPM at a fraction of the cost and time, guiding users step by step through a detailed series of questions related to their businesses. PPM’s produced by Disclosure Dragon are expected to reduce the time and cost of preparing legal documentation by up to 80%. Importantly, further legal review will be required by the issuer’s counsel to finalize the PPM and is not provided by Disclosure Dragon.

“It’s exciting to bring a software product like this to market that immediately helps clear one of the first – and largest – hurdles for small and start-up companies attempting to access the crowdfunding model of financing,” said Seyfarth Corporate lawyer Georgia Quinn, who has spoken at the Global Crowdfund Expo and the New York State Bar, and has also met with the SEC on crowdfunding regulations. Early on, she realized that the proposed JOBS Act crowdfunding rules could be onerous and cost prohibitive for small companies relative to the amount of money being raised. With this in mind, Quinn worked closely with SeyfarthLean Consulting and Seyfarth’s award-winning technologists to develop and test a more efficient technology solution, which evolved into Disclosure Dragon.

“Disclosure Dragon provides the first streamlined and interactive platform to automate legal documentation for the crowdfunding space, and all at a significant cost savings that allows companies to jumpstart these efforts now,” said Andrew Baker, global director of Seyfarth’s Legal Technology Innovations Office. “The initial response to Disclosure Dragon has been fantastic and we’re excited about its possibilities moving forward.”

Disclosure Dragon will debut on Poliwogg, the leading life sciences funding platform, which expects that many of its funding clients will be attracted to Disclosure Dragon’s time and cost savings, as well as the standardization it provides. For these reasons, one such client, Insero Health, a clinical stage healthcare company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of epilepsy, is already adopting Disclosure Dragon. This also marks one of first collaborations between Poliwogg and the Epilepsy Foundation, which announced in January their partnership to encourage investment and support for new therapies to help people living with recurrent seizures.

Alongside representatives from Poliwogg, Insero Health and the Epilepsy Foundation, SeyfarthLean Consulting will officially unveil Disclosure Dragon during a February 25 demonstration and reception in New York. They will be joined by representatives from Marcum LLP, a national accounting firm with one of the largest SEC practice groups in the country, who will be available to discuss crowdfunding regulations and related accounting services that may be necessary. For more event details, please contact: events@seyfarth.com

About SeyfarthLean Consulting

SeyfarthLean Consulting (SLC) brings the benefits of the award-winning SeyfarthLean client management approach to clients who need assistance in efficiently managing their legal and operational workflow. SLC helps clients improve processes within their organizations, manage complex internal projects and create greater efficiencies and reduce costs throughout their in-house organizations.