SEC Office for Small Business Capital Formation Publishes 2025 Staff Report on Capital-Raising Dynamics

The Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (OASB) is an independent office within the SEC, created by Congress in the SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016. Its mandate is to advance the interests of small businesses—from startups and private companies to small public companies—and their investors in SEC policy and in the capital markets. The office:

• Identifies capital‑raising challenges facing small businesses, including those that are minority‑, women‑, rural‑, and disaster‑area‑owned.
• Assists small businesses in resolving problems with the SEC’s rules and processes.
• Conducts outreach and education (including the annual Government‑Business Small Business Capital Formation Forum).
• Analyzes how SEC rules affect small‑business capital formation and makes legislative and regulatory recommendations in annual reports to Congress and the Commission.
• Works with the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee on related issues.

According to the SEC’s description (as republished by Newsfile), the 2025 staff report is a “comprehensive and data‑rich” look at small‑business capital‑raising nationwide. It:

• Presents data on small‑business capital formation across three company life‑cycle stages: (1) small and emerging businesses, (2) mature and later‑stage businesses, and (3) initial public offerings (IPOs) and small public companies.
• Breaks out capital‑raising activity for these groups to show what is happening in the small‑business marketplace.
• Includes sections on the Office’s outreach and public‑engagement work in fiscal year 2025 and on the activities of the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee in fiscal year 2025. Based on the structure of the 2024 annual report, these data typically cover how much capital is raised through different offering types and exemptions (such as Regulation D, Regulation A, and crowdfunding), the role of pooled vs. non‑pooled funds, and trends in IPOs and small‑public‑company markets, though the precise 2025 metrics are not listed in the press summaries.

Congress and policymakers can use the staff report as a factual and analytical reference when evaluating how well U.S. securities laws and SEC rules are working for small businesses. Specifically, they can:

• Track trends and gaps in access to capital for startups, growing private companies, and small public companies, including for women‑, minority‑, and rural‑owned firms.
• Assess how existing exemptions and disclosure requirements (e.g., Regulation D, Regulation A, crowdfunding, public‑company reporting) are affecting small‑business financing.
• Draw on the report’s policy recommendations and forum feedback when drafting or amending legislation or in SEC oversight hearings—for example, on issues like the accredited‑investor definition or scaled disclosure for small public companies. These uses are consistent with how prior OASB reports have been structured and used, which combine data with recommendations directed to Congress and the SEC.

Yes. The SEC states that the 2025 staff report has been published and is available to the public. It can be accessed via the SEC’s press release announcing it, which links to the full report:

• SEC newsroom press release: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026-2-sec-publishes-staff-report-capital-raising-dynamics From that page, readers can open or download the complete staff report.

Public summaries of the 2025 staff report do not spell out all underlying data sources or exact time windows. However, based on the SEC’s description and the structure of the 2024 annual report:

• The 2025 report’s narrative and outreach sections cover the Office’s work and the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee’s activities during fiscal year 2025.
• The capital‑raising statistics are typically drawn from SEC filing data (e.g., Form D and registration statements), market and transaction databases, and other public‑market and private‑offering datasets, generally covering recent years to show current conditions and multi‑year trends. Because the SEC has not yet publicly detailed the precise data sources and date ranges for the 2025 report in secondary summaries, the exact list of datasets and cut‑off dates cannot be stated with certainty.

Yes. In line with prior years, the Office’s small‑business capital‑formation reports do more than present data; they include recommendations and issue‑focused discussions intended to guide policy and potential regulatory or legislative changes. For example, the 2024 report urged Congress and the SEC to consider steps such as broadening the accredited‑investor definition and scaling disclosure requirements for small public companies. The 2025 staff report is described by the SEC as an advocacy tool highlighting the office’s work and forum feedback, so it is expected to contain similar recommendations that could influence future SEC rulemaking or congressional action.

The report can affect small businesses seeking to raise capital mainly by shaping the rules and guidance they operate under and by improving access to information:

• Data and analysis on where capital is (and is not) flowing can lead the SEC and Congress to adjust exemptions, disclosure obligations, or definitions (such as “accredited investor”) in ways that make it easier or fairer for small businesses to attract investors.
• Recommendations drawn from small‑business and investor feedback can prompt regulatory changes that reduce unnecessary compliance burdens for smaller issuers or improve pathways like crowdfunding and Regulation A.
• The report highlights and helps refine the Office’s educational resources and outreach, which are meant to give entrepreneurs and their investors clearer, more practical tools for navigating capital‑raising options. Over time, these uses of the report can indirectly reduce barriers and transaction costs for small businesses trying to raise money.