Silicon Prairie Aims to Acquire a Bank, Looks to Raise Money in Securities Offering

Silicon Prairie, a multifaceted Fintech Company in the securities crowdfunding sector, is interested in acquiring a community bank. In a recent LinkedIn post, Silicon Prairie founder and CEO David Duccini stated that they are not a traditional Fintech story, but rather a Capital Technology firm or Captech play.

Duccini recently shared that they are meeting with bank owners to establish a memorandum of understanding, which will enable them to purchase 20% of the financial firm, with plans to acquire a controlling interest within the next 2 to 3 years. The plan to purchase a bank was revealed in 2017, so it has been in the works for some time.

As part of the process, the company is pursuing an online funding round, pairing a Reg D 506c with a Reg CF offering. The securities offering is expected to go live within the next couple of weeks.

Duccini stated:

“The final touches on our offering memorandum are nearly done and we’ll be launching our Seed Round here in the coming weeks first under REG-D 506C and then adding on a “side-by-side” offering under REG-CF in a bid to raise up to $5M on a $35M post-money Simple Agreement for Future Exchange Plus Repurchase aka a “SAFE+R” security.” [Simple Agreement for Future Exchange + Repurchase]

The SAFE+R anticipates a priced round under Reg A within around 36 months. If they don’t do a Reg A, investors have the option to take their money out.

They are currently accepting indications of interest in the offering, which is non-binding. As of today, the offering page indicates they have received between $643,000 to $745,000.

The funding goal has been set at a minimum of $500,000 with a max target of $2.5 million.

The mission is interesting, as Silicon Prairie’s intent is to transform the community bank into a bank for REG-CF issuers, not just for funding, but also for long-term support with lines of credit, SBA loans, bill pay services, and perhaps payroll services. Issuers will also have the option to take advantage of a secondary sales market enabled by the entity, a one-stop shop for early-stage issuers in need of financial services.

As early-stage firms strive to remain private for longer, Silicon Prairie anticipates benefiting from this ongoing trend by offering access to capital, as well as affiliated services, to both issuers and investors.