Back to Vinny's initial question, there are several different answers, depending on how the hedge fund is formed. The type that you hear about quite frequently is a Rule 506 filing.
A Rule 506 filing can have up to 99 investors. 35 of those can be non-accredited investors. However, the state that you live in can have a significant impact on the answer as well. Part of the determining factor of what you can do is based on your state's investment advisory rules.
For example, if you live in California, you cannot have a hedge fund unless you register as an investment adviser. And if you do register, you can charge your investors a performance allocation--but only if they meet CA's definition of an accredited investor.
Other states have very different rules.
Other types of hedge funds can have up to 500 investors. It depends on how the fund is registered.
Here's some other data from our free website:
You will probably want a Rule 506 filing under Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933. A fund created under this filing allows you to accept up to 100 investors (but be careful if you have more than one fund â the investors from both funds get collapsed into one âbucketâ used for counting the number of investors in your fund). A Rule 506 filing is unlimited as to the amount you can accept from investors and manage. And, under the National Securities Market Improvement Act (NSMIA) of 1996, your state filings are greatly simplified.
We find that a Rule 506 filing is typically your most effective and scalable choice. Itâs effective because there is a level of standardization associated with these filings (which allows your fees to be kept to a minimum) and scalable because with one filing, you can bring enough money under management to make your fund profitable to you. Of course, we can consider other filing options if those best serve your needs.
For a Rule 506 Filing, you must file a Form D with the SEC. This merely informs the SEC that an offering is underway. The SEC performs no review of your documents, and the SEC does not give you any âapprovalâ of your offering documents. There is no fee for filing a Form D.
Hope this helps.