New York City, NY -- (SBWire) -- 09/12/2012 --IPO Village, an online site dedicated to crowdfunding Nasdaq Initial Public Offering at pre-IPO share prices, was recently accredited by the Crowdfunding Accreditation for Platform Standards (CAPS).

The goal of IPO village is to give retail investors the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the IPO investment lifecycle and the CAPS accreditation will give investors the peace of mind that comes from the knowledge that IPO Village is a recognized player in the industry. Traditionally, IPO’s are funded by investment banks. Those banks agree to buy shares of the company issuing the IPO and then resell those shares for a profit to institutional investors. Those investors then sell the shares to retail investors in the open market, again at a profit. Both the investment bank and the institutional investors inflate the price of the shares before those shares ever get to the retail investor who is eagerly placing orders for the new shares with their brokers. IPO village eliminates both the investment bank and the institutional investor to give the retail investor the chance to get in on the ground floor of a new IPO.

In order to be fully effective crowdfunding operations have to earn the trust of those who want to invest and this is where the CAPS program comes in. The CAPS program was designed to promote the adoption of best practices for the operation of crowdfunding platforms like IPO Village. CAPS is designed to protect both the crowdfunders, or investors and the fundraisers. The ultimate goal of CAPS is to foster growth in the crowdfunding industry by recognizing those platforms that have implemented the best practices in the industry. With the best practices and the high levels of trust, the crowdfunding industry can grow and foster the development of capital for important projects and initiatives, startups and small businesses everywhere.

The CAPS accreditation is supported by an advisory council of leading platform operators and industry experts and the standards are reviewed and updated annually. Accreditation is granted base don and interview and review process and those are the steps IPO Village took recently to gain its accreditation.

IPO Village Managing Director Howard Orloff invites all retail investors to join the IPO Village and now that IPO Village has received the CAPS accreditation those investors can be assured that the highest standards are maintained in all transactions. Getting started is easy and only requires the investor to sign up and express interest in the featured IPO. Orloff cautions that investors should start early because most IPO’s are oversold and IPO Village employs a first come, first served policy. Registering with IPO Village is free and there is no commitment to invest. Investors simply sing up and are then notified when the IPO is open for investment.

Those who want to learn more can visit the website at http://www.ipovillage.com/. Those same investors can visit the CAPS website at http://www.crowdsourcing.org/caps is they want to learn more about the accreditation process.