David Drake is the founder of The Soho Loft Capital Creation Event Series (“TSL”) covering the Private Company Marketplace and Capital Formation. Mr. Drake is also the Chairman of LDJ Capital in New York City and a thought leader on the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Start-Ups Act) including Reg A+, Reg D 506, Crowd Funding Capital and Onramp IPO. He is a founding executive board member of the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) as well as at the leading global trade association Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA). He was chosen to represent the U.S. Commerce department as a JOBS Act expert delegate at the US and European Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) forum led by Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Deputy US Trade Representative, last July 12-13 in Rome and Brussels with European Ministers and legislators.
His investment in The Soho Loft Capital Creation Events educates start-ups and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the areas of capital formation, capital access, crowd funding, angel capital including, but not limited to expertise on eb5 green card programs, micro-finance, venture capital and private equity. His proclivity towards impact investments interleaves directly with the Private Company Marketplace and his TMT investment strategies and family office clients at his holding company LDJ Capital. His network extends across all continents and allows access to financing in the Private Company Marketplace from hedge funds, high net-worth investors, Sovereign Wealth Funds, private equity firms, family offices to institutional pension funds and fund of funds.
This geographical capital market access is in, but not limited to, US markets and London with exceptional relationships and focus supported by regular road-shows to Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hong Kong. LDJ Capital is headquartered in New York, with partner offices in Zurich, Stockholm, London, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.
As mentioned, Mr. Drake is the founder and an Executive Committee board member at CfPA – a national and global trade association with the leading global crowd funding platforms as members. He is also a founding board member of the CFIRA, the leadership group heading up US crowd funding for equity developments. The nascent crowd funding phenomena is the largest new financial instrument SMEs and start-ups have ever seen. Mr. Drake was involved lobbying Senators and Congressmen for The JOBS Act which President Obama signed into law April 5, 2012. The Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA works with Mr. Drake through CFIRA to identify best practices in the Crowd Funding industry.
For charity, Mr. Drake hosted the Harvard Club and Boston Symphony performances at his home and sat on the advisory board of Best Buddies Charity for autistic kids. Mr. Drake has been behind raising money for charities through his participation in producing the Carnegie Hall concert series.
Mr. Drake speaks six languages and holds Bachelor’s Degrees in both Chemistry and Marketing from the American University in Washington, D.C. He has an MBA in Finance and an MA in International Law and Economics from George Washington University where he was awarded the Wallenberg Scholarship for academic merit.
