Nasdaq Private Market relies on companies and investors to present already-agreed deals which it then executes. Potential investors gain access to an online data room which can include historical investments, a breakdown of company ownership by shareholder and two years of financial statements -- items also required by the RAISE Act.

Nasdaq Private Market caters to VC firms, mutual funds and sovereign wealth funds, while EquityZen -- and rivals like Equidate, DreamFunded and Founders Circle -- typically serve smaller, non-institutional investors.

"We are leveling the playing for people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to invest," said Davda, referring to startups’ preference for institutional backers over individuals.

One banker who works on private tech stock transactions said the market is too risky for individuals and only institutions should play. "Doctors in Boca (Raton, Florida) should not be making opaque investments," he said, adding he declines to serve such clients.

Levitt Badgers

When then SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt introduced Reg FD in 2000, he wanted all public market investors -- whether a sovereign wealth fund or a doctor -- to get corporate information at the same time. Now a director at Bloomberg LP who has backed more than six startups, Levitt said creating similar rules for private companies is "impractical." Bloomberg LP owns Bloomberg News.

He has to "badger" companies to provide regular earnings and balance sheets. "They certainly feel no compulsion" to provide financial updates, he said. "They are almost by definition opaque." He’s not concerned that other shareholders of those startups may not get the same information as him because not all investors are equally engaged -- some want detailed information, others don’t, he said.

White Worries

The SEC’s new boss, Chairwoman Mary Jo White, is more concerned. In a March speech to Silicon Valley venture investors, attorneys and founders she highlighted problems, including conflicts of interest and undisclosed compensation, that characterized private market trades ahead of Facebook Inc.’s 2012 IPO.

"Secondary market investors did not have access to accurate information concerning the value of the companies in which they were investing," she said. "Care should be taken" not to repeat those mistakes.