When securities are offered direct to the public, without any aid from an investment banking firm, the company is said to be doing a Direct Public Offering (DPO).
The companies must have a complete set of financial statements and a disclosure statement in order to complete DPO.
Points to remember:
DPO offers the company a chance to build the capital money from its own community and not only the wealthy investors.
As DPO have an exemption from the federal registration requirements, they are not required to be registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Example:
Spotify had opted for the DPO route in 2017, so public investors could have access to its shares.