Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities
Scott Mullin | CNBC
Dan Ives, one of Wall Street’s best-known technology analysts, is partnering with Yorkville Securities to launch a new merchant banking company.
The new company, Yorkville Ives & Co., will focus on artificial intelligence, technology, industrials, energy transition and infrastructure, and will combine investment banking, equity research, institutional trading and principal investing, according to a statement Tuesday.
Ives, who spent more than two decades on Wall Street and built a following with his bullish views on AI and big tech companies, will become partner and managing director. Roger Briggs will become CEO.
Yorkville Ives said it provides debt and equity capital raising in public and private markets, strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, capital structure and other corporate transactions, institutional trading and execution services, and independent equity research. The company plans to invest its own capital as well as customers and partners.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and it requires a new kind of bank: the modern merchant bank,” Ives said in a statement. “Research, banking, trading and capital are all under one system, representing the biggest transformation the market has ever seen.”
Known for his colorful jackets and outspoken style, Ives spent the past eight years at Wedbush Securities and spent more than 25 years covering technology stocks. He announced earlier this month that he was leaving the company to pursue new business ventures.
At Wedbush, Mr. Ives also held an unusual role for a sell-side analyst, serving on the advisory board of Zeta Global and briefly serving as chairman of Aitco Holdings. At Eightco, he helped oversee a crypto asset strategy centered around WorldCoin, a digital token associated with Sam Altman’s identity venture, World.
The launch comes as Wall Street companies seek to raise capital to fund data centers, computing infrastructure and other technology investments, and capitalize on growing demand for AI-related financing and advisory services.
