Star analyst Dan Ives forms Yorkville Ives merchant bank after leaving Wedbush

Dan Ives, one of Wall Street’s best-known technology analysts, is teaming up with Yorkville Securities to launch a new merchant banking firm.

The new firm, Yorkville Ives & Co., will combine investment banking, equity research, institutional trading and principal investing, with a focus on artificial intelligence, technology, industrials, energy transition and infrastructure, according to a statement Tuesday.

Ives, who built a large following for his bullish views on AI and major technology companies during more than two decades on Wall Street, will serve as partner and senior managing director. Roger Briggs will be chief executive officer.

Yorkville Ives said it will offer debt and equity capital raising in public and private markets, strategic advisory on mergers and acquisitions, capital structure and other corporate transactions, institutional trading and execution services, and independent equity research. The firm also plans to invest its own capital alongside clients and partners.

“The fourth industrial revolution is here, and it needs a new kind of bank, a modern merchant bank,” Ives said in the statement. “Research, banking, trading, and capital, all under one hood, all pointed at the biggest transformation the markets have ever seen.”

Ives, known for his colorful jackets and outspoken style, spent the past eight years at Wedbush Securities and more than 25 years covering technology stocks. He announced earlier this month that he was leaving the firm to pursue a new venture.

At Wedbush, Ives also took on roles uncommon for a sell-side analyst, serving on the advisory board of Zeta Global and briefly as chairman of Eightco Holdings. At Eightco, he helped oversee a crypto treasury strategy centered on Worldcoin, the digital token tied to Sam Altman’s identity venture, World.

The launch comes as Wall Street firms seek to capitalize on growing demand for AI-related financing and advisory work, with companies raising capital to fund data centers, computing infrastructure and other technology investments.