Top Tech IBs?
How would you rank top tech teams in NYC / SF? Any major difference between the locations in terms of coverage, focus, etc.?
Always heard Qatalyst is considered the top dog but not clear how others stack up
Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +162 | Americas M&A League Table Q2 Updated | 70 | 1h |
| +132 | New Article: Dramatic Slide as UBS #22 (US) & New Leadership Desperately Needed | 25 | 1d |
| +72 | Restructuring: Anti-climactic Experience | 15 | 5h |
| +68 | A COMPLETE GUIDE TO SUMMER INTERNSHIP RECRUITING | 12 | 15h |
| +53 | IB Net Worth / Savings Check | 20 | 12h |
| +51 | Boutique firm wants access to my LinkedIn? | 40 | 15h |
| +36 | Investment Banking is Hard | 14 | 19h |
| +33 | Investment Banking in Mexico | 9 | 2d |
| +25 | PWP vs BofA | 21 | 9h |
| +21 | Excel macros for QOL formatting | 0 | 5d |
Career Resources
1. Qatalyst (probably far and above the rest here), GS TMT SF, MS Menlo (lots of seniors left in the last ~2 years)
2. GS TMT NYC, EVR Menlo / NYC (recent hiring of GS TMT seniors)
3. Centerview, JPM Tech SF
4. Moelis SF, Lazard SF, BofA Palo Alto
5. Citi Tech SF, Barc Palo Alto, JEFF Tech SF
6. PWP SF, UBS Tech SF
Is CVP PA still doing well? Alternatively, know anecdotally that Lazard lost many of their top retainers (Google, for ex.)
Pretty sure they were on some major deals this year already. Squarespace take private, etc.
Core senior partners brought over from BofA a few years ago are still there anchoring the team it seems
Its tier seems to make sense based on that
How is UBS still so bad after all the poaching? Tough
My thoughts:
JPM is tier 2 I think. Bunch of recent public big M&A wins and are consistently top 3 in IPO seats.
Citi should be same tier as BofA. Good track record of strong PE placement and punching up in software.
What have Moelis/CVP done in tech recently? I get the prestige angle but I don’t see how they are any better than mid tier BBs. Honestly I think of Moelis more as a MM tech player.
They literally just announced a few deals, propertyguru B+, Jaggaer to Vista, etc. yes literally everything other than Q MS GS is MM in tech, including your evr and JPM
How’s JPM M&C NYC?
Centerview literally had all the best mid level people and david and david leave… they r not better than Moelis, JPM, Lazard etc. pay wise tho that’s a different story
CVP should be Tier 4. PWP should move up Tier 4/5 minimum. Jeff Tech SF is on low end of 5/high end of 6. List is also missing decently strong banks like Tidal, LionTree, etc.
The long list of large-cap tech deals and advisory work in 2024 that Centerview has had in both Menlo Park and NY says otherwise.
Fair list
Ranking above seems pretty good. Would say from the knowledge I’ve picked up and what I have seen it’s basically Frank Quattrone / Qatalyst and Michael Grimes / MS as top dogs in the space and everyone else has their strengths here and there within the broader tech world
How does boutiques like Raine stack up against these guys?
Raine is more media, not tech
They don't do tech. Only media, entertainment and sports
Lazard lost a number of seniors. Still a good tech practice but I’d say a notch below the top EBs like Q or EVR Menlo (maybe CVP Palo too)
deleted
I've seen too much Lazard tech slander on this forum. While it is true that the group was stronger before, it is still a great place to be in tech and it's blasphemous to put Lazard SF and BofA Palo Alto on the same tier.
Something important to consider is the headcount / group size as this significantly impacts experience, particularly as an analyst. I also just want to put it out there that most other groups including other EBs like Moelis and Evercore are much larger in headcount with several groups having intern / new analyst sizes of 10 or more people and many more MDs and accordingly also have much higher deal flow.
For example, Lazard SF has historically had an intern class size / new analyst class size of just 3-4 people and a similar number of MDs. A quick search on the company website shows tech deals for the last 3 months or so including Thoughtworks-Apax, Affinipay-Genstar, Prometheus-Advent, Auditboard-Hg, IBM-Hashicorp which are all $1billion+ deals. This matters because the deal flow is good for its size and analysts get good experience overall. Exits have also been strong with recent exits including Silverlake, TPG, Sixth Street, Clearlake and more. At the same time, Lazard's tech group is growing in SF and has just launched a New York tech group too. I feel like the sentiment in this forum makes it seem like Lazard tech has fallen off while in reality it is a good seat to be at.
Congrats on Lazard!
Find this a bit funny because BofA Palo Alto has literally had equivalent exits in the past couple of months including Silverlake, TPG, Advent, Francisco Partners, etc. Now I'm not knocking Lazard, it's still a great bank, but objectively from an exits perspective it's in the same tier as BofA Palo Alto.
BofA PA and LAZ SF are honestly in the same tier. Each has it's own share of large-cap tech deals (BofA - Salesforce, Broadcom, etc; LAZ - Google, IBM) with some MM tech deals filling their deal sheets (just like for any other West Coast tech group). BofA utilizes it's capital markets capabaities to attract large caps, while LAZ SF attracts large caps based on long-standing relationships.
Either way, exits are the same for both groups and so is the quality of deals.
Agree w this comment. Lazard refers to their mandates as “cross-cap”, meaning they do sell side deals for $500m-$2 billion or so, working mostly with sponsors, vc’s, and founder-led firms, as well as buy side deals with large tech firms that tend to be larger deal size.
Where would tidal place
Del
They’re sharp and believe they are on retainer at at least 3-4 other mega cap tech names. Would say CSCO SPLK is indeed their only mega deal though, will see what they do over the next 6-12 months as that will be a better indicator of run rate
You’re talking about needing more $1bn mandates, but that opengov sellside they had was over $1bn
Adding some actual data to this thread.
Did a quick league table run in mergermarket. Criteria: sectors = computer services/computer software/computer hardware/computer semis/internet/ecommerce, announce date = 01/01/2023 - 08/23/2024, Region = North America, min value = $250mm, sorted by total deal value descending.
Top 10 are:
Not going to opine on tiers but hopefully this informs where the top 10 are.
So Citi, Barclays,and UBS are better than EVR MP? Ok bro
Uh ok BRO - did you even bother to read my comment? These are top ten BY DEAL SIZE, and I even did the work for you by providing my source and how I found it. I literally said I am not opining about tier because that’s bullshit anyway, and, I am not ACTUALLY “saying” anything, I am presenting you with actual data from the source that many use to determine league table ranks.
Clown reply.
A lot of the BB names are boosted by financing credits where they might've gotten M&A credit for financing relationship. Still shows which banks are involved in tech deals often, which remains helpful but not an end all be all.
Total deal volume doesn’t mean much, because a large firm that cranks out tons of small deals will appear to stack up against smaller EBs. Run the screen again for $1bn + and see what the average deal size is. Q will be #1, then a big gap, then GS/MS and the rest
How does lion tree rank relative to these
Aren’t they media?
Heard the SF office is more tech focused and the NY office is more media focused, especially with the video games guys leaving SF
List is incomplete without FT Partners (140 base btw)
Guy probably posted this and then giggled himself to sleep
Lot of BS is being throw around here. It's literally Qatalyst and then everyone else. Within the everyone else bucket, the top dogs are MS Menlo and GS TMT SF. Then you can throw in there EVR MP, JPM SF Tech, LAZ SF, and CVP Palo Alto in the next tier. Rest of the banks are more or less the same
Found the MS VP
JPM Tech has been picking up several mandates and are rumoured to be working with a few publics that are looking to go private. They also have a few psychos at the upper mid, and sr levels.
CVP Menlo hasn’t been the same since losing David^2 to Tidal and they’ve filled the roster with a lot of BOFA PA bankers. Their business model is also going downmarket (focusing more on 1 time sell-sides) opposed to their well known strategic advisory / retainer approach.
Tidal, I’ve heard anecdotally is doing a bunch of free work for Cisco and Qualcomm, but haven’t done much otherwise from a fee generation POV. With that said they’ll probably do well just given the relationships.
Moelis SF: they hired like 12 MDs from SVB last March and have closed 8 deals since July (tech team). Bread and butter is mid market sponsor sell sides (privates) so they don’t rly make any PR
Lazard sf catching too much slander ngl.
Barc PA should be lower, ubs should be higher (think they hired a bunch of srs from barc, hasn’t led to anything yet, tho)
PWP Sf???? No clue what these guys have done but have heard abt good culture … probably cuz they haven’t done much? Their tech team in nyc has done a few cool deals tho (fintech)
BofA PA also lost like everyone relevant to CVP Menlo
CVP should be way higher and EVR/GS groups lower. Source - one of my fraternity buddies I was roommates with in our SA + AN1/2 years is a ED at a "Tier 1" group on this list
hmmm, surprised you didn't mention RBC's dominance in LMM tech
Sorry bro but for tech EVR Menlo Park >> CVP Palo Alto
why?
I have worked in SF tech banking for the last 6 years and would say this is pretty accurate. I am also looking at this from more of an M&A perspective and less equity/debt.
Tier 1:
- Qatalyst
- GS
Tier 2:
- Evercore
- MS (could drop lower in next couple years, lost a lot of real guys)
Tier 3:
- Moelis (have been very strong since recent hiring)
- JPM ( will always be relevant given balance sheet size with sponsors, but aren’t that great. They are given M&A to maintain financing relationships)
- Centerview (Debated 3 vs 4, they do a lot of special committee assignments)
Tier 4:
- William blair (Lane is a good banker)
- Lazard (Dollins is really good, but rest of MD stack is weak)
- Jefferies (Lots of upside, doing well this year)
Tier 5:
- UBS ( has struggled last couple years but has upside with recent Barclays hiring)
- BAML (Meh, really trailed off and lots of downside)
-Citi (Meh, big balance sheet. Spent a bunch of money on tech bankers and it’s really been a flop)
- Tidal (Handlers good but too early to tell if they will get real strategic traction. Feel like this will end up being more of a consulting shop then IB)
Tier 6:
- RBC ( decent in fintech and sponsor LBO financing)
- Barclays ( Freeland is a good banker but the team was raided)
- PWP (name brand is better but all the guys in tier 7 have more tech m&a deal flow, good in restructuring)
- PJT (name brand is better but all the guys in tier 7 have more tech m&a deal flow, good in restructuring)
Tier 7:
- Raymond James
- Aeris
- Houlihan Lokey
- Harris Williams
- Baird
Tier 8:
- Santander
- Scotia Bank
- Canacord
Good list. Didn't know Evercore Menlo Park already surpassed Morgan Stanley. I suppose the loss of key bankers really hurt MS
del
Raymond James below Blair is wild. Brendan Ryan son's Blair nowadays
is MS still a tier 2 place? what are some of the notable departures from MS?
It would be amazing if you could do this for NYC tech though completely get you want to be in SF for the real deal. Expect GS TMT in #1 with EVR Tech #2.
Does Guggenheim not fit in any of these tiers ? Heard their TMT team was pretty solid
How would a Boutique like Vaquero Capital rank
Aeris Partners inching up...
is that a premier tech focused boutique?
Yeah Aeris is very legit in MM/UMM Tech M&A
Any info on them? Name keeps popping up
Quis et sit repellat eligendi nemo omnis qui laudantium. Nihil unde in a rerum voluptas amet. Sint accusantium voluptatum optio voluptatum est. Nihil vel mollitia ut dolorum porro. Voluptatem rerum neque voluptatibus culpa.
Aliquid commodi aspernatur quae ipsum deserunt dolorem. Ut cumque asperiores odio esse recusandae aperiam et et. Quaerat voluptatem asperiores laboriosam occaecati commodi. At molestiae repellendus ut velit architecto optio. Natus occaecati omnis debitis accusantium tenetur molestias eos. Neque animi sit nostrum maiores voluptatem.
Nulla ea molestiae quia expedita excepturi et sit cum. Dolor quia assumenda animi ex et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Fugiat laborum eum placeat hic tempora et alias dolorem. Quaerat et qui facilis libero animi nihil commodi. Consectetur nihil ut cupiditate non dolore et hic quia.
Aut eos omnis dolorem adipisci. Nam quis numquam non earum explicabo maxime recusandae. Atque porro voluptas saepe perspiciatis voluptas.
Sed sed sapiente est similique maxime nobis harum. Quibusdam quae incidunt sunt est. Inventore voluptatem occaecati occaecati rem aut. Nulla omnis necessitatibus maxime dolor corrupti deleniti. Neque aperiam id eveniet nulla assumenda quia.