SVB Financial Group (“SVB”) (NASDAQ: SIVB), the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, today announced its continued expansion into technology investment banking with the acquisition of MoffettNathanson LLC, a New York-based independent sell-side research firm known for its coverage of high-growth, disruptive companies in the Media, Communications and Technology sectors. The acquisition enables SVB’s investment banking business, SVB Leerink, to expand its research coverage to include companies in both the healthcare and technology industries.
SVB serves the world’s most innovative companies and their investors via commercial banking with Silicon Valley Bank, investment banking with SVB Leerink, private banking and wealth management with SVB Private Bank, and funds management and investment with SVB Capital.
“The MoffettNathanson team has built an incredible reputation as a leader in equity research,” said Greg Becker, President and CEO of SVB Financial. “The addition of technology equity research is another important step in further solidifying our place as the essential partner to innovation economy clients. I’m proud to welcome the MoffettNathanson team to SVB and continue to strengthen the capabilities of our investment banking practice.”
Since its founding in 2013, MoffettNathanson has been considered the standard-bearer for technology equity research. As the firm has grown, it has added coverage of the Media, Communications, Internet, Fintech, Software and Services sectors. MoffettNathanson’s Senior Research Analysts Craig Moffett, Michael Nathanson and Lisa Ellis have each repeatedly been ranked the #1 analyst in their respective sectors by the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team, as well as by other leading surveys of institutional investors.
“Insight into the innovation economy is absolutely critical to understanding the sectors we cover,” said Craig Moffett, founding partner, MoffettNathanson. “SVB’s deep relationships with the world’s leading innovators will not only bring our clients unique opportunities to participate in the value creation cycle of earlier-stage growth companies, they will also provide our analysts with unique insights into the competitive forces that will shape the destinies of the largest companies in our coverage universe.”
“I am incredibly proud of the firm’s success and momentum, which has enabled us to accelerate the addition of tech equity research and to attract the highly regarded MoffettNathanson team,” said Jeff Leerink, CEO of SVB Leerink. “We are entering an exciting chapter in our firm’s history and we look forward to growing and evolving to meet our clients’ needs.”
SVB’s Technology Investment Banking team has demonstrated strong momentum and growth, with additional hires in the Internet, Consumer / Marketing Software, Fintech, and Enterprise Software sectors since the formal launch of Technology Leveraged Finance, Equity Capital Markets, M&A, and Private Placements capabilities in September 2021. Earlier this month the team announced several transactions including Clearlake Capital’s pending acquisition of Quest, Noregon Systems, Inc.’s sale to The Hearst Corporation, the pending merger of Mavenlink and Kimble Applications, Evergreen Coast Capital Corp’s pending acquisition of a majority stake in DreamBox Learning, Cinven’s pending investment in Nitel, Blackstone’s pending significant investment in Renaissance, PassFort’s sale to Moody’s, and TPG Capital’s recapitalization of Entertainment Partners.