Dan Ives’ IVAI prices a $200M IPO for a closed-end fund aimed at private AI
Ives Ultra AI Opportunities Inc. said Wednesday it priced an initial public offering of 20 million shares at $10 each — a $200 million raise for what it calls the first publicly listed closed-end fund dedicated to giving public-market investors access to private AI companies.
Most people still cannot buy the private AI companies that dominate the boom. A listed closed-end fund that has to run a SPAC-like tender before the money is invested is Wall Street packaging that access as a ticker. Wednesday’s pricing puts a $200 million public wrapper on private AI exposure, with the usual fund fees, and with the reminder that this is a vehicle, not a lab.
On Wednesday, 30 September 2026, Ives Ultra AI Opportunities Inc. announced that it had priced an initial public offering of 20,000,000 shares of common stock at $10.00 a share. Twenty million shares at ten dollars each is $200 million. That is the size in the headline. The release went out on PR Newswire at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. The dateline is San Francisco. The page prints Sep 30, 2026, 06:00 ET. The company, which shortens its name to IVAI, says it is the first publicly listed closed-end investment fund dedicated to giving public-market investors access to private AI companies. “First,” in that sentence, is the company’s description of itself. Those lines are the release.
A closed-end fund, as the company site explains it, sells shares that then trade on an exchange. It does not have to cash investors out every day. The site contrasts that with an exchange-traded fund, which does have to meet redemptions each day and so mostly holds securities that already trade in public. Because a closed-end fund is not on that daily clock, the site says IVAI can hold stock in private companies. It also says that stock is harder to value and harder to sell. Those lines are the company site. They describe the wrapper. They do not name a company the fund has bought.
The shares were expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 30 September 2026 under the ticker IVAI. The offering was expected to close on 1 October 2026, if the usual closing conditions are met. Expected, in both sentences, is the release’s word. IVAI also gave the underwriter an option to buy up to 3,000,000 more shares to cover overallotments. An overallotment is an option for the bank to buy extra shares if buyers want more than the 20 million on offer. Three million extra shares at the same $10 price would be another $30 million. The release does not say that option was used. Cohen & Company Capital Markets, a division of Cohen & Company Securities, acted as sole bookrunner, the bank running the sale. Those lines are the release.
The money does not go straight into private companies. The release says IVAI has up to 12 months to propose its first private AI investments and to give investors a chance to tender their shares under its Tender Offer Policy. A tender offer, here, is a standing chance for shareholders to sell shares back. The company site is more specific about the wait. It says the proceeds sit in a trust account, invested in money market funds, until that tender is finished. It says that, like a SPAC, IVAI must run a mandatory tender offer within 12 months of the IPO, at a price the site calls Redemption Value, before any of the IPO money is invested. A SPAC is a listed company that raises cash first and later asks shareholders whether they want to stay in for a deal. The site says IVAI differs in one respect: it is an investment company that would take minority stakes across a portfolio, not merge with a single business. The site does not print the formula for Redemption Value on that page. The release says “opportunity to tender.” The site says the tender is mandatory. Both pages are the company’s.
Who runs it, as the release states it. Dan Ives is chairman of the board of managers of Ives Ultra Capital Management LLC, the fund’s investment adviser. The release says he is not IVAI’s portfolio manager and does not sit on the investment committee. It says he is a partner and senior managing director, and an analyst, at Yorkville Ives & Co. Jeff Leathers is chief executive of the adviser and sits on the adviser’s board of managers. Ed Leathers, a chartered financial analyst, is the portfolio manager of IVAI and also sits on that board. The company site adds that Ed Leathers is the fund’s president and chief executive, and the only member of the adviser’s investment committee, the group that picks the investments. Jeff Leathers, on the release, is chief executive of the adviser. Ed Leathers, on the site, is chief executive of the fund. Those are two jobs. The site also says the fund’s five-person board has a majority of independent directors: Renée Motley, Andrew Fleiss, and Dan Lee. Ed Leathers and Jeff Leathers sit on that board as well. Those lines are the company’s.
What it says it will buy. The release says the fund seeks exposure to leading private AI companies that show strong growth, market leadership, and a strong competitive position, with a primary focus on late-stage businesses in AI infrastructure and applied AI. Late-stage, here, means further along than a new startup. The site says that, in ordinary conditions, IVAI intends to put at least 80 percent of its net assets into AI and AI-infrastructure companies, mainly the stock of late-stage private AI companies in the United States and, to a smaller extent, outside it. It says the fund may also buy some public companies that fit those tests. To build positions, the site names secondary trading platforms, purchases from existing shareholders, new funding rounds, and also special-purpose vehicles and private funds. Neither the release nor the site names a company the fund has already agreed to buy. CNBC, citing a regulatory filing, reports the same 80 percent share of net assets and adds that as much as 15 percent of the portfolio could sit in private funds. That 15 percent is CNBC’s account of the filing. The site says the fund may use private funds. It does not print 15 percent.
The fee lines do not share a base, so they stay with the page that printed them. CNBC reported that the fund will charge total annual expenses of 3.1 percent on gross assets. That sentence is CNBC’s, and the base it names is gross assets. The company site states the adviser’s management fee as 2.00 percent a year of average gross assets, paid each quarter. It says the fee starts to build from the beginning but is not payable unless and until the tender offer is completed. For the all-in figure, the site says the prospectus estimates total annual expenses at 3.10 percent of net assets: 2.00 percent for the management fee, 0.15 percent for fees inside other funds the portfolio might own, and 0.95 percent for other costs such as administration, custody, lawyers, and the audit. It says the real number may be higher or lower. Net assets is the site’s base for that 3.10 percent. CNBC’s 3.1 percent is stated on gross assets.
Alex Harring at CNBC published the independent account on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, at 6:21 a.m. Eastern, and the page was updated at 7:56 a.m. Eastern. The key points say Ives priced the fund, that it is selling 20 million shares at $10 for $200 million in gross proceeds, and that it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange as IVAI. Ives told CNBC: “In this AI revolution, so many of the companies leading it will be private.” The article says the aim is “a public vehicle to buy some of these great private companies.” He also said, “It shouldn’t just be a handful of people in Silicon Valley that could own these companies.” CNBC says he was head of technology research at Wedbush Securities until July. The company site, on a separate product, says the Dan Ives Wedbush AI Revolution ETF, ticker IVES, had $1.0 billion in assets on 30 September 2026, and it cites etfdb.com for that figure. That billion is the ETF. It is a different product from this $200 million offering. Those lines stay with the page that printed them.
The paperwork, on the release. A registration statement on Form N-2, the form a closed-end fund files to sell shares, was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and declared effective on 29 September 2026. The release says the shares are offered only through a prospectus. It says the SEC has not approved or disapproved the securities, and has not passed on whether the preliminary prospectus is adequate. That preliminary prospectus is dated 28 September 2026. The release also says the press release itself is not an offer to sell the shares. Those lines are the release.
The picture is the official IVAI wordmark from the pricing announcement. On a black field, the letters IVAI sit in a white serif face. It is the release logo. It does not print a calendar date, a share count, or a dollar figure.
In plain terms, IVAI said on Wednesday that it priced 20 million shares at $10, a $200 million initial public offering, for a closed-end fund it calls the first listed vehicle built to give public-market investors access to private AI companies. The shares were expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as IVAI the same day, and the sale was expected to close on 1 October, subject to the usual conditions. The company says the cash stays in a trust, in money market funds, until it proposes a portfolio and runs a tender offer within 12 months. Dan Ives chairs the adviser’s board. The release says he is not the portfolio manager. Ed Leathers is. CNBC puts total annual expenses at 3.1 percent of gross assets. The company site estimates 3.10 percent of net assets, and that estimate includes a 2 percent management fee that is not payable until the tender is done. The pages do not name a private company the fund has already bought.