Do you want to start your IB career in a middle market investment bank but aren’t sure what to expect? It’s not always straightforward what qualifies a firm to be a middle market bank, but this article will make it easier.
We’ll also differentiate middle market banks from boutiques and bulge brackets, clarify the services they offer, list the top firms, and provide average salary ranges for investment bankers at different levels. Read on to better understand what choosing this path could mean to you.
A middle-market investment bank is a financial firm that primarily offers IB services to private equity firms, growing enterprises, and mid-sized companies, typically those with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. The clientele is one of the defining factors as elite boutiques serve larger corporations or high-profile clients wanting specialized services, regional boutiques focus on small local businesses, and bulge brackets work with multinationals, fortune 100 companies, and governments.
Like bulge bracket banks, MMs offer a full range of investment banking services, including M&A advisory, equity capital market and debt capital market services, restructuring, financing, and asset management services. That’s unlike most regional and elite boutiques that provide M&A advisory and restructuring, but often don’t offer full capital markets or financing services.
However, middle-market banks sit between the smaller or regional boutique firms and the bulge bracket banks. Their deal sizes often range from $50 million to $500 million or more. Thus, the typical deal size for middle market investment banks tends to be smaller than those of bulge bracket banks and elite boutiques which often exceeds $1 billion. However, some MM firms compare favorably to elite boutiques in terms of deal sizes and volumes.
Generally, middle market banks are full-service investment banking firms. This means they offer a comprehensive suite of services tailored to mid-sized companies, including:
The top middle market investment banks include Baird, Houlihan Lokey, Jefferies, Lincoln International, Piper Sandler, Raymond James, Stifel, and William Blair. They generally have less intense work environments compared to bulge brackets, but each MM has its strengths, focus areas, and other unique traits that can impact your investment banking career experience.
One of the most popular middle market investment banks is Baird. It has over 100 years of history and has consistently featured in Fortune 100 best companies to work since 2004. The bank offers various investment banking services including M&A advisory, equity research, and private equity services. Its clients are spread across sectors such as consumer, real estate, health care, tech, industrial, and energy.
Investment bankers at Baird usually collaborate across the M&A, DCM, and ECM divisions which can give you exposure to various products and industries. You’ll also interact with the bank’s diversified clients including foundations, corporations, small businesses, and institutional investors.
If you want to work on restructuring deals especially in the U.S. market, Houlihan Lokey might be a perfect fit. It’s renowned for restructuring expertise and great deal flow in this specialization. Some of the notable deals include the addressing of Quest’s $3.8 billion debt where Houlihan Lokey was a secured credit advisor. Another one is Lumen’s recapitalization of 11 billion debt resulting in extended maturity and a funding of $1.3 billion in new money.
Though it shines in financial restructuring, Houlihan Lokey also offers other advisory-focused services including mergers and acquisitions, capital solutions, and financial and valuation advisory. It’s headquartered in Los Angeles with offices globally in EMEA. Americas, and Asia.
Jefferies is one of the middle market banks that compare favorably with elite boutiques and bulge bracket banks. It serves both mid-sized and large companies, has a large size and capabilities, and often gets a good position in league tables for investment banking revenue.
It’s well-known for its sector expertise in healthcare, technology, and aerospace with a good global presence. Most of Jefferies’ deals involve M&A, restructuring, and capital raising. Besides investment banking, they offer alternative wealth management and asset management services.
If you want a middle-market investment bank that offers exposure to sell-side advisory, Lincoln International is a good bet. The firm specializes in advising private equity firms, public and privately held companies, and lenders.
Based on Lincoln International’s transaction history, most deals are sell-side advisory. This means the firm has a strategic focus and market positioning as a leading sell-side M&A advisor in the middle market, especially to private equity clients. While sell-side advisory dominates their deals, Lincoln also advises on buy-side acquisitions, restructuring, and capital raises.
Piper Sandler is a go-to advisor and capital markets partner in financial services based on their transaction history. A good number of Piper Sandler’s deals are in financial services, including banks, insurance companies, specialty finance, and fintech firms. Examples include subordinated notes offerings for First Bank, Spinnaker Insurance, South State Corporation, and IPOs for Slide Insurance and Chime Financial. While financial services dominate, Piper Sandler also advises clients in energy & power infrastructure, healthcare/med-tech, consumer/retail, and biotech.
Piper Sandler also has strong execution capabilities in capital markets alongside M&A advisory as it frequently acts as sole placement agent, bookrunner, or co-manager on debt and equity offerings. It has a balanced mix of M&A advisory and capital markets, with deal sizes from tens of millions to nearly $1 billion.
Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, Raymond James is one of the largest independent investment banks outside New York. It has grown through acquisitions, for instance of Morgan Keegan, Deutsche Bank’s US private client services. Their IB services include mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, and advisory mandates.
The firm’s advisory revenues in M&A and deal advisory have shown a sharp rebound in 2025, with first-quarter revenues up 92% year-over-year to $226 million. This marks the second-best quarterly result in the firm’s history. Besides investment banking services, Raymond James offers private client wealth management, asset management, and banking.
Stifel is a full-service investment bank that features in many transactions as a joint bookrunner. This allows Stifel to participate in larger deals alongside other investment banks, expanding their market presence and deal flow.
They also offer M&A, equity and debt financing, restructuring, and private capital advisory to clients in various industries, including healthcare, technology, and real estate. Neither the buy-side nor the sell-side advisory dominates as the firm has a balanced deal flow. The firm is primarily strong in the U.S. but has also a good presence in Europe, Asia, Israel, and Latin America.
Based in Chicago, William Blair is mostly considered as a boutique investment bank with a strong presence in the middle market. It has a strong presence in North America, Europe, and Asia. The bank offers a full range of investment banking services to financial sponsors, corporations, and entrepreneurs worldwide.
William Blair has a good deal flow in M&A, equity capital markets, and private equity advisory. For instance, it closed over $810 billion in transaction volume from 2020 to 2024. Since April 2020, William Blair has completed approximately 570 capital markets transactions totaling over $250 billion in value.
Career progression at middle-market banks is typically structured similarly to other investment banks, with defined roles and opportunities for growth. The following overview shows the different career and the average annual salaries you can expect:
| Career Level | Base Salary | Bonus | Total Average Pay |
| Summer analyst | $86K - $115K | $30K - $56K | $116K - $171K |
| Analyst | $75K - $119K | $24K - $44K | $98K - $163K |
| Associate | $82K - $146K | $47K - $88K | $129K - $234K |
| Vice president | $187K - $336K | $239K - $446K | $426K - $782K |
| Director | $193K - $338K | $237K - $443K | $431K - $781K |
| Managing director | $300K | $500K+ | $800K - 1M+ |
👉 You want a more detailed look at how much you can earn in investment banking? Our article on investment banking salaries covers everything from entry-level pay and bonuses to career prospects.
Investment banking firms are categorized into bulge bracket firms, middle market banks, and boutiques. The boutiques are further grouped into regional and elite boutiques. You can tell the differences between these categories by looking at the deal size, service range, industry focus, firm size, and clientele.
Middle market banks offer the same full range of investment banking services as bulge bracket banks, but the scale of deals vary massively. For instance, middle-market banks generally underwrite and bookrun smaller transactions, $10 million to $500 million or nearly $1 billion, compared to the multi-billion-dollar deals managed by bulge bracket banks. The deal sizes and clientele’s annual revenues are also mostly smaller than those of elite boutiques but larger than regional boutiques. Also, exit opportunities are more prestigious at elite boutiques and BBs than middle markets.
👉 Want to learn more about the top investment banks and their differences? Our article on the top investment banks worldwide gives you an overview of the leading firms and your career opportunities in investment banking.
