Maxim Group Research
Advisory Approach
Maxim Group is a full-service investment bank, securities, and wealth management firm headquartered in mid-town Manhattan, with a distinct focus on serving the financial and strategic needs of emerging growth and small-cap corporate clients. Unlike traditional lower middle market M&A advisors that primarily run sell-side processes for privately held businesses, Maxim Group operates primarily as a capital markets partner—helping companies access public markets through IPOs, registered direct offerings, PIPEs, and follow-on offerings. Their M&A advisory practice operates as a complement to this capital markets expertise, advising clients on strategic alternatives including acquisitions, divestitures, and business combinations.
The firm's thesis is that emerging growth companies benefit from a partner who understands both capital markets access and strategic M&A. Rather than positioning themselves purely as a sell-side advisor for founder exits, Maxim Group focuses on companies that are either public, aspiring to go public, or seeking institutional capital. This makes them particularly well-suited for companies exploring multiple strategic paths—whether that's raising growth capital, pursuing an acquisition, or preparing for a public offering.
Sector Focus
Maxim Group maintains sector expertise across multiple industries, with particular depth in healthcare, technology, and consumer products. Their healthcare practice spans medical devices, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, fertility services, and pediatric urgent care. In technology, they work with software-as-a-service companies, IoT platforms, and digital transformation businesses. Their consumer products experience includes functional beverages, collectibles platforms, and consumer technology.
What distinguishes Maxim Group is their transaction experience in these sectors—having completed numerous public offerings and capital raises for healthcare and technology companies. This gives them unique insight into how public market valuations work in these industries, which informs their M&A advisory when clients are evaluating strategic offers versus remaining independent and accessing capital markets.
Deal Track Record
Maxim Group has completed hundreds of capital markets transactions, with their website showing extensive activity in 2024-2026 including public offerings, registered direct offerings, PIPE transactions, and warrant inducements. Their M&A advisory practice, while smaller than their capital markets business, includes notable transactions such as:
- Waverock Software acquisition of WorthPoint Corporation (February 2026)—Advised Waverock Software, a global software provider, on its acquisition of WorthPoint Corporation, a leading collectibles platform, accelerating Waverock's growth in the global collectibles market
- Your Kids' Urgent Care acquisition of After Hours Pediatrics (November 2025)—Served as exclusive financial advisor to affiliates of Your Kids' Urgent Care in their acquisition of After Hours Pediatrics from TeamHealth, expanding pediatric urgent care access
- Safety Shot acquisition of Yerbaé Brands Corp. (June 2025)—Advised Safety Shot on its acquisition of Yerbaé Brands Corp., adding approximately $12 million in annual revenue and creating a combined entity in the wellness and functional beverage space
These transactions reflect Maxim Group's pattern of advising on deals that involve growth-oriented companies in healthcare, technology, and consumer sectors—often where the sellers or buyers have institutional capital or public market aspirations.
Process & Fee Structure
Maxim Group's M&A advisory process is informed by their capital markets DNA. When advising on M&A transactions, they bring public market discipline to private deal valuation—benchmarking strategic offers against comparable public company multiples and recent transaction comps. Their process includes:
- Comprehensive valuation analysis incorporating both precedent transactions and public market comparables
- Strategic buyer identification using their institutional relationships
- Transaction structuring that considers both immediate value and long-term optionality
- Deal negotiation with attention to earnouts, seller rollovers, and post-closing considerations
Their fee structure typically follows industry standards for investment banking M&A advisory—retainer fees plus success fees structured as a percentage of transaction value. For public company clients, they may also coordinate M&A advisory with ongoing capital markets relationships.
Buyer Network
Maxim Group's buyer network reflects their institutional orientation. They maintain relationships with:
- Private equity firms that focus on growth equity and structured transactions
- Strategic buyers in their core sectors (healthcare, technology, consumer) who regularly evaluate acquisitions
- Public companies seeking acquisitions to drive growth or expand product offerings
- Family offices and institutional investors interested in direct investments
Because they run numerous capital raises and public offerings, they have visibility into which buyers are actively deploying capital and at what valuations—market intelligence that benefits M&A clients.
Competitive Positioning
Maxim Group differentiates from traditional lower middle market M&A advisors through their capital markets expertise. For companies considering multiple strategic paths—raise capital, sell, or prepare for an IPO—Maxim Group offers advisory capability across all options rather than steering clients toward a predetermined outcome. Their public market experience provides credible valuation benchmarks when evaluating strategic offers.
However, business owners seeking a traditional exhaustive sell-side process with broad buyer outreach may find that Maxim Group's institutional orientation means their process feels more targeted toward strategic and financial buyers than the broad network of regional buyers that some boutique M&A firms cultivate.
Not a Fit If
Maxim Group is likely not the optimal choice for:
- Very small businesses with sub-$5M EBITDA seeking exit Maxim Group's institutional focus means they're best suited for transactions where public market comparables or institutional buyer interest exists
- Businesses seeking exhaustive buyer outreach to dozens of regional buyers—their process is more targeted
- Companies with no public market aspirations and no interest in institutional capital
- Purely asset sales or distressed situations—capital markets expertise provides less advantage
Team
Maxim Group has been actively expanding its M&A advisory practice with strategic hires:
- Kelsey Vinson Pols—Appointed in December 2025 to support expansion of M&A practice and West Coast presence, bringing healthcare and technology transaction experience
- Douglas Wicklund—Hired in December 2024 to expand M&A advisory practice, with background in technology and healthcare transactions
- Michael A. Cerussi—Head of Institutional Sales and Trading, promoted May 2024, provides market intelligence and buyer perspective
- Tom Forte—Managing Director and Senior Consumer Internet Analyst, joined March 2024, brings consumer sector expertise
The firm also has dedicated teams across Investment Banking, Equity Research, Capital Markets, Wealth Management, and Prime Services—providing integrated capabilities for clients with needs beyond M&A.
Geographic Coverage
Headquartered in mid-town Manhattan, Maxim Group serves clients nationally with particular activity in major metropolitan markets. The firm has been expanding its West Coast presence to better serve technology and healthcare companies in California and the Pacific Northwest. Their public company and capital markets work means they can serve clients geographically without requiring local physical presence—transaction structure and regulatory considerations are consistent across markets, and their institutional relationships are national in scope.