Dan Ives prepares to debut fund offering access to private companies fueling AI boom

Dan Ives, Wedbush SecuritiesScott Mlyn | CNBCTechnology bull Dan Ives on Wednesday filed to create a fund aimed at giving investors access to private companies powering the artificial intelligence boom.The Ives Ultra AI Opportunities closed-end fund will sell 20 million shares of common stock at $10 apiece to raise gross proceeds of $200 million, according to Yorkville Ives & Co., where Ives is a partner and analyst. "In this AI revolution, so many of the companies leading it will be private," Ives told CNBC. The fund aims to create "a public vehicle to buy some of these great private companies."The fund, focusing on private, late-stage companies playing a role in AI and its infrastructure, will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker "IVAI," and will charge total annual expenses of 3.1% on gross assets. Some 80% of fund net assets are earmarked for companies centered on AI, with an emphasis on "private late-stage AI Companies, located in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. companies," as well as publicly-traded U.S. companies, according to a regulatory filing. As much as 15% of the portfolio could be invested in private funds to further gain exposu...