Most technology investment bankers arrive at Morgan Stanley by a predictable path, usually involving a finance major, a college Wall Street internship, and then a slot as junior analyst right after graduation. Ambreen Sayed's journey wound through an engineering degree and then co-founding a startup. The less traditional path has led her to be a rising star at the white-shoe bank, where she was named technology investment banking group COO in 2025.
After studying engineering at the University of Michigan, Sayed joined Modern Guild, an education technology company, and rose to chief operating officer, learning the mechanics of building a business from the inside. But a desire to truly understand the finance side of business — how to properly raise capital and scale up — led her to Wharton for her MBA and then Morgan Stanley in 2018. Sayed has spent nearly a decade in New York advising technology-focused companies on IPOs, M&A and financings.
The first business she helped take public was pet e-commerce giant Chewy in 2019. It's a client she kept working with long after the IPO closed. "Taking a company public is really about being in the passenger seat with your CEO and CFO through the pre, during and post of being public," she said. "I'm part of their team."
To date, she has teamed up on some $100 billion in deals, including shepherding Chime to market in the largest fintech IPO of 2025.
What distinguishes Sayed within Morgan Stanley's global tech group is how she seeks out new clients. She was the first banker in the group to build a dedicated effort to engage and advise women-led technology companies on IPO and M&A paths. These are businesses, she said, that might otherwise settle for venture or diversity-focused capital and miss out on access to the same caliber of strategic advice as competitors. More than a dozen of those companies she's identified are now Morgan Stanley clients.
The initiative took on a personal dimension during the past year, when Sayed was pregnant with her second daughter and was limited in her ability to travel. Rather than step back, she focused on women's health tech clients she could meet locally. The banker's pitch had a personal touch: "I am your customer base," she told prospects.
David Chen, global head of technology investment banking at Morgan Stanley, said her engineering mindset pairs with creativity to help founders dream bigger. "She is very rigorous and analytical in breaking down what the client is asking and coming up with a solution that is logical," he said. "But she also has the ability to think about where the company can go over the next three to five years."
Outside the office, Sayed serves as a board advisor to Journey to Lead, a nonprofit for emerging women leaders with members such as GM CEO Mary Barra and former Pepsi CEO Indra Noori.
"My goal has always been to organically do what I can to ensure the focus on women in leadership continues… and doing it with the skills I have," she said.
