We split our list into two categories - paid and free investment banking courses. Let's look at the best free investment banking courses first:
Free Investment Banking Courses
1. Advanced Valuation and Strategy - M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital
Offered by: Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Format: Online (see here).
Duration: 4 weeks.
Course Summary: Erasmus University is one of Europe’s finest universities, with a speciality in finance and economics. This course, available at three levels of difficulty, offers an excellent primer into the theoretical and practical aspects of investment banking.
Classes are taught through video by the university’s corporate finance lecturers, taking approximately 16 hours to complete. There are a series of quantitatively challenging quizzes at each level to ensure that you’ve grasped the key concepts.
2. Private Equity and Venture Capital
Offered by: Bocconi University
Format: Online (see here).
Duration: 4 weeks.
Course Summary: This course, spread over 5 weeks, and takes in four separate areas: an introduction to private equity and venture capital, legal and tax issues in private equity, how private equity and venture capital funds are managed, and finally, company valuation and deal making.
Each part of the course builds on the knowledge gained in the previous modules. The course concludes with a test, the successful completion of which leads to a certificate - not an official qualification, but endorsed by one of the world’s finest financial schools, nonetheless.
3. Wall Street Mojo’s Free Investment Banking Course
Offered by: Wall Street Mojo
Duration: 30+ hours.
Format: Online (see here).
Course Summary: Don’t be put off by the cheesy name and marketing on display here.
To Wall Street Mojo’s credit, they’ve put together a free course that covers all of the fundamentals that anybody could need to get a feel of what investment banking is all about (granted, their one hour introduction to accounting isn’t going to help much). Good modelling, valuation examples, and well structured tasks make this course well worth a look.
4. Advanced Valuation and Strategy - M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital
Offered by: Udemy
Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes
Format: Online (see here).
Course Summary: We’ve devoted the last two free courses to the ‘bread and butter’ of investment banking: putting together pitch decks and valuations. This course, offered by Udemy, is a little over an hour long.
It doesn’t award a certificate at the end and it doesn’t feature any Ivy League professors giving video tutorials.
However, it does show you exactly what needs to be in a pitch book, and the ability to properly construct one of these documents will significantly enhance the prospects of anybody looking for a job in mergers and acquisitions.
5. Introduction to Valuation and Investing
Offered by: Khan Academy
Duration: 3 hours.
Format: Online (see here).
Course Summary: The first thing to note here is that any valuation course that lasts three hours is not thorough enough. Having said that, for beginners, this course offers a great primer on the essentials, and can always be complemented by further materials.
When you’re getting to grips with valuations, it’s a good idea to take from as many as possible.
Another recommendation, although not strictly a course, are Professor Aswath Damodaran’s NYU lectures on valuations, all available for free on Youtube and essential viewing.
Paid Investment Banking Courses
6. M&A Science Academy
Offered by: M&A Science
Duration: 100+ hours
Format: Fully online (see here).
Cost: $175/month ongoing or $150/month for a yearly subscription.
Course Summary: The M&A Science Academy teaches students on the practicalities of working in M&A, touching on everything from maximizing the value of a business prior to its sale, modelling synergies, negotiating a term sheet, and hiring the right corporate development team.
Through lessons with industry practitioners, students can learn from real-life examples. There are also excellent networking opportunities and an extensive library of materials for students to browse through to brush up on their knowledge.
7. Certified Financial Model and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)
Offered by: CFI (Chartered Finance Institute)
Duration: 100+ hours
Format: Fully online (see here).
Cost: $497 for self study; $847 for full immersion.
Course Summary: The CFI offers an outstanding range of courses related to investment banking, where the emphasis is on improving quantitative skills and financial modelling.
This course contains 29 different modules that users can access for two years, dipping in and out of specialist areas (e.g. M&A or private equity), with accompanying models, videos, and quizzes for each.
The full immersion includes access to Pitchbook and Capital IQ, giving the course a really solid grounding.
8. International Mergers and Acquisitions Expert
Offered by: Institute of Mergers and Acquisitions (IMAA).
Duration: 30 hours (in-person) or 60 hours (fully online).
Format: Online and in-person (see here).
Cost: $2,990 (online); $4,990 (in-person).
Course Summary: Like the CFI, the IMAA has a growing reputation as a breeding ground for successful investment bankers. A drawback is the cost, but also the fact that participants have to have an academic degree of some kind, as well as some knowledge of financial concepts.
As a result, these courses tend to be filled by students coming from some kind of finance-related background and want to move onto an investment banking path. The course is strong but may not be worth a multiple of the CFI course.
9. Investment Banking Certification: Online
Offered by: New York Institute of Finance (NYIF).
Duration: 30 hours (in-person) or 60 hours (fully online).
Format: Online (see here).
Cost: $990.
Course Summary: The NYIF course in investment banking has been very well designed by people that clearly know what investment banking is all about.
Students begin their study with video modules in four separate foundation courses (finance for managers, financial statement analysis, quantitative methods and techniques, and free cash flow modelling), before moving into specializations (M&A, fund management, valuations, and capital markets).
An excellent course, which brings with it large networking opportunities with the NYIF alumni.
10. Alternative Investments
Offered by: Harvard University
Duration: 5 weeks (Beginning October 2021 and January 2022).
Format: Online.
Cost: $1,600.
Course Summary: If there’s a commonality among the words used by alumni of courses like this alternative investments course with Harvard, that word is ‘intense.’
This course is divided into five weeks with seven hours of material each week. Although that doesn’t seem much, the material is nothing if not challenging.
The course is aimed at people that already have an undergraduate or a postgraduate in finance, and sets out valuable takeaways from each of the course’s five modules.
