When Twitter was looking to raise $1 billion from investors earlier this month, it put out the usual calls to Wall Street banks. The social-media company also called Vijay Culas, who works out of rented office space on a busy stretch of highway in San Mateo, Calif. A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who hung out a shingle in 2014, Mr. Culas helped Twitter negotiate with its banks and ultimately sell a type of hybrid bond for a 1% fee, one of the cheapest offerings in recent memory. Mr. Culas is among a handful of upstart advisers who are challenging investment banks on turf once thought impenetrable: the $7 billion-a-year business of handling complex stock-related transactions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/upstarts-crash-wall-streets-7-billion-capital-markets-party-1529924402