58 deals closed this week. That is a perfectly normal number. The dollars behind them are not, and that gap is basically the whole market story right now.
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The Week at a Glance
The Read
July was the weakest month for tech M&A spending since the downturn started. Deal value fell hard month over month, and August hasn’t clawed any of it back yet. Volume is fine. Dollars are not, and those two numbers have not been telling the same story for a while now.
Small deals are taking the worst of it. Down market deal counts are sitting at their lowest point in decades. The capital that is moving is going to a handful of large, AI adjacent assets, or it is not moving at all. There is not much happening in between.
Software pricing has split into two separate markets. Average multiples keep sliding, while the top of the market gets more expensive by the week. If you own proprietary data tied to a specific workflow, buyers will still pay up for it. Everything else is getting discounted, no exceptions.
Exits are happening. Prices are not always coming along for the ride. Bending Spoons paid $1.3B for Airtable, which pushes billion dollar venture exits toward a yearly high. Good news, until you notice how many of these companies are clearing below their last private mark. Getting an exit and getting a good exit are two different headlines this year.
Software Transactions
36 software deals were announced this week, running from a $2.4B fraud prevention deal down to plenty of undisclosed smaller add ons.
| Target | What it does | Acquirer | PE Sponsor | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BioCatch | Behavioral biometrics fraud prevention | Visa | Permira (sell) | $2,400M |
| Airtable | Enterprise application development platform | Bending Spoons | — | $1,300M |
| Cylinder Health | Digestive healthcare software | Hinge Health | — | $105M |
| Gladia | AI audio infrastructure and voice recognition | OVHcloud | — | $31M |
| JetStream Software | Data protection and cyber resilience | NetApp | — | n/d |
| Command Alkon | Supplier and partner collaboration mgmt (majority) | Francisco Partners | Direct; Thoma Bravo (sell) | n/d |
| OptionMetrics | Options and futures database analytics | Equality Asset Mgmt | Direct; Leeds Equity (sell) | n/d |
| Prima | Office supply ERP software | ECI Software Solutions | Apax Partners | n/d |
| Grath | Reconciliation and regulatory compliance | AutoRek | Scottish Equity Partners | n/d |
| Wexler | Legal fact intelligence software | Legora | — | n/d |
| BigHand Healthcare | Healthcare workflow management | T-Pro | — | n/d |
| Options Travel | Business travel management software | Engine | — | n/d |
| Amphinicy Technologies | Satellite operations and network management | ETL Systems | — | n/d |
| Kevari | Financial fraud detection and investigation | Enformion | — | n/d |
| Clarity | Identity verification software | Deel | — | n/d |
| Enkrypt AI | Agentic AI security and compliance | Anaconda | — | n/d |
| Wallaroo | Unified AI orchestration | d-Matrix | — | n/d |
| Gulp Data | Data valuation and asset intelligence | FirstParty | — | n/d |
| HealthCorum | Health data analytics | The Difference Card | Stone Point Capital | n/d |
| Vircho Health | Care coordination software | Unite Us | — | n/d |
| Selectron | Citizen engagement and inspection management | Convey | Energy Impact Ptnrs; OceanSound | n/d |
| Outfunnel | Sales and marketing automation | Pipedrive | Vista Equity Partners | n/d |
| EXTRA | AI training business (carve-out) | Heroz | — | n/d |
| 360Globalnet | Insurance claims management | Keylane | Pollen Street Capital | n/d |
| CPAT Technologies | Healthcare supply chain visibility | AIOTF | — | n/d |
| Lendr | Loan origination and servicing | Mortgage Automator | BVP Forge | n/d |
| FEI Systems | Healthcare management software | Acentra Health | — | n/d |
| Credit Mountain | Financial wellness software | MeridianLink | Centerbridge Partners | n/d |
| Authava | Enterprise conversational AI | TacoAI (Prosperum Fintech) | — | n/d |
| Repfabric | CRM and sales data management | Fishbowl Inventory | Diversis Capital | n/d |
| VisualAIM | Energy asset integrity and drawing sw (assets) | Prometheus Group | Genstar Capital; Advent Intl | n/d |
| PlasmaSolve | Plasma simulation software | Apple (reported) | — | n/d |
| EKOS | Fleet management software | Vontier | — | n/d |
| Furrl | Fashion discovery software | Reliance Retail | — | n/d |
| TAMS | Teaching assignment and faculty workload mgmt | Ascend Learning | Blackstone; CPPIB | n/d |
| Glue | Test validation and IDE software | Emerson Electric | — | n/d |
IT & Outsourced Services
22 more deals on the services side this week, and most of them stayed quiet on price.
| Target | What it does | Acquirer | PE Sponsor | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NetWolves Network Svcs | Managed network and cybersecurity services | COEO Solutions | Riata Capital Group | $15M |
| Ju Fu | Digital marketing agency | Hitek | — | $11M |
| QPoint Group | IT services | Malam Team Group | — | $9M |
| ValCor Communications | Network infrastructure services | Southern Maryland Cable (Argan) | — | $8M |
| Steampunk | Government IT and digital transformation | Veritas Capital | Direct PE buy | n/d |
| Artium | AI software development and consultancy | AlixPartners | — | n/d |
| MDSec Consulting | Cybersecurity services | Bank of America | — | n/d |
| Prezien | SAP consulting and enterprise transformation | Portaltech Reply (Reply) | — | n/d |
| GITG | SAP-partnered systems integration (majority) | q.beyond | — | n/d |
| GigaNetworks | Enterprise IT and network security | BlueAlly | Source Capital | n/d |
| Loial | Splunk-partnered IT and cybersecurity services | Logicalis (Datatec) | — | n/d |
| Nippon Cloud | Systems engineering services (majority) | SystemSoft | — | n/d |
| LinkTech | Software development and IT consulting | CREEK & RIVER | — | n/d |
| GKC Consulting | IT consultancy | Cello Group | — | n/d |
| Orangeleaf Consulting | IT services (majority) | Macnica | — | n/d |
| Senzu Cloud | IT consultancy and systems integration | BUILDSTR | — | n/d |
| Underworks | Digital marketing consulting and IT implementation | INTLOOP | — | n/d |
| Quality Xperience | Conversational AI consultancy | Eckoh | Bridgepoint Group | n/d |
| Sunrise Telecom | Telecom infrastructure construction | Circet Americas | — | n/d |
| Satco | Maritime communications and navigation (majority) | Globetech (Nekkar) | — | n/d |
| Anchor Automation | Industrial automation and control systems integration | Mission Critical Group | — | n/d |
| XNG Automation | Industrial and intralogistics automation (majority) | Agile Robots | — | n/d |
What Stood Out
1. Healthcare software led on volume, but nobody wanted to talk price
Six of the 36 software targets this week were healthcare plays: Cylinder Health, HealthCorum, Vircho Health, CPAT Technologies, FEI Systems, and BigHand Healthcare. Only one of them put a number on the table, Cylinder Health at $105M. The other five went quiet on price, which in this market usually means one of two things. Either the number was good and nobody felt like sharing, or it wasn’t and nobody felt like sharing that either.
2. Security, fraud, and identity were close behind
Nine targets across both sectors touched security, fraud, or identity in some form. BioCatch was the biggest deal of the week by a wide margin, $2.4B for Visa. But the one worth watching is smaller. Bank of America bought MDSec Consulting outright, which means a bank is now pulling penetration testing in house instead of paying someone else to break into its own systems. Worth keeping an eye on if you sell managed security services to banks.
3. The ERP and SAP channel keeps consolidating
Three deals touched it this week: Prezien to Portaltech Reply, a majority stake in GITG to q.beyond, and Prima to ECI Software Solutions. Two of the three buyers were European, both picking up regional SAP capability. If you have SAP expertise sitting anywhere outside the US, you are not alone at this party.
4. Sponsors were busy, mostly buying what they already own
A sponsor sat on one side of 18 of this week’s 58 deals. Almost all of those were add ons to platforms a sponsor already controls, not new platform buys. If your business sits in the size range we sell into, add on buyers are currently the most active shoppers at the table. Worth remembering the next time someone tells you sponsors have gone quiet.
Wondering how any of this touches your business specifically? That’s a conversation, not a blog post.
Source: S&P 451, CapIQ. Prepared by Tequity Advisors.