Public SaaS M&A data is the most relevant and honest benchmark for understanding private SaaS M&A markets. These transactions are all cash, the financials are public and audited, and they’re all control transactions. The data is as clean as it gets. Below is every public SaaS acquisition since December 2020, including the recently announced acquisition of Braze by Salesforce. This data is always current on our website at blossomstreetventures.com/saas-metric/public-saas-acquisitions.
Historically private equity dominated this market. Of the 53 transactions since December 2020, only 17 or 32% were done by strategic acquirers. PE was the dominant force, representing 68% of deals.
But look at the last 10 transactions which goes back to the acquisition on Enfusion in January 2025: the split is now 50/50. Looking at just the last 4 transactions, 75% were done by strategics. In summary, the private equity buyers have pulled back significantly and are not the dominant force they once were in public M&A.
What’s this mean for private SaaS M&A going forward? Expect less competitive processes which means lower initial bids, fewer bids, and a potentially a longer process needed to get the deal you want. Private equity firms have pulled back hard as they nurse portfolios which they overpaid for in 2021 and 2022. Given PE at one point represented 68% of the market but now may represent as little as 25%, that’s a big chunk of the buyer universe sitting on the sidelines.
Strategics are still there, as they use M&A to fill out their product roadmaps. The multiples from strategics in the data are actually higher at a 7.5x median versus 7.1x for PE, so the right strategic buyer can still deliver a strong outcome. But patience to get the deal you want, as well as an excellent and aggressive investment banker, are going to be required to get a deal done.
Thank you for your readership. See more blogs and SaaS data at blossomstreetventures.com. Other resources we’ve built for founders include: SoftwareMultiples.com; softwareMRRcalculator.com; FounderInvited.com, and TwoFoundersTalk.com. Founders are always welcome to reach out to sammy@blossomstreetventures.com as well.
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