Startup M and A Is Back With 590 Acquired in 2024

Startup M&A is back and 2025 is looking promising.

There have been 590 US startups on Carta acquired so far in 2024 (and the last few weeks will certainly bump that figure up). Looking like a 10-15% increase from 2023.

And compared with a lackluster IPO market (maybe just single digit technology IPOs this year), M&A seems like the most common path to liquidity.

Big caveat: just because a startup was acquired 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. In many cases (not sure of the exact percentage) it's reasonable to assume the employees and founders may have walked away with little to show for their work.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀

Wow there are a lot of pre-seed companies huh? So the total acquired companies at this stage is healthy (142 this year) but as a percentage of all pre-seeds it's quite low. Of course many of those startups aren't interested in getting bought right now, they are just starting on the journey.

𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱

• 142 acquired out of 22,961 (0.6% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱

• 122 acquired out of 6,992 (1.7% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔

• 165 acquired out of 6,749 (2.4% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗕

• 84 acquired out of 2,975 (3.1% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗖

• 47 acquired out of 1,273 (2.6% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗗

• 21 acquired out of 557 (2.2% acquire rate)

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗘+

• 9 acquired out of 395 (2.3% acquire rate)

So Series A is the sweet spot for total acquired companies but later stages see higher acquire rates by share of companies.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲

Will 2025 see an increase in startup M&A? Most people seem to think yes. Whether because of regulatory changes or simple time elapsed from the start of the downturn, the general vibe is pretty positive for next year.

Hopefully more of these events create meaningful financial impact for the employees and founders who built these companies 🙏

#startups #mergers #acquisitions #founders #venturecapital

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