Founders: is this the best time ever to get your pre-seed, seed, or Series A startup acquired?
Survey says...yep.
Startup acquisitions were up about 18% from H1 2024 to H1 2025 among Carta companies, but that increase was driven entirely by a 30%+ jump in M&A among the early stage population.
Whose buying these young companies and why?
The "who" is pretty standard. The three major acquirers of tech startups are Big Tech, PE, and other startups, typically in that order (although more PE happens at the growth stages).
So why would Big Tech or other startups be interested in snapping up early-stage companies?
AI-native product and AI-native expertise, by and large. I'm sure lots of other reasons besides, but transforming a bigger organization with an infusion of AI skillset is particularly alluring in H1 2025.
Also confident that these deals are more likely to be financially positive for founders and employees, simply because many of them don't have valuation overhangs from the 2021 bubble sitting around and complicating the final sale prices.
The bankers were right on this prediction for once 😁
#startups #acquisitions #MandA #founders
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