Q1 2026

Software & Tech-Enabled Services M&A Update

In Q1, the North American Technology Software Industry Index decreased by 23.7%, underperforming the S&P 500 which saw a 4.2% decrease over the same period.
The median EV/Revenue multiple for reported private equity deals in the Software & Tech-Enabled Services sector decreased to 2.9x in Q1 from 4.3x in 2025, but increased for strategic deals to 4.8x from 3.0x in the prior year.
M&A deal volume in the sector increased 12.5% in Q1 to 1,197 deals from 1,064 in Q4 2025, and increased 4.5% from 1,145 deals in Q1 of the prior year.
North America was the most active region in Q1 with 564 deals. Most notably in North America was SpaceX’s $250.0 billion acquisition of xAI, a California-based developer of an artificial intelligence platform, in February 2026.
Total capital invested in M&A transactions increased 672.7% in Q1 to $432.7B from $56.0B in Q4 2025 due primarily to the xAI deal mentioned above. Comparatively, the largest deal in Q4 was Salesforce’s $8.0B acquisition of Informatica.