Last year I wrote about the main trends in tech mergers and acquisitions. Now we have 2026 numbers, and the picture is more interesting (and more uneven) than the forecasts suggested.
Here’s what I found most strategic, from the point of view of people in the game, buying or selling:
- A record first half, led by giants. Announced M&A reached a record of about $2.8 trillion globally in H1 2026, up 48% year over year (LSEG). But the number of deals was about 9% lower, at roughly 24,000. In other words: fewer deals, much bigger ones. There were 47 deals above $10 billion.
- Tech is the biggest sector. Technology led H1 with about $649 billion in announced transactions. Through May, tech deal value grew 74% in the Americas and 89% in EMEA (PwC).
- AI is the engine. In Q1 2026 there were 266 AI M&A deals, up 90% year over year (CB Insights). Nearly half of strategic tech deal value above $500 million came from AI-native companies or deals that explicitly cited AI benefits, roughly double the prior year’s share.
- The US is where the money lands. The US was the most-targeted market for cross-border deals, with about a quarter of activity, and a friendlier approval environment is encouraging boards to pursue large combinations again. On the buy side, private equity is sitting on roughly $1.3 trillion of buyout dry powder (Bain) that needs to be deployed.
- Europe is cooling in volume. European tech transactions fell to 367 in Q2 2026, from 432 in Q1 and 593 in Q4 2025, and H1 trails H1 2025 (Oaklins). Application software (216 deals) and IT services (143) remain the most active segments.
- Strategic buyers dominate in Europe. Strategics were behind 87% of European tech transactions in H1 2026, and the cross-border share rose to 53% from 44% in 2025.
- Valuations are splitting. Median public SaaS traded at about 3.3x trailing revenue at the end of Q1 2026, down from 4.9x at the end of 2025 (PitchBook), while Oaklins reports that European multiples declined across the segments it tracks. At the same time, AI is becoming a central factor in valuation: buyers are asking whether AI supports growth or pressures margins.
What does this mean for a small or mid-sized company?
In a market of bigger bets and pickier buyers, being organized is a competitive advantage. Even if you don’t plan to sell, prepare as if you did: clean numbers, clear contracts, solid governance and security, and a business that doesn’t depend only on the owner. It makes the company more valuable and safer, today and tomorrow.
And in any buying or selling move, it helps to have someone from the outside looking at the whole business: someone who knows the game and the people in the ecosystem.
A note on sources: the global and US figures above are as compiled in a July 2026 report by FE International, which cites LSEG, PwC, CB Insights, Bain and PitchBook. The European figures come from the Oaklins Q2 2026 Tech M&A Update; the global and US compilation is the FE International mid-year 2026 report.
Would your company be ready for due diligence tomorrow?
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