DealNet Briefing Preview

Deal counts update with the next data refresh.

Investment trends

• Public software held near its new floor: the SaaS Capital Index ticked back up to 3.82x EV/ARR in July.
• Holdco buyers priced the reset: Bending Spoons bought Airtable at about 2.7x ARR, against an $11.7B 2021 valuation.
• Fund raises kept dry powder flowing to the lower middle market: Serent Capital closed $1.3B.

M&A deals

• Grant Thornton Advisors (New Mountain Capital) to acquire CBIZ, about $5.0B: services roll-up at scale.
• Bending Spoons acquired Airtable ($1.29B) and Miro ($1.36B).
• Thoma Bravo acquired Tanda ($561M), workforce management.
• Paylocity acquired Aidora: leave management bought into the payroll stack.

Signals

472 DealNet signals logged in Q3 so far, led by executive moves (174), product launches (80), M&A (60) and awards (50).

Go deeper

• Payroll M&A 2026: The 2 Deal Drivers
• Work Tech M&A 2026: The 2 Deal Drivers
• Backoffice M&A 2026: The Next 5 Deal Drivers
• Workforce Compliance M&A 2026: The Next 5 Deal Drivers
• Ten Billion Dollars, and They’re Still in Excel
• ERP in the AI Era
• Fall 2026 eNewsletter: The Winning Playbook for the AI Era
• Charles Bedard’s LinkedIn newsletter

Investment trends

• The public reset found a floor: the SaaS Capital Index traded in a 3.2–3.7x band through the spring, and the reset cascaded into smaller PE deals by summer.
• Capital concentrated in AI: generative AI funding rose 146% year over year to $136B, and mega-rounds took a growing share.
• H1 2026 global deal value reached about $1.6T, up 28%, in a barbell market of megadeals plus small tuck-ins.

M&A deals

• KKR acquired Crowe (about $3.0B): accounting and advisory services roll-up.
• Salesforce acquired Fin (formerly Intercom) for about $3.6B.
• Nuvei acquired Payoneer (about $2.7B).
• Stack buyers moved on payroll: Gusto–Mosey, Mercury–Central, UnitedHealth–Alegeus, LumberFi–Pivla.

Signals

642 DealNet signals logged: executive moves (302), M&A (152), product launches (74) and investment (28). Achieve Partners raised a $450M fund.

Go deeper

• The K-Shaped Market
• Video: How to Navigate the K-Shaped Market
• As-a-Solution: The Software & Services Convergence
• The Winning Playbook for M&A
• More Deal Options Than You Realize
• Charles Bedard’s LinkedIn newsletter

Investment trends

• February broke the public market: the SaaS Capital Index fell to 3.62x EV/ARR, down 25% in a single month.
• Secondaries became the release valve, with a $225B secondary market giving late-stage companies price discovery without an IPO.
• Debt funded the platform buyers: DailyPay raised $195M in debt, and Sixth Street closed a $4.4B fund.

M&A deals

• Thoma Bravo closed its $12.3B take-private of Dayforce.
• Hg acquired OneStream (about $6.0B), FP&A workflow software.
• TA Associates made a majority growth investment in OneSource Virtual (Workday BPaaS).
• Payoneer acquired Boundless: fintech buys EOR.

Signals

599 DealNet signals logged: executive moves (296), M&A (144), product launches (63) and investment (31).

Go deeper

• What Actually Happened to Multiples in 2026
• Charles Bedard’s LinkedIn newsletter

Investment trends

• Public software closed 2025 at 5.58x EV/ARR on the SaaS Capital Index, and private disclosed-price deals in DealNet averaged 4.54x.
• Roughly two years of relative stability after the 2022 correction ended as the year closed.

M&A deals

• Paychex acquired Paycor ($4.2B).
• Thoma Bravo agreed to take Dayforce private ($12.3B).
• ServiceNow acquired Moveworks ($2.85B), and Xero acquired Melio (about $2.5B).
• Capgemini acquired WNS (about $3.5B), and EQT acquired NEOGOV (about $3.1B).
• Qualtrics acquired Press Ganey Forsta (about $6.75B).

Go deeper

• What Actually Happened to Multiples in 2026
• The Solution Premium Playbook
• Charles Bedard’s LinkedIn newsletter