Dealmaking activity in this space has grown immensely over the past decade and that boom has really picked up steam in recent years. From 2020 to 2022, the volume of M&A transactions more than doubled. In the following years, the AI market continued to post steady growth. Dealmaking activity rose by about 10% in 2023 and 21% in 2024 on an annual basis.

During the first nine months of 2025 we saw 1,357 deals, 37% more than for the same period last year. Transaction volumes have already exceeded last year’s total deal volume numbers. At that pace, M&A deal volume is expected to reach up north of 1,800 deals by the end of the year. PE companies accounted for the buyer in about 22% of all transactions, with both strategic and financial buyers continuing to actively pursue AI-enabled technology companies, fueling market growth.

Buyers preferred to keep their M&A strategies private through September 2025 as only 15% of transactions disclosed their financial terms, keeping to historical trends. Total disclosed M&A deal value reached up to $142.2 billion, almost beating the record numbers of 2021. There were 7 megadeals reported in the first quarter of the year, 9 in the second quarter and 17 in the third quarter, including 2 megadeals worth north of $10 billion which will likely represent the largest deals of this year.

Over the past few years, VC funding in AI companies has been incredibly volatile as have deal volumes. The turbulent landscape for VC funding has encouraged companies to instead pursue M&A strategies for growth and liquidity.

By the end of September 2025, private equity firm Thoma Bravo became the most active buyer, making 13 acquisitions in the AI space. It was followed by another investor – HgCapital, which made 7 acquisitions. The third position was led by Salesforce and TA Associates who made 6 acquisitions each. And EQT landed in the fourth position with 5 acquisitions. Other notable buyers include strategics such as Nixxy, ServiceNow, NVIDIA, and Databricks, as well as private equity companies – TPG Capital, New Mountain Capital, and GTCR.