M&A dealmaking rose marginally in the first half of 2025 — Sifted tracked 433 exits across the continent, up from 420 in the same period last year.
Underlying these figures was a handful of major buyouts, a lot of startups selling early and limited all-round transparency on deal terms (only 30 deals disclosed the price tag).
Here are the M&A headlines from H1.
5 biggest M&A deals by value
While the vast majority of deal sizes were undisclosed, five disclosed exits stand out:
- Mobile gaming startup Dream Games’s €1.1bn buyout by CVC Capital Partners
- Quantum company Oxford Ionics’s €968m acquisition by US quantum company IonQ
- Austrian software company TTTech Auto’s €568m purchase by chipmaker NXP Semiconductors
- Dublin-based legal software provider Brightflag’s €425m acquisition by Dutch PLC Wolters Kluwer
- Belgian drug discovery company EsoBiotec’s €386m acquisition by drugmaker AstraZeneca
Who was buying? One shopper stood out
Only 13 buyers closed multiple deals, and most did just two each. The exception: Norwegian software giant Visma, which made seven acquisitions, reinforcing its aggressive European consolidation strategy.
Most exits still happen early
A striking 83% of exits (360 deals) involved early-stage startups, with just 9% (39 deals) at growth stage and 7.9% (34 deals) at late stage.
In other words, a lot of European founders are selling before scaling. This heavy early-stage skew highlights a structural weakness in Europe’s tech scene: limited late-stage capital.
B2B SaaS leads, fintech/consumer strong
B2B SaaS startups topped the exit charts with 193 deals, reflecting the continued popularity of this segment as an acquisition target. Fintech (69 deals) and consumer tech (60) followed, while climate tech (52) and healthtech (47) saw steady activity.
Among the most active niches in Europe for M&A were foodtech (18 deals), HR tech (17), proptech (17), legal and privacy tech (16) and marketing/adtech (15). These numbers suggest specialised software remains a prime target, especially in B2B-heavy markets like legal tech and HR.
UK stays top for M&A
The UK continued to dominate Europe’s exit scene in H1 with 112 exits, followed by France (68), Germany (58), Spain (28) and the Netherlands (27).
Portfolio payoffs
On the investor side, 77 funds and accelerators had at least three portfolio companies exit in H1. US VC Plug and Play (17 exits) saw the most, followed by French state investor Bpifrance (14), the EU’s European Innovation Council (12), Seedcamp (9) and Kima Ventures (8).
Europe’s M&A transactions can be explored by Pro subscribers via Sifted’s M&A tracker.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/h1s-biggest-ma-deals/
