Insights
We partner with clients to address their strategic priorities, providing strategic mergers & acquisitions advice and execution, agented private capital financing services and board advisory services. We leverage decades of experience to navigate through complexity and deliver optimal outcomes.
Please register to view the Union Square Advisors 2025 Outlook report.
Building on an improved 2024, Union Square Advisors predicts accelerating deal momentum in 2025.
Outlook Report 2025
We believe 2025 is poised for a significant uptick in strategic and financing transactions as capital markets strengthen and the M&A market improves in the year ahead. We anticipate increasing levels of deal activity across several sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI) and data infrastructure, heath technology, governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions and vertical software.
Our report details predictions and trends in M&A, private capital markets and technology subsectors. Focuses include:
The Technology M&A Market Remains Challenging to Navigate but is Improving
Due to healthy capital markets, greater liquidity options, the return of strategic and private equity buyers, and narrowing valuation gaps, new opportunities are emerging. The new U.S. administration’s focus on tax cuts and deregulation should drive M&A activity, particularly for ‘Big Tech.’
Recovering Capital Markets Will Continue Momentum In 2025
Pressure to deploy capital for both private credit and syndicated funds will drive increased competition between the two markets, resulting in a continuation of the current borrower-friendly environment. On the private equity side, meaningful dry powder in sponsors’ coffers plus ongoing fundraising will provide additional capital to help further break the M&A logjam.
The Secondaries Market Is Poised For Another Strong Year
Building on the stabilization of 2024 and substantial dry powder available, technology-focused funds and venture secondaries are driving increased activity, supported by robust fundraising and improving macroeconomic conditions.
AI Company Valuations Are Soaring, But So Are Expectations
As the Generative AI market moves from experimentation to production and deployment, valuations for most companies in this space will become more tied to core business metrics.
Private equity players are increasingly shifting their focus from traditional healthcare services to pharma technology
Significant capital is being redirected toward companies that are building tools that enhance clinical development, power supply chains and ensure patient compliance. Value-Based Care is also redefining healthcare delivery with digital integrations, which will make digital health innovation, particularly driven by AI, a major growth area.
Other technology subsectors covered in depth include front and back-office software, construction and industrial software, supply chain and logistics, retail and e-commerce, vertical software and GRC software.
Chairman's Corner
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Tech Trends
Bloomberg Markets: The Close
Our President and Co-founder Ted Smith appeared on Bloomberg TV’s The Close to discuss how the election is shaping M&A, the drypowder waiting to be deployed, why the healthtech sector is hot and what is driving strategics to return to the marketplace.
Bloomberg Markets: The Close
Our co-founder and President Ted Smith recently joined Bloomberg News’ The Close to discuss his outlook on AI, IPOs and technology M&A with Alix Steel and Romaine Bostick. Watch Ted’s segment beginning at 30:21.
Bloomberg News: The Tape
Our Co-founder and President Ted Smith joined Bloomberg News Radio this morning to discuss his outlook on tech M&A activity with Paul Sweeney and Alix Steel. Tune in at 11:07 for Ted’s insights.
Bloomberg News: The Tape
“While it’s more expensive than it was a year or two years ago, the total explosion in private credit that we’ve seen over the last couple of years has really made debt still a possible and meaningful source of capital. We just completed a $460M transaction that was exclusively done in the private credit market”
