Private equity has the hots for software. Dealmaking in the tech sector has ignited in the past year, with the pandemic actively fueling the fire rather than damping it down.

As companies rush to upgrade their tech stacks to handle remote working, PE firms have found themselves with a rich crop of targets to choose from.

By mid-August the deal tally passed the 1,100 mark with a cumulative value of $62.1bn. Big-hitting fund managers showed their willingness to pay up at large multiples, with an average buyout size of $551.1m. Liquidity during the same period has been equally impressive, with $174.2bn in exit value across 217 exits.

And the trend doesn’t look like slowing any time soon.

Further highlights of the report include:

• Macro market trends – A full breakdown of PE activity by year, quarter, median deal sizes and deal type
• Spotlight – Database management software: a more rocky road?
• Looking forward – Driving hard bargains in the software market
• Why TMT has detonated – How volatile factors combined to spark the M&A boom in TMT

The fast pace of technological innovation, combined with intense competition – could it be a match made in heaven? PE fund managers and deal teams will need to act swiftly and efficiently to clinch the right deals.

Get ahead of the curve with Datasite’s report on PE in the TMT sector.