These in-between exits don't generate a lot of buzz, but collectively they add up to a tidy sum. Last year, for instance, U.S. startup purchases under $300 million 1 brought in about $8.7 billion altogether, Crunchbase data shows. These small and mid-sized deals are not a long-term growth area for M&A, by many measures. The total deal value of purchases between $100 million and $300 million last year was still below levels routinely reached nearly a decade ago, as charted below. Moreover, the total value can add up to just a fraction of a single, larger exit. Google's just-completed $32 billion purchase of Wiz, for instance, is worth more than 4x all these sub-$300 million deals put together. These sub-$100 million purchases are a mixed bag for returns. Investors might recoup solid profits from companies that raised a few million in seed funding and sold for prices in the tens of millions. In other cases, startups sold for considerably less than the sums they raised in venture...
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