BDO & Pitchbook: Private Equity's Growing Appetite for SaaS

August 2017

Private Equity Interest in SaaS Skyrockets


PE interest in SaaS companies continues to grow, outpacing overall tech deal activity

While recent volatility in the public markets has some investors crying “bubble,” private equity’s interest in software is quickly gathering momentum. Even as overall tech M&A activity slumped in the first half of the year, PE buyers still announced 571 tech deals over the first six months of 2017— less than the number of deals announced during the same timeframe last year but easily surpassing 2010-2015’s mid-year levels. Most of those PE-led transactions were investments in software, which—at 358 deals—made up 62.7 percent of all PE-led tech deals by the end of June.