2025 was the most active year on record for SaaS M&A, with 2,698 transactions, even as public SaaS multiples compressed to 3.4x revenue. The market has repriced, not retreated. This briefing maps what the reset means for founders: where private multiples actually clear, who is buying, and how to position a sale into a more selective market.
Public multiples and private clearing prices have diverged, and the gap is where deals are won or lost. The briefing draws on Windsor Drake’s proprietary transaction index, its quarterly valuation research, and the transaction experience of its advisory practice in Toronto and New York.
It is written for the people who have to act on it: founders weighing an exit, boards setting expectations, and shareholders deciding what the reset means for their timing.
2,698. SaaS M&A transactions in 2025, the most active year on record for the category.
4.1x. Median EV/TTM revenue for private SaaS transactions, with the average near 5.4x. The band has held between 4x and 6x for four quarters.
6.9x. Median ARR multiple for best-in-class SaaS businesses with gross margins above 80 percent.
$42 billion. Acquisitions closed by Thoma Bravo alone in 2025, including the $12.3 billion Dayforce take-private, its largest deal ever.
30 to 50 percent. Premium commanded by software with genuine, deployed AI capability over comparable non-AI peers.
68 percent. Share of technology leaders planning vendor consolidation in 2026, most targeting roughly 20 percent fewer providers.
Each finding is developed in full in the briefing, with the supporting transaction data and the implications for founders and boards stated plainly.
01 · The state of the market. Deal value, deal count, and where capital is concentrating.
02 · What is driving the cycle. The buyers, capital, and structural forces behind current activity.
03 · What buyers pay for. Where the market clears by quality tier, and the metrics that move a company between tiers.
04 · The founder playbook. Timing, preparation, and process design for an exit into this market.
By email. Once you submit a request, the full briefing is sent to the address you provide, from the desk of Jeff Barrington at Windsor Drake.
Yes. Every request is treated with the same confidentiality as a client inquiry. Nothing is shared, and your details are never sold or circulated.
No. The briefing is research, not a pitch. There is no obligation and no follow-on sequence beyond the research itself.
The Windsor Drake research team, drawing on the firm’s proprietary transaction index, its quarterly valuation research, and the transaction experience of its advisory practice in Toronto and New York.
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