One overarching trend identified in our most recent M&A reports is that, as once-radical technologies have been rapidly commoditized, acquirers and investors are looking beyond growth metrics to focus on the nuts and bolts of businesses, scrutinising aspects such as how their data is managed and how resilient their revenue models are.

This focus will continue to impact data- and agentic AI-focused dealmaking in 2026, while we’re also likely to see increased hype around more nascent, less commoditized segments like physical AI. Here are four spaces which are likely to be highly significant over the coming 12 months.  

The immense capabilities of LLMs and their associated platforms have understandably attracted the media limelight and propelled dealmaking across all tech sectors over the past few years. But the critical importance of good, unbiased, reliable data – what our managing director Jonathan Simnett has called “the hidden power behind the AI boom” – is now also getting the attention it deserves.

Jonathan recently spoke on this blog of how, “despite their centrality to the AI industry, and the fact that data is frequently proclaimed as the lifeblood of AI companies, data management firms do trade at deep discounts compared with their AI counterparts”. 

However, he also touched on the two tailwinds that are now spurring buyer and investor interest in data management and governance services providers. Namely, the growing awareness that all the flashy AI platforms are only as good as the data they feed on, and legislation like the EU AI Act obliging businesses to demonstrate the quality of their data.   

Others in the tech world have also emphasised the accelerating interest in the provenance and quality of data, with Linda Yao, Vice President of Hybrid Cloud and AI Solutions at Lenovo, recently saying that “Governance is emerging as the defining advantage of the AI era. As enterprises scale AI across hybrid and multicloud environments, the differentiator won’t be model accuracy but trust, transparency and control.” 

Last year, every other tech article seemed to have been about agentic AI, with good reason. The rise of autonomous agents capable of doing everything from shopping online to diagnosing disease is a genuine watershed moment, on par with the advent of the internet itself. The continuing rollout of this technology, with multi-agent collaborations executing complex workflows, agents speaking directly with customers, and much else besides, will continue to be one of the biggest deal drivers in sectors such as Digital Commerce, Enterprise Software and Healthtech.

At the same time, buyers will take an increasingly prudent and pragmatic approach when selecting and valuing targets. 

With the hype having settled and the likes of Gartner warning that “most agentic AI propositions lack significant value or return on investment”, buyers will be pinpointing those businesses which have developed truly autonomous agents providing genuine value to clients. This is in contrast to the many companies engaged in what has become known as “agent washing”, the rebranding of legacy assistants and chatbots which lack the truly autonomous  capabilities associated with the term “agentic AI”. 

The integration of AI into hardware, allowing robots, vehicles and other devices to perceive their environments and make autonomous decisions, is at a far earlier point in the adoption curve compared to purely digital AI. But we’re set to see strong M&A momentum as companies stake their claims on this burgeoning space. 

A recent white paper by the World Economic Forum has stated that ”industrial operations are at a pivotal moment” with physical AI “redefining automation” in industrial settings, while the CEO of Japanese VC giant SoftBank has predicted that “in addition to AI agents, we will see the start of fully-fledged physical AI operations in 2026”. 

Indeed, one of SoftBank’s biggest investments of recent times was its October purchase of the robotics division of Swiss engineering company ABB for USD 4.5bn. More recently, at this week’s CES event in Las Vegas, Nvidia unveiled Alpamayo – a portfolio of AI models and datasets designed to allow vehicles to think like humans as they drive, which CEO Jensen Huang boldly described as “the ChatGPT moment for physical AI”.

Tech boss hyperbole aside, there’s a clear industry-wide shift in attention to physical AI innovations which will be reflected in dealmaking this year and beyond

While smart glasses technically fall within the category of physical AI, they deserve their own entry here because the commercial and societal impact of widespread adoption may rival what we saw with the mass rollout of smartphones. 

Well over a decade on from the dud that was Google Glass, smart glasses have now achieved a degree of mainstream breakthrough thanks to Meta’s collaborations with Ray-Ban and Oakley, but things will hot up this year with Google, Samsung and Apple all expected to enter the market.

The start of the smart glasses race in 2026 is perhaps the surest indicator that we’re about to step into the era of “ambient AI”, where AI is no longer something you decide to access on your phone or computer, but a near-constant companion monitoring surroundings and providing insights and guidance. 

Speaking on this trend, Hampleton Partners Sector Principal Heiko Garrelfs observes: “One irony of this smart glasses generation is that the mainstream wedge isn’t ‘visual AR’, but audio: hands-free calling and the ability to speak to an AI while wearing them. The concept has already lived through multiple hype cycles, but mass adoption will be accompanied by a fast-moving software ecosystem and M&A shifting to the enablement layer.”

Curious to know what the tech market in 2026 may hold for your company? If you’re a founder or senior executive planning to raise capital or steer your company to an exit this year or beyond, our industry experts are here to provide guidance throughout the entire process. Contact our managing partner, Dr Jan Eiben, to get started.

Don’t forget to keep up with our half-yearly M&A market reports which distil the most important trends and transactions across the gamut of tech sectors, including Artificial Intelligence, Autotech & Mobility, and Enterprise Software. Subscribe now to ensure you’re automatically notified when the first of our 2026 reports are published.