Dealmaking has been strong in the Enterprise Software sector, with our most recent M&A report showing a significant uptick in transaction numbers in the last reporting period. Amid all this activity, which have been the most prolific buyers whose acquisition strategies have been helping to fuel market momentum? 

Let’s run through the top five players in descending order, as determined by the number of acquisitions between mid-2022 and the start of this year. 

Since its 2015 inception, Montreal-based Valsoft has rapidly grown by aggressively acquiring and developing niche vertical software companies – a buy-and-build strategy famously pioneered back in the 1990s by fellow Canadian company Constellation Software (of which more in a moment).

Valsoft crossed the threshold of 100 acquisitions last year and its pockets remain deep, with the company raising USD 150m in growth equity financing in December. That same month, it expanded its life sciences portfolio with the acquisition of Exeevo, a CRM platform which leverages AI to allow pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device organisations to integrate sales, marketing and medical services workflows.

Healthcare technology has clearly remained on Valsoft’s radar in 2025, with the company further bolstering its presence in this space through the April acquisition of American Data. The latter is a leading provider of electronic health record (EHR) solutions for long-term care, a subsector which will be increasingly attractive to acquirers as populations across the world continue to live longer. 

An industry stalwart founded in 1996, Visma specialises in cloud-based business software including invoicing, expenses tracking and payroll tools. The Oslo-based company is also one of the biggest buyers in Enterprise Software, targeting companies with “established cloud products that have demonstrated strong tech capabilities”, and leveraging of M&A as its preferred way to penetrate new markets and territories.

Spain is one such territory. When Visma snapped up cloud payroll solutions specialist tugesto last November, it marked the company’s fifth software firm acquisition in Spain since it first planted its flag in the country in 2021.

It has also been consolidating its position in the DACH region, purchasing Finmatics in April of this year. An Austrian SaaS provider of AI-powered pre-accounting software, Finmatics’ services are used by over 1,200 accounting businesses in Austria and Germany, and its acquisition was the fifth DACH deal by Visma in four years. 

Based in Ottawa, Harris is – like leading acquirer Valsoft – a buy-and-build specialist. In fact, it’s a subsidiary of Constellation Software, the Canadian company founded in 1995 by a former venture capitalist who recognised the potential of snapping up small, highly vertical-specific companies and nurturing them over time. 

This formula has been phenomenally successful for Constellation (which at the time of writing has a market cap of USD 75.4bn) and has set the template for rollups like Valsoft. Harris is predicated on its parent company’s model, acquiring software firms in verticals such as healthcare, education and finance. 

One example is COATS Staffing Software, a Virginia-based workforce management platform which optimises onboarding, scheduling and timekeeping processes. Another is WigaSoft, a Swiss software company specialising in healthcare documentation management, whose takeover represented a significant expansion of Harris’ DACH presence.

Our most recent Enterprise Software M&A report highlighted the importance of financial buyers in the sector, with venture capital firms accounting for around a third of all deals in recent reporting periods. The most prolific financial buyer has been Main Capital Partners, an Enterprise Software-focused VC based in The Hague.

Recently making industry headlines for closing a EUR 520m continuation fund which will be used to further develop Enterprise Software companies in its portfolio, Main has also been highly active on the acquisition front in 2025. In April it snapped up Trace One, a provider of SaaS product lifecycle management solutions – this was the VC firm’s first French platform investment and came shortly after the opening of its office in Paris.

Another key transaction this year was in its native Netherlands, with Main acquiring a majority stake in labour market intelligence platform Jobdigger – a company which is growing its presence in European markets beyond the Netherlands, and whose expansion will be accelerated by Main’s financial backing and strategic guidance.

Constellation Software’s lofty status as an Enterprise Software buy-and-builder is underscored by the fact that Harris is not the only one of its subsidiaries to make the top five acquirers list. There’s also Volaris, a rollup company which pledges to never sell any businesses it acquires, instead pitching itself as a “permanent home” for B2B vertical software firms.

One of its most recent purchases came earlier this month, with the acquisition of 4Site, whose enterprise asset management platform is used in multiple sectors including mining and energy. The company will form a part of AssetWorks Appraisal, a business acquired by Volaris back in 2008.

In May, Volaris also expanded its software development capabilities with the purchase of PC Soft, a suite of tools which supports web and mobile app development across multiple operating systems and platforms. 

Will Volaris, Main, Harris, Visma and Valsoft maintain their positions as the biggest buyers in the sector, or will there be a change-up in the rankings? Subscribe now to receive our next Enterprise Software M&A report later this year, and ensure you’re kept in the loop on the latest deal data and acquisition trends. You can also register to receive our reports on other key tech sectors including Digital Commerce and Autotech & Mobility.

And, whatever tech sector you’re operating in, if you’re a founder or senior decision maker interested in discussing whether the time is right for entering the M&A market, we’d love to hear from you.