What are you looking for?

Think “tech” and “Ireland”, and you’d be forgiven for immediately thinking about the enviable concentration of tech behemoths which have selected Dublin as their base of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations. While the presence of the likes of Google, Facebook and LinkedIn has undoubtedly made the Irish capital one of the most significant industry hubs in the world, a number of factors also make the country an ideal launching pad for hungry young startups which are blazing trails and drawing attention from investors.

Think of the most talked-about tech sectors of the past decade or so – the ones that are always in the tech press headlines, generating a steady stream of articles accompanied by photos of intrepid founders wearing branded t-shirts and positively glowing with excitement after completing major investment rounds. You’ll probably be thinking of sectors like fintech, climatetech, autotech, quantum computing, and AI (of course). What probably won’t spring immediately to mind is defence tech, a sector which has – to use an apt metaphor – traditionally flown under the radar.

Fintech certainly wasn’t immune from tech industry headwinds last year, with total worldwide invested being cut almost in half compared to the year before. While the UK fintech sector inevitably saw a decrease in investment in line with this global trend, it has comfortably retained its position as one of the world’s most prominent fintech hubs, being second only to the US in terms of money raised, and racking up more investment than the next 28 European countries combined.

The German Startup Association recently released its latest report into the country’s business scene, revealing the cities with the most new startups per capita. There’s no prizes for guessing that Berlin has come out at number one, and it also won’t come as a total surprise to see that Munich is at the number two spot. However, the remaining spots in the top five will be less familiar to those outside Germany’s tech ecosystem, and they highlight a growing democratisation of talent and funding beyond what were the go-to epicentres of innovation and industry.

Arrival, the formerly mega-hyped British-based maker of next-generation vehicles, has been delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange, making it yet another EV SPAC company to suffer a spectacular fall from grace since the blank check boom of 2020-2021. Manufacturers of all stripes are also coming up against market headwinds and the formidable juggernaut that is the Chinese EV industry, which as Elon Musk recently noted could “pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world”. With all this going on, it’s a good moment to pause and take stock of recent events, and the challenges facing both EV startups and OEMs going forwards. Let’s start with…

Is the tech M&A market set for an almighty rebound in 2024? Many analysts and senior dealmakers believe so, sounding a loud and very welcome note of optimism after a protracted market slowdown.

As we settle into a new year, it’s the natural moment to look ahead to tech trends and developments that are on the horizon. As ever, our analysts will be charting M&A deals and patterns within individual verticals (you can read our 2023 reports here ), but here are some sectors and business types which we already know will define 2024.

Few tech sectors have undergone as much radical transformation as the automotive space. Our latest M&A report summed it up in its very first sentence: “The global automotive industry continues to see tremendous disruption in the makeup of investors and buyers who are vying to own and supply the vehicle of the future.” These players are focusing on a number of key categories within autotech, including autonomous driving technology, new modes of mobility, and the fiercely competitive EV charging subsector. When it comes to the latter segment, we’ve seen a surge in M&A deals targeting EV infrastructures over the past few years, with an all-time high figure of 13 deals seen in 1H2022. Let’s delve into some of the most significant acquisitions, fundraises and innovations to have unfolded this year, kicking off with a purchase by a household name.

There’s been a slew of significant transactions within the e-commerce sector in recent months, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s read our most recent Digital Commerce M&A report covering developments in the industry throughout the first half of this year. Our report showed that, following a brief drop in deal activity in the wake of the 2021/early 2022 boom, M&A volume has been incrementally increasing. Indeed, 1H2023 saw more deals inked than in any six-month period pre-pandemic. The deals have kept on coming in the latter half of 2023, so let’s take a look at some which have caught our eye here at Hampleton Partners.

By now, everyone knows that generative AI is a once-in-a-generation (if not once-in-a-century) game-changer, and the general discourse is justifiably focused on how automated coding and the instant generation of creative works will affect industries and jobs around the world. But we’re now also seeing more speculation about another radically disruptive branch of AI. Namely, personal AI. The possibilities of personal AI were recently articulated by no less a figure than Bill Gates, writing on his personal blog. After bluntly stating that “in many ways, software is still pretty dumb” (a reassuring sentiment for those who believe AI is just steps away from rising up against us, Terminator -style), Gates went on to write: