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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

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

When it comes to investment and M&A activity, it’s fair to say that many spaces within the tech industry have recently had an experience akin to a log flume ride at a fairground. That is to say, an abrupt and vertiginous climb (as the pandemic unfolded and the importance of tech solutions became starkly clear) followed by a dramatic drop, with splashes of cold water hitting quite a few investors, entrepreneurs and industry commentators alike. But one tech space – IT & Business Services – has had a far less turbulent journey over the past few years. In fact, as our newest IT & Business Services

For a long time now, quantum computing’s status as a new technology has mirrored quantum mechanical phenomena itself. That is to say, it’s been both happening and not happening: seemingly suspended in a superposition of being about to change absolutely everything, and being the impractical plaything of scientists, investors and futurists. This tantalising ambiguity has led to much talk of it being “ overhyped ” or even “ Silicon Valley’s longest-running hoax ”. Justified though the scepticism around the hype cycle has been, the general consensus is that we are indeed on the verge of a paradigm

Hampleton Partners has advised a thyssenkrupp company on a strategic acquisition as part of a buy-side target search program. thyssenkrupp Materials Services, one of the world's leading independent materials distributors and supply chain service providers, has acquired WAVES, a leading provider of sustainability management platforms based in Luxembourg. The acquisition is an important step in expanding the sustainability product range of pacemaker, the AI subsidiary of thyssenkrupp Materials Services. As a pioneer in the field of sustainable, AI-supported supply chain solutions, pacemaker

One of the first eye-catching deal announcements of 2025 has come from credit rating and loan referral company ClearScore, which has acquired fellow fintech firm Aro Finance. Based in Manchester, Aro is a credit broker which embeds its marketplace platform within the digital infrastructure of clients such as Argos, Very and Asda. This allows customers to obtain personal credit and other financial products and services while they shop for, say, clothes and groceries. The purchase represents a major expansion by ClearScore into the B2B2C sphere, and also underscores the surging appeal of embedded

As 2025 progresses, our analysts will be providing expert commentary on the precise developments within specific tech sectors (you can read our 2024 reports here ). But right now, with the year just getting started, it’s a good moment to pause and consider some of the prominent trends which are likely to influence M&A activity over the next 12 months…

The number of global M&A transactions in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Software sector saw a marked drop in 2024, according to a new market report by Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for software and technology companies. There were 60 deals recorded, the lowest number seen in the sector during a six-month period since before the pandemic. As the report shows, M&A activity surged between 2020 and 2023, reflecting global demand among businesses for SCM solutions which could minimise the disruption to logistics triggered by the pandemic and other

Hampleton Partners has advised the shareholders of the REIFF Group, one of the leading German suppliers of technical products and industrysolutions, on the sale to Haberkorn, one of the largest technical distributors in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Eastern Europe.

Hampleton Partners advised the shareholders of PAQATO, Germany’s leading provider of after-sales e-commerce software, on the transaction with easybill, a German market leader in electronic invoicing and everyday business operations and a portfolio company of technology investor LEA Partners.