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Such is the pace of development and disruption in the AI space that it can be tricky to keep up with the milestones as they come and go. One such threshold was crossed recently, with two of the biggest players, OpenAI and Perplexity, both introducing agentic shopping assistants designed to optimise how users browse and buy online. These rival assistants work in much the same way, leveraging a natural conversational back-and-forth which allows them to feel out user requirements, refine their recommendations and remember buying histories to find provide a tailored experience. This is all in marked

Last month, Sesame – a startup co-founded by one of the people behind Oculus – secured USD 250m in Series B funding. Sesame has developed a voice AI agent which it pitches as an “ever-present brilliant friend” that is lifelike enough to traverse the uncanny valley feeling which once dogged verbal interfaces. Sesame intends to embed in lightweight eyewear to provide constant companionship to users as they go about their daily business. What made the deal stand out to us was not so much the size of the investment (significant though it is), the notable track record of its founders or even Sesame’s

The record deal volume noted in our latest Healthtech M&A report stems from momentum makers which include AI-fuelled innovation in everything from digital therapeutics to health record management, and active consolidation within the industry. There’s also the critical necessity of security solutions which are fit for purpose in an age of ever-smarter online threats. As our report puts it, “Increasing digitalisation is driving demand for robust cybersecurity solutions, with research showing a majority of healthcare organisations are actively enhancing this aspect of operations in 2025.”

It’s been an eventful and disruptive year in tech, with our expert analysts at Hampleton Partners keeping a close eye on M&A trends and transactions across sectors such as AI and Enterprise Software. Now, as we prepare to step into 2026, it’s a good moment to pause and take stock of some of the most significant highlighted by our sector-specific market reports , and the deals which have exemplified these developments. Let’s dive in.

Last month came the exciting news that an astronaut from Europe – specifically, Germany – will have a seat on an upcoming mission to the Moon. The announcement was made at a European Space Agency press conference, where Dorothee Bär, Germany's Federal Minister of Research, said : "We can now, for the very first time, send a European astronaut flying 360,000 kilometres away. This means that a European astronaut will be traveling for approximately three days until for the first time he sees the Earth as a whole. No European has ever seen that before.”

Jonathan Simnett is a managing director at Hampleton Partners, co-host of The Difference Engine tech strategy podcast, and an M&A dealmaker with decades of experience helping tech founders and investors to scale, fundraise, merge and exit. We spoke to him about one of the most significant, yet currently undervalued and under-hyped, aspects of the AI revolution.