Before I built DevSquad, I exited a SaaS company. I've sat on the side of a sale that most of the famous deals below only show you through a press release: the diligence calls, the documentation requests, the weeks where the deal could have died and didn't. That experience changed how I read every acquisition story, including the ones in this post.
The 15 deals below are genuinely inspiring. Google paying $32 billion for Wiz, Salesforce landing Slack for $27.7 billion, ConnectWise creating 70 millionaires overnight. They show you what's possible. What they don't show you is what actually makes a company sellable, or what's happening in the SaaS M&A market right now, which looks meaningfully different than it did even two years ago.
So this post does three things. First, it walks through the biggest and some interesting SaaS acquisitions. Then it breaks down what makes a company acquisition ready today. Then we look at what's actually driving the 2026 M&A market, so you understand the conditions you'd be selling into if the moment ever comes.
We also have to plan beyond building a profitable online businesses. Getting acquired is neither simple nor fast, and it requires foresight across strategy, timing, and execution. Fortunately, there are excellent resources that provide expert guidance for founders navigating this path:
The $100 Million Exit by Andrew Gazdecki – on designing your company to achieve a high-value exit.
Exit Strategy by Rob Walling – on knowing your motivations and preparing your business for acquisition.
Before the Exit by Dan Andrews – on understanding the timing of a sale and the opportunities that follow.
Built to Sell by John Warrillow – on building a scalable, transferable company that can thrive without the founder.
The Art of Selling Your Business by John Warrillow – on packaging, positioning, and negotiating for the best possible deal.
Let’s kick off things off with the biggest. The age of the billion-dollar SaaS acquisition is well under way, and plenty have surpassed that threshold.
Wiz - acquired by Google (Alphabet) for $32 billion
Google announced its agreement to acquire Wiz on March 18, 2025, in an all-cash deal valued at $32 billion. It is the largest acquisition in Alphabet's history and the largest cybersecurity deal ever completed. The DOJ cleared the transaction in November 2025, and the deal is expected to close in 2026, pending final regulatory approvals in remaining jurisdictions. Wiz will operate as part of Google Cloud.
Wiz was founded in 2020 by a team of former Microsoft cloud security leaders and reached approximately $500 million in ARR at the time of the deal. At roughly 64x ARR, this is one of the highest revenue multiples ever paid for an enterprise SaaS company. Wiz served 40% of the Fortune 100 before the acquisition, and Google's stated goal is to use the platform to compete more directly with Microsoft Azure and AWS on cloud-native security.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Google's $32 billion acquisition of Wiz sets a new benchmark for cloud security and shows how AI-era competition among hyperscalers is reshaping SaaS valuations.
Largest SaaS security deal ever: At $32 billion, the Wiz acquisition surpasses every prior cybersecurity SaaS transaction, including CyberArk's $25 billion deal.
Extraordinary multiple: The ~64x ARR multiple reflects the premium buyers pay for high-growth, enterprise-entrenched cloud security platforms with defensible data assets.
Hyperscaler competition: The deal is a direct shot at Microsoft Azure and AWS, reinforcing cloud-native security as the defining battleground for enterprise cloud market share.
Continued multicloud support: Unlike many acqui-hires, Wiz will continue to support other major clouds post-close, reinforcing Google's positioning as an open, security-first provider.
"A $32 billion deal underscores what we've all been witnessing: cloud-native security has become mission-critical for modern businesses, not just a nice-to-have." — Karen Walker, CFO, Sysdig (via SiliconANGLE)
This deal shows what the AI era looks like for SaaS M&A: buyers paying extraordinary multiples for platforms with embedded enterprise relationships and defensible security data, not just for revenue.
Slack - acquired by Salesforce for $27.7 billion
Salesforce announced the acquisition of Slack on December 1, 2020, and closed the deal in July 2021 for $27.7 billion in cash and stock, making it the largest acquisition in Salesforce's history and the largest pure SaaS-to-SaaS acquisition ever completed. The deal valued Slack at more than 30x its fiscal 2021 revenue.
Slack had grown from a startup pivot into one of the most widely used enterprise collaboration platforms in the world, with millions of daily active users and a developer ecosystem that Salesforce wanted as the connective layer between its Customer 360 suite and the rest of the enterprise software stack. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff described it as a match that would create the "digital HQ" for an all-remote business world.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
The Slack acquisition illustrates how a platform's ecosystem and strategic position can command a valuation far above its standalone revenue metrics.
Largest pure SaaS-to-SaaS acquisition ever: At $27.7 billion, this remains the defining benchmark for software-company-buying-software-company deals.
33x revenue multiple: One of the highest multiples ever paid for a public SaaS company, reflecting the value Salesforce placed on Slack's ecosystem lock-in and developer relationships.
Direct Microsoft competition: The deal repositioned Salesforce as a full enterprise software platform competing head-to-head with Microsoft across productivity, CRM, and cloud.
Ecosystem play: Salesforce's goal was not just to acquire a chat tool but to embed Slack as the workflow layer connecting all of its products, fundamentally changing how users interact with the Salesforce platform.
"Sometimes selling is less about what your company is today, and more about what the market is about to become." — Before the Exit
This deal shows how collaboration tools can command acquisition premiums that look irrational against current revenue but make sense when you price the ecosystem and the competitive positioning they unlock.
A note on VMware: the largest software acquisition ever
Before the SaaS-specific deals below, a quick note on Broadcom's $69 billion acquisition of VMware, completed in November 2023. VMware is primarily a virtualization and private cloud platform, not a SaaS business, which is why it doesn't appear in the main list. But it's relevant for two reasons. First, at $69 billion total deal value, it is the largest software acquisition in history. Second, post-close, Broadcom immediately converted VMware's entire product line from perpetual licenses to subscription-only models, making it one of the most consequential forced migrations to a SaaS business model ever executed at scale. If you are thinking about acquisition readiness, the VMware story is worth understanding: Broadcom bought an installed base and repriced it. The lesson for SaaS founders is the inverse. Subscription revenue is what gives you pricing power and what gives a buyer a reason to pay a premium for predictability.
CyberArk - acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $25 billion
In one of the largest cybersecurity SaaS software sector deals to date, Palo Alto Networks announced the acquisition of CyberArk for approximately $25 billion. CyberArk, a global leader in identity security and privileged access management, brings a complementary layer of protection to Palo Alto’s portfolio of network, endpoint, and cloud security solutions.
The acquisition reflects the growing convergence of identity and network security, as enterprises seek unified platforms to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. For Palo Alto Networks, the deal expands its reach into identity-driven security, an area critical for zero-trust architectures. For CyberArk, the combination provides global scale, deeper integration into enterprise security stacks, and access to Palo Alto’s extensive customer base.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Palo Alto Networks’ $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk highlights the rising strategic importance of identity in the cybersecurity ecosystem.
Identity-first security: CyberArk’s privileged access management expertise complements Palo Alto’s strength in network and cloud security.
Zero trust acceleration: The deal positions Palo Alto to offer unified platforms that align with enterprise adoption of zero-trust architectures.
Market consolidation: This acquisition reflects broader consolidation as enterprises seek fewer vendors with integrated solutions.
Scale and reach: CyberArk gains access to Palo Alto’s global distribution and customer base, accelerating its growth trajectory.
“Sometimes selling is less about what your company is today, and more about what the market is about to become.” — Before the Exit
This transaction shows how large-scale SaaS and security M&A is driven by convergence, integration, and market positioning for future enterprise demand.
Sendgrid - acquired by Twilio for $3B
On February 1 of 2019, Twilio completed their acquisition of SendGrid. It took a while to finalize because SendGrid was already public, and they had to pay shareholders and take the SendGrid stock off the market. The CEO of Twilio says that the company acquired SendGrid to “provide a complete platform for every form of customer engagement.” Essentially, now Twilio offers email in addition to SMS.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
This acquisition marked a turning point in the SaaS M&A market, especially within the communications API ecosystem. The deal highlights several key takeaways:
Expansion into email: Twilio added email to its core of voice, SMS, and video, becoming a complete customer engagement platform.
Enterprise positioning: Analysts highlighted the move as strengthening Twilio’s credibility with enterprise buyers.
Customer workflow consolidation: Clients like Zillow and Okta welcomed one vendor for omnichannel communication.
Cultural alignment: Both companies shared a developer-first approach, easing integration.
This acquisition illustrates how SaaS M&A transactions can create product completeness, enhance enterprise credibility, and drive stronger adoption by simplifying customer engagement.
Qualtrics - acquired by SAP for $8B
This acquisition took place in November of 2018, and it’s quite a high SaaS acquisition price. It led many in the enterprise software world to wonder...why did SAP pay that much to acquire a survey company? What were they hoping to gain?
The long and short of it is that this tool is in an emerging market called experience software, designed to get qualitative and quantitative feedback to help companies make even better products. With this purchase, SAP sees a huge opportunity in an enormous new market. Basically every startup and enterprise needs to do better at customer feedback so they can make outstanding experiences.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
SAP’s acquisition of Qualtrics reflected a growing recognition that customer experience management (CXM) data is as strategically important as operational data in enterprise SaaS. Several key takeaways stand out from this deal:
Union of X-data and O-data: Together, SAP and Qualtrics combined operational and experience data for deeper insights.
Strategic shift: SAP positioned customer experience management as a core growth driver.
Horizontal integration: Unlike SAP’s vertical acquisitions, Qualtrics applied across industries.
Go-to-market boost: Qualtrics gained SAP’s global reach to accelerate enterprise adoption.
Culture considerations: While cultural fit raised questions, leadership emphasized alignment.
“The art of selling a business well comes down to how you package it, the story you tell about it, and the feeling it gives potential buyers when they imagine owning it.” — The Art of Selling Your Business
This transaction shows how software M&A can expand market scope, strengthen positioning, and deliver value through complementary data and global distribution.
GitHub - acquired by Microsoft for $7.5B
Microsoft acquired GitHub so they could extend their cloud-native design-development-run ecosystem. Taking place in June of 2018, this acquisition was poised to help Microsoft continue to be the go-to company for software developers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Developers are the builders of this new era, writing the world’s code. And GitHub is their home.”
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub underscored how critical developers and open source have become to enterprise strategy and cloud competition. The industry reaction highlights several lessons:
Developer-first alignment: Microsoft positioned GitHub as central to its strategy of empowering developers and expanding its cloud ecosystem.
Strategic enterprise reach: The acquisition aimed to accelerate GitHub adoption in enterprises and link developers more closely to Azure.
DevOps validation: Industry leaders called the move proof that DevOps and open source collaboration are now essential to enterprise innovation.
Ecosystem expansion: Microsoft gained influence across the software delivery chain, from source control to cloud compute.
Competitive ripple effects: Competitors like Atlassian and GitLab reported spikes in migrations, showing how major SaaS M&A can shift market dynamics overnight.
Mulesoft - acquired by Salesforce for $6.5B
The purpose of Salesforce’s acquisition of Mulesoft was to allow organizations to easily synchronize data and increase the value of the applications they build on the Salesforce platform. It’s all about perfect connectivity, which is something Salesforce wasn’t able to offer on their own. The one-billion-dollar acquisition took place in March of 2018.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
The MuleSoft acquisition demonstrated how SaaS leaders will pay a premium for companies that deliver both strong financial performance and strategic technology value.
Premium valuation: MuleSoft commanded nearly 22x trailing revenue due to rapid growth, high margins, and improving cash flow.
Integration advantage: The deal gave Salesforce an “integration cloud,” enabling hybrid deployments and greater enterprise flexibility.
Strategic timing: MuleSoft was acquired while still on a strong growth trajectory, amplifying Salesforce’s ability to enter new markets.
“The most successful M&A transactions don’t just happen passively; they are achieved through hard work.” — The $100 Million Exit
This transaction shows how SaaS acquirers often stretch multiples when strategic fit and growth momentum align.
HotelNinjas - acquired by Booking Holdings for an unknown sum
Booking Holdings (Priceline and Booking.com) acquired HotelNinjas in 2014. The exact amount is unknown but estimates are between $10 and $20 million. HotelNinjas was a cloud-based property management system. The brand was completely absorbed by Booking.com and is used by hoteliers.
This is an inspiring story, because CEO and co-founder Avi Meir knew he was building something that could and likely would get acquired. He’s now building TravelPerk, which has gained over $100M in funding to date. When pressed, Meir maintains that he will likely not sell TravelPerk anytime soon, because the brand can stand all on it’s own and doesn’t need to be acquired to thrive or survive.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Booking Holdings’ acquisition of HotelNinjas reflected the growing importance of SaaS platforms in the hospitality sector, where property management and booking tools must integrate seamlessly.
Expansion into property management: HotelNinjas offered hotels a SaaS-based property management system that complemented Booking.com’s reservation platform.
End-to-end ecosystem: The deal gave Booking Holdings the ability to cover both guest-facing booking experiences and back-office hotel operations.
Customer stickiness: By embedding itself into hotel workflows, Booking Holdings increased switching costs and deepened long-term customer relationships.
Market consolidation: The acquisition signaled SaaS consolidation in travel tech, where incumbents acquire specialized startups to strengthen their ecosystem.
Scout - acquired by Workday for $540 million
In December of 2019, Workday completed its acquisition of Scout, a cloud-based platform for strategic sourcing and supplier engagement. The goal of the acquisition was for Workday customers to expand and improve how they can plan, execute, and analyze spending in one solution. Essentially, procurement teams now optimize their spend even better, and work towards more transparency and efficiency.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
This acquisition strengthened Workday’s cloud ERP suite by addressing a key gap in procurement and strategic sourcing.
Filling product gaps: The deal added best-in-class sourcing to Workday’s procurement and inventory tools, completing its source-to-pay solution.
Strategic positioning: Analysts noted Workday’s push to be the end-to-end cloud back office provider.
Cultural alignment: Both companies emphasized shared values around customer focus and user experience, easing integration.
Portfolio strategy: Workday Ventures had previously invested in Scout RFP, reflecting a long-term vision.
“Once your business can run without you, you’ll have a valuable—sellable—asset.” — Built to Sell
This acquisition highlights how SaaS leaders use M&A to accelerate roadmaps, fill product gaps, and reinforce cultural fit.
Honey - acquired by PayPal for $4 billion
Acquired in November of 2019, Honey Science became PayPal’s biggest acquisition in its history of over two decades in business. While some analysts are still puzzled as to why PayPal bought Honey for that sum, one thing is clear: it proved that there is “immense value for consumers, merchants, and payment providers in virtual shopping assistants.” So if you’re thinking about building a new SaaS business and B2C doesn’t scare you too much, then maybe start there?
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
PayPal’s $4 billion acquisition of Honey Science Corporation reflected the growing importance of consumer engagement tools in shaping e-commerce behavior.
Consumer experience expansion: Honey gave PayPal capabilities beyond checkout, enabling a full shopping journey with price tracking, coupon discovery, and deal alerts.
Merchant value: The integration allowed PayPal to increase sales for merchants by improving consumer engagement and loyalty.
User scale: Honey brought 17 million monthly active users and over $1 billion in annual savings delivered to shoppers.
Strategic growth: This acquisition positioned PayPal as more than a payments provider, strengthening its role in the broader e-commerce ecosystem.
AnsweriQ - acquired by Freshworks for an unknown sum
We don’t know how much Freshworks paid to acquire AnsweriQ, but we do know that Freshworks is currently valued at $3.5 billion and has over 150,000 customers and 2,700 employees. Both of the AnsweriQ co-founders will now join Freshworks. In fact, all 20 of their employees will now join Freshworks. The company’s platform helps automate customer service responses such as cancelled orders.
They’re working towards bringing bots and humans together, so that bots can “gracefully handoff” cases to the human support staff. That sounds like a really smart move.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Freshworks’ acquisition of AnsweriQ expanded its AI-driven customer engagement capabilities while strengthening its move up-market.
Complementary technology: AnsweriQ’s AI/ML tools fit neatly into Freshworks’ Freddy AI engine.
Talent and leadership: The acquisition added experienced executives, with AnsweriQ’s CEO becoming Freshworks’ chief customer officer.
Market expansion: AnsweriQ’s enterprise customer base opened new opportunities without overlapping existing accounts.
Strategic timing: Facing a funding decision, AnsweriQ chose integration over independence to accelerate adoption and scale.
“The most important thing you can do is understand your reasons for selling—whether you’re being pushed out or pulled toward something new.” — Exit Strategy
This acquisition underscores how timing and strategic alignment often drive SaaS M&A outcomes.
Movere - acquired by Microsoft for an unknown sum
In September of 2019, it acquired Movere, a SaaS company that helps customers plan and execute cloud migrations as well as to optimize and monitor various IT environments. Presumably, this purchase will help Azure cloud to better compete with Amazon AWS. The acquisition complements Azure Migrate and helps make a cloud migration easier for Azure’s customers.
That’s a smart SaaS idea...build a product that it will make it easier for a SaaS company to get customers to migrate from a competitor!
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Microsoft’s acquisition of Movere highlighted the strategic importance of simplifying cloud migration as enterprises accelerate their shift to the cloud.
Enhancing Azure Migrate: Movere’s discovery and assessment tools strengthened Microsoft’s ability to support seamless migrations.
Customer transformation focus: The deal reinforced Microsoft’s positioning of cloud migration as a driver of business transformation.
Proven partner relationship: Movere had been a long-time Microsoft partner, easing integration and trust with shared customers.
Market competition: The acquisition responded to demand for migration tools amid competition from Amazon and Google.
This deal reflects how SaaS acquirers often use M&A to close tactical product gaps in fast-growing markets.
Onshape - acquired by PTC for $470 million
Onshape is the “first Software as a Service (SaaS) product development platform that unites robust computer aided design (CAD) with powerful data management and collaboration tools,” according to this press release. Onshape helps designers and developers work together to greatly reduce the time to market for any new product. This acquisition marks the first step in PTC’s plan to produce a recurring revenue model.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
PTC’s $470 million acquisition of Onshape marked a pivotal moment in the CAD and PLM industries as they began their transition to SaaS delivery models.
Industry shift: Onshape was the first SaaS-native CAD and product development platform, positioning PTC for leadership as the market moved away from on-premises tools.
Recurring revenue growth: The deal advanced PTC’s transition from perpetual licensing toward subscription and SaaS revenue streams.
Customer demand: SaaS delivery lowered upfront costs, simplified IT management, and supported collaboration for distributed teams.
Strategic timing: By acquiring Onshape early, PTC placed itself ahead of the “tipping point” for SaaS adoption.
“Sometimes selling is less about what your company is today, and more about what the market is about to become.” — Before the Exit
This acquisition illustrates how SaaS M&A can be used to secure leadership in industries on the verge of disruption.
ConnectWise - acquired by Thoma Bravo for an unknown sum
ConnectWise is offers their business management suite to technology solution providers. It was acquired by Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm. While the amount of the acquisition is unknown, ConnectWise was valued at $1 billion at the time of purchase. There was a really cool success story with this one! Because the company was employee-owned, the acquisition immediately created over 70 millionaires.
Key takeaways from this SaaS M&A transaction
Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of ConnectWise underscored how private equity firms view MSP software as a growth engine for SaaS and IT services.
Succession planning: Founder Arnie Bellini stepped into an advisory role, with longtime COO Jason Magee promoted to CEO.
Private equity strategy: Thoma Bravo positioned ConnectWise for organic growth and selective acquisitions in SaaS and cybersecurity.
Financial strength: ConnectWise posted strong EBITDA and revenue growth leading into the deal, making it attractive to investors.
Cultural transition: Employee shareholders received $270 million, while staff adjustments reflected a shift toward SaaS-first operations.
“The art of selling a business well comes down to how you package it, the story you tell about it, and the feeling it gives potential buyers when they imagine owning it.” — The Art of Selling Your Business
This deal highlights how founder-led SaaS firms can transition leadership while securing private equity backing for future scale.
What makes a SaaS company acquisition ready
Having exited a SaaS company myself, and having since worked alongside hundreds of founders building toward their own outcomes, I have a clear view of the handful of things that actually determine whether a company is sellable when the opportunity comes.
None of them are exotic. All of them are easy to put off.
Revenue predictability
Buyers pay for revenue they can underwrite with confidence, not revenue that happened to show up last quarter. Your recurring contracts should represent the clear majority of total revenue, with 70% commonly cited as the threshold buyers look for. One-time services or implementation work gets discounted heavily in a valuation.
The founders who get surprised by a lower-than-expected multiple are usually the ones who never separated their recurring revenue from the one-off consulting that crept into the business over time. Buyers in 2026 weigh two metrics most heavily here: the Rule of 40 and net revenue retention. Cross 40 on the Rule of 40 and 110% on NRR, and you're commanding a meaningfully higher multiple than a company sitting just below those lines.
Low founder dependency
This is the trait I know most personally from my own exit. A buyer, particularly a private equity acquirer, wants to know the business runs without you personally closing every deal or fixing every production issue. PE acquirers typically require that the business can operate independently within 90 to 180 days of close. Founder-only delivery makes that transition difficult to underwrite since buyers treat your irreplaceable knowledge as a liability rather than an asset.
This is uncomfortable to hear if you're a hands-on founder, but the discomfort is the signal that you're not ready yet. It's not a sign the standard is wrong.
Clean documentation
Buyers diligence everything:
Financials
Contracts
Code
Data structures
Customer agreements.
A company that can't produce clean documentation quickly signals risk, even when the underlying business is healthy. The reason is the buyer has no way to verify what they're told without a paper trail.
Documentation debt is invisible until the moment someone outside the company asks for it. By then it's too late to build retroactively without slowing the entire process down.
Strategic fit signals
Beyond the numbers, buyers want a story about why this acquisition makes sense for them specifically. SAP's acquisition of Qualtrics above wasn't just about Qualtrics's standalone metrics. It was about SAP's strategic bet on experience management as a category. If you understand which categories of buyer would actually want your specific company, and why, you're in a far stronger position than a founder who assumes good metrics speak for themselves.
"The businesses that are actually ready to be acquired are usually the ones where the founder spent years building like they might sell, even if they never planned to. Clean books, documented processes, a team that doesn't depend on one person knowing everything. That's not really an acquisition strategy. It's just running a healthy business." — Marina Beretta, Product Manager, DevSquad
SaaS acquisition trends in 2026
The M&A market has shifted meaningfully even in the last two years. Three forces are shaping nearly every deal happening right now.
AI driven acqui-hires
A meaningful share of 2025 and 2026 acquisitions are no longer primarily about revenue. Buyers are acquiring teams, proprietary training data, and workflow-embedded AI capabilities that would take years to build organically. Roughly 72% of SaaS M&A targets in 2025 referenced AI capabilities in their positioning, citing SEG data, and acquirers increasingly evaluate targets on their AI architecture and data assets as much as their ARR (SaaSMag, 2026). The Wiz deal is the clearest example at scale: Google paid 64x ARR not just for revenue but for a security data layer it could not build fast enough on its own.
Private equity rollups
Private equity has become the dominant force in SaaS M&A by volume. Private equity buyers were involved in nearly 58% of all SaaS transactions in 2025. Firms like Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity, and Blackstone are executing large-scale take-private deals and buy-and-build strategies across fragmented categories.
This matters even if you're nowhere near the scale of the headline mega-deals. The same playbook is increasingly being applied to smaller bootstrapped SaaS businesses too.
Vertical SaaS consolidation
Vertical SaaS, software built for a specific industry rather than a horizontal use case, has become the single largest category in SaaS M&A. Vertical SaaS companies represented an estimated 46 to 54% of all SaaS deals between January 2025 and May 2026, making it the dominant category for the first time. Companies with embedded fintech in their vertical SaaS product commanded a 33 to 60% valuation premium over software-only peers in the same vertical.
If you're building vertical SaaS today, this consolidation wave is either an opportunity or a threat depending on whether you're positioned as a consolidator or a target. It's worth deciding deliberately which one you want to be.
To learn more about how to build a SaaS business
Keep dreaming those SaaS acquisition dreams, and as Nathan Latka would suggest, sell when the time is right so you can keep that forward momentum going strong.
To learn more about how to build a SaaS business, get started with me. I successfully exited a SaaS before building DevSquad, and I'd be glad to talk through what your own path to a sellable business could look like.
SaaS acquisitions FAQs
It depends heavily on which SaaS company you're talking about, since 2026 has split the market into two distinct tiers. AI-native companies with strong differentiation are commanding premium multiples well above historical norms, while undifferentiated SaaS with commodity features is seeing compressed multiples compared to a few years ago. Inside that range, the levers that move you up are the same ones covered above: recurring revenue above 70% of total revenue, a Rule of 40 score above 40, and NRR above 110%. Two companies with identical ARR can land on very different multiples depending on how they score against those three.
Plan for months, not weeks. A straightforward deal with a motivated buyer and clean books can close in two to three months from serious first conversation to signed paperwork. A deal involving extensive diligence, multiple stakeholders, or a buyer still building internal conviction can stretch to six months or longer. The biggest lever you control is how fast you can answer diligence requests, which is exactly why clean documentation matters so much before you're in the process, not after.
Yes, regularly. The PE rollup trend covered above isn't limited to venture-backed companies with massive funding rounds behind them. Private equity firms and strategic acquirers actively look for profitable, well-run bootstrapped SaaS businesses, in part because they often come with cleaner cap tables and more realistic founder expectations than venture-backed targets. The same readiness criteria apply either way: predictable revenue, low founder dependency, and clean documentation matter more to a buyer than whether your last round was a Series A or your own savings account.
Phil Alves is the CEO and Founder of DevSquad and DevStats. He’s built and launched 100+ software products for bootstrapped founders, fast-growing startups, and enterprises. Phil writes about SaaS, product strategy, operational complexity, and building scalable development processes. He enjoys aviation, investing, and learning from other SaaS founders.