Deal Momentum Entering 2026 Remains Strong Following a record-breaking 2025 — the most active year for US M&A since 2021 — deal momentum has carried into early 2026. US M&A activity totaled approximately $682B through Q1 2026 , up 39% YoY , marking the second-highest first-quarter volume in the past four years and underscoring continued…
By Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marc Cooper As warmer weather returns and we adjust our thermostats, I sat down with Head of Business Services Group Tim Shea to discuss M&A trends in essential service sectors. Tim, your team had a record year of deal activity in 2025. What’s been driving the strength of essential…
Why the exhibitions sector has become one of the most sought-after categories in private equity For much of the past two decades, the B2B events sector was viewed as a reliable if somewhat pedestrian corner of the information services ecosystem. The investment thesis was straightforward: exhibition sponsors and attendees tend to be loyal, with revenues…
By Solange Velazquez , Managing Director in Technology From investment to dealmaking, AI was, unsurprisingly, the main topic of conversation at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show, the largest gathering of franchised new car and truck dealers in the United States, held in Las Vegas last month. Investors remain bullish on a specific segment…
As housing markets remain dynamic and loan volumes fluctuate, mortgage lenders face increased pressure to accelerate underwriting while maintaining rigorous compliance and risk controls. Underwriting has traditionally been a slow process, requiring manual review of income documents, identity verification, and credit risk across multiple data sources. Today, digitization and AI are reshaping the mortgage underwriting…
In January, Solomon Partners announced several key leadership appointments, including the hiring of Ian O’Neal as a Partner in the firm’s Technology Group and senior-level promotions . Ian recently sat down with CEO Marc Cooper to discuss his background, current market themes, and what he’s hearing most often from clients. Ian, tell us about your…
Subscribe Episode Description This cross‑industry roundtable from Solomon Partners examines how the M&A landscape evolved in 2025 and the factors expected to shape deal activity in 2026 across healthcare, technology, and financial services. Industry coverage bankers Jon Pritti , James Butcher , and Alex DeOteris join M&A Director Chris Moynihan to discuss key macro and…
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries faster than ever before, the rising importance of Small Language Models (SLMs) is becoming increasingly prevalent. The distinction between SLMs and Large Language Models (LLMs) is primarily determined by the number of learned parameters in addition to the scale and specification of training data. SLMs typically contain millions…
As the adoption and rollout of renewable energy continues amidst a mixed global policy environment, it is increasingly important for renewables infrastructure to maximize cost-effectiveness and output. As a result, advanced data and analytics are transforming how stakeholders identify and evaluate locations for new renewable energy installations. By harnessing satellite imagery, historical weather data, and…
“Excitement has returned to fintech,” according to Solomon Partners Managing Director Joseph Watson , who characterized the positive mood at last month’s Money 20/20 , the premier gathering for executives in Fintech, Payments, and Financial Services, hosted in Las Vegas from October 26 to 29. Now in its 13th year, Money 20/20 featured keynote speeches…
For years, companies have invested heavily in collecting customer data from web clicks and app usage to purchase histories and demographics. Traditional Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) were designed to unify this data, remove silos and empower marketers to make more informed decisions. However, CDPs typically require copying data into separate systems, such as data warehouses.…
Subscribe Episode Description Craig Muir , Head of Software, Data & Analytics, joins Jeff Jacobs , Head of M&A and COO of Investment Banking to discuss how AI, data, and tech-enabled services are reshaping dealmaking in tech. They unpack M&A trends and valuation strategies as the year wraps up and we look ahead to 2026.…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at an unprecedented pace in investment, innovation, and deployment. Yet governance, regulation, and control mechanisms have not progressed commensurately. AI’s speed, scale, and growing autonomy clearly outpace existing controls, posing risks that require structured and formal oversight. Regulators understand the imbalance, and Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) software forerunners recognize…
By Craig Muir , Partner and Head of Software, Data & Analytics From tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty to high interest rates, the first nine months of 2025 were marked by prolonged volatility. However, the tide is turning as we head into the fourth quarter, with pitch activity and the quality of assets improving significantly, setting…
