Are Acquisitions Making a Comeback in 2025?

Despite uncertainty in the U.S. economy at this time, mergers and acquisitions have been prosperous in 2025 so far.

The first quarter of 2025 was the strongest for M&A dollar volume since 2021. It totaled $71 billion in reported exit value globally, as this data shows. Not to mention, there were 550 M&A deals involving venture-backed startups in the first quarter of 2025 — a 26% increase compared to Q1 last year, but slightly below the 563 deals done in Q4.

However, across the first half of 2025, acquisition volume surpassed $100B, a 155% YoY increase. Major deals included Google’s $32B acquisition of Wiz, OpenAI’s $6.5B purchase of Io, and ServiceNow acquiring Moveworks for nearly $3B. Enterprises are looking to make big moves to stay competitive, particularly in the AI race of innovation, and startups are the best place for them to look. That said, the numbers bode well for founders who are in a growth and scale stage, eyeing a potential exit in the coming years.  

We’ve seen it firsthand here – with our client Veriti recently getting acquired by Check Point Software, a cybersecurity industry leader. 

We helped Veriti gain significant exposure through proactive media campaigns to strengthen their position in the market and establish industry expertise amongst cybersecurity peers. To learn more about the role PR and storytelling play within the journey to a startup exit, read our full case study!