How Many Tech M&A Deals Publicly Name an Advisor
Of the 2,160 tech and SaaS acquisitions in the ProCloser Deal Index, 211 (9.8%) name an advisor in the public source. This page measures public naming of an advisor in the source, not the true advised share.
211 of 2,160 tracked tech M&A deals (9.8%) name an advisor in the public source we link to. The other 1,949 announcements name none.
175 deals name a sell-side advisor and 110 name a buy-side advisor.
This measures how often an announcement publicly names an advisor. It is not the share of deals that actually had one, which is at least as high and cannot be observed from public sources.
Last updated Oct 15, 2026. Computed from the 2,160 rows in deals.json on every build.
Overall
| Measure | Deals | Share of all tracked deals |
|---|---|---|
| Tracked deals | 2,160 | 100.0% |
| Name at least one advisor in the source | 211 | 9.8% |
| Name a sell-side advisor | 175 | 8.1% |
| Name a buy-side advisor | 110 | 5.1% |
| Name both a sell-side and a buy-side advisor | 74 | 3.4% |
| Name no advisor in the source | 1,949 | 90.2% |
By sector
| Sector | Deals tracked | Deals naming an advisor | Share naming an advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | 443 | 56 | 12.6% |
| Other tech | 298 | 22 | 7.4% |
| Fintech | 260 | 25 | 9.6% |
| IT services | 258 | 27 | 10.5% |
| Vertical AI | 249 | 11 | 4.4% |
| Data infrastructure | 183 | 26 | 14.2% |
| Cybersecurity | 151 | 15 | 9.9% |
| Healthtech | 129 | 16 | 12.4% |
| Martech | 111 | 8 | 7.2% |
| Ecommerce tech | 41 | 5 | 12.2% |
| Devtools | 37 | 0 | 0.0% |
By source type
| Source type | Deals tracked | Deals naming an advisor | Share naming an advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| News | 1,112 | 66 | 5.9% |
| Press release | 951 | 120 | 12.6% |
| SEC 8-K | 96 | 24 | 25.0% |
| Advisor announcement | 1 | 1 | 100.0% |
By quarter and month
| Quarter | Deals tracked | Deals naming an advisor | Share naming an advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q1 | 400 | 55 | 13.8% |
| 2026 Q2 | 549 | 48 | 8.7% |
| 2026 Q3 | 1,027 | 90 | 8.8% |
| 2026 Q4 | 184 | 18 | 9.8% |
By month
| Month | Deals tracked | Deals naming an advisor | Share naming an advisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | 142 | 14 | 9.9% |
| Feb 2026 | 123 | 20 | 16.3% |
| Mar 2026 | 135 | 21 | 15.6% |
| Apr 2026 | 133 | 15 | 11.3% |
| May 2026 | 130 | 10 | 7.7% |
| Jun 2026 | 286 | 23 | 8.0% |
| Jul 2026 | 269 | 26 | 9.7% |
| Aug 2026 | 342 | 31 | 9.1% |
| Sep 2026 | 416 | 33 | 7.9% |
| Oct 2026 | 184 | 18 | 9.8% |
How this is computed
Population. Every published row in the ProCloser Tech M&A Deal Index at build time (2,160 deals, high and medium confidence, each with a source link). Rows are announced acquisitions of software, SaaS, internet and technology-enabled companies from public feeds.
Numerator. A deal counts as naming an advisor when its sell-side or buy-side advisor field is non-empty. Those fields are filled only when the advisor's name appears in the fetched source text. Advisor names are normalized so one firm is counted once per deal.
Limits. The index only sees what is announced publicly. A deal with an advisor that the announcement does not name counts as not naming one. Sector, source type and quarter come from the row fields. 2026 Q4 is a partial period ending Oct 14, 2026. The mix of sources changed over the year as feeds were added, so compare groups with that in mind.
Updates. The pipeline runs daily and this page is rebuilt from the data each time.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the share of tech M&A deals that use an advisor?
No. It is the share of tracked announcements whose public source names an advisor. Many deals with an advisor never mention one in the press release, so the true advised share is higher than the figure on this page.
What counts as naming an advisor?
The linked source (a press release, SEC 8-K, news article or an advisor's own announcement) names an M&A advisor on the sell side, the buy side or both. Legal counsel is not counted as an advisor.
Why does the share differ by source type?
Each source type is a different kind of document. The table above reports the count and share for each type exactly as they appear in the data; it makes no claim about why they differ.
Can I cite these numbers?
Yes, under CC BY 4.0 with a link back. The underlying rows are in the CSV and JSON, and the sector pages show which advisors are named: advisor league.
ProCloser.ai. "How many tech M&A deals publicly name an advisor, ProCloser Tech M&A Deal Index." https://procloser.ai/deals/credit-rate/. Updated 2026-10-15.
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