Q2 2026 tech M&A: the ground has shifted, even where volume held steady

Valio Ventures’ LatAm tech M&A Q2 2026 report covers global IT M&A activity, SaaS and IT services valuation trends, and regional dealmaking across Latin America. Global tech dealmaking stayed active in Q2 2026 — but the headline number tells only part of the story. Global IT M&A reached $262.2B this quarter, and deal count held roughly steady, up 2.6% year-over-year, according to PitchBook. Beneath that stability, three things shifted meaningfully: who’s buying, how AI is reshaping valuations, and where specialization pays off.

For founders in Latin America thinking about a sale in the second half of the year, these shifts matter more than the raw deal count.

1. Strategic buyers are setting the terms, not sponsors

Strategic acquirers drove $213.6B of Q2’s global IT M&A value — more than six times the $32.5B from private equity-led activity, which fell 60.5% quarter-over-quarter and sits 78.7% below its cycle peak, per PitchBook. The same pattern held in IT services specifically, where strategic buyers accounted for 71% of deal volume over the past 30 months, according to Hampleton Partners.

SaaS tells a similar story. Private equity’s direct platform share of SaaS M&A fell to 6.3% in Q2 2026, down from roughly 10% historically, as strategic buyers moved aggressively to secure AI-relevant capabilities, per Software Equity Group.

Private equity hasn’t disappeared. It’s staying selective — committing where EBITDA conversion is defensible, and largely absent from growth stories that haven’t proven out yet. For founders evaluating a sale process, the practical implication is direct: know which type of buyer is realistically in play before setting expectations.

2. AI stopped being a differentiator

AI-referenced SaaS acquisitions reached a record 77.7% share of all SaaS M&A in Q2 2026, up from 66.2% a year earlier and 54.1% in 2024, per Software Equity Group. What began as a differentiator three years ago is now close to a baseline expectation.

Vertical software is capturing a growing share of that activity. Vertical SaaS represented 54% of SaaS deals in Q2 2026, up from 46% a year earlier, as buyers pay a premium for proprietary data and deep workflow integration over horizontal, feature-parity software.

Median SaaS valuation multiples continued to compress, falling to 4.0x EV/TTM revenue from 4.2x the prior quarter — consistent with private markets lagging public-market repricing by six to twelve months. Founders anchoring exit expectations to last year’s comparables may be negotiating from an outdated number.

3. IT services is splitting into two markets

IT services M&A remained strategic-buyer-led in Q2 2026, with pricing normalizing well below its 2023 peak of 13.6x EV/EBITDA down to 8.8x, according to Mergermarket data compiled by Aventis Advisors. But the sector isn’t monolithic: specialization drives a near two-fold gap in multiples between the highest- and lowest-priced subsectors, with data and analytics and cybersecurity services commanding the strongest premiums.

Public markets are already pricing in the same divergence. All 10 major publicly traded IT services and digital engineering companies tracked posted negative 12-month stock returns as of July 2026, with growth-priced “pure players” falling hardest as investors price in AI disruption risk to the billable-hours model.

For IT services founders, the read-through is specific: which subsector you operate in can matter as much as overall company performance when it comes to setting valuation expectations.

LatAm tech M&A Q2 2026: consolidating, not slowing down broadly

LatAm tech deal count reached 43 in Q2 2026, down 10% year-over-year — a pullback that sits within the same range the region has held since mid-2024, rather than a sharp break from prior trends. Brazil remained the region’s anchor for deal activity, with Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile diverging in what’s driving their individual markets.

AI adoption is accelerating in parallel across LatAm’s broader tech ecosystem. Among venture capital firms in the region, 91% now use AI to evaluate investment opportunities, up from 45% two years ago, and 61% report that more than 60% of their new investments have AI embedded in the core product, according to Hi Ventures. B2B SaaS and Enterprise Software represent the largest single category among LatAm startups surveyed, at 31%.

What to watch in H2 2026

Four signals worth tracking as the year progresses:

• Strategic buyers will likely keep filling the space PE is vacating, across software, IT services, and broader tech M&A.
• LatAm consolidation will likely favor fewer, larger transactions rather than a rebound in deal count.
• The SaaS valuation reset appears structural, not temporary — recalibrating exit expectations now avoids negotiating from an outdated number later.
• AI is likely to keep widening the gap between IT services winners and losers, rewarding data, cloud, and cybersecurity capabilities while pressuring traditional software development work.

Taken together, these signals define LatAm tech M&A Q2 2026 — and what founders should expect heading into the second half of the year.

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