软件与IT服务行业报告：探索并购活动、资本市场状况及当前趋势

Explore M&A Activity, Capital MarketConditions and Current Trends for theSoftware & IT Services Industry SOFTWARE & IT SERVICES REPORT SOFTWARE AND IT SERVICES 2H25: WHAT TOKNOW CONTENTS Transaction ActivityActive BuyersPublic BasketM&A Market ActivityAbout SDR Ventures Thesprawlingworldofsoftware,tech,andIThasfounditselfincreasinglydrawnintothegapingmawof AI asitinhalesinvestor interest(and money)at the expense ofseeminglyeveryotherarea. ABOUT SDR When(orif)willthebillionsinvestedinAIdevelopmentpayoff?Isthereaclearpathtoprofits,andwhatwillseparatewinnersfromthealsorans? Established in 2002, SDR Ventures hasdevelopeddeep M&A and capitaltransactionknowledge and expertise.SDR offers transaction advisory, privatecapitalformationandbusinessconsulting services across a wide rangeof industries. We serve business ownersandoperatorsofprivatelyheldcompaniesand provide them with aprofessional-class experience. Governments across the U.S.and around the world areonlystartingtodevelopregulations,bothfromanAIusestandpointbutalsoregardingAI’sgiantdatacenterbuildandelectricalgriddemands. SOFTWARE & ITSERVICES CONTACTS Scott MitchellManaging DirectorSoftware & IT Services Team720.221.9220smitchell@sdrventures.com Matt HuebnerManaging DirectorSoftware & IT Services Team720.221.9220mhuebner@sdrventures.com Dylan PowellSenior AnalystSoftware & IT Services Team720.221.9220dpowell@sdrventures.com SOFTWARE & IT SERVICES REPORT AI,theVortexofInvestorCapital If we’re going to talk about a proverbial “elephant in the room,” it’s important to understand elephants. They eat a lot,ingesting hundreds of pounds of forage daily from the grounds around them. But there’s a lot of inefficiency, too.Elephants may only digest and extract energy from less than a quarter of that input.1 Now, change “elephant” to “Artificial Intelligence.” AI is gobbling investments at an astounding rate, a vortex luringaway investment from other ventures in the software, tech, and IT sector. A Stanford University study found heading into2025 the AI sector attracted $252 billion in private investment in the prior year. And it’s not just money, AI is capturingup a lot of attention. Nearly 80% of organizations reported trying to integrate AI at the start of the year. Tech’s big dogs– Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft – were expected to pump nearly $400 billion into AI development in 2025. Asthe Wall Street Journal points out, that’s more than the cost of the Apollo space program … in today’s dollars. Nearlyhalf of available VC money is going into AI-related ventures, with most of that in large language model (LLM) projects. AsVC megadeals flowed into AI enterprises, Forbes magazine proclaimed, “The gold rush is back – only this time, the goldis AI.”2,3,4,5,6 But there are questions. Is this sustainable? When will AI generate anticipated profits and investor returns? Willenthusiasm turn into a bursting bubble? In the current feeding frenzy, it’s estimated the amount of money pouring intoAI, research, and related data center development eclipses the amount that was piling into the dot-com bubble of thelate 1990s and early 2000s.4 Even as he announced his $6.2 billion 2025 cash infusion for his “real-world application” AI startup, dubbed ProjectPrometheus, old school dot-com billionaire Jeff Bezos also mentioned the “b-word,” bubble. And it’s not just private VC money at stake. Emerging AI power CoreWeave’s 2025 IPO marked the biggest public techinvestment since 2021. Share prices doubled in less than a year. But the former crypto-mining company is billions in debtand isn’t turning a profit, generating $5 billion in annual revenue but spending $20 billion to get there. There’s that oldsaying about a business selling dollar bills for 75 cents but making it up on volume. There is also scrutiny of “circularfunding” where big companies invest in startups who then turn around and buy their products – in this case computerchips – from the same firms who lent them the money they are spending. And we’re hearing curious talk of off-book jointventure (JV) accounting, such as when Meta partnered with alternative-asset manager Blue Owl Capital on a $27 billionloan, the largest private credit transaction ever. Did that muddy the financial picture for investors? As AI booms at thecost of other tech enterprises, what’s real growth and what’s the same money moving in circles? Here’s to clarity, anddare we hope profits, ahead. Global consulting firm McKinsey& Company breaks down AI investment into fivecomponents: builders, energizers, tech developers, operators running the components, and the AI architects training themodels and linking the pieces. That money is going somewhere. Somebody is getting paid.7,8,9,10,11 Artificial Intelligence or Intelligent Artifice There’s no question about the volume of money pouring into AI investments. In 2025, spending on the data centers atthe heart of the AI boom exceeded the mighty everyday American consumer, long coun