Q1 2025 Software Industry Trends

Software transaction volume increased 9 percent on a quarterly basis, from 484 to 527. Aggregate value more than doubled, from $40.2 billion to $91.6 billion, slightly surpassing the same time period in Q1 2024.

Deal volume in the Infrastructure Software segment increased 18 percent over Q4 2024. This included the quarter’s two largest transactions: Google’s $32 billion announced acquisition of Wiz, a leading cloud security platform, and Turn/River Capital’s $4.4 billion announced acquisition of SolarWinds, a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software.

M&A activity in the Business Software segment, which consists of software designed for general business practices and not specific industry markets, increased by 8 percent from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. The segment’s largest deal year-to-date was Paychex’s announced acquisition of Paycor, a leading provider of HCM, payroll and talent software, for $4.1 billion. Another notable transaction in the Business segment was ServiceNow’s announced acquisition of Moveworks, an AI Assistant that unifies every business system with natural language, for $2.9 billion.

Activity in the Consumer Software segment decreased from 34 deals in Q4 2024 to 28 deals in Q1 2025. The most notable transaction in the Consumer segment was Scopely’s announced acquisition of the Games Business of Niantic, for $3.5 billion. Niantic’s Games Business includes beloved mobile games “Pokémon GO,” “Pikmin Bloom,” and “Monster Hunter Now,” as well as companion apps and services “Campfire” and “Wayfarer.”