Q3 2021 Online & Mobile Industry Trends

Q3 2021 Key Highlights

Six of the industry’s top ten highest value deals year-to-date were completed by financial sponsors. Four of these six deals occurred in Q3 2021.

There were 672 financially sponsored transactions in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2021 with an aggregate value of $130.3 billion, representing 25 percent of the total volume and 48 percent of the total value, respectively.

Q3 2021 Key Trends

Total transaction volume in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2021 increased by 22 percent over the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020, from 2,176 to 2,645.

Total transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2021 nearly doubled over the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020, from $138.5 billion to $271.5 billion.

The segment with the largest rise in volume in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2021 over the 1st 3 Quarters of 2020 was SaaS & Cloud with a 43 percent gain, from 747 to 1,070 transactions.

Multiples & Value Trends

The median revenue multiple on a year-over-year basis rose by 75 percent, from 2.4x to 4.2x.

The median EBITDA multiple on a year-over-year basis improved by nine percent, from 12.7x to 13.8x.

Top Ten Deals Through Q3 2021

The top ten deals by value have seen five new additions since our half year report, two of which were completed by Thoma Bravo. Along these lines Thoma Bravo announced its acquisition of Medallia, an experience management company that leverages proprietary AI to help companies better understand their customers and employees, for $5.9 billion; and Stamps.com, a provider of e-commerce shipping software solutions, for $5.6 billion.

These five transactions, with an aggregate value of $35.6 billion, represented 13 percent of transaction value in the 1st 3 Quarters of 2021 and 31 percent of Q3 2021 transaction value.