So Bloomberg and CB Insights have the latest data out on start-ups getting acquired, and 2025 is off to a record start:
Wiz’s record $32 Billion acquisition by Google pushes the dollar value to a record, but you may have also missed there were 11 VC-backed $1B+ exits already in 2025, worth $54.5 billion altogether, per Bloomberg. And 37 over the past 12 months, which is twice the prior 12-month period.
Now 37 is way up but it isn’t a record. Per Crunchbase, there were a stunning 211 (!) billion+ exits for U.S.-based start-ups just in 2021!
So good times are back. And while the Wiz deal hasn’t closed yet, seeing a record M&A deal price fuels more VC investment. Why? In part, because they see the absolute potential exit sizes just going up and up.
I remember when Qualtrics was acquired for a then-record $8 Billion by SAP. I asked founder Ryan Smith at SaaStr Annual what he thought of that record price?
“The next one will be even higher. Cloud has just gotten going.”
He was right.
