Total disclosed M&A deal value reached $7.6 billion in H1 2026. Buyers preferred to keep their M&A strategies private as only 11% of deals announced their transaction values, near the middle of the historical range.

Let’s take a look at dealmaking activity in the Blue-Collar Software sector. In 2025, transaction volumes hit a new 10-year high when 317 Tech M&A deals were announced, with an additional 140 transactions seen in H1 2026. Dealmaking volumes have been on a powerful upward trend since 2022 as toolbelt industries continue to digitize. Financial and strategic buyers were eager to pursue acquisitions in this space as PE firms were the buyers in 29% of these transactions in H1 2026.

Looking at the top acquirer of Blue-Collar Software firms in H1 2026, the buy-and-hold firm Valsoft pocketed three blue-collar companies, with plans to leverage its financial resources and operational reach to further grow those enterprises. Key strategics included Halliburton, which is rapidly growing its digital oilfield services business through organic and inorganic activities, Autodesk, which offers a broad suite of software, cloud services, and developer APIs that support design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and other activities, DNV, an independent assurance and risk management provider operating in more than 100 countries, Siemens, a technology conglomerate with a strong presence in electrification, automation, and digitalization, and Tenet, a platform for cartage, courier, and expedited carriers covering first, middle, and last-mile operations. Each of these strategics picked up two blue-collar software companies. On the private equity front, JMI Equity intends to use its large resource pool to organically grow their two recently acquired companies.

VC funding for Blue-Collar Software firms has been incredibly volatile since 2021, as have deal volumes. From 2022 to 2025, VC deal volumes dropped by 14%. Uncertainty over VC investments and deal flow are encouraging companies to instead pursue M&A strategies for growth and liquidity. The median VC funding size was $9.5 million during the first half of 2026.