Total disclosed M&A deal value reached $2.2 billion in Q1 2026. Buyers preferred to keep their M&A strategies private as only 6% of deals announced their transaction values, on the lower end of the historical range.

Let’s start our analysis by looking at dealmaking activity in the Blue-Collar Software sector. In 2025, transaction volumes hit a new 10-year high with 322 Tech M&A deals announced, with an additional 67 transactions seen in Q1 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 27% of these transactions.

Looking at the top acquirers of Blue-Collar Software firms in Q1 2026, key strategics included Autodesk, which offers a broad suite of software, cloud services, and developer APIs that support design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and other activities, and Bentley Systems, which provides infrastructure engineering software and digital‑twin services for key infrastructure like roads and bridges. Pivoting to key PE firms, that list included Accel-KKR based out of Menlo Park, California and Hg in London in the United Kingdom. Moving on to the buy-and-hold group, Constellation Software remained highly active in this space as was Valsoft as both firms leverage their financial resources, go-to-market prowess and deep domain expertise to support companies during their growth journey.

VC funding for Blue-Collar Software firms peaked in 2021 and have remained volatile ever since, as have deal volumes which peaked in 2022. 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.