Interestingly, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft are not the most active acquirers of AI companies.
The anti-trust environment has been a headwind for them (although some have gotten creative with quasi-acquisitions), and we do expect activity will likely pick up in a Trump presidency (if Lina Khan is removed as FTC chair).
Today’s top acquirers are infrastructure and data management players, as well as professional services firm Accenture.
It’s picked up 3 companies so far this year focused on optimizing AI workloads, and its investment activity is skyrocketing.
The tech markets in focus
Two tech markets — AI chatbots and marketing personalization — lead this year in corporate M&A activity.
Both Zendesk and Salesforce have made acquisitions in the AI agent/customer service automation space.
Looking ahead
As companies look to bring in fresh AI tech and talent in 2025, where are the clearest opportunities?
The companies below rise to the top when filtering on CB Insights signals like M&A probability (chance of an exit in the next 2 years) and Mosaic (startup health scores).
For example, StrikeReady, which is backed by Hitachi Ventures, has 5x the average probability of an M&A exit in the next 2 years based on 70+ signals we track.
Learn more here about how to identify M&A targets quickly and with confidence.
New phone, who dis?: The FBI seized Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan’s phone. The betting platform pulled in $3.6B during the recent US presidential election. Coplan, alleging political retaliation, has not been charged while Polymarket remains under scrutiny for its crypto-based operations.
All work, no play: Greptile CEO Daksh Gupta caught heat online after promoting his startup’s 84-hour work week, calling it essential for early-stage growth but admitting there’s “no work-life balance.” Gupta claimed the backlash brought death threats — alongside a flood of job applications.
Power struggle: Robin Zeng, head of China’s CATL (Tesla’s key battery supplier), dismissed the feasibility of Musk’s 4680 battery cell (used in some of Tesla’s cars), saying it “will fail” because Musk “doesn’t know how to make a battery.” While praising Musk’s AI vision, Zeng criticized his habit of overpromising and setting unrealistic timelines.
Bank bait: FTX’s estate is suing Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao for $1.8B it alleges was fraudulently transferred by SBF. The lawsuit also accuses Zhao of triggering FTX’s collapse with misleading tweets.
Bot bias: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired back at Elon Musk’s claims of ChatGPT’s left-leaning bias, highlighting its neutral response compared to Musk’s Grok chatbot’s apparent endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. Musk then shot back “Swindly Sam is at again” after other posters suggested Altman was being disingenuous and cut off the screenshot result.
