Salesforce (CRM) made headlines in late Could when the tech big introduced an $8 billion deal to accumulate Informatica (INFA), a frontrunner in cloud-based knowledge administration.
The transfer wasn’t nearly bulking up Salesforce’s enterprise software program portfolio – it was additionally a strategic play on synthetic intelligence (AI). Bloomberg studies that Worldwide Enterprise Machines (IBM) was additionally within the operating for the deal, highlighting simply how aggressive the AI house has turn into.
Giant-scale acquisitions like this one have turn into comparatively uncommon within the public markets these days.
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Larger rates of interest, financial uncertainty, and market swings have made corporations extra cautious about making massive offers.
In reality, the variety of publicly traded corporations pursuing giant acquisitions has fallen sharply in recent times – from 1,423 in 2021 to simply 815 to this point in 2025, in keeping with Kaidi Gao, senior enterprise capital analyst at PitchBook.
Nonetheless, M&A exercise is beginning to bubble up. The tech sector, specifically, appears extra keen to open its pockets – particularly relating to fast-growing fields comparable to AI, cybersecurity and fintech.
Simply have a look at Meta Platforms (META), which is reportedly eyeing a $14 billion funding for a 49% stake in Scale AI. The deal would come with not solely a serious fairness share but in addition an effort to convey Scale’s high-profile CEO, Alexandr Wang, on board.
Tech offers to observe
With this renewed momentum in tech dealmaking, it is price asking: Who may be subsequent? Listed below are 4 corporations that may very well be on the radar.
Innodata
(Picture credit score: Cheng Xin/Getty Photos)
Innodata (INOD) is not precisely a family title, however for over three many years, the corporate has been quietly constructing its credentials in digital content material and knowledge providers. And since 2019, INOD has been aggressively pivoting its enterprise to AI.
The corporate organizes its operations round two fundamental buyer teams: the “Builders” – suppose Massive Tech companies actively creating their very own generative AI fashions – and the “Adopters,” companies seeking to combine AI into their operations.
For the Builders, Innodata provides the spine: annotated datasets in over 85 languages, pipelines for fine-tuning and security protocols to assist guarantee fashions behave responsibly.
Innodata’s consulting arm manages the Adopters by serving to shoppers make the most of AI operations (AIOps), preserve mannequin governance and implement domain-specific platforms in areas comparable to media monitoring and regulatory compliance.
One in every of Innodata’s core strengths lies in its platform technique. In contrast to many smaller companies that concentrate on a single area of interest, Innodata has constructed a full-stack ecosystem.
Vertically, it gives tailor-made options for particular industries, together with well being care, authorized and media. Horizontally, it helps broader AI features together with annotation, doc intelligence and mannequin analysis.
On the middle of all of it is GoldenGate, Innodata’s proprietary low-code platform that permits clients to construct, deploy and scale AI functions securely. With a worldwide crew of over 6,000 specialists and operational hubs in additional than 20 areas, the corporate can serve multinational shoppers with complicated, multilingual wants.
The numbers inform a compelling story. Within the first quarter of 2025, Innodata posted a 120% soar in year-over-year income, whereas internet revenue surged to $7.8 million from $1 million the 12 months prior.
Given its accelerating income, proprietary platforms and deep integration into the generative AI pipeline, Innodata may very well be a pretty acquisition goal amongst tech shares.
Firms comparable to Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google, Amazon (AMZN), and sure, Meta, are pouring billions into AI, and proudly owning a agency like Innodata might assist them bolster the infrastructure they should construct smarter, sooner and safer methods.
UiPath
(Picture credit score: Cheng Xin/Getty Photos)
UiPath (PATH) was one of many first movers in Robotic Course of Automation (RPA) – a subject that helps companies remove repetitive duties by letting software program bots mimic human actions, comparable to logging into methods, copying and pasting knowledge, or navigating by way of clunky legacy workflows.
However as automation wants have grown extra complicated, so, too, has UiPath’s ambition.
Right this moment, the corporate is positioning itself as extra than simply an RPA vendor. It is now providing a broad enterprise automation platform that is more and more infused with AI.
The most recent evolution is what UiPath calls “agentic automation.” That is basically AI-powered brokers that may independently function throughout totally different methods, make contextual choices and adapt on the fly.
This new wave of automation is already seeing significant adoption. UiPath clients have run greater than 250,000 AI agent duties and launched over 11,000 automated processes utilizing the corporate’s Maestro orchestration engine.
For Q1 of fiscal 2026, the corporate reported $357 million in income, a 6% improve from the 12 months prior. Annualized recurring income (ARR) grew by 12% to $1.7 billion.
PATH’s stability sheet stays sturdy, too, with free money move of $117 million and $1.6 billion in money, money equivalents and marketable securities.
Strategic alliances have been a key a part of UiPath’s development playbook. The corporate is working with Google Cloud on AI brokers for medical summarization, integrating with Microsoft Copilot Studio for bidirectional workflows, and teaming up with Deloitte on enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) transformations.
Excessive-profile clients comparable to Delta Air Traces (DAL) and Continental Sources add credibility to the platform’s scalability and effectiveness.
As enterprise automation turns into a cornerstone of digital transformation, UiPath’s mixture of AI, orchestration and a sturdy companion ecosystem makes it an intriguing acquisition candidate.
Firms comparable to Microsoft, Oracle (ORCL) or ServiceNow (NOW) – every with their very own automation ambitions – may gain advantage from bringing UiPath’s capabilities in-house.
“UiPath’s key benefit is fixing enterprise AI’s greatest problem: belief and governance at scale,” mentioned Nandan Mullakara, founding father of Bot Nirvana.
“They’ve present clients already utilizing the platform with established guardrails. As Agentic AI is predicted to dominate automation, UiPath’s enterprise relationships and confirmed orchestration infrastructure will turn into exponentially extra precious,” Mullakara added.
CyberArk Software program
(Picture credit score: Cheng Xin/Getty Photos)
CyberArk Software program (CYBR) has lengthy been a dominant participant in privileged entry administration, serving to enterprises management who and what will get entry to important methods.
However as cloud adoption, AI automation and machine-to-machine interactions redefine company IT environments, CyberArk has expanded far past its unique area of interest.
Right this moment, the corporate’s Identification Safety Platform gives safety not only for workers and directors, but in addition for non-human customers comparable to bots, gadgets and autonomous AI brokers.
Within the first quarter of 2025, CYBR income jumped 43% year-over-year to $318 million. Free money move hit $96 million, whereas non-GAAP working margin improved to 18%, up from 15% the 12 months earlier than.
CyberArk’s growth hasn’t been purely natural. In 2024, the corporate acquired Venafi for $1.5 billion, a deal that introduced machine identification and certificates lifecycle administration into its portfolio. That transfer alone expanded CyberArk’s complete addressable market by roughly $10 billion.
Then got here the 2025 acquisition of Zilla Safety, which enhanced the agency’s capabilities in identification governance – a important space as organizations look to tighten entry controls throughout sprawling hybrid environments.
With recurring income, free money move, and a powerful place within the AI-era safety stack, CyberArk is beginning to seem like a pure acquisition candidate.
Tech giants comparable to Microsoft, Oracle, and even ServiceNow might see the cybersecurity inventory as a strategic bolt-on to bolster their zero-trust and identification choices.
And Alphabet’s latest $33 billion bid for cloud safety startup Wiz indicators an urge for food amongst giant platform gamers for high-growth, identity-focused companies – and CyberArk matches that mildew.
As identification turns into the brand new perimeter, its mix of technical depth and predictable financials makes it a precious asset in a crowded subject.
Marqeta
(Picture credit score: Avishek Das/SOPA Photos/LightRocket through Getty Photos)
Marqeta (MQ) is a fintech firm revolutionizing funds with its cloud-native card-issuing and processing platform.
Via versatile, open APIs, it permits shoppers to design absolutely custom-made debit, pay as you go and bank card applications. Its modular choices embrace cash motion, danger administration, rewards and seamless integration with issuing banks and community companions.
Clients can embed real fee experiences instantly into their apps and web sites, empowering launches comparable to Sq.’s Money Card, Affirm’s BNPL playing cards, and crypto-enabled merchandise together with Bitpanda’s new card throughout 26 European international locations.
Marqeta has posted sturdy growth in recent times. Complete fee quantity (TPV) climbed from $166 billion in 2022 to $291 billion in 2024.
In Q1 2025, TPV hit $84 billion, representing year-year development of 27%. Web income rose 18% to $139 million and gross revenue jumped 17% to $99 million. Marqeta’s gross margin arrived at 71%, the identical because the 12 months prior.
In the meantime, Marqeta’s inventory stays modestly valued at 2.6 instances gross revenue and its market cap hovers round $2.5 billion.
This makes it an attention-grabbing prime tech deal goal, particularly in gentle of its issuer-processing infrastructure and robust stability sheet with about $1 billion in money.
Suitors might embrace non-public fairness teams or monetary providers incumbents comparable to Mastercard (MA), Visa (V), Fiserv (FI) and Constancy Nationwide Info Providers (FIS).
