Will 2026 Be The Year Of Startup M&As? |
India’s M&A market may not make a resounding comeback in 2026, even as global M&A activity turned more buoyant in a late-year rally. But there are nuances at play that will have ramifications across the ecosystem.
After the bull run of 2021-22, there was a sharp correction and a prolonged slowdown, with deal volumes remaining flat through 2025. After more than 240 mergers and acquisitions in 2022, the number fell by nearly 50% in 2023 and then to 71 in 2024 and 72 in 2025.
Earlier, money was sloshing around in startup land, fuelling aggressive expansion and a record run of M&A deals. What appeared to be a structural boom in a frothy, if not outright bubbly, market has since cooled into a low-volume, high-caution phase. But reading this slowdown purely as a collapse would be misleading.
Sumit Sinha, cofounder and managing partner of the technology-focussed growth stage investment firm Filter Capital, points out that the focus has shifted decisively towards IPOs in the past two years. The upside, he argues, is that public listings tend to revive M&A activity.
Once companies are listed, equity becomes a usable currency, creating a natural push for acquisitions. Unicommerce, Capillary Technologies, Nazara Technologies, Groww are among the listed companies that actively pursued acquisitions in 2024 & 2025.
Against this backdrop, one is no longer asking whether M&A activity will rebound, but how dealmakers will approach the next phase. Which sectors will consolidate first? What types of assets will command a premium in a capital-disciplined market? How will founders, incumbents and funds rethink acquisition when chasing scale is no longer the objective?
The answers are surfacing in the emerging patterns and the bets dealmakers are lining up.
More Strategy-Led M&A Activity On The Cards?
The analysts Inc42 spoke with do not expect 2026 to usher in a volume-driven recovery in M&A activity. Instead, the year is likely to be defined by fewer, more focussed transactions, where strategic clarity will matter more than scale and disciplined execution will outweigh speed.
Strong M&A traction is particularly evident across consumer brands and healthcare, driven by clear demand from large strategic buyers and financial sponsors. It has created a window for mid and late stage funds, as well as those nearing the end of their lifecycle, to exit their portfolio companies through M&A. HUL’s acquisition of Minimalist, for........