Tech­nol­o­gy is no longer a siloed con­sid­er­a­tion in M&A — it’s a foun­da­tion­al pil­lar. From how deals are sourced to how they’re inte­grat­ed; dig­i­tal capa­bil­i­ties are becom­ing a key part of enter­prise val­ue. In today’s mid­dle mar­ket, the firms that com­mand atten­tion, pre­mi­um val­u­a­tions, and exe­cu­tion speed are those that demon­strate dig­i­tal maturity.

“In a recent cross-bor­der trans­ac­tion with­in a dig­i­tal­ly evolv­ing con­sumer goods sec­tor, it’s clear that investor con­fi­dence hinges not just on prod­uct or mar­ket fit, but on a company’s abil­i­ty to mod­ern­ize its dig­i­tal back­bone,” notes Johann Bosche-Sal­cedo, Direc­tor of the EU Office – Paris- Chi­ron Finan­cial. ​“From ERP upgrades to inte­grat­ed data sys­tems, dig­i­tal scal­a­bil­i­ty has become a key val­ue dri­ver — espe­cial­ly in cross-bor­der deals.”

This arti­cle explores the evolv­ing role of tech­nol­o­gy in mid­dle mar­ket M&A across the U.S. and Euro­pean Union (EU). We exam­ine cur­rent mar­ket dynam­ics, iden­ti­fy core tech­nol­o­gy trends, high­light region­al dif­fer­ences, and offer insight into where this tra­jec­to­ry is head­ing through 2025 and beyond.

A New Land­scape: Deal Val­ue over Deal Volume

The glob­al M&A envi­ron­ment has under­gone a shift. While the num­ber of deals has fall­en, the aver­age deal val­ue has increased — par­tic­u­lar­ly for tar­gets with robust tech­nol­o­gy capa­bil­i­ties. Buy­ers are nar­row­ing their focus, pre­fer­ring few­er but more sophis­ti­cat­ed transactions.

In the U.S., tech­nol­o­gy-dri­ven M&A activ­i­ty has rebound­ed. Recent quar­ters have seen a surge in deal val­ue even as the deal count remains below pre-2022 levels.

This indi­cates that investors are pri­or­i­tiz­ing strate­gic align­ment and dig­i­tal inte­gra­tion over vol­ume. Sim­i­lar­ly, the EU has expe­ri­enced a drop in trans­ac­tion num­bers but a sig­nif­i­cant increase in deal val­ue, espe­cial­ly in tech­nol­o­gy, media, tele­com (TMT), and AI-heavy sec­tors. read it.

The com­mon thread? Buy­ers are look­ing for dig­i­tal scale, infra­struc­ture readi­ness, and resilience — traits that tech­nol­o­gy-for­ward com­pa­nies are more like­ly to exhibit.

Com­par­ing the U.S. and EU Mid-Mar­ket Environment

While both the U.S. and EU are lean­ing into tech­nol­o­gy, their deal land­scapes dif­fer in impor­tant ways. The U.S. con­tin­ues to ben­e­fit from strong cap­i­tal mar­kets, broad­er pri­vate equi­ty activ­i­ty, and faster tech­nol­o­gy adop­tion. In con­trast, the EU is more frag­ment­ed in cap­i­tal access but shows strong intent in con­sol­i­dat­ing key infra­struc­ture sec­tors and invest­ing in reg­u­la­to­ry-aligned dig­i­tal transformation.

U.S. firms tend to move quick­ly, adopt AI and automa­tion ear­ly, and inte­grate cloud and ana­lyt­ics tools as part of their oper­at­ing mod­el. EU firms, while delib­er­ate, are invest­ing in strate­gic plat­forms and cyber­se­cu­ri­ty mod­ern­iza­tion to meet both oper­a­tional and com­pli­ance demands. As the Cap­i­tal Mar­kets Union pro­gress­es, cross-bor­der activ­i­ty is expect­ed to grow.

Core Tech Trends Reshap­ing Mid­dle Mar­ket M&A

1. AI and Pre­dic­tive Analytics

• AI is no longer futur­is­tic — it’s func­tion­al. Mid­dle mar­ket deal­mak­ers are using machine learn­ing and nat­ur­al lan­guage pro­cess­ing to source tar­gets, assess risk, and mod­el syn­er­gies in real time. This short­ens time­lines and strength­ens deci­sion-mak­ing. The impact of gen­er­a­tive AI is also becom­ing more pro­nounced in doc­u­ment review, cash flow fore­cast­ing, and mar­ket monitoring.

2. Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty as a Val­ue Lever

• Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty has tran­si­tioned from an IT con­cern to a val­u­a­tion fac­tor. Buy­ers want con­fi­dence that tar­gets can with­stand cyber threats, pro­tect data, and recov­er quick­ly from breach­es. A poor cyber­se­cu­ri­ty pos­ture can lead to price reduc­tions or kill a deal entire­ly. On the oth­er hand, com­pa­nies with strong gov­er­nance and clean audit trails often gain nego­ti­at­ing power.

3. Cloud-First Infra­struc­ture and Automation

• Cloud-native plat­forms, inte­grat­ed ERPs, and real-time dash­boards are now con­sid­ered crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture. These tools enable scal­able oper­a­tions, sim­pli­fy dili­gence, and reduce inte­gra­tion risk post-close. Automa­tion of com­pli­ance, report­ing, and per­for­mance track­ing is viewed as a major advan­tage by both investors and advisors.

4. Embed­ded Finance and Sup­ply Chain Digitization

• Embed­ded finan­cial tools — such as B2B pay­ments, lend­ing APIs, or work­ing cap­i­tal plat­forms — are allow­ing com­pa­nies to expand mar­gins and improve ven­dor rela­tion­ships. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant in sec­tors with sup­ply chain com­plex­i­ty or inter­na­tion­al expo­sure. Firms that have invest­ed in these tech­nolo­gies present stronger finan­cials and greater resilience

Where We’re Head­ed: Pre­dic­tions for 2025 and Beyond

As we look ahead, tech­nol­o­gy will become even more tight­ly linked to deal via­bil­i­ty and enter­prise val­ue. Ana­lysts fore­cast that AI and automa­tion tools will be inte­grat­ed into over half of all mid-mar­ket M&A trans­ac­tions by the end of 2025. Com­pa­nies that adopt scal­able, secure, and auto­mat­ed infra­struc­ture are expect­ed to see faster exits and stronger investor interest.

More broad­ly, dig­i­tal capa­bil­i­ties — espe­cial­ly AI and cloud-based oper­a­tions — are expect­ed to dri­ve 20 – 30% improve­ments in deal cycle speed and dili­gence effi­cien­cy. Cyber readi­ness, once a dif­fer­en­tia­tor, will soon become a base­line expectation.

Strate­gic Guid­ance for Oper­a­tors and Investors

For founders, CFOs, and deal teams, suc­cess in this envi­ron­ment requires ear­ly and inten­tion­al action:

• Assess dig­i­tal matu­ri­ty across finance, com­pli­ance, and IT
• Iden­ti­fy gaps in cyber­se­cu­ri­ty and cloud-readiness
• Pre­pare clean, auto­mat­ed data flows for diligence
• Inte­grate tech­nol­o­gy into your val­ue narrative

Whether you’re prepar­ing for a cap­i­tal raise, a strate­gic sale, or a cross-bor­der acqui­si­tion, buy­ers will look for signs that your dig­i­tal infra­struc­ture sup­ports long-term scal­a­bil­i­ty and oper­a­tional transparency.

How Chi­ron Finan­cial Sup­ports Tech-For­ward Transactions

At Chi­ron Finan­cial, we advise com­pa­nies at the inter­sec­tion of finance and inno­va­tion. Our ser­vices are tai­lored to ensure that clients can com­pete and win in a tech-cen­tric M&A market.

We pro­vide:

• Tech-readi­ness assess­ments and dili­gence preparation
• AI-enhanced sourc­ing and buy­er targeting
• Strate­gic posi­tion­ing around dig­i­tal and oper­a­tional val­ue drivers

“Whether advis­ing a lega­cy man­u­fac­tur­er or a dig­i­tal­ly native brand, our goal is the same — help­ing clients unlock enter­prise val­ue through tech­nol­o­gy. Today’s buy­ers are look­ing beyond the bal­ance sheet; they’re mea­sur­ing dig­i­tal agili­ty, data infra­struc­ture, and scal­a­bil­i­ty from day one.” — Johann Bosche-Sal­cedo, Direc­tor, EU Office – Paris

Mid­dle mar­ket M&A is chang­ing — not in pace, but in pri­or­i­ty. Buy­ers are not only look­ing for strong mar­gins and cus­tomer growth; they want proof of dig­i­tal dis­ci­pline. In both the U.S. and EU, tech­nol­o­gy is now a pre­req­ui­site for scal­a­bil­i­ty, inte­gra­tion, and risk mitigation.

Chi­ron Finan­cial stands ready to help clients align with this real­i­ty and unlock full trans­ac­tion­al val­ue through a tech­nol­o­gy-for­ward strategy.