Private Equity Abandons Plain-Vanilla SaaS Exit Options

Private equity firms have largely stopped buying average B2B/SaaS companies as of 2025–2026, despite a record $587 billion in technology M&A volume last year. PE is concentrating capital in megadeals (Wiz $32B, Scale AI $14.3B) and favoring AI-accelerated growth, hot sectors, or large consolidation targets, leaving plain-vanilla SaaS with weaker exit options and higher financing stress.