Drake Star

VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi breaks down the Q2 Drake Star Global Gaming report, the continued momentum in gaming M&A activity, the most noteworthy deals, the biggest buyers, the most active VCs, and an outlook for 2024. Michael Metzger 🔜 GamesCom, Managing Partner at Drake Star shared his views on the current state of the market: “It’s exciting that we saw further pickup in M&A activity for the third quarter in a row. We also saw a good amount of activity in public market financing, whether that’s equity or debt with Embracer or Take-Two. There’s more money flowing into the public markets. That’s great.” #Gaming #Blockchain #MergersAndAcquisitions

Become part of our team as an #intern in Berlin  Are you a motivated and ambitious student looking to kickstart 🚀 your career in the world of finance? Our Berlin office is searching for a talented intern to join our team of tech investment bankers.  This is a unique opportunity to develop your skills, learn from industry experts, and contribute to our ongoing and upcoming projects. Of course, there is no one better to talk about this role than our current intern Mohammad Hamasch: “Interning at Drake Star in Berlin is an incredible opportunity to dive deep into the world of tech investment banking. You get to work on several different deals, gain valuable insights into the industry, and become part of a dynamic and supportive team. What I appreciate most is the chance to learn from experienced professionals and gain beneficial hands-on experience. If you are looking for an engaging and rewarding internship, I recommend Drake Star.”  Sound interesting?  You’re the perfect fit for this role if you’re pursuing a degree in finance, economics, business, or a similar field, have strong analytical and problem-solving skills and ideally previous experience in tech M&A, investment banking or related areas, excellent communication and teamwork abilities as well as a proactive approach and are eager to learn.  If you’re ready to take the next step towards a successful career in finance, apply now via the job posting on our website: https://lnkd.in/d4N_9ZSD  We look forward to your application!  #InvestmentBanking #FinanceCareers #Internship #Hiring 

IT Services M&A Deal! Drake Star acts as exclusive financial advisor to Proviso Capital on its sale of Kerr Consulting to Cherry Bekaert, a Parthenon Capital portfolio company. Cherry Bekaert, a leading national accounting, advisory and tax firm expands geographic footprint and solutions capabilities by adding premiere technology solutions provider Kerr Consulting to its portfolio. Headquartered in Houston Texas, Kerr provides award-winning ERP accounting software, office support, IT managed services, and custom software development to clients in the South and Midwest regions of the United States. The transaction gives the Cherry Bekaert platform added geographic presence, and further enhances its business applications and cloud technology portfolio solutions. Kerr’s Founder and CEO, Dave Kerr, commented: “Sam and the Drake Star team have been with us at every step of the way. Their hard work, relentlessness and support through the process resulted in an outstanding outcome for the firm and its shareholders.” See the full press release for additional details on the transaction and quotes from Reginald B., Founder and Managing Partner of Proviso Capital and Sam Levy, Partner at Drake Star. Drake Star Team: Sam Levy, Gregory Bedrosian, Stanislav Bejanski #ITServices #InformationTechnology #SaaS #MergersAndAcquisitions

We’re happy to share that Drake Star acted as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Maxburg Capital Partners GmbH on its investment in slashwhy. The software service provider has been developing custom software for companies since 2020 and is now preparing for further growth by expanding its shareholder base with Maxburg. The aim is to play a key role in shaping digitalization in industries with future potential and purpose, while scaling slashwhy’s business model based on key factors such as agility, user-centricity and lived values. Georg A. Landesvatter, Partner at Maxburg, said: "We really look forward to working with the slashwhy management and team and I would also like to extend our gratitude to the Drake Star team for their advisory work throughout this acquisition process. Their sector and deal-making expertise as well as their dedication were instrumental in facilitating a smooth and successful transaction.” For more information reach out to the Drake Star deal team, Julian Riedlbauer and Raphael Berger, or read the full announcement on our website: https://lnkd.in/dpvE-BAn #MergersAndAcquisitions #InvestmentBanking 

🎉 We are pleased to share that Drake Star was honored in the category M&A Deal of the Year (up to $100MM) for advising aconso, the global technology leader in HR Document Management and inventor of the Digital Personnel File, on the Majority Recapitalization with Keensight Capital at the 15th Annual International M&A Awards by The M&A Advisor. Ralf Philipp Hofmann, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Drake Star and deal team lead commented: "I would like to express my gratitude to the aconso team and the Keensight team for their trust and the great collaboration throughout the process. I would also like to thank the M&A Advisor for recognizing this remarkable transaction in the #HRTech space. Finally, I would like to thank our HR Tech team at Drake Star, including Maximilian von Bodman, Pablo I. Lundershausen and Jan Sergio C., for their exceptional dedication throughout our work on this deal. This award is a testament to our commitment to delivering great outcomes for our clients and it further accentuates our strong position in M&A within the HR Tech sector." For more information on the award and the deal, head over to: https://lnkd.in/ds9UPduf

🎮 #MergersAndAcquisitions in the #gaming industry on the rise for the 3rd straight quarter   Our Q2 2024 Drake Star Global Gaming Report shows continued momentum for M&A activity including:   ▶️ 52 announced M&A deals and $3.5B in disclosed deal value. EQT Group announced acquisition of Keywords Studios for $2.8B, the largest gaming deal of the year so far. Other notable buyers were Infinite Reality, Miniclip / Tencent, Nintendo and Tripledot Studios ▶️ Private financings stabilizing with 180 deals in Q2’24, staying flat compared to Q1. Investment dollars continue to be mostly focused on early-stage companies (93% of total deals). Notables deals were Zentry ($140M), Spyke Games ($50M) and k-ID ($50M) ▶️ Most capital went into blockchain gaming, accounting for 40% of total deals and 44% of disclosed deal value ▶️ Embracer Group announced its plan to restructure its business into 3 separate listed public companies. GameStop raised $3B in equity and Embracer, Take-Two Interactive and MTG raised ~$1.7B in debt   Outlook:   ▶️ We anticipate that M&A activity to strengthen for the remainder of 2024 and for 2025, buoyed by the broader recovery of the public gaming company market ▶️ While we expect big players to be active, volume of mid to small sized deals will likely continue to increase and with limited mid / later stage financings available, we expect some gaming companies to opt for earlier exits ▶️ As predicted, PE firms have been the top buyers so far in 2024 and we will likely see more acquisitions and take-private deals by PE firms ▶️ Following the Voodoo/BeReal deal, other gaming companies are likely to diversify in adjacent segments by acquiring mobile app companies. ▶️ For financings, AI, mixed reality, platform and tools continue to be hot segments and we anticipate that several #IPO ready companies will start to plan for a listing in the quarter to come. For more details, download the full report on our website or reach out to our Gaming and Digital Media Experts Michael Metzger 🔜 GamesCom, Julian Riedlbauer and Mohit Pareek, CFA. Full report here: https://lnkd.in/emc9-GDe

"Fragile is how I would describe the tech M&A market. Deals are getting done, but there is still, on the buyer side, not a lot of tolerance for missing projections." Gregory Bedrosian, Drake Star’s CEO was recently interviewed by S&P Global’s Iuri Struta on the Tech M&A market. The article covers a range of issues including M&A deal activity, valuation shifts, and the Rule of 40 companies. Full article available in the link in the comments below. #MergersAndAcquisitions #Tech #InvestmentBanking #PrivateEquity

Our very own Ralf Philipp Hofmann won Investment Banker of the Year Europe at the 15th Annual International M&A Awards by The M&A Advisor. Please join us in congratulating Ralf 👏🏻 on this award. According to The M&A Advisor, he “(…) stands out as the esteemed recipient of Investment Banker of the Year Europe and commended for steadfast dedication to excellence in the global M&A landscape. We proudly applaud Ralf Philipp Hofmann and Drake Star for their outstanding accomplishments, surpassing peers and establishing a new benchmark for success in this arena.”

Digital Services Report launch: Strategic M&A unlocks value and keeps pace with tech disruption... The 12th edition of our quarterly Digital Services Report provides the latest industry news and events, M&A activity, and insights into the present and future trends impacting major areas of investment including #DigitalTransformation, #Cloud migration, tech-enabled services, security services, business intelligence & #data analytics. Download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gex9K4xq Despite uncertain macro-economic conditions, Q2 2024 saw an uptick in deal momentum with overall activity totaling 350+ & $7.4bn+ disclosed M&A deals and 880+ & $8.1bn+ disclosed fundraises, including: 🔵 Cognizant acquired Belcan for $1.3bn 🔵 EQT Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Perficient for $3.0bn 🔵 Virtusa acquired ITMAGINATION for an undisclosed amount 🔵 Sikich raised $250m from Bain Capital 🔵 Uniqus Consultech Inc. announced a $10m Series B fundraise led by Nexus Venture Partners 🔵 Raft raised $60m of venture funding from Washington Harbour Partners LP Looking ahead in Q3 2024, we expect generative AI and other AI-powered technologies to fuel further company events, as they adapt to stay at the forefront of innovation. This, in combination with the pent-up demand and abundance of dry powder across the PE ecosystem, will drive M&A and fundraising deal activity in the coming months. Drake Star Digital Services Team: Ralf Philipp Hofmann, Christophe Morvan, Gaby Silvestris, Sam Levy #MergersAndAcquisitions #InvestmentBanking #DigitalServices

JUST LAUNCHED: Global DevOps Market Update! $81 billion in M&A; multiple $1 billion+ mega deals 🚀 Our latest Global DevOps Report provides a comprehensive overview of M&A and private placement activity, a breakdown of key sub-segments of the market, capital market performance, valuation trends, key market players and more. Highlights include: 🔵 $81 Billion in disclosed M&A volume and $2.0 Billion of private capital invested in the sector over the past year ending June 30, 2024 🔵 Sharp increase in private placement activity in Q2 ‘24 to more than $1.3 billion   🔵 Key trends driving innovation and consolidation: Growing Role of AI; Increasing Reliance on Open-Source Code; Low/No-Code Development; and Deployment via Serverless Computing 🔵 Notable deals included: Cisco acquiring Splunk, SAP acquiring SAP LeanIX, and IBM’s planned acquisition of HashiCorp 🔵 Top 10 Financial Investors in the space: Insight Partners, Accel, General Catalyst, Battery Ventures, Vista Equity Partners, OpenView, K1 Investment Management, TPG, ICONIQ Capital, and TA Associates Download the report for the full insights: https://lnkd.in/eEnKsqcP Reach our to our sector experts for further insights into the M&A and investment landscape: Ralf Philipp Hofmann, James Turino #DevOps #MergersAndAcquisitions #InvestmentBanking