Jonathan Cantwell, Director at GP Bullhound, commented: “In Q3, the software market continued to roar with large strategic deals, including Adobe’s acquisition of Marketo and Vista Equity’s acquisition of iCIMS.

Several SaaS companies on track for IPOs raised private financings instead of going public, as mega preferred rounds continue in areas such as human capital management, security and fintech.

For instance, Slack, a company GP Bullhound has invested in, raised another $400 million-plus in a round led by General Atlantic. Furthermore, companies continue to pull the trigger on acquisition offers, such as Adaptive Insights being acquired by Workday days before ringing the bell.”

The full report is available for download here.