Our services · Buy-side M&A
Buy-side M&A advisory for technology companies
We advise technology companies, and the investors who back them, when they buy a business: from the acquisition strategy and the search for targets to due diligence, negotiation and completion. A partner leads every deal, and our partners have run M&A teams inside technology businesses. If building or partnering is the better route, we will tell you.
What should the acquisition do?
Some of the companies and investors we have worked with
When clients call us
Four reasons technology companies bring us in
Organic growth will not reach the plan
You need a market, a product or scale sooner than you can build it, and the board wants a better case than “we should buy something”.
A target has appeared and the clock is running
An approach has come in, or a business you know is for sale. You need to know quickly whether it fits the strategy and what it is worth to you.
There is no corporate development team, or it is stretched
A deal competes with the day job. We run the process so the management team can keep running the business.
You want to keep what made the business work
Culture, customers and key people decide whether an acquisition makes the company stronger. We plan for them from the first conversation.
Running a technology company? See how we work with technology leadership teams. Backing one? See our work for investors.
Build, buy or partner
Buy only when buying is the better route
Every acquisition strategy starts with your growth plan. Pick a goal to see when we would build, buy or partner, and the question we would test first.
Add a product or capability
Build
When
The capability is close to what your team already does, and customers will wait for it.
Buy
When
Customers want it now, and a proven product with paying customers already exists.
Partner
When
You need to test demand before you commit the capital.
The question we test first
Would your customers buy it from you, and could your team build it in the time a deal takes?
Enter a new market or region
Build
When
You can sell the current product there with modest changes and a small local team.
Buy
When
Winning the first customers depends on local presence, credibility or relationships you do not have.
Partner
When
A reseller or channel partner can prove the demand first.
The question we test first
How big is the market for your product, and who already holds the customers?
Build scale in a niche
Build
When
You already win most of the deals you compete for.
Buy
When
The niche has several smaller players, and their customers could move onto your platform.
Partner
When
You need scale in one area, such as distribution, rather than across the business.
The question we test first
Will the customers you buy stay through a move to your product?
Add AI capability
Build
When
Your data and your team are the advantage, and the use is close to your current product.
Buy
When
You need a team and a working product sooner than you can hire and build them.
Partner
When
The model or tool is becoming something many suppliers can provide.
The question we test first
Will the AI still set you apart in two years, or can a competitor buy the same thing?
Published evidence
Almost half of strategic technology deals in 2025 had an AI component
Share of strategic technology deals with an AI component. Bain analysed 324 deals; 2025 covers January to September.
Source: Bain & Company, M&A in Software: Five Secrets to Creating Real Value When Acquiring AI Assets (27 January 2026). Bain gives approximate shares, so the bars are approximate.
Still deciding whether to buy at all? See our growth strategy work
From acquisition strategy to completion
The whole deal, or the stages you need
Without a corporate development team, we act as your outsourced corporate development function: we run the deal from criteria to completion, and you make the decisions. With your own team, we take the stages that need extra capacity or an outside view.
Strategy and criteria
What the acquisition has to do, and the criteria a target must meet
Market map and shortlist
The market mapped, a long list built and the best fits profiled
Approach
The owners contacted and the first meetings arranged
Valuation and offer
What the business is worth to you, the offer and the heads of terms
Due diligence
Commercial due diligence and customer interviews, alongside your other advisers
Negotiation to completion
The terms negotiated with your lawyers through to signing and completion
Integration planning
Help to plan the first months after completion, agreed in the scope
After completion
We help you plan the integration. Your team runs it.
We talk about integration from the first conversation, because it decides whether an acquisition works. During the deal we help you plan what happens to the customers, the people and the product after completion.
How much planning support you want is agreed in the scope. We do not manage the integration itself.
Client work
Four transactions with Causeway and Five Arrows
Causeway Technologies, backed by Five Arrows, builds software for the construction and maintenance of the built environment. We have advised it on four transactions since Five Arrows invested, including the acquisitions of Reference Point, one.network and Buchanan Computing.
one.network, from Bridgepoint
Lead adviser, with Mat Truche-Gordon leading the work. Read about the one.network deal
Reference Point
M&A support, commercial due diligence, and customer interviews that fed into Causeway’s integration plan. Read about the Reference Point deal
The partners on your deal
Our partners have run M&A inside technology businesses
We know what it takes to buy a company and make it work afterwards, because we have done it from the buyer’s side of the table. A partner leads every deal, and our partners sit on the boards of technology companies today. Between us, our partners have completed more than 100 transactions over 20 years, in previous roles and at Lighthouse.
Les Elby
Partner
Les has more than 20 years’ experience in the technology sector. He has held senior roles in corporate development, strategy and executive management at AVEVA and Lighthouse, and has advised the executive teams of technology firms. He also mentors start-ups and smaller businesses, helping them grow and build their value.
Mat Truche-Gordon
Partner
Mat has spent more than 20 years in leadership roles in software, including ten years at AVEVA, where he ran strategy, key accounts, marketing, licensing, partnerships and M&A as a member of the executive board. He then spent five years in corporate development at Hg Capital, completing more than 25 acquisitions and disposals. Mat joined Lighthouse in 2020 and sits on the boards of technology companies in the UK and Central Europe.
Questions
Common questions about buy-side M&A
What does a buy-side adviser do?
A buy-side adviser works for the buyer. We help you decide what to buy, find and approach the companies that fit, work out what they are worth to you, run due diligence with your other advisers and negotiate the deal through to completion. A sell-side adviser works for the seller, usually to get the highest price. We do that work too, for the right business: how we sell technology companies.
Can you join a deal that is already under way?
Yes. Many clients come to us with a target in mind or an approach they have received. We can start at any stage, from testing whether the deal fits the strategy to negotiating the terms.
We have our own corporate development team. Do we still need you?
Usually for part of the deal rather than all of it. Companies with their own corporate development team tend to bring us in for the market map, commercial due diligence or customer interviews.
Do you run the due diligence?
We run commercial due diligence and customer interviews ourselves, and work alongside your financial, legal and technical advisers so the findings come together in one view of the risks.
Will you tell us if the deal is wrong for us?
Yes. If the target does not fit the strategy, or the price and the risk do not add up, we will say so. The decision is yours, and we would rather you made it with the full picture.
Do you manage the integration?
No. We help you plan it, and how much planning support you want is agreed in the scope. We raise integration from the first conversation, so the planning has started before the deal completes. Your own team runs the integration.
Do you work with private equity-backed businesses?
Yes, including buy-and-build programmes for portfolio companies. We have advised Causeway Technologies, backed by Five Arrows, on four transactions since Five Arrows invested.
How long does an acquisition take?
Around three months is typical, depending on the target, the market and how ready the owner is to sell. The fastest deal we have completed took four weeks, and that needs an intensive effort from everyone involved.
Further readingBuy What You Need, Not What’s for Sale (free eBook) The complete guide to buy-side M&A for tech companies When inbound M&A approaches keep coming Tuck-in acquisitions compared with big deals
Talk to a partner about your next acquisition
Tell us what the acquisition needs to do for the business and where you are in the process. We will tell you what we would test first.