Key market insights into Software, Digital Services, Fintech, Digital Media and Marketplaces.

SOFTWARE
Jonathan Cantwell, Partner at GP Bullhound, said: “In our Q1 SaaS report, we evaluated business trends from HCM to micro SaaS to marketing suites. Public SaaS companies experienced a slight pullback of valuations, though they are still significantly above historical averages and trading near all-time highs. With light at the end of the COVID tunnel, we expect strong deal making activity in the sector to continue and possibly accelerate as software consolidators look to sustain growth rates and their own valuations. We expect the Cloud in general to continue to experience sustainable growth through 2021 and into next year.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Global Software Market Perspectives here.

DIGITAL SERVICES
Simon Nicholls and Greg Smith, Partners at GP Bullhound, commented: “We continue to see momentum in the programmatic revolution as digital demand grows at pace, with channels such as Connected TV and Digital Out Of Home breaking out quickly. Dramatic growth in screen time over the last 12 months has also made working with social platform experts a high priority for brands. More recently we have seen consolidators focused on public sector digital transformation capabilities, the pandemic having accelerated demand necessitating digital citizen connectivity and robust public digital infrastructure.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Global Digital Services Market Perspectives here.

FINTECH
Claudio Alvarez, Partner at GP Bullhound, said: “This quarter we look at record deal making led by investors placing a premium on growth and fintech-focused SPACs coming into Europe, and what this means for 2021. We also dive into the next frontier for fintech platforms, where deep financial technology is at the core of a new era for capital markets, and bitcoin billionaires – is this market mania or the new gold – and what the peak of institutional investor interest suggests for crypto start-ups.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Global Fintech Market Perspectives here.

DIGITAL MEDIA
Alec Dafferner, Partner at GP Bullhound, commented: “Q1 was a dynamic quarter for digital media companies. As the world moves towards a post-COVID environment, digital media companies have continued to perform strongly. While we saw a correction in the public market indices, digital media players remain significantly higher YoY. Advertising dollars have rebounded after 2020’s slowdown, M&A activity in digital media is set to increase, and a new generation of social media has emerged. It continues to be an exciting time in the space.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Global Digital Media Market Perspectives here.

MARKETPLACES
Alessandro Casartelli, Executive Director at GP Bullhound, said: “In Q1, we saw a slight decrease in valuations across all verticals in the Marketplaces sector, after a very strong performance in H2 2020. In line with Q4 2020, marketplaces companies continue to get strong traction in terms of private placements and M&A. Q1 2021 has been the strongest quarter so far in terms of IPO activity with landmark listings, but also with smaller companies that are choosing the public market route. We anticipate a very busy year for the IPO markets.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Global Marketplaces Market Perspectives here.

ASIAN TECH INVESTMENTS
Elsa Hu, Executive Director at GP Bullhound, commented: “Q1 saw European tech fundraising with Asian investors up by 23% QoQ, with a 2-year record number of deals, and European investments into Asian tech up by 66%, with deal volumes into India having trebled QoQ. Investments in Europe and Asia were dominated by Software and Fintech. Seeing the first increase in European deals since Q2 2020, Chinese investors have increased activity into Europe and APAC.”

Download GP Bullhound’s Q1 2021 Asia Insights here.

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact:
SOFTWARE: Jonathan Cantwell, Partner, JONATHAN.CANTWELL@GPBULLHOUND.COM
DIGITAL SERVICES: Simon Nicholls, Partner, SIMON.NICHOLLS@GPBULLHOUND.COM
DIGITAL SERVICES: Greg Smith, Partner, GREG.SMITH@GPBULLHOUND.COM
FINTECH: Claudio Alvarez, Partner, CLAUDIO.ALVAREZ@GPBULLHOUND.COM
DIGITAL MEDIA: Alec Dafferner, Partner, ALEC.DAFFERNER@GPBULLHOUND.COM
MARKETPLACES: Alessandro Casartelli, Executive Director, ALESSANDRO.CASARTELLI@GPBULLHOUND.COM
ASIA: Elsa Hu, Executive Director, ELSA.HU@GPBULLHOUND.COM

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999 in London and Menlo Park, the firm today has 10 offices spanning Europe, the US and Asia. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.