AI Era, Startup M&A Battle......Saifu Capital·OpenAI Leading the Way

TechubNews · 2026-03-20T11:22:33+00:00

In recent years, enterprises have frequently acquired startups in the M&A market, involving both established tech companies and fast-growing unicorns such as Salesforce, OpenAI, and Snowflake. While Google has the highest acquisition spending, large-scale acquirers do not always spend the most, and the current trend of small-scale acquisitions and talent acquisition continues.

TechubNews

2026-03-20 11:22:33

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Companies that frequently acquire startups in the M&A market do not necessarily share the same characteristics. Some are well-established, well-known technology and pharmaceutical companies, while others are rapidly growing unicorns. This also includes companies that have recently entered the public market to stay competitive in the AI era. Based on Crunchbase data, we selected the top 79 companies with the most active M&A activity over the past three years among those that have acquired at least three seed or venture-backed startups.

Notable acquirers of startups include Salesforce, OpenAI, and Snowflake, which have acquired the most seed and venture-backed startups in recent years. Salesforce has acquired at least 91 companies over 20 years, OpenAI recently acquired 16 companies, and Snowflake has completed a total of 19 acquisitions, including the acquisition of Observe, a company developing AI-related observation tools.

It is worth noting that the largest acquirers are not always the highest spenders. The largest acquisition by dollar amount was Google’s $32 billion (approximately 46 trillion Korean won) purchase of Wizz. This year alone, large-scale M&A transactions have remained active, while in the AI field, small-scale acquisitions and talent acquisitions continue to occur. This trend is worth watching.

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