Observed Signal · Sep 11, 2023 · M&A - Completed · Source: Trending Topics · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Fire Sale Waves Hit German and French Startup Sectors
According to M&A consultancy Avolta, 201 company sales were recorded in France in H1 2023, up nearly 10% year-on-year, but total deal value fell 71% to €738 million, pushing the average transaction size down from €40 million to €10 million. Avolta analyst Olivier Saint-Marc told Sifted that many startups that raised large sums in 2021 have run out of runway and, unable to secure follow-on funding, are selling to competitors and larger companies at steep discounts. A similar fire-sale wave is hitting Germany's fintech scene, with Luko, Passbase and Friday Finance reportedly sold well below prior valuations. The fetched page also carries a separate item: Nvidia announced it is acquiring Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, a deal not yet finalized and likely subject to antitrust review. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Hugging Face will remain an open, multi-cloud platform.
The article documents a Europe-wide startup fire-sale wave reflecting a severe funding downturn, and the same fetched page reports Nvidia's $12.9B acquisition of Hugging Face, a landmark AI M&A likely to shape the open-model ecosystem.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- M&A consultancy Avolta recorded 201 company sales in France in H1 2023, up nearly 10% year-on-year.
- Total value of French startup acquisition deals fell 71% year-on-year to €738 million, while average transaction size dropped from €40 million to €10 million.
- Many startups that raised large sums in 2021 are at the end of their runway and selling to competitors at steep discounts, according to Avolta analyst Olivier Saint-Marc.
- German fintech startups Luko, Passbase, and Friday Finance were reportedly sold well below their prior valuations.
- Nvidia announced the acquisition of Hugging Face for $12.93 billion; the deal is not yet finalized and faces antitrust review.
Connected Companies & Entities
10 Entities mapped“According to M&A consultancy Avolta, 201 company sales were recorded in France in the first half of 2023....”
“Nvidia is acquiring Hugging Face, the platform hosting a large share of the world's open AI models....”
“Nvidia is acquiring Hugging Face for exactly $12,930,300,000....”
“Salesforce was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“Qualcomm was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“Amazon was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“AMD was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“Intel was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“IBM was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
“Google was among the investors in Hugging Face's last major funding round....”
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