Martech, explained · Buying and running · 2:30
Martech acquisitions in 2026: who is buying what
One in seven martech tools changed hands since 2023. Who bought them, and why it matters at renewal
The short answer
Sixty-eight of the 464 martech tools in the Martech Stack Builder catalogue changed hands between 2023 and October 2026, about one in seven, and deals tripled from 2023 to 2025. Software companies bought 44, private equity 13, data firms 5, agency holding groups 4. A new owner can change the price, the plan and the contract at your next renewal.
Questions this answers
How many martech tools were acquired since 2023?
Sixty-eight of the 464 tools in the catalogue, about one in seven: eight deals in 2023, fourteen in 2024, twenty-five in 2025 and twenty by October 2026, with one more (LiveRamp) agreed and waiting for approval.
Who is buying martech companies?
Mostly other software companies, with 44 of the 68 deals. Private equity made 13, often taking a public company private. Data and information services firms made 5, and agency holding groups 4.
What did the agency holding groups buy?
Identity and data. Omnicom bought Interpublic and with it Acxiom; Publicis bought Lotame and has agreed to buy LiveRamp for about two billion dollars; WPP bought InfoSum.
What has Salesforce acquired?
In just over a year it agreed to buy Informatica for about eight billion dollars, Contentful for one and a half billion, and Fin, formerly Intercom, for three point six billion: data, content and customer service in one platform.
Why does an acquisition matter to a customer?
A new parent can change the price, the plan and the contract at the next renewal. After Fivetran bought Census, Census became a feature inside Fivetran, on Fivetran's pricing. Check who owns a tool before you renew it.
Transcript
Every chapter as text. Click a time to play the film from there.
0:00 One in seven changed hands
Of the four hundred sixty-four martech tools in our catalogue, sixty-eight have changed hands since 2023.
That's about one in seven.
0:12 Deals by year
Eight deals closed in 2023. Fourteen in 2024. Twenty-five in 2025.
And by October, 2026 had twenty more, with one still waiting for approval.
Martech acquisitions tripled from 2023 to 2025.
0:32 Who is buying
So who is doing the buying?
Mostly other software companies: forty-four of the sixty-eight deals.
Private equity made thirteen, often taking a public company private.
The two smallest groups tell you the most.
0:49 Agencies and data firms
Agency holding groups made four deals, all for identity and data.
Omnicom bought Interpublic, and with it Acxiom. Publicis bought Lotame, and has agreed to buy LiveRamp for about two billion dollars. WPP bought InfoSum.
Data services firms made five more, among them Experian buying AtData.
1:12 Salesforce
Then there's Salesforce.
In just over a year it agreed to buy Informatica for about eight billion dollars, Contentful for one and a half billion, and Fin, formerly Intercom, for three point six billion.
Data, content and customer service, all pulled into one platform.
Some companies buy in pairs.
Didomi bought Addingwell, then Sourcepoint. Monetate bought SiteSpect, then Simon AI.
1:43 Names move too
Names move too. Thirty-four tools were renamed, five of them to an AI or agent name.
Salesforce renamed three clouds to Agentforce, and has since moved two of them back.
1:57 Why it matters at renewal
Why does this matter to you?
Because a new parent can change the price, the plan and the contract at your next renewal.
After Fivetran bought Census, Census became a feature inside Fivetran, on Fivetran's pricing.
So before you renew a tool, check who owns it now.
The full list, with a source for every deal, is in the Martech Market Report.
Read it free at Martech Stack Builder, or build your own stack there.