European AI deal activity up 27% in Q1 2021
Artificial intelligence (AI) deal activity in Europe saw a 26.76% rise in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter average, according to GlobalData stats.
In the review period, a total of 212 AI deals worth $5.05b were announced in the region up from 167.25 in the fourth quarter of 2020. Venture financing was the most active player with 141 deals or a 66.5% share of all deals. M&A came in second with 60 deals or 28.3%, followed by private equity transactions with 11 or 5.2%.
In terms of value, M&A ranked first with $3.37b, followed by venture financing with $1.56b and private equity deals with $116.07m.
+++Crunchbase News: European VC hits all-time-high in Q1 2021+++
TOP 5 deals
The top five deals that took plays in Europe’s AI industry in Q1 2021 accounted for 75.7% in value terms, standing at $3.82b. These deals were:
- Janus Henderson Group’s $1.6b acquisition of Yandex;
- The $1b acquisition of Adjust by AppLovin;
- 70Ventures and Practica Capital UAB’s $610.8m venture financing of Biomatter Designs;
- The $450m acquisition deal with Runtime Collective by Cision;
- Medallia’s acquisition of Decibel Insight for $160m.
