TRANSACTIONS BY SECTOR | BRAZIL 2020-2025

M&A is the primary exit path for the venture capital ecosystem in Brazil, with data from Spectra showing that 45% of portfolio exits occur through acquisitions.

Between January 2020 and May 2025, the 50 most active buyers in the country completed just over 400 transactions, which we mapped across industry segments:

• 8 segments were dominated by a single buyer, reflecting markets with strong first-mover advantages, regulatory barriers, or high capital intensity — all of which tend to discourage new entrants.

  
  

• 11 segments had two or more companies competing for targets, indicating a more fluid and competitive dynamic.

  
  

• 5 sectors attracted four or more distinct acquirers — such as enterprise software, healthcare, retail, telecom, and banking — signaling greater capital intensity and a stronger push for growth.

Despite an average of 21 transactions per segment and a median of 15, these numbers mask significant variation: in the most competitive verticals, multiple buyers executed bolt-on acquisitions to complement their offerings — from specialized software modules to digital health platforms. In contrast, in segments with only one active buyer, M&A activity was primarily used to reinforce adjacent capabilities rather than to absorb emerging technologies.

There is a direct correlation between the number of active buyers and the volume of transactions in a given segment: each additional buyer represents, on average, five incremental deals.

This points to where boards and capital allocators are placing their bets — and where scale and depth of capital allow for more aggressive strategic moves.

By DealMaker Insights | DealMaker