Grow A Business In The Software Industry

Benchmark International facilitated the transaction between CLS and Eternity Systems. Watch as Henning Hilmer, founder of CLS, discusses what he was looking for in a strategic partner and how Benchmark International managed to achieve this for him.

Spending in the software market now exceeds hundreds of billions of dollars, focusing heavily on AI-related projects, including e-mail and authoring. The market is expected to remain on a remarkable growth trajectory worldwide.

The global surface computing market is forecast to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.24% to reach $983.05 billion by 2033, up from $55.25 billion in 2023.

In today's economy, operating a successful business can be a tricky thing to do. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of businesses fail within the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first ten years. These statistics may seem intimidating or disheartening to some, but those who have overcome the narrative have learned that their business must possess certain key characteristics. While many successful businesses may share similar characteristics, they often appear quite different. No matter how a business may differentiate from its peers and competitors, there is one thing that every business must maintain to stay afloat: growth.

Benchmark International facilitated the transaction between PUSHTech and Cendyn. Watch as Gerry Haag and Carlos Moncho, former shareholders at PUSHTech, discuss why they opted to work with an M&A adviser, what Benchmark International brought to the table, and where PUSHTech is now with the assistance of an acquirer.

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the transaction between Z Consulting, LLC and The Bridge.

The global artificial intelligence (AI) market was valued at $93.5 billion last year and is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.1% between 2022 and 2030. AI is proving to be a transformative factor in today’s digital era and is being applied in every area possible, from self-driving cars to life-saving medical equipment. The big tech giants continue to invest in research and innovation that is driving the adoption of advanced AI technologies in industry verticals, including healthcare, finance, automotive, retail, and manufacturing. AI offers better efficiency, and many companies are also adopting AI technology to offer better customer experiences.Software SolutionsThe software solutions segment leads the AI market, accounting for a revenue share of more than 38% in 2021. This large share is due to advances in data storage capacity, data extraction, computing power, parallel processing to deliver high-end services, and the ability to provide real-time insights that aid in decision-making. These AI software solutions utilize video analytics, linear algebra, inference, sparse matrices, and hardware communications to help businesses analyze and understand visual content to gain insights and make smarter decisions.Machine & Deep LearningThe deep learning segment of the AI market accounted for a revenue share of about 37% in 2021. This large share can be attributed to complicated data-driven applications, including text and speech recognition. As a result, deep learning offers profitable investment opportunities and includes both AI platforms and cognitive applications, such as tagging, alerting, filtering, clustering, categorizing, hypothesizing navigation, and visualization. These elements enable the development of intelligent solutions.As cloud-based computing and on-premises hardware equipment for mass data storage grow, it paves the way for the expansion of analytics platforms. There is increasing investment in R&D by leading firms that will play a major role in adopting AI tech. The natural language processing (NLP) segment is largely anticipated to gain momentum as it is becoming more widely used by various businesses to improve decision-making processes by understanding customer preferences, trends, and purchasing behaviors.SegmentationThe advertising and media segment accounted for a revenue share of more than 20% in 2021. However, the healthcare sector is expected to gain a leading share by 2030. It is further segmented based on areas such as robot-assisted surgery, virtual nursing assistants, dosage error reduction, hospital workflow management, clinical trial identifiers, preliminary diagnosis, and automated image diagnosis. As the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) segment performs financial analysis, risk assessment, and investment and portfolio management, AI has a growing share in the sector due to high demand for risk and compliance applications.  Other verticals highly focused on AI usage include retail, law, automotive, transportation, and agriculture. One of the most utilized applications by every vertical is the conversational AI platform, which is a type of AI technology that allows people to interact with devices in a way that mimics human conversation, such as chatbots. 

Pitchbook has released their Q3 2022 global league tables, and Benchmark International remains an esteemed leader in the M&A world.

If you are considering selling your business, you undoubtedly need to understand its value. Unfortunately, arriving at that answer can entail many different methodologies, and it often involves the familiar valuation formula of applying a multiple of Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA). For example, if a company boasts EBITDA of $1 million, and a five times EBITDA multiple is applied, the company’s estimated value is $5 million. But how do we know what multiple applies to your business? And how do we know if the EBITDA number is even accurate? After all, EBITDA will not be the same for every business.

2021 was a strong market for business owners looking to sell their companies. The market remains ideal and will do so as we move into the first quarter of 2022. As we are in the middle of this year, there is no better time to consider putting your business on the market.