M&A advisory for consumer internet companies
Consumer internet M&A is a market where the multiple lives or dies on cohort math. Two apps with identical ARPU and identical user counts can trade at very different valuations once a buyer rebuilds retention curves, payback periods and organic mix. Deal teams at Match Group, Bumble, Spotify, Meta and the consumer-focused PE platforms all run the same exercise, and the gap between a 4x revenue offer and an 8x one is almost always in the cohort data.
Buyers fall into three camps. Strategic consolidators in dating, social and content acquire to plug audience gaps and stretch ad inventory; large platforms acquire for talent, distribution and defensive reasons; consumer-focused PE (Permira, Providence, KKR, Blackstone GP Stakes) underwrites on cash conversion and a path to durable margin. Each demands a different equity story, and the earn-out structures are tighter than software because retention risk is real and immediate.
We've advised across the consumer internet stack, including on transactions with Bumble and Parship, and run sell-side processes built around the cohort and monetisation evidence buyers actually pay for.
M&A goes smoother with an advisor that understands consumer internet
Cohort data, fully exposed
Consumer deals close on retention, payback and organic share - the metrics behind the headline. We build the cohort model the buyer's deal team will eventually rebuild themselves, so the equity story matches QofE rather than gets repriced when monthly cohort tables hit the data room.
Inside the consolidator set
Dating, social, content and gaming exits run through a small cast - Match Group, Bumble, Spotify, Meta and the consumer PE bench. We know which corporate development teams are actually transacting at your scale, and have sat across the table from them, including on Bumble and Parship.
Monetisation depth, not headline GMV
Buyers underwrite ARPU mix, subscription versus ad split and the pricing room left in the model. We position the business around monetisation quality and where the next ARPU lever is, not the topline growth metric that gets discounted within fifteen minutes of opening the data room.
Earn-outs tied to real signal
Consumer earn-outs gated on DAU or revenue almost always miss; gated on cohort retention or paid conversion they hit. We structure the deferred consideration so the metric is something management can actually move post-close, rather than a target that gets killed by a single algorithm change upstream.
Recent M&A deals we closed
We've closed sell-side and buy-side transactions across European, US and emerging-market tech.
Our M&A track record spans strategic exits to corporate acquirers, PE buyouts, and cross-border deals where regulatory and structuring complexity actually matters.
We provided buy-side advice to Russmedia on its acquisition of Pure, a London-based casual online dating platform, supporting commercial diligence and deal execution.
Recent M&A advisory consumer internet track record
Selected M&A transactions and prior deal experience.
M&A advisory for all consumer internet niches
From online content to mobile apps, we're a specialized M&A advisor to consumer internet companies.
Our M&A experience spans across all consumer internet verticals.
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We live and breath tech - true understanding of how startups operate is fundamental at what we do.
Recent consumer internet insights
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