We tracked 12 startup acquisitions announced between 26 January – 1 February 2026, across 5 regions. Only 2 disclosed a price, adding up to $298m; the rest kept terms private, which is normal for venture-backed exits.
The largest was Sword Health’s $285m purchase of Kaia Health, which had raised $125m. Life EV paid $13.2m for Rad Power Bikes.
AI accounted for 2 deals and North America for 5. 1 deal was an acquihire.
Thursday, 29 January 2026
Photo: Gabriela Cybulska / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0AI · IsraelApple buys Israeli audio AI startup Q.ai, bringing back PrimeSense founder Aviad MaizelsApple did not disclose terms, but reports put the price between $1.5 billion and nearly $2 billion, which would make Q.ai Apple's second-largest purchase after Beats.
Photo: Mr.ちゅらさん / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0Mobility & logistics · East AsiaIris Ohyama acquires security robot maker SEQSENSE to build a second robotics businessThe household goods maker, which has put cleaning robots into more than 7,000 companies, is now moving into autonomous security patrol robots as Japan's guard industry runs short of staff.
Image: AlmaHealthtech & bio · North AmericaSpring Health agrees to acquire Alma, the insurance platform for independent therapistsThe deal joins Spring Health's employer mental health benefits, offered to more than 50 million people, with Alma's network of therapists who take insurance from plans covering more than 120 million lives.Wednesday, 28 January 2026
Image: Kaia HealthHealthtech & bio · EuropeSword Health acquires Kaia Health for $285 millionSword's largest deal to date gives it Kaia's place in Germany's reimbursed digital therapy system, which covers more than 70 million people, and its chief executive said more acquisitions would follow in 2026.
Photo: daudi_mukiibi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Developer tools · North AmericaDatadog acquires Propolis, a two-person YC startup testing apps with AI browser agentsPropolis was founded in 2025 and had two people when Datadog bought it; Datadog wants its synthetic users to learn real user journeys from production traces, logs and session data.
Photo: University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainabi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0AI · North AmericaHandshake acquires Cleanlab, bringing nine data-quality researchers in-houseCleanlab said it had acquisition interest from several AI data companies but picked Handshake, whose network of experts its rivals also rely on.Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Photo: Daudi mukiibi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Climate & agritech · North AmericaCanix buys cannabis cultivation software rival TrymTwo cannabis software competitors became one: Canix is folding in Trym's crop-steering and task tools and its engineers, while promising Trym customers at least a year on their current platform.
Photo: Missionedit / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Edtech · OceaniaCompass Education acquires Clipboard, the school sport and excursions platformClipboard grew from two university students coaching basketball at their old school into software used by more than 500 Australian schools, and its sale to Compass is the first exit for Jelix Ventures' first fund.
Photo: Epolk / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Fintech · EuropeScoro acquires Estonian bill and expense automation startup EnvoiceTwo Estonian software companies combined: Scoro wants supplier bills and receipts captured by Envoice to land in project budgets as soon as they are approved, instead of at month-end.Monday, 26 January 2026
Photo: Addmotor Electric Bikes / Wikimedia Commons, CC0Mobility & logistics · North AmericaLife EV wins bankrupt Rad Power Bikes' assets with a $13.2 million bidThe Seattle e-bike maker, valued at $1.65 billion in 2021 after raising about $329 million, sold for a fraction of that in a five-bidder bankruptcy auction.
Photo: Velvet / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Cybersecurity · EuropeOVHcloud acquires French end-to-end encryption startup SealdSeald's ANSSI-certified encryption toolkit is being rebuilt into OVHcloud's public cloud as OVHcloud End-to-End Encryption, and its US operations were shut down during the transition.