We tracked 21 startup acquisitions announced between 28 September – 4 October 2026, across 7 regions. Only 6 disclosed a price, adding up to $10.96bn; the rest kept terms private, which is normal for venture-backed exits.
The largest was AMD’s $8.2bn purchase of World Labs, which had raised $1bn. Salesforce paid $2bn for Listen Labs.
AI accounted for 5 deals and North America for 12. 1 deal was an acquihire.
Friday, 2 October 2026
Image: StudyStashEdtech · EuropeKortext acquires AI study platform StudyStash a year after its founders graduatedBirmingham graduates Ben Ward and Jonathan Graham built StudyStash into a tool used at more than 160 institutions. They stay on as CEO and CTO and are moving to Silicon Valley, where about half of their customers are.
Photo: Richie Diesterheft from Chicago, IL, USA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Commerce & marketing · Latin AmericaSiigo acquires Chilean sales software company BsaleThe Accel-KKR-backed accounting software group, which entered Chile by buying Kame in 2025, plans to invest about $100 million over the next few years and aims to double Bsale's size.
Image: TursoDeveloper tools · North AmericaSupabase agrees to acquire SQLite database startup Turso as it raises $150 millionSupabase says about 70% of new databases on its platform are now created by AI agents. Turso, which rewrote SQLite in Rust, can run millions of small databases on one server.
Image: akenzaEnterprise software · EuropeSensor maker VEGA acquires Zurich IoT platform akenzaThe family-owned German maker of level and pressure sensors is buying a software platform that connects devices in smart buildings and factories, and will let akenza keep operating on its own.Thursday, 1 October 2026
Photo: Chuq / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Climate & agritech · OceaniaAmpol agrees to buy EV charging network Evie Networks for A$225 millionThe fuel retailer will add more than 1,030 Evie charging bays to its AmpCharge network, creating about 1,425 bays across more than 400 sites, and expects the combined charging business to break even in 2028.
Image: UltravoxAI · North AmericaInworld acquires Ultravox, the Seattle voice-agent platform that began as FixieInworld, an AI lab that makes speech models, bought the real-time voice-agent platform and immediately moved Ultravox customers' built-in Inworld voices to its Realtime TTS-2 model. Terms were not disclosed.
Photo: Cayambe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Fintech · North AmericaMonarch buys MBI, formerly HMBradley, in first acquisition as it passes $100M in ARRThe personal finance app is turning the team behind the former neobank into Monarch Labs, a unit for new products led by co-founder Zach Bruhnke. Terms were not disclosed.
Photo: ESO/A.Duro / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0AI · IsraelNebius acquires Inferize, a 10-month-old Israeli startup that cuts AI model cold startsThe Tel Aviv company, founded in January 2026 by members of Granulate's founding team, makes large models load and scale faster so GPUs sit idle less. Nebius did not disclose terms; Calcalist estimated the deal at $100-150 million.
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons, Public domainLegal & compliance · EuropeOpus 2 acquires Cork legal document-bundling company BundledocsBundledocs brings Opus 2 about 1,900 clients in 35 countries, including more than 100 of the UK's 200 largest law firms. It is the disputes-software maker's third acquisition in five years.
Photo: Deoma12 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Healthtech & bio · Southeast AsiaZeya Health acquires WhatsApp clinic-booking startup ConnectLahThe Antler-backed Singapore startup, which raised a $575,000 pre-seed round in January, is adding ConnectLah's WhatsApp booking product as it builds AI booking infrastructure for clinics across Southeast Asia and Australia.Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Image: FreddieHealthtech & bio · North AmericaGrindr agrees to buy HIV-prevention telehealth provider Freddie for $250 millionIn its first major acquisition, the dating app is paying $190 million in cash and $60 million in stock for a PrEP provider that expects more than $80 million in revenue this year, with up to $70 million more tied to 2027 results.
Image: Clio (press release)Legal & compliance · North AmericaClio acquires Learned Hand, a startup building AI tools for judgesThe legal software company's first direct move into the judiciary brings in an AI workspace already used by courts including the Superior Court of Los Angeles County.
Photo: Robert.Harker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Enterprise software · IndiaOpenMetal acquires cloud cost management startup EconomizeThe private cloud provider is pairing Economize's spend-tracking software with its own infrastructure, so customers can see what they pay hyperscalers and model the cost of moving workloads.
Image: ParafinFintech · North AmericaStripe agrees to acquire Parafin, the embedded lender behind DoorDash and Gusto credit offersParafin has extended credit to about 60,000 small businesses through software platforms since 2020; Stripe will fold it into its Stripe Capital lending business. The price was not disclosed, though Parafin was last valued at $750 million.
Photo: Spicypepper999 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0AI · North AmericaZoomInfo acquires DoubleO.ai to run sales and marketing work with AI agentsDoubleO.ai, founded in 2024 by the team that sold Ignition to Klue, builds orchestration software meant to make teams of AI agents run go-to-market workflows the same way every time. ZoomInfo did not disclose terms.Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Photo: Ryan Schwark / Wikimedia Commons, CC0AI · North AmericaSalesforce agrees to acquire AI customer research startup Listen LabsBusiness Insider put the price at about $2 billion, roughly four times the valuation Listen Labs reportedly reached in a Series B round eight months earlier.
Image: WorkeraEdtech · North AmericaPearson agrees to acquire AI skills assessment startup WorkeraThe education group is buying a Palo Alto platform that tests workers' skills through role-based scenarios, adding it to the unit that sells learning to employers.Monday, 28 September 2026
Image: World LabsAI · North AmericaAMD agrees to buy Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion in stockThe chipmaker is paying entirely in shares for a two-year-old lab that builds 3D world models. Li becomes AMD's chief scientist, reporting to Lisa Su, who was an early investor in World Labs.
Image: BluevineFintech · North AmericaValley National Bancorp agrees to buy small-business banking fintech Bluevine for $340 millionThe New Jersey lender is paying mostly cash for a digital platform that brings about 175,000 active small-business customers and $2.1 billion in deposits, about 99% of them from customers who do not borrow.
Image: Robotiq.aiEnterprise software · EuropeHCLSoftware to buy Croatian automation startup Robotiq.ai for €9 millionIndia's HCLTech is paying about $10.4 million in cash for a Zagreb company with €1.4 million in revenue, to let its AI agents operate software that has no usable API.
Image: DayforwardFintech · North AmericaFortitude Re acquires the assets of insurtech Dayforward to form Fortitude LifeThe Bermuda reinsurer, which holds more than $100 billion in reserves, is taking Dayforward's annuity platform, agency and staff but leaving behind its insurance companies and old policies.