X
Business

GlobalData reveals tech deals in Australia down by a third in Q2 2020

A total of 60 deals were made during the quarter, down from the last four-quarter average of 87 deals.
Written by Aimee Chanthadavong, Contributor

Australia's technology industry saw overall deal activity during the second quarter of 2020 drop by 31%, according to GlobalData's deals database.

GlobalData's findings reveal that a total 60 deals, worth $748 million, were announced during Q2 2020, down from the last four-quarter average of 87 deals.

Of the total deals, venture financing was the lead category, accounting for nearly two-thirds with 37 deals. This was followed by mergers and acquisitions with 22 deals and private equity with one.

When it came to the value of the deals made during the second quarter, mergers and acquisitions led, with total deals worth nearly $460 million, followed by private equity deals at nearly AU$289 million.

GlobalData also highlighted the top five technology industry deals that were tracked during Q2 included Uniti Wireless' $365 million acquisition of OptiComm; Canva's $60 million funding round led by Blackbird and Sequoia Capital China, with participation from Bond, Felicis, and General Catalyst; and Iress' $51 million acquisition of OneVue Holdings.

There was also a $40 million venture financing round of Go1 by Madrona Venture Group, M12, Our Innovation Fund, Salesforce Ventures, and Seek, plus Global Growth Capital Advisors' $31 million venture financing of Openpay.

These top five technology deals contributed to nearly three-quarters of the overall value of all total deals in Q2 at $547 million, GlobalData said.

The latest data follows the downward trend that was reported in June. At the time, GlobalData indicated in its report into enterprise IT investment trends in Australia for 2020 that about a third of Australian IT enterprise decision-makers claimed their tech budgets would decline by about 10% due to the aftermath of COVID-19.

Another 16.7%, according to the report, indicated that their tech budget would decline by more than 20% after the coronavirus outbreak. 

It coincided with Forrester revising its tech spending forecast for the Australian market, which now believes it will shrink in 2020 as Australia enters a recession for the first time in 29 years.

"There's no question that Australia will experience a recession in 2020 -- so it's certain that local tech budgets will be cut. The only question is how deep and long-lasting the recession will be and how much tech budgets will shrink as a result," the research firm said in its tech market outlook report for 2020 to 2021.

Related Coverage

Forrester predicts tech spend to shrink as Australia enters into recession

It has outlined a few scenarios where tech spend in Australia could slump by around 3% or even by 6.4% in 2020.

Seek reveals Australian IT job market sluggish as others recover from easing COVID-19 rules

IT job ads changed by only 1% month on month for May 2020.

Gartner predicts COVID-19 to slow Australia's tech spending by 6% in 2020

The pandemic is also impacting IT job ads.

Editorial standards