For small to mid-sized technology companies, strategic acquisition of smaller firms offers a powerful accelerator for growth and innovation. Rather than building from scratch, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) provides a rapid pathway to expand capabilities, market reach, and competitive advantage.
Acquisitions offer many benefits to companies, including:
- Accelerated Growth: Quickly gain market share, customer bases, or enter new segments.
- Talent & Technology Infusion: Acquire specialized teams, cutting-edge IP, or unique product lines.
- Competitive Edge: Neutralize rivals or gain exclusive capabilities.
- Diversification: Expand offerings and reduce reliance on single products/services.
- Efficiency Gains: Leverage synergies for cost savings or enhanced operational scale.
Additionally, if you play the cards right, one can unlock all this value with very limited cash, with most of the payouts done based on performance and/or through equity swaps over time.
Sounds like magic? It often is. ESV team has structured many acquisitions such that they accrue tremendous value to the acquirer, while minimizing their risk through creative financial deal structures.
What We Do:
Your M&A Partner from Strategy to Execution
ESV partners with tech services & product companies to drive strategic acquisitions—
managing the entire journey from target scouting to deal negotiation and
post merger-integration, while unlocking tangible value and minimizing execution risk.
Strategic Planning & Target Profiling
ESV team works closely with the founders to analyse the current business and identify ideal target profile that would meet the objectives of the acquirer.
Market Scouting
We leverage a combination of primary and secondary research to identify potential target companies that meet the profile requirements
Initiation / Reach-out
ESV team reaches out to all the companies identified as potential target companies, and engages the founder in preliminary discussions
Ongoing alignment of Acquisition requirements
On the basis of market response and new learnings, we actively work with the acquirer to refine requirements and approach
Initial conversation between both parties
After basic level-setting between the acquirer and target companies, we initiate introductory calls & data exchange
Prioritization of Potential Deals
We map where the acquisition may add value—product, talent, revenue, or competitive edge; this helps in prioritizing based on attractiveness of potential deals.
Deal Structure / Framework
ESV team works closely with target companies to create financial models to analyze their respective historical performance and forecast. These are used to create deal structures that meet objectives of both the sides
Negotiation & Sealing the Deal
We help acquriers negotiate on all the key investment terms, and help draft the final term sheet that captures the agreed Deal Terms.
Oversight of Closure Process
Acquirers would typically require financial & legal due diligence and drafting of SPA / SHA. We help obtain relevant finance / legal agencies for the same, and oversee the process
Best Practices for Post-Merger Integration
ESV brings its vast experience in managing M&A deals to provide guidance on best practices that acquirers can use to ensure smooth integration of business and teams of both sides.
Why is M&A fancied so much? Can a company not grow organically only?
Of course they can. However, acquisitions can help acclerate the growth. For most IT founders, the early years are a story of momentum. A strong delivery engine, trusted client relationships, and a founder’s personal network fuel rapid growth.
But somewhere between ₹50–150 Cr in annual revenue, the engine starts to sputter.
You’re still delivering quality. You’ve expanded offerings. You’ve even invested in sales. Yet growth slows from 25–30% YoY to a sluggish 5–8%.
This isn’t about effort. It’s about structural limitations built into the mid-market stage:
- Network exhaustion: Your personal and referral-driven lead engine hits its limit
- Client concentration: 3–5 clients often make up 70% of revenue—one switch can shake the whole business
- Geographic & vertical expansion stalls: New markets demand brand pull and capital
- Capability gaps widen: Competing with scaled players becomes harder as enterprise expectations rise
- RFP restrictions: 62% of ₹10 Cr+ RFPs now require ₹250 Cr+ in company revenue
And the most overlooked risk?
Companies that plateau in this range for more than 3 years typically see a 30–40% drop in valuation multiples compared to their growth-stage peers.
What Makes ESV Special?
We’re a rare team. Actually, a very rare team – as we bring a concoction of skills required to make such complex deals happen.
Our founders have built tech companies grounds-up, so they understand the nuts-and-bolts of the business, from devleopment to enterprise sales. We have also been investing actively for many years, so we have very sharp understanding of investor mindset and what it takes to protect investor interests.
Our DNA is routed in strategy consulting – provding us an exceptional ability to put all pieces of the M&A jigsaw puzzle together to create the perfect picture.
Plus, we’re wizards of financial structuring, making sure that through a combination of additional revenues, profits and unlocking of synergies, acquiring companies end up with much better valuations.