Wayflyer among the winners as Irish M&A stays strong

Deal values down 80 per cent to $12.5 billion due to outsized ‘mega’ acquisitions in the first quarter of 2021

Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse, founders of Wayflyer: one of Ireland’s newest unicorns, the firm just announced a multimillion funding round. Picture: Naoise Culhane Photography

Some 135 Irish mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were announced between January and March, the second-highest number recorded in the first quarter of a year since 1980. Wayflyer and Flipdish, the state’s newest unicorns, were among those to gain from continued interest in indigenous companies as they announced multimillion euro funding rounds.

Overall, deal values were down 80 per cent to $12.5 billion compared to the first three months of 2021, although this was due to ...