ππππ₯ππππ‘: ππππ₯ π©π«ππ© π¬π‘π¨π°π¬ π¬ππ«π¨π§π π π«π¨π°ππ‘ π’π§ 2π21 β πππ ππ§π¬π’π π‘π
24 June 2021, by Rupert Cocke with analytics by Jonathan Klonowski
Virtual Vaults has contributed to the ππππ₯ππππ‘: ππππ₯ π©π«ππ© π¬π‘π¨π°π¬ π¬ππ«π¨π§π π π«π¨π°ππ‘ π’π§ 2π21 β πππ ππ§π¬π’π π‘π. VDR Insight is a new initiative from DealTech (formerly known as M&ATech), a regular feature that coverstechnology trends aimed at M&A professionals. If you would like to give any feedback, please contact rupert.cocke@iongroup.com.
Virtual Vaultsβ CEO Jeroen Kruithof and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) Mike Hinchliffe
How have user volumes progressed over the second quarter across your platform?
We have seen a meaningful increase in volume during the first and second quarters, with month on monthincreases in the number of Vaults opened, and a corresponding increase in user activity. May, in particular, was avery busy month, with activity in the Benelux market remaining bullish.
A combination of people returning to βbusiness as usualβ, plus favourable conditions for dealmaking and increasingamounts of PE dry powder mean that our customers remain very active. We are also seeing that deals are closingquickly as executives move to capitalise on the positive market sentiment.
Based on this information, can you make any projections for the third quarter?
We predict continued strong performance as we move into 3Q21. All the signs from the mid-market are verypositive. Our customers are telling us that their deal pipelines remain strong and that the M&A community, whilestarting to return to office-based work, has become accustomed to, and very effective at working remotely. Thevarious cloud-based technologies available to dealmakers have contributed positively to the continued strongperformance of the market, and we believe that this is more than likely a permanent shift.
Have you spotted any interesting trends recently?
One trend that we have noticed is a tendency to get deals closed more quickly. This is very much the case whencompared with 2020, but even when measured over the long term we are seeing that the time to execute diligenceis shrinking. We believe this is a combination of shareholders wanting to move quickly while conditions are good,along with increased deal efficiency within the M&A advisory community. A second trend which has been strikingin 20/21 is the continued move by EMEA M&A professionals towards newer contemporary SAAS platforms as they look to become increasingly efficient in their dealmaking activities. The ability for a dealmaker to move quickly andget a new deal up and running βin-platformβ is highly valued and is an area in which we have seen a 50% increaseduring the coronavirus period.