October saw 14 PE-backed acquisitions across Europe, representing an 55% decrease year-over-year with 17 acquisitions less in October 2025 than 2024.
Number of announced PE-backed acquisitions over the past 12 months*
- Number of PE-backed Acquisitions
Roll-Up Market Insights
After a above average September, the number of PE-backed acquisitions sharply declined to 14 in October.
With 9 acquisitions, the UK was the country with the most PE-backed activity, followed by Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, France and Ireland.
BK Plus was the most active acquirer with two acquisitions.
Software, FinTech and Manufacturing were the most mentioned acquired industries.
This month’s case study: Lightcast – Extending lead in Skills Intelligence
Founded in 2000 in Moscow, USA, Lightcast is an IT company that offers software, APIs, and consulting services for communities, businesses, and educational institutions.
Backed by KKR, Lightcast has pursued an active buy-and-build strategy, announcing 6 acquisitions since 2023.
- Lightcast's Acquisitions
Its latest move came in October 2025, with the acquisition of Simply Get Results (founded in 2016 in London, UK). Simply provides a software to build your future-ready workforce.
This acquisition enables Lightcast to reach their consistent growth ambitions in global labor-market and skills intelligence by scaling enterprise skills benchmarking and workforce-planning solutions.
Lightcast’s Playbook for Global Workforce Planning
Lightcast’s most recent PE-backed acquisition of Simply demonstrates the company’s consistent growth ambitions in global labor-market and skills intelligence, particularly in scaling enterprise skills benchmarking and workforce-planning solutions across the UK and wider EMEA.
Case study:
KKR’s investment in Lightcast reflects the significant potential that PE investors see in labor-market analytics and skills intelligence, driven by secular demand for data-driven workforce planning, sticky subscription revenues, and compelling opportunities for geographic expansion and bolt-on M&A:
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In 2000, EMSI (Economic Modeling Specialists International) was founded in Moscow, Idaho (USA), with the aim of making regional labor-market data usable for education, workforce, and location decision-makers.
- Following a merger between EMSI and Burning Glass Technologies, with KKR as the lead investor, the company was rebranded as Lightcast in 2022 to reflect its global reach and unified mission.
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Since 2020, Lightcast has completed six acquisitions expanding its talent and location intelligence footprint, and accelerating data-driven workforce planning for enterprise clients.
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In October 2025, Lightcast acquired Simply, a company that provides a software to build your future-ready workforce.
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The deal enables Lightcast to to enhance its skills intelligence and scale skills transformation for enterprise clients.
PE investors view Talent & Labor-Market Intelligence as attractive due to:
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Growth opportunities in skills intelligence, workforce planning, and location/talent strategy across sectors and geographies.
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Scale and diversification potential through international expansion and consolidation of adjacent data/analytics capabilities (e.g., job postings, profiles, education, pay).
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Network and data effects from multi-sided ecosystems such as employers, educators, platforms, and governments, leading to compounding data quality and product stickiness.
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Resilient recurring revenues from enterprise and public-sector subscriptions, supported by secular shifts to skills-based hiring, compliance, and reporting.
*All data from CrunchBase, as of November 6, 2025.
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