Early deal intelligence can tell dealmakers where opportunities are emerging — but it can also reveal where competition is getting crowded.
Grata data shows a notable imbalance across 5 US industries: each attracted interest from hundreds of sourcing organizations between December 2025 and August 2026, while simultaneously showing a below-average Seller Intent score (<20). These are popular industries where an unusually large number of dealmakers are competing for a disproportionately small pool of reluctant potential sellers. Here’s what private market dealmakers need to know.
Grata’s Seller Intent was built to detect and monitor the subtle signals that every company gives off 6-12 months before it goes to market. Download our white paper to learn about how it works.
Between December 2025 – August 2026, this sector has received interest from ~600 unique sourcing organizations in Grata.
HVAC has become a favorite industry for private equity roll-ups, with M&A activity growing by nearly 4x over the past decade.
The statistics continue to justify buyer interest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects the employment of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics to grow 8% from 2024 to 2034.
The challenge for buyers is that HVAC consolidation is no longer new. Capstone Partners counted 92 announced or completed HVAC services transactions as of July 2026, with deal volume decreasing 4.2% YoY.
Between December 2025 – August 2026, this sector has received interest from ~600 unique sourcing organizations in Grata.
Buyer attention is increasingly spilling from HVAC into electrical contracting. The sector combines fragmentation with several structural growth themes: data centers, grid modernization, renewable power, and building electrification.
This is backed by Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting electrician employment to grow 9% between 2025 and 2035, with approximately 72,700 openings annually.
Between December 2025 – August 2026, this sector has received interest from ~600 unique sourcing organizations in Grata.
Service-oriented software businesses have become coveted acquisition targets as businesses race to deploy AI, modernize legacy technology, and build custom applications.
Like other industries on this list, the custom computer programming services industry is projected to grow its overall employment 10% by 2035. Much of this growth is attributed to the expansion of AI, IoT, robotics, automation, and cybersecurity.
The M&A data shows similar trends. In Capstone’s 2025 analysis of the application-development industry, the services sector accounted for 59.2% of M&A targets, led by custom application development and AI-transformation providers. Transaction volume in the space rose 4.4% YoY, PE deal activity increased 10%, and transactions involving AI-enabled services companies jumped 175% YoY.
Between December 2025 – August 2026, this sector has received interest from ~600 unique sourcing organizations in Grata.
The industrial machinery and equipment merchant wholesalers industry is engaged in the distribution of specialized machinery, equipment, and related parts generally used in manufacturing, oil well, and warehousing activities. Employment is projected to grow 14% from 2025-2035, with BLS crediting the continued adoption of automated manufacturing machinery for the anticipated demand.
Industry surveys back up these claims. According to a survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, 63% of respondents plan to import industrial machinery in the next year to support existing or planned manufacturing operations.
Meanwhile, US distribution M&A remained relatively stable in Q1 2026, with 78 announced transactions, according to a PMCF market pulse report. Still, global M&A activity in the industry declined 12.4% in Q1-26 compared to Q1-25, pointing to greater pressure in international markets.
Between December 2025 – August 2026, this sector has received interest from ~600 unique sourcing organizations.
The professional and management development training industry is benefiting from an increasing corporate need to upskill workers around AI, technology, compliance, and rapidly changing job requirements. BLS projects employment of training and development specialists to grow 11% from 2025 through 2035.
According to employers surveyed by the World Economic Form in 2025, 59% of the workforce will need training by 2030. In response to the expected AI disruption, reskilling and upskilling the workforce is a strategy that 77% of surveyed employers plan to implement by 2030.
This industry is notably small, with the Census Bureau counting just 8,067 employers in Professional and Management Development Training.
None of these industries suffer from a lack of buyer interest — quite the opposite.
Across all five, hundreds of sourcing organizations are searching for opportunities while Seller Intent scores remain below average. This mismatch creates a fundamentally different sourcing environment: buyers have to compete not only against one another, but also against owners who may not yet be thinking about a transaction.
For dealmakers, that changes the advantage. Finding the right company is only part of the equation. Finding it before the owner becomes an obvious seller (and before every competing buyer shows up) is increasingly what separates proprietary opportunities from crowded processes.
Grata’s Seller Intent helps surface those under-the-radar opportunities earlier, giving dealmakers more time to build relationships with high-quality businesses before the market catches up. Learn more about how Seller Intent works here. Ready to find sellers before your competitors? Schedule a demo to get started with Grata.
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