Hunt Scanlon Ventures
2026 Mid-Year M&A Report
Hunt Scanlon Ventures has just released its 2026 Mid-Year M&A Report, offering an in-depth look at the investment themes, transaction activity, and emerging technologies reshaping the global human capital sector. Download the free PDF to explore how AI, behavioral intelligence, capability-driven acquisitions, and evolving buyer priorities are influencing executive search, leadership advisory, talent intelligence, and human capital M&A.
Here is a sampling of some of what you’ll find when you open up this latest issue:
Hunt Scanlon Ventures has completed an investment in millionways, an emerging behavioral intelligence company developing a new layer of AI designed to interpret human signals, motivations, and behavioral patterns. The investment reflects Hunt Scanlon’s conviction that behavioral intelligence could become increasingly important across executive hiring, talent management, AI governance, and enterprise decision-making.
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond productivity and automation toward technologies designed to improve human judgment and decision-making. As AI becomes embedded throughout the enterprise, understanding how people communicate, lead, respond to pressure, and interact with intelligent systems is emerging as an important new source of competitive advantage.
M&A is increasingly becoming a capability-driven acquisition strategy. EY-Parthenon projects an eight percent increase in U.S. deal volume for transactions exceeding $100 million, while 65 percent of CEOs are pursuing acquisitions to accelerate access to technology, talent, and operating capabilities.
Talent is moving closer to the center of the investment thesis. Leadership continuity, institutional knowledge, succession planning, organizational design, and retention are becoming increasingly important considerations as more transaction value resides in people, intellectual capital, and specialized expertise.
The report examines continued M&A momentum across the human capital sector, including Korn Ferry’s acquisition of AMS, Southfield Capital’s majority investment in Metric Search, Riviera Partners’ acquisition of Lateral Labs, and ZRG’s acquisition of Fortium. Together, these transactions illustrate continued investment in integrated talent platforms, specialized search businesses, AI expertise, and flexible leadership solutions.
We also examine why revenue and profitability alone do not determine enterprise value, highlighting how leadership depth, recurring client relationships, operational infrastructure, and management strength can create a meaningful valuation gap between founder-dependent and buyer-ready businesses.
Finally, Hunt Scanlon Ventures outlines six practical priorities for getting deal ready—from strengthening leadership and financial performance to building operational excellence, preparing for diligence, and developing a compelling transaction narrative.
Whether you’re evaluating a potential acquisition, preparing your firm for a future transaction, assessing emerging opportunities in AI, or tracking broader activity across the talent ecosystem, the 2026 Mid-Year M&A Report delivers timely market intelligence and actionable insights into the forces shaping the next phase of human capital investment.
