Pandemic, schmandemic! I said in the 2022 State of the Industry Report released last week that “business marches on”, but maybe I should have said that it sprints on! According to Rob Robinson’s excellent ComplexDiscovery site, we had a record year in 2021 for eDiscovery mergers & acquisitions, and investments (M&A+I).

Rob’s post on eDiscovery Mergers, Acquisitions, and Investments in 2021 provides (among other things) four key M&A+I findings for the record year in 2021:

• There were at least 54 M&A+I events in the eDiscovery ecosystem during 2021.
• April was the most active month in 2021 for M&A+I events with at least nine total events.
• June was the least active month in 2021 for M&A+I events with only two reported events.
• Even with the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aggregate of M&A+I events in 2021 appears to be the highest annual total for the industry since 2001. The total number of events for the year was 18 more than the number of events in 2020 (36) and five more than the number of events in 2012, the previous high-water mark year of investment when at least 49 events were reported.

ComplexDiscovery has noted at least 508 M&A+I events between November 2001 and December 2021 – and every last one of them is listed in the bottom of Rob’s post!

Of course, Rob notes that the list is “not all-inclusive due to the fact that M&A+I events are not always publicly disclosed”. So, there are likely even more events happening than in the report here.

Rob sums up the record year in 2021, as follows:

“In considering the year in total, it appears that even with the constraints of COVID-19, the motivation for investing continued to be strong, the market opportunity for investments continued to grow, and the access to money continued to be attractive for investments during 2021.”  Mmmm!  😉

To check out Rob’s post, click here.

So, what do you think?  Are you surprised that we had a record year in 2021 for M&A+I events? Are you concerned by that?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.