We’ve had another slow start for eDiscovery mergers & acquisitions, and investments (M&A+I). We’re on track for our lowest total in 17 years!

As always, Rob Robinson is tracking M&A+I events on ComplexDiscovery. His post (eDiscovery M&A tracker update: nine deals and two themes, available here) shows that we’ve only had nine transactions so far in 2026.

Annualized, the nine-deal pace points toward roughly 17 transactions for the year, beneath the 21 recorded in each of 2025 and 2022 and far under the 55 logged in 2021. That figure is a straight-line run rate rather than a forecast; transaction announcements do not arrive evenly through the year.

That’s only part of the story. If the pace of roughly 17 transactions for the year holds, that will be the lowest total since 2009! In fact since 2021’s record year of 55 transactions, only 2023 exceeded 23 transactions (with 35). From 2014 through 2021, we averaged over 40 M&A+I events per year. We even had 36 events in 2020, when the pandemic shut so many things down.

I’m not sure why the pace of transactions has slowed – it’s not like there aren’t plenty of acquirable eDiscovery companies still out there. It’s possible that investors are shifting their focus more on startups. Regardless of the reason, it’s clear that we’re a long way from consolidating to just a few companies in the industry. You can’t consolidate if the transactions aren’t happening.

ComplexDiscovery has tracked publicly announced eDiscovery mergers, acquisitions and investments since November 2001, when LexisNexis acquired CourtLink. The running compilation now documents over 600 events across nearly 25 years! Rob provides the entire list at the bottom of the post.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that we’re on track for our lowest total of M&A+I events in 17 years? 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.