Startups are on track to acquire more VC-backed companies than ever in 2022. Here’s why

Amid a venture funding decline and dearth of IPO activity, startups have found a new way to occupy their time: buying other startups.

The notion of startups acquiring other VC-backed companies is nothing new. Meta bought venture-backed Instagram a month before Facebook’s May 2012 IPO; food delivery company GrubHub merged with Seamless in 2013 when they were both still operating off venture funding. But up until the last few years, these transactions were mainly large and infrequent. Now, they are getting smaller and more frequent. READ MORE