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Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Capstone Partners Reports: Female Founders Accelerate Inorganic Growth Initiatives, Investment Bankers Help Ease Exit Concerns
BOSTON, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Capstone Partners, a leading middle market investment banking firm, released its 2025 Women Entrepreneurs Study, which analyzes the responses of more than 200 female business owners across the U.S. for key findings related to the operating environment, business decisions, and growth strategies. By comparing the results of this year's survey results to past data and Capstone's annual Middle Market Business Owners Survey, the report seeks to identify and elevate key differences and challenges that female founders have faced and continue to confront. While a known hurdle for women entrepreneurs, securing equity or debt capital has been a key tool for unlocking company growth. Capstone found that 20% of women entrepreneurs surveyed had successfully accessed debt capital over the last twelve months (LTM) to support their business strategy and operations, a trend that more than doubles among respondents with 100 or more employees. An even larger portion (32%) of female entrepreneurs have successfully secured equity capital to fund a growth initiative. These business strategies have played a significant role in driving revenue growth for female entrepreneurs to date. Of note, 56% of women entrepreneurs surveyed have seen more revenue growth in 2025 than in 2024. While female CEOs' next twelve month (NTM) economic outlook for the U.S. has soured amid macroeconomic volatility, respondents have remained confident in the NTM outlook for both local and global economies. The largely positive outlook on the back of strong growth trends throughout 2025 has supported the optimism among two-thirds (66%) of female entrepreneurs that expect revenue growth in 2026. Looking ahead, while most (87.6%) women CEOs plan to pursue organic growth initiatives over the NTM, more than half (50.5%) also plan on prioritizing inorganic growth strategies as a key expansion tactic. In contrast, only 41.5% of broader middle market (MM) business owners plan to prioritize inorganic growth strategies in the NTM. The delta between these groups is also apparent when comparing the specific inorganic growth avenues business owners plan to prioritize, such as equity capital raising (+9.5%) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (+6.7%). M&A will likely serve as a cornerstone for women entrepreneurs' inorganic growth strategies over the NTM. Nearly one-fourth (23%) of total female CEOs surveyed in 2025 plan to engage in M&A over the next year as either a buyer or seller compared to just 18% in Captone's 2024 Women Entrepreneurs Report. Similarly, roughly the same composition (22.2%) of respondents surveyed in 2025 are considering a merger or acquisition as an exit strategy, demonstrating the versatile utility of M&A for women founders. To date, 75.7% of women CEOs surveyed have completed at least one step in preparation for an eventual exit from their company, a larger share than the 62.1% of broader MM business owners that have started preparing for an exit. This trend widens when looking at respondents who have secured an investment banker (96.9%) compared to female entrepreneurs who have not (65.7%). As female entrepreneurs weigh the merits of exiting the business and life thereafter, increased use of investment bankers in 2025 has, in part, helped ease female entrepreneurs' exit concerns since last surveyed. Notably, women CEOs' exit concerns have fallen across four categories: M&A process unfamiliarity (-8.8%), employee satisfaction (-7.9%), market timing (-7.1%), and maximum valuation (-2.7%). The top concern—emotional ties to the company, with 68% of women CEOs surveyed very or somewhat concerned—was the only category to where women CEOs' concern increased (+2.6%) since last surveyed. Age and personal financial goals have played an important role for female entrepreneurs as they begin thinking about a future exit from their business. Unsurprisingly, the average time to exit for 18 to 34-year-olds stands at 17 years compared to 12 years for 35 to 54-year-olds, and eight years for 55+ year-olds. Similarly, when looking at where respondents plan to spend potential exit proceeds, women CEOs between 18 and 54 identified living expenses and/or hobbies as their top choice in contrast to female entrepreneurs aged 55+ that plan to prioritize market investments and/or contributions to existing retirement accounts. While the majority of women entrepreneurs surveyed have started the exit planning process, many still have outstanding questions regarding M&A. Female CEOs' top questions on M&A included what does the M&A process look like, how to value a company, and how to prepare years away. Also included in this report: An overview of the current size and growth of women-owned businesses in the U.S. Key findings on female executive's business operations and strategies. Commentary and Q&A from select Capstone advisors on key service areas that women business owners identified as areas of interest or demand. To access to full report, click here. Women Entrepreneurs Report Reveals Advisory Services in Demand In addition to analysis of the survey findings, the report features commentary and Q&As from Capstone advisors on key service areas that women business owners identified as areas of interest or demand. The report also includes advice from female executives to the next generation of business owners. The full report contents are highlighted below: State of the Market Business Operations & Strategy Q&A: Performance Improvement Q&A: Capital Markets Advisory Mergers & Acquisitions Q&A: Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Life After Exit Advice to the Next Generation ABOUT CAPSTONE PARTNERS For over 20 years, the firm has been a trusted advisor to leading middle market companies, offering a fully integrated range of investment banking and financial advisory services uniquely tailored to help owners, investors, and creditors through each stage of the company's lifecycle. Capstone's services include M&A advisory, debt and equity placement, corporate restructuring, special situations, valuation and fairness opinions and financial advisory services. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has 175+ professionals in multiple offices across the U.S. With 12 dedicated industry groups, Capstone delivers sector-specific expertise through large, cross-functional teams. Capstone is a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN). For more information, visit View original content: SOURCE Capstone Partners Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
06-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Capstone Partners & IMAP Release 2024-2025 Trends in Global M&A Research Survey:
Easing Recession Fears, Robust Private Equity Activity Drives Strong 2025 M&A Market Outlook BOSTON, Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Capstone Partners, a leading middle market investment banking firm, in conjunction with its partner IMAP, a leading global investment banking advisory firm, released its annual Trends in Global M&A Survey Report, with insights from M&A advisors across the world. This report combines Capstone's in-depth investment banking knowledge with proprietary data obtained from 100 participating IMAP M&A advisors across 54 countries. Conducted between September 19, 2024, and November 5, 2024, the survey captures sentiment at a pivotal moment in global middle market M&A, providing insight into M&A market activity throughout 2024 and anticipated dealmaking conditions in 2025. Key Findings: Advisors' economic outlook continued to improve as central banks began to cut interest rates, providing a healthy backdrop for 2025 M&A activity. Only 38% of total investment bankers surveyed expect a recession to be very or somewhat likely in 2025, down 22% year-over-year (YOY) and 40.2% compared to 2023's outlook. As M&A activity likely neared or reached its trough in 2024, the vast majority (79%) of total advisors surveyed anticipate 2025 deal flow to increase. This marks a rise of 28% YOY and 50.4% compared to 2023. Middle market M&A activity in 2024 continued to remain strong compared to the broader market, with 88% of total investment bankers surveyed indicating that middle market dealmaking outperformed or remained in line with the broader market. Advisors' outlook for private equity activity is increasingly bullish for 2025, as more than half (51%) of investment bankers surveyed expect sponsor dealmaking to increase. Buyers have become increasingly selective in their acquisition pursuits, prioritizing target companies with robust financial visibility. Among total investment bankers surveyed, 69% indicated that recurring revenue was the most important characteristic to acquirers in 2024, representing an increase of 6% YOY. M&A purchase multiples are expected to tick up in 2025, with 46% of advisors surveyed anticipating a moderate rise in valuations compared to 2024. Advisors showcased significant consistency regarding anticipated 2025 industry valuations, with the Financial Technology & Services and Healthcare industries expected to continue drawing the highest average typical M&A EBITDA multiples. In 2024, 54% of advisors surveyed identified that business owner retirement was the top factor for sellers initiating an M&A transaction in 2024. For 2025, industry consolidation is anticipated to be the primary sell-side motivator, which is likely a reflection of advisors' expectations for robust M&A volume gains in 2025. To achieve a successful M&A deal for a seller, nearly all (97%) advisors pointed to setting a realistic deal valuation as very or somewhat important. This aligns with the primary deal closing hinderance advisors faced throughout 2024, as 60% experienced excessive valuation expectations from sellers. Through this research, Capstone Partners and IMAP have tracked notable impacts on the global M&A market, current economic environment, as well as M&A advisors' expectations on pricing trends and regional risks and opportunities moving forward into report also provides an analysis of sell-side M&A considerations for middle market business owners looking to pursue a liquidity event. To access the full report including a breakout of the results by industry and region, click here. ABOUT CAPSTONE PARTNERS For over 20 years, the firm has been a trusted advisor to leading middle market companies, offering a fully integrated range of investment banking and financial advisory services uniquely tailored to help owners, investors, and creditors through each stage of the company's lifecycle. Capstone's services include M&A advisory, debt and equity placement, corporate restructuring, special situations, valuation and fairness opinions and financial advisory services. Headquartered in Boston, the firm has 175+ professionals in multiple offices across the U.S. With 12 dedicated industry groups, Capstone delivers sector-specific expertise through large, cross-functional teams. Capstone is a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN). For more information, visit ABOUT IMAP IMAP is an International Mergers and Acquisitions Partnership with a 50-year track record, more than 450 M&A professionals worldwide and a presence in 51 countries. IMAP has closed over 2,200 transactions valued at $130 billion in the last 10 years and is consistently ranked in the world's Top 10 M&A advisors (Refinitiv) for mid-market transactions. For more information, visit
