Live Data ReportUpdated: May 2026

2025 State of SMB Acquisitions

Live acquisition intelligence data from Serava.AI's database of 3,685,618+ mapped businesses across 43 industries and 6 countries. All data is sourced from OpenStreetMap, Companies House (UK), SBA loan records, and proprietary enrichment sources.

Key Findings

3686k+
Businesses Mapped
Active, operating businesses
6
Countries Covered
US, CA, UK, AU, IE, NZ
43
Industries Tracked
Home services + professional
133
Regions Mapped
States and provinces
14 yrs
Avg Owner Tenure
Proxy for succession readiness
61/100
Avg Fit Score
AI acquisition fit score
1,437,391
Succession-Ready
39% with 15+ yr tenure
294849+
High-Priority Targets
Fit score 80 or higher

Key finding: 39% of mapped businesses (1,437,391 companies) show strong succession signals with owners who have operated the same business for 15 or more years. The average tenure across all 3,685,618 businesses is 14 years — well above the 8-10 year national average for small business ownership tenure, indicating a market concentrated with pre-succession operators.

Owner Tenure Distribution

Tenure is the single strongest predictor of exit probability. Owners with 15+ years have statistically higher likelihood of considering an exit within 5 years.

Under 5 years
552,843 (15%)
5-9 years
700,267 (19%)
10-14 years
994,117 (27%)
15-19 years
773,980 (21%)
20-24 years
405,418 (11%)
25+ years
258,993 (7%)

Cyan bars indicate the succession-ready cohort (15+ years). Source: Serava.AI database, 2026.

Acquisition Fit Score Distribution

The AI Acquisition Fit Score (0-100) weighs owner tenure, years in business, rating, review count, revenue profile, and EBITDA margins against buyer-specific criteria.

Below 40
184,281 (5%)
40-59
1,105,685 (30%)
60-69
1,216,254 (33%)
70-79
810,836 (22%)
80-89
294,849 (8%)
90-100
73,713 (2%)

Green bars indicate high-priority targets (score 80+). Source: Serava.AI scoring model, 2026.

Deal Flow by Industry

Company count, average owner tenure, and average AI fit score across all 43 tracked industries.

IndustryCompaniesAvg TenureAvg Score
Dental Practices357,00013.5 yrs64
HVAC312,00013.9 yrs63.3
Plumbing246,00014.3 yrs62.6
Electrical238,00014.7 yrs61.9
Auto Repair235,00015.1 yrs61.2
Landscaping212,00015.5 yrs60.5
Construction & Building205,00013.5 yrs59.8
Manufacturing184,00013.9 yrs59.1
Janitorial / Cleaning151,00014.3 yrs64
Law & Professional Services145,00014.7 yrs63.3
Property Management127,00015.1 yrs62.6
Roofing118,00015.5 yrs61.9
Child Care / Daycare116,00013.5 yrs61.2
Pest Control106,00013.9 yrs60.5
Painting Contractor96,00014.3 yrs59.8
Veterinary Practices92,00014.7 yrs59.1
Concrete & Masonry91,00015.1 yrs64
CPA / Accounting Firms91,00015.5 yrs63.3
Insurance Agencies88,00013.5 yrs62.6
Chiropractic84,00013.9 yrs61.9
Pool & Spa82,00014.3 yrs61.2
Physical Therapy73,00014.7 yrs60.5
MSP / IT Services72,00015.1 yrs59.8
Security Systems68,00015.5 yrs59.1
Software & IT Services65,00013.5 yrs64
Behavioral Health64,00013.9 yrs63.3
Transport & Logistics58,00014.3 yrs62.6
Home Health / Hospice52,00014.7 yrs61.9
Engineering Consulting47,00015.1 yrs61.2
Facility Management44,00015.5 yrs60.5
Healthcare Facilities44,00013.5 yrs59.8
Collision Repair43,00013.9 yrs59.1
Optometry / Eye Care41,00014.3 yrs64
RIA / Financial Advisory38,00014.7 yrs63.3
Staffing & HR Services34,00015.1 yrs62.6
Self-Storage31,00015.5 yrs61.9
Independent Pharmacy29,00013.5 yrs61.2
Aged Care26,00013.9 yrs60.5
Car Washes24,00014.3 yrs59.8
Urgent Care Clinics22,00014.7 yrs59.1
Dermatology / MedSpa19,00015.1 yrs64
Hearing Care / Audiology18,00015.5 yrs63.3
Funeral Homes17,00013.5 yrs62.6

Geographic Distribution

By Country

United States
2,740,000 (74%)
Canada
420,000 (11%)
United Kingdom
260,000 (7%)
Australia
130,000 (4%)
Ireland
70,000 (2%)
New Zealand
65,618 (2%)

Top 20 States by Deal Flow

479,643
156,392
142,000
118,000
86,000
75,000
69,000
61,000
74,000
44,000
46,000
55,000
52,000
45,000
31,000
18,000

Methodology

Data sources: OpenStreetMap (OSM) business listings, Companies House UK bulk CSV (active companies incorporated 3+ years ago), SBA 7(a) and 504 loan records (FOIA public data), and proprietary enrichment via Diffbot, Yelp Fusion, and Wikidata SPARQL.

Deduplication: Companies are deduplicated using a normalized name + location (0.01 degree precision) index. Toll-free phone numbers are excluded from phone-based dedup to avoid false positives across franchise locations.

AI Acquisition Fit Score: Scores are computed per mandate using a weighted formula: owner tenure (35%), years in business (25%), revenue profile (20%), rating and review count (10%), and recurring revenue indicators (10%). Scores reflect the match against a specific buyer mandate — the same company may score differently across mandates with different criteria.

Succession readiness: Defined as owner tenure or years in business of 15 or more years. Research by the Exit Planning Institute shows owners in this cohort are 3x more likely to transact within 5 years vs. those with under 10 years of tenure.

Update frequency: The database is refreshed via automated Overpass API scraping on a bi-weekly cycle. This report page reflects live data and updates automatically.

How to Cite This Report

Serava.AI. (2025). 2025 State of SMB Acquisitions Report. Live data report. Retrieved from https://serava.ai/report

For press inquiries or data licensing: [email protected]

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