The transatlantic premium in technology exits

Put a European software company and a US one with the same revenue, growth and margins side by side, and they will rarely sell for the same price. For founders in Central and Eastern Europe, that difference can be the largest single swing factor in an exit, larger than another year of growth.

How big is the gap?

Multiples.vc found that US-based companies commanded on average a 34% higher multiple than European ones between 2020 and 2025, across software, fintech, consumer and digital health. In software specifically, a 2026 analysis by iValuate puts US companies at a median 6.2x revenue against 3.8x for European equivalents, a premium of about 63%. In the broader mid-market the gap is smaller but still clear: around 12.8x EBITDA in the US versus 9.2x in Europe.

Where the premium comes from

• Buyer depth: roughly 3,200 active private equity firms in the US against 1,800 in Europe. A quality US business typically sees 8–12 credible offers, a European one 4–6 (iValuate).
• Growth expectations: buyers underwrite 15–25% annual growth for US mid-market tech and 10–18% for European peers, reflecting the size of the home market.
• Liquidity: deeper public and private capital markets make US assets easier to sell on, and buyers pay for that.
• Currency, tax and regulation: smaller factors, but they add up.

Most of these are features of the market a company is sold in, not of the company. That is why part of the discount can be changed.

The 2026 twist

In the first half of 2026, European buyers accounted for 79% of European software deal value, against a two-year average of 49%, as North American buyers stepped back from the largest European assets (Silverpeak). US buyers have not disappeared; they have become more selective. In 2025, technology made up nearly a third of US outbound cross-border deals, helped by a strong dollar and US market performance (Osborne Clarke). The practical consequence: US interest no longer arrives on its own. It has to be built deliberately into a process.

How European founders close the gap

• Build US revenue. A European company with around 60% of customers in the US may warrant only a 10–15% discount to US peers; one with more than half its revenue outside Europe trades at a 10–15% discount instead of the typical 25–35% (iValuate).
• Be strategically necessary to a US acquirer: fill a gap on its roadmap, in a capability, a market or a customer segment.
• Report like a US company: ARR, net retention, cohorts and US-GAAP-ready financials.
• Bring US strategic buyers into the process early, alongside European and financial buyers, so the price is set by competition.
• Prepare the structure: IP ownership, entity set-up and contracts that a US buyer can diligence without surprises.

iValuate cites a California cybersecurity company that bought a UK competitor at 8.2x revenue, a US-level multiple, because the target’s European customer relationships and GDPR expertise were strategically critical. That is the pattern: the premium follows strategic necessity and competitive tension, not geography alone.