Private Equity 8 Hours

Last updated: August 28, 2026, 8:49 AM ET

Deal Activity

The proposed $50bn-plus buyout of PayPal by Advent International and Stripe has collapsed, Bloomberg reported, ending what would have ranked among the largest leveraged buyouts on record. The abandonment removes a major overhang on the payments giant's shares.

Meanwhile, financial services dealmaking is being reshaped by agentic commerce and AI-driven fraud. Accel-KKR-backed Basware signed a binding agreement to acquire Trustpair, pairing invoice lifecycle management with payment fraud prevention.

European Venture

Europe logged its second-busiest August on record for tech funding, despite the traditional summer slowdown, with 10 under-the-radar rounds standing out. US investors remain active across the continent, per a new ranking of the most active US VCs in Europe.

Still, concentration risk looms: just three deals account for nearly half of all German VC funding this year, according to Sifted, underscoring a widening gap between standout rounds and the broader market.