31 March, 2026
The first quarter of 2026 continues to deliver. Global PE, sovereign capital, and international acquirers are all moving on ANZ tech, from fleet software and quality engineering to managed services, quantum computing, and advertising infrastructure. The deals are varied, but the signal is consistent: the region's technology assets are firmly on the global radar.
2 February 2026 | A$20 million
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has taken a $20 million equity stake in Diraq , the Sydney-based quantum computing company spun out of UNSW in 2022. It's the second major NRFC-backed technology investment this year.
Diraq is building silicon-based quantum processors designed to slot into existing data centre infrastructure using standard semiconductor manufacturing. The company has over 70 staff across Australia and the US, and is targeting its first product a quantum computer capable of genuine quantum advantage by 2029.
The investment signals the Australian Government's intent to build sovereign capability in quantum computing, positioning the country in what is shaping up to be one of the defining technology races of the next decade. For the M&A market, it's a leading indicator: as quantum moves from research to commercialisation, the companies building the enabling layer — silicon fabrication, error correction, quantum-safe cryptography will increasingly become acquisition targets for defence primes, hyperscalers, and chipmakers.
3 February 2026 | Undisclosed
India-headquartered Aspire Systems, a global technology services firm with over 4,500 employees, has acquired Wellington-based Assurity Consulting and Surety Solutions. The deal creates a combined quality engineering practice of nearly 900 specialists across Australasia and globally.
Assurity is New Zealand's leading independent software quality consultancy, with teams across Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Brisbane, and Manila. As AI speeds up software delivery, the demand for advanced QA and testing capability is outpacing what most local firms can scale to meet. Managing Director Garth Hamilton stays on, along with the senior leadership team, and gains immediate access to Aspire's proprietary AI testing frameworks.
The deal reflects a growing pattern, specialist ANZ consultancies with deep domain expertise are attracting global acquirers who see the region as both a talent pool and an APAC beachhead.
3 March 2026 | Estimated A$100 million+
US private equity firm Accel-KKR has acquired a 75% stake in Whip Around, the New Zealand-founded fleet compliance and maintenance software platform, in a deal understood to be worth more than $100 million following Overseas Investment Office approval.
Founded in 2016 by James Colley and Tim Boyle, Whip Around started by helping truck drivers digitally track vehicle inspections and has since grown into a broader fleet operations platform, covering compliance, maintenance workflows, and asset utilisation for fleet owners, predominantly in the US market. CEO Noah Hickey (former All White) stays on to lead the next phase of growth, while early backer Punakaiki Fund retains approximately 5% of the business.
Accel-KKR manages more than US$23 billion in cumulative capital commitments and focuses exclusively on technology investments. The deal is a clean validation of a pattern we're seeing more frequently: NZ-founded vertical SaaS businesses that build for a global market from day one are attracting serious PE interest at meaningful valuations, not despite their New Zealand origins, but increasingly because the capital efficiency and product discipline that comes with building from a small market produces exactly the kind of business profile growth-stage PE firms want to back.
4 March 2026 | Undisclosed
First Focus, one of Australia's top-rated managed service providers, has acquired CNX a Nelson and Christchurch-based MSP serving businesses across New Zealand's South Island. It's First Focus's fifteenth acquisition overall, third in six months, and establishes a national platform in New Zealand for the first time.
While First Focus has operated in Auckland for over a decade, it primarily served Australian clients with NZ operations. CNX changes that. Founded in 2001 by Paul Burt, the business has deep relationships across the Nelson, Tasman, and Marlborough regions, the kind of embedded local trust you can't replicate by opening an office from Sydney.
Post-acquisition, CNX customers gain access to First Focus's full capability set: 24×7 support, cybersecurity, AI and automation, and software development. The company says the integration will bring forward roughly three years of planned service improvements into the coming months. Burt stays on to lead South Island growth.
The deal reinforces a pattern building across the ANZ managed services market: the best mid-market MSPs are being acquired for their customer relationships and regional credibility as much as their revenue.
Parable served as exclusive sell-side advisor to CNX on this transaction.
6 March 2026 | Undisclosed
Sharp New Zealand has acquired Securecom, an Auckland-based managed services and security provider. It's a first not just for Sharp NZ, but for any Sharp subsidiary in the Asia-Pacific region to integrate an MSP.
Securecom brings managed IT services across network, cloud, and cybersecurity, backed by a 24/7 Integrated Operations Centre. The business has a strong commercial client base across New Zealand. Under the acquisition, Securecom continues operating under its existing leadership, with Jan Nicol-Winitana as Managing Director and newly appointed Chair, rebranding as "Powered by Sharp."
The deal reflects a familiar dynamic playing out across the global technology channel: hardware margins are compressing, customers are shifting to subscription models, and the defensible move for legacy infrastructure vendors is to own the managed services layer on top of the kit. Sharp NZ historically built on printers, displays, and document solutions is pivoting toward recurring, higher-margin services revenue.
New Zealand makes a natural proving ground. The ANZ managed services market is deeply fragmented, full of quality mid-market operators with established relationships and predictable recurring revenue. If this model works, expect Sharp to repeat it across the region.
10 March 2026 | A$200 million
Not a traditional M&A deal, but arguably the most strategically significant tech capital deployment in Australia this month. The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has invested $200 million in Macquarie Technology Group the NRFC's largest investment in any single company to date.
The capital will fund sovereign, secure digital infrastructure: cloud services, cybersecurity, and new data facilities targeting Australian government agencies, the Department of Defence, defence industry, and critical infrastructure sectors. The first $100 million will be drawn by June 2026, the second by March 2027, creating an estimated 140 jobs.
The timing is significant. Australia's sovereign cloud market is entering a new phase, driven by escalating AI compute demand, tightening data sovereignty requirements, and a government willing to back its digital infrastructure ambitions with real capital. Alongside OpenAI's recently announced AUD $7 billion AI campus with NEXTDC in western Sydney, the Macquarie Technology deal signals that sovereign digital infrastructure is being treated as a national strategic asset.
For the M&A market, the implications are direct: companies with sovereign data credentials, government clearances, and certified facilities will command increasing premiums. And the capital flowing into sovereign infrastructure is creating new acquirable capability categories AI-enabled cybersecurity, secure cloud orchestration, and data sovereignty tooling where we expect acquisition activity to pick up over the next 12 to 18 months.
25 March 2026 | ~A$30 million
Canva has acquired Melbourne-based Doohly, a digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising platform for approximately A$30 million. It's Canva's sixth acquisition in two years and third in 2026, following MangoAI and Cavalry in late February.
Founded in 2020 by Sean Law and Tom Sawkins, Doohly manages the full DOOH campaign workflow- creative deployment, scheduling, audience targeting, and performance measurement across digital screens in outdoor, retail, and transit environments. With customers across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, and only A$500,000 in pre-seed funding (via Skalata and Archangel Ventures), the A$30 million exit is a standout - a 60x return on invested capital.
The strategic picture is bigger than any single deal. Canva has historically helped users create content. What it has now acquired through MangoAI (AI video ads), Cavalry (motion animation), and Doohly (physical screen distribution) is the ability to distribute it. The three deals together give Canva a credible end-to-end workflow from design to deployment across digital and physical media.
With a US listing widely anticipated later this year, the pace of acquisitions tells its own story. Canva is moving quickly to fill gaps in its platform, particularly where creative tooling meets advertising distribution.
.jpg)
