Next-generation technology M&A
Sell your technology to the right strategic buyer.
Vayson Intelligence Group advises founders and investors on the sale and licensing of startup technology and IP. We combine AI-powered buyer research, a growing network of former industry executives, and hands-on M&A execution.
For operating businesses, non-core technology, and startups navigating a pivot or wind-down.
Global buyer discovery. Buyer-specific expertise. Founder-led M&A execution.
The opportunity
A company’s next chapter is not always its technology’s last.
A strategic pivot, funding constraint, or shutdown can leave valuable technology without a commercial home. We assess what can be transferred, who could benefit, and whether there is a credible path to a transaction.
- Monetize non-core technology
- Explore a sale or license of technology that no longer fits the company’s priorities.
- Preserve value through a wind-down
- Assess transferable technology and IP before expertise, documentation, and access become harder to recover.
- Find a strategic home
- Identify buyers for whom the technology could fill a product gap or accelerate development.
What we do
Unlock the value your technology has yet to realize.
Building valuable technology and commercializing it are different challenges. When the original business model has not worked—or a pivot leaves technology outside the company’s priorities—we help founders and investors pursue another route to value: selling or licensing it to a company that can put it to work.
The original business model is not the only route to value.
01
Technology & IP sales
Turn transferable software, algorithms, patents and know-how into an acquisition opportunity for a strategic buyer.
02
Strategic acquisitions & carve-outs
Find a new home for a technology business, product or platform that needs a different owner to realize its potential.
03
Licensing
Explore a route to monetization that gives a buyer access to the technology without necessarily acquiring the business.
The appropriate structure depends on the asset, ownership rights, buyer requirements, and seller objectives.
How we structure a mandateWhy Vayson
Your buyer universe should not end with an advisor’s address book.
Relationships matter. But the best buyer for your technology may sit outside a familiar sector, geography or existing network. We start with what your technology can do—and build the research, expertise and relationships around the opportunity.
Research hundreds. Prioritize the right ones.
AI-supported research lets us examine hundreds of potential acquirers across markets and geographies where the technology warrants that breadth. We look for specific applications, product gaps and build-versus-buy cases—not just companies in the same industry.
Match expertise to the buyer.
For priority buyers, we identify and engage relevant former executives and technical leaders. They challenge the acquisition rationale, help shape the pitch and identify credible routes to the people who could sponsor a transaction.
Carry the case through to a transaction.
We combine targeted outreach and relevant introductions with hands-on M&A execution: buyer discussions, technical evaluation, diligence and negotiations through closing.
We do not fit your technology to our existing network. We build the right network around your technology.
Broader relevant discovery and buyer-specific validation are designed to reduce missed opportunities and improve the chances of a transaction.
| Dimension | Traditional M&A approach | Vayson’s technology-first approach |
|---|---|---|
| Where the search starts | Familiar sectors and established relationships | The technology’s capabilities and where they could create value |
| How the buyer map develops | Expansion from known companies and contacts | AI-supported mapping across relevant industries and geographies |
| How expertise is assembled | Existing team and established specialists | Relevant experts selected for the asset and priority buyers |
| How buyer access is developed | Existing introductions and outreach | Existing relationships plus newly recruited buyer-specific advisors |
| What determines the pitch | An initial transaction story informed by sector knowledge | A buyer-specific acquisition case tested with relevant experts |
Where the search starts
Traditional M&A approach
Familiar sectors and established relationships
Vayson’s technology-first approach
The technology’s capabilities and where they could create value
How the buyer map develops
Traditional M&A approach
Expansion from known companies and contacts
Vayson’s technology-first approach
AI-supported mapping across relevant industries and geographies
How expertise is assembled
Traditional M&A approach
Existing team and established specialists
Vayson’s technology-first approach
Relevant experts selected for the asset and priority buyers
How buyer access is developed
Traditional M&A approach
Existing introductions and outreach
Vayson’s technology-first approach
Existing relationships plus newly recruited buyer-specific advisors
What determines the pitch
Traditional M&A approach
An initial transaction story informed by sector knowledge
Vayson’s technology-first approach
A buyer-specific acquisition case tested with relevant experts
A comparison of search approaches, not a claim about every advisory firm.
Our mission
If there is a strategic buyer for your technology, our mission is to find them—and turn that fit into a transaction.
Our approach
Research widely. Validate deeply. Execute personally.
01
Understand the asset
Clarify the technology, evidence, dependencies, ownership questions, transfer perimeter, and seller objectives.
02
Build the buyer hypotheses
Use AI-supported research to identify potential acquirers, relevant use cases, product gaps, and build-versus-buy arguments.
03
Validate with relevant experts
Work with former executives and technical leaders to challenge assumptions, refine the shortlist, and understand the route into each buyer.
04
Engage with a buyer-specific case
Prepare tailored materials and demonstrations, combine targeted outreach with relevant introductions, and identify potential internal sponsors.
05
Support the transaction
Coordinate commercial discussions, technical evaluation, diligence, negotiation, and closing with the seller and its advisers.
Buyer and expert feedback can change the thesis and shortlist. This is not a one-time database export.
See the full approachExpert network
A growing network. Built around your technology and its buyers.
Our advisor relationships and ongoing expert conversations span industrial software, engineering, spatial technology, enterprise platforms and connected operations. For each mandate, we draw on that experience and recruit additional former executives and technical leaders for the buyers and use cases that matter most.
Their role goes beyond making an introduction: test whether the technology solves a real problem, sharpen the buyer-specific case, help identify an internal champion and support the process toward a transaction.
Your project shapes the team—not the other way around.
Step 1
External advisor
Independent former executive or technical leader working with Vayson.
Step 2
Relevant buyer stakeholders
Product, technical, and corporate-development teams at a prospective buyer.
Step 3
Potential internal champion
A current employee of the buyer who may sponsor the opportunity internally.
Independent advisors help us identify and engage internal champions within prospective buyers. Former employees do not represent their former companies, and advisors do not guarantee access, interest, or a transaction.
Industry backgrounds represented in our advisor and expert conversations
Selected professional backgrounds from people we have spoken with across our technology-sale work, including engaged advisors and prospective collaborators.
View all backgrounds
AddSecure · AECOM · Aerie Engineering / AerieHub · Aras · AtkinsRéalis · AVEVA · Bosch · Bridgestone Mobility Solutions · C3 AI · Cupix · Datamine (Vela Software / Constellation Software) · Disguise · Element Fleet Management · Epic Games · FARO · Hadean · IFS · Infios · Maptek · Meta · Micromine · Mitsubishi Electric · Nearmap · Nemetschek Group · Niantic Spatial · Pix4D · Platform Science · Prevu3D · PTC · Schneider Electric · Shapr3D · Trackunit · Trimble · Willow · Yokogawa Fluence Analytics
Company names refer to individuals’ professional experience—not corporate affiliation or endorsement. Conversations do not imply a current advisory appointment; participation and availability are agreed for each mandate.
The network continues to grow. We select and recruit advisors around your technology, its potential buyers and the expertise required to move the process forward.
Become an advisor
Founder-led
Transaction experience. A founder’s perspective.
Vasily Nikolaev — Founder
Vasily combines more than a decade of investment banking and M&A advisory experience with hands-on experience building and commercializing AI and deep-tech companies. A former McKinsey consultant and IESE MBA, he brings a transaction adviser’s discipline and a founder’s understanding of technology, strategic pivots, and buyer evaluation.
His personal operating background includes founding Prophecta, an AI fleet-optimization company, and leading the commercialization and sale of Coda Devices.
Questions
Common questions from sellers.
Former executive, product, or technical leader? Advise on selected mandates.
Become an advisorExplore the next home for your technology.
Tell us what you have built, where the business stands, and what you want to achieve. We will discuss whether a focused sale or licensing process makes sense.
Start with a non-confidential summary. Please do not submit source code or trade secrets through the website.