GrowthPal Raises $2.6 Million to Reimagine How Startups Discover M&A Opportunities

In today’s fast-moving startup ecosystem, growth is no longer limited to building everything internally. For many founders and mid-market leaders, acquisitions have become a crucial lever to enter new markets, add new capabilities, and accelerate scale. Yet, even as M&A becomes more strategic, the way deals are discovered has remained largely unchanged. It is this fundamental gap that GrowthPal is aiming to solve—and investors are clearly convinced.

The AI-driven M&A intelligence platform has raised $2.6 million in a funding round led by Ideaspring Capital, with participation from prominent global angel investors. The capital will be used to accelerate product development and expand GrowthPal’s footprint across international markets, as demand grows for faster and more programmatic approaches to inorganic growth.

Why M&A Sourcing Remains Broken for Startups and Mid-Market Firms

Despite the growing importance of acquisitions, M&A sourcing—especially for smaller and mid-market deals—continues to rely on banker networks, static databases and fragmented research. Corporate development teams are under increasing pressure to deliver results with leaner teams and tighter timelines, yet the discovery process often consumes weeks or even months.

As a result, many high-quality, off-market opportunities never surface, while teams spend disproportionate time chasing leads that fail to convert into real deals.

Building an AI-Powered M&A Copilot

Founded by Maneesh Bhandari, Shalu Mitruka and Amaresh Shirsat, GrowthPal positions itself as an intelligent M&A copilot rather than a traditional data platform.

“M&A sourcing is where most time and effort is wasted, particularly in smaller and mid-market deals,” said Bhandari. “Teams spend weeks researching and pursuing opportunities that don’t materialise. We built GrowthPal to help buyers focus on high-intent, high-fit targets and move from mandate to meaningful conversations much faster.”

From Growth Intent to Precision-Fit Targets

GrowthPal’s workflow starts with clarity. Buyers define a specific growth objective—such as entering a new geography, acquiring a new capability or strengthening a product portfolio. This objective is translated into a structured acquisition thesis.

AI agents then scan an enriched database of more than four million technology companies, analysing signals such as public filings, web activity, hiring trends and funding history. Instead of broad and generic shortlists, the platform delivers a curated set of precision-fit, often off-market, targets aligned with strategic intent and transaction readiness.

Solving a Structural Gap in the Global Startup Ecosystem

The problem GrowthPal addresses is structural. While over a million meaningful startups exist globally, fewer than one per cent scale successfully—often due to limited access to timely exits or strategic partnerships. On the other side, acquirers struggle to source the right targets, particularly for deals below $70 million, which are typically overlooked by traditional investment banks.

This mismatch has left a large part of the M&A market underserved and inefficient.

Strong Early Traction Across Global Markets

Since inception, GrowthPal has supported over 42 completed M&A transactions and facilitated more than 210 LOI-stage conversations across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Its client base spans large enterprises, mid-market firms, fast-growing startups and private equity-backed companies across sectors such as IT services, SaaS, fintech and vertical software.

In one instance, a single client successfully closed seven acquisitions within 18 months using the platform, underlining the speed and repeatability GrowthPal aims to bring to inorganic growth.

Why Ideaspring Capital Backed GrowthPal

Commenting on the investment, Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner at Ideaspring Capital, said GrowthPal is addressing one of the most under-optimised parts of the M&A lifecycle.

By using AI to qualify deal discovery and compress timelines, GrowthPal enables a systematic and scalable approach to inorganic growth—something traditional tools have struggled to deliver.

Looking ahead, GrowthPal plans to extend its AI capabilities beyond deal discovery into valuation analysis, deal structuring and negotiation preparedness. The long-term goal is to build a comprehensive M&A intelligence system that helps companies make better decisions earlier and with greater confidence.

For startups and mid-sized businesses navigating an increasingly competitive global market, GrowthPal is positioning itself as a critical partner in making inorganic growth faster, smarter and far more predictable.

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