GrowthPal has raised $2.6 million in a funding round led by Ideaspring Capital, with participation from global angel investors. The funding will be used to accelerate product development and expand GrowthPal’s presence across international markets as more companies look for data-driven, programmatic ways to drive inorganic growth.
The fundraise comes at a time when corporate development and M&A teams are under pressure to do more with fewer resources. While acquisitions are becoming a critical growth lever, deal origination in the mid-market and early-stage segments continues to rely on outdated models built around banker networks, static databases and fragmented research. As a result, most buyers only see opportunities that are already in the market, while high-quality off-market targets remain difficult to discover.
GrowthPal addresses this challenge by using AI-driven reasoning to identify which companies truly matter for a given acquisition strategy. Unlike traditional platforms that focus mainly on aggregating data, GrowthPal helps teams connect strategic intent with real-world signals to surface high-fit, high-intent acquisition targets.
Maneesh Bhandari, co-founder and CEO, GrowthPal, said that most of the wasted time in M&A happens during sourcing, where teams spend weeks researching opportunities that never convert into meaningful deals. He added that GrowthPal was built to help buyers focus only on the most relevant targets and move from mandate to conversations far more quickly.
When a buyer defines a growth goal, such as entering a new market or acquiring a specific capability, GrowthPal’s platform converts it into a structured acquisition thesis. Its AI agents then scan an enriched database of over four million technology companies, using signals from public filings, hiring patterns, funding history, web activity and other indicators. This results in a refined shortlist of precision-fit, often off-market targets that closely match the buyer’s strategy.
GrowthPal was created to bridge a major gap in the global startup and M&A ecosystem. Although more than a million startups exist worldwide, only a small fraction successfully scale, often due to the lack of timely exits or strategic partnerships. At the same time, acquirers struggle to efficiently find suitable targets, especially for deals below $70 million, which typically fall outside the focus of large investment banks.
The platform has already supported more than 42 completed M&A transactions and enabled over 210 LOI-stage discussions across regions including North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Its client base includes large enterprises, mid-market companies, fast-growing startups, private equity-backed firms and corporate development teams in sectors such as IT services, SaaS, fintech and vertical software.
In one instance, a single customer completed seven acquisitions within 18 months using GrowthPal.
Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner, Ideaspring Capital, said GrowthPal is tackling one of the most under-optimised parts of the M&A lifecycle by using AI to compress timelines and bring structure to deal discovery, something traditional tools have been unable to achieve.
Going forward, GrowthPal plans to expand its capabilities deeper into the transaction process, including valuation logic, deal structuring and negotiation readiness. The company aims to become the core intelligence layer for M&A teams, helping them make better and more confident decisions from discovery through to deal execution.
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