[ajsharp]

Will echo what many have said here already, but with a slight twist:

1. Anti-trust activity takes a HUGE portion of the liquidity that does M&A out of the market. That has a dynamic effect -- other players who are not under direct anti-trust scrutiny think twice about their potential M&A activity. This, in theory, should reduce M&A prices (reduction in supply supply), but this is probably largely offset by point 2. 2. Inflated valuations from 2021 era. Lots of companies raised ridiculous late stage rounds around this period. Then interest rates rose. Now your company that raised on 100x ARR is worth a lot less than it was. But the company still has to grow into and beat it's last valuation. Combined with the M&A dynamics, it's much harder to justify a post-money above what your last raise was if that raise was a post-covid valuation, unless the business is just truly on ripping (e.g. Wiz).