2025: H1 review of the Dutch M&A market for Digital Agencies

Wim Folens

Partner, Managing Director

IN COOPERATION WITH EMERCE

Building on our earlier analysis of the Dutch M&A market for digital agencies, we continue to monitor and interpret the deals and themes in this fast-evolving sector. With a dedicated team and deep market involvement, CFI works with platforms, founders and investors across the Benelux and wider Europe on M&A transactions in this domain.

In partnership with Emerce, the leading multi-channel platform for digital marketing business, well-known for its annual Emerce100, we have published the ‘Digital Agencies 2025: Half-Year Review’. This report analyses transactions closed between 2020 and June 2025, and provides context and trends on this. In this edition, we’ve also included a barometer for M&A appetite and the acquisitive agendas of the digital marketing agency platforms, active in the Dutch market. Furthermore, this gives insights on outlook and where momentum is building, which specialisms are in demand, and how cross-border appetite is developing.

M&A activity

Deal activity strengthened in the first half of 2025, with a strong Q2. The deals were predominantly domestic, with cross-border moves present but selective. Investor-backed platforms proceeded more deliberately, with fewer add-ons observed. The most active consolidators included NewwwMediaGroup, Only and Dekuplé. New platforms were established, including Strix (backed by Delta Equity Partners) and SuperRebel.Agency (with Antea Participaties), and transactions focused on portfolio-shaping add-ons. Overall sentiment is cautiously optimistic; transactions are smaller and more specialised, and strategic alignment outweighs scale. The rapid uptake of AI is forcing many agencies to adjust their business models, and a clearer split is emerging between high-performing firms and those under pressure.

1H25 saw 37 transactions, up from 31 in the same period last year.
Primarily domestic settings: 62% within the Netherlands, 24% involved foreign buyers of Dutch targets and 14% Dutch companies acquiring foreign targets.
30% of 1H25 deals were platform-led add-ons, versus 43% in 2024.

Acquisitive strategies

In addition to this retrospective analysis, the barometer of the platforms’ acquisitive strategy indicates a focused approach for future deals. Preferred capabilities cluster around tech, e-commerce and data, with acquisitions used to deepen specialisms and client coverage rather than scale for its own sake. For cross-border expansion, stated preferences concentrate on Scandinavia and the DACH region. As several platforms near the next step in their investment cycles, some are focusing internally ahead of potential exits, while a growing number of agencies are exploring strategic combinations.

Out of the 19 agency groups, 8 are actively exploring acquisitive growth opportunities, and 6 groups have a more reactive approach towards M&A propositions.
7 out of these 14 groups have ambitions outside of the Netherlands.

Get in touch with us

To access the full Digital Agencies 2025 Half-Year Review, please visit the Emerce website (note: an Emerce Team Subscription is required).

Would you like to discuss this report, these developments and the market with us? Please contact Sebastiaan Renting, Raoul Duysens, or Wim Folens for further insights or a broader conversation.