Ukraine’s M&A Market Surpasses $1 Billion Already in Q1 2026

In the first quarter of 2026, the total value of publicly known M&A transactions related to Ukraine exceeded $1 billion, marking one of the strongest signals yet of recovering investment activity since the start of the full-scale war. According to calculations based on InVenture’s deal database, 52 transactions were recorded in January–March 2026, of which 38 have either disclosed or market-estimated values. In total, these deals amounted to approximately $1.113 billion.

For comparison, InVenture estimated Ukraine’s M&A market at $1.35 billion for the whole of 2025, across 123 transactions. This means that by the end of the first three months of 2026, the market had already reached roughly 80% of last year’s full-year volume. As a result, 2026 has started significantly stronger than the market expected, and the recovery is now taking on not only a quantitative but also a qualitative dimension.

The main driver of the quarter was the agribusiness sector, which accounted for around 45% of total deal value. Another 28% came from IT, technology and telecom, about 8% from logistics and transport, 6% from real estate and construction, and another 5% from energy. While real estate, IT/telecom and agribusiness led by value in 2025, the market in early 2026 has shifted clearly toward agribusiness consolidation and large-scale technology capital.

The largest deal of the quarter was Kernel’s acquisition of Enselco Holding Limited, which has a land bank of about 190,000 hectares, for $348 million. Other major deals included the acquisition of Agro-Region by Enselco Agro / Kapenata Limited, estimated in the ranking at approximately $120 million. Together, these transactions formed the backbone of the quarter’s statistics and confirmed that agribusiness remains one of the most liquid segments of Ukrainian M&A even in a wartime economy.

Technology became the second major centre of gravity for investors. The largest tech round of the quarter was Preply’s $150 million raise from WestCap. Other major transactions included $50 million raised by UForce from Shield Capital, Lakestar and Ballistic Ventures, $22 million raised by Holywater from Horizon Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and Wheelhouse, as well as a number of smaller but still notable investments in software, AI, automation and defence tech. As a result, the technology segment became the second-largest source of major investment volume in the Ukrainian market after agribusiness.

Infrastructure and strategic acquisitions also deserve special attention. The quarterly ranking includes Crédit Agricole’s acquisition of Bank Lviv, valued at around $40 million; European Lithium’s purchase of Velta Holding US Inc. assets for $33 million; Kyivstar Group’s acquisition of solar assets worth approximately $40 million; and TIS’s buyback from DP World / P&O Maritime of a 51% stake in Container Terminal Pivdennyi and LBSh LLC, a deal whose value was significantly below the original entry price but may still amount to tens of millions of dollars. Another large transaction, whose value was not disclosed but likely also reached tens of millions of dollars, was the investment by Horizon Capital / Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV) in Ukrainian food producer Eco-Snack LLC, known for the Bob Snail brand.

These cases show that alongside private capital in tech and agribusiness, deal activity is also picking up in banking, critical materials, energy and logistics.

Top 10 M&A deals in Ukraine in 2026

Another important signal is the return of international capital to the upper end of the market. According to InVenture estimates, domestic investors accounted for 65% of deals and more than 80% of their value in 2025. In early 2026, however, the structure became noticeably more mixed. International banks, funds and strategic investors are appearing increasingly often among the top deals, while domestic capital remains strong in agribusiness, real estate, infrastructure and local consolidation cases.

In essence, the market is moving away from a model dominated by mid-sized ticket deals and local buyers toward a new configuration in which the statistics are increasingly shaped by several large transactions in traditional sectors and major venture rounds in technology. For investors, this means Ukrainian M&A is once again becoming a market not only for selective opportunistic deals, but also for larger strategic bets on agribusiness, infrastructure, energy and technology.

At the same time, the figures should be read with a methodological caveat. Some amounts in the ranking are marked as market-reported, inferred, or AI-estimated, while a substantial share of transactions traditionally remains outside the public domain due to low transparency. Even so, the visible part of the market already sends a clear signal: Q1 2026 was one of the strongest starts to a year for Ukrainian M&A in recent periods, and further dynamics will increasingly depend on agribusiness consolidation, international financing, and new large-scale deals in technology and infrastructure.