If your system holds ten years of a law firm’s matters and bills, or every incident a safety team has logged, you earned that loyalty through years of releases, rule changes and support calls. A sale is when a buyer prices that work, and the price depends on how many credible buyers compete for it: more than 400 different buyers have acquired legal, compliance and GRC software companies since 2015. Below are the multiples for legal, compliance and GRC (governance, risk and compliance) software, by sub-segment and size, and the groups doing the buying.
The companies covered sell their own software to legal, compliance, risk, audit, quality, health and safety or sustainability teams in any industry:
- Case and matter management, e-discovery, contract lifecycle management and legal research for lawyers
- Risk, audit, policy, whistleblowing, board portal, privacy and accessibility tools for compliance teams
- Environment, health and safety (EHS), quality management and ESG reporting software
Compliance software sold mainly to banks, insurers and asset managers is covered with financial services software, and software built for courts and public bodies with government software.
Our data holds 982 acquisitions of privately held legal, compliance and GRC software companies between 2015 and 2025, 570 of them since 2021. Terms are seldom public: 4.1% of the deals carry a revenue multiple and 1.5% an EBITDA multiple. For every segment, see our software valuation multiples.
Legal, Compliance and GRC Software Valuation Multiples Compared With All Software
Both multiples divide enterprise value (EV), equity value plus net debt, by revenue or by EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization). Buyers apply the EBITDA multiple to adjusted EBITDA, normalized for one-off items and owner costs.
| Legal, compliance and GRC software | All software (Aventis database) | |
|---|---|---|
| Median EV/Revenue | 5.00x (40 deals) | 3.39x (1,028 deals) |
| EV/Revenue, middle half of deals | 3.24x to 6.10x | 2.04x to 5.94x |
| Median EV/EBITDA | 16.2x (15 deals) | 13.6x (382 deals) |
| EV/EBITDA, middle half of deals | 13.0x to 20.0x | 8.6x to 22.0x |
| Median deal size | $30.3M (189 deals) | $23.0M (6,217 deals) |
Both multiples sit above software as a whole, and the typical deal is larger. The revenue median, on 40 deals, is the steadier guide. The two medians agree at an EBITDA margin of about 31%; below that margin the revenue multiple gives the higher figure, and a buyer can be expected to argue for the lower one.
Legal, GRC and EHS Software Valuations by Sub-Segment
| Sub-segment | Deals | Median EV/Revenue | EV/Revenue, middle half | Median EV/EBITDA | Median deal size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal software | 356 | 5.86x (13 deals) | 3.25x to 7.60x | see horizontal software, 13.5x (136 deals) | $70.0M (67 deals) |
| Governance, risk and compliance | 442 | 4.79x (16 deals) | 2.60x to 5.03x | 14.8x (8 deals) | $22.1M (93 deals) |
| EHS, quality and ESG | 184 | 5.33x (11 deals) | 3.58x to 6.35x | 16.4x (4 deals) | $30.3M (29 deals) |
Legal software has the highest median and the widest spread. Above its middle half sit three deals at 10x revenue or more, a legal spend platform, a contract platform and a litigation platform, while software for law firms’ daily work, such as matter management, billing and document tools, sold closer to 4x. GRC tools sell lower and smaller, and EHS, quality and ESG software has the highest share of financial buyers, 55% of its deals against 42% for legal and 48% for GRC.
ESG and carbon accounting software is the newest part of the segment: 53 deals, 49 of them since 2021, and only one with a disclosed deal value.
Legal and Compliance Software Valuation by Company Size
| Target revenue | Median EV/Revenue | EV/Revenue, middle half | Median EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $5M | 4.57x (14 deals) | 3.17x to 5.02x | 12.0x (3 deals) |
| $5M to $20M | 4.58x (15 deals) | 3.70x to 6.45x | 20.0x (8 deals) |
| $20M and above | 5.28x (11 deals) | 3.82x to 6.85x | 17.3x (4 deals) |
The median revenue multiple is flat below $20M of revenue and higher above it. The 11 multiples above $20M include several of the largest deals in the record, so they describe companies far larger than $20M of revenue. Financial buyers made 3 of the 23 deals under $5M of revenue and 9 of the 15 above $20M.
Timing shows a smaller change: 4.70x revenue for deals announced from 2021 to 2025 (16 deals) against 5.00x for 2015 to 2020 (24 deals). Only five revenue multiples were disclosed from 2022 to 2025, so the later figure rests mostly on 2021.
Where Legal and Compliance Software Deals Happen
Targets were in the United States (39%), continental Western Europe (20%), the UK and Ireland (17%), the Nordic countries (8%), Asia-Pacific (6%), Canada (4%) and elsewhere (6%). The disclosed multiples are mostly European: 31 of the 40 revenue multiples and all 15 EBITDA multiples. Companies in the UK and Ireland sold at a median of 5.01x revenue (14 deals), those in continental Western Europe at 5.31x (8 deals) and those in the Nordic countries at 3.79x (9 deals). Seven US deals disclose a revenue multiple, and US deals are larger, with a median deal size of $78M against $22M elsewhere. An owner of a US company should read the benchmark as a mostly European record.
What Drives a Legal or Compliance Software Valuation
Regulation as the source of demand. Much of the segment sells because a rule requires it: data protection laws, the EU Whistleblower Directive’s reporting channels for employers with 50 or more staff, health and safety law, ISO 9001 and ISO 45001, sustainability reporting. Buyers ask how much revenue depends on a single rule: in March 2026 the EU cut its sustainability reporting rules to companies with more than 1,000 employees and EUR 450M of turnover, from the 2027 financial year, and in May 2026 the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to rescind its climate disclosure rule. The EU’s NIS2 cyber-security directive, its AI Act and the European Accessibility Act have each created new demand.
Customer base and churn. Law-firm software vendors often sell to thousands of small firms, where churn comes from mergers and retirements, so buyers ask for revenue retention by customer size. Enterprise GRC and EHS vendors sell larger contracts, and buyers test concentration and the renewal calendar.
Content and AI. Legal research and regulatory content depend on editors who keep them current; buyers value owned content and check licenses for third-party content. On AI they ask whether features are priced, which models the product depends on, whether customer contracts allow the use of their data, and what happens to per-seat revenue if AI reduces the headcount a customer licenses.
Payments, services and security. North American law-firm software often earns a share of client card payments, valued on its margin after processing costs. Implementation, advice lines and courses are valued below subscription software, and buyers check SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification and data hosting.
How we present these to buyers. A buyer pays for what it can see and check. Part of our work in a sale is to present the business as strongly as the facts allow: we show which rules drive demand, retention by customer size, and the content and AI features customers pay for, and we deal with weak points before a buyer finds them and uses them to lower the offer.
Who Is Buying Legal, Compliance and GRC Software Companies
The 982 acquisitions rose from 44 in 2015 to 128 in 2022, fell to 81 in 2023 and reached 127 in 2025. Financial buyers, meaning private equity firms and the companies they own at the time of the deal, made 47% of all deals, against 33% across software, and 63% in 2025. Of the 960 companies acquired by a named buyer, counting a company bought in stages once, the ten most active groups bought 130, about one in seven.
| Buyer group | Headquarters | Ownership (October 2026) | Legal, compliance and GRC software companies acquired | Other software companies acquired | Total software companies acquired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constellation Software | Toronto | Listed (TSX) | 25 | 777 | 802 |
| Ideagen | Nottingham, UK | PE-owned (Hg) | 20 | 12 | 32 |
| Mitratech | Austin, Texas | Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (majority), Hg (minority) | 15 | 4 | 19 |
| Litera | Chicago | PE-owned (Hg) | 12 | 2 | 14 |
| Septeo | Montpellier, France | PE-owned (Hg) | 11 | 20 | 31 |
| Dye & Durham | Toronto | Listed (TSX) | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| Clio | Vancouver | Privately held (venture backed) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| RELX | London | Listed (LSE) | 9 | 19 | 28 |
| Visma | Oslo | PE-owned (Hg-led) | 9 | 238 | 247 |
| Wolters Kluwer | Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands | Listed (Euronext Amsterdam) | 9 | 14 | 23 |
Four of the ten are specialists built by acquisition, each around one customer: quality, safety and audit teams, corporate legal and compliance teams, law firms, or European lawyers and notaries. One investor stands behind much of the buying: Hg owns Ideagen, Litera and Septeo, leads the ownership of Visma and holds a minority in Mitratech, and those five made 67 of the 130 deals. Ideagen buys the smallest companies in the table: five of its ten deals with a disclosed value were below $20M, while five of the six disclosed deals by Dye & Durham and Wolters Kluwer were above $100M.
Deals with a strategic buyer show the higher median revenue multiple, 5.00x (27 deals) against 3.84x (13 deals), and those with a financial buyer the higher EBITDA multiple, 18.3x against 14.1x, on seven and eight deals. The strategic figure includes the two highest revenue multiples in the record, so the gap says more about those deals than about how each kind of buyer pays. For how the two kinds of buyer approach a deal, see strategic vs financial buyers.
One buyer’s offer tells you what that buyer would like to pay. Offers from several buyers, made at the same time on the same information, tell you what the business is worth. That is what a sale process does, and it is the work we do for owners: talk to us before you reply to an approach.
Selling a Legal or Compliance Software Company: If a Buyer Has Approached You
An approach usually comes on the buyer’s timetable, on the buyer’s terms and with no rival offer to compare it against, so an owner who answers it alone is negotiating with one party. A competitive sale process changes that in four ways, and running it is what we do for owners.
Several buyers bid at the same time. Financial buyers made 53% of legal, compliance and GRC software acquisitions since 2021, and more than 400 different buyers have acquired companies in the segment since 2015. A specialist built around your customer group and a private equity firm looking for a first platform value the same company differently, and offers that arrive in the same week, on the same information, show what the market will pay. Several of the specialists share an owner, so the process reaches beyond them.
The process sets the terms of engagement. The timetable, the information each buyer sees and the date offers are due are set for the seller, so competition decides the value instead of the first buyer’s opening figure.
Every term is negotiated while alternatives exist. The consent terms in law-firm and enterprise contracts and data processing agreements, any earn-out, and the AI features and data rights the buyer is paying for: each changes what the deal is worth to you, and each moves most while a second buyer is still in the process.
The business is ready before the first call. Three years of recurring revenue by product and customer, retention by customer size, revenue that depends on a single regulation, and services and content revenue with their margins. Buyers discount what they cannot check, so we prepare this with you before any buyer is contacted.
If you run a compliance, health and safety or sustainability consultancy, see our valuation pages for health and safety consultancies and sustainability consultancies.
Methodology
The figures come from the Aventis Advisors software deal database (Mergermarket, acquirer announcements and own research).
- Acquisitions of 50% or more of privately held companies, or of business units, announced from 2015 to 2025.
- Median deal size uses enterprise value where published, otherwise the deal value.
- In the tables, a median from fewer than ten deals is shown only if it rests on at least two deals and falls inside the middle half of horizontal software deals (software used across industries), and a middle half is shown only from ten deals or more. Otherwise the cell gives the figure for horizontal software as a whole.
- Few deals publish their terms, so the multiples rest on a small sample weighted toward larger deals.
- Financial buyers are private equity firms and the companies they own at the time of the deal.
- Buyer tables count each group under its current owner.
E-signature and archiving are counted with collaboration software, and e-invoicing and tax filing with finance software.
Talk to Us
If you own a legal, compliance and GRC software company, talk to us before you reply to an approach, agree a price or sign a letter of intent. We run competitive sale processes for owners: we prepare the business for buyers, approach the legal and compliance software specialists, information groups and private equity firms most likely to pay for your product and customers, bring their offers to a single deadline and negotiate the terms through to closing. We advised CKSource, the company behind CKEditor, on its sale to Tiugo Technologies, backed by Providence Strategic Growth, and Symfonia, backed by Accel-KKR and MidEuropa, on its acquisition of Nefeni, so we know how software buyers and their private equity owners build their offers. Aventis Advisors is a boutique M&A firm advising on transactions with typical enterprise values between $5M and $100M. The first conversation is informal and confidential. Contact us at contact@aventis-advisors.com or see our M&A advisory for software companies.
