Independent software testing and QA is the smallest IT services line by deal volume. Between 2015 and 2025 we recorded 88 acquisitions of testing and QA firms worldwide, using proprietary counts from the Aventis Advisors deal database of more than 125,000 transactions. It is a thin but real market: a few pure-play testing consolidators, some IT majors adding QA capability, and a distinct games-QA sub-segment. The recorded count understates it, because the two largest transactions of the period were one-off purchases by buyers that never appear as repeat acquirers. This article ranks the most active buyers and is part of our ranking of the top strategic acquirers of IT services companies.
If you own a testing or QA business, the pool of natural buyers is narrow but identifiable, and which acquirers apply depends heavily on whether you serve enterprise software or games. Recurring test-engineering relationships and automation depth are what separate a scarce asset from a commodity in this line.
Who’s buying software testing firms: 2015-2025 in numbers
Testing and QA is the smallest line we track, at 88 recorded deals over eleven years, and activity is thin and episodic rather than a steady consolidation wave. One buyer stands out on volume: QualiTest, with 8 acquisitions, ahead of Nomura Research Institute on 3, with every other active buyer in the table on two. The line splits in two: enterprise software testing, led by QualiTest, a few IT majors and a set of European specialists, and a distinct games-QA sub-segment with its own acquirers. Private equity is a small presence, with 14 of the 88 deals structured as buyouts, and prices are disclosed on only a handful of transactions.
The disclosed record understates this market. The two largest testing transactions of the period do not show up in a ranking built on deal counts, because each buyer bought once: Expleo, then Assystem Technologies, acquired SQS Software Quality Systems in 2018 for roughly EUR 280m, and Coforge acquired control of Cigniti Technologies in 2024 for roughly INR 32bn. Both are larger than anything in the table below. Read the counts as a measure of how often a buyer shows up, not of how much capital has moved through the line.
The most active buyers of software testing firms at a glance
Deal counts cover announced acquisitions of testing and QA firms from 2015 to 2025, families consolidated. Planit Test Management is counted inside Nomura Research Institute, which has owned it since 2020, so it no longer appears as a separate buyer. Given the small sample, most buyers sit at two deals each.
| # | Buyer | Type | Total 2015-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  QualiTest |
Strategic | 8 |
| 2 | Nomura Research Institute (incl. Planit) | Strategic | 3 |
| 3 |  Izertis |
Strategic | 2 |
| 4 |  Digital Hearts |
Strategic | 2 |
| 5 |  Embracer Group |
Strategic | 2 |
| 6 |  Alten |
Strategic | 2 |
| 7 |  Keywords Studios |
Strategic | 2 |
| 8 | TestSolutions | Strategic | 2 |
| 9 |  QESTIT |
Strategic | 2 |
1) QualiTest
Overview: QualiTest is the most acquisitive pure-play QA and test-engineering consolidator in our data, building a global quality-engineering platform. It is owned by the private equity firm Bridgepoint, which bought it from Marlin Equity Partners. It is not the only pure-play that reached scale in this period: SQS in Europe and Cigniti in India both did, and both were acquired, by Expleo in 2018 and Coforge in 2024.
Acquisition pace: The most active buyer in this line with 8 acquisitions: four before 2020 and four across 2020-2022. No acquisitions are recorded in our database since 2022.
Typical target: Independent testing and QA firms in India, Israel, the US, and the UK.
Select transactions: ZenQ (~$37m, 2022, India), Comply (~$15m, 2021, Israel), and the testing-services division of Orasi Software (~$10m, 2018, USA).
2) Nomura Research Institute (including Planit)
Overview: Nomura Research Institute is a Japanese IT services and consulting firm that buys testing capability both directly and through Planit Test Management, the Asia-Pacific testing and QA specialist it has owned since 2020. The two are counted here as one family.
Acquisition pace: 3 acquisitions on a combined basis: one by Planit before Nomura owned it, Nomura’s purchase of Planit in 2020, and one further deal in 2022. The group’s Australian and New Zealand activity is counted once rather than under both names.
Typical target: Testing and QA firms in Asia-Pacific, above all Australia and New Zealand.
Select transactions: Planit Test Management Solutions (Australia, 2020), Qual IT Solutions and SEQA (New Zealand, 2022), and TenXLabs Technologies (India, 2016, bought by Planit before Nomura’s ownership), all undisclosed.
3) Izertis
Overview: Izertis is a Spanish digital technology and services firm adding testing capability.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions: one in 2020-2022 and one in 2023-2025.
Typical target: Testing and QA firms in Spain and the UK.
Select transactions: Globe Testing (~$12m, 2021), and Assured Thought (UK, 2025).
4) Digital Hearts
Overview: Digital Hearts is a Japanese games-QA and testing group, one of the active buyers in the games-QA sub-segment.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions: one before 2020 and one in 2020-2022.
Typical target: Games-QA and software-testing firms in the US and Japan.
Select transactions: LogiGear (~$8m, 2019, USA), and the software-testing business of Sobal Corporation (~$3m, 2022, Japan).
5) Embracer Group
Overview: Embracer Group is a Swedish games group buying games-QA providers.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions, both across 2020-2022.
Typical target: Games-QA studios in Central and Eastern Europe.
Select transactions: Quantic Lab (~$6m, 2020, Romania), and Bytex (Russia, 2021).
6) Alten
Overview: Alten is a French engineering and technology consultancy adding software-testing capability to its engineering-services base.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions: one before 2020 and one in 2023-2025.
Typical target: Software-testing and QA firms in Europe and North America.
Select transactions: Comiq Group (Finland, 2018), and QA Consultants (Canada, 2023), both undisclosed.
7) Keywords Studios
Overview: Keywords Studios is a global games-services group, the leading consolidator of games-testing and player-support providers.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions, both before 2020.
Typical target: Games-testing labs in North America.
Select transactions: VMC, formerly Volt’s games-QA arm (~$66m, 2017), and Enzyme Testing Labs (~$4m, 2016, Canada).
8) TestSolutions
Overview: TestSolutions is a German software-testing and QA firm consolidating testing providers.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions, both in 2023-2025.
Typical target: Software-testing and QA firms in Germany.
Select transactions: SPIRIT-TESTING Software & Services (Germany, 2025), and ASQA Software Quality Assurance (Germany, 2025), both undisclosed.
9) QESTIT
Overview: QESTIT is a French software-testing and quality-engineering specialist consolidating European testing firms.
Acquisition pace: 2 acquisitions: one in 2020-2022 and one in 2023-2025.
Typical target: Testing and quality-engineering firms in Europe (Sweden, Liechtenstein).
Select transactions: AddQ Consulting (Sweden, 2022), and a further European acquisition in 2023, both undisclosed.
The largest deals sit outside the ranking
A ranking built on deal counts rewards buyers that come back repeatedly, so the two biggest testing transactions of the period are missing from the table above. Both were single purchases, and both were larger than anything the repeat acquirers did.
Expleo, then trading as Assystem Technologies, acquired SQS Software Quality Systems in 2018 for roughly EUR 280m. SQS was an independent European testing pure-play, and this is the largest independent testing deal of the period. It took a leading pure-play out of the market in one move.
Coforge acquired control of Cigniti Technologies in 2024 for roughly INR 32bn. Cigniti was itself a listed, acquisitive pure-play testing business, so the deal removed a second independent consolidator from the field and moved its book inside an Indian IT major.
The pattern matters if you are selling. The largest value in this line has changed hands through one-off strategic purchases rather than through the serial consolidators, so a process that only targets repeat buyers will miss the acquirers that paid the most.
Games QA, a distinct sub-segment
Part of this line is games quality assurance rather than enterprise software testing. Keywords Studios, Digital Hearts, and Embracer Group are the active buyers there, consolidating games-testing and player-support providers. If you run a games-QA business, these specialist buyers, rather than the enterprise-testing consolidators above, are your natural acquirers.
Active private equity investors in software testing
Private equity plays a smaller role in this line than elsewhere in IT services, with 14 of the 88 deals structured as buyouts and no single sponsor building a large platform. Financial buyers are more likely to reach testing firms as add-ons to broader QA or IT services platforms than as standalone bets. For the sponsors most active across the sector, see our ranking of the top private equity investors in IT services.
What this means if you’re selling a testing or QA firm
The buyer pool is small but focused: QualiTest is the most frequent enterprise-QA buyer, the IT majors buy for scaled capability, and games QA has its own acquirers. The largest exits in this line, though, went to buyers making a single move, Expleo for SQS and Coforge for Cigniti, so do not read a deal-count table as the full list of who might pay the most. Recurring test-engineering relationships and automation capability drive value in a market where independent scale is scarce. See also strategic versus financial buyers.
Thinking about selling your testing or QA business?
Aventis Advisors advises IT services founders on M&A. We help you identify the realistic buyers, position the business, and run a competitive process. Talk to our team.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the most active buyer of software testing firms?
QualiTest, with 8 acquisitions between 2015 and 2025 in our database, ahead of Nomura Research Institute (3, including Planit, which it has owned since 2020) in a small line where most other buyers have made two deals. On value rather than volume the picture differs: the two largest deals of the period were Expleo’s purchase of SQS in 2018 (roughly EUR 280m) and Coforge’s purchase of control of Cigniti in 2024 (roughly INR 32bn).
Is games QA the same market as software testing?
No. Games quality assurance is a distinct sub-segment with its own buyers (Keywords Studios, whose 2017 purchase was VMC, formerly Volt’s games-QA arm, and Digital Hearts), separate from enterprise software-testing consolidators like QualiTest, Expleo and Coforge.
About Aventis Advisors
Aventis Advisors is an M&A advisory firm focused on technology and IT services companies. We advise founders and owners on company sales, growth capital, and strategic transactions, combining sector focus with proprietary deal data such as the database behind this article. To discuss your options, get in touch.
