Software & IT Services Ownership & Succession Statistics (2026)
Serava.AI tracks 271,384 owner-operated software & it services companies across six countries. The average owner has been in the business 9.1 years; 22% are succession-ready (owner tenure 15+ years) and 93% have no website — the off-market majority a buyer never sees on listing marketplaces.
Snapshot: 2026-07-21 · Refreshed monthly · License: CC BY 4.0 (cite with link)
By country
| Country | Companies | Succession-ready | Avg owner tenure |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 212,333 | 16% | 7.9 yrs |
| United States | 23,278 | 61% | 16.6 yrs |
| New Zealand | 21,664 | 20% | 9.1 yrs |
| Canada | 8,705 | 49% | 13.9 yrs |
| Australia | 4,221 | 73% | 17.3 yrs |
| Ireland | 1,183 | 22% | 7.6 yrs |
Software & IT Services ranks #28 of 30 major owner-operated verticals by succession-ready share (22% vs a 41% median). Compare verticals on the data hub.
Methodology
Counts cover owner-operated software & it servicescompanies in Serava.AI's first-party registry dataset (6M+ companies across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland), compiled from government business registries, licensing boards, and public filings, refreshed monthly. Snapshot date: 2026-07-21.
Owner tenure uses verified owner tenure where known, otherwise years in business (partially registry-inferred), capped at 60 years. Succession-ready = tenure of 15+ years; succession-urgent = 25+ years. Long tenure is a proxy for a coming ownership transition, not a statement that any specific business is for sale.
Owner names are registry-verified for 76% of companies in this vertical. Website presence is measured against the company record; companies without a site are effectively invisible to listing marketplaces.
Frequently asked questions
How many software & it services companies are owner-operated in the countries Serava tracks?
Serava.AI tracks 271,384 owner-operated software & it services companies across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland (snapshot 2026-07-21).
What share of software & it services businesses are succession-ready?
22% (60,437 companies) have owners with 15+ years in the business — below the 41% median across the 30 largest owner-operated verticals. 12,999 are at 25+ years.
What does "succession-ready" mean in this dataset?
An owner tenure of 15 or more years (owner tenure where known, otherwise years in business, capped at 60). Long tenure is the strongest publicly observable predictor of a coming ownership transition.
Where does this data come from?
First-party Serava.AI registry dataset: 6M+ owner-operated companies compiled from government business registries, licensing boards, and public filings across six countries, refreshed monthly. Full methodology is on this page.
Source: Serava.AI Software & IT Services Succession Statistics, 2026 — https://serava.ai/data/software_services
CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution + link.See the 60,437 succession-ready software & it services companies on a live map
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