From Uber's Seed Round to Your Exit: Why Top VCs Are Backing AI-Powered M&A
DealFlowAgent secures $750K from Long Journey, the VC fund behind Uber, SpaceX, and Loom. As IPO markets freeze and PE firms hold $2.6T in dry powder, smart money is rotating into AI-powered SME M&A.
From Uber's Seed Round to Your Exit: Why Top VCs Are Backing AI-Powered M&A
London, UK – DealFlowAgent, the AI-native investment bank for SME and lower mid-market M&A, today announced a $750,000 funding round led by Long Journey. The venture capital fund's team, including Arielle Zuckerberg, Cyan and Scott Banister, and Pascal Levy-Garboua, are renowned for their early, transformative investments in category-defining companies like Uber, SpaceX, and Loom.
This investment signals a pivotal shift in the private markets. As the IPO window remains effectively shut and traditional venture capital models face a liquidity crisis, smart money is rotating away from pure-play software and into the real economy. A recent Forbes analysis highlighted this trend, noting how private equity and venture capital have collapsed into the same battlefield, fighting over a shrinking pool of viable tech deals [1]. With a record $2.62 trillion in undeployed capital, these funds are now aggressively seeking opportunities in overlooked, profitable, and essential businesses.
This is where DealFlowAgent comes in.
The $10 Trillion Succession Crisis
Across the UK and US, over three million baby boomer business owners are approaching retirement, representing more than $10 trillion in value. Many of these are highly profitable, evergreen businesses in sectors like home services (HVAC, plumbing), healthcare (dental clinics, care homes), and fire safety. Yet, they are often overlooked by traditional investment banks focused on larger deals.
This isn't just a Western phenomenon. In Japan, 33-year-old billionaire Shunsaku Sagami has built a multi-billion dollar M&A empire by applying AI to this exact problem, revolutionizing a market long dominated by manual processes [2]. His success underscores a global opportunity: using technology to bring efficiency and transparency to the SME M&A market.
"After my own exit and since working with many owners and buyers since, I am pleased that the technology has finally caught up with my vision," said Joe Lewin, Founder and CEO of DealFlowAgent. "Most business owners have never sold a company before. They try to wing it, or they work with a traditional broker who can't maintain the intricate insights into what hundreds of buyers are actively looking for. Our centralised AI Deal Concierge maintains incredible memory of conversations, every preference, every deal structure—insights that would be impossible to track manually."
Combining Human Expertise with AI Precision
DealFlowAgent's model combines seasoned human M&A advisors with a powerful AI platform to modernize the end-to-end M&A process. Every client is paired with a senior advisor who leads the engagement, while a custom-trained AI Deal Concierge operates 24/7. This AI agent prepares data rooms, identifies qualified acquirers based on deep synergy analysis, monitors risks, and provides personalised guidance to the owner.
The results are transformative. In a recent engagement, the team helped an online pharmacy secure four offers in four weeks and close a multi-seven-figure, all-cash sale in just nine weeks—a third of the typical industry timeline.
"I've experienced how archaic the M&A process can be, especially for businesses. I've acquired 20 companies via my firm Noosa Labs," said Pascal Levy-Garboua, Partner at Long Journey Ventures. "We are seeing a perfect convergence: millions of retiring owners, surging capital from PE-backed roll-ups, and fragmented industries ripe for consolidation. Joe has the vision and execution to modernise this market, and we are excited to back him."
Building the Future of M&A
The new funding will be used to scale the platform and expand the team. DealFlowAgent is actively hiring for four senior roles: Senior M&A Advisor, Chief of Staff, Founder Associate, and Senior Full Stack Engineer. To learn more, visit dealflowagent.com/careers.
For business owners considering an exit, whether in the near or long term, DealFlowAgent offers a modern, efficient, and human-centric approach to securing their life's work. To book a confidential consultation, visit dealflowagent.com.
References
[1] Majic, J. (2025, November 25). How PE And VC Collapsed Into One Battlefield. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/josipamajic/2025/11/25/how-pe-and-vc-collapsed-into-one-battlefield/
[2] Lee, Z. (2024, July 7). How Japan's Youngest Billionaire Shunsaku Sagami Uses AI To Disrupt M&A Brokering. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/zinnialee/2024/07/07/how-japans-youngest-billionaire-shunsaku-sagami-uses-ai-to-disrupt-ma-brokering/
Experienced Dealmakers Lead Your Exit
A senior M&A bench, plus a sector specialist recruited for your industry on every deal.
James Duboullay
Senior M&A Advisor
- •25+ years across investment banking, M&A and fundraising
- •Sector focus: essential services and software
- •Long-standing relationships with private equity buyers and growth funds
- •Personally advising DealFlowAgent founders for the past four years
Emerson Patton
Sector Specialist: Building, Construction & Trade Services
- •20+ years advising owners in building services, fire safety, HVAC, plumbing, and construction
- •Guided 200+ companies through growth, profit improvement, and exit planning
- •Builds equity value and operational structure long before a sale
- •Partners with DFA to prepare owners for exit while the advisory team runs the sale
- •22 completed M&A transactions
- •Direct relationships with hundreds of strategic and financial acquirers
- •Previously built a mobility and field services business to 30 staff and 6 UK warehouses, then sold via competitive process with an EY M&A partner
- •Raised £2m in funding; placed 3rd of 1,900 at OnStage (the "Y Combinator of Europe")
- •Full-stack developer of advanced agent systems and second-brain tooling for the M&A process
- •Founded Fanbytes, scaled revenues to £10m+, exited at multi-eight-figure valuation
- •Advises on multiple M&A deals, invests in early-stage ventures
- •Built 700,000+ follower community teaching founders to scale and sell
- •Partnered with DealFlowAgent to expand access for founders to buyers
Sage
AI Deal Concierge
- •Available 24/7. Monitors every signal in your deal
- •Keeps your advisory team one step ahead at all times
- •Trained on thousands of M&A transactions
Sterling
Buy-Side Deal Origination Agent
- •Engages 12,000+ acquirers to surface live mandates and intent
- •Qualifies buyer fit, budget and timing before introductions
- •Feeds your advisory team with warm, ranked buyer matches
Sector Expert
Industry-Specific Advisor
For every engagement we add a sector specialist from your industry to the core team: a 15–25 year operator or advisor with direct relationships in your niche. Recruited per deal so you get the right fit, not a generalist.
Head of M&A
Senior hire — interviewing now
Final-round interviews underway with 100+ applicants. Joining May 2026 to lead the advisory bench across Building Services and Healthcare.
Senior M&A Advisor
New seat — 100+ applicants
Sourced from boutique investment banks and Big-4 corporate finance teams. Joining May–June 2026.
Senior M&A Advisor
Second seat — interviewing
Sector-specialist hire focused on the lower-mid market (£1M–£10M EBITDA). Joining May–June 2026.
We're actively expanding the bench — three senior M&A hires confirmed for May–June 2026. See open roles → Apply now →
Joe Lewin
Exited entrepreneur and M&A advisor who has guided 20+ business owners through successful exits. Joe built and sold his first company after scaling to 80,000+ users and raised over £2M in funding. He founded DealflowAgent to combine traditional M&A expertise with AI technology, creating aligned advisory solutions for SME business owners. Joe regularly speaks on exit planning and M&A trends, and has built a network of thousands of strategic acquirers across UK and US markets.