Main Street To Mid-Street Acquisition & Financing News

Expert insights, funding strategies, and practical guidance for securing capital, financing growth, and navigating business acquisitions. Whether you're raising capital for expansion, restructuring debt, or exploring your first acquisition, our blog provides the knowledge and resources to help you succeed.

Growth
October 8, 2025

How to Build a Buyer-Led M&A Strategy That Works

A buyer-led M&A strategy flips the traditional playbook by putting strategy and value creation ahead of opportunistic deal-making. Instead of waiting for brokers or sellers, buyers proactively align acquisitions with long-term goals, ensuring each deal strengthens core capabilities and future positioning. By emphasizing integration planning, focus, and disciplined execution, this approach drives sustainable growth and turns M&A into a true engine for competitive advantage.

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Growth
October 7, 2025

Fifth Third announces $10.9B acquisition of Comerica, forming ninth-largest U.S. bank

Fifth Third’s $10.9 billion all-stock acquisition of Comerica marks one of the largest U.S. bank mergers in recent years, creating the nation’s ninth-largest lender with $288 billion in total assets. The deal underscores a wave of consolidation among regional banks, fueled by a favorable regulatory climate and strong stock valuations. By expanding into 17 of the 20 fastest-growing U.S. markets, the combined bank aims to enhance its commercial and wealth management capabilities while positioning itself for long-term growth in a reshaped banking landscape.

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Growth
October 7, 2025

SBA Hardship Accommodation vs Loan Forgiveness

The SBA Hardship Accommodation (for EIDL) was a temporary payment-relief plan that reduced monthly payments for a limited period, allowing interest to continue accruing; it ended on March 19, 2025. SBA Loan Forgiveness, by contrast, permanently cancels eligible debt and has been largely limited to PPP loans when borrowers met strict use-of-funds rules (e.g., payroll). In short: hardship = short-term payment flexibility you must still repay; forgiveness = permanent debt elimination for specific programs only.

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Growth
October 7, 2025

Choosing Alternative Funding: Grants, Debt, Bootstrapping

Alternative funding—through grants, debt, or bootstrapping—offers entrepreneurs flexible paths to growth without giving up equity or control. Grants can provide non-repayable capital when strategically aligned, debt can fuel expansion for revenue-generating firms while preserving ownership, and bootstrapping builds financial discipline and long-term autonomy. The most successful founders layer these tools thoughtfully, matching each funding type to their business stage, mission, and growth trajectory.

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Growth
October 6, 2025

M&A Deal Success Predictor

The M&A Deal Success Predictor helps founders, investors, and advisors assess the likelihood of a merger or acquisition succeeding before committing to a deal. By quantifying key factors like cultural alignment, financial health, market synergy, and integration planning, it turns complex qualitative insights into a clear probability score. This data-driven framework enables smarter decision-making, helping dealmakers identify strengths, spot red flags, and approach negotiations with greater confidence.

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Growth
October 6, 2025

How Revenue Assumptions Impact Business Valuation

Revenue assumptions are one of the most powerful drivers of business valuation—small forecasting errors can shift value by millions. Overly optimistic projections inflate valuations and derail deals, while conservative ones leave money on the table. The key is balancing historical data with market dynamics, using tools like AI analytics and sensitivity modeling to validate assumptions and ensure valuations reflect real growth potential.

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Growth
October 5, 2025

Complete Guide to 2025 M&A Trends for Founders

The 2025 M&A landscape marks a major comeback, with $2.2 trillion in deal volume driven by aging founders exiting and aggressive private equity activity. Mega-deals, sector-specific growth in finance, tech, and media, and a surge in take-private transactions are reshaping dealmaking. For founders, now is the time to prepare—by building scalable operations, aligning with high-growth sectors, and positioning to attract strategic or sponsor-led investments.

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Growth
October 4, 2025

Top 5 Rollover Equity Agreement Templates

Rollover equity lets sellers keep skin in the game by taking part of their consideration in the buyer’s equity, but the right template depends on entity type, tax goal, and control terms. Common options include corporate stock-for-stock (often aiming for §351/§368 treatment), partnership/LLC unit rollovers (typically §721), partial cash-plus-rollover, earnout-linked rollovers, and management incentive rollovers. Compare tax deferral, vesting/lock-ups, and governance rights (drag/tag, ROFR, puts/calls) to avoid disputes and align incentives post-close.

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Growth
October 4, 2025

Checklist for Negotiating NDAs in M&A Transactions

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are essential in M&A transactions to safeguard sensitive information shared during negotiations. A well-structured NDA clearly defines what is confidential, restricts its use, and includes critical terms like duration, non-solicitation, and return or destruction clauses. Tailoring NDAs to the deal’s size, industry, and competitive context ensures both parties are protected while enabling a smoother due diligence and negotiation process.

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Growth
October 3, 2025

Tax Impact of Equity in Search Funds

Equity in search funds carries meaningful tax consequences that can shape both investor returns and operator outcomes. The choice of entity structure—C corporation, S corporation, or LLC—determines exposure to double taxation, eligibility for Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) benefits, and self-employment taxes. With recent legislative changes expanding QSBS advantages and ongoing complexities like PFIC rules for foreign funds, early tax planning and structuring are critical to maximizing after-tax gains while avoiding costly compliance pitfalls.

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Growth
October 2, 2025

SBA Loan Program Updates: What You Need to Know About SOP 50 10 8 Revisions (2025)

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has released an important Procedural Notice (5000-872764), updating its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 50 10 8. These changes affect both the 7(a) Loan Program and the 504 Loan Program — two of the SBA’s most widely used financing tools for small businesses.

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Growth
October 2, 2025

How to Structure Rollover Equity to Minimize Risk

Rollover equity can be a smart way to align buyer and seller interests, but it introduces risks if not structured carefully. To minimize exposure, sellers should negotiate key terms like rollover percentage, voting rights, and exit provisions, while also modeling different scenarios to understand best- and worst-case outcomes. Working with legal, tax, and financial advisors ensures compliance, protects against dilution, and creates a framework for fair returns over time.

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Acquire Quality. Fund Growth. Close with Confidence.

As an AI-driven Business Acquisition Marketplace and Financing Platform, we are on a mission to simplify and accelerate the MainStreet to MidStreet lending and acquisition ecosystem.

We specialize in technology that supports price discovery, identity verification and financial qualification, and buy-side tools to help searchers source and manage deal flow, make offers, secure lending/financing solutions, and close with confidence.

illustration of team with digital platform

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions by users that are looking to buy businesses on Clearly Acquired:

How can I show business owners I'm a legitimate buyer and that I'm interested?

With a Clearly Verified account, you can instill confidence in other users, brokers and sellers that you are, who you say you are, when you "verify" your identify.  This is the key to instilling confidence in the users on the platform,  gaining traction and getting instant access to financials, supporting data and insight to quickly move to making an offer or moving on.   This will save you months of wasted time and expedite the closing of a sale.

How are my finances verified?

Using financial technology the Clearly Acquired Platform safely and securely verifies your finances, to help sellers understand your closing capability and help lenders expedite your financing. Additionally, the buy-side deal room will help you get your documentation in order, to prepare you for the debt and equity financing you will need to close your acquisition.

Can I get in touch with advisors to help support me in this process?

The Clearly Acquired team is here to support you on your business acquisition or business sale journey. That said, the platform is designed to connect you with a community of users, who are identify verified, which include: investors, lenders, advisors, brokers, consultants, and other buyers who are looking for partners.  

What is a Deal Hub?

The Deal Hub is the central repository for all transaction-related activities on our business acquisition platform. It serves as a secure and organized space where buyers and sellers can access critical information and manage the entire acquisition process efficiently. The Deal Hub is divided into two main components: the Data Room and the Deal Rooms.

Data Room: The Data Room is a secure, virtual storage space where sellers can upload and share essential documents related to their business. This includes financial statements, legal contracts, operational reports, and other due diligence materials. Buyers can access these documents to conduct thorough evaluations and make informed decisions. The Data Room ensures that all sensitive information is protected and only accessible to authorized parties.

Deal Rooms: The Deal Rooms are dedicated spaces for each business listing where buyers and sellers can collaborate and negotiate terms. Each Deal Room is equipped with tools for real-time communication, document sharing, and tracking the progress of the deal. This streamlined environment facilitates transparent and efficient interactions, helping to expedite the acquisition process and ensuring that both parties are aligned at every stage.

The Deal Hub's comprehensive and secure infrastructure simplifies the complexities of business acquisitions, providing a seamless experience for all users involved.

What is Plaid?

Plaid is a financial technology company that provides a secure and seamless way to connect and interact with financial institutions. It enables applications to access users' financial data with their consent, facilitating a wide range of services such as identity verification, account authentication, and transaction history retrieval. Plaid's robust API infrastructure ensures high security, reliability, and compliance with regulatory standards.

By integrating Plaid, Clearly Acquired can offer a secure, efficient, and reliable method for identity verification, building trust among users and ensuring the integrity of the acquisition process.

I am new to the idea of business acquisition, where can I get more information on how to get started?

Make sure to check out our Educational Course on Business Acquisition that is offered in our paid plans for buyers: From Purchase to Profit: Mastering the Art of Business Acquisition.

This Membership Course for buyers is designed to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate the business acquisition process successfully. Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced entrepreneur, our course equips you with the tools and insights needed to make informed decisions and achieve your acquisition goals. Join us and embark on your journey to buying a business with Clearly Acquired.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

Create Your Account. Get Verified. Start Searching.

1

Create an account

Every day, lenders, investors, brokers, and sellers come to Clearly Acquired looking for qualified operators like you. Creating an account and getting verified helps you stand out and build trust.

2

Build your profile

Build your profile to get matched with capital and opportunities. Showcase your expertise and resume, to connect with the right capital and acquisition partners—making every opportunity count.

3

Search & Connect

Browse Verified listings, source off-market deals, & manage deal flow with powerful tools to underwrite opportunities, and connect with capital to streamline the entire acquisition and funding process

Join the Clearly Acquired Search Community

Create Your Profile & Get Verified for Free