A new player has just rewritten the rules for buying and selling companies in Europe. Eilla AI, a technology-driven advisory firm, has officially executed the continent’s first mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal powered by an AI-native platform. The landmark transaction signals a seismic shift in an industry long dominated by personal networks and manual labor.
This pioneering deal saw Eilla AI advise on the acquisition of two digital marketing agencies, CreateX and Native Digital, by the Swedish publicly listed White Pearl Technology Group. It serves as powerful proof that artificial intelligence can make high level dealmaking faster, smarter, and accessible beyond billion dollar corporations.
A New Playbook for Dealmaking
For decades, the M&A process has been notoriously slow and inefficient. It often takes months, sometimes years, of painstaking research, outreach, and negotiation. Eilla AI was founded in 2022 to challenge this status quo, initially by trying to sell AI tools to traditional firms.
The team quickly discovered two critical realities. The M&A industry was lagging dramatically in AI adoption, and the small to medium sized business (SMB) market was massively underserved. So, they pivoted. Instead of selling the tools, they decided to become the service themselves, combining their powerful AI with seasoned human experts.
“We partnered with our Head of M&A, Dmitry, a senior investment banker with over 13 years of experience at firms like Jefferies and Citibank,” explained Petar Petrov, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Eilla AI. This hybrid model forms the core of their “AI-native advisory” service. The AI handles the heavy lifting, while human advisors provide the crucial strategic oversight and final judgment.
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How AI Is Redefining the Process
Eilla AI’s proprietary technology, built over three years, fundamentally changes how deals are sourced and executed. Where a traditional advisor might know a handful of potential buyers, Eilla’s AI scours a vast proprietary database of nine million companies to identify hundreds of ideal candidates in days.
The process is structured but incredibly efficient:
- Preparation: The AI identifies a large universe of potential buyers by analyzing synergies and past deals. It then helps create key documents like the confidential information memorandum, a task that traditionally takes months, in just a few days.
- Outreach: The system sends highly personalized messages to potential acquirers at scale. This tailored approach, built on deep research into each target, generates significantly higher response rates and creates competitive tension.
- Execution: With multiple interested parties, the seller is in a stronger negotiating position. Eilla’s team then guides the client through offers, due diligence, and closing the deal.
“The goal is to create competitive tension, ideally by arranging five to ten meetings,” Petrov noted. The recent deal for CreateX and Native Digital proved the model’s power. The buyer, White Pearl Technology Group, was a non-obvious choice that a traditional process, reliant on existing relationships, would likely have missed.
The Human Touch in a Digital World
Despite the heavy reliance on technology, the firm emphasizes that humans remain central to the process. AI is a powerful assistant, but it cannot replace the nuanced judgment required in high stakes negotiations. “These are judgment calls, what to include, what to emphasize. AI can assist, but humans make the final decision,” Petrov stated.
All AI generated materials, from outreach emails to formal reports, are reviewed and approved by their experienced M&A advisors. This ensures quality, accuracy, and strategic alignment with the client’s goals. The human element is responsible for building rapport, managing complex communications, and navigating the emotional aspects of selling a business.
The founders of the acquired companies praised this unique blend of tech and touch. “Honestly, without Eilla, this deal would not have happened,” said Aleksandar, founder and CEO of CreateX. This sentiment highlights the technology’s ability to unlock opportunities that were previously out of reach for many business owners.
A Global Shift Toward AI-Led Services
Eilla AI’s success is not an isolated event but part of a larger global trend. Venture capital giants like Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and General Catalyst are betting big on a new thesis: the next wave of disruptive companies will not sell software to service firms, they will become AI powered service firms themselves.
This pattern is already playing out across various sectors.
| Country | Company | Industry | Achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | M&A Research Institute | M&A Advisory | Publicly listed; cut deal times in half |
| United States | OffDeal | Investment Banking | Raised $17 million for its AI platform |
| United Kingdom | Lawhive | Legal Services | Raised $60 million; 7x revenue growth |
| United States | Rillet | Accounting | Raised $108 million from top VCs |
These companies are proving that by integrating AI at their core, they can offer superior, faster, and more cost effective outcomes than their traditional counterparts. As Sequoia partner Julien Bek argued, for every dollar spent on software, six are spent on services, making it a massive market ripe for disruption.
Unlocking a Multi Trillion Dollar Market
The timing for this innovation in Europe is critical. The European Commission estimates that over the next decade, a third of entrepreneurs will exit their businesses. This puts roughly seven million businesses and 30 million jobs at risk if they cannot find a suitable buyer.
Traditional advisory firms often cannot economically serve this market. The fees for smaller deals do not justify the hundreds of hours of manual work required. Eilla AI’s model breaks this barrier. By automating the most labor intensive tasks, it can operate on a success fee only basis with no upfront retainers, making professional M&A advisory accessible to all.
Since launching its advisory practice late last year, Eilla AI has grown its deal pipeline from around €1.6 million to over €20 million. It is a powerful testament to the massive, untapped demand from business owners who were previously left behind.
This first completed deal is more than just a single transaction; it is a clear signal that the future of professional services has arrived. By marrying the relentless efficiency of AI with the irreplaceable wisdom of human experience, a new generation of companies is not just participating in the market, they are remaking it from the ground up.
What are your thoughts on AI’s role in major business decisions like this? Share your opinion and join the conversation.
