Industry Convergence for Startup Businesses: Dynamic Trend Analysis Using Merger and Acquisition Information

It is beyond dispute that convergence drives innovation in the current business environment. In particular, industry convergence becomes critical because of the increased complexity of technology and diversified customer needs. This is especially true in many startups, where mergers and acquisitions are considered viable exit strategies. Despite the gravity of analyzing industry convergence, only a few studies have conducted quantitative approaches owing to the lack of comprehensive data available to analyze this. In response, this article analyzes the dynamic trends and phenomena of industry convergence using merger and acquisition information sourced from a Crunchbase dataset. How business startups integrate and merge together to create new value can be an important proxy for analyzing industry convergence. This article collected merger and acquisition data from 2010 to 2019 and divided it into three periods to analyze the dynamic trends of industry convergence and then visualized these trends using a network analysis. This article is expected to assist both managers and policymakers understand the dynamic changes in industry convergence and provide insight into future trends.