LOWER MIDDLE MARKET · PE-BACKED TRANSACTIONS
What the lower middle market paid—by industry and size.
Start with the full-year 2025 market pulse. Then enter one EBITDA amount to compare eight detailed industry groups, five enterprise-value bands, and four EBITDA bands without blurring their periods.
Compare my EBITDA across industriesThe overall 7.2× multiple and 297 deals come from GF Data's public year-end release.
The industry, enterprise-value, EBITDA-size, and observation tables below come from the earlier public detailed report. We do not pretend they are Q4 rows.
Eight reported industry groups
Media & Telecom
$100M–$250M enterprise value
All-years industry observations
ONE EBITDA · EIGHT INDUSTRY LENSES
What does the same EBITDA imply across industries?
Enter normalized EBITDA once. We apply each reported YTD 2025 industry-group average separately and show only indications that stay inside the source's $10M–$250M enterprise-value universe.
Your amount stays in this browser and is never included in analytics.
8 of 8 industry groups fit the source universe at $2,000,000 of EBITDA.
Manufacturing · 6.7×
Media & Telecom · 8.6×
Same EBITDA; separate source averages
Copy the amount, source universe, result span, and permanent report link in one citation-ready note.
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| Industry group | YTD 2025 avg. | Implied enterprise value | All-years N | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Media & Telecom | 8.6×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $17,200,000$2,000,000 × 8.6× | 85 | |
| Healthcare Services | 8.5×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $17,000,000$2,000,000 × 8.5× | 489 | |
| Retail | 7.6×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $15,200,000$2,000,000 × 7.6× | 148 | |
| Business Services | 7.5×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $15,000,000$2,000,000 × 7.5× | 1,333 | |
| Distribution | 7.2×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $14,400,000$2,000,000 × 7.2× | 601 | |
| Other | 6.9×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $13,800,000$2,000,000 × 6.9× | 524 | |
| Manufacturing | 6.7×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $13,400,000$2,000,000 × 6.7× | 2,197 | |
| Technology | 6.7×TTM adjusted EBITDA | $13,400,000$2,000,000 × 6.7× | 190 |
This comparison isolates the effect of the source's industry grouping. It is not a company valuation range: size, growth, recurrence, concentration, management, buyer type, debt, cash, and deal terms still matter.
INDUSTRY + SIZE + TIME EXPLORER
See what changed—without collapsing the market into one multiple.
Average TTM adjusted EBITDA multiples. Industry, enterprise-value size, and EBITDA size remain separate source views.
A 1.9-turn spread across the reported industry groups. This is source dispersion—not a company valuation range.
5,567 all-years observations in this source view.| Industry | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | YTD 2025 | All years | All-years N |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 7.2× | 7.4× | 6.5× | 7.0× | 6.7× | 6.4× | 2,197 |
| Business Services | 7.3× | 7.4× | 7.2× | 7.2× | 7.5× | 7.0× | 1,333 |
| Healthcare Services | 8.1× | 8.4× | 9.2× | 7.7× | 8.5× | 7.7× | 489 |
| Retail | 8.4× | 8.0× | 6.0× | 7.4× | 7.6× | 7.1× | 148 |
| Distribution | 7.2× | 7.1× | 7.1× | 6.9× | 7.2× | 6.8× | 601 |
| Media & Telecom | 7.0× | 8.3× | 7.8× | 6.7× | 8.6× | 7.6× | 85 |
| Technology | 10.3× | 8.1× | 10.2× | 7.9× | 6.7× | 8.6× | 190 |
| Other | 7.3× | 7.0× | 6.9× | 7.0× | 6.9× | 6.5× | 524 |
The table reports source averages, not medians or confidence intervals. “All years” includes the source's 2003–2020 history plus 2021–YTD 2025. N is the all-years observation count for that row. Industry rows cover private-equity-backed north american transactions with $10m–$250m of total enterprise value.
READ THE MULTIPLE CORRECTLY
Three facts that disappear inside a generic “market multiple.”
These are PE-backed transactions.
Private-equity-backed North American transactions with $10M–$500M of total enterprise value. Strategic buyers, individual buyers, and non-sponsored companies can price differently.
Industry and size answer different questions.
Private-equity-backed North American transactions with $10M–$250M of total enterprise value. The two size tables use enterprise value and EBITDA bands. Compare them, but never blend their averages into one synthetic multiple.
The table does not underwrite your company.
Growth, margins, recurrence, concentration, management, reporting, capital needs, and deal structure still drive real buyer decisions.
THREE MARKET LENSES
Keep private transactions, broader Main Street evidence, and public companies separate.
This report isolates PE-backed lower-middle-market transactions. The company-size report adds broader IBBA/M&A Source evidence. The public-company table is a trading-comps context—not a private-company multiple.
SOURCE CONTRACT
Public aggregates, with every period kept visible.
We transcribed GF Data's full-year headline and its earlier detailed industry and size averages with their all-years observation counts. We did not copy individual transactions, subscriber-only tables, infer medians or quartiles, blend in our protected index, or convert this PE-backed universe into a universal private-company multiple.
YOUR EBITDA · BROWSER-ONLY
Normalize the earnings before choosing the multiple.
Build a visible bridge from net income to adjusted EBITDA, then test only the reported company-size tiers whose implied enterprise values fit.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Lower middle market EBITDA multiples
What is a lower middle market EBITDA multiple?
It is a transaction enterprise-value multiple divided by trailing-twelve-month adjusted EBITDA for a company in a defined lower-middle-market universe. The cited GF Data report covers private-equity-backed North American transactions with $10 million to $500 million of total enterprise value. It should not be applied to every privately owned company.
What EBITDA multiples did lower middle market companies receive in 2025?
GF Data reported a 7.2× average purchase-price multiple across 297 full-year 2025 PE-sponsored transactions. Its public detailed tables stop at Q3 2025: enterprise-value bands ranged from 6.4× to 10.3×, while EBITDA-size bands ranged from 6.7× to 8.3×. Those are separate periods and lenses, not endpoints of one company-specific valuation range.
Which lower middle market industries had the highest EBITDA multiples in 2025?
Through Q3 2025, Media & Telecom was the highest of the source’s eight reported industry groups at 8.6× average TTM adjusted EBITDA. The industry table covers private-equity-backed north american transactions with $10m–$250m of total enterprise value, so it should not be applied to smaller private companies or strategic-buyer deals without adjustment.
Why do EBITDA multiples increase with company size?
Scale can coincide with deeper management, diversified customers, stronger systems, more reliable reporting, and access to larger buyers and financing pools. But size is not the only driver: industry, growth, margins, recurrence, concentration, capital intensity, and deal quality still matter.
Are these strategic-buyer or private-equity multiples?
The cited dataset is private-equity-backed. It includes transactions contributed by funded and independent sponsors, family offices, and mezzanine firms. A strategic buyer may underwrite synergies differently, so the buyer universe must remain attached to the benchmark.
Can I multiply my EBITDA by one of these numbers?
Only as a market reference after normalizing EBITDA and identifying a genuinely comparable size and buyer universe. The result is enterprise value, not equity proceeds, and still needs adjustments for debt, cash, working capital, transaction costs, structure, and company-specific risk.
What does $2 million of EBITDA imply across lower-middle-market industries?
Using the source’s separate YTD 2025 industry-group averages, $2 million of normalized EBITDA produces enterprise-value indications from $13.4 million for the 6.7× groups to $17.2 million for the 8.6× group. These are separate source indications—not a company valuation range—and all eight remain inside the source’s $10 million to $250 million industry universe.