Another one from BizBuySell’s 2025 Insight Report: AI may be a structural tailwind for small business valuations.
On the Buy Side: AI Is Expanding the Buyer Pool
44% of small business buyers identify as corporate refugees—mid-career professionals leaving employment to buy a business. Among that group, 28% cite AI-related job concerns as a contributing factor in that decision.
AI is disrupting traditional employment and pushing a growing wave of motivated, capitalised buyers toward small business ownership.
On the Sell Side: AI Is Improving the Underlying Asset
65% of small business owners now report using AI in their operations, and 83% of these say it has improved performance.
Buyers are starting to price this in. 33% view a business that has adopted AI as more valuable, going so far as saying that “If the business hasn’t started implementing ANY AI enhancements, I would be concerned about any existing staff being able to implement and/or adapt to AI”.
For business owners, the implication is straightforward: AI adoption is increasingly a valuation input, not just an operational one.