What a year it’s been so far for tech. The best of times, the worst of times in some ways. The end of 2022 and the first half of 2023 kicked off with some big layoffs that left many big tech companies on the sidelines, postponing strategic acquisitions as interest rates rose. It’s hard to be bold during a period of rising interest rates, supply chain shifts, geopolitical uncertainty, and let’s not forget a big bank failure in Silicon Valley. Household names shed workers both as a way to deal with an uncertain economy and to make up for some missteps during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopify, GrubHub, Lyft, Amazon, Microsoft, Google (Alphabet) and even pandemic hero Zoom slashed jobs and retrenched. But as the first half of the year came to a close, we’re left feeling optimistic as private equity appears eager to make deals while order has been restored on the big tech side.