AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
From American Big Tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft to emerging markets, M&A is increasingly being used not just to scale standalone businesses, but to build integrated ecosystems. Freedom Holding Corp. offers a clear example of this shift in developing economies. Freedom Holding has been steadily building a platform of financial and digital services through a series of acquisitions in Kazakhstan and abroad.
M&A Shift
Latest research from major consulting firms shows that the M&A landscape has changed significantly. It is shifting from simple market expansion to ecosystem building.
The report “Ecosystem architects vs Core consolidators. How M&A is reshaping competitive boundaries” from KPMG and Bayes Business School notes: "Competitive threats are no longer just the familiar rivals but also emerging players from unexpected sectors. The deal agenda is increasingly driven by the need to secure the new capabilities needed to build and navigate complex ecosystems and foster collaboration".
The consultants believe: firms that succeed will be those that build agile M&A capabilities - continue traditional consolidation to strengthen market share while simultaneously exploring cross-sector acquisitions to gain new capabilities. "This approach is evident in the rise of Ecosystem Architects who are redefining sector boundaries by acquiring capabilities that were once considered unrelated. For instance, a bank acquiring a tech startup or a manufacturer investing in renewable energy solutions are no longer anomalies but strategic necessities", concludes the report.
History Repeats
According to the “Technology M&A: AI enters its industrial phase” study from McKinsey & Co, AI is currently catalyzing a new wave of strategic M&A. "The sharp increase in infrastructure and platform M&A, particularly targeting data center assets, chip design, and model-training capabilities, reflects a strategic repositioning across the tech ecosystem," it finds.
McKinsey notes that similar dynamics were observed during the rise of the internet, the cloud build-out, and other recent tech revolutions. "Now the most active acquirers are focusing on deals that deliver strategic control of data, access to AI models, and computing efficiency. Their activity echoes that of the internet era of the early 2000s, when companies often used M&A to build full-stack digital ecosystems," the report says.
The Best Practices
Thus, Amazon, founded in 1994 as a small e-commerce venture targeting the fast-growing online retail market, survived the dot-com crash in the early 2000s and shifted toward a platform-based ecosystem model. In 2006, Amazon Web Services was launched, and over time, additional layers were added through a series of acquisitions, including content, retail, media, and future logistics capabilities. The 2009 acquisition of Zappos ($850 million) reinforced e-commerce and customer service. Twitch ($970 million) was acquired in 2014, adding a live media and user engagement layer. In 2017, the Whole Foods Market (13.7 billion) deal extended the ecosystem into offline retail and omnichannel commerce. Zoox ($1.2 billion) followed in 2020, laying the groundwork for autonomous logistics. In 2022, the purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ($8.5 billion) strengthened the content layer and the Prime Video subscription model. Ultimately, the company has built an integrated ecosystem in which commerce, delivery, cloud computing, and advertising keep users on the platform.
Another example – Microsoft. Founded in 1975 as a software company built around operating systems and office applications, it relied on Windows and Office as its core revenue drivers for personal computing for decades. Starting in the 2010s, the company began building an ecosystem around cloud services through Microsoft Azure, gradually expanding into adjacent products and services. The 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn ($26.2 billion) extended the ecosystem into professional networking and business communications. The 2018 purchase of GitHub ($7.5 billion) added the world’s largest developer platform, strengthening Microsoft’s position in the software development stack. In 2023, the Activision Blizzard ($69 billion) deal expanded its footprint in gaming and entertainment. At the same time, Microsoft has extended its AI capabilities through selective acquisitions and strategic partnerships, most notably with OpenAI. As a result, Microsoft has evolved into an integrated ecosystem where work, development, and entertainment are connected through a shared cloud backbone, increasingly augmented by AI.
Freedom Holding Corp. Goes Full Stack
Founded in 2008 as a brokerage business, Freedom Holding Corp. gradually expanded into banking, investments, and insurance, evolving by 2019 into a financial conglomerate. Between 2019 and 2021, the group added digital consumer services, including travel-service Aviata ($32.3 million), grocery delivery service Arbuz.kz ($16.5 million), and a company selling tickets to an event Ticketon ($3 million). These acquisitions extended Freedom’s financial platform into everyday consumer needs - transportation, shopping, and entertainment. In 2024, the holding strengthened its ecosystem by acquiring seven data centers from Transtelecom. These assets formed the core digital infrastructure supporting banking and other services. At the same time, Freedom expanded its telecom segment through the acquisition of Astel ($22.4 million), provider of internet and satellite communications services. The company is currently considering acquiring another bank in Kazakhstan.
Freedom Holding’s ecosystem expansion has transformed it from a small brokerage into a fintech conglomerate with a market capitalization of approximately $9 billion on Nasdaq. Freedom Holding Corp’s total assets stand at $12.38 billion. It operates in 21 countries and serves around 11 million clients across its own and partner platforms. Revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, reached $1.69 billion.
The next phase of expansion will be centered on M&A-led growth. Financial-sector M&A is expected to serve as the main driver, forming the core of a future ecosystem, with additional products and services, already tested domestically, built out over time. Freedom Holding Corp. has already announced the acquisition of Turkish Bank A.Ş. from Özyol Holding and the National Bank of Kuwait in Turkey, giving it access to a market of around 90 million people. In the former Soviet Union, the group is considering a bank acquisition in Armenia, while in the European market, it is exploring potential M&A opportunities in France.
The content has been authored in collaboration with our guest contributor, Daniel Harper.
