EBITDA Multiples by Industry in 2026

Hi Phil, thanks for the question!

In this case I’d recommend using the “Phones & Handheld Devices” category. The proposition of more accessible devices would help shape your thinking about sales channels and future growth, but the key risks and market potential are best indicated by the general category.

I hope that’s helpful!

Hi Jose, thanks for the question.

We have ‘Waste Management, Disposal & Recycling Services’ under the umbrella industry of ‘Environmental Services & Equipment’ on our platform – that sounds like a good option for you.

Hi Matt, thanks for the question!

The default multiples we provide are from Damodaran’s global dataset, which you can view here: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datacurrent.html

Hi Harsh, great question!

There’s a few things to consider here. One is that the kind of ‘rule of thumb’ approach to valuing a gym you can find online – using 1-5x EBITA – is fairly crude. It’s looking at current EBITA for what are generally fairly small ‘lifestyle’ businesses.

The multiple used by Equidam, as explained in our methodology, is derived from public companies (think Planet Fitness), and valuations are geared towards companies with that kind of ‘venture backable’ ambition. That multiple is applied to terminal year EBITA with a significant discount rate which reflects the risk of early stage companies.

So in summary: we use higher multiples which reflect the potential scale of venture backed businesses, but the calculation also discounts the result heavily based on the risk involved of building a startup with ambitions on that scale.

You can read more about how this is calculated in our Methodology paper, here:
https://www.equidam.com/methodology/

Hi Bolek,

‘Signs & Advertising Specialty Producers’ under ‘Advertising & Marketing’ might be a good fit for you – which would imply a multiple of 10.55.

Best regards,
Dan

Hi Joseph, thanks for the question!

That would probably best fit ‘Security & Surveillance’, which falls under ‘Communications & Networking’, with an EBITDA multiple of 13.98.

Best regards,

Dan

Hi Antonio,

Thanks for getting in touch, and happy to help!

That’s definitely a niche industry, so you wont find anything too specific (unless you know of similar companies who have recently raised money and published a multiple alongside that). However, I suspect Other Leisure & Recreation is a reasonable compromise in terms of the market risks and potential it represents. That would give you an EBITDA multiple of 12.27, as of our latest parameters update.

Best regards,

Dan

Earn outs as with valuation and many other clauses are several parts of the deal that are all related to each other. As earn outs are very common in startup exists, the valuation should not need large adjustments for a common earn out schedule. However, these negotiations are very ad-hoc so large variance is common.

I hope that answers your question!

Hi Jorge, thanks for the questions!

In regard to your first question: we’re currently still operating with the 2021 multiples, as the 2022 update by Professor Damodaran introduced a significant amount of volatility. Our assumption here was that the market would cool down through 2022, which did indeed prove to be the case – fairly quickly. Still, we recognise that it isn’t an ideal solution, are working on a better solution to multiples.

In regard to your second question, we published a note with our last multiples update which touches on the increase for airlines:
https://www.equidam.com/parameters-update-p5-4-ebitda-multiples/

I hope that’s useful! Don’t hesitate to follow up if you have any further questions.

Best regards,

Dan

Hi Jon,

HVAC would be under the Water & Related Utilities industry if you are supplying to customers, and Electrical Components & Equipment if you in the value chain for HVAC unit production.

I hope that answers your question! Let us know if there’s anything else we can help with.

Best regards,

Dan

Hi Alessandro, thanks for your question!

We use public company EBITDA multiples for calculating valuation, as they are the most widely available and reliable. As a part of the calculations we also apply a discount rate (looking at risk free rate, industry beta, market risk premium) and an illiquidity discount based on stage of the company.

Hi Chisom,

Multipliers look at the growth potential of industries from a consumer perspective, so think ‘financial services’ rather than ‘fintech’ for example. I’d be happy to answer the question if you have a particular sector in mind.

Hi Lukas,

Thanks for your comment, and very glad to hear you found the article useful.

In regard to your question: unless you have a focus on machinery or vehicles in a particular industry then ‘Auto Vehicles, Parts & Service Retailers’ might be the most appropriate. If is more industry rather than consumer focused then ‘Heavy Machinery & Vehicles’ might be a better guide to the growth potential of your sector.

Hi Kateřina, thanks for the question!

Looking at EBITDA multiples on a national basis typically isn’t very useful, as the multiple is determined by growth and risk forecasts which vary significantly according to the industry, even within the same country.

In your case I would suggest using the Financial & Commodity Market Operators & Service Providers multiple, as that will largely reflect those factors as present in the Fintech sector.

Thanks for the question! We store the data per country rather than by region, as the variance across regions can be quite large. I’ll add the data here for Fintech in UAE, but let me know if another country would be a more appropriate example:

Year 1: 1218.40%
Year 2: 126.04%
Year 3: 152.40%

Hope that’s of use!