There were 15 workforce solutions acquisition announcements tracked so far this February. Here is a recap and highlights from January’s deal activity:
February 1st-19th Deal Highlights:
HR Path acquires Lumi - Consulting.
The deal: HR Path, the global HR consulting and HRIS implementation firm, acquired Lumi, a US-based Workday integration specialist founded in 2017. This is HR Path's second US acquisition in as many months, and it's third US acquisition since September 2025.
The angle: HR Path is running a deliberate multi-platform US expansino strateg. The pattern is clear: buy the deepest platform specialists you can find rather than build the expertise from scratch. Dayforce in January, Workday in February. These are the two enterprise HCM platforms growing fastest in North America right now, and owning purpose-built implementation and integration boutiques for both means HR Path can credibly pitch any mid-to-large enterprise going through an HCM transformation regardless of which platform they're migrating to.
Phenom acquires Be Applied - HR Tech.
The deal: Phenom acquired Be Applied, an AI-driven cognitive assessment platform that validates candidate and employee capabilities at enterprise scale, embedding evidence-based skills validation into Phenom’s AI hiring suite.
The angle: This isn’t just another HR tech feature. Phenom is doubling down on the hard part of “skills-first” hiring: validation. Most talent platforms can tag profiles and infer skills, but few can scientifically prove capability at scale. By folding adaptive, evidence-based assessments right into its AI engine, Phenom is positioning itself as the infrastructure for employers that want to move past resume proxies and really measure what people can do. Phenom is addressing the shift toward skills-centric talent strategies among enterprise hiring teams.
Careerminds acquires Four Companies - HR Tech.
The deal: Careerminds has acquired Keystone Partners, Renovo, Job Copilot, and Outplacement Australia, creating a scaled global platform spanning outplacement, career transition, leadership development, and AI-enabled job search tools across North America, the UK, and Australia.
The angle: This isn’t incremental M&A, it’s land grab consolidation in a fragmented outplacement market. Careerminds is betting that employers navigating layoffs, redeployment, and internal mobility don’t want four vendors and a patchwork tech stack. They want one global partner with both high-touch coaching and AI-driven delivery. Outplacement is being repositioned from a reactive layoff service to a broader workforce strategy play, and scale + tech is becoming table stakes.
Edustaff acquires E-Therapy - Staffing.
The deal: EduStaff, a PE-backed K-12 education staffing firm operating in 14 states, acquired E-Therapy, a virtual and hybrid therapy services provider serving students across 31 states.
The angle: This move is designed to capture more wallet share from the same school district buyer. The deeper strategic logic beneath the surface is that special education therapist shortages are chronic and worsening, so virtual delivery solves a supply problem that traditional placement simply can't fix at scale. EduStaff is expanding its menu and hedging against the talent scarcity that threatens its core staffing business by owning a delivery model that requires far fewer bodies to serve the same number of students.
Care Career acquires IDR Healthcare - Staffing.
The deal: Care Career acquired IDR Healthcare, a Georgia-based travel nurse, allied and education staffing firm. It's sixth acquisition in 18 months as it continues to consolidate niche healthcare workforce providers.
The angle: Care Career is methodically layering complementary verticals (travel nursing, allied, and education staffing) to build a diversified healthcare workforce platform that can sell deeper into provider systems and school districts alike. Bringing IDR’s leaders into the fold also suggests they’re buying management horsepower, not just revenue.
Other Deal Headlines from February 1st-19th:
Did you read about any other deals we may have missed? If so, please reply with details. LongBoard will review and add our commentary in the next M&A brief!
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More deals to come.
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