The middle market M&A trends for Q3 of 2023 show middle market deal flow experienced a notable slowdown, witnessing a substantial 25% decline in both volume and value. Firms continue to grapple with costly financing, limiting the amount of traditional platform acquisitions. Platform deals saw a 20.6% decline in value compared to the previous quarter. With the lack of platform acquisitions comes a loss of value in the market, reflected by the 18.1% drop in overall deal value in Q3. Such stagnate industry growth can be partly attributed to a slowdown in private equity exits, marked by a significant 21.3% decrease compared to Q2. Insufficient private equity exits have the potential to disrupt a typical fund's cash flow cycle and hurt the ability to drive value in transactions, which may deter firms from making costlier platform acquisitions. Despite the lack of return from exits, dry powder remains robust, resulting in firms continuing to deploy capital in smaller growth-centered deals and add-ons.