Which sell-side M&A advisors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (October 2026)
When US business owners ask AI engines which sell-side M&A advisor to hire, middle-market banks are named next to lower middle market boutiques. Houlihan Lokey was named most often, in 26 of 58 answers (44.8%), followed by Lincoln International (24) and Harris Williams (19). 52 of the 58 answers named at least one firm, and 140 different firms were named in total, 80 of them only once.
By Frederik Jakobsen, founder of Danish Lead Co and SourceRank AI. Measured 11 October 2026, published October 2026.
The firms AI named most often
Share of all 58 answers that named the firm as a provider, and how many answers on each engine named it. An answer counts once per firm however often it repeats the name.
89.7%
Answers that named at least one provider firm: 52 of 58. The rest gave criteria or advice and no names.
140 firms
Distinct firms named across all 58 answers. 80 of them were named in only one answer.
15.4%
Share of all 447 firm mentions taken by the three most named firms, Houlihan Lokey, Lincoln International and Harris Williams.
| # | Firm | Answers naming it | Engines | ChatGPT of 12 | Gemini of 12 | Copilot of 10 | AI Mode of 12 | AI Overviews of 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houlihan Lokey | 26 of 58 44.8% | 5 of 5 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Lincoln International | 24 of 58 41.4% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Harris Williams | 19 of 58 32.8% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | FOCUS Investment Banking | 19 of 58 32.8% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Generational Equity | 16 of 58 27.6% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | William Blair | 15 of 58 25.9% | 5 of 5 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | Woodbridge International | 13 of 58 22.4% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Calder Capital | 13 of 58 22.4% | 3 of 5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | Windsor Drake | 13 of 58 22.4% | 4 of 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Peakstone Group | 12 of 58 20.7% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 11 | iMerge Advisors | 11 of 58 19.0% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Software Equity Group | 9 of 58 15.5% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | Baird | 9 of 58 15.5% | 4 of 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Benchmark International | 8 of 58 13.8% | 4 of 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Capstone Partners | 8 of 58 13.8% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Top 15 of 140 firms. Engine columns show answers naming the firm out of that engine's measured answers. Firms with the same count are listed in the order the data was read.
What the answers show
- +Houlihan Lokey was named in 26 of 58 answers, 44.8%, Lincoln International in 24, and Harris Williams and FOCUS Investment Banking in 19 each. Houlihan Lokey, Lincoln International and Harris Williams are also among the four most named firms in our middle-market investment bank study, where they were named in 50, 41 and 41 of 59 answers.
- +This is the category where the engines were least willing to name names: 52 of 58 answers (89.7%) named an advisor, the lowest rate of all 22 categories. The rest explained fees and process without naming a firm.
- +Each engine has its own favourite. ChatGPT and Gemini named Houlihan Lokey most (8 of 12 and 8 of 12), Copilot named Windsor Drake and iMerge Advisors (5 each) and Google AI Mode named Peakstone Group (5 of 12). Only 4 of 12 questions had two engines agree on the first firm.
- +Windsor Drake shows the own-content route: windsordrake.com was cited in 15 of the 40 answers with sources, and Windsor Drake was named in 13 answers, 5 of them on Copilot. A named firm's own website was cited in 36 of the 40 answers with sources, the third highest share of the 22 categories.
What each engine named
The most named firm per engine. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews named Houlihan Lokey most (tied with Calder Capital on AI Overviews); Copilot and Google AI Mode did not.
| Engine | Answers | Named a provider | Distinct firms | Most named firm on that engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 55 | Houlihan Lokey (8 of 12) |
| Gemini | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 69 | Houlihan Lokey (8 of 12) |
| Microsoft Copilot | 10 | 9 of 10 90.0% | 47 | Windsor Drake, iMerge Advisors (5 of 10) |
| Google AI Mode | 12 | 10 of 12 83.3% | 41 | Peakstone Group (5 of 12) |
| Google AI Overviews | 12 | 9 of 12 75.0% | 48 | Houlihan Lokey, Calder Capital (4 of 12) |
First-pick agreement: in 4 of the 12 questions where at least two engines named a firm, two or more engines named the same firm first. Houlihan Lokey was named by 5 of 5 engines.
The sources behind the recommendations
Most cited domains in the 40 answers that showed a source list. Advisors' own pages and deal blogs carry this category.
| # | Cited domain | Kind | Answers citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | procloser.ai | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 17 of 40 42.5% |
| 2 | windsordrake.com | A named firm's own website | 15 of 40 37.5% |
| 3 | axial.net | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 12 of 40 30.0% |
| 4 | ctacquisitions.com | A named firm's own website | 11 of 40 27.5% |
| 5 | websiteclosers.com | A named firm's own website | 11 of 40 27.5% |
| 6 | chelsis.com | A named firm's own website | 7 of 40 17.5% |
| 7 | peony.ink | A named firm's own website | 7 of 40 17.5% |
| 8 | bdemerson.com | A named firm's own website | 4 of 40 10.0% |
| 9 | midmktadvisory.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 40 10.0% |
| 10 | linkedin.com | Social and video | 4 of 40 10.0% |
| 11 | mnacommunity.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 3 of 40 7.5% |
| 12 | capstonepartners.com | A named firm's own website | 3 of 40 7.5% |
Out of the 40 answers that carried a source list (100 distinct domains). Sources per engine: ChatGPT 0 of 12, Gemini 10 of 12, Copilot 10 of 10, AI Mode 9 of 12, AI Overviews 11 of 12.
| Source kind | Answers citing at least one |
|---|---|
| Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 37 of 40 92.5% |
| A named firm's own website | 36 of 40 90.0% |
| Social and video | 5 of 40 12.5% |
| Community forum | 1 of 40 2.5% |
An answer can cite several kinds, so the rows do not sum to the total. "A named firm's own website" means the domain matches the name of a firm named in this category.
How a firm in this category gets named
Being named depends on what the engines read. In this category, of the 40 answers that showed their sources, 36 cited a named firm's own website and 0 cited a directory, review or analyst site. Owners ask about a deal size, a sector, a fee or a failed process. An advisor that publishes plain pages on exactly those situations, with deal sizes, sectors and how its fees work, is quoted by the engines that read sources; Windsor Drake is the clearest case in this run. This is the work SourceRank AI does, described on the services page. The free site readiness check shows whether your site is structurally ready to be cited; it checks your site, it does not measure answers like the ones on this page. To see where your own firm stands in these answers, book a call.
Exactly what was measured
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 October 2026, one run |
| Buyer questions | 12, each phrased as a buyer asking for a provider, varied by size, budget, situation and switching. Full list below |
| Answer engines | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews |
| Engine cells | 60. One question on one engine |
| Answers measured | 58 of 60. The denominator for every share on this page. 2 Copilot answers were written for a buyer outside the US, a side effect of the third-party service we query Copilot through, and are excluded |
| Market | United States, English. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews were queried with a US location. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot were not given a location, the same as in our client measurement runs; Copilot answers that assumed a buyer abroad are excluded |
| Sources | Cited sources come from Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT's answers in this run came back without a machine-readable source list, so ChatGPT is not in the source tables |
| Firm extraction | One language model call per answer listed the firms the answer named as providers, excluding directories, publications, citation labels and tools. Names were normalised and aliases merged. A hand check of 20 answers across the study is reported on the hub page |
| Not measured | Location personalisation for the chat engines, logged-in or personalised sessions, run-to-run variation (this is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms), and model versions, which change without notice |
All 12 buyer questions
- Best sell-side M&A advisors for a company with $20 million in revenue
- Which M&A advisory firms should I hire to sell a business worth $10 to $50 million?
- Top lower middle market M&A advisory firms in the United States
- Who should I hire to sell my manufacturing company for around $25 million?
- Best M&A advisors for selling a software company with $5 million ARR
- Which sell-side advisors are best for a business owner who plans to retire and sell in the next two years?
- Recommend M&A advisors in the Southeast that sell businesses with $2 to $10 million in EBITDA
- Best M&A advisory firms for selling a healthcare services business
- Our business broker could not get a deal done. Which M&A advisory firm should we switch to?
- Which M&A advisors charge reasonable success fees on a $15 million sale?
- Most reputable sell-side M&A advisors for family-owned businesses
- Which M&A firms are best at running a competitive sale process for a lower middle market company?
Cite this research
Journalists, analysts and writers are welcome to quote, chart and republish the figures on this page. Please credit SourceRank AI and link to this page as the source. For the underlying data, a comment from Frederik Jakobsen or a category we have not covered, see the press page.
Suggested citation
SourceRank AI (2026). Which sell-side M&A advisors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? Measured 11 October 2026. https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/sell-side-ma-advisors/
Link to copy
<a href="https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/sell-side-ma-advisors/">Which sell-side M&A advisors do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (SourceRank AI, October 2026)</a>Where to go next
All 22 category studies
Who AI recommends across 22 B2B categories, with the cross-category findings and the full method.
What AI engines cite by industry
The source mix behind AI answers in ten industries, from our September 2026 measurement runs.
AEO for this industry
What we do for firms in this space, and the questions their buyers ask AI.
Common questions
Which sell-side M&A advisors does ChatGPT recommend?
In this October 2026 run ChatGPT named Houlihan Lokey most often, in 8 of its 12 answers. Across all five engines the most named were Houlihan Lokey (26 of 58 answers), Lincoln International (24) and Harris Williams (19).
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend the same sell-side M&A advisors?
Partly. Houlihan Lokey was named by 5 of the 5 engines, and in 4 of the 12 questions at least two engines named the same firm first. Below the top few names the lists diverge: 80 of the 140 firms were named in only one answer.
How was this measured?
12 buyer questions asking for sell-side M&A advisors were put once to ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews on 11 October 2026, from a US English context. 58 answers were measured, and the firms each answer named as providers were extracted and counted once per answer. It is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms.