For non-tech companies, if you can't build it, buy a start-up

Cos have made acquisitions worth $125 bn worth of acquisitions in 2016, this was $20 bn 5 years ago

For years, mergers and acquisitions in technology were fairly straightforward: Every investment bank kept a list of a dozen or so companies like Google and IBM that had a track record of acquisitions and cash to deploy. When the time and price were right, bankers would seek to match the tech giants with a start-up, and a deal would be hatched.

Now the technology deal-making club has had its doors blown wide open.

All kinds of companies, including century-old industrial stalwarts like General Motors and General Electric, are among the corporate giants acquiring tech start-ups of late.

This trend, of course, reflects how