*This is not financial advice. All content should be considered opinionated. We are not responsible for any of your gains and losses. I am neither a licensed nor registered financial expert. Please see a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

*This is not financial advice. All content should be considered opinionated. We are not responsible for any of your gains and losses. I am neither a licensed nor registered financial expert. Please see a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Growth through acquisition has been one of the "lazy" ways for a company to grow. Basically, you acquire a business that's doing well and you benefit from the business's continued sales growth. While those deals can be expensive, the fees they give to investment banks can be large and can make a CEO a banker's best friend. 

There are many examples of companies that pursued growth through acquisition. In the semiconductor space, Broadcom has been growing fast by acquiring other semiconductor players like Avago, a leader in radio frequency filters. During the early days of eCommerce, Amazon acquired Zappos. In the pharmaceutical space, Eli Lily acquired Loxo Oncology, a biotech firm that specializes in cancer drug research. Overall, many of these firms have grown thanks to the acquisitions they've made.

While many of those Fortune 100 companies chose to acquire companies that were growing in their industry, other companies, most of whom aren't well known to investors, found growth through consolidating fragmented industries.

US Concrete (NASDAQ: USCR) has a goal of consolidating the cement industry. Because the cement industry comprises of many small players, through debt-fueled acquisitions, they've been able to acquire more concrete companies and have become one of the largest concrete companies in the US.

With the landscaping industry also being a highly fragmented industry, Brightview Holdings (NYSE: BV) is looking to consolidate the industry. By acquiring other great landscaping business in the US, Brightview has been one of the largest landscaping businesses in the US.

As hydroponics becomes more popular and widely used by the emerging cannabis industry, GrowGeneration (NASDAQ: GRWG) has been acquiring a couple hydroponics businesses along with opening more retail locations to fuel growth. 

And finally, we have Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), the mobile app developer. When looking at the app store, there are so many apps out there and they are all created by many different developers. Zynga has been acquiring many other app developers to boost their bottom line and capitalize on other apps' success. 

Regarding all of these companies, these are all companies in the multimillion and only two are valued in the billions (Brightview at $1.2 billion and Zynga at $10 billion). The roll-up business model, where a business achieves growth by acquiring companies in the same market as them and combine their operations and financials together, has been effective for these companies. While some might criticize them for acquiring shady companies, these companies have continued to grow and have increased their market share in various locations. 

Private equity has been a big fan of the growth-through acquisition model. Because many fortunes have been made from those transactions, many investors and business people have embraced the strategy. Also, with lower interest rates, using leverage to acquire more companies has become cheaper than ever. However, lower interest rates have increased the valuations of many businesses. 

Overall, consolidating a fragmented industry looks to be a great business idea as long as you know the industry. 

If you want to learn more about consolidating an industry for growth, read here.