What was the revenue generated by the data centers business in the second quarter of 2021
 be just to ask specifically on data centers and animal health, some of your other emerging growth opportunities, just a progress report there. And any quantification on pace of growth or margin expansion? Thank you.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So starting with data centers. As mentioned earlier, we've been growing. I think, 53% in the second quarter. It's been a terrific story. It used to be part of our light water industries business. In the past, we've created a dedicated unit, 12 or 18 months ago, which is really a division that's focused on data centers and microelectronics, by the way, the Intel of that world as well. And interestingly enough, its new expertise that we could build, its new offering that we could provide to those companies that are really interested in close to 100% uptime for all the reasons that we understand, our secure solutions as well from a digital technology perspective, they want to make sure that any access that we have with them is done in a totally secure way as well. And those are companies that are very sustainability-friendly as well. So they all want to get -- so close to the net-zero as fast as they can. All that is really driving that business in a great way.
Animal health is a complete different story. Obviously, as such, this is something that takes time as well. We've created a dedicated unit. We've made acquisitions as well in that field, underlying. I like where we're going. Q2 has been a bit subpar because we compare it to a very high Q2 in 2020, but that's a business that's going to be very interesting going forward for at least one important reason that most of the farmers won't be or are not allowed to use antibiotics to protect the animals, and they need way more solutions in order to make sure that they are in a healthy environment in order not to get sick. And this is exactly what animal health is doing in our business.
So it's an evolving proposition, but that's clearly aligned with the longer-term trends that customers and consumers like you and I ultimately are expecting from the food manufacturers.
Scott Schneeberger -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst
Thanks, Christophe. Appreciate the color.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Scott.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Rosemarie Morbelli with Gabelli & Company. Please proceed with your question.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, Christophe and everyone else.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Rosemarie.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about M&A. You have been making small acquisitions. Do you have an appetite for larger ones? And are there targets that you would be interested in?
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
So the short answer is, yes. We're interested in M&A and larger ones. We've done smaller ones over the past few months, as mentioned earlier, in the wipes area, which is a perfect complement to our offering in Institutional, in Healthcare and in Industrial. And we couldn't produce that ourselves. We were toll manufacturing with other companies, and we've seen during the pandemic that that could be a great business for us today and especially going forward. So we've done that as well.
We've done animal health as well last year, as I just mentioned as well as to the previous question. And we've been extremely active on the M&A front over the last six months. We have a very rich pipeline. We have very serious discussions with many as well out there. But at the end of the day, we have this very disciplined line on what we do and what we don't do. And when I look at all the discussions that we've had so far, we didn't find the exact opportunity so right now. But I feel confident that in the future, so we will get to a bigger opportunity at the right time.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Can you share with us any particular area where you are more likely to make a larger a
 be just to ask specifically on data centers and animal health, some of your other emerging growth opportunities, just a progress report there. And any quantification on pace of growth or margin expansion? Thank you.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So starting with data centers. As mentioned earlier, we've been growing. I think, 53% in the second quarter. It's been a terrific story. It used to be part of our light water industries business. In the past, we've created a dedicated unit, 12 or 18 months ago, which is really a division that's focused on data centers and microelectronics, by the way, the Intel of that world as well. And interestingly enough, its new expertise that we could build, its new offering that we could provide to those companies that are really interested in close to 100% uptime for all the reasons that we understand, our secure solutions as well from a digital technology perspective, they want to make sure that any access that we have with them is done in a totally secure way as well. And those are companies that are very sustainability-friendly as well. So they all want to get -- so close to the net-zero as fast as they can. All that is really driving that business in a great way.
Animal health is a complete different story. Obviously, as such, this is something that takes time as well. We've created a dedicated unit. We've made acquisitions as well in that field, underlying. I like where we're going. Q2 has been a bit subpar because we compare it to a very high Q2 in 2020, but that's a business that's going to be very interesting going forward for at least one important reason that most of the farmers won't be or are not allowed to use antibiotics to protect the animals, and they need way more solutions in order to make sure that they are in a healthy environment in order not to get sick. And this is exactly what animal health is doing in our business.
So it's an evolving proposition, but that's clearly aligned with the longer-term trends that customers and consumers like you and I ultimately are expecting from the food manufacturers.
Scott Schneeberger -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst
Thanks, Christophe. Appreciate the color.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Scott.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Rosemarie Morbelli with Gabelli & Company. Please proceed with your question.
 Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, Christophe and everyone else.
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Rosemarie.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about M&A. You have been making small acquisitions. Do you have an appetite for larger ones? And are there targets that you would be interested in?
Christophe Beck -- President and Chief Executive Officer
So the short answer is, yes. We're interested in M&A and larger ones. We've done smaller ones over the past few months, as mentioned earlier, in the wipes area, which is a perfect complement to our offering in Institutional, in Healthcare and in Industrial. And we couldn't produce that ourselves. We were toll manufacturing with other companies, and we've seen during the pandemic that that could be a great business for us today and especially going forward. So we've done that as well.
We've done animal health as well last year, as I just mentioned as well as to the previous question. And we've been extremely active on the M&A front over the last six months. We have a very rich pipeline. We have very serious discussions with many as well out there. But at the end of the day, we have this very disciplined line on what we do and what we don't do. And when I look at all the discussions that we've had so far, we didn't find the exact opportunity so right now. But I feel confident that in the future, so we will get to a bigger opportunity at the right time.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- Gabelli & Company -- Analyst
Can you share with us any particular area where you are more likely to make a larger a