Thoma Bravo founder Orlando Bravo declared the "SaaSpocalypse" over at a Berlin private equity conference, saying AI now accounts for roughly 50% of new revenue across his firm's software portfolio companies, which together generate $35 billion in combined annual revenue.
The feared collapse of the software-as-a-service sector at the hands of artificial intelligence has not materialized, according to Orlando Bravo, founder and managing partner of private equity firm Thoma Bravo — and the numbers from his own portfolio support his case.
Speaking at the SuperReturn International private equity and venture capital conference in Berlin, Bravo told CNBC that AI now represents an "enormous tailwind" for software companies, directly rebutting the "SaaSpocalypse" thesis that rattled the sector earlier this year.
"The SaaSpocalypse is over. It's finished, no more," Bravo said.
The anxiety around software's future intensified in February, when Anthropic unveiled advanced AI tools for its Claude co-working agent, triggering a rapid sell-off in SaaS stocks as investors feared AI agents would render traditional software subscriptions obsolete.
Bravo argued those fears rested on a fundamental misread of how software companies operate. "People were assuming that software companies just do one thing and they stay still," he said. "But software companies continue to evolve with infrastructure."
Thoma Bravo manages nearly $200 billion in assets and is one of the world's largest private equity investors in software and technology-enabled services. Its portfolio companies generate a combined $35 billion in revenue, and Bravo described most of them as "booming" because of AI — not in spite of it.
The most striking data point he offered: approximately 50% of new revenue across Thoma Bravo's portfolio companies now comes from AI and agentic tools. Bravo predicted that standalone software firms and AI products will converge over the next several years into what he called "new agentic solutions" for corporate customers — systems capable of automating aspects of human judgment and decision-making.
"Around 50% of our new revenue is AI revenue, agentic revenue," he said, adding that software companies can move to a "completely new level" by embedding that automation into their existing platforms.
The broader software market has largely validated his optimism since February's selloff. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rallied 21% in May — its strongest monthly performance since October 2001 — and has advanced more than 9% over a three-month basis.
Bravo did not dismiss all concerns, however. He acknowledged that governance, cybersecurity, and return-on-investment questions surrounding newer AI agentic tools remain unresolved. "It is a period of discovery now, which creates pressure on the whole system," he said.
He also flagged high-growth adjacent areas, noting that semiconductors continue to offer what he described as an attractive low-entry environment for investors.
Bravo's comments arrive as broader markets are navigating a volatile stretch for chip stocks — the iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 10% last Friday before rebounding 6% on Monday — and as several major AI-adjacent companies, including OpenAI, move toward public listings. That backdrop reinforces the degree to which investor sentiment around the AI trade remains in flux, even as software's resilience becomes harder to dispute.
For now, the question Thoma Bravo is pressing its portfolio companies to answer is not whether AI will displace them, but how quickly they can integrate it as a revenue driver before competitors do.
Sara Montes de Oca is the Editor in Chief of TechEchelon. Previously a correspondent and producer in Washington, D.C., covering business, finance, and politics.
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