INVESTMENT BANK SURVEY: IMPACTING THE AI SOFTWARE INDUSTRY, PRIVATE SECONDARY MARKET INVESTORS TURNING TO WATCH

According to information dated 15 August, according to a market survey by the Investment Bank Lazard, investors in the secondary market for private equity fund shares are changing the way in which potential software investment targets are assessed. While waiting for further clarity on the destabilizing effects of AI on business models and valuations, they often “direct funds to other investment opportunities”. According to the investment bank, the vast majority of respondents (91 per cent) believed that the main moat in which software companies responded to AI threats and avoided the elimination of their products was “the exclusive data advantage and network effect that AI was hard to replicate”. Lazard indicated that, as of June this year, only 4 per cent of respondents indicated that their investment in the software industry had not changed. Kim Xian