1、State of Enterprise SoftwareAn Overview of Trends in the Venture-Backed Enterprise Software Sector2026STATE OF ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE 2026Contents 5Macro11Fundraising and Investment17Survey Results22Exits25Appendix2The question now is not whether companies are using AI,but how theyre using it to boost
2、productivity among their workforce and grow revenue.Call it RO(AI).”STATE OF ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE 2026Enterprise Software Looking for RO(AI)The enterprise software industry is entering a new phase,one where AI adoption is expected and teams are making increasingly informed decisions based on the valu
3、e offered by AI tools.The question now is not whether companies are using AI,but how theyre using it to boost productivity among their workforce and grow revenue.Call it RO(AI).The market continues to price in the distinction between companies that show real impact from AI and those that cannot.The
4、former are benefitting with easier access to capital and attractive valuations,while the latter are finding it harder to defend their businesses.This split is evident in the public markets,though the story is more nuanced than the headlines suggest.Hyperscalers and AI-tangential companies have captu
5、red most of the recent upside,while more traditional SaaS businesses have lagged.Some of that gap reflects real disruption from AI,and some of it is simple allocation math as investors rebalance portfolios to account for a handful of AI-adjacent names driving outsized returns.Despite this,tech compa
6、nies have been through a platform shift before.Traditional SaaS businesses,who were once disruptors themselves,have an opportunity to use this new AI wave to their advantage.The best will adjust and thrive.A new customer is also emerging at scale:the federal government.It has committed tens of billi