The HVCA Equity Thursday is the Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association's recurring event series, bringing together leading investors, founders and ecosystem players to discuss the most relevant trends shaping venture capital and private equity. The series provides practical insights, thought-provoking conversations and valuable networking opportunities for professionals, entrepreneurs and the next generation of investors.
Will AI Kill Software?
Following our September Equity Thursday, where we explored how artificial intelligence is reshaping venture capital decision-making, we continue the conversation in October by looking at the other side of the equation: what does AI mean for the software companies that investors are backing?
AI is changing the economics of software at an unprecedented pace. As code, customer support and even go-to-market activities become increasingly automatable, traditional software advantages are being challenged. What does this mean for the business models, competitive moats and long-term value of software companies?
At this Equity Thursday, investors, technology leaders and founders will explore whether AI represents the next major platform shift for the software industry or the beginning of a much more fundamental disruption.
The discussion will look at how AI is separating the winners from the rest, which software business models may come under pressure, and which companies could thrive in an increasingly agentic environment. We will also examine what these changes mean for investors and how they should think about evaluating and underwriting the next generation of technology companies.
Discussion topics
- The next platform shift or slow-motion disruption? How fundamentally is AI changing the software industry?
- What remains defensible? As software becomes easier to build and distribute, where will sustainable competitive advantage come from — data, distribution, customer relationships, trust or something else?
- The changing economics of software – how AI is affecting development, support, sales and go-to-market.
- Which software models are at risk? Identifying the business models most exposed to AI-driven disruption.
- The rise of agentic systems – what happens when AI agents increasingly perform tasks traditionally handled by software applications?
- Winners and losers – what separates companies that can use AI to strengthen their position from those whose core value proposition is being disrupted?
- Implications for investors – how should VCs evaluate software companies in an AI-native environment?
- The next generation of tech companies – what will investors be looking for when today's AI-driven companies become tomorrow's investment opportunities?
Speakers
Balazs Fejes – EPAM Systems
Domonkos Huszár – former Verizon
Attila Kecsmar – Antavo AI Loyalty Cloud
Máté Gulyás – DATAPAO
Moderator: Thomas Howells – Euroventures
The event is open to investors, founders, startup professionals, students and anyone interested in venture capital and artificial intelligence.
HVCA supports the next generations – all Equity Thursdays are free for students! Use coupon code STUDENT for free entry.
