Lateral's de Silva: AI agents will displace SaaS per-seat model, unlock $2 trillion white-collar services market
In a Crunchbase News analysis, Richard de Silva of Lateral Investment Management argues that AI agents replacing human users will upend the per-seat SaaS model, pointing to recent market volatility as evidence. He says AI-native vertical platforms targeting the $2 trillion white-collar services market represent a larger opportunity than traditional enterprise software.
Richard de Silva, founder and managing partner of Lateral Investment Management, published a thesis arguing that AI agents are fundamentally disrupting the subscription SaaS business model by replacing humans as the primary user, rendering per-seat pricing obsolete and targeting a $2 trillion white-collar services market that dwarfs traditional enterprise software.
De Silva points to January's $300 billion single-session wipeout in legacy SaaS stocks including Salesforce and Workday as a leading indicator that the horizontal, per-seat model has peaked. He argues that AI-native software will price on usage or outcomes rather than seats, with legal AI platforms charging per contract drafted and spend management tools taking a percentage of overages found. The shift moves software companies beyond IT budgets into labor, compliance, and risk budgets, expanding the addressable market to what McKinsey projects is a $6 trillion annual productivity opportunity from AI transformation.
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