By Andrew Macken and the Montaka Investment Team

 

Agentic AI is changing how investors think about software, cloud computing, and digital business models. But the market may be missing the more important question: which competitive advantages are truly vulnerable, and which may become stronger?

Montaka’s latest whitepaper examines why some AI disruption fears may be overstated, and why certain advantaged businesses may be strengthened, not weakened, as agentic AI adoption accelerates.

• Why code is not the same as competitive advantage
• Why trusted distribution and proprietary data may matter more in an AI world
• Where Montaka sees opportunity amid AI-driven market dislocation

 

Read the full whitepaper:

 

Why this matters now

AI agents have quickly shifted the market narrative.

If agents can build software faster and cheaper, the argument goes, then many existing software businesses may lose their economic value. Why pay for third-party software when a company could recreate functionality internally, automate workflows, or migrate away from expensive platforms?

That narrative is powerful. It is also incomplete.

The more important investment question is not whether AI will cause disruption. It will. The question is where that disruption actually weakens competitive advantage, and where it may reinforce the position of already advantaged businesses.

Montaka’s whitepaper examines this distinction across enterprise software, consumer software, and cloud computing.

 

Inside the whitepaper

The paper is organised around three core themes.

1. The doomsday scenario of AI agents

Montaka examines the market’s fear that agentic AI will erode software business models and reduce the economic value of code. The paper then outlines three reasons this scenario may be overstated: security constraints, compute and power limitations, and the need for AI to be deployed through trusted enterprise platforms.

2. The enduring power of competitive advantages

The paper revisits Montaka’s framework for assessing competitive advantage, focusing on scale, customer captivity, irreplaceable assets, and flywheel dynamics.

3. Montaka’s playbook for surviving the shift

The whitepaper closes by explaining how Montaka seeks to identify businesses that are competitively advantaged within large structural transformations, and why market dislocations can create opportunities for long-term investors.

 

Who should read this

This whitepaper is written for:

• Long-term investors
• Financial advisers
• Asset allocators
• Investment professionals
• Readers seeking to separate AI hype from long-term investment opportunities

 

Read the full whitepaper

Explore Montaka’s view on where competitive advantages lie in the age of AI, and why some may strengthen as agentic AI becomes more widely adopted.

 

 

 

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