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![\"\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4\u05dc\u05ea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SJVvRrG8We_0_0_2074_1383_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"monday.com")
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monday.com IPO. <\/p>\n
(Photo: Nasdaq)<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to look far for examples; they are right here at home. Israel\u2019s leading software companies, among the country\u2019s most recognizable names globally, led by Nice, monday.com, and Wix, lost tens of percent of their market value in 2025 and began 2026 on the wrong foot as well. In fact, the reshuffling among the largest Israeli companies traded on Wall Street closely reflects the drama unfolding in the global software market. Three to five years ago, Nice, monday, and Wix ranked near the top, just behind, or sometimes ahead of, Check Point and Teva. Today, no enterprise software companies remain in the top ten, aside from cybersecurity firms, which are effectively a different category. In a telling reflection of the AI era, one that increasingly favors hardware over software, chip-sector companies such as Tower Semiconductor and Nova have replaced the once-dominant software giants. The upheaval has also reached the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where dual-listed Nice was the only stock in the TA-35 index to post a negative return in 2025.<\/p>\n
Software companies once beloved by investors, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, are fading as talk of the \u201cdeath of SaaS\u201d gains momentum. Until recently, much of the threat seemed to come from a handful of trendy vibe-coding startups, platforms that allow non-programmers to build simple applications using verbal commands, such as Maor Shlomo\u2019s Base44. But last weekend, \u201cClaude Code\u201d went viral across the internet. Claude Code, Anthropic\u2019s agent designed to handle a wide range of programming and technical tasks, promises to complete, in minutes, work that many people had postponed for weeks because it felt too technical, unclear, or tedious.<\/p>\n
A few instructions in plain language, and the task is done. Shlomo himself tweeted this week: \u201cJust heard of a customer that terminated a $350k contract with Salesforce for a custom solution they built on top of Base44.\u201d In the U.S., a widely circulated story described a former Amazon executive who built an entire CRM system, customer relationship management, one of Nice\u2019s core product areas, over a single weekend. It was not a massive system like Nice\u2019s, but a lean, purpose-built solution tailored precisely to the company\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
The successful launch of Anthropic\u2019s co-pilot reignited panic about the future of software companies. At the beginning of 2025, the median revenue multiple for software firms still stood above 7; today, it has dropped below 5. At the same time, the once-neglected world of hardware, long considered dull by investors and venture capital funds enamored with SaaS for its fast growth, low capital requirements, and high multiples, is heating up and, in some cases, trading at multiples far higher than those of software companies.<\/p>\n
As with any revolution, initial enthusiasm in the AI-versus-software battle is intense. In practice, however, \u201csticky\u201d software, such as ERP and CRM systems that organizations have relied on for years and invested tens or hundreds of millions of dollars into, will not be discarded overnight. Moreover, many experienced programmers now warn that the surge of AI-generated code in 2026 will require extensive cleanup in 2027, as developers hunt down bugs and errors introduced by vibe coding, an effort likely to consume significant time, energy, and patience.<\/p>\n
The gap between vision and reality recalls the long-promised autonomous-vehicle revolution, which was supposed to upend the traditional automotive industry, a disruption that has yet to materialize. There is even a scenario in which the use of traditional software increases. For example, a marketing professional who once sent a limited number of outbound inquiries may soon deploy an AI agent that instantly triples that volume, ultimately requiring robust CRM software to manage the flood of responses without being overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
AI agents can dramatically increase efficiency, and they will also determine which software platforms are best suited to absorb the consequences of that efficiency gain.<\/p>\n
Beyond the conclusions investment funds must draw about software stocks whose IPO prospects on Nasdaq have grown increasingly uncertain, this transformation carries significant implications for Israeli high-tech. Over the past decade, Israel produced a generation of unicorns, most founded around 2015 and focused on enterprise software. Around them emerged an entire ecosystem of employees, investors, and new startups eager to replicate that success, an outcome that now looks far less assured. The SaaS model, whose golden age peaked during the Covid era, worked exceptionally well for Israel: online distribution, no complex installations, minimal training, and per-user pricing. Geography hardly mattered.<\/p>\n
Another advantage Israeli companies leveraged was cultural fluency in the language of high-tech, leading many to sell primarily to other tech companies. Today, these same customers are often the first to replace traditional software with internal AI-driven solutions. In a world shifting from software-out to hardware-in, geography becomes more relevant again. Growth is slower, capital requirements are higher, and the sales process looks nothing like a cancellable monthly SaaS subscription. Alongside questions about the fate of public software companies and enterprise-focused startups, an equally pressing question emerges: what will this software earthquake mean for Israeli high-tech?<\/p>\n
![\"\u05de\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/H1U9KUz811l_0_0_700_398_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Alon")
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