Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining the software landscape. Eric Wei, Managing Director in Advent’s Palo Alto office, explains why vertical leaders are well positioned to capture the benefits of AI, how payments and cyber are converging with software, and what makes Prometheus a compelling example.
How does Advent approach technology investing, and what makes the strategy distinctive?
At Advent, we think of technology as a horizontal. That means we don’t look at software in isolation but in the context of the industries it serves. The advantage of being part of a global, multi-sector platform is that we can draw on insights from our business & financial services, consumer, healthcare, and industrials teams to identify vertical leaders and then help them scale.
That cross-sector and cross-regional collaboration is part of our ethos. It influences how we source opportunities, how we evaluate businesses, and how we partner with management teams after investing. In my experience, those connections often create value that would be difficult to achieve with a narrower lens.
AI is dominating headlines right now. How do you see it impacting the software sector?
Right now, one of the biggest trends in the US and globally is AI. It’s probably the third major wave that’s impacting software innovation – after cloud and mobile. Each wave has fundamentally changed how software is delivered and consumed, and AI will be no different.
For vertical software companies in particular, the opportunity is significant. They already have strong customer relationships and a deep understanding of their end markets. As compute costs come down, AI becomes more accessible as a utility that these businesses can harness to deliver new solutions, reduce costs, and unlock new revenue streams.
Beyond AI, what are you most focused on right now?
For Advent Tech, there’s three main sectors that we invest in:
- Vertical software – which leverages our tech as a horizontal theme and where our cross-sector expertise and global scale give us an advantage.
- Cybersecurity – given the ever-growing need and threat of cyber risk.
- Payments – both integrated payments with software and alternative forms of high growth payment areas.
Within vertical software, there are really two areas I would highlight. One of the most compelling spaces is industrial software. Here, we can lean on the strength of Advent’s global industrials practice. In fact, we’ve done three industrial deals in the past year alone, which speaks to both the scale of the opportunity and our conviction in this theme.
In cybersecurity, we view the next frontier to be cyber-AI. The reality is that attackers are already using AI to generate new forms of risk. Defending against those threats will require equally advanced, AI-driven solutions. We believe this dynamic is creating space for new platforms to emerge and lead.
And in payments, the convergence of software and payments is accelerating. Increasingly, the distribution channel for payments is the software itself. That means more of the value accrues to the software provider, not the payments processor. For Advent, this plays to our strengths. We have a long track record in global payments and deep expertise in software, and combining those skillsets gives us a distinct edge.
Is there an example from the portfolio that brings these themes to life?
Prometheus is a great example. The company provides mission-critical software that helps process manufacturers schedule and maintain their plants. By reducing downtime, it drives productivity across industries like utilities, chemicals, and refining.
Prometheus’ origin story is rooted in how the platform was developed. The founder, Eric Huang, built the platform from the ground up by spending time with plant workers. That bottom-up approach created a solution that is truly aligned with user needs.
Our attraction to Prometheus was threefold:
- The software is mission-critical across multiple industries.
- We saw a clear opportunity to partner with the founder and management team to accelerate growth globally.
- The business has a natural extension into adjacent areas like asset performance management, where predictive tools help companies avoid costly equipment failures.
Our growth plan is focused on expanding internationally, strengthening the go-to-market team, and investing in new products. Ultimately, that helps Prometheus’ customers achieve greater reliability and efficiency, while building the company into a more strategic partner for its end markets.
Looking back, what advice has shaped the way you invest?
Two lessons stand out. First, become a true expert. Go as deep in understanding the business as the management team itself so you can be a real partner. Second, be a good listener. Listen to management, to the market, to the company’s signals. Partnership is built on listening and clarity of priorities, and those qualities are central to how Advent operates.
