Orlando Bravo Sees the Software Selloff as a Setup, Not a Signal

Software stocks are getting dragged through the street like a bad theory, and in today’s tech news Orlando Bravo is standing in Davos calmly checking prices. January 2026, World Economic Forum. Financial Times puts the mic in front of the Founder and Managing Partner of Thoma Bravo, and instead of panic, he sees clearance racks. AI headlines are screaming replacement. Bravo is talking about timing, discipline, and memory. He has seen this movie before, and the ending usually favors the patient buyer who understands what actually keeps the lights on.

Thoma Bravo is not a vibe investor. Chicago headquartered, born out of Thoma Cressey Bravo in 2008, built by Orlando Bravo and Carl Thoma, now stewarding roughly $184 billion in assets. Six managing partners, decades of software scar tissue, more than 300 software deals since 2003. This firm does not chase novelty. It studies habits, a distinction that matters in current tech news coverage of private equity and enterprise software. Payroll still has to run. Compliance still has to clear. Domain knowledge still beats shiny demos when regulators, CFOs, and operators are in the room asking hard questions.

The selloff was real. January brought a sharp valuation slide across enterprise software as investors reacted to AI tools like Claude Cowork and the idea that generalist intelligence could flatten entire categories. Multiples compressed hard. Forward PEs fell toward 18x, far from the historical highs that once made SaaS untouchable. Orlando Bravo called it what it was. A buying opportunity created by fear moving faster than fundamentals.

This is where Thoma Bravo gets specific. Bravo has said repeatedly that software is not about the code. It is about the domain. Companies without a sharp edge are exposed. Companies welded into workflows, regulation, and muscle memory endure. That thesis explains the portfolio. Dayforce at $12.3 billion announced August 21, 2025. Coupa closed February 28, 2023. Medallia with Mark Bishof stepping in as Chairman and CEO January 7, 2025. PROS with Jeff Cotten named President and CEO June 2, 2025. These are not moonshots. They are infrastructure plays dressed like applications.

Fresh capital adds weight to the posture. June 2025 brought a $34.4 billion fundraise across Thoma Bravo Fund XVI, Discover Fund V, and a first European vehicle. Capital raised at the top is now being deployed into a valley. Competitors have stepped back. Thoma Bravo is stepping forward, not loudly, just deliberately, betting that AI augments more than it erases in the near term, a bet now sitting squarely at the center of tech news in 2026.