Some of the biggest investors in technology are no longer only funding AI software. They are buying traditional service firms, including accounting practices, MSPs and call centers, and running them with AI. For customers of those firms, the work may soon be done differently, by different people, under different terms. It is worth knowing what to ask.
How the model works
The playbook is simple to describe. Buy service businesses that run on thin margins. Put them on a shared AI platform that automates a large share of their repetitive work. Use the improved margins to buy more firms.
General Catalyst set aside $1.5 billion for this strategy and has backed roll-ups across accounting, legal, IT services, property management and call centers. One example is Titan, which raised $74 million and acquired RFA, an IT managed service provider serving more than 400 financial services clients, to run agents on its support work. Another is Crescendo, which runs an AI-native call center that charges by the outcome rather than by the hour.
Thrive Holdings runs its own versions. Its accounting network, Crete Professionals Alliance, since rebranded Current, grew past $300 million in revenue across more than 30 firms. Its MSP roll-up, Shield Technology Partners, had reached nine firms by February 2026.
The scale is growing. In May 2026, General Catalyst-backed Long Lake agreed to take American Express Global Business Travel private for $6.3 billion.
Why it is happening
Service businesses spend most of their money on people. If AI can take on a meaningful share of routine work, the economics change: margins that looked like services start to look more like software. Investors are betting they can buy that improvement more cheaply than building it.
What it means for customers
If your accountant, MSP or outsourcing provider is acquired, expect some of these changes:
- More of the routine work done by software, with people on review and exceptions
- New systems, portals and processes
- Pressure to move from hourly or per-seat pricing to fixed or outcome-based fees
- Different people as your point of contact
None of these is bad in itself. Faster, more consistent work at a lower cost is good for customers. The risk is in the transition, when the old controls have been removed and the new ones are not yet proven.
Questions to ask
- Which parts of my work will be done by software, and which by people?
- How are errors caught before they reach me?
- Who is accountable if something goes wrong, and has that changed?
- Can I see a record of how my work was done?
- If pricing moves to outcomes, how exactly is an outcome defined?
Our view
We think the roll-ups are right about the direction and that the managed IT lane is being consolidated quickly. We work on the business process side instead: back-office work for insurance agencies and finance teams, run with agents and a human exception desk, billed on verified outcomes, with a record behind every result.