Alex Theuma shuts down SaaStock and relaunches the largest SaaS conference as Shift AI

Alexander Teuma closes the SaaStock brand after ten years of operation and transitions Europe's largest B2B SaaS conference into a new format called Shift AI. The final SaaStock already took place in Austin on April 15–16, 2026, and the first Shift Europe is scheduled for October 13–14, 2026 in Barcelona.

End of the SaaStock Era

For the European B2B market, this is more than just a rebranding. SaaStock was long one of the main meeting places for founders, investors, and operations teams of SaaS companies, and the brand itself had become nearly synonymous with industry conference. The decision to archive it means that even a strong and recognizable name no longer delivers the same effect when the broader market narrative around it weakens.

For many participants, it was a calendar landmark, not just another event on the list. It is symbolic that the final point was placed not in Europe but in Austin, where the last event under the old name took place on April 15–16. After this, the project does not close completely but relaunches with a new framework: instead of discussing only SaaS, the organizers want to address what currently attracts the audience, partners, and capital most—AI.

Essentially, this is not cosmetic rebranding but an attempt to redefine what brings the market together around a single stage today.

Why the Course is Changing

Teuma himself explained the shift bluntly: in the first quarter of 2026, approximately $2 trillion disappeared from the market capitalization of SaaS companies. Against this backdrop, a conference built entirely around SaaS inevitably faces what the entire sector faces: investor caution, budget reallocation, and declining interest in former growth stories. For event organizers, this means a simple choice—either defend the old agenda or move to where demand is currently being formed. It is under such conditions that the old brand becomes both an asset and a constraint simultaneously. The transition from SaaStock to Shift AI shows how quickly the center of gravity in the technology market is shifting:

• instead of classic SaaS growth, the stage will be dominated by AI products and automation
• focus will shift from subscription models to questions of implementing models, agents, and infrastructure
• the audience will broaden: to SaaS founders, AI teams, platforms, and service companies will be added
• sponsorship money and media attention will flow to where the market expects the next wave of growth

This matters beyond just the conference business. When an organizer of such weight abandons the word SaaS from its name, it signals a shift in industrial language itself. Recently, SaaS was the umbrella term for most B2B startups. Now that word is becoming AI—even if many new products will still remain subscription-based services in their business model. What is changing is not only the capital market but also how companies explain themselves to investors, clients, and future employees.

What Comes Next

The new chapter will begin in Barcelona: the first Shift Europe is scheduled for October 13–14, 2026. From available details, the key point is clear—this is not a side track within the old conference but a full brand replacement. This gives organizers the opportunity to rebuild the program from scratch, repackage partnership offerings, and approach the market with a more relevant promise than just another conversation about scaling SaaS.

For participants, this rebranding also shifts expectations. If previously the conference program was almost automatically built around sales, retention, pricing, and operational efficiency of SaaS companies, now the focus will likely move to AI products, application of models in business, and commercialization practices for new tools. In short, the conference is trying to integrate not into a mature category but into the hottest part of the tech market.

This is particularly important for startups seeking new partners and capital.

What This Means

The history of SaaStock demonstrates how rapidly AI is displacing SaaS as the primary language of the technology industry. If even Europe's largest industry-specific conference is changing its identity, this is a signal for founders, investors, and vendors: attention, budgets, and networks are now concentrating around the AI agenda. It is there, in the coming years, that new deals will be made and a new agenda will be shaped.