Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion
Insight Partners
A New York-based global software investor founded in 1995 as Insight Venture Partners. Insight pioneered "ScaleUp" growth equity — backing software companies that have found product-market fit and need capital and operational help to scale — and has expanded into buyouts (Veeam, Armis, Kaseya, Recorded Future), structured equity and continuation vehicles. Regulatory AUM exceeded ~$90bn (reported, Jan 2025).
At a glance
- Founded
- 1995, New York City
- Founders
- Jeff Horing and Jerry Murdock
- Strategy
- Growth equity (minority and majority), buyouts of high-growth software, venture (early-stage), structured equity (Opportunities funds), continuation funds
- AUM
- ~$90m first fund (1995, approximate) → ~$2bn (2007) → ~$10bn (2016) → ~$30bn (2019) → ~$90bn+ regulatory AUM (2025)
- Edge
- Outbound research-driven sourcing; Insight Onsite operating team; software specialization; speed
- Leadership (2026)
- Jeff Horing (co-founder, Managing Director); Deven Parekh, Jeff Lieberman, Ryan Hinkle and other senior Managing Directors (Murdock less active publicly — verify)
12 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2009
Twitter
Late-Stage Growth Round
2011
Wix
Growth Round to IPO
2012
Pluralsight
First Institutional Investment to IPO
2013
Kaseya
Control Investment and MSP Software Roll-Up
2013
Veeam
Minority Stake
2014
Qualtrics
Series B Lead to SAP's $8bn Acquisition
2019
Recorded Future
Majority Buyout and Sale to Mastercard
2020
Armis
$1.1bn Buyout of a VC-Backed Startup and $7.75bn Sale to ServiceNow
2020
Wiz
Early Growth Backer to Google's $32bn Acquisition
2021
FTX
Crypto Exchange Growth Rounds
2021
WeWork
SPAC PIPE Investment
2022
Builder ai
$100m Series C Lead