Insight Partners

About

Insight Partners is a global software investment firm founded in 1995 by Jeff Horing and Jerry Murdock in New York City ¹². The firm has grown from a $24.1 million debut fund to over $90 billion in regulatory assets under management as of December 31, 2024 ²³.

In January 2025, Insight announced the closing of its thirteenth flagship fund (Fund XIII) together with Opportunities Fund II, representing $12.5 billion in committed capital ³. Key fund milestones include:

Note: Funds II through IX sizes are not publicly disclosed in available sources. Fund XII at $20B total ($17.2B flagship + $2.8B buyout) was the firm’s largest ²⁴.

Over its 30-year history, Insight has invested in more than 875 companies worldwide, supported 150+ strategic exits, and celebrated 55+ IPOs of portfolio companies ³⁵. In 2025 alone, the firm made 64 new investments and completed 25+ exits ⁵. The firm has offices in New York (headquarters), London, Tel Aviv, and the San Francisco Bay Area ¹.

Insight’s distinctive operational arm, “Insight Onsite,” employs 130+ professionals who provide embedded support to portfolio companies in areas including talent acquisition, marketing strategy, and M&A advisory ⁵⁶. The Onsite division has supported 5 IPOs and 13+ exits ².

Notable 2024-2025 exits include Alphabet’s acquisition of Wiz, Siemens’ acquisition of Dotmatics, Mastercard’s acquisition of Recorded Future, Salesforce’s acquisition of Own, and SAP’s acquisition of WalkMe, totaling $8+ billion in realizations ³⁵.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Insight says publicly about its approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Insight Partners publicly positions itself as a stage-agnostic software investor, with the tagline “We Scale Ambition at Every Stage” ⁶.

Deven Parekh has stated: “Oftentimes what happens is funds are constrained by their stage. At the end of the day, our strategy is software, and what we want to do is find the best software companies, the best software entrepreneurs in the best markets, and we don’t want to get constrained by stage” ⁷.

The firm describes its approach as deploying “flexible capital” across the startup lifecycle — from seed through IPO — with typical investment sizes ranging from $5 million to $500 million+ ³. The “one fund” strategy deploys billions across everything from $10M growth deals to billion-dollar buyouts ⁷.

Jeff Horing has described Insight’s edge: “Your edge [in investing] only comes from pitches that you look at. You can be the best baseball hitter in the world, but if you don’t see the pitches, you’re not going to make the hits” ⁷. The firm employs a systematic sourcing machine of 60-80 people calling companies worldwide ⁷.

Horing has called analysts the “lifeblood of Insight” ⁸, reflecting the firm’s institutional approach to sourcing and diligence.

At its 30th anniversary, Insight stated: “Fund XIII is a testament to the trust we’ve built with our founders, Limited Partners, and team” (Jeff Horing) and “These funds solidify our position as a global leader in software investing and reflect commitment to flexible capital and partnerships” (Deven Parekh) ³.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 20 verified portfolio companies and exits. Sample size covers approximately 2% of 875+ total investments, so percentages should be treated as directional. The firm’s massive portfolio makes comprehensive analysis difficult from public sources alone.

Stage distribution: Despite claiming to be “stage-agnostic,” Insight is predominantly a growth and late-stage investor. The vast majority of capital is deployed in Series B through pre-IPO rounds, with buyout capabilities added via dedicated buyout co-invest vehicles ($2.8B in Fund XII) ². Seed-stage activity appears minimal relative to total deployment.

Sector breakdown (based on 24 verified companies): Enterprise SaaS/software (Qualtrics, Cvent, Udemy, nCino, JFrog, Alteryx, Shutterstock, Mimecast, SolarWinds, Optimizely, Shopify, Kaseya — 12 of 24, 50%), cybersecurity (SentinelOne, Recorded Future, Wiz, Linx Security — 4 of 24, 17%), consumer internet/social (Twitter, HelloFresh — 2 of 24, 8%), fintech/payments (Checkout.com, Wix — 2 of 24, 8%), healthcare (Hinge Health — 1 of 24, 4%), semiconductors/AI infrastructure (Ayar Labs — 1 of 24, 4%), SaaS/onboarding (Rocketlane — 1 of 24, 4%). Website builder Wix is categorized under fintech/payments given Insight’s software lens ²⁵⁶.

Geographic patterns: While headquartered in New York, Insight has a strong international presence, particularly in Israel (Wix, SentinelOne, WalkMe, Wiz) and Europe (HelloFresh in Germany, Deliveroo in UK). The Tel Aviv office reflects deep Israeli tech investment activity ¹.

Check sizes: Typical range of $5M to $500M+, with an average of ~60 new investments per year over the last decade ³⁹. This is one of the highest-volume growth-stage investors globally.

Operational involvement: Insight’s 130+ person Onsite team distinguishes it from most growth investors. The firm provides embedded talent recruitment, marketing strategy, M&A advisory, and IPO preparation support ⁵⁶. This operational platform is a core differentiator.

Co-investor patterns: Given the firm’s massive scale and volume, Insight co-invests with a wide range of growth and late-stage firms. The firm’s buyout capability also means it sometimes competes with private equity firms rather than traditional VCs.

Notable patterns: The firm’s software-only focus is remarkably disciplined for a $90B AUM platform. Unlike other mega-funds that have diversified into crypto, biotech, or real estate, Insight has maintained a singular software thesis for 30 years. The firm’s $8B+ in realizations in 2024 demonstrates the portfolio’s maturity and exit readiness.

Portfolio

This table represents approximately 3% of Insight’s 875+ total investments ³. Given the firm’s massive portfolio, this is a small sample. The firm has made an average of 60 new investments annually over the last decade ⁹.

In Their Own Words

Jeff Horing on sourcing: “Your edge [in investing] only comes from pitches that you look at. You can be the best baseball hitter in the world, but if you don’t see the pitches, you’re not going to make the hits” ⁷.

Horing on analysts: He described the assembled analysts as the “lifeblood of Insight” and emphasized that “Sourcing is everything” ⁸.

Deven Parekh on strategy: “Oftentimes what happens is funds are constrained by their stage. At the end of the day, our strategy is software, and what we want to do is find the best software companies, the best software entrepreneurs in the best markets, and we don’t want to get constrained by stage” ⁷.

Jeff Horing on Fund XIII: “Fund XIII is a testament to the trust we’ve built with our founders, Limited Partners, and team” ³.

Deven Parekh on Fund XIII: “These funds solidify our position as a global leader in software investing and reflect commitment to flexible capital and partnerships” ³.

What Founders Say

Lukas Biewald, co-founder and CEO of Weights & Biases, on Insight’s impact: Biewald noted that funding and support from Insight Partners “was the moment we flipped from being a startup project to a scaling, growing company” ⁶.

Andres Garcia, Co-Founder & CTO of Florence Healthcare, on Insight Onsite: “The Insight CTO and his team have been instrumental in facilitating the making of major and consequential decisions” and noted they collaborated through “organizational assessments and vendor selection” ⁶.

Kevin Thompson, CEO of Tricentis, on M&A support: “Insight has been deeply involved in our M&A strategy across sourcing and diligence, helping us execute 10 acquisitions” ².

Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya, on acquisition support: “Insight provides expertise in evaluating acquisitions, including the $6.2B Datto acquisition in 2022” ².

Sources