Insight Partners’ Dealmaking Slows Substantially

Insight Partners was one of the busiest firms in the record-breaking year of 2021, signing deals of more than a half-billion dollars to co-lead rounds for the likes of Transmit Security and Nuvemshop.

In 2022, the New York-based private equity and growth investor started the year in similar fashion, signing huge checks to co-lead big rounds in startups like Coda Payments and Xendit.

However, just as many large late-stage growth investors pulled back, so did Insight — and quite dramatically as last year wore on, according to Crunchbase data.

The numbers of venture and private equity rounds Insight participated in fell nearly 20% last year, dropping from 243 rounds to 199 last year, according to Crunchbase numbers.

The money involved in those deals dropped even more significantly. In 2021, deals Insight — known for its investment in companies like Databricks, SentinelOne and Nextdoor — participated in totaled more than $25 billion. Last year, that number dropped to only $14.4 billion (it’s Important to note the amount any investor — including Insight — invests as a specific stake in a round is not usually divulged).

Even with the drop, Insight participated in some huge rounds in 2022 — but again all the largest rounds it took part in were in the first half of the year when the market still had tailwinds from 2021.

Some of the largest deals Insight participated in last year included:

• In January, Checkout.com, a payment processor that improves the checkout experience, raised $1 billion in Series D funding that values the company at $40 billion.
• In April, Singapore-based Coda Payments raised a $690 million Series C.
• In January, Paris-based fintech startup Qonto raised a Series D worth approximately $524 million.
• In January, Project44 raised a $420 million round at a pre-money valuation of $2.2 billion.
• In April, Switzerland-based SonarSource raised a $412 million round that valued the “clean code” platform at $4.7 billion.

Insight also pulled back on rounds it led or co-led last year. In 2021, the growth funding giant led or co-led 177 rounds that totaled $13.5 billion. Those numbers dropped to 142 deals, totaling just $7.5 billion — a 44% drop.

Second-half slowdown

Perhaps most noticeable about Insight’s pullback in 2022 is the substantial slowdown the firm’s pace saw in the last six months of the year. In the final two quarters of 2022, Insight only took part in 53 rounds that totaled less than $2 billion. In 2021, the firm participated in 134 rounds that totaled $14.5 billion.

Since 2021 seems to be an anomaly, it may be instructive to look at 2020 numbers. That year, Insight took part in 40 deals totaling about $2.4 billion in the last two quarters.

The pullback is not shocking. Big-name investors such as Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital and SoftBank all issued warnings about the private market in the first half of 2022 and said pullbacks were likely.

Tiger Global, for instance, only took part in 45 deals in the last six months of last year, with those rounds totaling less than $2.5 billion, according to Crunchbase data.

Last February, Insight Partners announced it had raised more than $20 billion for its 12th flagship fund — more than twice the size of its11th flagship fund. So when the private markets pick back up, look for Insight to be right there.

Insight did not respond to a request for comment.

Further reading:

Tiger Catnapped As 2022 Wore On

Illustration: Dom Guzman