Insight Partners snaps up data backup giant Veeam for $5B

Deal expected to close this quarter

Insight Partners has announced the acquisition of Swiss software startup Veeam for $5 billion, just months after the private equity firm invested $500 million in the data management company.

Veeam, which posted revenues of $1 billion last year and has 365,000 customers worldwide, helps companies manage data backup and recovery across public clouds and their in-house data centres. Following the deal, Veeam will become a US company.

A major shakeup of the company’s executives and board members has also been announced. Executive VP William Largent will replace co-founder Andrei Baronov as CEO and VP of product strategy Danny Allan has been promoted to CTO.

Meanwhile, Andrei Baronov and fellow co-founder Ratmir Timashev are stepping down from the board and will be replaced by Largent and co-investor Nick Ayers. Insight managing directors Ryan Hinkle and Ross Devor are set to become further additions to the board once the deal is completed.

New CTO Danny Allan commented:

“While Veeam’s preeminence in the data management space, currently supporting 81% of the Fortune 500, is undeniable, this commitment from Insight Partners and deeper access to its unmatched business strategy [from its scale-up] division, Insight Onsite, will bring Veeam’s solutions to more businesses across the globe.”

Veeam is one of five leaders in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for data centre backup and recovery solutions, alongside Commvault, Veritas, Dell EMC and IBM. According to Gartner, the data centre backup and recovery market is evolving as customers demand simpler, more agile and cost-optimised solutions.