Actu
Insight Partners to Acquire Swiss Cloud Data Management in a Transaction Valued at Approximately US$5 Billion
January 2020 by Marc Jacob
Insight Partners announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Veeam Software, the leader in Backup solutions that deliver Cloud Data Management™. Under the ownership of Insight Partners, Veeam will become a U.S. company, with a U.S.-based leadership team, while continuing its global expansion from offices in 30 countries and with customers in over 160 countries. The acquisition, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2020, will enable Veeam to accelerate its Act II (Veeam’s evolution into Hybrid Cloud), expand into new markets and continue its growth trajectory. As part of the acquisition, William H. Largent has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - he previously held the role of Executive Vice President (EVP), Operations – and Danny Allan has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Following an investment from Insight Partners at the beginning of 2019, Veeam, the clear market leader with over $1 billion in annual sales and more than 365,000 customers worldwide, worked alongside Insight Partners’ business strategy and ScaleUp division, Insight Onsite, to expand its software-defined Veeam Cloud Data Management Platform. The company launched a number of new innovations over the last year, including Veeam Backup for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 v4, Veeam Universal License (VUL) and announcing Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure – growing its share of the U.S. market, as well as cementing its position in the global market. The acquisition and bolstering of U.S. leadership will accelerate Veeam’s already impressive growth trajectory and expansion into adjacent markets.
At the core of Veeam’s strategy is delivering simplicity, flexibility and reliability to its global customer base (which includes 81% of the Fortune 500). During the last decade, Veeam’s approach has seen it collect more than 170 industry awards, named as a leader in three consecutive backup and data recovery Magic Quadrants by Gartner, boast a consistent leadership position in the Forrester Wave and also named as one of Forbes’ Cloud 100 companies for four straight years. According to the latest IDC Software Tracker, Veeam is the #1 market-share leader in EMEA and the #4 worldwide, after DellEMC, Veritas and IBM. Today, Veeam is the clear market leader, delivering Backup solutions that enable Cloud Data Management, and has recently launched exciting new cloud-native solutions that will enable customers to manage, migrate, orchestrate and protect data across AWS and Microsoft Azure environments – core elements of its Act II. In the coming weeks, NEW Veeam Availability Suite v10 will be generally available, providing users with the most powerful software-defined data management solution in the industry.
The Board of Directors will be immediately supplemented with seasoned software, government and business leadership as co-investor Nick Ayers, of Ayers Neugebauer & Company, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and former Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, joins Insight Partners Managing Director Mike Triplett and Veeam CEO, William H. Largent on the Board. Following the acquisition, Co-Founders Andrei Baronov and Ratmir Timashev will step down from the Board. Additionally, Insight Partners Managing Directors Ryan Hinkle and Ross Devor will each serve on the Board once the acquisition has been completed.
Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley served as financial advisors, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel, to Insight Partners. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to Veeam. Financing commitments for the transaction provided by affiliates of J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, Ares Management, Bank of America, Golub Capital and Antares Capital.
