Insight Partners to Acquire Senior Israeli Venture Fund Gemini V for $500 Million
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by Meir Orbach / CTech
A stockmarket ticker screen in the lobby of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in the center of Tel Aviv, March 15, 2020. Photo: Flash90.
CTech – New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners is set to acquire the fifth fund of Israeli venture firm Gemini Israel Ventures for around $500 million by the end of the week, one person familiar with the deal told Calcalist on condition of anonymity.
Gemini is one of Israel’s most senior venture capital firms, active since 1993. The firm has raised five funds to date, the last one raised $150 million in 2008. In 2014 Gemini announced it will not raise additional funds, choosing instead to concentrate on maintaining its existing portfolio.
Gemini V’s portfolio includes website usability company WalkMe; code management startup JFrog, which was valued at $1.5 billion in October 2019; Tel Aviv-based team management and productivity startup Monday.com Labs, valued at nearly $3 billion as of last month; and public transportation trip-planning app developer Moovit App Global that was acquired by Intel for $1 billion last month.
This is one in a string of local deals, both completed and nearing closure, linked to Insight Partners. Last month, Insight Partners led a $40 million round in Israeli-American cybersecurity startup Semperis. In February, Calcalist reported that the venture fund led a $200 million investment in Israel-linked cybersecurity company SentinelOne, incorporated as Sentinel Labs. A month earlier, Insight Partners acquired, together with Google’s CapitalG and Israeli IoT security company Armis, according to a company valuation of $1.1 billion. Also in January, Insight Partners bought a 10% stake in Israeli gaming company Moon Active according to a company valuation of $1.25 billion.
In a February interview with CTech, Deven Parekh, managing director at the New York-based venture capital and private equity firm said that Israel is one of the regions Insight Partners invests most in.
In October, Insight Partners announced the opening of a Tel Aviv office, the firm’s first office outside of New York. Insight Partners has over $20 billion in assets under management and has backed more than 300 companies worldwide, according to company statements. In Israel, Insight has invested over $700 million across more than 15 active deals.
