Featuring Insight Partners and Fika Ventures
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another edition of Connect’s VC Connection, our Venture Capital newsletter. Where we showcase exceptional VC firms, giving you better insight into their areas of focus and investment criteria. We hope that this newsletter will shine some light in the deep waters of Venture Capital.
This week we are highlighting Insight Partners and Fika Ventures. Insight a growing firm looking to expand their thesis and focus and Fika a firm looking to invest in the right founders with great ideas.
The VC Connection is a semi-regular, ongoing newsletter where we profile funds that we have developed relationships with. If you would like to see other firms we know, feel free to browse through our curated VC List, “Other VC Firms.”
In the ‘90s, the tech industry primarily revolved around hardware – what’s the newest hardware coming out? How can we make this smaller? Yet, the vast majority of individuals paid no mind to the less tangible software that powered the hardware. Insight Partners was founded in 1995 with software in mind, predicting that in the next 10 years software would be the driver of innovative technology.
Insight Partners is a New York-based global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies, including in life sciences, that are driving transformative change in their industries. Insight’s flagship funds typically invest between $5 million and $500 million+ in a company, with the ability to invest from the earliest institutional check to IPO. With 700+ primary investments, 225+ portfolio-led acquisitions, 110+ strategic exits and 55+ IPOs, Insight knows what it takes to scale a business.
What sets Insight apart from its peers is the firm’s ability to leverage data and pattern recognition, which enables Insight to provide strategic support and scale up exceptional companies at every stage of the growth cycle. Critical to this ability is Insight Onsite, the industry’s largest software-focused operations team, which is comprised of 130+ operators in the Insight ecosystem who work alongside Insight portfolio companies in the areas of talent, sales, marketing, product, engineering and strategy and help founders and executives identify and execute key strategic growth initiatives.
Over the years, Insight has been growing and developing the firm, expanding their fund size and their investment focus. Building upon an established track record of investing in software for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, Insight has recently built a team and begun investing in life sciences and healthtech companies, including here in San Diego.
Thesis: Innovative Software and LifeSci Startups
Industry: Cybersecurity, AI/ML, DevOps, Infrastructure, FinTech, HealthTech, BioTech, and EdTech, among others
Location: New York, NY
Stage: Earliest institutional check through IPO
Initial Investment Size: $5M to $500M+
SD Portfolio Companies: ClosingCorp, Deno, DivX, Lytx, Monk Development, The Omega Group, TriTech Software Systems
Fika is an important Swedish custom where people gather to eat, drink, and talk. A workplace tradition that is essential. It means taking time for friends and colleagues to stop, socialize, and relax, allowing for relationships to strengthen and bonds to grow. Fika Ventures integrates this way of thinking into everything they do, focusing on learning, listening, and truly understanding their founders.
Established in 2016, Fika primarily invests in seed stage B2B Software companies within the industries of enterprise software, fintech, marketplaces, and healthcare IT. Fika is comfortable leading rounds and wants to be the first institutional capital for their founders, staying by their side throughout their journey. Last year, Fika raised $160M for their core fund, Fika III, as well as a $35M opportunity fund.
Fika focuses on investing in people. People who dare to envision a better future and execute day in and day out to achieve it. Truly understanding their unique stories and supporting them as they develop down their journey.
Thesis: B2B Software Companies Leveraging the Power of Data
Industry: Enterprise Software, FinTech, Marketplaces, Healthcare IT and Web3
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed, and Small Series A’s
Initial Investment Size: $1M to $5M
Notable Portfolio Companies: Edge Impulse, BuildOps, Pipe, Policygenius, Noyo
Here at Connect, our mission is to help San Diego’s incredible startup companies grow and succeed. One way we do that is by connecting our startups to venture capitalists. If you are interested in getting connected with our network, we recommend you apply to our program, Springboard. In this program, you will get the opportunity to speak with expert advisors.
Keep on charging forward,
The Connect Team