Global venture capital and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners has invested US$500-million (R6.8-billion) (with strong participation from strategic investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)) into Veeam Software to accelerate the next phase of the software firm's growth within the public and private cloud market.

According to Veeam it will leverage Insight Venture Partners' internal business strategy arm, Insight Onsite, and capital to accelerate its expansion through both organic growth and M&A activities.

The company's focus going forward is on data management technology for multi-cloud environments.

Ratmir Timashev, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President (EVP), Sales and Marketing, at Veeam, said, "We will be using Insight Onsite to help scale the company and develop more cloud-based data management technologies required for the next 10 years; they bring a wealth of business knowledge and experience that Veeam can use as it grows."

Timashev added, "The new funding allows Veeam to follow through on some aggressive R&D plans with a combination of in-house R&D and acquisitions that accelerate the process. The next 10 years will see a focus on multi-cloud environments. Whoever has data management technology for multi-cloud environments will be the winner. We know that customers will be looking to deploy cloud data management, archival, compliance, security, and container technology."

The company continues to focus on the rapidly expanding cloud data management market, upon which enterprises spend an estimated US$30-billion annually.

Timashev continued, "We have a long-standing relationship with Jeff Horing and Michael Triplett from Insight Venture Partners, having worked with them since 2002 when Insight invested in our first company, Aelita Software. Back then, we relied on Insight to provide strategic counsel and support, and after we sold that company to Quest Software in 2004, we continued our relationship. Over the years, Insight has been a trusted advisor to Bill Largent, Andrei Baronov and me, even acquiring a minority share in Veeam back in 2013."

Veeam says it is not at liberty to discuss whether or not the investment may or may not impact Insight's existing minority share.

Pursuant to the terms of this investment Insight Venture Partners' Managing Director, Michael Triplett, will join Veeam's Board of Directors.

Triplett said, "Over the past decade, Veeam has established itself as the premier vendor for on-premises backup and recovery software, and is now No.1 in the market for providing data management for public and private cloud environments. Only great companies like Amazon and Apple have been able to pivot into market leading positions in multiple markets, and Veeam now joins this elite group."

A statement issued by Veeam notes that Gordon R.Caplan, Co-Chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP., served as advisor for the deal.