Insight Partners seals $20 billion fund

Insight Partners raised $20 billion for its largest flagship fund yet, the tech-focused venture capital and private equity investor announced on Thursday.

Why it matters: The new fund from Insight, one of the most active venture investors last year, adds to the flood of capital pouring into private companies but comes at a time when public market investors are souring on growth stocks.

Of note: The firm completed more Series A and buyout deals last year than pre-IPO rounds, says Managing Partner Deven Parekh — meaning its portfolio so far has been largely insulated from the public market selloff.

Details: Insight is looking at public companies in the fintech and software space that are feeling the brunt of the market's volatility, though executives and founders are still hesitant to sell.

• "We are going to monitor the markets and we will react where the market changes," says Parekh, who led Insight's investments in Checkout.com, DriveWealth, WeWork and Saks.com.
• "We are increasing our quality bar. What happened in a frothier market was that a rising tide lifted all boats independent of quality to an extent," Parekh adds.
• That approach is less about showing profitability, and more about showing that the business is sustainable — for example, that its nosebleed growth is partnered with high customer life-time value and reasonable customer acquisition costs.

Bottom line: Insight isn't calling this moment the market's top, but it is insuring itself against a long-term selloff. And in either scenario, it has one of the largest funds out there to deploy.