Veeam co-founder says $500m investment will 'take us to next level'

Back-up vendor pledges product investment and M&A after $500m injection from Insight Venture Partners

Switzerland-based back-up vendor Veeam claims it is gearing up for organic and acquisitive growth after snagging a $500m investment.

Despite having only been founded in 2006, Veeam is one of the world's largest privately held software companies, and has made no secret of its preference to remain private in order to avoid the pressures of the stock market.

Today, an IPO looks further away than ever after the $1bn-revenue firm announced that Insight Venture Partners has ploughed $500m into its coffers, having first taken a minority stake in Veeam in 2013.

Veeam claims to have 325,000 customers, working with 60,000 partners and 82 per cent of the Fortune 500. It has posted 41 straight quarters of double-digit growth.

The latest investment will be used to bolster organic growth, namely through portfolio innovation and geographical expansion, and via M&A activity, Veeam said.

Insight Venture Partners' Jeff Horing and Michael Triplett first began working with Veeam's team, including co-founder Ratmir Timashev (pictured), in 2002, when they invested in their first company, Aelita Software, which sold up to Quest Software in 2004.

Veeam claims the "rapidly expanding" enterprise cloud data management it addresses is worth $30bn annually.

Triplett gave a glowing review of Veeam's market potential, likening the firm to Amazon and Apple.

"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," he said.

"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."

Veeam co-founder Timashev added that the investment would take his firm "to the next level".