Despite increasing investments in cybersecurity, adversaries outpace most organizations when it comes to adopting innovation. This leaves defenders struggling with the fundamentals in complex enterprise environments. Automation has improved detection and triaging capabilities, yet all escalated cases still require tedious manual investigations. This makes investigations the most significant bottleneck for security operations. Manually investigating all escalated cases by tier-2 and tier-3 analysts is an impossible task for most organizations today. Complex incidents often result in resource starvation for security operations, or the need to hire third party remediation and response firms.

Investigations are made of questions and answers. Depending on the complexity, investigations can be formed by dozens or thousands of questions. Command Zero combines expert investigative questions, autonomous and user-led methods on a federated data model to transform investigations. For the first time in cyber, the platform enables asking questions in a technology independent way across all universal data sources in modern enterprises. Using the platform, analysts can leverage automation and LLMs to increase speed, accuracy and consistency of investigations.

Today, human intelligence and creativity remain irreplaceable in investigations. Supporting human qualities, machines excel at repetitive tasks and can process vast amounts of data at incredible speeds. Command Zero leverages both strengths by incorporating automation and advanced LLMs to augment human investigators. During an investigation, each question and response is interpreted and analyzed, in context of the investigation and organization. This removes the laborious work from SecOps teams and helps analysts better interpret the responses from data sources. This unique approach also allows users to know which questions to ask, how to interpret answers and build complete narratives of what occurred. The same capabilities also generate timelines and end-to-end reports for investigations, saving valuable cycles for all analysts.

Founded by a seasoned leadership team with extensive experience in security operations and incident response, Command Zero delivers a consistent, efficient and scalable path for investigations and threat hunting. Co-founders Dov Yoran , Dean De Beer  and Alfred Huger  have led seven successful cybersecurity acquisitions to date including exits to Symantec, McAfee, Sourcefire, Cisco and IBM.

“Running escalations to ground truth has always been the biggest challenge in cyber. To date, conducting thorough cyber investigations has relied on individual expertise, and has been exclusive to select few advanced organizations,” said Dov Yoran, co-founder and CEO. “Command Zero removes technology expertise barriers, dramatically reduces repetitive manual work and speeds up investigations. Improving institutional knowledge, automation and consistent outcomes are transforming how organizations run threat hunting and investigations at scale.”

Command Zero’s research team carefully creates and curates investigative sequences and technology-specific investigation questions. The platform combines decades of experience in incident response, automation capabilities with an advanced and thoughtful LLM implementation to deliver expert outcomes for all users.

About Command Zero

Command Zero is the industry’s first autonomous and user-led cyber investigation platform, built to transform security operations in complex enterprise environments. The platform reduces the need for technology specific expertise for tier-2, tier-3 analysts, incident responders and threat hunters. Command Zero enables all users to perform at the highest level by ensuring consistent, repeatable, auditable investigations with automated reporting.

Command Zero is a passionate tribe of accomplished cyber experts focused on revolutionizing cyber investigations. The co-founders have led seven successful cybersecurity acquisitions to date including exits to Symantec, McAfee, Sourcefire, Cisco and IBM. Headquartered in Austin, TX with presence in Calgary Alberta, Canada, the company has seasoned employees across the US and Canada.

Learn more at https://www.cmdzero.io/ and follow the Command Zero LinkedIn page .

The post Command Zero Emerges from Stealth with $21 Million in Funding to Resolve the Most Significant Bottleneck in Security Operations appeared first on Insight Partners.

While a straight B student, he went on to earn a place at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but his late-night gaming habits quickly became unsustainable.

“I failed second semester and got a job at a local ice cream store,” he recalls. He decided to write to the dean of the university, asking for another chance. When he returned after the summer break, he was a changed student. He graduated in computer engineering, ultimately making the dean’s list.

This stumble changed him, he says. “That was when I developed my work ethic.” In 2006, when he landed his first software engineering job in Manhattan after college, he maintained the same diligence, arriving at the office by 7 a.m., and always the last to leave.

“You have to build things that lots of people value”

Reiser has learned the secret to building scalable businesses through trial and error — starting multiple business ventures after spending multiple years as a software engineer.

• In 2007, he founded GamerNook, a social platform where gamers could connect and chat. “I was getting fan mail from users saying it changed their lives, but I was dead broke, using my savings to pay server bills, eating off the Burger King dollar menu, and sleeping on a friend’s couch.”
• In 2008, Reiser teamed up with some ex-Yahoo executives and created Bloomspot, designed like Groupon but for luxury experiences. It was this venture that taught him the finer points of unit economics. “We made money and hired more than 100 people,” he says. “But the cost of acquiring customers just kept going up and up.” In 2012, the company was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• In 2010, he built AdStack, a software company offering digital personalization for ads and email marketing. Reiser became one of AI’s pioneers, testing technologies to harness and analyze reams of data. Reiser spent the next eight years in behavioral ad targeting, during which his company AdStack was acquired by TellApart and then by X (formerly known as Twitter), where he doubled ad revenues to $2B annually.

Applying data science to email security

At X, he began to think about applications for data science outside of advertising. “Imagine that you could see every single keystroke of every employee in the world,” posits Reiser. “You would develop a superhuman ability to answer business questions.”

Reiser, along with his cofounder and former coworker Sanjay Jeyakumar, left X in 2018 to pursue the founding principle behind Abnormal Security: using AI to understand human behavior. By understanding humans perhaps even better than they understand themselves, the duo realized that there was the opportunity to use that insight for hundreds of different business-relevant applications.

“We have similar values and both really enjoy the process of doing the work and truth-seeking.”

“We have similar values and both really enjoy the process of doing the work and truth-seeking,” Reiser says of their partnership. “And we’re both incredibly optimistic.”

“Sanjay is very perceptive and thoughtful. His cognitive skills are off the charts. If he is in the conversation, he makes everyone else smarter, like a force multiplier in people’s brains.”

They needed revenue in order to develop their tech, so they talked to 100 CSOs and CIOs: “We told them our vision and asked what applications they would be willing to pay for.” The response was conclusive: 90% of the immediate use cases were in cybersecurity.

The focus on email security was a natural evolution, as most of the successful social engineering and phishing attacks at the time were exploiting email as a channel. In 2018, business email compromise was just starting to become widespread, with CEO impersonations rising. “These attacks are successful because they rely on exploiting human behavior, and since they didn’t have malicious attachments or links, they were able to easily bypass existing defenses,” says Reiser. “We realized that protecting people from these attacks was key, and that use case really inspired us.”

Scale up your career: See all open roles at Abnormal Security on the Insight Partners job board.

The investor POV

“As soon as someone tries it, they want it.”

They immediately started ideating about using AI to prevent these socially engineered attacks, starting Abnormal Security in early 2018. By  2019, after a successful Series A investment, Reiser and Jeyakumar had an extremely strong six-year business plan complete with marketing and hiring strategies.

“It was audacious and maybe ridiculous, in hindsight,” Reiser says. “We had a path to IPO all worked out.”

The company’s approach to email security paid off, and Abnormal grew quickly. In the first year, it secured dozens of customers and iterated to launch additional add-on products focused on detecting and remediating compromised accounts.

For both the company’s Series B investment in 2020 and Series C investment in 2022, Reiser listed out who thought would be the best investors, which included Insight. “There [were] a lot of institutional reasons why Insight was a good firm,” he explained. “Insight had a lot of value outside of the financial investment.”

Reiser then gave himself a strict two-week deadline to evaluate and pick the investors he wanted on board for his Series C. “I don’t like to waste time,” he explains. “Any time I’m not building or selling our product is doing a disservice to the company.”

An investor from a previous funding round for Abnormal reached out to Stephen Ward, managing director at Insight Partners. “It was a great vote of confidence,” says Ward, former CISO at Home Depot. Ward’s previous experiences also impressed Reiser and later helped shape Abnormal’s future.

“It wasn’t just about the firm, although we liked the fact that Insight could go on a longer-term journey with us. It was about the individual. We wanted to align with someone who was going to contribute more than money,” explains Reiser. “As a former CISO himself, Steve understood the problem and knew a lot of our customers. He took the opportunity very seriously.”

“What I loved about Abnormal was that it just runs quietly in the background,” says Ward. “The time to value is extraordinary for such a complex piece of AI tech. As soon as someone tries it, they want it.”

“When he speaks, I listen”

“We were scheduled to have a Zoom, but I wanted to show the scale of my commitment,” continues Ward. “So instead, I jumped on a 6 a.m. flight from New Jersey to San Francisco and came in person. We were supposed to speak for an hour, but we spent three hours on the whiteboard working on the product roadmap.”

Reiser admired his chutzpah, he says. “It was sincere. It means a lot when someone is willing to make a six-hour trip to come and shake your hand. I realized that Insight was committed to our success, and that was important as we continued to grow the company at this scale.”

In May 2022, Abnormal announced it had closed a $210M round led by Insight, valuing the four-year-old company at $4B. The capital has helped the team grow its footprint across Europe and Asia and continue investing in its AI capabilities as it expands beyond email security.

Meanwhile, Ward and Insight’s team have brought considerable value across customer acquisition, hiring, and strategy.

“I had a meeting with a Fortune 100 company yesterday — I was introduced by Steve,” says Reiser. “That alone is probably worth $20M in enterprise value.”

“Ward is the three-in-one,” he adds. “He’s a financial investor, an example customer, and a product specialist. When he speaks, I listen.”

The future is Abnormal

Since the Series C investment, Abnormal Security has hired some of the most well-known minds in the industry, including Silicon Valley mogul Michael DeCesare, a cyber veteran who has floated two companies during his distinguished career. Right now, Abnormal boasts 800 staff and protects nearly a fifth of the Fortune 500.

Abnormal Security is on a journey to “understand humans better than humans,” says Reiser.

“We started with a basic business email compromise solution,” he explains. “Then we started preventing broader social engineering, blocking attacks like phishing and malware. And once you train AI to understand more about people, it can intercept all inbound attacks, so we have expanded to include more cloud platforms.”

“Today, we do a lot more than just email security,” he continues. “When your core focus is understanding human behavior, the opportunity snowballs. The more data you can access, the more you learn about people, and the more platforms you can protect.”

The company has already started expanding its offerings, with account takeover protection now available for more than a dozen applications including Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, and Workday. “I’m really excited about the possibilities,” Reiser continued. “The ability to understand human behavior provides so many opportunities within cybersecurity, but also outside of it.”

Examples include tools that can showcase:

• Which sales reps are the best at communicating your brand story effectively
• Who in the organization does everyone go to for help but isn’t recognized as a key contributor
• Where a business is accidentally infringing on sales agreements.

“The number of applications…it’s mind-blowing,” says Reiser.

“We’re just getting started. The best from Abnormal is yet to come.”

The post How Evan Reiser is better understanding and securing human behavior with Abnormal Security appeared first on Insight Partners.

Launched in 2022, the ETX is a collaborative community-driven council for CIOs to identify and discuss technology trends, advise and innovate with Insight Partners’ portfolio, and exchange insights on the future of the industry in a trusted forum. The ETX is driven by Insight IGNITE, Insight Partners’ network of more than 2,000 senior tech executives across 850+ global enterprises who leverage Insight’s deep industry expertise and investment knowledge to inform their technology strategies. With programs like the ETX and the Enterprise Accelerator, IGNITE fosters a mutually beneficial environment for innovative founders from the firm’s portfolio and corporate executives of G2000 companies to connect, share insights, and forge strategic partnerships.

Following in the footsteps of the first and second cohorts, the third ETX features another set of distinguished executives and enterprise leaders from around the globe, including:

• Boris Shulkin, Magna
• Rhonda Gass, Stanley Black & Decker
• Alexander Buresch, BMW Group
• Atul Bhardwaj, Lego
• Prasanna Gopalakrishnan, Sky
• Cindy Hoots, AstraZeneca
• Ursula Soritsch-Renier, Saint Gobain
• Koen Vermeulen, Orange
• Salumeh Companieh, Cushman & Wakefield
• Caroline Basyn, Adecco Group
• Earl Newsome, Cummins
• Lesley Salmon, Kellanova
• Anjana Harve, BJ’s Wholesale Group
• John Gigerich, Keurig Dr Pepper
• Kim Mackenroth, L3Harris Technologies

Over the next 18 months, this group of leaders will focus on technology trends and priorities that are heavily impacting the future of software, including leveraging AI’s capabilities, optimizing operating systems, software asset management and the digital ecosystem.

“The digital transformation is in full swing at the BMW Group. Therefore, I am very excited to engage with global technology leaders at this year’s Enterprise Technology Exchange,” said Alexander Buresch, Senior Vice President of BMW Group IT. “Together, we will drive digital leadership and profit from each other’s experiences in different industries around the globe. Diverse ideas make for the best solutions.”

“Insight Partners has always impressed me with their ability to target relevant and cutting-edge technologies. I like to say if they’re working on something or aware of something, it’s likely the next big thing that’s going to help me achieve our goals. Being on the front lines of awareness here is really exciting for me,” said Rhonda Gass, Chief Information Officer at Stanley Black & Decker.

“At a time when Orange is undergoing its own transition to a software-centric tech company, it is crucial to come together with other tech leaders to discuss the huge changes underway that are shaping all our industries. This is a valuable forum that we are pleased to be part of to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences,” said Koen Vermeulen, Group CIO & Senior Vice President at Orange Innovation IT & Services.

“I’m looking forward to helping and supporting one another, and getting to know and work with like-minded people trying to solve the same problems,” said Atul Bhardwaj, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at the Lego Group.

Insight IGNITE is part of Insight Onsite, the firm’s comprehensive growth engine with 140+ dedicated team members across multiple domains. The Onsite team provides deep operational expertise, access to expansive networks, and targeted solutions to help high-growth software ScaleUps scale faster and more effectively.

About Insight Partners:

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2023, the firm has over $80B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

The post Insight Partners Announces Leaders for Its Third Enterprise Technology Exchange (ETX) appeared first on Insight Partners.

What do you do at Insight?

Amy Chen: I am a senior associate at Insight Partners and sit on our Diligence and Growth Strategy team. My time is split between evaluating investment opportunities and supporting our existing founders and management teams with their growth journey. I also work on our 20/20 Vision Capital Fund, Insight’s fund of funds vehicle investing into underrepresented emerging managers, including sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support.

Will Kenney: I’m an investor and focus on early growth deals, typically Series A-C. I spend much of my time in developer tooling or ‘software for hardware’ — tools that support manufacturing, aerospace & defense, and other hardware-intensive industries.

Maya Frid: I’m an analyst on the Capital Partnerships team. I support our team’s fundraising efforts by handling the scheduling and logistics for all of our LP diligence sessions, both virtual and in-person, as well as logistics for many of our LP-facing events, such as the AGM.  I really enjoy this role because it gives me the chance to meet and interact with many different members of our firm across all levels.

Amir Ravandoust: I am a member of the scaled buyout team, focused on diligence, acquisition, and transformation of our large-scale investments. I also occasionally step into our portfolio companies in interim operating roles such as CFO and COO, to accelerate the upfront transformation of the business and set the management team up for growth and success.

What is one thing you wish you had known when you began your career?

Amy Chen: To be bold, take chances, and contribute even when you’re not certain. I would tell my younger self that sharing your opinion and thought process is often more valuable than simply being right. Early in your career, it can feel daunting to get “the wrong answer,” especially after being grade-focused before entering the workforce.

However, I believe this is the perfect time to embrace opportunities, learn from mistakes, and ultimately learn from peers. Particularly in an industry as multifaceted as VC and PE, having a diverse range of voices and opinions can provide our teams with an edge in investment and strategic decisions.

Will Kenney: A VC mentor told me early in my career that I needed to be less afraid to close doors. I’m a naturally curious person, and I wanted to try everything — I’ve worked in philanthropy, consulting, investing, and at startups. However, being afraid to close doors — to narrow my focus — was preventing me from going deep on any one passion or industry that I could become an expert on.

There’s always time to go back and open a door another time, but giving myself the freedom to go all-in on one endeavor (and not fear the opportunity cost) has allowed me to embark on a more intentional and informed career path.

Maya Frid: One thing I wish I realized earlier in my career was the importance of being proactive. I used to think that keeping my head down and working hard would be enough for me to get noticed and grow in my roles, but now I know that nobody is going to pluck you out of obscurity and put the opportunity in your hand. You have to take the initiative and be vocal about what you want. You can’t be afraid of hearing the word “no” — if you won’t ask for it, you won’t get it.

Amir Ravandoust: Asking for help earlier and more frequently. I used to think that I had to figure everything out myself. I became much more productive and effective the moment I normalized asking for help and advice from others.

Talk about a significant mentorship moment or influence in your life

Amy Chen: I’ve been incredibly fortunate to encounter many mentors and sponsors throughout my career. This thread of sponsorship continues in my current role, where I work alongside fantastic people who advocate for me and challenge me. Most recently, a close sponsor encouraged me and provided the opportunity to take on a stretch role. Their full confidence in me reinforced my trust in my own judgment and ability, pushing me into new leadership capacities.

Reflecting on Pride Month, and as someone who has now found their footing in the corporate world, I believe it is essential to pay forward the guidance I received and keep the door open for others coming after me. Mentorship and coaching are elements of my role at Insight that most energize me. It is very rewarding to build relationships with our incoming analysts and associates, helping to amplify their voices, just as my sponsors have done for me.

Will Kenney: While it may be atypical for young kids to have a family ritual of watching 60 Minutes every Sunday, my parents wanted to ensure I developed a global perspective at a young age. As I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, I felt exposed to a wide range of issues and the trends that drove them due to the incredible effort my mother and father put into my early education.

This is particularly true of my interest in technology, as the Internet transformed society in the late ’90s and early ’00s. My parents wholeheartedly supported my love for all things tech (including me yelling “dot com” while still in diapers). It’s because of their support that I was able to eventually study computer science and come join Insight’s investment team. They will always be my most important mentors.

Maya Frid: One person who had a huge influence on me was a female partner at the law firm where I worked right out of college. I’m a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. and neither of my parents work in a corporate environment, so as a recent college grad, her guidance was extremely helpful to me in learning how to navigate the corporate sphere. She gave me advice on everything from dress code to the nuances of interpersonal relations, and she never made me feel silly for asking questions.

One particular piece of advice that stayed with me was the benefit of building relationships and surrounding yourself with a network of supportive people who are willing to give honest feedback to help you grow. That same network empowered me to make the change from working in the legal industry to finance, which brought me to Insight.

Amir Ravandoust: While working closely with a company to transform its sales strategy, I was facing a lot of push-back from the middle management layer who did not want to disrupt the momentum of the business. The CEO, who was also a mentor of mine, told me to spend more time with the sales team in the field, meet customers and partners, and sit through product demos to better understand the business and gain more credibility with the team.

In addition to making the project successful, my mentor’s advice has become a critical part of how I do my job: I embed myself within teams to better understand their concerns and perspectives and improve the way I support and advise them.

The post Celebrating Pride Month at Insight appeared first on Insight Partners.

We are excited to introduce Insight’s SaaS Marketing Periodic Table, enriched by the most recent quarterly data from our diverse portfolio of private and public SaaS companies. Staying true to our mission of accelerating growth and efficiency, this resource is designed to highlight the marketing metrics that are critical to driving growth.

The benchmarks below are not meant to be targets, but instead a starting point for discussion. All companies are unique and should seek to improve performance regardless of where they measure against benchmarks.

How to use this periodic table

ScaleUp founders and leaders can use this interactive marketing periodic table as a visual gut check on the most top-of-mind metrics for their business.

• Select the ARR segment that best fits your business.
• Click into a metric to see how best practices differ based on your ASP.
• Each card contains the definition of the metric, and how to calculate it.

In the interactive table, you will find Saas marketing benchmarks across marketing budget, program efficiency, people resourcing, and conversion rates for the most important marketing metrics to track.

The post SaaS Marketing Periodic Table: Insights that guide exceptional marketing performance appeared first on Insight Partners.

Following a remarkable 3X year-over-year growth, driven by the urgent need to address the escalating care crisis marked by a severe caregiver shortage and soaring care costs, Sensi.AI is poised to redefine the aging-in-place landscape.

According to AARP, 90% of older adults prefer to age at home, yet a study by MissionCare Collective reveals that 89% of providers have been forced to deny home care due to the workforce crisis. Home care agencies nationwide are grappling with the challenge of delivering exceptional care while scaling their operations effectively.

Sensi.AI’s advanced audio platform revolutionizes home care by detecting and predicting care events while ensuring privacy. It provides agencies with critical insights into senior health for timely interventions and personalized care plans, reducing hospitalizations, improving caregiver-client relationships, and extending service durations to keep seniors at home longer. Sensi customers value its AI for identifying over 100 types of crucial insights, including early signs of pneumonia, UTIs, care resistance, cognitive changes, and emergency events such as falls.

In a market estimated to be worth over $390 billion globally, Sensi is the world’s first in-home 24/7 virtual care agent using audio AI technology. This innovation empowers long-term care providers to tackle significant challenges in the care industry, offering an unprecedented level of insight and support for senior care.

“When our customers say that Sensi is more than just technology, that there is a heart behind it, we know we are on the right path. We are dedicated to ensuring every senior can age with dignity in the comfort of their own home, the place they love most,” said Romi Gubes, Co-Founder and CEO of Sensi.AI. “This funding from renowned investors will help us continue to innovate our product and scale our go-to-market strategy, bringing our vision to life.”

“When I came across Sensi, I immediately recognized the magnitude of the problem they were solving. It requires more than simply applying AI technology,” said Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures. “I am confident that Sensi’s advanced audio AI technology along with their talented team will spearhead a transformation in the care ecosystem unlike anything seen before.”

“We were immediately impressed by Sensi’s mission and innovative approach to senior care. This unique use of AI shows technology’s potential to create a more compassionate and connected society, solving real-world problems that impact millions,” said Jeff Horing, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Insight Partners. “Insight is proud to back Romi and the Sensi team, and we look forward to an exciting next chapter together.”

ABOUT Sensi.AI

Sensi.AI is the most trusted 24/7 care intelligence agent on the planet using audio technology with highest level of precision. Sensi’s technology drives significant growth and efficiency for home care businesses, by providing a 360-degree understanding of a senior’s physical, emotional, and cognitive needs. Sensi supports over 80% of the largest home care networks across 41 states in the United States. For more information, visit www.sensi.ai.

The post Sensi.AI Raises $31M in Series B Funding to Advance Senior Care Intelligence for Home Care Agencies appeared first on Insight Partners.

June was a great month for Insight’s portfolio! Congratulations to our portfolio companies and leaders who were recognized for their achievements. 

The Third Party Risk Association named Exiger the winner of the 2024 TRPM Service Provider Innovator Award.

Optimizely received Leader recognitions in two IDC MarketScape reports: Worldwide Enterprise Headless Digital Commerce Platforms 2024 and Worldwide Headless Digital Commerce Applications for Midmarket Growth 2024.

Have a recent win you want to shout about? Reach out to InsightPR@insightpartners.com!

The post Celebrating ScaleUp Milestones – June 2024 appeared first on Insight Partners.

Read the article and complete list of winners on GrowthCap’s website here.

* The award referenced herein is the opinion of the party conferring the award and not of Insight Partners. GrowthCap, LLC (“GrowthCap”), an independent third party that is not affiliated with Insight, issued the award. The time period upon which the award was based was 5/23 – 5/24. The award was given on 6/5/24. After being notified by GrowthCap of Insight’s selection for the award, Insight paid a fee to secure award receipt. In general, the receipt of compensation influences, and is likely to present a potential material conflict of interest, relating to any granted award. GrowthCap’s recognition is not indicative of Insight’s future performance and was not based on evaluations of clients or investors of Insight. There can be no assurance that other providers or surveys would reach the same conclusion as the foregoing.

The post AWARD: GrowthCap Top Women Leaders in Growth Investing of 2024 appeared first on Insight Partners.

The resounding support from Canary’s current investors underscores the company’s performance and their unwavering confidence in Canary’s growth trajectory, as it continues to solidify its position as the premier provider of enterprise grade hospitality AI solutions. Canary is trusted by more than 20,000 hoteliers across the globe including a host of flagship enterprise brands such as Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, Four Seasons, and others.

“AI is transforming the way we live, work, and travel. Canary is at the forefront of delivering enterprise-grade hospitality AI solutions that empower hoteliers to streamline operations, boost efficiency and elevate the guest experience,” said Harman Singh Narula, CEO and Co-founder of Canary. “This funding milestone is a reflection of the team’s hard work and the immense impact that Canary is making for hoteliers, including many of the world’s largest enterprise hotel brands. We continue to see significant demand in the market for our products and are excited to extend our partnership with existing investors.”

“In a year that proved tough on growth and execution in the tech ecosystem, we saw Canary thrive and exceed their ambitious targets, prompting us to double down,” said Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We continue to be impressed with Harman, SJ, and the team’s tenacity and ability to deliver hoteliers the best-in-class solutions they need most, and are honored to be a part of the company’s journey.”

Canary is transforming the hotel technology landscape with its award-winning end-to-end Guest Management Platform, and is currently deploying one of the largest rollouts of guest-facing AI technology in hospitality ever.

“Canary remains focused on our mission of helping hoteliers modernize their tech stack to deliver the best guest experiences possible,” said SJ Sawhney, President and Co-founder of Canary Technologies. “We are thrilled to utilize the funding to continue building a world-class team focused on innovation while expediting our ambitious roadmap. With Canary AI already deployed in some of the world’s largest enterprise hotel brands, we look forward to further enhancing our AI capabilities and broadening its use across the industry.”

Co-founded by long-time friends and industry veterans, Narula and Sawhney bring years of experience in hospitality and technology to Canary Technologies. Narula was previously a member of the Global Strategy team at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and a management consultant at Bain & Company. He is a graduate of the renowned Cornell School of Hotel Administration and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to co-founding Canary, Sawhney led product and technology at Stayful, a booking platform for independent and boutique hotels founded by the former president of Hotels.com. Sawhney is a serial entrepreneur, having successfully founded multiple venture-backed technology companies over the prior decade. He is a graduate of Columbia University.

About Canary Technologies
Canary Technologies is modernizing the hotel tech stack with its award-winning end-to-end Guest Management Platform. Digitizing everything from post-booking through checkout, Canary is trusted by more than 20,000 hoteliers in 80+ countries, including leading global brands, such as Marriott International, Four Seasons, Choice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Rosewood and Intercontinental Hotel Group. Canary is the #1 rated solution on HotelTechReport and was the sole hotel technology company named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2023. Canary’s solutions eliminate paper processes, boost revenue, increase staff efficiency, improve the guest experience and reduce chargebacks and payment fraud. Canary’s Hotel Management Software includes Mobile Check-In/Checkout, Tablet Registration, Upsells, Guest Messaging, Canary AI, and Digital Tipping. Learn more at canarytechnologies.com.

About Insight Partners 
Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2023, the firm has over $80B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

SOURCE Canary Technologies

The post Canary Technologies Raises $50M to Accelerate AI Guest Technology in Hospitality appeared first on Insight Partners.

In connection with the merger, Insight Partners, a global software investor, has joined Liberty Hall Capital Partners (“Liberty Hall”), a private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in businesses serving the global aerospace and defense industry and Comply365’s current controlling shareholder, as an equal investor in the combined business. The two private equity firms’ investment provides the combined company the capital to accelerate product differentiation and new product development into cutting-edge, mission-critical products supporting aviation, defense and rail technologies – with a vision of superior compliance and safety innovation for the benefit of its customers.

“This merger comes as the result of a shared vision to enhance our product and service capabilities, accelerate innovation and deliver unparalleled value to our customers in the aviation, defense and rail sectors,” said Rob Morgan, CEO. “I look forward to working with Tom and the team to build on our successes to date and ensuring our customers remain at the heart of everything we do.”

Tom Samuel, Vice Chairman said, “I am thrilled to join Rob in leading the company. This combination provides us significantly more resources to invest in our mission-critical solutions, better serve our global customers and accelerate technology transformation across the aviation, defense and rail sectors.”

“We are confident in the immense potential created from the merger of Comply365 and Vistair,” said Henry Frankievich, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “The companies’ complementary solutions bring a powerful offering to the market for the benefit of the entire aviation ecosystem. We are excited to join forces with our partners at Liberty Hall to bolster and support ongoing product investment and growth.”

James Black, Principal at Liberty Hall, added, “We have very much enjoyed our partnership with Tom Samuel and the Comply365 team over the past three years and look forward to this next exciting chapter in the company’s journey. As Comply365 and Vistair come together, we look forward to working with Rob, Tom and our partners at Insight to support the combined company’s next phase of growth, which will combine the strengths and expertise of both organizations to deliver even greater value to our collective customers.”

Lincoln International served as financial advisor to Comply365 and Harris Williams and Lincoln International served as financial advisors to Insight Partners and Liberty Hall. Legal advice to Comply365 and Liberty Hall was provided by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and legal advice to Insight Partners was provided by Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to Vistair. Legal advice was provided by Osborne Clarke.

About Comply365

Comply365 is a leading provider of enterprise SaaS and mobile solutions for content management and document distribution in highly regulated industries, including aviation and rail. Comply365 supports the world’s most mobile and remote workforces with targeted and personalized delivery of job-critical data that enables safe, efficient, and compliant operations. Every day, hundreds of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, maintenance technicians, rail conductors and engineers rely on Comply365 for digital delivery of operational (OEM and company) manuals. Having played an instrumental role in the FAA’s approval of replacing the traditional, paper-based, pilot flight bags with electronic flight bags (EFBs), Comply365 partners with clients to transform their industries. For more information, please visit www.comply365.com.

About Vistair Limited
Vistair is one of the world’s leading providers of Operational Data Management for aviation technical publications, safety and regulatory content. Vistair is focused on driving market-leading innovation that simplifies the complex Flight Operations, Engineering, Safety and Compliance eco-system across the aviation industry and the defence sector. Our technology leads the way in the digital transformation of safety, efficiency, and compliance, driving higher standards across the industry. It is trusted by many of the most progressive aviation and defence organisations worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vistair.com.

About Insight Partners
Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2023, the firm has over $80B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv and Palo Alto. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

About Liberty Hall Capital Partners
Liberty Hall Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in businesses serving the global aerospace and defense industry. Liberty Hall’s principals have a 25-plus year history of working together and have led the investment of over $2.5 billion in equity capital in over 25 businesses serving multiple segments of the aerospace and defense industry. Liberty Hall was founded in July 2011 as the first, and remains the only, private equity firm focused solely on investments in middle market businesses serving the aerospace and defense industry. Liberty Hall executes a proven and repeatable investment strategy designed to transform middle market businesses into larger, more capable and diverse strategic assets. For more information, please visit http://www.libertyhallcapital.com.

SOURCE Insight Partners

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