Richard Wells has over 20 years of experience in investing and advising managers of high growth technology companies. He joined Insight in 2005 and focuses on investments in application software, infrastructure management, devops, cybersecurity and defense technology.
Richard has sponsored over 45 investments at Insight and has realized 20 acquisitions and 2 IPOs. He has sponsored investments across the United States, Europe, Israel and South America. He currently serves on the board of directors of CentralReach, commercetools, Exclaimer, OneTrust and SonarSource. He is also active with Camunda, Comply365, Databricks, Flightkeys, HawkEye360, OneBrief, Shift5, Sysdig and Zone.
Richard previously led investments in AirWatch (acquired by VMware), AMCS (acquired by EQT), Beyondtrust (acquired by Veritas Capital), BMC (acquired by KKR), Buddy Media (acquired by Salesforce), Checkmarx (acquired by Hellman & Friedman), Cherwell (acquired by KKR), HealthcareSource (acquired by Francisco Partners), Jama (acquired by Francisco Partners), Kinnser Software (acquired by Wellsky), Metalogix (acquired by Permira), Netsmart Technologies (acquired by Genstar Capital), Perimeter81 (acquired by Check Point), PrecisionLender (acquired by Q2), Primavera (acquired by Oracle), Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), SmartBear Software (acquired by Francisco Partners), Storable (acquired by EQT), Tenable (NASDAQ: TENB) and TriTech (acquired by Bain Capital). He also served on the board of Anaqua (acquired by Astorg).
Richard serves on the board of directors of the Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a non-profit organization focused on assisting combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured veterans and their families, as well as on the board of the Honor Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on assisting Special Operations forces transition from active duty to the private sector. Richard is an active supporter of biomedical research in gliomas in honor of his wife Rachael. He also helps lead Insight’s effort to invest in diverse-led, early-stage investment funds to close the venture capital industry’s diversity gap.
Prior to Insight, Richard worked in product management at Veritas Software and in field sales for Paciolan Systems. He previously was with Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and began his career with Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman).
Richard received a BS from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
He grew up in Southern California and resides in New York City with his son and daughter.
