John Wolff, Managing Director of Insight Partners, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, at the 2026 ABS Global Investments Annual Conference to discuss the evolution of late-stage private market investing and opportunities emerging from the AI transformation.
Insight Partners is a leading growth equity, venture capital, and private equity platform with a long-standing focus on software investing. Wolff explains that he joined the firm six years ago to launch Insight Partners Public Equities (IPPE), an initiative designed to extend the firm’s expertise into later-stage private companies and public markets. By bringing a public-market perspective to private investing, Insight Partners seeks to identify opportunities among companies that are staying private longer while growing in scale and global influence.
Wolff notes that incorporating public-market data into private market investing has become an increasingly valuable trend, one that Insight Partners was early to identify. He adds that these efforts provide investors with broader information sets and stronger relationships with companies that can extend beyond an IPO.
Wolff also highlights the impact of AI on the software sector, as companies turn toward AI-native revenue and AI-native business models. While public markets have pushed the valuation of traditional software companies toward lower multiples, he believes many of these companies can still pivot if they quickly adapt to the AI-driven environment. As a significant investor in Anthropic, Wolff notes that Insight Partners’ portfolio, particularly in late-stage markets, is already well-positioned for this transition.
Looking ahead, Wolff highlights that emerging winners such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Databricks are approaching potential IPOs. While Insight Partners continues to benefit from the growth of these companies, he emphasizes that the firm is already focused on identifying and investing in the next wave of emerging private market leaders, many of which are not yet widely recognized but are poised to become industry leaders.
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