Twitter investor nears final close on big new fund

Insight Venture Partners, the New York-based late-stage and growth equity firm whose portfolio includes Twitter, recently told the SEC that it had closed on approximately $1.05 billion for its seventh fund (kudos to Connie for noticing it first).

The firm isn't commenting, natch, but a source tells me that this only represents a first close. A second close is expected later this quarter, on a bit more than the $1.25 billion that Insight raised for its sixth fund in 2007.

It is important to note that this is a general Insight fund, not the co-invest vehicle that I wrote about last September (which can provide extra capital to Fund VI and Fund VII portfolio companies).

In that piece, I mentioned that Fund VI was only 60% called down. Now I hear that it's entirely committed – including some dry powder for follow-ons – which means two things: (1) My original figure was a bit light, and (2) Insight was very busy in Q4 and the beginning of 2011.

According to CalPERS, Insight's fifth fund (2005) sported a 22.5% internal rate of return (IRR) as of June 30, 2010. Its sixth fund had a 6.4% IRR.