Insiders Research
Investment Thesis
Insiders is a small, founder-run early-stage venture fund started by Niccolo Maisto and Michele Attisani, the co-founders of FACEIT. They bootstrapped FACEIT from 2011, raised about $30M between 2016 and 2019 from Index Ventures, Makers Fund and Anthos Capital, grew it past 30 million users, and in 2022 sold it to Saudi Arabia's PIF in the combination of FACEIT and ESL for about $1.5B. The fund's pitch is that it is built from founders who built, scaled and sold a company, and that it backs the next generation of builders with real operating help ("we operate like a co-founder"). The firm describes itself as deliberately small, a short list of builders it would have wanted beside it. Per its LinkedIn page, it invests as a follower rather than a lead and helps founders get from 1 to 100.
Sector Focus
The website names no sector list. Third-party profiles describe an early focus on esports and gaming that has broadened. The disclosed portfolio shows mostly AI and developer tooling (Archestra.AI for securing AI agent connections to enterprise data, Requesty, Smallest.ai, Inceptron, Viktor, Sintra), fintech and payments (Airwallex, Clair, Leasy, Basis), health (Dune Health, HeyAlfie), and consumer and crypto-adjacent plays (XO Market, a community prediction-market platform). It also backed General Intuition, a gameplay-trained foundation-model company, which ties back to the founders' gaming background.
Stage Focus
Early stage, mostly pre-seed and seed. Nearly every portfolio entry is tagged EARLY-STAGE on the site; only Airwallex and Replit are tagged GROWTH.
Check Size
Not disclosed. Fund size is not disclosed either. Check size fields are left empty rather than guessed.
Lead Tendency
Follower. LinkedIn says the fund invests as a follower. Public rounds back this up: Insiders is named among participants in XO Market's $6M seed (led by 20VC and Picus Capital) and Archestra.AI's $10M seed (led by 20VC), not as the lead.
Recent Activity
- XO Market, $6M seed led by 20VC and Picus Capital with Coinbase Ventures, Ventures Together, Insiders and Foreword Fund (about spring 2026).
- Archestra.AI, $10M seed led by 20VC, with Insiders (Michele Attisani, Jeffrey Forrest) participating (about mid 2026).
- General Intuition, $220M at a $6.2B valuation, with Insiders a small participant alongside Valor, Atreides, 776, Point72, Khosla and General Catalyst (about September 2026).
Fund status is inferred as actively deploying given these 2026 announcements.
Portfolio Highlights
About 38 logos are shown on the portfolio page, including Replit and Airwallex (growth), Sintra, Peec, Smallest.ai, Requesty, Clair, Leasy, Stelia, Karoo, Ori, Emerge, Glot, HeyAlfie, Twin1, Viktor, Zinco, Sparkles, Semaloop, Qomodo, Jade Hosting, Axon Labs, Atria, Architect, Agon Dynamics, Ceartas DMCA, Clera, Inceptron, Basis and XO Market. Text-only entries include Archestra.AI, Aurora, Braid, Dune Health, Ewake, Extrinsic Cognition, IVI, Pavo and Telefonid. Founder references come from Zoe, Praktika.ai, Sintra, PrimaryBid, Requesty and Leasy.
Team
- Niccolo Maisto: co-founder and former CEO of FACEIT, later CEO of ESL FACEIT Group, now General Partner at Insiders.
- Michele Attisani: co-founder of FACEIT, Insiders partner, also a co-owner of Ravenna FC.
- Jeff Forrest: listed on the About page; named alongside Attisani as the Insiders contact on the Archestra round.
- Cecilia Braggiotti, Mirta Rotondo, Lee Greening: listed on the About page; titles are not shown in the text we could read.
Decision Process
Not disclosed. The firm describes itself as fast, with conviction, and as a small partnership. Founder references stress quick moves and warm introductions.
Founder Preferences
Ambitious, globally oriented European founders, often with operating experience. The firm emphasizes introductions, advice from operators, and being treated as part of the ecosystem from day one.
Geographic Focus
Rooted in Europe (London headquarters) with a global mandate. Portfolio spans the UK, Europe, the US and the Middle East.