Insight Partners Faces Lawsuit from Former VP Kate Lowry Over Discrimination Claims
Kate Lowry is suing Insight Partners, alleging discrimination and wrongful termination after a troubling work experience.
Lowry believes powerful people in venture capital often break the law and hurt employees. She wants to change this unfair system. She started working at Insight Partners in 2022 after jobs at Meta and McKinsey. She says her new supervisor was different from the one promised during her job interview.
Her supervisor, who was a woman, told Lowry to be online all the time, even during vacations, and to respond to messages daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Lowry claims this supervisor treated her harshly. Allegedly, the supervisor said, “you are incompetent, shut up and take notes,” and “obey me like a dog.”
Lowry also claims she was given useless tasks while less experienced male coworkers got better roles. She said she got sick from the work situation and needed medical leave from February to July 2023.
When she returned, she was put in a new team. The HR head told her that if the team didn’t like her, she would be fired. In September 2023, she got a concussion and took another leave. When she came back near the end of 2024, her treatment hadn’t improved. She states her pay was about 30% less than the market rate.
By April 2025, Lowry was told her pay would be reduced again. In May, her lawyers sent a letter to Insight about her treatment. A week later, the company fired her, according to the lawsuit.
This case is similar to Ellen Pao’s suit against Kleiner Perkins in 2012, which also involved claims of discrimination. Although Pao lost, her case raised awareness about how women are treated in venture capital.