Google is reportedly on the verge of a historic deal to buy its 10th Israeli cyber startup – Wiz for $23 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. When completed it will be Google’s largest acquisition to date, by its parent company Alphabet.
Wiz, was founded in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak and focuses more on cloud security. It has been growing at a very fast rate: the company is based in New York City but also has offices in the US and Israel, and it has recently significantly boosted its valuation. Last year in early 2024, Wiz closed at $1 billion; the growth brought the firm’s valuation to $12 billion. This acquisition will go a long way in improving Alphabet’s position in the cloud computing market which it has not been doing very well in recently.
Business newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal noted that Alphabet is eying this acquisition as it faces heightened scrutiny from regulators over antitrust. It would place Alphabet as one of the leading companies that are active in supplying cloud security, possibly defining a new benchmark.
“It is a transformational deal for both and this is coming from a tech analyst. “It puts Google as a major player in cloud protection and at the same time it also emphasized on the role of security as a key factor that is noticed in technology industry. ”
In terms of investors, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners are funding Wiz. Financial support has been very strong for Wiz which has been key in the growth of the company and adoption new technologies.
While the negotiations are still ongoing, the stake and the technology industry in particular is keen as a hedgehog. The deal when implemented can offer a new map of cloud security and the essential milestones for technology in the company.