As major tech companies like Microsoft and Apple face heightened antitrust scrutiny from the Biden administration, another tech giant is considering a significant acquisition.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google is in discussions to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for approximately $23 billion. If successful, this would mark Google’s largest acquisition to date. However, the sources noted that the deal is not final and talks could still collapse.
This acquisition would nearly double the size of Google’s previous largest purchase. Wiz, a cloud security firm headquartered in New York, specializes in identifying and addressing risks in cloud infrastructure. The company was founded in 2020 by Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak.
In May, Wiz announced it had secured $1 billion in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital, raising its valuation to $12 billion. The funding was seen as a step towards a potential IPO, with the company aiming for $1 billion in revenue prior to a market debut.
Wiz claims to be the world’s fastest-growing startup, having reached $350 million in annual recurring revenue last year and serving over 40% of Fortune 100 companies. In the previous month, the company acquired Gem Security, a competitor specializing in real-time cloud infrastructure attack detection and response.
If the acquisition proceeds, it would not be the first time the founders have sold a startup to a major tech company. In 2015, Rappaport, Luttwak, and Reznik sold their first cloud security startup, Adallom, to Microsoft, before leaving the firm five years later to launch Wiz.