As major tech companies like Microsoft and Apple face increasing antitrust scrutiny from the Biden administration, one tech giant is contemplating a significant acquisition.
Google is reportedly in talks to purchase the cybersecurity startup Wiz for approximately $23 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the discussions. This would mark Google’s largest acquisition to date, but sources caution that the deal could still fall apart.
This potential acquisition would nearly double the size of Google’s previous largest purchase. Wiz, a cloud security firm based in New York and founded in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, assists companies in identifying and targeting risks in their cloud infrastructure.
In May, Wiz announced it had raised $1 billion in a funding round that included contributions from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and other Silicon Valley venture capitalists, bringing its valuation to $12 billion. The funding was seen as a step towards a potential initial public offering (IPO), with Wiz targeting $1 billion in revenue ahead of 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 more than 40% of the Fortune 100 companies. A month before the funding announcement, Wiz acquired Gem Security, a startup specializing in real-time detection and response to cloud infrastructure attacks.
If Google proceeds with the acquisition of Wiz, it would not be the first time the founders have sold a company to a major tech player. In 2015, Rappaport, Luttwak, and Reznik sold their initial cloud security startup, Adallom, to Microsoft. They left the company five years later to launch Wiz.