According to The Wall Street Journal, Alphabet is nearing an agreement to acquire Wiz, a cloud cybersecurity startup, for approximately $23 billion.
According to unnamed sources, the Google parent company is in advanced negotiations with the four-year-old startup, and a deal is expected soon unless discussions collapse.
This would be Google’s largest acquisition, surpassing the $12.5 billion it paid for Motorola Mobility in 2011.
Historically, Alphabet has been cautious with large acquisitions. For instance, its $2.1 billion purchase of Fitbit in 2021 faced regulatory scrutiny before getting approval.
Wiz, founded in March 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik, provides security services for companies utilizing cloud computing platforms like Amazon Web Services.
In under a year, Wiz reached a valuation of $1.7 billion, attracting investments from Salesforce, Blackstone, and Algae, making it one of the fastest-growing startups at that time, according to Business Insider.
Originally established in Israel, Wiz moved its headquarters from Tel Aviv to New York City amid significant growth.
As of February 2024, Wiz employed about 900 people across the US, Europe, and Israel.
Rappaport serves as CEO, Luttwak as CTO, while Costica and Reznik are VPs of product and research and development, respectively.
The four cofounders met in an elite intelligence unit of the Israeli Defense Forces during their mandatory military service. After his military service, Rappaport worked for two years at consulting firm McKinsey.
Rappaport, Luttwak, and Reznik previously founded another cloud security company, Adallom, which Microsoft acquired for $320 million, earning them each $25 million from the deal.
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