Google nears $23B deal for cybersecurity startup Wiz: report

Google parent Alphabet is in advanced talks to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz for roughly $23 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Monday.

If a deal is struck, it would mark the largest acquisition ever for the tech giant.

The move comes as Alphabet and other tech firms are under immense antitrust scrutiny. An acquisition could also help the search giant’s efforts in cloud computing, a important growth driver for the business.

Launched by Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport and a handful of colleagues in 2020, Wiz has seen its valuation balloon in recent years. Wiz, which offers cybersecurity software for cloud computing, raised $1 billion earlier this year, giving it a $12 billion valuation at the time.

The Journal said that makes the firm one of only a few startups outside the artificial-intelligence industry to raise money at a higher valuation in 2024. 

Wiz reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, and achieved $350 million in annual recurring revenue in 2023, The Journal said.

The cybersecurity firm is backed by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. 

Wiz’s founders started the firm after selling Adallom, their first startup, to Microsoft in 2015 for $320 million. They worked at the tech giant for several years before leaving to launch Wiz. 

Wiz, which is headquartered in New York with additional offices in the US and Israel, partners with a number of the biggest cloud companies, including Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Google has been a rather conservative acquirer ahead of the Wiz transaction, which would be one of the largest tech deals of late.

Google’s biggest deal was its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2012. Its second-largest acquisition was of another security company, Mandiant, which it bought for $5.4 billion two years ago.

Google also spent $2.1 billion on Fitbit in 2021—a deal that hit regulatory hurdles after it was announced—and $3.2 billion on Nest Labs in 2014. Over the years, other acquisitions have included YouTube, DoubleClick, Looker and Waze. 

Currently, Google is awaiting a verdict in a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit over claims that it used illegal means to bolster its dominance in internet search. The DOJ last year filed a second antitrust suit, which has yet to go to trial, that alleges unfair practices in Google’s ad-tech business. 

With Post wires

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