Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz, at Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Harry Murphy/Getty Images
Google acquired cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion in its largest acquisition ever.The deal highlights the AI boom’s impact on the value of cybersecurity companies.VC firms like Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Index Ventures are set for a huge payout.
After much anticipation and a near-deal last summer, Google is finally buying Wiz for $32 billion in cash, marking its biggest acquisition ever just months after an earlier deal collapsed over regulatory concerns. And a handful of Silicon Valley’s most prominent VCs will cash out on the deal in a big way.
Firms like Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Index Ventures, backed Wiz early—and doubled down on the company as its valuation soared. Others came in at later rounds: Lightspeed Venture Partners co-led Wiz’s $300 million Series D and $1 billion Series E.
“The team hit on the insight that cloud security needed a simpler, agentless architecture for an increasingly complex digital world,” Douglas Leone, a Sequoia Capital partner who co-led Wiz’s seed round, wrote on LinkedIn. “Once the vision for Wiz became clear, there was no stopping them.”
Tuesday’s acquisition is the biggest ever for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, eclipsing its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2012.
The sheer size of the deal highlights how the AI boom is driving up the value of other technologies like cybersecurity. Alphabet’s cloud computing and security businesses, key areas where the company has lagged behind rivals in the AI race, stand to benefit the most from the acquisition.
Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures who co-led Wiz’s Series A round of funding, thinks that the startup situated itself precisely at the nexus of core technological needs: “Wiz is a once-in-a-generation company, positioned at the powerful intersection of three transformational trends—AI, cloud, and security,” Shah wrote to BI. “By joining forces with Google, Wiz will accelerate innovation for customers globally.”
Wiz’s business was booming in the months before the Google deal. As of July 2024, around the time the first deal fell apart, Wiz surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue and forecast it would clear $1 billion in ARR by mid-2025, The Information reported. Tuesday’s acquisition price values Wiz at 32 times its projected revenue for the year—well above multiples typical of publicly traded cybersecurity companies.
Google expects the deal to close in 2026, pending regulatory approval, according to an SEC filing.
Although President Donald Trump has pushed to boost M&A during his administration, Vice President JD Vance has supported tighter dealmaking regulations, including legislation to get rid of tax breaks for corporate mergers. This stance could complicate the Wiz-Google deal. Google is also in the middle of two antitrust lawsuits, including one against its search business from Trump’s first term.
Here’s a list of some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley that could cash out big following the closing of the acquisition, according to data from PitchBook:
InvestorRoundDateDeal SizeWiz’s Valuation at Round (Post-Money)Sequoia CapitalSeedFebruary 2020$21 millionUndisclosedCyberStartsSeedFebruary 2020$21 millionUndisclosedInsight PartnersSeries ADecember 2020$100 million$500 millionIndex VenturesSeries ADecember 2020$100 million$500 millionCerca PartnersSeries ADecember 2020$100 million$500 millionGreenoaks Capital PartnersSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionAdvent InternationalSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionIndex VenturesSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionSequoia CapitalSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionInsight PartnersSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionCyberStartsSeries BMarch 2021$130 million$1.7 billionInsight PartnersSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionGreenoaks Capital PartnersSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionSequoia CapitalSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionIndex VenturesSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionSalesforce VenturesSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionHoward SchultzSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionG SquaredSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionBlackstoneSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionBernard ArnaultSeries COctober 2021$250 million$6 billionLightspeed Venture PartnersSeries DFebruary 2023$300 million$10 billionGreenoaks Capital PartnersSeries DFebruary 2023$300 million$10 billionIndex VenturesSeries DFebruary 2023$300 million$10 billionThrive CapitalSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billionInflection VenturesSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billionGreylockSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billionBOND CapitalSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billionAndreessen HorowitzSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billionLightspeed Venture PartnersSeries EMay 2024$1 billion$12 billion
