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Google’s shiny offer to buy up a cybersecurity startup seems to have fallen short.
TechCrunch, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, reports that Wiz rejected Google’s $23 billion acquisition offer.
“Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice,” CEO Assaf Rappaport, said in an email to Wiz’s 1,200 employees. He said that although he was flattered by the offer, the company’s leadership team has decided to continue building Wiz — and work towards an IPO.
The deal would have been almost double the size of Google’s largest acquisition to date: a $12.5 billion deal with Motorola Mobility in 2012.
Wiz, a cloud security firm based in New York, helps companies identify and target risks in their cloud infrastructure. It was founded in 2020 by Rappaport, as well as Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak. Five years before launching Wiz, Rappaport, Luttwak, and Reznik sold their first cloud security startup, Adallom, to Microsoft.
In May, the company said it had a valuation of $12 billion after raising $1 billion in a funding round that included Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and a number of other Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The raise was a step towards a potential future initial public offering, as the company said it was targeting $1 billion in revenue ahead of a possible market debut.
“Let me cut to the chase: our next milestones are $1 billion in ARR and an IPO,” Rappaport said in his email to employees about Google’s offer.
Wiz touts itself as the world’s fastest-growing startup. It said earlier this year that it reached $350 million in annual recurring revenue last year, and provides its services to more than 40% of the Fortune 100 companies.