In March 2025, Google announced that it was acquiring the Israeli-American cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion in an all-cash transaction. The deal sheds light on the growing importance of cloud security and could position Google’s parent company Alphabet ahead of rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Wiz provides a unified platform for cloud applications and infrastructure security. By acquiring Wiz, Google hopes to efficiently tackle cybersecurity threats. This is especially important in the age of rapidly evolving AI advancements.

It is a remarkable success story for Wiz, a startup founded just five years ago. Headquartered in New York City, the company was founded in March 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak. The co-founders had become friends a number of years ago while serving in the Israeli military.

Starting a company right before the COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be quite fortuitous. As companies were forced to shift to remote work, they were exposed to numerous cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Improving cloud security suddenly became a priority for most companies.

Once the merger closes, Wiz is expected to become part of the Google Cloud division. The deal will be the largest acquisition in Google’s history yet. The merger is expected to close in 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. While large tech mergers have attracted heightened antitrust scrutiny in recent years, the new U.S. presidential administration may take a more lenient approach to the antitrust review process.

The company’s annual recurring revenue currently exceeds $500 million. Wiz’s products work across the major cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Its products are used by companies of all sizes to defend against threats on the cloud.

Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz sees many synergies between Wiz and Google Cloud. “Wiz has achieved so much in a relatively short period, but cybersecurity moves at warp speed and so must we. Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs: it will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a standalone company,” states Rappaport.

A number of venture capital firms that invested in Wiz in its early years are set to reap huge payouts from the closing of the Wiz acquisition. The deal has been a jackpot for prominent VC firm such as Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Greenoaks, and Andreesen Horowitz. For example, Index Ventures invested just $3.5 million in the seed financing round of Wiz. Index Ventures continued to participate in subsequent financing rounds, investing a total of $245 million. That $245 million investment is set to yield a return of approximately $3.5 billion upon the closing of the acquisition.

In the summer 2024, Google attempted to acquire Wiz for $23 billion, but the negotiations fell apart. At that time, Wiz said it would instead focus its efforts on preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). However, the parties eventually resumed deal talks and reached an agreement at a notably higher deal price from the previous summer.