The US-Israeli cloud cybersecurity business intends to utilize the money to increase product development, hire more staff, and embark on a hiring binge.
Wiz, an American-Israeli cloud cybersecurity unicorn that was launched four years ago, is now valued at an astounding $12 billion, having raised $1 billion in its most recent round of private fundraising, which was revealed on Tuesday. According to Wiz, the funding infusion will be utilized for product development, hiring top people, and upcoming merger and acquisition initiatives. At a $10 billion valuation, Wiz raised $300 million in its most recent investment round in February 2023. The cyber unicorn has raised $1.9 billion from investors thus far.
“2024 is the year of consolidation – for Wiz, and the industry at large,” said Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport. “Our growth trajectory will continue to be aided by strategic acquisitions that propel us forward and enable us to cover more ground in less time.”
Wiz acquired Israeli cyber startup Gem Security earlier this year for an alleged $350 million, and at the end of 2023, it acquired Tel Aviv startup Rafft for an undisclosed amount.
Wiz, which claims that its platform can secure anything developers create and use on the cloud, was founded at the same time that the global COVID-19 pandemic began to spread, bringing workers and entire companies online and igniting a massive migration wave toward cloud-based servers.
With participation from Greylock and Wellington Management, the most recent investment round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital. Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, among other current investors, also became involved. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, and Bernard Arnault are two more prominent private investors and businessmen.
The cyber unicorn, which is aiming for a public stock offering and is starting to build its revenue, revealed back in February that it will be hiring. According to the plan, Wiz will increase its workforce in Israel, the US, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region by 400 personnel over the course of the upcoming year. With its headquarters located in New York, the software business started by Israelis employs 900 workers, at least 150 of whom are now based in Israel.
Early in 2020, Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik co-launched Wiz. This same team also founded Adallom, which Microsoft acquired in 2015 for $320 million. They oversaw the Cloud Security Group for Microsoft Azure as well. Forty percent of the Fortune 100 firms, including Slack, Mars, BMW, DocuSign, Plaid, and Agoda, are among its clientele.
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