Google poised to make its biggest acquisition: What the firm does, who are the investors and other details

Google acquisition

In what could be its biggest acquisition ever, Google is set to buy Wiz, a cybersecurity firm. Several online reports have suggested that the deal is close and may soon be announced. The New York Times report states that the deal is very likely but neither Google nor Wiz has made any comment on it. Here is a look at what Wiz — what it does, how it started and other details.

Wiz is a cybersecurity startup founded in Israel in 2020 and now based in New York. In 2021, it was referred to as the “fastest growing startup” in the world. In May 2024, the company announced a fresh $1 billion funding round. According to a report by The New York Times, Wiz’s annual revenue has surged from $100 million to $350 million in just two years. Assaf Rappaport is the CEO and co-founder of Wiz.

Interestingly, the co-founders of Wiz earlier had a firm called Adallom, a cloud security outfit. The company was acquired for $320 million in 2015 by none other than Microsoft.

On its website, the startup says it is on a “mission to help organisations create secure cloud environments that accelerate their businesses.” In other words, it is a cybersecurity firm which helps organisations — that use cloud computing services — to be safe from security threats.

Wiz has quite a few high-profile names as customers, including Colgate-Palmolive, AON, IHG Hotels and Resorts, BMW, among others.

Since its inception, Wiz has raised funding from a lot of big name investors. Some of them are Aglaé Ventures — a VC firm backed by Bernard Arnault, one of the richest man in the world. In 2021, Wiz secured investment from Salesforce, Blackstone. Sequoia and Index Ventures are also listed as investors on Wiz’s official website.

According to the report by The New York Times, Thomas Kurian, the chief executive of Google Cloud, has been leading the push to acquire Wiz. The report says that Kurien and Google want to make cybersecurity one of the standout aspects of Google’s Cloud business.

Yes, by a distance. If the acquisition of Wiz does go through at the reported $23 billion, it will be by Google’s biggest buy. Prior to this, Google had acquired Motorola in 2011 for a whopping $12.5 billion. However, two years later, the company sold it to Lenovo for $3 billion. Other big Google acquisitions include Mandiant, another cybersecurity firm it bought in 2022 for $5.4 billion.