New Delhi: Wiz, a cybersecurity startup, has turned down a $23 billion buyout offer from Alphabet, Google’s parent company, according to a source close to the talks. Even though the offer was much higher than Wiz’s last private valuation of $12 billion, the company’s leaders and investors decided to stay independent. Assaf Rappaport, Wiz’s CEO, told the company’s 1,200 employees in an email, “Saying no to such a generous offer is tough, but I trust our amazing team to continue our journey.”
Wiz was founded in 2020 in New York by four former Israeli military officers who previously started Adallom, a cloud cybersecurity company that Microsoft bought for $320 million. The founders, including Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, each own about 9% of Wiz. The company’s investors include big names like Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital.
