US-Israeli cloud security startup Wiz said it raised $300 million at a $10 billion valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and existing investors Greenoaks Capital Partners and Index Ventures.
Reuters reported that Wiz wouldn’t move any of the money to Israel while there is uncertainty about the judicial system. Plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the judicial system, have sparked nationwide protests. It would give the government greater sway in selecting judges while limiting the Supreme Court’s power to strike down legislation.
“Unfortunately, due to the legal coup the money raised will not enter Israel,” Wiz co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport said in a news report by Reuters. “Our big concern about Israeli high tech is not only about money leaving Israel but also the large amount of money that will no longer enter Israel.”
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Wiz is now the world's largest cybersecurity unicorn and fastest software-as-a-service (SaaS) company to achieve a $10 billion valuation.
The demand for Wiz's product is reflected in customer validation from over 35% of Fortune 100 companies, including BMW and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), as well as Salesforce, Slack, Colgate, and Blackstone.
Opening offices in the US
Wiz, founded in March 2020 and headquartered in New York, plans to add additional headcount to its existing 650 employees in the US and globally, and open three new US offices in Austin, Dallas, and Washington DC.
Wiz said it will continue expanding its workforce with “the best talent” and will focus on growing in the US market.
Since its inception almost three years ago, Wiz has raised $900 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Blackstone and G Squared. It is also backed by investors and entrepreneurs like French business magnate Bernard Arnault and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.
"We are extremely proud of our growth rate in terms of number of customers, sales and valuation, especially in view of the current market conditions for global high-tech,” Rappaport said in a statement.
“While there are many cybersecurity offerings in the market, Wiz's explosive growth proves that organizations choose our platform because it allows security and development teams to efficiently identify vulnerabilities and prevent breaches.”
Wiz consolidates many fragmented tools into one platform, from vulnerability assessment to data security and permission analysis.
The Wiz founders — CEO Rappaport, CTO Ami Luttwak, VP Product Yinon Costica, and VP R&D Roy Reznik — have worked together for over 20 years, including as Microsoft's Cloud Security Group and as the founding team of Adallom, which was acquired by Microsoft for $320 million.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive