Wiz Investor Unveils $32B Google Acquisition

Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz this week — the largest acquisition in Google’s history, and the largest ever acquisition of a venture-backed startup.

On a recent episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan, Sean O’Kane, and I were joined by Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures who owns the Wiz. Shah took us through his history with Wiz, which predates Wiz himself — he previously backed Adallom, a startup founded by Wiz’s Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik.

We also asked Shah about why he thought the company was such an attractive acquisition target, and how he reacted when Wiz walked away from Google’s previous acquisition offer.

“No wonder it’s Wiz,” Shah said. “The Wiz is in the middle of three storms: AI, the cloud, and security costs.”

Read an excerpt of our interview, edited for length and clarity, below. Shah started things off by noting, jokingly, that we might have been underselling things by calling profiteering one of our weekly deals.

Shardul Shah: I think this should be like a contract for a year or a decade, not just a week. Can we change that? Thank you.

But it’s really important for the industry. This is the largest corporate acquisition in history.

Rebecca Bellan: Yes, we will fix that in the post[-production].

Shardul: And more seriously, it’s no surprise that the Wiz. Wiz is at the center of three winds: AI, cloud, and security costs. And those are central today due to the age of AI where every single job needs to be protected. So we are very proud that we were a major shareholder in the company. And yes, I think at least [the] month contract.

Rebecca: So how long is it? When did you start investing in Wiz? Because this is the kind of exit that I’m sure investors dream about.

Shardul: Is it six years or 16, is the question for us inside. About 10 years ago, I joined the board of Assaf, Roy, and Ami’s first company, Adallom. So we have a front seat to how they make decisions, how they develop trust and how that evolves over time.

Assaf called me on my birthday when he started Wiz. And the seed round is when I join the board.

Anthony Ha: So, we’ve talked about this deal a few times before on the show, but because Wiz is not a consumer-facing company, I think some of our readers know it, some of them don’t. Can you talk more about what it was – beyond just sitting at the intersection of these really important sectors – that you think made Wiz an attractive investment and ultimately an attractive acquisition target?

Shardul: At Index, the core of our business is to focus on people. And I think the core of the adoption was the people. Assaf is an amazing leader who knows how to make high quality judgment calls. He has a good knowledge of people and markets. Two of its founders, Ami and Yinon [Costica]they almost always argue — Ami lives in the future, [Yinon] he is there, he really is and Assaf has the power to really make a decision about which voice, at what time, can lead the way. Roy is a killing machine.

So together, they created this environment and a culture of trust that allowed them to build a platform from scratch and take over the existing stage with unparalleled speed.

Sean O’Kane: There’s this fun history — it’s fun for us, especially because we got to push it at Disrupt a few years ago, when Google contacted the company and [Assaf] and indeed he came out of the agreement. At that point, does that sound reassuring, as someone who feels like they’ve identified somebody that they truly believe in and are willing to take a step that I think a lot of people would be afraid to take, in the face of such a big, at the time, coming out? Maybe you’re not big right now, but you’re pretty close.

Shardul: Not really. Some of it is because I’m disrespectful and external validation doesn’t matter, despite my lack of confidence in you describing this as a church deal.

I told the founders one time, I think I believe in them more than I believe in them. The first blog I ever wrote for Index was titled “Learning to Say No,” and it was actually aimed at Sound Founders. […] When founders choose and make decisions, you trust their input, such as how they make decisions. You don’t really focus on the output and the luck that goes into whether it’s guaranteed or not.

Rebecca: How important was that to the discovery of Wiz? Basically, it gets what I got from Google – funds, access to it [Google’s] cloud, and more resources, but still able to maintain its sense of leadership?

Shardul: So for your environment, perhaps for the audience, Wiz aims to secure cloud infrastructure and code in production. Most of their customers are part of the so-called zero critical club, they have the core of knowing what to prioritize and what to do. Google’s resources, the infrastructure, the AI ​​talent they have, allows Wiz to expand that recognition while maintaining this culture of trust and friendship.

Anthony: When we think of an important discovery, it can be important in many different ways. They can turn a profitable company around. They can also change the startup ecosystem because there are many people who will make a lot of money from this. Then that can start new industries, new beginnings.

So if you think about this as a big discovery, what are the big impacts that you think will have the biggest impact in the next few years?

Shardul: I think it starts with inspiration. I think there is a new vision of what is possible for entrepreneurs around the world. And that’s amazing, isn’t it?

I am really proud that there are many people whose lives will change as a result of this investment, which is really meaningful and satisfying. But I think the most important thing is the talent, skills, and ambitions of entrepreneurs. So we can’t wait to see what the limits of the next generation are.