Wiz was founded four years ago by a quartet of former Israeli military officers with one goal: grow as fast as possible to become the dominant company in cloud cybersecurity, and then reap the reward. Now Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport and his partners are on the verge of doing just that, as Google parent Alphabet GOOGL 1.30%increase; green up pointing triangle is in advanced talks to purchase Wiz for $23 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. It would be the largest exit for any tech startup since Rivian’s $77 billion initial public offering in November 2021, according to Crunchbase. The sale price would be almost double what Wiz was valued at by its venture-capital investors just two months ago. The deal talks provide a glimmer of hope for hundreds of other private tech companies looking for an exit path. While giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia have been on a tear, much of the startup sector outside of artificial intelligence is in shambles thanks to slowed venture funding, a chilly IPO market and regulatory scrutiny that has discouraged acquisitions. “This could be one of the largest and fastest returns ever for a private security company in tech history,” said Alex Clayton, a general partner at the venture firm Meritech Capital, which isn’t a Wiz shareholder. Rappaport and his co-founders Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik stand to profit handsomely from the deal. Each owns around 9% of Wiz, according to a person close to the company, meaning they could walk away with individual fortunes worth some $2 billion. The four met over two decades ago when they worked in the Israel Defense Forces cyber intelligence division called Unit 8200. Veterans of Unit 8200 have also founded other highly valued cybersecurity companies including Palo Alto Networks, Check Point and Fireblocks. In 2012, they started their first cloud cybersecurity company, Adallom, which they sold to Microsoft three years later for $320 million. They spent the ensuing years working at the tech giant’s Azure cloud-computing division before starting Wiz in 2020.

Full report : A profile of Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz, founded in 2020, and its four co-founders, as Alphabet prepares a $23 billion deal; a source says each owns ~9% of Wiz.