Google to Pay $32 Billion for Wiz

Google LLC has announced it will acquire cloud security platform startup Wiz for $32 billion in an all-cash transaction expected to close in 2026. Wiz will become part of the company’s Google Cloud segment.

You read that right. Google is spending big to acquire one of the world's most significant cybersecurity startups, which it hopes will contribute to the success of its AI cloud services.

Wiz, a Futuriom 50 company, is one of the leaders in the cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) space, with the Wiz Cloud CNAPP, which incorporates security from code development through runtime. The platform integrates with over 150 products and services across many categories, including cloud services, operations management, and security products and platforms. In the Futuriom 50 report released last month, we named Wiz as one of the companies most well positioned for an IPO or big-ticket acquistion.

Google also cites Wiz’s potential to catch threats to AI models—and from AI models, a capability that could prove significant in adding to Google Cloud’s AI offerings, which include the Vertex AI platform.

Google Bids a Second Time for Wiz

This isn’t Google’s first bid for Wiz. A plan by Google to acquire the startup for a potential $23 billion in 2024 fizzled out for mysterious reasons, among them the potential fear of an antitrust battle. Apparently, that fear has subsided.

Meanwhile, in January 2025, Wiz announced the hiring of a new CFO and president, Fazal Merchant, signaling a potential run at IPO, which seems to have been precluded by Google's bid. Merchant’s appointment spoke to Wiz’s momentum in the cybersecurity market, especially as an example the trend toward the platformization concept, which aims to eliminate multiple security point products. This approach appears to have worked in Wiz’s favor: Customers include Chipotle, Colgate, Fox, Priceline, Salesforce, Siemens, and Snowflake, to name a few.

Wiz's cloud-native capabilities are also advantageous to Google. "Google’s investment in Wiz (and decision to have it continue to operate independently) reflects a commitment to providing enhanced security solutions that can seamlessly integrate across diverse cloud environments," said Chris McHenry, Aviatrix SVP Product Management, who also spent 14 years at Cisco before joining Aviatrix. "As we’ve seen with recent hacks from groups such as Salt Typhoon and Silk Typhoon, threats are only getting more sophisticated. Enterprises are uncovering these gaps in their security stacks as they lean in on digital transformation, which is why we continue to see growing M&A activity and valuations at the intersection of cloud and security.”

Founded in 2020, Wiz raised $1.9 billion in funding, including a $1 billion tranche in May 2024 led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital. That round valued Wiz at $12 billion. According to Reuters, the company in 2024 had a run rate of about $500 million and was aiming to hit $1 billion.

What Google Will Do with Wiz

The price might seem high, but Google is willing to pay it to get its hands on the comprehensive security provided by Wiz, which has long partnered with Google Cloud. And with Google's market capitalization ticking in at about $2 trillion, it's a relatively small piece of Google's equity.

Google maintains that it will use Wiz technology to bolster its own security operations offerings. Exactly how that will happen isn’t quite clear, but Google referenced its 2022 purchase of cybersecurity firm Mandiant in a webcast this morning. Google incorporated Mandiant’s services into Google Cloud while maintaining that company’s individual identity and independence. In that vein, Wiz technology will continue to be developed and sold to its other cloud partners, including AWS, Azure, and Oracle, Google said today.

Of course, Google paid $5.4 billion for Mandiant, a fraction of its proposed pricetag for Wiz. So it’s likely that Google will expect more from its investment than supporting an independent subsidiary. Still, Wiz is a going concern, and Google can perhaps afford to take some time to see just how far it will integrate Wiz’s technology into Google Cloud. After all, Google Cloud will now enjoy the resutls of Wiz's lucrative market play.

In the press release, Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said: “Google Cloud and Wiz share a joint vision to make cybersecurity more accessible and simpler to use for organizations of any size and industry. Enabling more companies to prevent cyber attacks, including in very complex business software environments, will help organizations minimize the cost, disruption and hassle caused by cybersecurity incidents.”

The Latest of a Series of Exits

Wiz is the most recent Futuriom 50 company to exit via M&A. Others have included Rubrik (IPO), Kubecost (acquired by IBM), and Wib (acquired by F5).

So far, Futuriom’s other top F50 IPO and M&A candidates include Databricks, Wasabi, Cato Networks, CoreWeave, Aryaka Networks, Fivetran, Cockroach Labs, Versa Networks, and Aviatrix. Stay tuned!

Futuriom Take: Google’s paying big bucks for Wiz. But startup’s value to the large cloud provider is clear, particularly as a comprehensive cybersecurity platform with AI capabilities. With concerns about AI security growing, this could be a key differentiator going forward.