Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz this week—the largest acquisition in Google history, as well as the largest ever by a venture-backed startup.
In its latest release TechCrunch’s Equity podcastRebecca Bellan, Sean O’Kane, and I were joined by Shardul Shah, a partner at Wiz’s largest shareholder, Index Ventures. Shah walked us through Wiz’s history with Wiz, which stretches back before him—he previously backed Adallom, Wiz’s startup founded by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznick.
We also asked Shah why he thought the company was such an attractive acquisition target, and how he responded when Wiz walked away from Google’s previous acquisition offer.
“No wonder it’s Wiz,” Shah said. “Wiz is at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud and security costs.”
Read an excerpt of our conversation below, edited for length and clarity. Shah began by half-jokingly noting that we might be underselling the purchase by calling it one of our deals of the week.
Shardul Shah: I think this should qualify as the deal of the year or decade, not just the week. Can we change that? thank you
But it’s really important for the industry. It is the largest venture-backed acquisition in history.
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Rebecca Bellan: Yes, we will address this in post(-production).
Shardul: And more critically, it’s no surprise that it’s Wiz. Wiz is at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud and security costs. And these are central today in light of the AI era where every workload must be catered for. So we are very proud to be the largest shareholder of the company. And yes, I think this is at least the deal of the month.
Rebecca: And how much time has passed? When did you first invest in Wiz? Because I’m sure that’s the kind of exit that investors dream about.
Shardul: Six years or 16 years is an internal question for us. About 10 years ago, I joined the board of Assaf, Roy and Ami’s first company, Adallom. So we got a front-row seat to how they make decisions, how they develop confidence, and how it evolves over time.
Asaf called me on my birthday when I launched Wiz. And the seed round is when I joined the board.
Anthony Ha: So we’ve talked about this deal a few times before on the show, but since Wiz is not a consumer-facing company, I think some of our readers are familiar with it and some of us aren’t. Can you talk a little bit more about what it is that you think makes Wiz such an attractive investment and ultimately such an attractive acquisition target, beyond sitting at the intersection of these important sectors?
Shardul: Focusing on people is at the heart of what we do at Index. And I really think the core of the buy-in was the people. Asef is this incredible leader who can make high quality judgment calls. He has great intuition about people and markets. Two of its co-founders, Ami and Yinon (Costica), are almost always at odds—Ami lives in the future, (Yinon) is very, very present, and Asaf has the ability to really decide which voice leads the way, at which moment. Roy is an execution machine.
So together they created this environment and culture of trust that allowed them to build a platform from the ground up and capture an existing category with unrivaled speed.
Sean O’Kane: It has a fun history – it’s fun for us, especially because of that push them at Disrupt a few years agowhere Google approached the company and (Assaf) actually walked away from the deal. Does it feel almost affirming to you at this point, as someone who really believes and feels like you’re ready to take a step that a lot of people would be afraid to take in the face of such a big speech at the time? Maybe not as big as it is now, but pretty close.
Shardul: Not really. Some of that is probably because I’m irreverent and despite my insecurity about you describing it as the deal of the week, external validation doesn’t matter.
I once told the founders that I believed in them more than I believed in them. The first blog I wrote for Index was titled “Learning to Say No” is actually aimed at Audible’s founders. (…) When founders choose and make decisions, you rely on input as their decision-making methods. You don’t really focus on the results and the chances of it being approved or not.
Rebecca: How important was that in getting Wiz? Basically, he gets what he can get from Google – funds, access to (Google’s) cloud and more resources, but still maintains his sense of leadership?
Shardul: So in your opinion, perhaps for the audience, Wiz aims to provide cloud infrastructure and code in production. Most of their customers are part of the so-called zero-critical club, they have the context to know what to prioritize and what to act on. Google’s resources, infrastructure, and their AI capabilities allow Wiz to expand that recognition while maintaining that culture of trust and camaraderie.
Anthony: When you think about major purchases, they can be important in a number of different ways. They can be transformative for the acquiring company. They can also have a transformative effect on the startup ecosystem because there are a lot of people who stand to make a lot of money out of it. And then that potentially starts whole new industries, whole new startups.
So if you think of this as a big acquisition, what do you think will be the biggest impacts over the next few years?
Shardul: I think it starts with inspiration. I think there’s a new vision of what’s possible for entrepreneurs around the world. And that’s amazing, isn’t it?
I’m really proud that there are so many people whose lives will change as a function of this investment, which is really meaningful and fulfilling. But I think what is more important is the talent, skills and aspirations of entrepreneurs. So we can’t wait to see what the limits are for the next generation.
