Google completed its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz this week. This is the largest acquisition in Google's history, and the largest acquisition ever of a venture-backed startup.
In the latest episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan, Sean O'Kane, and I are joined by Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures, Wiz's largest shareholder. Mr. 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 why he thinks the company is such an attractive acquisition target, and how he responded when Wiz rejected a previous Google offer.
“It's not surprising that it's Wiz,” Shah said. “Wiz is at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spending.”
Read excerpts of the conversation below, edited for length and clarity. Shah kicked things off by jokingly calling the deal one of the deals of the week and pointing out that he may have been underestimating things.
Shardul Shah: I think this should be evaluated as an annual or 10-year deal, not just this week. Can you change that? Thanks.
But it's very important to the industry. This is the largest venture-backed acquisition in history.
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Rebecca Beran: Yes, we'll figure that out later.[-production].
Shardul: And more importantly, it's no surprise that it's Wiz. Wiz is at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spending. And they are at the heart of today, given the AI era where every workload needs to be protected. Therefore, we are very proud to be our largest shareholder. Yes, at least I think so [the] This month's deals.
Rebecca: So how long has it been? When did you first invest in Wiz? Because this is probably the kind of exit that investors dream of.
Shardul: Whether it's 6 years or 16 years is an internal matter for us. About 10 years ago, I joined Asaf, Roy and Ami's board of directors at their first company, Adalom. There we had a front row seat to see how they make decisions, how they build trust, and how it changes over time.
Asaf called me on my birthday when I started Wiz. And the seed round was when I joined the board.
Anthony Ha: So, we've talked about this deal a few times on the show, but Wiz is not a consumer-facing company, so I think some of our readers may or may not be familiar with this deal. Can you talk a little bit more about what made Wiz such an attractive investment and ultimately such an attractive acquisition target, in addition to sitting at the intersection of these really important sectors?
Shardul: At Index, the core of our business is our focus on people. And I really think that the core of the acquisition was the people. Assaf is a great leader who makes quality decisions. He has great intuition about people and markets. Two of his co-founders, Ami and Yinon [Costica]almost always in dispute — Ami lives in the future. [Yinon] Assaf has the ability to really decide which voice takes the lead at any given moment. Roy is an execution machine.
So, together they built this environment and culture of trust, allowing them to build a platform from the ground up and tackle existing categories with unparalleled speed.
Sean O'Kane: It has a fun history. It's fun for us. Specifically, Google approached the company several years ago during Disrupt; [Assaf] Actually walked away from the deal. In that moment, I felt like I had found someone I could truly believe in, and as someone who was about to take a step that I think many people would be afraid to take in the face of such a huge setback at the time, it almost felt vindicated? It may not be as big as it is now, but it's pretty close.
Shardul: Not really. Maybe it's because I'm irreverent and external validation isn't important to me, even though I'm nervous about you describing this as the highlight of the week.
I told the founders at one point that I believed in them more than I believed in myself. The first blog I wrote for Index was titled “Learning How to Say No,” and it was actually directed at the founders of Audible. […] When founders make choices and decisions, we trust their input, including how they make decisions. I'm not so focused on the output and whether it gets verified or not is up to luck.
Rebecca: How important was that to the acquisition of Wiz? Basically, you're getting what you can get from Google, like money and access. [Google’s] Can you maintain your unique leadership even with more clouds and resources?
Shardul: So to your point, and maybe for the audience, Wiz is about securing cloud infrastructure and code in production. Most of their customers are members of the so-called zero critical club and have the context to know what to prioritize and act on. Thanks to Google's resources, infrastructure, and AI talent, Wiz can further expand its reputation while maintaining a culture of trust and camaraderie.
Anthony: When you think about a significant acquisition, it can be significant in a number of ways. These can be transformative for acquiring companies. It also has the potential to revolutionize the startup ecosystem as there are a lot of people making a lot of money from this. And that could start a whole new industry, a whole new startup.
So if you think of this as a major acquisition, what do you think will be the biggest impact over the next few years?
Shardul: I think it starts with inspiration. I think it will reimagine what is possible for entrepreneurs around the world. Isn't that amazing?
I'm really proud that there are so many people whose lives have been changed by this investment, and that's truly meaningful and fulfilling. But I think what's more important is the entrepreneur's talent, skills, and aspirations. So we can't wait to see what the next generation's limits are.