Cyber decacorn Wiz in advanced negotiation to acquire Lacework for $150-200 million
Cyber decacorn Wiz in advanced negotiation to acquire Lacework for $150-200 million
The companies recently signed a Letter of Intent and are now in the midst of a comprehensive due diligence process. Lacework was valued at $8.3 billion in 2021
Cloud security decacorn Wiz is in advanced negotiations to acquire the American cloud security company Lacework, Calcalist has learned. The companies recently signed a Letter of Intent and are now in the midst of a comprehensive due diligence process, at the end of which a decision will be made as to whether the deal will go through. If completed, the transaction is valued at approximately $150-200 million, with Lacework’s $800 million in cash reserves to be distributed among the company's investors.
The American company was established in 2015 and is considered a veteran company in the field of cloud security. The company raised about $1.9 billion to date, and in its last fundraising round, held in 2021, it raised $1.3 billion at at an $8.3 billion valuation. According to reports, Lacework’s annual recurring revenue is estimated at about $100 million. Since the two companies have been in direct competition since Wiz was established, there is no overlap between their customer base, and the assumption is that Lacework's 600 customers today will become Wiz customers.
Wiz stated, "Wiz has experienced unprecedented organic growth since its inception, and we are committed to promoting this growth even further. At the same time, we recognize that consolidation is the future of the security industry, which is why we conduct an active dialogue with many companies in the industry. We are always looking for opportunities for mergers and acquisitions that will improve both our technological capabilities and our business expansion as we strive to build the world's leading security platform in the cloud."
Wiz recently completed the purchase of Israeli startup Gem Security for about $350 million.
Founded in 2022, Gem developed a real-time CDR (Cloud Detection and Response) solution that shortens the time to investigate and contain cloud-native threats.
That was Wiz's second acquisition since its inception in 2020, after the company acquired Israeli startup Raftt, a cloud-based developer collaboration platform, last December.
Wiz recently announced that it has reached $350 million in ARR, with over 40% of the Fortune 100 as customers. The company previously expressed interest in pursuing M&A opportunities as part of its mission to build a holistic cloud security platform catering to a wide array of industry needs. Wiz is now targeting $1 billion in revenue, ahead of a potential Wall Street IPO.
