Wiz shareholders finalizing secondary deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars
Wiz shareholders finalizing secondary deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars
The cyber decacorn is being valued at significantly more than the $10 billion valuation it received in its $300 million Series D last year
Shareholders at cybersecurity decacorn Wiz are currently finalizing secondary deals which will see several veteran investors at the company sell part of their holdings, Calcalist has learned. The value of the transactions is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, with Wiz being valued at significantly more than the $10 billion valuation it received in its $300 million Series D last year. In a secondary transaction, the money does not go to the company or through it, but is conducted through a sale between investors.
Japanese investment fund SoftBank Vision is believed to be among the buyers in the transaction, marking its first investment in the Israeli company.
Wiz recently reported reaching an annual recurring revenue rate of $350 million and estimates that within a few years, it will reach $1 billion in annual sales.
The secondary transaction was conducted by the company's investors and did not include its managers and employees. One of the objectives of the current secondary round is Wiz's desire to prepare for an IPO with fewer investors in the company. The company's last significant secondary round was in 2021 when Salesforce and Blackstone's investment fund bought holdings from Gili Raanan's Cyberstarts fund for $120 million. The fund did not sell holdings in the current round.
In recent weeks, the company has embarked on significant activity in the mergers and acquisitions market, aiming to expand its product offering in the cybersecurity sector. Its first acquisition was of Israeli startup Gem Security in a deal valued at $350 million, which also included bonuses and retention fees for the acquired company's employees and managers.
Additionally, the company is in advanced negotiations to acquire the American cloud security company Lacework - its most significant acquisition to date. The companies recently signed a Letter of Intent and are now in the midst of a comprehensive due diligence process. The transaction is valued at approximately $150-200 million, with the remaining $800 million in cash in Lacework's account 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's Series D was led by new investor Lightspeed Venture Partners and existing investors Greenoaks Capital Partners and Index Ventures. Since its inception almost four years ago, Wiz has raised $900 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Blackstone, and G Squared.
