Google finalized its acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz on Wednesday, completing the biggest deal in the tech giant’s history and the largest transaction ever involving an Israeli company.
Even as Israel and the United States continued their war against Iran, Google moved ahead with the transaction, announcing completion of the Wiz acquisition shortly before Wall Street opened Wednesday.
The deal, which was signed in March 2025, is the largest exit in the history of Israel’s high-tech sector, valued at about $32 billion and had to clear a long series of regulatory hurdles.
Google’s initial offer, made in July 2024, stood at $23 billion, but Wiz formally rejected it with the aim of pursuing an initial public offering. In March 2025, after talks resumed, Google announced an all-cash agreement to acquire Wiz for $32 billion, with a $3.2 billion breakup fee if regulators blocked the deal.
The transaction will generate the largest windfall tax into Israel’s state coffers from any technology-sector deal to date. Despite the significant weakening of the U.S. dollar against the shekel over the past year, the state is expected to receive around 10 billion shekels in tax revenue.
Most of that money will come from the four founders of Wiz, who together hold about 30% of the company’s shares, as well as from taxes paid by Israeli investors in the Cyberstarts venture capital fund, founded by Gili Raanan, which was the cybersecurity company’s first investor.
According to estimates, Cyberstarts’ stake in Wiz is worth about $1.5 billion, after the fund sold part of its holdings to the investment firm Blackstone in 2021. In addition, hundreds of Wiz employees in Israel are expected to receive around $2.5 billion for the options they hold, and will pay 25% tax to the state on those gains.
Wiz was founded by Assaf Rappaport, who serves as CEO; Ami Luttwak, the company’s chief technology officer (CTO); Yinon Costica, vice president of product; and Roy Reznik, vice president of research and development.
The four founders have known each other well since their days at Adallom, a company they sold to Microsoft for about $340 million. That acquisition made them leaders of Microsoft’s cybersecurity operations and appointed Rappaport as head of the company’s Israel operations.
Shortly after taking the role, Rappaport transformed Microsoft’s operations in Israel, turning them into what employees considered the company’s most highly regarded R&D center in the country.
Immediately after their contractual commitments to Microsoft ended, the four established a new company that in its early days was called Beyond—later becoming Wiz. During this period, they joined forces with Gili Raanan, founder of the cybersecurity-focused venture fund Cyberstarts, and together shaped Wiz’s future.
Before its acquisition, Wiz raised a total of about $1.9 billion across multiple funding rounds:
- Seed round (February 2020): $21 million at a valuation of about $67 million post-money
- Series A (December 2020): $100 million, raising the valuation to about $500 million
- Series B (March–May 2021): $250 million at a $1.7 billion valuation
- Series C (October 2021): $250 million, boosting the valuation to $6 billion
- Series D (February 2023): $300 million at a $10 billion valuation
- May 2024 round: $1 billion at a valuation of about $12 billion
Among the foreign shareholders in Wiz expected to benefit from the deal are:
- Index Ventures, which holds about 12% and is expected to receive around $3.8 billion
- Sequoia Capital, which holds about 10%, with its stake valued at roughly $3.2 billion
- Insight Partners, which is expected to receive approximately $2.9 billion.