CYBER STARTUP WIZ RAISES $1 BILLION IN PRIVATE FUNDS, VALUED AT $12 BILLION

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S.-Israeli cloud cyber security startup Wiz said on Tuesday it raised $1 billion in a private funding round that values the four-year old company at $12 billion.

Wiz, which has raised $1.9 billion since its founding in 2020, said the funds will be used to "help drive future M&A efforts, along with talent recruitment and product development."

It noted that it is setting its sights on an eventual initial public offering (IPO) but did not elaborate.

Last month, Wiz - which secures items that organisations build and run in the cloud - bought Gem Security for a reported $350 million and purchased Raftt in late 2023.

It had $350 million in revenue in 2023 and said it works with 40% of Fortune 100 companies.

2024, Wiz said, will be "the year of security consolidation."

"This funding round will help us continue to solve customers’ complex cloud security challenges," said CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport.

The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Thrive Capital, with participation from Greylock, Wellington Management, as well as existing investors Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Howard Schultz, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

2024-05-07T14:10:01Z dg43tfdfdgfd