Wiz investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition

Google finalized its $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Wiz earlier this week — the largest deal in the company's history and the biggest purchase of a venture-backed startup ever.

On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan, Sean O’Kane, and I were joined by Shardul Shah, a partner at Wiz’s largest shareholder Index Ventures. Shah walked us through his long history with Wiz, which predates the company itself — he previously backed Adallom, the startup earlier founded by Wiz’s Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik.

We also asked Shah why he believes the company became such an attractive acquisition target, and how he reacted when Wiz decided to walk away from Google’s initial offer.

“It’s no surprise that it’s Wiz,” Shah said. “Wiz sits at the intersection of three major tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spending.”

Read an excerpt of our conversation, edited for length and clarity, below. Shah started by noting, half-jokingly, that we might have understated things by calling the acquisition one of our deals of the week.

Shardul Shah: I think this should qualify as deal of the year or even the decade, not just the week. Can we adjust that? Thank you.

But this is truly significant for the industry. It’s the largest venture-backed acquisition ever.

Rebecca Bellan: Yeah, we’ll sort that out in post[-production].

Shardul: And more importantly, it’s no surprise that Wiz is the company. It sits at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spending. These are critical in the AI era, where every workload needs to be secured. So we’re incredibly proud to have been the largest shareholder. And yes, I’d say it’s at least [the] deal of the month.

Rebecca: So how long has it been? When did you originally invest in Wiz? Because this is the kind of exit that I’m sure investors dream about.

Shardul: Is it six years or 16, we ask ourselves internally. About a decade ago, I joined the board of Assaf, Roy, and Ami first company, Adallom. So we got a front-row seat to how they make decisions, build trust, and how that evolved over time.

Assaf called me on my birthday when he started Wiz. And I joined the board during the seed round.

Anthony Ha: So, we’ve discussed this deal a couple of times before on the show, but since Wiz isn’t a consumer-facing company, I’m guessing some readers know it well while others don’t. Can you elaborate on what — beyond sitting at the intersection of these key sectors — made Wiz such an appealing investment and later such an attractive acquisition target?

Shardul: At Index, our core focus is on people. And I truly believe the acquisition’s core was the people. Assaf is an incredible leader who makes high-quality judgment calls. He has great intuition about people and markets. Two of his co-founders, Ami and Yinon [Costica], are almost always in contention — Ami lives in the future, [Yinon] is very present, and Assaf has the ability to decide which voice leads at any given moment. Roy is an execution machine.

Together, they built an environment and culture of trust that allowed them to create a platform from the start and take on an existing category with unmatched speed.

Sean O’Kane: There’s this fun history — fun for us, especially because we got to push them on it at Disrupt a couple of years ago, where Google approached the company and [Assaf] actually walked away from the deal. In that moment, does that feel validating for you, as someone who believes you’ve identified someone you truly trust and who is willing to take a step that many would be afraid to take, in the face of such a large potential exit? Maybe not as big as now, but close.

Shardul: Not really. Part of it might be because I’m irreverent and external validation doesn’t matter, despite my insecurity about you describing this as deal of the week.

I did tell the founders at one point that I think I believe in them more than they believe in themselves. The first blog I ever wrote for Index was titled “Learning to Say No,” actually directed at the Audible founders. When founders make choices and decisions, you trust the inputs — like how they decide. You don’t focus too much on the outputs and the luck involved in whether it’s validated.

Rebecca: How important was that in the acquisition of Wiz? Essentially, that it’s getting what it can from Google — funds, access to [Google’s] cloud, and more resources — while still maintaining its own sense of leadership?

Shardul: To your point, maybe for the audience: Wiz aims to secure cloud infrastructure and code in production. Most of their customers are part of what’s called a zero critical club — they have the context to know what to prioritize and act on. Google’s resources, infrastructure, and AI talent allow Wiz to extend that recognition while preserving this culture of trust and camaraderie.

Anthony: When we consider important acquisitions, they can matter in several ways. They can be transformative for the acquiring company. They can also reshape the startup ecosystem, because many people will profit from this, potentially sparking entirely new industries and startups.

So, looking at this as a major acquisition, what do you think the biggest impacts will be over the next few years?

Shardul: I think it starts with inspiration. There’s a new imagination for what’s possible for entrepreneurs around the world. And that’s amazing, right?

I’m really proud that so many people’s lives will change as a result of this investment — that’s deeply meaningful and fulfilling. But what matters more is the talent, skills, and aspirations of entrepreneurs. So we can’t wait to see what the next generation will achieve.

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