Cybersecurity
Wiz hits $10B valuation to top cybersecurity charts
February 27, 2023
Cybersecurity startup Wiz has soared to a $10 billion valuation after closing a $300 million Series D. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital Partners and Index Ventures. Founded in 2020, the startup is now the world's most valuable cybersecurity unicorn, followed by competitor Lacework, which was valued at $8.3 billion last year.
The company's latest raise caps three years of rapid valuation growth for the startup. Wiz raised $250 million at a $5 billion valuation in 2021. Since its founding, Wiz has taken in $900 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Blackstone, luxury brand LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
In a statement, Wiz's CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport characterized the company's growth as "explosive" and said that he is "extremely proud of our growth rate."
Wiz specializes in security for cloud infrastructure. Its main rival, the publicly traded Palo Alto Networks, offers a competing product, Primsa Cloud. Another competitor, Lacework, raised a $1.3 billion Series D in November 2021—the highest infosec VC deal value on record when it was raised, according to PitchBook data. Axonius, another startup in the space, raised $200 million last year.
"This round demonstrates that potential category winners can attract high revenue multiples in a compressed valuation environment,” said PitchBook analyst Brendan Burke. "We expect further valuation growth to occur in the near-term for companies securing cloud-native applications."
The cloud security market grew over 20% in end user spending in 2022, Burke added.
The broader information security vertical has shown resilience despite difficult market conditions. Deepwatch, a security platform startup, raised a $180 million venture round in mid-February.
A widespread decline in valuation multiples for tech companies means that startups are now struggling to grow into their old valuations, let alone surpass them. Last year, the median growth-stage pre-money valuation for infosec companies fell to $1.08 billion from $1.2 billion in 2021, PitchBook data shows. Despite the dip, valuations remained significantly elevated relative to 2020 levels.
Demand for more robust cybersecurity options has grown as more larger companies have fallen prey to hackers. Rockstar Games, the maker of Grand Theft Auto, saw its systems breached last year, resulting in leaks of its latest projects and source code. Microsoft was also the victim of a hack last year that resulted in 65,000 users' information being compromised.
The company's latest raise caps three years of rapid valuation growth for the startup. Wiz raised $250 million at a $5 billion valuation in 2021. Since its founding, Wiz has taken in $900 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Blackstone, luxury brand LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
In a statement, Wiz's CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport characterized the company's growth as "explosive" and said that he is "extremely proud of our growth rate."
Wiz specializes in security for cloud infrastructure. Its main rival, the publicly traded Palo Alto Networks, offers a competing product, Primsa Cloud. Another competitor, Lacework, raised a $1.3 billion Series D in November 2021—the highest infosec VC deal value on record when it was raised, according to PitchBook data. Axonius, another startup in the space, raised $200 million last year.
"This round demonstrates that potential category winners can attract high revenue multiples in a compressed valuation environment,” said PitchBook analyst Brendan Burke. "We expect further valuation growth to occur in the near-term for companies securing cloud-native applications."
The cloud security market grew over 20% in end user spending in 2022, Burke added.
The broader information security vertical has shown resilience despite difficult market conditions. Deepwatch, a security platform startup, raised a $180 million venture round in mid-February.
A widespread decline in valuation multiples for tech companies means that startups are now struggling to grow into their old valuations, let alone surpass them. Last year, the median growth-stage pre-money valuation for infosec companies fell to $1.08 billion from $1.2 billion in 2021, PitchBook data shows. Despite the dip, valuations remained significantly elevated relative to 2020 levels.
Demand for more robust cybersecurity options has grown as more larger companies have fallen prey to hackers. Rockstar Games, the maker of Grand Theft Auto, saw its systems breached last year, resulting in leaks of its latest projects and source code. Microsoft was also the victim of a hack last year that resulted in 65,000 users' information being compromised.
Featured image by senticus/ShutterstockRead more: Q4 2022 Information Security Report
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