Bernard Arnault, recently named the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine, is invested in Israeli cloud security company Wiz, headed by Assaf Rappaport. Arnault invested in Wiz through his Aglaé Ventures investment fund. The wealth of luxury products corporation LVMH founder Arnaud is estimated at $198 billion.
Arnault's investment fund joined a $120 million transaction first reported in late May. The investors in the round reported until now were software giant Salesforce and US investment company Blackstone. It has now been revealed that Arnault's fund also participated. Part of the money went to Wiz, while part was paid to Gili Raanan's Cyberstarts fund, which sold half its holding in Wiz.
Wiz was founded in January 2020 by Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik - the same team that founded Adallom, which was sold to Microsoft for $320 million in 2015. Rappaport was subsequently appointed Cloud Security Group.
Since it was founded, Wiz has received substantial investment from prominent investors. Last December it raised $100 million from leading funds Sequoia, Index, and Insight Partners. A few months later, in March this year, it announced that it had raised a further $130 million at a valuation of $1.7 billion, making it a unicorn in record time. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was an investor in that round.
Aglaé Ventures focuses on technology investment and is supported by Agache, the investment entity through which Arnault controls LVMH.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 10, 2021
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