Cloud security company Wiz, founded in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Roy Reznik, and Yinon Costica, has made its first acquisition: Israeli startup Raftt.
Rafft too was founded in 2020. It has developed a cloud platform for creating and sharing user-friendly development environments, with the aim of improving collaboration between developers and the various departments in an organization, and also to adapt DevOps infrastructure to developers’ needs.
The acquisition price was not disclosed, but it is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, according to sources close to the company. The make-up of the consideration - whether entirely in cash or partly in Wiz shares - was also not disclosed. To date, Rafft has raised $5 million, in a seed round led by venture capital firm Aleph in September 2022.
Rappaport, who serves as CEO of Wiz, said in the announcement of the acquisition: "We are delighted to bring on board Rafft’s talented team. Our platform enables organizations to manage risk in the cloud from the development to the implementation stage, and assists in taking simple, quick action to narrow the gaps between security teams and development people. Acquiring Rafft will assist in our efforts to promote secured development in the cloud and to prevent security and development problems in advance."
Always looking for growth opportunities
Luttwak, Wiz’s CTO, told "Globes", "One of the industry’s core problems today is the link between the security people and the development people. In the end, on the cloud, the ones who actually build the product are the developers, and today there is a ratio of one to a hundred between development people and security people. We are trying to build a product that will change the world, the entire way in which organizations do security. This is our first acquisition, and a strategic acquisition made in order that we will truly provide the first product in the world that is capable of analyzing threats and also communicating them to the development people."
Asked whether more acquisitions of Israeli companies were on the agenda, Luttwak answered, "We see acquisitions as having huge growth potential and we are always looking for growth opportunities. It starts with talent that can help us grow, and we are always looking. Opportunities to join up with teams such as that of Rafft are critical for us to in succeeding in continuing to grow."
Rafft employs ten people. Wiz employs about 850, half of them in Israel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 4, 2023.
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