Google’s owner, Alphabet, has agreed to buy the cybersecurity group Wiz for $32bn (£24.7bn), the biggest acquisition it has ever made.
The search giant’s purchase of the Israeli startup comes as Google to catch its rivals Microsoft and Amazon in the competitive cloud services market.
Wiz, which offers a service that scans the data on cloud storage providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure for security risks, turned down a $23bn takeover bid from Alphabet last summer.
The New York-based startup, which opened its European headquarters in London last year, was founded by alumni of the Israeli Intelligence Corps’ Unit 8200. It has the backing of investors including the venture capital firms Sequoia and Thrive.
When the company rejected Alphabet’s $23bn offer, Assaf Rappaport, chief executive of Wiz, said he was “flattered” by the offer but wanted to focus on growth with an eye to floating on the stock market instead.
Dan Ives, an analyst at the US broker and investment manager Wedbush, said: “Wiz has become a household name for chief information officers as the Israeli cybersecurity player has a strong cloud cybersecurity platform and customer base that is going after a $1trn market opportunity.
“For Google this [will] be a shot across the bow at other big tech stalwarts, especially Microsoft and Amazon, making a major bet on the cybersecurity space to complement its cloud offering.”
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Wiz has said its revenues are $500m annually. Wedbush estimated that Google could drive it to a $1bn-plus business over the coming years “given the company’s massive installed base and go-to-market strategy globally”.
