Security startup Wiz adds former Zscaler COO, plans hiring spree
By Krystal Hu
Feb 5 (Reuters) - Cybersecurity startup Wiz has hired Dali Rajic, former chief operating officer and president at Zscaler, as the four-year-old startup seeks to keep growing at a fast clip and eyes an eventual public listing, the company told Reuters.
Rajic, a seasoned sales executive, joined Wiz this week as its first-ever president and chief operating officer, after over four years at its larger security peer Zscaler, which went public in 2018.
Wiz, one of the fastest-growing software startups globally, also said it has reached $350 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in 2023, an important metric for software firms, after more than doubling it year-over-year.
"This is definitely a crucial part of Wiz beginning on our journey to becoming a public company and the cloud security leader. We're eager to reach the milestone of $1 billion as we look toward an IPO,” Assaf Rappaport, chief executive at Wiz, said.
Founded in Israel and now headquartered in New York, Wiz provides cloud-based cybersecurity solutions with real-time threat detection and responses powered by artificial intelligence.
It works with multiple cloud providers such as Microsoft , Amazon and Google and counts companies from Morgan Stanley to DocuSign as its customers. With 900 employees across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Israel, it plans to add 400 workers globally in 2024.
"The goal obviously is maximum growth and not to slow down. We want to introduce a few new things that are going to help us to continue operating at pace and build out scale and automation," Dali Rajic said.
Wiz raised $300 million in a private financing round about a year ago that took its valuation to $10 billion, a rare up round in a market that has seen venture funding drop both in terms of deal volume and valuation.
The company has received over $800 million in total funding from investors including Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Insight Partners, according to PitchBook data.
Wiz, while unprofitable, said it is also looking for acquisition targets in the security space. (Reporting by Krystal Hu in San Francisco; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
