Google's billion Wiz deal may signal a turning point for slow IPO, M&A markets

Technology

Google’s $32 billion Wiz deal may signal a turning point for slow IPO, M&A markets

Published

8 months ago

March 24, 2025

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Assaf Rappaport, Wiz, on Centre Stage during day one of Web Summit 2021 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

Harry Murphy | Sportsfile | Getty Images

Google’s acquisition of cybersecurity startup Wiz could be a turning point for an uncertain IPO market and a mergers and acquisitions environment aching from a slowdown in deal activity.

Alphabet announced Tuesday that it plans to buy the Israeli cybersecurity startup for $32 billion in its biggest acquisition ever. The deal came months after an initial $23 billion offer fell through and Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport touted plans for an initial public offering.

While deal activity has slowed from its 2021 heyday, appetite has begun to pick up.

SailPoint went public in February and CoreWeave, which sells Nvidia’s AI processors, said in a Thursday filing that it plans to raise up to $2.7 billion in its IPO that’s expected this week. Ticket vendor StubHub filed for an IPO Friday.

Wiz’s blockbuster deal could signal the opening of the floodgates for the IPO and M&A markets.

Cybersecurity companies look particularly poised to win as companies hunt for ways to shield their highly profitable business models. CB Insights on Tuesday said cybersecurity solutions are one of the top acquisition target areas for 2025.

“Having a more complete offering for securing workloads in the cloud — that’s the core, the rationale behind [the Wiz] deal,” said Merritt Maxim, Forrester vice president and research director.

AI driving demand for more cybersecurity

The proliferation of artificial intelligence and the transition to the cloud has amplified the need for cybersecurity solutions.

More adept hacking schemes have accelerated since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, expediting the need for cutting-edge solutions to fend off attackers. That’s made cybersecurity a key target area for companies looking to protect their business models, said Neil Barlow, partner at the law firm Clifford Chance.

“Hacks and phishing could effectively cause a business to crash,” said Barlow, who focuses on private equity M&A. “This is a business that is fundamental to operating, so cybersecurity has been a resilient area for quite some time.”

While megacap technology giant’s haven’t shied away from cybersecurity investments, AI tailwinds have forced companies to beef up their offerings. Google’s Wiz acquisition could force rival Amazon to make its own acquisition, Maxim said. Potential targets include startups Aqua Security, Orca Security and Sysdig.

“The Google-Wiz tie-up does give them some capabilities that make them stronger than AWS in some areas,” Maxim said. “AWS could target acquisitions to potentially bring their solution closer to Google.”

What’s next for the IPO market

Wiz’s mammoth buyout may dampen near-term sentiment for cybersecurity startups with IPO aspirations, but experts told CNBC they anticipate a pickup in the second half of the year.

One of those contenders is malware and phishing software maker Proofpoint, which told CNBC in October that it was exploring an IPO in the next 12 to 18 months. The company went private in 2021 in a $12.3 billion acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Forrester’s Maxim said Proofpoint and Illumio are companies ripe for IPOs in the coming months. Illumio, which offers data center and cloud security, was a member of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list in 2017 and 2018.

Netskope, which also offers cloud security, is another company being closely watched for an IPO, said Brianne Lynch, head of market insight at EquityZen. Netskope told The Wall Street Journal last year that it was planning an IPO in the second half of 2025. The company may start to feel pressure from early investors hunting for liquidity 13 years after its founding, Lynch said.

Snyk, a cybersecurity startup founded about a decade ago, has also alluded to a public offering next year. The company was last valued at $7.4 billion and CEO Peter McKay said in a post last year that Snyk had crossed $300 million in annual recurring revenues.

The big question is whether now is the rip-the-band-aid off moment for companies that decide to IPO or whether market volatility will cause companies to once again kick the can down the road, Lynch said.

Sailpoint is a good setup for tech IPOs in 2025, says Manhattan Venture's Santosh Rao

Technology

Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup’s robots could ‘fracture a human skull’

Published

15 hours ago

November 21, 2025

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$Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup's robots could 'fracture a human skull'$

Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.

Figure AI

Figure AI, an Nvidia-backed developer of humanoid robots, was sued by the startup’s former head of product safety who alleged that he was wrongfully terminated after warning top executives that the company’s robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.”

Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer, is the plaintiff in the suit filed Friday in a federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s attorneys describe their client as a whistleblower who was fired in September, days after lodging his “most direct and documented safety complaints.”

The suit lands two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That’s a 15-fold increase in valuation from early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

In the complaint, Gruendel’s lawyers say the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and Kyle Edelberg, chief engineer, about the robot’s lethal capabilities, and said one “had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.”

The complaint also says Gruendel warned company leaders not to “downgrade” a “safety road map” that he had been asked to present to two prospective investors who ended up funding the company.

Gruendel worried that a “product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest” had been “gutted” the same month Figure closed the investment round, a move that “could be interpreted as fraudulent,” the suit says.

The plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as obstacles, not obligations,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction’ as the pretext” for his termination, according to the suit.

Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and demanding a jury trial.

Figure didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did attorneys for Gruendel.

The humanoid robot market remains nascent today, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics pursuing futuristic offerings, alongside Figure, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a report in May that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could top $5 trillion by 2050.

Read the filing here: