According to Index Ventures Partner Shardul Shah, cybersecurity startup Wiz sits “at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spend.” Those tailwinds powered what just became the largest venture-backed acquisition in history — Google's $32 billion deal, finalized after a declined 2024 offer, antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic, and an extra $9 billion to sweeten the pot.

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Anthony Ha, Rebecca Bellan, and Sean O'Kane sit down with Shah to dig into what made Wiz worth that price tag, and also cover more of the week's headlines.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

Why a DOGE employee allegedly walked out of the Social Security Administration with a thumb drive full of personal data, and the questions it raises about access to sensitive systems

Taya and Sandbar, the latest startups betting voice is the next big AI interface — but do normal consumers agree?

Palmer Luckey raising for a retro gaming startup at a $1 billion valuation

Meta’s acquisition of Moltbook, the viral AI agent social network

The latest in the Anthropic vs. DoD saga, including tech workers at OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft signing their names on a legal brief in support of Anthropic

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:16 Did a DOGE employee steal your SSN?

02:53 AI note-taking wearables are back: Taya & Sandbar

09:18 Palmer Lucky's retro gaming startup ModRetro

13:39 Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbot

18:54 Inside Google's $32B Wiz acquisition with Shardul Shah

28:41 Anthropic's lawsuit against the DoD

38:40 Outro

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Wiz's first investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition