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The chief executive of cloud security company Wiz, which is reportedly in advanced acquisition talks with Alphabet<\/a>, weighed in on Monday about the consolidation that may be ahead in the cybersecurity market.<\/p>\n While he repeatedly declined to comment on whether his own company was in talks with Alphabet over a reported potential $23 billion acquisition, Assaf Rappaport, Wiz CEO and cofounder, said that the industry was fragmented and that M&A was only just starting to ramp up.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, I think consolidation in the security market is truly a necessity,\u201d Rappaport, who was speaking at Fortune\u2019s Brainstorm Tech conference in Deer Valley, Utah, said in an interview, noting that for companies, consolidating all their security measures into one platform is actually safer for them. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s too fragmented, we\u2019re going to see the consolidation,\u201d Rappaport said of the cybersecurity market.<\/p>\n For cloud computing especially, consolidation is key for customers, Assaf said: \u201cIf you don\u2019t have the right platform, and the platform is not consolidated you\u2019re getting less of a value.\u201d<\/p>\n Rappaport also said that the trends in the market had shifted\u2014and that founders are willing to look at alternatives, apart from an IPO, for an exit.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you asked any founder, definitely in the cyber space two years ago, \u2018Hey what\u2019 your dream?\u2019 \u2026 I\u2019m going to be unicorn, and then I\u2019m going to become a public company,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe dream, a bit, has changed, and they\u2019re seeing other options and that pushes the market into consolidation.\u201d<\/p>\n Rappaport said that consolidation was the reason<\/a> that Wiz had raised its enormous $1 billion funding round earlier this year, at a $12 billion valuation, as the company looked for its own buying opportunities. Rappaport credited his company\u2019s growth to the COVID pandemic in 2020, and how companies moved their businesses online and to the cloud, offering a boon for companies that specialize in safeguarding data that is stored there. \u201cIt felt like the worst time to form a company,\u201d he said. \u201cIn hindsight, it was not.\u201d<\/p>\n But Rappaport also said that he prefers to be able to grow in a more controlled way. \u201cIt\u2019s great to be fast. But I prefer to be predictable and knowing where we\u2019re going,\u201d Rappaport said on stage.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/em> had reported<\/a> on Sunday that Alphabet was in \u201cadvanced talks\u201d to acquire the New York City-based cybersecurity startup for approximately $23 billion. Should the deal go through, it would be Alphabet\u2019s largest acquisition ever, and would be one of just a few major M&A deals since 2022, when the change in interest rates shook up the market and the market for initial public offerings shrank significantly.<\/p>\n Rappaport referred to the deal report as the \u201c23 ton elephant\u201d in the room, but said he was unable to share anything other than to say that in his career as a second-time startup founder, \u201cevents\u201d like IPOs and acquisitions are merely \u201cmilestones\u201d in a longer journey.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the mindset that we always have, being private, being public, and a startup.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter:<\/strong><\/p>\n