Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport builds global investment empire after record Google deal

Assaf Rappaport, the co-founder and chief executive of Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz, has significantly expanded his private investment activity following the company's roughly $32 billion sale to Google Cloud, the largest corporate acquisition in Israel's history.An examination by ynet's sister publication Calcalist found that Rappaport is now invested, often alongside his Wiz co-founders, in dozens of startup companies, primarily in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, as well as in several of the world's leading venture capital funds. In recent months, he has also expanded into the media sector through the Merit Spread philanthropic foundation.GalleryAssaf Rappaport (Photo: Omer HaCohen)On Tuesday, Calcalist also reported that Rappaport is in preliminary talks to acquire a 25% stake in Herzliya Medical Center, one of Israel's largest private hospitals.Unlike many high-profile technology investors who take active advisory or board roles in the companies they back, Rappaport typically makes relatively small investments, usually worth several hundred thousand dollars or less, without participating in day-to-day management. According to the report, most investment opportunities come to him through founders and venture capital firms seeking to include him in funding rounds.Most of Rappaport's investment portfolio is concentrated in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. His venture capital investments include Cyberstarts, the cybersecurity-focused fund founded by Gili Raanan; Sequoia Capital; Andreessen Horowitz; and Index Ventures, all among the world's best-known technology investors.Among the companies in which he has invested are Anthropic, one of the world's leading artificial intelligence model developers; Deel, which provides a global workforce management platform; Torq, which develops cybersecurity automation software; and Irregular, an AI company focused on financial data analysis and anomaly detection that topped *Calcalist*'s list of Israel's 50 most promising startups for 2025.In recent years, Rappaport has also expanded into emerging venture funds. One of his latest investments is in a pre-seed fund led by Meirav Bahat, a co-founder of Dazz, a cloud security company acquired by Wiz. The fund is designed to support entrepreneurs during the earliest stages of company formation.Bahat and Rappaport previously worked together at Microsoft after the software giant acquired Adallom, Rappaport's first cybersecurity company, in 2015. Rappaport later led Microsoft's research and development center in Israel, while Bahat served as his deputy.Assaf Rappaport's investment portfolio Rappaport and his three Wiz co-founders have also established a family office to manage the proceeds from their Wiz exit and coordinate joint investments. The office is managed by Yotav Kostika, brother of Wiz co-founder Yinon Kostika, who left a senior position at Israeli investment house Mor Investment House to oversee the founders' assets.Although Rappaport generally remains a passive investor, several of the companies in which he has invested have already achieved major exits. Among the most notable is Cursor AI, which developed an AI-powered software development platform and was acquired by SpaceX at a reported valuation of about $60 billion. Another is Armis, which develops enterprise cyber exposure management and connected-device security software and was recently acquired by ServiceNow for approximately $7.75 billion.Rappaport's investment activity has been supported by a network built over more than a decade in the cybersecurity industry. Many founders he has backed first met him through Adallom, Microsoft or Wiz, while others come from Israel's cybersecurity community.Rappaport co-founded Adallom in 2012 with Ami Luttwak, Roy Reznik and Yinon Kostika, all veterans of Israeli military intelligence technology units. The company became an early pioneer in cloud access security broker technology, raised about $50 million and was acquired by Microsoft in 2015 for $320 million.Following the acquisition, the four founders led Microsoft's cybersecurity operations in Israel before leaving the company in 2020 to establish Wiz. Google Cloud completed its acquisition of Wiz earlier this year.Beyond technology investments, Rappaport has expanded into the Israeli media sector through Merit Spread, a public-benefit company in which he invests alongside his Wiz partners.In March 2026, Merit Spread signed an agreement to acquire a 74% stake in Israeli commercial television broadcaster Channel 13 from Access Industries, the investment group controlled by billionaire Len Blavatnik, for about $25 million. The foundation also committed to invest between $100 million and $120 million in the broadcaster over the next three years. The investment included participation by cybersecurity entrepreneurs Shlomo Kramer and Gili Raanan.In July, the foundation expanded its media holdings by acquiring a 60% stake in the parent company of Israel Bidur, one of Israel's largest entertainment and celebrity news platforms, from brothers David and Shlomo Saar at a valuation of 80 million shekels (about $24 million). The deal includes an option to acquire an additional 25% stake.Following the transaction, Idan Elrom was appointed acting chief executive of Channel 13.Under Merit Spread's governance structure, the foundation—not its donors—holds ownership of the media companies, a framework intended to preserve the outlets' editorial and managerial independence.