How Assaf Rappaport is putting the Wiz billions back to work
The Wiz founder has quietly assembled a portfolio spanning AI, cybersecurity and venture capital, with investments in 37 startups, eight funds and a growing presence beyond technology.
After selling cybersecurity company Wiz to Google in a deal worth approximately $32 billion, the largest exit in Israeli history, founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport has quietly become one of Israel's most active private technology investors.
A Calcalist investigation shows that Rappaport is now invested, often alongside his fellow Wiz founders, in dozens of startups, primarily in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. He has also backed several of the world's leading venture capital firms and, over the past year, expanded into the Israeli media sector through the Merit Foundation. Unlike many prominent angel investors who take active advisory or board roles, Rappaport has largely adopted a passive investment strategy, investing relatively modest sums while leveraging the network he built during more than a decade in cybersecurity.
The scale of the investment effort has already become significant. According to Calcalist's review, Rappaport has built a portfolio of at least 37 active startup investments and has backed eight venture capital funds. Eleven of the companies he invested in have already reached exits, an unusually high number for a private investor whose activity has accelerated only in recent years.
In most cases, Rappaport invests no more than several hundred thousand dollars in each company and does not become involved in day-to-day management. Most investment opportunities are brought to him or his team by entrepreneurs and venture capital firms seeking to include him in financing rounds.
Much of Rappaport's portfolio is concentrated in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. His fund investments include Gili Raanan's Cyberstarts, which specializes in cybersecurity startups; Sequoia Capital; Andreessen Horowitz; and Index Ventures, one of Europe's leading venture capital firms with extensive operations in the United States.
The portfolio is heavily weighted toward cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Among its best-known holdings are AI developer Anthropic; global HR platform Deel; Decart, which develops AI world models and video-generation technology; cybersecurity automation company Torq; exposure management startup Zafran Security; cloud cost optimization company PointFive; identity management company Descope; API security specialist Salt Security; cybersecurity startup Dream; networking infrastructure company Fundamental Technologies; and AI-powered security startups Engram Labs and Spirit Security.
In recent years, Rappaport has also begun backing emerging venture capital managers. One of his latest investments is in a pre-seed fund established by Merav Bahat, one of the founders of Dazz, the cloud security startup acquired by Wiz. The fund focuses on supporting entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of company formation. Bahat and Rappaport previously worked together at Microsoft, where Rappaport headed the company's Israeli R&D center and Bahat served as his deputy.
At the same time, Rappaport and his three Wiz co-founders established a family office to manage and invest a portion of the proceeds from the Google acquisition. The family office is headed by Yotav Costica, brother of Wiz co-founder Yinon Costica, who left his senior position at More Investment House to oversee the investment activities of the four founders.
The portfolio has already produced a string of notable exits. The largest was Anysphere, developer of the Cursor AI coding assistant, which was acquired by SpaceX in a stock deal valued at approximately $60 billion. Armis was acquired by ServiceNow in a stock transaction valued at about $7.75 billion. Other successful investments include Talon, acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $625 million; Axis Security, sold to HPE for $500 million; Noname Security, acquired by Akamai for $450 million; Dazz, acquired by Wiz for $450 million; Aim Security, sold to Cato Networks for $350 million; Trail Security, acquired by Cyera for $162 million; Genie Security, also acquired by Cyera for $130 million; and Eureka, which was sold to Tenable for $40 million.
Rappaport's investment activity is also fueled by the extensive network he has built over more than a decade in the cybersecurity industry. Many of the entrepreneurs he backs first worked with him at Adallom, the cloud security company he co-founded; later at Microsoft, following its acquisition of Adallom; or at Wiz. Others come from Israel's close-knit cybersecurity community.
Adallom was founded in 2012 by Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Roy Reznik and Yinon Costica, all veterans of Israeli military intelligence units. The company was an early pioneer in cloud access security broker (CASB) 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 activities in Israel before leaving in 2020 to establish Wiz, which Google officially acquired this year.
Beyond technology investing, Rappaport has also begun deploying his capital in other sectors.
In March 2026, the Merit Foundation, a non-profit organization established together with his fellow Wiz founders, agreed to acquire a 74% stake in Channel 13 from Len Blavatnik's Access Industries for approximately $25 million, while committing to invest an additional $100 million to $120 million in the broadcaster over the following three years. Cybersecurity veterans Shlomo Kramer and Gili Raanan also participated in the initiative.
In July, the foundation expanded its media holdings by acquiring 60% of the parent company of Israel Entertainment, owned by brothers David and Shlomo Sa'ar, in a deal valuing the company at NIS 80 million ($26 million), with an option to purchase an additional 25%.
The expansion beyond technology appears set to continue. As Calcalist revealed this week, Rappaport is also in preliminary talks to acquire a 25% stake in Herzliya Medical Center, marking what would be his first major investment in Israel's healthcare sector.
Under the foundation's governance structure, the individual donors, including the Wiz founders, do not directly own shares in the media companies. Instead, the foundation itself serves as the shareholder, a structure designed to preserve the outlets' managerial and editorial independence.
