Luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault invests in Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz

Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LMVH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton, and the world’s richest man according to Forbes, has invested in cybersecurity firm, Wiz, the Israeli maker of cloud security solutions for enterprises said in a statement on Thursday.

The startup last week said it closed a Series B funding round with an investment of $120 million from Salesforce Ventures and Blackstone. On Thursday, the firm announced that Arnault’s venture investment arm, Aglaé Ventures, was also part of the latest funding round, alongside US billionaire Howard Schultz, who served 14 years as CEO and chairman of Starbucks.

Arnault is the chair and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods business, and the chair of its holding company, Christian Dior SE.

According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaire’s List, Arnault held the title on Thursday of the world’s richest man, with a fortune estimated at $193 billion.

Wiz, founded in early 2020 by the team that previously led Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Security Group, has raised to date a total of $350 million and is valued at $1.7 billion, the statement said.

The company’s agent-less technology provides security coverage of a company’s cloud environment “in minutes” for rapid risk reduction, the statement said.

Wiz’s founders are Assaf Rappaport, the CEO, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik. The firm has offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and Palo Alto. Its investors include Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Insight Partners.