Cybersecurity Companies To Know In 2023: Channel Moves In Q1

Wiz

Cloud security startup Wiz announced its first formal partner program on March 1 in a bid to help accelerate the company’s sales through the channel, just days after achieving the highest valuation of any venture-backed cybersecurity company at $10 billion. The Wiz Partner Program aims to build on already rapid growth that the company has been seeing during its less than three years of existence, the company told CRN.

Founded in early 2020, Wiz quickly found huge traction for its product that brings together numerous cloud security capabilities while deploying quickly and offering greater prioritization of threats. In August 2022, Wiz disclosed that it had crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, achieving this key startup milestone in the shortest amount of time of any company to date at 18 months, according to the firm.

On account of its growth surge, Wiz announced in late February that it was able to raise $300 million in new funding at a valuation of $10 billion. That was up from its prior valuation of $6 billion, as of October 2021, and moved Wiz to the top spot on CB Insights’ ranking of cybersecurity unicorns.

About 75 percent of Wiz’s deals involve a value-added reseller (VAR) partner, and the company is aiming to increase that percentage going forward, said Colin Jones (pictured), chief revenue officer at Wiz. Major VAR partners of Wiz include Trace3, Optiv, Presidio, WWT and GuidePoint Security.

The Wiz Partner Program offers three tiers for partners — Registered, Focus and Premier — and includes expanded discounts and benefits based on achievement of revenue goals. Other key components of the new program include deal registration and access to sales, training and marketing materials through the Wiz partner portal.

Wiz expects it will “learn a great deal” from its partners in the future, Jones said, adding that his message to partners is to “please keep the feedback coming — we’re always listening.” The company is in its “infancy” of partnering with large global systems integrators, he noted — and may also explore working with additional categories of partners in the future, such as consulting partners, which have shown considerable interest in working with Wiz.