Alphabet announced its agreement to acquire Wiz for about $32 billion on March 18, 2025, its largest deal ever and the biggest cybersecurity M&A transaction to date. (investopedia.com) Analysts at the time explicitly framed the deal as a key test and potential catalyst for a new wave of Big Tech and cybersecurity M&A, saying it could “open the door to a massive wave of M&A across the tech landscape.” (spglobal.com) In the subsequent quarter, U.S. venture-backed exits surged: PitchBook/NVCA data show Q2 2025 exit value of about $67.7 billion — the highest quarterly level since 2021 and roughly 70–76% higher year over year — with IPOs and acquisitions both contributing. (tailwindventures.co) That rebound was driven by multiple large liquidity events, including major IPOs such as CoreWeave (the largest U.S. tech IPO since 2021) and later offerings like Circle and Voyager, alongside a 61% increase in total U.S. IPO count versus the same point in 2024. (cnbc.com) Although the recovery is still incomplete and causality cannot be pinned solely on the Wiz deal, the near-term period after the announcement did in fact see a clear, widely noted pickup in large IPOs and exits from a very depressed base, matching the substantive outcome Jason predicted when he called the Wiz acquisition a “starter’s pistol” for venture and tech liquidity.