Debt Pitches Are in Vogue, but Not All Tech Startups Are Biting

When bankers from Morgan Stanley pitched cloud security firm Wiz last month about raising money through an issue of convertible notes, Wiz could have become the latest startup to pursue a financing tool that’s suddenly in vogue. With the venture funding market much tougher nowadays, investors such as Coatue Management and Owl Rock Capital have been swamping late-stage startups with pitches for convertible debt deals.

But Wiz decided not to go ahead with a convertible note raising, according to a person familiar with the pitches. The startup had alternatives if and when it wanted fresh cash—the person said. Equity investors, for instance, had also expressed interest in putting money into Wiz after it announced that its annual recurring revenue had exceeded $100 million in August. Wiz has raised over $621 million in equity since its founding in 2020, and it was valued at $6 billion in October.