He typed into the search bar. No results. He tried WAZ . A random medical company. He tried WZ . Nothing.

Sarah laughed. "Elias, Waze hasn't been independent for over a decade. Google snapped them up back in 2013 for over a billion dollars. It was a massive deal for the Israeli tech scene—the employees walked away with millions."

"So there's no way to invest in the 'crowdsourced traffic' magic?" Elias asked, disappointed.

"I need to own this," he muttered, convinced he’d found the ultimate "hidden gem" investment.

"Not directly," Sarah explained. "If you want a piece of Waze, you have to buy . When you buy shares of GOOGL or GOOG , you're buying the whole kingdom: Search, YouTube, Android, and yes, Waze. You're betting that Waze’s data makes Google Maps better and keeps people inside their ecosystem."