About Lookout
Lookout was founded in 2007 by John Hering, Kevin Mahaffey, and James Burgess, entering the mobile security market early, at a time when smartphones were becoming increasingly central to both personal and business computing but had received comparatively little dedicated security software attention relative to the extensive antivirus and endpoint security industry that had built up around traditional desktop and laptop computers over the preceding decades, despite mobile devices increasingly holding significant amounts of sensitive personal and corporate data and increasingly serving as a vector for various forms of malware, phishing, and other mobile-specific security threats.
Lookout's platform provides mobile-specific security protections including malware and malicious app detection, protection against mobile phishing attacks that specifically target the smaller screens and different interaction patterns of mobile devices, and data loss prevention capabilities that help enterprises control how sensitive corporate data can be accessed, shared, and stored on employee mobile devices, particularly relevant given how significantly mobile devices have become woven into both consumer digital life and increasingly bring-your-own-device corporate computing environments where employees access sensitive corporate systems and data from personal smartphones and tablets. The company has served both a consumer product line, offering individual mobile security and antivirus-style protection directly to smartphone users, and an enterprise product line, helping businesses secure their employees' mobile device access to corporate data and systems, a market that has grown alongside the broader trend of employees increasingly using mobile devices, including personal devices, to access sensitive business applications and data outside of traditional managed corporate laptop environments. Lookout has also built government and public sector-focused mobile security offerings, given particular sensitivity around mobile device security for government employees handling sensitive information. The company has raised substantial venture funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and Goldman Sachs, and later received private equity investment from Francisco Partners, reaching a valuation exceeding $1 billion at its peak, competing with other mobile security vendors including Zimperium and mobile device management platforms with integrated security features.
