The deal has been made by way of a partnership between Orange and Lookout to protect smartphone users around Europe.
Lookout, which is based in San Francisco, protects against threats including malware, phishing, privacy violations, data loss, and loss of the smartphone itself.
Iris Capital has led the undisclosed investment, with other contributions coming from Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and Index.
Orange customers in France, Slovakia, Spain, in addition to EE and T-Mobile customers in the UK, will reportedly benefit by having Lookout available on select Android devices starting in early 2013, with further markets and phones to come throughout 2013.
John Hering, CEO and founder of Lookout, comments, ‘Europe is a key growth area for Lookout and this partnership will help us reach a large and relevant customer base, and also build awareness about Lookout.’
To date, Lookout has raised $76 million (£47.2 million) of venture capital, not including the undisclosed sum it secured through the transaction with Iris.
Its Series A in December 2009 it netted $5.5 million, with contributions coming from Khosla Ventures, Trilogy Equity Partnership and Chris Sacca. Series B and C rounds of $11 million and $19.5 million followed in May and December of 2010 before its largest round worth $40 million was completed in September 2011.
Paul-François Fournier, executive vice president for Orange Technocentre, adds, ‘By partnering with and investing in Lookout, we are ensuring that we will continue to help keep our customers safe in the future, and that the Orange & Publicis fund managed by Iris Capital is supporting a company that is positioned to become a global leader in the digital economy.’
Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital fund manager with a focus on the digital economy founded in 1986. In March 2012 Iris Capital entered into a strategic partnership with Orange and Publicis to manage its joint venture capital initiative.
Denis Barrier, partner at Iris Capital, says, ‘By investing in the world leader in smartphone security at the very same time as this company is securing a major partnership with Orange, we continue to show our capacity to stimulate the ecosystem of our industrial sponsors by helping them work long term with the most innovative companies. We also show we can be a game changer for our investee companies.’
