December 4, 2012 - 12:23 AMT
Orange to invest $20mln in mobile security firm Lookout

France Telecom’s Orange mobile unit has struck a deal to offer security software from Lookout and take an equity stake in the mobile software vendor, AllThingsD reports.

Starting next year, Orange will offer Lookout’s software standard on Android devices in France, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

“By investing in Lookout we are ensuring that we will continue to help keep our customers safe in the future, and that the Orange & Publicis initiative with Iris Capital is supporting a company that is positioned to become a global leader in the digital economy,” Orange Executive VP Paul-François Fournier said in a statement.

According to TechCrunch, exact financial terms of the investment in Lookout — which has 30 million active installs and has already raised $76 million from a top list of VCs including Khosla Ventures, Chris Sacca, Trilogy Equity Partnership, Index, Accel Partners, and most recently $40 million from Andreessen Horowitz – were not disclosed, but it could be as high as $20 million (€15 million).

Lookout says that 40 percent of its new activations are coming from outside the U.S. and it plans to open offices next year in both Tokyo and London.