Loopt

Loopt, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Mobile social networking
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Mountain View, California , United States
Products	Mobile location-sharing service
Parent	Green Dot Corporation

Loopt, Inc. was a company headquartered in Mountain View, California, providing a mobile service that enabled users to share their location selectively. Compatible with all prominent mobile operating systems, Loopt amassed over five million registered users and established collaborations with every leading U.S. wireless carrier. Its applications incorporated privacy settings and were integrated with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Established in 2005, Loopt obtained its initial capital through Y Combinator and completed Series A and B funding rounds led by Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates. The company's board included notable figures such as TiVo creator Mike Ramsay and Sequoia Capital partner Greg McAdoo. In March 2012, Green Dot Corporation acquired Loopt for $43.4 million in cash, allocating $9.8 million specifically for employee retention incentives.

History

Originally named Radiate, Loopt launched with backing from Y Combinator. During that summer, Stanford University sophomores Sam Altman and Nick Sivo developed the initial prototype, later joined by Alok Deshpande along with Sam's childhood friends Rick and Tom Pernikoff.

Loopt raised $5 million in Series A financing from Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, debuting on Boost Mobile handsets in September 2006. Boost Mobile marketed Loopt through advertisements featuring the slogan "Where you at?".

By August 2007, the service expanded to select Sprint devices and further reached Verizon customers by June 2008. Additionally, it supported most GPS-capable BlackBerry models by mid-2008. The company secured $8.25 million in Series B funding in July 2007.

In February 2008, Loopt formed a partnership with CBS to deliver location-targeted advertising. Later that year, it launched Loopt Mix on its iPhone application, allowing users to discover and connect with nearby individuals. Altman showcased Loopt at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2008, followed by the iPhone app’s release on the US App Store in July.

During the summer of 2008, Loopt sponsored Black20's The Middle Show. In October of the same year, Earthcomber filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Loopt; however, the case was dismissed by March 2009.

In October 2009, Loopt acquired GraffitiGeo, a startup supported by Y Combinator, for an undisclosed amount.

March 2010 saw an update to Loopt’s iPhone app incorporating place and event information from ZVents, Metromix, and SonicLiving, enhancing existing collaborations with Citysearch, Zagat, and Bing. That month also marked the launch of Loopt Pulse exclusively for the iPad. An upgraded BlackBerry application featuring similar content improvements was released in April 2010.

Steve Boom assumed the role of company president in August 2010. By December, Loopt introduced version 4.0 of its app, showcasing a comprehensive redesign.

Having raised more than $30 million through venture capital funding, Loopt consented to acquisition by Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million in March 2012.

SMS invitation issues

Users of Loopt were required to provide their mobile phone number, full name, and date of birth. The company's privacy policy enabled users to manage who could access their location data via privacy preferences.

Following the launch of its native iPhone application on July 10, 2008, Loopt encountered criticism for dispatching Short Message Service (SMS) invitations to contacts stored in users' address books without explicit permission. Moreover, the SMS system initially failed to comply with the standard STOP command used across the industry.

On July 14, 2008, Loopt addressed these concerns publicly, attributing them to a confusing user interface design and pledged to enhance the invitation mechanism. By July 15, respect for STOP messages was implemented, followed by an updated app version released on July 17 that resolved these issues.