Looker

Looker. It is a cloud-based business intelligence and data analytics platform that enables organizations to explore, analyze, and share real-time business insights. Founded in 2012, the platform is known for its proprietary modeling language and embedded analytics capabilities. Its technology was designed to provide a single source of truth for data across an enterprise, integrating with a wide array of modern data warehouses and databases.

Overview

Looker operates as a web-based application that allows users to create and consume reports, dashboards, and custom data explorations. The platform distinguishes itself through its semantic modeling layer, which sits between the user and the raw data stored in systems like Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, and Snowflake Computing. This approach centralizes business logic and definitions, promoting consistency. It is widely used across various industries, including technology, retail, and financial services, to support data-driven decision-making.

Features

A core feature of Looker is its proprietary modeling language, known as LookML, which allows data analysts and developers to define relationships, calculations, and permissions in a version-controlled environment. The platform offers robust data visualization tools, enabling the creation of interactive dashboards that can be embedded into other applications, such as Salesforce or internal portals. Features like scheduled reports, data alerts, and an API for programmatic access facilitate automation and integration. Its collaboration tools allow users to share insights via Slack or export to formats like PDF and CSV.

Architecture

The architecture of Looker is built around a connection to an existing SQL-speaking database, meaning it does not store data itself but queries the connected data source in real-time. The LookML layer acts as a semantic model, translating business questions into optimized SQL queries against systems like Microsoft SQL Server or Apache Hive. This architecture supports a high degree of customization and scalability, as compute resources are managed by the underlying data platform. Deployment options include a fully managed service on the Google Cloud Platform or a customer-hosted instance.

History

Looker was founded in 2012 in Santa Cruz, California by Lloyd Tabb, a former engineer at Netscape. The company, Looker Data Sciences, grew rapidly, securing venture capital funding from firms like Kleiner Perkins and CapitalG. In 2019, Google announced its intention to acquire Looker for $2.6 billion, a deal completed in early 2020 following regulatory approval from authorities like the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority. Post-acquisition, it was integrated into Google Cloud while continuing to support multi-cloud data sources.

Competitors

Looker competes in the crowded business intelligence and analytics software market. Its direct competitors include established platforms like Tableau Software, which was acquired by Salesforce, and Microsoft Power BI, part of the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. Other significant competitors include Qlik and older suites from SAP such as SAP BusinessObjects. It also faces competition from newer, visualization-focused tools like ThoughtSpot and from the embedded analytics capabilities of platforms like Sisense. The integration with Google Cloud positions it against other cloud-native analytics services.