Lobe
Lobe was a free, no-code desktop application that let non-technical users train and export image-classification machine learning models to iOS, web, Python, and .NET. Founded in 2016 in San Francisco and affiliated with Microsoft, the product has been discontinued.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Lobe does
Lobe was a San Francisco-based machine learning tools company, founded in 2016 and associated with Microsoft, that built a free desktop application for Mac and PC enabling users without coding expertise to train computer vision and image-classification models through a visual interface. The product's core technical contribution was abstracting model training behind a no-code UI while exporting trained models for deployment to any platform, supported by an ecosystem of open-source SDKs and bootstrap projects for iOS (Swift), web (TypeScript), Python, .NET, and Flask-based REST APIs, as well as a hardware kit co-developed with Adafruit for IoT deployments. The company's GTM was strictly product-led and self-serve: distribution via direct download from lobe.ai and GitHub, with no enterprise sales motion and no paid pricing tier.\n\nLobe raised a funding round from Lowercase Capital in 2018 and was subsequently associated with Microsoft, as evidenced by the [email protected] corporate email and the GitHub organization's placement within the Microsoft ecosystem. Its customer base was a horizontal mix of non-technical "citizen data scientists," mobile and web developers integrating pre-trained models, and hobbyists/makers — with no disclosed enterprise customers and no commercial revenue stream because the desktop application was free.\n\nThe company formally discontinued the Lobe desktop application, announcing via its GitHub profile that the product is no longer under active development. The entity's operating status is effectively dormant: the core product is wound down, open-source repositories remain available but largely in maintenance, and there is no disclosed leadership team, no recent funding, and no commercial roadmap. Lobe is best understood today as a former Microsoft-affiliated no-code ML tool whose capabilities and talent have been absorbed upstream rather than as an operating business.
Lobe firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lobe
- Legal name
- Lobe
- Website
- https://lobe.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Closed
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Lobe was a free, no-code desktop application that let non-technical users train and export image-classification machine learning models to iOS, web, Python, and .NET. Founded in 2016 in San Francisco and affiliated with Microsoft, the product has been discontinued.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lobe industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Machine Learning Development Tools
- NAICS
- Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Model Development & Training Platforms (AutoML, Notebooks, Feature Stores) (HDAEANAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- On-Device Inference Runtimes & SDKs (mobile/embedded) (HDAAAJAB), Model Deployment, Serving & Inference Platforms (HDAAABAF)
Keywords
Where Lobe is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Lobe business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Desktop Application |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
Lobe product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lobe provided a free desktop application for Mac and PC that allowed users to train machine learning models—primarily for image classification/computer vision tasks—through a visual, no-code interface. Trained models could be exported and deployed to any platform via open-source SDKs and starter projects for iOS, web (TypeScript), Python, .NET, and a Flask REST API, along with image dataset preparation tools and an Adafruit hardware kit. The desktop application is no longer under active development, though open-source repositories remain available.
Product overview
Lobe was a machine learning platform consisting of a desktop application (now discontinued) and an ecosystem of SDKs, starter projects, and tools. The core offering included the Lobe desktop application for training ML models, complemented by language-specific SDKs (lobe-python, lobe.NET), platform-specific bootstrap projects (iOS-bootstrap, web-bootstrap), a REST API starter (flask-server), image dataset tools, and an Adafruit hardware kit partnership. The company is associated with Microsoft and is based in San Francisco.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Lobe Desktop Application Free desktop tool for Mac and PC that lets non-technical users train machine learning models (primarily image classification) through a visual interface and export them to any platform. Discontinued and no longer under active development.
- lobe-python Open-source Python SDK/toolset for programmatic use of Lobe-trained ML models.
- lobe.NET Open-source .NET library that enables integration of Lobe-trained ML models into .NET applications and services.
- iOS-bootstrap Swift starter project for deploying Lobe-trained machine learning models to iOS applications.
- web-bootstrap TypeScript starter project for deploying Lobe-trained machine learning models to web platforms.
- flask-server Flask-based REST API starter project for serving Lobe-trained machine learning models over HTTP.
- image-tools Tools for creating image-based datasets to support ML model training workflows.
- lobe-adafruit-kit Machine learning kit developed with Adafruit that provides everything needed to bring ML ideas to life on hardware/IoT devices.
Companies that use Lobe
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Lobe technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
AI capability2 records
Feature3 records
Lobe partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- AdafruitminorLobe partnered with Adafruit to create a machine learning kit that helps users bring their machine learning ideas to life. The lobe-adafruit-kit repository contains everything needed to get started with ML projects in partnership with Adafruit's hardware ecosystem.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights2 records
Lobe competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Roboflow: End-to-end computer vision platform with no-code training, dataset management, and deployment tooling. Overlaps Lobe on the image-classification use case and similar developer/export experience.
- Edge Impulse: No-code platform for training and deploying ML models on edge devices (microcontrollers, mobile, gateways). Directly competes with Lobe's edge-deployment narrative, particularly via its Adafruit-compatible hardware workflows.
- Apple CreateML: Apple's no-code ML training app for macOS that trains vision, NLP, and tabular models and exports to Apple platforms. Closest functional analog to Lobe in the Apple ecosystem, with the same visual-training paradigm.
- Google Teachable Machine: Google's web-based no-code tool for training image, audio, and pose classification models. Directly overlaps Lobe's core value proposition of visual ML training without code, with similar export-to-platform workflows.
Emerging players
- MakeML: No-code ML tool for creating object detection and segmentation datasets and training models. Direct functional overlap with Lobe's image classification workflow, with active development in the niche.
- Obviously.AI: No-code AutoML platform focused on tabular predictive modeling for business users. Shares Lobe's 'ML for non-technical users' thesis but on structured/tabular data rather than images.
- RunwayML: Creative AI platform that lowers the barrier to ML-powered video and image generation/editing. Shares Lobe's design ethos of bringing ML to non-technical creators with a polished UX.
- Peltarion (now part of Ardor): No-code enterprise AI/ML platform for building and deploying deep learning models. Comparable visual paradigm for non-expert model builders, positioned for operational ML rather than desktop consumers.
Others
- Weights & Biases: MLOps platform for experiment tracking, model management, and dataset versioning. Adjacent infrastructure layer that Lobe-style tools rely on for serious model development and deployment at scale.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Designer: Microsoft's enterprise drag-and-drop ML pipeline builder that effectively replaced Lobe within Microsoft's own stack. Targets a similar no-code audience but at enterprise scale and with deeper Azure integration.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Lobe social profiles
Digital presenceLobe financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lobe leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Lobe funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lobe M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lobe
What does Lobe do?
Lobe provided a free desktop application for Mac and PC that allowed users to train machine learning models—primarily for image classification/computer vision tasks—through a visual, no-code interface. Trained models could be exported and deployed to any platform via open-source SDKs and starter projects for iOS, web (TypeScript), Python, .NET, and a Flask REST API, along with image dataset preparation tools and an Adafruit hardware kit. The desktop application is no longer under active development, though open-source repositories remain available.
Is Lobe a public or private company?
Lobe is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently closed.
When was Lobe founded?
Lobe was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Lobe based?
Lobe is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Lobe's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Roboflow, Edge Impulse, Apple CreateML and Google Teachable Machine. Emerging players are MakeML, Obviously.AI, RunwayML and Peltarion (now part of Ardor). Weights & Biases is listed as an others. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Designer is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Lobe have an API?
Yes. Lobe provides a REST API starter project (flask-server) for deploying machine learning models via a REST API. Additionally, the lobe-python package offers a Python toolset for working with Lobe models programmatically.
What industry is Lobe in?
Lobe's product category is Machine Learning Development Tools. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAB, Model Development & Training Platforms (AutoML, Notebooks, Feature Stores), with a secondary code of HDAAAJAB, On-Device Inference Runtimes & SDKs (mobile/embedded). Its NAICS code is 6114 and its SIC code is 7372.