Compression software (1986–2000)

PKWARE was founded in 1986 by Phil Katz, a software developer who had begun distributing a new file compression utility, called PKARC, as shareware. PKARC represented a radical improvement over existing compression software (including the ARC utility, on which it was based) and gained popularity among individuals and corporations.^[2]

Following a legal settlement with Systems Enhancement Associates Inc., the owners of ARC, Katz stopped distributing PKARC. He released his own compression program, which he called PKZIP, in 1989. PKZIP was the first program to use the new ZIP file format, which Katz developed in conjunction with Gary Conway and subsequently released into the public domain.

PKWARE grew in its early years through business with large corporations.^[2] The ZIP format proved so popular that it became the de facto standard for data compression and remains in use throughout the world after more than 30 years.^[2]

Purchase and expansion (2001–2008)

After Katz died in 2000, his family sold the company to a new management team led by George Haddix and backed by investment-banking firm Grace Matthews.^[3] Two years later, the company acquired Ascent Solutions, a large-platform software firm based in Dayton, Ohio.^[4]

SecureZIP, a program that combined PKZIP's data compression with enhanced encryption functionality, was released in 2004. In the following years, PKWARE continued to add support for large and small platform operating systems and introduced new features for both PKZIP and SecureZIP.

Shift toward data protection (2009–2015)

A new ownership group including company management, Novacap Technologies, and Maranon Capital acquired PKWARE in 2009.^[5] The company's new CEO, V. Miller Newton, steered the company toward an increased focus on its encryption products in response to growing concerns about data security among PKWARE's customers in industries such as healthcare and government.^[6]

In 2012, PKWARE released Viivo, a cloud storage encryption product to help customers secure data stored on Dropbox and other cloud storage services. Viivo received attention for having been developed outside of traditional methods in an effort toward "disruptive innovation" in the emerging cloud security market.^[5]

Developing and purchasing expanded capabilities (2016–present)

PKWARE released Smartcrypt, a data protection platform combining encryption, data discovery, and encryption key management, in 2016. In 2018, PKWARE added Data Classification with Data Redaction to support PCI DSS compliance added one year later in 2019.

PKWARE was purchased by Thompson Street Capital Partners in May 2020. After acquiring Dataguise in November 2020, the companies were merged under the single PKWARE name. Products from both legacy companies were renamed according to the new PK branding structure and the combined company received new branding to support the changes. These expanded capabilities enable PKWARE to offer data protection for structured data, unstructured data and semi-structured data.