Last month, advertising company Infillion acquired location data platform Foursquare for an undisclosed price. This company was once a quite popular social network. Now, Foursquare co-founder and former CEO Dennis Crowley stated in a new blog post that investors did not obtain any return from this sale transaction.
Crowley mentioned a post by an angel investor and inferred from it that neither preferred stockholders nor common stockholders gained any value from this transaction. He expressed his disappointment with this outcome.
He wrote in the text: “Such an ending breaks my heart. So many people have invested a great deal of time, energy, passion, and love into building Foursquare – this company, these products, this brand, this culture. If you were one of them (or even just closely involved), then you would fully understand what I mean. I am sorry for the approximately 1,600 former employees over the past 17 years. That the story of Foursquare ends in such a way makes it seem as if all our joint efforts were… worthless.”
Crowley indicates that after the company began to focus on its corporate business, it performed well, achieving revenues of over 100 million US dollars for several consecutive years. In 2019, the company raised funds from a private equity firm; in 2021, the banker who led that round of financing was appointed as the CEO. Crowley attributed the final outcome to this shift, stating that the company's management failed to retain existing value and also failed to create new value.
According to PitchBook data, Foursquare raised over $411 million in funding and ultimately shut down its application in 2024.
Several individuals responded to the posts of Crowley, stating that Foursquare was very useful in helping them discover new places in their cities and also provided inspiration for new applications. Following Foursquare, companies such as Zenly, Jagat, as well as Instagram and Snapchat have also explored social maps.
