Foursquare Co-Founder Says Equity Holders Saw No Returns From Acquisition

Last month, advertising company Infillion acquired location-data platform Foursquare—a once-popular social network—at an undisclosed valuation. Now, in a new blog post, Foursquare co-founder and former CEO Dennis Crowley has said that investors saw no returns from the sale.

No Value for Preferred or Common Stockholders

Crowley referenced a post by an angel investor, inferred that neither preferred nor common stockholders received any value from the deal, and said he was disappointed by the outcome.

"I was heartbroken by this ending. So many people put so much time and energy and passion and love into building Foursquare—the company, the products, the brand, the culture. If you were part of it (or even close to it), you know exactly what I'm talking about. To our ~1,600 former employees over 17 years, I am sorry the Foursquare story ended in such a way that makes it seem like our collective efforts were worth … nothing?" he said in the post.

A Profitable Enterprise Pivot—Then a Leadership Shift

Crowley said the company performed well after it began focusing on its enterprise business, posting consecutive years with more than $100 million in revenue. In 2019, Foursquare raised capital from a private equity firm, and in 2021 it appointed the banker who led that raise as CEO. Crowley blamed the final outcome on that transition, saying management was unable to preserve or create new value.

Foursquare, which had raised more than $411 million in funding according to PitchBook data, eventually shut down its consumer app in 2024.

A Legacy That Shaped Location-Based Social Apps

Several people responded to Crowley's post, saying Foursquare had been highly useful for discovering new places in their cities and had inspired new apps. After Foursquare, startups such as Zenly and Jagat—along with Instagram and Snapchat—have continued to explore social maps.

via TechCrunch