Foursquare Snags $33M

Foursquare has announced a $33 million round of equity funding co-led by strategic investors Simon Ventures and Naver Corp. and by Union Square Ventures.

The first close of $25 million in venture funding happened last week, while the secondary close of at least $8 million is expected to close by the end of the year.

“Each investor chose to participate because they believe in our business and our future,” Jeff Glueck, CEO of Foursquare, wrote in a blog post. “Our Series F is more than fuel for our ambitious goals and roadmaps  —  it’s backing by investors, including those with ties to notable companies, who canvassed the industry in search of a leader, and selected Foursquare. Our Series F is about the right investors, at the right time, who recognize our value and will work, deeply, to build the Foursquare of the future.”

He added that Foursquare is committed to “building a company that stands apart from Google and Facebook as the most trusted, independent platform for understanding location.”

After its last raise in 2016, Foursquare launched several complementary media, measurement and developer tools including Attribution and its Pilgrim SDK. In addition, AccuWeather, Tinder, Mapbox and Hilton came onboard as enterprise customers, adding to the 150,000 registered developers on the platform. Other clients include Apple, Grab, Microsoft, Samsung, Twitter, Uber and more.

“The funds from this round will help Foursquare realize the next step of our journey. In this next chapter, we will refine and deeply connect our products, allowing marketers and developers to build location functionality into apps, marketing campaigns and measurement and CRM platforms. We’ll also be expanding our engineering team and doubling down on R&D, to showcase the breadth and possibilities of our location technology,” wrote Glueck.

Foursquare currently has 300 employees, located in its brand-new Flatiron HQ, as well as in the sales and engineering offices in San Francisco and Chicago, in Los Angeles and in Singapore.