Foursquare co-founder says equity holders saw no returns from the company’s acquisition
Foursquare raised $411 million in funding according to PitchBook data, but its equity holders saw no returns from its final acquisition.
Last month, advertising company Infillion acquired location-data platform Foursquare, a once popular social network, at an undisclosed value. Foursquare co-founder and former CEO Dennis Crowley, in a new blog post, stated that investors did not see any returns from the sale. Crowley pointed out a post by an angel investor, inferring that neither preferred nor common stockholders gained value from the deal.
He expressed disappointment with the outcome, stating, "I was heartbroken by this ending." Crowley lamented that over 1,600 former employees over 17 years had put in significant time, energy, passion, and love into building Foursquare. However, he felt the company's story ended in a way that made their collective efforts seem worthless.
Crowley noted that the company thrived after shifting focus to enterprise business, achieving consecutive years of over $100 million in revenue in 2019. That same year, Foursquare raised capital from a private equity firm, and in 2021, the banker who led that raise became CEO. Crowley blamed the final outcome on the company's management's inability to preserve or create new value. Despite raising over $411 million in funding, Foursquare shut down its app in 2024.
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