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Foursquare CEO Steps Down; Company Raises $45 Million in Funding
Posted On Jan 15 2016
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Foursquare, which makes apps that helps users find restaurants and stores and “check” into them, also raised $45 million in funding, Glueck said in a blog post on Medium. A major contribution to the E-funding came from Union Square Ventures, Morgan Stanley and previous investors Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and DFJ Growth. Dennis Crowley, Executive Chairman and Founder of the company, said when it started Foursquare in 2009, he was ahead of the pack in creating a social app that used location technology.
The situation is a sobering moment for Crowley, who says turning Foursquare into the next multi-billion dollar social network was an unattainable goal.
According to Dennis, Steven Rosenblatt, President and Jeff Glueck, chief executive, of the company said that the financing pegs Foursquare’s valuation at roughly half of the approximately $650 million that it was valued at in its last round in 2013.
Declining to comment on the valuation, Foursquare has instead described the funding as “oversubscribed” and that its terms are “employee friendly”.
What appears to be the biggest news is Crowley stepping down as CEO and being replaced by Glueck, who had earlier served as Skyfire CEO and Travelocity Chief Marketing Officer.
The latest funding round indicates investors’ confidence in a company like Foursquare, which is still looking for a proper business model. “This is like the best possible sign that we could give people”, said Crowley, who believes the company he co-founded is still a “successful” one.
Crowley added that he will assume the role of Executive Chairman, which will allow him to focus fully on things that are needed to build at Foursquare. He also mentions that more than 100,000 developers are using its API on their proprietary apps. Foursquare and Swarm, our consumer apps/sites have over 50 million monthly active users and daily check-ins are at an all-time high. Crowley said it counts companies like Apple, Twitter and Pinterest among its customers.
