Foursquare co-founder and former CEO Dennis Crowley says investors received no returns from the company's recent acquisition by advertising firm Infillion. In a blog post, Crowley said he inferred that neither preferred nor common stockholders got any value from the deal, and he described himself as heartbroken by the ending.
Crowley noted that Foursquare had consecutive years with over $100 million in revenue after shifting focus to enterprise business. But he blamed the final outcome on the company's transition after a 2019 capital raise from a private equity firm and the 2021 appointment of a new CEO, saying management was unable to preserve or create new value. Foursquare had raised more than $411 million in funding, according to PitchBook data, and shut down its app in 2024.
In the post, Crowley apologized to roughly 1,600 former employees, saying the outcome made it seem as though their collective efforts were worth nothing. Several people responded that Foursquare had been useful for discovering places and inspiring other social map apps, a space now explored by startups such as Zenly and Jagat as well as Instagram and Snapchat.