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Company

Foursquare

53 articles decelerating

Foursquare cut 105 jobs, about 25% of its workforce, in 2024 as it narrowed its consumer-app focus to Swarm.

Who they are

Foursquare appears in coverage as a location-technology company spanning a consumer check-in product, Swarm, and location-data services used by other apps and platforms. Co-founder Dennis Crowley is central to its earlier identity, while the company’s stories also trace executive succession from David Shim to board member Gary Little.

The recent arc

The latest company-specific coverage is defined by contraction and consolidation. In May 2024, Foursquare laid off 105 employees, reported as roughly a quarter of its workforce, to streamline operations; in October it said it would sunset City Guide on December 15 and concentrate on Swarm, reversing the 2014 two-app split. Recent references to Crowley instead concern his separate Hopscotch Labs venture, suggesting that the newest attention around the founder is no longer necessarily attention around Foursquare itself.

The tension

Coverage repeatedly pits Foursquare’s consumer heritage against the greater strategic weight and scrutiny of location data. Its Pilgrim SDK was built to license location capabilities to app developers, and partnerships put Foursquare data into Twitter’s location-tagged feeds, Reddit location tags, and Snapchat context cards alongside OpenTable and Lyft. But the North Dakota Care19 reporting, which said location data was sent to Foursquare despite stated privacy promises, shows why data distribution can create reputational risk even when the company is not the app’s operator.

Why it matters

If the Swarm-focused reset holds, Foursquare’s significance will rest on whether a narrower consumer product can coexist with, and support, a location-data business embedded in third-party experiences. The earlier Factual all-stock merger, with the companies reporting more than $150 million in combined 2019 revenue, points to the scale sought through data consolidation; the unanswered question is whether streamlining and product retrenchment strengthen that position or reduce its consumer-facing differentiation.

Foursquare has appeared in 53 articles since 2014-12. Coverage peaked in 2020Q2 with 3 articles. Frequently mentioned alongside Twitter, TechCrunch, Dennis Crowley, Snapchat.

Articles
53
mentions
Velocity
-50.0%
growth rate
Acceleration
-1.500
velocity change
Sources
20
publications

Coverage Timeline

2025-11-06
Engadget 7 related

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley's new startup Hopscotch Labs debuts BeeBot, which combines AI, audio, and location-based social features, on the App Store

BeeBot is an “app for AirPods” that combines AI, audio and location-based social features.  —  Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley …

2024-11-11
Crazy Stupid Tech 1 related

Q&A with Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley on his startup Hopscotch Labs, which uses AI and headphones to give information as a person walks by a location

Dennis Crowley has built his career at the intersection of emerging technologies and human behavior. X: @om . Forums: Hacker News X: @om : I recently sat down with Dennis Crowley (@dens) to discuss hi...

2024-10-23
TechCrunch 6 related

Foursquare plans to sunset its City Guide app on December 15, 2024 to focus on check-in app Swarm, reversing a 2014 decision to split its services into two apps

“I would be lying if I didn't admit that I have been in a real funk these last few days over this news,” writes Foursquare …

2024-05-24
TechCrunch

Email: Foursquare lays off 105 employees as the company seeks to “streamline” its operations; source: the layoffs represent about 25% of the company's employees

Foursquare, the location-focused outfit that in 2020 merged with Factual, another location-focused outfit … X: @nejsnave and @counternotions X: Jennifer Evans / @nejsnave : Foursquare still has 300 em...

2023-05-26
CNBC 45 related

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces was delayed by ~25 minutes of crashes, feedback glitches, and audio failures

even after Ron DeSantis' glitchy campaign kick off Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal : Twitter's Flaws Snag Elon Musk's Media Ambitions Steve Peoples / Associated Press : DeSantis set to make m...

2020-11-07
Wall Street Journal 1 related

Foursquare CEO David Shim is stepping down on January 1 and will be succeeded by Gary Little, a member of the company's board

2020-11-06
Wall Street Journal 1 related

Foursquare CEO David Shim is stepping down on January 1 and will be succeeded by Gary Little, a member of the company's board

The move comes after Mr. Shim helped Foursquare's pivot to becoming a provider of location-data software and services  —  Foursquare Labs Inc. Chief Executive David Shim …

2020-05-23
Fast Company 15 related

Report: the official COVID-19 contact tracing app for North Dakota is sharing location data with Foursquare and an advertising ID with Google

seems that the creators weren't trying to share the data, but the use of 3rd party components led to data leaking. Sounds like a job for... #SBOM and SW component transaprency! https://www.washingtonp...

2020-05-22
Fast Company 9 related

Report: the official COVID-19 contact tracing app for North Dakota is sharing location data with Foursquare and an advertising ID with Google

The official COVID-19 contact tracing app for the state of North Dakota, designed to detect whether people have potentially been exposed to the coronavirus …

2020-04-07
Wall Street Journal 7 related

Foursquare says it's merging with location data company Factual in an all-stock deal; the two companies say they brought in $150M+ in combined 2019 revenue

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal :

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Quarterly Coverage

Top Sources

Narrative

TEXXR tracks 51 tech news articles mentioning Foursquare, dating back to December 2014. The biggest stories include Foursquare's COO Jeff Glueck replaces Dennis Crowley as CEO as firm announces USV-led... and Report: the official COVID-19 contact tracing app for North Dakota is sharing location.... Frequently covered alongside Twitter, TechCrunch, Dennis Crowley, Jeff Glueck, and Snapchat.

Key Moments

2025Q4consumer +50pts

Relationships

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