Foursquare now has a new CEO, $45 million in Series E Funding, and a valuation that is no more than a shadow of itself since the app peaked in 2009.
Foursquare co-founder will stay on full-time in new role
Dennis Crowley, co-founder and CEO has stepped down from his chief executive role in order to concentrate on things he’s better suited to according to the co-founder who will take the position of executive chairman.
“We’re taking the parts of the job I’m not so great at and making sure I’m handing them to the people who are best at those things,” he says.
Crowley believes his skills lie in his thinking, hacking different apps together and pitching the company.
He’s going to need to be one of hell of as pitch man as Foursquare continues its six-year slide. In 2009, Foursquare was viewed as a monster but I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone using it. That’s to say its app to check in, not the location data that Crowley says is used by about 100,000 developers.
The perception that Foursquare is a shell of its former self is something that Crowley is comfortable admitting to but he believes that he can change that perception. “We can’t shake this stigma of people thinking it’s not working,” he says. “This is a beginning of that change in understanding of us. If you go back to 2009, the headlines are like, ‘Foursquare is going to be the next Facebook or Twitter.’ We’re not that company, but what we’ve proven over the last 18 months is that we don’t have to have 100 million users for this to be a huge business.”
Slashed valuation, Series E funding and Crowley’s successor
Jeff Gluek was named the company’s new CEO today having served as the company’s chief operating officer for the last 19 months. Prior to joining Foursquare, Glueck was the chief marketing officer of travel site Travelocity. To complete the game of executive musical chairs, Foursquare named its chief revenue officer, Steven Rosenblatt, as the company’s president.
Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners is believed to have led the Series E funding which raised $45 million. It addition to Morgan, funding was also obtained from past investors like Spark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and DFJ growth.
Not surprisingly, Foursquare has been quite coy on what the valuation was for this round of funding by many experts believe it to be as low as $250 million. While that may sound fairly healthy it’s really not given a prior valuation of nearly $700 million. In prior funding rounds Foursquare had raised $120 million as well as $41 million in debt financing.
It should be noted that Foursquare’s valuation my have been inflated by the perception that it would be acquired by the likes of Yahoo or another suitor.
