Still worried about your location data – think about funding Foursquare

Image by DennisCrowley.com via CrunchBase

This is not to ridicule the outcry against Apple and Google tracking their users’ locations (after all, Apple is also adding cloud based video services and the iPhone 5 may be much faster) but the location based services and local services like Groupon and the Google afterthought in the field are set to burn up the competition and create a mass momentum that may in fact propel a new set of social media and brand services that make it impossible to serve the customer without meaningful location data. This latter solution may even be preferred by those in the building that are entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses and trading outfits like food stalls, pizza companies that are really benefiting from the social media visibility of their brands/businesses.  Meanwhile Google is probably depending on location services as it scales Latam business to twice its size this year (just 2-3% of GOOG revenue)

As of now, four square is about to hit the $5 billion valuation soon as the pe funding round envisaged by 4sq looks at pricing it for $500 million.

In the latest sign of the Internet gold rush, location-based service Foursquare Labs Inc. is looking to raise fresh funds at a price that would value the three-year-old start-up at as much as $500 million, people familiar with the matter said.

That valuation could be a stretch for Foursquare, which gives users the ability to get deals or connect with friends by “checking in” wherever they are, but so far pulls in little revenue, the people said.

Chief Executive Dennis Crowley is leading the effort and would like to raise $20 million to $40 million

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703387904576279380019110022.html#ixzz1KRQ3hKVh

Image via CrunchBase

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