Today, we announced an agreement to acquire Unfolded, a next generation platform for geospatial data unification, enrichment, visualization and analytics. I want to share what this acquisition means for Foursquare and for the location and geospatial developer community.
Given the rapid advancements in cloud and edge computing, and combined with the co-mingling of physical and digital, Foursquare believes the era of geospatial 2.0 is upon us. We see location and geospatial technology and data as foundational building blocks for virtually every business as the world is increasingly digitized and with the continued growth of mobile computing, AR/VR, smart logistics, autonomous, mobility and many more.
At the center of this new phase of technology growth are the digital artisans, the developer. Developers have always been a core customer of our platform and we are delighted today to accelerate the capabilities we offer them through this highly strategic transaction.
For more than a decade, Foursquare’s tech has touched billions of people and constructed meaningful bridges between digital spaces and physical places by developing the most trusted, independent location technology platform. With 15 billion verified location data points and a rich map of 95 million unique points-of-interest (POI) around the world, no one knows location like we do. This is why thousands of brands like Amazon, Apple, Snap, Snowflake, Uber, and more work with Foursquare’s technology and data.
Throughout our history, we have focused on developing many of the technical breakthroughs to build the core location software platform we are today. In particular, over the past 18 months, we’ve successfully orchestrated the integration of Placed, Factual and Foursquare. With the launch of Pilgrim SDK 3.0, relaunch of our FSQ Places product, and completed integration of Foursquare Visits, we’ve further strengthened our product portfolio and pushed major technical boundaries. We’ve also made significant headway to accelerate our enterprise commitment with accessible solutions through strategic partnerships with AWS, Snowflake, and more.
Now, with our acquisition of Unfolded we solidify ourselves as the market leader with an integrated platform for accessing, merging, enriching, analyzing, and visualizing spatial data – in almost any environment. All of this progress increases the velocity of our strategy and vision of Foursquare Everywhere. A singular source – both from a technology and a data perspective – that companies need to harness the power of location and geospatial software to fuel innovation in their businesses.
With the closing of the acquisition later this month, the Unfolded team will continue to be led by Co-Founder and CEO Sina Kashuk who will become SVP, Head of Unfolded and will report directly to me.
Together we will drive the technical innovations required by our ambitious vision of Foursquare Everywhere and the goal of becoming the location layer of the digital economy.
