30 June 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor

Foursquare rounds up additional funding for its social operations

Foursquare, the at-present unique social networking tool that allows users to communicate their position via mobile GPS - and earn discounts from shops, bars and restaurants as a result - announced on Tuesday it has raised $20 million (£13.3 million) in investment capital.

The location-based service has been booming in 2010, with site membership growing at 10,000 users per day according to officials. The site eclipsed the 1-million users mark in late April and now stands at around 1.8 million, and has more than trebled in membership this year alone.

Foursquare had previously raised a sum of $1.35 million (£900,000) from investors O'Reilly AlphaTech and Union Square Ventures, who can claim Twitter, Tumblr and Etsy as their success stories. The social networking site's latest investor, Andreessen Horowitz, are "legends in Silicon Valley" according to the official Foursquare blog.

Since its breakout success, Foursquare has been surrounded by rumours regarding its potential acquisition by big players such as Facebook and Yahoo!, but co-founder Dennis Crowley said the company has now retracted from such offers.

"We've got this robust and ambitious road map," he told the New York Times. "I really feel that we haven't gotten far enough through it and we're still scratching the surface for opportunities."

The social network has already developed strategic partnerships with major global franchises, such as Starbucks, where customers can be rewarded for stating their location when frequenting certain shops or cafes.

"We're really after connecting local merchants with their best customers," Crowley said. "The opportunity here is much larger than we originally thought."

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