Foursquare

Foursquare is a location-based technology company and consumer app. Founded in 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in New York City, it began as a social network that let users share visits to venues through check-ins and tips.

Two consumer apps emerged from the project: Foursquare City Guide, which focuses on discovering venues and reading recommendations, and Swarm, a separate app for checking in, tracking friends, earning badges, and competing for the title of mayor of a venue.

Historical evolution: In 2014 Foursquare split its consumer experience into two apps to separate discovery from social check-ins. In the ensuing years the company shifted its emphasis toward a location-data platform for developers and businesses, offering extensive venue databases, analytics, and tools to integrate location features into third-party apps. Key products include the Places API and the Pilgrim SDK for in-app location experiences, and a business-facing data platform built around location intelligence.

Today, Foursquare operates as a data and technology platform that provides location intelligence to advertisers, publishers, retailers, and mobile apps. Its offerings include venue data, foot traffic measurement, audience analytics, and targeted advertising, built from anonymized location signals and user-consented data.

Privacy and data-use considerations are a routine part of its activity, reflecting industry-wide emphasis on opt-in data collection and user control over location sharing.