Foursquare, the location-focused company that merged with Factual in 2020, is joining the trend of reducing employee numbers in 2024.
In an email sent to employees on Thursday afternoon by CEO Gary Little, 105 staff members were informed they were being let go as part of an effort to “streamline” operations and improve the company’s financial stability.
Affected employees had their system access revoked upon receiving the notification email.
Little didn’t respond to a request for comment by the publication time on Thursday evening, and his message to staff doesn’t provide extensive details on Foursquare’s future plans. According to a source, the layoffs account for about 25% of the company’s workforce.
The letter did specify which units were impacted and highlighted divisions Foursquare plans to discontinue, including Visits, OCF, and Foursquare City Guide.
Foursquare is also halting work on several other projects, including “Mobile Developers Tools, Geode, and the current version of FSQ Insights.”
Formerly popular for encouraging users to “check in” at locations via their iPhones to earn badges and relying on hyperlocal ad revenue, Foursquare has since evolved into a tech company that provides data for brands and publishers.
For instance, Atmosfy, a seed-funded short-form video platform, uses Foursquare’s API to enhance its app for exploring local businesses.
Following its merger with Factual, a company known for location software aiding marketers in targeting customer segments, Foursquare furthered its enterprise tech focus.
This isn’t the first instance of layoffs at Foursquare; there were job cuts during the merger and another reported round in 2022.
Little became CEO in late 2020, about six months after the all-stock merger with Factual, which saw the discontinuation of the Factual brand.
Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed, but Little’s appointment aimed to protect and grow an investment from The Raine Group, where he was previously a managing director. The Raine Group led a $150 million funding round for Foursquare in 2019.
Foursquare has not publicly announced a new funding round since then. The company, now 15 years old, has raised an estimated $400 million throughout the years.
