Foursquare today announced the acquisition of Unfolded for an undisclosed sum. This continues Foursquare’s assembly of its location intelligence platform, as well as ongoing M&A in the location data sector (more on that in a bit). Its previous big move in that sense was its landmark merger with Factual.
Before getting into the strategic implications for Foursquare and the broader location intelligence sector, what does Unfolded do? Founded by ex-Uber geospatial engineers, its Unfolded Studio software is a sort of back-end-as-a-service. It handles data management and server communications for mapping applications.
For example, if developers want to build custom maps, Unfolded gives them tools to do so on the fly, and with the ease of SaaS packaging/pricing. By custom maps, we mean any consumer or enterprise-facing map that focuses on a given geospatial element. That can include business verticals, municipal data, or other purposes.
For Foursquare, the acquisition will be utilized in its new Foursquare Everywhere product. This is new packaging for its various offerings, meant to deliver location services to a range of customers. “Range” is the key term, as Foursquare continues to branch into new types of buyer personas beyond marketing.
Power Play
Panning back, the acquisition also aligns with Foursquare’s ongoing location-data power play. As we’ve written, the name of the game is gaining greater sources of quality location data. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts in being able to offer a more complete picture of place and consumer-movement data.
This need to assemble quality data sources and technologies has been amplified in the ongoing era of privacy reform. Additional headwinds brought by public and private sector privacy restrictions have compelled location intelligence companies to pool resources to counterbalance deficits in data collection.
After we started speculating about sector consolidation in late 2019, there’s been ample M&A activity. That includes the Foursquare/Factual merger as noted, as well as MGI/Verve, X-Mode/Location Sciences, and Near/Teemo. The consolidation isn’t over, so expect lots more as location regulations heat up further.
Back to Foursquare, this is also notably the first acquisition since its new CEO Gary Little took the helm. We’ll keep watching for Foursquare’s continued power play, and ongoing consolidation in the location intelligence sector. There will be a lot to unpack in the coming months.
Foursquare’s Power Play Continues with Relaunched Places and New API
