Big news! Earlier today, Foursquare announced that it received $15 million in funding as a result of a new partnership with Microsoft. Foursquare raised $35 million back in December, bringing the new total to $50 million. Additionally, a licensing deal has been struck for the location data, but the financial terms of that haven’t been disclosed. Holger Luedorf, Foursquare’s head of business development says its a multi-year agreement that includes both data and technical components that will integrate with Microsoft’s Bing platform on both Windows 8 and Windows Phone. ‘This is a great validation of our platform strategy,’ says Luedorf. ‘We’re positioning ourselves as the location layer of the Internet.’ Microsoft’s team will have access to Foursquare’s location targeting system that utilizes phone sensor data to pinpoint user locations and points of interest. It is interesting to note that Foursquare’s deal with Microsoft is non-exclusive. As of recent, data licensing deals are becoming a strong part of Foursquare‘s revenue stream. Check back for updates, and as always, let us know what you think in the comment section below!
Microsoft,Foursquare,Windows 8,location targeting
