Microsoft is giving a $15 million boost to the location-based mobile app Foursquare, as the social venue app company seeks to find a long-term business model.
The companies will also enter into a multi-year contract which will allow Microsoft to use Foursquare data in its mobile operating system and Bing search engine, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Foursquare, which allows users to “check in” to venues and share their location on social media, is a little like a more interactive, mobile version of the user-based venue review website Yelp. It has 45 million users who have entered data about more than 60 million restaurants and other venues throughout U.S. cities. The company’s revenue is expected to be about $15 million to $20 million this year.
Microsoft’s $15 million equity investment is in addition to a $35 million capital injection Foursquare pinned down at the end of last year, valuing the company at about $650 million.
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The news of Microsoft’s investment comes on the same day that new CEO Satya Nadella takes the help at the company.
[WSJ]
