Everybody’s freaked out about passwords. We’ve got to get rid of these things, right? Well, we’re not quite there yet, so two-factor authentication companies like Toopher are needed to protect what we’ve got. Toopher, which uses your location to verify you are who you say you are just got $2 million in its first round of funding today.

The funding comes from Alsop Louie Partners. Toopher was also recently admitted into IC2 Institute, an Austin tech incubator.

Toopher’s founders Josh Alexander and Evan Grim are just as scared of the password as the rest of the security industry. It’s a weak form of protection that has been around since the dawn of the Internet — and has been barely changed since. Two-factor authentication helps passwords out by making people “prove” they are who they say they are through entering a code supposedly only accessible by the account owner. But that’s not perfect either.

Instead of relying on user input, Toopher relies on your phone’s location. When you try to log into an account that’s protected by Toopher, the software checks the computer’s location versus your phone’s location. If the computer that’s trying to access your account is in a location that isn’t “normal” for you, the user, then it will block the person from accessing your account.

Competitors in the two-factor authentication space include RSA and PhoneFactor. (Toopher, while launching on stage at the DEMO Conference in 2012, smashed some of RSA’s authenticator tokens with a hammer.)

The company was founded in 2011 and is located in Austin, Tex.

Photo courtesy of Heather Kelly for VentureBeat

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Red Robot Labs is also appointing Phil Harrison, former chief of Sony’s game studios and now a venture capitalist in Europe, as an advisor. That shows that these are still pretty heady times in mobile games. In particular, location-based gaming is starting to come into its own, said Mike Ouye (pictured in the middle in front of the Death Star), chief executive of Red Robot, in an interview. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

A purchase like this makes sense, given that Red Robot has a late start in the mobile gaming wars and the competition is fierce, with everyone from Electronic Arts to Zynga participating in the market.

Red Robot launched its first game, Life is Crime, in September at the Penny Arcade Expo West (PAX) event in Seattle. During that debut, players committed more than in-game crimes on the first day and visited over 2,411 unique venues in Seattle. Life is Crime is currently the top Android-based game in the U.S.

Pete Hawley (pictured left, with chief technology officer John Harris on the right), chief product officer, said that his company’s expertise in location will complement Supermono’s experience in making games with cool 3D graphics. Hawley, a native of the U.K., hooked up with the Supermono team when he went home for a visit and met with friends that he once knew in the console game industry.

“We now have a way to expand our intellectual property in new directions,” Hawley said.

Red Robot plans to develop its R2 location platform as a foundation for making better location-games. Supermono, which has a good position in indie games in Europe, will use the R2 platform in its future games. Its titles include the mobile racing game Forever Drive, which is the top game in its category in 50 countries. Tak Fung is general manager at Supermono and some of the company’s veterans made PC games such as Black & White in the past. The Forever Drive game had 1.2 million mobile downloads in its first week. Red Robot now has 27 employees in the U.S. and six in the U.K.

Harrison is a general partner at London Venture Partners. Red Robot raised its money from Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, as well as existing investors Rick Thompson, co-founder of Playdom and Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive.

Harrison said, “I’m really impressed with what the team at Red Robot has achieved in less than a year. Life is Crime has proven their ability to succeed in the mobile game space and the addition of the U.K. studio gives the company access to even more talent.”

Hawley said that both companies have new games coming soon. Life is Crime is debuting soon on the iPhone, and more titles are likely to debut next year from both companies. Rivals in geo-gaming include Ogmento, which just launched a new location-based game. Even as mobile game companies are hiring, a number of console game studios in the U.K., such as one owned by Codemasters, have closed.

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

LevelUp, a pilot in the local deals space created by check-in app Scvngr, today announced a partnership with American Express to give users the ability to redeem deals with their credit cards, eliminating the need for printed coupons or showing your phone at the point of sale.

Essentially, consumers will be able to connect their American Express cards to LevelUp and be able to redeem in-store deals.  Once connected, users can simply swipe their cards at the point of sale and the deal will be immediately redeemed and show on the sales receipt.

The first brand to launch with this functionality is Levi, which will offering progressively valuable offers on $10 purchases in several cities, including San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia. Though only one store in each city will have the functionality working immediately, probably for testing purposes.

The functionality works using American Express’s Smart Offers API, which was actually debuted with Foursquare at South by Southwest Interactive to redeem merchant offers without coupons, special codes or showing a phone. The two companies plan on rolling out the functionality in the months ahead.

LevelUp is a funded pilot from the founders of Scvngr, a service that asks users to check-in to physical locations and complete activity challenges for incentives.

The official mandate from Bloomberg’s post:

New York City is proud to be the home of both the powerhouse companies and small startups that are thinking big, creating new jobs, and leading the global economy. Foursquare is one such success story. Started by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai around Dennis’s kitchen table in the East Village, it now employs more than 60 people in New York and has more than eight million users worldwide. That is why we are proud to join Foursquare’s founders and fans in celebrating the first global social media holiday. Today, April 16th—4/16, the fourth sixteenth of the year—is Foursquare Day in New York City and around the world.

There will be a range of activities and events have emerged to take place during the day for the check-in app’s 8 million users, according to Foursquare’s PR team. Several in particular caught my attention, including:

• A group in San Francisco is hosting a party at a local restaurant that’s partnering with Sapporo Beer to raise money for tsunami relief.
• A group of users in Las Vegas is having a 4sqDay food truck festival and food drive, encouraging people who stop by to donate cans of food to their favorite truck.
• Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn will proclaim one lucky person the “Foursquare Mayor of Tampa”.

Foursquare, founded in 2009 and based in New York City, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date. It currently has more than 50 employees in its home town and an engineering office in San Francisco.

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The company appears to be an interesting mix of a group buying site, like Groupon or LivingSocial, and location-based deal service, like Foursquare or Facebook Places. Users can visit the company’s website and agree to receive email notifications for deals, or download the iPhone or Android applications. When a deal is available, the user can either send to their phone via text or access the deal within the application. To redeem, the user simple goes to that merchant’s location and shows them the deal on their phone.

Unlike traditional group buying sites where users have to buy the digital coupon upfront, Scoutmob creates coupons that are free to users. The company makes its money by charging the merchant when a coupon is redeemed, which is tracked by the GPS in a user’s phone.

In addition to the funding, Scoutmob also announced its expansion to 10 more cities across the U.S, including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Nashville, Portland, Seattle and Washington D.C. The company previously only had deals in San Francisco, New York and Atlanta.

The Atlanta-based company, founded in 2010, secured the round of funding from New Atlantic Ventures. Scoutmob previously secured an undisclosed round from several Atlanta-based angel investors.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Popular location-based check-in application Foursqaure was slapped with a lawsuit today for supposedly infringing on a patent from little known company Mobile Commerce Framework, as first reported by TechCrunch.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday by Mobile Commerce Framework’s legal representation Jonathan Hangartner in the Southern District of California and is claiming financial damages as well as the withdrawal of all products by Foursquare to be impounded or destroyed.

The claim is that Foursquare’s application infringes the patent by allowing users to search and find information on merchants by location or merchant type. A very broad statement, which most patents tend to follow and could be applied to many of the applications available today.

Don’t think that Foursquare is going to be shutting down anytime soon, the company itself may own its own patents that could be used in defense. Like the one cofounder Dennis Crowley used to own from his days at Dodgeball titled “Location-based social software for mobile devices.”

Other services dealing in location-based services also have unique patents, including Facebook Places, which could be used in defense called “Systems and methods for automatically locating Web-based social network members” filed in 2007.

The lawsuit may be the first of many to come to Foursquare by a variety of companies. Unfortunately, it appears that Mobile Commerce Framework isn’t an active participant in the location-based services space defending one of their products, but rather just looking for a quick buck from a company that appears to be doing the best in the space. Why do we think this? Well, the company doesn’t even have a website or any other real information available.

Hopefully, the location-based patent wars haven’t begun and the space can continue to grow. We’ve emailed Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley for comment, and will update when we hear back.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The Go Game, creators of location-based scavenger hunts for companies, today announced the launch of a do-it-yourself iPhone application for creating and participating in local scavenger hunts, according to a company announcement.

The application, which is now available in the Apple App Store, is being released at South by SouthWest (SXSW) with basic functionality, including the ability to challenge other players and participate in local scavenger hunts around Austin, Texas, where the event is held. The company plans on releasing full-functionality of the application soon to 10 major cities.

The target for the do-it-yourself application are individuals interested in creating their own scavenger hunts for events like parties, or small t0 medium-sized businesses. The Go Game noted that it was unable to service these smaller opportunities, but wanted to make its tool available to everyone. Full functionality will give users the ability to invite friends to join a scavenger hunt, select the city they’re located, choose a rating (ranges from G to R-rating), then hit the city and complete missions.

When asked about competition, The Go Game pointed out that Scvngr was similar in that it asked users to complete location-based activities. Though a few differences are evident among the two companies, including that Scvngr appears much more focused on working with brands to reach consumers, while The Go Game specifically targets companies interested in creating employee-based scavenger hunts. Another difference is the focus on video by The Go Game, which incorporates it by allowing users to vote at the end of each hunt then share it through Facebook and Twitter.

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2001, has more than 20 employees and produced over 10,000 events in 500 locations for an impressive set of companies, including Google, Apple, Adobe and Electronic Arts.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Foursquare, the hot location-based check-in startup, today announced on its blog that it will be releasing Foursquare 3.0 later today for Android and iPhone. The new version comes with several feature updates, but probably the most notable is the much-rumored recommendation engine.

We hinted to the recommendation engine back in September when co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley announced the possibility in front of Picnic, an annual three-day festival for sharing concepts in Amsterdam. The new feature is being called “Explore” and will utilize user’s past check-ins, along with other user’s check-ins and tips, to recommend places for a variety of categories, including food, coffee, nightlife, shops or A&E (arts and entertainment). Crowley also notes that things like time of day and week will affect recommendations.

Additional updates include a revamped leader board, which makes sense as it’s currently one of the ways Foursquare keeps users checking in to locations. Another popular way to encourage check ins is through Foursquare Specials, which now have been split up into seven different types: Swarm Specials, Friends Specials, Flash Specials, Newbie Specials, Check-in Specials, Loyalty Specials and Mayor Specials. As seen by the names, each special is associated with the type of check in by the user. For example, if it’s your first time at a coffee shop, a check in could land you a free drink with the “Newbie Special.”

For Blackberry owners, there will be an update that includes some 3.0 functionality later in the week.

It’s probably no coincidence that Foursquare is launching its new version less than a week before South by Southwest Interactive, the tech conference where it launched two years ago. Gowalla, a competing location-sharing app, has also announced new features in advance of the conference.

Foursquare, founded in 2009 and based in New York City, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date. It currently has more than 50 employees in its home town and an engineering office in San Francisco.

For more details into each new feature, check out the very long Foursquare blog post.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Scvngr, the maker of a check-in app that asks users to complete activity challenges, is defying the conventional wisdom that services which broadcast one’s location to friends aren’t ready for the mainstream. Just yesterday, the app has reached 1 million users, founder and chief executive Seth Priebatsch tells VentureBeat, and added nearly 10,000 new users since then.

If it sustains that pace, Scvngr could quadruple its user base in a year.

Recent studies have suggested that some users of check-in services drop out after a period of experimentation, a phenomenon known as “check-in fatigue.” Scvngr differentiates itself from other location services by adding activities and challenges to the mix. The idea is that this added layer may counter users’ ennui with just sharing their location with friends.

Scvngr may be benefitting, too, from larger services that are popularizing the idea of the check-in. Facebook doesn’t give out user numbers, but notes that its Places check-in feature is available to more than 150 million mobile users. And popular app Foursquare has almost reached 7 million registered users to date. That company reached its own millionth-user milestone almost a year ago in April 2010.

These services are finding a bunch of ways to add users, including most recently getting themselves preloaded on smartphones. Foursquare partnered with Japanese telecommunications company KDDI to give users a shortcut for downloading the mobile application on several of its Android smartphones. Scvngr also announced that its app will appear on Virgin Mobile’s new pre-paid Android device. Loopt, another location service, is also available on several MetroPCS smartphones, including the LG Optimus M, Huawei Ascend and BlackBerry Curve 8530. Loopt, an early location app, got a big boost through a deal with Sprint, the wireless carrier.

Boston-based Scvngr, founded in 2008, previously raised a second round of funding of $15 million as well as a first round of $4 million, bringing the total funding to around $20 million.

First reported by The Financial Times, Facebook Places is getting a larger percent of businesses using the service compared to location-based competitors Foursquare and Gowalla. The survey suggests that 32 percent of businesses are promoting their services through Facebook Places, while 12 percent plan to over the coming months. Just 9 percent of businesses are currently using Foursquare and Gowalla comes in at around 3 percent, both also have businesses planning to use their services in the near future, though small percentages.

While one might think that Facebook would naturally have an advantage over these startups because businesses are already creating business Pages, the Places check in feature is relatively new, launching in August of 2010. Foursquare and Gowalla were both launched in 2009 and, while first to the scene, it appears that Facebook’s already established presence among businesses is paying off in the space. This may be because there is an easier transition for businesses to go from using Pages to promote themselves to Places.

The survey also noted that 72 percent of local businesses only plan on spending less than $5,000 a year with 34 percent of that number spending less than $1,000. With so much competition for these dollars, it makes one wonder if these startups have alternative business models in mind.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Foursquare, the hot New York-based location-based check-in game, has partnered with Japanese telecommunications company KDDI to give users a short-cut for downloading the mobile application on several of its Android smartphones.

The partnership will give Japanese consumers a way to easily find and download the Foursquare app, which will appear on the REGZA Phone IS04, scheduled to be released tomorrow, and the IS05″, to be released in spring, 2011, according to the company’s release.

Foursquare is clearly a hit in Japan. Co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley explained that Tokyo is currently the second most active city for check ins. The short-cut may help the company reach additional consumers who may be new to smartphones or looking to try a new app.

Foursquare isn’t the only one looking to make it easier for consumers to find its application on smartphones. Just yesterday, Scvngr announced that its app will appear on Virgin Mobile’s new pre-paid Android device. Loopt, another location service, is also available on several MetroPCS smartphones, including the LG Optimus M, Huawei Ascend and BlackBerry Curve 8530.

Foursquare, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date. It currently has more than 40 employees in its home town and an engineering office in San Francisco.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Update: After several comments from our readers and follow up with Loopt, it appears that the location-based check in application is preloaded on several smartphones, including the LG Optimus M and Huawei Ascend on MetroPCS (both Android) and also its BlackBerry Curve 8530.

Scvngr, the maker of a check-in app that asks users to complete activity challenges, today announced that it will now come preloaded on the LG Optimus V, the newest prepaid smartphone from Virgin Mobile USA (which is owned by Sprint).

While there’s no exclusivity with Virgin Mobile, the partnership marks the first time a location-based service will be preloaded on a smartphone. Foursquare cofounder Naveen Selvadurai alluded to a preloaded deal with Nokia back in September 2010, but it turned out the plans were to just include it in Nokia’s Ovi Store, according to Business Insider.

Scvngr differentiates itself from other check in services by adding activities and challenges to the mix. For the consumer, this may promote continued usage and battle check in fatigue – the realization that the check in experience ends with just sharing your location to friends. Challenges may include group check ins or completing a task at a particular store to earn a discount or coupon.

Founder and chief executive Seth Priebatsch told me that working with a major mobile carrier, like Virgin Mobile, has been part of the company’s roadmap, and it wants tow ork with major brands, as it did in an earlier partnership with major beverage distributor Coca-Cola.

While I couldn’t find a much research on whether having a preloaded app helps usage, a survey from market strategy firm iGR concluded that consumers do in fact like preloaded apps as it helps them explore and try new apps. More interestingly, the survey showed that a preloaded app can potentially generate 9.4 times the revenue for the operator as opposed to just offering it in the app store.

The Boston-based company, founded in 2008, previously raised a second round of funding of $15 million as well as a first round of $4 million, bringing the total funding to around $20 million.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Tech companies have long glommed on to the Super Bowl to promote their services. Remember how TiVo touted the number of people who replayed Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in 2004? Now Foursquare, the hot New York-based location service, has revealed an alluring offer you’ll want to check out — or rather, check in.

Normally, Foursquare lets you announce where you are to your friends. But it’s waiving that restriction with the launch of a new advertising format — a “promoted venue” for the event to which anyone can check in, even if they don’t have coveted tickets to the real thing, in partnership with the National Football League. Any user will be able to check in to the Super Bowl, wherever they are, and receive a special badge as well as a discount code for NFLShop.com.

According a Foursquare spokesperson, “Super Bowl Sunday” will appear in the mobile app’s “Trending Now” section, which normally shows popular locations near the user. Once checked in, the user will have to “shout” which team they are rooting for and then receive that team’s badge — either one for the Steelers or  the Packers. (If a user is actually at the Super Bowl in real life — something Foursquare’s app detects using a smartphone’s GPS data — they will receive their own badge.)

Users will also receive a code for a 20 percent discount on merchandise at NFLShop.com, the league’s online store. While Foursquare has allowed businesses like Starbucks to issue their own promotional badges and separately offer discounts, this is the first time it’s combined the two rewards. With 6 million users, up 3,400 percent in 2010, it’s not surprising that Foursquare is experimenting more aggressively with new advertising formats.

Foursquare, based in New York City and founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date, with reports of possible additional fundraising on the horizon. It currently has more than 40 employees in its hometown and an engineering office in San Francisco.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google may have just made its big move in the location-based services space. According to the company’s mobile blog, it has launched Google Maps 5.1 for Android and included the ability to check in to specific locations with Latitude, its feature for sharing your location with friends.

While in the past users where able to share their location, it wasn’t based on a specific physical location, like a restaurant or bar, but just longitude and latitude coordinates — a dot on a map. Now, you can actually check into a place, which adds context, like a caption to a photo.

The check-in feature is just one update; Google has also added the ability to receive notifications as a reminder to check in when you arrive at location. For those who may not be hardcore users, this is a good way of building “active” users and creating a routine.

Additional features include the ability to create automatic check ins to places of your choice. Interestingly, you can also be automatically checked out — you wouldn’t want your friends arriving after you’ve already left.

If you’re wondering if there’s any kind of incentive, Google has made is so that users who check into places often can secure statuses, including “Regular,” “VIP” or “Guru,” which would show up on the location’s Place page, a sort of mini website with an address, number, directions and other important information.

Competition in the check-in space is abundant. Services like Facebook Places, Foursquare, Scvngr and Whrrl all give users check in capabilities . However, Google appears to be the only one with the combination of features that let you not only check in, but have notifications and the ability to check out, which could help the service attract new users — perhaps even from competing services.

Other interesting stats include more than 381 million total check-ins accounting for every country (including North Korea) as well as a check-in from space. California also appears to have the most fit Foursquare users, being the top state for gym check-ins.

Foursquare has shown no signs of slowing down. Reports surfacing today claim that the company is looking for its next round of funding at a valuation of $250 million, which would equate to around $40 million in funds if you consider its last $21 million round was at a valuation of $120 million.

Foursquare, based in New York City and founded in 2009 currently has more than 40 employees in its hometown and a new engineering office it’s opening in San Francisco.

Filmaster

Through the API, the company gives developers access to users’ movie reviews and movie-search data. Users can use the service to learn about the tastes of other users in their area. Similar to Twitter, the service lets you follow or unfollow users to gain insight into their movie tastes and reviews. One application already using the API lets users select friends using Filmaster and finds movies that the group should watch together.

Filmaster is planning on several mobile versions of the service, including an iPhone app scheduled for March and an Android app scheduled for April, as first reported by Next Web. The mobile versions will allow users to check in to movies and showings, see friends in the area and get recommendations on movies. One might look at the service as a kind of “Foursquare for films” as some are already calling it. Interested users can sign-up for the beta now.

When it comes to movie reviews and comments, there is no shortage of applications for fans. Internet Movie Database, better known as IMDB, has both a website and mobile apps for movie ratings. FlickChart appears to be providing an extra level of functionality by allowing users not only to rate and comment on movies but also to follow other users and get recommendations based on past interest, similar to Filmaster. The only real differentiator for Filmaster is that it lets users score different aspects of a movie, like overall direction and acting, Next Web notes.

The Warsaw, Poland-based company was founded in 2008 by movie buffs Borys Musielak and Adam Zielinski. The company has received $150k from a EU grant and is looking for $300k more now to expand in the US.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Location-based check-in app Foursquare has released an updated version of its service for RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones, according to mobile blog Crackberry. However, any excitement by users should be short-lived.

The new version, v1.9.10, was released earlier this evening, and an issue immediately arose where some users got a false “unable to check-in screen.” Checking in, or announcing your location to your friends on the service, is kind of the point of Foursquare. Recognizing the severity of the bug, the company quickly released another version, v1.9.11, to resolve the issue.

Foursquare isn’t out of the woods just yet. According to several BlackBerry commenters on Crackberry, the new version is now leaving a white blank screen when the app is launched. (My girlfriend’s BlackBerry shows the same behavior.) A Foursquare employee named “Pete” posted on the Crackberry comment thread, saying that the company was looking into the issue and that is should be fixed within 24 hours.

Regardless of the bugs, the new version does have a few upgrades worth noting, including improved tip and to-do management, ability to call a business from the venue page and improved battery life and performance. Regardless of the updates, it appears BlackBerry users are once again left wanting more.

It’s tempting to blame the app developer in these situations. But given the complaints we’ve heard about BlackBerry versions of popular apps like Foursquare, we’re wondering if RIM’s aging platform and inconsistencies in behavior from device to device aren’t equally to blame.

Foursquare, based in New York City and founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding. It currently has more than 40 employees in its hometown and a new engineering office it’s opening in San Francisco.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Popular check-in application Foursquare is facing a problem that has long bedeviled social networks — spurious friend requests. And it’s dealing with violators by putting a cap on them.

Users now have a limit on the total number of friends they can have as well as the number of friend requests they can send, a change first noticed by AboutFoursquare.com.

For the average user, this may not be an issue: Most users don’t want thousands of people knowing where they are at any given time. So the policy is likely targeted at businesses looking to take advantage of creating a profile on Foursquare. Like Twitter, the microblogging network for posting short status updates, Foursquare allows businesses to create profiles in the same way that people do. That liberal policy is unlike Facebook, the dominant social network, which only allows real human beings to create profiles and requires businesses to use a different format called Pages.

Some companies have been randomly sending friend requests to thousands of Foursquare users, like Bastardjeans.com, which currently has 61, 923 friends. Why would they do this? Well, the benefit comes when one of those users checks in to a venue where Bastardjeans.com has left a tip. Since friends’ tips are displayed first, Bastardjeans.com gets more visibility.

Other advantages include being able to know where these users are from their check-ins, as well as being able to send them messages, since many Foursquare users share contact information with friends. All of these could be advantageous to a business looking to promote itself — though it’s probably not how Foursquare or most of its users envisioned the service operating.

Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley told VentureBeat that the startup is constantly working to adjust the balance between letting businesses engage with users, while at the same time trying to keep a positive user experience. Asked what the limits on friends and friend requests would be, Crowley said, “I think they’re still in flux right now.”

As of right now, Foursquare’s major competitors, Gowalla and Scvngr, do not have plans to restrict total friends or friend requests.

While Foursquare is still young and most users have few friends compared to the bigger social networks, one wonders if the restrictions may push some avid users to eventually go with another location-based applications with fewer restrictions. That happened with Friendster, an early social network which cracked down on fake profiles and lost ground to the less-restrictive MySpace.

Foursquare, based in New York City and founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding. It currently has more than 40 employees in its hometown and a new engineering office it’s opening in San Francisco.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Scvngr, the maker of a check-in app that asks users to complete activity challenges, today announced it has secured a second round of funding for $15 million, according to the company blog. Investors included Balderton Capital, with participation from previous investors Google Ventures and Highland Capital Partners.

Founder and chief executive Seth Priebatsch told me that the company’s biggest motivation for this round was getting Balderton Capital partner Barry Maloney on board to help with future international plans. Balderton is Benchmark Capital’s former European affiliate, now independent for several years, and Maloney has experience in the mobile industry having been chief executive of Ireland’s second largest GSM mobile operator, Esat Digifone.

“Right now Scvngr has a great international infrastructure thanks to its partnership with Google Places, but it’s not an international company by any means,” said Priebatsch. With Maloney on its board, “when we’re ready to do a major international push, we’ll have the expertise we’ll need to make sure we do it right.”

For consumers, Scvngr is a fun way of getting over check-in fatigue — the feeling of malaise after users discover there’s not much more involved with most check-in apps than announcing your location to your friends. Scvngr’s app adds activities or challenges to the mix. For example, a user can complete one of the default challenges by taking a picture or checking in with a group to a location. For businesses, the service allows them to give customers a new way of engaging with a store and providing an incentive, like a coupon or percentage off a purchase.

The company had a good year in 2010, including partnering with major beverage distributor Coca-Cola give users who check-in to certain Simon Malls across United States the opportunity to earn points and rewards like gift cards and other Coke-branded merchandise. Other partnerships include the Boston Celtics, New England Patriots and Princeton University.

The Boston-based company, founded in 2008, previously raised a first round of funding for $4 million, as well as a small seed round. Balderton’s contribution brings the total funding to around $20 million.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Wondering how to tell your friends where you are for New Year’s? There are a host of hot location-based startups which let you check in to a venue and broadcast your whereabouts to friends. Since I write about these services regularly, I decided to ask the founders of these companies where they’d be for New Year’s. The coolest choice of place meant that service got the honor my check-in.

You may remember these guys from VentureBeat’s local heroes series, where we asked them how they use their services in their daily lives and how that drives the design of their products. Consider this a timely update.

Dennis Crowley, Foursquare — In an email, the co-founder said, “JFK Airport, Atlanta airport, Ritz Carlton Atlanta  (for his buddy’s wedding), The Georgia Aquarium (cause his girlfriend really wants to go), Atlanta airport, JFK airport.”

Crowley also noted that he purposely didn’t research anything else to do in Atlanta as he plans on relying on Foursquare’s “tips” feature for suggestions.

Sam Altman, Loopt — Altman plans on heading home to St. Louis to visit his family. Past that, he plans on meet up with friends from high school and heading out on a good old-fashioned bar crawl. Altman notes that he will definitely be checking in but has no idea exactly where yet.

Seth Priebatsch, Scvngr — For New Years, Priebatsch plans on heading to Times Square in New York City to support his company’s partnership with American Eagle to support the Big Brothers and Sisters of America charity. American Eagle is donating $5 for every check-in/challenge done and Scvngr plans on matching it. Hopefully people will be able to battle the snow drifts and still make it to Timesqaure.

Josh Williams, Gowalla – Straight from Williams himself, “A few days ago, I checked in at a fireworks ‘superstore’somewhere in north Texas.  Without elaborating too much, tomorrow night’s check in may or may not be within Austin city limits. And by the way, do you know how difficult it is to search the web for ‘Austin City Limits’? What I want are legal boundaries for the use of small and colorful explosives. What I get is some PBS show that is evidently moving to a new venue in 2011.”

It would appear that Williams is going to be checking in to his own fireworks show, city limits permitting.

Only one other founder from the Local Heroes series, Keith Lee of Booyah, did not get back to me yet. We may just have to wait for his check in to see exactly where he is this New Year’s. I’ll be sure to update the post when I hear from him.

So, who’s the winner? I’m going with Foursquare for the sole reason that aquariums are cool and Crowley will be at one. If I was giving a second place, it would go to Scvngr because it’s always good to give to charity.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

JiWire, a company that uses Wi-Fi locations to deliver ads to consumers, today announced the launch of Compass, a service that delivers ads that pull in specific data based on the user’s location.

The Compass ads can appear on iPad, smartphones or laptops and appear as normal display ads. Once the consumer clicks on an ad, it expands into a full-screen ad and, depending on the advertiser, may show where a physical store location is or where products are sold in proximity to the user.

The consumer has several choices after they experience an ad, including contacting the store, getting driving instructions or learning more information, which is a custom tab feature that can support video, promotions or product demos. The company gives several examples of these choices, including booking an appointment to try on a wedding dress and making a restaurant reservation.

JiWire claims to have more than 40 million mobile users in its network, aggregated in several ways, including partnerships with major internet service providers like AT&T, T-Mobile and British Telecom. By using JiWire’s advertising services, providers can deliver users to the company’s advertisers generating revenue.

The company has made some big moves recently, including the acquisition of NearbyNow, which gives the company the ability to show which stores a product is available in stores within an app or ad, as well as a partnership with Groupon, offering more targeted deals to consumers.

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2003, last secured $2.1 million in funding from existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Panorama Capital and Comcast Interactive Capital. The company has raised close to $16 million in total funding.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

While only 4 percent of US online adults have ever used a location-based service, like popular check in app Foursquare, data from research firm Forrester shows that young adult males with college degrees appear to be the main user group.

In addition to being the main user group, the group may also be heavy online influencers as 38% of them claim that their networks ask them for their opinion before making a purchase decision. It would be interesting to know what types of products their networks ask them about before a purchase. Most likely, it’s probably electronics.

Finally, the data shows that the group may also be heavy mobile researchers, meaning that they are more likely to search for information on products or services as well as look up ratings and reviews. If the user group is constantly checking in to locations, then they are probably also using their smartphones for the following.

The nifty graph below spotlights more specifics location-based service users to US online adult users.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Location-based check-in service Foursquare just announced on its blog that is has officially released the second version of its application programming interface, or API, in beta. The first version of its API, used by third-party developers to build software that connects to Foursquare’s services, will still be functional, but will probably phase out in a few months, according to the company.

Rumors of the new API surfaced several weeks ago when Foursquare cofounder Naveen Selvadurai engaged a user on Quora, a question and answer site, about where they could get place data for a check-in application. At the time the new API was in an early testing phase, but it appears the company was looking for applications to test it. 

The company lists several updates:

• OAuth2 is much easier to use, more secure for users, and can even be used entirely from client-side Javascript.
• By dropping XML support, we’ve been able to make the server more responsive (but not 1000x faster; sorry).
• There’s extensive documentation that includes sample applications and an API explorer.
• A lot of work was put into consistency and clarity.
• And last but not least, we’ve added oft-requested new endpoints for fetching user’s badges, user’s venue histories, and venue popularity.

The new API comes on the heels of cofounder and chief executive Dennis Crowley mentioning that the company now has 5 million users, is adding 25,000 new users daily, and is seeing more than 2 million check-ins a day. The company also recently decided to add a full team of engineers in San Francisco to help with growth.

The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has close to 40 employees.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Foursquare cofounder and chief executive Dennis Crowley just took the stage at Le Web, an Internet conference held in Paris, France, and noted the company now has 5 million users, is adding 25,000 new users daily, and is seeing more than 2 million check-ins a day.

The company recently announced it was expanding with a full team of engineers in San Francisco, California. The hiring is taking place in part to handle the company’s monthly user growth of 30 percent. While the company noted it had more than 4.5 million users at that time, Crowley updated this number today to 5 million total users.

The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has close to 40 employees.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Loopt, an early leader in location-based services, today announced it has launched the next version of its application with several new features, including automatic check-ins, text messages, social recommendations, and rewards from businesses.

If you use any location apps, you may have experienced something called “check-in fatigue” — which just means you get tired of having to take out your phone and check in at every place you visit. The automatic check-in feature will now allow Loopt users to create small groups of friends or family who will have constant access to your location, without the need to work your way through an app’s interface.

The ping feature, which allows users to request another user’s location through the application, now allows the request to be sent via text message.

Loopt is also looking to use the large amount of user data it receives to more efficiently recommend locations and activities to users. For example, the app could tell you of a nearby cafe that is frequently visited by friends and might be a location you’d like to visit. Its recent integration with Facebook provides an additional amount of user information that may help with these types of recommendations based on the user’s network and activities.

Loopt previously launched Loopt Star, a separate application for its business-rewards program. Users were able to launch the application and see local businesses offering specials in their area, which they could redeem for checking in to the specific location. Loopt chief executive and founder Sam Altman told me that the app was originally launched to test users’ response to the program, and because of its success has rolled it up into the main Loopt app. Loopt Star will no longer be available as a standalone app.

With today’s updates, Loopt appears to be making a hard push to make the main Loopt application more robust and competitive with popular check-in apps Foursquare and Gowalla, who are already providing similar features. Gowalla just releases its own new version that most notably lets users integrate with Facebook Places and Foursquare.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, founded in 2006, currently has four location-based applications with more than 4 million users. Loopt has secured $17 million in funding and has around 40 employees.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you’re an engineer on the West Coast looking to join a hot startups, here’s a good reason to prepare your resume. According to a company blog post, popular mobile check-in application Foursquare has decided to put together a full team of engineers in its new West Coast office.

Foursquare is going from basically squatting at the Square office in San Francisco to claiming additional space for a larger team of engineers, who are needed in part to handle the company’s monthly user growth of 30 percent.

Co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley told VentureBeat, “We’re looking to fill 10-15 spots, but we’re not racing to fill them. We just want the flexibility to hire great engineers that aren’t ready to move to NYC.”

The announcement comes soon after the launch of a strategic partnership with Pepsi and Safeway that integrates check ins with loyalty rewards for a pilot program at Vons grocery stores.

The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has more than 4.5 million users.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Scvngr, the check-in application that asks users to complete activity challenges, just announced a strategic partnership with major drink distributor Coca Cola. The two have joined forces to give users who check-in to certain Simon Malls across United States the opportunity to earn points and rewards like gift cards and other Coke-branded merchandise.

Starting Friday, November 26, Scvngr users who check-in at one of the malls will be prompted to complete the new Coke Secret Formula Challenges. Some of the challenges include tasks like having a friend snap a photo of you high-fiving a fellow mall patron (bonus points if your target is drinking a Coke) or snapping a photo of hiding locations throughout the mall (maybe that’s where the Coke Secret Formula is hidden).

The Scvngr partnership couldn’t come at a more perfect time. Just hours ago, Foursqaure announced a partnership and new loyalty program pilot with Safeway and PepsiCo. The pilot will allow PepsiCo to engage Safeway loyalty card users at any Vons, a grocery store chain owned by Safeway.

In a recent interview with Scvngr chief executive and founder Seth Priebatsch, he argued that the future of location-based services lies in storytelling and experiences, not just check ins. The partnership with Coca Cola may be another step for Scvngr in that direction.

Boston-based Scvngr, founded in 2008, has secured $4.8 million in funding and just recently reached more than 500,000 users.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Popular mobile check in application Foursquare today launched a new pilot program with Pepsi and Safeway that integrates check ins with loyalty rewards, reports business magazine Fast Company.

The pilot could mark a new way for Foursquare to monetize using not just brands with physical locations, but now product brands.

The pilot will be tested at some 200 Vons grocery stores (owned by Safeway) in Southern California. Grocery goers will be able to link their Safeway loyalty program to their Foursquare accounts and earn rewards from swiping their card at checkout – launching an automatic check in (see below).

Several key benefits arise from this type of pilot. First, locations don’t have to train their staff on “What is Foursquare?” or how to redeem rewards. Second, Foursquare gets an automatic check in. No more having to spend resources reminding people that they should check in.

Third, and probably the biggest benefit, brands now has added incentive to participate in location-based services, like Foursquare. Brands will now have access into check in data and be able to push product to users based on their actions. For example, a check in at a gym could result in a free SoBe Lifewater or, if you’re a morning person, a Tropicana orange juice or Quaker Oats–all specials on PepsiCo products, redeemable at Safeway stores.

Foursquare is hoping that the new pilot will be a success and it can begin working with more loyalty programs and brands. For the time being it’s definitely a differentiator from competitors like Gowalla and Facebook Places, who remain focused on brands with physical locations.

Gowalla has experimented with loyalty programs before, having worked with Intercontinental Hotel Group. The summer program asked users who checked in to the company’s hotel chains to join the promotion for a chance to win. It’s a bit different from Foursquare’s pilot, but the program shows how brands may like to link their loyalty programs to check ins.

The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has more than 4 million users.

The really interesting part of the new Dummies book is that it may bring a bit of good news to the location-based space. While many people have dismissed the location-based market based on recent results (Pew Internet findings, for example, say that only 4% of online Americans use location-based services), clearly Wiley thinks it’s going to be big.

The book’s authors, Powered chief marketer Aaron Strout and Mike Schneider, senior vice president at advertising and interactive agency Allen & Gerritsen, have worked with a number of clients on location-based campaigns.

According to Strout’s blog, topics covered in the book will include:

• Choosing the right platform(s)
• Building a location-based campaign
• Creating a relevant offer
• Location-based services as part of your loyalty program
• Integrating location-based services with other marketing efforts
• Developing a monitoring strategy
• Key performance indicators and measurement

If you’re a location-based service and are wondering how to get involved, the two authors are looking for help. According to Mike’s blog, you can send a tweet to @schneidermike with the hashtag #LBM4D to let them know about you.

[Full disclosure: The authors announced the new book during a webinar I co-presented for digital engagement agency Piehead, where I work as a social strategist].

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Popular mobile check in application Gowalla today announced a new partnership with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

The agreement will provide Gowalla users with custom Disney Gowalla pages, a collection of recent check ins and activities for specific parks and resorts, as well as hundreds of available custom Passport stamps, an image in recognition for checking in to a specific attraction.

Disney and Gowalla have come up with several ways to promote the new partnership, according to the Disney Parks Blog. Special events will be held throughout the year as well as the launch of a series of trips, a special bundle of attractions by age and interest. The company gives the following example:

“For the Little Ones (under 44 inches)” is a dream track fit for pint-sized park-goers to Magic Kingdom in Florida. It includes “Mickey’s PhilharMagic,” Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Peter Pan’s Flight and more.

Disney is definitely a high-profile brand that makes sense for Gowalla as it looks to compete for users with rival Foursquare. Both Gowalla and Foursquare recently partnered with government agency NASA, which brought a ton of attention to the companies. Interestingly, Gowalla made the NASA partnership announcement first, but Foursquare quickly followed.

On a more personal note, I was recently in Disney World and used Foursquare to check in all over the place. You can’t imagine all the stuff you can do on your smartphone while waiting in line for an attraction. But I’d have to say that after a few check ins, I became bored. If the Gowalla and Disney had this partnership while I was there, I’d probably be a Gowalla user at this time. Another interesting angle to these partnerships – which ones can make users switch sides?