Gowalla

Market position

Gowalla was one of the two best-known early location-based check-in services, competing directly with Foursquare, which press coverage described as the clear winner in the category after Gowalla's shutdown. It reported approximately 600,000 users as of November 2010 and won the Mobile category at the 2010 South by Southwest Interactive awards.

Gowalla emphasized design and a game-like collection layer — virtual items, vaults, spot "Founders," badges and curated Trips — and was described in coverage as having a more refined user interface than Foursquare. Version 3.0 acted as an aggregator across competing check-in networks, and version 4.0 repositioned the service around travel storytelling and curated guides rather than raw check-ins.

Technology

Gowalla combined mobile geolocation with a gamified check-in layer: users checked in at curated "Spots" via native apps on iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Palm webOS and BlackBerry or via a mobile website, earning virtual items and badges. Check-ins could be pushed as notifications and syndicated to linked Twitter and Facebook accounts, and version 3.0 aggregated check-ins across Foursquare, Facebook Places, Twitter and Tumblr. Community moderation tools let Street Team members move, edit and merge spot records. The 2021-2023 iteration was built as an augmented reality social application layered on real-world points of interest sourced by beta testers.

Go-to-market

Consumer smartphone users interested in sharing their location with friends, exploring local landmarks and points of interest, and travel discovery; brands and venue partners were served through promotional virtual items and featured placements.

Geography

Headquartered in downtown Austin, Texas, with featured spots covering international landmarks such as Buckingham Palace in London; after the Facebook acquisition, staff relocated to Palo Alto or Facebook's Austin office. The 2014 follow-on venture by the founders was based in San Francisco.

History

Gowalla originally launched in 2007 (publicly associated with a 2009 SXSW debut alongside rival Foursquare) and operated from downtown Austin, Texas, at 610 W 5th Suite 604. Key people included Josh Williams, Scott Raymond, Keegan Jones and Andy Ellwood, with roughly 30 employees. It raised approximately $10 million in total during its first run, including an $8.4 million round reported in December 2009. Facebook announced its acquisition on December 2, 2011 in a talent-focused deal that excluded Gowalla's user data and was rumored to be worth about $3 million in Facebook shares; most employees, including Williams, moved to Facebook offices in Palo Alto while others worked from Facebook's Austin office, helping with the Timeline profile. The service shut down on March 10-11, 2012. Williams left Facebook in 2013 and in 2014 co-founded The Last Guide Company ("Last") with Gowalla alum Adam Michela. Williams announced a return of Gowalla in October 2020, raised seed funding in January 2021 with new co-founder Patrick Piemonte, relaunched the iPhone app on March 10, 2023, and paused active development in April 2023.

Risks & controversies

The original service lost the check-in market to Foursquare and was acqui-hired by Facebook in a deal reported at roughly $3 million in stock; investor Jason Calacanis publicly stated his return in Facebook shares was less than he originally invested. The September 2011 4.0 release removed items and the user vault, drawing user complaints. Gowalla stated Facebook would not acquire its user data, and although the company promised users could download their check-ins, photos and lists, the site was taken offline before those histories could be retrieved. The relaunched app's active development was paused in April 2023.