Gowalla Raises $4 Million for AR Social App | TechCrunch

Gowalla, a company experiencing a revival, aims to fulfill its initial mobile ambitions from the mid-2000s within an augmented reality environment, and has secured new funding to support this endeavor.

The augmented reality company informed TechCrunch that it has obtained $4 million in seed funding, jointly led by GV, Google’s venture capital division, and Spark Capital. Additional investors participating in this round include Niantic, Upside Partnership, Otherwise Fund, Capital Factory, Form Capital, and a number of individual investors such as April Underwood, Leah Culver, Jason Calacanis, John Lilly, Scott Belsky, Dennis Crowley, and Dave and Brit Morin of Offline Ventures.

Originally established in 2009 as a competitor to Foursquare, Gowalla initially gained recognition and attracted investment, raising over $10 million before its momentum slowed and the company was acquired by Facebook for $3 million, with its team joining Facebook. Co-founder Josh Williams, who is leading the app’s return alongside new co-founder Patrick Piemonte, explained to TechCrunch that the new version intends to draw inspiration from the social aspects of TikTok and the platform characteristics of Roblox, enabling users to “discover” and interact with their surroundings through augmented reality.

The ultimate objective of the project remains somewhat undefined, though it is becoming more apparent as the application is tested by an initial group of beta users – referred to by the company as its “Street Team” – who are tasked with identifying locations of interest for the app. Williams suggests that certain aspects of the app echo the early features of Foursquare, where users are rewarded for contributing data and achieving specific objectives through badges.

“We are considering how to translate the concept of stories on a timeline to real-world locations, and how to develop a gamified sharing system that achieves a similar level of widespread use,” Williams stated to TechCrunch.

While the Gowalla team has not yet established specific dates, they anticipate providing further details regarding the eventual launch experience in the coming months and initiating beta testing in early summer.