Gowalla is a resurrected AR social app originally founded in 2009. The relaunched product aims to let users "unlock" the world around them through augmented reality, blending social features inspired by TikTok with platform-style elements like Roblox. The team is recruiting a beta "Street Team" of early testers to find points of interest and help shape the product. Co-founder Josh Williams returned to relaunch the app alongside new co-founder Patrick Piemonte. The company plans to share more about the launch experience in the coming months and hopes to open beta in early summer. Financially, Gowalla has raised a new $4 million seed round and previously raised just over $10 million before being acquihired by Facebook for $3 million. GoWalla is an Austin, Texas mobile social network that launched just months before the reported financing and centers on location-based check-ins. The service had about 50,000 users at the time of the report and its PackRat Facebook application brought in “single digit millions” in revenue. Investors in the recent round were reportedly focused on GoWalla’s mobile strategy. The product lets users check in to places they visit and share locations with friends, positioning it alongside competitors such as foursquare. The article describes location-based check-ins as a winning model with rapid user expansion and strong engagement. Financially, the company completed a financing with a $20 million pre-money valuation, raised $8.4 million in the round, and had a $28.4 million post-money valuation.

Total raised

$12M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jan 2021