Gowalla (acquired by facebook)
Gowalla is an Austin-based location-based social networking service founded in 2007, acquired by Facebook in 2011. It historically enabled consumer check-ins and location sharing, with current positioning around discovering regional attractions, municipal landmarks, and public parks.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Gowalla (acquired by facebook)
- Website
- https://gowalla.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Gowalla is an Austin-based location-based social networking service founded in 2007, acquired by Facebook in 2011. It historically enabled consumer check-ins and location sharing, with current positioning around discovering regional attractions, municipal landmarks, and public parks.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Location-based social networking
- NAICS
- Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation (487), Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Other (4879)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- VIP Access & Skip-the-Line Experiences (THAJALAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Transportation & Access Services (Shuttles, Ferry Access, Scenic Drives Permits) (THAAAGAC)
Keywords
Where Gowalla (acquired by facebook) is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Gowalla operated a location-based social networking service that allowed users to check in at physical locations via a mobile application, discover nearby regional attractions, municipal landmarks, and public parks, and share their whereabouts with friends. The service was a consumer-facing mobile social platform built around venue check-ins and local discovery.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Gowalla mobile application
Companies that use Gowalla (acquired by facebook)
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Roadtrippers: Roadtrippers is a trip-planning and attraction-discovery platform that helps users find regional landmarks, oddities, and parks along routes - closely aligned with Gowalla's repositioned discovery and navigation thesis around attractions and parks.
- Komoot: Komoot is a route-planning and outdoor-discovery platform for parks, trails, and regional points of interest - closely aligned with Gowalla's stated focus on discovering and navigating public parks and landmarks, though more focused on active outdoor routing.
- Trippy: Trippy is a travel-planning platform for discovering attractions and building itineraries - overlapping with Gowalla's discovery of regional attractions and landmarks, though smaller in scale.
Broad incumbents
- Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a long-standing travel-discovery and guidebook brand covering landmarks, parks, and regional attractions - comparable to the experiential-discovery aspect of Gowalla's repositioned offering but delivered primarily through editorial content.
- Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor is a large incumbent in attraction discovery and reviews, directly comparable to Gowalla's described value proposition of helping individuals discover regional attractions and landmarks. It serves a far larger global audience.
- Yelp: Yelp is a broader local-discovery and reviews platform covering restaurants, attractions, and landmarks - overlapping with Gowalla's repositioned focus on regional attractions and municipal landmarks, but with a much wider scope and established user base.
- Google Maps: Google Maps is a broad navigation and local-discovery incumbent that overlaps with Gowalla's navigate-to-attractions use case as part of a much wider mapping and directions platform, including extensive points-of-interest data.
Direct peers
- Atlas Obscura: Atlas Obscura is a discovery platform focused on unique attractions, landmarks, and experiences - closely aligned with Gowalla's described positioning around regional attractions, municipal landmarks, and public parks, and serving a similar experiential-discovery audience.
- Foursquare: Foursquare was the leading location-based check-in social network and Gowalla's primary direct competitor in the same product category, serving users who wanted to discover and check in to local places. Facebook notably chose to partner with Foursquare rather than develop Gowalla.
- AllTrails: AllTrails is a discovery and navigation platform for outdoor experiences including parks, trails, and municipal landmarks - directly comparable to Gowalla's stated focus on helping users discover and navigate public parks and regional attractions.
Market position
Customer concentration
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) social profiles
Digital presenceGowalla (acquired by facebook) financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Gowalla (acquired by facebook)
What does Gowalla (acquired by facebook) do?
Gowalla operated a location-based social networking service that allowed users to check in at physical locations via a mobile application, discover nearby regional attractions, municipal landmarks, and public parks, and share their whereabouts with friends. The service was a consumer-facing mobile social platform built around venue check-ins and local discovery.
Is Gowalla (acquired by facebook) a public or private company?
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Gowalla (acquired by facebook) founded?
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Gowalla (acquired by facebook) based?
Gowalla (acquired by facebook) is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Gowalla (acquired by facebook)'s main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Roadtrippers, Komoot and Trippy. Broad incumbents are Lonely Planet, Tripadvisor, Yelp and Google Maps. Direct peers are Atlas Obscura, Foursquare and AllTrails.
Does Gowalla (acquired by facebook) have an API?
No public API is recorded for Gowalla (acquired by facebook).
What industry is Gowalla (acquired by facebook) in?
Gowalla (acquired by facebook)'s product category is Location-based social networking. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJALAC, VIP Access & Skip-the-Line Experiences, with a secondary code of THAAAGAC, Transportation & Access Services (Shuttles, Ferry Access, Scenic Drives Permits). Its NAICS code is 487 and its SIC code is 7900.