Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck Discusses The App's White Label Technology: 'We're Just Getting Started'

Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck has 105 million reasons why the app is much more than a social networking platform.

The figure represents the number of businesses Foursquare recognizes in 170 countries, Glueck told New York Post reporter Carleton English at the 2018 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards on Wednesday.

The app is entering the fintech field with partnerships such as a deal with Capital One Financial Corp. COF that uses Foursquare’s location services to enable real-time discount offers and messages for cardholders.

“That kind of engagement is really powerful,” Glueck told English in an onstage conversation.

With consumer privacy concerns at all-time highs in the wake of data scandals at Facebook, Inc. FB and elsewhere, Glueck said Foursquare is careful to operate on a consumer opt-in basis; to avoid spam with the use of contextual computing; and to only share data with clients in an aggregated, anonymized form.

'We're Just Getting Started'

The New York City-based company provides three of the five largest hedge funds with aggregate foot traffic patterns that are used to make more informed stock picks, Glueck said.

Foursquare has grown 50 percent annually three years in a row and could go public if it continues to grow at such a rapid pace, the CEO said.

“We’re just getting started.”

Here are some of the Foursquare use cases Glueck shared Wednesday that reach far beyond the mayorship of a favorite neighborhood dive bar.

• “If you were to type the local Starbucks Corporation SBUX into an Uber app or the name of a business you want to go to, that’s Foursquare technology helping Uber,” Glueck said.
• Foursquare conducted a study with TouchTunes, a $500-million company that operates electronic jukeboxes in 70,000 bars and restaurants, Glueck said: TouchTunes notched a 60-percent increase in revenue using Foursquare’s technology “from simply being able to send the right message” to the company’s users.
• Fraud detection is an opportunity for credit card issuers to work with Foursquare in order to more accurately trigger fraud alerts based on a better understanding of a customer’s location, Glueck said. “We think the finance industry isn’t using location data at the forefront of how it could be used right now.”

Related Links:

Why Amazon Web Services Is Closely Linked To Finance: 'Access To Infinite Computing Power'

Riskalyze CEO Aaron Klein Talks The Future Of Financial Advising