Much of the talk from LeWeb and other Silicon Valley get-togethers of late has centered around geolocation and the future of how geolocation is going to be integrated in social activity, search, advertising and communication. To date, the most visible company centered on geolocation has been Foursquare. But Gowalla, based in Austin, Texas, has gained significant traction over the last three months, and today, announced the completion of a Series B funding round for more than $8 million, bringing their total funding to date to more than $10 million.According to the company's press release, Greylock Partners led the round, which will be used to accelerate the company's growth and enable future development.
Despite Foursquare's share of voice, Gowalla has managed to attract 50,000 active users, who have checked in at 150,000 locations in nearly 100 countries. Unlike Foursquare, which requires the service to support specific cities, Gowalla users can participate anywhere they are connected. Gowalla is available for both Apple's iPhone and the Android platform, and all this growth has taken place in only ten weeks.
In contrast, Foursquare raised $1.35 million in September of 2009.