Loopt Location App Sells To Green Dot For $43.4 Million Cash

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TechCrunch·techcrunch.com/2012/03/09/loopt-acquired-by-green-dot/

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Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

Rating inherited from publication venue: TechCrunch

This article is tangentially relevant to AI safety primarily as historical background on Sam Altman's entrepreneurial career before his leadership roles at Y Combinator and OpenAI; it has no direct AI safety content.

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Importance: 8/100news articlenews

Summary

TechCrunch reports on the acquisition of Loopt, a location-sharing app and early Y Combinator startup, by Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million in cash. The deal marked an exit for Loopt, which had struggled to gain mainstream traction despite being a pioneer in mobile location sharing. This acquisition is notable in tech history as it involved Sam Altman's early startup before he became president of Y Combinator and later CEO of OpenAI.

Key Points

•Loopt, a mobile location-sharing app founded by Sam Altman, was acquired by prepaid debit card company Green Dot for $43.4 million in cash.
•The acquisition represented a modest exit for Loopt, which had raised around $30 million in venture funding over its lifetime.
•Loopt was one of the first Y Combinator startups and an early pioneer in mobile location-sharing before competitors like Foursquare dominated the space.
•Green Dot acquired Loopt primarily for its talent and technology rather than its user base.
•This deal is historically notable as Sam Altman, Loopt's founder, went on to lead Y Combinator and later co-found/lead OpenAI.

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Before SXSW Sunk Its Valuation, Loopt Location App Sells To Green Dot For $43.4 Million Cash | TechCrunch 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
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 Before SXSW Sunk Its Valuation, Loopt Location App Sells To Green Dot For $43.4 Million Cash

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Josh Constine 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 6:20 AM PST · March 9, 2012 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 With a new class of passive location apps on the rise, failed geo-mobile apps of the past need to cut their losses, so Loopt today announced plans to sell to banking and payment solutions company Green Dot  for $43.4 million. Green Dot  hopes checkin functionality can help it attain and hold on to customers by expanding from prepaid cards into a mobile wallet. And it needs Loopt&#8217;s talent to stick around to make that happen, so $9.8 million of the cash is reserved for a retention pool.

 SXSW starts today and no one has been talking about Loopt. Had it waited until after the event and watched younger competitors revel in the spotlight, its valuation could have sunk, so this was wise timing to sell.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 While Loopt was once a potential competitor to Foursquare and Gowalla, the checkin app space has thinned out over the last year. Foursquare showed dominance and became the clear leader, while Yobongo was acq-hired by Mixbook and Gowalla sold to Facebook rather than fight a losing battle. Apparently Loopt decided to follow Gowalla&#8217;s lead.

 $43.4 million in cash is an impressive sum to have sold for compared to what the better-positioned Gowalla managed by many accounts , at least until that Facebook stock goes liquid. Loopt had taken $17 million in funding from Y Combinator, Sequoia, and New Enterprise Associates through its Series B. Green Dot has raised $33 million to date, much from Sequoia as well, [ ed. it&#8217;s a publicly-traded company ] which could mean the firm pushed for the acquisition to protect its Loopt investment .

 Green Dot will now have the means to let users announce when and where they make payments, which could power rewards systems. Also, Loopt&#8217;s mobile marketing messaging patents also made it attractive to Green Dot. They could help the banking and payment solution communicate better with its customers, or let it go on the offensive.

 

 

 
 Topics

 
 Media & Entertainment , Startups , SXSW , SXSW2012 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 Josh Constine 

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