Foursquare, the maker of the local check-in and information app, saw its revenue grow by 600 per cent in 2013, according to CEO Dennis Crowley.

Speaking on CNBC, Crowley said Q1 2014 revenue is on course to represent a 500 per cent increase on the same period last year. However, the Foursquare CEO did not give actual numbers.

TechCrunch calculated that, assuming linear growth, the company’s revenue was $14 million in 2013 and is set to be $21 million in the first quarter of this year.

Until recently, Foursquare was struggling to convert its huge amount of user-generated data into significant revenue, but the addition of advertising appears to be paying off.

It rolled out ads for local businesses in October last year as part of its efforts to develop its business model and boost revenue.

The company recently inked a licensing deal with Microsoft, which will see the software giant making use of Foursquare’s database of local information in its Windows and Windows Phone platforms. Microsoft also became an investor.

Foursquare secured $35 million in funding last December, in addition to a $41 million round in April last year. It said in December that it had around 45 million users.

When the subject of an acquisition was raised in the CNBC interview, Crowley said his company has turned down a number of offers and that its approach “is not a sprint from A to B; it’s a marathon”.

Reports last summer suggested the company had attracted acquisition interest from Microsoft and American Express.