Mobile social networking service Foursquare raised US$50 million in funding, stating that the investment will enable it to “move more quickly.” According to reports, the current funding round values Foursquare at US$600 million, and brings its funding so-far to US$70 million. The company plans to use the cash to support further recruitment, evolve its merchant offerings, expand internationally, and “try a ton of new things.” The funding was led by Andreessen-Horowitz, includes current investors O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures, and Spark Capital also participated. Foursquare said that “having our current investors double down on us is a tremendous gesture of support for Foursquare and for the direction we’re headed.” Earlier this month, Foursquare said its user base had passed 10 million users, although it has not stated how many of these are regularly active.

According to TechCrunch, some firms “shied away” from the deal due to concerns about the potential to monetise the Foursquare user base which, while large for a mobile app, is small when compared to its social network rivals. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company “so far pulls in little revenue.” In a blog post, Foursquare said that “the opportunity to build something meaningful in the location space is huge, and we feel well-positioned to capitalise on it.” Last week, it announced a US partnership with American Express to offer discounts to customers when using Foursquare to “check-in” with selected retailers, when making payment via an AmEx card.