Foursquare just raised $50 Million in new funding to help build out new products. Said Foursquare Founder and CEO, “we’re doing things nobody has really done before, and to be able to raise this amount of capital will really allow us to look at the white board and accomplish the goals we have written up there — things we’ve been wanting to do for a while now.”

The Check-In app has previously raised capital in two rounds—the first $1.35 Million in Angel Funding; second a Series B at $20 Million (led by Andreessen Horowitz; Union Square Ventures; and O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures). These same 3 firms led the funding in this latest, $50 Million round. Foursquare has raised $71.4 Million to date.

As Fred Wilson puts it, “At some point, if you want to deeply engage, or in Etsy’s case transact, you’ll need to log into social services.” Foursquare, in an effort to monetize its huge and growing userbase or 10 Million+ registered users, has fostered partnerships with American Express allowing discounts on credit card purchases based on Foursquare use, and also hopes to roll out a Fourquare Merchant Platform, which allows businesses to offer discounts to Foursquare users and gives them data on when people check in at their business and how often.

What does this show? Two things. First, mobile startups, no matter how small or basic in premise, have truly dynamite potential if they can capture and grow an engaged user base. With smartphone penetration rates growing and business increasingly going mobile, there is definite user momentum. And secondly, the market for these types of mobile apps is red-hot right now.

Entrepreneurs— get it while it’s hot!

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