Latitude, Foursquare. There’s no shortage of mobile social location candidates stepping up. Now GeoSentric’s GyPSii of Holland has raised a further $11 million funding for its effort – bringing its total to $40 million.
The disclosure came in GyPSii’s announcement of a new Twitter app, Tweetsii, that puts tweets first, ahead of GypSii’s Foursquare-style place markers, which let users “check in” to a variety of locations. The funds come from Schroders.
GeoSentric previously got $13.1 from Horizon Group and Shcroders million in 2007 and is bundled on some Samsung, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) handsets.
It’s hard to imagine a dedicated location-based social network becoming successful unless location is just a part of a social experience, rather than its raison d’etre. And, while Twitter and Facebook have gained mass social adoption and Foursquare rising fast on the location front, GyPSii’s window may be challenged (hence, Tweetsii’s entrance). But can one imagine another mobile social acquisition by a handset maker or carrier, a la Nokia’s Dopplr purchase? Yep.
This funding is “to support marketing and additional development of GyPSii applications”, the company says. GypSii says its OpenExperience API powers locastion-based service for outfits like China Mobile, China Unicom, Telefonica; it’s likely there it makes its money.