No sooner had chatter suggested location-based service Foursquare was about to announce a new injection of funds than the firm confirmed the news.

As expected, Andreessen Horowitz formed part of the latest round, which saw the 1.8 million strong service pick up $20 million.

Checking in

As Foursquare points out on its official blog, it's a sum of money that represents a leap from its initial $1.35 million funding round launched late in 2009.

"We're thrilled to have the continued support of our original investors and additional support and expertise from the team at Andreessen Horowitz," the company says of the deal, which saw existing financiers Union Square Ventures and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures stump up further cash.

"The two big names behind Andreessen Horowitz - Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz - are each legends in Silicon Valley.

"They know better than anyone how to transform start-ups into successful organisations. As we continue to rapidly expand to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us, Ben and Marc’s expertise in growing companies will be invaluable."

Choppy waters

Andreessen Horowitz – which had been engaged in talks with Foursquare for some time – had previous retracted its offer of investment, claiming the whole affair was "playing out too much in public".

As a result, rumour suggests Foursquare had been moving towards a link-up with Facebook, with CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley reportedly behind a proposed buyout by the social network.

The attention of the 27-strong company now shifts to expansion. It claims its userbase is growing by 10,000 users a day.

"We're hoping to build a world-class engineering organisation, based primarily in our headquarters in the New York City to help us develop the next generation of mobile and social and local products that will excite our users and provide unique value for local merchants," the company concludes.

"The new investment capital will also help fund the infrastructure needed to house our team and support our growing audience of nearly 2 million users."

[source: Foursquare]