Scott Raymond, co-founder and CTO of Gowalla confirms the rumors:
It wasn’t an easy decision, but Facebook has always been a friend of the company, so joining their team is a natural move. I’m incredibly excited to work alongside folks that have already changed the world pretty profoundly, and who have an even bigger vision for the future.
The end of the year … that’s less than 30 days away from us.
Wall Street Journal also had this to say about the deal:
While Facebook is not buying Gowalla’s technology or services, it said in a statement that, “Gowalla co-founders Josh Williams and Scott Raymond, along with other members of the Gowalla team, are moving to Facebook in January to join our design and engineering teams.”
Facebook added, “We’re sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time.”
In parallel, .be fellow Maxvoltar, who works worked at Gowalla, announced that he’ll be joining … Instagram.
Gowalla ⇒ Facebook →
Facebook Buys More Talent With Gowalla Deal →
UPDATE 2011.12.06: Josh Williams (the other co-founder of Gowalla) added this:
Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January. We plan to provide an easy way to export your Passport data, your Stamp and Pin data (along with your legacy Item data), and your photos as well. Facebook is not acquiring Gowalla’s user data.