Groupon completed a $950 million round of financing, which it will use to fuel global expansion, invest in technology, and provide liquidity for employees and early investors.
The financing consists of several venture capital firms and late-stage investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, DST, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor. Previous funding rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, Mail.ru Group and DST.
A Chicago-based start-up, Groupon negotiates discounts with local businesses and then offers them to subscribers via e-mail, the Internet, Facebook and other mediums. If enough subscribers sign up for a deal on a given day, it is activated. While the service is used heavily by service oriented businesses like health spas and salons, it has also been used by retailers offering a variety of coupons.
In 2010, Groupon expanded from 1 to 35 countries, lanched in almost 500 new markets, grew subscribers by 2,500% from 2 million to over 50 million, saved consumers over $1.5 billion and worked with 58,000 local businesses, serving over 100,000 deals worldwide.
