Groupon raises $950 mln in new funding

Internet bargain coupon phenomenon Groupon said Monday it had raised $950 million in the past month to invest in technology, fund its global expansion and compensate company employees and early investors.

The two-year-old company said it had raised the money from venture capital firms and "late stage investors" including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The $950 million included the $500 million the company announced it had raised on December 30, two weeks after launching a major fundraising effort.

The Chicago-based startup company, which offers subscribers online coupons for discounts on a broad range of consumer goods and services, had earlier rejected a reported $5 billion takeover offer from Internet giant Google.

In a statement Monday Groupon said its subscribers had grown to 50 million from just two million at the beginning of 2010.

(c) 2011 AFP