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LivingSocial

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LivingSocial
LivingSocial logo.
Type of site
Electronic commerce
Available inEnglish and others (for 27 countries)
HeadquartersWashington, DC, U.S.
OwnerLivingSocial Inc.
Created byTim O'Shaughnessy, Aaron Batalion, Eddie Frederick, Val Aleksenko
URLLivingSocial.com
CommercialYes


LivingSocial is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Based in Washington, D.C., LivingSocial now has more than 70 million members around the world.

History

LivingSocial was founded as Hungry Machine in 2007 by four employees from Revolution Health Group. The company's first major application was their Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook which allowed users to catalog and share their favorite books with friends.[2] Later, the company released PickYourFive and other Polls applications, making LivingSocial the number one application developer on Facebook as measured by page views.[3] After acquiring BuyYourFriendADrink.com in 2009, LivingSocial launched a daily deals business, which since has become its highest grossing venture to date.[4]

In 2012 a class action was launched against LivingSocial in respect of expiry of deals, following a similar action against Groupon.[5] A provisional settlement was reached in November 2012.[6]

Funding

The company received $5 million in Series A funding in June, 2008 from Grotech Ventures and Steve Case. In January 2010, LivingSocial raised $5 million in Series B funding from Grotech Ventures and AOL Founder Steve Case. Two months later, on March 11, 2010, the company announced a $25 million round led by U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech and Case. LivingSocial then acquired $14 million Series C round, from Lightspeed Venture Partners with U.S. Venture, Grotech and Case contributing.[7] Most recently, US Venture Partners and Grotech invested an additional $10.23 million of equity offering to the company. Its fundraising for 2010 comes to $50 million.[8] In December 2010, LivingSocial received a $175 million investment from Amazon.com.[9] LivingSocial also received an additional $8 million investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners.[9] In March 2011, less than four months after the $175 million Amazon investment, LivingSocial raised an additional $400 million from prior investors like Amazon and Lightspeed Venture Partners, and several new ones including T. Rowe Price and Institutional Venture Partners. As of early April, LivingSocial is valued at more than $3 billion.[10]

In 2011, LivingSocial completed a $400 million round of funding valuing LivingSocial at $3 billion.[11]

Acquisitions

  • In October 2010, LivingSocial announced acquisition of social adventure company Urban Escapes, which led to the launch of LivingSocial Escapes and LivingSocial Adventures.[12]
  • In November 2010, LivingSocial bought $5 million controlling stake in Australian social shopping site Jump On It.[13] The acquisition makes LivingSocial the biggest social shopping player in Australia.[14]
  • In January 2011, LivingSocial acquired a majority stake in LetsBonus, which now operates in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Launched in September 2009 in Barcelona, Let’s Bonus was an early operator of a collective buying service in Europe, particularly in the Spanish market.[15]
  • In March 2011, LivingSocial acquired InfoEther, a Ruby/Rails consultancy.[16] Ruby on Rails is the platform upon which LivingSocial runs.[17]
  • In June 2011, Dubai Based GoNabit, an Arabic website for daily deals, was acquired by LivingSocial. GoNabit operates in the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, and claims to have saved consumers more than $5m in 2010-2011.[citation needed] Group buying websites typically sign up a range of businesses to offer discounts, and take a percentage of the revenue.
  • In June 2011, LivingSocial acquired DealKeren, which offers daily deals in Indonesia, and its parent company Ensogo, which offer daily deals in Thailand and the Philippines. Officially launched in June 2010, Ensogo currently has more than 800,000 members[citation needed]. Ensogo claims that its members have saved more than $25 million USD in 2010-2011[citation needed]. Ensogo is backed by Rebate Networks, an international venture capital group specializing in social commerce.[18]
  • In April 2012, ONOSYS, a mobile and online ordering providor, was acquired by LivingSocial. ONOSYS operates in Cleveland, Ohio, and services over 75 restaurant chains including Papa Johns International Inc., Panera Bread, and Applebee's International Inc.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Livingsocial.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  2. ^ Hart, Kim. "LivingSocial Takes Top Spot Among Facebook Apps - Post I.T. - A Technology Blog From The Washington Post - (washingtonpost.com)". Voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  3. ^ "LivingSocial Becomes the Largest Facebook Application Ever". Allfacebook.com. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  4. ^ "Citybizlist Washington DC - Hungry Machine/Living Social Devours Another $10.2M - cbl". Dc.citybizlist.com. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  5. ^ Washington Business Journal
  6. ^ Settlement details
  7. ^ April 29, 2010 Jolie O'Dell View Comments (2010-04-29). "Groupon Competitor LivingSocial Has Now Raised $44 Million This Year". Mashable.com. Retrieved 2010-11-19.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Swisher, Kara (2010-09-16). "LivingSocial Brings Funding Up to $50 Million, Launches in 25 New Cities | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD". Kara.allthingsd.com. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  9. ^ a b December 3, 2010 Riley McDermid (2010-12-03). "Group buying startup LivingSocial starts living large with $175M from Amazon". VentureBeat.com. Retrieved 2010-12-03.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ April 4, 2011 Evelyn M. Rusli. (2011-04-04). "In Race With Groupon, LivingSocial Raises $400 Million". New York Times online.com. Retrieved 2011-04-06.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Klein, Allison (2011-04-05). "LivingSocial, based in D.C., raises $400 million as it vies with Groupon". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
  12. ^ "LivingSocial Continues to Differentiate with Purchase of Urban Escapes". www.blog.kelseygroup.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  13. ^ "LivingSocial Buys 5 million controlling stake in jump on it". www.dailydealmedia.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  14. ^ "LivingSocial Expands into Australia with 5m investment in jump on it". www.socialtimes.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  15. ^ "LivingSocial acquires a majority stake in Let's Bonus". www.fusiondiginet.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  16. ^ "LivingSocial gains wealth of ruby on rails expertise with Infoether acquisition". www.fusiondiginet.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  17. ^ "LivingSocial acquires rubyrails consultancy infoether". www.dctechsource.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  18. ^ "LivingSocial Expands Daily Deals Empire; Buys Ensogo, GoNabit And DealKeren". TechCrunch.
  19. ^ "LivingSocial Buys Online Ordering System Provider ONOSYS". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
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