The battle between LivingSocial and Groupon for Daily Deals supremacy is about to get more interesting. This after LivingSocial announced that a fresh round of funding totaling $200 million will be made in the near future to shore up operations and extend the reach of the popular daily deals website.
The funding is expected to raise LivingSocial’s valuation to between $5 billion and $6 billion, and will see present investors Amazon, JP Morgan Asset Management and T Rowe Price all chipping in to make the $200 million total. This capital injection will need to filter down to LivingSocial bottom line quickly if it is to keep up with Groupon. You’ll recall that Groupon went public only a few weeks ago and since then, the company’s share price has jumped dramatically, sending Groupon’s valuation to a dizzying $16.7 billion.LivingSocial also has a reputation to protect. The company made a bold prediction that it would surpass Groupon as the number one Daily Deals website by 2012 has been very busy launching a series of new offerings. The company recently launched a restaurant delivery service in the Washington D.C. region in an attempt to match Groupon’s new personalization services.
Perhaps only an IPO can bring the LivingSocial market cap near $16 billion, and from the look of things, an IPO is far off.
Will LivingSocial catch Groupon? Share your thoughts with us below.
Source: http://www.sitetrail.com/2011/11/23/livingsocial-to-grab-another-200-million-in-funding/