Local coupon and deals generating platform Groupon India has raised ‘external funding’ of $20 million led by Sequoia Capital yesterday, TechCrunch reported from sources. We contacted Ankur Warikoo, CEO, Groupon India to ask about this development but he declined to comment on anything funding related.
More funding in the offing?
The report added that Groupon India is also planning to raise another round of funding this year and one next year, possibly aimed at separating itself from the US-based Groupon and becoming more autonomous. The report also mentioned that only some senior staffers knew about the deal, not the rest of the employees or public at large.
Groupon was formed in India after it bought the Indian platform SoSasta in early 2011. SoSasta founders Ananya and Udayan Bubna joined Groupon post the acquisition. Groupon was not immediately able to shift to the “groupon.co.in” domain because of domain squatting issues. The company was called Crazeal before it was renamed to Groupon in late 2012.
22% of Groupon India business through mobile, world revenues:
Groupon reported that 22% of Groupon India’s business was generated through mobile in Q2 2014, while globally, mobile accounted for 50% of their business for the same quarter. The TechCrunch report added that Groupon’s international (non US) websites made $101 million in Q4 2014 out of the $925 million overall revenues it earned in Q4 2014. In comparison, in Q4 2013, international sites made $74 million out of the total revenue of $768 million in the same quarter. The rise in revenues is accounted to Groupon’s January 2014 acquisition of the Korean e-commerce company Ticket Monster.
