Groupon raises $950m

Group buying site Groupon has completed a $950m (£610m) round of financing, the company has confirmed.

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Groupon now has a multi billion-dollar valuation and analysts say the company looks likely to go public later in the year.

The investment will be used for further expansion outside the United States as well as to enhance technology and provide liquidity for employees and early investors.

The fast-growing company now has 50 million subscribers, up from 2 million at the end of 2009.

The new financing includes a number of venture capital firms and late-stage investors.

The financing round comes shortly after the Chicago-based company snubbed a reported $6bn (£3.8bn) acquisition bid by Google in December last year.

The company was rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority earlier this month for running promotional ads that were misleading about how much customers could save with its deals. Groupon said it would address the errors through extensive staff training and introducing quality control safeguards.

See Ruth Mortimer’s column on Groupon here.