SoSasta Acquisition Confirmed By Groupon

Well, last weekend there were reports that SoSasta had been acquired by Groupon. Even though SoSasta founder Ananya Bubna had updated his profile on LinkedIn to Managing Director, India at Groupon there was still no official confirmation from Groupon itself.

The company has now issued a Press Release confirming the acquisition of SoSasta in India, along with those of Grouper and Twangoo from Israel and South Africa respectively. Terms of the any of the three deals have not been disclosed. Rob Solomon, president and chief operating officer of Groupon said “Collective buying is in its infancy in India, Israel and South Africa and we see strong potential. Groupon is shaping the way local merchants market themselves in every corner of the world.” The new units Groupon India, Groupon South Africa and Groupon Israel will be a part of Groupon’s 4000 employee strong network that offers deals to over 50 million subscribers in 40 countries.

SoSasta, which was launched in the latter half of 2010, is among the younger and less established Groupon like daily deal sites in India. Others like Snapdeal, Taggle, MyDala now have a substantial footprint in India. And I’m sure many people are curious about the valuation it received.

Groupon.in however, redirects to GroupOff – one of its many clones in India. According to Whois it is registered to ValueNet Ecommerce Private Limited in Bangalore. I wonder if we’re likely to see a tussle over this domain. This is somewhat similar to the situation it is facing in Australia, where another company has registered to use the name within the country.

Groupon has just closed a $950 million investment round in which it was valued at $4.75 billion.

What do you think of this deal? Let us know.