Groupon partners with foursquare for real-time daily deals

Location-enabled mobile social network foursquare is now rolling out geo-targeted Groupon daily deals to users across the U.S. and Canada. According to Mashable, regular Groupon deals and real-time Groupon Now offers are currently available to foursquare users in the social commerce juggernaut's native Chicago and will expand to additional markets throughout the weekend.

Foursquare confirmed the partnership to Mashable. Groupon and foursquare will share revenues, splitting an undisclosed sum generated with each deal sold.

Rumors of a potential Groupon/foursquare tie-up first emerged in late May, but when foursquare announced the launch of its location-targeted daily coupon service earlier this month, Groupon was not named among the initial wave of partners alongside LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe's Gilt City subsidiary, AT&T (NYSE:T) Interactive, BuyWithMe and Zozi. At that time, foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley told The Wall Street Journal that the firm's deep insight into user behaviors will help better target offers and generate a higher conversation rate: "We are trying to see if our targeting works and how users will react," he said. "The deals haven't been heavily targeted with some of these providers."

Foursquare users check-in at local venues on their mobile devices, earning points and virtual badges for visiting establishments on a regular basis. Last month, foursquare topped 10 million users worldwide, with check-ins at local venues now surpassing 3 million each day. Days later, the startup completed a new $50 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with contributions from existing investors O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures as well as new investor, Spark Capital. Insiders say foursquare is now valued at $600 million.

Each day, Groupon presents bargains from retailers or restaurants spanning across hundreds of international markets. According to the Groupon website, the service has saved shoppers more than $2 billion since launching in late 2008. In early June, Groupon filed for an initial public offering expected to raise roughly $750 million--however, the IPO is attracting attention from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a metric the startup calls "adjusted consolidated segment operating income," or adjusted CSOI. Investors and analysts contend that CSOI draws attention away from Groupon's extensive marketing costs and related expenses.

For more:
- read this Mashable article

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