Groupon connects users with discounts
Image from Flickr.
It appears investors are starting to get hip to the fact that the money nowadays is in saving people money. Groupon, an online service that sends coupons and alerts on discounts to its users, has raised $30 million to expand its business.
Groupon is part coupon service and part social networking site. People can sign up to receive alerts about deals in their cities and coupons for all types of different businesses. Coupons and discounts are great ways to save money and avoid needing no faxing payday loans.
Who is investing in Groupon?
The Chicago Tribune reports that venture capital firm Accel Partners led the effort to raise the money to invest Groupon. Accel Partners also found investors for Facebook. New Enterprise Associates, which has invested in Groupon before, also helped raise the $30 million.
It’s a good sign in an economy like this for a business to be getting repeat investors. Helping people save money is certainly a very marketable service right now, so businesses that can actually capitalize on the bad economy have got it made. Other businesses and services that help people control debt, refinance mortgages and save money in other ways are also doing well as families all over the U.S. focus on being frugal and getting out of debt.
More about Groupon
Groupon is able to find and connect people with great deals and coupons by getting enough people to sign up for a group discount. Group discounts have been around for ages, but it used to be that people had to rally their friends, family and acquaintances in order to take advantage of them.
Groupon harnessed the Internet’s ability to connect strangers, and that’s how the service was born. In many cases Groupon sends out offers to all the people signed up for the service in a certain city, and if enough people sign up to take advantage of a deal, the whole group can have access to the discount or coupon being offered.
It’s obvious more and more people are looking for ways to save money. With the way the economy, we really can’t afford spending our hard-earned money on useless luxuries. One thing I can say the recession has done is remind us of the importance of good money management. There’s no doubt that, because of the current economic crisis, more people have become a lot more responsible with their money and are finally taking their credit seriously.