LivingSocial Authorizes a $565M Funding Round

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Group discount site LivingSocial has authorized the sale of shares to raise up to $565 million in its fifth round of funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission discovered by VCExperts.com.

VentureBeat originally broke news that LivingSocial was working on closing a funding round led by online retailer Amazon.com. The group buying company raised $175 million from Amazon.com as part of its fourth round of funding. LivingSocial also recently closed a micro-funding round worth $2.9 million, according to a recent Form D filing with the SEC. LivingSocial was originally valued at around $1 billion when it closed that funding round, which included an extra $8 million from Lightspeed Ventures.

LivingSocial is offering 100 million shares at a price of around $5.65 per share, according to reports. That would value the company at around $3 billion if the round is fully subscribed, based on the company's 630 million outstanding shares. The new information comes from an updated certificate of incorporation filed March 31 in Washington D.C., where the company is held by a holding company called Hungry Machine.

Lots of small, local businesses have inventory they can afford to give away — whether it's empty seats at a restaurant or space in a yoga class. They can offer heavily discounted fare to people who subscribe to email newsletters from the likes of Groupon, the dominant player in this business, or LivingSocial, the perennial runner-up. Each business basically bets that it will make money from the new customers it attracts.

VentureBeat doesn't personally have a copy of the document, and it hasn't hit the wires on the SEC's main database. That typically happens within 15 days of the authorization. The Wall Street Journal also reported the same thing, citing people familiar with the situation. Still, take this one with a grain of salt.

Tags: daily deal, discount, group buying

Companies: Groupon, Livingsocial

By MIGUEL HELFT 05 Apr, 2011

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b28c586ecfdddea3f6925e53ea91289c
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