Groupon Founders Find New Work Investing in Deals Startup
Earlier this week, news broke out that Groupon investors are losing faith in the company. The company recently reported their second-quarter revenue which rose 45 percent to $568.3 million compared to last year, but their billings – the money they collects from coupon-like offers before paying a cut to merchants – dropped by 5 percent compared to the previous quarter, despite a 38 percent rise to $1.29 billion. And that five percent decline is what’s driving investors out the door. Since the company went public last year, some of their investors have already sold their shares and left the company.
But Groupon’s current status doesn’t mean the daily deals sector is dying. It’s actually gaining new life.
MyCabbage
DealsGORound is rebranding as MyCabbage – online and mobile platform where users can store, track, share, and even sell cabbages or deals with friends. The redesign comes after a $950,000 funding round led by Lightbank with the participation of I2A, New World Ventures, and several angel investors, as well as the acquisition of daily deal dashboard Cravist.
Since the company launched, they’ve operated in Ligthbank’s office which is the investment fund of Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.
Kris Petersen, founder and CEO of DealsGORound now known as MyCabbage, said that the transition was a much needed move since they found it hard to compete with larger daily deals sites as well as dealing with disputes caused by sold deals that are no longer valid.
“I know people who used to buy four daily deals a month and now they buy one every other month. We found people are not buying deals and discounts for lifestyle anymore, they are buying deals that are for their regular life,” Petersen said.
With MyCabbage, daily deals fanatics can upload and organize their coupons by linking their Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Local, and other daily deals accounts, type in unique gift card codes, or even uploading photos of paper coupons. MyCabbage’s task is to remind users if any of their coupons are expiring so they can use them immediately, give them as a gift or sell them to other coupon lovers.
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