Done! Groupon Closes Out Nearly Billion-Dollar Round

Groupon has finished raising its nearly $1 billion round of financing, after weeks of noisy speculation.

Coming after its non-marriage-to-Google soap opera, let’s hope it can now go back to running a social-buying business.

The daily-deals site that snubbed Google’s $6 billion takeover offer said it will use the funds to fuel global expansion, invest in technology and provide liquidity for employees and early investors.

With this much cash on the table, there’s a huge consortium of investors participating in what is a second tranche of recent funding.

Those investors include: Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Allen & Company LLC acted as financial adviser.

Groupon’s previous investors included: New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, and Mail.ru Group (formerly DST Global).

For the past few weeks, the news has been dribbling out. First, it was rumored that Groupon was looking for the extraordinary sum of $1 billion.

Then it was confirmed that nearly half the round had been raised–with much of it going to buy out current shareholders (presumably to make them happy after turning away Google’s mega buyout offer).

Those investors included: T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Capital Group and Morgan Stanley.

And now this financing is all over, making it a very extraordinarily large round of private equity completed in a very short period of time.

Groupon will most likely have enough funds for its most aggressive expansion plans.

But the question now is whether this will keep it happy as an independent company, leading to an IPO, or will spur other offers of acquisition at even higher valuations?

Let’s not forget that Groupon continues to compete head-on with Amazon-backed LivingSocial, which recently garnered a much smaller cash infusion of about $180 million.

Here’s Groupon’s official press release with a hipster goofy headline–let’s hope the company’s future performance isn’t as silly:

Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars

Investment to Continue Rapid Growth of Global Social Commerce Platform

CHICAGO–Today Groupon announced that it has completed a $950 million round of financing. Groupon will use the funds to fuel global expansion, invest in technology, and provide liquidity for employees and early investors.

The financing consists of several venture capital firms and late-stage investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor. Previous funding rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, and Mail.ru Group (formerly DST.)

In the last year, Groupon has been called “the fastest growing company ever” by Forbes Magazine and “America’s best website” by one of Groupon’s television commercials. In 2010, Groupon:

• Expanded from 1 to 35 countries

• Launched in almost 500 new markets (from 30 markets in 2009)

• Grew subscribers by 2,500% from 2 million to over 50 million

• Saved consumers over $1.5 billion

• Worked with 58,000 local businesses, serving over 100,000 deals worldwide

“We’re thrilled that Groupon has earned the confidence of some of the world’s most respected investment firms,” said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon. “With their support, we will continue on our mission to change the way people shop locally and serve the world’s local businesses.”