Google to take on Groupon in Europe

19 Sep 2011

Google has acquired a Berlin-based deals of the day website called DailyDeal that may see it bring the deals battle to Groupon in Europe.

Despite Groupon declining Google’s US$6bn earlier this year, Google has been putting a lot of weight into offering deals services.

DailyDeal is a Berlin-based company started only two years ago by brothers Fabian and Ferry Heilemann and the company has a turnover in the region of €30m-€40m.

The company is active in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

“When DailyDeal was founded in Berlin back in December 2009, there was just two of us,” the brothers wrote on their site’s blog.

“Since then, we have seen tremendous growth, as people throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland have used DailyDeal to find local deals on their favourite restaurants, travel destinations, entertainment venues and retail outlets.

“Our team has grown, too, and with it, our vision for DailyDeal. We see great opportunity to better connect businesses with consumers on a much larger scale, and we have found a team that shares our vision.

“That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve been acquired by Google! What began as a two-person start-up less than two years ago has transformed into a trusted platform to connect businesses with consumers. By combining our expertise with the Offers team at Google, we hope to expand our efforts to provide even greater deals to consumers,” the brothers said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com