The American company that purchased Melbourne internet coupon start-up RetailMeNot last year has now received a $US10 million investment from Google’s venture capital division, Google Ventures.
The move comes after Whaleshark has already raised over $US120 million, with investments in a number of different discount and coupon websites including Deals.com, Deals2Buy, CouponShare and CouponSeven.
The investment comes as the coupon space continues to heat up alongside the exploding group buying market. RetailMeNot co-founder Guy King, Stateless Systems and Whaleshark media were contacted this morning by SmartCompany, but no reply was received before publication.
It is unknown how both Guy King and co-founder Bevan Clark will benefit, if at all, from the new investment, although it is known that the pair have stepped back from day-to-day duties at the company.
TechCrunch has reported the $US10 million round, which is being led by Google but has some other investors involved as well, will also see investor Brian Sharples, who is chief executive of Homeaway, join the company’s board of directors.
Sharples has been successful in raising several hundred million dollars for his own website, which organises vacation rental houses for people on overseas and domestic trips.
The investment also comes as Google has been expanding its operations in the coupons and deals areas, launching Google Offers in Portland and releasing an updated iPhone App to account for discounts and deals.
The publication reports that Whaleshark is making $50 million in revenue per year – with much of that coming from RetailMeNot – and that over 100,000 businesses are now offering deals through its portfolio of websites.
While the purchase price for RetailMeNot was not disclosed last year, it has been reported that most of a $US90 million funding round was spent on the company.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
