LivingSocial, number two on the market of websites that sell discount coupons after Groupon, began discussions with several investment banks for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that could evaluate the company at $10 to $15 billion, according to several sources cited by the Bloomberg news agency.
They argue that LivingSocial attempts to collect about a billion dollars on the offer and had discussions with investment banks such as Barclays, JPMorgan Chase and Allen to lead the bid.
LivingSocial, led by co-founder Tim O’Shaughnessy has already invested close to 400 million dollars in April, valuing the company at that time to 3.5 billion dollars. The company will generate a billion dollars revenue in 2011, sources said.
In an interview in December, O’Shaughnessy said that this year the company intends to triple its workforce to 1,800 employees and aims to double the number of cities where it operates, bringing it to 300. Groupon has over 7,000 employees and sells discount coupons to over 500 cities.
Companies offer discount coupons every day for restaurants, hotels, events and other goods and services. The market of discount coupons is expected to reach 2015 to generate over $3.9 billion in the U.S., compared to 873 million dollars in 2010, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey.
The investors include Institutional Venture Partners LivingSocial, T. Rowe Price Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Revolution LLC, Grotech Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners. Last December Amazon.com has invested 175 million dollars in LivingSocial.