Groupon expands to Asia, acquires Singapore and Hong Kong startups

Groupon today announced its expansion plans to Asia, acquiring daily deal sites in Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines and Taiwan.

In a statement released to selected media organizations, Rob Solomon, COO of Groupon said, “We see enormous potential in the Asian marketplace, and the expansion of Groupon to Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Taiwan is an important next step. We’re excited to leverage an incredibly Internet-savvy customer base to generate increased sales for local merchants.”

Groupon has acquired deal sites Beeconomic in Singapore and uBuyibuy in Hong Kong, while in Taiwan, it acquired Atlastpost, a location-based social networking site that has about 1.2 million users. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

With Groupon entering the SouthEast Asian market, it remains to be seen if Rebate Networks and other deal sites will be snapped up. Launched in 2008, Groupon now serves more than 250 markets and was recently rumored to be acquired by Google for US$2.5 billion to US$5 billion.

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