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§ Private Profile · Washington, DC, USA
LivingSocial is a technology company.
LivingSocial has raised $1.8B across 13 funding rounds.
Key people at LivingSocial.
LivingSocial was founded in 2009 by Aaron Batalion (Co-Founder, 1st CTO).
LivingSocial has raised $1.8B in total across 13 funding rounds.
LivingSocial is the best place to find and share unique things to do in your area. With dozens of deal categories offering unforgettable local experiences, travel deals, products, and services in cities all over, we have everything you need to save money and explore your world.
Key people at LivingSocial.
LivingSocial is a technology company that operates an online marketplace for discovering and purchasing discounted local experiences, activities, products, and travel deals in cities worldwide.[1][3][4][6] It connects consumers with merchants by offering daily deals, leveraging social sharing to drive group purchases and viral growth, primarily serving urban users seeking affordable outings like restaurant meals, events, and excursions.[1][3][6] The platform solves the problem of discovering local deals by curating time-sensitive offers, helping merchants acquire customers while providing users savings, and it scaled rapidly to over 70 million members across 27 countries before its acquisition.[3][6]
LivingSocial was founded in 2007 in Washington, D.C., by four engineers from Revolution Health Group: Tim O’Shaughnessy, Aaron Batalion, Eddie Frederick, and Val Aleksenko (the only co-founder still involved in a technical capacity).[1][5] Initially launched as Hungry Machine, a social discovery platform with Facebook apps like Visual Bookshelf for sharing interests, it pivoted to social commerce in 2009 after acquiring Buy a Friend a Drink, which enabled partnerships with local bars and restaurants.[1] Early traction exploded by late 2010 with 20 million subscribers in 120 markets across 11 countries, fueled by the daily deals boom; the company raised over $930 million from investors including Amazon, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Grotech Ventures across 10 rounds.[1][3][4]
(Note: LivingSocial was acquired, ending its independent operations, which differentiates it from ongoing competitors like Groupon.[2][3])
LivingSocial rode the early 2010s daily deals wave, capitalizing on social media's rise (e.g., Facebook integration) and post-recession demand for value-driven local commerce amid smartphones enabling on-the-go bookings.[1][3] Its timing aligned with Groupon's 2008 launch, sparking a sector explosion where group discounts became a key merchant acquisition tool, influencing e-commerce evolution toward experiential marketplaces.[2][6] Market forces like urbanization and experiential spending favored it, but intense competition and merchant fatigue led to consolidation; LivingSocial's acquisition amplified the ecosystem by validating the model for giants like Amazon, shaping modern platforms like Yelp or DoorDash in localized services.[2][3]
LivingSocial's legacy as a deals pioneer endures through its acquired operations (now tied to Groupon), but as an independent entity, it highlights the risks of hyper-growth in fad-driven markets—peak valuation and funding gave way to acquisition amid sector churn.[2][3] Looking ahead, trends like AI-personalized deals, Web3 loyalty (e.g., integrated wallets), and resurgence in local experiences post-pandemic could revive similar models, potentially evolving its IP into modern loyalty platforms.[3][6] Its influence may grow indirectly via patents and alumni, reinforcing social commerce's role in connecting consumers to hyper-local economies, much like its founding pivot humanized online shopping.
LivingSocial has raised $1.8B across 13 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $110.0M Other Equity in February 2013.
LivingSocial was founded in 2009 by Aaron Batalion (Co-Founder, 1st CTO).
LivingSocial has raised $1.8B in total across 13 funding rounds.
LivingSocial's investors include Amazon, Steve Case, Grotech Ventures, J.P. Morgan, Lightspeed Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, Kevin Hartz, BoxGroup, Curie.Bio, Forerunner Ventures, Founders Fund.
