DailyDeal has been bought by Google, according to the German startup’s founders. In a statement on its website, the daily deal startup announced it had been acquired by Google less than two years after being founded by brothers Fabian and Ferry Heilemann. Fabian – who answered criticism of the daily deal space in an editorial on Silicon Allee in June – confirmed the deal to Silicon Allee today.
The message on the DailyDeal website said: “What began as a two-person startup 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 Heilemann brothers are set to stay on at DailyDeal, which operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and which has been a success since its launch in December 2009. The company is reportedly expecting a turnover of up to $40m in 2011 after selling more than 250,000 vouchers in the first three months of the year.
The acquisition of DailyDeal – largely seen as a Groupon clone – comes despite the introduction of Google Offers earlier this year as an apparent competitor to Groupon. Google had previously had a reported bid of around $6 billion to buy Groupon turned down.