The term “daily deals” is close to an anathema in the U.S. these days, but in China the industry appears to be on greener ground. According to an article spotted by Tech in Asia, Chinese daily-deals site Gaopeng reportedly closed a $30 million round of new funding. The funding, which is unconfirmed, is believed to be primarily from its joint-venture partners Groupon and Tencent.
Gaopeng will reportedly use the funds to increase its online-to-offline business and improve its mobile experience via a purchasing platform called Weituangou, which it launched.
Last year, Gaopeng (in which Groupon has a small stake) merged with Gaopeng, Ftuan and QQtuan. The company had just 2.7 percent of the Chinese daily-deals market in the first quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the previous quarter. The daily-deals industry in China is also growing.
A recent survey from Reply.com found that 85 percent of local merchants in the U.S. haven’t run a daily deal in the past six months, and 61 percent said they’re unlikely to run one in the next 3-6 months.
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