VCs invest another $26m in Groupalia

Part of this new investment was provided by the founders and managing directors of fellow private sales club Privalia, namely Lucas Carné and José Manuel Villanueva. The management team retains a minority stake.

Led by Nauta, the venture firms were motivated to re-invest due to the company's strong sales growth and profit margins, as well as the speed with which its marketing efforts have reaped reward.

Nauta and Caixa participated in a €2.5m series-A round of funding for the company in May 2010. Both investors then led a €5m second round of funding in October 2010. In April 2011, General Atlantic, Insight and Index joined them in providing a $15m cash boost.

While those earlier rounds enabled Groupalia to expand into new markets such as Italy, Mexico and Brazil, this latest funding will allow the company to consolidate its position as a major global player in the online group buying sector and increase its international presence in other strategic countries. It will also strive to improve the quality of its campaigns and provide a better service to customers and partners.

Groupalia expects to see consolidation of the online group buying segment over the coming years, which could lead to it becoming a direct competitor to daily deals service Groupon, which currently occupies the number-one spot.

Nauta invested via its Tech Invest III fund and claims that further funding may be provided for bolt-on acquisitions in the future.

Company
Founded in 2009, Barcelona-based Groupalia is a discount website offering a daily deal on gyms, spas, events and restaurants in eight different countries across Europe and Latin America.

The company has so far attracted 10 million users and, having posted a turnover of $19m in July 2011, expects to generate total sales of $175m this year – 18 times its 2010 revenues – and double this amount in 2012. It currently employs in excess of 600 staff and, while its EBITDA is negative overall, it is positive in the countries in which the firm is already established (Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina).

People
General Atlantic managing director Gabriel Caillaux, Index partner Giuseppe Zocco and Caixa director Carlos Trenchs led the deal. Larry Handen, Nimay Mehta, Rachel Grossman and Sam Brooks worked on the transaction for Insight. Marcel Rafart, who led the deal for Nauta, is the chairman of Groupalia. Joaquín Engel is the company's CEO.

Advisers
Equity – Garrigues, Alex Pujol (Legal).

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• Topics
• Southern Europe
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Caixa Capital Risc
• Index Ventures
• Spain