• FEBRUARY 17, 2012, 7:28 P.M. ET

Groupon Acquires Start-Up Hyperpublic

By JOHN LETZING

Groupon Inc. has acquired Hyperpublic Inc., snapping up the two-year-old location-based technology start-up amid a growth spurt at the daily deals service.

"It's a great outcome for everybody," Hyperpublic CEO and co-founder Jordan Cooper said in an interview on Friday. "We built our relationship with Groupon over a number of months and it just continued to strengthen."

Mr. Cooper declined to comment on terms of the deal. Hyperpublic has raised $1.15 million from a number of investors.

The New York-based start-up provides data technology to websites that enable users to post their locations such as restaurants and bars online, and search for other things nearby.

Hyperpublic will now not provide technology to sites outside of Groupon, Mr. Cooper said. "Select" members of his ten-person team will join Groupon as employees, he said.

Chicago-based Groupon has become the established leader in the daily deals market, with a business model that involves serving up daily coupons to users, and then splitting the resulting proceeds with merchants.

Groupon has been focused on developing the mobile aspect of its business as a means to further expand, which Hyperpublic could contribute to with its expertise in local data.

A Groupon spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Groupon went public in November in a $700 million IPO. The company recently posted a fourth-quarter loss, even as revenue more than doubled to $506.5 million.

Write to John Letzing at john.letzing@dowjones.com