Hyperpublic, the two-year-old startup helmed by Lerer Ventures partner Jordan Cooper, has been acquired by Groupon for an undisclosed price.
On Friday, Mr. Cooper teased the news with a few ellipses on Twitter before linking to the announcement. “Today is an INSANE day! We are so proud to announce that Hyperpublic has been acquired by the rocket ship that is Groupon (GRPN),” Hyperpublic wrote. “This is a huge win for our team, our investors, and everyone who contributed to our company over the past two years.” Then there was a party at The Standard, natch.
Hyperpublic collects data about locations in an open database. Its primary products are APIs. “Anyone can add objects to the database and developers will be able to build applications on top of the data,” the company says.
Some of the 10 members of the Hyperpublic team will ship out to work at Groupon, while others will pursue their own projects. Mr. Cooper will have an official title at Groupon, although specifics have not been disclosed (or maybe, have not been decided).
Mr. Cooper declined to talk about the negotiations. “Groupon of course has an interest in better understanding the places that their users interact with everyday,” he wrote in an email over the weekend. “We’ve been focused on that problem for a long time.”
However, Mr. Cooper has emphasized to press that Groupon bought Hyperpublic for its technology and database, and although some employees would be going to Groupon, this was not a talent acquisition.
Groupon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why it wanted to buy Hyperpublic.
Hyperpublic raised just $1.5 $1.15 million in seed funding mostly locally from Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, RRE Ventures, NextView Ventures, thrive capital, SoftBank Capital and Hudson River Angels.
