Wikipedia
nearbuy (earlier Groupon India) is a pan-India online marketplace platform (with Groupon as a minority stakeholder now) that allows customers to connect with local merchants and engage with each other in 33 cities in India. It provides location-based deals and coupons – delivered to mobiles and desktops – in various product and service categories, such as F&B, travel, wellness, home and auto services, movies, in-store shopping, etc.
Incorporated in May 2010 as Groupon India Private Limited, the company changed its name to nearbuy in August 2015 after successfully raising USD 20 million (about INR 100 crores) funding from Sequoia India, an arm of a Menlo Park, California-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital.
The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, a part of India’s national capital region (NCR) of Delhi. Following the equity funding from Sequoia India, nearbuy became an independent business entity and ceased to operate as a subsidiary of Groupon, Inc.
The reason behind nearbuy’s rebranding was because Indian operations required more attention and investment than Groupon could provide.
In the words of the then CEO of Groupon India and current CEO and co-founder of nearbuy, Ankur Warikoo, "They feel the path (Groupon) India will follow to become a leader in local commerce may not be one that Groupon follows globally."
A similar sentiment was earlier echoed by Groupon Inc.’s interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Brian Kayman, “ India, like Korea, is a fast-moving and competitive market that we believe will need significant investment to fully unlock value.”
Since many sites (like Snapdeal.com , Mydala.com and Koovs.com) have changed their business models by embracing online retail sales and reducing or abandoning the discounted price model, it remains to be seen how nearbuy is able to perform in the long run.