Australia’s online retailing group CatchOfTheDay, which operates e-commerce site CatchOfTheDay.com.au and daily deal site Scoopon.com.au, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding (presumably around $80 million) valuing the company at $200 million, the company announced this morning.
The round was secured from New York-based Tiger Global and a group of Australian businessmen, including billionaire James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings, Andrew Bassat, co-founder and CEO of Seek and Glenn Poswell, founder of Gannet Capital.
You may remember the name Scoopon from the fact that Groupon recently sued the CatchOfTheDay subsidiary for squatting on the Groupon.com.au domain name, registering the company under the name Groupon Pty Limited and even attempting to register the Groupon trademark in Australia. (Groupon operates Stardeals down under for the time being.)
Groupon lodged an intellectual property action in the Federal Court in Victoria – he case has since progressed through the courts and is due for a 5-day hearing beginning on August 1. Groupon is also taking Scoopon’s founders to court in Illinois, claiming federal trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.
CatchOfTheDay says the financing round marks the largest growth capital investment in the Australian e-commerce sector to date. The company’s founders, brothers Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, will retain a controlling stake in the group businesses, with Lee Fixel from Tiger Global and Jason Lenga from Seek joining the board.
The group, which is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, says it currently rakes in roughly $4 million a week, and employs some 100 people.
The proceeds of the funding round will be used to expand geographically, introduce ‘specialized offerings’ and develop and launch mobile applications. And perhaps also the Groupon lawsuit.
Worth noting: Tiger Global recently invested in another Groupon clone, Brazil’s Peixe Urbano.
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