Groupon was a hot topic at the WIT Conference last October with many speakers making references to it and news that it's expanding in Asia – carried in this post in e27 – did not come as a surprise.

In December, the company that offers online coupons for discounts at restaurants, shops and other services of local companies acquired daily deal sites in Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines and Taiwan.

Rob Solomon, COO, said, "We see enormous potential in the Asian marketplace, and the expansion of Groupon to Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Taiwan is an important next step."

Groupon acquired deal sites Beeconomic in Singapore and uBuyibuy in Hong Kong, while in Taiwan, it acquired Atlastpost, a location-based social networking site that has about 1.2 million users.

The Groupon model, launched in 2008, has stirred up much interest and there is talk of it going public and seeking to raise US$15 billion through the IPO, according to a report in Mashable. It rejected a bid by Google to buy it for US$6 billion.

One thing's for sure, its entry will fire up an already competitive space.

Said Siva Ganeshanandan, vice president-Asia Pacific of Autonomy Optimost, said, "This space is unsustainably overcrowded at the moment with a large number of companies doing pretty much the same thing. It's a matter of time to see which ones go bust, which global ones pull our of specific markets, and who buys who, over the course of 12 months."

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