A number of "daily deal" websites are planning to expand internationally.

Chicago-based daily deal site Groupon is hoping to raise $750m via an initial public offering this month to help with its global expansion. The company now employs 8000 personnel, a massive 433% increase on the 1500 staff it had on its books in 2010. According to greenfield investment monitor fDiMarkets, Groupon has recently announced it is planning to add staff to its California development base as well as open a subsidiary in Morocco. Expansion in India and China is also on the cards.

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Groupon is probably the best known “deal-of-the-day” provider but its success has spurred on a number of copy cat companies to look for similar growth. fDiMarkets’ Investor Signals, which tracks early-warning signs that a company may be considering investment, has tracked some of these companies’ intentions to expand internationally.

Washington, DC-based competitor LivingSocial has raised $400m in funding. The company will use the capital to hire more employees, further expand its operations globally and pursue more acquisitions.

Zozi, which has its headquarters in San Francisco and offers daily deals on unusual travel experiences, has raised $7m in funding to expand into dozens of new cities in the US and abroad.

Similarly, Brazil’s PeixeUrbano, has raised capital for geographical expansion in Latin American countries.

Spanish deals site, Groupalia, has raised $15m in funding, which it will use to consolidate its position in the countries where it now operates and to analyse new possibilities for growth. Groupalia has 6 million users in eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Peru and Spain.

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