Russian venture investor Ru-Net II has invested an undisclosed amount in Biglion, one of the numerous Russian Groupon copycats, reported blogger Yakov Sadchikov last week.
Biglion was founded in March 2010 amid the “Groupon fever” that hit Russia at that time. Dozens of sites appeared on the market, most exact copies with only slight variations on the American Groupon.com model.
Biglion was then labelled “copy/paste innovation” by TechCrunch founder and co-editor Michael Arrington. “The creators not only copied Groupon’s business model, but they also completely ripped off the site design and navigation, too. The two sites look nearly identical, even down to the smallest details,” noted Arrington.
Since that time, however, Biglion has changed its design and developed to reach 2 million registered users who bought 750,000 coupons in over 60 Russian, Ukrainian and Baltic cities, claims the site.
Biglion left EWDN’s request for confirmation or comments unanswered.
Among Biglion’s competitors are Groupon Russia, founded in March 2010 under the brand Darberry and acquired by Groupon.com in August 2010, Vigoda.ru, recently funded by Access Industries, KupiBonus.ru, launched in mid-2010 by Fast Lane, the Internet incubator of Direct Group, an important Western fund operating in Russia. Group buying site WeClever.ru, founded in early 2010, also counts among the top players.
Groupon Russia claims to control 80% of a market estimated at $200 – $250 million.
