BEST Funds Leads $5M Funding of Daily Deal Provider TeamBuy

TeamBuy.ca Inc., a provider of an online deals destination site, has secured $5 million in growth funding from Canadian venture firm BEST Funds, as well as participation from existing investors. The deal follows the company’s acquisition of FabFind.com in early August, and its January merger with venture-backed Dealfind.com. BEST Funds CEO John Richardson told peHUB Canada that his firm backed TeamBuy because of “its strong management team” and “ability to be successful in one of the toughest markets around.” Richardson said the company’s acquisitions will bring it much greater scale. For this reason, Richardson is “very optimistic about its future.” TeamBuy was founded in 2009 and is based in Toronto.

PRESS RELEASE

Leading Canadian Deal Site TeamBuy.ca Secures ~$5M Round

Financing focused on enhancing post-merger merchant experience and introducing add-on services

TORONTO – Canada’s largest online deals destination TeamBuy (www.teambuy.ca) announced today that it has raised ~$5M in funding from BEST Funds with participation from existing institutional investors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier in the year, TeamBuy merged with its largest Canadian competitor, Dealfind.com, to form the country’s pre-eminent online deal service. “Now that the integration is complete, we will be increasing our focus on upgrading the merchant experience” says Ghassan Halazon, CEO at TeamBuy.ca. “From investing in merchant facing teams and tools to introducing peripheral offerings and analytics, we are fully committed to attending to our vendors’ every need”.

TeamBuy has also actively been expanding into complimentary business models, offering additional quality content and variety for their users. The Company recently rolled out a digital flyer initiative highlighting weekly flyers & coupons from national retailers and brands. Additionally, the Company is leveraging its deep restaurant relationships and knowledge to advance into broader restaurant commerce initiatives that include Tasteaway.ca (takeout & delivery), MenuPalace.com (restaurant and hospitality guide), and Www.DiningDateNight.com (discounted reservations). TeamBuy has also joined the MasterPass™ by Mastercard program to offer its customers a streamlined checkout experience while shopping. Other user experience feature upgrades are being rolled out soon.
“In less than three and a half years, we have amassed a subscriber base of three and a half million members that have transacted with thousands of our merchant partners. We believe that we are in prime position to continue to unlock new and exciting ways to connect both sides, and a portion of this funding will go towards these innovative initiatives” states Halazon.

About TeamBuy.ca Canada’s first deal-a-day website, TeamBuy.ca was launched in Toronto in 2009 and appeared on popular reality TV Show, Dragons’ Den shortly after. Over the last three and a half years, the company has refined its group buying business model to emerge as a broader destination site that offers deals across multiple categories including on restaurants, healthy & beauty, electronics, Home, fashion, Luxury goods and general services. TeamBuy merged with Dealfind.com in January 2013, forming the country’s largest deal website with 3.5 million members across Canada and the US. The business is backed by Insight Venture Partners, ru-Net, and Georgian Partners among others.

SOURCE: TeamBuy.ca

For further information and interview requests, please contact:
Connie Tan TeamBuy Public Relations 1.855.832.6289 ext. 598 connie.tan@teambuy.ca

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.