Groupon Reels in Big-Data Startup Adku

First stop, Google, next stop Groupon? Adku, started by former Googlers Ajit Varma, Carlos Whitt, and Jesse Shieh, was just acquired by the latter.

Image: Adku

Groupon has sealed another deal with a startup, this time acquiring Silicon Valley-based startup Adku, founded by a group of former Google employees, for undisclosed terms.

Adku, which describes itself as being in stealth mode, is backed by venture capitalist biggies including Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures and True Ventures. Its cofounder, Ajit Varma, announced the acquisition on the company’s blog Monday:

Adku started a year and a half ago from our passion for big data and a desire to create products that would instantly and automatically give users a more personalized experience. We had ambitious goals and some of the most rewarding and busy days of our lives. We were also fortunate to assemble an amazing team of engineers and investors and create something special. We started talking to Groupon to bring our technology to more customers and quickly realized that we wanted to be a deeper part of a company that people love and is empowering merchants and customers in a way that’s never been done before.

Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler told the Chicago Tribune that three of Adku's employees will be joining Groupon, and will be based in Groupon’s Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, California. The three are Adku's co-founders Varma, Carlos Whitt (who sports a paper In-N-Out burger cap on Adku’s “About Us” page) and Jesse Shieh.

"Such strong product technologists and engineers add great value to the development team we're continuing to grow in our Palo Alto office," Mossler told the publication.

Earlier this fall, Groupon quietly bought another Silicon Valley startup , Campfire Labs, whose founders have been brought onto the Groupon team to help with its social-media capabilities.

In January, Groupon acquired Mertado, a social shopping service that got off the ground at Y Combinator, and which has expertise in video content and social shopping in January.

Such acquisitions have been commonplace of late—and not just for Groupon. As CNN Money recently pointed out, startups are finding themselves in a bit of a pinch these days:

There's essentially three options for a tech venture outgrowing its startup days: Get big, get bought or go broke. Sensing hard times ahead a growing number of entrepreneurs are casting around for suitors and a shot at door #2.

Meanwhile, larger companies such as Groupon are casting around for talent. The best way to find it, in some cases, is to simply reel in entire companies—including the employees and the technologies that they’ve created.