From Daily Deals Startup to Daily Deals Giant with an IPO, Groupon Makes Us All Very Proud Today

An unofficial “take that!” to all of Groupon's critics.

It's no secret that Groupon

and Benzinga are closely connected. Early this spring, Lightbank – the technology investment vehicle from Groupon co-founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky – invested

. Obviously we wish Keywell and Lefkofsky the best in their other ventures, whether it's Groupon,

, or

. But through it all we've remained neutral on Groupon,

and the

. After overcoming a couple of obstacles, we were admittedly excited to hear that Groupon's

. And now that the day is finally here – now that investors are finally given the chance to purchase shares of Groupon – we can't deny that we're

. Yesterday afternoon, Benchmark

in anticipation of the firm's public offering. “Groupon's dominant position in the rapidly emerging daily deals segment of local commerce could lead to exponential growth and a potentially highly profitable enterprise,” Benchmark wrote. “We recommend investors participate in the IPO of Groupon.” Groupon has maintained its dominance by continually expanding into new markets while simultaneously introducing new offers. In June, the company

with Expedia Inc.

for a new venture called Groupon Getaways. Before that, Groupon

with Live Nation

for a new online ticketing deals channel called GrouponLive. While there are many other daily deals sites that have tried to compete, Groupon is quite a unique entity. While most companies give in when Google

makes a

, Groupon repeatedly resisted the temptation to sell, turning down

. After reading about

for the company's future, it's easy to see why. Despite a degree of skepticism from select members of the media, Groupon has had a

. The company never stopped searching for

, not even while its time was consumed by the

. “We are very good at knowing what we're not good at,” Brad Keywell, one of Groupon's founders, told Benzinga

. “We understand what we're not good at and we try to avoid those things.” With

, there's no telling

. Stay with Benzinga this morning and afternoon as we celebrate this momentous occasion.