Groupon has continued on its buying spree of fledgling social buying and e-commerce outfits with its latest acquisition being e-commerce startup Adku. Started one and a half years back by ex-Google employees who had branched out to set up their own startup, Adku uses a unique algorithmic method to craft shopping experiences in a so-called data-driven model.

This model is fairly new and this may be a big reason why Groupon have swallowed the bait. It’s however also interesting to note that Groupon have been buying companies left, right and centre and it’s difficult to see what the main point is aside from perhaps swallowing up all the competition.

Groupon have seen diminishing fortunes on the daily deals front and have branched out into Groupon Goods, a service that offers users discounted merchandise for a limited period as opposed to the other daily deals that relied heavily on service-oriented deals. The new acquisition will see three employees, Varma, Carlos Whitt and Jesse Shieh, join Groupon.

The three are also the co-founders of Adku and will be integrated into the core Groupon technical team. This acquisition will be seen by many as a means of acquiring new talent and trying to explore other avenues of growth even as the daily deals landscape becomes barren.

The announcement was made on the Adku blog and was confirmed by Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler who added; ”Such strong product technologists and engineers add great value to the development team we’re continuing to grow in our Palo Alto office,” a clear indication that the acquisition had more to do with the talent than with the company itself.

About Daniel Mbure

Daniel is a writer, strategist and serial tech entrepreneur. Follow Daniel on Twitter @thespianic