Toronto-based daily deals sites TeamBuy.ca and Dealfind.com were acquired by Atlanta-based nCrowd Inc. on Wednesday, after their owner made court filings for creditor protection as they underwent a legal restructuring process.
Couch Commerce Inc. is the firm that owned several Canadian-based deals sites that also included MenuPalace.com. It received a bridge loan from nCrowd on Sept. 11 after filing for creditor protection during its restructuring process that began with a filing made Aug. 29. Now a brief open letter posted to nCrowd’s website, signed by CEO Brian Conley, says that nCrowed has completed its acquisition of the sites. The sites will be operated under nCrowd Commerce Inc., which is registered in British Columbia.
While merchants working with TeamBuy and Dealfind to offer discounted sales, often in a bid to attract new customers, are wondering if they will ever be paid for their sales on those sites, that issue is not addressed in Conley’s letter. But he does offer a discount to consumers shopping on the sites as a way to smooth things over.
“I am so excited to have you as a member of the nCrowd family that I want to personally invite you to take an Extra 20% Off ANY AND ALL purchases you make with us through Tuesday, September 30th, (sic)” the letter states.
Visitors to the TeamBuy.ca and Dealfind.com sites will now find they are rerouted to nCrowd.ca.
According to sources familiar with the company, nCrowd will keep TeamBuy’s Toronto office in tact and will continue to seek business with local merchants. A more concerted public relations push will be made at the beginning of October to communicate the changes.
Merchants that sold deals on the sites after Aug. 29 can expect to be paid in full, the source says. But those selling before Aug. 29 are caught up in the creditor protection process and it’s not clear at this point if nCrowd plans to pay those bills or not. Since nCrowd acquired the assets of Couch Commerce and not its liabilities, it will not have an obligation to pay creditors – rather, a court process will determine how that is done.
