• Bloomberg, Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:10 PM

Rather than go public, LivingSocial could raise over $200 million at a valuation approaching $6 billion, Bloomberg reports. "The proposed funding round may include both equity and debt," Bloomberg reports, citing two sources. The daily deal site was reportedly in talks with banks earlier this year about raising $1 billion in an IPO, but is reconsidering the strategy given the volatile stock market.

Rival and market leader Facing the same factors, Groupon recently reconsidered its own IPO, but is now reportedly back on track to go public. Across sectors, companies have sidelined U.S. public offerings at a faster rate in the past three months than the comparable period of any year since 2004, according to Bloomberg data.

The private funding round would likely include some of the company's existing backers, as well as new investors, sources tell Bloomberg. LivingSocial raised $400 million in April, valuing the company at a reported $3.5 billion. It has raised a total of $627 million from investors, including Grotech Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Amazon.

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