The American Groupon Inc., which owns the largest Internet service for receiving discounts, has filed documents for an IPO. During the placement, the company intends to raise up to $750 million.

Groupon, which has been in business for less than three years, could be valued at up to $20 billion during the offering, The Wall Street Journal reports .

According to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Groupon's revenue was $644.7 million in the first quarter, up from $44.2 million in the same period in 2010. At the end of the year, its losses reached $413.4 million, in the first quarter – $113.9 million.

Groupon is currently pursuing an aggressive growth strategy and is ramping up spending at a rapid pace while facing stiff competition from similar services.

The company is also actively expanding in foreign markets, acquiring discount platforms in other countries. In particular, the service expanded at the expense of the Russian DarBeri.ru - now Groupon Russia (read the interview with the head of the company Elena Masolova in the material “The project can earn $10 million a month in just a year and a half” ). The company also bought its Japanese and European analogues - Qpod and City Deal.

The Groupon service appeared in 2008 in Chicago. The company offers to collectively take advantage of discounts and advantageous offers from retail chains. Groupon Inc. received revenue of $760 million in 2010, of which more than a third came from countries outside the United States, compared to $33 million in 2009.

At the end of 2010, Groupon rejected Google's offer to buy it for $6 billion, deciding to develop on its own. In April last year, a consortium of investors, which included DST (now Mail.ru Group), DST Global and Battery Ventures, invested $135 million in the service.

As Interfax notes , the Russian Mail.ru Group Limited owns 4.63% of Groupon shares. The main shareholders of Mail.ru Group are the structures of Alisher Usmanov, the South African holding Naspers and the Chinese Tencent.

Groupon filed documents for an IPO