Read the media release below for more info:

Group buying site Spreets receives $2 million investment and joins forces with brandsExclusive in new billion dollar industry

Australia’s first group buying site Spreets (www.spreets.com.au) has received $2 million in funding, with backing from two major European investors, Klaus Hommels and Oliver Jung.

Hommels, whose investments include Facebook and Skype, and Jung are currently concentrating their efforts on group buying sites around the world.

This new type of venture uses the power of social networks to offer significant discounts to consumers, while promoting local businesses. National deals start today with an offer from hip noodle-house Wagamama. Buy a $7 Spreets voucher and get $20 to spend in the restaurants. Groupon (www.groupon.com) in the USA is the world industry leader, valued at more than $1 billion after just 18 months.

Leading Spreets are some of Australia’s most respected entrepreneurs, Dean McEvoy, Phil Morle and Justus Hammer. McEvoy’s first business, Booking Angel (www.bookingangel.com), a restaurant booking system, was voted #7 in the BRW top100 web 2.0 businesses.

Previously CTO of music-sharing site Kazaa, Morle is now director of web venture incubator, Pollenizer (www.pollenizer.com). Pollenizer is renowned for its ability to bring focus to ideas and help develop them into successful businesses.

Online marketing expert Justus Hammer, who helped build GetPrice (www.getprice.com.au) into Australia’s leading shopping comparison site, gave up a senior position at Google to join the Spreets team. “I called Google up on what was meant to be my first day and told them I had a better offer. Spreets is a once in a lifetime opportunity”

Today, Spreets launches with a new design and announces an ongoing partnership with shopping club brandsExclusive (www.brandsexclusive.com.au). brandsExclusive’s 350,000+ active members quickly benefit with instant access to Spreets offers nationwide. “We offer premium fashion and lifestyle products at up to 70% off,” says founder Daniel Jarosch. “So when we came across Spreets we knew it was the perfect fit”.

Spreets has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with plans to open in Perth already underway. “In this competitive and fast-growing space we’re not just about daily deals, we’re about helping busy people discover things they never knew they loved,” says McEvoy.

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Wow. Has Obama succeeded in building an online political dialogue with the US electorate that will last beyond the current economic crisis? I hope so. We should all be watching and learning from what works and what doesn’t. This could be the world’s biggest e-government taking its first baby steps.

The Republican party must realise how so much of the Obama groundswell and fund-raising came from online engagement, so how will it be planning to respond in time for the next Federal election? Will they be able to mount an online community engagement of their own sooner than that? Is there room in one democracy for two standalone online community engagements or should the Obama administration welcome the Republican party into one single e-government community?

Meanwhile it will be fascinating to observe how the Obama administration’s social media team manage with a running start, building a platform using mostly off-the-shelf social media tools, how they cope with the sheer volume of interaction with the electorate while giving each citizen the feeling that their opinion is valued and treated with respect.

42,126 questions for Obama