Groupon.com, a website that helps consumers find great deals and stores, restaurants, and other services where they live, has received $135 million in funding to support the site’s global expansion and also facilitate liquidity for employees and early investors. The funding round was led by Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Battery Ventures.

Groupon is a great site that helps consumers find deals in neighborhoods and locations close to where they live, currently numbering over fifty cities in the U.S. and Canada. The collective deals consumers have found through Groupon, ranging from fine dining to beauty treatments, totals to more than $150 million in savings. Groupon plans to extend its presence to 100 cities by the end of this year.

A big part of Groupon’s success is thanks to the site’s innovative and pioneering efforts at harnessing the power of social networking, allowing consumers to not only find great deals in the region in which they live but also share those deals with other people through platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Incorporating social networking into Groupon has also allowed businesses to take a proactive approach to getting the word out themselves about specials and other promotions. Consumers can search the site for deals near them, with the price, value, and savings realized easily identified.