Social Commerce Startup LivingSocial Hits 10 Million Subscribers, Buys Urban Escapes

Social shopping site LivingSocial this morning announced the acquisition of Urban Escapes, a social adventure company.

Urban Escapes offers trips that promote a “fun and active lifestyle and a chance to escape the day-to-day rat race”.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to the FAQ in the blog post, Urban Escapes’ entire full-time team has moved to LivingSocial’s office in New York in Union Square.

Initially, the company says, Urban Escapes staff will work directly with LivingSocial reps in 5 introductory markets designing and creating adventures (e.g. this Snow Tubing & Beer Tasting trip), but will eventually expand to the 95 markets LivingSocial is now live in.

Coinciding with the acquisition news, LivingSocial has also disclosed how many subscribers it has attracted to date: 10 million.

The Groupon rival has raised just south of $50 million to date, putting it in a position to snap up smaller niche players to grow in other ways than organically and by launching in new cities and countries worldwide.