CHICAGO – Social deals site Groupon has raised an additional $16.12 million, according to a regulatory filing, bringing its total equity raised since 2007 to more than $1.1 billion. One of the hottest companies on the venture scene, Groupon is currently the clear leader in in the white hot social deals space.

DC-based Ted Leonsis, vice chairman emeritus of AOL, and Peter Barris of of the Timonium, MD. office of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), are named as principals in the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the latest financing. NEA was an early investor in the firm.

Founded in late 2008, Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in more than 300 markets and 35 countries.

It has a slew of smaller competitors, one of the largest being DC-based Social Living, which is also expanding rapidly with venture funding exceeding $135 million.

Groupon reportedly turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google Inc., which then announced a competing service of its own. In Janurary 2011 it received $950 million in new backing from ten investors.

We hear from investors lately that the social deals space – unless you’re Groupon or Social Living – is overcrowded. Some analysts are still astounded that Groupon turned down the Google deal, although it certainly has had no difficulty raising growth cash from venture backers, which is also true of Social Living.

We’ve only tried one of these deals (the Amazon $20 coupon for $10 that gave Living Social a huge traffic boost but also caused some processing and Facebook feedback problems). The deals offered by both do seem to hit a lot of the same sorts of businesses, spas, restaurants, golf, resorts.

The companies put people on the ground to set up these deals in major markets, which is one reason they need such large amounts of money to expand. — Allan Maurer

Email Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.

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Tags: AOL, financing, Groupon, Living Social, NEA, Peter Barris, Ted Leonsis