Amazon.com Inc is investing $175 million in online coupon company LivingSocial, a preemptive strike against Google Inc which a source has said is looking to buy Groupon, another coupon provider.

LivingSocial said on Thursday it also secured an $8 million investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners, adding that it will use the funds to grow its business worldwide.

LivingSocial said it is currently booking revenues of more than $1 million a day on average and expects well over $500 million in 2011.

Search engine leader Google is talking to Groupon about an acquisition, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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