Millions of shares have dropped in value in recent days, so it is understandable that such a situation has given the company pause for thought.  The original plan was to go public around the end of September, but now it would appear that the date has been delayed.  No one knows if or even when the plan to go public will now happen.

Some expert commentators are saying that this is an indication that the bubble has burst when it comes to social media.  Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but many are wondering what Groupon’s next move will be.  We have yet to hear whether this has become an official delay or halt in the process of the company going public, but many are assuming that this will indeed be the case.

Many people have become sceptical of Groupon’s success thus far, and are wondering if it can continue moving in the positive direction it has in the past.  Every business that wants to go public has to go through a quiet period before it does so.  Some question whether Groupon has done this.  So perhaps its delay in going public could benefit it rather than harming it.  It remains to be seen.

Focusing on online retail outlets, namely eBay sellers, Kabbage is an instant loan application and approval platform for e-commerce entrepreneurs.

The site is currently in closed beta, but will soon be opening to public beta. It works simply and automatically, giving eBay sellers a chance at a loan when banks and other institutions would probably not even talk to them.

Most who have sold on eBay seriously know that getting business cred is difficult. As soon as you mention that your primary outlet is online auctions, the crickets start chirping and you can see their eyes glaze over. Even with receipts in hand to prove blockbuster sales, a bank is likely not interested in you. Well, Kabbage is.

The signup process is painless and quick, requiring just a few pieces of information about you and your e-signature giving Kabbage one-time access to your eBay profile and records. The site then pulls all of your sales history and other vitals, does some number crunching based on the size of the loan you’re asking for and the purpose to which it will be put, and gives you some options.

Terms will depend on a number of variables, of course, but are reasonable at today’s business loan rates. Once you accept the terms, the money you’ve asked for is deposited in your PayPal account. You can then use it as you wish, making your return installments as required.

If you have all of your ducks in a row, you can sign up in about ten to fifteen minutes and get an answer.

Definitely a slick and much-needed application for today’s recession-ridden landscape of online sales.

When you sign up to Kachingle, you opt to pitch in $5 a month (from PayPal, a credit card, whatever).  That $5 is then spread amongst your favorite sites, which you choose in a Digg-style button discovery format.  So if you have three favorite sites: an e-news service, a weekly DIY home improvement site, and a daily blogger (and each of them are Kachingle sites displaying the logo), your $5 can be spread between the three that you’ve selected.

The breakdown isn’t bad either.  10% each goes to Kachingle and to PayPal (between fees for your payment to Kachingle and the fees the site owner pays to receive PayPal as well).  The remaining 80% is split between your choices evenly, so each site gets $1.33 each every month.  That doesn’t sound like much, but if the site owner could multiply that by 100 people, that’s easily covering his costs.

I only have one problem with Kachingle, other than it’s relative newness and thus lack of popularity (so far).  My problem with Kachingle is that its model benefits PayPal the most.  Basically, the eBay-owned company gets paid twice for each transaction: once in the input (users paying into Kindle) and once again when Kindle disburses funds to the sites in its network.  Perhaps when Kachingle has gained some userbase, they’ll be able to negotiate a deal with PayPal to reduce or eliminate some of those fees.

Otherwise, the site just needs some active participation from more users and it will definitely go places.

Then, last week, the announcement that Apple was acquiring Lala, a streaming music service, hit the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Peter Kafka posts that the sale went down for $80 million.

With iTunes dominating the music downloads business in the U.S., it was likely just a matter of time before the tech giant decided to spend some of its reported $32 billion in cash on something to get them into the streaming market.  Reuters is reporting that “Apple recognizes the model is going to evolve into a streaming one and this could probably propel iTunes to the next level.”

In a way, Apple is to music technology what Microsoft has been to desktops.  Apple dominates the hardware and most of the software market in portable music.  If they owned most of the major recording studios, the analogy might be complete.

The question for Apple, however, is “Why Lala?”

The streaming service has made a lot of inroads into the market, for sure; especially given their recent deal with Google for music search collaboration. On the other hand, Lala uses a Flash-based interface and Apple has been publicly averse to using that in their own technology.

It may be that Apple is really after the back-end that Lala offers, including that Google deal and streaming licenses.  This was alluded to in the NYT article, which also points out that Lala actively sought Apple and not the other way around.  It seems plausible.

Since the quiet release of iTunes Preview was launched last month, it seems that Apple is moving towards a more Web-based music option and away from the iTunes desktop.

With this merger, Brightkite will get to use the approximate $9 million in funding that Limbo received this year from Nexit Venture, Azure Capital Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and New Enterprises Associates.  Early reports say that the deal was almost entirely in stock.  Although it is not evident how the two companies will merge their technologies together, it appears that Brightkite will gain access to Limbo’s back-end system and team of engineers.  Another advantage is that Brightkite will pick up on Limbo’s relationships with cell phone carriers.

The name of the new company will be Brightkite for now, but their HQ will be at Limbo’s headquarters in Burlingame, California.

Australia is launching a national small biz incubator of sorts, shelling out $83 million to support newborn start-up companies. Coined the Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF) – now take a breath – the aid aims to prevent the country’s next big-time tech companies from flaming out during the global recession.

In other words, IIFF is Australian for bail-out. (There’s one for you Foster’s beer fans.)

More than 1,000 start-up employees will benefit from the investment, which will be funneled through venture capital firms.

Our take? The Aussies are smart as a whip when it comes to recession spending. While we toss briefcases of cash at floundering, overly indulgent companies like AIG, the Australians have the wit and wisdom to feed the hungry entrepreneurs of the future – the ones who will be responsible for pulling the world out of its financial nosedive.

The service works by offering templates of photo and video and suggested marketing copy and voice-over ideas. These are combined by the user into a video that can be spread through SpotMixer’s site, YouTube, and similar outlets as well as embedded into current websites. Creating a video is free, but adding it to the SpotMixer network (or otherwise using it) costs money.

The idea is for smaller businesses to make professional-quality videos that aren’t medium-specific, so the video can be used for both online advertising as well as local cable spots. SpotMixer’s income is from their promotion of the videos for clients, including working out deals with cable companies to run ads.

This is a crowded marketplace, however, but SpotMixer’s angle is unique and their prices are generally lower than the larger competition such as Spot Runner. The competition is also being weeded out with the current economic woes.

The latest $9 million infusion is from various sources, lead by DAG Ventures and including other noted investment groups like NIT Finance. A recent deal with Google to utilize Google AdWords was also made, giving them a good boost. They are now the first “authorized dealer” for video-based AdWords.

One True Media says that the new money is planned for use in scaling up SpotMixer’s services and boosting their marketing to increase their market share. Prices to use SpotMixer’s service (after video creation, which is free) start at $49/month.

Koofers.com hopes to act as a clearing house for those koofers, along with professor ratings and grade breakdowns for schools, classes, and specific professors. A forum also allows students to ask questions of other students.

Koofers is based in Reston, Virginia and is affiliated with Facebook (your Facebook login is your Koofers.com login). Koofers has received a lot of attention lately due to a shot of funding from LaunchBox Digital, an early stage investmnt firm with a great track record.  More funding, to the tune of $2 million, from New Atlantic Ventures (Reston, VA) and Altos Ventures (Palo Alto, CA).

Funding from LaunchBox Digital is usually a good sign for startups, as LaunchBox is very picky about their recipients—only 9 participants were in this year’s round. Other education companies in the fbFund funding round included Teach the People, another Facebook plugin/affiliate.

With this initial funding, Koofers will likely begin creating site awareness through Facebook advertising and possibly on-campus advertising, according to a press release from the site. Instructors are also encouraged to participate, as many of them offer their students koofers in class and the site could be used as an easy storage and distribution point for them.

With online education being one of the fastest-growing trends in online business, expect to see more from Koofers.com in the future. They’re definitely on track to become something popular and useful, a rare mix on today’s ‘Net.

Considering the current economic conditions around the world, this is a rather bold and optimistic amount of money to invest into a tech compay.  Chegg hasn’t been too open about its financials, but they have noted that they have been used by students in over 4,000 Universities and Colleges, and it is estimated they have saved these students over $16 million dollars.  Back when I went to College, I recall having to work evenings just to afford the books that my professors required.  It seems like they go into the book stores and find which books are the most expensive and then decide to put those on the syllabus.  With Chegg you get to rent the book, mark the books up and then return them when you are done at the end of the semester.  Imagine not having to worry about selling them back to the bookstore for 1/4 of what you paid.  Usually the books a student orders on the website is sent to them within eight business days.  The books come in a pre-paid box that are used to return the books.  Whether the economy is good or bad, a student will always be happy saving a few bucks anyway they can.

For those of us who believe in a green economy, Chegg will plant a tree for each and every book that is rented.

Although Chegg does not face any real competition to date, it seems likely that many will copy this concept.  Hopefully Chegg.com has a big enough lead to keep them number one if other should emerge.

Multiply, which specializes in “real world” networking rather than the random networking of sites like Myspace or Facebook, is based in Boca Raton just like us. They became the only social network to offer photo finishing solutions this year and have made their name as the “family-friendly” and privacy-oriented social networking site, focusing on networks based on real life relationships (friends, family, friends-of-friends, etc.). This partnership with ABS-CBN promises not only the initial funding of $5 million, but also another $4 million in options for marketing investment over the next two years. Multiply will also become the official networking and connect site for the popular Lifetime Networks TV show “The Balancing Act.”

ABS-CBN is the largest integrated media and entertainment company in the Philippines, with both television and radio programming networks. The company’s television networks reach an estimated 97% of all VHF-receiving television households in the Philippines while it’s anchor stations in Manila are the highest-rated stations on the AM and FM bands in Mega Manila. This partnership with Multiply will allow ABS-CBN to further press their reach globally.

The Balancing Act is a popular Lifetime Networks television show for women who seek personal, professional, and family balance and growth. The show focuses on solutions and “news-you-can-use.” The show will utilize Multiply as their exclusive contact network, allowing viewers to connect with the show’s producers and on-air talent to ask questions and receive more information.

“Our new agreement will allow us to continue to expand our reach with ABS-CBN audiences, as well as promote global awareness as our companies expand into new markets,” says Peter Pezaris, Founder and CEO of Multiply.

Matt Gore, VP of Marketing at Multiply, says that they’re “very excited to be providing the social community for Lifetime Television’s The Balancing Act and their viewers…”

The partnership marks a big step in global media integration as social networking sites continue to expand from the Internet into television and music. With cell phones streaming television and movies, social sites pairing up with comedians and musical groups, and now television integrating with social networking, the future is becoming clearer for media-based marketing: one medium is not enough in today’s technology-driven world.