After a successful recent IPO launch, deal-of-the-day website Groupon is now in a talent-buying mood.  According to technology site TechCrunch, Groupon recently purchased a Silicon Valley startup Campfire Labs for an undisclosed amount. Campfire Labs was founded by Sakina Arsiwala, an ex-Google executive and former head of International at YouTube, and social search technology expert Naveen Koorakula. Prior to starting Campfire Labs, Koorakula worked at search companies like Inktomi, Yahoo and Picch.

According to TechCrunch, startup Campfire Labs’ mission is to change the way people think of social interactions in the real world and online. “We are committed to building an intellectually stimulating and fun environment, where technology and product excellence are respected above all. We pride ourselves in having an open culture of equals,” states Campfire Labs on its website.

As per the description provided by Campfire Labs, the company is tackling very complex algorithmic, technology and product problems. “We’re building systems designed to scale. Some tools in our toolkit include javascript (node.js, javascript mvc), hypertable, hadoop, C++ and Ruby. We like unit testing, continuous integration and contributing to open source,” said Campfire Labs.

In an email sent to the Washington Post, Groupon’s communications director Julie Mossler stated, “The Campfire team have already become valuable contributors to Groupon's social media capabilities. We're thrilled to have them aboard and excited to see what we can create in 2012 and beyond.”

Koorakula told The Washington Post, “We essentially started with an idea that seamlessly marries our old, analog social roots with our fresh, new, digital ones.”

Campfire Labs investors and advisors, as listed on the company website, included SV Angel’s Ron Conway and David Lee, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, the late Stanford professor Rajeev Motwani, former Facebook and YouTube CFO Gideon Yu, former eBay SVP Michael Dearing, Felicis Ventures founder and MD Aydin Senkut, Splash CEO Michael Powers, Asha Jadeja and Vuclip CEO Nickhil Jakatdar.