San Francisco based Plum District is quickly becoming one of the nation’s most successful niche group-buying discount websites.

The mom-centered website, which relies on a sales force of mothers across the country to source deals, has just announced that they’ve secured $20 million in venture capital, and have acquired Chatterfly and DoodleDeals.

Chatterfly, a mobile platform focused on creating loyalty, and DoodleDeals a deal site focused on the East Coast markets that has distribution deals with Time Out New York Kids, What to Expect and Amazon-owned Diapers.com, make excellent and strategic additions to the Plum District business.

Plum District now operates in 27 markets across the U.S. and has a network of 300 sales people, called “mom consultants”. (We wonder, does one have to be a mom to be on the team?) They use a multilevel marketing sales approach to deal sourcing; meaning the people receiving the deals can also act as its sale team (similar to Mary Kay, Avon, or PartyLite). The incentive for sourcing deals on popular items or services is to of course, make money. The more your sourced deal sells, the bigger your commission..

The $20 million in funding was led by General Catalyst Partners; Comcast Ventures and Duke University, with existing investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers also contributed.

As part of the terms, Raul Vazquez, former president and CEO of Walmart.com, was named to the board of directors.

How will Plum District use the $20 million? ...

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