Not only did Yelp turn down a $550 million acquisition deal from Google, but it also said no to a $700-million deal from Microsoft. What gives?

In short, the company has a lot more growth to achieve before it’s ready to cash it in. According to Stoppelman, Yelp CEO, “Yelp has the chance to become one of the great Internet brands. That, for me, is the chance of a lifetime.”

He could be right. According to comScore, Yelp is already up to 29 million unique visitors monthly, and this volume doesn’t appear to be slowing. In fact, Yelp increased its unique visitors by 34 percent in just one year.

While Yelp didn’t accept a buy out from Google or Microsoft, the company did form a partnership with an investment firm to fund up to $100 million. Yelp will be using this money, in part, to expand into many new cities, which means you’ll be seeing much more from it in the near future.

I, for one, am excited to watch Yelp continue progressing through the local search landscape. Will their rapid growth continue, or will they regret passing up on Google and Microsoft’s offers? Personally, I think Stoppelman will, in fact, see his “chance of a lifetime” materialize, but only time will tell.