Airbnb is now worth $30 billion
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Kimberly White/Getty Images for Fortune
Airbnb is raising massive new round of funding that values the company at $30 billion.
That makes it the second-most-valuable US tech startup after Uber, which investors have valued around $68 billion.
Bloomberg reports that Airbnb is raising an $850 million round, bringing its total to $3.2 billion. Investors in the round have not been revealed.
The home-sharing company has been experimenting with new business areas. Earlier this week, it launched a "community center" in Japan that functions like a hotel — it will allow tourists to rent rooms — and it's experimenting with ways to provide more guidance to customers when they're planning trips. For instance, a feature called Experiences will pay locals to conduct tours of particular sights.
Airbnb is also facing increasing legal fights, which could get expensive.
In New York, the state Senate passed a bill that will prevent people from advertising short-term rentals, which would basically make it impossible for Airbnb to operate in the state if the governor signs it into law, and the company's home city of San Francisco passed legislation holding Airbnb responsible for enforcing laws related to short-term rentals.
No comments:
Post a Comment