PYMNTS Daily Data Dive: Airbnb Has The Luxury Of Selection

As the fourth most valuable venture-backed tech company in the world, Airbnb was able to pick and choose its investors for its latest round of funding. The company asked previous funders not to respond and turned down mutual fund investments that would have taken Airbnb to a value of over $30 billion.

In this latest round, Alphabet Inc.’s investment arm, Google Capital, has been brought into the fold and is leading the investment with Technology Crossover Ventures. Employees were given the opportunity to sell off common shares to investors. Airbnb does not intend to go public in 2017. Hotels, local governments and neighborhood associations are highlighting potential tax and safety regulation violations by Airbnb and are suggesting that the firm’s business model encourages discrimination by hosts. There are also concerns that Airbnb exacerbates housing shortages and higher rental prices in urban areas.

Here is the data:

$34 billion | The estimated valuation of Airbnb if the company had accepted the investments of some mutual funds

$30 billion | The estimated value of Airbnb after this investment round, according to The Wall Street Journal

$850 million | The expected net amount of Airbnb’s latest investment round

$200 million | The amount of common stock that was sold by employees in last year’s round of fundraising

$93.09 | The price of shares that employees are selling off