Airbnb has raised an additional $447.8 million in a Series F round of fundraising, which, in addition to a $555.5 million fund raising last year, brings its total venture funding to greater than $1 billion.
According to a report in TechCrunch, with the latest round of fundraising sources, Airbnb has a valuation that is close to $31 billion, which is $1 billion higher than the valuation the company said it had when it closed on the Series F fundraising. The report noted that Airbnb was able to make a profit in the second half of this year and, according to the source, will be profitable on an EBITDA basis for this year as well. With the latest round of funding, the source also told TechCrunch the company isn’t gearing up to launch an initial public offering anytime soon.
According to the report, while Airbnb started out as a way for people with rooms and those looking for rooms to hook up, last year it expanded into a new line dubbed experiences, which lets users experience the city as if they were a local. It also lets users book travel via the Airbnb platform and has acquired a few companies to go after the commercial market. Airbnb has slowly been gaining traction among business travelers, with data from U.S. travel and expense management company Concur tracking its progress. Last November, Concur reported that the frequency with which business travelers expense an item from Airbnb increased by 32 percent between 2015 and 2016.
But while growth is good for the company, TechCrunch noted it’s also making it more complicated with increased legal pressure from city officials around the globe who argue Airbnb violates residency and hotel laws. It’s also fighting it out with other organization that are taking issue with private tenants subletting their spaces for short periods of times.
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