Airbnb raises another $100 million in funding round

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By Larry Banks

Apartment sharing company Airbnb has just raised a new round of funding worth more than $100 million, according to sources close to the company.

Airbnb, which was once a startup selling cereal, said it expects to become profitable in 2016. The company doubled its revenue to $340 million in Q3 this year on bookings of $2.2 billion, the source said. Revenue this year is expected to reach $900 million.

Airbnb valued at $25.5 billion

The funding round was done at the same $25.5 billion valuation as its previous funding round in the summer this year, indicated that the so-called unicorns (private tech companies worth over a billion dollars) are not finding it easy to convince investors to buy shares at escalating valuations.

The funding round was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Related companies such as Priceline, Expedia and a host of other travel companies have all been facing more pressure in their hotel booking businesses from apartment-sharing startups like Airbnb.

However, unlike hotels, Airbnb does not own any properties and it’s also not responsible for services such as housekeeping. Many travellers prefer to use its services because it tends to have cheaper prices but also also gives options like renting an entire house, or staying in quiet neighbourhoods and benefitting from the local knowledge typically offered by their hosts.

SOURCE: Reuters.

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