Home rental company AirBnb has just got another $1 billion (£821 million) cash injection to be used for expansion. The company, which disclosed the funding in a securities filing on Thursday, raised the money in a financing round that began last summer. The company is now valued at soem $31 billion, but this filing did not list new investors.
Over the years, Airbnb has raised more than $3 billion, and secured a $1 billion line of credit, according to the research firm CB Insights. Airbnb, based in San Francisco, is the No. 2 most valuable private company in the United States behind Uber, the ride-hailing business. Despite myriad legal and scalability issues, the groundbreaking vacation rental startup has weathered (so far) every storm to become one of the biggest players in the hospitality space.
Brian Solomon at Forbes suggests the funding is intended to delay an imminent IPO by the giant vacation rental entity, while CNBC says “sources” close to the funding situation say no IPO move is close. The home-sharing poster child is rumored to be profitable this year, but the Wall Street Journal points out that EBITDA profitability does not include tax liability etc.
AirBnB did not state how it plans to use the extra cash, but it is understood to be looking at further expansion worldwide, probably to include further acquisitions. The company, which enables home-owners to let spare rooms or entire properties to travellers, has already started offering extra services such as city tours and tickets to events in efforts to fully monetize.