Airbnb raises $475M round from Sequoia and a16z

This latest round reportedly brings Airbnb's value up to $10 billion

It's a pretty exciting time in tech right now, with companies like Airbnb and Uber not only disrupting well-established industries, but raising big funding rounds while doing it.

Airbnb, the company that turned residences into temporary hotel rooms, has just raised a huge $475 million round of funding, it was revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Investors listed on the form include Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital and Jeff Jordan of Andreessen Horowitz. It was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal, back in March, that the round would be led by private-equity firm TPG, yet no from the firm was listed.

Airbnb had previously raised $326 million altogether at a $2.5 billion valuation, including a $117 million Series B round from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global and General Catalyst and, most recently, a $200 million Series C round from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Crunchfund, Ashton Kutcher, and Founders Fund in 2012. 

This latest round brings Airbnb’s total funding to $801 million, and it reportedly values the company at $10 billion

Airbnb has been a major disruptor to the hotel business and therefore, has come under attack in numerous cities, including San Francisco and New York, where the Attorney General subpoenaed Airbnb last year over illegal listings. A judge threw out that subpoena in May, but the fight is hard from over.

Since its founding in 2008, Airbnb has served more than 11 million total guests. In now operates in over 34,000 cities in 192 countries and has over 600,000 listings around the world. 

How much money Airbnb makes has not been divulged, but private company analyst Privco has estimated Airbnb’s 2012 revenue to be $189 million. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter forecasted at the beginning of last year that it wouldn’t be long before Airbnb is pulling in $1 billion in revenue per year.

Recently, the company has been looking to expand beyond ts current room rental service and into more hospitality services. In January it announced that it was piloting a cleaning service in certain zip codes of San Francisco and New York City, where hosts can arrange a cleaning of their listing prior to a guest’s check-in. 

Handybook and Homejoy arrange the cleanings, and the cost of the cleaning service is taken from the renter's payout for the reservation.

VatorNews has reached out to Airbnb for more information regarding this latest funding round. We will update if we learn more.

(Image source: mobile-patterns.com)