US-based house-sharing start-up Airbnb, is looking to up its valuation of between $2bn and $3bn by raising fresh capital of around $100 million in third-round funding, according to news provider TechCrunch.
To date, the company founded in San Francisco four years ago has raised over $120 million from firms like Sequoia Capital, Youniversity Ventures, SV Angel, Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, CrunchFund, Digital Sky Technologies and General Catalyst Partners.
The site offers a marketplace for people to list and book unique accommodation around the world, operating in more than 26,000 cities and 192 countries offering customers the opportunity to rent rooms in their own homes.
Last year, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz joined Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST) in a $112m round of funding in Airbnb alongside General Catalyst Partners. At that point, the Airbnb’s value was placed at $1.3bn by the Financial Times.
Andreessen Horowitz invested $60m, with $40m coming from DST and $5m from General Catalyst. The remainder came from existing investors and Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos according to Tech Crunch. DST in turn is backed by Chinese internet firm Tencent.
In 2010, venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and other investors backed Airbnb’s $7.8m series A financing bringing the gross total raised at the time of last year’s round to $119.8m.