This article is more than 1 year old

Airbnb confirms it raised $1.5bn in spite of regulatory worries

Company with no physical assets gets huge pile of cash

Airbnb has confirmed it has raised a mega $1.5bn (£1bn) in funding, according to a filing the company placed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Back in July, The Wall Street Journal reported the funding round would value the company at $24bn (£15bn), meaning it will soon be worth more than actual hotel chain Marriott.

Apparently the business is on track to make $900m (£600m) in revenue this year, a figure it expects to rise to $10bn (£6.7bn) by 2020. For 2015 it expects to make a loss of $150m (£100m).

According to Reuters, Airbnb is expected to double its bookings this year, with 80 million nights booked.

However, unlike Blighty – which has made no secret of its enthusiasm for sharing economy companies – Airbnb has run into trouble in other parts of Europe.

For example, Barcelona has suggested that it will fine the company if they marketed apartments that were not on the Catalan tourism register to tourists. ®

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