Airbnb Losing Money and Asking for $1 Billion in New Funding

By Kamal Nayan - 19 Jun '15 02:31AM

Airbnb, the short-term rental marketplace, is looking to raise another $1 billion in from investors, according to PrivCo a data provider on privately-held companies.

The new round of financing would value the company at $25 billion in post-money valuation, PrivCo added. This would be more than double the last valuation - in April 2014 it was valued at $10 billion.

"Everyone in [Silicon Valley] sees a narrow window to raise crazy money in the private market," said Sam Hamadeh, CEO of PrivCo. "We all know it isn't going to last forever."

PrivCo added that the San Francisco-based firm could very well need the money. As of March it had brought in $160 million in revenue.

But it lost over $150 million last year - and it's on track to lose $200 million in 2015, according to PrivCo.

"The next correction in the private market, we'll look back and say Airbnb, Uber and Pinterest were brilliant," Hamadeh said.

Airbnb was founded in 2008, and so far has expanded to over 34,000 cities and 190 countries.

In a series of facts released, the company said its community pays $1 million in taxes to San Fransisco every month. It also added that Airbnb community brought $469,000,000 to the San Fransisco economy last year.