Airbnb rakes in $1B in latest funding round

Airbnb announced Thursday that it brought in more than $1 billion during its latest round of fundraising, valuing the nine-year-old hospitality startup at at $31 billion.

The San Francisco-based company previously said it raised about $555 million as part of the same funding round in September, but a source close to the company told Reuters that Airbnb has raised an additional $447.85 million, pushing the total over $1 billion. Previously, it raised $100 million in a funding round in the fall of 2015.

During the second half of 2016, Airbnb turned a profit for the first time, according to Bloomberg. In November, Bloomberg also reported the company was in advanced talks to buy its biggest Chinese rival, Xiaozhu.com. Meanwhile, the company is considering breaking into the long-term rental market.

The scourge of commercial property owners across New York City, Airbnb is the subject of a lawsuit brought by Parker Madison Partners, who allege that Airbnb is actually an illegal brokerage and should be registered with the state of New York in order to continue doing business. Airbnb has not commented on the litigation. [Reuters]  — Will Parker