Airbnb valued at $30bn after China’s sovereign wealth fund invests $100m
China's sovereign wealth fund has invested $100m (£82m) in hipster room-sharing app Airbnb.
The investment by the China Investment Corporation (CIC) values the tech company at $30bn, Sky News has reported, and accounts for around 10 per cent of a $1bn funding round from Airbnb.
The valuation puts Airbnb ahead of Twitter, which is valued at around $11bn, and Snap Inc, which recently floated in New York at an initial valuation of $24bn.
Read more: Six legal snags to watch out for if you're an Airbnb host
However, Facebook is still the dominant social media business to come out of the US, valued at nearly $400bn.
Airbnb was founded nine years ago by Brian Chesky, who still heads up the company, which was initially called Airbedandbreakfast.com. Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk, who joined the company as chief technology officer, initially funded the site by selling breakfast cereals themed on the US election ("Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCains").
"What we invented wasn’t staying in people’s homes. We invented trust amongst strangers.” — @bchesky at @oxfordunion pic.twitter.com/Ox2fLgKF7C
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) March 10, 2017
The company's source of funding is, of course, far more sophisticated now, and aside from the CIC, Aribnb's list of investors includes Google's venture capital division.