In 2007, a cash-strapped Brian Chesky came up with a shrewd way to pay his $1,200 San Francisco apartment rent. He would offer “Air bed and breakfast”, which consisted of three airbeds, breakfast, WiFi and a desk to work, to attendees of the Industrial Design Conference, who needed a place to crash over the weekend.
After an initial period of uncertainty, in which the founders sold Barack Obama and John McCain cereal to sustain the business (seriously), the company received $20,000 in seed funding from Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital. The next year, it ran a Series A round which generated $7.2 million for the startup.
Things moved quickly from there, in May 2011 Airbnb acquired Accoleo, a German clone of the website and launched in Europe. International expansion continued at a rapid pace, reaching South America, Asia and Australia by the end of 2012.
As it expanded, Airbnb has faced persistent opposition from several major…
Boutique Travel VC raises investment cap from $1.5M to $10M to lead rounds and support portfolio companies through growth Travel...
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