Airbnb has formed a partnership with China Broadband Capital and Sequoia China to help the apartment-sharing app expand into the Chinese market.
The San Francisco-based ‘sharing economy’ app will be advised by local venture capitalists on how to adapt to sell to Chinese travellers. One of its first tasks will be to recruit a chief executive for Airbnb China.
The partnership comes amid a $1.5bn fundraising round from investors including Beijing-based Hillhouse Capital and investment firm Tiger Global, and led by US private equity firm General Atlantic. The round, which boosts the company’s valuation to at least $24bn, will be used to try to tap into booming demand in Asia.