Airbnb
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Investors
Founders
About
Airbnb is an online marketplace for short-term and long-term lodging, primarily homestays, vacation rentals, and tourism experiences 1. The company was founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk in San Francisco, California 12.
The founding story began in October 2007, when roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia could not afford rent for their San Francisco apartment. They came up with the idea of putting air mattresses in their living room and renting them out as a bed-and-breakfast during an Industrial Designers Society of America conference, when hotel rooms in the city were scarce 23. Nathan Blecharczyk, Chesky’s former roommate, joined as the third co-founder and chief technology officer in February 2008 2.
Before receiving venture capital funding, the founders famously raised $30,000 by selling novelty cereal boxes themed around the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, primarily at the 2008 Democratic National Convention 23. In January 2009, the founders were accepted into Y Combinator’s winter batch, which provided $20,000 in funding in exchange for a 6% stake 23.
Airbnb went public on December 10, 2020, on the Nasdaq under the ticker ABNB 4. Shares were priced at $68 and closed the first day of trading at $144.71, up 113%, giving the company a valuation of approximately $100 billion 45. As of 2026, Airbnb remains an active public company.
Funding History
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investor(s) | Key Co-Investors | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y Combinator (W09 batch) | 2009-01 | $20K | Y Combinator | — | — |
| Seed | 2009-04 | $600K | Sequoia Capital | Y Ventures, Youniversity Ventures | ~$2.4M 15 |
| Series A | 2010-11-11 | $7.2M | Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital | SV Angel, Y Ventures, Keith Rabois, Elad Gil, Jeremy Stoppelman, Ashton Kutcher | ~$70M 15 |
| Series B | 2011-07-25 | $112M | Andreessen Horowitz | DST Global, General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos, Ashton Kutcher, CrunchFund, Sequoia Capital | ~$1.3B 15 |
| Series C | 2013-10-28 | $200M | Founders Fund | Sequoia Capital, Ashton Kutcher | ~$2.5B 16 |
| Series D | 2014-04-18 | $475M | TPG Capital | Dragoneer, T. Rowe Price, 137 Ventures, Sherpa Capital | $10B |
| Series E | 2015-06-28 | $1.5B | General Atlantic | Hillhouse, Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital | $25.5B |
| Series F | 2016-09-22 | $555M | Google Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures | — | $30B 17 |
| Debt + Equity | 2020-04-06 | $1B | Silver Lake, Sixth Street Partners | — | $18B 18 |
| Debt (follow-on) | 2020-04-14 | $1B | — | — | — 19 |
| IPO | 2020-12-10 | $3.5B | Public markets (Nasdaq: ABNB) | — | $47B (IPO); ~$100B (first-day close) 45 |
What Investors Say
Ron Conway (SV Angel): Conway’s investment in Airbnb was motivated by his belief in the founders’ mission and his commitment to active mentorship. Brian Chesky later credited Conway as essential to Airbnb’s success, noting that Conway provided far more than capital 10.
Greg McAdoo (Sequoia Capital): McAdoo led the $600K seed investment in Airbnb. When he met the founders at Sequoia’s office in early 2009, it was a three-person, seed-stage company with just $5,000 a week in revenue. But the team articulated a completely novel approach to travel that was “unorthodox, but compelling” 1112.
Alfred Lin (Sequoia Capital): Lin took over the Airbnb board seat from McAdoo in 2012 at Brian Chesky’s request. Sequoia’s investment approach, as Lin described it, involves “painting a picture of the world, and showing the conviction of why you believe that this is going to be the case” 12.
What Founders Say
Brian Chesky (CEO & Co-Founder) on the early days: “I didn’t think about how hard it would be to get a network effect business going early on. I just figured Facebook grew in two weeks, so it’s going to be easy for us. Of course, we launch it, and it’s no one’s coming” 13.
Brian Chesky on persistence: “Our ‘overnight’ success took 1,000 days” 13.
Brian Chesky on building community: “I think the key that makes Airbnb is the fact that we’re a community, not just a series of commodities” 13.
Brian Chesky on growth approach: “It’s easier to do something that one person loves first. Go person by person to 100. Then figure out how to scale that” 14.
Brian Chesky on Ron Conway: “Ron is much more than a Rolodex – Ron acts like a guardian angel for an entire generation of founders.” He added: “Without Ron Conway, Airbnb wouldn’t be what it is today” 10.
Sources
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Airbnb website, “About Us,” accessed March 2026. https://www.airbnb.com/about↩↩
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GetPaidForYourPad, “Airbnb Founder Story: From Selling Cereals To A $25B Company,” accessed March 2026. https://getpaidforyourpad.com/blog/the-airbnb-founder-story/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Product Habits, “How Two Designers Created Airbnb—and Turned It Into a $30 Billion Company,” accessed March 2026. https://producthabits.com/how-two-designers-created-airbnb-and-turned-it-into-a-30-billion-company/↩↩↩↩
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CNBC, “Airbnb IPO: ABNB starts trading on the Nasdaq,” December 10, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/10/airbnb-ipo-abnb-starts-trading-on-the-nasdaq.html↩↩↩↩
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Axios, “Airbnb valued at $47 billion in IPO,” December 9, 2020. https://www.axios.com/2020/12/09/airbnb-valued-at-47-billion-in-ipo↩↩↩
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Tracxn, “Airbnb - 2026 Funding Rounds & List of Investors,” accessed March 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/companies/airbnb/__7LQipbu68GsySiuAjesyrgEJvq6FIc-aAcJ5SCzp7Mk/funding-and-investors↩
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Eqvista, “Airbnb IPO: All you need to know,” accessed March 2026. https://eqvista.com/airbnb-ipo-all-you-need-to-know/↩
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Clay, “How Much Did Airbnb Raise? Funding & Key Investors,” accessed March 2026. https://www.clay.com/dossier/airbnb-funding↩
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Yahoo Finance, “How Early Airbnb Investors Raked In A 499,900% Return On IPO Day,” December 2020. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/early-airbnb-investors-raked-499-193618823.html↩
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Airbnb Newsroom, “Ron Conway and the Economic Empowerment Award,” accessed March 2026. https://news.airbnb.com/ron-conway-and-the-economic-empowerment-award/↩↩
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X/Twitter post by Cypherius Prime, confirming Greg McAdoo led $600K seed in Airbnb, accessed March 2026. https://x.com/mrJackLevin/status/1927831578891407602↩
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Sequoia Capital, “Airbnb: Building (and Rebuilding) User Trust to Revolutionize Travel,” accessed March 2026. https://sequoiacap.com/podcast/crucible-moments-airbnb/↩↩
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Startups.com, “An Unbelievable Journey - Interview with Brian Chesky,” accessed March 2026. https://www.startups.com/founder-interviews/brian-chesky↩↩↩
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Masters of Scale, “Do things that don’t scale, with Brian Chesky,” accessed March 2026. https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky/↩
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Charlie Bilello, “Airbnb Valuation History,” X/Twitter, December 10, 2020, accessed April 2026. https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1337107927870681089↩↩↩↩
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TechCrunch, “Airbnb’s Nate Blecharczyk Confirms It Raised A $200M Round Led By Founders Fund,” October 28, 2013, accessed April 2026. Round arranged October 2012 at ~$2.5B valuation; publicly confirmed October 28, 2013. https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/airbnb-200m/↩↩
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TechCrunch, “Airbnb files $555M round with the SEC led by Google Capital and TCV,” September 22, 2016, accessed April 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/22/airbnb-files-555m-round-with-the-sec-led-by-google-capital-and-tcv/↩↩
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Crunchbase News, “Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners To Invest $1B in Airbnb,” April 6, 2020, accessed April 2026. https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/silver-lake-and-sixth-street-partners-to-invest-1b-in-airbnb/↩↩
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CNBC, “Airbnb raising another $1 billion in debt as coronavirus ravages tourism business,” April 14, 2020, accessed April 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/14/airbnb-raises-another-1-billion-in-debt.html↩↩