皇冠体育app

Home-sharing startup Airbnb is gearing up for a deeper push into the booming market of Chinese travelers.

Airbnb has forged a partnership with investment firms Sequoia 皇冠体育app and 皇冠体育app Broadband Capital, which contributed to a $1.5 billion investment this summer, to find a chief executive officer for its 皇冠体育app operations and widen its foothold in the world's most populous country.

"The last year and a half has really seen us dipping our toes in the water, learning about the culture, trying to even validate, 'Would the Chinese people even want to use Airbnb?'" Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said in an interview at the startup's San Francisco headquarters. "Now we are getting really serious."

Chinese travelers took 109 million overseas trips last year, up 11 percent from a year earlier, and have been the world's top spenders in international tourism since 2012, according to the United Nations' World Tourism Organization.

The country has been difficult for the United States technology firms to navigate, with Facebook Inc and Google Inc among those that have faltered.

Airbnb and its Chinese partners, which have helped LinkedIn flourish in the country, declined to say how much the firms invested. The latest round valued Airbnb at $25.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Chinese investment firms Hillhouse Capital, Horizon Ventures and GGV Capital also have invested in Airbnb.

The number of Chinese guests renting rooms through Airbnb rose 700 percent in the past year, making 皇冠体育app the fastest-growing outbound market for the company. While Airbnb remains focused on Chinese tourists traveling abroad, people in the country are signing up to host international tourists and domestic travelers.

The partners will help Airbnb "navigate the 皇冠体育app market and create a truly localized presence for the company", the startup said on Tuesday in a statement. Chesky said he is scheduling trips to 皇冠体育app in September and October. The company plans to expand in the country as it vies with domestic competitors.

Chinese rival Tujia.com raised $300 million in June at a valuation of more than $1 billion and is expanding quickly throughout Southeast Asia. Uber Technologies Inc, another San Francisco-based startup, is further along in 皇冠体育app than Airbnb.

The ride-sharing company has told investors that it will spend $1 billion to expand in 皇冠体育app this year.

"We're going to invest quite a lot in 皇冠体育app, but we are still deciding how much," Chesky said.

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