Sequoia, CBC back Airbnb to expand in China

Two VC firms will help Airbnb recruit a CEO for its operations in the country and localize the technology in the Chinese market.

"Sequoia China's Neil Shen has deep experience in the Chinese internet and hospitality sectors, having founded the enormously successful Chinese travel site Ctrip.com. CBC's Edward Tian is also an experienced entrepreneur, having co-founded AsiaInfo, the first Internet technology provider in China," Airbnb said in its blog post.

Airbnb, which was reported to have completed a $1.5 billion funding round, said it is also working with a larger group of investors to grow the team in China, including Hillhouse Capital, Horizon Ventures and GGV Capital.

Founded in 2008, Airbnb operates a platform on which owners can post properties to be hired out as vacation or business rentals. Its service now covers more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Last month, Airbnb hired Laurence Tosi, formerly CFO of the Blackstone Group, as its finance head.

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

Chinese rival Tujia.com recently raised $300 million led by All-Stars Investment, valuing the vacation-rental website at more than $1 billion.

Expanding to China is challenging for US-based technology companies as the government imposes censorship requirements on internet platforms, and few can be successful due to a lack of understanding of the local market. Last year, US social media site for professionals Linkedin established a joint venture with Sequoia China and CBC to expand into China. In 2012, CBC also worked with US-based app maker Evernote on a China JV.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Venture
• Expansion
• China
• Sequoia Capital
• China Broadband Capital
• USA
• TMT