Home-rental startup Airbnb has raised $1bn in a new round of funding, pushing the value of the company up to $31bn.
The San Francisco-based firm did not disclose the details on how it would invest the new funds.
With a presence in 65,000 cities across the world, the company has witnessed rapid growth after commencing operations in 2008.
Airbnb is expected to use the new funds to expand its global presence. The funding round is said to ease pressure on the company to issue an initial public offering (IPO).
Airbnb is not planning to go for a public issue “anytime soon,” a person familiar with the details told USA TODAY.
The company also recorded a profit on an operating basis in the second half of 2016 and expects to remain profitable, the source said.
The latest round of funding comes just five months after it raised $555m in September 2016.
Alphabet, investment arm CapitalG and Technology Crossover Ventures have reportedly taken part in the new round of funding.
In December last year, CB Insights reported that Airbnb was looking to raise an additional $153m as an extension of the previous funding round.
The startup is the second most valuable company in the US after Uber, a ride-hailing firm which is estimated to be worth nearly $70bn.
In February, Airbnb was said to have acquired payments startup Tilt, as part of its efforts to move beyond lodging.
Airbnb’s move into payments could be a complimentary area to develop for the trip-booking process.
Tilt was founded in 2012, and arrived at the forefront of peer-to-peer money transfers with grounding in group payments.
READ MORE: Airbnb checks in to social payments with startup acquisition
Airbnb’s VP of product Joe Zadeh was quoted by TechCrunch as saying: “Airbnb and Tilt have a common vision for building community-oriented products that make it easy to bring people together.”
Airbnb makes revenue by taking a 3% share of each booking on its website, and it charges a 6% to 12% service fee from guests.
