Airbnb, the popular marketplace for places, has raised $112 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global and General Catalyst in order to boost international growth.
The company is now worth north of $1 billion, according to our sources. It's a big jump from the $7.2 million Series A it raised in November 2010. The company also received a "significant investment" from Ashton Kutcher just a few months ago.
“Today is a watershed moment – both for Airbnb as a company and for our community -- that will enable us to touch new markets and expand our vision to make the world’s most interesting and inspiring places accessible to our users," co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said in a statement.
Andreessen Horowitz, whose portfolio companies now include Box.net, Foursquare, Facebook, Groupon, Instagram, Twitter, Zynga and Skype, led the round with a $60 million investment. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has also reportedly invested as well.
The money is clearly meant to fuel growth rather than cash out its existing investors, something that Facebook, Groupon and others have done with their massive funding rounds. Airbnb faces international competition from companies like Wimdu, which it publicly calls "impostors." The money could be used for international acquisitions, a strategy Groupon has liberally used.