Airbnb與中國風投機構展開合作

Airbnb has formed a partnership with China Broadband Capital and Sequoia China to help the apartment-sharing app expand into the Chinese market.

Airbnb已與中國寬帶產業基金(China Broadband Capital)及紅杉中國(Sequoia China)建立合作關係，以幫助這一公寓分享應用向中國市場擴張。

The San Francisco-based ‘sharing economy’ app will be advised by local venture capitalists on how to adapt to sell to Chinese travellers. One of its first tasks will be to recruit a chief executive for Airbnb China.

中國當地的風險投資家將向這家總部位於舊金山的“分享經濟”應用公司提供諮詢，告訴它如何調整自身、以適應中國旅遊市場。該公司的首要任務之一，將是爲Airbnb中國(Airbnb China)招募一名首席執行官。

The partnership comes amid a $1.5bn fundraising round from investors including Beijing-based Hillhouse Capital and investment firm Tiger Global, and led by US private equity firm General Atlantic. The round, which boosts the company’s valuation to at least $24bn, will be used to try to tap into booming demand in Asia.

與此同時，Airbnb正向投資者展開一輪規模爲15億美元的募資。這些投資者以美國私人股本公司泛大西洋投資集團(General Atlantic)爲首，還包括總部位於北京的高瓴資本(Hillhouse Capital)以及投資機構老虎環球基金(Tiger Global)。這輪募資將把Airbnb的估值推升到至少240億美元，所籌資金將用於努力從亞洲急劇增長的需求中獲利。

Airbnb has seen strong growth in South Korea and Singapore and is looking to invest more across the region, according to someone familiar with the plans. Airbnb would not confirm that the new partners were also investing in the company.

瞭解相關計劃的人士稱，Airbnb在韓國和新加坡都實現強勁增長，目前正尋求在亞洲各地展開更多投資。至於新的合作伙伴是否也在投資Airbnb，該公司不願予以證實。

Brian Chesky, co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb, said the number of Chinese guests staying in Airbnb properties around the world increased by 700 per cent last year, growing faster than the number of guests from any other single nationality.

Airbnb聯合創始人、首席執行官布賴恩切斯基(Brian Chesky)表示，去年，在世界各地Airbnb房屋居住過的中國房客的人數增加了7倍，比其他任何一個國家房客人數的增長都快。

“When we see this growth and hear the stories from our community, it is clear that Airbnb is uniquely positioned to connect Chinese guests to amazing travel experiences,” he said in a blogpost.

他在一篇博文中表示：“當我們看到這樣的增長、聽到我們圈子內的種種故事時，我們明白了一點：在讓中國客人享受到絕佳旅遊體驗方面，Airbnb擁有獨特的優勢。

“And as we move into our next phase of expansion in China, we know we will need deep local knowledge and expertise to keep this momentum going.”

“在我們的在華擴張進入新階段之際，我們知道，我們需要找到對當地情況和業務有深入瞭解的人，以確保這一擴張勢頭能夠持續下去。”