The travel and hospitality markets were especially hard with the implementation of stay-in-home and shelter-in-place orders across the globe. Portals, especially, are scrambling for ways to continue business as usual with these new limitations.
Airbnb announced that it had secured hefty funding from two investors equaling $1 billion. Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners expect the short-term booking host to use the combination debt and equity securities to develop a long-term solution for its community of hosts and stakeholders, alike.
The hosting platform was hit especially hard as travelers ended their stays early and canceled others completely to make it home for quarantine. Startups across all verticals are taking extra measures to save up money while the pandemic takes its course.
The pandemic has been another low blow to Airbnb. Last year was fraught with continuous obstacles for the hosting platform. The planned IPO is delayed to this year, continuous legal battles between the platform and governments around the world (especially in LATAM) and being booted out of Australia completely, Airbnb has seen its fair share of Murphy's Law.
The IPO is still planned for later this year, though experts expect more delays considering how volatile the current market is.
Regardless, Airbnb is keeping its promise to support its users. The CEO explained that $250 million in funding will be given to hosts and $10 million to its 'Superhosts'. The money is said to be coming from the company's founders and employees.
There is hope. Silver Lake's Co-CEO said that Airbnb is "well-positioned to thrive when the world recovers from this virus." Many experts are keeping faith in the idea that the markets will bounce back when things return to normalcy. The only thing left to do is wait.
