Home-rental company Airbnb Inc. is set to add about $850 million to its coffers and let employees cash out of some stock as part of a new funding round led by the growth-equity arm of Alphabet Inc., people close to the deal said.

The equity funding values Airbnb at about $30 billion, or $105 a share, the price that it had sought. Google Capital and growth-equity firm Technology Crossover Ventures co-led the round, these people said.

In addition, employees who have been with the company for more than four years had the opportunity to sell common shares to investors as part of the deal. Roughly $200 million of employee stock was sold as part of that fundraising, these people said.

Investors bought the employee stock at a discount—$93.09 a share, at last year's $25.5 billion valuation—because the common stock doesn't grant investor protections like preferred stock does.

Airbnb may accept more funding from additional investors in the round, two people familiar with the matter said.

The deal is designed in part to relieve some of the pressure to go public, as the company will have more funds to spend on expansion overseas, and can give longer-term employees the option to get cash for some of their shares, the people said.

Write to Maureen Farrell at maureen.farrell@wsj.com and Greg Bensinger at greg.bensinger@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2016 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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