Airbnb acquires Spanish tours start-up Trip4Real
Airbnb has acquired Barcelona-based travel start-up Trip4real, as the accommodation giant expands its growth into the travel industry. Although no figures were released surrounding the deal, insiders claimed Airbnb paid between €5 and €10m. Trip4real had previously advised and partnered with Airbnb, and in a statement, the company said Trip4real "shares our vision of a different kind of travel experience that is local and authentic."

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News emerged over the weekend that Airbnb has acquired Trip4real, a Spanish startup that connects travelers with locals who arrange tours and activities for their visit.

The news was first reported by local paper La Vanguardia, according to Tech.eu, and VentureBeat has since garnered independent confirmation from Trip4real founder Gloria Molins, who is actually off on maternity leave at the moment.

“We are delighted to join the Airbnb family,” said Molins, in an emailed statement. “Airbnb and Trip4real share a vision of a different kind of travel experience that is local and authentic. We have an exciting future together. We will continue to operate as a standalone business in the near term, and there will be no immediate impact on our experience hosts or current bookings.”

Founded in 2012, Trip4real had raised around $3 million in funding, and the Barcelona-based startup becomes Airbnb’s tenth known acquisition. Earlier this year, Airbnb snapped up ChangeCoin, a startup that runs a bitcoin-based micropayments platform. Last year, Airbnb bought Lapka, a Russian startup specializing in sensor-based gadgets, and it also took on Seattle-based trip-planning startup Vamo.

As with Airbnb’s previous acquisitions, terms of the Trip4real deal have not been officially disclosed. However, El Confidencial has the value pegged at somewhere between €5 million and €10 million — or between $5.5 million and $11.1 million (USD).