Ashton Kutcher Makes Biggest Investment to Date With Airbnb

Airbnbhas added Ashton Kutcher comedic heartthrob, coveted angel investor and Twitter-master extraordinaire to its team of investors, the San Francisco based startup hasannounced in a blogpost.

The company isnt sharing the size of the check, but says it represents Kutchers biggest venture investment to date. And while his investment probably isnt eye popping, Kutcher is nevertheless a big get for Airbnb. The actors dance dance card is full of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs courting his new investment arm, which he called A Grade.Kutcherrecently invested in another startupSeatGeek.

As part of the deal, the actor will join the Airbnb team as an ally and trusted advisor who will help out in a community engagement capacity. From the announcement:

With Ashton on board, well be working together to take our community engagement to the next level and expand our international presence to reach more people from different cultures all over the world. Its an exciting time for us. Airbnb has pioneered an industry and broken new ground as a trusted community marketplace where people from all over the world can discover and book unique spaces from people anywhere in the world. Now its time to expand and time to bring our concept to communities on an international scale.

Airbnb matches frugal travelers with locals willing to accomodate them for a price. Its likeCouchsurfing for a moreentrepr! eneurial crowd. Launched fromhumblebeginnings, the companysco-founders once sold special breakfast cereal in boxes that carried funky names (Obama Os and Breakfast of Change) to attendees of the Democratic National Convention in November 2008 to keep Airbnb alive.

It got a major boost in late 2010, when it snagged $7.2 million in funding from Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners, on top of the $600,000 it received in seed funding. And the peer-to-peer service is hitting critical masswith listings in more than 60,000 listings in 9,000 cities and 170 countries.In todays blog post, Airbnb praised Kutcher for taking his fascination with tech to new heights with his avid approach to brand marketing and social media.

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