Airbnb was founded in 2008 by Rhode Island School of Design graduates Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky as a site that would allow travellers to stay in ordinary homes instead of hotels. The online marketplace and hospitality service allows users to advertise and find lodging space that are available for rental. The website provides access to 5+ million places in more than 81,000 cities in 191 countries. Airbnb’s headquarters is in San Francisco, but the company operates on a global scale via satellite offices across the world.

In 2016, the company launched Samara, an internal design studio that focuses on projects including architecture, service design and software engineering.