Adam Neumann, co-founder and former CEO of office sharing startup WeWork, is working on a new rental property business funded by Andreessen Horowitz. According to a report in The New York Times, the venture capital firm invested around $350 million in Neumann’s burgeoning real estate business called Flow, which aims to provide a consistent living experience across a chain of branded apartment complexes.
If you’re familiar with the history of WeWork, you might have a little déjà vu. The company, which provides flexible office space for workers, was once valued at $50 billion. But after a failed IPO (initial public offering) and laying off thousands of its employees, WeWork became known more for its corporate drama than its actual business. When Neumann stepped down as CEO in 2019, he made a $1.7 billion exit package.
As the Times noted, this investment represents “the largest individual check Andreessen Horowitz has ever written in a corporate financing round.” It values Flow at over $1 billion — despite critics “who have described his leadership of WeWork as a cautionary tale of corporate hubris” — and it hasn’t even launched yet.
Neumann has already bought 3,000 units in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and Nashville to expand its Flow-branded apartments, which aren’t scheduled to debut until 2023.
“We take it for granted that Adam, for his first company since WeWork [Neumann] returns to the theme of connecting people through transforming their physical spaces and building communities where people spend most of their time: in their homes,” explains Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, in a blog post. “Residential real estate – the world’s largest asset class – is poised for exactly this change.”