News of The Flow residential real estate firm, founded by Adam Neumann, has made waves in Silicon Valley. According to reports, Neumann, 43, is now in control of Flow, a billion-dollar real estate startup, nearly three years after resigning from his position as CEO of WeWork over claims of mismanagement, a toxic workplace, and the company’s failed IPO. CNN reports that renowned startup capital company Andreessen Horowitz on Monday disclosed its intentions to invest in Flow.
Real estate company Flow seeks to transform the residential housing market.
Marc Andreessen, a cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, said in a blog post-Monday that the startup would “create a system where renters receive the benefits of owners.”
Andreessen said that Flow wants to address modern housing problems – including the issue of people “moving away from traditional economic hub cities to different cities, towns, or rural areas,” thanks to the work-from-home culture brought upon by the pandemic.
According to the New York Times, Flow is “effectively a service that landlords can team up with for their properties, somewhat similar to the way an owner of a hotel might contract with a branded hotel chain to operate the property.”
According to the Times article, Neumann has also acquired more than 3,000 residential buildings for Flow in Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Nashville. The startup appears to offer remote workers community living.
The startup has received $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz. Before the startup ever launched, the investment valued it at more than $1 billion.
“Adam is a visionary leader who revolutionized the second largest asset class in the world — commercial real estate — by bringing community and brand to an industry in which neither existed before,” Marc Andreessen said in the blog post. “It’s often underappreciated that only one person has fundamentally redesigned the office experience and led a paradigm-changing global company in the process: Adam Neumann.” There is already a website for Flow, which now only states that it will launch in 2023.
