a16z says ‘WeBack’ to WeWork’s Neumann with its biggest check ever

The capital is going to Adam Neumann, the WeWork founder. According to the New York Times, the venture firm wrote its largest individual check ever, $350 million, to Flow, Neumann's new residential real estate company.

According to the Times, the funding round values Flow at over $1 billion, making it a unicorn before it begins operations. The startup is set to operate over 3,000 apartment units Neumann has purchased in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and Nashville as part of its vision to bring community-oriented features to the rental market.

Neumann was described as a visionary leader in a post on a16z. The financial terms of the investment were not addressed.

The investment marks a second show of support for a Neumann-founded company this year, as the firm put $70 million into the carbon credit platform in May. Flow Neumann is listed as a co-founder of Flowcarbon in a16z's earlier post about that investment.

"We understand how difficult it is to build something like this and we love seeing repeat-founders build on past successes by growing from lessons learned."

The Silicon Valley and Wall Street investors of WeWork paid Neumann an enormous exit package of $1 billion just to leave the company.

The company tanked in value from $47 billion to $8 billion and gained a reputation for mismanagement under Neumann's watch.

Neumann made many mistakes during his time in office. He patented the word "We" and sold it back to his company for nearly $6 million, though he ended up returning the money to the company after investors and the public criticized him.

It was surprising to see Silicon Valley come back for seconds after Neumann burned investors' cash on booze, a school for his wife, and a wave pool.

In a pre-pandemic world, WeWork's approach to co-working spaces was correct. Neumann has wanted to pursue the idea of building community among renters for a long time. WeLive, a set of residential communities he planned to build under the WeWork brand, flopped after opening just two locations.

In his post today, he mused about how Flow is poised to solve the nation's housing crisis, writing that "limited access to home ownership continues to be a driving force behind inequality and anxiety."

Today's investment in Flow comes just after it was reported that Flow's founder, Peter Andreessen, fought against a proposal to build affordable housing in his hometown.

Adam Neumann’s blockchain-based redemption story now sponsored by a16z