Startup Helmed by WeWork Ex-CEO Is Andreessen Horowitz’s Biggest Gamble

Andreessen Horowitz is making its largest single investment in a startup helmed by Adam Neumann, WeWork's ex-CEO....
Startup Helmed by WeWork Ex-CEO Is Andreessen Horowitz’s Biggest Gamble
Written by Matt Milano

Andreessen Horowitz is making its largest single investment in a startup helmed by Adam Neumann, WeWork’s ex-CEO.

Neumann famously fell from grace as the CEO of WeWork, stepping down when he failed to help the company go public. Despite that high-profile flop, his latest venture is getting some major backing from the VC firm founded by internet legend Marc Andreessen.

While WeWork helped revolutionize commercial real estate, Neumann’s latest company Flow looks to revolutionize residential real estate.

“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,” writes Andreessen in a blog post. “Adam, and the story of WeWork, have been exhaustively chronicled, analyzed, and fictionalized – sometimes accurately. For all the energy put into covering the story, it’s often under appreciated that only one person has fundamentally redesigned the office experience and led a paradigm-changing global company in the process: Adam Neumann. 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. For Adam, the successes and lessons are plenty and we are excited to go on this journey with him and his colleagues building the future of living.”

Andreessen voices his confidence that Neumann can make lightning strike twice with the residential market.

“We think it is natural that for his first venture since WeWork, Adam returns to the theme of connecting people through transforming their physical spaces and building communities where people spend the most time: their homes,” Andreessen continues. “Residential real estate — the world’s largest asset class — is ready for exactly this change.”

While Andreessen doesn’t talk money in his blog, The New York Times says his firm has already invested $350 million in Flow, valuing it at more than $1 billion, and representing the VC firm’s single largest investment in its history.

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