Adam Neumann, the co-founder of co-working company WeWork, is launching Flow, a new venture that hopes to transform the residential rental real estate market. While the details are still unclear, the company seems to be focused on creating a branded product with a focus on community features, as reported by The New York Times. The company received financial support, approximately $350 million, from Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm and one of the early investors in Facebook and Airbnb. Flow is expected to launch in 2023.
The first announcements suggest that the company will strive to create community-driven developments as a response to the increasing demand for quality living. The pandemic has played an important role as the lockdowns revealed the shortcomings of current living conditions. For people working from home or in hybrid work environments, the importance of local communities is further accentuated. Yet the residential real estate market has been slow to address these changing dynamics.
In a world where limited access to homeownership continues to be a driving force behind inequality and anxiety, giving renters a sense of security, community and genuine ownership has transformative power for our society - Marc Andreessen
Adam Neumann is launching Flow three years after exiting WeWork, a company whose rise and fall have been extensively documented and analyzed. It is believed that Neumann has purchased more than 3,000 apartment units in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Nashville. Flow will operate these properties and also offer its services to new developers and third parties.
Last year, another WeWork executive, Roni Bahar joined forces with Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and real estate professional Nick Chim to create e Nabr, a housing company that offers residents custom sustainable apartments at scale with a path to ownership. The real estate tech startup has debuted its first development SoFA One in the heart of San Jose's South of First Area (SoFA) cultural district in Silicon Valley, and will allow residents to customize their space using Nabr's digital platform, and choose between different designs and financing packages.
