Flow is an American residential real-estate company founded by the former CEO of

WeWork WeWork Inc. is a provider of coworking spaces, including physical and virtual shared spaces, headquartered in New York City. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated of space, including in the United States and Canada, in 756 locatio ...

Adam Neumann Adam Neumann ( he, אדם נוימן; born April 25, 1979) is an Israeli-American billionaire businessman and investor. In 2010, he co-founded WeWork with Miguel McKelvey, where he served as CEO from 2010 to 2019. In 2019, he co-founded a family ...

and funded by the venture capital firm

Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen ...

. The company hopes to address some aspects of the United States housing shortage through technology, providing equity for renters, and a new type of social interaction. The startup is initially planning to operate 3,000 apartment units, purchased by Neumann, in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia and Miami and

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in Florida. The company is scheduled to launch in 2023, while the business plan has not yet been made public as of January 2023. According to ''The New York Times'', Flow plans to offer concierge services to renters and management services for Neumann's properties and third-party landlords.

Funding

In mid-August 2022 Flow received a $350 million initial investment from Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the company at over $1 billion and making it a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

months before commencing operations. According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', the investment granted Andreessen Horowitz a stake in Flow's real estate portfolio.

Criticism

The decision by the investment by Andreessen Horowitz was criticized due to Neumann's previous business issues during his time at WeWork. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article on the return of the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

'Bro' culture outlined how the Flow deal caused concern among

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

and women who saw Neumann and Flow getting a second chance even though those groups never received the first chance for venture capital.

References

{{reflist Real estate companies of the United States Privately held companies of the United States 2023 establishments in the United States