Billionaire Marc Andreessen said his venture capital firm is "doubling down" on Flow, the multifamily company helmed by former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.
Andreessen, founder and general partner of Silicon Valley-based Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, said in a blog post in the past week that physical spaces that unlock human potential now matter more than ever, especially in a world of increasing digital abstraction.
The venture capital firm with over $45 billion in assets under management first invested in Neumann's Flow in 2022. The $350 million investment helped Neumann launch Flow with the goal of revolutionizing the apartment industry in the same manner WeWork sought to change the flexible office industry.
When a16z first invested in Flow, the residential real estate market "was broken," Andreessen said in the blog post. "Traditional homeownership trapped people in place. Standard rentals offered no community, no feeling of ownership, no pride. Flow’s vision was simple: create living experiences that are both flexible, connected and create a sense of belonging."
Neumann officially unveiled Flow's first two South Florida apartment properties in 2024 with Flow Fort Lauderdale and Flow Miami. The group's first condominium project, Flow House, sits next door to Flow Miami and is in the final stages of development.
“Flow’s buildings crush market benchmarks. Higher revenue. Better profits. A brand unlike anything in real estate," Andreessen said in the blog. "Flow’s technology reimagines what’s possible for owners, operators, investors, and residents."
A16z did not respond to an email request for comment from CoStar News about its latest investment in Flow. The blog post did not disclose a dollar figure in the investment. Flow hit a $2.5 billion valuation following an April funding round that raised over $100 million from investors, including a16z, Bloomberg reported.
Representatives for Flow did not respond to questions for additional information from CoStar News.
Flow is looking into how to better integrate its technology with residents at its properties. Andreessen said Flow aims to use blockchain technology to "democratize real estate value" so that residents and not just "traditional investors" benefit from the value of the building.
Since launching in South Florida, Flow has expanded to Saudi Arabia, where it has bought real estate and opened buildings "under its own brand and operations," Andreessen said in the blog.
Still, Flow is bullish on South Florida with projects in the works for more than 3,000 apartment units with plans to "create entire neighborhoods built on the Flow vision," Andreessen said.
Those projects include a three-tower mixed-use development in Aventura, a city about 13 miles north of downtown Miami, and a 16-acre development site that Flow acquired in the neighborhood of El Portal, just under 6 miles from downtown Miami, that is zoned for up to 2,000 apartment units.
Neumann settled in the Miami area after being ousted in 2019 from WeWork, the coworking company he helped propel into a multibillion-dollar real estate empire before its first attempt at an initial public offering was scrapped amid corporate governance concerns.
Some of Flow's properties are expected to include Workflow — a new service from Flow that offers flexible offices and coworking spaces to companies and individuals, similar to WeWork.