This week, there was one name on the tip of every business journalist’s lips: Adam Neumann. (Even us here at Equity Mates, listen to our episode of the Dive on Adam Neumann here). The founder of WeWork was famously forced out of his company (with a billion dollar payout) after a failed attempt to IPO in 2019 raised significant red flags. But three years later, Neumann is back.
Last time he was trying to disrupt the way we work… this time he is trying to disrupt the way we live.
Neumann has just raised $350 million from Silicon Valley heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz, giving his startup a valuation over $1 billion. This article asks how he was able to raise so much money from one of the world’s largest VC’s.
The problem Neumann is trying to solve is a massive one. Housing in America is in short supply and there is a rental crisis emerging as prices keep rising. Estimates are the US was short nearly 4 million housing units in 2020.
Neumann and Andreessen Horowitz thinks this new startup can solve this idea by building a new option, between owning and renting, “where renters receive the benefits of owners”. How that will actually solve a supply issue? We watch and wait.
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