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He's not wrong, you know?
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Dealbook has the scoop of the day, with news that WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, "whose spectacular rise and fall has been chronicled in books, documentaries and a scripted television series," has raised $350 million in funding for his newest company, Flow, at a $1 billion valuation from one backer: Andreessen Horowitz.
It's reportedly the biggest individual check the firm has ever written in a round of funding.
According to VC Marc Andreessen, who is joining the board, the outfit, which centers on residential real estate, is "rethinking the entire value chain, from the way buildings are purchased and owned to the way residents interact with their buildings to the way value is distributed among stakeholders."
Alas, the actual details are TBD, but this type of company is not completely out of left field for a16z. Among the firm's many investments, it has backed numerous startups that claim to help renters become owners.
Andreessen Horowitz is also in the business of backing companies that use digital tokens to build community, and Neumann has reportedly taken a interest in using tokens as a means of rewarding building owners for trying to reduce the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere.
If we had to guess, we'd venture that Flow also ties closely to WeLive, an offshoot of WeWork that was premised on offering "members" access to fully furnished apartment buildings with small living quarters but large gathering spaces like espresso bars, yoga studios, and funky little eateries.
Indeed, we expect that Neumann -- who has reportedly already purchased 3,000 apartment units in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and Nashville -- will likely focus again on creating communities within communities, as well as "layering more and more things onto the physical graph that can control the interactions between an individual and a time and a place. " (This is partly how he described WeWork's business plan to us during an on-stage sit-down in 2017. Think financial services, think insurance. We're
spitballing, but as Neumann said then, the more you know about your customer the more you can offer them.)
Some in the startup world say they are furious that Neumann is already getting a second shot at venture-backed entrepreneurship, given that things went south so fast at WeWork. That's fair. Some investors who bet on Neumann lost their money, and many WeWork employees expecting to get rich instead lost their jobs. Meanwhile, aside from the humiliation of being publicly ousted, Neumann walked away largely unscathed and exceedingly wealthy, thanks to what many viewed as a preposterous exit package.
We don't have a horse in this race, though we always thought some of the outrage toward Neumann was misdirected given that he was almost comically transparent about his zany-sounding ambitions and unchecked spending. (A lot of people seemed happy to go along with both until that strategy belated blew up in their faces.)
It's also easy to argue that Neumann was on to something with WeWork, even if it was wildly overfunded and overvalued. Ultimately, the outfit did manage last fall to go public through a SPAC, and its mission seemingly makes more sense than ever given the dwindling number of people with access to "traditional" offices.
At the end of the day (and we mean that literally), we, like a lot of you, are very curious to see what happens next, but we also think investor Parker Thompson is spot on here. (↓↓)
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Fractyl Laboratories, an 11-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based developer of a minimally invasive procedure to resurface the inner linings of the intestine, has raised $55 million to help complete its pivotal clinical trial in Type 2 diabetes. Taiwania led the round, joined by earlier investors Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Domain Associates, Mithril Capital Management, Emergent Medical Partners, True Ventures, GV, and a handful of other, new investors. FierceBiotech has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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.bit, a startup that is trying to establish its identity protocol as the universal identification system for web3 applications, raised a $13 million Series A. CMB International led the round, while HashKey Capital, QingSong Fund, GSR Ventures, GGV Capital, and SNZ also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.
CareHarmony, a seven-year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based maker of AI-powered care coordination software, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Maverick Ventures, with participation from Nashville Capital Network. More here.
Gorgias, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based customer service platform designed for e-commerce, has raised $30 million in Series C funding from Transpose Platform and Shopify, with participation from earlier backers Jason Lemkin from SaaStr and Rajeev Dham from Sapphire Ventures, CRV, and Alven.
Levita Magnetics, an 11-year-old startup based in San Mateo, Ca., whose robotic surgical platform was designed to help surgeons perform more high-volume abdominal procedures using fewer incisions and fewer personnel, raised a $26 million Series C round. Longtime Abbot executive and investor Evan Norton led the round, joined by MedTex Ventures, Invermaster, and Carao Ventures. The company has raised a total of $27 million. Mass Device has more here.
Wire, a 10-year-old startup based in Zug, Switzerland, that makes an end-to-end encrypted messaging app for enterprises and governments, raised a $24.3 million Series C round. Cipio Partners and Iconical were the co-leads, while UVC Partners also contributed. The company has raised a total of $60.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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Naborforce, a four-year-old, Richmond, Va.-based aging tech company whose platform connects aging adults to a network of “Nabors” for social engagement and on-demand support with errands, transportation and help around the home, has raised a $9 million Series A round led by Translink, with participation from Claritas Capital, Techstars, and The Artemis Fund. More here.
Pastel, a one-year-old Nigerian startup that has built a bookkeeping app for small businesses, raised a $5.5 million seed round. TLcom Capital led the deal, with additional investment from Global Founders Capital, Golden Palm Investments, DFS Labs, Ulu Ventures, Plug and Play, and Soma Cap. TechCrunch has more here.
Penfold, a four-year-old London startup that says it has created an easier way for consumers to combine and manage their pensions, raised an $8.5 million Series A. Bridford Group led the round. The company has raised a total of $22.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Sphere, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based career 'upskilling' startup that trains employees in machine learning and data science, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Felicis led the round, joined by numerous individual investors. Business Insider has more here.
Skipper, a startup based in Charlotte, N.C., that offers a booking platform for hotels to compete with large chains and online travel agencies, raised a $5.8 million seed round led by Gradient Ventures, with additional investment from Pear, Wayfinder, Uncommon Capital, ERA, and individual investors. Skift has more here.
Take App, a one-year-old startup based in Singapore that's creating storefront interfaces for businesses on WhatsApp, raised $900,000 from Meta and Y Combinator. The company has raised a total of $1 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Exits ( . . . and Canceled Exits) |
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Galaxy Digital, the crypto-focused financial services firm run by noted investor Michael Novogratz, will no longer acquire BitGo, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital assets company it planned to buy for $1.2 billion. BitGo isn't going to go away so quietly, however. Soon after Galaxy announced the deal was off, BitGo announced that plans to hold the firm “legally accountable” and to seek over $100 million in damages.
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Michael Burry, the hedge-fund manager who won fame for betting against the U.S. housing market before the 2008 financial crisis, revealed in a securities filing today that he almost completely pulled out of stocks last quarter. As per the WSJ, Burry's Scion Asset Management showed that as of June 30 it held the shares of just one company: private-prison operator GEO Group, whereas at the end of March, Scion held more than $165 million worth of stocks including Alphabet, Booking Holdings, Meta Platforms
and Bristol Myers-Squibb.
James Loftus has joined PayPal Ventures, the San Jose-based venture arm of PayPal, as a managing partner. Loftus previously spent more than four years in corporate development at Square. More here.
Brian Matesic has joined Norwest Venture Partners healthcare team as a principal. Matesic has worked previously at McKinsey and Blackstone Life Sciences. More here.
Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, locally known as India’s Warren Buffett due to his penchant for equity investing, has died. He was 62. Bloomberg has more here.
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Since the pandemic began, the private aviation industry has apparently seen record growth despite surging fuel prices and mounting environmental concerns. Monthly flights of private jets have jumped nearly 30% since 2019, according to the flight-tracking firm Flightradar24, and charter services are reporting sharp increases in demand. The WSJ has more here.
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Apple today set a Sept. 5 deadline for corporate employees to be in the office at least three days a week, marking its latest return attempt after Covid-19 spikes delayed its plans several times. Bloomberg has more here.
The rise of the worker productivity score. In the New York Times.
End-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal says attackers accessed the phone numbers and SMS verification codes for almost 2,000 users as part of a breach at communications giant Twilio last week. Wondering if you're one of these users? Signal said in a blog post today that it will notify those whose phone numbers or SMS verification codes were stolen. 😬 TechCrunch has more here.
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