Weekly Radar #348: Life In Flow For $2.5B, Compass vs The World, Scoring Proptech's Consumer Brands, Proptech Index Increased 5.12%
In this Weekly Radar, we cover:
- Flow raised funding at a $2.5 billion valuation with participation from a16z and plans to eventually go public, but concerns persist that branded apartments may struggle to deliver true community at scale.
- Zillow, Redfin, NextHome, and West USA Realty are aligning around banning private exclusives to prioritize MLS listings, while Compass continues promoting private exclusives for agent marketing advantages.
- Startups must evolve by founders relinquishing certain roles as companies grow, with leadership requiring humility to prioritize team and company needs over personal attachment.
- We score Zillow, Zumper, Flyhomes, and Airbnb based on Scrabble points, though brand quality assessments remain partly subjective.
- The GEM Proptech Index increased 5.12% from the previous week.
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Transmission Recap:
Most recently, Drew Meyers asked the question, what if dropping an LLM and conversational prompt on top of a traditional search UI isn’t the solution at all. Before that, Drew explored whether the next major MLS tech disruption isn’t a desktop/mobile experience, but one that eliminates the need for a traditional interface at all.
BIZ INTEL
PROPTECH INDEX WEEKLY
By: Community Relations
Consisting of 28 stocks, the GEM Proptech Index had a combined market cap of $234.614B, an increase of 5.12% from the previous week.
BUILT WORLD
LIFE IN FLOW FOR $2.5B
By: Drew Meyers
Co-living rental startup Flow raised "over $100 million in capital” in a round that values that company at about $2.5 billion," reports TechCrunch. a16z, ❇️which put $350 million into Flow's last round❇️, participated in this round. In Bloomberg, former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann said that Flow will go public one day.
Aside from the ocassional "WTF is Flow?" comment, I haven't heard a peep about Flow from anyone in the industry in the last few years. On one end, it's good Neumann and team are building rather than making the public speaking circuit. On the other hand, the silence from my in-the-know network is beyond troubling. Flow's website touts "life in flow," and pitches their communities as delivering belonging, wellbeing, and compassionate living. Those vague statements reinforce my fear that Flow is the WeWork playbook all over again, but for multi-family rather than office. Then I see 2 and 3 bedroom homes in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), and get even more confused. I wish them luck, but I remain ❇️beyond bearish on the ability for branded apartments to deliver actual community at scale❇️.
Those who know me, know I don't use the word never lightly. However, I'll leave you with this: since 2005 when I started my tech career at Zillow, I have literally never seen community scale. And certainly not venture funded community.
REAL ESTATE
COMPASS VS THE WORLD
By: Drew Meyers
The saga continues...