WeWork Co-founder Invests In Residential Real Estate Service

WeWork Co-founder Adam Neumann, who left the flexible office-space company during its attempt to go public, has invested $30 million in Alfred Club, a startup that helps apartment building operators provide luxury services, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday (Oct. 14).

Bloomberg attributed the information to a spokesman for Neumann’s family office, 166 2nd LLC, and said Neumann’s funds are part of a larger investment involving other parties totaling $42 million. Other investors include Spark Capital, New Enterprise Associates and apartment developer Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC.

While still at WeWork, according to Bloomberg, Neumann led a company foray into residential real estate through an offering called WeLive. The report noted that WeWork only involved two buildings, one in New York City and one near Washington, D.C.

Alfred Club Co-founder Marcela Sapone, in an interview Bloomberg cited, said she met Neumann a year ago, and found that they shared “the perspective that real estate can do more for people, and that we should demand more from our greatest expense.”

Describing the end of Neumann’s tenure at WeWork, Bloomberg wrote: “Neumann has stayed fairly quiet since his company’s tumultuous period last fall, when it withdrew its plans for an initial public offering, took billions in bailout funding from SoftBank Group Corp. and terminated thousands of employees. He has since sold off some of his own real estate assets. Meanwhile, his former company said Wednesday it was changing its name back to WeWork, from We Co.”

In May, Neumann sued Softbank Group Corp., which at the time was the company’s biggest investor. He argued that the company used financial woes as a pretext for backing out of an arrangement that would have profited Neumann.

According to its website, Alfred Club’s offerings include systems to help coordinate remote property management, package delivery, leasing assistance, maintenance requests, rent payment processing and revenue maximization for landlords. The website states: “Our technology enables building managers to curate experiences, maximize amenity utilization and better monetize their communities.”

Bloomberg said Alfred serves more than 100,000 apartments and has raised almost $100 million in capital.