Adam Neumann’s climate startup is quietly refunding investors after failing to launch a crypto token, report says

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.

WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann’s climate tech startup has been quietly refunding investors, Forbes reported.

Flowcarbon, which aimed to enable companies to purchase carbon credits with cryptocurrency, has reportedly been issuing refunds for its Goddess Nature Token after failing to launch for years.

Founded in 2021, Flowcarbon claimed that tokenizing carbon credits would make them easier to trade and help projects access funding more easily. The company said its Goddess Nature Token would shed light on the “opaque and fractured market infrastructure” for carbon credits — but the tokens have yet to emerge.

Flowcarbon cited market conditions and resistance from carbon registries as reasons for refunding the money, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke with Forbes. The customers were also asked to sign a release that included a waiver of claims against the company and its affiliates, according to the report.

Representatives for Flowcarbon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17, made outside normal working hours.

However, the company told Forbes: “It’s well known that since last year we have been offering refunds to retail GNT buyers due to the industry delays, with standard and customary terms, as we continue to grow Flowcarbon as a leader in carbon finance.”

Neumann’s venture has secured millions of dollars of funding from investors since its debut, including $70 million in a funding round led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

However, experts have raised concerns that simply making credits easier to buy and sell would do little to solve the underlying climate issues.

Flowcarbon is not the former WeWork CEO’s only new project. In 2022, Neumann announced he was starting a new company named Flow to transform apartment living. Andreessen Horowitz also invested in the project to the tune of $350 million — its single largest investment ever.

The startup has already hit a roadblock with its 358-unit apartment complex in Nashville.

Neumann has also been trying to buy back WeWork, his former company, which emerged from bankruptcy in May, for more than $500 million. The former CEO has been trying to regain control of WeWork since he famously parted ways with it five years ago.