Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon credit trading service backed by WeWork's Neumann, raises $32M led by a16z and $38M from selling its Goddess Nature Token
When I was 22, I spent several months working in the field in South Africa. Jamie Redman / Bitcoin News : Wework Co-Founder Adam Neumann's Crypto Project Secures $70M, Funding Round Led by A16z Luiz Ramalho / DT Journal : Carbon Credits...but on the Blockchain Philip Wu / TradingBTC.com : WeWork founder reinvents himself with $70M crypto carbon credit platform Web3 is going just great : The WeWork founders are starting a carbon credit crypto company and they already raised $70 million in funding Stacy Elliott / Decrypt : WeWork Founder Raises $70M for Carbon Credit Crypto Project, a16z Leads Round Ellen Huet / Bloomberg : WeWork's Adam Neumann Resurfaces in Crypto Carbon-Credit Startup Business Wire : Flowcarbon Raises $70M to Tokenize Carbon Credits and Build an On-chain Market With a16z crypto as Lead Investor Tweets: @ariannasimpson : I'm excited to share today that @a16z crypto is leading the series A round of @weareflowcarbon as they develop an on-chain carbon credit tokenization platform to bring their net-zero vision to fruition. More from @_PorterSmith and me below. https://a16z.com/... Joe Weisenthal / @thestalwart : https://twitter.com/... Zeke Hausfather / @hausfath : You know whats even better than planting trees to offset emissions? Crypto-trees. Sigh... https://techcrunch.com/... Scott Galloway / @profgalloway : Of course: In a classic “pivot to crypto to reinvent yourself” moment, controversial WeWork founder Adam Neumann recently launched a startup, Flowcarbon, to sell tokenized carbon credits on the blockchain. https://techcrunch.com/... @cdixon : We highlighted @weareflowcarbon in last week's State of Crypto report as a prime example of web3 companies making a positive impact. Flowcarbon's marketplace is funding projects that reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere. https://twitter.com/... @weareflowcarbon : Huge thanks to our incredible investors for believing in our mission🌎🚀 We started Flowcarbon to scale the carbon market — the single most immediate solution to climate change. It's a big idea but we have the best partners to help us get there @AriannaSimpson @cdixon @htaneja https://twitter.com/... @a16z : We are thrilled to announce our investment in @weareflowcarbon, which is building an on-chain carbon credit tokenization platform that will be governed by its users. General Partner @AriannaSimpson shares more on our blog. https://a16z.com/... Thomas Thornton / @tommythornton : Guess we are not at a bottom https://twitter.com/... Dr. Jonathan Foley / @globalecoguy : Good grief. There are several big issues with forest-based “carbon offsets” — including additionality, permanence, and verification. And exactly *none* of those are solved by putting them on the blockchain. https://techcrunch.com/... Emma Jacobs / @emmavj : Woohoo season 2 of we crashed! https://twitter.com/... Kate Brodock / @just_kate : Dear @a16z, This is what we call a negative contribution to the ecosystem. Sigh, Kate https://twitter.com/... Anita Ramaswamy / @anitaramaswamy : Adam and Rebekah Neumann's new startup is selling a cryptocurrency called the “Goddess Nature Token.” you really couldn't make this up lol https://techcrunch.com/... James Moore / @jamesmoore_org : Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.... what the actual hell is this. Who would trust them with a dime... Lordy. https://twitter.com/... James Temple / @jtemple : Putting carbon credits certified by registries with well-documented underlying issues ... on the blockchain ... does nothing to address those well-documented underlying issues. https://twitter.com/... Bennett Tomlin / @bennetttomlin : Oh man I'm definitely going to have to write about this when it inevitably fails in some humorous way https://twitter.com/... Hillel Fuld / @hilzfuld : Wow. Nuts. Adam Neumann's blockchain-based redemption story now sponsored by a16z | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/... Kate Aronoff / @katearonoff : A few weeks ago I was asking some friends who the Adam Neumann of climate would be. Turns out it is Adam Neumann https://www.reuters.com/... Stephen Shankland / @stshank : Re. FlowCarbon and blockchain, seems to the problem with carbon credits has been more around legitimacy of the credits themselves, not accounting difficulties. I.e. garbage in, garbage out. How does blockchain help that? https://www.reuters.com/... Maya Zehavi / @mayazi : I mean who is gonna believe Neumann won't just enrich himself all over again & play all sides of the market, cuz he can? It's like SV would rather double down on dishonest hustlers than responsible founders with original ideas Maya Zehavi / @mayazi : The combo of carbon credit, blockchain & Adam Neumann just doesn't inspire confidence. Reminder: carbon trading was probably the biggest European tax fraud; operated by a French crew from Israel. https://www.reuters.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Flowcarbon’s financing arrived as coverage was examining its Goddess Nature Token as a test of whether carbon-offset activity could be tokenized. Within weeks, crypto-backed carbon-credit projects slowed rollouts amid the crypto crash, putting execution rather than fundraising at the center of the model.
That pressure ultimately mattered: Flowcarbon later refunded investors after failing to launch the token. The raise is therefore an early marker of the gap between investor appetite for tokenized environmental assets and the ability to bring them to market.
First-order effects
- Flowcarbon gains $32 million of equity financing led by a16z and $38 million from token sales, giving the company capital and a base of Goddess Nature Token buyers to support its trading-service rollout.
- a16z and other backers become financially tied to Flowcarbon’s ability to turn tokenized carbon credits from a financing vehicle into an operating product.
Second-order effects
- Other startups offering cryptocurrencies backed by carbon offsets face a sharper benchmark: they must demonstrate product launches and usable trading activity, not simply replicate Flowcarbon’s fundraising structure.
- The crypto downturn’s rollout delays make token purchasers more exposed to delivery risk, because the token’s intended market depends on Flowcarbon launching the underlying service.
Third-order effects
- The later failure to launch and investor refunds indicate that tokenized carbon-credit ventures will be judged on execution and market infrastructure as much as on the appeal of linking crypto to environmental assets.
- If that pattern persists, capital for crypto-linked environmental products will favor structures with clearer launch readiness over large pre-launch token sales.
The trend: Tokenized environmental-asset projects are moving from fundraising narratives toward an execution test of whether crypto instruments can support functioning underlying markets.