CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator appears on CNBC on July 17, 2024.
CNBC
Nvidia is aiming to anchor CoreWeave’s initial public offering at $40 a share with a $250 million order, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The company initially filed the offering at $47 to $55 per share. The source told CNBC’s Leslie Picker that CoreWeave hasn’t made a final decision on downsizing but conversations have happened with investors about a smaller deal. The company is slated to go public Friday.
CoreWeave did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Nvidia is already a significant customer of CoreWeave, which rents out remote access to computers based on Nvidia’s AI chips. The tech giant, which also owns about 6% of the company, declined to comment on the order.
CoreWeave’s anticipated offering has come as a welcome sign for an IPO market crippled by a drought in activity. The market for IPOs practically shuttered more than three years ago as investors ditched riskier bets against a backdrop of high inflation and interest rates.
Wall Street was optimistic that President Donald’s Trump term would usher in a more favorable setup for technology stocks, but the sector has gotten off to a rough start as tariffs sparked a global trade war and recession fears. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 7% this year.
The IPO market has shown signs of a rebirth, and CoreWeave joins a growing list of companies that have begun lining up for their debut. The queue includes ticket reseller StubHub, health tech company Hinge Health and online lender Klarna. The debut would also mark a milestone for the ballooning AI industry that continues drawing billions in spending from technology giants.
CoreWeave got its start in 2017 as Atlantic Crypto, offering infrastructure for mining the ethereum cryptocurrency. When digital currency prices dropped, the company snatched up additional graphics processing units and changed its name to CoreWeave as it turned its focus toward AI.
In its IPO prospectus filed earlier this month, the company said 2024 revenues jumped more than 700% to $1.92 billion and a net loss of $863.4 million. The company also said that 77% of its revenue came from two customers. Microsoft is the most significant client, accounting for 62% of revenue last year.
The company also said in its prospectus that it closed out 2024 with 32 data centers housing over 250,000 Nvidia GPUs.
— CNBC’s Hayden Field, Jordan Novet and Kristina Partsinevelos contributed reporting
