CoreWeave’s IPO is set to be massive, but the founders have already made a killing!
Hey, Chad here. I’ve got the inside scoop on CoreWeave‘s upcoming IPO, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride. This AI cloud service, backed by Nvidia, is making waves, and I’m here to break it down without the tech jargon.
CoreWeave’s Big Moves
So, CoreWeave is gearing up for a potential $4 billion IPO, and the details are pretty juicy. Word on the street is they’re aiming to raise at least $3.5 billion, with a valuation around $32 billion. Not too shabby, right? Especially considering they were valued at $23 billion just last November.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The company’s three co-founders have already cashed out nearly $488 million worth of shares. Yeah, you read that right. CEO Michael Intrator, CSO Brian Venturo, and CDO Brannin McBee have been selling off their Class A holdings since 2023. Intrator pocketed about $160 million, Venturo walked away with around $177 million, and McBee banked approximately $151 million. Smart move, fellas.
The Finance Guys
Here’s a fun fact: these guys aren’t your typical tech nerds. They come from the world of oil industry hedge funds. Intrator used to run a natural gas hedge fund, Venturo worked with him, and McBee was a trader at another hedge fund. To get some tech expertise, they brought in Chen Goldberg from Google Cloud, where she led Google’s Kubernetes and serverless team. Pretty solid move if you ask me.
Nvidia’s Golden Child
CoreWeave has a sweet deal with Nvidia, who owns over 6% of the company and is also a customer. With a massive collection of Nvidia GPUs, CoreWeave’s revenue has exploded. In 2024, they raked in $1.9 billion, which is almost eight times the $228,943 they made in 2023. Talk about growth!
But here’s the kicker: Microsoft accounts for 62% of that revenue. CoreWeave even lists Microsoft as both a customer and a competitor, along with IBM. They also have big names like Cohere, Meta, and Mistral on their customer list. Not bad company to keep.
Debt and Losses
Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. CoreWeave is still in the red, with losses of $863 million in 2024 and a whopping $7.9 billion in debt. Ouch!
The founders, being finance pros, see this debt as a strategic advantage. They call their finances “sophisticated” and claim to have “pioneered GPU infrastructure-backed lending.” Basically, their GPU stockpile is so valuable, they use it as collateral. Servicing that debt, though, cost them $941 million in 2024 alone. CoreWeave might use some of the IPO funds to pay down that debt.
Final Thoughts
So, will this IPO be a hit? Time will tell. But with the current frenzy around AI, any company making serious revenue in the field is bound to attract attention. CoreWeave is definitely one to watch.
