Exclusive-CoreWeave targets valuation of over $35 billion in 2025 US IPO, sources say

6:02 pm Friday, November 22nd, 2024

By Echo Wang

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence cloud platform CoreWeave, is aiming for a valuation of more than $35 billion in its U.S. initial public offering that is expected to occur next year, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Roseland, New Jersey-based CoreWeave is likely to target raising more than $3 billion from its share sale, which could launch during the second quarter of 2025, the sources said, cautioning that the company’s plans are subject to market conditions and could change.

The discussions come at a time when investor interest in generative AI is sky-rocketing. The AI boom, which has powered chipmakers such as Nvidia, and other big tech firms, has turbocharged global demand for infrastructure such as data centers and high-powered servers.

Reuters reported in September that data center operator Switch is exploring an IPO that could value the company at about $40 billion, including debt.

Funding for private AI and cloud startups in the U.S., Europe and Israel is rising after three years of decline, and is estimated to touch $79.2 billion by the end of this year, venture capital firm Accel said in October.

CoreWeave offers access to data centers and high-powered chips for AI workloads, primarily supplied by Nvidia, one of the company’s main backers. It competes against larger cloud computing service providers such as tech giant Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS.

CoreWeave declined to comment.

A broader wave of high-profile names is gearing up for potential listings next year, as the IPO market shows early signs of thawing after several bouts of market volatility shut down capital markets for much of the last two years.

CoreWeave recently completed a $650 million secondary share sale, which valued it at $23 billion. Investors led by Jane Street, Magnetar, Fidelity Management, and Macquarie Capital participated in the secondary stock deal.

Bloomberg reported in November that CoreWeave had tapped investment banks for its IPO preparations.

(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)