CoreWeave's IPO on Friday raised $1.5 billion at a $14 billion market cap, below initial expectations. Priced at $40, shares opened at $39. Despite this underwhelming debut, it became the largest AI-related public offering and the biggest tech IPO since 2021. Chief Strategy Officer Brian Venturo recounted the company's journey from a hedge fund's energy investment strategies to becoming the largest Ethereum miner globally, starting in a Manhattan office before expanding to a garage in New Jersey.
Next up: crypto. The wanted to get in, but first 'wanted to understand from the commodity side, how is this made,' Venturo said. 'So we started doing mining on the pool table in our Manhattan office.'
All told, CoreWeave raised $1.5 billion and nabbed a $14 billion market cap on Day 1, instead of a hoped-for $3 billion+ raise and a much higher valuation.
Sitting in an ordinary white hoodie in a bland conference room, and talking with a detectable Jersey accent, Chief Strategy Officer Brian Venturo told TechCrunch that he feels very lucky.
They had built an ML model to help them pick investments in the data-heavy energy industry. There they met their cofounder, Brannin McBee, who ran the data firm they used.
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