CoreWeave, a GPU-focused cloud computing startup, hit a pre-money valuation of $2 billion on Thursday after securing $221 million in a new funding round, according to TechCrunch. The investment will be used to expand the startup’s data centers.
CoreWeave Valued at $2B After Fresh Funding
Cloud-based computing power and infrastructure provider CoreWeave announced today it had raised $221 million in a Series B funding round led by Magnetar Capital. Magnetar injected $111 million into the startup, while Nvidia contributed the remaining portion of the financing along with GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and former Apple executive Daniel Gross.
The latest round takes CoreWeave’s pre-money valuation to $2 billion, and its total funding raised to $371 million. The company’s CEO, Mike Intrator, said the fresh capital would be used to open two new data centers, in addition to its current five in North America.
Founded in 2017, the startup initially started as an Ethereum mining venture. One of the co-founders, Brian Venturo, bought Nvidia GPUs from insolvent crypto-mining farms at affordable prices. Initially, the company focused solely on crypto applications, but later it pivoted to general-purpose computing and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Recent AI Craze Could Bode Well for CoreWeave
Today, CoreWeave offers its clients access to a broad range of Nvidia GPUs in the cloud, such as A100s, H100s, A40s, and RTX A6000s. The company’s clients mainly use this computing power for AI and machine learning (ML) operations, visual effects and rendering, pixel streaming, and batch processing.
“Our clients include generative AI companies, like Tarteel AI and Anlatan, the creators of NovelAI, and we’ve supported a range of open source AI and machine learning projects like EleutherAI and Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion.”
– CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator told TechCrunch.
CoreWeave’s latest funding comes amid an AI boom triggered by OpenAI’s sensation ChatGPT. The chatbot’s success and unprecedented growth have left tech giants such as Microsoft and Baidu, but also crypto-related firms, in a hurry to develop their generative AI solutions.
Meanwhile, it remains challenging for cloud providers to succeed in a market largely controlled by behemoths such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. But CoreWeave remains optimistic about its future thanks to its “industry-leading” hardware. The startup currently serves more than 1,000 customers.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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