CoreWeave goes public at $40/share, raising $1.5B in biggest U.S. tech IPO since 2021, but falls short of price target

CoreWeave officially priced its IPO at $40 a share on Thursday, raising $1.5 billion and setting the stage for what’s now the largest tech public offering in the U.S. since 2021. Shares are set to begin trading today, Friday, March 28, 2025, on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “CRWV.”

That figure came in below expectations. The Nvidia-backed startup had originally targeted a range of $47 to $55 per share. At the high end, CoreWeave would’ve landed a valuation close to $26.5 billion. With the $40 pricing, it settles closer to $19 billion, based on the number of Class A and B shares outstanding. Fully diluted, the market cap will be higher.

CoreWeave also trimmed the size of its offering, cutting it from 49 million shares to 37.5 million, according to the company’s news release. Bloomberg was first to report the final pricing.

The IPO comes just weeks after the startup’s three founders—Mike Intrator, Brian Venturo, and Brannin McBee—each pocketed at least $150 million from stock sales, raising eyebrows across the industry.

Before trading began, interest was already high. Nvidia—one of CoreWeave’s largest shareholders—is reportedly planning to buy $250 million worth of shares at the IPO price.

Biggest U.S. Tech IPO Since 2021

This IPO is a key moment for tech startups and venture-backed firms, especially after a long dry spell. Since early 2022, new offerings have slowed to a crawl as inflation, rate hikes, and broader economic concerns pushed investors toward safer bets.

CoreWeave’s public debut could shift the mood. It’s the first venture-backed tech firm to raise at least $1 billion since Freshworks in 2021. Last year’s biggest IPOs, including Reddit and Rubrik, each pulled in around $750 million. Other names that recently filed to go public include Klarna, Hinge Health, and StubHub. Discord is reportedly preparing one too.

Founded in 2017 as a crypto mining company, CoreWeave pivoted into AI infrastructure and now provides access to Nvidia’s GPUs for training and running large-scale AI workloads. Microsoft is its biggest customer by a wide margin, and others on the client list include Meta, IBM, and Cohere.

Revenue jumped more than 700% last year, hitting nearly $2 billion. The company is still deep in the red though, logging a net loss of $863 million. Its business model requires massive upfront investments in hardware and real estate.

Just days after filing to go public, CoreWeave locked in a major deal with OpenAI worth up to $11.9 billion over five years. As part of that agreement, OpenAI agreed to invest $350 million into CoreWeave stock.

CoreWeave is going up against the biggest names in cloud infrastructure: Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. It’s a bold move, but if investor interest holds steady, this IPO could spark new life in the tech IPO pipeline.

Timing the Market

CoreWeave’s path hasn’t been typical. It launched in 2017 as a crypto-mining outfit, then pivoted to AI infrastructure after Ethereum’s 2022 upgrade made mining less profitable. That pivot paid off, attracting major AI clients and heavyweight investors.

But not everyone’s sold on the long-term AI frenzy. Some analysts are signaling caution, pointing to Microsoft’s pause on data center leases and cheaper AI models on the rise. As AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth put it, investors may want a discount—or may not show up at all.