Nvidia-backed AI startup Vast Data secures $1.17 billion CoreWeave deal to power the next wave of AI infrastructure

Vast Data just landed one of its biggest deals yet. The Nvidia-backed AI data infrastructure startup has signed a $1.17 billion commercial agreement with cloud provider CoreWeave, extending their existing partnership as demand for large-scale compute and storage capacity surges across the AI sector, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.

Under the deal, CoreWeave will use Vast as the primary data platform for its GPU-powered cloud, which supports companies in training and deploying advanced AI models. Vast said contracts like this typically span three to five years, but declined to share detailed financial terms.

“Under the agreement, CoreWeave will use Vast as the primary data platform for its cloud infrastructure, which provides customers with access to graphics processing units (GPUs) for training and running AI models. Vast says such contracts typically span three to five years but declined to disclose detailed financial terms,” Reuters reported.

The news comes just three months after reports that Nvidia and Alphabet’s CapitalG were in talks to back Vast Data at a $30 billion valuation amid the ongoing AI boom.

The agreement strengthens Vast’s foothold in AI infrastructure at a time when data storage has become a strategic battleground. The company builds software that allows customers to store and process massive datasets used to train and run AI systems. Clients pay based on capacity and features used—a model that has helped Vast scale its recurring revenue.

As part of the partnership, Vast and CoreWeave will align their product roadmaps to make data storage and access more efficient for AI workloads. The collaboration gives Vast deeper integration with one of the fastest-growing GPU cloud providers while maintaining relationships with other major customers, including Amazon Web Services, Nebius, and Elon Musk’s xAI.

“The deal marks a new phase of collaboration between AI infrastructure players,” Vast co-founder Jeff Denworth told Reuters. He added that aligning closely with CoreWeave allows Vast to push performance boundaries for data handling in high-demand AI environments.

For CoreWeave, the partnership ensures a scalable backbone to serve the flood of AI developers relying on its Nvidia GPU clusters. For Vast, it creates a predictable, multi-year revenue stream that adds to its already strong financial position. The New York-based company reported $200 million in annual recurring revenue by January 2025 and said it is free cash flow positive.

The timing could prove pivotal. Reuters reported in August that Vast was in talks to raise several billion dollars at a valuation of up to $30 billion, with Alphabet’s CapitalG and Nvidia among the potential backers. Vast’s last known valuation was $9.1 billion following its 2023 funding round.

Investors are watching the company as a likely IPO candidate. Its recruitment of former Shopify CFO Amy Shapero last year signaled growing maturity and readiness for the public markets.

Founded in 2016 in Israel by Jeff Denworth, Renen Hallak, and Shachar Fienblit, Vast has since relocated its headquarters to New York. The company’s storage platform is built to modernize data centers for the AI era—delivering real-time performance and aiming, as its founders like to say, to “direct an extinction event” for traditional hard drives.

The $1.17 billion CoreWeave agreement cements Vast’s status as a key player in the infrastructure race behind AI’s boom, where compute, data, and storage have become as valuable as the algorithms themselves.

Vast Data Team