CoreWeave Launches Startup Investment Arm
The share price of AI infrastructure provider CoreWeave surged following the announcement of its corporate venture unit, CoreWeave Ventures.
Computing software producer CoreWeave revealed on Tuesday the establishment of a corporate venture capital arm aimed at investing in early-stage companies focused on artificial intelligence and computing technologies.
CoreWeave's Chief Development Officer, Brannin McBee, stated in a press release that the goal of CoreWeave Ventures is to support like-minded founders in driving technical advancements and bringing the next wave of innovation to market.
The launch of the fund comes six months after CoreWeave's $1.5 billion initial public offering, with the news causing the company's share price to rise by approximately 20% on the day.
Founded in 2018, CoreWeave is among the latest tech companies to establish an investment arm at an early stage. OpenAI, for instance, launched a startup investment fund in 2021, while AI-powered search company Perplexity AI initiated a similar fund earlier this year, less than three years after its founding.
CoreWeave produces cloud software infrastructure designed to accelerate AI computing activities. In addition to capital, portfolio companies will have direct access to the platform to test their products and gain product and market insights from the corporation.
CoreWeave Ventures plans to invest from pre-seed to late-stage rounds, with a focus on seed and series A stages. The company has not disclosed whether the new CVC unit will invest from a dedicated fund or off balance sheet, but it is open to leading rounds.
While CoreWeave has not revealed a full portfolio for the unit, it has previously disclosed investments in three startups: AI chat platform developer Chai, lip sync app developer Wombo, and generative video tool provider Moonvalley, contributing to its $84 million seed round in July.
Moonvalley's co-founder and CEO, Naeem Talukdar, commented on Tuesday that working with CoreWeave has provided the freedom to think bigger and move faster, appreciating the support that allows them to focus on innovation.