Former Ethereum Miner CoreWeave Raises $221M

A significant investment round has been announced by CoreWeave, a New York City-based firm that started out as an Ethereum mining operation and is now working to become a versatile cloud computing system.

CoreWeave Completes Series B Funding Round

In a Series B fundraising round headed by Magnetar Capital and including Nvidia, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and ex-Apple executive Daniel Gross, CoreWeave disclosed that the company had raised $221 million. 

$111 million was given by Magnetar, while the remaining funds were invested by Nvidia, Friedman, and Gross. A representative for Nvidia stated that the investment signifies a “deepening” of its relationship with CoreWeave.

Expansion of Data Centers in the US

According to CEO Mike Intrator, the immunity will help CoreWeave expand its network of data centers in the United States by constructing two additional facilities this year. Intrator stated in an email interview: 

“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.”

Partnership with VFX and Animation Companies

“We also work with a number of notable VFX and animation studios such as Spire Animation,” said the CoreWeave executive while adding that it has also partnered with “3D streaming and ‘metaverse’ companies such as PureWeb.”

Intrator, Brian Venturo, and Brannin McBee established the Ethereum mining company in 2017 to fill “a void” they saw in the cloud industry. Venturo, a casual Ethereum miner, purchased GPUs for a bargain price from bankrupt cryptocurrency mining operations, opting for Nvidia gear due to the higher storage. 

CoreWeave’s Shift to AI

CoreWeave’s first priority was solely on applications for cryptocurrencies. However, it has recently shifted to productive AI technologies, such as text-generating artificial intelligence (AI) models, as well as general-purpose computers.

However, it’s challenging for any cloud provider to take on the market’s leaders, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The productivity by these giants are obviously several times more than CoreWeave’s valuation.