Cisco closing in on funding CoreWeave, valuing cloud-computing AI startup at $23B – report

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) has agreed to invest in CoreWeave as part of a transaction which values the startup at $23B, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Cloud computing provider CoreWeave has been in talks for a secondary transaction which enables existing stockholders such as employees to tender $400M to $500M of their shares, the news outlet reported last month. The transaction is close to being completed, the report added.

CoreWeave — which counts Nvidia (NVDA), Magnetar Capital, Coatue Management, Jane Street and Fidelity, among its investors — was an early adopter of Nvidia’s graphics chips for data centers. The company is setting up data centers based on Nvidia’s chips to offer AI-related computing, according to the report.

Cisco’s management intends to ensure that its technology has a place in the swift establishment of data centers, and the company thinks that the resulting growth in the movement of data is creating an increasing need for its products, the report noted.