(Bloomberg) — Cisco Systems Inc. agreed to invest in CoreWeave, a cloud-computing provider that’s among the hottest startups in artificial intelligence, as part of a transaction that values the company at $23 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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CoreWeave, led by Chief Executive Officer Michael Intrator, has been discussing a so-called secondary transaction that allows existing shareholders such as employees to tender $400 million to $500 million of their holdings, Bloomberg reported last month. The deal is close to being completed, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
Roseland, New Jersey-based CoreWeave is mulling an initial public offering as soon as next year.
Representives for CoreWeave and Cisco declined to comment.
CoreWeave, whose investors include Nvidia Corp., Magnetar Capital, Coatue Management, Jane Street and Fidelity, was an early adopter of Nvidia’s graphics chips for data centers, getting ahead of a wave of demand for powerful processors to run AI applications. It’s building out data centers based on Nvidia’s chips to offer AI-related computing.
Cisco’s leadership is trying to ensure that its technology has a place in the rapid build-out of data centers, and the provider of networking gear believes that the resulting growth in the movement of data is creating an increasing need for its products.
–With assistance from Ian King.
(Updates with Cisco declining to comment in fourth paragraph, networking gear in last.)
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