CoreWeave Shares Jump 4.5% as Company Unveils Venture Arm for AI Startups

CoreWeave Shares Jump 4.5% as Company Launches AI-Focused VC Arm
September 9, 2025

Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV) surged as much as 9% Monday morning after the company unveiled CoreWeave Ventures, a venture capital arm dedicated to early-stage artificial intelligence startups. By midday U.S. trading, the stock was up 4.5%.

The new fund will focus on startups building AI tools, infrastructure, and applications. While the company did not disclose the fund’s size, it positioned the initiative as a natural extension of its mission to support high-performance computing for machine learning and generative AI workloads.

“Our aim is to empower ambitious founders to drive innovation and bring the next generation of AI solutions to market,” said Brannin McBee, co-founder and chief development officer at CoreWeave.

CoreWeave specializes in cloud computing optimized for AI, offering access to Nvidia GPUs and fast storage. The company went public earlier this year at $40 per share, surged to $187 in June, and has since pulled back.

The announcement comes amid a busy period for AI-focused cloud infrastructure firms. On Monday, Nebius signed a five-year, $19.4 billion deal with Microsoft to supply computing power, boosting multiple AI and data center stocks.

Separately, CoreWeave is moving forward with its $9 billion all-stock acquisition of bitcoin miner Core Scientific (CORZ), announced in July and pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.

For AI startups, CoreWeave Ventures provides a specialized funding alternative to generalist VC firms or hyperscaler-linked capital. For CoreWeave, it’s a strategic opportunity to support and gain early access to innovations within the AI ecosystem it helps power.