Shares in AI cloud provider CoreWeave started trading on Friday after what turned out to be a rocky IPO. But that doesn’t mean that other likely tech IPOs this year are destined to be duds.
CoreWeave’s stock fell as much as 5% in the first hours of trading on Friday before rebounding to near their $40 IPO price. In theory, that means the stock is trading flat, but in reality, it’s down considerably from the $47 to $55 that company had originally hoped its shares would sell for in the IPO.
On some level, it was pretty clear that something like this was coming. The company’s IPO filing had a few serious red flags, from customer concentration (two customers accounted for 77% of revenue) to a heavy debt load. Yesterday, it was reported that Nvidia, a key backer, had stepped in to anchor the stock with a $250 million order at $40 a pop. Nvidia is also a notable customer of CoreWeave, which started as a crypto mining firm in 2017.
CoreWeave’s other backers include Fidelity, Magnetar Capital, and Coatue.
CoreWeave’s disappointment isn’t a welcome sign for the tech IPO market, long stalled by high interest rates, inflation, and volatility. Still, there are a number of buzzy tech IPOs very clearly in the pipeline, suggesting that we’ll still be talking about IPOs throughout this year.
Take the buy-now-pay-later company Klarna, whose backers include Sequoia and SoftBank. The company filed to go public on March 14, showing that it’s ready to brave the scrutiny of the public markets. The Stockholm-based business showed 2024 revenue of $2.81 billion, marking an increase of more than 20% year-over-year, plus a net profit of $21 million—a notable turnaround from the Klarna’s 2023 $244 million loss.
Elsewhere, social platform Discord has reportedly begun working with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan on a possible IPO, while design software company Figma is also reportedly in talks with banks. And data and AI infrastructure company Databricks, last valued at $62 billion, is generally expected to be barreling towards an IPO of its own.
Today may not have been the day that tech IPO watchers were hoping for, but it ain’t over yet.
