Yahoo Finance Nvidia-backed CoreWeave’s new CFO—a Google, Amazon, and Microsoft alum—explains building ‘the next generation of cloud infrastructure’
Good morning. CoreWeave is positioning itself for the generative AI boom as a top cloud provider, and the Nvidia-backed startup just added a finance chief whose experience among the sector's biggest players can help his new firm, well, compete against the sector's biggest players.
CoreWeave, which provides cloud GPUs crucial for high-powered AI computing, announced on Tuesday that Nitin Agrawal is taking over as CFO. He previously was VP of finance for Google Cloud.
Why join the startup? “CoreWeave is filling a void in the high-performance computing space left unaddressed by the legacy cloud providers,” Agrawal told me. “I think we have a unique opportunity to build the next generation of cloud infrastructure alongside the best team in the industry."
Agrawal replaces Evan Meagher, who stepped down, according to the company. At Google, Agrawal said he and his team helped bring Google Cloud to profitability and developed its AI and machine-learning investment strategy. Before that, he served as CFO of Mapbox and held leadership roles at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
“All of those roles have helped me learn the intricacies of operating a cloud business at scale and scaling new businesses in high-growth environments,” Agrawal said.
New Jersey-based CoreWeave was cofounded in 2017 by current CEO Michael Intrator; Brannin McBee, the firm's chief development officer; and Brian Venturo, the chief strategy officer. It began as a crypto-mining company that used GPUs to verify blockchain transactions before pivoting to AI.
The startup announced in December it closed a $642 million round led by Fidelity Management & Research Co., with additional participation from Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, Jane Street, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Nat Friedman & Daniel Gross, Goanna Capital, Zoom Ventures and others. (That transaction values the company at $7 billion, but the firm declined to comment on that figure when asked by Fortune.)
CoreWeave announced in August that it had secured $2.3 billion in debt financing led by Magnetar Capital and Blackstone, with participation from Coatue, DigitalBridge Credit, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, PIMCO, and Carlyle. The company also announced in April that it had raised $221 million in Series B funding led by Magnetar Capital, with contributions from Nvidia, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross, and a month later secured $200 million in a Series B extension, also led by Magnetar Capital.
'Speed and reliability'
CoreWeave uses Nvidia’s graphics chips for data centers, and for building out data centers for AI computing, including a cloud-native AI supercomputer.
But what actually separates CoreWeave's AI infrastructure from that of competitors? It supports “the most demanding workloads, using purpose-built cloud infrastructure, to perform at the highest possible level for GPU-accelerated compute workloads, rather than using commoditized infrastructure," Agrawal explained. “That helps it to deliver both speed and reliability.”
As CFO, Agrawal said he's focused on sustaining profitable growth, and "the best way to accomplish it is by keeping customer priorities at the forefront" and "disciplined execution.”
Given everything he's helped build, and everything he still plans to build, I asked Agrawal to share his favorite piece of career advice. He offered two.
“At the end of the day, it's the people that matter, so make sure you take people along with you in your journey," he said. And you should “always keep a healthy disregard for the impossible while being grounded in reality.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
María Soledad Davila Calero curated the Leaderboard and Overheard sections of today’s newsletter.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
