CoreWeave becomes a part of the Nasdaq-100 just 15 months following its IPO.

      **TL;DR** CoreWeave is set to enter the Nasdaq-100 on June 22, 2026, just 15 months post-IPO. The GPU cloud provider, which initially operated as a cryptocurrency mining company, reported $2.1 billion in revenue for Q1 but has nearly $25 billion in debt. Its founders have sold $2.3 billion in shares since the expiration of the lockup period.

      CoreWeave, an AI cloud infrastructure firm that originated as a New Jersey cryptocurrency mining venture named Atlantic Crypto, has been approved for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index. This addition will take effect before the market opens on June 22, just 15 months after CoreWeave's IPO pricing at $40 per share in March 2025.

      Alongside CoreWeave, Astera Labs, Nebius Group, Rocket Lab, and Teradyne will join the index in the June quarterly rebalancing, while Charter Communications, Cognizant, Insmed, Verisk Analytics, and Zscaler will be removed.

      **From Ethereum rigs to Nasdaq-100**

      CoreWeave's journey is among the more unusual backstories in enterprise technology. Founders Michael Intrator, Brian Venturo, and Brannin McBee established Atlantic Crypto in 2017 as a GPU-based Ethereum mining company, based out of a single data center in New Jersey. When the profitability of crypto mining dwindled, they realized the same Nvidia GPUs could be used for machine learning, visual effects, and scientific simulation tasks. The company rebranded to CoreWeave in 2021 and transformed into a GPU cloud provider, eventually becoming Nvidia’s premier cloud partner with special access to new chip releases.

      **The numbers behind the hype**

      CoreWeave announced $2.1 billion in revenue for Q1 2026, representing a 112% increase year over year. The company reaffirmed its full-year revenue forecast of $12 billion to $13 billion, potentially making it the fastest cloud company to reach that revenue milestone.

      The revenue backlog is even more remarkable, ending Q1 with $99.4 billion, nearly four times the amount from the previous year, spurred by multibillion-dollar commitments from companies like Meta, Jane Street, Anthropic, and OpenAI. However, this growth comes at a significant cost, with CoreWeave reporting a net loss of $740 million in Q1 due to $536 million in interest expenses alone. Total debt reached nearly $25 billion by the end of the quarter as a result of aggressive borrowing to finance data center development.

      **Concentration risk cuts both ways**

      Microsoft represented approximately 67% of CoreWeave's revenue in 2025, but that figure fell to 45% in Q1 2026 as the customer base grew. CoreWeave now serves nine of the ten largest AI model providers, but losing a major client could still significantly affect the company.

      On the supply side, CoreWeave relies solely on Nvidia for its GPU hardware. This dependence provides a competitive edge during chip shortages, but could also pose a risk if Nvidia prioritizes other customers or if supply chains are disrupted.

      **The founders have been selling**

      CoreWeave’s three co-founders have sold $2.3 billion in shares since the company's lockup period ended in August 2025, as reported by Bloomberg. Venturo, the chief strategy officer, is responsible for over $1.1 billion of those sales. The transactions were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans, and the founders still own significant stakes, with Intrator remaining the largest individual shareholder at 10.4% of outstanding shares. CoreWeave's stock has approximately doubled from its IPO price of $40, giving the company a market capitalization of around $54 billion.

      **What Nasdaq-100 inclusion means**

      Being included in the index compels passive funds tracking the Nasdaq-100 to purchase CoreWeave shares, resulting in a boost in demand. Following the announcement, the stock rose about 5% in premarket trading.

      This broader implication signifies that Wall Street now considers GPU cloud infrastructure a fundamental part of the technology sector, rather than a speculative investment. Three of the five companies joining the index this quarter—CoreWeave, Nebius, and Astera Labs—focus on AI infrastructure.

      However, whether the $99 billion backlog translates into consistent profit remains uncertain. CoreWeave is depleting cash reserves, carrying $25 billion in debt and operating at a 1% adjusted operating margin. The Nasdaq-100 inclusion endorses the growth narrative, but the balance sheet must still prove itself.