CoreWeave prices its IPO to raise at least $2.2 billion — and now the games begin

CoreWeave said on Wednesday that it hopes to sell its initial public shares between $47 and $55 per share, putting the money it may raise between about $2.2 billion and $2.6 billion.

Word on the street is that CoreWeave wanted to raise at least $3 billion and possibly over $4 billion.

But price range announcements are always a bit of a game. The announced range is often lower than the bankers think the company can really get. Then the company officially sets a higher price. Doing that helps build excitement for the first day of trading, saying to retail investors that big institutions were so interested that they were willing to pay more.

So we’ll have to wait and see if CoreWeave can get over $3 billion. Since publicly filing to go public, the company signed a $12 billion customer agreement with OpenAI and added Meg Whitman to its board of directors.