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Can Nebius Monetize Its Bets on ClickHouse, Avride and Toloka?
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Key Takeaways
NBIS posted 385% revenue growth in Q1 on rising AI-infrastructure demand.
NBIS owns 28% of ClickHouse and holds stakes in Toloka, Avride and TripleTen.
Bezos-backed Toloka and Avride's top-tier partnerships add monetization potential for NBIS.
Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS - Free Report) is a Europe-based AI-infrastructure company. The stock price has seen a meteoric rise (up 146.4% in the past three months), outperforming the S&P 500’s 18.9% growth. NBIS is gaining from strong revenue growth of 385% in the last reported quarter, driven by accelerating demand for its AI-infrastructure services.
Apart from booming core AI business, investors also need to look at the company’s various stakes in some high-growth tech ventures that could emerge as powerful value drivers. ClickHouse stake is a standout. NBIS has a 28% stake in ClickHouse, valued at around $6 billion presently, which translates into a ready capital source if monetized. Other stakes include Toloka, a data partner for all stages of AI development, TripleTen, an edtech platform, and Avride, an autonomous vehicle platform.
NBIS holds a considerable majority economic interest stake in Toloka. This tech venture is now backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Shopify’s Mikhail Parakhin. This investment will enable Toloka to scale rapidly and enhance its focus as global demand for high-quality AI data continues to rise.
Avride struck partnerships with major players like Uber, Hyundai, GrubHub and Rakuten in the last reported quarter. Nebius also highlighted that discussions with potential third-party investors are underway, indicating another path to capital generation.
These various stakes give Nebius a unique edge among AI-infrastructure players. Nebius seems confident to effectively monetize these businesses and fuel its core business while minimizing dilution to existing shareholders and keeping debt in check. For investors, these hidden value drivers may represent the next leg of the company’s valuation uplift.
CoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) is another AI-infrastructure company with hyper revenue growth of 420% in the first quarter of 2025. CRWV has been focused on own infrastructure buildout. The company acquired Weights & Biases as part of the strategy to expand its footprint in high-performance AI-cloud infrastructure.
CRWV also recently announced the acquistion of Core Scientific in an all-stock deal worth around $9 billion as it deepens the vertical integration strategy. By taking ownership of Core Scientific's 1.3 GW power infrastructure footprint, with an additional 1 GW expansion potential, it gains ample room to grow its AI infrastructure. With demand for AI compute soaring, this extra capacity provides a strong long-term advantage. The transaction, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025. Management has also inked a strategic partnership with OpenAI for about $11.9 billion.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) is a structurally dominant name in the tech space. With its Azure cloud platform, MSFT leads the AI-infrastructure space. The tech giant invests in innovative early-stage tech companies through its M12 venture fund. MSFT boasts stakes in various companies, with the crown jewel being OpenAI. MSFT has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and has rights to OpenAI IP (includes both model and infrastructure) for use within its products like Copilot, Azure and Bing.
Moreover, Azure platform is the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI. Through the Azure OpenAI Service agreement, developers can have direct access to leading OpenAI models supported by Azure and AI infrastructure and tools.
Image: Bigstock
Can Nebius Monetize Its Bets on ClickHouse, Avride and Toloka?
Key Takeaways
Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS - Free Report) is a Europe-based AI-infrastructure company. The stock price has seen a meteoric rise (up 146.4% in the past three months), outperforming the S&P 500’s 18.9% growth. NBIS is gaining from strong revenue growth of 385% in the last reported quarter, driven by accelerating demand for its AI-infrastructure services.
Apart from booming core AI business, investors also need to look at the company’s various stakes in some high-growth tech ventures that could emerge as powerful value drivers. ClickHouse stake is a standout. NBIS has a 28% stake in ClickHouse, valued at around $6 billion presently, which translates into a ready capital source if monetized. Other stakes include Toloka, a data partner for all stages of AI development, TripleTen, an edtech platform, and Avride, an autonomous vehicle platform.
NBIS holds a considerable majority economic interest stake in Toloka. This tech venture is now backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Shopify’s Mikhail Parakhin. This investment will enable Toloka to scale rapidly and enhance its focus as global demand for high-quality AI data continues to rise.
Avride struck partnerships with major players like Uber, Hyundai, GrubHub and Rakuten in the last reported quarter. Nebius also highlighted that discussions with potential third-party investors are underway, indicating another path to capital generation.
These various stakes give Nebius a unique edge among AI-infrastructure players. Nebius seems confident to effectively monetize these businesses and fuel its core business while minimizing dilution to existing shareholders and keeping debt in check. For investors, these hidden value drivers may represent the next leg of the company’s valuation uplift.
How Are NBIS’ Competitors Positioned?
CoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) is another AI-infrastructure company with hyper revenue growth of 420% in the first quarter of 2025. CRWV has been focused on own infrastructure buildout. The company acquired Weights & Biases as part of the strategy to expand its footprint in high-performance AI-cloud infrastructure.
CRWV also recently announced the acquistion of Core Scientific in an all-stock deal worth around $9 billion as it deepens the vertical integration strategy. By taking ownership of Core Scientific's 1.3 GW power infrastructure footprint, with an additional 1 GW expansion potential, it gains ample room to grow its AI infrastructure. With demand for AI compute soaring, this extra capacity provides a strong long-term advantage. The transaction, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025. Management has also inked a strategic partnership with OpenAI for about $11.9 billion.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) is a structurally dominant name in the tech space. With its Azure cloud platform, MSFT leads the AI-infrastructure space. The tech giant invests in innovative early-stage tech companies through its M12 venture fund. MSFT boasts stakes in various companies, with the crown jewel being OpenAI. MSFT has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and has rights to OpenAI IP (includes both model and infrastructure) for use within its products like Copilot, Azure and Bing.
Moreover, Azure platform is the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI. Through the Azure OpenAI Service agreement, developers can have direct access to leading OpenAI models supported by Azure and AI infrastructure and tools.
NBIS Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of Nebius have gained 87.5% year to date compared with the Internet – Software and Services industry’s growth of 23.8%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of price/book, NBIS’ shares are trading at 3.87X, down from the Internet Software Services industry’s ratio of 4.1X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NBIS’ earnings for 2025 has been unchanged over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
NBIS currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.