When information broke that OpenAI was in talks to amass AI coding firm Windsurf for $3 billion, one of many first questions on the thoughts of anybody following the house was seemingly: “Why not purchase Cursor creator Anysphere as a substitute?”
After all, OpenAI Startup Fund has been an investor in Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, because the quickly-growing coding assistant’s seed spherical in late 2023. (Anysphere is usually referred to by its product identify, Cursor.) It seems that OpenAI certainly approached Anysphere in 2024 and once more earlier this yr a couple of potential acquisition, in response to a report from CNBC. The talks failed. Instead, Anysphere has been in talks to lift capital at about $10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported final month.
OpenAI’s want to maneuver on to acquisition discussions with one other coding assistant maker indicators how vital capturing a slice of the code technology market has change into for the ChatGPT maker. Windsurf is producing about $40 million in annualized recurring income (ARR), TechCrunch reported in February. Meanwhile, Anysphere’s Cursor reportedly makes about $200 million on an ARR foundation.
While OpenAI’s Codex CLI “agent,” which the corporate launched Wednesday, may write and edit code, its try to purchase Windsurf suggests the corporate doesn’t need to await CLI to achieve traction with prospects.
