Latest news with #JeffWang
Bloomberg
10 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Cognition AI Buys Windsurf After Google Licensing Deal
Windsurf CEO Jeff Wang says the company's deal with Cognition AI was a great outcome for employees. Wang joins Cognition CEO Scott Wu speaking with Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Tech.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cognition AI to acquire Windsurf
Cognition AI, a San Francisco-based AI company, has signed an agreement to acquire Windsurf, an AI code generation company, for an undisclosed price. The transaction covers Windsurf's intellectual property, product line, brand, and business operations. It also includes the California-based company's engineering, product, and go-to-market teams. According to Cognition AI, Windsurf brings $82m in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and a customer base of more than 350 enterprises, along with hundreds of thousands of daily active users. Windsurf's enterprise ARR, which comes through its integrated development environment (IDE) platform, is claimed to have been doubling quarter-on-quarter. The company will continue to operate as before in the immediate term. Over the coming months, Cognition AI plans to integrate Windsurf's IDE platform and technology into its own products, including its autonomous software engineering agent, Devin. Windsurf interim CEO Jeff Wang, in an email to employees, wrote: 'Among all the teams in the AI space, Cognition was literally the one we have respected the most, and they are a perfect fit to bring Windsurf to the next phase.' Cognition AI expects that combining Devin's existing adoption with Windsurf's IDE platform and go-to-market infrastructure will enable it to scale faster in enterprise software engineering. The acquisition follows a separate licensing deal that was reported recently between Google and Windsurf. This agreement, reportedly worth $2.4bn, does not involve ownership, and allows Google to use specific Windsurf technologies to advance its AI coding initiatives. Windsurf's former CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen have joined Google's DeepMind division to work on agentic coding projects, including the Gemini programme. Jeff Wang remains interim CEO at Windsurf, with Graham Moreno as president. Most of the company's workforce will stay, focusing on enterprise customers. Windsurf was valued at $1.25bn a year ago, according to PitchBook. The company has raised $243m from investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, and General Catalyst. In June 2025, reports surfaced that Windsurf had held acquisition talks with OpenAI, which could have valued the company at $3bn. A month prior to that, Windsurf had launched the SWE-1 family of AI models aimed at expanding software engineering automation beyond code generation, thereby positioning itself in frontier model development for software-related tasks. "Cognition AI to acquire Windsurf" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Cognition AI to buy Windsurf, doubling down on AI-driven coding
Artificial intelligence startup Cognition AI on Monday agreed to acquire Windsurf, an integrated development environment platform, strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving enterprise software market. The deal follows Google's $2.4 billion deal with Windsurf last week aimed at acquiring top talent and securing licensing rights to its technology. The deal with Google marks a win for Windsurf's backers, who have raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook. The move reflects a broader trend among technology giants such as Alphabet and Meta, which are making bold, high-value acquisitions and offering lucrative compensation packages to secure leading industry talent amid intensifying competition in the AI sector. The deal with Cognition covers Windsurf's intellectual property, product line, brand, and business operations, as well as its highly regarded engineering, product, and go-to-market teams. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Windsurf brings with it $82 million in annual recurring revenue and a customer base of more than 350 enterprises. 'Among all the teams in the AI space, Cognition was literally the one we have respected the most, and they are a perfect fit to bring Windsurf to the next phase,' Jeff Wang, Windsurf's interim chief executive officer, said in an email to employees. In the immediate term, Windsurf will continue to operate independently, with Cognition pledging significant investment to integrate Windsurf's technology and unique assets into its own product suite, including its flagship autonomous agent, Devin. Earlier, Windsurf had been engaged in months-long discussions with OpenAI regarding a potential acquisition that could have valued the company at $3 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Cognition AI to buy Windsurf, doubling down on AI-driven coding
Artificial intelligence startup Cognition AI on Monday agreed to acquire Windsurf, an integrated development environment platform, strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving enterprise software market. The deal follows Google's $2.4 billion deal with Windsurf last week aimed at acquiring top talent and securing licensing rights to its technology. The deal with Google marks a win for Windsurf's backers, who have raised $243 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks, and General Catalyst, and was last valued at $1.25 billion one year ago, according to PitchBook. The move reflects a broader trend among technology giants such as Alphabet and Meta, which are making bold, high-value acquisitions and offering lucrative compensation packages to secure leading industry talent amid intensifying competition in the AI sector. The deal with Cognition covers Windsurf's intellectual property, product line, brand, and business operations, as well as its highly regarded engineering, product, and go-to-market teams. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Windsurf brings with it $82 million in annual recurring revenue and a customer base of more than 350 enterprises. "Among all the teams in the AI space, Cognition was literally the one we have respected the most, and they are a perfect fit to bring Windsurf to the next phase," Jeff Wang, Windsurf's interim chief executive officer, said in an email to employees. In the immediate term, Windsurf will continue to operate independently, with Cognition pledging significant investment to integrate Windsurf's technology and unique assets into its own product suite, including its flagship autonomous agent, Devin. Earlier, Windsurf had been engaged in months-long discussions with OpenAI regarding a potential acquisition that could have valued the company at $3 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June.
Techday NZ
a day ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Cognition secures Windsurf in a dramatic industry shake-up
In a swift sequence of events that has captured the attention of the artificial intelligence sector, Cognition, the developer behind the AI coding agent Devin, has acquired Windsurf following the collapse of high-profile deals involving OpenAI and Google. The acquisition marks a significant shift in the competitive landscape of the AI coding tools market, with Cognition now poised to integrate Windsurf's technology and talent into its operations. A turbulent 72-hours The acquisition unfolded over a tumultuous 72-hour period in July 2025, described by Windsurf's interim chief executive, Jeff Wang, as "the wildest rollercoaster ride of my career." The saga began when OpenAI's exclusive $3 billion offer to acquire Windsurf expired after months of negotiations that had started in April 2025. The deal reportedly collapsed due to concerns over Microsoft's potential access to Windsurf's intellectual property through its partnership with OpenAI. With OpenAI's bid off the table, Google moved quickly to secure Windsurf's leadership and key researchers in a $2.4 billion reverse-acquihire deal. This arrangement included a non-exclusive licence to Windsurf's technology, but left the majority of the company's 250-person workforce and its core assets in limbo. On 14 July 2025, Cognition announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf's remaining intellectual property, product, trademark, brand, and business operations. This move effectively brought closure to a period of uncertainty for Windsurf's staff and clients. Deal structure and employee impact Cognition's acquisition includes Windsurf's intellectual property, product suite, trademark, brand, and business operations. The company gains access to Windsurf's $82 million in annual recurring revenue and a customer base of more than 350 enterprise clients, including Dell and Zillow. A notable aspect of the deal is Cognition's approach to employee compensation. The company structured the acquisition so that all Windsurf employees would participate financially. Vesting cliffs were waived and accelerated vesting was offered for work completed to date, a move that stands in stark contrast to Google's deal, which primarily benefited the leadership team while leaving most employees facing uncertainty. Financial terms of Cognition's acquisition were not disclosed, but industry analysts suggest the price was likely a fraction of the sum paid by Google, making it potentially undervalued given Windsurf's strong enterprise revenue, which had been doubling quarter-over-quarter. Integration and product strategy Cognition plans to integrate Windsurf's AI-powered integrated development environment (IDE) with its autonomous coding agent Devin. The combined offering is expected to provide developers with a powerful suite of tools, enabling them to plan tasks within an IDE powered by Devin's codebase understanding, delegate work to multiple instances of Devin in parallel, and complete high-leverage tasks with the help of autocomplete features. The integration aims to streamline development workflows and enhance productivity by bringing together context-aware AI capabilities and autonomous coding agents. The acquisition brings key products such as the Windsurf Editor, Cascade, and Tab under Cognition's umbrella. These tools are seen as critical in maintaining a competitive edge, particularly as they reportedly outperform rivals like GPT-4 in codebase refactoring and bug resolution. Broader industry implications The Windsurf saga is emblematic of the intense competition among technology giants for AI talent and intellectual property. The rapid sequence of events - from OpenAI's failed bid to Google's talent acquisition and Cognition's eventual purchase - highlights the volatility and high stakes in the AI coding tools sector, where deal terms and valuations can shift dramatically in a matter of days. The use of creative deal structures, such as reverse-acquihires, reflects a broader trend among major technology firms to secure strategic assets while navigating regulatory scrutiny. These arrangements often involve hiring key personnel and licensing technology, rather than pursuing full acquisitions, potentially to avoid antitrust concerns. The market for AI coding tools has reached unprecedented valuations, with companies like Cursor and Lovable reportedly seeking multiples of 20x and 40x annual recurring revenue, respectively. This has led to speculation about whether the sector is witnessing the birth of a transformative new category or the inflation of a speculative bubble. Competitive landscape and future outlook The competition for AI coding tools has intensified, with companies such as Anthropic boosting revenue through Claude Code and OpenAI continuing to pitch Codex to software engineers. Previous AI startups that lost their leaders to similar deals have struggled to maintain momentum, with some pivoting away from their original focus or losing key customers. Cognition's integration of Windsurf's technology is seen as a strategic move that unifies autonomous agents with agentic IDEs, positioning the company against competitors like GitHub Copilot, which is built on OpenAI's technology. The acquisition underscores the shifting dynamics of the AI industry, where talent, intellectual property, and product integration are central to maintaining a competitive edge. As the dust settles on this latest round of dealmaking, industry observers will be watching closely to see how Cognition leverages its new assets and how rivals respond in an increasingly crowded and fast-evolving market.
