OpenAI's Pursuit of AI Coding Companies and the Missed Anysphere Acquisition

OpenAI's rumored acquisition of AI coding company Windsurf for $3 billion sparked questions about why the company didn't acquire Cursor creator Anysphere. Despite being an investor in Anysphere since its seed round in late 2023, OpenAI's attempts to acquire Anysphere in 2024 and earlier this year failed. Anysphere is now reportedly in talks to raise capital at a $10 billion valuation.

OpenAI's interest in Windsurf, generating about $40 million in annualized recurring revenue, reveals the company's focus on the code generation market. This move also indicates that OpenAI doesn't want to solely rely on its Codex CLI “agent,” recently released, to gain traction with customers, as Windsurf's potential acquisition suggests. This comes at a time when Anysphere's Cursor reportedly makes about $200 million on an ARR basis.

Source: Tech Crunch