Codeium, the maker of a popular AI coding assistant tool Windsurf, is in talks to be acquired by OpenAI for about $3 billion, Bloomberg reported.
If the deal happens, it would put OpenAI in direct competition with a number of other AI coding assistant providers, including Anysphere, the maker of Cursor, which OpenAI backed from its OpenAI Startup Fund.
The acquisition could jeopardize the credibility of the OpenAI Startup Fund, given that it is one of Cursor’s biggest investors, said a person familiar with Cursor’s captable. It’s not clear whether OpenAI approached Cursor about an acquisition.
In addition to what sources told Bloomberg, there are a few more clues that something is going on between the two companies. A couple of days ago, Windsurf users received an email that said that because of an announcement later this week, they have the option to lock in access to the coding editor at $10 a month.
And OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil also released a video yesterday praising Windsurf’s capabilities.
Codeium has been in talks to raise fresh funds at a $2.85 billion valuation led by Kleiner Perkins, TechCrunch reported in February. The company has reached about $40 million in annualized recurring revenue (ARR), according to our reporting. That revenue run rate is much lower than Cursor’s, which reportedly makes $200 million on an ARR basis. Cursor has been in talks to raise capital at about $10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported last month.
Since its founding in 2021 by Varun Mohan and his childhood friend and fellow MIT grad, Douglas Chen, Codeium has previously raised $243 million from investors including Greenoaks Capital and General Catalyst, according to PitchBook data.
Additional reporting by Sarah Perez