A smartphone with the logo of U.S. artificial intelligence company Cognition AI Inc.
Timon Schneider | SOPA Images | Sipa USA | AP
Cognition, the artificial intelligence startup that acquired Windsurf in July, said on Monday that it closed a $400 million funding round at valuation of $10.2 billion, which includes the fresh capital.
The developer of an AI software engineer called Devin, Cognition was thrust into the spotlight two months ago, when it jumped in to buy Windsurf, days after that startup’s founders and top researchers left to join Google.
Windsurf had been in talks with OpenAI about a multibillion-dollar acquisition, but those talks fell apart, leading to the Google deal, which included a $2.4 billion payout from the search giant for licensing fees and compensation.
“We’ll continue to invest significantly in both Devin and Windsurf, and our customers are already seeing how powerful the combination is together,” Cognition CEO Scott Wu wrote in Monday’s blog post.
The deal puts cognition into the $10 billion club, joining a handful of other AI startups, most notably OpenAI and Anthropic. Last week, Bret Taylor’s AI startup Sierra raised $350 million at a $10 billion valuation.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund led Cognition’s latest funding round, with additional funding coming from Lux Capital, 8VC and Bain Capital Ventures.
Since acquiring Windsurf, Cognition’s annual recurring revenue, or ARR, has more than doubled, Wu said. Growth has also accelerated, he added, as the combined enterprise ARR is up more than 30% following the acquisition.
Jeff Wang, who became CEO at Windsurf after the founders left for Google, wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday that customers will benefit from the close connection between the companies’ products.
“It’s been quite an eventful last few months, and now it’s time to show what we’re made of,” Wang wrote.
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