Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding assistant known as Cursor, is currently experiencing rapid growth and is not considering a sale, even to OpenAI, according to a source familiar with the company, as reported by TechCrunch.
Cursor has become a sought-after product, recognized as one of the most popular AI-powered coding tools. Its revenue has reportedly been increasing significantly, with an average doubling every two months, per another source. Anysphere’s current estimated annual recurring revenue stands at approximately $300 million, according to two individuals close to the matter.
Earlier discussions regarding a potential acquisition by OpenAI were previously declined by Anysphere, with sources confirming that the ChatGPT creator had approached Cursor. This was also mentioned in a prior report by CNBC. Anysphere has rejected other acquisition proposals as well, stated one of these sources.
The offers were turned down because the startup, aiming for independence, prefers to remain autonomous, according to two sources familiar with the company. Instead, Anysphere has been engaging in discussions to secure funding at an approximate valuation of $10 billion, as reported by Bloomberg last month.
While unable to acquire Anysphere, OpenAI remains interested in purchasing an established AI coding tool startup. CNBC reported that OpenAI has been in discussions with over 20 other companies.
OpenAI has shown significant interest in another rapidly growing AI coding startup, Windsurf, making a reported $3 billion acquisition offer, as detailed by Bloomberg last week. Although Windsurf is a relatively smaller entity, its annual recurring revenue is about $100 million, up from $40 million in February, according to a source.
Windsurf’s popularity has been increasing within the developer community, and its coding product is optimized for legacy enterprise systems. Windsurf and OpenAI did not provide comments to TechCrunch regarding the acquisition talks.
OpenAI’s interest in acquiring is possibly driven by the need to explore new growth domains, especially with competitors like Google’s Gemini and China’s DeepSeek exerting pricing pressure on foundational model access.
Moreover, recent releases by Anthropic and Google of AI models, which outperform OpenAI’s models on coding benchmarks, are becoming more favored by developers.
While OpenAI could potentially develop its own AI coding assistant, acquiring an already popular product among developers would eliminate the need to build from the ground up.
Venture capitalists investing in developer tool startups are closely observing these developments. Commenting on OpenAI’s strategy, Chris Farmer, partner and CEO at SignalFire, remarked to TechCrunch, “They’ll be acquisitive at the app layer. It’s existential for them.”
