
After Google poaches leadership, Cognition buys what's left of Windsurf
What's the story
Cognition, the company behind the popular AI coding agent Devin, has announced its acquisition of Windsurf. The deal comes after Google poached Windsurf's CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and research leaders in a $2.4 billion reverse-acquihire. Now, Cognition is going ahead with its acquisition of Windsurf's intellectual property (IP) and product offerings.
Team integration
Windsurf had at least 350 enterprise customers
Cognition has also acquired the majority of Windsurf's workforce, excluding those who were hired by Google. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but it did reveal that Windsurf had an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $82 million and its enterprise ARR doubled quarter-over-quarter. At the time of acquisition, Windsurf had at least 350 enterprise customers and "hundreds of thousands" of daily active users.
Integration strategy
Devin to be enhanced in the short term
In the short term, Windsurf's team will work on enhancing Devin, Cognition's AI coding agent. Eventually, the company plans to integrate Windsurf's IP and capabilities into its own products. This acquisition is a major move in the highly competitive race to develop AI coding products.
Employee compensation
Cognition assures all Windsurf employees will be financially compensated
Cognition has also assured that all Windsurf employees will be financially compensated in this deal. The company further announced that vesting cliffs for their work to date would be waived. This comes after reports that Windsurf employees who joined within the last year did not receive a payout in Google's billion-dollar reverse-acquihire.