Google secures Windsurf’s CEO and tech in a $2.4 billion reverse-acquihire, harnessing AI coding talent and licensed tools for Gemini.
On Friday, Google announced an agreement to recruit Varun Mohan, the co-founder and CEO of Windsurf’s artificial intelligence coding startup, as the latest addition to its AI talent battles.
Additionally, Google will recruit additional senior Windsurf research and development personnel as part of the agreement.
According to an individual knowledgeable about the situation, Google is not investing in Windsurf; however, it will acquire a nonexclusive license to specific Windsurf technology. Windsurf is permitted to license its technology to third parties.
According to the individual informed about the agreement, Google is paying $2.4 billion in licensing fees and compensation.
“We are thrilled to welcome some of the most talented AI coding professionals from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to further our work in agentic coding,” stated a Google spokesperson in an email. “We are enthusiastic about extending the advantages of Gemini to software developers worldwide.”
In April, CNBC reported that the AI coding startup Windsurf had been in discussions with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition transaction. This agreement between Google and Windsurf is the result of those discussions.
An OpenAI spokesperson stated that the exclusivity period between Windsurf and OpenAI, which was established to facilitate an acquisition, has now expired.
The action intensifies the competition for AI talent, particularly among prominent organizations. Meta has extended lucrative employment opportunities to numerous employees at OpenAI in the past few weeks.
Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, was appointed by Facebook’s parent company to oversee its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment in his startup. This appointment is particularly noteworthy.
In a post on X, Jeff Wang, the startup’s interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, announced that Douglas Chen, another co-founder of Windsurf, will be among those who will be joining Google in the transaction.
Wang wrote, “The Windsurf product will be further developed by the majority of Windsurf’s world-class team to optimize its enterprise impact.”
Windsurf has gained popularity this year as a viable alternative for “vibe coding,” which involves utilizing cutting-edge AI tools to generate code.
The concept has been embraced by developers and non-developers, resulting in increased revenue for Windsurf and its competitors, including Cursor, which OpenAI also considered purchasing. Investors have assigned ventures higher valuations as a result of the overwhelming interest.
This is not the initial instance in which Google has recruited specific individuals from a startup. This was also the case with Character. Last summer, artificial intelligence was implemented. Amazon and Microsoft have also acquired AI talent in this manner, as evidenced by the Adept and Inflection agreements, respectively.
Microsoft promotes an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, stated in April that AI is responsible for the composition of up to 30% of the company’s code.
The Verge previously disclosed the Google-Windsurf agreement on Friday.
