Unprecedented Bidding War Erupts Over Anysphere, Creator of Popular AI Coding Assistant Cursor

With the rapid growth of AI-powered coding tools, few have captured as much attention as Cursor, the standout product from Anysphere. In just months, Anysphere has seen its annual recurring revenue (ARR) skyrocket from $4 million in April to $4 million per month, according to sources familiar with the company’s finances. This remarkable growth has spurred a flurry of unsolicited acquisition bids, with investors like Benchmark, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Thrive showing strong interest in the company.

Recent offers have valued Anysphere at up to $2.5 billion, an impressive increase from its $400 million valuation just four months ago when it closed a Series A round. This Series A, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive, also saw participation from notable backers like Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison.

The Anysphere team, consisting of co-founders Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger, launched the company in 2022 while students at MIT. Anysphere’s rapid success is partly attributed to its association with OpenAI’s accelerator program, where it emerged as a star participant. Since then, Anysphere has attracted an $8 million seed round from OpenAI’s Startup Fund, with additional support from former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi.

As AI-powered coding assistants like Cursor become essential tools for engineers, some venture capitalists believe these innovations will eventually enable companies to streamline software development by reducing the need for large developer teams.