Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced plans to acquire Anysphere, the company behind Cursor AI, in a deal valued at $60 billion. SpaceX said the acquisition is aimed at expanding its presence in the enterprise AI market. The deal is expected to close during Q3 of 2026.
Reuters reported that SpaceX had been exploring a deal with Cursor for several months. In April, SpaceX said it had secured an option either to buy Cursor for $60 billion later in 2026 or pay $10 billion for a partnership. The acquisition could strengthen xAI’s position in the AI coding market, where it currently trails some competitors. The deal could also give Cursor access to more computing power for developing future AI models.
What is Cursor AI?
Cursor AI is an artificial intelligence-powered coding tool that helps software developers write, edit, understand, and fix code more easily. It works like a smart coding assistant where programmers can ask questions about their code and get instant answers. Cursor is built on Microsoft’s VS Code editor, but it offers many additional AI-powered features. The platform can automatically suggest code changes, find bugs, and help developers complete complex programming tasks.
Cursor includes an “Agent Mode” that can handle large coding tasks involving multiple files at the same time. It also has a tool called “Composer” that helps developers create, edit, and organize software projects. Cursor can search through an entire codebase and answer questions such as where a particular function is used or which services depend on a specific module.
Also read: Elon Musk holds only 46.4% of SpaceX, but who owns the remaining shares?
Cursor uses AI models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI to help generate and edit code. Cursor later launched its own AI model called Composer to generate code faster and automate coding tasks, as per the Forbes report
Who founded Cursor AI?
Cursor AI was created by a startup called Anysphere. Anysphere was founded in 2022 by four friends who met while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The four founders are:
- Michael Truell
- Aman Sanger
- Sualeh Asif
- Arvid Lunnemark
All four founders are under the age of 30 and were previously recognized in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. Forbes estimates that each founder owns about 4.48% of Anysphere, making them billionaires after the company’s latest fundraising round.
Background of the founders
CEO Michael Truell started coding at a young age and created a programming game called Halite while still in high school. Before founding Cursor, Truell worked at drug-discovery company Octant and later interned at Google, as per the Forbes.
Truell became a Neo Scholar after impressing early Facebook investor Ali Partovi with his coding skills.Co-founder Aman Sanger was also a Neo Scholar. Co-founder Sualeh Asif, who is originally from Karachi, Pakistan, competed in the International Math Olympiad, as cited by Forbes. Co-founder Arvid Lunnemark was also a former Math Olympiad champion. Lunnemark left Anysphere in October 2025 to start a new company called Integrous Research focused on safer AI systems.
How Cursor AI started
The founders first tried building AI tools for computer-aided design software used by mechanical engineers. That project did not succeed because the team lacked deep expertise in that field. The founders then shifted their focus to software engineering, an area they understood much better.
They built Cursor as an AI-powered code editor that Truell described as a “Google Docs for programmers”, as noted by Forbes. Cursor quickly became one of the fastest-growing AI startups in the technology industry. The company’s annual recurring revenue reportedly grew from about $1 million in 2023 to $100 million within roughly one year.
How big is Cursor today?
Millions of software developers worldwide use Cursor. More than 50,000 enterprise teams use the software. Companies using Cursor include Nvidia, Adobe, Uber, Shopify, and PayPal. Cursor has grown rapidly since its launch in 2022. Reuters reported earlier this month that Cursor generates roughly $2.6 billion in annualized business-to-business revenue. The company has become one of Silicon Valley’s leading AI coding startups alongside rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
