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Autonomous AI coding startup Cognition has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf, the AI developer tools startup best known for its agentic integrated development environment (IDE), the two companies announced on their respective X accounts on Monday. No acquisition amount was disclosed publicly, nor were specific terms of the deal (both are private startups).
The acquisition gives Cognition access to Windsurf’s core product, brand, and remaining team — but not its original CEO or co-founders, several of whom have now joined Google in a separate $2.4 billion talent and licensing deal, as The Verge first reported last week.
In a joint video posted to X featuring Cognition CEO Scott Wu and interim Windsurf CEO Jeff Wang, the leaders said they would start by integrating Cognition’s autonomous AI-powered engineer Devin into Windsurf’s IDE.
This combined offering is aimed at enabling developers to plan tasks, delegate code generation to AI agents, and review pull requests—all within a single interface.
“This is a perfect fit,” said Wang, who was previously Windsurf’s head of business. “Working with the best engineering team in the space will be an incredible unlock for our product and our go-to-market team.”
In a company blog post titled “The Next Chapter,” Wang directly acknowledged the internal upheaval: “Last week, we lost our founders and our research team.”
He praised the remaining staff for their professionalism during the transition and emphasized that despite the disruption, “so much of what makes us great is intact.”
According to Jeff, Windsurf continues to double enterprise revenue quarter-over-quarter and maintains hundreds of thousands of daily active users.
Cognition emphasized that the deal includes full financial participation for Windsurf employees, including waived cliffs and accelerated vesting.
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