Anysphere, the developer of AI coding assistant Cursor, has raised US$900 million in a funding round led by Thrive Capital. Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and DST Global also participated.

This brings Anysphere’s total funding to over US$1 billion and boosts its valuation to US$9.9 billion.

The company, founded in 2023, offers Cursor through subscription plans.

Cursor has over a million daily users, with more than half of Fortune 500 companies using the platform.

Anysphere recently shifted its focus to enterprise sales, now a major revenue driver. The company reported over US$500 million in annualized revenue and US$100 million in annual recurring revenue just 14 months after launch.

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🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ AI coding tools represent the most commercially viable AI sector yet

Anysphere’s extraordinary growth stands out within the surging AI investment landscape, where AI accounts for 33% of all global venture funding 1.

Unlike many AI applications still seeking product-market fit, coding assistants are delivering immediate, measurable productivity gains for developers across industries, explaining why over half of Fortune 500 companies now use Cursor.

This practical utility has created a competitive acquisition environment, with OpenAI reportedly in talks to buy Anysphere’s competitor Windsurf for approximately $3 billion, validating the strategic importance of developer tools in the AI ecosystem.

The $9.9 billion valuation represents investors’ belief that AI coding tools have transitioned from experimental technology to essential business infrastructure, something many other AI applications have struggled to achieve.

Cursor’s position as a daily tool for over a million users demonstrates how deeply AI coding assistants have integrated into developer workflows, creating a sticky user base that justifies such substantial valuations.

2️⃣ Enterprise sales acceleration marks the new phase of AI startup maturity

Anysphere’s strategic pivot toward enterprise customers follows a broader industry pattern where B2B products are experiencing a 35% growth rate, outpacing consumer applications 2.

The company only began building its enterprise sales team late last year, yet enterprise customers already represent a significant portion of revenue, demonstrating the rapid enterprise adoption cycle for proven AI tools.

This shift mirrors the wider industry trend where AI startups are moving from emphasizing rapid expansion to focusing on sustainable growth models and clearer paths to profitability 2, 1.

The transition from individual developer subscriptions ($20) to business accounts ($40) provides Anysphere with both higher revenue per user and greater stability, addressing investor concerns about long-term sustainability in the volatile AI market.

The company’s ability to penetrate more than half of Fortune 500 companies in a relatively short timeframe demonstrates that enterprise customers are now moving much faster to adopt AI tools than in previous technology cycles.

3️⃣ AI funding megadeals are creating unprecedented startup trajectories

Anysphere’s $900 million funding round exemplifies the growing trend of AI megadeals, which accounted for half of all megadeal funding in 2024 3.

The average deal size for AI investments increased by 40% from 2023 to 2024 2, but Anysphere’s latest round far exceeds even this elevated benchmark, reflecting its exceptional growth metrics.

Reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue in just 14 months puts Anysphere ahead of previous record-holder Wiz (18 months), establishing a new growth benchmark that would have been considered impossible in previous funding environments.

The ability to scale from 60 employees in April to over 100 currently while maintaining extraordinary growth rates challenges traditional notions about organizational scaling limitations.

This massive capital injection enables Anysphere to make substantial R&D investments in proprietary AI models at a time when access to computing resources represents a critical competitive advantage, potentially widening the gap between well-funded AI startups and their competitors.

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