Anysphere, the company behind the fast-rising AI coding assistant Cursor, is experiencing explosive growth—and it’s not looking to sell, even to OpenAI. A source close to the company told TechCrunch that Anysphere has no interest in acquisition talks as it focuses on expanding independently.
Cursor has become one of the most widely adopted AI coding tools, with its revenue doubling every two months, according to a separate source. Two insiders revealed that Anysphere’s current annual recurring revenue (ARR) stands at approximately $300 million.
OpenAI previously approached Anysphere with early acquisition interest, but the startup walked away from discussions, sources confirmed. CNBC also reported this earlier. Anysphere has fielded several other acquisition offers but declined them all, choosing instead to stay independent, say people familiar with the matter.
Rather than selling, Anysphere is in talks to raise a new round of capital at a valuation near $10 billion, Bloomberg reported last month.
OpenAI, meanwhile, has remained focused on acquiring a leading AI coding tool. After failing to secure Anysphere, it reportedly held conversations with over 20 coding startups, according to CNBC. The next serious contender appears to be Windsurf, another fast-growing AI coding assistant.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI made a $3 billion acquisition offer for Windsurf. While smaller than Anysphere, Windsurf has seen sharp revenue growth, with ARR reaching $100 million, up from $40 million just two months ago. The company is also gaining traction in the developer community, particularly because its platform integrates well with legacy enterprise systems.
Neither Windsurf nor OpenAI responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment.
OpenAI’s interest in acquiring a coding startup reflects its push to stay ahead in the increasingly competitive AI landscape. Rivals like Google’s Gemini and China’s DeepSeek are driving down model access costs, putting pressure on OpenAI’s market position.
In addition, new models from Anthropic and Google are now outperforming OpenAI’s tools in coding benchmarks, making them more attractive to developers.
While OpenAI could develop its own coding assistant internally, acquiring an already established product offers a faster route to user adoption and market share.
Investors are keeping a close eye. Chris Farmer, CEO and partner at SignalFire, told TechCrunch: “They’ll be acquisitive at the app layer. It’s existential for them.”
