Cursor Says "No Thanks" to OpenAI as Anysphere Bets Big on Independence and $10B Valuation

Anysphere, the fast-rising startup behind the AI coding assistant Cursor, is choosing independence over acquisition — even when OpenAI comes knocking.

Sources close to the company told TechCrunch that Anysphere has turned down acquisition overtures from OpenAI and several others. Cursor, already one of the most popular AI coding tools, is reportedly doubling its revenue every two months. That explosive growth has pushed the startup’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) to around $300 million, making it a prized target in the competitive AI tooling space.

Despite OpenAI’s interest — and early acquisition talks confirmed by both CNBC and sources — Anysphere opted to stay independent, instead entering discussions to raise fresh capital at a jaw-dropping $10 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported last month.

With Cursor out of reach, OpenAI hasn’t slowed its search. According to Bloomberg, it recently made a $3 billion acquisition offer to Windsurf, another fast-growing AI coding assistant. Windsurf, though smaller than Cursor, has seen its ARR spike from $40 million in February to $100 million today, a sign of serious traction, especially with legacy enterprise developers.

The shopping spree is part of OpenAI’s broader strategy to secure growth opportunities amid intensifying competition. Google’s Gemini and China’s DeepSeek are pushing prices down in the foundational model market, while rivals like Anthropic and Google have released models that outperform OpenAI’s offerings on key coding benchmarks.

Buying a proven product like Cursor or Windsurf would give OpenAI an instant edge in the AI coding space without having to build a new product from scratch. It's a smart move, given that developer adoption is notoriously hard to win — and even harder to accelerate organically.

Chris Farmer, CEO and partner at SignalFire, sees the trend clearly: “They’ll be acquisitive at the app layer. It’s existential for them,” he told TechCrunch.

For now, though, Cursor remains firmly out of reach — and Anysphere looks ready to go it alone, fueled by massive growth and an even more ambitious vision.