LONDON DAILY ARCHIVE
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Deal brings CEO Varun Mohan, co‑founder, and R&D staff to DeepMind under non‑exclusive licensing for Gemini coding tools
14 July 2025 · 14:02 UTC
The licence is non‑exclusive, enabling Windsurf to continue independently and collaborate with other partners.
Under the deal, investors in Windsurf receive liquidity while retaining equity.
The move follows months of acquisition talks between Windsurf and OpenAI, which had reportedly explored a three billion dollar purchase before the deal dissolved—partly due to involvement from Microsoft—clearing the way for Google’s entry.
At DeepMind, Mohan, Chen and additional R&D staff will focus on agentic coding—autonomous code generation and refinement—integrated into Google’s Gemini AI suite.
President and CEO Demis Hassabis confirmed the recruitments and underscored the ongoing efforts to advance coding capabilities.
The deal is structured as an “acquihire,” mirroring recent moves by other tech firms—Microsoft, Amazon and Meta—to absorb startups’ talent alongside licensing access, often avoiding antitrust scrutiny.
Windsurf, founded in two thousand twenty‑one, had raised significant venture funding, including a series‑C round of one hundred fifty million dollars, and was valued around one point two five billion dollars in its last financing.
The firm employs approximately two hundred fifty staff, most of whom will remain under interim CEO Jeff Wang and new president Graham Moreno to continue product development for enterprise clients.