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Who Made Cursor AI? (2026 Answer)
Cursor (Agentdex profile) was made by Anysphere, a startup founded in 2022 by four MIT students: Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger. Since August 14, 2026, Anysphere and Cursor have been owned by SpaceX. This guide covers who the founders are, how the company grew, who funded it, what the SpaceX deal changed and what it means for people who use Cursor today. Facts were checked against Cursor, SpaceX and OpenAI announcements and major news coverage on October 24, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Cursor is made by Anysphere, founded in 2022 by MIT classmates Michael Truell (CEO), Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger. Lunnemark left the company in October 2025.
- OpenAI did not make Cursor. The OpenAI Startup Fund led Anysphere's $8 million seed round in 2023, which is why the two are often confused.
- Cursor grew very fast. Its last independent round was a $2.3 billion Series D in November 2025 at a $29.3 billion valuation, and Cursor said it had passed $1 billion in annualized revenue with more than 300 employees.
- SpaceX now owns Cursor. SpaceX agreed to buy Anysphere on June 16, 2026 at an implied equity value of $60 billion, and the deal closed on August 14, 2026.
- The ownership change already affects users: Grok models are now Cursor's own models, and OpenAI plans to stop supplying its models to Cursor, with a proposed cutoff of November 12, 2026.
Who made Cursor: the short answer
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Company | Anysphere, Inc., based in San Francisco |
| Founders | Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, Aman Sanger |
| Founded | 2022, by MIT students |
| CEO | Michael Truell |
| First release | 2023 |
| Current owner | SpaceX (deal closed August 14, 2026) |
| Built on | The open-source core of Visual Studio Code |
The founders
The four founders met at MIT, where they worked on AI and programming projects together before starting Anysphere.
- Michael Truell is co-founder and CEO. He is the public face of the company and led it through its funding rounds and the SpaceX acquisition.
- Sualeh Asif is a co-founder who has worked on Cursor's engineering and infrastructure.
- Aman Sanger is a co-founder who has worked on Cursor's AI research and product, including how the editor uses models.
- Arvid Lunnemark co-founded the company and worked on its core technology. He left Cursor on October 17, 2025.
Cursor's team has grown far beyond the founders. By November 2025 Cursor said it had more than 300 employees, and it has added people through acquisitions, including the team behind Supermaven, an AI autocomplete startup, in late 2024. Supermaven's technology went into Cursor's Tab completions.
How Cursor started
Anysphere did not start with a code editor. The founders have said in interviews that they first explored AI tools for other fields, including mechanical engineering, before deciding that programming was where AI could change the most about daily work.
The key product decision was to build an editor rather than a plugin. Instead of adding AI to an existing editor through its extension system, they forked VS Code, the most widely used code editor, so they could change the editor itself: how completions appear, how the AI sees your codebase and how multi-file edits are reviewed. Because it is a fork, Cursor kept compatibility with most VS Code extensions, themes and keybindings, which made switching easy. Cursor's own code is proprietary; our guide Is Cursor open source? explains the difference.
Timeline: from startup to SpaceX
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Anysphere founded by four MIT students |
| 2023 | Cursor released; $8 million seed round led by the OpenAI Startup Fund |
| 2024 | $60 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, then a $105 million Series B; Supermaven team joins |
| 2025 | $900 million Series C in mid-2025; $2.3 billion Series D in November 2025 at a $29.3 billion valuation; Cursor reports more than $1 billion in annualized revenue |
| October 17, 2025 | Co-founder Arvid Lunnemark leaves |
| June 16, 2026 | SpaceX signs agreement to buy Anysphere at an implied equity value of $60 billion, paid in SpaceX stock |
| August 14, 2026 | Deal closes; Cursor becomes a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary |
| August 29, 2026 | OpenAI announces it will end model supply to Cursor |
Who funded Cursor
The early backing from OpenAI is the main source of confusion about who made Cursor. In October 2023, TechCrunch reported that Anysphere had raised $8 million led by the OpenAI Startup Fund. That made OpenAI an investor, not the creator. Cursor was always built by Anysphere, and from early on it let users choose models from several labs, not only OpenAI.
Later rounds were led by large venture firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, and grew quickly in size as Cursor's revenue rose. The November 2025 Series D raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion post-money valuation, the last round before the SpaceX deal.
Why SpaceX bought Cursor
SpaceX signed a merger agreement with Anysphere on June 16, 2026 and completed it on August 14, 2026, at an implied equity value of $60 billion paid in SpaceX stock. Cursor described the move in its own post, "Cursor is joining SpaceX", and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.
The deal put Cursor alongside SpaceX's AI work on the Grok models. The most visible results so far:
- Grok models became Cursor's own models. Cursor's documentation lists Cursor as the provider for Grok 4.7, 4.6 and 4.5, and the paid plans' weekly usage pool covers them along with Composer 2.5.
- New plans. Cursor now has Free, Plus ($8), Premium ($30), Super ($100) and Ultra ($200) plans for individuals. Plus only includes Cursor's own models. See our Cursor pricing guide.
- OpenAI is leaving. OpenAI said it will stop supplying models to Cursor. Its help center gives a proposed cutoff of November 12, 2026 and says no future OpenAI models will come to Cursor.
What it means for Cursor users
For day-to-day editing, Cursor works the way it did before the deal: the same editor, Tab completions, agent and VS Code compatibility. The changes are in models, pricing and long-term direction.
- Model choice is shifting. Grok and Composer are the models included in your plan. Claude and Gemini remain available on Premium and above at API list price, while GPT models have a cutoff date. Our guide What AI does Cursor use? covers the full lineup.
- The owner sets the roadmap. A closed product under a large parent company can change quickly. If that worries you, keep your rules files and workflows portable so you can move to another editor or agent.
- Alternatives exist at every level. GitHub Copilot (Agentdex profile) works inside VS Code and other editors, Cline (Agentdex profile) is a free open-source agent, and Claude Code (Agentdex profile) and Codex (Agentdex profile) run in the terminal. See our Cursor alternatives guide.
Cursor vs similar tools: who makes what
| Tool | Made by | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Cursor | Anysphere (SpaceX) | AI code editor, forked from VS Code |
| GitHub Copilot | GitHub (Microsoft) | AI assistant for many editors, GitHub and the CLI |
| Devin Desktop (Agentdex profile) (formerly Windsurf) | Cognition | AI code editor and agent hub |
| Claude Code | Anthropic | Terminal and IDE coding agent |
| Codex | OpenAI | Coding agent for terminal, IDE and cloud |
| Cline | Cline | Open-source coding agent |
FAQ
Is Cursor made by OpenAI?
No. Cursor is made by Anysphere. The OpenAI Startup Fund led Anysphere's 2023 seed round, but OpenAI never owned or built Cursor, and it now plans to stop supplying its models to Cursor.
Who owns Cursor now?
SpaceX. It agreed to buy Anysphere on June 16, 2026 at an implied equity value of $60 billion, and the deal closed on August 14, 2026. Cursor operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Who is the CEO of Cursor?
Michael Truell, one of the four co-founders.
What is Anysphere?
Anysphere is the company that develops Cursor. It was founded in 2022 by Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger, and has been part of SpaceX since August 2026.
Is Cursor built on VS Code?
Yes. Cursor is a fork of the open-source core of Visual Studio Code, which is why most VS Code extensions and settings work in it. Cursor's own AI features and code are proprietary.
Did the founders build Cursor at MIT?
The founders met and started working together at MIT, and founded Anysphere in 2022 while they were students or recent graduates. The company is based in San Francisco.
Written by Agentdex Editorial. Agentdex is an independent directory reviewing AI coding tools; we are not affiliated with the companies mentioned. Prices and features are as of October 24, 2026, from official sources linked above. Always confirm on the vendor's site.