Thrive Capital, a venture firm backed by OpenAI, led a significant funding round of $900 million for Anysphere, raising its valuation to approximately $9 billion.
Anysphere's valuation has more than tripled
The venture capital firm Thrive Capital recently led a massive funding round of $900 million for Anysphere, the creator of the rapidly growing AI-based programming tool Cursor. This investment raises Anysphere's valuation to approximately $9 billion. The latest funding round took place about four months after Anysphere raised $105 million in a round that was also backed by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. This capitalization raised its valuation to around $2.5 billion.
According to the Financial Times (FT) report, the rise in Anysphere's valuation is linked to its impressive growth in annual recurring revenue, which reached around $200 million in April. The company's revenue size positions it as one of the fastest-growing software development companies in history.
However, the sharp rise has reignited concerns about the sustainability of valuations for AI companies, especially in light of recent volatility in public markets. This caution is exacerbated by the rapid growth of other AI players, such as the Chinese company DeepSeek AI. DeepSeek, despite reportedly training its models on significantly less capital than their American counterparts, has demonstrated impressive capabilities, even surpassing some established models in certain tests.
Meanwhile, the FT report states that Thrive Capital's investment strategy reflects a broader trend among venture capitalists seeking opportunities in AI-based application developers. This strategy emerged at a time when the valuations of companies engaged in foundational models, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, mean that only ultra-rich investors can participate in their funding rounds.
Interest in Anysphere is fueled by its core product, Cursor, which has reportedly gained a loyal following among programmers due to its suite of AI-based software development tools. By allowing users to interact with AI in natural language rather than writing code manually, Cursor is said to enhance programmer productivity—a skill increasingly in demand in the tech industry.
Despite competition from already established tools, Cursor has reportedly managed to attract clients ranging from major tech companies like Stripe, OpenAI, and Spotify to AI researchers like Andrej Karpathy, former engineer at Tesla and OpenAI.