Cursor Expands Portfolio with Acquisition of Graphite Technologies

Cursor Acquires Graphite: Revolutionizing AI-Powered Code Review

Cursor, the AI coding assistant, recently made waves in the tech industry by acquiring Graphite, a startup renowned for its AI-based code review and debugging capabilities.

While the financial details of the acquisition remain undisclosed, reports suggest that Cursor paid a significant premium over Graphite’s last valuation of $290 million. This valuation was established following Graphite’s successful $52 million Series B funding round earlier this year.

The strategic alignment between Cursor and Graphite is evident. AI-generated code often contains bugs, necessitating significant time and effort from engineers for corrections. Despite Cursor offering AI-powered code review through its Bugbot product, Graphite’s unique “stacked pull request” feature allows developers to work on multiple interconnected changes simultaneously, streamlining the approval process.

By combining AI-driven code writing with advanced code review tools, the integration of Cursor and Graphite promises to accelerate the software development cycle from code creation to deployment.

Notably, other players in the AI-powered code review space include CodeRabbit, valued at $550 million, and Greptile, which recently secured a $25 million Series A funding round.

Michael Truell, Cursor’s co-founder and CEO, shares a history with Graphite’s co-founders, having crossed paths during their involvement in Neo Scholar, a program for aspiring college students supported by Neo, an early-stage venture firm led by Ali Partovi. PitchBook data indicates that Neo provided seed funding for Graphite.

Furthermore, both Cursor and Graphite boast common investors such as Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, underscoring the industry’s confidence in the potential of AI-driven code review solutions.

Cursor, valued at an impressive $29 billion in November, has been actively expanding its portfolio through strategic acquisitions. In a recent move, the company acquired Growth by Design, a specialist tech recruiting strategy firm. Additionally, Cursor absorbed the talent pool of AI-powered CRM startup Koala, solidifying its position in the market with a post-money valuation of $129 million.