Cognition CEO denies report that SpaceX tried to acquire the startup
SpaceX was reportedly in talks to buy AI coding startup Cognition. SpaceX has already acquired Cursor as it races to catch up to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in enterprise AI.
SpaceX reportedly tried to acquire AI coding startup Cognition, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. However, Cognition's CEO, Scott Wu, swiftly denied the claim on X, stating that the startup is not for sale and that there were no ongoing talks between the two companies. The report of the acquisition comes just days after SpaceX's $60 billion purchase of Cursor, another AI coding startup, which closed last week.
SpaceX has been heavily investing in AI, with plans to build data centers in space and develop AI-assisted coding as a means to monetize the technology. Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, recently stated that AI will be 99% of the company's value within four to five years. The recent acquisition of Cognition and its coding agent Devin would have provided SpaceX with an additional avenue to compete for enterprise customers, including notable names like Mercedes-Benz, Citi, and Goldman Sachs.
Despite the denied acquisition, SpaceX and Cognition are reportedly still discussing potential collaborations, with Cognition potentially utilizing SpaceX's computing capacity. Wu did not comment on this potential collaboration aspect in his denial. Cognition remains an independent AI software coding startup, recently raising a $1 billion round at a $25 billion valuation and now in talks for a new round at a $40 billion valuation.
The company acquired the assets of competitor Windsurf after DeepMind's acqui-hire of the startup's CEO and top researchers in a $2.4 billion deal last year.
Written by urgent.news from TechCrunch's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
