It’s not every day a startup hits a $9.9 billion valuation and sails past $500 million in recurring revenue in just three years. When it happens, you pay attention. That’s the story of Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding assistant, Cursor.
This isn’t just another tech success story. It’s a peek into a major shift in how we’re all going to work. We’re going to take a look at Anysphere, its product Cursor, and its wild journey. More importantly, we’ll get into what its success really means for the future of AI assistants in every job, from coding to customer support.
What is Anysphere?
Anysphere is an applied research lab with a pretty straightforward goal: automate the tedious parts of coding to help build the "engineer of the future." It was started back in 2022 by four friends from MIT, Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger. They were simply tired of the repetitive grind that can come with software development.
They noticed that while existing tools were helpful, none of them really changed the day-to-day workflow. Their idea wasn’t to replace developers, but to create a real partnership between a person and an AI. They imagined a hybrid programmer who could be ten times more effective than someone working alone. By building an AI that complements human creativity, Anysphere wanted to make programming faster, more creative, and honestly, a lot more enjoyable.
What is Cursor by Anysphere?
Cursor is Anysphere’s main product and what really put them on the map. It’s an AI-first code editor, built as a modified version (a "fork") of the very popular Visual Studio Code. But calling it just an "editor" really sells it short. It was built from the ground up to be an AI pair programmer that understands your entire project, not just the one file you have open.
Essentially, Cursor helps developers write, edit, debug, and refactor code much faster using plain English. It’s already being used by millions of developers and in more than half of all Fortune 500 companies. For a lot of people, it’s gone from a neat tool to something they can’t imagine coding without.
A closer look at Anysphere’s core technology
Cursor’s popularity isn’t just hype. It’s built on some seriously powerful features that fit right into how developers already work.
Anysphere’s project-wide understanding and ‘agent mode’
One of the biggest things that sets Cursor apart is its ability to understand an entire codebase. A lot of competitors, like GitHub Copilot, tend to focus on suggesting code only for the file you’re currently working in. Cursor sees the whole picture.
The best example of this is its "Agent Mode." A developer can give it a broad command like, "implement a new authentication flow," and the AI can work on its own to navigate the project, change code across multiple files, and get the job done. It takes what could be hours of manual work and turns it into a single instruction.
Anysphere’s conversational and intuitive interface
Developers talk to Cursor like they would a human colleague, using natural language to ask questions or give directions. This makes doing some pretty complicated stuff feel surprisingly simple.
Cursor’s help doesn’t stop in the editor, either. It connects with other tools developers use every day. It can act as an AI assistant in Slack or review pull requests right inside GitHub. It’s always available right where the work is happening.
Anysphere’s access to cutting-edge models
The world of AI moves incredibly fast. What’s state-of-the-art today might be old news tomorrow. Cursor handles this by letting users choose from a variety of top AI models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini. This means developers can always use the best tech available for their specific project.
A screenshot from Anysphere's Cursor showing the different AI models available for selection.A look inside Anysphere’s Cursor and the different AI models available to users.
The story behind Anysphere’s rapid growth
Anysphere’s smart tech didn’t just win over developers; it also got the attention of investors, leading to one of the fastest growth stories in recent memory.
Anysphere: From MIT to a $9.9 billion valuation
Anysphere’s funding journey has been pretty astounding. The company went from a cool idea to a multi-billion dollar valuation in what felt like a blink of an eye. Its recent $900 million funding round, led by heavyweights like Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Accel, and DST Global, locked in its status as a serious player in the AI world.
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Key Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2024 | Series B | $105 Million | $2.6 Billion | Thrive Capital |
| Jun 2025 | Series C | $900 Million | $9.9 Billion | Thrive Capital, a16z, Accel |
Anysphere’s explosive revenue and user adoption
Even more impressive than its valuation is its revenue. The company has blown past $500 million in annual recurring revenue, a number that takes most companies the better part of a decade to hit.
The amazing part is that this growth was almost completely organic. There wasn’t some huge marketing campaign. Developers just genuinely loved the product and told their friends about it. As Diana Hu, a General Partner at Y Combinator, said, "It just spread like wildfire, all the best builders were using Cursor."
This video explains how the founders of Anysphere grew their company so quickly without a marketing budget.
Anysphere’s impact beyond coding: The rise of specialized AI assistants
Cursor’s success proves something important: while general-purpose AI like ChatGPT is handy, the real impact on businesses comes from specialized AI assistants built for specific jobs.
It’s a straightforward but powerful concept. Just as developers need an AI that understands code, repositories, and frameworks, a customer support team needs an AI that understands helpdesks, past tickets, and internal knowledge bases.
The best AI assistants for any department seem to share a few common traits. They should be:
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Easy to get started with. Teams should be able to get up and running in minutes, not months, without having to sit through sales calls or lengthy onboarding.
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Deeply connected to the tools you already use, whether that’s Zendesk, Slack, or Confluence. This avoids the headache of ripping out and replacing systems that already work.
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Safe and trustworthy. Look for features like simulation modes that let you test the AI on your past data before you ever let it talk to a customer.
These tools are at their best when they can bring all of a company’s scattered knowledge together. Think about an AI that can instantly find answers in Google Docs, your internal wiki, and old support tickets to give the perfect response every time. That’s where things are headed, whether you’re a developer with Cursor or a support agent using a modern platform like eesel AI.
Cursor pricing
Anysphere keeps its pricing simple, with plans for individuals, teams, and large companies. A lot of its recent growth has been driven by enterprise deals, but the individual plans are still quite affordable.
A screenshot of the official pricing page for Anysphere's Cursor, showing the different plans available.A screenshot of the official Anysphere Cursor pricing page.
| Plan | Price (per user/month) | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $20 | For individual developers |
| Business | $40 | For small teams |
| Enterprise | Custom | For large organizations |
What we can learn from Anysphere
The story of Anysphere is more than just about fast growth; it’s a lesson in the future of work. It shows just how valuable it is to build specialized AI tools that are native to a specific workflow. These tools don’t just answer questions; they actively help people do their jobs better.
This trend is just getting started, and it’s not just for software developers. The same ideas about AI-powered productivity are now coming to other departments that deal with a lot of information, like IT support, sales, and especially customer service.
Bring the power of specialized AI to your support team
If the idea of making your team way more productive sounds good, you’ll be happy to hear that the same kind of transformation is now happening in customer support.
eesel AI is basically the "Cursor for customer support." It connects to your helpdesk and all your knowledge sources to automate frontline questions, help agents draft perfect replies, and give your team instant access to everything they need to know. You can get started in minutes, test it safely on your past tickets, and give your support team the AI tools they deserve.
Frequently asked questions
Anysphere is an applied research lab founded by MIT alumni, aiming to automate tedious coding tasks. Its core mission is to create a powerful partnership between human developers and AI, enabling them to be significantly more efficient and enjoy their work more.
Anysphere’s Cursor stands out due to its comprehensive, project-wide understanding of a codebase, rather than focusing on individual files. Its "Agent Mode" allows it to autonomously execute complex commands across multiple files, making large-scale code changes more efficient.
Anysphere’s Cursor provides access to a variety of cutting-edge AI models from industry leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini. This flexibility allows developers to choose the most suitable and advanced AI technology for their specific project requirements.
While Anysphere’s flagship product, Cursor, is tailored for developers, its success highlights the broader impact of specialized AI assistants. The company’s vision suggests that similar AI-powered productivity tools will transform other information-heavy departments like customer support, IT, and sales.
Anysphere offers a simple pricing structure: the Pro plan is $20 per user/month for individual developers, and the Business plan costs $40 per user/month for small teams. For larger organizations, custom enterprise pricing is available.
Anysphere’s swift growth was primarily fueled by the organic adoption of its beloved product, Cursor, which spread widely among developers through word-of-mouth. This strong user endorsement, combined with significant investment rounds from prominent venture capital firms, propelled its valuation to billions in just three years.
