Google has struck a major agreement to onboard key figures from AI coding startup Windsurf, including co-founder and CEO Varun Mohan, as part of its growing push into artificial intelligence development.
The tech company confirmed on Friday that several of Windsurf’s senior research and engineering leaders will join Google DeepMind. Although Google is not acquiring the startup, it will pay $2.4 billion for nonexclusive rights to some of Windsurf’s technology and for employee compensation, a source familiar with the terms said.
“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson said. The company also reiterated its goal to expand the reach of Gemini, its AI model, to software developers.
Windsurf, which gained traction this year for its “vibe coding” tools that simplify programming through AI, had been in acquisition talks with OpenAI. Those discussions, valued at $3 billion, fell through after the exclusivity period ended, according to OpenAI.
Douglas Chen, another co-founder of Windsurf, will also move to Google. Jeff Wang, who will now serve as interim CEO, shared on X that “most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise.”
The deal underscores the intensifying competition among major tech companies for top AI talent. Meta recently brought on Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its artificial intelligence efforts, while Microsoft and Amazon have executed similar hiring strategies through partnerships and investments.
Google previously recruited talent from Character.AI in a comparable fashion. The company’s move further signals the importance of AI-assisted coding in shaping the next wave of software development.
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