Cognition AI Hits $4 Billion Valuation in Deal Led by Lonsdale’s Firm

(Bloomberg) -- Cognition AI Inc., the developer of an artificial intelligence-powered coding assistant, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation close to $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The new funding round is being led by 8VC, the Joe Lonsdale-backed venture capital firm, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

8VC declined to comment. A representative for Cognition didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The round doubles the previous valuation of the startup, which released its generative AI coding tool a year ago. Cognition bills the tool, called Devin, as “the world’s first AI software engineer.”

The new funding round is an indication that investor demand for AI deals is still booming as venture capitalists race to fund promising applications for the technology.

Cognition was valued at $2 billion in a funding round last year, according to PitchBook data. Other investors include Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Elad Gil and Conviction Partners. Existing investors also participated in the current round, one of the people said.

VCs have recently flocked toward AI coding assistant startups that compete with Microsoft Corp.-owned GitHub Copilot and Amazon.com Inc.’s CodeWhisperer. These products can automate repetitive coding tasks, predict bugs and, in theory, complete full high-quality software projects independently.

Anysphere, the startup developing the AI code editor, Cursor, is in talks to raise capital at around a $10 billion valuation. Another startup, StackBlitz Inc., the developer of an AI tool for building websites called Bolt.new, is in talks to raise money at a $700 million valuation, Bloomberg reported.

Cognition was founded by Scott Wu, Steven Hao and Walden Yan in 2023. Wu, the company’s chief executive officer and an award-winning coder, previously co-founded Lunchclub, a professional networking tool.

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