Google Hires AI Coding Talent from Windsurf in $2.4 Billion Deal, Know About Varun Mohan!!

In a major move to boost its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, Google has reached a deal to bring in Varun Mohan, the co-founder and CEO of AI startup Windsurf, along with several senior members of the company’s research and development team.

As part of the agreement, Google is not acquiring Windsurf but is instead hiring top talent from the startup and obtaining a non-exclusive license to use certain Windsurf technologies. This means Windsurf remains independent and can still share or sell its technology to other companies. According to a person familiar with the deal, Google will pay around $2.4 billion in licensing fees and employee compensation.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the development, stating, “We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding. We look forward to continuing to bring the benefits of Gemini to developers around the world.”

Windsurf’s Rise and OpenAI Talks

The deal comes shortly after Windsurf was reportedly in acquisition talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion buyout. Those discussions ended when their exclusivity period expired, according to OpenAI.

The hiring move by Google reflects the growing competition among tech giants to acquire top talent in the AI space. In recent months, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) also made headlines by hiring several OpenAI employees and bringing on Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment.

Key People and Windsurf’s Future

In addition to Varun Mohan, Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will also join Google. Jeff Wang, who has served as Windsurf’s head of business for the past two years, has now stepped in as interim CEO. In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Wang stated that most of Windsurf’s core team will stay with the company to continue developing its AI-powered coding tools for enterprise users.

Windsurf has gained popularity in recent months for its innovative approach to “vibe coding”—a term used to describe coding with the help of modern AI tools. This style has become popular among both professional developers and beginners, fueling Windsurf’s growth alongside competitors like Cursor. OpenAI had also shown interest in Cursor earlier.

Who is Varun Mohan?

Varun Mohan, the former CEO of Windsurf, is the son of Indian immigrant parents and grew up in Sunnyvale, California. He attended The Harker School in San Jose, where he stood out for his talent in mathematics and computing competitions. From 2014 to 2017, he studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also earned a master’s degree in engineering from MIT in 2017, focusing on operating systems, algorithms, distributed computing, machine learning, and performance engineering.

Early in his career, Mohan worked at several top tech firms, including Nuro, Quora, LinkedIn, Databricks, and Samsung, gaining deep experience in software development, systems architecture, and engineering. He earned a reputation for his strong analytical thinking and ability to turn complex algorithms into practical, production-ready code.

In 2021, Mohan co-founded Codeium, later rebranded as Windsurf, with his MIT classmate and longtime friend Douglas Chen. The company initially focused on GPU virtualization infrastructure before shifting to develop an AI-native IDE and IDE plugins. Under Mohan’s leadership, Windsurf quickly gained traction, attracting over one million developers within four months of launch. The startup went on to raise \$243 million, reaching a valuation of \$1.25 billion.

Mohan is considered one of the early pioneers of the agentic IDE concept—an approach that integrates large language models (LLMs) with automated, multi-step coding workflows, such as Cascade. He believes that in the future, AI will take over routine programming tasks, freeing engineers to concentrate more on problem-solving, system architecture, and innovation.

What Windsurf said?

Windsurf officially said:

We’re excited to announce that Windsurf and Google have entered into an agreement that will help kick-start this next phase. As part of the agreement, Varun, Douglas, and some members of our R&D team will join Google. Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product for the enterprise and enable our customers to maximize the outcomes from adopting this technology. Effective immediately, Jeff Wang, Windsurf’s Head of Business, has stepped into the role of interim CEO. Jeff has been part of Windsurf’s journey since mid-2023 and has served across many roles and capacities as the team has expanded and our projects grew more ambitious. Simultaneously, Graham Moreno, Windsurf’s VP of Global Sales, has stepped into the role of President. Graham has been the undeniable driving force for our enterprise business that has grown at a rate few enterprise software businesses have.