Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has finalized a $2.4 billion licensing agreement with AI coding startup Windsurf, gaining access to select technologies and hiring top leadership from the company, including CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen.
The new hires will join Google DeepMind to advance its efforts in agentic coding, being AI systems that can autonomously write and improve software.
The agreement is non-exclusive, meaning Windsurf retains the ability to license its technology to other parties and continues to operate independently.
“We're excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf's team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” Google said in a statement.
Most of Windsurf’s 250-person team will remain with the company, which will now be led by interim CEO Jeff Wang and president Graham Moreno.
The startup will continue to focus on building enterprise AI tools, including its SWE-1 family of AI models launched in May to accelerate software engineering processes beyond simple code generation.
The deal follows the collapse of a proposed $3 billion acquisition of Windsurf by OpenAI earlier this year. That agreement reportedly broke down due to concerns from Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest financial backer, over intellectual property rights and competitive positioning.