←back to thread

Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

(cognition.ai)
502 points alazsengul | 2 comments | 14 Jul 25 18:07 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
makin ◴[14 Jul 25 18:21 UTC] No.44563488[source]▶
I was a bit confused as to what "Cognition" was, but they're the makers of Devin (edit: that just got added to the title, for reference), so that makes sense. Just buying the competition, the only surprise is they had more money to spend than the big ones.
replies(5): >>44563509 #>>44563540 #>>44563556 #>>44563977 #>>44564316 #
brentm ◴[14 Jul 25 18:24 UTC] No.44563540[source]▶
Well Google did also just pay $2.5B to license Windsurf in perpetuity. Cognition is probably spending a lot less than that for just whatever it left after that type of a deal. Remaining team members, etc.
replies(4): >>44563558 #>>44563809 #>>44564115 #>>44564939 #
physix ◴[14 Jul 25 19:11 UTC] No.44564115[source]▶
This looks to me like the smoking gun on a type of acquisition that circumvents regulatory oversight, primarily driven by the "need for speed":

https://medium.com/@villispeaks/the-blitzhire-acquisition-e3...

which I first saw here

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44553257

replies(1): >>44565214 #
1. DebtDeflation ◴[14 Jul 25 20:59 UTC] No.44565214{3}[source]▶
Circumvents regulatory oversight and also shafts 99% of the employees. Seems to be a backdoor way to acquire the key founders/leaders and IP (via a perpetual license) while leaving behind a desiccated husk of rank and file employees, customers, and obligations.
replies(1): >>44570861 #
2. bananapub ◴[15 Jul 25 13:20 UTC] No.44570861[source]▶
it's super shitty by management to flee, but given that most startups fail, this startup maybe not-failing really isn't a "shafting".