Varun Mohan Joins Google as Tech Giant Inks $2.4B AI Deal with Windsurf
Google has made a major move in the escalating race for AI expertise by bringing on board Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of AI coding startup Windsurf. Alongside Mohan, several top-level research and development team members from Windsurf will also be joining Google.
Rather than acquiring the startup, Google has secured a non-exclusive license to certain Windsurf technologies, allowing the firm to continue licensing its tools to other clients. According to an insider, the total value of the agreement, including licensing and employee compensation, amounts to $2.4 billion.
“We’re thrilled to have exceptional AI coding talent from Windsurf joining Google DeepMind as we accelerate work on agentic coding,” a Google representative said. The company plans to enhance the Gemini platform to better serve software developers globally.
This strategic hire follows Windsurf’s earlier acquisition discussions with OpenAI, which reportedly fell through after the exclusivity period ended. Meanwhile, other tech giants like Meta and Microsoft are also aggressively courting AI innovators. Meta recently brought on Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang, while Microsoft integrated talent from Adept and Inflection into its AI initiatives.
Windsurf’s interim CEO, Jeff Wang, confirmed that co-founder Douglas Chen will also transition to Google. The rest of Windsurf’s team will continue developing its enterprise-focused coding platform.
With the rise of “vibe coding”—a trend that blends intuitive AI-assisted programming—startups like Windsurf and Cursor have seen rapid growth and rising valuations, drawing serious attention from investors and competitors alike.
This approach echoes previous strategies by Google and others, who have selectively absorbed AI talent without full acquisitions to fuel internal innovation and product development.
