Google Spends $2.4B on Windsurf to Advance Its ‘Agentic Coding’

Google has made headlines for initiating a deal with Windsurf for approximately $2.4 billion. But the deal, which comes after OpenAI failed to acquire Windsurf, isn’t a full-on acquisition; instead, Google is licensing Windsurf’s AI coding tools, and Windsurf’s CEO, Varun Mohan, and several other teammates headed to Google’s DeepMind division for permanent roles.

A deal gone awry

OpenAI had lined up what would have been its largest purchase yet, aiming to spend around $3 billion to fully integrate Windsurf’s AI coding technology. The plan was to secure exclusive rights over the startup’s software and intellectual property; however, negotiations eventually broke down in the middle of 2025, paving the way for Google to step in.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” Chris Pappas, a spokesperson with Google, said in a recent email with TechCrunch.

What is Windsurf?

Formerly known as Codeium, Windsurf has a coding tool with the same name as the company. The coding tool that uses AI agents in order to streamline and optimize the day-to-day coding workflow. It offers automated code completion, code generation, debugging, project analysis and understanding, and more.

The deal with Google is expected to bolster the tech giant’s position in the current AI coding landscape.

While Google frames this as a strategic expansion, some industry observers describe it as a classic acquihire — a move designed to lock in specialized talent without committing a full-scale takeover.

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Other Google acquisitions

Google has made numerous acquisitions in recent years. Some of the tech giant’s most notable acquisitions include:

• Wiz: A cloud security company based out of New York City that was founded in early 2020.
• Cameyo: Founded in 2018, Cameyo was formed to support the original concept of the Cameyo product, a virtual application delivery (VAD) platform, that was launched in 2010.
• Equalum: Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2015, Equalum specializes in data analytics and streaming.
• Character.AI: Similarly to Windsurf, this generative AI chatbot wasn’t technically acquired by Google. However, Google has licensed their software and hired the company’s co-founders.

Between their own AI platform, the deal involving Windsurf, and their recent acquisitions, Google is quickly increasing their competitiveness in several key areas, specifically cloud security, desktop virtualization, data integration, and AI.

Driving Google’s DeepMind division

Although there’s no shortage of innovation coming from the Google team, Mohan and his Windsurf colleagues will be driving Google’s DeepMind division for the foreseeable future. It will take time before their contributions reach the public eye, but it will be interesting to see what they come up with.

Read our coverage of this year’s Google I/O 2025 keynote, where Sundar Pichai unveiled new AI milestones and shared the company’s vision for the next decade.