GitHub Copilot is a pioneer in the AI coding arena. It was the first mainstream product that took advantage of large language models (LLMs). Over 77,000 organizations are now using GitHub Copilot, up 180% year-over-year, making it the most widely adopted AI-powered developer tool. In a recent earnings call, Microsoft highlighted that Copilot is already a larger business than all of GitHub was when Microsoft acquired it.
Over the past few years, several startups have emerged to challenge GitHub Copilot. All these startups rely on large language models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. In addition to LLMs, these startups are trying to build a revamped developer experience to improve developer productivity.
Cursor is one such AI coding editor startup that recently went viral for its exceptional user experience, allowing developers to code by just using the "tab" key. Cursor already has over 40,000 customers, including some of the world"s most innovative startups, such as OpenAI. Recently, Cursor raised $60 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, OpenAI, Jeff Dean, Noam Brown, and the founders of Stripe, GitHub, Ramp, Perplexity, and OpenAI.
Supermaven is another startup attempting to create a Copilot that is faster, more intelligent, and easier to use. It is known for its long-context technology and is actively used by over 40,000 developers. Recently, it raised $12 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from OpenAI co-founder John Schulman, Perplexity co-founder Denis Yarats, and Intercom founder Eoghan McCabe.
Supermaven has now announced that it is joining the Cursor team to build a more useful product faster. The Cursor team mentioned that they will soon release a new version of their Tab model that"s fast, context-aware, and highly intelligent, especially with sequences of long changes.
The existing Supermaven plugins will remain maintained, although the development teams will focus on the Cursor experience.
Jacob Jackson, CEO of Supermaven, wrote the following regarding the merger with Cursor:
"Initially, we worked to build our own editor, but we were also in touch with the Cursor team. As I came to know them better, I felt we could build a much more useful product together than Supermaven could build alone. That"s why Supermaven is joining Cursor."
By combining their strengths, the unified team is poised to accelerate innovation and deliver even more advanced tools for developers.