SpaceX announced its acquisition of Cursor, an AI coding tool startup, for $60 billion in an all-stock deal, marking the largest startup M&A transaction so far in 2026. The deal follows SpaceX's record-breaking $75 billion IPO last week and positions the company to enter the enterprise software development market. Cursor, founded four years ago, had most recently been valued at about $30 billion, according to news.crunchbase.com.
Cursor's parent company, Anysphere, raised $3.4 billion from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, Accel, and Coatue. The startup crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue as of November last year. SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California, has expanded beyond space exploration to acquire other ventures such as the social media platform X and AI company xAI. Following the announcement, SpaceX shares rose approximately 16%, news.crunchbase.com reported.
The acquisition gives SpaceX a significant presence in the growing AI-assisted coding sector, where companies are increasingly reducing their reliance on human engineers. The $60 billion deal is one of the largest acquisitions of a venture-backed startup in recent years and highlights the robust M&A activity in the startup ecosystem this year. Cursor's rapid growth and investor backing underscore the rising value of AI tools in enterprise software development.
Through June 16, there have been at least 1,177 venture-backed startup M&A deals this year, reflecting strong market activity, according to news.crunchbase.com. SpaceX's purchase of Cursor stands out as the largest and most high-profile transaction among these.