According to Fortune, Cursor CEO Michael Truell isn’t focused on taking his company public, even after it hit a staggering $29.3 billion valuation. The AI code editing tool, popular with software engineers, achieved this valuation just over two years after its first product launch. In November, the company reached $1 billion in annualized revenue and last month it raised $2.3 billion. Truell revealed that Cursor has already automated about 80% of its internal employee support tickets using its own tech. He also detailed an internal AI system that lets employees ask any company-related question and get an AI-generated answer. Despite the red-hot market and competition from giants like OpenAI, an IPO is not on the immediate agenda.
The “Best UI” Strategy
Here’s the thing: Cursor’s whole play is being model-agnostic. While OpenAI and Anthropic are building their own coding assistants (and the models that power them), Cursor’s approach is different. They cherry-pick the best available base models from others, supplement with their own proprietary ones where needed, and then wrap it all in what Truell claims is the superior user interface. It’s a classic “best of breed” integrator strategy. And you know what? It seems to be working. The logic is simple: why tie your fate to one model’s roadmap when you can just use whatever is best that week? It gives them flexibility, but the real moat they’re betting on is that UI and the developer workflow it creates. Can that hold up against the raw R&D firepower of the labs? Truell clearly thinks so.
Eating Their Own AI Dog Food
Part of the confidence comes from seeing the tech work internally. Automating 80% of support tickets is a huge efficiency win. But that internal communication system is more interesting. An AI that can answer any question about the company? That’s basically an always-on, all-knowing internal wiki. It kills information silos. They also have engineers embedded in ops and sales, building custom AI tooling. This is smart. They’re not just selling a tool; they’re a living lab for how AI can reshape a business from the inside out. If you’re building the future of work software, you’d better be using it in the most advanced way possible yourself. It’s the ultimate sales pitch.
So, Why No IPO Rush?
With $1B in revenue and a fresh $2.3B war chest, you have to ask: what’s the hurry? Truell says they’re focused on building features. And he’s right. The public markets are a brutal distraction with quarterly pressures. In a space moving as fast as AI coding, staying private lets them experiment, move quickly, and make long-term bets without justifying every pivot to shareholders. The valuation is already sky-high in the private markets. An IPO might give liquidity, but it wouldn’t necessarily give them more capital or more focus. Right now, their job is to solidify that UI moat and out-innovate the giants. Going public too early could actually hinder that. Seems like a patient, product-first move in an industry obsessed with exits.
