Google hires Indian-origin Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan to boost Gemini’s AI coding ambitions
Google scores a major win in the AI talent war by snapping up key minds behind one of coding AI’s most promising startups.
- Jul 14, 2025,
- Updated Jul 14, 2025 8:56 AM IST
Google has brought onboard Indian-origin entrepreneur Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of AI coding startup Windsurf, in a strategic move to strengthen its AI capabilities, particularly in coding automation through its Gemini platform.
Demis Hassabis, Co-Founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, announced the move on Saturday via X, confirming that Mohan and several other Windsurf engineers will join the tech giant.
“Thrilled to welcome @windsurf_ai founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen and some of the brilliant Windsurf eng team to @GoogleDeepMind,” said Hassabis. “Excited to be working with them to turbocharge our Gemini efforts on coding agents, tool use, and much more. Great to have you on board!”
The collaboration comes as part of a $2.4 billion licensing and compensation deal, which gives Google a non-exclusive license to Windsurf’s intellectual property. The agreement is not an acquisition and does not involve an equity stake. Windsurf will remain independent and retain the right to license its technologies to others.
Known for pioneering “vibe coding,” a user-friendly and intuitive approach to AI-assisted software development, Windsurf has quickly gained attention in the crowded AI coding space. The company’s tools aim to make code generation feel more like collaboration with a creative partner rather than a series of predictive completions.
Douglas Chen, co-founder of Windsurf, and other key team members will also move to Google DeepMind, where they are expected to contribute to “agentic coding” — an emerging field that seeks to make AI models act more like intelligent co-developers.
The move is a blow to OpenAI, which had reportedly been in exclusive acquisition talks with Windsurf earlier this year, valuing the startup at nearly $3 billion. According to OpenAI, that exclusivity period has now expired.
Google’s latest hire further escalates the already intense race among AI heavyweights to dominate developer tools. Microsoft, which backs OpenAI, has already embedded AI deeply into its software suite, with CEO Satya Nadella stating in April that nearly 30 per cent of Microsoft’s code is now AI-generated. Meanwhile, Meta recently tapped Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion initiative.
Jeff Wang, interim CEO of Windsurf, said the startup will continue building out its enterprise product while its core team transitions to Google. “We’re excited about what lies ahead and proud that our team will help shape the next wave of AI-assisted development,” he posted on X.
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Google has brought onboard Indian-origin entrepreneur Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of AI coding startup Windsurf, in a strategic move to strengthen its AI capabilities, particularly in coding automation through its Gemini platform.
Demis Hassabis, Co-Founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, announced the move on Saturday via X, confirming that Mohan and several other Windsurf engineers will join the tech giant.
“Thrilled to welcome @windsurf_ai founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen and some of the brilliant Windsurf eng team to @GoogleDeepMind,” said Hassabis. “Excited to be working with them to turbocharge our Gemini efforts on coding agents, tool use, and much more. Great to have you on board!”
The collaboration comes as part of a $2.4 billion licensing and compensation deal, which gives Google a non-exclusive license to Windsurf’s intellectual property. The agreement is not an acquisition and does not involve an equity stake. Windsurf will remain independent and retain the right to license its technologies to others.
Known for pioneering “vibe coding,” a user-friendly and intuitive approach to AI-assisted software development, Windsurf has quickly gained attention in the crowded AI coding space. The company’s tools aim to make code generation feel more like collaboration with a creative partner rather than a series of predictive completions.
Douglas Chen, co-founder of Windsurf, and other key team members will also move to Google DeepMind, where they are expected to contribute to “agentic coding” — an emerging field that seeks to make AI models act more like intelligent co-developers.
The move is a blow to OpenAI, which had reportedly been in exclusive acquisition talks with Windsurf earlier this year, valuing the startup at nearly $3 billion. According to OpenAI, that exclusivity period has now expired.
Google’s latest hire further escalates the already intense race among AI heavyweights to dominate developer tools. Microsoft, which backs OpenAI, has already embedded AI deeply into its software suite, with CEO Satya Nadella stating in April that nearly 30 per cent of Microsoft’s code is now AI-generated. Meanwhile, Meta recently tapped Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion initiative.
Jeff Wang, interim CEO of Windsurf, said the startup will continue building out its enterprise product while its core team transitions to Google. “We’re excited about what lies ahead and proud that our team will help shape the next wave of AI-assisted development,” he posted on X.
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