Published December 20, 20254 min read
Cursor continues acquisition spree with Graphite deal
AI coding assistant Cursor announced that it has acquired Graphite, a startup that uses AI to review and debug code.
AI coding assistant Cursor has acquired Graphite, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to review and debug code, marking another strategic move in Cursor’s rapid expansion.
While the financial terms were not officially disclosed, Axios reported that Cursor paid “way over” Graphite’s last valuation of $290 million, which was set earlier this year when the five-year-old startup raised a $52 million Series B round.
The acquisition addresses one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI-assisted software development: buggy code output.
While AI tools can generate code quickly, engineers often spend significant time fixing errors and refining logic. Cursor already offers AI-powered code review through its Bugbot product, but Graphite brings a deeper and more specialized review workflow.
One of Graphite’s standout features is “stacked pull requests,” which allow developers to:
By combining AI-generated code with AI-driven review and debugging, Cursor aims to significantly shorten the path from writing code to shipping production-ready software.
Graphite is not alone in the fast-growing AI code review market. Other notable players include:
Cursor’s move signals that consolidation in this space is accelerating as platforms race to offer end-to-end developer solutions.
Cursor co-founder and CEO Michael Truell first met Graphite’s foundersΓÇöMerrill Lutsky, Greg Foster, and Tomas ReimersΓÇöbefore Cursor even launched.
At the time, Truell was a Neo Scholar, part of a selective program for college students run by Neo, the early-stage venture firm founded by Ali Partovi. Neo later backed Graphite at the seed stage, according to PitchBook data.
The two companies also share prominent investors, including Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, further aligning their long-term visions.
Now valued at $29 billion as of November, Cursor has been aggressively expanding through acquisitions.
Recent moves include:
The Graphite deal reinforces Cursor’s ambition to become a full-stack AI developer platform, spanning code creation, review, debugging, and team workflows.
Cursor is an AI-powered coding assistant that helps developers write, review, and ship code faster.
Graphite is an AI startup focused on code review and debugging, known for its stacked pull request workflow.
It combines AI-powered code generation with advanced AI-driven code review, reducing bugs and speeding up development cycles.
The exact amount was not disclosed, but reports say Cursor paid well above Graphite’s last $290 million valuation.
They allow developers to submit and work on multiple dependent code changes at the same time without waiting for approvals.
Graphite was founded by Merrill Lutsky, Greg Foster, and Tomas Reimers.
Yes. Cursor has recently acquired Growth by Design and absorbed talent from CRM startup Koala as part of its rapid expansion.
The CursorΓÇôGraphite acquisition highlights how AI-native developer platforms are racing to own the entire software development lifecycleΓÇöfrom idea to deployment.
