SpaceX to acquire Cursor for $60B in stock, days after blockbuster IPO
The deal is supposed to help SpaceX's struggling AI division. The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI. SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Cursor in a $60 billion stock deal, just a few days after the space company's historic IPO and less than two months after announcing a tie-up between the two .
Key Takeaways
- The deal is meant to help SpaceX's AI division - built around Elon Musk's AI company xAI, which SpaceX merged with earlier this year - catch up to the major AI labs.
Despite being a centerpiece of its IPO promises, SpaceX's AI division has been in the midst of a restructuring after running into repeated controversies, like allowing users to generate non-consensual deepfakes of women and children.
- But one source told TechCrunch at the time that the $2 billion it was planning to raise wasn't going to be enough to help it break even.
That's despite the startup previously raising $900 million in a Series C in June 2025, and another $2.
- Those conversations between SpaceX and Cursor quickly evolved into the deal that is being finalized now.
The deal also happened at the same time that xAI was falling apart.
- In that process, SpaceX and its bankers pitched investors on the idea that the company faced a total addressable market of around $28 trillion.
Nearly all of that - $26 trillion - was centered around the company's AI efforts.
- But the prospect of acquiring the startup must have seemed even easier to swallow post-IPO: Since going public last Friday, SpaceX's stock has gone from its IPO price of $135 per share to more than $200 per share in pre-market trading as of Tuesday morning, adding nearly $1 trillion - or roughly 16 Cursors - to its valuation in the span of just a few days.
Stats & Key Facts
- #The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI.
- #The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI.
- #SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Cursor in a $60 billion stock deal, just a few days after the space company's historic IPO and less than two months after announcing a tie-up between the two .
- #Before SpaceX came knocking, Cursor was on track to close a $2 billion funding round from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, and Nvidia that would have valued the AI coding startup at $50 billion, TechCrunch has reported .
The deal is meant to help SpaceX's AI division - built around Elon Musk's AI company xAI, which SpaceX merged with earlier this year - catch up to the major AI labs. Despite being a centerpiece of its IPO promises, SpaceX's AI division has been in the midst of a restructuring after running into repeated controversies, like allowing users to generate non-consensual deepfakes of women and children. SpaceX said Tuesday that the acquisition is likely to close in the third quarter of this year.
Before SpaceX came knocking, Cursor was on track to close a $2 billion funding round from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, and Nvidia that would have valued the AI coding startup at $50 billion, TechCrunch has reported . Musk's company announced a curious deal in April ahead of its IPO: it would either buy Cursor for $60 billion in stock, or pay a $10 billion break-up fee if the deal fell through. Cursor was growing fast when this deal was first announced.
But one source told TechCrunch at the time that the $2 billion it was planning to raise wasn't going to be enough to help it break even. That's despite the startup previously raising $900 million in a Series C in June 2025, and another $2. Founded in 2022 as Anysphere, Cursor has been on a meteoric rise as AI-powered coding took off over the last two years.
For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.
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