Michael Truell
Michael Truell | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 2000 (age 25) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (attended) |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Cursor |
| Website | mntruell |
Michael Truell (born September 2000) is an American entrepreneur and software engineer. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Cursor (Anysphere), an artificial intelligence–assisted coding tool. In August 2026, SpaceX completed its acquisition of the company.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit source]Truell was born in New York City and attended the Horace Mann School, where he met future co-founder Aman Sanger.[2] He developed an early interest in programming and co-created the Halite AI programming competition in 2016.[3] In 2017 he attended the Research Science Institute.[4]
He enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying computer science and mathematics, and interned at Google working on language models. He later left MIT to focus on entrepreneurship.[1][2]
Career
[edit source]In 2022, Truell co-founded Anysphere (the company behind Cursor) with Sualeh Asif, Aman Sanger, and Arvid Lunnemark, whom he met at MIT.[1][5]
Cursor raised $60 million in a 2024 Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. In November 2025 it raised $2.3 billion in a round co-led by Accel and Coatue, reaching a valuation of approximately $29.3 billion.[2][6] The product has been reported to generate over $1 billion in annualized revenue and is used by companies including Nvidia, Adobe, Uber, and Shopify.[2]
In April 2026, SpaceX secured an option to acquire Cursor for $60 billion (or pay $10 billion for collaboration). SpaceX exercised the option in June 2026 in an all-stock transaction. The acquisition closed on August 14, 2026, making Cursor a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX integrated into SpaceXAI.[7][8]
References
[edit source]- 1 2 3 Quiroz-Gutierrez, Marco (April 22, 2026). "Cursor's 25-year-old CEO is a former Google intern who just inked a $60 billion deal with SpaceX". Fortune. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Michael Truell". Forbes. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
- ↑ "ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing". Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
- ↑ "2017 Rickoids". Center for Excellence in Education. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
- ↑ Garfinkle, Allie (March 21, 2026). "Cursor's crossroads: The rapid rise, and very uncertain future, of a $30 billion AI startup". Fortune. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
- ↑ Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (November 13, 2025). "A.I. 'Vibe Coding' Startup Cursor Nearly Triples Valuation to $29B After New Funding". Observer. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
- ↑ "SpaceX Completes $60 Billion Acquisition of AI Startup Cursor". Bloomberg. August 14, 2026. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
- ↑ Carter, Sandy (June 16, 2026). "SpaceX Buys Cursor In Largest Startup Acquisition Ever At $60 Billion". Forbes. Retrieved June 22, 2026.