Good morning, tech reporter Beatrice Nolan here, filling in for Allie Garfinkle. We just wrapped up Coins2Day’s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco, where apparently everyone wants to be the next trillion-dollar company.
Amid the bubble trouble and agentic optimism, we also heard from Cursor CEO Michael Truell about how the company is feeling about the—increasingly hot—competition and a potential IPO.
Cursor, which provides an AI code editing tool that is popular with software engineers, has enjoyed a meteoric rise to $29.3 billion valuation just over two years after releasing its first product. Even as leading AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic lean into building their own coding tools, Truell said he wasn’t sweating the competition.
That’s because Cursor benefits from and builds off other companies’ base models, he said. Cursor’s approach is to cherry-pick the best models available, supplement them with proprietary ones where necessary, and wrap it all into what Truell says is the best user interface for AI coding.
Part of the reason for this optimism may be that Cursor is already seeing some promising results from within its own organization. Truell says the company had already automated roughly 80% of its employee support tickets with the help of the tech. He also said Cursor had implemented an internal AI-powered communication system that allows employees to glean information from across the organization.
“We have a system where folks can ask any question about the company and get it answered by an AI,” Truell said, as well as a project with “a few forward-deployed engineers internally embedded throughout, building custom tooling right now for operations, for sales, and experimenting.”
Don’t expect an IPO anytime soon, though. After hitting $1 billion in annualized revenue in November and raising $2.3 billion last month, Truell said the company is focused on building out more features, not going public.
Beatrice Nolan
X: @beafreyanolan
Email: [email protected]
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.
Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.
Editor’s note: The Dec. 9 edition of Term Sheet never reached readers’ inboxes due to a scheduling error. We regret the oversight. You can read Tuesday’s edition here.
VENTURE DEALS
- Fervo Energy, a Houston, Texas-based developer of carbon-free geothermal energy, raised $462 million in Series E funding. B Capital led the round and was joined by Goldman Sachs, Google, Alliance Bernstein, Atacama Ventures, and others.
- Nu Quantum, a Los Angeles, Calif. And Cambridge, U.K.-based distributed quantum computer company, raised $60 million in Series A funding. National Grid Partners led the round and was joined by Gresham House Venture, Morpheus Ventures, and others.
- Runware, a London, U.K.-based San Francisco AI-inference platform designed for image, video, and audio generation, raised $50 million in Series A funding. Dawn Capital led the round and was joined by Comcast Ventures, Speedinvest, and others.
- Qargo, a London, U.K.-based transport management platform, raised $33 million in Series B funding. Sofina led the round and was joined by existing investor Balderton Capital.
- Inito, a Bangalore, India-based fertility tracker, raised $29 million in Series B funding. Bertelsmann India Investments and Fireside Ventures led the round.
- Assaia, a Zurich, Switzerland-based aviation technology company, raised $26.6 million in Series B funding. Amira Growth led the round.
- SuperCircle, a New York City-based textile waste management platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Foundry led the round and was joined by BBG Ventures, Renewal Fund, and Elemental Impact.
- Parallel, a New York City-based teletherapy and special education provider for K-12 schools and districts, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Valspring Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor Rethink Impact.
- Hello Vet, a London, U.K.-based veterinary practice that allows owners into medical rooms, raised £15 million ($20 million) in Series A funding. Addition and Future Positive led the round.
- Surf, a San Francisco-based AI-based platform designed for crypto analysis and insights, raised $15 million in funding. Pantera Capital led the round and was joined by Coinbase Ventures and DCG.
- Matta, a London, U.K.-based developer of industrial AI designed to detect defects and optimize processes in factories, raised $14 million in seed funding. Lakestar led the round and was joined by Giant Ventures, RedSeed VC, InMotion Ventures, and others.
- Caveo, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based financial platform designed for doctors, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Zenda and ONEVC led the round and were joined by Norte Ventures, Enseada, and others.
- Bioxodes, a Gosselies, Belgium-based biopharmaceutical company developing therapies designed to treat thrombotic and inflammatory diseases, raised €5.5 million ($6.4 million) in a Series A extension. Newton Biocapital led the round and was joined by others.
- Channel3, a New York City-based platform designed to automatically generate and maintain AI-ready product data, raised $6 million in seed funding. Matrix led the round and was joined by Ludlow Ventures and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Azul, backed by Thoma Bravo, acquired Payara, a Malvern, U.K.-based platform designed for running enterprise Java applications. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Bregal Milestone acquired a majority stake in Beyond Now, a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of supply chain software for AI-powered digital commerce. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Great Point Partners acquired a majority stake in Lenis Group, a Ljubljana, Slovenia-based commercialization and distribution partner for prescription medicines. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Oak Hill Capital agreed to acquire Hunter Communications, a Medford, Ore.-based fiber-optic internet provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Tata Consultancy Services acquired Coastal Cloud Holdings, a Palm Coast, Fla.-based consultancy designed to help with Salesforce and data, from Sverica Capital Management for $700 million.
- NiTEO Products, a portfolio company of Highlander Partners, acquired Faultless Brands, a Kansas City, Mo.-based household products manufacturer from Architect Equity. Financial terms were not disclosed.
