Cognition AI, Inc. (also known as Cognition Labs), doing business as Cognition, is an American artificial intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company developed Devin AI, an AI-powered software development tool designed to perform tasks typically handled by human software engineers. Cognition gained prominence in 2024 for its rapid valuation growth and its team of competitive programmers.
The company was founded in August 2023 by Scott Wu, Steven Hao, and Walden Yan, all of whom had won gold medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Their background in competitive programming shaped Cognition's approach to AI development, focusing on complex algorithmic problem-solving. In March 2024, Cognition released a demo of Devin AI, claiming it could autonomously complete software engineering tasks.
Founding and Early Team
Cognition was established in August 2023 by three former competitive programmers: Scott Wu, Steven Hao, and Walden Yan. Each founder had earned gold medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics, a prestigious annual competition for secondary school students. As of March 2024, the company's ten-person team had collectively won ten IOI gold medals. Notable team members included Wu's brother Neal, Gennady Korotkevich, and Andrew He, all of whom were also IOI gold medalists.
Scott Wu explained that this competitive programming background gave Cognition an advantage in AI development, stating that teaching an AI to be a programmer is a deep algorithmic problem requiring complex decision-making. The team's expertise in algorithm design and optimization informed the development of Devin AI.
Devin AI Launch
In March 2024, Cognition released a demonstration of Devin AI, an AI coding tool positioned as capable of performing the work of a software engineer. The demo showed Devin handling tasks such as writing code, debugging, and deploying applications. The release generated significant attention in the technology community, as it represented an early attempt to create an AI system that could function as an autonomous software developer.
Devin AI was designed to work within a development environment, using a command line, code editor, and browser. It could plan and execute complex engineering tasks requiring thousands of decisions. The tool was part of a broader trend toward AI-assisted software development tools that emerged alongside advances in large language models.
Funding History
Cognition initially received backing from Founders Fund, the venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel. In early 2024, Founders Fund provided $21 million in funding, valuing the company at $350 million. This early investment supported the development of Devin AI and the expansion of the team.
In April 2024, Founders Fund led a $175 million investment round into Cognition, valuing the company at $2 billion. This round made Cognition a unicorn, a term used for private companies valued at over $1 billion. The funding was notable for the company's young age and small team size at the time.
Cognition continued to grow rapidly. In March 2025, the company reached a valuation of $4 billion after a new funding round led by Joe Lonsdale's 8VC. In July 2025, Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf, an agentic integrated development environment (IDE), following the departure of Windsurf's CEO and other senior employees in a $2.4 billion acquihire by Google.
After the Windsurf acquisition, Cognition's valuation rose to $10 billion in September 2025 and reached $26 billion by May 2026. Bloomberg reported in August 2026 that Cognition had entered early discussions with investors for new financing at a valuation of at least $40 billion. In June 2026, Cognition announced the rebranding of Windsurf to Devin Desktop.
Technical Achievements
In September 2026, Cognition engineer Eric Lu announced the factorization of RSA-260, the largest RSA challenge number publicly factored. The factorization was accomplished using a GPU implementation developed and operated with Devin AI. RSA numbers are semiprimes used in cryptography research, and factoring them demonstrates computational capability with implications for machine learning and computational mathematics.
The achievement highlighted the practical applications of Devin AI beyond routine software development tasks. It showed the AI system's ability to manage complex, resource-intensive computational projects.
Competitive Programming Background
Cognition's founders and early team members brought extensive competitive programming experience to the company. The International Olympiad in Informatics is one of the most prestigious competitions in computer science, and gold medalists represent the top tier of young programmers worldwide. The team's collective achievements included multiple IOI gold medals, with some members having won at multiple Olympiads.
Gennady Korotkevich, widely considered one of the most successful competitive programmers in history, was part of the team. Andrew He and Neal Wu also contributed their expertise. This concentration of algorithmic talent was unusual for an AI startup and informed the company's technical direction.
Industry Context
Cognition's rise occurred during a period of intense investment in artificial intelligence companies. Major funding rounds in 2024 included OpenAI's $6.6 billion round, Anthropic's funding, and Mistral AI's $640 million round. The AI coding tools market also saw competition from established players and startups.
Cognition's focus on AI software development placed it in a niche distinct from general-purpose AI assistants. The company aimed to create specialized tools for programming rather than broad conversational AI. This positioning attracted investors interested in practical applications of generative AI for software engineering.
The company's growth trajectory reflected broader market enthusiasm for AI capabilities. By 2026, Cognition's valuation of $26 billion placed it among the most valuable private AI companies, though still smaller than leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic.