The new funding round is led by 8VC, a venture capital firm backed by Joe Lonsdale.
The round doubles the previous valuation of the startup, which launched its generative AI coding tool a year ago. Cognition calls the tool, called Devin, “the world’s first AI software engineer.”
The new funding round shows that investor demand for AI projects continues to grow, as venture capitalists seek to fund promising programs for the technology.
Cognition was valued at $2 billion in a funding round last year, according to PitchBook. Other investors include Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Elad Gil and Conviction Partners. Existing investors also participated in the current round, one of the people said.
Venture capitalists have recently turned to startups offering AI-powered coding assistants that compete with Microsoft Corp.-owned GitHub Copilot and Amazon.com Inc.'s CodeWhisperer. These products can automate coding tasks, predict errors and, in theory, complete full, high-quality software projects on their own.
Cognition was founded by Scott Wu, Stephen Hao, and Walden Yan in 2023. Wu, the company's CEO and an award-winning programmer, previously co-founded Lunchclub, a professional communication tool.
Source: Bloomberg
