The bankruptcy estate of FTX sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000 in April 2023, a stake that would now be valued at approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation. Elon Musk's SpaceX has secured the right to purchase Cursor later this year for $60 billion, or pay $10 billion if the acquisition does not proceed, as part of its strategy to close the gap with competitors in the AI coding tools sector. The deal has brought attention to the crypto aspect, particularly the investment made by Alameda Research, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, for $200,000 in April 2022.
This investment, which bought roughly 5% of the company at a $4 million valuation, was sold by the FTX estate for the same amount a year later, following the collapse of FTX and Alameda. The significant difference between the sale price and the current valuation has sparked debate, with Bankman-Fried arguing from prison that the estate's decision to liquidate assets too quickly destroyed billions in value, and that customers could have received more than their initial investments if the process had been handled differently. The timing of the SpaceX deal has also raised questions about the FTX bankruptcy administration, with Bankman-Fried's projection suggesting that FTX's net asset value could have reached $78 billion if the estate had held onto assets instead of selling them in 2023 and 2024. The steep trajectory of Cursor's valuation, from its AI coding product launch in early 2023 to its current valuation, is among the most significant in software startup history.
While FTX customers have been repaid in full, they did not receive the upside from the assets' increased value, including the $3 billion represented by the Cursor stake, which was sold for $200,000.