In July 2025, Google signed a $2.4 billion deal for a nonexclusive licence to the applied sciences developed by Windsurf, a cutting-edge AI startup co-founded by Varun Mohan. Together with the deal, Mohan and a number of other core members of his workforce joined Google DeepMind, marking one of the vital high-profile actions within the AI expertise panorama this 12 months. The settlement not solely represents a serious monetary milestone, but in addition indicators Google’s strategic push to combine superior AI growth instruments into its world software program ecosystem.A landmark settlement has validated Windsurf’s AI-powered software program growth and introduced world recognition to Mohan’s achievements within the expertise sector. Mohan’s journey started as a arithmetic Olympiad participant throughout his highschool years, resulting in his training at MIT as an engineer. He later established himself as an AI entrepreneur, combining his technical experience with progressive enterprise management.

A robust tutorial basis in Sunnyvale

Born and raised in Sunnyvale, California, Mohan is the son of Indian-origin dad and mom who instilled in him the worth of rigorous studying from an early age. He attended The Harker College in San Jose, a college identified for nurturing shiny minds in science and expertise. Right here, he developed a popularity as a math and computing Olympiad achiever, excelling in competitions that examined each analytical depth and velocity. These early achievements laid the groundwork for his future tutorial and entrepreneurial success.Mohan was not simply performing effectively academically. He was exploring the boundaries of computational pondering, typically creating options to issues that went effectively past classroom materials.

MIT years: A twin diploma and deeper specialisation

Mohan’s tutorial promise led him to the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (MIT), the place he enrolled within the prestigious Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science (EECS) program. Between 2014 and 2017, he accomplished each a Bachelor of Science and a Grasp of Engineering in EECS, a difficult mixture that only some college students pursue.At MIT, Mohan selected to concentrate on working methods, distributed computing, machine studying, efficiency engineering, and algorithms. His graduate work was marked by a powerful mix of concept and hands-on experimentation, particularly in constructing methods that might function at scale. Collaborating with main college and analysis labs, he additionally gained early publicity to rising AI frameworks.This tutorial basis was instrumental in shaping his long-term imaginative and prescient: a world the place synthetic intelligence may help people in coding, debugging, and designing software program—making growth sooner, smarter, and extra accessible.

Actual-world expertise throughout main tech corporations

Following his commencement from MIT, Mohan took a considerate method to constructing expertise. He labored at a few of the high expertise corporations on this planet, together with LinkedIn, Quora, Nuro, Samsung, and Databricks. Throughout these roles, he gained sensible insights into backend methods, machine studying infrastructure, robotics, and massive knowledge platforms.Every job added a brand new layer to his experience and deepened his understanding of the challenges builders face when working with large-scale methods. It additionally bolstered his perception that present growth instruments wanted a basic overhaul—one thing solely AI may ship. His expertise throughout each startups and tech giants gave him a uncommon, well-rounded trade perspective.

Founding Windsurf: The place AI meets developer workflows

In 2021, Varun Mohan co-founded Codeium, later rebranded as Windsurf, along with his MIT classmate and shut pal Douglas Chen. Initially centered on GPU virtualisation, the corporate quickly pivoted to its breakthrough concept: an AI-native IDE (Built-in Improvement Setting) able to serving to builders write, refactor, and perceive code utilizing massive language fashions.Below Mohan’s management, Windsurf gained monumental traction in a short while. It onboarded over 1,000,000 builders inside 4 months, raised $243 million in funding, and reached a valuation of $1.25 billion. The platform’s core innovation lay in its use of agentic workflows, the place AI instruments like Cascade may automate routine growth duties whereas retaining engineers centered on structure and technique. Its open-source contributions and speedy deployment capabilities additionally made it a favourite amongst enterprise groups.

The $2.4 billion take care of Google

In one of many greatest AI offers of 2025, Google entered right into a $2.4 billion settlement to license Windsurf’s applied sciences. Although it didn’t purchase the corporate outright, Google welcomed Varun Mohan and key members of his workforce into Google DeepMind. The transfer positions Mohan on the coronary heart of Google’s efforts to steer the way forward for AI-assisted software program growth.The construction of the deal additionally means Windsurf can proceed to function independently, licensing its instruments to different enterprise purchasers. This hybrid mannequin of licensing plus expertise integration is seen as a blueprint for future collaboration between startups and tech giants. Analysts imagine this mannequin could grow to be extra widespread as corporations search agility with out dropping entry to high innovation.On the core of Varun Mohan’s success lies a constant thread: training as a launchpad. Whether or not it was the aggressive setting of Harker College, the tutorial depth of MIT, or the deep technical publicity throughout corporations like Databricks and Quora, each stage constructed upon the final.Mohan’s story exhibits that deep studying—of the tutorial sort—continues to be one of the vital highly effective instruments for shaping the way forward for expertise. Whereas AI could now help in writing code, it was a powerful human basis in arithmetic, methods pondering, and analysis that enabled Mohan to think about that future within the first place.TOI Training is on WhatsApp now. Observe us right here.