PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Varun Mohan

Varun Mohan is a director of software engineering at Google DeepMind, where he works on agentic coding. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering and computer science from MIT, managed the autonomy infrastructure team at Nuro, and in 2021 co-founded Codeium with Douglas Chen. The company began as Exafunction, software for GPU virtualization, and in 2022 pivoted toward generative coding. In August 2024 Codeium closed a $150 million Series C at a $1.25 billion valuation, and the team built the agentic IDE Windsurf. In July 2025 Google DeepMind hired him and paid $2.4 billion to license Windsurf technology, and in May 2026 he co-authored the announcement of Antigravity 2.0.

Timeline

  1. By 2021

    MIT degrees and Nuro

    He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in engineering and computer science from MIT. Before co-founding Codeium in 2021, he is a tech lead at Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup, responsible for managing the autonomy infrastructure team.

  2. 2021

    Co-founding Exafunction

    In 2021 he and Douglas Chen, a childhood friend and fellow MIT graduate, start Exafunction, a GPU virtualization software company.

  3. 2022

    A pivot to Codeium

    In 2022 he and Chen pivot toward generative coding and name the coding platform Codeium. The platform suggests code in the context of an application's whole codebase and supports around 70 programming languages.

  4. August 2024

    A $1.25 billion valuation

    In August 2024 Codeium closes a $150 million Series C led by General Catalyst at a $1.25 billion valuation, with more than 700,000 users and over 1,000 enterprise customers.

  5. By July 2025

    The Windsurf agentic IDE

    By July 2025 the company he co-founded creates Windsurf, an agentic IDE, after an IDE extension begins to limit the product.

  6. July 2025

    Joining Google DeepMind

    In July 2025 Google DeepMind hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and several researchers to work on agentic coding, largely on Gemini. Google pays $2.4 billion to license Windsurf technology and takes a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology.

  7. July 2025

    Cognition acquires Windsurf

    In July 2025 Cognition signs a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf's intellectual property and product, including its AI-powered IDE, alongside the employees who were not hired by Google.

  8. Since July 2025

    Director at Google DeepMind

    He joins Google DeepMind in July 2025 as director of software engineering. In May 2026 he co-authors Google's announcement of Antigravity 2.0, a desktop application for orchestrating multiple agents.

Sources and credits

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  1. Coding with AI: How Generative AI is Accelerating the Software Development Lifecycle with Codeium Co-Founder Varun Mohan on Technovation with Peter High - Metis Strategy metisstrategy.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  2. GitHub Copilot competitor Codeium raises $150M at a $1.25B valuation | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  3. Windsurf: Transforming how software is built | Kleiner Perkins kleinerperkins.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  4. Windsurf's CEO goes to Google; OpenAI's acquisition falls apart | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  5. OpenAI's Windsurf deal is off — and Windsurf's CEO is going to Google | The Verge theverge.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  6. Google Antigravity - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 16 October 2026.
  7. Cognition, maker of the AI coding agent Devin, acquires Windsurf | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 16 October 2026.
  8. I/O 2026 developer highlights: Antigravity, Gemini API, AI Studio blog.google. Checked 16 October 2026.