Cognition

Cognition is a technology company.

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Updated: Feb 17, 2026 ·

Recent News & Mentions

Sep 1, 2025FundingCognition - Series C Mar 1, 2025FundingCognition - Series B Apr 1, 2024FundingCognition - Series A Mar 1, 2024FundingCognition - Series A

Financial History

Cognition has raised $901.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $400.0M Series C in September 2025.

Total Raised

$901.0M

Valuation

N/A

Funding Rounds Raised

Date	Round	Other Investors
Sep 1, 2025	$400.0M Series C	Alkeon Capital, Conviction Partners, Founders Fund, Gaingels, Indeed.com, LGF, Otherwise Fund, Paradigm, Pear VC, Stellar Capital, bill weathersby, Elad Gil, John Collison, Karim Atiyeh, Konstantin von Unger, Tony Xu
Mar 1, 2025	$300.0M Series B	Conviction Partners, Founders Fund, Paradigm, Pear VC, Stellar Capital, bill weathersby, Elad Gil, John Collison, Karim Atiyeh, Tony Xu
Apr 1, 2024	$180.0M Series A	Animo Ventures, Conviction Partners, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, Ground Up Ventures, Paradigm, Pear VC, Stellar Capital, Twelve Below, bill weathersby, Elad Gil, John Collison, Karim Atiyeh, Tony Xu
Mar 1, 2024	$21.0M Series A	8VC, AIX Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Conviction Partners, Engineering Capital, Era Ventures, Chris Kelley, Founders Fund, Modern Venture Partners, NEO, Andrew Schoen, Greg Papadopoulos, Paradigm, Paradox Capital, Pear VC, Preston-Werner Ventures, Stellar Capital, TriplePoint Capital, UpHonest Capital, Arash Ferdowsi, Elad Gil, Eric Wu, Evan Moore, Immad Akhund, John Collison, Karim Atiyeh, Stanley Tang, Tony Xu

Financial History

Cognition has raised $901.0M across 4 funding rounds.

Total Raised

$901.0M

Valuation

N/A

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Cognition AI, Inc. (also known as Cognition Labs) is a San Francisco-based applied AI lab founded in 2023, specializing in AI software agents to transform software engineering.[1][2][5] Its flagship product, Devin, is an autonomous AI coding agent that plans, executes, debugs, and deploys complex engineering tasks in a sandboxed environment with tools like a Linux shell, code editor, and browser, serving ambitious engineering teams at companies such as Nubank, Ramp, OpenSea, Microsoft, and Gumroad.[3][4] Devin solves the problem of developer bottlenecks by automating routine work, boosting productivity, and enabling focus on high-level challenges, with strong growth evidenced by $196 million in funding (including a $175 million Series A extension in 2024 valuing it at $2 billion and a Series B in 2025 reaching $4 billion valuation).[1][2]

Origin Story

Cognition was founded in August or November 2023 by Scott Wu (CEO), Steven Hao (CTO), and Walden Yan (CPO), all competitive programming prodigies with gold medals from the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)—collectively earning 10 golds—and experience at top AI firms like Google DeepMind, Scale AI, Cursor, Waymo, and Nuro.[1][2][3][4][5] Initially focused on cryptocurrency, the team pivoted to AI amid the post-ChatGPT boom in Silicon Valley.[2] Early traction came with a March 2024 demo of Devin AI, hailed as the world's first AI software engineer, followed by rapid funding from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund ($21 million Series A) and a Microsoft Azure partnership in May 2024.[1][2]

Core Differentiators

Autonomous Agent Capabilities: Unlike code assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot), Devin handles end-to-end tasks—planning, coding, debugging, deploying—independently in a secure sandbox, learning tools on the fly.[2][4]
Collaborative Teammate Model: Integrates into workflows as a productivity booster for engineering teams, not a replacement, with Devin 2.0 (April 2025) adding AI agent collaboration and IDE features starting at $20/month.[2][3]
Talent-Dense Team: Small (∼10 employees early on) but elite, hiring top programmers like Gennady Korotkevich; leverages system-level AI combining foundation models for practical results.[1][2][5]
Enterprise Traction: Early adopters include mid-to-large tech firms with big codebases, plus partnerships like Microsoft, differentiating via real-world speed and reliability over hype.[3][4]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Cognition rides the AI agent wave in software development, capitalizing on exploding demand for developer tools amid talent shortages and the shift from LLMs to autonomous systems post-ChatGPT.[2][4] Timing is ideal: 2024-2025 saw unicorn status and $4B valuation as investor hype for "fully autonomous agents" surged, fueled by market forces like rising software complexity and productivity mandates in tech.[1][4] It influences the ecosystem by setting benchmarks for AI engineers—pressuring incumbents like Poolside and accelerating adoption at scale-ups—while sparking debates on job impacts, yet proving AI's role in amplifying human engineers.[2][3][4]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Cognition's compact, elite team and Devin’s technical edge position it to dominate AI-driven dev tools, with Devin 2.0 signaling multi-agent evolution.[2][4] Next steps likely include enterprise expansions, Global 2000 wins, and tackling Devin’s limits in proprietary codebases amid competition.[4] Trends like agentic AI and foundation model advances will propel growth, potentially evolving Cognition into a cornerstone of automated engineering—transforming "Cognition is a technology company" into the understatement of the AI era as it redefines software creation.[1][5]

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

How much funding has Cognition raised?

Cognition has raised $901.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.

Who are Cognition's investors?

Cognition's investors include Alkeon Capital, Conviction Partners, Founders Fund, Gaingels, Indeed.com, LGF, Otherwise Fund, Paradigm, Pear VC, Stellar Capital, bill weathersby, Elad Gil.