AI crypto startup Cognition has raised $1 billion at a pre-fund valuation of $25 billion

Cognition, the maker of freelance AI software engineer Devin, has raised more than $1 billion at a pre-fund valuation of $25 billion, the company announced Wednesday.

That’s a big jump from its post-money valuation of $10.2 billion when it closed $400 million financing round Just eight months ago in September.

The round was led by Lux Capital and General Catalyst, with existing investors flowing in, including Founders Fund, 8VC and others. The round also included new investors such as Ribbit Capital, Atreides and Layer Global.

This is a huge vote of confidence on the part of top-tier venture capital firms that there will be room for independent startups in the field of AI software programming. Last year, all signs pointed to model makers having gobbled up this hot market themselves. Certainly Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, and perhaps even Google’s programming agent Jules, (after Google’s acquisition of Windsurf Last year), I captured a lot of it.

But perception, Which acquired the remaining parts of Windsurf last yearIt says it counts major companies such as Mercedes-Benz, NASA, Goldman Sachs and Santander among clients. It also says it reached $492 million in annual revenue run rate as enterprise use of Devin increased 50% month over month over the past six months.