[Exclusive] Naver's Lee Haejin Meets Cursor CEO: "AI Coding Assistant Distributed to Thousands"

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Naver founder and Chairman of the Board Lee Haejin met with Michael Truel, CEO of Anysphere, the operator of the AI coding assistant "Cursor," in the United States. It has been reported that Naver recently distributed a trial version of Cursor, which assists with coding tasks, to thousands of its employees, including those in development roles.

Naver Chairman Lee Haejin (left) and Michael Truel, Anysphere Co-founder and CEO, met earlier this month in the United States. Naver has distributed Anysphere's AI coding assistant "Cursor" to its employees and is strengthening collaboration and networking with AI companies both domestically and internationally.

According to the IT industry on June 15, Chairman Lee Haejin, CEO Choi Sooyun, and other Naver executives met with Truel, Co-founder and CEO of Anysphere, in San Francisco earlier this month. Chairman Lee has decided to apply AI technology across all Naver services and is actively networking to build sovereign AI and invest in overseas startups.

Anysphere, a startup founded in 2022 by MIT graduates, operates the AI assistant "Cursor," which supports coding tasks. Bloomberg has described Anysphere as "the fastest-growing startup ever."

Naver in the midst of AI transformation... What is behind the meeting with Cursor?

Since returning as Chairman of the Naver Board of Directors in March, Lee Haejin has been taking bold steps. He has decided to apply AI technology to Naver’s services such as search, shopping, advertising, and content, and is also actively investing in promising overseas startups. Earlier this month, Chairman Lee visited Silicon Valley in the United States and held a networking event ahead of the establishment of the investment corporation "Naver Ventures" to discover and invest in startups. At the event, he expressed his commitment to building an ecosystem where startups, talent, and future technologies can grow together through investment and collaboration.

Chairman Lee stated, "I feel the need to network and collaborate with outstanding people outside the company," adding, "AI is not something we can do alone right now. It is important to find talented people, support them, invest in them, and connect them with our experience."

Although the exact background and details of the meeting between Chairman Lee and CEO Truel are not known, it is possible that Naver is considering Anysphere as an investment target. Anysphere recently raised an additional $900 million (about 1.2 trillion KRW) in funding, boosting its corporate value to $9.9 billion (about 13 trillion KRW). Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has doubled every two months, making it the fastest-growing company in the world. Recently, its ARR surpassed $500 million (about 680 billion KRW).

"Cursor distributed to thousands of Naver employees"

Already, thousands of Naver employees have started using the AI coding assistant "Cursor." Cursor shortens the time required for coding tasks that have long relied on manual work and increases productivity. Cursor will assist with software development tasks such as building Naver’s homepage and creating applications. Even non-developer roles, such as designers, can use Cursor to quickly implement and validate their ideas.

CEO Truel delivered a video message to Cursor users in Korea, saying, "I had a great discussion with Naver’s executives," and added, "We have distributed the Cursor service to thousands of Naver employees." He continued, "We hope that developers at Naver and other Korean companies will be able to develop software without relying on code." CEO Truel also stated, "We will open an office in Asia next year," adding, "It will probably be in about six months."

A Naver representative stated, "During the visit to the United States, there were several closed-door meetings with domestic and international startups," and added, "We cannot disclose the details of the meetings." The representative continued, "The introduction of Cursor AI for Naver employees has been under discussion for some time, and starting from June 4, we began distributing a trial version that allows temporary free use of the paid service."