Naver Executives Meet with Michael Truell
Over 2,000 Employees Expected to Use Cursor
Anticipated to Shorten Software Development Coding Tasks
Naver has instructed 4,500 of its employees to actively utilize the artificial intelligence (AI) coding support platform "Cursor" in their work, starting from June 4. Cursor, developed by the U.S. company Anysphere, has recently attracted attention as a startup with a corporate value approaching 13 trillion KRW. Naver aims to improve development efficiency through the use of Cursor.
According to the IT industry on June 18, Naver executives including Chairman Lee Haejin and CEO Choi Sooyoun met with Michael Truell, co-founder and CEO of Anysphere, in San Francisco earlier this month. Anysphere, founded in 2022 by MIT graduates, has gained global traction with its AI coding assistant Cursor. The company also made headlines for rejecting an acquisition offer from OpenAI.
Cursor's annual recurring revenue (ARR) surged from $1 million (approximately 1.4 billion KRW) in 2023 to $100 million (approximately 140 billion KRW) last year. As of last month, ARR reportedly exceeded $500 million (about 680 billion KRW). With an additional $900 million (about 1.2 trillion KRW) in investment recently secured, the company's valuation has soared to $9.9 billion (about 13 trillion KRW).
Naver recently distributed a trial version of Cursor to 4,500 employees, including those in development roles, to assist with coding tasks. The company is not only utilizing Cursor for software (SW) development but is also applying AI technology across all Naver services, thereby increasing internal familiarity with AI.
Earlier this month, Chairman Lee visited Silicon Valley in the United States and hosted a networking event ahead of establishing "Naver Ventures," an investment corporation focused on discovering and investing in startups. Chairman Lee stated, "AI is not something we can achieve alone," adding, "It is important to find and support talented individuals, invest in them, and connect them with our experience."
Currently, Naver employees are actively using Cursor in their work. As a significant portion of the company's workforce is in development roles and Cursor can also be used by non-development teams such as designers and planners, it is estimated that around 2,000 employees are using the platform. CEO Truell stated, "We will open an office in Asia next year."
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