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Sualeh Asif

Co-founder, Anysphere (Cursor)

Sources checked on 12 November 2026

AI coding toolsDeveloper toolsMathematics

Who is Sualeh Asif

Sualeh Asif is one of the four co-founders of Anysphere, the company that makes the AI coding tool Cursor[1]. SpaceX bought Anysphere in a deal that closed on 14 August 2026[2]. Forbes put his net worth at $2.5 billion on 12 November 2026 and lists his citizenship as Pakistan[3].

He is from Karachi and represented Pakistan at the International Mathematical Olympiad from 2016 to 2018[3]. He won a bronze medal in 2017[4]. He then studied mathematics and computer science at MIT[5]. His website says: "I'm building Cursor to discover a new way to write code."[6]

Early life in Karachi and the Math Olympiad

Asif is originally from Karachi, Pakistan[3][7]. He attended Nixor College before going to MIT[7]. A Dawn article by Dr Shafiullah Qureshi says he completed his A-Levels at Nixor College and won a scholarship to MIT[8].

He was on Pakistan's team at the International Mathematical Olympiad three years in a row[3][6]. In 2016 he scored 11 points and placed 379th, without a medal[9]. In 2017 he scored 18 points, placed 139th and won a bronze medal, and he was Pakistan's top scorer that year[4]. In 2018 he scored 4 points[10]. His website says he also studied and taught competitive maths at the Pakistani maths camps[6].

MIT and research

His teacher profile for MIT's Educational Studies Program lists his majors as Course 18 (mathematics) and Course 6 (electrical engineering and computer science), and his graduation year as 2022[5]. Forbes lists a bachelor's degree from MIT[3]. His website says he studied machine learning, number theory, performance engineering and theater at MIT[6].

Through the Educational Studies Program he taught Splash and HSSP classes in 2019, on covering spaces, elliptic curve cryptography and the mathematics of doodling[5]. In 2021-22 he was a SuperUROP scholar at MIT, working on a project called "Fast Batch-Dynamic Algorithm for Connectivity" supervised by Julian Shun[11].

He co-wrote "Computing L-Polynomials of Picard Curves from Cartier-Manin Matrices" with Francesc Fité and Dylan Pentland[12]. His website lists it as published in Mathematics of Computation in 2021[6][12]. With Erik Demaine and other co-authors he wrote "Tetris is NP-hard even with O(1) rows or columns"[13]. His website says a version was presented at JCDCG^3 2019[6]. He also co-wrote "Arithmetic Expression Construction" with Demaine and others, presented at ISAAC 2020[14].

His website says he made early contributions to Metaphor, an LLM-powered search engine, and worked on translation at IBM Watson ML[6]. Forbes says he started an AI-powered search engine company while in college[3].

Co-founding Anysphere and Cursor

Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger founded Anysphere in 2022[20]. Truell met the other three while at MIT, where they "became close friends", TechCrunch reported[1]. Anysphere's product is Cursor, an AI-powered code editor built as a fork of VS Code[1].

In October 2023 Anysphere raised an $8 million seed round led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with Nat Friedman and Arash Ferdowsi also investing[1]. The round brought its total funding to $11 million[1]. When Cursor announced its Series A on 22 August 2024, it said it had more than 40,000 customers[15]. In October 2024 all four founders appeared together on episode 447 of the Lex Fridman Podcast[16].

A $105 million Series B followed on 16 January 2025[17]. On 6 June 2025 Anysphere raised $900 million at a $9.9 billion valuation and said its annual recurring revenue had passed $500 million[18]. On 13 November 2025 it raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion post-money valuation, with Coatue, NVIDIA and Google as new investors[19]. It said Cursor had crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue[19].

Lunnemark left Anysphere in October 2025 to start Integrous Research. Forbes reported that its incorporation documents say it is focused on developing systems for "safer AI"[20]. In November 2025, before the SpaceX deal, Entrepreneur described Truell as chief executive, Asif as chief product officer and Sanger as chief operating officer[21].

Read the profile of co-founder Aman Sanger

SpaceX's purchase of Anysphere

On 21 April 2026 SpaceX said it could buy Cursor later that year for $60 billion, or pay $10 billion for the two companies' work together[22]. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026[22]. SpaceX's post said "SpaceXAI and @cursor_ai are now working closely together"[22].

On 16 June 2026 SpaceX and Anysphere signed a merger agreement, according to a SpaceX filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission[23]. The deal was paid in SpaceX stock and gave Cursor an implied equity value of $60.0 billion[23].

The merger took effect on 14 August 2026, and Anysphere became a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX[2]. Cursor's stock was converted into 389,289,254 SpaceX Class A shares[2]. The same day Cursor's blog said: "Cursor has officially been acquired by SpaceX"[24]. Bloomberg Law reported that Elon Musk's AI venture is now called SpaceXAI[25].

Sualeh Asif's net worth

Forbes's real-time list put Asif's net worth at $2.5 billion on 12 November 2026, ranking him 1,644th[3]. Forbes lists the source as AI software, calls him self-made, and gives his age as 26, his citizenship as Pakistan and his home as San Francisco[3].

Forbes counted the four co-founders as billionaires after the November 2025 Series D round. It estimated that each held a 4.5% stake in Anysphere worth at least $1.3 billion[20]. Forbes also calls all four Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni[20]. It estimates that each co-founder received SpaceX shares worth $2.4 billion when the SpaceX deal closed[3].

Known for

Frequently asked questions

What is Sualeh Asif's net worth?

Forbes put it at $2.5 billion on 12 November 2026. Forbes estimates that each Cursor co-founder received SpaceX shares worth $2.4 billion when SpaceX's purchase of Anysphere closed in August 2026.

Is Sualeh Asif Pakistani?

He is from Karachi, and Forbes lists his citizenship as Pakistan and his home as San Francisco. He represented Pakistan at the International Mathematical Olympiad from 2016 to 2018 and won a bronze medal in 2017.

How old is Sualeh Asif?

Forbes listed his age as 26 on 12 November 2026.

Where did Sualeh Asif study?

He completed his A-Levels at Nixor College, according to a Dawn article. He then studied mathematics and computer science at MIT, with a graduation year of 2022.

What was Sualeh Asif's role at Cursor?

He is one of Cursor's four co-founders. In November 2025, before SpaceX bought Anysphere, Entrepreneur described him as chief product officer.

Who founded Cursor?

Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger founded Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in 2022. The four met at MIT. Lunnemark left in October 2025 to start Integrous Research.

Sources

  1. TechCrunch: Anysphere raises $8M from OpenAI to build an AI-powered IDE, 11 October 2023 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  2. SpaceX Form 8-K on completing the Anysphere merger, 14 August 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  3. Forbes: Sualeh Asif real-time net worth — checked 12 Nov 2026
  4. International Mathematical Olympiad: Pakistan team results, 2017 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  5. MIT Educational Studies Program: Sualeh Asif teacher biography — checked 12 Nov 2026
  6. Sualeh Asif's website — checked 12 Nov 2026
  7. Dawn: AI startup Cursor with Pakistani co-founder set for $60bn deal with SpaceX, 23 April 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  8. Dawn (Prism, Dr Shafiullah Qureshi): Product Overhang: The gap Sualeh Asif and Cursor found in AI, 20 August 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  9. International Mathematical Olympiad: Pakistan team results, 2016 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  10. International Mathematical Olympiad: Pakistan team results, 2018 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  11. MIT SuperUROP: Sualeh Asif, 2021-22 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  12. arXiv: Computing L-Polynomials of Picard Curves from Cartier-Manin Matrices — checked 12 Nov 2026
  13. arXiv: Tetris is NP-hard even with O(1) rows or columns — checked 12 Nov 2026
  14. arXiv: Arithmetic Expression Construction — checked 12 Nov 2026
  15. Cursor blog: Series A and Magic, 22 August 2024 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  16. Lex Fridman Podcast #447: Cursor Team, 6 October 2024 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  17. Cursor blog: Series B, 16 January 2025 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  18. Cursor blog: Series C, 6 June 2025 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  19. Cursor blog: Past, Present, and Future (Series D), 13 November 2025 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  20. Forbes Australia (Rashi Shrivastava): Four cofounders of popular AI coding tool Cursor are now billionaires, 28 November 2025 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  21. Entrepreneur: AI coding startup Anysphere mints 4 new billionaires, 14 November 2025 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  22. CNBC: SpaceX says it can buy Cursor later this year for $60 billion, 21 April 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  23. SpaceX Form 8-K on the merger agreement with Anysphere, 16 June 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  24. Cursor blog: Cursor is now a part of SpaceX, 14 August 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
  25. Bloomberg Law: SpaceX completes its $60 billion Cursor acquisition, 14 August 2026 — checked 12 Nov 2026
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