Cognition is pursuing a funding round exceeding $300 million, potentially valuing its AI coding assistant Devin at $10 billion. The startup, which was valued at just $350 million a year ago, has attracted major investors like Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures. Devin became notable for its unique capability to autonomously write, test, and debug code, significantly outperforming existing models in initial benchmarks. Despite this, critics argue that Devin often falls short in practical scenarios, requiring human developers' assistance for tasks that should be routine. Independent tests have shown that the AI struggles with many coding challenges, and it still experiences issues like hallucinations. The significant funding interest aligns with a broader booming trend in AI investments, with U.S. AI startups raising $104.3 billion in the first half of 2025 alone. Cognition plans to expand aggressively, acquiring rival Windsurf and continuing to hire top programming talents. Nevertheless, questions about whether one specialized tool can live up to a $10 billion valuation remain unresolved.

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