What is Cognition's unicorn score?

Cognition has a Unicorn Screener score of 81/100, classified as "Sustained Growth". The Unicorn Score rates how closely a startup matches the profile of companies that reached a $1B valuation, out of 100. Recommended action: buy.

What is Cognition's current valuation?

Cognition's most recently verified valuation is $26B, last checked on Jul 16, 2026 (source: Bloomberg).

What sector is Cognition in?

Cognition operates in the AI/ML sector and is headquartered in USA.

When was Cognition first screened?

Cognition was first screened by Unicorn Screener on May 24, 2026, with an entry valuation of $10B.

An investment memo on a single startup, scored out of 100 on how closely it matches the profile of companies that went on to reach a billion-dollar valuation. Only about 0.07% of startups ever get there, so the score is a filter for where to spend your attention first, not a verdict.

How does the score work?

Every startup is measured on five dimensions: founder background, strategic position, execution velocity, traction momentum, and market and scalability. Each one is weighted on peer-reviewed research into venture returns and on what consistently successful investors actually look at. The breakdown above shows how this company scored on each.

How do I screen a startup myself?

Type its name on unicornscreener.vc and the memo is built for you. Your first one is free, and there is no account to create. The result becomes a public page like this one whenever the evidence is solid enough to publish.

How much should I trust it?

Treat it as a fast first filter, not as due diligence. Everything here is built from public sources, and each memo carries a data confidence figure showing how much of it rests on sourced evidence rather than inference. Memos below our confidence floor are never published. Always do your own research before investing.

Investment memo

Cognition

Cognition builds autonomous software engineering agents.

USAAI/MLFounded 2023B2Bcognition.ai

Re-screen Cognition for fresh data

Information updated on May 24, 2026

Unicorn score

Sustained GrowthBuyRank #51

Listen to the Cognition brief memo

0:00 / 3:18

Current valuation

$26B

Verified Jul 16, 2026

Since we found it

×2.5

First screened May 24, 2026

Total raised

$806M

Last round: Series D

Addressable market

~$40M – $1000B

Cognition is an applied AI lab that develops autonomous software engineering agents, most notably Devin AI. These agents are designed to handle complex coding tasks, automate software development workflows, and allow human engineers to focus on higher-level architectural and problem-solving challenges. The company aims to revolutionize software development by enabling AI to complete entire projects.

How the score breaks down

Score by category, as a percentage of each category maximum
Category	Strength	Score
Founder Background		76%
Strategic Position		80%
Execution Velocity		87%
Traction Momentum		92%
Market & Scalability		67%

Data confidence 88/100. This measures how much of the memo rests on sourced evidence rather than inference. It was assembled by reading 249 public sources about the company. Compiled May 24, 2026.

That gathering is automated, so mistakes are possible. The confidence figure is the honest guide: the higher it is, the more of what you are reading came from a source rather than an inference.

Founding team

3 founders · 1 repeat founder

Scott Wu
Co-founder and CEO
Repeat founder
Serial entrepreneur. Founded Lunchclub. Harvard University (BA).
Previously worked at
- Addepar (Software Engineer)
- Lunchclub (Co-founder and CTO)
Education
- Harvard University (BA)
Steven Hao
Co-founder and CTO
Walden Yan
Co-founder and CPO

Traction

Latest round: Series D · $400M
Revenue: $155M
Team size: 200

Investors (9)

Founders Fund8VCNeoD1 Capital PartnersElad GilDefinitionKhosla VenturesPear VCSoma

Momentum & social pulse

Press coverage: +6 articles; vs the 3 months before

What customers say

G24.5/5 average · 15 reviews
One reviewer“Compass MED by Cognition Corporation is an intelligent design control solution for all your medical device development needs.”
Gartner
One reviewer“Cognition has 3 reviews with an overall average rating of 4. AI Agents for Application Developers. AI Agents for Application Developers are intelligent, ...”
FeaturedCustomers
One reviewer“Learn more about Cognition Corporation - use cases, approaches, & end results from real customers; read customer reviews including 32 testimonials, videos, ...”

Market

The market it sells into today

$40M

Global generative AI coding assistants market, an emerging category for autonomous software engineering.

The market it competes for if its category wins

$1000B

Global software-engineering labour spend

Estimated

If Cognition's approach becomes the norm, the budget it competes for stops being the developer-tools line and becomes what companies pay to have software written at all.

Why this startup makes sense now

The rapid advancements in large language models and agentic AI architectures have made truly autonomous software engineering feasible, enabling the creation of a new category of AI tools like Devin, as evidenced by its launch in early 2024 and subsequent enterprise partnerships in late 2025 and early 2026.

What competitors cannot copy

Cognition's primary unfair advantage lies in its proprietary AI agent technology, Devin, which is positioned as the first truly autonomous AI software engineer capable of handling the full software development lifecycle. This is backed by the founding team's exceptional expertise in competitive programming and applied AI research, creating a significant technological lead in a complex domain.

Who else is in the race

Cognition operates in the nascent but rapidly growing market of AI coding agents. Key direct competitors offering similar autonomous or highly advanced coding assistant capabilities include Cursor Agent, Devika, OpenDevin, and eesel AI. These companies are also developing AI-powered tools to assist or automate aspects of the software development lifecycle, though Cognition positions Devin as the first truly autonomous AI software engineer.

Road to centicorn

Cognition's path to $1B revenue is predicated on scaling enterprise adoption of its autonomous AI software engineer, Devin, through strategic partnerships with global consulting and technology firms. These partnerships (e.g., Infosys, Cognizant, Synechron) provide a powerful distribution channel to integrate Devin into a vast array of enterprise clients worldwide. The reported rapid ARR growth from $1M to $73M following the Windsurf acquisition indicates strong early market validation and a scalable go-to-market strategy.

What could go wrong

Recent layoffs
Watch
30 employees announced in 2025-08-05. Layoffs of this scale in the last 24 months indicate distress or aggressive cost-cutting, both of which weigh on the investability of the next round.

Our track record on this company

Valuation from first screening to the most recent verification
First screened	May 24, 2026
Entry valuation	$10B
Current valuation	$26B
Multiple since entry	×2.5

Latest valuation verified from Bloomberg on Jul 16, 2026. Entry valuation and date are frozen the first time a company is screened and are never rewritten. Valuations are re-checked quarterly against public funding announcements.