Details will be revealed about how Windsurf’s VCS and Founders were paid from Google transactions

Even weeks after the revelation that Google paid Windsurf $2.4 billion to license its technology, it is hiring CEOs and top talent at the same time, and the meaning of the deal is still rattles some founders and startup employees Beyond Silicon Valley.

According to two people who are well-versed in trading, Google’s payments to startups were effectively split between two equal parts. The investor portion was $1.2 billion.

The other half was in the form of a compensation package for around 40 Windsurf employees hired by the Tech giant, earning a significant portion of $1.2 billion from startup co-founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen.

The deal was good for VCS, including Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins and General Catalyst. Windsurf has increased the total Approximately $243 million At the time of the last pay raise in 2024, which valued the company at $1.25 billion, total revenue to investors was about four times the original funds.

Greenoaks, who led Windsurf’s seed and Series A funding and owned 20% of the company, returned about $500 million in a $65 million startup investment, according to anyone familiar with the issue. Kleiner Perkins, who led Windsurf’s Series B, returned roughly three times his investment capital, according to another person familiar with the deal.

Google, Kleiner Perkins, and Greenoaks declined to comment. General Catalyst, Varun Mohan, and Douglad Chen did not respond to requests for comment.

Still, most investors were hoping for a more important victory from the company.

In February, TechCrunch reported that Kleiner Perkins was in talks to lead new funding to assess startups. valuation of $2.85 billion. According to those familiar with the issue, the transaction did not occur. Openai for $3 billion.

As we all know now, the acquisition of Openai has been unraveled; Google has dipped You acquire talent and IP without acquiring shares through transactions configured to provide investors’ returns.

But here’s what rattles through the valley: The Google deal was good for co-founders and VCS, but it didn’t benefit most of Windsurf’s roughly 250 employees, especially after hoping to pay from sales to Openai.

In a typical acquisition, employees will get money for the shares they own, and often have Their vesting schedule has accelerated. However, Windsurf employees hired last year were not paid from the transaction, these people said.

Google’s deals have particularly unsettled the roughly 200 Windsurf employees who are not employed by the search giant.

Instead of sucking every penny of Google’s payment into their pocket, investors have chosen to leave the company with more than $100 million in capital.

According to one source, this is fully funded by the VCS. That is, the total payment was around $1.1 billion. But others said the founders would equally take the tip and leave the nest eggs to the company from Google’s payments.

Several people said the revenues of all remaining employees in the company were sufficient to pay the revenues on Google Deal’s stock-by-subsidized valuations, regardless of the time they were in the company. But doing that quickly was a problem, leaving the company running with less cash, leaving the founder with key people gone, investors weren’t ready to receive a new salary increase. The rest of the leadership would have had to close after making such cash distributions, one of the people said. Others, meanwhile, claimed that the company had enough capital to pay its employees and keep it operating.

That difference of opinion is only part of why the deal is so controversial.

Additionally, despite at least attractive wages and benefits, at least some of Google’s employing employees have been revoked from their stock grants and vesting timelines have resumed. This means that people familiar with the transaction will have to wait another four years for their total payments on Google stock.

Some Top VCs have accused the startup co-founder three years ago of not sharing windfall with all those who helped build the company.

“Windsurf and others are really bad examples of founders leaving their team behind and not sharing revenue with their team,” he wrote. Vinod Khosla from X. “I definitely won’t work with their founders.”

After several days of Limbo following the announcement of the Google deal, under the leadership of interim CEO Jeff Wang, the remaining entities in Windsurf were able to sell themselves to recognition.

Cognition has acquired Windsurf’s IP and product, attracting all staff who are not employed by Google.

Although the exact terms and conditions of that sale have not been disclosed, the acquisition allowed all employees to benefit financially from the sale. Blog published by Cognition.

Two other sources estimated TechCrunch that Cognition paid $250 million to acquire the remaining entities of Windsurf.

The recognition did not respond to requests for comment.