{"id":555232,"date":"2026-06-26T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/555232\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:56:12","slug":"the-under-30s-entering-a-60-billion-deal-with-spacex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/555232\/","title":{"rendered":"The Under 30s Entering A $60 Billion Deal With SpaceX"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think this is nice? It\u2019s a version of the weekly Under 30 newsletter and would be even better in your inbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cursor cofounders Aman Sanger, Arvid Lunnemark, Sualeh Asif and Michael Truell (left to right)<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Cursor<\/p>\n

What do four, twenty-something founders do after building a startup that is worth $30 billion, generating $4 billion in annualized revenue, just a few years out of college? Apparently, they sell it to the richest man in the world.<\/p>\n

Cursor, the AI coding startup founded by Michael Truell, Aman Sanger, Sualeh Asif (all 25 years old) and Arvid Lunnemark (26), is expected to be acquired by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX for $60 billion<\/strong> following its historic IPO on June 12. It\u2019s a feat few could have predicted when the four founders made the Forbes Under 30 list<\/a> in December 2024, when Cursor had raised just about $75 million from the likes of Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI Startup Fund.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s hardly a surprise. Since its launch in early 2023, Cursor\u2019s AI coding tools\u2014used to refactor code, fix bugs, and overall make engineers\u2019 lives easier\u2014were quick to attract the biggest companies. Engineers from top AI startups from Midjourney to OpenAI were amongst its earliest users.<\/p>\n

Just days after appearing on the Under 30 list, Cursor became a unicorn<\/strong> with a $2.6 billion valuation. Then the numbers started climbing fast: June 2025, $9.9 billion. November, $29.3 billion. <\/p>\n

Now OpenAI itself is a competitor. And Anthropic’s Claude Code pushed Cursor into what Forbes described in March as \u201cwar\u201d mode<\/a>, building out new products and scaling faster than ever. Come June, Cursor\u2019s annualized revenue hit <\/strong>$4 billion<\/strong><\/a>, up from $2 billion in February and $3 billion in April. Three-quarters of its run rate now comes from business customers, the company told Forbes in late May.<\/p>\n

That scale has made Cursor a more than worthwhile investment for Musk. The four cofounders are already worth an estimated $1.3 billion each, and that figure is expected to increase to roughly $2.7 billion apiece<\/strong> when the SpaceX deal closes.<\/p>\n

The exact terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. But according to IPO filings, SpaceX would owe Cursor a $1.5 billion breakup fee and provide $8.5 billion in computing resources if the deal falls apart for any reason. Filings suggest the merger is expected to close in the third quarter of this year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Either way, these young founders have delivered a masterclass in how to do Under 30. (Now we\u2019re looking for the minds behind the next Cursors of the world\u20142027 Under 30 applications are officially open<\/strong>. Know someone who meets the mark? Is it you? Nominate yourself or someone you know here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

More next week,<\/p>\n

Zoya & Alex<\/p>\n

Forbes Top Creators 2026<\/p>\n

SEBASTIAN NEVOLS FOR FORBES<\/p>\n

From Microsoft to L\u2019Oreal, companies are spending their marketing dollars on creators. It\u2019s clear that the future of advertising is here. For the first time in the five-year history of the Top Creators list, the ranking of the 50 most powerful influencers collectively broke the billion-dollar mark, bringing in a total of $1.02 billion. Find out who made the list (and how much money they\u2019re making) here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One Minute With Astrid Moull\u00e9-Berteaux<\/p>\n

We\u2019re bringing you the scoop on a new Under 30 community member. Up this week: 2026 Under 30 Europe Finance lister Astrid Moull\u00e9-Berteaux<\/a>. She\u2019s based in Paris, where she grew up. And she made the list for her work at venture capital firm Headline, where she focuses on backing AI companies. <\/p>\n

The following has been slightly edited for length and clarity. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re a VP at Headline. What does this role entail day-to-day? <\/strong>The VP role sits at a real crossroads. It\u2019s challenging and formative at the same time, because you\u2019re expected to do a lot of sourcing without yet having the title of \u201cpartner.\u201d But as a VP, you belong to the generation that\u2019s expected to bring a fresh wave of energy and ideas into the firm. <\/p>\n

Day-to-day is a mountain of work that never looks the same twice, but includes a lot of cross-functional responsibilities: helping run the team, contributing to LP fundraising, marketing, and you have to be great at due diligence.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s an investment deal you\u2019re most proud of being part of? <\/strong>Vizzia was my first deal at Headline, so I have an emotional attachment to that deal. But beyond that, it\u2019s also a company that I find remarkable on several levels. Their thesis is bringing AI to video protection and making it the standard across Europe. It\u2019s tangible, you can see the need in everyday life, the addressable market is obvious, and the demand is enormous. <\/p>\n

The product is complex and the go-to-market is just as complex, because the ideal customer profile is one that VC-backed companies have rarely gone after: local authorities, municipalities, mayors, with all the budget constraints and the slow sales and administrative cycles that come with them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a company making a wild bet, but the founders are exceptional. We invested at Series A, and ten months later they raised a Series B. Now they\u2019re a team of 120 and they\u2019re crushing the market.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve worked at startups, as an investor, and as an analyst. Is there anything your different roles have taught you about business that you now keep in mind every day when looking for new companies to back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing that my experience in M&A and private equity taught me is that when you\u2019re weighing whether to invest in a startup, you have to think about the exit. You have to think long-term. <\/p>\n

In VC, the only question that really matters is \u201chow will you return money to your LPs?\u201d That\u2019s it. That\u2019s a consideration we sometimes lose sight of, but it\u2019s the only one that counts, and my more finance-driven roles are what trained me to keep coming back to it. <\/p>\n

What are some of the biggest investment trends today? Anything that\u2019s over-hyped or under-hyped?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real shift in how venture capital is being allocated toward deep tech\u2014from defense, space, robotics, or more hardware-driven plays around things like data centers. Internally at Headline we call this whole space \u201ccritical sectors.\u201d It\u2019s everything with a hardware component, which makes the businesses highly defensible. <\/p>\n

That said, you shouldn\u2019t over-hype deep tech investing. Not everything labeled \u201cdeep tech\u201d is actually backable by a VC, however hyped it may be. I think founders\u2019 ability to raise in deep tech has gone up tenfold compared to a few years ago. But you always have to come back to the first question: How do I return money to my LPs?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s essential not to over-hype categories blindly. You have to keep doing the math, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most important thing you look for in the entrepreneurs you invest in? A characteristic? A metric on their pitch deck?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most important thing is the people. But I don\u2019t want to sell something overly virtuous, like the idea that they have to be deeply human, kind, and so on. Because plenty of founders have shown they\u2019re not exactly paragons of humanity and benevolence, and yet they\u2019ve built exceptional, generational companies.<\/p>\n

My point is I want to invest in people who sell you a vision. Outsized ambition, and the ability to sell a relentless vision, those are the two metrics.<\/p>\n

Since you were raised and are based in Paris, how would you describe the Parisian AI and startup ecosystem?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The French ecosystem deserves a very French answer. France has genuinely exceptional talent, we have excellent universities, and we have engineers who compete on a global scale. <\/p>\n

But I\u2019ll go a step further: There\u2019s a certain notion of French grandeur. Whether it\u2019s justified or not, the French have a certain opinion of themselves and of France. And I think holding that opinion of yourself lets you do great things and aim high, to be a little crazy, to have a certain irrationality, audacity. And that matters, especially in AI companies and the startup ecosystem, which I think is booming. <\/p>\n

Outside of work, what\u2019s your favorite hobby?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My hobbies are the ones that empty my head. Literature, for one, has always been a big part of my life thanks to my father. And I don\u2019t mean tech literature like a lot of VCs who spend their holidays reading the Elon Musk biography. While I find that extremely interesting, I read the great classics of French literature. I\u2019m very attached to Victor Hugo and Camus, or I read biographies of major figures like Stendhal. <\/p>\n

I feed off these different life stories that also have points of convergence with my own, and they help me grow.<\/p>\n

Beyond literature, I run a lot, I do Pilates, I ride horses, I hike, I swim. I dabble in a bit of everything. I\u2019m excellent at none of it, but I\u2019m good at a lot of it, and that versatility keeps me in a state of newness and discovery. <\/p>\n

Europe is known for its work-life balance, especially in the summer. What do you do to find that balance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a very social person, which actually helps in my job. So I like to have summers with what I call \u201cguilty pleasures.\u201d I love going out, letting loose, indulging, and I never regret it.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s a whole other side of my summer where I go discovering cultures I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve trekked in Nepal, been to camps in the Amazon, and walked in the desert. And Europe has beautiful countries, too. Scotland is absolutely incredible. Then there are the Balkans, Slovenia, Montenegro, Albania, Georgia, all extraordinary. These countries move me deeply, and they\u2019re still relatively untouched by tourism. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s a book or podcast all young founders, investors, or other young leaders should read or listen to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I dabble in everything, and I\u2019m a huge podcast person. I listen while walking, running, in the car, on the train, on planes, all the time, everywhere, even at home. I genuinely can\u2019t stand silence, so I fill it with podcasts and very little music. <\/p>\n

A few I love: \u201cG\u00e9n\u00e9ration Do It Yourself\u201d; \u201cSilicon Carne,\u201d which is a podcast made by French people living in San Francisco that sheds a lot of light on U.S. and France differences and convergences, with very geopolitical, high-level discussions; and \u201cInvest Like the Best.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the newsletter side, I really like Tomasz Tunguz\u2019s newsletter, and Clouded Judgment I always find insightful, with takes that are sometimes orthogonal to the conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s something about you the Under 30 community might not know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a whole set of strange hobbies. I\u2019m fascinated by great apes, orangutans in particular. I\u2019m a huge fan. I\u2019m fascinated by UFOs, a deep fascination with everything paranormal. I\u2019m fascinated by true crime and unsolved cases. That\u2019s my geeky side. <\/p>\n

I also love a good Caesar salad. I\u2019m a serious foodie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Think this is nice? It\u2019s a version of the weekly Under 30 newsletter and would be even better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[291,6006,294,5101,93662,18,1647,20555,116559,19,17,237601,133,451,2731],"class_list":["post-555232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ai","tag-anthropic","tag-billionaire","tag-claude","tag-cursor","tag-eire","tag-elon-musk","tag-forbes","tag-forbes-under-30","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-openai-startup-fund","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacex"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116816523181986622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}