From math Olympiads to AI breakthroughs, Varun Mohan’s journey proves how deep academic roots can build billion-dollar innovation
In July 2025, Google inked a $2.4 billion licensing deal with Windsurf—an AI startup co-founded by Varun Mohan. With that, the Indian-origin MIT alumnus and his core team joined Google DeepMind, redefining the path from academic brilliance to AI industry leadership, reported timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
Varun Mohan’s path—from a high school math prodigy to co-creator of an AI-native developer platform—offers a masterclass in how technical education and vision can disrupt global tech.
Academic Spark: From Sunnyvale to Olympiad Fame
Raised in Sunnyvale, California, to Indian-origin parents, Varun Mohan’s early years were marked by academic rigor and competitive brilliance. At The Harker School in San Jose, he built a strong reputation as a top-tier performer in math and computing Olympiads—developing not just skills, but original solutions that often went beyond classroom boundaries.
MIT: A Dual-Degree Deep Dive into Systems and AI
Mohan’s academic excellence earned him a place at MIT, where he pursued the elite EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) program. Between 2014 and 2017, he completed both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Engineering in EECS—an intensive track chosen by few.
Specializing in distributed computing, machine learning, performance engineering, and operating systems, Mohan combined theoretical mastery with real-world system design. His vision began to crystallize: AI could radically change how software is built and understood.
Silicon Valley Training Ground: Experience Across Top Tech
Post-MIT, Mohan worked across leading companies—LinkedIn, Quora, Databricks, Samsung, and Nuro—building backend systems, AI infrastructure, and robotics workflows. These experiences exposed him to the bottlenecks developers face at scale and reinforced his belief that smarter, AI-powered tools were the future.
Windsurf: The Startup That Caught Google’s Eye
In 2021, he co-founded Codeium—later rebranded as Windsurf—alongside Douglas Chen, his MIT classmate. Initially focused on GPU virtualisation, the company pivoted to a bold new idea: creating an AI-native Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
Windsurf’s flagship tool used agentic AI workflows to help developers write, refactor, and comprehend code at scale—transforming productivity and code quality. Within four months, the platform reached over a million users, raised $243 million, and hit a valuation of $1.25 billion.
Google’s $2.4 Billion Deal: Talent and Tech Combined
In a landmark deal in July 2025, Google signed a $2.4 billion nonexclusive licensing agreement for Windsurf’s technologies. While the company was not acquired outright, Mohan and key team members were absorbed into Google DeepMind, positioning them at the core of Google’s AI-driven software future.
Notably, the licensing structure lets Windsurf remain independent, enabling it to serve other enterprise clients—marking a new model for collaboration between tech giants and fast-scaling startups.
Education at the Core of Disruption
Mohan’s rise underscores the enduring value of deep, structured education. From Harker School to MIT, from Databricks to DeepMind, every stage of his journey added a critical layer. His story proves that while AI can now write code, it still takes a human mind trained in systems thinking and academic discipline to imagine and build the future.
