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Aman Sanger has drawn fresh attention after Elon Musk’s SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind AI coding platform Cursor. The deal has placed the 26-year-old entrepreneur’s Indian roots in focus while also adding a new chapter to the dispute between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
SpaceX bought Anysphere in an all-stock transaction completed in August 2026. Soon after the takeover, OpenAI announced plans to stop providing its AI models to Cursor, citing concerns about whether SpaceX would follow its contractual terms.
Sanger is one of four co-founders of Anysphere, alongside Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif and Arvid Lunnemark. The group founded the company in 2022 after meeting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cursor later became one of the best-known AI tools used by software developers.
Born and raised in New York, Sanger comes from a family with Indian roots. His father, Arvind Sanger, graduated from IIT Bombay before building a career in finance and founding investment firm Geosphere Capital. His mother, Shilpa Sanger, has worked as an orthodontist, entrepreneur, and angel investor.
Sanger reportedly began coding at 14. He later studied computer science at MIT and gained work experience through internships at Google and Bridgewater Associates before helping launch Anysphere.
SpaceX initially announced plans to acquire Anysphere for $60 billion following its June 2026 stock market debut. The company completed the stock-based deal in August. Forbes currently estimates Sanger’s net worth at about $2.4 billion and says each Cursor co-founder received SpaceX shares worth approximately that amount when the transaction closed.
Cursor had already recorded rapid growth before the takeover. The company said it had passed $1 billion in annualized revenue, while millions of developers at companies including Nvidia, Adobe, Uber, Shopify and PayPal were using its software.
The acquisition came shortly after SpaceX went public. Its shares began trading on Nasdaq under the SPCX ticker on June 12 following an IPO priced at $135 per share.
OpenAI announced on August 28 that it intends to end its agreement supplying models to Cursor, with a proposed cutoff date of November 12, 2026. The company directly linked the decision to its concerns about Musk-controlled businesses.
OpenAI said: “We cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service.” The company referred to previous contractual disputes involving businesses controlled by Musk.
However, OpenAI did not accuse Cursor itself of breaking the agreement. Cursor co-founder Michael Truell said talks with OpenAI were continuing, while only about 5% of Cursor traffic relied on OpenAI models at the time of the announcement. Anthropic has also said it plans to increase support for Cursor through its Claude models.
Also Read: OpenAI to End Cursor Deal After SpaceX Acquires Parent Company
The OpenAI decision has brought Musk’s long-running dispute with Altman back into focus. Musk was one of OpenAI’s original co-founders before leaving the company and later becoming one of its most vocal critics.
For Sanger, the $60 billion transaction places an Indian-origin technology entrepreneur at the center of one of the largest AI acquisitions of 2026, while Cursor becomes part of SpaceX’s expanding technology business.
