Media365
Long before Aman Sanger became one of the youngest billionaires in the artificial intelligence industry, the foundations for his success were being laid at home.The 25-year-old co-founder of AI coding startup Cursor is set to see his fortune soar after SpaceX agreed to acquire Anysphere, Cursor’s parent company, in an all-stock deal valued at $60 billion. The transaction is expected to close later this year. It could leave each of Cursor’s four co-founders with an estimated net worth of around $2.7 billion.But behind Sanger’s rapid rise is a family story rooted in education, entrepreneurship and ambition.Born in US to Indian immigrant parents, Sanger grew up in a household where academic achievement and business success were strongly encouraged. Both his father and mother built impressive careers of their own long before their son entered Silicon Valley.His father, Arvind Sanger, graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay with a B. Tech degree in 1984 before moving to US. He later earned an MBA from Tulane University and built a successful career on Wall Street.Before founding investment firm Geosphere Capital in 2007, Arvind spent nearly 15 years as a respected oil services and equipment analyst at firms including Deutsche Bank and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He later worked as a portfolio manager at SAC Capital between 2002 and 2007.Through Geosphere Capital, he focused on investments in natural resources, industrial sectors and Indian equities. He has also served on the boards of educational and policy organisations including Pratham USA and the Alexander Hamilton Society.Sanger’s mother, Shilpa, followed a very different path.Raised in Mumbai in a Marwari family as the eldest of five children, she trained as a dentist and orthodontist and ran her own orthodontic practice in the city for around 12 years. Her life changed after meeting Arvind during a visit to New York for continuing education. The couple dated for 18 months before marrying, and she moved to New York in 1999.Rather than requalify as a dentist US, Shilpa chose to focus on raising her family. Aman was born in 2000 and his younger sister arrived about 18 months later.She later entered the startup world herself, becoming an angel investor through the investment network Golden Seeds. She also took on a business management role at Geosphere Capital and became active in charitable and educational initiatives through Pratham USA.Growing up in a family surrounded by investing, entrepreneurship and professional achievement had a lasting impact on Aman.He began coding at the age of 14 and developed an early interest in technology. After enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he studied computer science between 2018 and 2022 while also playing squash and remaining active in university athletics.Before starting his own company, Sanger gained experience through internships at Google and Bridgewater Associates. He also launched an AI consultancy before joining fellow MIT students Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif and Arvid Lunnemark to create Cursor in 2022.The startup became one of Silicon Valley’s biggest AI success stories. Cursor’s software helps developers write, edit and improve code using artificial intelligence and is now used by millions of programmers across around 50,000 companies, including Nvidia, Adobe, Uber, Shopify and PayPal. The company says it has surpassed $1 billion in annualised revenue, helping attract billions of dollars in investment and drawing the attention of SpaceX.Forbes previously estimated Sanger’s wealth at around $1.3 billion based on his stake in the company. The planned acquisition is expected to push that figure much higher, to around $2.6 billion.
