Magic AI vs Poolside AI

By valuation, Poolside AI is the larger company at $12B versus $1.5B — a 8x difference. Size can also be measured by team: Magic AI employs 75 people while Poolside AI has 300 employees.

Poolside AI has raised more in total funding at $626M, compared to Magic AI's $465M — a gap of $161M. Combined, the two companies have completed 5 known funding rounds.

Poolside AI leads with an Awaira Score of 80/100, while Magic AI sits at 72/100. That 8-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Magic AI was founded by Eric Steinberger in 2022. Poolside AI was founded by Jason Warner in 2023. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Magic AI: Magic AI develops large-context-window AI models purpose-built for software engineering, enabling codebases with millions of lines to be understood and modified by a single AI system. The company's core technology centers on extending transformer context lengths far beyond industry norms, allowing its models to reason across entire repositories rather than isolated code snippets. This architectural approach positions Magic AI to tackle enterprise-grade software complexity that existing code assistants cannot handle. The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2022 and has raised approximately $465 million in venture funding, reaching a $1.5 billion valuation at its Series C round. Notable backers include Eric Schmidt and CapitalG. The founding team brings deep expertise in machine learning research, with a particular focus on long-range sequence modeling and efficient attention mechanisms that make massive context windows computationally feasible. Magic AI competes in the rapidly expanding AI code generation market alongside GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Cognition's Devin. However, its differentiation lies in full-repository comprehension rather than file-level autocomplete. The company targets enterprise development teams managing complex, interconnected codebases where context fragmentation has historically limited AI utility. As organizations accelerate AI adoption in software development workflows, Magic AI's ability to process entire systems of code positions it as a distinct entrant in a market projected to exceed $45 billion by 2028. Poolside AI: Poolside AI is an artificial intelligence development tools company founded in 2023 and headquartered in the United States. The company has achieved a valuation of $12.0 billion following Series B funding of $626 million, reflecting significant investor confidence in its market opportunity. Poolside AI develops software tools designed to enhance developer productivity and streamline artificial intelligence development workflows. The company's core focus centers on creating intelligent development environments and code assistance platforms that utilize advanced language models to support engineers building AI systems. Its technology addresses the growing demand for developer-centric tools within the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure sector. The company operates in a competitive landscape alongside established players and emerging startups offering AI development platforms, code generation tools, and developer productivity software. Poolside AI's positioning emphasizes practical solutions for professional developers and engineering teams working on AI projects. The company's rapid valuation growth and substantial funding demonstrate strong market demand for specialized AI development tooling. Its Series B stage indicates active scaling operations and expansion of product capabilities. Growth trajectory appears accelerated given the valuation achieved within approximately one year of founding, reflecting broader industry momentum in AI development infrastructure and tools. Specific customer details and detailed product specifications remain not disclosed publicly. Poolside AI achieved unicorn status within its first year of operation, positioning itself as a significant player in the AI developer tools market.

Magic AI got there first, launching in 2022 — that's 1 year of extra runway. Poolside AI didn't arrive until 2023. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Magic AI has about 75 employees; Poolside AI has about 300. A bigger team usually means more revenue or heavier VC backing, but in AI, small teams can build at massive scale.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Magic AI and Poolside AI compete in AI Dev Tools, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.