Poolside AI vs Cognition

By valuation, Poolside AI is the larger company at $12B versus $10.2B — a 1.2x difference. Size can also be measured by team: Poolside AI employs 300 people while Cognition has 50 employees.

Cognition has raised more in total funding at $696M, compared to Poolside AI's $626M — a gap of $70M. Combined, the two companies have completed 5 known funding rounds.

Cognition leads with an Awaira Score of 82/100, while Poolside AI sits at 80/100. That 2-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Poolside AI was founded by Jason Warner in 2023. Cognition was founded by Scott Wu in 2023. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

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. Cognition: Cognition is an AI development tools company founded in 2023 and headquartered in the USA, best known for creating Devin, billed as the first AI software engineer capable of autonomously planning, coding, debugging, and deploying software projects. Cognition develops software tools designed to assist software developers in coding tasks through artificial intelligence. The company's primary offering focuses on AI-powered code generation and development assistance, positioning itself within the broader AI developer tools market that has expanded significantly following the emergence of large language models capable of code synthesis. Cognition's technology employs machine learning to analyze code patterns, suggest implementations, and automate routine development tasks. The company competes alongside established players and newer entrants in the AI coding assistant space, where differentiation hinges on code quality, language support, integration capabilities, and developer experience. Cognition's rapid valuation growth reflects investor confidence in the AI development tools category, which addresses productivity bottlenecks in software engineering. The company has attracted substantial institutional funding from Founders Fund and others, indicating strong market traction and investor appetite for solutions targeting the developer tools segment. Cognition's positioning suggests focus on enterprise and professional developer markets, though specific customer details remain not disclosed. The company's trajectory reflects the broader expansion of AI application across software development workflows. Cognition achieved unicorn status within months of founding, signaling aggressive investor enthusiasm for AI-native developer tools.

Both Poolside AI and Cognition launched in 2023. Same year, but even a few months' head start matters in AI — early movers lock in data, talent, and customer relationships fast.

Poolside AI has about 300 employees; Cognition has about 50. 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 Poolside AI and Cognition compete in AI Dev Tools, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.