Weeks before Cursor agreed to a $60 billion potential takeover from SpaceX, the hot AI coding startup set out to raise billions of dollars. As its leaders made the rounds among tech’s largest investors, they started to hear an unfamiliar message: No, thanks.

Many investment firms usually capable of writing the largest checks into startups, including Iconiq and other late-stage tech investors, had just invested billions of dollars into OpenAI and Anthropic, whose Claude Code appeared to be growing faster. Some of those investors weren’t ready to commit more money into a competitor, given the expected $50 billion valuation, or were doubtful Cursor could keep up with the deep-pocketed rivals, people familiar with the fundraise said.

“There’s so much Anthropic fear right now” among investors, said one fund manager who met with Cursor executives in recent weeks.