--- title: Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit,... description: Factory CEO Matan Grinberg publicly cut ties with adviser Chris Degnan after Degnan became chief revenue officer at rival AI coding startup Cognition, alleging... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit, Bloomberg reports | daily.dev og:description: Factory CEO Matan Grinberg publicly cut ties with adviser Chris Degnan after Degnan became chief revenue officer at rival AI coding startup Cognition, alleging... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/JR3ZJVnCJ.png og:image:alt: Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit, Bloomberg reports og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit, Bloomberg reports **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Factory CEO Matan Grinberg publicly cut ties with adviser Chris Degnan after Degnan became chief revenue officer at rival AI coding startup Cognition, alleging Degnan discussed the move while privy to Factory's private business talks. Degnan and Cognition's CEO and chief legal officer deny any wrongdoing, saying no confidential information was sought or shared. Investors took sides publicly: Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, which backs both companies, called Grinberg a liar and dismissed Factory as a 'struggling second tier competitor,' while Sequoia's Shaun Maguire, a Factory backer, fired back with combative rhetoric. The dispute comes amid steep valuation gains for both AI coding agent startups, with Cognition valued at $48bn in September and Factory at $5bn after raising $200mn. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the valuation dispute between Factory and Cognition about? Factory CEO Matan Grinberg accused adviser Chris Degnan of discussing a move to rival Cognition while privy to confidential Factory business talks, then cut ties with him publicly. Degnan, a former Snowflake CRO, became Cognition's chief revenue officer and denied sharing any information; Cognition's CEO and legal chief also denied the claims. Investors Vinod Khosla and Shaun Maguire publicly took opposing sides. _Developers tracking the AI coding agent race can follow Factory and Cognition rivalry updates on daily.dev._ ### What are the current valuations of Factory and Cognition AI coding startups? Cognition, maker of the Devin coding agent, raised funding at a $48bn valuation in September, up sharply from a prior $26bn round. Factory raised $200mn at a $5bn valuation that same month, with Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital among its backers, highlighting the scale gap between the two AI coding agent companies. _Anyone comparing AI coding startups by funding and valuation can keep up with these shifts on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI coding startup Cognition reportedly already in talks to raise at $40B valuation](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-coding-startup-cognition-reportedly-already-in-talks-to-raise-at-40b-valuation-cxpouh2yw) · TechCrunch · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Cognition raises $1B at $26B valuation for AI coding agent](https://daily.dev/posts/cognition-raises-1b-at-26b-valuation-for-ai-coding-agent-sutswmzkz) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI coding startup Cognition raises $1B at $25B pre-money valuation](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-coding-startup-cognition-raises-1b-at-25b-pre-money-valuation-fktfezgji) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#venture-capital](https://daily.dev/tags/venture-capital), [#devin](https://daily.dev/tags/devin) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit, Bloomberg reports","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj"},"datePublished":"2026-10-01T18:29:07.469Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T18:32:01.147Z","description":"Factory CEO Matan Grinberg publicly cut ties with adviser Chris Degnan after Degnan became chief revenue officer at rival AI coding startup Cognition, alleging...","image":"https://editorial.thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Cognition-cover-.webp","thumbnailUrl":"https://editorial.thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Cognition-cover-.webp","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,venture-capital,devin","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Factory and Cognition bosses clash over adviser’s exit, Bloomberg reports"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/factory-and-cognition-bosses-clash-over-adviser-s-exit-bloomberg-reports-jr3zjvncj#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the valuation dispute between Factory and Cognition about?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Factory CEO Matan Grinberg accused adviser Chris Degnan of discussing a move to rival Cognition while privy to confidential Factory business talks, then cut ties with him publicly. Degnan, a former Snowflake CRO, became Cognition's chief revenue officer and denied sharing any information; Cognition's CEO and legal chief also denied the claims. Investors Vinod Khosla and Shaun Maguire publicly took opposing sides. Developers tracking the AI coding agent race can follow Factory and Cognition rivalry updates on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are the current valuations of Factory and Cognition AI coding startups?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cognition, maker of the Devin coding agent, raised funding at a $48bn valuation in September, up sharply from a prior $26bn round. Factory raised $200mn at a $5bn valuation that same month, with Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital among its backers, highlighting the scale gap between the two AI coding agent companies. Anyone comparing AI coding startups by funding and valuation can keep up with these shifts on daily.dev."}}]} ```