One of San Francisco's hottest AI startups is leaving the city, known widely as the world capital of artificial intelligence development, for brighter shores in Foster City.
In a post on X Monday evening, Replit CEO Amjad Masad said the company has left its office located in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. He wants to make Foster City synonymous with Replit, similar to how major big tech companies have turned their home cities into de facto company towns.
"The 'why' we're leaving is boring, sad, and predictable (crime, dysfunction, etc), so instead let me tell you why we chose Foster City," Madad said. "Foster City embodies the American postwar optimism and the long-lost California pro-growth mentality.
"In the Bay Area, almost every town has an associated iconic tech company. When you think of Mountain View, you think of Google; when you think of Cupertino, you think of Apple. My hope is that in the future, when you think of Foster City, you'll think of Replit."
Masad did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
Like many Bay Area tech CEOs, Masad has been vocal about his criticisms of the state of San Francisco in regards to street conditions, crime and homelessness. He joins the like of former Kraken CEO Jesse Powell and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in blaming the city's problems for their decision to pack up and leave.
Replit's former office was located near the corner of 3rd and Harrison streets in SoMa.
In his post on X, Masad cited Foster City's affordability, mix of residential and commercial spaces, and proximity to downtown San Mateo as reasons for the move. He also said it was where Replit was fist incorporated.
Replit was founded in 2016 and has since raised $227.6 million from backers like Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. It is currently valued at $1.16 billion, according to Pitchbook.
The startup is developing software to make coding easier by generating lines of codes from simple text prompts, and is taking on well-funded competitors like Microsoft-owned GitHub The technology aims to democratize coding by making it so easy that people without computer science backgrounds can write their own code.
Another San Francisco-based AI coding assistant startup, Cognition, just raised $175 million, according to the Information.
