OpenAI has hired Ismail Elmas, who ran Europe for Cursor, the coding firm SpaceX bought for $60B, to lead its sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Key Points: Ismail Elmas will ru
OpenAI has hired Ismail Elmas, who ran Europe for Cursor, the coding firm SpaceX bought for $60B, to lead its sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Key Points:
- Ismail Elmas will run OpenAI sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from Munich.
- He is the second sales executive to leave SpaceX for OpenAI in three weeks.
- OpenAI plans to stop supplying models to Cursor on Nov. 12.
A German business daily reported Thursday that the ChatGPT maker named Elmas vice president of sales for the region, known as EMEA, and will base him in Munich. The paper learned of the appointment in advance. It carried statements from Elmas and from OpenAI's worldwide sales chief, and said people close to the company saw the posting as a strong signal for Germany, where OpenAI announced its first office in 2025.
Every OpenAI sales employee in Europe, the Middle East and Africa will report to Elmas, who previously built Cursor's business in the region, according to the report. The company wants to enlarge its European sales team considerably ahead of a stock market listing that the daily said has slipped to 2027.
He is the second sales executive to leave SpaceX for OpenAI in three weeks.
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Brian McCarthy, OpenAI's vice president of worldwide sales, said Elmas would help companies get real value from new technology as the firm keeps growing in Europe.
Elmas said OpenAI has changed the way people work and how companies operate, adding that AI creates large opportunities for European businesses but that OpenAI must stay close to customers and understand their challenges.
The two have shared an employer before. McCarthy, who joined OpenAI in September after leading global revenue at Cursor and SpaceX, was chief revenue officer at data security firm Rubrik when it appointed Elmas in 2023 to run its international business. McCarthy was the first senior hire made by Dali Rajic, the chief revenue officer OpenAI brought in on Aug. 24.
Before the move, Elmas had been Cursor's senior vice president for EMEA. In June, while SpaceX held an option to buy Cursor, he said the firm would open a European headquarters in London and grow its regional staff from as many as 80 to about 200 by year-end.
On Aug. 28, after SpaceX completed the purchase, OpenAI notified the company that it would stop supplying its models to Cursor, with a proposed shutoff date of Nov. 12, the longest notice its contract allowed. OpenAI said it could not be confident that SpaceX would use the technology within its terms of service, citing what it called past contract violations by Elon Musk's companies. Cursor will not receive OpenAI's future models either.
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