Cohere Secures $500 Million Investment, Reaching $6.8 Billion Valuation Amid Enterprise AI Surge

Toronto, Canada – Cohere, a leading artificial intelligence startup specializing in enterprise solutions, has successfully raised $500 million in a new funding round, propelling its valuation to $6.8 billion. The oversubscribed round was co-led by Canadian venture capital firms Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with significant participation from existing investors including AMD Ventures, Nvidia, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures, alongside new investor Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). This latest capital injection underscores strong investor confidence in Cohere's strategy to deliver secure, privacy-first AI solutions for businesses and governments worldwide.

Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, Cohere distinguishes itself by focusing exclusively on enterprise-grade large language models (LLMs) and agentic AI applications, rather than consumer-facing products. The company's cloud-agnostic platform allows for flexible deployment within public clouds, virtual private clouds, or on-premises, addressing critical concerns around data security and regulatory compliance for clients in highly regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. This approach aims to provide digital sovereignty, a growing concern for international clients wary of relying solely on US-headquartered AI firms.

The company has demonstrated significant financial growth, reportedly doubling its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $100 million since the start of 2025, according to a source familiar with Cohere's operations cited by Financial Times reporter George Hammond. Cohere aims to reach $200 million in ARR by year-end, reflecting an accelerated adoption of its AI tools by businesses expanding beyond pilot programs. This rapid growth trajectory highlights the increasing demand for tailored AI solutions that integrate seamlessly into existing enterprise workflows.

In conjunction with the funding, Cohere announced key additions to its leadership team. Joelle Pineau, formerly Meta's Vice President of AI Research, has joined as Chief AI Officer, bringing extensive experience in cutting-edge AI research and product development. Francois Chadwick, who previously held senior finance roles at Uber and Shield AI, has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, signaling Cohere's strategic preparations for future growth and potential market listings. These hires are expected to bolster Cohere's research capabilities and financial stewardship.

The new capital will be primarily utilized to accelerate the development of Cohere's agentic AI products, designed to automate tedious tasks and enhance productivity for enterprises globally. The company recently launched North, a "security-first" agentic AI platform that integrates generative and retrieval models with workflow automation. This platform is already being adopted by major clients such as Oracle, Dell, RBC, and SAP, enabling them to leverage advanced AI while maintaining control over sensitive data.

Investors view Cohere's enterprise-centric model as a strategic differentiator in a competitive landscape dominated by general-purpose AI companies. Jordan Jacobs, co-founder and managing partner of Radical Ventures, stated, "Cohere is fulfilling that promise by building privacy-first, cloud-agnostic models and agentic AI applications that are driving extraordinary productivity gains and ROI to blue-chip enterprises, businesses and governments worldwide." Patrick Pichette, Partner at Inovia Capital, emphasized Cohere's focus on customer time to value, data privacy, and customization, positioning it uniquely to lead enterprise AI adoption. Cohere's co-founder Nick Frosst has articulated the company's mantra as "ROI, not AGI," underscoring its commitment to practical, immediate utility for businesses.