AI startup Cohere raises $500 million in funding at $6.8 billion valuation

Cohere just landed one of the biggest AI funding rounds of the year. The Toronto-based startup has pulled in $500 million in fresh capital, pushing its valuation to $6.8 billion as it steps up the fight for enterprise AI dominance. That’s a sharp climb from the $5.5 billion mark it hit just a year ago, a sign investors are betting heavily on its ability to win over businesses and governments.

The round, announced Thursday, was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with big names like Nvidia, AMD Ventures, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures returning to the table. New backer Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) joined in, bringing heavyweight institutional support alongside the tech giants.

Cohere Valued at $6.8B Amid AI Boom

Announcing the funding on Thursday, Cohere wrote in a blog post:

“Today, we’re excited to share our $500M raise at a $6.8B valuation in an oversubscribed round led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing and new investors.”

The funding news comes just a year after Cohere laid off about 20 employees from its total workforce of around 400.

Cohere is gunning for the same territory as OpenAI and Anthropic, building large language models and agent-based AI tools tailored for organizational use.

Founded in 2019 by former Google researchers, including CEO Aidan Gomez, Cohere’s ascent is marked by its focus on enterprise applications, setting it apart from competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI, for instance, is projecting $1 billion in revenue for 2024 and has amassed over $10 billion in investments, primarily from Microsoft. Meanwhile, other AI labs, including Anthropic and Mistral, continue to attract significant backing from industry heavyweights.

Cohere’s offerings include the North platform for workplace productivity and partnerships with the Canadian government and other public sector agencies.

The company says its agentic AI is meant to “free people from tedious tasks and allow more time for interesting and challenging work,” and it’s already targeting industries like healthcare and finance.

The funding news came with a leadership shake-up. Joelle Pineau, formerly VP of AI research at Meta and head of its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, has signed on as chief AI officer, based in the new Montreal office. She’ll guide research and product efforts while staying connected to local AI hub Mila. On the finance side, Francois Chadwick—who’s held senior roles at Uber, Shield AI, and Volta Charging—joins as CFO to steer the company through its growth phase.

With this latest raise, Cohere plans to speed up its global rollout of enterprise AI, expanding on recent wins like U.S. healthcare AI deployments and corporate collaborations. It follows a matching $500 million Series D last year, underscoring the company’s knack for attracting high-profile backing in a fiercely competitive market.

If AI’s investment boom has taught us anything, it’s that the fight for market share is still wide open—and Cohere is making it clear it wants a front-row seat in that race.

Coehere co-founder and CEO