Canada takes a stake in AI developer Cohere – with up to 1.6 billion dollars
Prime Minister Mark Carney secures a stake in the Toronto company, which is in the process of acquiring Germany's Aleph Alpha. In return, Cohere must stay in Canada and create jobs.
Archive image · Photo: Dati Bendo / European Union / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Canada's government is taking a stake of up to 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (around one billion euros) in Toronto-based AI company Cohere. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the investment on Thursday at the Montreal AI research institute Mila, on the first day of the Canada-EU summit. According to Carney, the state is investing on commercial terms and alongside private investors including Nvidia, telecoms group Bell and Germany's Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland). The money will be paid out in stages.
In return, Cohere commits by 2030 to, among other things, creating at least 1,000 well-paid technical jobs in Canada, investing at least 1.7 billion Canadian dollars in additional computing capacity in the country and keeping its headquarters and incorporation in Canada. "In just seven years, Cohere has grown from a Toronto start-up into a global company," Carney said.
The stake is part of a funding round that aims to raise up to seven billion Canadian dollars at a valuation of 35.7 billion; a first part of the round has already closed. It would be the largest private financing in the history of Canadian start-ups. Cohere is also in the final stages of acquiring the Heidelberg-based AI company Aleph Alpha.