Canadian AI startup Cohere was valued at $6.8 billion after its latest $500 million funding round, aimed at expanding its market share in the competitive enterprise AI industry.

The round was led by Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors including AMD Ventures, Nvidia, PSP Investments, and Salesforce Ventures.

Unlike companies such as OpenAI and Meta’s Llama, which focus on broad foundational AI models, Cohere builds AI models tailored specifically for enterprise use.

Nick Frosst, co-founder of Cohere, said the funding will allow the company to expand globally, explore different AI modalities, and continue building secure AI for enterprises. He cited the recent launch of a command vision model as an example.

Alongside the funding, Cohere appointed Joelle Pineau, former vice president of AI Research at Meta, as chief AI officer. Pineau led Meta’s Fundamental AI Research group since 2023 and left Meta in May amid the company’s aggressive AI investments. Francois Chadwick, previously an executive at Uber and Shield AI, was named chief financial officer.

In January, Cohere launched North, a ChatGPT-style tool designed to assist knowledge workers with tasks such as document summarization.

The company plans to use the new funding to advance agentic AI that can help businesses and governments operate more efficiently.

The fundraise comes amid a broader surge in AI financing, as private equity and big technology companies invest heavily in startups to capitalize on innovative AI products.

PHOTO: COHERE

This article was created with AI assistance.