Canada's $7 Billion AI Unicorn Takes on OpenAI and Anthropic

Cohere's latest funding round has propelled the Canadian AI startup to a $7 billion valuation, reinforcing investor confidence in the enterprise-focused segment of artificial intelligence. The Business Development Bank of Canada and Nexxus Capital Management added $100 million to the company's $500 million raise, joining lead investors Radical Ventures and Inovia Capital, as well as returning backers like Nvidia NVDA and Public Sector Pension Investment Board. Cohere indicated that the new capital could be used to accelerate development and broaden adoption of its security-first AI platform across both government and corporate sectors.

Founded in 2019, Cohere has positioned itself as a challenger to larger peers such as OpenAI and Anthropic by focusing on enterprise applications rather than consumer-facing tools. Its North platform allows businesses to integrate widely used tools such as Slack (WORK) and Google Drive while maintaining automation within their own infrastructure, a model that may require less heavy investment than rivals that also provide compute power. Partnerships with Oracle, Dell, McKinsey, and Royal Bank of Canada are already in place, while BCE Inc. announced in July that it would bring Cohere's AI into its telecom services. The Canadian government has also entered a non-binding agreement to expand usage of Cohere's technology within public sector services.

The scale of this fundraising round highlights how institutional investors view enterprise AI as an area with durable potential. Cohere has now raised approximately $1.6 billion and employs around 450 staff across seven global offices. CEO Aidan Gomez said earlier this year that revenue had more than doubled compared with the previous period, pointing to momentum in customer adoption. While its ascent strengthens Canada's standing in AI innovation, it also contrasts with older players like Coveo Solutions, which went public in 2021 ahead of a technology market correction and has struggled to regain ground, though its shares have climbed roughly 45% this year.