Canada and Nvidia back Cohere in funding round

Cohere said its Series E is targeting up to C$7 billion and named Schwarz Group as the lead investor.[1] Its investor list includes Bell Ventures, Bullhound Capital, Inovia Capital, NVIDIA, Prosperity7 Ventures and the Government of Canada.[1] TradingView reported a C$35.7 billion valuation for the Series E.[2] These reports state valuations in different currencies, so readers should keep the currency and source attached when comparing figures.

The government said the investment will be made in stages, with regular reporting on Cohere’s progress against its commitments.[3] The government also said Cohere will maintain its Canadian incorporation and headquarters.[3]

Cohere said the financing will support model development, products for regulated industries and computing infrastructure.[4] The government described Cohere as a Toronto-founded company that builds secure AI systems for businesses and governments.[3] It said the company’s technology lets organizations control where sensitive data is stored, how it is used and who can access it.[3] The Globe and Mail reported that Cohere’s models lag OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s on capabilities including coding and cybersecurity.[5] That reported limitation matters when assessing the funding’s intended model-development work, but the evidence does not establish how the new investment will affect model performance.

Cohere has completed an initial close, but has not disclosed how much funding has been committed or when the round will close, CBC reported.[4] Cohere said its annual recurring revenue grew 165% year over year as of the third quarter, and that its customer count had reached 300.[4] The Globe and Mail reported that the customer base had grown twentyfold to 300 clients over the preceding year.[5] These figures offer business context, but do not resolve the outstanding questions about the round’s final amount and closing date.