Cohere targets C$7 billion round as Canada buys an AI stake
The Series E has only reached its initial close; its target would value Cohere at C$35.7 billion, while Ottawa may invest up to C$1.6 billion.
Cohere has announced the initial close of a Series E round targeting up to C$7 billion at a C$35.7 billion valuation. The distinction matters: the full C$7 billion has not yet been raised. Companies controlled by Germany’s Schwarz Group, the owner of Lidl and Kaufland, are leading the financing. Bell Ventures and Bullhound Capital are among the new investors, while Nvidia, Inovia Capital and Prosperity7 are returning.
The Canadian government separately committed to invest up to C$1.6 billion for an equity stake, with the money released in stages. In return, Cohere says it will create at least 1,000 technical jobs in Canada, spend at least C$1.7 billion on additional Canadian computing infrastructure, retain its Canadian incorporation and headquarters, and continue work with the Canadian AI Safety Institute.
Cohere plans to use the funding for models, industry-specific AI products and long-term compute. It says its customer base grew twentyfold to 300 over the past year and that annual recurring revenue rose 165%, though those figures are company-reported.
The deal turns “sovereign AI” into an unusually direct industrial policy bet: a G7 government is buying into a model developer while European and Canadian investors try to build an alternative to the largest US labs.
Cohere
NVIDIA
